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V i i i*tfpi i » w iMi»W'' j i»w«ii »" i '■TW Vr 'g* 'IWWW V I " ' I " !- II -^i M i HU iWM si Biographical, literary, ANO POLITICAL Anecdotes, or sKvzRiiL or THE MOST EMINENT PERSONS or THE PRESENT AGE, NEVER BEFORE PRTMT rn WITH AN APPENDIX} . CONSISTING or bRlGINAl. EXPLANATORY, AND SCARCE PAPERS. BY TH» AUTH OR OF ANECDOTES OP THE LATE BAR. OP CHATHAM. JN THREE VOLUM ES. VOLUME I, LONDON: rRlNT£B rOR T. N. LONOMAN, AND I. B. SEBlir, IN PATER-NOSTER.ROW, t: I >* i» M niw smtn m* am m iMn i. PREFACE. 1 HE reputation and conduct of Great Men, who have filled high fituatidns in the State, mull always be interefting to the Nation, The Memoirs of fuch perfons can never be too frequently read and fludied. Nor can any injury happen, where Truth only is the guide of the Writer. Of thefe Anecdotes, the Editor begs leave to fay, that he is not confcious of having advanced a fingle untruth ; that very few of them have been printed before ; that it has been his wifli and care to avoid whatever is to be found in other books, except in tv/o or three inllanccs, where he has been under the necefsity of conneaing the fadts. There is no impropriety in the publica- tion; becaufe every part of it relates to 2 / public IV PREFACE; i^ubiic men, and to public meafureS. It is hot lefs juftice to the gteat fcharaaers themfelves, than it Is to the 'Public, td fcommunicate them. A faffidibus fecrefy of meafures and motiveir, in matters of public concern, whfen the events and their confequences have totally ceafed, Lord Bacon denominates a fupprefsion of truths hiftory and characfter. The Appendix confills of Papers ; fomc of which are orignal, others are explana- tory of paffages in the Work^ and all o^ them are now (o extremely fcarce, that it would be very difHcultj if not impofsiblcy to procure them* !l Londotti Ncvtmhtr i6, ijgf» CONTENTS. CONTENTS. J5:i* The References in this Volume to the .r Appendix, the Reader will find in the . Contents of the Appendix. CHAPTER L THE DUKE OF GRAFTON. Apology Public Intereftin Great Men. The Duke Lod Bute*s Influence. The Duke made Secretary of State Refigns. Made Firft Lord of the Treafury. H« Meflage to Mr. Wilkes at Paris. His Anfwer io Mr.^ Fitzherbert concerning Mr. Wilkes. His Meflage to Mr. Wilkes by Mr. Fitzherbert and Mr. Garnck. Mr. Wilkes's Anfwer. Expulfion. Account of Junius. Account of his Writings. Of ^r. Bradftaw. Death of Mr. Yorke. Th^Dub! reiigns. Inconveniences of removing Lord Chan, cellors The Duke made Privy Sefl. Difmiff^. Valens s Letters. Difintereftednefs of the Duke. ^ Page u CHAPTER II. DUKE OF LEEDS. *^wf 'Oif '"^ 'T "^ '^"« "" *= America sl» "fTr"^"""^"- Made Secretary of State. H.S Reafom for refigning. ^35. ^ . <;HAPT£R Vi CONTENTS. ! t CHAPTER III. 15UK£ or DORSET. Poems of tHe Sackville Family. Poems of Lord Nugent* . CHAPTER IV. -DUKE or RUTLAWD. - . .. His Tra£ls. Solicits Lord Lonfdale to bring Mr, Pitt into Parliament. Liberality of Lord Lonfdale. ObfervatioHi Page 43, CHAPTER V. Horace walpole, earl or ORroRD. Account of two Political Tracts written by him. Lord Bute's Intention of taking away his, and other Patent Places. His Letter to his Conftituents* Page 45. ~ CHAPTER VL DR. JOHN pUTLER, LORD BISHOP OP HEREFORD^ His Addrefs to the Cocoa Tree. Confultation on a Standing Army. Conflderations on Lord Butes's Adminiftration. Account of Mr. Legge, Page 70. ■ " CHAPTER VIL THE RIGHT HOKOURAvBLE CHARLES TOWNSHEND. His Defence of the Miiwrity on the Queftion relating to^ General Warrants ; affeds Mr. Grenville. Defence of the Majority. Letters on Libels and Warrants. Reply to the Defence of the Majority, by Sir Willianr^ Meredith. CONTENTS. yit Meredith. Other Tra«as written by Sir William Meredith. Mr. Townfhend's. State pf the Nation. CHAPTER VIII. MR. SERJEAKT ADAIR. His Tra£l on the Difmiifion of General Conway ; and on the Cafe of the Duke of Portland. Pa^f B3. CHAPTER IX. SIR GREY COOPER. His Two Trafts. Made Secretary to the Trcafury under Lord Rockingham. Secures a Penfion. Con- tinues Secretary to the Duke of Grafton, and to Lord jNorth. Page()2. CHAPTER X. PR. THOMAS LEWIS o'bEIRNE, LORD BISHOP Of OSSORY. Chaplain to Lord Howe in America, during the Ame- rican War. His Defence of Lord Howe. His Poli- . tical Papers, figned A Country Gt- ^loman. , Hiftory of Parliament. Confiderations on the Riots in the Year 1780. Defence of Admiral Lord Keppel. Made Secretary toj^ord FitzwUliam) and an Iriih Bifhop. Page 95. b 2 CHAPTE^t fl viii Contents. CHAPTER XL SECRET AND TRUE HISTORY OF THE IRISH ? OCTEKNIAL BILL. Irifli Eleaors inftm When Mr. Wilkes came to England, he folicited bis friend, William Fitzherbert, Efq. member for the town of Derby, a gen* Ueman univerfally beloved, to wait on the J)uk* with his profefsions of regard, and that he fubmitted to his Grace, the mode of application he ought to make, to the King, for his pardon. The Duke told Mr, Fitzherbert, that Mr. Wilkes muft write to Lord Chatham ; that he did nothing with- out THE DUKE OF GRAFTON", !| 4>ut Lord Chatham. This anfwer offended Mr. Wilkes exceedingly ; and he attacked tlie Duke with much feverity upon it He refufed to apply to Lord Chatliam, though his Lordfhip was theii in London. And in his attack on the Duke, he was not lefs fevere on his Lordfhip, upon the fuppofi- tion, that they were become the tools of Lord Bute. unjL However, when Mr. Wilkes returned to England upon the diflblution of the parlia- ment in the year 1768, he publicly appeared as a candidate for the City of London, and for the County of Middlefex, without any interruption or reftraint from the executive officers, or powers of government. Mr. trrenville complained of this negligence, as he called it, of government, and declared, that if he had been minifter, Mr. Wilkes fhould not have been four-and-twenty hours out of cuftody, after it had been known that he was in England. And after his eleaion for the County of Middlefex, he remained totally unnoticed by government, until the month of November following; ^ * when 4/^' ;(. r $ THE DUKE OF GRAFTON, when he thought proper to appear thlun^ ' tarily before the Court of KingVBench, at Weflmnifter. His avowed purpofe in this coiidua was to diftrefs the minifter ; who feeing his objea, did not interfere. The law had its courfe : and it is certain, that the judgments were not fo fevere (though in the public opinion tenfold more than the crime merited) as might have been expcdtr ed, if another perfon had been minifter. It is not to I.ord Mansfield's honour, that in his judgments on political crimes, he Ibmetimes regarded more the fentiments of the minifter of the day, than the pretended luifchiefs of the libel. .J 'iOi Notwithftanding thcfc drcumftanccs, Mr. Wilkes might have kept his feat in par- liament. The minifter did not wifli to deprive him of it. But Mr. Wilkes wa$ determined to force himfelf upon parlia- ment, as he had done upon the Court of KingVBench. The outlawry was no/bar to his feat in parliament; the cafe of Sir Francis Goodwyn, in the year 1604, the late Lord Ravcnfworth's brother, and feve- ral other?, are full to that point ; and his qua- lifica-. THE DUKE OF GRAFTON, 9 lification being copyhold, was not afFeaed by the outlawry. In a public addrefs to the freeholders of the County of Middlefex dated from the King's-Bench prifon, on ^he third of November, 1768, he pledged Jiimfelf to prefent a petition to the Iloufe of Commons, on the itate of his cafe. This petition, the minifler forefaw, would treatc great debates. It was opening a .wide field which had been gone over many times. He earneftly wi/hed to avoid it. For this purpofe, he rcquefted Mr. Fitzherbert to wait on Mr. Wilkes at the KingVBench, and to entreat Mr. Wilkes not to prefent his petition to the Houf« of Commons, for the confequence muft be the lofs of his feat in parliament. Mr. Fitzherbert went to Mr. Wilkes on the 13th of November, 1768, accompanied by Mr* David Garrick. Mr. Fitzherbert afllired Mr, AVilkes, that if he would be quiet he might keep his feat ; but that if he pre- ientcd his inteiuled petition, he would cer* tainly lofe it. He earnelHy and ardently entreated Mr. Wilkes to lay afide his de- ' : '§ ' Will 'HP- iii.lih: 10 m '. » -MK OF GRAFTON. fign ; he dcicn. ^d to him the honour and advantage he would gain by (o doing. And he further declared, that he made jthefe aflTurances to Mr. Wilkes by the authority, ktu^ in the name of the minider ; and that he had the minifter's pofitive commands to promife and engage, that if the petition was not prefented, no at- tempt fliould be made in parliament againft Mr, Wilkes. And laftly, he hinted, that fome fmall fubmifsion to the King was all that would be expe6ted to accomplifh his almoft immediate enlargement. Mr. Wilkes anfwered, that he ihouW be ever ready to make any fubmifsibn to the King, although he was not confcious of any intention to offend him; but that as to the petition (which contained no- thing more than a ihort flate of his cafe, from the time of his caption by the ge- neral warrant to his ele«Slion for Middlefex) he thought it his duty to prefent it, and that on no terms whatever would he give it up« Next TKE DUKE OP GRAFT< V, M Next day the pc tition was prefented by Sir Jofeph Mawbey. The matter was thut fevced upon parliament ; and the firft ftep wns Mr. Wilkes's expulfion; a mcafure which the minifter had forefeen. The fubfe- quent meaiures were fortuitous, and arofe out of the fira. The nation is already fo fully icqiininted with them all, that any furti er mention of them here would bo unneceflary ; except only to obferve, that they can never be drawn into precedents, Mr. Grenville's a^ for the trial of contro^ verted eleaions having taken the power of determination, in all contefted points, out of the Houfe of Commons, and placed it in a Committee who decide upon oath/ The charaaer of the Duke of Grafton'« adminiftration fuffered much popular odium by thefe meafures. And he was feverely attacked from many quarters; particularly by a writer in the public prints, who figned hi? papers « Junius." The celebrity of them makes it not improper to take fome notice of them here. In the firfl paper that was publiflied, which was on iht 81ft of January, 1769, the writer, after difcant- i^ ''h',i\ :,;-ili :i':i Ui 12 THE DUKE OF GRAFTON. §■'^1 dlfcantlng on the Hate of the country and miniliry, draws a character of the Marquis of Granby, at that thne com- mander in chief of the army, in terms of the kcenclt fatire. This part of the paper fo highly provoked Sir AViUiam Draper, that he wrote an anfwcr to it, and figned it v/ith his own name. This anfwer pro- duced a reply from " Junius ;" and the reply produced a rejoinder from Sir Wil- liam Draper, who always figned his name to his papers.' This newfpaper controverfy, which lafted fome time, attached the pub^ lie attention to the fignature of " Juniys," who had greatly the advantage of hia anta- gonift in language and argument. If this circum (lance had not happened, it is more than probable, that thefe fugitive papers would have pafTed into oblivion, like many others of coniiderablc merit, before and fmce. The charge which *« Junius" made -againd the Duke of Grafton, concerning the oaks in Whittlebury forcil, was totally unfounded. John Pitt, Efq. at that time furvevor^ THE DUKE OF GRAFTON. 13 /iirrcyor-gciieral of t]ie King's woods, af- furcd the editor, that Junius's ftatemcnt of tliat matter was erroneous throughout, that no hlaine whatever could attach to the Duke in that affaii-. Thetiniher in Whittlchury fore ft is un- , doubtedly vefted In the crown, and the right of felling it has repealecily been excrclfed. Tije right to the under-wood is as cleaily veiled in the Duke of Grafton, as tjiat 10 the herbage at the proper periods in the vicinage. In the attempt alluded to by Junius, to cut down the timber, the deputy furveyor was ftopped by an order from the treafury ; becaufe the felling of the timber, at that time, would have def- troyed all the under-wood, which would of courfe been a great injury to private property; and would likewife have de- privcd the neighbourhood of tlie right of commonage for nine or ten years. Tha timber was no longer with-held from the public fervic. than was abfolutely neceflary. }t had been prefcrved for tJiat purpofe, with an attention und an integrity, perhaps ItW iiiiii ii' III lllillll! fV '!: I4f THE DUKE OF GRAFTOK. not equalled in any other royal forefts. Atthe proper^eriod (about nine or ten years after) thetimberwas felled, aseich coppice came in tlic courfc of cutting, according to the rule an^ the pradice all over England. The furveyor-generaPs report, made in the year 177^, of the ftate of the inclo- fures in his Majefty's forefts, is a confir- mation of the care taken by the Duke of the timber for the public fervice. " That there have not been any inclo- furcs, purpofely made for the growth and prcfervation of timber for the ufe of his Majelty*s navy, in any other of the King's forells, but in thofe of Whittlebury, Salcey, Rockingham, and Whichwood ; there are a great many anciently inclofed coppices, wherein the King's trees are well pre- ferved. " That many thoufand acrcj of land in his Majefty's forefts may be inclofed, and applied to raifmg pines. There are alfo, and will ever be, within the inclofures now 2 in :s. At the irs after) ; came in to the gland, nade in e inclo- confir- 3uke of y inclo- rth and J of his :j King's Salcey, re are a oppices, II pre- land in ^d, and re alfo, res now ill m THE DUKE OP GRAFTON. 15 in being, and hereafter to be made therein, fome parcels of ground, of a nature lefs fit for the growth of oaks, in which the faid furveyor-general of his Majefty's woods and foijfts purpofes to plant the fort of pines fit for mails, yards, and bowfprits ; and nurferies are aaually preparing for that pur- pofe; and, from his obfervations and ex- periments, and the concurring opinion of very good judges, he thinks it highly pro. bable, that making inclofures purely for, the laft mentioned ufe will be attended with fuccefs, and prove very advantageous to this kingdom. " J. PITT, furveyor-general of his " Majefly's woods and forefts." The boldaU'ertions and kecninvcaives with which the papers of « Junius'' abounded throughout, contributed greatly to their po- pularity and fame. They were occafionally attributed to Lord Sackville, to the Right Hon. W.G.Hamilton, to the Right Hon. Ed- mund Burke, to John Dunning, Efq. and many others, but without the leaft ground or foundation in truth. It is to be ob- 1^ THE DUKE OK GRAFTO??'* ferved of them, that all parties are attackei III t i Q^ THE DUKE OF GRAFTON. !iis children, although he has a numeroif^ family, any place, penfion, or reverfion, whatever. It is impolsibie to prefent a more ho- nourable trait of this noble Duke's cha» ra6ter, of his virtues as a patriot, or of his talents as a ftatefman, thJin an extract from his Grace's fpeech, in the Houfe of Lords, on the 30th of May, 1797, oji the motion of the Duke of Bedford to remove the Minifters, as it Hands printed in the Parliamentary Regifter for J. Debrett. His Grace, after ftating the high and refpeaable fituation in vi^hjch Great Britain flood, at the time of the commencement of the war with France, demands, ^ " What is now your fituation? Great Britain is ftript of, or dcferted by, every ally on the Continent that could bring any effential aid: the laft of whom, and an ally whofe exertions might fairly be boalted of, if report fays true, and this Houfe has no other information, is juft not 3 our I i' THE DUKE OF GRAFToN". 27 our enemy. The Bank of England, owino- to the moft unaccountable and fatal inat*- tention, or rather negleft, on the part of the Lords of the Treafury, of the itatc of the circulating fpecie of the kingdom, when many fchemes might have been pro- pofed, probably to prevent, certainly to leflen, the alarming confequences which have followed— This Bank of England has received a wound, even in fpite of the repeated repr^fentations of the Dircclors on the mifchief which muft arife from the bullion exported, and the excefsivc amount of the fums advanced to Govern- ment, together with a blot, wliich all the waters of Lethe will never be able to ex- punge, I mean by the eifea of the Order of Council; The hand of power has ap- peared ftrctched out againft the Bank, where a fagacious ftatefman, if driven to the meafure, Would, at leaft, have fo con- •duaed it as to have anfwered the fiime end, and have fparcd this indelible ilain on the charaacr and nature of the Bank. (( Q oaiiit V lili liiii'i SB THE DUKE OF GRAFTON. cc Saint Domingo alone, without many confli6ls, and no battle fought, befides the millions there laviihed in the moft wild and unjuftifiablc of all attempts, has (what is ftill more lamentable) proved to be a grave for the greater part of the troops fent thither, fo that the remnant is but the Ikeleton of our once-noble army. The numbers, both of officers and men, who have fuccefsively fallen vidims to dire dif- eafes in that horrid climate, exceed what would be credited. Their relatives have to thank the wild and weak projecl: of a mih and incompetent Minifter, who may pofsibly flil} with ipfenfibility aiifwer, that fuch is the chance of war, . I do not dare acquaint your Lordfhips to what a fmall number is reduced the regular iur- flmtry in England. . The Minifter ^ ought to be aware of it ; and I know what it is ; and I now mention it as a warning to the noble Lord in office, that he, with his col- leagues, may not be weakening this cfTen^ tial defence ftill farther by emplpying them on more f^ital projeds; when it is, and ought to be, the principal of all meafurcs to If, I out many befides the moft wild has (what 1 to be a the troops mt is but rmy. The men, who to dire dif- ceed what tives have oject of a who may r anfwer, r, , I do )s to what egular ink- ier ^ ought kV'hat it is ; ing to the li his col- this eflenc ^ing them t isj and { mcafures to THE DUKE OF GRAFroN. 29 to give fecurity at home. The melan- clioly ftate of the navy affords a frefli proof of the incapacity and want of faga- city of Adminiftration — who was there except themfelves, who did not fee the propriety and necefsity of afsifting, in fome fuitable way, the feamen, when, at the mo- ment of the high price of provifions, con« fiderable indulgencies were direfted for the foJdiers? But it will pofsibly be afked, if thefe matters were fo palpable, how hap- pened it that thofe, who were of that opi- nion, were fo totally filent on the fubjea ? —for the plaineft of all reafons : becaufe the Lords in office, and their followers, would have been happy to have held fuch perfons out as the fomenters of mutiny and fedition. i " As to Ireland : That kingdom muft be conlidered to be in fo critical a flate, that unlefs a reform, a temperate reform in Parliament, and a full emancipation of the Catholics, together with a total change of the men who now conducl: the affairs in that country, take place, and diredly, if it ■i'l'i 50 THE l>ukE OF GRAFTOm it be not now too late, we /hall foon fee that Ireland added to the lift of Repub- lics, which the fatal meafures of our Mi. nifters have been the caufe of ere^ing and eftablifhing all over Europe : but with this difference, that if a Revolution takes place in Ireland, it will inevitably pro- duce a Revolution in Great Britain. Of no pofition in politics was I ever fo af- fared of as of this, I proteft : an axiom from which no arguments will ever be able to withdraw my reafbn. To^ prevent tliefe greateft of evils extending higher, it will be wife to oppofe the only effeaive re- medy, which I carneftly recommend to the cool and difpafsionate confideration of all your Lordihips : I mean a temperate Parlia- mentary Reform in this country, without which the Conftltution. will flip from under us; and that great and Sagacious itatefman, who delivered in another place that inimitable argument in favour of Par. liamentary Reform, might have added to tlie names of Montefquku and Machiavel, that ftill more revered forvvifdom, the --ime of our Lord Bacon, tlian whom there was II foon fee 3f Repub- f our Mi* ere(5ling but witli ion takes ibiy pro- tain. Of •er fo af- an axiom ever be X prevent ii\her, it 26liye re- id to the >n of all 'c Parlia- without p from agacious sr placo of Par- deled to dchiavel^ niy the m there was THE DUKE OF GRAFTON, SI was not ^a more ftrenuous advocate for the frequent revifal and corredions of all national inftitutions, maintaining always, that every human fabric or eftablifhment was fubjea to that decay and corrup- tion, which lapfe of time would neceflli- rily produce. " Thus have thefe Miniftcrs, who have hitherto been controlled in nothing, brought the nation from the upper ftep of its greatnefs down, by rapid degrees, to the lowcft, where we now ftand, and are looking up with doubts, whether we ilill pollcfs virtue, public and private, fufiicient to carry us up the fteep and rugged hill we have in view, and which mufl be climbed. " Is there any one, to whom it need be faid, that this chain of difafters can no more have fallen out by chance, and the common fate of war, than the beautiful globe we walk on could have been pro- duced under an Epicurean fyftem, by a fortuitous concurrence of an infinity of atoms ? 32 THE DUKE OF GRAFTO.V, atoms? No, my Lords; let us not con- demn chance for our fituation, nop iot our fufferings: the Minifters are before you who brought you hither. Your Lord- ihips have to this day given them your fupport : many of you, I doubt not* from laudable motives; and, if you could di- ved yourfelves of falfe notions of deli- cacy, vi^outd, I am perfuaded, profefs that you had been milled, and would haften the more to do all the good of which you are fo capable. The confidence that has hitherto been given, from whatever motives proceeding, has proved fatal — Wif- ilom is at no time more confpicuous, nor more amiable, than in the acknowledgment of error. But all fupport given to the fame Minifters, from this moment, the public has a right to confider to be given with open eyes, and therefore to involve the perfon equally with the Miniller, in the guilt of every future fatal projed. " As to myfclf, I folemnly protefl, that no confideration. that the world can otfer, would Ibnd in competition with the com- fort not con» nop fof ire before our Lord- lem your notj from could di- of dell- 3fefs that Id haften )f which mce that whatever tal— Wif^ uous, nor ledgment 1 to the ent, tlie be given ► involve niller, in ojedl. teft, tliat ?an otfcr, iic com- fort THE DUKE OF GRAFTON. 33 fort I reel ; that (o far from having abetted the pernicious counfels which have brought on the downfal of the empire, I have to the beft of my little ability, endeavou'red by every conftitutional means to prevent them. " Thus have I difcharged my duty to the King, to my Country, and to myfelf j for I was early perfuaded that a perfeve, ranee in thefe pernicious meafures would endanger the Crown itfelf, injure or over- throw the Conflitution. I would leave every man without excufe, who, forefceing the gathering florm, did not exert him- lelf to avert the dreadful confequences. « If this motion is to be received, at this alarming period, with the fame cold indifference which has been ihewn bv the Houie in days lefs difalirous ; and, if ^I fee an unconftitutional confidence, become now by events infinitely more unconftitutional, n. eontinued to the fame degree towards Mimfters, after fo evident proof of their repeated mifufe of it^for one, I /hall not Vol. I. D think u THE DUKE OF GRAFTON. ■, think it neceflary for myfelf to trouble your Lordfhips, in that cafe, any more. Before I retire, to fortify my own mind againft the calamities which are faft ap- proaching, and to prepare my family for that which they will probably have to un- dergo, I fhall think it to be a duty incum- bent on me, to lay before my Sovereign the reafons for my condu6t ; flattering my- iielf that I fhall be allowed that gracious hearing, which His Majefly has fo often given formerly to one, from whofe tongue he never heard but the dictates of the heart as fmcerely as they are now delivered to your Lordfhips." 'ii •'• III CHAPTER ( 35 ) r , . t . ' • . . . CHAPTER ir. WKE of LEEDS. Character. Extract from his Tract on the American War. Difapproves of that War. Made Secretary of State. His Reafons for refigning. With the moft amiable and accom- plifhed manners of a gentleman, his Grace has /hewn that he pofTeffes the talenls of a writer and a politician. At the beginning of the American War, the Duke wrote a pamphlet entitled, " A " Short Hint, addrefTed to the candid and " difpafsionate, on both fides the Atlantic." The following fhort extraa will fufficiently /hew the objedl of it. ** The idea of a land war [with Ame. rica] feems to be impolitic, from the na- ture and extent of the country; and I conceive, though our troops may be fuc- ^ 2 cefsful. ijl:t. LI:: : :■■ [. S6 DUKE OF LEEDS. cefsful, their vi6lories cannot be rapid. The expcnce, at all events, mud be enor- mous ; the fuccefs I think doubtful. The navy, in my opinion, feems the only pro- per inllrument to carry on the war with, if holliiities ?7iii/i continue. " With regard to the great queftion of right, I am clearly of ©pinion, that colo- nics, from their nature, muft be fubje(^ tQ the mother country, and cpnfequently conlroulable by the great legiflative author rity of the parent ftate, in whatever hands fuch authority may be lodged. And I conceive it a dangerous do6lrine to ad- mit, that the Crown may claim the allegi- ance of millions of Britifh fubjedts,, inde- pendent of^ and unconnected with, the two other conllituent parts of the legifla- ture. Such is my firm idea with regard to the legiflative authority of this country over its colonies. And I am no lefs fully convinced, that the meafure of levying taxes in fo diilant a part of the empire, contrary to the almofl: unanimous opi- nion of the people propofed to be taxed, 2 was be rapid, be enor- ful. The only pro- war with, [ueftion of hat colo- fubje<5t to ifequently ve authof ver hand§ And I le to ad- he allegi- 6ts, inde- vith, the he legifla- th regard s country ' lefs fully i levying e empire, lous opi- be taxcd^ was DUKE bF Leeds. ^j was an ill-advifed, inexpedient, and moft impolitic ftcp on the part of government. ^ « Let the ablcft men of both countries join in the purfuit of reformation; let party for once give way to public good. If the Americans, coolly deliberating, pro- duce any grievances under which they la- bour, let them be remedied. Should a ftate of total independence prove at lafl their objea, (which I flatter myfelf it is not) I know no remedy: give them up. But if they wiih no more than a more eafy dependence on the mother country indulge them with it; the more eafy theJr fituation, the more beneficial mufl they be to Great Britain." But although his Grace was for the warm the commencement of it, he after wards changed his opinion. He faw the nnpraclicability of carrying, it on, and he faw, With mdignation, the mifcondu6t and imbecility of the Miniftry. His Grace was appointed Chamberlain to the Queen in 1777, which lit refigned at the end of the D 1 kill 38 DUKE OF LEEDS. mi year 1779, becaufe, as he himfelf ftated, he did not think it decent to hold a place when he found himfelf under the necefsity of oppofing the meafures of government. In the debate in the Houfe of Lords, on the eighth of February 1780, his Grace ftated his reafons for refigning; which were his difapprobation of the American war, and of the condu6l of the Miniftry in carrying it on : the particulars of which the reader will find in the debates printe4 in the Parliamentary Regifter of that year. Upon the change of the Miniftry at the end of the year 1783, his Grace was appointed Secretary of State, for thq fouthern, now called the foreign depart- ment; but upon the difpute with Rufsia, concerning Ockzacow, in the fpring of 1791, his Grace not approving of Mr. Pitt's; conduct in that affair, refigncd his employ- ment ; and ftated in the Houfe of Lords, as he had done before, the caufes of his refignation. They were, briefly, thefe;—- • In the negotiation for peace betweeri Rufsia !-"■■ ■■!■ ;i ! DUKE OF LEEDS. 39 Riifsla and the Porte, tlie Brltlfli Minlfby had infilled, that Rufsia fliould rcftore Ockzacovv to the Porte. The Court of Pcter(burgli peremptorily rcfufed to ac* cede to this condition; upon which the Briti/h Miniflry ordered a fleet to be im- mediately equipped, in order to compel Rufsia to a coniphance with their demand. A war with Rufsia was on the eve of break, ing out. But after two months confidera- tion, tlic Miniflry abandoned the dif- pute concerning Ockzacow, and difarmed the fleet, whicli at that time was ready for fea. Upon this point, tlie Duke of Leeds differed and rcflgncd. The independence of his mind would not permit him to ac- commodate both ways; oi, as he himfelf ftated it, " If it was right to abandon Ockzacow, it was wrong to arm if it " was right to inflft upon Ockzacow, it " was wrong to difarm." m ■m The candid and open manner in which his Grace flated the caufes of both his re- fignations, forms an honourable trait in his charaaer. This laudable example guglit ' D * to iii;'i t0 i it iM 11 ■; I I r i!:;'-! 40 DUKE OF J^EEDS, to be followed by all the great Officers of State whenever they think proper to refign their employments. The nation has a right to know their reafons ; and when thofe reafons are declared by themfelves, as in the cafe of the Duke of Leeds, the declaration prevents the propagation of unfounded opinions, and the charge of finifter motives, i'll! CHAPTER ( ^» ) CHAPTER III. DUKE OF DORSET. Poems of the Sackville Family, Poems of Lord Nugent, 1 HIS noble Duke has more than once recommended the compilation of a work, that would undoubtedly reflea much ho' nour upon his anceftors ; which, however, no perfon has yet undertaken. This is a coUeaion of the Poems written by the Sackville family. Thefe poems his Grace wifhed to fee divided into three books, viz. The firft book to contain the poems Lord Buckhuril. The fecond book to contain the poems of Charles Earl of Dorfet. The third book to contain the poems o> the late Earl of Middlefex. Every im 1 1 i ■J li 1 .i;i ■ . ^ 4 '■' \^' ■' ■ H H- 1 ' III . ■ -;' iiipij:'' 1 ■ ;'ii| F-'i ■4 ■iii; "i 42 DUKE OF DOBSET. Every perfon acquainted with the pro- grefs of . political literature in England, will admit, that the work would exhibit a fine feries of ancient, middle, and mo- dern poetry. The two firft books may be obtained with tolerable exa<5lnefs from Cogan's and Lintot's editions of the Minor Poets ; but who can collect the laft ? They are fugitives, and muft be obtained from fuch individuals as happen to poflefs and to know them ; and who, perhaps, are not eafily difcovered. The late Lord Nu- gcnt*s poems, which are faid to breqthe the true Horatian hre, lie in the fame flate ; and are at this time, probably, more than half unknown. The defcendants, or relatives, of thefe noble authors, are the only perfons competent to perform thefc a<^s of literary juftice. CHAPTER ( ^3 ) GHAPTEP IV. DUKE OF RUTLAND. His Tmcts, Solicits Lord Lonfdak tc bring Mr, Pitt into Parliament, Liberalitt/ of Lord Lonfdak, Obfermtion^ 1 HIS noble Duke, while at Cambridge, wrote two pamphlets. One was called " An Efiay on J c. Mortality of the Soul." The other wj:? iititled " A Defence of « Modern Adultery." Neither of them were ingenious; but they are fufficient to rank his Grace amongft noble authors. The only circumftance of his juvenile merits (for he died while a young man) that can with propriety be noticed here, is, that his Grace was accidentally the ob- tainer of Mr. Pitt's firrt feat in Pariiament. When Mr. Pitt failed in his iirft attempt iipon the Univerfity of Cambridge, he liact no profpea of fucceeding elfewhcrc. A day or two after this failure, Uie Duke of 44 DUKE OF RUTLAND. ;:' mi in:!!-.;" 'Ml , ' ■'I of Rutland met the Earl of Lonfdale (then Sir James Lowther) in St. James's-ftreet, and immediately accofted him, with a(k- ing his Lordliip, as a favour, if he could pofsibly make room in any of his Boroughs to bring his young friend Mr. Pitt into Parliament, who had juft loft his ele6lion for Cambridge. Lord Lonfdale, who had always done thefe things in the moft li- beral manner, without ftipulating any con- ditions in the manner of voting, (as with Governor Johnftone and others, whofe votes he never reftrained) complied with the Duke's rcqueft, and brought in Mr. Pitt for Appleby, at the general eleajon in the year 1780. If this accidental meeting in the pub- lick ftreet had not happened, it is pro- bable that Mr. Pitt had not been in Par- liament, or at leaft not for fome time. And Mr. Pitt in return, made Sir James Lowther Earl of Lonfdale, and the Duke of Rutland Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. CHAPTER dale (then es's-ftreet, with afk- he could 1 Boroughs Pitt into s eledtion who had : moft li- ; any con- (as with hofe votes with the Mr. Pitt iedlion in the pub' it is pro- n in Par- e time. Sir James he Duke eland. ( *5 ) CHAPTER V, nORACE WALPOLE, EARL OF ORFORO Account of two Political Tracts mitten hy him. Lord Bute's Intention of taking axeay his, and other Patent Places. His Letter to his Confiituents. 1 HE only notice that can, with propriety be taken in this work, of this literary and noble Ix)rd, is concerning two political traas, written by his Lordthip, The firfl traa was entitled, « The Oppo- •' fition to the late Minifter vindicated " The pamphlet was written in the autumn of the year 1763. "The late Minitter," was the Earl of Bute, Being written in the hour of indignation it may be fuppofed to be animated ; and it may be remarked, that It is the moft fpiri.ed of his Lordlhip's politi- cal produaions. On this account, as the traa ,s very fcarce, the reader may not be difpleafed with an cxtraa from it ;'],mticu- hv\y 46 HORACE WALPOLB, EARL OF ORFORn* larly of that part which relWes to public meafures* •A ,j -I ■i ■;i'l 'd I'll :r 1! ,(1 ■;i i.v li 111 ■i;!-!! I' The firft of thefe meafures Was the peace of Parrs, concluded in the month of February, 1763. The next was the extenfion of the excife laws to the makers of cyder and perry. As thefe were the prominent features of the Earl of Bute's adminiftration, the reader will not be difpleafed with feeing the Earl of Orford's opinion of them. " The arguments, fays his Lordihip, againlt the terms of the peace, lie in a very narrow compafs. The primary obje6t of the war [Canada] had been in ^ur hands three years before the peace was concluded. The enemy had obftinately protra6ted ap unfuc- ccfsful war, at an amazing expence to us. Might we not equitably hope to avail our- felves of fome of the fucceflfes we have had fince the acquifition of Canada, and to re- imburfe ourfelves in part, by retaining one ©f ii''i" ORFORO^ ;| to public "w^as the month of ^ the excile 1 Matures of . the reader ^ : the Earl 1 HORACE WALPOLE, EARL OF ORFORD. 47 of the valuable iflands, inftead of reimburfing the enemy, by furrendering both, better con- ditioncd than we found them, and after the fubjeas of France had enriched thcmfelves, by iharing in the benefits and privileges be^' longing to the Britifli planters ? Was it the ob- jea of our counfels, and an employment fit for our arms, to conquer thofe iflands, in order to take the fubjeas of France into our pro- teaion, and fecure their trade againft the Briti/h men of war and privateers ? It was a queflion two or three yeare be- fore, whether Canada or Guadalupe fliould be retained by us, and the queflion was thought an embarrafsing one. Was not that queflion changed by the ftate of the war, as It flood lafl year, 17^2 ? Were all the fubfe- quent conquefls nothing ? and was it unju/l in the wifefl men of this nation, towards their Sovereign or their country, to expea that fomethmg like an indemnity ilwnld arife from the conquefls made wiili fo much blood and treafure ? " The account between us nnd our ene- mies was very /hort and iiiteMigi!)le. Franee look '■>■■' III illli! 48 HORACE WALPOLE, EARL OF ORFORD. took Minorca ; Spain took nothing. I am not difpofed to inflame my countrymen, by reciting all that we have taken. Our na- tional glory begins to- be an obnoxious fub- je45t at home. The friends of the Miniflry forbear calling the laft a glorious war, which is its true defcription ; they chufeJ rather, in j unification of the peace, to call it a bloody and experifive w?iTy which is no more defcriptive of this, than of any the moft ignominious war. t •*• The treaty of Utrecht has been com- plained of for many years, and very juftly. But what was the ftate of the account be- tween us and the French at the time of that treaty, if compared with our late fupe- riority Over that broken, difgraced, difpirited nation ? They could not have carried on the war longer without extreme difficulty ; and if they fhould renew it fooner than their friend, our late Minifter, may expe6l, will it not be. with tlie ammunition which they have had the dexterity to draw from this treaty of peace ? (£ It is a poor defence of the meafure, to charge _.na HORACE WALJ-OLE, EARL Ot ORPORD. 49 charge the oppofitlon to it with undue and jndirea motives, amidft fo many direct and hmmirahk motives to influence the oppofers. Before the matter was confidered in Parlia- ment, the general diflike of it was imputed to the private pcrfonal intereft which fome Commercial men had in the war. and which would induce them to exclaim againft miv peace. There might be fuch men and fuch motives But were there not many alfo. who had a private perfonal intereft in the fup,x,rt of the Minifter, and confequently .n«»3, peace? And, after deduding the men under each of thefe defcriptions! was there not a large number of difinterefted men rema.nmg, who judged upon the plaia that" th r''' 1'^'^'^" "^ ='"'' ^''-"-y. that the national honour and intereft were no fufiicently confulted i„ the terms of " When the oppofition was made in Par. '.ament there being no pretence for il put.ng It to motives of immedialeintere^, o her motives equally dilhonourable were a -gned, left the nation ftould form th' ob^ous judgment, that men of thT hVft VOL. I. p - "-" E rank, 50 HORACE WALPOLE, EARL OF ORFORD^ rank, of the greateft undcrftandlng, of in- dependent wealth, and of known attach- ment to the family on the throne, as well as to the intereft of their country, oppofed the peace upon right motives. '\m m ■Ji ;:!i| •' They were called a faction, and the word has been trumpeted about the king- dom. But mere words are a feeble fupport to a public caufe ; and inveclives are, in this cafe, the moft impotent of all words. If an ailociation of wife and dijinterejied men, for the purpofe of delivering the King and Conllitution from the dangerous ambition of a fellow- fubject, be a faction, then the op- pofcrs of the late Minifler deferve that name, and will be proud of it. But if a partv, compofcd of men of different views and principles, united by manifeft motives of interell, and confpiring to aggrandize one man, iigainft the known intcrefl; of the King, at the hazard of the Conllitution, and at the expence of public tranquillity, be a FACTION, the name will return naturally to its original proprietors, notw ithllanding the virulence with which they call it from thcm- fclvl's upon other men. J ORFORD# [ig, of in- 'n attach- le, as well ^, oppofed ^, and the the king- >lc fupport es are, in all words. rejted men, King and mbition of i\\ the op- ferve that But if a ^rent views 5ft motives andize one eft of the tution, and illity, be a laturally to :anding the from them- • " The HORACE WALPOLE, EARL OF ORFORD. 51 " The next article of impeachment againft the oppofition is, their having oppofed an i^xtcnfion of the excife Jaws. The writer [meaning the writer of a tra#, entitled, , . ^^"^^l^''^^-"« on the prefent dangerous Crifis, which was afcribed to Mr. Owen l^uffhead, editor of the Statutes, and to which _^this traa, by Lord Orford, was an .tnfwer] mtroduces it with confefsing the tax upon cyder to have h^t^.n precipitate, im^ politic, and inaderjicate ; pretty heavy char-es •-^gainft a tax, which it has been ufual^o contrive with deliberation, tvifdom, and a nice ejtimate of the fufficiency of it For the pay: nicnts to which it is appropriated. . . " He confciTes moreover, by referrine us totJie act of William the Third, that this tax ,san extension of the excife laws; for tliat act taxes only the maker of cyder Irom bought fruit ; this taxes the maker in gem-al. He would have it underftood, that there IS but little difference in this. Thfe ."/.iu.at.on is very unbecoming a vvrittr, who complains of want of candour and in- tegrity m the writers on the other fide. ii>e difterence is, that the makers from ■■' ^ * boHgh't %i i; I' 1 'i¥ 't 52 HORACE WALPOLE, SAUL OF ORFORD. lioiight fruit are very few in comparifon ; and the makers in general arc, the Peers, Gentlemefl, Freeholders, and Farmers of fix or feven counties. " Tlierc is befide^ a material difference between the maker of cyder from bought fruit, and the farmer who grows it. The majier frran bought fruit can chufe, whether be will buy fruit, ajid be a cyder-maker. lie know3 upon what terms and conditions he fubjeas himfelf to exeife laws. Whereas the farmer, who grows it, is of courfe, and, without any choice of his own, become fub- jea to excife laws, or he muft forego the produce of his farm, " It was with this attention to liberty and cqaityy that the duty upon beer and ale was made payable only by him, who fells it. Every man may brew as little as he pleafes. Whereas the apple-grower mnft make more cyder, than for his own eonfumption. The perifhable nature of his fruit leaves him no choice. It has been fuggefted, that this tax may create cyder-makers, who, by buying the apples, may ex- empt the farmer from the vifitation of 4. ' e^icife- HORACE WALPOLE, EARL OF ORFORD. 53 excifemen. A blefled effe^l indeed ! The farmer of a cyder farm is to have tJie alter- native, of either fubjedling himfelf to an opprefsion, to which no other farmers are fubjert, or of difpofmg of his perijltabk fruit to a monopolizing cyder-maker, who will be enabled, by Ihe terrors of this tax, and of the mode of levying it, to bring the farmer to his own terms. " The excife upon, and Conipofit'onfor, malt is no grievance, compare^ with thi* excife upon cyder. It is the maltfler's own free choice to fubjea himfelf to it. He is under no necefsity to turn maltfter for the fake of his barley ; for the barley will not perifh immediately ; and if the demand for it at home ihould not anfwer his expeaa- tion, he has a chance of finding a demand for it abroad, and is encouraged to exj^ort it, by a bounty. Barley therefore is a marketable commodity ; apples arc not till made into cyder. They are not fit for ex- portation, nor will they admit of delay in the fale. The maltfter has another chance. He may convert his barley into fpirits, and has in that cafe too the advantage of a prr- ^ ^ mium ^ ri Mm Ill, • ^% ■■II '■ ! I' ' -; 54- HORACE WAJ^POLE, EARL OF ORFORD; mium for exportation. Cycler may be con^^ Vjerted into fpirits ; but there is no premium for the exportation of that fpecies of fpirits. So that every argument, which has been drawn from the cafe of beer and of malt, is foreign to the objedlions, which have been made to this excife upon cyder. m ! !|. iiri " Our author indeed acquaints us, that this is no new method of taxation ; for the duty on mead and other liquors is, by feveral a6ls, made payable by the Jiiaker generally. There would be fome weight in this plea, if he could name the farrn, which produces nothing but honey, or if he Could prove, that the inconveniences arifmg from the duty upon mead, and thofe other li- quors, are in any degree fo extenfive, as thofe arifmg from this new excife upon cyder, ** The hiftory, which he gives us of the taxes on cyder, is a very indifferent apology for this new tax. The a6t of Charles the Second, he tells us, having laid a duty upon the retailer^ the a(5l of William the Third, intrenched farther on the liberty of .* the ford; be con- •emium fpirits. IS been f malt. h have IS, that for the !■ is, by ft?" 1' maker jight in '', , which e Could ig from ther li- ive, as 3 upon of the ' ipology ■™ •les the a duty im the ►erty of 1 the 1 :*. HORACE WALPOLE, EaRL OF ORFaRD. 5S the fubjedl, by laying the duty upon the jnaker of cyder from bought fruit for fale» Whpe then, fays he, is the new encroach- ment on liberty? Where is the additional badge of fervitude ? It is ftrange, that he Hiould repeatedly fay. Tell m: ivhere, for he fees it in his next fentence. The duty is now payable by the maker generally, that is, by the Peers, Gentlemen, Freeholders and Farmers of iix or fcven counties, who never were before^ and are now fubjected to EXCISE laws. Great as the authority of our glorious deb verer is, it is here very invidi- oudy quoted. The friends to his memory are fo, becaufe they are friends to liberty, and are not fo implicitly devoted even to him, as to concur in fuperadding a new en- croachment on liberty, to a new encroach- ment of the fame kind in his reip-n. '* The author feems to triumph, ^\ hen he mentions the compoiition of five fhillings per head, to exempt thofe, who make cyder for private confumption, from the vifitation of excife oflicers. But is it the cafe of any man, who rents a cyder form, that he makes no more cyder, than for private con- E 4? fump- I ^H jitif ' : '' - i. 1^ ^^B !' 11'^' 1 j:, ' ! I' H ' v.':!!!; 5(5 HORACE WALPOLE, EARL OF ORFORD. fumption ? We may judge from the quan- tities confumed all over England, and the quantities exported, how fmall the private confumption of the farmer is, in proportion to the quantity of apples he grows. But to ihew the futility of this argument more glaringly, let us fuppofe the growers of wheat to be made liable to an excife for their wheat; would it be a remedy ade- quate to the evil, or any confolation to the farmers, to allow them a compofition for the quantity of wheat confumed in their own families ? ^ ** After rcafoning fo very anfwerably, in fupport of the excife upon cyder, our au- thor concludes, as might be expeded, with an afTertion of his own, that there is no reafonable ground for the violent clamour made againlt the mode of collection, tnilefs cycle?' makers have a right to more liberty^ than the makers of other liquors, I anfwer, with an appeal to truth and common fenfe, that apple-growers have a right to enjoy as much liberty, as barley-growers, and that they are neceflarily cyder-makers, becaufe thoy arc apple-growers ; whereas the barley- grower HORACE WALPOLE, EARL OP ORFORD. 57 grower is not iieceflarily a maltller, or a brewer. " But this is only a fmall fallacy of our author's; he commits a greater, when he affirms, that the bill pafFed, without any application from the counties aggrieved, or fuppofed to be aggrieved. It is well known with how much precipitation the bill pafTed; with fo much, that this very advocate for it acknowleges it to have been precipitate. The counties aggrieved had not time to inftrua their members in form, or to petition Par- liament. But if letters from the gentlemen and farmers in thofe counties, to Members of both Houfes, are any evidence, volumes of them might be produced to prove, how general the difcontent was, before the pafs- ing of the aa ; and the thanks and inftruc- tions, which fome gentlemen have received fmce, abundantly fhew, how early the op- pofition without doors began, and how vigorouHy it ftill fubfifts. " It may be candid to fuppofe thefe fal- lacies undefi-ned, or perhaps tallacies may be # i 1 i ; '^i m 58 HORACE WALPOLE, EARL OF ORFOR^i he coii/idered a» the privilege of an infirm caufe. But wliat iliaK we fay to a writer of decency and of apparent authority, who ven- tures to afFert an abfohite falfliood, which this gentleman does, in faying, that the bill paifed through the Houfe of Commons without a divifion. I would not in dirccl terms charge him with a falfhood, if I could not appeal to every Member of that honour^ able Houfe, whether there were not at Icalt fix divifions upon it ? '' ■ ' *' The reader fees upon the whole, that this tax i« a manifefl extenjion of the excife laws, to perfons, who were not fubject to them before, and are by this law put upon a worfe footing, than their fellow fubje6ts in other parts of the kingdom, to whom the €xcife laws do not yet extend. It was therefore liable to all the oppofition and clamour it has met with, even if we could fuppofe the Aminiftration, who projedled it, to have been wife and favourable to liberty. " It *s a feeble attempt to millead the reader, HORACE WALPOLE5 EARL OF ORFORD. 59 reader, when, inftead of a folid manly de- fence of the tax, we are amufed with trite declamations about the malice of party, and with inflammatory inve(5lives againft other taxes, which are paid without murmuring, and conflitute a confiderable part of the public revenue. *« The tax upon beer, which thefe Im- potent candidates for popularity tell us, in a florid way, is cruelli/ wmng from the briny fiveat of indufiry, was, at the time, the bell tax, that could be contrived . If I remem- ber rightly, the brewers intended to impofe it, if the Pariiament had not. It operates fo infenfibly, that the people, who mur- mured at it, begin to be reconciled to it; and it produces' fo confiderable a revenue, that it is a great aa of infidelity towards Government, to throw out, in a feemingly authorifed pamphlet, infinuations againft a burden, which it was neceirary to impofe, and which the late Minifter liad not ikill to' remove. " He had thoughts of purchafmg popu- larity 1 ■■■'.;■'! ■■: n !jli' \'_ (■ I: . ,.( '■''' ''l.r, 111- 4^0 HORACE WALPOLE, EARL OF ORFORI>rf iarity by tlie facrifice of this piece of na-^ tional flreisgth ; and, finding it impofsiWe, iiumbled, in hi- feveries, upon a tax lefs profitable and more obnoxious. He made one bold effort for popularity, in pafsing this verj^ bill, by profefsing an abhmrence of cxcife. His apologift in the pamphlet be- fore us imitates him, I am not afhamcd to repeat my words, that it is unfajthfui, and unkiiMi to Goc^ iment, in a fervant of the Crown, to decliun^ c^gain(l the method of colletSting the iniS. vaUiable branch of the revenue, unlefs he had a more unexccption« able method to propofc ; and it was much too thin a veil to throw over this cyder bill, which extends the opprefsive part of that method of collection to almofl every gen- tleman and farmer in fo canfidcrable a part of England, " I fay of England, for Scotland is not at all affed:ed by it. Moft of the counties in South-Briton make fome cyder, though it is the peculiar produce of only fix or feven ; but Scotland makes none. It would have been too glaring an 7it\ of jxir- tialib% ^■i^ ORFOROrf *'W HORACE WALPOLE, EABI, OF ORFOttD. 61 tiality, to have laid a general tax upon Great Britain, and by aw expre/s provifo to have exempted Scotland from paying it. A wifer and more decent expedient was hit iqjon i a heavy buxden is laid on South-Bri- tain, which ihall not reach to Scotland ; that happy land of Cofhea (hill not touch iW burden with one finger, and fhall be ex- empted from all the plagues ^d vexationsj which fall upon her imited fifter, botli ^ to the load of the tax itfelf, and as to t(*p opprefsive mode of colle I! It' ,.- i II: fe^ HdRACft WALPOLE, EJARL CP ORFOHlJi intei-pofed, and excited jealoufies, which have put back the union for twenty years at leafl* iA, i ■ P .)iv|: - « Thefe Wefd the principal of the late Minifter's meafures, which were oppofed in Parhament ; and that the oppofition was not faciious, appears from one circuniftancc, which deferves to be mentioned to the ho- nour of the oppofers. Their diflike of the "whole of his Adminiftration, of the foun* tdation and jthe condua of it, did not in- iiuence them to oppofe the neceflary bufi- nefs of Government, as has been the prac*. lice of former oppofitions. They were too well affeaed to his Majefty to do this ; and though it may be faid, that their fmall number would have rendered it ineffedtual, yet that confideration did not weigh with them, when, impelled by the beft princi^ pies, they oppofed the extravagant panegy- ric upon a peace, which they could not approve, and the opprefsive tax upon cyder." m . ill. \^ It' w.as natural for his Lordfhip to write -• - with HORACE VVALPOLE, EARL OF ORFORD. 6S .with a fplrit beyond his ufual equanimity, on thefe fubjects. He had feen the Sweep- ing hand of the Earl of Bute, difcarding throughout every department, every friend of the late Whig Minillry. And he muft have felt upon the occafion, as every other pcrfon did, who was a friend to the family on the throne. In the general fweep that was made by Lord Bute, this noble Lord was excepted, not by any partiality, but hy a conftitutional interdiction to the power of -the Minifter. Lord Orford held hh places by patent. The. patent places, which were held by different perfons, gave Lord Bute fome con- cern ; becaufe he found that he could not inltantly take them away. And it is cer- tain, that he had an idea of committing an" acl of violation, in this matter. He con- fulted his friend Lord Mansfield upon it. And thus much we know, that Lord Mans- field did not indeed ^ly, that it was lazvfui to take away the places held by patent ; but he faid,.that he [Lord Bute] might take them may, and if the ri^/a to do lb , t, m ■■i uas if !:«:■:• riN . r C4f HORACE WALPOLE, EARL OP ORFORD. was difputed, the right might be tried * which gave rife to Sir FJbtchcr Norton's ex- prefsion, " Do the thing firft, and juftify " it afterwards." Tht intciided qucltion was, whether the patents, granted by the late King, did not cixpire with the death of the King? The qucflion however was dropt. It is impofsible to fay, whether *car or pru- dence was the caufe of it. The fecond tra(ft was entitled, " A Coun- " ter Addiefs to the PubHc, on the late. " difmifsion of a General Oflficer." The occafion of it was this : On the great quef- tion relating to General Warraiits, which wag debated in the Houfe of Commons in the month of February, 1764, General Conway voted againft the Miniftry ; for this vote he was dfmifled from the aimy, and from his place of groom of the bed-c^ imber to the King. (See more upon this fubjed in Chapter VIII.) This coadua of the Mi nifter was vindicated in a pamphlet called, " An Addrefs to the Public on the iate dif- " mifsion of a General Officer.' I' anfwer to this paniphlet. Lord Orfoi . >tc his' " Counter I r a ha oil L3 HORACE WALPOLE, EARL OF ORl ijy, QS *' Counter Addreft." Both the pamphlets are printed in the <' Colleaion of ScarcQ " Traas," for J. Debrctt. ^ Ii, the year 17^4, his Lord/hip wrote a few pohtical papers in the London Evening. Ppfl; and in the year 176^, a few in the Public Advertifer. At the general ele^ion in the -ear 1168 he declined his feat in Parliament. His letter to his conflltuents upon that occafion iiever having been printed in London, the reader will not be difpleafed to fee it here, Co-y of a Letter ju,> hy the Honourable Horace iralpole, mil lam Langley, Efq. Mayor of Lynn, in K *>//,-. -^ '* A'lmgtoyi^Jfreet, March 1 3, 1 7^7. *' s I R, *' The declining ftate of my ^ alth, and , a vvi/h of retiring from all pubL. bufinefs, ^e, for fbme time, made me thin c ,f not ofFenng my fervice agnin to the town of Lynn, as one of their Representatives in Vol. L p - Mi » 'ffi 'II 66 HORACE WALPOLE, EARL OF OKFORD* Parliament. I Vjli even on the point, above eighteen mdntfi^'iigo; of obtaining to have my feat \ seated by one of thofe temporary places, oftei^ beftowed for that purpofe ; but I thought it more r^fped^ful, and more confonant to the great and (irtgiilar obiiga-i tions I have 'to the corpora:tion and town bf Lynn, to w^ait till I had executed their comi mands to the laft hour of the commifsion they had voluntarily intrufted to me. « Till theh. Sir, I did not think of mak- ing this declaration ; but hearing that dif-? fatisfa6tion and difl'entions have arifen amongft you, (of which I am fo happy as to have been in no ihape the caufe) that a warm conteft is expelled, and dreading to fee in the uncorrupted town of Lynn what has fpread too fatally \n other places, and what, I fear, will end in the ruin of this conflitution and country, I think it my duty, by an early declaration, to endeavour to preferve the integrity and peace of fa great, fo refpedtftble, a|id fo unblemiihed a borough. » 9 ^' My HORACE ^<^ALI^OLfe, feARL OP ORFORD. ^7 ** AC y father was ne-cbofen by the free voice of Lynn," ivhen imprifoned and ex- pelled by an arbitFary Court and pfoftitute ParHament ; and from affeaion to his name, not from the fmaileft merit in me, they un'animoufly demanded me for their Mem- ber, while I was fitting for Cafile-Rifing. Gratitiide exacts what in any other light might feem vain-glorious in me to fay, but It is to the lafting honour of the town of Lynn I declare, that I hjr^e reprefented them in Two Parliaments without offering or being alked for the fmaileft gratification by any one of my conftituen*^ May 1 be permitted. Sir, to flatter myfeJF th^ are perfuaded their otherwife tmwortby Rc^pre* fentative has not difgraced fo free and un^ biaffed a choice? . " I have fat above five and twenty years in Parliament ; and allow me to fay. Sir, as I am in a manner giving up my account to iny Conftituents, that my condu^' in Par- liament has been as pure as my manner of coming thither. No man who is, or has been Minifter, 'can fay, that I have ever F 2 aft.ed I SI S I umi i . Pii I'- f: I if' < i "'n /J8 HORACE WALPOLE, EAUL Of OHFORD. aiked or received a perfonal favour. JM^ ro^es have neit?ier been dictated by fawur rm influence^ but by the principles on which the Revolution was founded, the principles by which we enjoy the eftablijhment of the prefent Royal pamily, the principles tc which the town of Lynn has ever adhered-, and by which my father commenced and clofed his venerable life. The beft and only honours I delire, would be to find that my condu6t has been acceptable and fatisfac%ry to my Canfti-* tu^nts. . ....■ >; ,.. ■ ->--;i fU^.r -^ . : ; ■ '.. ■ ^ ■ ' ■ 'Hl"i From your kindnefs, Sir, I muit in-* ti?©at to h^te. this notification made in the iTioft refp^dtful and grateful mariner to the corporation aud town of Lynp, Nothing can exceed the obligations I have to them, but my fenfibility to their favours :' And be AiTured, Sir, that no terms can putgo the eA^ejai I have for fo upright a^d untainted a borough, or the aflfedion I feel for all their goodnefs to my family aud to me. My trifling Services will be overpaid, if they gracioufly accept my intention of promoting their union and preferving their virtue ; an4 .; 2 . though HORACE WALPOJtB, EAllL OF ORFORD. 69 ^ough I may be forgotten, I never Jlmll or can forget the obligations they have conferred Sir, their and your, Moft devoted humble fervant, _ HORACE WALPOLE." -» CHAPTER ■m 1^:1' ' ( 70 ) n; CHAPTER VI. DM. JOHN BUTLER, LORD BISHOP OF HEREFORD, His Addrefs to the Cocoa Tree. Confiittation en a Standing Army, Confideratmis on Lord Bute*s Adminiflration, Account of Mr, Legge. 1 HIS Reverend Prelate has /hewn himfelf to be as able a politician as he is a divine. He was early attached to the Whigs, whofe condudt and principles, when forced from the Government by Lord Bute, in the year 1762, he defended with zeal and ability. At that time was publiflied a tra6t of fome celebrity, which was confide/ed to be the manifefto of the Tory party, entitled, " A *' Letter from the Cocoa-Tree to the Coun- ** try Gentleman." It confilted chiefly of a fevere arraignment of the conduct of the Duke of Newcaftle, the Duke of Devon/hire, and the Duke of Cumberland ; relative to their forming an oppofition to the Karl of Bute. As this pamphlet might be faid to contaitt LORD BlSttOP OP i9£RE>0RD. 71 toDtain the creed of the Tories at that titties Dr. Butier judged it t6 be not lefs proper "than nece/Tary, to dppofe 16 it the creed of theWhigg, ii^ another tfaa, which he en- titled, '* An Addrefs to the Ojcba-Tree- " fmm a mig.- The cMehdfs of the ar ' gument, the ftrfength of the reafoning, the temper and elegance of the language, were all greatly admired. He Ihewed the pHn- ciples- and condu^ of the Whigs to be ftnaiy conftitutional : and he vindicated the proceedings and opinions of his friends, in a manner fo excellent aad marterly, al to refiea not lefs honour upon his own talents^ than upon thei^ characters. It is printed in the firft volume of Scarce Traces, for J. Debretti ■it n u u His next traa was called, « A Confulta- tion on the Subjea of a Standing Army, held at the King's Arms Tavern, on the 28th of February, 1763." The argu- ments for and againft the meafurc are well drawn, .and apply with jpeculiar propriety to the period of time in which ?t was wntteh* F 4 Xn 1 hi r itii'i " i& I'll i '4 I 1 11 ■1 I'i J., .# 72 DR. JOHN BUTLER, , In the fame year hc.publifhed another tratSl, which was entitled, " Serious Con- " fiderations on the Meafures of the pre- •' fent Adminiftration." This was the Ad*^ miniftration of the Earl of Bute, while his Lordihip was Firft Lord of the Tr^a« fury. *' One of the great outlines of the prefent Adminiftration, he fays, and which has been carried to a degree unknown fince the reign of Charles the Second, is an open and declared profefsion of encreafing the power of the Crown, by creating influence and dependencies upon it in Jjoth Houfes of Parliament. In the year 1711, when the Tories were endeavouring to overturn the Whig Adminiftration, that had reduced the power of France fo low, and were projedl- ing the infamous treaty of Utrecht, Burnet fays, ' they finding the Houfe of Lords could not be brought to favour their defigns, refolved to make an experiment that none of our Princes had ventured upon in former times; a refolution was taken of making; twelvfi peers at once,' What was the corp. ;• duct LORD BISHOP OF HEREFORD. 7 J du6t of the prefent MInifter under frmilar circumftances ? He advifed the creation of iixteen peers, not indeed at once, that would have been too explicit a declaration of his motives, but all in the fpace of two years ; and net content with this, he like- wife advifed the giving penfions to a great number of that Houfe, imder the denomi- nation indeed of Lords of the Bedchamber; but as the number of thofe Lords was en- creafed, during the prefent reign, from twelve to twenty-two, the fad is, that by whatever name they are called, the King has fo many more fervants in his pay, in that Houfe, and the Minifter has ihe rod of deprivation waving over their head!=;, which fell moft heavily upon thofe who prefumed to exercife their freedom of voting againft what he recommended. But in the other Houfe, and where it is more material, this meafure was carried much further : wo are informed from hiftory, that, from the time of the Revolution, it has been the charaaeriftic mark of thofe who oppoled any increafe of pow^r i the Crown, to con- trive by laws, and every other method, to prevent i-i i'A ! il ' I* .' I' !h II I! H bR. joHJf BtJTLER, prevent the influence of the Crown in that, Houfe* Several aas of Parliament have been pafTed, to limit the nuinber of ofFicersi, who received their places from the Crown^ to have feats in the Houfe bf Commons, and, one particularly during the Whig Admini-. ftration of Queen Ann ; which declares* that no perfon poflefled of an office^ created after fuch a period, fhould be capable of having a feat in that Houfe ; and this was afterwards enforced by another of the firft of George I. that reftrained perfons having penfions, during pleafure, from fitting io the Houfe of Commons. Thefe laws werd paffed in order to be a reftraiiit on th^ Crown ; they are now in force, and mean to provide for the liberty of the people, by preventing the Crown from creating a de^ pendence upon it in its reprefentatives ^ but, like other human in/litutions^ they were evaded : when a Miaifter fhall prefum^ to advife, in the teeth of, thefe ads of far^ liament, the creation of fuch a number of Grooms of the Bedchamber, Clerks of the Green-clodi, and other officers of the houf- hold, each with a falary of five hundred poimds LORp BISHOP OF HEREFORD* is pouhds per annum, as to be double the number of thofe of his late Majefty ; and when fome gentlemtn have been removed from thefe employments with peniions, to make room for Members of the Houfe of Commons, that the law might be only evaded, not openly violated ; and v/hen we fee gentlemen of the firift fortunes, and who, through the tv;o laft reigns, prided them- felves in their independency, eagerly and meanly thrufting themfelves into this piti- ful penfion lift ; I fay, when we confider thefe things, where is the fecurity of the laws, or upon what principles of the con- ftitution can thefe meafures be defended ? 'ML M €t I /hall now confider the very great in- tended encreafe of the army. At the con- clufion of the treaty of Aix- la-Chap -I K,\ tht, whole force demanded by the Miniftc'r, for Ihe defence of this liland, Ireland, Gibral- tar, Minorca, the Weft-Indies, and the vaft trad of frontier in America, was only /V^v- nine regiments, befides the guards. What now is our Situation, compared with the prefent •ircumftances of France ? France is by the war reduced h' 'Li. 1111 '^.ili y4 ' ,. % .:M 10 DR. JbHif ftUTt^R, reduced to a very low ebb ; our pofrefsiorr% by the renunciations of the peace, are n6t materially encreafed, except in North Ame* rica, where the French are entirely ex- tirpated, and we have no other boundaries to our colonies, than uninhabited wilds and endlefs forefts — What is the number of Handing forces now propofed ? The whole of the prefent army for half a year ; and then to be reduced to fcventy-fi^ie regiments of foot, exclufive of the guards ; notwith- ftanding the addition of a militia of thirty thoufand men. What can the Minifter in- tend by fo large a force ? Security againfl; the French ? No. What then ? Is it to make an ill ufe of their power, and facrifice the liberty of this country to a (landing army ? I abhor the thought ; liis M. would never fuffer it ; the officers of the army would refufe to concur in it. What then re- mains, except that by the encreafe of Colonels, Lieuttenant-Colonels, Majors, with all the other military terms of command, the Mi- niiler may create fuch an additional depen- denqy upon the Crown, in the Members of the two Houfcs of Parliament, that th*^, meafures LQRD BISHOP OF HJEREFORD, 77 xneafures of Government may be conduaed with greater eafe ; and no oppofition think it worth their while to diftur! the quiet of the Sovereign, or endanger the fecurity of his Minifler ?** His Lordihip's laft traa was, his « Ac. *« count of the CharJ^^cr of the late Righ^ Honourable Henry Bjlfon Legge." Includ- ing his correfpondence, taken from Mr. Legge's papers, with Mr. S. Martin, con- cerning the Hamp/hirc eieaion, in the year 1759, This is jilfo printed in the Scarce Tra^s. I- in CfUPTER m !• '' 3F' 1 ' p '\ ( 78 ) CHAPTER VII. THE RIGHT HONOURABLE CHARLES TOWNSHEND, Jlis Defence of the Minrnty an the Queftion relating to General Warrants; affects Mr, Grefwille, Defence of the Majority, Letter on Libels and Warrants, Reply to the De* fetice of the Majority, by Sir William Mere- dith. Other Tracts written by Sir William Meredith, Mr, To%vr\fhend' s State of the Nation. L HIS Right Honoi'^rable Gentleman was the author of ;?. ipirited and celebrated pamphlet, written m the year 1764, en- titled, " A Defence of the Minority in the ^' Hcufe of Commons, on the Queftion re- '^ lating to General Warrants.'' The fub- je6l is fufficiently explained by the title. The pamphlet was univerfally read, and highly efteemed, not more for the im- portance of the queftion, than the elegance of the compofition. Mr. Grenville (the Mi-» nlftet) obfferving the imprefsion it made wpQJK ■ 'i ellARLRS T0WN3HENI». 7d lipoh the puWic, expi fifed hie wi/h to fee it a'nlrwep6d. '1 his tafk was i. deptaken by- Mr. Charles Lloyd, his pri\atc fecretary; whofe arifwer was ralied, « A Defence of ^ the Majority .'* The friends of the Mi. nifty were at no pains to conceal the mint from whence the anfwer iffued, This an- fwer gave nle to one of the beft, moft abl and moft conf!itu..oril kgal traas, th. has been written in the Engli/h languag /ince tf - {./ ^ .^. k s"/^ /^^ K% ^ ^ u.. e i/^ '^- 10 1.1 •* I. HlUu 1^ l£i 2.2 2.0 IL25 III 1.4 1^ 1.6 V] n ^/:. > /W y/ 'm Hiotographic Sciences (Jorporation ■s^» \ i\^ <^ ^ 23 WiST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. M580 (716) 872-4503 ^ !n i'^' The defence of the Majority drew forth a reply from Sir William Meredith ; it was called, " A Reply to the Defence of the " Majority, on the Que^ibn relating to " General Warrants.** As this gentleman had been the original mover of the ^ueftion in Parliament, this reply came with par*, titular propriety from him. He ftates- hia motives for bringing the queftion forw^d;; which were, for the fecurity and protection of the fubje<5l. The motion was in thefe words, " 1 hat a General Warrant for appfe- *' bending and feizing the authors, printers, ** and publiihers of a feditious libel, together •' with their papers, is not warranted by *' law." If the queftion upon this motion had been carriedj he fays he intended to have followed it by another, viz. "That *^ fuch warrant, if executed, is a, violation « of *t of th^ ari^ts iof the i^ubjcd^ ; ^ud ip c^f$ *,' of a Metjcdbcr of this Hovfc, is a jbreach " i)f;tibe |)riyRege,Qf ihi§ I^giufc.*' / {A few years aftenyards, Sir WitHatu Meredith ibrotight a biU 'miQ tkl^ Hmk pf Conjraons, to repeal a elaujfe m ihe NvJJura Tempus a6l. Tliis was oecajSoned *by .th^ great caufe between the JOiike of Pmtlftnd and Sir James Lowthcr. Onie of the fffin" cipal debates on the bill wm on t^e ^7Ah day of flebrjfciary, 47i7|I ; o^.ithb d^bftte. Sir William Meredith, with the afsiftaijic^r pf the Hon. Conftantine Phipps, and another gentleman, wrote sl veuy accurate acqpunt ; which hi^s fince been pcinted in ithe P^rjjy^'- ment^ry Dehaites of ^that yie^-. Hh )hek litfirp>ry >performancc and iiipon .whi^h /he beftowed xoqSl labour md ^ttention^ iw^ M traa confifling qf jabout its^Qoty ibm^ k quarto, entitled, " Hiftorical Remarks on " the Taxation of Free States." It was an anfwer to a traa that had been publifhed under the patronage of the Court and Mi- niftry, entitled, « An Hiftory of the Colo^ «' nization of the Free States of Antiquity." Vol. I, G The •i i !^^ d^ CHARLES TOWNSHEND. 'hi .'i I' -5 The point laboured at in the latter, was tcr fliew that Great Britain was fully juftified, by the precedents of antiquity, in her at- tempt to tax her colonies in America. Sir William refutes the whole of this aflertion, do6lrine and argument ; and fhews the author to be totally miftaken in all his pre- mifes. Candour muft allow, that the " Hif* ** tbiical Remarks,*' is not only a very leabiied, but a very able compofition. It was iiever pubKlfhed to the world; he printed only ibout thirty copies, which he gave alwaa^J;-- . . ; onl •:■,:_/. ' ^Tbe Right Hon. Charles Townfliend alfa wrote I" the State of the Nation^ in the •^ fears 1766 and 1767," being tlie period that he was Chancellor of the Exchequer. It confifts mepciy of exadt copies of the pqb- lii accounts of thofe years, . m hi: a ;.. . ,,. . : ■ . , , ••' ■■'■ ••* - " ' ' ■ ' . ' ' , f '1 CHAPTER Mtt. SERJEANT ADAIR* ^^^ CHAPTER Vill. ^R^ SERJEANT ADAm His Tract on the Difmifslon of General Con' uay; and on the Cafe of the J)uke of Pm^ land. HIS ! m: Gentleman lias been the ^uthor of two traas. The firft w^* entitled, " Thoughts on the Difmifsion of Officers, " civil and military/for their condud in « Parliament." The learned ,Aythor admits that the Crown has a right 'to. difmifs its fervants, but thi^iks th^t the comparifon tvhich is ofiten made, between this right of the Crown, and that which a mailer of a family polTefTes of parting with his fervants whenever he pleaTes, is not juft ; If the fervant of a fubjea is difmifled, he may get another place ; but if a fervant of the nation is difmifled, where can he go to? His,fervices and his emoluments are extina. « The matter of right," fays the learned Serjeant, " being taken as an un- controvertible principle, it may be proper G 2 to !gi 'if A -B* MB,. SfiRjEAJfT ADAr«. to enquire what kind of right this is ? For there are rights which are called fo only becaufe they are not in a ftria and legal fenfe, wrongs : rights which are confiftent with the violMion of the moft tender and faered regardb of the kws of equity, honour and humanity. If it fhould appear that the right is of this kind, there is an ample field for difcufsion. It would be highly ^ifr^pfe'afui to the wifdom of Govern- inent, to fuppofe that offices of tru/i were ever beftowei ^on others than fucli as had gained a title to tbem by their pit fer- vices, or were expcaecl to be ferviceable in futufe; and if fo, they are not to be tionfideY^ii as mere favours, as'beftowed witli- Dut regard to merit, and to ^be withdrawn lat pleafure, without any reafon given, and without ciufe pr colour of complaint It Aiay be no viofetlbii of right, it may not be' an' lihlawfiil aa, ^o to withdraw them ; tui it may be contrary to the rules of equity or prudence. Taking it. for granted, that fuch exercifes of miuillcrlal powdr are hot to be looked upon merely as ads bjf power : but that the propriety, and I MR. SERJEANT ADAIR. 85 and even i^eaitucle of them, are proper fubjeas of debate, I proceed to the ex^ amination of the following qucftidn— Whe- ther it be equitable and politic to difplace an officer, civil or military, folely for his condua in Parliament ? The firft duty of every man who ferves his country as one of its reprefentatives in Parliament, is to .confult the public good. All private ob^ hgations to a Minifler, or even to hk Sovereign, are of an inferior nature. To controul his exercife of private judgment, IS to deprive him of that liberty without which he cannot difcharge the duties he owes to the public. To punifh him fop makmg ufe of fuch liberty, is an im- plied denial of that independency which the conltitution fuppofes him to poffds i It is to declare war againfl; the freedom* of Parliament. The fear of being deprived of fUch emoluments as he enjoys from the Crown, in confequence of his oppo^ fition to meafures which he thinks detriment tal to the public, reduces him to the difa- greeable dilemma of renouncing either his private intereft, or the interefl of his coun- fj 'ih G 3 try. m

i mV 1 i ■B \p i f" mH i i'.-,r iri I , .8^ MR. SERJEANT ADAIR. try. The inflidlion of this punifhment can- not be juftified otherwife than by aflerting the oppofition to have proceeded from cor- rupt views; or at lead from an error in judgment, that requires to be redlified by fo violent a remedy. But who has a right to afTert this ? Is the Minifter a proper judge, in a caufe where he himfelf is a party ? It may be faid, that the fame reafoning con- cludes equally againft a Miniiler endeavour- ing to influence a member of parliament by any lucrative Confideration at all. Indeed I am afraid it would be difficult to prove any mcafure of that kind ftri6lly defenfible. But there is a wide difference between tempt- ing a man to be diflipnefl, and puniihing him for being honefl. The above reafon- ing holds, with peculiar force, in the cafe of that jnan who enjoys no advantages but what he has earned in the fervice of his covmtry. Every officer in the army or navy, who has been advanced in the courfe of fervice, has a jright to enjoy the dignity and ernpluments cpnfequent on his advancement^ till he has forfeited them by , fpme breach of his military duty, pr 3 . feme ,.Mi MR. SERJEANT ADAIR. g^ fome crime lawfully proved. And if, without the allegation, or. even pretence of any fuch mifbehaviour, he be degraded from his honour, and defpoilcd of his in- come; his country, which is indebted to him for his fervices, and has chearfully de- frayed the expence of his rewards, beholds with a juft indignation, a flep that tends to quench the ardour, and check the emu- lation of all who are defirous of treading in the fame honourable ftcps. It is a common thing for Minifters'to entrench themfelves behind the Royal Authority, to reprefent the oppofition to them as an at- tack upon Government, and to brand all inftances of it with the odious titles of difloyalty and difaffeaion. But in fo doing, they are guilty of betraying the power that fupports them, and excite juft i lifpi- cions of their fidelity to the trult repofed in them. If a Miniller lay claim to what even his Mailer has no right to, an un- limited acquiefcence ; his claim is uncon^ flitutional ; he has other views than the ferv- ing either his King or his country, and. power k dangerous jn his hands." G 4 Tlie •3 I ' ■il im I i ! 'i fS i ' it m i< t w V' ,' ( ^2 ) CHAPTER IX. SIR GREY COOPER. His two Tracts. Made Secretary to the Trea^ fiuy under Lord Rockingham. Secures a Penftoji. Continues Secretary to the Duku of Grafton, and to Lord North. 1 HIS Gentleman, while refident in cham- bers in the Temple, had the good fortune to efpoufe the diftina . political views of that divifion of the oppofition, in the year 1765, which was known by the name of the Rockingham Party ; who fuc- ceeded to office in that year in confe- quence of the refufals of Mr. Pitt and Lord Temple, grounded in what they confidered the undiminifhed influence of the Earl of Bute. When the negotiation for a change of Minifters was concluded, Mr. Lloyd, who had been Mr. Grenville's private fecre- tary, wrote a fmall traa entitled " An " Honelt h SIR GREY COOPBR. 93 " Honeft Man's Rcafons for declining to « take any Part in the New Adminiftra- " tion" To this painphkt, Sir Grey (then Mr. Cooper) wrote an airfwer, which he calk?d " A Pair of Spea-acles for Short- *« fighted Politicians." Ivfr. Lloyd had aflerted tlie continued influence of Lord Bute. Mt. Cooper denied the afiertion* The new Miniftry read this vindicatioH with pleafm'e. . ; • '..i As foon as the arrangements w^re fettled; Mr. Cooper wrote! a fecond trad, wliich he entitled •''The Meiitsof the New Ad-- " miniftration truly dated." This tradl was more ingenious than the firft, and had the advantage of literary merit. But the bcft merit of it was, that it was a prin- cipal caufe of recommending him to the fituation of Secretary to the Treafury. But which fituation, howevei-, he did not accept without fccuring to himfelf an ade- quate penfion in cafe of difmifsion. This condua, if not abfolutely necc/Tary, was at leaft prudent ; having then quitted . 5 1 ^ + ( \ I me 94. SIR GREY COOPER. the bar for a political office, he could not with' propriety, in cafe of difmifsipn, re- turn to it. But this a6l of prudence Ihews that he did not put much confidence in his own writing; for in his " Merits of " the New Adminiftration" he argues at fome length upon the p€rma?iency of the new Miniftry. This permanency proved to be no longer than one year. But al- though Lord Rockingham and the Mi- niftry were turned out, after being in office only one year, yet Mr. Cooper continued Secretary to the Duke of Grafton, and to Lord North, until the year 1782. CHAPTER ( S5 ) CHAPTER ^x« DR. THOMAS LEWIS O'BErRNE, LORD BISHOP OF OSSORY. Chaplain to Lord Howe in America, durin. the American War, Ills Defence of Lor^d Howe. His Political Papers, ftgned A Countrr/ Gentleman. Hijiory of Parlia^ ment. Conftderations on the Riots hi the rear 1780. Defence of Admiral Lord Keppel. Made Secretary to Lord Fitzwil^ Vmn, and an Irifn BiJIiop, During the AdminlHratlon of Lord North, this reverend prelate was the au^ thor of feveral political pamphlets, and of a fenes of political elTays in one of the public prints. He was chaplain to Lord Howe in the time of the American war and attended his Lordfhip on that fcrvice! Upon their return to England, Mr. O'Beirne 'found that Lord Howe's chara^er had ht^n infamcjufly traduced in his abfence by the Minifterial writers in all thofe newfpapers ■: 1 ■P ill' L I i 'l' fifi 1 s'ffi til II ' :it ii 4 H ' 1^ V'lf 95 DR. THOMAS LfiWIS o'bEIRNE, newfpapers which at that time were kept in the pay of the Miniftry. His firft literary compofitioii ^^i Iqaft the firft that is known) was the defence of his noble friend. It was entitled " A " candid and impartial NarAntive of the " Tranfa6lions of the F^eet under ,the *' Command of Lord Howe, from the Ar- " riv^l of the Joulon Squadi^o^n, vc^j ^le " .Coaft of America, to tke Time of his " Lordihip's Departuije^or Englai^." There is prefixed to it a pl^n of the Situation of the French and Engldfli fleeJl^s .t>eibre New York at a very critical moment. The writer has certainly ircfcued Jjy^i Howe's charaaer from .tJvery obloquy that was attempted to be tli;rov^m ^vpcai it. From this .true wid accui-ate-ftatemcot of Lord Howe's «aval ikiU, in tlie nioft dif- ficult and arduous circumftances^ every naval gentleman has not lefs fjceeJy ;than warmly beftowed the higheft euiogium on every part of ins Lordfliip!s coadiid: throughout that fevcre feivice. U^drOiibted- ]y this matter reflects iiot lejfe honour qii the LORD BISHOP OP OSSORY. 37 tl^e^author. than on the principal and pa. fenes of eflkys. or letters (which fuch pa- pers are more ufually called) i„ a daily Wpaper. The letters were figned «i Country Gentleman." They were writ, ten and printed in the beginning of the year 1780, when the whole nation wal mueh ag.tated by county meetings, aflb- c.at.o„s and committees, on , the fubjedts of he American war, the corruption, of Parliament, and the influence of the Crown The firft fix letters were reprinted n the form of a pamphlet: of the others, the reader w.Il fi„d an abftrad in the Appendix, marked C. Thefe petitions, and complaints, occa- fioned great debates in Pariiament. A lit- tle time after the fefsion clofed, which was m the earjy part of July, Mr. O'Beirne wrote a very fpirited account of the pro- ceedings of that fefsion, which was en- t'tted « A Short Hiflory of the laft Sefsioi, V*^- I. H „ ,f 'ill ;«f » ii ' I r! ^ Ii •: I 98 DR, th6mas lewis o'beirne, '^ of Parliament, with Remarks." A fliort extra6l from the fecond page will Ihew the reader the ftile and fcope of it. " That^ " all the calamities entailed upon this coun- try, owe their origin and progrefs to the[ corruption of Parliament, is a fa61: that will hardly be controverted. Without that <* blind and implicit obedience, which the majority of the Houfe of Commons have indifcriminately payed to every admini- " ftration, under every Ihifting of Govern- " ment, through every changeand fluclua- *' tion of contradictory meafiues for fo many *' years pad, the nation could jiever'have " fallen . a facrifice, as it has done, to the ignorance, incapacity and folly, of the moft profligate fet of men that ever en- tailed ruin on the nation they governed. As the corruption of Parliament, there- ** fore, has been the fource of oUr calamities, " the redrefs of them can only be expelled " from its reftoration to freedom and inde- ed u 4i (( «( ii il li ii it pendency." •^ / The unfortunate riots, which happened in London, at the beginning of June 1780, drew I * tORD BISHOP OF OSSORY. 99 d^ew. forth Mr. O'BeirneV pen. He wrote * pamphlet on the fubjea of thefe difturb! e«t.tted.. Cdnfiderationson the late DiftuX >««ces.bya Coxififtent Whig." it ^L gonaraliy attributed to Mr. Burke but if Was^^miftaken opinion; though u'm, ft be confeffed that Mr. O'Beirne's ftlle an^^ _H,s laft pubhcation was on the fubiea Hug^ SS "' ^'r^' ^^pp^'' -^'sS Hugh Palhfer; and is efteemed by all -valpeople,tobe.avery„,after/per- Keppe ; ,„d .3 entitled « Confiderations and Naval Courts-Martial ; in which the „ c„ '"'' '""• ''<"^" '« the Houfe of «. and the Condua of the Courts- Martial on Admiral ir„ 1 « Huah Pnirr """'*' '^eppel and Sir "Ugh Pallifer are compared." Upon the appointment of the Duke of For land to th, poft of Firft Lord of the I'eafury ,„ ,783, his Gnce made Mr! . f t . ! f : I 4' H 2 O'Beif It fW' 100 DR. THOMAS LEWIS 6*BE1RNE. O'Beirne his private fecretary. But the Mipiftry being again changed at the end of that year^ he retired to France, and refided at Aubigney, the Duke Of Rich^ mend's eftate. When the troubles broke out in France, he returned to England. And when Earl Fitzwilliam Was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, which was in the month of December, 1794, Mn O'Beirne Was appointed his Lordfhip*s fe- cretary. During the noble Lord'6 refi- dence in Dublin, the biihopric of Oflbry became vacant by the death of Dr. Befef- ford ; upon which Mr. O'Bekne was im* mediately promoted to that fee. S*rf rr|W' <;hapter S ' 1 ( 101 ) CHAPTER XI. SECRET JND TRUE HISTORY OF THE IRISH OCTENNIAL BILL. f Irijh Electors ir^ftruct their Reprefentatives to bring in a Septennial Bill. Extraordinary Preamble to it, with a Vietv to defeat it Sent to England. Delayed. Remarks. Altered. Returned to Ireland. Pc(^ple of Dublin affemble in immeiife Numbers, and compel their Reprefentatives to pafi the Bill. Further Remarks. Management of the Parliament of Ireland, an4 of the lafi Parliament of Scotland. Anecdote of Lord William G^don. ' - ^^ XSeFORE the year 17^8, when this bill pafTed, the Parliament of Ireland was only determined by the King's life ; but now (according to this law) the Parliament of that kingdom is to be chofen once in eight years. A fhort hiflory of this extraordinary evTnt cannot be'undeferving the reader's attention. H 3 No r 1 , j,>.. f 1 I h ■ :iii. r^t 102 SECRET AND TRUE HISTORY OP No blame attaches to the Lord Lieute- nant in this affair; but a great deal of fomething worfe attaches to the fecret cabinet at St. James's, whofe defign was tp have defeated the meafure, and to have transferred the odium of that defeat upon thofe, who, for other purpofes, they had encouraged to demand it. In |:he month of Auguft, 1767, Lord Townfhend was appointed Lord Lieute- nant of Ireland. During the preceding year, a confiderable majority of the elec- tors pf Ireland inftru6ted their reprefen- tatives on the fubje6l, or, as they termed it, on the necefsity pf bringing in, and pafsing, a bill, to limit the duration of Par- liament to /even years ; in like_ manner, as the Parliament of Great Britain is li- mited ; and fo warrn and fo nunierous were the eledlors, particularly all the lower clafs, in fupport of this meafure, that there was fcarcely a town or county throughout the kingdom which did not inftru6l and infifl upon their reprefenta- tives voting for fuch bill; and the ele6lors pf THE IRISH OCTENNIAL BILL. 103 of fome places carried their enthufiafm (o hr, as to compel their Members to make oath they would vote for it. Accordingly, when the hlih Parliament met in the month of November, 1767, the heads of a bill for limiting the duration of Parlia- ments to /even years were brought into the Houfe of Commons, and immediately paired. But, agreeable to the mode of enaamg laws at that time in Ireland, thefe heads of the bill were tranfmitted to England, for the approbation of tlie Kmg and Council, that being the next ftage of progrefs. And here it muft be obferved, that the reafon of the Commons pafsing the bill, was not the pofitive com- mands of their Conllituents, but the fanguine hopes which the Irilh Patriots themfelves entertained, that it would, without a doubt, be rcje^ed in England. And therefore, in order to make this wiflied-for rejeaion as certain as pofsible, the preamble of the bill flated, that, . " Whereas it is tlie undoubted right of the ** people of Ireland to a more frequent choice '' of their reprefentatives, &c." IJuis they H 4 chanopfl W; s ' '^mm f ^QH ' '''tH :.:E^I 5 i [['!■ > i ( %t^^jH f I * ' 1^1 t )ffl9 I 1 ' hn^^l f f ■ 1 M ';|| 'M fiH i 1 ^^1 ; ' -| \_ , ^m ~^X'h I '' ■ l\ \\n 108 SECRET AND TRUE HISTORY OF the total rejedtion of the bill by the Irlfli Houfe of Commons. But it happened otherwife. The people put an end to the manoeuvres of both parties. As foon as it; was known in Dublin that the bill was re- turned, and the people were informed, that they were to have a frequent choice of re-- prefentatives, and a new eledion at the end of the prefent fefsion, they affembled in confiderable bodies, in different parts of that metropolis ; and having ftrong fufpicions that all thcif o\yn reprefentatives were not friendly to the bill, and that under colour of the alterations they would throw it out ; a kind of refolve entered fpontaneoufly, in- dividually, and without any previous con- fultation, into every man's mind, — to af- fume, what they conceived to be, thcif original and inherent right. No fyflem, or plan, was formed by them. Only- one opi- nion prevailed inftantly amongft: them ; and that was, that the bill viuji and J^iall be paiTed into a law. For this purpofe, on the day appointed for taking the bill into con- fideration in Parliament, the people aflem- blcd in ailonifhing great numbers in fevera] parts THE IRISH OCTENNIAL BILL. 109 parts of the chy; College-green was crowd- ed ; the Parliament Houfe was furrounded ; and all the avenues of it were filled : fucli a general rifing in Dublin had not happened in the memory of the oldeft perfon then living. Upwards of twenty thoufand were reckoned to be aflembled at the Parliament Houfe. Through thefe immenfe multitudes the Members were obliged to pafs. Each Member was diftinc^ly feized upon, and compelled to promife, and many to fwear, that they would vote for pafsing the bill. Thofe who fecretli/ did not approve of the bill, feeing the frowning and terrific afpc^l of the public fpirit, which themfelvcs had contributed to raife, and not chufing to riik their lives and properties upon a queflion of rejeaion, immediately thought it moft pru- dent to affea to defpife the affront offered to them, by the alterations ; and aflumed a chearful difpofition to pafs the bill. The bill was pafi[ed unanimoufly ; and the Houfe Of Commons concluded this " eventful hif- ftory," with an addrefs of thanks for their own difilblution. A few * i ■H -' n .1 ! i;i ' {• i! 4 ,|,4|i liiiii i .1 i : i!H . i 1,1 1"» 110 SECRET AND TRUE HISTORY OF A few remarks may not be improper :— ^ ' Neither the Britifh nor Iriih parties feem to have had a corred comprehenfion of the natural confequcnces of this bill. All their confultations feem to have been confined to the contrivance of llratagems for the mo- ment ; inftead of looking forward to the great circumllances which the bill didated. The patrons of boroughs, inftead of felling their feats in Parliament, and the electors, inftead of felling their votes, only upon the death of a King, or the death of a Member, were both, by this bill, at liberty to make a new bargain and fale, every eight years. So that the powers of intereft and corrup- tion were not weakened, but flrengthened by this law ; were not limited, but extended by it. — And after what we have feen of the majiagement of the Parliament of Ireland, no man will deny, that the Parliament of that kingdom has not been as fuccefsfully conduced as any other Parliament has been. — Even Loi'd Fitzwilliam admits the faa, in his firll letter to Lord Carlifle, written in the year 1795, upon the fubjed of his in- tended :«i* '"I I « I ' « ll c< tUE IRISH OCTENNIAL BILL. ^^ tended emancipation of the Irifli Catholics He fays, the Catholics being rcfojvcd to bring forward the fubjea, liad put their petition, into the hands of his friend Mr. Grattan ; " I therefore defired Mr. Grattan " totakepo/Tefsion of the biifinefs, that I " might be Jure of m^/elf having controul over the management of the hilir But Mn. Fox is more open ^nd explicit upon this fubjea, in his fpeech in the Briti/h Houfe of Commons, upon the ftate of Ireland, on the 23d of March, 1797. " The advantages " which the form of a free conftitutioB " feemed to promife to Ireland, have been " counteraded by the influence of the Exe- " cutive Government, and of the Britiih " Cabinet. It would be fortunate if thi* " were merely the language of difcontent ;• " it would' be fortunate if this were an opil " nion not fupported by that unequivocal " confirmation it has derived from the " meafures of Government ; it would be- " fortunate if the fyftem which has been uniformly aaed upon, did not give to the complaint fo much countenance and validity. Without going into particular " details. <( (( i( « I % ''I'l ■= 'if I ui !!■ -mt I •J j:- \: • \ *m I I •>ii iini ..1 cc : pr'WipIe, w^^.followed up by « &^^l'^^'^'^'P^P¥>y<^d in the Ir^, Parliament,, by, p,„ of, the /irilcha- jafter and the I,igheft talents., and^hen I.ment,^n.t),e,fl.a;„e,of Mr. ^rattan, I iveedadd noth jag more, that it.h^d been the /Mffem, of Gflyernnient, by th^ faieo£ PPF^Ses,,toraife a.purfe lo puM the „ 7^«^f f "?' ""^her the „,ifreprefenta- - tjPn of thepepple of Ireland. Thecharse .; 7^>'-''"Sht by.men of as great abiliti^ .; ■\^. """^peached honour, of as higl, ' pubhc .charaaer and private virtue, as . ?.ve,^ppear^d either h^that country or, .. ¥^ 'h.s. It. was„o%cd to be proved, that .. ". '^ ^l 9m'rions, were .creatures ^ the . Cr^n. Another proof ol ti^is JU/ia,,tM „ ^Z*^/?*"" ypon.the Executive .Govern-,. . ment was.evinced > the.,fpanner in .< ; S*^^ ''^Wndsof theCat^,olics,had ^^ at different times been treated.-Their iirlj petition merely prjiyed for, a remedy o fome of the moft opprefsive grievances under wluch they laboured, and in the '"'''■ ^- I " humblcft i( ■M' I' 'Si i ,:;|i* I I ■' I If i« {■'■ ! ' 111 II! 'I * . J: ■' I . Is 1 *s ijiijjji ill I m 1 3 IH SECRET AND TRUE HISTORY OF " liumbleft ftile follcited indulgence and " concefsion. An immenfe majority of the *' Houfe of Commons were not content witTi refufmg the defire of the petition, but they refolved to fix upon it a mark of particular infult, by voting its rejedlion. In this haughty and infulting vote, every Member under the influence of Government " concurred. The very next fefsion, how- ever, when the war was begun, arid when a more conciliatory condu6t was deemed prudent, a petition, comprehending claims much more extensive, obtained a recep- tion very different from their former modcll pretenfions. The Croivn recom^ 7nended the clai?n, and theyfl7we Minifters " who had caufed it to be indigyiantly I'e- jed:ed, now carried the' vote by which pretenfions far more important were fanc- " tioned. How can fuch contrariety of con- dud: be accounted for, but upon the conclufion, that the influence of the Exc- " aitive Govertiment is the caufe from which " it proceeds ? when Earl Fitzwilliam went " to Ireland in the capacity of Lord Lieu- " tenant, it was underftood that he left '* London with the approbation of Minifters, « in «< (C (« ii (( «i (C c« 'il . m s ill 1 ,; 11 t \ [fl ! ril i; ^^k ) ^1 ' '' "s!l >^ifl I ^H i 1 '1 r \ V i : " . \m ^^^H ff IH l V ll s 1 1 i^H L'i iiilH k i V ^r ?* ' ' KM if. *i rf. 116 SECRET AND TRUE kiStORY of by the Earl of Glafgow. tive yeslrs after- wardsi upon the great fchange of the Mihi- niftry, a fcommittee of the rfoiife of Coin- hions being appointed to enquirfe iHto the expenditure of the public hibtley^ the Earl of Glafgow was examined iipoh oath before this committee. In this exairiination he flated, that he had diflributed thb nioney^ fcnt by the Earl of Gbdolphbi in the fol- lowing iiiahnfer : To the Duke of Queenfbrrry, and as Lord Commifsioner for Equipage and daily . Allowance - - - - To the Duke of Athol ' « Marquis of Tweedale Earf of Mai-chmont Lord Cefnock, aft^r-i wards Poiwa'i'th - Earl of Bifelcarris - Earl of Roxburgh - Earl of Scafield - - Earl of Cromarty Lord Anflruther Mr. Stuart, of Caftle-fhiart 300 Sir William Sharp - • Diike n,3Q5 0* iOO^d 1000 1,104 15 t 500 • 500 500 490' 300 300 lit 300 300 lU* THE IRISH OCTENNIAL BILL. ^7 To the Duke of Montrofe - Earl of Dunmore - Earl of Kintore - . I-ord Ormiftoun (Lord •£• s. d, 200 O O 200 O 200 O 200 200 200 100 100 100 100 o 100 o Juflice GJerk) l-ord EJpliinfton - . Mr. John QamphQll - Earl of Glencairoe. . Sari pf Forfar . _ Lord Frazer - - . 3ir Kenneth, Mackepzie John Muir (Provoft of Aire) . . , , Major Cunningham, of Eckatt - - . „ Lord Forbes ... Lord Elibank - . I'atrick Coultrain (Pro- voflofWigtoun) - Mr. Alexander Wedder- burn . vl^it''^" of. Commons ordered the re'^ port of the committee to be printed, but it never was printed,] ^ , 0. Q o o 100 50 50 O O Q 25 .0 " - " 75 .■ff-f: 't , "-.l I 3 It ll '!i: H » f. } 'f & .iVU, 118 SECRET AND TRUE HISTORY OF It is neceflary to obferve, that there were three parties in the Scottifli Parliament at this time, The AVhigs, who were for the Union, The CavaHers, er Jacobites, who were againft it. And a neutral party, whg were called the Squadrone ; from which has probably been derived the modern appella- tion of Flying Squadron : at the head of this ■ party were the Marquis of Tweedale, the ' Earls of Marchmont, Roxburgh, &c. Biihop Burnet fays, in book feven of the Hiftory of his own Times, " That they kept them-; " felvcs very clofe and united : When they *^ were fpoke to by the Miniftry, they anfwered coldly, they were between twenty and thirty in number. If they *' had fet themfelves againft the Union, the •^ defign muft have mifcarried." How they were managed^ the Earl of Glafgow fully i&xpla^is, - . o In later times another kind of influence has been introduced. We have one authen- tic inftance of it. Upon the death of Lord Cathcart, in the year 1116, his office of Firll Lord of Police was given to Lord ■ l March, (C (( i ■ H THE IRISH OCTENNIAL BILL. 119 •March, now Duke of Queen/berry ; who refigncd his place of Vice-Admiral of Scot- land ; the Duke of Gordon appHcd for the Jatter place for his brother. Lord William Gordon, who was not in Parliament. Lord North, who was at that time Miniftcr, anfwered, that he had no objedion, pro< vided Lord William could obtain a feat iii Parliament. An opportunity of that kind did not then occur ; upon which Lord North fuggefted, that Lord George Gordon might vacate for his brother. This Lord George refufed to do ; and mentioned the faa in the Houfe of Commons, on the 13th of April, 1778. The place was given to Lord Breadalbane. Lord North vindicated himfelf by faying (not in Parliament) " That he had a right to expea, that an " office worth a thoufand pounds per annum ^' ftould be^et a vote in Parliament/* ■ L* f* 'I! I ■■;«^ w !i ;. 1-^ :i ;■•« li 'I'li I t I 4 CHAPTER If fit Mr I ! (120 ) E i CHAPTER Xir. SfR JAMJ^S CALDWELL, BAI{T. AFFAIRS OF IRELAND. pie firft miter of Modern Debates from Memomf and a real Atienddnce, If is Man- tm qfdomg ii ^^Mptix^es fir publi/fm^ the Mates, Difcomy of Count VirfrPen^ Jion, title of his tract on the trade of Ireland: lord Camden's Utter \q fkml Second Letter from Lord Camden, Lord^ Townfliend's Letter to htm. Second Letter from Lord TownfJiend, Extract fiom his Tract concerning the Trade of Ireland. 1 HIS Gentleman has the honour to fland foremoft in the modern hifloiy of Parh'a: mentary Literature: He was the lirfl per-' fon who wrote a regular feries of Parliament tary Debates, from memory and a real atten- dance. Thefe debates are of the Houfe of Commons of Ireland, in the firft fefsion after the treaty of , peace in 1763. Thefe debates ^IR JAMES CALDWELL, BART. t2l debates are not only written in excellent Ian|rua^e, but are allowed to be very cor- rea/ His manner of taking them will be ^?^ ^^^^^ in ^is own words. i " By thefe debates, carried on with the deepeft ppnetration, the moft extenfive knowledge, and the mofl forcible eloquence, ■ I was fo imprefTed, that, after I had Jeft «ie ^loufe, the voice of the fpeaker was ftiU in my ears, and the fentiments I had heard excluded all others from my mind/ i^ was impelled, as 'it were, by an irrefifta. We impulfe, to commit to paper what was thus foreilply retained by my memory, be-' fore it fhould l?e. mixed with other ideas, orinan). degree obliterate4 by them; when I made the attempt, Uound the taflc ftili; eafier ^an I had imagined, my attention was more fixed, and the deliberate recolJ Ipaion whicf, writing made nece/Tary, brought back tl;ie ideas in a flow but regular' fMccefsipn, and generally in the very words which had been ufed to exprefs them.^ When I had fucceeded in recording thefe fpeeches, fo mud} to my own fatistaaion, t coulf? :': If ,'r 'if I* I f.* 122 SIR JAMES CALDWELL, BART. I could not help wi filing to communicate the pleafure I had received. I confidered, that nothing could be a more interefting objecl of curiofity, than the fentiments of thofe who have been fele<5tecl by the fuf- frages of their country to compofe the fu- preme council of the nation, with refpe<5l to the laws which are there formed for its government ; and that it muft afford the higheft fatisfa6lion to every individual to fee the reafon and foundation of thofe ad:s on which property, liberty, and life dejjend. J confidered alfo, that, except fome faint and imperfedl attempts in England, this fervice had never yet been rendered to the public ; a defire therefore of obtaining honour to myfelf, concurring with that of beaefiting others, determined me to make them public. I flatter myfelf that thefe debates will difcover abilities in the fpeakers that would do honour to any age, and to any nation ; and that their fpeeches will not fuffer by a comparifon even with thofe of the Senate of Great Britain." i,w r If- m ,1; What Sir James fays of the publication of SIR JAMES CALDWELL, BART. 123 of the debates in Great Britain is certainly true. They Were very imperfeaiy printed until about the eve of the American war! About that time, the public began to con- ceive, that they had a right to fome in- formation of the proceedings of Parliament ; and both Houfes have connived at the pub- lication of their debates, which have been given in the daily^ prints with very tolerable accuracy, . ; ^"W From thefe debates, by Sir James Cald. well, the public were firft informed of the penfion given to the Minifter of the King of Sardinia for ncgociating the peace of 1763, between England and France. The difcovery was made by Edmund Sexton Pery, Efq; now Lord Pcry, who informed the Houfe of Commons of the faft, on the 24th of November, 1763, in thefe words, "I think one of the greateft diAid vantages anfing from the grant of penfions, is the enriching ahens with the treafure of our country. I (h^ll communicate a fad to this Houfe, from which it will appear, that the grant of peiifions to aliens is fuppofed to f ' ij ?l. h'i 12* SIR J4MES CALDWELty ^J^^r. to be contrary tp thq fenf^. of the nation, cyen by the adyifers of (uch grant, an^^ tberefore not avowed, though made. There is a penfion granted nominally to one Geoxg^' Charles, but really to Monfieur de Vero/3, the Sardiniaji Minifter, % ne^ogjati^ th^ peace tl^at has been copclu^ed^Yithj^he Minifter of France. I muft confefs, t^^t ia jny opinion, this fervice defeved no fuch recompence, at leaft on our part; fo that,' in this cafe, our money is not only granted to an alien, byt tp an alien who has no merit to plead. If it is thought a defenfible meafure, I fhould be glad to know why it' was not avowed ; and why, if it is proper we fhould pay a thoufand pounds a year, to Monfieur Verois, we fhould be made to' believe that we pay it to George Charles ? In fhort, as pen/ions are indifcriminately given for all purpofes, upon all occafion?, and to all perfons, both for lives and for years, I think it is a duty incumbeijt upon' this Houfe, to addrefs liis Majqily on the occafion." [He moved an addrefs; but it was negatived.] '■ ' • ' In • r, T - iA] sift JAMES fcALlJWELtj feART. 19^ iti the ygif im, m Jkniek haH an id oi r •r Miwi .*M. i — ^''•"•v.o iiau iiii lae; ;^dWtol% a ma C6rifcer{,tng Iteland ^ ' hehaa publfflied ift iKe ygaf Ues 1 . * J fill r -*-u ,-, \ * ^. , ,. . .' ^'t '^»?«% how far tHfe JR^^Wc' ^«i liid UpoJi thg trdde 6f trdandi by Jr^iji- A,ife,of PkrlidfaWt, ^re a Berieflt or mUMf tb thy firit[ffi Doiiilnloris Jh fJ!t ' )"^^ ^^ ^*'S''"'^ '^ particdlir.- for ^fafe fepar^te Mvan^agy they {^erx, ih- ' tfended'." A'na he ^t^m^m^ ^, jefi^ to feme v% refpledtdble Ij^rMs who i^ |i^://. . /^^ laid' by England upofr flie irlfh trcide. The /ubjea is' treated wWh ft nnich kndw'- led^e arfd good fenfe, that «io difintereiftd perfon can read it without frflnlediatc con':' I'ia.on ; and I attl Ve/y happy to A„d my own fcntinlmts fo perfeftly concur with yoUK, Our Pariiamcnt are very bufy at prefent in reviewing tlieif trade-aas tiVat refpea Ireland, and propofc" to grant fome indul. Hi' .^,^ [iiri il.^ Ili V26 SIR JAMES CALDWELL, BARl** indulgences to your .country,. How far they will go I cannot tellj AMt J ,am fure they will not go far enough^ ibr.tjie^falfe opinion, of felf-interell is fo prevalent' ^n the minds of our country gentlemen, that I d€ff»ir,of , their ever giving up the monopoly of; the^ cloth manufaaure ; fo that Jrciands will ftill . remain a poor cquntry. . And yet even this, relaxation which they propofe, will be worth^ acceptance; and will be fo far ufeful,; as it, will, in fome fqrt, open .and enlarge thej minds of our narrow poliiicians, and teach, them, from what has liappened in America,;- that their own welfare is more united with the propriety of their foreign dominions, tlian they ufed to . imagine. I am a friend to Ireland, for the fake of England ; upon which principle, flie may depend upon my poor endeavours to releafe her from all in- judicious reftridions, and to unfetter all her ports. But, alas! I am but one infig^ nificant individual. " I have the honour to be, ' " With the greateft refped, '• .^ " Your moft obedient faithful fervant, ' "^jonV 1^, 1778, "CAMDEN." N^w Biuiington^Jireet, SECOND II SIR JAMfiS CALDWELL, BART. 127 SECOl^D LETTER FROM LORD CAMDEN. . . :« SIR, " T am indebted to your obliging corre- fpondence for many letters, and a great deal 6finterefting intelligence, during the alarm- mg period when the nation was aflonifhed at the appearance of the combined fleet off Plymouth. But I doubt whether I fl^all eafily obtain your pardon for having waited folong before I acknowledged your fevcral fevours. Itwas fome time before I knew how to direa to you, for Sidmouth was no market-town; and till I received vour lad. letter, I did not know it was near Honlton Befides, as your letters contained only in- telligence, I wi/hed for an opportunity of paymg you in kind, by fome informa- tion from this fide of the country, if f could have obtained it ; but now, fince the ' fleets have diflippeared, and the common opinion is, that we /hall hear no more of them this year, I fliall wait no longer, but return my beft thanks for your communi- cation, and beg you will excufc my tardi- nefs, and impute it to any othpr caufc, than neglea or indifference. I wifh your •■'i!| 4 f .^; ( ' ■.i_i_ a» ^ r l28 Slk JAMES CALbWEtL, ^ART. jH'I bufinefs, or the health of your family, or any other caufe, had called you near Lon- don, to, have given me an opportunity of i perfonal acquaintance, inftead of this diftant converfation, by means of an imperfea cor- refpondence ; and to have known more fully your fentiments upon the politLcal llate of Ireland, which I prefume will make an important part of our bMrmefs next fefsion. Do you intend to publi/h that tradl upon the commerce of that country, that you favoured me with the fight of? I think it would be feafonable and ufeful. I am happy to concur with all your ideas upon tiiat fubjea ; and that makes me very de- firous of further inilruaion ; for he who l^as for fo many years apphed his thoughts to one great objea, mlift be the beft judge ofwhat mcafuresare the likelieft to attain it. If I have the happinefs to hear from you, I promife to thank you for the favour, hy a fpeedy anfwer ; and in the mean time beg leave to allure you that I am, with the greateft refpedl, " Your moll; obedient faithful fervant, 'ySepL 19, 1779, « CAMDEI^J." Camdeti'place, EXTRACT 'l*>: SIH JAMBS CALDWEBL, BART. 129 ■*^^*Acr ,MU tonn townshend's tETTER. " ^"^'""'n-Mare, \Jl July, 1779 " SIR, « The critical fituation of Ireland, at this pcnod fcems to require the exertion of every fnend to both countries; be it to aft to wntc, and in ftort, to animate the Ind: o^^^men^^ the fan>efaU,taryp„rpofe, which 2J r ^^}^^ "'°''''' '^' B"«/h em. ? «■/"'. °""^ *° '■'■y' h°^ few I find ;™;j;^dwUhadnerenreoftheprerrt EXTRACT PROM ANOTHER LETTER FROM 1.0RD TOWNSHEND. " Pirtman.fyuare, Det. 1779. "sir, ^ " I dni, happy to hfear, that your E„. eft ng hghts ,t will convey to the public, have been applied fo opportunely." From the reader's perufal of fhefe letters ^ f f «a)y natural to fuppofe, that h^ < V i| !l !t 130 SIR JAMES CALDWELL, BART. will have a defirc to fee the tra6t fp fre- quently mentioned in them ; or at lead fuch extracts from it, as fhall contain the moft eflential parts of it. After fuch tefti- monies, it may be prcfumed that no apology is neceflary for fubjoining fuch extracts in this place. I i " Trade naturally refults from the efta- bliihment of civil fociety, and the gradual difcovery of arts ; and is abfolutely necef- fary to the fi;bfiftence, profperity, and de- fence of fuch fociety, as will appear from the following propofitions. " It is eflentially neceflary to the well- being of every nation, formed of civil fo- ciety, that there fliould be a fupply of the neceflaries of life, with plenty and con- veniency, and an ability to defend thefe ad- vantages from being fcized by others. " The mere neceflaries of life depend on the cultivation of land, and the breeding of cattle, and may therefore be fupplied to many by the labour of a few. " As 1 fo fre- t lead in the i tefti- pology a^ls in e efla- rradual necef- nd de- r from e well- ivil fo- of the 1 con- efe ad- end on ling of lied to (( SI» JAMES CALDWELL. BART. I3I will furnifl. neceflILt ,':?:;; ^aT "cl.wi„fubfift them for theini:"'''^ « But as the rich will always be the confea,^ent. °"* ^-Pioyment; and, conlequently, without fubfiftence, if their labour can be applied to n. I, pofes. '^' '° "° °ther pur- n-zT'^^'f*'' ^^^"=^°'^' whofe labour fur th t ct Lir "''""' '="'°"'' -<= -» tificia wa f Llr 'houidthof Xhv":: """'*■" ''"^ who arP n„f , °* P'°Pei-ty, and inTf o Ln :rhV°^ ''- ^^^°"""°- curefubnftence: /^^"^P^'^P^'y-P^- « A community from which thefe ufe- K2 T«r i; Vt)li£ Ir . '-tin ijl 1 '^kI li 132 SIR JAMES CALDWELL, BART. lefs hands ihould be cje6led, might, per- haps, be as happy, pofsibly happier than a community in which artificial wants ihould be introduced ; but it muft necef- fiirily be fmall, and, confequently, weak- Its happinefs, therefore, cannot be perma- nent, as it will be liable to be fubdued and enflavcd at the caprice of any llronget power by which it can be invaded. " As it is therefore neceffary for national defence, that the nation Should confift of more than thofe whofe labour fupplies the mere ncceirarics of life, and thofe who Ihare them without labour : it follows, that more muft be employed, for without employment they cannot fubfift. " Thus it become* nccefTary to intro- duce artificial wants, the fupplying which will procure necefiariefe and conveniences to the multitudes whom the fupply of mere natural wants would leave unem- ployed, and whom a fociety in which na- tural wants only are fupplied, muft necef- farily exclude. " Luxuries, SIR /AMES CALDWELJC, BART. 1 33 ^ « Luxuries, therefore, are neceffiiry, not for the fake of the pleafure which they brmg to thofe for whom they are furniftcci, but for the fake of fubfifting thofe who furn,fl, them, in order to fecure the peaceable poflefsion of necc/Taries, with plenty and conveniency to the commu. " ?"' Popiiloufnefs alone i, „ot always fufficient for national defence ; a confidera- b e number of the people muft be fo em- P oyed as to be peculiarly fitted for mi, litary operations. « A maritime nation, and in particular an ifland, mu.. ue defended principally by a marme; it is therefore nccefl-ary tj the trade of fuch a nation, or the inter- courfe by which artificial wants are mu- tually fupplied. fliould be extended tq . 'H ir, ■ ' ' * m m 'I'll >t ^im ' I'} m ^ Whqn fuch a trade is eflabli/liecj ., any country^^^s will fYUIy , employ all iu ^ ^ inha- 'I 'Bi ! if I 1 MM ,a im 134- SIR JAMES CALDWELL, BART. inhabitants, and would furniih employment to ftill more, the number will naturally increafe. *' When the trade of any country will not employ all its inhabitants, the num- ber will naturally and neceffarily decreafe, " When the trade of any nation is fqch as to render it populous, by finding employment for as many inhabitants as it has, and as many more as it can produce ; and, if a maritime nation, with a fijffi- cient number employed in ihipping; fuch a nation, with refped to trade, is in the mofl: profperous flate, and derives all the advantage from trade that trade can pro- duce. The acquifition of wealth by fuch t^ade, the great end to which it has been generally dire6led, and the great advantage fuppofed to have been derived from it, is fo far from being a benefit, that it is an evil, and is fo far from fupporting trade, that it fubyerts it. (* If iliii SIR JAMES CALDWELL, BART. 135 " If any nation by trade acquires more money, whether nominal or real, than other nations, labour' will be proportion- ably dearer than in other nations; and, therefore, the trade of that nation, with refpea to fuch manufaaurcs as other na- tions can carry to the fame market, will hefdo de fe\ it will be deftroyed by itfelf ; or, which is the fame thing, by the wealth that it has produced. " It feems, therefore, to be a funda- mental, though an univerfal error, that With refpea to Great Britain, trade is only advantageous in proportion as the ba-' lance is in her favour; that is, in pro- portion as fhe procures her imports imme- diately by labour, and fells her exports for money. For if this ihould be univerfally the cafe. Great Britain would be undone by the very thing that is fuppofed to con- ftitute her profj^crity and power, the per- petual accumulation of money. It is our interefl, % writers on trade,' to pay for our exports rather with labour than money, becaufe money employs no hands. 'J'his, iv 4 how- tu&S itf. 1 i!. \\\ l':i I'f 'h '\ ml 13^ SIR JAMES GALDWELL, BART, however, is ^ miftake; for Great Britain having no mines of gold and fjlvcr, can have no money jjut vi'Iiat flie procures by labour. All, therefore, that flie purchafes, is ultimately purehafed by labour; and if her labour is hrft changed into money with one country, and in this fprm changed into commodities with another, it is lar hour ftill J and induftry will be equally bufied to prqcuFe more money at one market to carry to another, as to fend away produa or ipannfa^lurc in kind, to the very market tfi which they are na\vr, fent converted into money, with this ad^ vantage, that the money >vhich a balance of trade with one nation brings hoine, r^ot being retained among u$, the value of labour will not rife fo as gradually to fub,-, vert our manuf4clv^res, confequenlly o,ur trade, by enabling pur neighbours to uht derfel us at the fpreign markets. " The value of money is M'holly re- latlve to thofe things which it is to pur- chafe, and when money, by great plenty, becomes cheap, other things will n^cefla- SIR JAMES CALDWELL, BART, I37 rily become dear in the fame proportion. Wlien one hundred pound is equivalent to iix pounds a year for ever, it will „„ juft as far as two hundred pounds, wlien one hundred pounds is equivalent only to three pounds a year for ever: and he that poflefl-es one hundred pounds when it is equivalent to fix pounds a year for ever •sjuft as rich as he that poffcflfes two hun- dred pounds when money has loft Jialf f value by the very fame caufe which- doubled his property. ^ " With refpea to trade, Ireland and England feem to furtbr llmilar evils from oppofite caufes. Ireland fuffers by re- ftnaions and prohibitions whieh deprive Its inhabitants of employment, and confe- quently Jeflen their numbers, both by pre. venting propagation, and driving .„a„y out ot the kingdom who cannot procure fub- fiftence in it. And England fuflers by an cxceftive accumulation of money, whether nominal or real; in confequence of which Its value being lefs, more is necelliry to' wlance any given quantity of ncceifark-s, and I ti .'s? i-r<1 ,! 'il !li 138 SIR JAMES CALDWELL, BART. and the price of labour is proportionably increafed, fo that the manufacturer is un- employed, becaufe the foreign market is fypplied by thofe who can work cheaper. *' Times of particular fcarcity and plenty there will be in every country ; but this is wholly independant of the relation between the price of provifions and labour, and the* value of money. The value of money will be proportioned to its fcarcity or. plenty, and th^ price of provifions and la- bour will always be in proportion to the value of money ; yet it does not follow, that the inhabitants of any country will, with refpe6l to each other, be richer when money is plenty, or poorer when money is fcarce ; nor that when the plenty of money has advanced the price of provi- fions and labour, they will be procured with more difficulty, than when the fcarcity of money rendered the price low ; for the very caufe tliat makes provifions and la- bour come for a little money is, there being but little money to procure them, and vice verfa. Plenty and fcarcity, with ref- pe<5t SIR JAMES CALDWELL, BART. 1 39 pea to the neceflhries of JIfe, or their dearnefs or cheapncfs to the inhabitants of any particular country, does not de- pend upon their value in proportion to the value of money, upon their fcilinir tor much or for HkIp ;„ i- oi lor iitue, m confequcnce of money s being either plenty or fcarce • but upon the proportion between the worth of labour or art. in any country, and the worth .or price of neceflkries. In a country where the labour of an artificer K worth two fl,illings a day, and meat is four pence a pound, „,eat may be faid to be as cheap, as i„ a country where the labour ot an artificer is worth but one toilhng a day, and meat is two pence a pound; but if in one of thefe countries, meat by an accidental fcarcity, riles to five pence a pound, and in the other to three pence, while the price of work or labour continues the fame, meat may then juftly be faid to be dear. Thus provi- fions are dear and cheap, not in propor- tion to the fum they coft, but in pro- portion as they balance the worth of la hour; when they lefs than balance it, thev ,■'% P n ! * if 1% i' Jl I » I Sf" ^1 :i vw. 4, i^ 140 SIR JAMES CALDWELL, BART. they are cheap, when they more than ba- lance it, they are dear. " I fhall now endeavour to ihew, that England and Ireland being one aggregate, what diiirefies Ireland, mull, in the pro- portion that Ireland bears to England, dif- trefs the whole; becaufe England, con^ fidered as an individual diftindt from Ire-, land, does not derive the benefit fhe pro- pofed from thofe reftriaions which dif^ trefs her fifter-country ; and I ihall en- deavour to fhew farther, that his Majefly's dominions, including both England and Ireland, fuffcr by the diftrefles of Ireland, in confequence of the rcrtriaions upon her trade, more than in the proportion which Ireland, as a part, bears to the whole ; and that the difadvantages of Ire- land in this refped are eventually difad- vantages to England,' in the fame, if not in a greater degree. " The principal articles in which the trade of Ireland is reftrained, with a view to the particular advantage of Jjlr^land^^ are SIR JAMES CALDWELL, BART. Ul are provifions of various kinds, manu- feaured wool, fugar, and molafTes. " By a ftatute pafTed in the eighteenth year of Charles the Second, the exportjK tion of cattle, butter, and other neceflarics from Ireland to England was prouibited, with a view to keep up the value of , Enghfh land, by encouraging home con- fumption. The fatal effeas of this prohi- bition to Ireland are manifeft ; and it has produced effeas little lefs f^ital to Eng- land, inftead of the advantage ilie pro- pofed. , « Firft, It has concurred with the caufe already afsigncd to increafe the price of pirovifions in England, by giving a mono- poly to a few breeding counties to cxaa a price for cattle ftill higher than in Foportion to the value of money and the expence of breeding ; in confcquencc Of which, it has raifed the price of la- hour, and increafed the expence of iVeight ; ih both which particulars it has injured our trade ; for when the manufaaurcr is paid .1-1 Hj I 1 ;l 1 ri i * •;• ih Iq- r 142 SIR JAMES CALDWELL, BART. paid a high price for liis labour, and the fhip that Ihould carry the commodity he makes to a foreign market is victualled at an increafed expence, we cannot fell cnir commoditjes fo cheap as our rivals, and confequently mud at length be fup- planted by them. As this monopoly, with rfefpea to the people, is unjuft, and with refpe6l to the trader dcftruaive, fo the advantage to the landholder is only ima- ginary. " In confcqiicnce of the ftatute againfl importing provifions from Ireland, the Eng- lifh grazier fells Englifh cattle at a higher price, and pays his landlord an advanced rent ; but what then ? Both the grazier and the landlord lofe more than they gain. As provifions are thus made dearer to the manufaaurer, the manufadurer will in his turn make labour dearer, and dear la- bour will make dear goods of every kind. Even unmanufaaured commodities will always be fold dear in the fame pro- portion as provifions are dearly bought, as has been proved, to a demonftration) by SIR JAMES CALDWELL, SABT. U3 by the. great Mr. Locke, and i„ almoft every treatife upon taxes tl.at has been written ; where every duty has been Ihewn to fall ultimately on the landholders- upon thofe wlio cannot cncreafo their re* venue m proportion as government cn- creafes their expence ; which traders of every kmd do, by raifmg the price of the commodities they fell in confequcnce of a tax, whether they be the very com- modities on which the tax is laid or not _^ tliat ,f the grazier and landlord, after felhng cattle at an exorbitant price, and receiving an exorbitant rent, pay pr„. portionably more for every article thev eonfume, the balance murt certainly be againft them at the year's end. " As every prohibition on the trade ot Ireland produces a monopoly in Em.- iand, every fuch prohibition muft of „e- cefsity hurt, the trade of England; for a monopoly always adds an artificial value to the commodity, and confcqucntly mult prevent the exportation of it to foroio„ parts, whither the fame commodity is fent from nm I I ' su •■■ii Uli i'i-31 *^4 ■i 144' SIR JAMES CALDWELL, BAHT. from countries in which it bears only its natural vahie* How Would a Dutchman oi' a Frenchman laugli, fajrs Dcckef, to hear the wildom df our laws extolled fof preventing the importation of cattle from Ireland, and corn from any country, ex- cept it firfl beaf6 Jin immoderate price at home, when he reflel r f m '.: 'iin Hi Ml. 1 t I m If ,1,1 m'\ 150 SIR JAMES CALDWELL, BART. individuals, whofe wealth was a common benefit, but cut off bread from the mouths of innumerable indultrious poor, and, con- fequcntly, produced national impotence and poverty. " But the number that derive immediate advantage from this prac^lice is very great ; The perfons who graze the Iheep, and who are called Flock-mafters, fell the wool at a greater price than it would fetch if it was not? fmuggled away, and it pafles through feveral hands, three at leaft, and fometimes four, before it comes into the poffefsion of thofe who privately /hip it, all of whom have a profit upon the trade. ** As the wool fmuggled away to foreign countries, is taken by them at a very high rate, the price of that commodity is fo much increafed, that the natives gf Ireland can fcarce afford 'to manufadlure it, even for home confumption ; fo that as the a6l for prohibiting the exportation of manufadured ANool from Ireland, put a flop to all the looms that were employed for foreign trade, the \m if SIR JAMES CALDWELL, BART. 151 the fmuggling of wool raw, which wa. the confequence of that ad, has flopped alfo, '",? "^/y g'eat degree, the exportation to England and Wales. " The number of hands that are thus de- pnved of emploj^ment, and, confequently, " ot mouths that are deprived of bread 'is very great ; and I find it recorded, upon good authority, that when the woollen Jnanufadory in Ireland was deftroyed, by the prohibition to export the work of' the loom, no lefs than twenty thoufand induf- tnous artifans left the kingdon . -,nce. " But the evil does not ftop even here • The great price obtained for wool clandef tmely exported, is an encouragement to all owners and occupiers of land to put their ground under Iheep, fo that the poor, who m default of manufactures, would be em- ployed in agriculture, are alfo cut off from that refource, and the number that cannot fubfift ,n their native country, is thus greatly mcreafed. Nor is this an aggravated reprc^ fcntation, exhibited to anfwcjr a particular L. 4 ^ pur-? ' }M I ''! Ill • 'I ri' 1: ' t , ' i! II 'i;r Iff ».» II !l ill- ^•■t'^ ■H; '■'J M 152 SIR JAMES CALDWELL, BART. purpofe : The want of empIo5^ment for the poor of I'-eland at home, is fo notorious, that it is well known two thirds of the country are uninhabited, while there Hre no lefs than fifteen thoufand of them incor- porated as mercenaries in foreign armies. The number employed abroad in othef capacities muft be liill greater, as this i^ certainly the leaft eligible, and is the re- fource of thofe only, who can get employ; ment in no other. Numbers are ftill con-, tinuing to go out of the Ifland at all opporu tunities, and br^ad being rendered dear, by tlie great quantity of land ufed for the graz- ing flieep, at the fame time that the labour of the peafimt is precluded, the wretches that remain have fcarcely the appearance of human creatures. In England there is no fuch thing as poverty, in comparifon of what is to be found in every part of Ireland, except the cities and principal towns. i " Nor do the inhabitants of the cities and principal towns efcapc the evils produced by the contraband exportation of wool. The returns of this illicit trade are always in goods Srn JAMES CALDWELL, BART. I55 goods fmuggled in by the fame hands that fmuggle the wool out. The vefieJs con- cerned in this iiade cannot wait for any regular freight, but muft take what they can get ; yet any thing is better than French currency, for that is worth fo much lefs in Ireland than in France, that it would pro. duce a very confiderable lofs. The goods then brought in return for our wool, are foreign fpirits, and other commodities, upon which the King has a high duty ; and thefe being^ fmuggled on fliore, a new train of evils IS the confequence ; the fair trader is injured ; and the revenue falling Ihort, by the non-payment of the duties ihat /hould Support It, new taxes become neccflhry and thus the fmuggler's profit comes out of the honeft man's pocket, whether he is a trader or not. " The fmuggling wool, therefore, with refpea to Ireland, depopulates and im- poverifhes the country, at the fame time that It increafes the taxes, and raifes the price of bread. It deprives the poor of em- ployment, difcouragcs induftry, promotes idle- ?.ii h 1 * '4f (* u 1 \h\ ii , ^J. ! 154 SIR JAMES CALDWELL, BART. idlenefs and debauchery, difpofes the com- mon people to infult government, fows the feeds of rebellion, and quenches humanity, by making violence, and, in hmv cafe^j, murder, neccii'ary to felf-defence. " Thofe who imagine that this prafticc can be prevented by any laws, however fevere, or by any diligence in the execu^ tion of them, while the temptations to con>. trcue it remain, know very little of human nature. The onguifli of diflrefs, and the fenfe < i" inj iry on one fide to urge, the profpt a of relief, and revenge on the other to invite, will furpifh motives that no hu- man power can controul. It is as cruel and as vain to exped that the people of Ireland ihould abllain from fmuggling wool, becaufc it h forbidden by thofe who have already forbidden them to eat, by pro- hibiting the exportation of it manufa^ured, as to expea that a man ihould drown con- tentedly becaufc he cannot come on fhore, without trefpafsing upon the ground of him that thruft him into the water, « AVhatcver is an injury to Ireland, is cer- SIR JAMES CALDWELI,, BART. 155 certainly contrary to the general intereft of that dommion of which Ireland is a part • and the general diiadvantages fuftained b; the opprefsion of Ireland is great, i„ ,J. portion to the advantages that might be de- rived from that kingdom, if it was in a flourilhmg ftate : Thefe advantages are im- menfe, and, confequently, the mere inter- cept,on of them, exclu/ive of the pofitive ev Is that accrue, is an immen:e lofs and detriment to the Britifh dominions in ge- «emi, as will appear on the moft curfL view of Ireland, with refpeft to its fituation and „a ural fuperiority over other countries. Ihat the natives are naturally induftrious, Bppear. by the readinefs, and even zeal wUh which they came into the linen manu- feaory that has lately been eftablilhcd among them. That, if they could procure fubfiftence, they would multiply greatlv appears by their fruitfulnefs, where no im- pediments reftrain it. The country, there- fore would be fully peopled, if proper methods were taken to fubfift its inhabi- tants ; or rather, if they were fuffered, with- out moleftation, to exert their own. eflorls to . If r; W7i mi i I :. \i\y I. I -, . 1 I i t < 1 ;li 'I w ,l j.f' t i ( (I ': 1. ' ■' 1 Jl jl ,,^! w fi V: ^ (i\ >-i U^ III, ."jj |9» ) I « > * 156 SIR JAMES CALDWELL, BART. to fubfift themfelves : and Ireland, if fully peopled, would be fuperior in wealth, power, and influence, to any country of the fame extent in Europe, for no country has fo wholefome a climate, fo fine, fertile, and improveable a foil, fuch general and commodious inland navigation, nor fea- ports and harbours fo admirably adapted to a foreign trade. " But the prohibition laid upon the ex^ ports of Ireland, with refped to the woollen manufactures, and the fmuggling raw wool to France from thence, its inevitable con- fequence, produce the moft important mif- chief to England, independent of the dif- advantages which they produce to that kingdom, and of the lofs England fuflains in confequencc of thofe difad vantages. " It cannot be pretended that England encrcafes her inhabitants in proportion as /he depopulates Ireland. If the number of people then is the true ftrength of a ftate, the depopulation of Ireland is a neat lofs, in SIR JAMES CALDWELL, BART. 157 in the moft important article, to the Briti- The reffrnJnf "^ ^"^ molafles. "^ reltraint was once extended to ^fi > Fnir r . '' '" ^"S'*"d- After both England and Ireland I,ad fufifered by this re ftna.on more than hajf a century, it J's taken off except with refpeft to fome cJn modities that were nirfiJi i "'"^ ^om- "' the aa of rTpearthe " '^. "T"^"'''""' W-m l»/r„ J r *''^ P"n'^'Pal of which r ' " "f *'^^"'' %"• But there is the fa... r. ifoa for taking off the rrftrJ for tabngu off from the others. WM.eu'e ' o c^r.r^: ;'"'-^ P'.'^'' -«' ^ar, was • . totl. confi nersin Irohmd. wb,. rece.vcd them tro,n t.c Plantat, ,„s tta England, by the delay anH ■ .p,,,,, ^g double 3 I .R. I ' h i i I'i ii I ill* If !'k( Iff vL 160 SIR JAMES CALDWELL, BART. double navigation, that the fame commodi- ties could be procured cheaper from other countries, and the confequcnce was, that Ireland paid one hundred thoufand pounds a year, one year with another, to foreign nations f r commodities which /he might have had from our own Colonies, and v hich, fince the prohibition to import thefe articles V ithout landing them in England has been taken off, ihe has from our Plantations again. , ! ' mh. " Why then fliould the reftriaion be con- tinued upon molaffes and fugar? Ireland, to avoid the cofl, danger, and delay that necef- farily attend the only method in which ihe can receive thefe commodities from the Britifh Colonies, procures brandy and fugars from France, for which (lie pays no lefs than one hundred and fifty thoufand pounds per annum. ' fff^ " By the trade with France into which England has driven her filler nation, fhe has drawn upon herfelf two very confiderable difadvantages ; in the? firil place, Ihe has inter- - J aiR JAMES CiALDWELL n a T,^ , ^-^^J BART. l(yj intercepted one hundred and fiftv .1 r , pounds a v, ,r .. i • ■ ^ t'loufaiid I^unos a y, ar, wlucli would otli(Mvi.;/>. i gone to her Colonies, and ]„ the r ! place. ,he has enereafe^ Z,ZZ rZ r£r:;'tiT'^-f-^"-= ^^-w^hr,iaX;tLr,pS "r;;fs ti-^-w^s.- thustheFLch^auiX"?"'""' better ter„,s than England ctdf'Cr owneoaft,and(henotonlyfu;Jr^: makes it nece/rary. Without wV," %s Decker, the French . ij ' visual their ftips ^"a , aid t, "1 ^f oflHftbeefaaurilyenaiettJjf underfel England in th^ /"^ ^"^^nch to Europe. '''' ^"^ar trade i„ « T J ^I f *'^''""' '''''"''' '^ff'^'aually prevent I.d and W interfering with her t'rad'e aTa rval, fte ftould rather endeavour to enrich tnan to impoveri/h her in r. <■ ^ of Sff, ) i; rw 1*1 162 SIR JAMES CALDWELL, BART. of Irifli plenty, might reduce the price of labour at home. • 'ii T7( " If England was to open her potts for Irifli provifions, and fufFer Ireland to export her manufa6lures, the price of labour in both countries would be brought nearer to a balance : and Ireland would confcquently be lefs able to fupplant England in the foreign market. Befides, if Ireland was al- lowed to export her wool manufa6lured, and the fmuggling away her raw wool was thus prevented, the whole foreign market would be fccured to us, which England muft of neccfsity furnifh with two parts in three of the woollen goods fold there, for the fol- lowing manifeft reafon. One thoufand ftone of Irifh wool produces three thoufand ftone of manufacture. If the Irifli therefore worked up their wool, they could manufac- ture but one third of that quantity, but as the demand for cloth abroad would be the fame, there mult then remain two thirds of the demand unl'alisficd ; this domand foreigners cannot fupply from the nature oi" V their W:5 SIK JAMES CALDWELL, BART. 163 Into wTo? r''r"f<^^"-% England „.uft; .ntowhofe hands two thirds of the prefent woollen :„a„ufaan.e of France would tl,r fore nece/ranly fall., thus not only Engllnd n general would be benefited, but even the growers and manufadurers of wool bv a repeal of the very law that has oopr:ireJ Ireland with a view to their advantage. " But if England could not /hare this o let Ireland enjoy it alone, becaufe fhe has no alternative but to transfer it to If fte ftould part with a proportion of her ^rblrr'r '''■'"'"""'«- --ted he behalf, for her advantage and defence ; but f fhe parts with it to France, it will be ■i ■;;!■ As England and Ireland arc one domi- .on, though two kingdoms, it is the greateft abfurd,ty ^aginable to fuppofe, that what '"J"res a part, can benefit the ;hole,.Th!t Ma ' Mi nil I ■ ( FT i i 164? SIR JAMES CALDWELL, BAItt, a meafure which enfeebles, depopulates, and deprclles one third, can render the ag- gregate ftrong, populous, and flourifhing. " Public happinefs, and public wealth, are terms under which mankind in general feem not to have conceived any definite and dillind- idea. Happinefs, in a political view, and as far as it can be produced and fecured by civil inftitution, is the enjoyment which arifes from the gratification of natural wants, and fuch wants as univerfal habit has fuper- induccd, with plenty and conveniency : As the public is nothing more than an aggre- gate of individuals, public happinefs mull be in proportion to thenumber of individuals who poifefs thefe advantages, and the degree in which they are polleired. Public wealth is a general ability to procure thefe advan- tages ; and trade is the caufe and medium of public wealth, (/. e.) it is that which produces and circulates it. Public happi- nefs therefore, does not confift in any of the fplcndid and expenfive vanities, which in the nature of things, can be ix)irelfcd but by a few ; nor is public weulth in. propor- tion SIR JAMES CALDWELL, BART. 1^5 tJon to the quantity of money brought into and left in the country from abroad. Tlicre may be great national wealth, in this fenfe without a general ability to procure thJ neceflaries of life with plenty and conveni- ence ; nay, this ability will be lefs generui 111 proportion as national wealth, in this popular but fallacious fenfe of the word becomes greater ; poor and rich bcincr rela-' tive terms, the poor mull always be^'poor in the fame degree that the rich are rich • but the rich do not gain by wealth in thJ fame proportion as the poor fuffer by in- digence : He that has been long ufcd to dme upon plate, is no happier than if Jie dined upon pewter ; but he that cannot fatisfy hunger, is certainly much lefs happy than he that has plenty of wholefome food. Neither indeed are thofe who are compara- Uvely rich gainers by that increafe of pro- perty which rifes from the increafe of money brought into the nation ai;d left in It by trade, . for the reafon that has been afsigned already ; the lame caufe Jiat en. creafes their property, proportionably en- crcafes their expence. Nothing, ibr m- ^^ ^ ftance, H' m-Hi iu 166 SIR JAMES CALDWELL, BART. llancc, can encreafc the value of land, that will not proportionably encreafe th^ price of whatever the rent received for fuch land can buy. Of this truth the writers upon trade fecm fometimes to have had a glimpfe, and then to have loft fight of it again ; for it is common to find the fame advocate for trade, wh*m he is recommending it as a general benefit, make court to the country gentleman by telling him that it will en- creafe the value of liis land ; and when any method is propofed to encreafe the value of land, which he thinks hurtful to general trade, he is very ready to remind his old friend, that by fuch encreafe he can gain nothing. " Trade is the medium of public wealth, in the true fenfe of the word, only when it produces a general ability to procure fuch things as are become generally necefifary, whether by nature or habit. To do this, the trade of every country muft be fuch as fully to employ all its inhabitants. In a country where all are employed, none can fuifer by indigence ; where few are em- ployed, IIB >% that SIR JAMES CALDWELL, BART. IG7 ployed, the few are too many ; where many are employed, the many are too few. " Every meafure, therefore, whieh lef- fens employment in oiie part of a kingdom, that thofe who are employed in another part of it may get more money, i? not lefs abfurd than cruel ; thofe who are left idle muft ftarve, thofe whom a monopoly enables to fet a faaitious value upon any manufac- ture o; commodity will get money indeed, but cannot be rich, for every monopoly nece/Tarily encreafes the expence of life. " It is monifcft, therefore, that the laws which leave tlie inhabitants of Ireland with- out employment, have an immediate and necefiary tendency to diminifh the flrength, happinefs, and profperity of the whole Bri- tish dominions, and are hurtful even to England herfelf. le e It muft be remembered, that as tl. inhabitants of every country, where all ar. ^ully en.|)loyed, will ncce/rarily increafe, the ftren-ih of fuch country muft encrcafe' ^^ ^' alfo ; i f II II 'I'li: 'Ml' ij : &i h; i *i V '! I I t 14- ! ^' 168 SIR JAMES CALDWELL, BART. > alfo : and national Ihcngth will uct only fe- cure advantages already poireiled, but compel others ; as it will render the attempts of an enemy iinfuccefsful, it will alfo prevent them ; and thus the fame caufe that circu- lates the blefsings of peace, will prevent the calamities of war. 6C \i>J If power, therefore, is advantageous to a flate, fo is (^xtent of dominion ; for the fame number of people cannot live upon ten acres of ground that can live upon twenty. It muft then be admitted, that if the number of acres in England was doubled, and the whole was fully peopled, and the people fully employed, the aggregate of happincfs and ftrength would be great in proportion. Will not Ireland, therefore, fecure to us all the advantages arifmg from increafe of territory, if England does not depopulate it, by cutting off employment, and confequently bread, from its inhabi- tants ? And cai. England procure ^ny par- tial benefit by treatment: fo injurious and cruel, in proportion to the lofs of fuch ter- ritory and its advantages ? Though fh^ fca divides SIR JAMES CALDWELL, BART. IfJ.O divides England from I, eland, botl, are fub- jea to the fame Sovereign, parts of the fame dominion, have the fame friends and the fame enemies, are connefted by a com- n.on mtereft. and produec the fam'e articles ot commerce. England, in making laws to make Ireland poor, ftus Sir Francis Brew- a,^? '" '"".^^'^ on Trade and Navigation, a«s juft hke a man who ihould fet his Ws °" ^''"^ '" "''^'" ''"'■" '"^ "^-'s''- V \t^''^.'""^ " ^'^'"''^ "^'"gd"'" ? So was ^orkthire an the time of the Heptarchy > Is Irelard diftant from England } Several count.es ;n England are ftill more diftant from each other, and tl,e communication between them is rot fo eafy, with refpcA to commerce, as tne communication be- tween England and Ireland. Ireland is more axlvantageoufly f.tuated for the Weft. India trade than England. Is that a reafon why the Weft-India trade fhould be con- fined to England > It is the general intcreft' to dnea trade where ,t can be beft carried en, and not to make the facility of carryin- it li. '. i| :ir f':,' t ^HJ ■}■■/'■ *" 1, M W- ' ^^^^1 w-'- ^^^H m \l I 11 m^y^ ii'7 > - I'f ! i-. t 170 SIR JAMES CALDWELL, BART. it on at ojie place, a reafon for transferring it to another. Briftol is better fituated for the Irilh trade than London, fhould Lon- don, therefore, petition that the port of Briftol fhould be locked up ? " Suppofe England itfelf was divided into t-wo kingdoms, one comprehending all the South, the other all the North fide of the Thames, and there were hoftile prohibitions againft importing certain forts of goods from London to Southwark, and from South wark to London, and high duties upon all the reft ; would not the community manifeftly fuffer ? and is not the cafe exadly parallel with refpecl to the two parts of the Britiih dominions that lie on oppofite fides of the Irifh Channel. " Poftlethwaite, a fenfible writer, juftly obferves, that every argument which can be formed to prove that any certain branch of trade ihould be confined to one part of tiie Britifh dominions, which might be car- ried on with equal convenience at another, againft rival nations, will prove, that fuch part SIR JAMES CALDWELL, BART. J7I part ftiould itfelf be divided. If England argues that Ireland Ihould have no trade in nia„ufaaur;ci wool, it may be argued againft Yorkihu-e, by the rell of England, t.at this county fliould be excluded too • by purfuing this argument, the manufacture may be hunted down into one county thence mto one town, nay even to one houfe, and in that houfe to one manufac- turer. The general interell will futRr by the exclufion in the fame proportion that the part excluded bears to the whole. " As it is manifeft, for tlie reafons al- ready afsigned, that England can fccure no advantage to the Britilh dominions iji ge neral, nor to herfelf in particular, by re. llrammg the trade of Ireland, it is natural to enquire whether the advantages wnich Ae propofcd by this meafure can be pro- cured any other way. . " It has been Ihewn, that the prohi- bition of Irifh cattle was intended to incrcafe the value of Engli/h land, and that railing the value of Englilh land is no advantage to i> m m •1,(1, I ■ If f , ill ^'^1 s 172 SIR JAMES CALDWELL, BART. . to England in whatever degree it may be eftedtcd. '* It has alfo been ihewn, that the prolii- bition to export maniifaeturcd wool from Ireland, was laid on, that the maniifac^ turers of England might have a monopoly in that artidc ; that England manufactures lefs wool fmcc this meafure than belore ; and that fhc has given to France all that fhe has taken from Ireland, inflead of fecuring it to hcrfclf. ''^! n ^ As to molalTos and fugar, it has been prover-, that inftead of p ocuring any ad- vantac;i iVom the firft landing fuch of thefe coniirtodities in England, as were to be con- fumed in Ireland, England has fent Ire- land from her own plantations to another market. n>4 " And it is plain that thefe meafures were originally fuggefted by the great dif" ference between the price of labour and neceflarics in Ireland and England ; to bring the price of labour and ncceliaries ne'^Hy to au Srii JAMES CALDWELT., baRT. 173 an equality in both countri hcrefore, the < nly n. ns of procuring c advantages whi h were intenHed by retraining the trade of Ireland, and which retraining that trade can never produce. " Many methods ofdoiii^ this have been fuggefted. Poftlcthwai Jes the cul- tivation of more land ; < , the abolition of taxes. A critical c .ninatlon of this fubjea cannot be expected here, but it is rr^t altogether foreign to the defign of this trocl, to /hew that one very confidcrablc caule of the dcainefs of labour, and the neceilaries of life in England, refults from the methods ihc has taken to procure thofc very advantages which the high price of labour and neceifaries preclude, and par- ticularly from the innumerable monopolies which fhe has eftablifhed ^^ ith a view to en. grofs trade, and incr( ale money. " In Sir Matthew Dccker\s EHay on the Taufes of the Decline of foreign Trade, ho has obferved that the Dutch, Uiough n'loro taxed in the necelllu-ies of life tlmr anv other f ii -.4, IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) ^ < ^ \ :\ '<^\^ ^1\ ^\ wu^* C^^ 23 WIST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. t4SbO (716) 872-4503 '4^ V- 174- SIR JAMES CALDWELL, BART^ other people in the world, beat us out of our trade, by fabricating the fame manu-r fa6tures for lefs money ; and to ihew how this happens, he exhibits the following (late of the difadvantages of an Engliih woollen manufadlurer, in comparifon with the woollen manufadturer of Holland. *' The difadvantages of the Englifli manu- fa6lurer, are, j, *' 1ft. He muft buy bread made of Eng* lifh corn, though dearer than foreign. Thus the farmer has a monopoly/ againft the manu- fiidurer, and all monopolies enhance the price of goods. ■ & t p. 'i •I i 17^ SIR JAMES CALDWELLj BART* for his own life, however cheap, by which the Unen countries have a monopoly againft him to make his linen dear. " lOthly. He niiift not buy, for his own ufe, foreign fheermen's fheers, iron, or tin wares, however cheap, which gives the •manufadlurers of thofe wares a monopoli^ againft him, to make his utcnfils of iron and tin dear. J|.. " 11. He muft not procure feveral forts of goods, which are imported for his ufe, at the cheapeft market, but only at the ufual ports of fhipping ; thus particular ports - have a monopoly againft him to make thefe goods dear. Ml; I ♦ " 12. He muft not have thefe goods flip- ped at the cheapeft freights, but muft fhip them on Britiih fhips or Ihips of the coun- try, and at the ufual ports, by which thefe fliips have a monopoly againft him, to make thefe goods ftiil dearer. (C 13. He has heavy cuftoms to pay on the irR JAMES CALDWELL, BART, I77 the oil and ioap he ufes in manufaauring h.^,goods which contributes toenhance their price. "Acir ■ htm J •si -^'^1 A Dutch wooljcp nijinufaaurer is in a fituafon j«(t the reverfe of this; hk advan- tages are, ; . , i\Z '■ ^u ''"^'' '■'^y' *''^ "^^P^^ corn th^ can be gpt, to make bread, a'd has „. com pionopoly upon him. vlvii "^^'^ ^'- " 'l""*^'" drawback on EngWh wheat : computing freight and J^satls.d. per quarter, he if fed by U^En^Uih cheaper thaa their own peoplJ oy;3s,,^dt , I,; ^very, quarter of wheat. , :,,. ■ '- i ' : ■■ i" i' ! ' 1 P f"*-* f <, on P ''r? '''^ ^- ***• '^"^^ drawback che^eftr";.*'''"^''^'"^'^'''''^--. Cheaper to him than to our own people.' "4. He has a penny in the pound draw- back upon Englifl, leather. "5. He has Britilh coals at three MU lings '4! ' it ' it ,!!!S 1 11- /f 1 1 mono. poly agamft him in thofe articles. for'hl^iuT^l"''''"'^ '" S°^^' ""ported far ^tt " •"' "''" ' ^' *''''' - P'rticu- tar port has a monopoly againft him. cheapeft fa.h„g ftjp^ ^ ^^^^ nofl,ippi„g ha, a monopoly againft him. ■ ^ bv'L'/' ^''^P"^^ "fhis goods is not raifed by heavy cuftoms on oil and foap. _ "It remains only to be obfcfved thai tuldTr'l "^ P-'«- fr- Inland wouH , r ' '"'*'^*'°" °f "-"^e land wouldanfwer only i,alongprocefs of time, navigation, as .t would be wholly carried °n m Englife and Irift, bottoms. ^ tc Tl^at It would carry into Ireland in returxj a' iff ! !i ♦■1 'llil iit; ,. 'li'tM LiKl'f '^ 4 ^ 13 'f •■ - i.M 1 i m^ 1 80 SIR JAMES CALDWELL, BART. return for proviflons, great . quantities of Englifh articles pf trade^ as. well neceffaries as fuperfluities. /;:r. " That it would preveht^a trade of' the like kind to France, which enables her to fupport her Weft India Iflands, and to vic- tual heir fleets ; and at the fame time, brihgs into Ireland from Frances many articles which England would otherwife furnifh to her fifter country. •'j»ri'^ri >'l ** And that it woul^preY^pt the export tatlon of raw hides to France, which come back to E;iig|4i3d' manufldlured into le&ther, a^d of tallow in great quantities, which 'i^ ethat ; every = argu- mqi;it in thi^:(€nfili>l0,iand fciirce traa, does not apply at.t]>^j[^-^fentltlime,ii|)'articularly what relates to France. But in return, it wiuil aH'o be obfcfved;, th-at the conne6lion /. with .. ) SIH JAMES CALDWEtL, BART. IgJ With France is only A.fpe„ded ; „o one can fuppofe that it is cut off for ever. After heco h,„„„,^^_.^ and peace is p^: feaiy ettfed,., the conneaion will rev^; and perhaps b. greater than ever; therefj; Ucan^ no har„,,o keep the argument in J 'I !■ I'll .^(V^- life 11 M a f ! 1' f' 1^ u: m'. N 3 CHAPTER y, li liijfl f ffi ( 182 ) CHAPTER Xm. ME2MOIRS OF GREAT BRITAIN, BY SIR JOHN DALRYMPLE, Ml ' ,d circulation. And the fol- lowmg feotence in the preface, ti,at « Hi, Majetty gave orders that he [Sir John Dalrymple] rhouJd have accefs to the caknet of King M^illiam'. private m, PC., at Kenfington." gave fomethJng more than colour to the ufe th^ vval tnade, i„ the way of report, of his Ma- jeftys approbation, and encouragement of he worJc Not the leaft attempt was made to contradia or conceal this p^tended particpatm in the compilement; but on the contrary, the moft ftill, free, and even indecent cxprefsions accompanied th« '"any affertions of it; in order to give th. work weight and autliority with the public. I .„rr '''''^'^ "*■ ^^ ^^^"^ ^'"^ t'>c cir- cumftanoes attending the publication of f, naturally gave f«me affliaion to the ^Jefcendants and relations of thofe »reat ^'^l-^^of.c^^^r.aers .ere c^Urnlifa •« it . and the nation, i„ general, received N * the I'M ! , n ! ! I- 'ni I I If-T! » '- ,f !/• (fi fi"^ \\l\ff\ ,f i; ir,: 1 1 18* MEMOIRS OF GREAi BRITAl^r, the /lander with indignation. The feel- ings the opinions, the prejudices of all thofe perfons were fliocked who approved of the juftice and necefsity of the Revolution in 16SB. They could not, and did not, for iome time at leaft, give credit to the confident aflertions of a great perfon's ap- probation of this attack ; becaufe they con- eeived it to be impofsible for any man to give his countenance to a book in which the friends of his family were re. prefented as infamous. The defign was manifeft. It had been premeditated fome time : the extraordinary induftry /hewn, in the compilation fuffi- ciently marked it. No event had hap- pened which called for the necefsity or propriety of fuch a work. It was a vo- luntary labour, undertaken and executed with a view to defame particular oha- iif-i' ,J ^.f It wds oneof Lord Mansfield*si common and favourite praaices to eftabli/h h€tk upon . inlprenccs. He conceived that he /hewed HHIiii JmL m BY SIR JOHN DALRYMPLE. 185 ftewed his ingenuity by this mode of dif* playing his abilities. And the inlercoco from thefe papers is, tliat tiiere was a great deal of knavery and villainy amonir the opponents of Charles the 'second - therefore all oppoocnts to a King's niea^ fures are rogues and villains. This is tii0 aim of the book ; with what view any perfon may fee : it was pxibli/lied at tlic eve of the American war. ^ This doarine Is certainly unconftitu. tional; becaufe it holds out a diftrud of every gentleman, whether of high rank or great talents; and will apply equally to all parties and individuals Whenever they oppofe the meafures of the Court Confequently it goes to eliaWilh an opi,' nion, that a King only is' the proper perlon to be entrurted. All others are unworthy of any confidence. Public vir. tue is a chimera in every breall but that of a Kiiig. In this opinion, all public charaaer is imposition, all patriotifm is falfe^ all honour is hypocritical. The con- **n. the compiler of the Memo.rs" has felefled a letter written o K,„g William, which he has afcrib J to Lord Godolphin ; and intending t„ g.ve fome confequence to it, he calls it The ftrongeft Pifture of all, as contain- » 2 1-" '^V'' ''^ Parties, and of •thek.„g [See the Appendix to the ly pofs.ble to g.ve a proper anfwer to thi» grofs impofition, without being guilty of extreme rudenefs. This letter was not wntten by I.,rd Godolphin-it is not in that noble Lord's hand-writing. The houfe-keeper found it, and put it into the packet winch ihe made up. and rf„.W ^ herM. There is no better authority for th.s letter being attributed to Lord Oodolphin. . There is a letter afcribed to Lord Not- tingham [idem page 78] which likewife M not in that noble Lord's hand-writinc - ami i^llP' I *i I, I 'A j#' ■ I? |3l ' its* « I . ' tt 188 MEMOIRS OF GREAT BRITAIN, and might, with equal propriety, have been afcribed to Dr. Franklin, if he had lived at that time; for it is as unlike, and • as unworthy of one, as of the other. In a letter afcribed to Lord Sydney, written to King William, [idem page 224] dated the third of February, '169^1, and flatcd to be in King William's box,' concerning Lord Godolphin's refolution to rcfign ; Lord Sydney is made to fay, " that " he (Lord Godolphin) lay« it moft upon: " his xvife;' &c. It is impofsible that this letter can be genuine, becaufe Lord Go- dolphin had no wife at this time. His lady died in child-bed in the year 1678, and his Lordfliip never married again. Thefe {gw inftances are fufficient to convince every impartial mind, that no perfca reliance can be placed on the au- thority of thefe papers. And it will fur. ther appear, to any one who is but to*, lerably converfant in the hiftory of thefe times, that the writer himfelf, or com- piler of the *^ Memoirs," was very imper,. fedly SY SIR JOHN DALRYMPLE. Igg f V dy acquainted with tlie period he has undertaken to explain. , For inftance, he has printed a fpirited letter to King William [Hfr»r;pagd S*]owhich he fays was believed to be w*ritten by Mr. afterwards D.>ke of Wlmtda. • This Mr. Wharton died in the yelrJTl-S^ and:thcditleof Duke.of Whar- ■ tofa^was 'not created until the year 1718 OT>e.,£a»ariiaers;af .the,:.two/men Averc fo differefct, h'is, JmpoftiWe: to miftake them. One iWas,7alliftiirtue„ the oUier all vice AnotherJttftancaiof the dike kind is, a re- mark, oor more properly a fneer^ which he Makes on H tetter; written by DriGompton, bimwpnofi-tondofa, to tlje.Prince of Orance* te paBsm^-rAixwriotis Letter to be writ. ^'-teU hyca a/hop ;v [AppeiKlJx to the " Alctpoirs,','/ ^rt>l, page 334 j becaufe it relates .tx>:Mt:Br\>s' of .volunteers com- *»**#>% -the hiihop. .: „.„,,, fu'lr 'j.iov/ -.riiU 'lo Ir'y-r :. '■.■fiut,4h6 «,riti,r of the « Memoirs!' ftould hat!e,,eooUe6ted; ,<» have informed himfelf who .this ;Wffii,p was. In his youn-^cr y«ars hi had heen ari officer in the army, >n the regiment of horfc, commanded by Aubrey, It 'mi ■L' ' I m i I m m m m ■ i * .1. M' 100 MEMOIRS OF GREAT BRITAIN, Aubrey, Earl of Oxford. Confequently there is ftothing curious in it. i i jj We will now proceed to hlfe French au-^ tliorities. Thefe are the difpatches' of Monf. Bariilon, the French Ambaffador in England, to his Cburt; to which, the writer fays, he had accefs, by the; order of the Due d'AguilloiH. the. French Mijiiftdr^; who further ordered that /he ihight hftYU copies of fomo of them. But' the writer doCJ not fay that he copied any of them hinr* felf, or that he cotn^pared any of the copies with the originals; fo there is no tuthority whateter 'for the adcUcacy of thefe copies. And it ig Teij-y fin^ular^ as well as extraordinary, ; that both Htitn« and Carte, who had actefs tip the Depot des Affaires Etrangeres, at iVa»faill€ff, where it is affirmed thefe papeii airfe /depolitedi^ have not faid a word of their wonderful contents/ The compiler of the •* Memoirs'* admits Mr. Hume's acceft to them, and Mr. Carte fpeaks for himfelf in his ac- count of the materials he polTeflcd before he undertook his hiilory. There can be ilo '*«. k. < iV Sm JOHN DALRVMPLE. Igj no doubt of thefe. writers being well dif- pofcd to ^maka thefe papers public if they had fccji them. When Lauder Wrote againfl Milton, he pretended to quote, and refer to a n'um! ter of books in the libraries of Florence, the Vatican, and other places. Upon ex- amination, it was difcovered that there were BO fuch books in thofe places; and tjat Lauder's book was a , J bafe 3„1 infamous .mpof.tion. Tins fadt is ftated aj; length in the preface to Dr. Newton's edition of Milton. ' U.. However, if it is admitt^ that thefe papers a«3.,ge„uine, any perfon in the ^ftfacjaathted with the hiftory of thofc to*s, miiy^fee in them, that BariUon ^J7' ^^-^ th« 'noft important And thit the writer of the « Memoim" is not much bater informed in the ob- fervations he makes. ' ■ f!(| I ! The principal arid moft interefting fea. turames of twen* ty-pne perfotis, whom he.; fays ht has bribed with the fum of iiio^fcey annexed to each name [Vi^e Appendix to the Me-, moirs, p. 316 and 317] to which the compiler of the " Memoirs" makes this, addition, " the mmes of aln>pft all thie- *> ^bave perfoBs^ are to be found in th^; " Houfe of Commons as adlive perfons at " that time." This was in the year 1680. If tfhp jcpipipH^r M^ giyren himfelf the troublq to examine the lift of ,the JH[ou(e. of Coii^imons ,of ,(that year,, ^■■Sim^^M'VQ^ fom^ thatn(|i)o^fp>K9r ,,than,i n^e^of , jth^^ perfons out of .. tJ^^^> tiweipity-r^ne: w^re npt ^n Pf^rUa^cnt- ;3:hefie were^fS)f^neyv Franc- land, Baber, pfpfs, Annftroi^g, Hic^alU Compton,.JH[o$l)am, ^id L^TPjn, J ., .:'•);!! n, V." Barilloli's total ignorance of Sydney, is in nothing more palp^le than his afler- ?;; tion fty SIR JorfN DALRYMPLE. I93 t'> in Ins difpatch, dated on the Uth of December, ,679. wherein he fays, that Sydne eleaed for that P^rli^a;" J he airert.on ,s totally unfounded , he was affcas great intimacy . with Sydney. I^ h,s t,me BariUon had been in England above two year.. The new ParliaS was eleaed i„ the fummer of levinnd Jt for bufinef. in the n^onth of oaore? one beheve it, that from the middle of Oaober when Parliament met, to tl:e 2 die o December, when Barill'on writ that Banllon could be ignorant of Sydney' Z LT '";^^'~*' - that hi couU iay m h,s difpatch, (dated as above) when fpeakmg of Sydney's conneaions with thofe who oppofed the Court in Parlia- eleaed for. tins prefent one.) If there be fuch a d.fpatch, and it is genuine, fuch profound .gnoranc is not to be exceeded m the luftory of diplomatic tranfaaions. --But let us view this matter a little far- ther. Algernon Sydney was a man of ^ high ^, fflf .4t' II., i:ih: M' I * ■ I • I I ' I ivi or Iff > I i<, j;:r ''h i'l tlri ►i t u ■ I 194 MEMOIRS OF GREAT BRITAIN, liigh corifideration ; of " great views," fays fiarillon. He was popular in England, and known in France ; and by a particular fcircumftance was known to the French King alfo, who wanted to purchafe his horfe, of Which Sydney betiig informed, he immediately ihot the horfe j faying, " that *' his horfe was born a free creature, had ^* ferved a free man, and fliould not be *' maftered by a King of Haves." This fa6l muft be allowed to be a pretty ftrong mark of his love of liberty, and hatred of ityranhy. And though the inference from this fa(5t is, that fuch a man would never become the penrroner of an abfolute King, Ivho would Hot fuffer his hoi^f6 td be rode by one ; yet all ibis ftrengthens the more tliah probability, that Barillon muft coh-^ fider it of fom.e cohfequence to his dha- tacSter, to attach, oi' at leaft ptietend to attach, this man to his party ; and which eould only be to enhance bis own repu- tation with his Coutt. As to the pre- tended fa6t of Sydney's i^cciving a bribe from the Frehch Kihg, it ftands i'i^on the fmgle teftimony of Barillon, unfup- porlcxl SV SIR JOHN DALRYMPLE. ,95 ported by any collateral evidence nr • cumftance whatever if 7 "-' t. »"oney. The words are (upon Ballon offenng to f„r„ift n,oney to bribe thof^ ufefu , Banllon ftates that Lord Ru/Tel re- Pl.ed) « That he ftould be very forry to have any commerce with perfons <; ''^f'' "f ■'-"S Seined by money; but he appeared pleafed to fee, by this . rfi ''''' *''"•= ■' "° /""-'^ ""- derftandmg between your Majefty and he Kn,g of England to hurt their con- "tut.on. [Appendix to the Memoirs, 111 't iS Tlic Pi I * 202 MEMOIRS OF GREAT BRITAIN, The real truth of the whole affair is fimply this, That I^rd RijiTol an«j his friends, knowing Charles the Second had 9 private correfpondencc with the French King, they confldered his levying a mili- tary force, under a pretence of war with France, as no other than a fecret defign, jlbrraed, with the confidential concurrence of the French King, to overturii die Fngiiih jconllitution, and thereby to make himl'elf arbitrary and abfolute ; Lord RufTei was de- ffirous of obtaining, if pofsible, accurate in- formation upoh this fubjecT: : therefore fup- pofmg, or admitting, tor a moment, that >iny of Barillon's difpatches are founded in entire truth, and that they have been faithfully copied, the whole contents go no further than to prove this dillind: and iingle fact, that his Lordihip's fole object in treating with France, was to prevent the French King from afsifting the defigns of Charles to fubvert the Englith conllitution. No perfon whatever can put any other con^- llruftion upon 13arillon*s own Itatement. He writes to the French King [x\ppendix to the Memoirs, p. 13 8. J That Lord Ruflel had iTair is n(J his had a French 1 mili- r with delign, ■Mice of F.ngiiih limfelf vas de- at^ in- rc ftip- :, tliat ded in been go no lingle ?S: in nt the gns of :ution. 1' con*- it. He dix to Ruflcl had BY SIR JOHN DALRYMPLE. 205 had ftated to him, the danger the people of England were in of lofing their Hberties by the military force which Charles was levy. . ing, under a pretence of war with France He was therefore felicitous, that the true de%n of thefe preparations might appear, and pre/res, that it may be known to the party, fays Barillon, " That your Majeily has no connedion with the King of " England to opprefs them ; but that you ;; Will not fuffer him, under the pretence ot an imaginary war, to find means to , bring them into fubjeaion.'* From thefe words, fuppofing the difpatch to be genuine, (for that can never be re- pcated too often, becaufe fo many a/Ter- tions of Barillon have been ihewn to be wholly falfe) it may be afked of the moll candid and impartial perfon, whether there IS any ground, or even colour, for charging this worthy and amiable nobleman with ihamefully intriguing with France ? On the contrary, is it not manifefl, that his con- dua was honourable, and that his delign was laudable ? He felt a parental tcndernefs for ^ S ■ . ff> I 'I .•t-' 1 4 I-'] ' i ]iP^ IK ' », 1 fc" w ^ if'' < * 204' MEMOIRS OF GREAT BRITAIN, for the conflitution, and a conltant anxiety for the event of thofe preparations, which lie knew the Court was making againfl tho liberties of his country. This ftate of poHtics is briefly but clearly explained in the " Memoirs of the Life and " Minifterial Conduct of the late Lord Vifcount Bolingbroke." i( " After the return of Charles II. the na- tion had a fpecimen of the true patriotifm in the conduct' of his Minifters, Clarendon and Southampton, who thought a better proof of loyalty to their Mafler could not be given, than by a firm adherence to the coiiftitution. The Duke of Albemarle had the honour of refloring him ; but to thefe two noble Earls, indifputably the glory be- longs of refloring it. Soon after the death of the latter, a faction was formed, by a coalition of parties, againfl the former, and the King, though he had feen the error of his father, in refpeftto the Earl of Strafford, aded the like part with regard to the Earl of Clarendon ; one circumflance only ex- 3 ceptcd, BY SIR JOHN DALRVMPLE. 205 cepted, which was his concurring in that meafure to which his father was forced. This foaion, which, in the guife of patriots, had accompHflied the ruin of the Chancel- lor, came very foon after into power, and were dirtinguiihed, with great propriety by the title of the Cabal. They firlt endea- voured to fecure the King, by undertakincr to put him in pofTefsion of a plenitude o'f power." They drew him into a conneaion with France, and a diflike to the Dutch. " He was exceedingly carefled by the French King, who found means to purchafe Dunkirk for a fong; the flores and other things found there, being worth all that was paid for it, and no fooner had it in his hands, than he caufed a medal to be ftruck, to proclaim his own wifdom and Charles's folly. He encouraged the Dutch to un- dertake the firfl war in that reign, that the maritime powers might weaken each other by fca, and he afsiited them againlt England." [P. 55, and 62, edit . ' ' Lord Ruflcl had fufficient ground for his apjDrc- : M I. ; m .hll' I »i % I' Wm* ii ill :r: 20^ MEMOIRS OF GREAT BRITAIN, apprehcnfions and fears, that tlie Frencli King might join Charles in his plan to de- ilroy the Englifli conftitution. In the following few lines are col* ledled all the charges made againft Lord RufTel. Lord Ruflel and Lord Hollis were pleaf- ed, « that the King of France is convinced it is not his intereft to make the King of England ahfolute mafter in his kingdom. — They are glad of your Majefty's good " intentions. — Lord Ruflel would under- hand clog the King's meafures ; and would he very forry to have any commerce with perfons capable of being gained by money.— His friends wanted the difTo-- " lution of the Parliament, which they " thought could come only from the help " of France." (« (6 t( ofed to be written by Sir John njles Anfw„ to it, afcribed to Lord Marjm. Several Particulars concerning Lord Mansfield. His Partiality in all Trials Jor Libels. The Declaratory Act of the Law of Libels made to correct his Doctrine. HisDefign to take the Opinion of the twelve Judges upon it. His Defign in the Houfe of M on the fame Subject frujrated by Lord Camden. Lord Mansfield makes a third Attack on the Rights of Juries, bu reviving the Star-Chamber Mode of profi. cutmg Libels, by Attachment. Mr. Dwi-' ningsfirjl Splendour. Remarkable Cafe of a poor Woman, and fpirited Conduct of Sir Fletcher Norton upon it. Mr. Vaughan's Attempt to corrupt the Duke of Grafton, «nth the Duke's Affidavit and Papers, and Urd Mansfield's Opinion. Heads of a ftngular Trial concerning the Sale of Places VOI,. I. p r , ■ ■• Letters 1' ,m I!''!! I 1 •■'! iS. ' '«' ! ■: ' ' 4 i 111 ' i« I Hi ' iwlf ! 210 tATE EARL OP MANSFIELD, Letters on the fume Subject. Extraordinary Negociation in the Year 1778, concerning the Appointment of ' Lord Chief Jujiice of the Court of Common Pleas, Cafe at Surrey Afsize, Lord Mansfield's Speech on the Duty of Four and an Halfpei- Cent, on the Prodiice of Grenada, Lord Mansfield^s Conduct on the Q^uejiion concerming Literary Property, His Ambition to be thought a Aloscefias, Patronizes Sir J, Dalrymple and Mr, Lind. His Ambition to he thought a Statefman, Speech againft fufpending Power, Declares Great Britain has pajjed the Ru- bicon, Bo7i Mot on the H&wes, Lord Sandwiches Remark on the Howes, Lord Mansfield's two laf Charges to Juries in Trials for Libels on Mr, Pitt. X. HIS great man's chara6ler has been vart- oufly reprefented ; and probably the com- plexion of it will continue doubtful for ever. There was a charadter of him fo early as the year 1746; written, as it was very ge- nerally believed, by Sir John Willes, who was Lord Chief Juftice of the Common Pleas. It was printed in the Broadbottom Journal J !f'.| m rdinartf ceming ftice of Surrey on the on the isfield's Merary ught a pie and ught a Power, ie Ru- Lord Lord riei in n vari- com- r ever, arly as ry ge- i, who mmon >ottom umal ; Journal ; but as fKof • fk^ J "^* '^ "ow very fcarr-A the reader may exnec^^ i^ f ^ ' from it here. ^ '^ ^" ^^^^^<^ ©I'D ENGLAND ; OR Thi? »« JOITRNAL, DEC. 27, 174^. " I /hould be forrv to fee n q. . ,. proper for mo f^ .• ""/ "ot be very p 1-.. *° mention them / Engh/hman oiieht not f„ i, ^" dominion of a S«,t ''"^ ""'''^' ^''^ to U/r:f':\Tr ""''"'•''■-- "^^'i bar of one of 1 ''"'"'"eered at the of his name: probablv rf/ '"''■'''"""' Second, foritlnatur^f^;'/"^ •""'"" ^^e «"-ght meet with enr ' *° ''^^''^^^ the;,/«rf thefe reigns rlVr?"''^''"""* ^^^« '■% -iveweldJXStrar"'""''^^ - height.. p.ett,^arn;7ii;r;::; "^ over I ;i * B' i ' . [■\M .■'! f :L ffl Bi 212> LATE EARL OF MANSFIELD, over a Scotch education, with a little Eng-- lifh cruel ition, and undoubtedly for prefer- ment too. He brought along with him the fame principles of government and loyalty, as his country and family were remarkable for, and what his brother carried over to Rome, like apples to Alcinous, or coals to Newcaftlc. One would think fuch an op- . portunity might have had fome gentle influence on the rugged nature of our emi- grant, his pauper pride, and native info- lence ; but it happened otherwife ; for the Scot could not alter his nature ; and fo, in the midll of all the learning of our courts, , he continued dill a very Scot. ! ( " Full of the tattcrdemallion honour of the man of quality, forfooth ! of his own country, he ufed to infult the Englilh fuitors in harangues of virulence and abufe. He had no perfuafion in his manner, fweetnefs in his voice, nor energy in his exprefsion ; no variety of turn in tone and cadence, adapted to the purport of the matter he treated, but was curd with a loud clamorous vionotomj^ and a difagrccable difcordance in his ■•^*'-li. • LORD CHIEF JUSTICE. ' • 3,3 plead, and from thence was called Orator Mnx or the Caledonia,, Sereecher. fZ crnuholo,,, Stnr .,,ans tl,e Grey 0,.l. sl ^^y, m tkc PkHofipkica, Tranfictions; Vot. ^62] He was as indelicate i„ his words, a. i> s uncleanly countryman Sawnoy in the PKv. So that he deformed the amiable brow o oratory and beauty of debate, with abu- Jve Scotffam, and obfccnc language ; in- '^much, that the faircft caufe in his^Jnds, was fure to carry out of it a tinc'lurc of foul- nefs. He a/iumed a bullying audacity irt Wnner, and feemcd, by a pertinadou^ mportun.ty, to overbear, rather than ga,V il.e bench. This faculty however reeom: mended him to the notice of fuch folicitor, as deal among the canaille; which, bein^ much the major part of the profefsion, A.p- Pl.ed h,m with a con.petcncc of bufinrfs, .»t the fame t,me as he treated thefe ab r t\ '"^^'^■'' ^-^y MW too w th ''■■"'Shtmefs and contempt : forthifefjj. ^ ^ lows, i jt t f' 214- LATE EARL OF MANSFIELD, lows, like fpaniels, or termagant wives over* , powered, fawji under corredion. *' Though learning was very cheap in his country, as it might be had for a groat a quarter, fo that a lad only went two or three miles of a morning to fetch it, and it is very common to fee there a boy of qualify lug along his books to fchool, and a fcrip of oatmeal for his dinner, with a pair of brogues on his feet, pofteriors expofed, and nothing upon his legs : I fay, notwithftand- ing thefe advantages, he did not appear to be a man of more learning than one of our 1— -ds or country fquires, nor to mideriland the elegance of fine writing ; and yet had the good fortune to make an alliance by marriage with an Englifh family of dif, tinaion, which procured him not only 4 much higher preferment in his own way than he deferved, or in the utmoft ftretch of his hopes could expea, but had like tQ have puftied him up to the fummit of the bench ; if a perfon of real merit, and a genius in bufmefs, had not ftepped in between and cried LORD CHIEF JUSTICE. 215 tried out firft oars. But an accident fuf- ponded the occafion, and very well it did, if Strix had been the perfon to be preferred;' fince it would have proved an indelible re- fleaion upon us to fee a Scot in fo high a ftation, when fo many of our own country^ men were infinitely better qualified, and more deferving of preference. But 'tis re- markable our orator Strix ever fince funk gradually in his reputation and bufinefs, and became defpifed in his turn, by the very praaifers he had maletreated before. " 'Tis faid (continued my old friend) Strix's ill-manners drew upon him fo fevere a fcourge, from a hand he little expea^d, that he had reafon to repent of hiring out his lungs to calumny and abufc. Though he ufed to boaft he was above the reach of repnfals, either from words retorted upon him m his court, which I apprehended wag that of the Quarter Sefsions) or from a bitter pen from without: As he pretended to be m both cafes, equally under the proteaion ofhisprofefsion; and that confequently an author muH inevitably incur the j^enalty of * * a con» ! . rpf' ' ,' . 1 * '/{ J [H I ijl V If % s»4 I'l' ^16 LATE EARL OF MANSFIELD, a contempt of his fefsions-bench, however cautioufly or perhaps innocently, he may have wrote or fcreened himfelf under an umnteliigible word, obfcurcd by a dafh from the initial letter to the laft : Since he would fain infinuate his fefiions-court, being in fuch a cafe, fubjea to no jury, had a right to put fuch conftruaions upon words as it fhould think fit, and would therefore punilh accordingly. This was a new d^oc- trine, and a moft dangerous one too, if it had prevailed this fide the Tweed ; which, at the fame time that it fliewed the value we <(>ught to put upon juries, and the habeas eorpus^a, proved plainly what was to be ^xpeaed from this Scot, if he fhould ever gffcend the bench ; or from any other per- fon, who fhould indifcreetly proclaim him- felf fo dangerous an enemy to Britifh li- berty. Atte?id to this. Oh ! ye Somhrn Bri- tons, and mahk mM for ever, / •^ " A gentleman denying our Scot's pofi- tion, infiflcd that in fuch a cafe, our f.cua- tion here mufl be as bad as that under a Spanifh inquifition ; and that his bench could do LORD CHIEF JUSTICE. 217 I i' !■ r ',.r>' t J I i 1 !■';-■ 1 ; 1 ' i 1 -^ -j ' ! i ■■*■ ■ ..4.^^1111 ;^' ' J ts- . '220 LATE EARL OF MANSFIELD, outihine all that fill it, and of the former becaufe they a e able, and do daily, inllrucfc thofe who fit upon it. r • ■H- " Hence, and becaufe you dread a refor- mation in the modern fcandalous. praaico of Ihe profefsion, fhould an upright difcern™ ing Scotch lawye'r come to prcfidc on the bench, is one of thofe diftingui/hed Scotch barrifters become the objea of your fcandal and obloquy, of your virulence and even averfion. You purpofely ftep out of ybur way to abufe him, as if your whole Journal was levelled at him, and the principal view of your fcribbling was to injure and deftroy, one who is no lefs an ornament to the Eng^ lifii fenate and bar, than to his family and country. « If Mr. M y, or Strix, as yoi. inju. dicioufly call the moil poignant and harmo- nious orator of the age, be ally'd by mar- riage to an Englifh family of diftinaion, he has brought into it the higheft perfonal merit, and the noble blood of all the ancient nobility of Scotland ; A nobility known all over LORD CHIEF JUSTICE. 221' oyer Europe, and diftinguHhed for hofpita., lity, valour and p^Uriotifm, long before the' name ot EnglKhinan was heard of. " No nation in Europe can boaft of a' more ancient nobility than the Scotch • ncn- any that has fo little reafon to plume themfelves on ancient blood and honour, as the Engliih. " Therefore, though Mr. M y has' married into a femily as diftinguifted and ancient, .is moft Englifh families are or can' be, yet perfuade not yourfelf that he has acquired a.iy new honou.s by the alliance In 10 vena}, imdifcerning an age as the Fefent. perhaps his high merit in his pro- lefsion had been unheeded without in- tereft at Court. But, neither his alliance* nor nient, as an advocate, nor his other uncommon excellencies and virtues, were fuffiaent to balance the „,aliee and envy of thole of his own profcfsi.n, and par- ticularly of a lecfams, /mle elf in fur,. o, he had been already raifed to a fummit. wlience he could injoia by precept thofe virtuous 1' 111 i.^l "'II r ' ' ' , I'' ' i N' i i '^'!| 'I I mm f r \h M- tc If Cfr It en being fub-govenior to the *^ '-^ Prince i ■ *? ' I I ij I s-IM m il) IJ-. 1} '"•'i t2B tATB EARI^ OF MAKSPIELD. Prince (the prefent King) was fuppofed, hy fome people, to cc>ndu6t himielf in the capacity of a double fpy. He owed his appointment to the Duke of New- caftle, for the purpofe (as was conje<5lured) of giving the Duke information of the proceedings and tranfa(5lions of Leicefter- houfe, and preferved his intereft at Lei- cefter-houfe by giving information to Lord Bute of the deiigns and tranfa6tions of the Miniftry, in which he was afsifted by his friend Lord MansHeld, then Mr. Murray* Whether thefe opinions are flrie^ly corredl or not, it is certain that Lord Bute had authentic information of »11 the pr^je^b and meafures of the Mi- niftry, even at the time when the politics of St* James*$ and Leicefter-houfe differed moft. It has been the great fielicity of Lord Mansfield's reputation, that his conduct has generally been viewed on the favour- able fide only. And that fuch detached parts of it as reflected moll to his honour have been principally thofe which have been held up to public view. If the H . - whole tORB CHIEF JUSTICE. ggj tvhole of his condudt had been fairly and .mparhally examined, it would in *,,„« po.nt. have brought to our remembr^nte the condua of thofe learned chidfe, m- lylian, Keyling, Scroggs, Jeffei^es, and iome others. / . «« ^ There is an anecdote of the great Lord Bacon, and it ie well authenticated, which cannot be improper to mention in this P'ace It M in a paragraph or two in an excellent book of a vmy eminent and wor- "ly judge, which is much commended by thofe who do not belong to the pro-. fefaon a a colleftion of good principles; • and ,f any thing could be a *ar„i„g t» the intemperate zeal of Political Judge,, perhaps fome advantage might redound Jiom a frequent repetition of tliis anecdote. Mr Juftice Fofter, in hi, difcourfe upoft high treafon, has the following paflT, wh,ch may be „feft.J,y .ead by^an^f^:. fon, and at any time, without regard t» 1- *»». « Tl»» cafe therefore weigheth ^ 3 ^,p^y ;'ti it li i f i: i> ifl'^'" f ni ':). 230* LATE EARL OF MANSFIELD, very little, and no* great regard , hath been paid to it ever fince." ti And, perhaps, ftill lefs regard will be paid to it, if it be confidered that the King, who appeareth to have Ixad the fuc- cefs of the profecution much at heart, and took a part in it unbecoming the Majefty of the Crown, condefcended to inftrudl: his Attorney-General with regard to the proper meafures to be taken in the ex- amination of the defendant. That the Attorney, at his Majefty's command, fub- mitted to the drudgery of sounding the OPINIONS OF THE JUDGES, Upon the point of law, before it was thought advifeable to rifque it at an open trial. That the judges were to be fifted feparately and foon, before they could have an opportu^ nity of conferring together, And that for this purpofe four gentlemen of the pro- fefsion, in the fervice of the Crown, were immediately difpatched, one to each of the judges ; Mr. Attorney himfelf under- taking to pr^6tifp upon the Chief Juftice, qf 4 'i 44 1 lOHD CHIEF JUSTICE, gSl Of J^ho™ W doubt was then enter. . ^ " Is it pofsible, that a gentleman e Bacon's great talents, could 'SmHo ^ fcrv.ce fo much below his rank Za u ^aer .. But he did fubn>it o it f / quittedhimfelfnotably" It ' '/" everre«le.anderavi„g.overh:idt;:: iwt of the honours which the Crown -bltTurf^,^ T ^- great and 1 uuuits, It hatli frequently hetrav^A •t into meafures full as mean I 1 ■ itfelf fn„ij I y "lean, as Avarice iticlt could have fuggefted to the wretch.^ ammals who live and die underrt ZTT ^°^ "--^-^ P»f--. however tit ■nay feem to be at variance, have orZl "ly produced the fame effeas. Bo 'r pde the man; both contraa ll "'to the liuic point of feSl ;; ^'^"! ej-ily «eel the heart againftT^'bre ot confccnce, or the fenfe of true honour Q 4, Mi 11'' 14*" 232 LATE EARL OF MANSFIELD, ** Bacon having undertaken the fer^^ vice, informeth his Majefly, in a letter addrefled to him, that with regard to three of the judges whom he nameth, he liad fmall doubt of their concurrence, * Neither, fayeth he, am I wholly out of hope that my Lord Coke himfelf, when I have in fome dark manner put him in doubt that he fhall be left alone, will i;ot continue fingular." Thefe are plain naked faas ; they need no commentl Every reader will make his own reflexions upon them, I have but one to make in this place. This method of foref tailing the judgment of a court in a cafe of blood, then depending, at a time too when the judges were removeable at the pleafure of the Crown, doth no honour to the memory of the perfons concerned in a tranfa6lion fo. iniidious and unconftitutional ; and at the fame time, greatly weakeneth the authority of the judgment/' ^See Bacon's letters, in the 4to edition of tOHD CHIEF JUSTICE. 233 of his works, 1740, Lett. Ill, no lu lie, 117 Others of his letters /hew that the fame kind of intercourfe was kept ud between the King and his Attorney-Ge- neral, with regard to many cafes then dependmg .n judgment; particularly i„ the cafe of one Otvm executed for trea fonable words : in that of Mr. Oliver St, John touching the benevolence, in the difputes between the Courts of King's Bench and Chancery i„ the cafe of the pr^mire: and in the proceedings againft the Countefs of Somerfet." ' . It is generally allowed, that in „oft cafes between fubjeftand fubjed, heftewed great penetration and judgment. He pof- fefled a talent, if it „,ay be called fo, of difcovcnng the merits of a caufe before' It was half heard. This quicknefs, how- ever, fometimes betrayed him into too early a propcnfion in favour of one of the parties. And in this precipitation he wav more than once or twice unjuft. So difficult U IS, for the moft acute uhder- ft»nding, at all times, to difcover hidden trutli.s I r'^l I n. I > 'n <\'i :■. ^if LATE EARL OF MANSFIELD, truths; and fo dangerous it is, to enter^ tain a conceit of poilefsing, by intuition, a talent fuperior to the rell of mankind; Yet this is perfectly true of Lord Manf- fieid. Some lawyers have occafionally af- fumed a courfe of imitation; but the at- tempt has been fo clumfy and inade- quate, it fcarcely defer ves the name of a caricature. In all thofe political caufes conccniing the prefs, in which the Crown was party, he was partial in the extreme. His rule of law uniformly was, that the Crown was never wrong in thofe caufes. To the li- berty of the prefs he was a fmcere and implacable enemy. His definition of this liberty was, a permifsion to print without a licenfe, what formerly could only be printed with one. In trials for libels, he has been heard to deliver fuch language from the bench, as ought to have fiuflied, the jury with indignation. In thofe trials, his invariable practice was, in his charge to the jury, to make a laboured reply to the defendant's counfel. Will any candid perfon lORD CHIEF JUSTICE. 235 pcrfon fay this was proper condua in a judge who ouglit to be llriaiy impartial ? This IS not the language of prejiidice- for the truth of it an appeal may fafely be made to all thofe perfons who are yet alive, who heard him upon thofe occa- fions. ■' But a flronger proof cannot be given of Lord Mansfield's general mifcondu^ and niif-direaions to juries, in cafes of libels, than the late declaratory aa of Parliament of the rights of juries, which was brought forward by Mr. Fox and Mr. Erfkine, and was fupported by a confiderable part of the Miniftry. The artful and dangerous praaices of Lord Mansfield (in thefe poli. tical trials, fo interefting to public liberty) to which he had through life moft tena- Ciouily adhered, and had ardently main- tamed to be law, were totally annihilated and done away. Juries were reftored to' their conflitutional rights, which fixes upon Jus memory and charaaer a more indeli. ble ftigma, than could have been infiiaed by an article of impeachment. The many !, iM ' ' fi > > If I I 14 «^ r r 4 ' >1 I J 23^ LATE BAHL OF MANSFIELD, tranfgrefsions he had committed on law, juftice and humanity, rendered this aa of Parliament abfolutely necefTary. Lord Cam- den, though far advanced in years, vigo- roufly fupported the bill in the Houfe of Lords, and condemned all Lord Manf- field's doarines in terms of jull afperity. There Is a faa not lefs refpeaing Lord Mansfield's favourite opinion, than his great defign upon the rights of juries, in all quef- tions concerning the liberty of the prefs, which diftinguifhes him to have been from principle, as well as ftudy, perhaps, the moft dangerous enemy to the conftitutionar rights of juries, that ever fat in a court of juftice, fmce the time of the ftar-cham- ber. The faa here alluded to, happened on the trial of John Williams, in the month of July, 17^4, for re-publi/hing the North Briton in volumes. Serjeant Glynn, who was counfel for Williams, Md, with a ftrong emphafis, ** That in the matter of hbel, they were the proper judges of the law. <( (( as WRD CHIEF JUSTICE, 237 « as well as the faa; that they had th« « Tl "/ *" determine, whether the defendant had publifhed the North Briton with the intent as laid in the Attorney.ffe- neral's information." Lord Mansfield ftL ped hnn |! ' ' Next day, Lord Camden' afttack'^d Lord Mansfiehl {jretty fharply on the fubjedt of his paper, and put fcveral queilions to him concerning the fenfe of it. Lord Mansfield faid it was taking him by fur* prife, and that he would hot anfwer in- terrogatories. Lord Camden defired that a day might be fixed for his Lordlhip to give his anfwcrs ; but Lord Mansfield would not confent. As far as this attack upon Lord Manf- field went, it was pcrfeclly judicious ; and it would have been imprudent to have pulhed the matter further ; becaufe an at- tempt of that fort might, and moft probably would, have brought the fubje6t into gene- ral debate ; and thereby have been the caufe of eftabiiiliing Lord Mansfield's doc- trine irreverfibly^ and cloathing it with 4 all ii, XORD CHIEF JUSTICE. 524, all the folemn graces and fanftions which Im made on the ngh(s of juries, was „ot lef, -tcre.l t. admit the pofsible fuppo! If bu tl \\ "" *'^ ''^ "le U . but tins attempt was attended with ;titr:ttt"""\^"''^-'°^J I-ord Mansfield was e^eling t't ^ ^ traa 01 great celebrity, entitleY" a L'te on Libels and Warrants, &. " He fl '» -1. «™ ., ,„, ;„, ,2':::z as , * ii 1 if. C 5 ^' y it ^4!^ late: earl of Mansfield, as a judge, treated in a manner that was no way favourable to his views. But, al- though he was ardent to punifti the printer, he did not choofe to truft a jury with the caufe. He therefore contrived a new mode, or rather revived a yery obfolete one from the ftar-chamber. This was to connedl the matter of libel with the pri- vate conduct of the judge, and then to maintain, that a llatcment of the private condu6l of a judge at chambers, or at his own lioufc, Was a contempt of the court. It would not be very difficult, to an artful bad man, to conftruc moll; libels into a contempt of court. Mr. Dunning faw the extent of the manoeuvre. The cafe was this. Lord Mansfield liad altered the record in the cafe of Mr. Wilkes at his own private houfe. Amongfl tlie many parts of Lord Manf- iield's condu6l which were cenfured in the Letter on Libels and Warrants, was this fad:, of his altering the record. The. writer's fcatement of this fa6l. Lord Manf- ficld called a contempt of tlie court. The . pro- pccl. p '. '' tORD ChlEt JVsTtCE. 243 procefs upon a contempt, which is always againft the officers of the court, attornies or evdence, is by itMng a ;rit of at. tachment, and the defendant anfwcrin^ "Pon oath fuch interrogatories as ftall S ■ M"™; ^^ ^' P'"-S^^ h™fe'f (as it -caled) of the charge, he is acquitted; if they thmk proper. There is no other inal, nor any jury called in. Whether what Lord Mansfield had done ^vas nght or wrong, could not by this procefs become a matter of enquiry, nor even of an.madverfion. If Lord Mansfield had proceeded in any of the ufual ways agan,ft hbels, by aftion, information, or .ndiftment, there would have been lati- tude for the difplay of the ingenuity anrf ab.hty of counfel. Ho took this for the more prudent and certain way. But i>.s attempt was oppofed with a dcerce of '"trepidity and finnnefs he did not ex- pcct. I .') : III R 2 l^pon t'-'i I'.i ^a LATE EARL OF MANSFIELU, Upon the rule for fhewing caufe why the writ of attachment ihoiild not iflue, Mr, Dunning burft out with aftoniihing fplen- dour, which gave rife to the report that he was the ftuthor of the tra6l. By many peo- ple the tra6l was fuppofed to be written by Lord Camden. It certainly contained the whole of his Lordfliip's dodrine concerning libels. There was a third gentleman con- cerned. !'\ 1 lii't'l The deferidant's counfel (Serjeant Glynn and Mr. Dunning) exerted themfelves with great energy and force of reafoning againft this mode of proceeding. They acknow- ledged that the procefs by attachment, was, in certain cafes, and upon particular occa- iions, perfedily legal ; but they earneftly contended that the matter before the court was not one of thofe cafes. They cited precedents to prove that a chief juflice, of the moll indifputable abilities, had declined the ufe of this mode of proceeding. This w^as the great Lord Coke. They obferved, that the caufe now depending is the moft important, and the moft cUcntially interefl:- ing tORD CHIEF JUSTICE. 245 ing to the liberty of tl>e fubjc-a, of any that herent the nat.ve, the peculiar privilege and glory of E„.,ifl,,e„ ; that th^s „,ode ot p.ocefs was originally founded on the t le ^fdo '' 7^- f ''" P"-'P'-' -^ tha iould r^ " / "''^" •' ''''' -hcnever^t ftould be deemed expedient to alter it, and to adopt any other mode of proceeding Ee leg.flature, as it is the moft proper td^e ot th. expediency, fo it would'be' he onfj phierdr;ot'^rytnr'r''^,r- behall of ?""'!;'' '"™ "^^ ^«^^-'^ on oehalf of the profecution, that the fe-^c fo. there wa. an end of the eaufe for he parfcu^ar .ode of proceeding contndd Sf^ S'f/'^^^^^ th. HkererKv .h^;t;/° ^^ '■^°'" krlu tu^ r ■ ' JiKhcc, part CH- larly the prefent o.e of tl«, court of Kino'.- R 3 ^ bench. h^^ ^:ii (.» ( ', 'l\ F.J. (l il ii: 64(J LATE EARL OF MANSFIELD, bench. That it was only in anfwer, by way of argument, to another pamphlet, that had advanced dodrines not agreeable to the iiotions of the author of The Letter on Libels. They likewife urged, that fup- pofmg a pamphlet to be a refleaion upon the party alluded to, yet tliat an attachmeJit was an improper mode of proceeding in this cafe ; for that if the chief juftice of the court was alluded to, he had feveral methods to do himfelf juftice, without taking this unconftiiuiioml one ; he was a member of a moft illuftrious body, who would never fuf- fer the iligbtefl refleaion on the charader ©f any of their members to pafs unnoticed or uncenfured ; that as a peer of the realm, he was entitled to his aaion of fcandalurn magnatum^ wherein he need not fear but that a jury would give him a proper fatis- faaion for any injury he ihould prove to them he had received. m That an attachment (the procefs of con- tempt) was originally inftituted for the benefit of the fubjed ; it was eftablifhed to enforce obedience to the commands of 2 cpui'ti m; ; rORD CHIEF JUSTICE. QtJ courts of juftice; h was founded In necef. '"^ L°[' '! *''<^ '=0"'t5 of juftice were not - poffefl-ed ot fuch a power, tiieir proceedings would be vague «nd nugatory; and there- fore as tl:e cafe before tliem', was not at- tended with any of the pecuhar circum- ftances neceflkry to fupport an aj)plication of this fort, it would be too much for the court to extend it beyond its original imiits. ^ That a contempt muft be a pofitive ha; muft be an ad done and committed. A cofcflructive contempt was a thing never heard of: it would be Inch a comprehen- five encreafe of power, tliat no perfon would he fafe one moment wherever it was per- mitted, ^ ' That even the pra^ice of granting in. formations, which went a great way, would be nothing if the prefent motion were granted. ^ The method to apply fbr an information i^Jhis, the party, who conceives himielf ^ '^ injured, 1 .11! il f «i« ' i li M ... .*■ ■.■\i: S48 LATE EARL OF MANSFIELD, injured, annexes the paper, in which he thinks himfelf alluded to, to his own affi« davit, ^vherein he fwears that he believes the miter, printer, or piihliiher, (as the cafe may happen to be) iniended te'refiea on him ; whereupon the court giants the information, but the deiendant is always tried, aud the faa proved to the fatisfaaion of a jury ; but in this cafe, if the attache rnent goes, the court exercife the difti7ic( and peculiar provinces, of party, judge, evi- dencej andjwry. They obferved, that it was no contempt to difobey the order of a judge at nifi priusy at the Old Bailey, or at chambers, till made rules of court ; which was generally done of courfe, from the refpea the court paid to the perfons who made fuch orders; how- ever, as the order in queftion never was made a rule of court, it w^s no con- tempt. J They inflanced the late Lord Ferrers's cafe, in which an habeas corpus had iffued ip the vacation to bring \m counteis before a judge. tORB CHIEF JUSTICE, 24» a judge, which the earl not doing, a motion was made the enfiiing term for an attach- ment,, for a contempt in not obeying th? writ I but the court was of opinion it was' no contempt of court, the writ not having iflued by virtue of a rule of the court, and the motion was denied, and a rule granted for another habeas corpus, I I Another eaie they hiftanced was, a mo- tion for an attachment againft the publi/her of The Moderator, in wliicJi lord chief juf. tice Pratt's determination, for difchar^ing Mr. Wilkes from his commitment, wat called precipitate and inconfiderate, injudicious and erroneous y yet the rule was never made abfolute, The Attorney General, (Sir Fletcher Nor- ton) after expatiating very largely upon the hemoufnefs of the offence, took occafion to fay, that if the defendant had, at the time that the motion for the rule was made, (which was in January, 1765,) flopped the circulation of the book, and had come per- fonally before the court, and made fome kind M f I 1 i. ii 1 ; J h 1 . '^1 It; ■) 't r*^ 250 LATE EARL OF MANSFIELD, kind of fubmifsion, he had no doubt that fuch a condud: would have had its proper weight; and for his own part he fhould have been fo thoroughly fatisfied with it, he would not have profecuted the matter any further. But inftead of that, his con- du6t had been the reverfe : he had printed the libel feveral times fince the prefent pro* ceedings had commenced ; he had circu* lated it all over the kingdom, all over Eu- rope he believed. The Solicitor General (De Grey) after- wards Lord Walfingham, faid but little. ■) Mr. Morton was very llrong for fevere puniflimcnt; to which Mr. Wallace agieed. Mr. Serjeant Glynn replied. After which Sir J. E. Wilmot, who prefided in the 'abfence of Lord Mansfield, (who left the bench the moment the counfel began) ob- ferved, that the arguments had been fo ilrong, and the cafe was fo important, the court would take time to co fider of both ; and tORD CHIEF JUSTICE. 55 j and would give notice to the counfel, when they were ready with their oj^inions. Nothing farther was done durin^r that term. ^ ^ A few days after the commencement of the next term (Trinity) the defendant gained mformation, that the jud^^es having iiad a confultation upon the fubjea, had difcovered an error in the proceedings, which error they had faid was fatal ; but It m,ght be amended xvith the confenl of the defendant's counfel, and mthout fuch confent it could not. The error was in the firfl procefs. It was m the ruk granted in January to /hew cauie. It was therein called, the King againJLJokn Wilkes. Whereas it ought to have been, the King againft Defendant. The defendant communicated his infor- mation to his counfel. Neither of the gen- tlemen gave any credh to it. They were confident there was no truth in it. [The error [ ''« ' < ('■' : tM IS' . • ■! 552 LATE EARL OF MANSFIELD, error had efcapcd the obfervation of all the counfel.] However, next day, to their aflonifli- meiit, the fad: appeared. For abou^ two o'clock, jiift as the court of kingVbench was fuppofed to be riung (the court of com- mon plea, was up) Lord Mansfield fud- denly left the bench, and Sir J. E. Wilmot jnftantly called for the defendant's counfel. Mr. Dunning happened to be in the court, and a mefTenger was fent for Mr. Serjeant Glynn, who having left the court of common pleas, was overtaken at the hall gate, juft as he was flopping into his carri ige. When the ferjeant came into the court, Mr. juftice Wilmot faid, he had a matter to pr^pofe to them, in the affair of the attachment, to which he ihould defire their concurrence ; ^iz. in the r le granted laft January, there' was found to be a material miftak , it was called the Khig agahrt John Wilkes, inftead oUhe King againji the Defendant, His defire was, that the defendant's rouhi*] would give the: cr fent to a: iCnd the error by * /Iriking ' RD CHIEF JUSTICE. $53 ^riking out Mr. M' ilkes's name, and infcrt- ing the defendant's. Mr. Dunning faid, that if it meant to extend the charge of contempt to other ^>arts of the pamphlet, the defendant would be adjudged unheard ; for all the arguments of his counfel had been confined to the para- graph which had been fuppofed to allude to the alteration of the information in the particular cafe of Mr. Wilkes; which tranfaaion not being an ad of the cour., but of a fmgle judge at his own houfe, or chambers, was not, as he and the learned ferjeant had contended, and did ftill con- tend, nor could not by any fair and liberal conftruaion, be called a muempt of the rouru Now if it is intended, faid he, to Mft the ground of accufation, it mufl be by a fre/h rule, and frelh affidavits. Mr. V rjeant Glynn faid, i} propoHil had iurprizc him a gocd deal. He was totally unprepared. It was not the pr aice of the court to nake fuch a^.plications. He cou^d not confentto it. Mr. \ %'\ 'Hi [ U I* \m\ - fa '*' f ;'■ J 7' m ' if 454. LATfi KARL OF MANSFIKLD, Mr. Juftice Yates fald, the error had come to his knowledge only a day or two ago ; that there was other matter m the pamphlet, which was of the highcft confequencc to the court ; and though it was not the pra^ice of the court to make fuch alterations, yet, in this very extraordinary cafe, he thought the dcfired alteration both perfectly right and neceflary. Sir Richard Aflon admitted, that it was not the praaipe ; but this was a very par- ticular cafe, in which the honour of the court was deeply concerned. , Sir J. E. Wilmot very earneftly and warmly folicited Mr. Serjeant Glynn and Mr. Dunning, to give their confent to the pro- pofed alteration. He made ufe of a variety of arguments, fuch as accelerating the courfe of jultice; the difreputable idea of a fuf- picion to the contrary, &c. At length Mr. Serjeant Glynn moved to difcharge the rule. The court refufed to agree to the motion. The Attorney-general laid he would confent to the motion to dif- charge ■J iORD CHIEF JUSTICE, ^55 charge the rule, if the learned ferjcant would add to his motion, that it u4 ia confequence of the miftake. Mr. Dunning faid, he would not agree to that, bccaufe it left, by ftrong implica- tion, ground for a fre(h rule. Notwithftanding every thing was urged from the bench, that great al,ilities could fuggeft, and enforce, (till Mr. Serjeant Glynn and Mr. Dunning continued firm in tlicir refufal. At length the judge (^Vilmot) alkcd Mr. Serjeant Glynn, as a gentleman, to give his confent. The judge and the ferjcant lived upontermsofintimacy,andthisreque(lbein moft honourable priv^ council, and alfo the firft commifsioncr named in, and appointed by his Majefl> s commifsion nn- der the great feal of Great Britain, for exe- cuting the office of Treafurer of his Majefty's Exchequer. And this deponent further faith, that by the words [Clerk of the court's office in the ifland of Jamaica] men- tioned and contained inj the fai. i ^.er marked with the letter (B,) and alfo y the words [To clerk of the fupreme .0 rt in the ifland of Jamaica] wrote at the foot of the fame paper, was, and is meant and in- tended, The office of chief clerk to attend the fupreme court refiding in the town of St. Jago de la Vega, otherwife Vaga, within his Majefty's ifland of Jamaica, in America, as this deponent apprehends and verily be- lieves ; and which office, as this deponent is informed and believes, is, and hath been, granted by the crown, by letters patent under the feal of Great Britain ; and is an office of a public nature and truft, and of XOHJJ. C«IEF JUSTICE. 267 Of epnfidcrable, profit, ■ concerns tl,e ad, m, y,o„.ai,d es^c ,o„ of juftice in the ^^xfland of Jamaica. A.,d th^ deponent further faith, tl>at he verily bchcves t*e faid letter and affidavit, were written and fent to this deponent by the faid. ^.nuel Vaughan with a view to teiupf and corrupt this de- ponent for a gi^f ard of five thoufand afor aid office, he manner mentioned i„ the aforefaid affidavit. And this deponent further fa.th, that he hath been informed by Mr. Henry New«)me, of Hackney, i„ the.coui, y of MiddkfcK, that the ifaid Sanmel. Vaughan had ap]>licd to him to convey/a propofal to tHertfea contained in theifiid Mr; .Newcone had rrfufed to do • and;iw}iieh:.i„fofmation this deponent be- iTh'^^K f T""- """^ «»^<=!eponent faith, he ha*h l.tel. caufed an application to bJ made to th^ faid Henry Ncwcome, ,o make an affidavit of what he knew relative to the above matter, who returned for anfwer, that he had rather appear in court, and give an account, viva voce, of what h- knows rela- tivr f .,1 IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 11.25 KiUlS 125 Its 2.2 U 11.6 V] /3 ^* :^> ^'^^ ^^ *.^ ».'» /; / V /O^^ifc Piiotpgraphic Sciences Corporation ^v a:^ \ ;\ ^ ' ' ' The incJofed affidavit will fhew the pro- pofal, which will be increafed, ifncccffary; and, LORD CHIEF JUSTICE. 2^^ and, would your Grace indulge me by perufing the cafe, I truft it would appear, that / have a pretenfion i?i preference to am other. ^ I will take an opportunity of waiting upon your Grace, hoping the honour of a conference, otherwife, to receive back th^ affidavit, in order to deftroy the fame. ;; I am, '■ your Grace's mod obedient, and moft humble fervant, Sam'-. Vaughan, Mincing-lane, 10th June, 17^P. His Grace the Duke of Grafton. I.V Affidavit B. London, /T. . " This day appeared before me, Samuel Vaughan, of London, merchant, and made oath upon tlie Holy Evangelifts, that he, being informed that Mr Howell had laid, that he either expe^ed, or was pro- mifed the reyerfion of the" clerk of the court's office, in the ifland of Jamaica ; and as he (thi$ deponent) apprehend^ that he has u i itf fi?0 LATfi EAAt OB' Mansfield, has fome degree of merit in what he hajl already done to promote pHblic fecurity of property, by the regular recording judg- ments, &c. and in properly conducting the faid office; and that, as his own interefl renders necelfary the continuing' the fame regularity';' therefore he, this deponent, td6th hereby voluntarily promife and engage, that in cafe the rcverfion of the faid office ^ ihall be made and procured for the natural lives of his three fons, Benjamin, William, and John Vavghan, of Mincing-lane, or for the lives of three other perfons to be nomi« ' nated by him, (which ever ihall be pro- pofed,) upon the fame conditions as are mentioned in the laft patent for that office ; that then he, (this deponent) will, upon the faid patent being delivered to him, pay into the hands of U%. Hemy Newcome, or to his order, five thoufand pounds, lawful money of Great Britain, to be paid to the pcrfon or perfons who procures the faid patent ; or, if required, lodge fecurity in the hands of the faid Mr. Hefiry Newcome, for the payment of the faid fum of five thou- sand poinds flerling, fo fpon as the faid pa- I.ORD CHIEP JUSTICE. 27, patent is made out, and delivered to him ■ tlT:T ''"' *'•' '•^P""-* father' fa^h, that he never hath, direftly or indi- .o„ of h,s mtenfon, defign, or propofition touching this matter, to any perfon^orpT fons, except to the faid Mr. Henry nZ- come. And this deponent furthef faiti that whether this propofition ihould be an' pro^'^d accepted, and be efficacious, « otherw.fe rejeded. that in either caf he ti J^""*^ "'" "^^^' ^* ^"y «•»« or offer, propofition, or agreement relative to th.s matter, to any perfon or perfons whatfoever, except the faid Mr. Henry NewGome; and furthf»r th'^o a . * not.'* deponent faith o Sam''. VAtTGHAN Sworn at the Manfion-houfe m London, this 23d March, nsa, before me. Sam'. Turner, Mayor. tems, .„. for clerk of the crown and ckrk ofthepeacei„th8ifla«dofJam^ca:for clerk r: :iMM id umi ¥ * ■>i Ifl mi ii'il Uik.. S72 LATE EARL OF MANSFIELO, cleik of the fupreme court in the ifland oi Jamaica. And it is the laft that Mr. Vaughan is particularly defirous to obtain. Upon tli6 firft day of Michaelmas tertrt. In the year 1769, the Duke of Grafton^ by his counfel, the Solicitor-general, (Lord Thurlow) 'moved the court of King's-bench for a rule again ft Mr. Vaughan, to fhew caufe why an information ihould not be filed againft him for fending the letter to the Duke of Grafton marked A; and the affidavit made before the Lord Mayor marked B, in the preceding pa^ ers. " . ■ > On the 27th of November, the argument on this rule came on, when Mr. Wedder- burn, now Lord Loughborough, who was counfel for Mr. Vaughan, exerted himfelf with great force and energy. After hearing the counfel on both fides. Lord Mansfield delivered himfelf as fol- lows : «( What the Soll^citor-genc^ral concluded with. *^ith, is decifive upon the prefent occafion on account of the repeated dedarat'nfw teTt? t■^'^'•^"''''"''"-*-Ac^ t■ce pf the kind complained of he.e « certamiy difhonourable and fcandalous !„ j becaufe .t appear, that declaration of the^' « warranted by the opinion the defend S h-mfelf had of the tranfadlion. which mo/J -n,feft,, , he thought at the' ttef'to he "ght, for .„ h.s letter he writes i„ this manner upon it: « A propofition that ^ 5"res the „tn,oft fecref/'. SecreJy.l ' Why, .f the office is to go to the higheft Mder, and Mr/ Howell was offerine S that occafioned a fecond higher 0^"^^ 2"^^' he lays, has a delicacy-what his th tt M^r 7' '''''"' "P°" ^^ ^^ that Mr. Newcome thought, after reAe^ -g upon it, the tranfaclion t; b ucf £ -u''^ not naeddle with it. The ext aordi! nary „,anner of the fecurity for the pay- ment of the money, not by a bond, nof by wo^H have been certainly void in law, for UK. %f4r LATE EARL OF MANSFIELD, in a criminal tranfadlion, every bond and agreement made to fecure it, would be void in law) but by an affidavit made be- fere the Lord Mayor, fwearing to pay th<; money, and in that affidavit, an affurancey that it had never been divulged but to Mr, Newcome, nor ever ffiould be to man, wo- man, nor child in the world. This appears to be the fenfe of the defendant's counfel, and of the defendant himfelf. It has beea infmuated by the counfel, that tranfaftions of this kind for money are frequent, i. r. that in the city of London, they are be*- Heved to be frequent. And the defence made by the affidavit is, that he verily be- lieved the -office would be accounted for, and was faleable, and if it was not fold to him, it would be fold to Mr. Howell; there- fore, he went upon a prefumption, that it was faleable. The nature of the thing, witliout authority from Hawkins, fhews why thefe things were urged by the defen- dant's counfel ; for, if a man fells lawfully what he has a right to fell, tliere is nothing fcandalous or diihonourable ; but, if a man, itanding under the relation of an officer J. . under i.;. tOJlD CHIEF JUSTICE. . 375 ^uader the King, or of a perfon i„ whom he K,ngp„t, confidence, orofaMinS Mence the King puu in him, he bafelv betxays the King, he bafely Ltn^tl truft-,t may then be called fcandalo^s and d./ho„ourabIe (if thofe epithets are to^ chofen, inftead of the epithet crL . ^ of th^ K. r /• °"P°"^g of, on account of the bufinefs to be executed by them )U J«>nou«. if biftopricks, if p reC^; v ^do„s,ifeverything^JtXpto fSltt*'?"'"^^''"^«.■ m ^1S LATE EARL Ot MANSFIELD, be liable to no review, if the matter wasr ever fo doubtful. Unlefs, therefore, I was clearer than the light of the fun at noon- day, that it had been fettled and eflablilh- ed, that fo mifchievous a practice fhould not be punifhable by the laws in being, I fhould agree for making this rule abfolute. The defendant may demur to it, or move an arreft of judgment after trial ; and, if he is not fatis|ied by this court, he may have the opinion of the High Judicature, afsifted by ajl the judges of England. And, when the queftion comes to be folemnly adjudged, it will be for their confideration, if they fhould think there fhould be no law in be- ing to guard againft the mifchievous con- fequences. I ovm, at prefent, I am not fatisfied with any of the arguments that have been ufed to raife a doubt, whether this is, in the language of the law, a mif- demeanor, and punifhable as fuch. I think, the natural genius of a man's own mind, judges better of it, than all the labour and ingenuity that has been ufed, to make it inot criminal ; — when I fay criminal, I mean criminal as a mifdemeanor. I will fay lit- tle LOBD CHIEF JVSTKE.,. . . 277 tle-,vpontl.at, becaufe, whatever opinion I may be of now, it is without prejudice. I Will hear the argument upon a demurrer, It there js one, or upon an arreft ofjudr- •ncnt. if there is one, juft as open as V nothing had pafled. Therefore. 1 ihall pur- pofely avoid faying any thing on the argt,. ^ent wiU, a view of prejudicing, ^ little a. pofs.ble, any future argument, if that is thought fit uppn the occafion. In the firft place, as to the ftatute of Richard the Se-* cond, and Edward the Sixth, I do agree with the Solicitor-general, the queftion does oot turn upon them, wliether they do or do not extend to Jamaica ; but the argu- ment made ufe of, does not at all go to tte queftion, whether they do not extend to thjs cafe ; for this office is granted by letters patent, under tiie great fcal of England ; fil letters patent that are rranted by the King, under the great fea., are governed by the law of England. The colonies them, felves have their own particular laws, and Mr wTu' '" '"y colourable, which Mr. Wedderburn mentioned, if it is in the report,_To be fure, no. aft of parliament "^ ^ made I •I- 1 ';'.. n 2T8 LATE KAKL OF MAKSFIELD, made in England, binds Ireland, oracolo*" ny, aaually fettled, without naming them ; but it is hdd, all the laws of England, both common and flatute, goto a colony new fettled, which were in being at the time of fettlemfent, with this reftriaion :— Provided that they be laws fuited to their iituation and condition; and therefore, with that reftriaion, to be fure, a hundreth part of the ftatutes of England don't go to the Colonies : but they do go, if they are appo- fite, and adapted to their fituation and con- dition, for, as they carry the flatute law, fo they carry the common laws, that are applicable. • The fituation of Jamaica dif- fers indeed, becaufe, being a conquered country, it retains its own laws, till the conqueror alters them, and they are retain- edin fo far as they are not altered; and, unlefs they are totally altered, they retain their own laws ; therefore, the argument is very ftrong, as to the nature of Jamaica, that thofe pofitive laws fhall not extend to them ; and, I know, in experience, a great many a^s have been adjudged not to ex- tend to Jamaica ; 'as for inftance, the flatute '■ ; ' ^ of LORD CHIEF JUSTICK. ' 27 J of frauds, and feveral others, (though it was conquered in Cromwell's time) that and feveral others were made before the tifurpation. It is quite a different confide^ ration, and you will find that in the cafe of the Ifle of Man, I think it is in the fe- cond or third inftitute ; you will find it there-the chief juftice, I think, or two or three of the judges attending with coun- (e\, they might defccnd according to the laws of England, the letters patent being the law of England, they being entitled to dower under the law of England, and in that cafe they held, that the eftate was to defcend to the daughter of therefore, if that was necefi^ary, it would not reach to the cafe of letters patent under the great feal, muft be go- verned by the grand law of England, be they for commifsions abroad, or whatever they may be. But, it does not feem to me, that this matter turns upon the ftatute of Richard the Second, or Edward the Sixth, but upon the common law. The firft great confideration is, whether a privy counfellor, and an officer at the head of T 4 th€ . 1 T'. 280 LAT^ EARL OF MANSFIELD, the King's treafury, and in confidence ivitl; the King, felling that office, /. e. felling hiu intereft with the King, for the grant of that office ;~\yhether this is a mifdemeanor or not at common Jaw ? For you muil take the faa, which there is no controverfy about.— See what the faa is. This is an office in the gift of the King alone by let. ters patent ; it is not in the gift of any fubr jea whatever;— there- is no ri^ht of office to recommend whatever; but it is the King's Pwn grant,— and it is the King's grant which muft pafs ex gratia fpeciali meramodi ix giatia fcientii. And if the King fold it by his letters patent, it would be ^aing contrary to the truft the conftitution hath rcpofed in him, fqr the difpofal of thofe offices.— The conftitutipn don't intend the crown fhould fell thofe offices, to raife a revenue out of thofe offices. This being the nature of thofe offices, what is the ap^ plication ? The Duke of Graftpn has fworn thns— he has fworn that this offer was madp hmi, with a view to tempt and corrupt him, for a gift pr reward of 5000L to pror vure his Majefly to gr^nt ^heaforefaid office I.ORD CHIEF JUSTICE. ggf In the manner mentioned : that, the Duke has fworn, Mr. Vaughan does not deny it ' therefore, it is admitted, this was the view to procure this office from his Majefty— not barely to give it himfelf, hut to procure the office. Is it pofsible to hefitate. whe- fter this would not be criminal in the Puke of Grafton,— contrary to his duty as a pnvy-counfellor,— contrary to his duty as a Mmifter.-coiUrary to his duty as a fubjea? If a man in no ..iice has in- tereft w,th the King, and comes to recom- mend 3 perfon to him, under the ipflu- ence of a bribe, it is different what the perfon, who defires to be patentee, does. I have looked iijto no c^fe upon it, but ftora my memory, I do think, if you look back to the impeachments of the Houfc ot Conimons for two hundred yearj, of Mmifters, that, true or falfe, (very oftea tliere are falfe charges, and fometime, true-) there hardly ever is an impeach, ment againft a Minjfter, where the charge js not for receiving money for procuring f grant from the King. I am fatisfied »t «as fo with the D.ike of Buckingham ; • and 282 LATE EARL OF MANSFIELD, and I am fatisfied it was fo with the Lord Clarendon, though he was a very honeft man. Mr. Wedderburn, That was upon the ground of monopoly. I/rrd Mansfield. It is the Aim of money makes a charge. If it is criminal in mi- niflers or privy-counfellors to do this, I take it to be a very neceflary confequence, that, wherever it is a crime to tak^ mo- ney, it is a crime to give it ; becaufe the corruption is reciprocal. It is corrupt in the receiver, it is corrupt in the tempter and giver. I take it in all circumftances to be reciprocal,^where the receiver is guilty, the giver is alfo, But it is faid, this is not the giver, it was refufed— That at- tempts to the crime are not the crime, is certainly true, where there is an attempt to commit a crime, which of itfelf is not the crime. But there are many cafes where the attempt is the crime ; and, in all cafes of corruptirn by bribery, the attempt is complete with regard to the offerer. His crime has had its full completion, whetlier the other refufes it, or takes it, does what * he f LORD CKP JUSTICE. 28^ fie was bribed to do or not ,-^from the na. ture of the thing it is fo.-There are many cafes Mr. Lee, very fairly, though it wi againft him, looked into the authority of J-ord Coke~He fays, if you offer a bribe to a judge,— no matter whether he take It or not ; though he iefufes it, the bribe IS complete with him that offers it • as in the cafes that have been mentioned of bribery at common law, of money at an eleaion for a man to take a bribe for his vote. If it refpefts a place of public trufl, the conftitution intends it ihall be free— How does that hold with the advice given by.a Minifter to the King? Upon the fame principles ;— his advice fhould be free according to his judgment. It is the duty of his office— he has fworn to if therefore, in thofe cafes Mr. Wallace al-' luded to (I remember the two lafl) it was taken for granted, that an offer to bribe at eledion of Members of Pariia- ment, or of a magiflrate at a boroudi, though the perfon did not vote, yet againft the offerer the crime was complete. So it was m the cafe of Lee againft Plimpton. Mr, I i| '. • 'i 'I 2S4 LATE EARL OF MANSFIELD, i Mr. Lcc was candid enough to cite tliis^. though againft him. I am very far from being fatisficd that thefe arguments raife a doubt, that this is not a mifdemeanor.' If it was a doubtful matter, I fhould be of opinion to have it determined in that way, where it could not be concluded by the opinion of this court, but might go farther.'! Mr, Jvjlice Yates. The counfel for the defendant have very ingenioufly, and with, great ability, endeavoured to lead off the attention of the court from trying the gueftion, to that which is not the quef- tion.^ With this view they have learnedly deba'ted, whether the ftatute of Edward the Sixth extends to Jamaica; whether afaleof office is an offence at common Jaw, or not?— When, after all, this has not the lead femblance of a fale of of- lice, riay, the defendant don't alTume the charaaer of a purchafer ; for, by his own affidavit and offer, it is for fuch perfons as Ihall have procured the reverfion for him. Now, in all purchafes, the contraa- ing parties muft be deemed to have a power to fulfil the contraa. That, in this lORD CHIEF JUSTICE. gSJ •this cafe, fuppofes the office faleable- that It fhould be an office within the' power of the Duke of Grafton him- elf to grant,— the defendant does not look upon it in that light ; but there is a fum of money offered for the procuring this office, which the defendant tells us ' IS in the gift of the Crown. Another thing too,-when fair purchafcs are made they don't come cloaked up in an affida' vit of lecrecy, but a frank, open, and in- genuous offer, if the heart means honeftly In this cafe there is an affidavit of the utmoft fecrecy,— the letter fays, that the propofal requires the utmoft fecrecy ; and to anfwer the explanation given of this affi- davit of fecrecy, it is faid, that the defendant might be confidered in the light of an indiffc- • rent perfon.-I fee, in tiiis letter, he defires, that it the offer be not received, that hc^ tnay then have tlie affidavit back, in order to deftroy it ;-when, if all his apprehen- fion was, left the Duke fhould fufpeft he meant to entrap him. If the offer was re- jeaed; where was that trap that ftould make it neceilary, after the affair was over, to "i-Ml "It 'H ^B6 LATE £ARL OF MANSFIELD, to deflroy the affidavit ? This is the trtie queftion ; and I am forry that ever fuch a queftion fliould be made a queftion Whether a bribery to obtain an office, fhall be an offence or no P—It is ftatcd by the defendant himfelf, to be an office of great truft and profit. The method ufed to obtain it, is to influence a privy- counfellor to induce, or to warp the judg- meat of the King to give an office of fo much confequence, merely from the mo- tive offered in tliis cafe to the Duke, —the motive of a reward to procure his interefl.— But, however, as this matter will ilill be open for the defendant to debate hereafter, I fliall think it wrong to go into the queftion too much now. The light the Solicitor-general put it in at lafl, is right ; and even if it was but queftion- able, it would be right to go into it; it would be wrong for us to anticipate the final decifion of that queftion, which he will be afterwards at liberty to make by demurrer. I fhall reftrain myfelf from making further obfervations now ; but it is certainly a matter fit for an enquiry, and LOHD CHIEK JWSTICE. 287 »nd the defendant and profecutor will have time to confider the matter more fully. _ Mr. Jujlice AJlon. I am of the fame opi- nion. ' Mr. Jnftice WiUes. I am alfo of the fame opinion. The rule was made abfolute; which the Duke confidered a fufficient vindication of h.s charaftcr. Perfection was not his defire. H.s Grace thought Mr. Vauahan was more a fool tlian a rogue. >Vnd here the matter ended. On thefccond day of February, 1773 there appeared in the London Evening Port, a letter under the /ignature of Alfred charging I^rd Sandwich, who at that' t.me was Firft Lord of the Admiralty. With having expofed to fale the office of a commifsioner of the navy, for the fum of two thoufand pounds, and employing Mr Corte. agent, to negotiate the affair Lord Sandwich brought an -aaion . againft the printer for this fcandalkm magnatum. The -r- 'A J' 28^8 LATE EARL OF MANfFlgLD, The printer, in his plea, put himfdf upon his country to prove the truth of the charge. From this condudl of the printerJ^ the caufe became a matter of great expedation ; for although it is generally believed, that places under government have frequently been fold, yet it is very difficult to af- certain file faft. But this offer, to prove the truth of a charge of this importance againft a peef, in the higheft criminal court of juftice, was a refolution that no man then living had ever witnefled. If the jury found for the defendant (whofe name was Miller) the verdia was a re- cord of Lord Sandwich's guilt, and he mud have been impeached upon it. On the contrary, if the jury found for the plaintiff, the ruin of the defendant was the certain confequence. The public at- tention was very much excited by it. pn the eighth day of JuJy, 1773, the trial came tOHD CHIEF JUSTICE. ' 239 came on before L9rd Mansfield, and a ipecial jury. The accounts which were given of the nal at thp time, were very loofe and imperfedl. ■ — _ The following extrafts are made from the fhort-hand writ^rV notes, and may be depended upon. -. After proving the publication of the newfpaper in the nfual way, by the officers of the ftamp revenue (a pLlice tl at .s not very decent, becaufe the officers come" T'""' "'""" ""*' °'^^'='%' be- come mformers H, any thing that does not belong to the revenue; and it is b" l-eved was firft introduced by Lord Man f- fieM) and that^Thomas Hanway, Ef Lord, I truft, will be found never ^tj **.^1 * LORD CHIEF JUS ICE. S. Upon this viiit to his Lordihip, foon after this paper being published, you had no converfation with him, nor he with yQu> upon this fubje6t \ i . ., u.uv A, I never had any converfation with Lord Sandwich upon the fubje6t, Mr, Attorney-GeiieraL You faw him ? A, I faw him. 2. Was there any particular reafon for your vifit at that time to his Lordfliip ? A* \ had been informed indeed by my brother, 4 307 ated to lORD CHIEF JUSTICK. brother, that Lord Sandwich ^c nf>e. M , . Mr. Davejiport, I afk, Sir, whether the purpofe of the vifit was not to give him an opportunity of fpeaking to you upon the fubjea? ■ \ ^ A, It was; for I had been told Lord SaiKlwich- wanted to fpeak to me upon the fubjea-. r.r Jlcverend Roger Parry fwom. S. Pray, Sir, was Mr. Corte employed by you, or your means ? A, I did apply to Mr. Corte from' a friend of mine, f 6 aAc him if any fuch thing could be done; if any friend of his would give any money for ah intereft that might be procured in general. S. Now give me leave to aflc you what place you had in view at the time you mad^ the application ? A, I had no place whatever in view. ^ S. When you made the next application what place had you in view ? A. In the month of Auguft, I was in- tormed by mere accident, coming in a 2 . hackney- ''^I'un i ra nn 3^S, LATE EARL OF MANSFIELD, hackney-coapb, that Mr. Commifsioner Hanway was very ill, and not likely to recover; upon that I acquainted the per- fpn who applied. to me that Mr. Hanway being ill, and not likely to recover, there would probably be a vacancy of his place ; Upon which the perfon alked me if I chofe to mention ^hj^t particular thing. £. Who was that? A, A particular friend of mine. S. I muft beg leave to a(k this queftion: Who was tliat friend, male or female ? A, It was a lady. , ^p. What M^as her name ? ,4. Her namq was. Brooke^ ' a. Whoisfhe"? ^. She is the wife of a clergyman. £. Where does fhe live ? A, Upon my word I cannot aufwer that queftion at prefent. S. What is her hufband ? A, He is a clergyman. , S. What curacy has he ? A, He has a preferment in the City of Norwich. 2. Where I ■ rORD CHIEF JUSTICE. $M 2. Where did Mr. Brooke live at this time ? ^. Mrs. Brooke had lodgings in Bond- ftreet— Mr. Brooke lived at Norwich. 2. Let me aflc you what was the reafow that led you to this converfation with Mrs/ Brooke? f -fJ^Z' ^"^^^ ^'^ ^PP'''^** t° me, an* la.djhe had an intereft fhe believed fl,e could make ufe of, worth the while of any man of bufinefs who would make her a proper recompenfe for the ufe of that intereft in his favour. 2. Give me leave to aflc you, if Mrs. Brooke told you what her intereft was, and who /he was conneaed with? No anfwer. „ 2- What was her intereft, and who was ine connefted with ? ^. It was not my Lord Sandwich, nOr any perfon connected with Lord Sandwich. ^. If not with Lord Sandwich, or any body conneaed with him, t./,. u-as It ? ^ A. Mrs. Brooke told me it was a German genu ,,,,^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^,^^ ^^ .^ man <^ueen s family, ^ 3 j/^^ i: I % 'J U ,11 ^0 LATH EARL OF MANSFIELD, Mr, Dunning, It was not Mr. Breflaw, was it ? - No anfwer. ^ Mr, Morgan, Now, Sir, give me leave to afk you the name of the German gentle- man? ^ A, I am not pofitive I can recolle6t right — I believe it was Friedenburgh, or fbme fuch name. £, Now, Sir, did you ever fee Mr. Frie- denburgh upon this bufmefs ? A, No, Sir, I never faw any body but Mrs. Brooke — I was employed merely as a meffenger and friend of that lady. £. Let me underftand you^ — Mrs. Brooke made application to you ? A, Yes, Sir. £. Now, Sir, give me leave to alk you another queftion — Upon what terms was it propofed for this intereft to be exerted .? — What were the terms ? A, The terms ihe mentioned in general — if I might aik a man of bufinefs what might be got upon fuch an occafion. §L, For this commifsioner's place ? A\ For that at lafl. S. Firft, ^ LORD CHIEF JUSTICE. 3|1 S.Firft, in general? A. Yes, but for this place at laft. S. Your application was to be to a man ^f bufincfs, to know what could be got for this place--that was the objed ? ^. Yes, Sir. ^. Now, Sir, in confequence of this tvhat did you do ? . ' ^. In confequence of this, I went to Mr. Corte, and had fome convcrfation with him upon it ; and he faid, he thouglit it could not be worth any pcrfon's while, who was a proper eligible perfon, to be at a greater expence than a couple of thoufand pounds. S. That was Corte's opinion, was it ? • A* Yes, Sir. S. What then. Sir, did he tell you he would apply to any perfonsr ^. To particular perfons— I aflced him if he could think of any body; he faid he Gould not at that time, if he did he would let me know. ^. Did he ever give you intelligence of having applied to Captain Luttrell ? ^. I don't recollea that ever he did. X 4 ^. Did 1 1 fWi m^ ! ft I i t ^ # !|1 111 ' '(■ ., 1 1 '' ■ I 1 m0M 312 LATE EARL OF MANSFIELD, S. Did not he ever communicate to you the fuccefs of his commifsion ? A, He never did— Before I had any con- verfation with Mr. Corte upon the fubjedl again, the place was difpofed of— It was in the newfpapers the place was difpofed of. S. To whom was the place difpofed of ? A. So far as the newfpapers informed me? £. No — from your own knowledge — Had you any converfation afterwards with MrSt Brooke about this fubje6l \ A, No, never. 2. Had you any converfation with any body elfe about it ? A, No. S. Give me leave to afk you another queflion — Are you perfonally known to Lord Sandwich ? A* I am not. JLord Mansfield, ^ueftion to Captain Lut- trell. Will you hand up the memorandum you fpoke of ? Captain LuttrelL I have not thf^ memo- randum, my Lord, but Captain Pafchal went with mc to Mr. Corte, in order that there ' '^ might LORD CHIEF JUSTICE. 313 might be no miftake about it. Mr. Corte ackno^yIedged the converfation the fame as I related to you ; the paper was deli^ vered to Captain Pafchal, who has been in pp0efsion of it ever fmce. Captain PafchaL My papers are all at Greenwich, and that is witli them. I had not time to go to Greenwich for them. Captain LuttrelL I clearly gave my rea^ fons to your Lordihip for having minuted it down. Lord Mansfield. Gentlemen of the jury, This is an adion brought by the plaintiff agamft the defendant for a defamatory iibel ■^the paper has been read, and the words are fo ppen, that no doubt has been made iit the bar concerning the meaning, and no doubt has been made at the bar whe- ther this aaion is or is not competent, and that the plaintiff is intitled to recover a verdia and damages for this defamation. A great ftrefs (and very juftly by the coun- fel for the plaintiff) has been laid upon the precife fad:, as laid to the charge of the plaintiff, and the fubfequent juftifica- tipn of it upon record ; and that is, that he 314 LATfe EAftr. <5F MANSFlfeLD, he being in the fitimlidn in which hti k defcribed, bargained by his ageni, fof the fale of an office, which is really in the gift of the King; but which, by virtue of the place in which he is, h^ has the re- commendatiofi, at lead it is probable for him to have the recommendation, if it is not an abfolute right.~NoW that is a pre- cife and fpecific charge of a particular f^6l, and it is juftified as true Updft record.— There is a dirtindion between crimifial pro- fecutidng, and anions for a libel. In a criminal profecution, the truth of falfliood ^ the charge is immaterial, and can- not be gdne iut6 in evideflce, becaufe the law fays, That, if ^ man is guilty of any crime, or breach of office, of mifdemeanor, there is a remedy opcfi by the Courfe of law ; and that remedy is to be taken, and a private man is not to traduce, or cenfure extrajudicially his neighbour; aM there- fore, in a criminal profecution, the truth or falfhood of it never can be gone into in evidence one way or the either.— -It is upon that diflin^ion you are guilty of a crime in charging your neighbour with crimes 1.08D CHIEF JUSTICE, 3|5 crimes he may be guilty of, as. felony, treafon, or forgery, or any other crime becaufe if ho is profecuted for it, that h what ought to be done.-In the cafe of a civil aaion, it is different, and you will plainly fee the reafon.-Whcn a man brings an action for a defamatory charge, if the charge be true the law fays this— the dc- fendant has done wrong, and the defen- dant may be puniflied criminally, but you are not injured, and you have no right to damages, becaufe you are guilty—You are guilty of the offence, and therefore you that are guilty cannot complain, and defire a fatisfaftion in damages for a man's faymg that which is true of you; and therefore upon that principle it is a bar to a recovery by the plaintiff from his ac- cepting any damages whatfoever. ^A plaintiff appears in an infamous light that comes into a court of juftice and fays, I am guilty of felony, and yet let me hare damages againft the man that fays I am guilty of felony.-No, fays the law, you have done wrong, they fl.ould punifh you lor a crime againli the State, but lliould * 1.1 L »i . ii: km 'I i 516 LATE EARL OF MANSFIELD, not give you damages for being accufed of the crime— Therefore, in this caufe, they have put their great ftrefs upon the fadl, and upon the juftification upon re- cord ; for if the juftification be true, it is a Lar infomuch as it is within the juftifica- tion ; but if the juftification is fajfe, it is a great aggravation of malice, and greatly inhances the flander.--In this cafe, the charge is. That Lord Sandwich fent a meffenger in the dead of the night to make an offer to a man of the falc of this office for 20001. — ^They have taken upon them to juflify that charge upon Lord Sandwich as true, and that hig agent— they point out the agent of and for Lord Sandwich to be one Henry Corte. Now, gentlemen, any objedion in point of law to the evi, dcnce, may be waved by the parties ; but to be fure, in point of law, they would have been right, and warranted, if they had faid, the thing to be proved is, the man who made the ofjer, was Lord Sand, wieh's agent; becaufe, whatever a man fays and does, without Lord Sandwich's private knowledge, or interfering, is m jufti^ LORD CHIEF JUSTICE. 317 juftification-i . is no juftification to fay. I heard another man fay tlie fame llander —A juftification to bar recovering is his own gu.lt-you are guilty, and therefore cannot recover damages. They have not called Corte at all. Mr. Cone. My Lord, I am here. I^rd Mansftdd. They have not called you-Corte ,s now prefcnt, but they have not called him, and in the juftification he ^ aflerted to be the agent that makes this ^orrupt oftfer. M'ell, what does Mr. Lut- trell fay? why Mr. Luttrell gives a very prec^fe account, and he lays a very good foundation for believing that if Mr. Corte tad been examined, he would have con- curred with him, becaufe he put it down l« writing, and afterwards giving a rea- son why he did fo, that he had talked with Mr. Corte, and they had fettled what was. the real truth of it, that there might be po controverfy. What is the evidence Lut- trell gives throughout the whole converfa- tion.— Lord Sandwich's name is never men- tioned, and Corte never prqtends tint he comes from Lord Sandwich^ or has any au- «..! ! \ m.'. r ■: 'i 318 LATE EARL OF MANSFIELD, authority whatever from him — ^Why then, what is implied from the evidence ? If he had been the known agent of Lord Sand- wich, or the fecretary of Lord Sandwich, nothing at all could have been faid about it; but it comes out otherwife, becaufc Luttrell fays he is his agent — that his firft bufinefs was to talk about fome money concerns, not relative to this matter. — Lut- trell fays, he don't know that he is, or ever was the agent of Lord Sandwich, What is the next circumflance they go tp? — Luttrell having given his account to Corte, it was natural to talk about it ; and he faid how came you to be aflced about it ? The anfwer is, Why the Rev. Mr. Parry faid fo and fo about it. — -Then Mr. Parry is called — Parry tells you a Mrs* Brooke, a clergyman's wife in London, had fome intereft with fomebody, and de- ^red he would look out for any perfon that would give money, or would make it worth her while to make ufe of that intereft with this fomebody for any place, without diftinguifliing it. — ^The firft thing thfit occurred to him was a commifsioner*s place LOUP CHIEF JUSTICE, 313 place of the navy, being like to be vacant upon llanway's death, to conf.der whc- tl'er that place would do— He talks with Cprtc. and a(ks him what might be paid by an ehgible perfon for it. Corte think, an ehg,blc perfon would not give more lor It than aed upon their predeceflbrs for breach ot their oaths might be a fufficient warn- ■ng .to then-.." Whereupon the Queen, hearing thefe reafons, was fatisfied; and the fa,d judges heard no more of this bufinefs. This quotation is from a traa Y 2 __.-., ? •-'miiiea 'i it'k'i ? t J il i I r I I II 1 5^4 Late earl df MANSFrELO, entitled, " The Triumph of Juftice over corrupt Judges ;" in which are the names of the forty-four Judges, condemned to die, in the reign of Alfred, The following is an account of Lord Mans- field's conduct in the trial of an a6lion^— Meares and Shcpley againft Anfell — at the fummer afsizes in the year 1771, for the county of Surrey ; as it was given by a gentleman who was in court. The adlion was brought for trefpafles com- mitted in the plaintiffs clofes, called Bore- man's Mead and Mill Croft. The defendant pleaded two pleas, firft, Not guilty. Second- ly, That the defendant committed the tref- pailes by the licence of the plaintiffs. — At the trial, the trefpafTes were clearly proved^ with this aggravating circumftance, that they were committed after repeated dif- charges, and that the defendant had au- thorized his fervants wantonly to trample down the plaintiffs grafs when it was a foot high, and laid up for mowing. There was not the Icait tittle of proof of any licence given- * lORD CHIEF JlrSTICE. 335 g^'cn by the plaintiffs ; but it was urged ^"JJ7^^ «f «'e defendant, that the S- trtmn^r "T^''''"" "' ^'^ '^'^^^ -lied foreman s Mead, and therefore tlje plain ■ t'ff«. as to that clofe, could not mafnt in 3„ aa.on of trefpafs, it being a pT^ ,f ?;r «'""*««<» which objeftion the pJamfffs eounfel called one Mr. Hifcox to produce a written agreement n^ade b'Jeen he pla.nt.ff. and the defendant in the;;:; the executil .'l j^xhe ' '" """'^ ' produced by mkor^l T-T"' "'^ f.i, -^ Jiucox, after which it wa^ taken out of his hands, and a moft LlZ a tempt „.ade .yfomeperfons on thlb 3 iiie Chief Juft,ce by this time, for reafon, a^uift tl.e <;aufe, to the wonder and afto- mftment of the whole court. It was net upeaed that any Jn,ge could ci;;;^: The Ch.ef Juft,ce beheld this moft aftonift,. ng attempt to fupprefs evidence with the utmoft compofure, until the genera f) Y 3 aftonilh- I '• 1 i ' '1 ™R"'iiiipmiii 1 ■ .^ MH '1' Mi r 1 li:. 1 i 1 1 1 326 LATE lEARL OF MANSFIEL0, aftonifhment of the court called upon him to exert his authority ; he then compelled the production of the agreement. — The agreement, when produced, purported to be an agreement between the plaintiffs and defendant and his partner, for the formers letting the latter have the * produce of hay' (for that was the very exprefsion) of Bore- man's Mead, in exchange for a bit of ground of the defendant's. — -There was not a fyllable in the agreement about Mill Croft. — ^The trefpafTes complained of in Boreman's Mead were for digging and opening large ditches, and converting it into a callico ground, and it was thought there could not be the leafl colour of pre- tence to fay that the words ' produce of hay' gave the defendant an authority to do that. — However, the Chief Juflicefaid, the very thing the defendant had attempted to fup- prefs made the defence. — Matthews the wit-^ nefs, emboldened by this extraordinary de- claration, addrefl'ed the Chief Juftice, and dcfired to give a hiftory of the tranfa6lion ; and being permitted to do fo, he then fwore tlu>t althoMgh the agreement only exprefled produce tORD CHIBP JUSTICE. ,27 produce of hay of Boreman's Mead, it wa, meant and underftood, that the defenr, ihould have the general occupation n ait M Tr' ^^<'^'^' ""' ^■» Croft ai.o Mr Hifcox confirmed the fame Lord Man^fK-id received and admitted ut evidence, and fummed it ud tn fl • with all the force he coulH ,., ^"'^ ., . , "- "^ could, and t icreuijon they found a verdia for the defendant. The Court of Common Pleas, in Michael- mas^tenn 1771, was moved by the piain. t.ffs for a n.w trial, for the mifdireftfon of the Judge. The Judge was called upon for h.s report, which he could not make with- out fendmg to the plalntiifs attorney for his affidavit of the tranfaaion.-Hc made report at laft, to which he fubjoined, that he was perfeaiy fatisfied with the verdiS of the jury.-The Court of Common Pleas ^s ckarly of opinion, that Lo.^ Mansfield had aaed contrary to every principle of evidence both i„ law and equity, hi ad- m.ttmg Matthews and Hifcox to s^ive parole evidence, contrary to a clear exphcit a.ree. ment m writing, which they had atte'/ied ■ I'H'i'l m i< h li Y 4 aiui 328 XATE EARL OF MANSFIELD, and that, if fuch a practice was to obtain, it would go a great way towards fubverting the ftatute of frauds and perjuries, and would be a moft dangerous inlet to perjury, and a means of rendering mens properties very precarious and infecure. The court therefore fet afide the verdi6t, and ordered a new trial ; and it appeared to the court to be fo grofs a mifdire6tion, that it difpenfed with the ufual terms of payment of cofts. Although Lord Mansfield, in his direc^lion to the jury, reprefented the trefpaffes as fmall and insignificant, and the adion as litigious, the Court of Common Pleas faid the trefpafies were obftinate, wilful, and malicious. Mr. Rowlinfon, an eminent attorney of the Temple, employed bi- the plaintiffs in the above caufe, was fo difgufted with the condu6l of Lord Mansfield, that he caufed a motion to be made in the court of King's-^ bench, that he might be ftruck off the rolls of that court, which (after fome exprefsions of aftonifhment) was granted ; and Mr, llowlinfon was immediately afterwards ad- mitted LORD CHIEF JUSTICE. 323 mitted of his Majefty's Court of Common Pleas. A corre6i Copy of Lord Mansfield's Speech on the 25th day of November, 1774., in giving the judgment of the Court of King's-bench, in the caufe of Campbell againft Hall, refpeding the King's Let- ' ters Patent, on the 50th of July, 1764; for raifmg a duty of four and an half per cent, on all exports from the Ifland of Grenada. This cafe of Alexander Campbell againft Wiiyam Hall, is an adion that was brought by the plaintiff, who is a natural.born fub. jea pf this kingdom, and who, upon the 3d of March,. 1763, purchafed a plantation in the Ifland of Grenada ; and it is brought againft the defendant. Hall, who was col- leaor for his Majefty of a duty of four and an half percent, upon goods or fugars expoirted from the Ifland of Grenada ; and the aftion is brought to recover back a fum of money ivhich was paid as this duty of four and an half per cent, upon fugars that were ex- ported t i, III '' ♦ ^i II 330 LATE EARL OF MANSFIELD, ported from the Ifland of Grenada, by and on account of the plaintiff; and the aaion IS for money had and received ; and broudit upon this ground : That the money was paid to the defendant without any con- fideration for the duty for which, and in rcfpea of which, he received it, not hav- ing been impofed by lawful or fufficient authority to warrant the fame. And it isi ftated by the fpecial verdid, that that money itill remains in the defendant's hands, not paid over by him to the ufe of the King, but continued in his hands, and fo continues with the privity and con- fent of his Majefty's Attorney-general, for the exprefs purpofe of trying the queftion as to the validity of impofmg this duty. It came on to be tried at Guildhall, and of courfe, from the nature of the queftion, both fides came prepared to have a fpecial verdia ; a fpecial vcrdicl was found, which ftates : — That the Ifland of Grenada was taken by the Britifh arms, in open war, from the French king. ' That LORD CHIEF JUJITICE. 331 That the Ifland of Grenada furrendered upon capitulation ; and the capitulation upon which it furrendered, was by reference to the capitulation upon which the Ifland of Martinico had Uefore furrendered. The fpecial verdia flates fome articles of that capitulation ; and particularly the fifth article, by which it is agreed : — «( <( " That Grenada fliall continue to be go- verned by their prefent laws, until his Majefty's pleafure be knoA\'n." They likewife take the fixth article, where, to a demand of the inhabitants of Grenada, that they fhould be maintained in their property and effeds, moveable and immove- able, of what nature foever, and that they fhould be preferved in their privileges, rights, honours, and exemptions ;--the an- fwer is, " The inhabitants, being fubjeas of Great Britain, will enjoy their proj^erties, and the fame privileges as any other of his Majefty's Leeward Iflands;"— So that the anfwer is, Tliat they will have the con^ fequences (« (( ti r< > m r II himi 332 LATE EARL OF iMANSFIELD, fequences of their being fubjeas ; and they will be as much fubjeas as any of the other Leeward Iflands, Then they ftate another article of capi, tulation, the feventh, and by that article they deraand—" They /hall pay no other « duty than they paid to tlir French King; " that the capitation-tax fhall be the famei « and then the expences of courts of jufJ " tice, and the adminiftration of govern- " ment, ihall be paid out of the King's " domain, and other articles of that kindV' in anfwer to which they are referred to the anfwer I have juft ftated, given to the foregoing articles :-~That is, « being fubjects, *' they will be entitled to all the rights, \C " berties, and properties, with a referenc'e to ** the fubjea then before their eyes, in the *' Leeward Iflands." r The next thing Hated in the fpecial ver, dia is the treaty of peace, figned the 10th of February, 1763 ; and they ftate the par- ties to^ the treaty of peace, by which the Ifland ■' ^' -^l LORD CHIEF Jl/STICfi. S3$ Ifland of Grenada is ceded ; and fome claufes of it wliich are not at all material for me particularly to ftate. the next inftrument that they ftate is a proclamation under the great feal, bearin- date the 7th of Odober, 1763, wherein^ among other things, it is faid :— u (( <( •( " Whereas it will greatly contribute to the fpeedy fettlement of our faid govern- ments, of which Grenada is one, that our loving fubjedls /hould be informed of our paternal care for the fecurity of the liberties and properties of thofe who are, and fhall become, inhabitants thereof - we have thought fit to publi/h and de- clare, by this our proclamation, that we have, in the letters patents under our great feal of Great Britain, by which the faid governments are conftituted, giveiir exprefs power and diredion to our go- vernors of the faid colonies refpeaively. That as foon as the (late and circum- ftances of the faid colonies will admit thereof, they ihall, with the advice and .11 if;||l 4 tt con S54. LATE fiARL OF MAKSFIELT), " confent of the Members of our Council, <4 funimoii and call general afl'emblics " vvitlnn the faid governments refpe61ively, «' in fuch manner and form as is ufcd in •' thofe colonies and provinces in America, ** vvnich arc under our immediate govcrn- •' ments : And we have alfo given power to " the faid governors, with the confent of *' our faid governors and reprefcntativcs of *« the people, to be fummoned as aforefaid, *' to make, conftitute, and oi-dain laws, " ftatutes, and ordinances for the public " peace, weltare, and good government of " our faid colonics, and inhabitants thereof, as near as may be agreeable to the laws of England, and under fuch regulations, " and reltricHons as are ufcd in our colo- <6 U U nies. if The next inflrument dated in the fpecial verdia, is the letters patents under the great feal, or rather a proclamation under the great feal, bearing date the 26th of March, 11 64, where the King recites a furvey and divifion of the ceded iflands.— • *^ That he had ordered them to be divided 2 « into tORD CHIEF JUSTICE. 335 ." '"t°/'"°tmcnts, as an invitatio.i for all „ P"'-'^hafc" to come in and purchafo u,,on terms and conditions fpecificd in (J,at proclamation." The next inftrunicnt ftatcd, is the let ters patents under the great feal, bearing daethePthofApril, .7e4;andintl"fe letter patents there is a cau.irsioa and authority to Governor Mehiife, ^vho was appointed governor of this humi to fun. mon an afltmbly as foon as cue ftate and crcumftances of the Illand will admit ; and w.th the confent of the governor and coun- cil, rnake laws in all the ufual forms towards which there is a reforence to the manner of other iiffemblics of the KinP's provmces in America. The governor arrived in Grenada the 14th of December, 11 6i, and before the end of the year 1765, the allbmbly aaually met m the Ifland of Grenada; but between the arrnal of the governor at Grenada, in- deed before his departure from London, there is another inftrument, upon the vali- ditjr >4M m '» :i;l 1 ::^l i i -t ■; : ' if ■ 33ff LATE ftAIlt 61? llfAjrSFIfiLtt, dity of which the whole queition turrts, ihit is dated in the fpecial verdict ; the letters patents under the great feal, bearing date the 'iOth of July, 17^4, reciting, •* That •* in Barbadoes, and all the Britiih Leeward " IflahdS) there was a duty of four and an •^ half per cent* paid upon the export of " goods,'* and reciting in thefe words $ ** Whereas it isreafonable and expedient, and ■ *' of importance to our other fugar colonies, •* that the like duty fhould take place in ** our faid Ifland of Grenada, we have •' thought fit, and out royal will and plea- ** fure is, and M^e do hereby, by virtue of *' our prerogative royal, order, dire clear tb be contrbverted. The itating fome of thbfe propofitibns, 4t which t-ORD CHIEF JUSTICE. ^^ ^hich we think clear and uncontroverUble * " ^^^ "« t" f^<^> with more perfpicmV ^'f " *he queftion upon thAiZZ' -d upon what hinge it turns.-! ^ilC «^propor.ion.athirge,the«ra;^::; » - ant t'""'^' '''"''"*^^ '•5' t''^ B'itifl, ri^' ofT" "^ '"'"'"'^« ''^ «•« King in rght of Jus crown, and therefore, neceffi "fy rubjea to the legfflature. the S" went ot Great Britain. ' ^"« ^arlia- ^The f^ond is. That th« conquered in h^b'tants, once received under ?he^l "" P«teaio„, become fubjea, to him i^ -;verra,,,tobeeo„fidii';;t;Str not as enemies or aliens. ,un. ., ^"^ , .The Third :_That the Articles of canitu cordmg to their true i.tent and mt^Sg!" ;^J.eWh:-^^tthe,awand,egifla: tive jij ii Ihi 340 LATE EARL OF MANSFIELD, live government of every dominion, equally affe<5ts all perfons and property within the limits thereof, and is the true rule for the decifion of all queftions which arife there — whoever purchafes, lives, or fues there, puts himfelf under the laws of the place. — An Englifhman, in the Illand of Minorca, the Ifle of Man, or the Plantations, has no privilege diftina from the natives. The Fifth propofition I fhall ftate is :-— That the laws of a conquered country con- tinue until they are altered by the con- queror.— The a bfvird exception, as to Pa- gans, mentioned in Calvin's cafe, fliews the univerfality and antiquity of the maxim : — The exception could not exift before the Chriflian era ; and, in all probability, arofe from the mad enthufiafm of the Croifades. — In the prefentcafe, the capitulation ex- prefly provides and agrees, " they fhall continue to be governed by their pvefent laws, until his Majefty-s pleafure be " knpwn." ^ . .. J.:. . -[-moj «( t( Tie Sj^th and laft propofition, that I < ihall LORD CHIEF JUSTICE. 341 fhall mention, is this .---That if the Kins has a power, (and when 1 fay the King I always mean the King without the concur- rence of Parhament) to alter the old, and intrude new laws in a conquered country, thi^ legiflaion being fubordinate, that is, fub- ordinate to his own authority in Parliament, he cannot make any change contrary to the' fundamental principles :~.He cannot exempt an mhabitant from that particular dominion - as, forinilance, from the laws of trade, or from the power of Parliament, or give them privileges exclufive from other fubjeas ; and fo in many other inftances which micrbt be put. ^ The prefent change, if made before the 7th of Oaober, 1763, recently after the cefsion, by treaty, is moil: equitable, rea- fonable, and political; it is putting Gre- nada upon the fame footing, ns to duty * wath all the Britifh Leeward Jdands.-^If Grenada paid more, it would be detrimental to her ;~if /he paid lef., it muft be deU\^ mental to the other Leeward Illands ; nay, It would be carrying, the capitulation into execution which gave the people of Gre- ^ ^ nada. f ! . Ill m I fit ml m il,,! ' U l*:J 342 LATE SAUL 0* MANSPIELd, nada hopty. That if any new duty was laid 6n, their cafe would be the fame with their fellow fubjeas in the other Leeward Iflands. The only queftion then upon this point which remains, is, Whether the King hnd power to make fuch a cbaiige between the lOth of February, the day the irealy of jjeace was /ignedv and the 7th of oaobeis 17<53? Thai m the only qufeflion. Taking thefe propofitions which I have ftated to be true and cleaiv --e only queftion that re* tnains is, Whether he had of himfelf that j)Ower ? — It is limited, by the conftitution., to the King's authority, to grant or refufc a capitulation.— If he refufes, and put§ the inhabitants to the fword, or exterminates th6rn, all the land belongs to him : — If he receives the inhabitants under his protect tioii, and grants them their property, he ha* a p6Wer to fix the terms and conditions :— he is interefted with making the treaty of peace, he may yield up the conqucfl, or retain it, updn fuch terms as he (hall think fit to agree to. Thefe powers no man evev difputed ; neither has it hitherto been con- troverted, but that the King might cka^g^; LORD CHIEF JUSTICB, S43 part of, or all the political form of tlie government of-a conquered dominion. To go into the hiflory of cpnquefts, made l>y the crown of England :^The alteration ot the laws of Ireland has been much dif- ciiiTed by lawyers and writere of great fame, f.t different periods of tim^.^No man ever faid that the change wag made by the Par- liament of England ; no man ever faid the crown could not do it.~-The fa^, in truth, after all the refearchcs which have been made, comes out clearly to be as laid i^own by Lord Chief Juftice Vaughan, "That Ir«. « land received the laws of England by th«. " charters and coinmand of Henry the " Second, King John, Henry the Third;" and he adds an et cettra, to take in Edward the Firfl and fubfequent Kings :^and he fhews mod clearly, the miftake &f imagining, that the charter e intcrpofition of the f^arliament of England, ^* and I < m II i s. * .1 ' 344' LATE EARL OF MANSFIELD, '^nd therefore muft be derived from the crown. ' Mr. BarrJngton is well warranted in fay- ing, The ftatute of Wales of the twelfth of Edward the Firft is certainly no more than regulations, made by the King in his coun- cil, for the government of Wales, which the preamble fays, was then totally fub- dued ; though he takes, for various politi- cal purpofes, Wales to be a feoff of his rcrown, which, in faa, was a fiaion, yet .he governed it as a conqueft ; for Edward 'the Firft never pretended that he could, rwithout the aflent of Parliament, make iaws to bind any part of the realm. yW Berwick, after the conqueft of it, was ?governed by charters from the crown, till ,|he reign of James the Firft, without the -initerpofition of Parliament :—— Whatever changes wer^ made in the laws of Gafcony, Guienne, and Calais, muft be under the King's authority, becaufe all the a^s of Parliament restive to them are extant ; for they were conquered in the reign of Edward ' . . the LORD CHIEF JUSTICE. 34.5 the Third, and all the a^s of Parliament iince the time of Edward the Third are extant.—There are fome ads of Parliament relative to each of thofe conquefls I have named, and none for any change of their iaws ; and particularly with regard to Calais which he alluded to, as if their laws were confidered as given by the crown. With regard to the inhabitants, their property and trade of Gibraltar, ever fmce that con- quert, the King has made orders and regu- lations fuitable to the condition of thofe who live, or trade, or enjoy property in that garrifoned town. Mr. Attorney.general alluded to a yariety of inftances, and feveral very lately, that is within thefe twenty years, or thereabouts,' 111 which the King had exercifed legiflatioa m Minorca.—In Minorca it is fajd there are a great number of inhabitants of worth ; and that a great trade is carried on ;^If the' King does it, as coming in the place of the King of Spain, becaufe their old conftitu- tion continues, the fame argument holds here ; for before the 7th of Oaober, 17^3, the i,1! ' ;.i; i; I 'I Vj ■ ■ ^ ! ■ Bill lir ll',l!l iM ' 34-6* LATE EARt OF MANSFIELD, the conftitutlon of Grenada continued, and the King flood in the place of their former Sovereigji. After the cnnqueft of New York, in which mo(> o* the old Dutch inhabitants remained, King Charles the Sere. ' rhai^ged the form of their conftitution and political governmcat, hy granting it to the Duke of York, tu hold from his crown, under all the rpgulations contained in the letters patents. It is not to be wondered, thr.t an adjudged cafe in point, has not been produced; no hirn York, and Sir Clement Worge, to c. Ider MJiat could be done if the aflbmbly fhouiv abfolutely continue to with old all the ufual fupplies :— They re- port thus : That if Jamai was ftill to be fconfidered as a conquered and, that the . King had a right to lay taxes upon the in- habitants, but if it was to be coiifidercd a the fame light as t'- other colonies, no tax '^ould be im|>ofed upon the 'nhabitants, but by mm 'I if i. .:il! I| l¥ ■■! li li , i ^48 LATE LARL OF MANSFIELD, by an afTembly of the Iflarld, or by an aa of Parliamcnt.—The diftinaion inlaw, they confider as a clear and indifpiitable confe- quence of the IHand being in the one ftate or the other.—Whr'her it remained a con- qiieft, or was made a colony, .they had hot examined.— I have up^on former occafions, traced the qonflitution of Jamaica ; as far as there are books, or papers, in the offices; —I cannot find that any Spaniard remained upon the Ifland of Jamaica fo late as the Reftoration ; if any, they were very few. A gentleman, who was well informed, to a queftion I put to him upon one of the argu- ments of this cafe, faid, He knew of no Spani/h naves among^the white inhabitants of Jamaica ; but there were among the Negroes* The King (I mean Charles the Second) after the Reftoration, by proclamation, in- vited fettlers, promifmg them protection :— He made grants of lands in Jamaica : he appointed at firft, a governor and coun- cil only ; afterwards he granted a commif- fion to the governqr to call an aflembly, the conftitution of every Province ; imme- diately LORD CHIEF JUSTICE, 349 diately under the King has arifon, i„ the iamc .nanner, not the grants but the com- m,fs.ons to call aflbublies ; and. therefore, al the Spaniards liaving left the Ifland, or been dnven out of Jamaica, the firft fettling was an English colony, who, under the authonty of the King, planted a vacant Ihand belonging to him in riglit of liis crown. Like the cafes of the Illands of St. Helena, and St. John, mentioned by Mr. Attorney-general, a maxim of confti- tutional law, with all the judges in Calvin's cafe, and two luch men in modern times as Sir Ph.hp York and Sir Clement Worge I take it for granted, will acquire fome autho- nty: but, on the other fide, no book, no laying, no opmion has been cited ; no in- ftance has been found in any period of our hU'ory where a doubt has been raifed con- cerning it :-thc council for the plaintiff un- doubtedly laboured this point from a diffi- dence or an uncertainty of what might be our opinions upon the fecond argument • but after full confideration we are of opi- Bwn, " That before the 20th f July, 1764 ♦> the King had precluded himfelf from the ♦' exercife 1 ;- :- 1 1] I" ( mi ii50 LATE EARL bP MANSWELD, " exercife of a legiflative authority over the ** Ifland of Grenada." c« 6C €«. The fir ft and material inftrument is the proclamation of the 7 th of Oaober, 116$^ —See wh^tt it is that the King fays ; and with what view he Aiys it; and how he engages himfelf and pledges his word :— He fays; " Whereas it will greatly contribute to the fpeedy fettling of our new govern- ment, that our loving fubjeas Ihould be informed of our paternal care for the fake •' of the liberties aitd properties of thofe " who are, and fhall become, inhibitants thereof, we have thought fit to publifh and declare, by this our proclamation, that we have, by our letters patents under the great feal, commifsioned our go- vernor, and given directions as foon as " the Hate of the faid colonies will admit « thereof, to call general airemhlies, to ** make laws, as near as may be agreeable ** to the laws of England," and all the ge- neral words neceflary for that regulation. — With what view is that promife made re- citing the commifsion as aauaily given i; It is <( M C( e K.„g had immediately and irrevocably^ Sra,ued to all who did, or /hould, inhabit"^ o. u^K, had, or /hould, acquire property in e Ifland of Grenada, or Ire gene'rally; 1:''T . f "'«"■' <^°"-r„, that the fuL- duiatc legdation over the Ifland ftould be exerc. ed by the alfcmbly, with the con! lent of the governor and council, i„ like manner as in other provinces uLder Z Kmg. Therefore, though the abolin.ing • the French dufes, and inlieu thereof fub- ftUutmg the fame duty, which according o ffefindmgofthisverdiaispaidinallL Br t,,, Leevvard Illands, be juft and equit! BHmV^T '" '''""'"'^' ^'"l ""-■ other of the Kmg s fervants, inverting the order «n wh,ch the inftrument /hould have patibd and been notorioufly public, the laft aft wc* thmk ,s contrary to. and a vioiat.on of the firft, and therefore void ; how proper foever he thmg „,ay be refpefting the obfea of the letters patent of the 20th of Julv.lVM ^ °^- I- A a jt I fi «' ,. ( '« t to: ■ iir 354* LATE EARt OF MANSFIELO, it can only now be done (to life the words of Sir Philip Yorke, and Sir Clement Worge) hy an afl'embly of the ifland, or by an adt of the Parliament of Great- Britain. The confcqucnce of this is, judgment mufi: be given for the plaintiff. The condua of Lord Mansiield on the qiiertion concerning literary property is well known. He gave a judgment in the Court of King's-bench, by which the London book fellers were induced to believe they had a permanent property m what they bought; and when the matter came to be argued in the Houfe of Lords, upon an appeal, and he was firmly attacked by Lord Thurlow, (then Attorney-general, and counfcl for the appellant), and all his dodrine reprobated by Lord Camden, he had not courage to rife up in his place and defend his own judg- ment. He faid not a word. If he was ambitious of being thought a Moecenas, which was fuppofed, that may be pretended to befome excufe forhis judg- ^ ment i-OBD CHIEF JUSTICE. 355 ment o„ this queftion in the Court of Kind's l^ench, but cannot apologize for abandonL h.s own characler in the Houfe of Lords. By Iiis patronage of Sir John DaJfympJe, B^t^ain'T^'^ " ''" '''-''"' < «-^ ""tain, already mentionnd in the pre- ced,ns chapter; a.,d of Mr. Lind, vho wrote Wtraas entitled," Letters ;nPo! treated w.th great afpcrity ; and fome trads ;'gamft America, during the American war. infupportoftheminirtry; and of feme other writers of the fame principles ; per- haps he flattered himfelf with the hopes of being efteemed an encourager of literary men But avarice was his ruling pafsion. He ufed to fay, thofe who purchafed eitates. prefervcd their principal but received no in- ■!r k I ^^^ "'''" """"S''* '" f'e funds, had intereft but no principal. He laid out his ntoney in mortgages, and good fecurities, by wn.ch he had both principal and interefi. _ His Lordfhip was r.ifo ambitious of beins thought a ftateffflan. Upon one occaf.o.? A a 2 (),jjy .i ', ,1 . ii m ] ^56 LATK EARL OF MANSFIELD, only he flione as a politician : this was his at- tack on the Sufpending and Difpenfmg Pre- rogative in the Year, which was undoubtedly made with great ability, but the cafe may be faid to have been more a matter of jurif- prudcnce than politics, and although he gave to his eloquence all the advantages he had acquired, by a long exercifc, yet the merit of the attack is leflencd, when it is recollcaed that Lord Camden had main- tained the necefsity of a fufpending power in a calc of imminent danger of famine, which was the fad:, and that Lord Mansfield warmly embraced this opportunity of up- holding a true conllitutional doarine, lo gratify his envy and hatred of Lord Camden. His motive was founded in perfonal rancour, not in conttitutional. All thofe who are acquainted with the hiftory of the time will not hefitate to admit this diftindion. But the trart which was publifhed, called « A " Speech againft the Sufpending and Dif- penfing Prerogative," and contained all that Lord Mansfield advanced in his fpeech upon this fubjedl in the Houfe of Lords, was not written by his Lordlhip, although generally ' believed i! I.OKD CHIEF JUSTICE. 357 Relieved to have been his produaion, „or rZ ^' ''Tf *" "■' ""*'"S or publication. The pa,„pUet was written by Lord Temple, and Lord Lyttelton, and a gentleman who «as prefent at the debate, and ftates i„ the tfiat hde. However, Lord Mansfield's mo- tives may be excufcd, if the feverity of hi, attack makes Minitters more afsiduous i„ ti.e.r duty, for they had information of the approaching danger, and did not attend to' 't,.fthey had, luch attention would have prevented the nccefsity of reforting to fo violent a remedj'. fe " "> conlccf .'-"""';?'? 1'°'''-'" opinions and conduit ,t would have been happy fc, Jus -n^-X.ftheyhadbeenfoun,e!!ljJ-: juft prmc.ples of all governmer.. which rnake the honour of the ttate and the ,- terefts of the people perfedly the LZ Bute , they were contraaed, fplenetic, and yranmcal. Xo better proof need be ^i .' ' i"c >cai 1/71-, uponthcBof. A a 3 . ton i. i . S58 LATE EARL OF MANSFIELD, ton Port Bill, in reply to Lord Dartmouth, at that time Secretary of State forahe Colo- nies. His Lordfliip faid, " the fword was drawn and the fcahbard thrown away. We had paired the Rubicon ;" alluding to Csefar's march to Rome. This was not lefs a pro- phetic and dreadful denunciation to the in». terefls of Great Britain, than the infcription on the bridge over the Rubicon was to the iate of Cxhv, and the liberties of Rome. Montefquieu, in confidering the caufes of the grandeur and declenfion of the Ro- mans, obferves, that " policy had not per^ mittcd armies to be ftationed near Rome, for this reafon confiderable forces were kept in Cifalpine Gaul ; but to fecure the city of Rome againft thofe troops, the celebrated Setiatus Corifultum was made, ftill to be fecn. engraven on the way from Rimini to Cefena; by which they devoted to the infernal gods, and declared to be guilty of facrikge and parricide, thofe who Ihould with a legion, with an army, or with a cohort, pafs the Rui»icon.'* Montanus gives the infcription at length, which is ftronger than Montcf- qviicu LORD CHIEF JUSTICE. 35^ quieii dates, and fays that Aldus Manutius, in the year 1565, in his way from Venice to Rome, {aw this infer- non, and carefiilly tranfcribed it. When Ca^hy, in Ins march lor Rome, had advanced to the Rubicon, he paufed a few moments at this infcription, but his ambition prevaihng, he' palied- over the bridge and then exclaimed, " the lot is caft, let the gods do the reft V* Whoever knows Lord Mansfield's influence in the Britiih Cabinet, will fay this was the die of America. See moic of Lord Manf- field's politics in the Appendix marked F and G, written by Mefsieurs Burkes. In the progrefs of the American war. Lord and General Howe had not the fuccefs which his Lordfhip expected, and he could not help exprefsing his difappointment at dinner at one of the Surrey afsizes ; the fub- jea of converfrtion being the American war. Lord Mansfield faid, " the IIoucs had no heads;" to which Sir Clayton neatly replied, " then what will becoinc of the heads of thofc who fcnt them :" A a 4 Lord K' I I 'f'lm m N'likiK:!!! wM m ite:. i m ■i^ i\ f , # -^k^ —!»■ 3^0 LATE EAHL OP MANSFIELD, ^ Lord Sandwich did not approve of the joi>nt-appointmcnf,. of Lord ' and Gent-il Howe. He faid, he liked them very ^^dl Separately ; but thought that fending" them together was injudicious, and impolitic. The two laft trials for libels, which Lord Mansfield tried, were in the month of Febru, ary, 1786; upon adions brought by the Right Honorable William Pitt, Firft Lord of the Treafury, &c. againfttho printers of the General Advertifcr, and the Morning Herald; for having faid in their papers, that he had gambled in the ilocks. The trial of the General Advfrtifer came on fiiii. Lord Mansfield's charge to the jury was as follows \ Gentlemen of the jury, you have had a very ingenious fpeech, (from the Hon. Mr. Erikine, who was counfel for the defen- dant,) but upon a falfe foundation; the fpeech is to prove that a man of the faireft charader may be with the greater impunity traduced— from defamation the hw implies ^ damage, and the proof of actual damages is not nee. Oary to fuftain an a^ion ; it is LORD CHIEF JUSTICE. '-f fnid if it was . ,nan ■■ fo fair a charac, a, not to iuffc... , . ca.un,nv. he would U„; no » Aon at ail, but tl,c law i™p,i,« the damage,. ,t Is th. province of tl.e jury i„ he.rd.,cretiontoaflc-fsit,andlndo,„gthat they aro to take into conf.derati.n ch 'cha, ra-^-r and (.tuation of the plaintiff, f • m.d malignity ofthe libel, the nati the example, and ■„ e plaintiff' it is now d.foovered by his friends, who were "'ak.ng an excufe for him ; but his friends now adm.t of it, and begin to believe it themfelves; and with particular cireum, ftances, that he concealed the preliminaries Tn /h « I ?'"""' *'"'' ''^ "^'S''t gamble God f KM t'^" ^"'-''^"'P'^tion of the rife. God forbid 1 fhould ever fubfcribe to a doc If 1 j.j iii;'- r-f! ■m ii \\\ fill' 111 'I If 'li II ! / M I I S|,l ! ; ) kl' f I, I ; ^1 ii I S6Q LATE EARL Of MANSPlKtlJ* trine, that the fairer a man's chara6ler is, the lefs reparation ihould be given for de- famation. I think the contrary; and that the fairer the charaacr is, the more unjull is the defamation. You will take the three papers out with you, and confidcr of. your verdid, and what damages you will give. The jury brought in their verdlcl for the plaintift; Damages 2501. after being out ten minutes. His Lordfliip refigncd In the year 1788, ' and died in the month of March, 1793. CHAP- ( 367 ) CHAPTER XV, THE LATE EARL CAMDT^, (tORD CHANCELLOR.) His Opinion of tlie Rights of Juries, in Con. traduction to Lord Mmuf.dd's, ftrji >,„, • tn the Trial of Owen. Profccution of Dr. Shebbeare. Mr. Wilkes's Opinion of his Book. Lord Camden's Opinion on a deccukd King Mr. Grenviile's Obfen,ation upon it. Shebbeare fentaiced to the Pillory, but not put into it. BcardmorcS Affidavit. Lord Mansfield's Obfavation on it. Dr Sheb beare ramrded with a Penfton. Lord Cam den attacked to Lord Chatham. Appointed Chef Jujlice. Caufe of his being made a Peer. Oppofes tlie American Declaratory Bill. Mr. Grenvilleco,nplains of his Speech. Lord Camden made Lord Chancellor. He defends tlie Sufpending Poscer. Lord Tcm- pie contrafls his Declarations. Attacks Lord Temple fharply. Junius defends Lord Ttm- pU. .Obfervations on tlie Manner of par- domng MSuirk. Curious Evidence of ■■ , Mr. • 'I lir ;' II r i i'^S [fim '&{Mml ^^^1 ■ ijlli l^Hj 1 \ { m 56S THE LATE EARL CAMDeN", Mr. Bromfii'liL State of the Cafe of Petct" fan V. Rolfc. Lord Camden's Remarks on the Bifcretion of a Judge, Oppofes in the Cabinet the ExpuJfion of Mr. Wilkes. Turned out of his Pojl as Lord Chancellor. Death of Mr. Yorkc. Great Seal put into Com- mifsion. Decrees made by Lord Mansfield. Lord Apjley made Chancellor. Sir Fletcher Norton's Bon Mot. Lord Camden retires. Supports the Libel Bill, 1 Ills Noble Lord will appear a great and fplendid character, in the hiftory of the period in which he lived. He was a fincere fupporter of the conllitutional right of juries, and a fincere friend to the conllitutional principle of Parliamentary taxation. The firll was amply exemplied in his oppofition to Lord Mansfield, and the latter in defence of America. His regard for the rights of juries appeared as, early as the year 1752. On the trial of William Owen, bookfeller, which was at Guildhall, London, in the month t-ORD CHANCELLOR. S^g month of July, 1752, for publifliing a pamphlet entitled, « The Cafe of Alexander Murray, Efq." concerning the Wcftminfter ekaion ; his LordMp, then Mr. Pratt, was council for the defendant ; and Lord Mans- held, then Mr. Murray, and Solicitor Gene- ral, was council for the crown. On this oc- cafion was firft fl»ew„ the great difference in tben- opinions concerning the law of libel, Mr. Murray maintained, that the queftioa tor the jury to try, was, wliether the de. fo.da„t jHiblifted th« pamphlet? the reft he^faid fallowed of oourfe. If the fact ^ pubhcation ,s proved, the libel proves itfel^ feditious, malicious, fcandafous, &c. there' tore the prmler muft be affeded with every Z7 '".'''' ^'""Phiet. If the faa of pub! heat, on IS proved, and that is what lies for your determination, you (the jury) bein*- n.^gesothe/««,thejudidetirml^! tl>efa«sw. have laid before "V?''"'' Vol. I. B jj °^^ y""' "w "» court, if; 'I *i ill ■\% liil^i: 1 ! li' ■:' I ■i % i Mi*. V' m ,370 THE LATE EARL CAMDEJT, court, and onli/ them, and like honeft men bring in your verdidt accordingly. [The publication was proved by perfons who had been purpofcly fent to buy the pamphlet.] Mr. Pratt, for the defendant, main- tained that the jury were judges of the whole cafe ; that there was another fa<5l befidcs the publication which was equally neccllary to be proved ; this was the fad of the charge in the Attorney-Generars informa- tion. The defendant is charged with having publifhed this pamphlet, malicioufly, fe- ditioully, fcandaloufly, and falfely, to the calumny of the Houfe of Commons of -Great Britain, and in order to difturb the peace of the nation ; and this he has done wittingly, wilfully, malicioufly, fcanda- loufly, &c. This is the fact laid to his charge; which the gentlemen have been very far from proving. Only proving the fale of the book, does not prove all thofe opprobrious and hard terms .laid in the charge as^ainfl him. If his felling this l^ORD CHANCtLtbR, 571 '"tent, fcandaloufly and faifely, with a defign to calumniate the Houfe of Com- mons and in order to difturb the peace «e -r ' •" "°* P^"^^''' *'''=" this gn^at charge .n the information fails, i^et the gentlemen prove thofe words (the .ntent on) if they mean any thing by them ;,f they do not prove theflteZf - ad .ntent, for in that lies the crir:: paper i T ,T' ^l'^" ^^'^ng Printed tault. Then what are thefe words? If the gentlemen mean any thing by them prove them ; if they mean nfthing but words of , .„, ,„,^^ ,^^ ^^^ J u wh».v Lord, is as illiberal as it is unjuft ; and tlie 11! i. w iH 'w i!: Ilii pi m w^^- 5S0 THE LATE EARL CAMDEN, and the evii tendency of it gives me con- cern, beeaufe I hold it cirenLbl to the public good, that men of rank, charadcr,. and real public virtue fhould be held out to the world for admiration and example.. Wlien virtue is once reduced to the level of ignominy and difgrace; when Tanjyle ihakes hands with Bute and Sandwich,, there is an end of all diiltin^tion, all con-'^ fidence, all fubftantial public hopes. The corrupUou of the age,, my Lord, may prove the deftruaion of our liberty. How £ev<^ are there, my Lord, who poflbfs any charaaer at aU,. and I fear none who equal that of Lord Temple ? I am at a lofs to know from what motive your Lordfliip was induced to throw out fuch unprovoked abufe upon the noble Lord, as that '< he " was one of the narroweft, moft vindic- " tive, and perfidious of human beings." Did your Lordfhip find him fo when he fiipulated with St. James's, that you /liould be rewarded for the conflitutional judg- ment, and the part you Ii ad taken in the public caufe, then the caufe of Mr Wilkes? Or did you fihd him fo when he infifted OH LORD CHANCELLOR. 381 on that claufc being infcrt^^d in the pro- tell made upon the Middlefex queftion * whereby he pledged himfelf to the pub- lic never to defert them, but to feck a reparation for their injuries ? In /hoit, have you ever found Jiim the man you def- cribe? Yoiu- Lordfhip has not attempted to pomt out a fingle inftance of proofs and I am confident you cannot. " I am not furprifed that your Lord* ftip ihould attempt to explain away the opinion you gave upon the corn bill, Which alone juftifies the cenfure of Junius' To hear Lord Camden, as the great con- ftitutional lawyer of tliis country, fupport- ing a difpenfmg power of the Crown, is too alarming to pafs without reprehenfion. A power, the exiftence of which, even for a moment, deftmys the very idea of a free government. If the King can juftify the difpenfing with an aA of Parliament tor forty days, he may for forty weeks, and fo on ad infmitum^ for the argument IS co-extenfive with the power, and he becomes as abfolutc as any tyrant in the uni4 I i" i « i 9 '- , :i 11 I 382 THE LATE EARL CAMDEN, ' unlverfe ; yet this is the innocence of ymir LordJJiip's law, " Your Lordlliip has infiftcd, that in your dot'-hine the King does not judge of the necefsity in the firft inftance. Pray, my Lord, tell us who does? If I millake not, he does. 1 he advice originates from the Minifter in council, where it is dif- culfcd, and then carried to the clofet, where the King determines whether to follow or rejea it ; and the perfons ad- vifing fign the advice for which they then become anfwerable. Does not the Kino- then, my Lord, judge and decide upon the necefsity in the firfl in (lance, whether we fhall be flaves or freemen ? My Lord, I afk you, as a lawyer, if on an adion brought for detaining a veffel laden with corn, the party could have juftified the de- tention without the afsiftance of Parlia- ment ? You are not hardy enough to de- clare they could. Yet you, my Lord, are the great and boafted conllitutional lawyer, who bears for his inotto the golden words of Magna Charta. "This LORD CHANCELLOR. ggj "This is not the only inftance in which Jumuss charge againft your LordAip is tru y founded. It is ffiH i„ our memory that your Lord/hip, i„ givi„g judgment upon Mr. Wilkes's bufmefs in the CoCn Pleas, declared, you could forefee a time when ,t would be proper to take away the hberty of the prefs; a doclrine a^ deftrua,ve ,0 the principles of general Mansfield's pafsive obedience and non- refiftance. One tinng more, my Lord, before I ;^ke my leave. You tell us, that Lord Temple ,s the patron of Junius, and as fuch aim your pointlefs dart to wound »m through the /ide of Junius; yet, at the fame tmie you declare, that you will vvait for mathematical demonftration be- tore you can agree to aflbciate Junius w.th Lord Temple. Your Lord/hip. rZ cxplam tins madvaiency. I am quite io-. norant from what logic your Lordlhfp draws your conclulion, that becaufe two perfons m 58* THE LATE EARL CAMDEK, ' perfons agree in one opinion, tliat there- fore one muft be the patron of the other. " It is flattering Lord Temple to give Mm the private patronage of Junius. But Junius needs no patron but the public; and I alTure your Lordihip, they are both fuperior to your Lordfliip's rcfentments. Infeger vita;, fcderifque punis non cgct mauris Laying afide thefe perfonalities, he was admired as Lord Chancellor almolt to enthufiafm. Every perfon faw with plea- fine his manifeft fupcriority in acutenefs and judgment over the ableft of the coun- fcl who pleaded before him. He was bleflcd by nature with a clear, perfuafive, and fa- tisfaaory manner of conveying his ideas. In the midfl of politenefs and facility he kept up the true dignity of his important office ; in the midft of exemplary patience (foreign to his natural temper, and there- fore he was more commendable) his un- dcrflanding was always vigilant. His me- mory 385 ^ORD CHANCEtLOR. mojy was prodigious in readinefs and dl rt" " = .''"' ^""^^ '^'' ^''^^ appear^ »or the difcovery of trutl, that vvon the lu mm. He was apt, on th** reafon of h.s decrees, by taking notice even of .nfenor e.rcumftances, and viewing the q«eft.o„ ,„ every conceivable light. Tl Wever wasan error of the right fide nd arofe fro. hi. wifl. to fatfsf; 't bar and h.s own mind, which was per- ftaps_to a weaknefs. diflatisfjed with its M imprefsions, however ftrong. He had" ste^ir'^^r^^-^""^--^ ™ cenuire. He wore a tie- wis in court, and has been frequently obfe^ve! ^garter up his ftockingslhile 'the cou". fel were the moft ftrenuous in their elo. quence. But there is one material in- h s charaaer as a lawyer and a judge. Tins was the part he took in receivS and lay.ng before the' Crown certain chi! rurg,cal depofitions tending to falfify "r li ,Hj, ill .||l i ifeif m ' iiil:- !: Iljll' !:■ iJ|fi TH£ LATE EARL CAMDEN, U^akt-n the grouncls. of a verdict pro- nounced by twelve men impartially re- turned. It" the King's pardon could ?iot have operated upon , the cafe without thcfe aiixi- lidrir>, the man fliould u t have been par- doned ; if it could^ the judice of it was hurt by thefe irregularities, and a bad ex^ ample wantoaily fet of trying a verdi6t by an incompetent and foreign judicature. The cafe was ftated in- the London Gazette! in the following manner: ■ . ^ Whitehall^ March 11, 1769. His Majefty has been gracioufly pleafed to extend his royal mercy to Edward M'Quirk, found guilty of the murder of George Clarke, as appears by his royal warrant to the tenor following i jSEORGE R. 'V ^ Whereas a do^ubt had arifen in our royal breall concerning tlie evidence of the 6>:'-\}\ of George Clarke, from the reprcfcntalions of William Bromfiekl, ■ Efq. furgeon, and Solom " Starling, apothecary ; both of ». whom, tORD CHANCE LOR, 387 wI.om as 1, s been repr, frnted to us, at- tendec the cleceafed before hi, death, and «pre«ed their opinions that he did n^ die ot the blow he received at Brentford ; and whereas ,t appears to us, that neither of the .d porfons were produced as witne/Tes upon e tr,a.„ though the faid Solomon StarlLg ad been exa,nined before the Coroner, an! feth f r r "'''"' *° P"'^'^ that the Won ^ ^ '''' '''''-' -- J»'"> Fooi? after h.s death: We thought fit thereuport ^ refer the f.Jd reprefentations, to.eth« H.a. the report of the Recorder ;f„rHy aid W ,:•"' 'I"" ^'"■•^"^^ «'-" •>y Rich 2 and Wdham Bealc, and the faid John Foot on the trial of Edward Quirk, otlLw:fe wa S M^O^f '''^''' °''^--fe call d Ed Cli tlf' '°^ ''" '""^''" °f the faid S ;,: c :rtT;' ''"^''^"" -^ ^'- "le L,ouit ot Examiners of the Snr scons Company, commanding them 4e tTe f..S :Tc 'f '"^'"^•- --"«^o ' f ro m FoT u '•^'"•'^'"^"^'"g. and of faid John Foot, as they might tlynk nece/Tary, together ?! iiiiiif II 388 THE LATE EARL CAMDEN, together with the premifes above-men'- tioned, to form and report to us their opi- nion, " Whether it did or did not appear " to them, that the faid George Clarke " died in confequence of the blow he re- •' ceived in the riot at Brentford on the 8th " of December lall/' And the faid Court of Examiners of the Surgeons Company hav- ing thereupon reported to us their opinion, *' That it did not appear to them that he * did ;" We have thought proper to extend our royal mercy to him the faid Edward Quirk, otherwife Edward Kirk, otherwife called Edward M'Quirk, and to grant him our free pardon for the murder of the faid George Clarke, of which he has been found guilty. By his Majelly's command, ROCHFORD. The following teflimony of Mr. Brom- field, at the Old Bailey, forms no improper contrail to the preceding ftatement from the London Gazette. Sefsmis LORD CHANCELLOR. S89 Sefswm Paper, iVb. 8, in the Mayoralty of Sir J. Thompfon, Kn(. 1737. Tryal of Surah AUm. William Urovifield, Surgeon. I was fent for to examine the child. I f<„,„d a large bruife on tl,c back part of the head, which we call the os occipitis. The IkuU was not ^raclured ; and the reafon it was not, I thmk, ,s this ; that in a fubjeft fo young, the bones are of too fine a texture to break, i took oft the cranium, and found a larse quantity of blood upon the brain, which I Juppofe was occafioned by the fall. There was likewife a great deal of blood in the belly and breaft, which proceeded from the rupture of fome blood veflbl ; and thefe things were the occafion of its death I try-d the experiment of the lungs in water (wh.ch I take to be very certain) and they floated ; this, in my opinion, w.is a furc fign that the child had brcathe.l ; for if if had jiot, they would have fubfidcd i„ the water. " f llfli ifi: i :lil. m i;if . Cc3 \\\ 3^0 THE LATE EARL CAMDEN, An accurate ftatement of a particular cafe in Chancery, while Lord Camden was Lord Chancellor, was printed in one of the morning papers, (the Public Adver- tifer of the 17th of February, 1774-) which, as it would be now difficult to obtain, the reader will perhaps not be difpleafed to fee a. copy of it here. The cafe was rendered memorable, and extra- ordinary, by the decree which his Lord- ihip made upon it, being reverfed by the Houfe of Lords. We tenants being much diflatisficd at the Houfe of Lords for their revcrfal of Lord Camden's decree in the famous cafe of Pe- ierjbn v. Rolfe, wiih to have the ideas of that great man better underfiood than they were by the Lords. The late Lord Hard- wicke faid in the hearing of a Barrifter, who is an acquaintance of mine, that he wifhed the arguments ufed in decrees and judg- ments were publiihed every year, and iigncd by the feveral judges who pronounced them. I doubt whether the counfel for the ref])on- dents did juflice to Lord Camden's, grounds and LORD CHANCELLOR. 391 and principles in his decree upon this cafe ; and therefore as it is a point of the moll extenfive confequence, I have the leave of the Barrifter whom I have alluded to, and who is a man of Ikill in his profefsion, to infert the following note which he took of the fiibftancc o^ what the council Aiid, and of almofi: the xvords that were ufcd hy the Chancellor, Michaelmas, 11 6g, Cur, Cant, Pcterfon v, JRolfe. Bill filed by Pcterfon, the Leflee, againft the Defendant, his landlord, for relief againft opprefsive penalties in his covenant, which penalties had been recovered by ac- tions at law. Mr. Yorke for the Plaintiff. " Where this court can from the nature of the cafe find out the real damages, they will relieve againft enormous ones. [Tall and Ryland, 1 Chanc. Caf.] " The material covenant in the leafe be- fore your Lordfhip, is a penalty again (t ploughing fome land which had not been in C c 4. tillage m ■I! ^'^'i :i,.(i it I 392 THE LATE EARL CAMDEN, tillage for twenty years; the leafe is for fourteen years ; the penalty is to pay five pounds a year over and above the year's rent. « Subfequent to the breach of this cove, nant, there was a difpute between the par- ties ; that difpute was fettled by an award, yet no complaint was then made of this breach of the covenant. Soon after, the defendant below, now the plaintiff, refufing to give general leafes, the prefent defendant brought his aaions at law, and afsigned five breaches on which the penalties amounted to 3001. and upwards. It is in evidence, that all that was done was for the landlord's benefit : Some furze, not worth two Ihillings iin acre, was ploughed up ; and it is believed by many flcilful farmers in evidence, that at the expiration of the leafe, the two fhil, Jings an acre will be raifed to fix fliillings an acre,'* ^ I' f: ! t Mr.Torke urged, "that fuch a penalty as this was tmreafonahlei and that courts of ecjiiity LORD CHANCELLOR. 393- equity ought to fet it afide, efpecially whea coupled mth the fmall value of the eftate!" The Leafe was read. Lord Camden. " The true hinge of this caufe, is the enormity of the nenaltv r myielt that the furze was not within the covenant; for as the covenant fays. «Ve ^ow or pafture, or otkcr land;' one 2L 6.% conceive that « <.,^ ],„, „ ™te rtCT^^'"^''"'^^--^'^'^^--t.^- «e that, however, as it may, here's a «. be::srrt,rtrr°""^ this penalty. "' '" """P^"'^'" «f improtiV'r, -'f "^""S improved or not js out of the qucffion. general. The rule is, that the plaintiff in fuch cafes muft pay the cofls of , his applica- tion : But this cafe is an extremely hard one." Mr, Wedderburne for the defendant. " The plaintitF in his bill feems to me to have no other equity but the fuppofed con- fent or waiver of his landlord. — This, how- ever, is ill proved. It furely is going much too far, with deference to your Lordfliip, to let the party into relief here by a quan- tum damnificatus upon his wilful breach of a clear and pofitive covenant. ** As to the cofts that queftion mufb be now clofed ; for the plaintiff is too late. He has given judgment againft himfelf by con- fefsing the fcveral breaches at law. " As to the furze not being comprized in the terms of the covenant, that queftion too is clofed and at an end ; for the plaintiff has fuffered the judgment at law to go againft him by default : Bcfides, the furze 4 mull LORD CHANCELLOR. ggj muft have been an objeft of the intention ot tlie parties, beeaufc it is in evidence that " other land" could attach to notliing c\ie but tlie furze, no. other land being on the premifcs." I .■ Lord Camden, " As to the plaintiff's ^mert//7'e/zW* I can certainly give it him. " Thequeftion is, "how far this court can abate and moderate penalties duly fixed by the parties themfelves ?" I take it that where damages Jound in penalty, and are much too large, this court will reach them (jufl as it reaches unconfcionable bargains) upon the footing of indulgence to the frail- ties of human nature, and will fet its face agamll undue advantages in one of the par- ties over the necefsities of the other. Land^ lords have in general the advantage over their tenants in capacity and fortune, thou-U tenants have more dexterity in the manatTe- ing of land. To difarm them of the ad- vantages of this dexterity landlords have in- troduced rigorous covenants : But this court will i. ill ^96 THE LATE EARL CAMDEN, will interfere and give an ade(^uate compcn- fation according to the real quantum of the damage, reducing the emfs and enormity of penalties. It is analogous to the old cafe of amercements, falvo conteywnmto, '' Formerly the penalty was forfeiture of the term. What faid this court to cafes of that defcrlption ? It relieved againfl the penalty. Why ? Becaufe it was iincovfcion- able to turn a man out of poffefsion for the breach of a little, or comparatively lit- tle, covenant. Now, in lieu of this .penalty of the forfeiture the new penalty is attempt- ed, of increafed rmt. But the principle of this court is the fame to relieve againft a penalty^ in this or that iliape, which is beyond the injury fuftaiped, ** Indeed, agreements between parties for liquidating damages will be always re- fpeaed by the court; but ftill there mull be a real fubflratum of damage for fuch agreements to operate upon, ^' I mufl lay down the doarine which Mr, LORD CHANCELLOR. ^91 Mr. mdderburne condemns ; and though he thinks I am going too far, yet I differ with him, and think it a found rule of equity here to fuppofc no damage but fuch as adually has been committed. The 4th and 5th of Queen Anne, chap. 16, conforms to the iamc idea in the cafe of bonds. There is one fpecial exception to this dodrine, which is the cafe o^ felling timber, and that very ex- ception confirms the dodtrine ; for it fup. pofes the value of the timber ./ value ineL M. I Sir Harry Peach and the Duke of oomer/et.] " I don't enter now into the eflba of this covenant, if it had been broke in the articles of meadota land ar pafture; but in this one article of the furze, I am clearly of opuuon that the penalty is exorbitant, and therefore that I muft relieve againft it. " As to the cofts, I fliall referve them till It comes out what is the real' damage ; the defendant has been cruel in his behaviour • let a jury aflfefs the damage on a writ of quantum dmnniftcatus, and endorfe the fpe- cial 308 THE LATE EARL CAxMDElSr^ clal damage on the poltca upon each of th& five covenants broken." There arc a few lines in Lord Camden's argument, in the cafe of Doe againft Kcr- fey, whicJi are clearly pointed at Lord Mansfield ; and contain fo jull, and fo con- Hitutional an obfcrvation, that they can never be too often repeated, and held up as a mirror to all future judges. " The difcretlon of a judge is the law of tyrants ; it is always unknown ; it is dif- ferent in different men ; it is cafual, and depends upon conftitution, temper, and pafsion. Inthebeft, it is often times ca- price; in the worft, it is every vice, folly, and pafsion, to which human nature is liable." When Mr. Wilkes brought his cafe, by petition, before the lloufe of Commons in the month of November, 17()8, the mea- fures to be purfued againft him in confe- quence of it, were concerted and fettled in the Cabinet Council. This was not only antici- pating tORD CHANCELLOR. 3P9 paling the jiKlgment of Parliament, but actually converting Parliament into an in- ftrument of the. Executive Power. Lord Camden, as Chancellor, being one of the Members of the Cabinet, highly difapproved of it ; for th.s difapprobation ho was turned out of his fituatioi) as Lord Chancellor. He had, when he accepted the great feal, fe- cured the flrfi; vacant tellcrlliip of the Ex chequer, in cafe he was removed, and until (uch vacancy /l,o„ld happen, a penfion upoa Ireland oM,500l. per annum. Thete Lo m thought improper terms for the prefcnt ^'mes « Tfae uniformity of his general prln^iplee," fays a writer of that time, « i„ powera,^ out of it, his warm attention to the ,„teretfc,ot} the people in thofe tickli/h affairs of Attorncy-gencral, and Lord Chan- cel or engage ones rcvcren«3 wd efteem. But vviicn we fee him giving .,p t,,e g.eat <.al, and ret.r.ng i„ the vigour of life and ame to his family and his farm, without att,on or peeviflx difcontont, we return thanks to heaven for giving us an example of lueh phdofophy and true wifilom, in tJiis "arrow and corrupted age." Upon ' .1 '400 THE LATE fiARL dAMDEJr, Upon the fudden death of Mr. Yorke, the great foal was put Into commifsion. Th» commifsioncrs were Sir 'S. Smythe, Hon. Henry Bathurft, and Sir R. Afton. The decrees of the commifsioners were believed to be often framed by Lord Mansfield, par- ticularly that on the Pynfent eftate^ in the cafe of the Earl of Chatham, which giving great diifatistaaion to the judges, Lord Mansfield, upon the appeal to the Houfe of Lords, propofed a queilion to the judges,' worded in fueh a manner as to put the matter of doubt on a more intelligible and equitable footing. Upon the judges anfwer, the coinmifsioners decree was reverfed ; and Lord Chatham obtained the eftate, ac- cording to the teftator's intention. When the great feal had been in com- mifsion twelve months, it was given to Judge Bathurft, who was thereupon created Lord Apflcy ; which occafioned Sir Fletcher Norton to fay, " That what the three could not do, was given to the mofl incapable of tl^e three.'* la LORD CHANCELLOR. 401 In the year 17.92, Mr. r ^ brought into the Houfe ol' Commons a bill to' remove doubts refpediing the funaions of juries in cafes of Jibel. Lord Camden gave to this bill liis vvarmell and fincerell fupport. His Lordfliip had to contend with the Lord Chancellor (Lord Ihurlow) Lord Bathurlt, I^ord Kenyon, &c. but the bill pailed! Tlius Lord' Camden Jmd the haj)pinefs tp fee the rights of juries reiiored, and the Aibtilty and fophiliry by which they had frequently been cnfnared, totally exploded and done away. In one of the debates on this bill, (M^y 21, 1792) the Marquis of Lanfdowne iaid " the law was daily fluctuating, and judges were changing their opinions." lord Kenyon aflced his Lord/hip what cafe he alluded to ? To which the Marquis replied, " It was to the cafe of a tenant in Norfolk' who had taken a leafe of an eflate, on a' part of which there was a piece of furze • and he had entered into a fpecial covenant,' that It lie ploughed up that furze, he was to pay an additional rent of live pounds per Vol. I. d d ^ ^ acre. I ^02 THE LATE EARJl CAMDEN, acre. (See the cafe in page 390.) He did plough it up. And Lord Camden, when Lord Chancellor, considering that the filoughing up the furze had done more good than harm to the eftate, decreed that it Ought not to void the leafe. It came up to the Houfe of Lords by appeal, and Lord Mansfield, then fitting on the woolfack, rcverfed the decree, which made Lord Cam- den very angry.'* CHAPTER ( 403 ) .T« chapter xvi. Late earl of marchmoxt. Origin of the pefm Manner of printing tice Debates in Parliament. There is not any thing in the charafter of this nobleman that could entitle him to any diftmaion amongft great men. He pof- fe/Tedfome qualities oi' a peculiar kind, which produced confequences he never in- tended. To him the public are indebted for an mterefting fpecies of information, Wh,ch it was his ardent and anxious wifh to prevent : therefore there is no obligation due o h.s memory, for the benefit ;hich . his .Ihberahty produced. The hA and the circumftances are worthy of explanation, becaufe they form an epoch in the hirtor; ot Great Britain. ^ n^^^f *'" ''■"" "^ ^^'- '^'"^^^'^ exile, (1764) he correfponded witl, his friends in England, and to one of thcfe he fent a 404 LATE EARL OF MARCHMONT. jeu d*efprit, confifting of the following words ; In the Prefs, The Parallel; or the Two Johns Dukes of Bedford; John, Regent of France, and John, the Embajfador : tvhk Letters and A necdotes. Right tall he made himfelf for Jheiv, Tho' made full Jhort by God: And when all other Dukes did bow. This Duke did only nod. SwiFT. To which is added a Supplement, xvhich con- tinues the Story to the prcfent Time, The perfon to whom this jeu d'efprit was fent, caiifed it to be printed in the London Evcning-Polt. Next day. Lord March- mont complained of it in the Houfe of Lords, Hating that it was a breach of pri- vilege. The Printer was ordered to attend the Houfe, and was fined a hundred pounds, befides fees, which amounted to between thirty and forty pounds more. Lord Marchmont was in the habit of frequently complaining to the Houfe of ^ Lords LATE EARL OF MARCHMONT. 405 Lords upon very frivolous matters, ^vhldl he called breaches of privilege. The Printer of the Gazetteer (Say) was brought upon his knees before the Houfe, for only fayino- in his paper, that the thanks of the Houfe had been given to Sir Edward Hawke for his vidlory over Confians in the month of November, 175^9. He feduloufly examined the ncws-papcn every day, with the ardour that a Inmk prowls for prey. Whenever he found any Lord's name printed in any paper, he im- mediately made a motion in the Houfe againft the printer, for a breach of privilege. The ufual fine was one hundred pounds for each offence. This practice went on for fome time. In one day he levied five hun- dred pounds. Two hundred pounds from one nian, (Baldwin.) The praftice, at length, became alarming ; and fome Mem- bcrs of the Houfe of Commons, particularly Mr. Serjeant Hewitt, afterwards Lord Lif. ford and Chancellor of Ireland, began to entertain thoughts of making a motion jn Parliament upon it. The pradicQ and eon- dua M 40^ LATE EA2L OV MARCHMONT. dua of Lord Marchmont was becomin«- equivalent to the Lords levying money, a"^ loon as Lord ALmsficId, who had been Lord Marclimont's coadjutor and advifer in this bu/inefs, was informed of Mr. Hewitt's de- %n, he flopped Lord Marchmont. But the perfon who had fmarted for Mr. Wilkes's jeu d'efprit, had not forgot the circum- ftance, and as foon as opportunity occurred, the matter was treated v^ ith proper atten' lion. In the year 1771, fome detached and loofe accounts of the proceeding's of Parlia- inent, were printed in the news-papers. Co!. George Onflow, in the Houfe of Com- mons, complained of them as breaches of privilege. The printers were ordered to at- tend the Houfe, which feveral of them did- they bogged pardon, and promifed not to' oftend agam. But the Printer of the Lon- don Evening-Poft, wlio was complained of wita the others, refufed to attend; upon which he was ordered to be taken into cuf- tody. As this was forefeen, it was previ- oufly LATE EARL OF MARCIIMONT/ 401 btifly concerted with Mr. Wilkes, at this time an Alderman of London, that if tlie Meflcnger of the Houfe of Commons at- tempted to take the printer by force, the printer was to charge him with an a/Vault, and take him into cuftody ; for which pur-' pofe a conftable was in waiting. The thing happened as it was. fprefeen. The Meffcnger came, and infilled upon taking the printer away. The conftable appeared, and took the Meilenger to the Manfion-houfc ; where Mr. Wilkes, the Lord Mayor, (Croiby) and Mr. Alderman Oliver, were in readinefs. The printer made his complaint of the Mc/Tenger having allhulted him, and the Meflenger was on the point of being com^ mitted, when he was bailed by the Deputy Serjeant at Arms. The Houfe of Commons afterwards fent the Lord Mayor, and Mr Oliver to the Tower, where they received innumerable deputations from different bo, dies, with thanks for their condua. Mr Wilkes they did not chufe to meddle With. From the fpirit of the people fliewn at this 408 LATE EARL OF MARCHMONT. this time, Parliament faw that the prudent rneafure was to give up the contell;. And from that time, the debates and proceed- ings of Parliament have been conllantly and regularly printed in the daily news-papers. This circumftance give? to the hiftory of the age a very important advantage, derived from the peeviflinefs and petulence of Lord Marchmont, END OF THE FIRST VOLUME. ■t3 — ■ :