CLV. A.D. 1761. she was mightily taken with him, and declared that since the CHAP. banishment of Atterbury and the death of Bolingbroke, she had met with no Englishman whose conversation was so charming. She added that, being a genuine Tory, she had considerable influence with Lord Bute, the new favourite, and even with the young Sovereign himself, who had a just respect for hereditary right, lamenting the fate of the family whom his own had somewhat irregularly supplanted. On this hint Thurlow spoke, and, with the boldness that belonged to his character, said that "a silk gown would be very acceptable to him." Her Grace was as much surprised as if he had expressed a wish to wear a silk petticoat - but upon an explanation, that the wished-for favour was the appointment to the dignity of King's Counsel, in the gift of the Government, she promised that it should be conferred upon him. She was as good as her word. Lord Bute made no sort of difficulty when told that the number of King's Counsel might be indefinitely increased, bringing only a charge of £40 a year on the public, with an allowance of stationery.* Lord Northington, in whose department strictly the job was, boggled a little, for he knew nothing of Thurlow, except remembering him a noisy briefless junior on the Western circuit, and upon inquiry he found that neither from his standing, nor his business, had he any fair pretension to be called within the bar; but the Duchess of Queensberry contrived that George III., although he then had never seen the man to whom he was afterwards so much attached, should intimate to the Chancellor that this young lawyer's promotion would be personally agreeable to his Majesty himself, and all the Chancellor's objections instantly vanished. In Dec. 1761, Thurlow boldly doffed his stuff gown for the silk, renouncing his privilege to draw law papers, or to appear as junior counsel for any plaintiff. She obtains a silk gown for him. In the following term he was elected a Bencher of the Jan. 1762. Inner Temple, but it was some time doubtful whether he With this went a certain number of bags to carry briefs; and when I entered the profession no man at the bar could carry a bag who had not received one from a King's counsel. All these perquisites were swept away by the Reform Ministry of 1830. СНАР. A. D. 1762. Thurlow's qualifications. Advantages dence. would reap any other fruits from his new rank. Rival barristers complained much, that in the seventh year from his call, being known for nothing except his impertinence to Sir Fletcher Norton, he should be put over the heads of some who might have been his father, while the general consolation was, "that the silk gown could never answer to him, and that he had cut his own throat." He himself had no misgivings, and there were a few of more discernment, who then predicted that he would eventually rise to the highest office in his profession. In truth, his success was certain. With the respectable share he possessed of real talents and of valuable acquirements, together with his physical advantages of dark complexion, strongly marked features, piercing eyes, bushy eyebrows, and sonorous voice, all worked to the best effect by an immeasurable share of self-confidence, he could not fail. This last quality was the chief cause of his greatness. -- "A Of him, Lady Mary Wortley Montague seems to have of self-confi- been speaking prophetically, if, according to her evident meaning, you substitute "self-confidence," for "impudence," which properly belongs only to a shameless impostor. moderate merit," writes she, "with a large share of impudence, is more probable to be advanced than the greatest qualifications without it. The first necessary qualification is impudence, and (as Demosthenes said of action in oratory) the second is impudence, and the third still impudence. No modest man ever did, or ever will, make his fortune. Your friends, Lord Halifax, Robert Walpole, and all other remarkable instances of quick advancement, have been remarkably impudent. The ministry is like a play at court; there's a little door to get in, and a great crowd without - shoving and thrusting who shall be foremost; people who knock others with their elbows, disregard a little kick on the shins, and still thrust heartily forwards, are sure of a good place. Your modest man stands behind in the crowd, is shoved about by every body, his clothes torn, almost squeezed to death — and sees a thousand get in before him, that don't make so good a figure as himself." * See vol. v. p. 254, of Southey's edition of Cowper's Works. CLV. his silk gown. When Thurlow appeared in court with his silk robe and CHAP. full bottom wig-lowering frowns and contemptuous smiles successively passing across his visage as the arguments or A.D. 1763. the judgment proceeded the solicitors could not behold Thurlow in him without some secret awe, and without believing that he was possessed of some mysterious powers which he could bring into activity in their service. When he had an opportunity of opening his mouth, he spoke in a sort of oracular or judicial tone, as if he had an undoubted right to pronounce the verdict or judgment in favour of his client. He appeared to think that his opponent was guilty of great presumption in controverting any of his positions, and unless his cause. was desperately bad (when he would spontaneously give it up) he tried to convey the notion that the Judges, if they showed any disposition to decide against him, were chargeable with gross ignorance, or were actuated by some corrupt motive. By such arts he was soon in first-rate business, and all of a sudden from extreme poverty in the receipt of a very large income. I do not find that he was counsel in any celebrated cases before he was Solicitor General; but Burrow, and the other contemporary reporters, show that during the eight following years, he argued many of the most important questions of law which came on for decision in Westminster Hall. - He attaches himself to the Tories. Hitherto he had taken little part in politics, and he seemed in a state of great indifference between the two parties, associating with the members of both indiscriminately — in conversation, sometimes speaking for, and sometimes against the taxing of the colonies, and sometimes censuring, and sometimes defending the prosecution of Wilkes. Now beginning to feel the stings of ambition, and resolved upon political advancement, it was necessary to choose a side. During Lord Chatham's second ministry, the Whigs had gone down in the world most lamentably, and they seemed to have lost for ever their illustrious chief. Toryism was decidedly favoured at Court, and had the ascendency in both Houses of Parliament. Thurlow declared himself a Tory, and on the He is reinterest of the party he had joined in the new Parliament Tamworth. which met in May, 1768, he was returned for Tamworth, since illustrated by a still more distinguished representative. To turned for CHAP. A.D. 1769. Hearing of the Dou glas cause in the this party he most zealously and unscrupulously adhered till he was deprived of the Great Seal by the younger Pitt; but I am afraid that, in his heart, he cared little about Tory principles, and that he professed and acted upon them so long — only to please the King and to aggrandize himself. It might have been expected, from his impetuous and sanguine temper, that he would have been eager to gain parliamentary distinction as soon as he had taken his seat; but he had not yet selected his leader in the different sections into which the Tories were then subdivided, and he was cautious not to commit himself till it should be seen who gained the ascendency. Meanwhile the Douglas appeal, after eight years' preparation, came on to be heard at the bar of the House of Lords, and attracted a greater share of public attention than any House of political debate in either House. Thurlow led for the appellant, and, having for years devoted himself to the case-by his admirable pleading he showed what excellence he might have reached, and what solid fame he might have acquired, if his industry had been equal to his talent. Lords. Thurlow's duel with Andrew Stewart. This was a very brilliant passage of his life, for he was not only rapturously applauded as an advocate, but he gained immense éclat for his courage and gentleman-like deportment in an affair of honour to which the cause gave rise. As counsel for Mr. Douglas, the appellant, he felt it his duty to animadvert with great severity on the conduct of Mr. Andrew Stewart, a gentleman of education, and well esteemed in the world, who had been concerned as an agent in getting up the evidence and conducting the suit for the Duke of Hamilton. As soon as Thurlow had finished his first day's argument, Stewart sent him a challenge, requiring a hostile meeting next morning. Thurlow wrote back for answer, "that the desired meeting Mr. Stewart should have, but not till the hearing of the appeal was concluded." I believe he had said nothing against the challenger but what was justified by his instructions and the circumstances of the case-so that, according to professional etiquette, he might have applied for protection to the House of Lords, who would have treated the challenge as a contempt of their authority and a breach of privilege. When the hearing was over, the meeting actually did take place in Kensington Gardens, and shots were exchanged-happily without effect. Mr. Stewart afterwards declared "that Mr. Thurlow advanced and stood up to him like an elephant.' CHAP. CLV. 1770. I do not find that the honourable and learned member for Jan. 31. Tamworth spoke in the House till the tremendous crisis in His maider January, 1770, upon the re-appearance of Lord Chatham in speech. full vigour, the dismissal of Lord Camden, the melancholy fate of Charles Yorke, and the formation of a new government to persecute Wilkes and to tax the colonies. In the debate on the resolution moved by Mr. Dowdeswell, arising out of Lutterell being seated for Middlesex because Wilkes was alleged to be disqualified by his expulsion, "that by the law of the land, and the law and usage of parliament, no person eligible of common right can be incapacitated by a resolution of the House, but by an act of parliament only," Mr. Wedderburn supported it against Lord North, saying, "the noble Lord asks 'will the House of Commons censure and disgrace itself?' let me ask in my turn, will the House of Commons compose the minds of the people? Will they recover the good opinion and confidence of those whom some gentlemen have been pleased to call the rabble, the base-born, the scum of the earth ?"— Then covered with maiden blushes, thus spoke the honourable and learned member for Tamworth: "Sir, as the argument now seems to be carried on by questions, I shall ask in my turn, how came the House of Commons to determine who should sit among them formerly if they cannot determine who shall sit among them now? How came they to determine that the Attorney General, the Solicitor General, and the Masters in Chancery, could not sit here, because they might possibly be called upon to attend the House of Lords? and how came this determination to be acquiesced in till those persons were readmitted by a subsequent vote?"† I have in vain searched the "Annual Register" and contemporary magazines and newspapers for farther particulars of this duel. A gentleman still alive, who remembers it well, says that "Thurlow, on his way to the field of battle, stopped to eat an enormous breakfast at a tavern near Hyde Park Corner." 16 Parl. Hist. 804. A few days before the House had heard the maiden speech of a very different man, the Honourable C. J. Fox.-16 Parl. Hist. |