CHAP. His opposition to solution in favour of Irish com merce. other order in the state. He begged the House to recollect that the purity of the blood of their descendants was and must necessarily be an essential consideration in the breasts of all Peers. Every attempt to preserve the descent of Peers unstained merited their immediate attention: for his part, he declared he saw the importance of the bill to the Peerage so clearly, that if he had the blood of forty generations of nobility flowing in his veins, he could not be more anxious to procure for it that assent which it deserved from their Lordships.' No puritan could have more vehemently supported the ordinance passed in the time of the Commonwealth, by which fornication was made felony, and on a second conviction was to be punished with death. "A knavish speech sleeps in a foolish ear," and this persiflage of the Lord Chancellor was taken in good earnest by a large majority of their Lordships: but the bill which they passed was thrown out by the Commons-where the professed "Protection" was considered less necessary.t Some alarm being excited by the discontents of Ireland, Lord Shel- which soon after led to the assertion of independence by an burne's re- armed force, Lord Shelburne brought forward certain propositions for repealing the laws which restricted the intercourse between the two islands, so that both might have a common interest in prosecuting commerce. Thurlow strongly opposed what he called "a dangerous innovation; " and his colleagues, showing some symptoms of giving way, he declared "that though he did not wish in general to take the lead, nor pretend to determine on matters of state, which were foreign to his studies and habits of life, on the present occasion he would act for himself, and meet the motion with a direct negative." This course was adopted, and he had a majority of 61 to 32.‡ He attacks At the opening of the session, in Nov. 1779, after the continuing disasters of the war, the Marquis of Rockingham, ham's mo- with good reason, and at all events regularly and constitu Rocking 20 Parl. Hist. 594. † 20 Parl. Hist. 601. Its absurdities were forcibly pointed out by Charles Fox, who, in allusion to Thurlow's indecent sarcasm on the "Peeresses," pointed out the extreme hardship to which the female sex were exposed in not being allowed to sit in parliament, and having no representatives there. 20 Parl. Hist. 675. CLVII. unconstitu tionally, having moved an amendment to the address, praying CHAP. for a change of councils and councillors, it was thus opposed by the Lord Chancellor: "Allowing all the suggestions of tion for an the noble Marquis to be as true as they are unfounded, address praying for would it be just — would it be fair, either in point of form or a change of fact, to condemn, without hearing or inquiring what the ministers as parties accused have to say in defence or extenuation? I tional. do not rise as an advocate for any man, or description of men -much less for the persons supposed to compose the present administration;-but I stand up for the honour of the House. If ministers have acted improperly, injudiciously, corruptly, or wickedly, the very presumption that they have done so entitles them to claim a trial. I will suppose they are culprits. That is enough for my argument; they are entitled to the benefit of the laws. The higher the charge,-the heavier the punishment, the more caution is required in bringing home guilt to the accused. But to come by a sidewind - without notice-without evidence, and at once to condemn, — is a mode of proceeding which I cannot sanction. It is an outrage on the constitution; it is contrary to candour - to law to truth, and to every requisite of substantial justice." Lord Camden made a forcible reply to this "novel logic," but the amendment was negatived by a majority of 82 to 41.* He opposes mical re all econo The Chancellor most resolutely set his face against all the economical and constitutional reforms which Burke, Dunning, and the Whigs were now able to carry through the lower forms. House, where upon such subjects they had a majority. But Apr. 1780. their bills soon received the coup de grâce on reaching the House of Lords. The bill to disqualify government contractors from sitting in the House of Commons, although it had passed there almost unanimously, he threw out by a majority of 92 to 51, saying that "the fact that the bill had in its favour the general wishes of the people, was worth just so much as it would pass for in their Lordship's estimation."† There being a motion in the House of Lords against the May, 1780. employment of the military to put down Lord George Gordon's He ably riots, the Chancellor, in a speech not confined to assertion the employ 20 Parl. Hist. 1023-1092. † Ib. 433. defends military to put down Lord George Gordon's riots. CHAP. and vituperation, but containing an unusual display of reaCLVII. soning, legal learning, and historical research, proved, in a ment of the very able and satisfactory manner, that citizens with arms in their hands still enjoy the rights, and are liable to the duties of citizens, and are bound, like other citizens, to assist in preserving or restoring the public tranquillity. He likewise gained considerable credit with the judicious for his continued support June, 1780. of Sir George Savile's bill to relax the penal laws against Roman Catholics, although so little progress had the Peers yet made in the school of religious liberty, that, to please them, he said "he was by no means prepared to carry toleration so far as Mr. Locke;"-and while Roman Catholics were to be permitted to teach music and dancing, he introduced a clause to prohibit them from keeping boarding-schools, so that they might never have Protestant children under their management.* Nov. 1780. Challenge tween two Peers, voted a breach of privilege. Soon after, a private affair of honour, wholly unconnected to fight be with any parliamentary proceeding, was brought before the House by the Chancellor, as a breach of privilege. The Earl of Pomfret, erroneously supposing that a gamekeeper, whom he had discharged, had been countenanced by the Duke of Grafton, wrote some very intemperate letters to his Grace, and insisted on fighting him either with sword or pistol. Thurlow, on the rumour of what had happened, moved that they should attend, in their places, in the House; and both parties being heard, it was resolved that the behaviour of the Duke of Grafton had been highly laudable and meritorious; and Lord Pomfret being made to kneel at the bar, was informed that he had been guilty of "a high contempt of the House." Afterwards the Lord Chancellor, with threecocked hat on head, administered to him a thundering reprimand.† Nowadays, I conceive, the House would refuse to take cognizance of such a quarrel. The supposed breach of privilege would be the same if the challenger were a commoner, although this circumstance would render the interference more preposterous. His speech on the rup. ture with Holland. In the beginning of the year 1781, Lord Thurlow spoke several times, and at great length, on the rupture which then † Ib. 855, 866. 22 Parl. Hist. 759. 764. took place with Holland. The question being one of public law upon the construction of treaties, he strangely said that "his pursuits and habits by no means fitted him for such an undertaking, so that he could only treat the subject with the portion of common sense and experience Providence had endued him with, and familiarise it so as to bring it on a level with his own poor understanding." Perhaps he maliciously insinuated, that to make himself intelligible to his audience, it was necessary he should adapt his discourse to the meanest understandings." But the truth is, that he himself had read very little of the law of nations; that he was very little acquainted with the rights of peace and war; and that his boasted superiority was in pretension, not in knowledge.† CHAP. CLVII. A.D. 1782. the execu tion of a officer taken fight He succeeded better in justifying the military execution of He defends Colonel Haynes, a British officer taken fighting for the Americans; and in crushing an attempt to censure Lord British George Germaine's elevation to the Peerage, by the title of Viscount Sackville, when he first refused to put the question, and afterwards denounced as unjust the general orders issued by the late King against that officer after his court-martial.§ ing with the Ameri cans, &c. tion of Germaine Peerage. Public dis But Lord North's administration was now in the agonies The elevaof dissolution; and Thurlow began to coquet a little with the Lord opposition.|| Lord Cornwallis had capitulated,—America was George lost, hostilities had commenced with France, Spain, and to the Holland, Gibraltar was besieged,—the fleets of the enemy insulted our shores,-Ireland was on the verge of rebellion, Russia, and the northern powers, under pretence of an armed approachneutrality, were combined against our naval rights, and were respectively planning the seizure of a portion of our dominions, North. -and the utter overthrow of the British empire was anticipated. Notwithstanding the King's firm adherence to the present sys A remarkably acute friend of mine formerly at the bar,-the Judges having retired for a few minutes in the midst of his argument, in which, from their interruptions and objections, he did not seem likely to be successful,— went out of Court too, and on his return stated that he had been drinking a pot of porter. Being asked whether he was not afraid that this beverage might dull his intellect? "That is exactly my object," said he -"to bring me down, if possible, to the level of their Lordships." Ib. 976. † 22 Parl. Hist. 1007-1078. § Ib. 1000. 1021. See his speeches on the Government Almanack Bill (22 Parl. Hist. 542.), and on the Address of Thanks (Ib. 672.). asters, and ing fall of CHAP. Specula Thurlow's successor. tem, a change of ministers was considered inevitable. The Whigs were becoming stronger in the House of Commons on every A.D. 1782. division; they had been lately strengthened by the accession of the brilliant talents of Pitt the younger, and of Sheridan; and, what was of even still greater importance, the nation, though disposed to make a gallant struggle against the Continental States, which basely sought to take advantage of our misfortunes, was heartily sick of the colonial war, and was willing to acknowledge American independence. Thurlow's tions as to official career being supposed to be drawing rapidly to a close, the lawyers began to speculate which Whig lawyer would be his successor, and how the surly Ex-chancellor would amuse and comfort himself in retirement? That he, who more zealously and uncompromisingly than any other member of the Tory government had supported all its most obnoxious acts, and more scornfully resisted all the popular measures of the opposition, should retain the Great Seal, never entered the imagination of any human being except Thurlow himself and the King. Which of the two first conceived the bright thought must for ever remain unknown. Chancellor. When the ministerial vessel did go to pieces, Thurlow was the tabula in naufragio - the plank to which his Majesty eagerly clung. Thurlow himself re mains March, 1782. |