CHAPTER CLXXVIII. CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF LORD ERSKINE TILL THE CON- CHAP. WE are now to see our illustrious advocate on the political CLXXVIII. stage, where his success was by no means so brilliant. He A. D. 1783. was of a Whig family, and he ever adhered steadily to the Whig Erskine as party. Its three great leaders, when he appeared in public a politician. life, were all in the meridian of their fame, the " Coalition" not yet having dimmed the lustre of Fox's name, -- Burke not yet having been disturbed from his liberal course by the French Revolution, and the fatal web of pecuniary embarrassment not yet having been wound round the soul of Sheridan, leading him to discreditable actions and degrading habits. These men rapturously hailed the rising genius of one likely to prove so powerful an auxiliary; but they advised that with his full occupation in his profession he should not enter Parliament either while Lord North was minister, or during the Governments of Lord Rockingham or Lord. Shelburne. When the "Coalition " was formed, however, a long tenure of power was expected by his friends, his promotion to be a law officer of the Crown on the first vacancy was promised to him, and his assistance was wanted against a host of lawyers who, joining the Opposition, were now obstructing business in the House of Commons, although the Ministry could command large majorities upon a division. There was some difficulty in finding a seat for the aspirant, but Sir William Gordon, who represented Portsmouth, was for Ports. prevailed upon to take the Chiltern Hundreds, in consideration of a comfortable provision made for him, and Erskine succeeded him, making himself popular with the inhabitants, by boasting of his maritime education, and his warm attachment to the naval service. The "Point" afforded scope for He is returned to Parliament mouth. Nov. 20. 1783. CHAP. CLXXVIII. innumerable jests against him from Jekyll, and his other friends in Westminster Hall; but he bore them all with great good humour, and took off the effect of a bad pun by a A. D. 1783. worse. * tions as to his success House of There was great eagerness to hear his maiden speech in St. AnticipaStephen's Chapel. Almost all mankind anticipated that he would still raise his reputation by being a match for the in the younger Pitt, who had recently, all at once, placed himself Commons. in the very highest class of parliamentary orators; but a few judicious men, who knew Erskine best, had misgivings as to his success in a new field, in which, if not higher, very different qualifications were required from those he had hitherto displayed. Thus wrote one of his professional friends to another detailing the gossip of the robing-room: — "Nov. 3. 1783. "Wallace is gone down to Teignmouth, the place where Dunning died,— in all probability on the same errand. Everybody says that Erskine will be Solicitor General, and if he is, and indeed, whether he is or not, he will have had the most rapid rise that has been known at the Bar. It is four years and a half since he was called, and in that time he has cleared 8000l. or 90007., besides paying his debts, —got a silk gown, and business of at least 3000l. a year a seat in Parliament - and over and above, has made his brother Lord Advocate. For my part I have great doubts whether his coming into Parliament was a wise thing. He sacrificed his House of Commons business, which was very profitable. He has several of Burke's defects, and is not unlikely to have his fate, and the expectation from him will be too great to be satisfied. We expect a match between him and Pitt, and another between Fox and Flood." Deep was the disappointment of the Opposition — loud His maiden was the exultation of the Ministers—when the new champion speech. in the political arena had essayed his prowess. It is a curious coincidence that Erskine and John Scott, afterwards Lord Eldon, of whom but slender expectations were then enter * Jekyll said to him, "Having been long a wanderer, I hope you will now stick to the Point." He answered, "Yes, I have an eye to the pole, since I know where the Pointers are.' My readers have probably heard of the Point at Ports CLXXVIII. CHAP. tained, first addressed the House of Commons in the same debate, upon the introduction of Mr. Fox's famous India A.D. 1783. Bill. Alas! neither of them raised the reputation of lawyers His failure. for parliamentary oratory. The Equity man took the pre Pitt's dis play of con tempt for Erskine in the House of Commons. cedence, but was dull and prosy. Our great common lawyer despised such an antagonist, and lay by for Pitt- but (impar congressus!) disgrace fell on both sides of Westminster Hall. The speech of the honourable member for Portsmouth could not have been so wretchedly bad as it is represented in the Parliamentary History, from which I cannot extract a sentence of any meaning, except the concluding one, — that "he considered the present bill as holding out the helping, not the avenging hand of Government."* But all agreed in considering the effort a failure. The most favourable account of it I find is by Sir Nathaniel Wraxall: "Mr. Erskine, who, like Mr. Scott, has since attained to the highest honours and dignities of the Bar, first spoke as a member of the House of Commons in support of this obnoxious measure. His enemies pronounced the performance tame and destitute of the animation which so powerfully characterised his speeches in Westminster Hall. They maintained that, however resplendent he appeared as an advocate while addressing a jury, he fell to the level of an ordinary man, if not below it, when seated on the Ministerial bench, where another species of oratory was demanded to impress conviction or to extort admiration. To me, who, having never witnessed his jurisprudential talents, could not make any such comparison, he appeared to exhibit shining powers of declamation.”† According to one most graphic representation of the scene, Erskine's faculties upon this occasion were paralysed by the by-play of his opponent: "Pitt, evidently intending to reply, sat with pen and paper in his hand, prepared to catch the arguments of this formidable adversary. He wrote a word or two. Erskine proceeded; but with every additional sentence * 23 Parl. Hist. 1215. In answer to the argument from the violation of the charters of the East India Company, he seems to have taunted Pitt with the little respect he showed for the ancient privileges of the rotten boroughs, by his plan of Parliamentary Reform. This could not have been well received on either side of the House. † Memoirs, ii. 436. CLXXVIII. Pitt's attention to the paper relaxed, his look became more CHAP. careless, and he obviously began to think the orator less and less worthy of his attention. At length, while every eye in a. D. 1783. the House was fixed upon him, with a contemptuous smile he dashed the pen through the paper and flung them on the floor. Erskine never recovered from this expression of disdain ;-his voice faltered, he struggled through the remainder of his speech, and sank into his seat dispirited and shorn of his fame."*-A discussion is said to have arisen at the time, whether Pitt's pantomimic display of contempt was premeditated, or arose from the feeling of the moment; but the probability is, that, expecting an antagonist from whose discomfiture he anticipated fresh renown, he really had been preparing in good earnest for the encounter, and that, more displeased than gratified at the tyro's political feebleness, he threw away the pen and the paper as the readiest mode of marking his disappointment. and Pitt together at the Bar. While Pitt remained at the Bar they had been apparently Erskine very good friends, although Mr. Espinasse conjectures (I think without reason) that the future Prime Minister had then conceived a grudge against the future Chancellor. "Pitt," says he, "had been once in a cause with him at Westminster, and attended a consultation. Erskine was the kindest of leaders, and the most gentle and encouraging to his juniors; but possibly some of his vagaries had offended the precise and serious young gentleman, who perhaps felt somewhat of the alarm that I have known the clients of the great advocate feel on attending a consultation on their case. Certain it is that Pitt never justly appreciated that illustrious man, and always took a pleasure in mortifying him in the House." It must be matter of conjecture which would have had the advantage if they had been rivals in Westminster Hall but it cannot be denied that Erskine was much inferior in power and splendour as a parliamentary debater. "He was overpowered by the commanding tone, the sarcastic * Croly's Life of George IV. CLXXVIII Erskine's CHAP invective, and the cutting irony of Pitt.” * "At a dinner given by Mr. Dundas at Wimbledon, Addington, Sheridan, A.D. 1783. and Erskine being present, the last was rallied on his not taking so prominent a position in the debates in Parliament as his high talents and reputation entitled him to assume, — parliament. when Sheridan said, "I'll tell you how it happens, Erskine : you are afraid of Pitt, and that is the flabby part of your character." † dread of Pitt in Nov. 27. 1783. Erskine's second speech on the India Bill. Erskine spoke again on the second reading of the Bill, and with better effect. He now took an able view of our territorial acquisitions in the East, contending that they belonged to the Crown of Great Britain, and that the Parliament of Great Britain had a right to regulate the government of them as part of the British Empire-ridiculing the notion that the East India Company was now to be dealt with as a private mercantile partnership. He further showed that charters such as those granted to the East India Company were necessarily subject to the control of Parliament, and that these very charters had been on several former occasions modified by Parliament for the benefit of our fellow-subjects in India, without any complaint of bad faith, or unconstitutional legislation. Having then vindicated the details of the measure, he thus concluded: "I declare solemnly, upon my honour, (which has never, I thank God, been called in question in public or in private,) that I give my support most conscientiously to this urgently necessary reform. My original opinion in its favour is confirmed by the support it has received, in conduct and in argument, from the wise and eloquent statesman who presented it to the House, whose talents seem to be formed by Providence to retrieve this still great country from its fallen and oppressed condition. Let my right honourable friend go on with firmness, and risk his office at every step he takes; and I will combat, as I now do, by his side, ready to sacrifice every prospect of ambition. Let him be guided by his own manly understanding, and the * Gentleman's Magazine. † Pellew's Memoirs of Lord Sidmouth. |