CHAPTER CLXXXVIII. CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF LORD ERSKINE TILL THE CONCLU- - CLXXXVIII. Erskine opposes co measures. 1818. Scheme for coercing FIRE, WA THE battle of Waterloo being gained, and Napoleon relegated CHAP. to St. Helena, a measure necessary for the repose of the world, party warfare likewise ceased for a time; but Er- A. d. 1817. skine was at his post when hostilities against the Constitution were renewed, and he opposed with all his ancient vigour ercive the "Seditious Meetings Bill," and the suspension of the "Habeas Corpus Act," denouncing these measures as sure to excite instead of to allay discontent, and as more injurious to the Constitution than any passed in the "Reign of Terror," under Mr. Pitt, when a foreign war, and apparent danger from the spread of French principles, afforded some pretext for such arbitrary legislation.* In opposing a new "Sedi- June 2. tious Meetings Bill," he said, "If the authors of this bill had the government of the seasons, they would no doubt set about a reformation upon their own system, and the elements of fire, water, and air would no longer have their immemo- AIR rial liberties, but would be put under such politic restraints as we are now about to lay upon the civil world. To Fire they would say, 'You are an excellent servant, most beneficial when under due discipline and control, but most dangerous when left unrestrained. You may, therefore, continue to blaze in our kitchen and in our chambers, but you shall no longer descend from heaven with electric flashes, destroying our persons and property, and striking even the spires of our churches with sacrilegious violence.' To Water they would say, We are delighted with your smooth face upon our calm transparent lakes, and with your ripplings in our summer streams; but you must no longer come down from the hills in winter torrents, sweeping away our flocks and their * 35 Parl. Deb. 1213. 1224. 1226.; 36 Ib. 981. TER, and CHAP. masters.' To Air they would say, Be free as air; it is even CLXXXVIII. a proverb, and we will support it; continue, therefore, to be 1819-1820. free as air, at least in our improved sense of freedom. But 1819, 1820. The Six Acts. Nov. 28. 1819. not more than fifty clouds shall in future come together, without an order from seven farmers or graziers; and if you shall presume to blight our fruit trees or destroy our harvests, you shall be driven back to your caverns by a single justice of the peace.""* He likewise brought in a bill to prevent arrest for libel before indictment found against the libeller. This measure he supported in a most elaborate speech, but it was rejected on the second reading by a large majority.† In the following stormy session, in which the "Six Acts" were passed-(I hope the last trial of the coercive system for England)-- Erskine was active and energetic. He began by supporting Lord Grey's amendment to the address; when he condemned in severe terms "the massacre at Manchester," on the dispersion of Mr. Hunt's meeting there, — and the Secretary of State's letter, approving of the violent conduct of the magistrates and the military, without any previous inquiry.‡ - On Lord Lansdowne's motion for a committee to inquire *57 Geo. 3. c. 3. † 38 Parl. Deb. 1081. 41 Parl. Deb. 26. 40. An anecdote which he then told, in the vain hope of inducing Lord Eldon to retract an opinion he had uttered, deserves to be recorded in his own language:-" There shoots across my mind at this moment a striking instance of candour which I have long treasured up in my memory, having a strong interest to remember it, because it was useful to me in the beginning of my professional life. Having been engaged in a cause in which that great Chief Justice had expressed a strong opinion in favour of my client, the jury found a corresponding verdict; but a rule having been obtained to set it aside for the Judge's misdirection, I had to support his opinion in the Court of King's Bench. When I had finished my argument, he said I fear with more indulgence than truth-This case has been remarkably well argued; so well, indeed, that whilst the learned counsel was defending my direction, I began to think I had been in the right, whereas I never was more mistaken in my life. I totally misunderstood the case. and misdirected the jury; so there must be a new trial, and without costs.' Did this lower Lord Mansfield? So far from it, that, having persuaded myself his first opinion was the best, I could not help saying at the time, that if I had not been convinced of his integrity, I should have thought he was practising a fraud to advance his reputation. It was indeed a justice to truth, which weak men are afraid of rendering, and therefore it is so seldom rendered.”—I have, indeed, myself often been surprised at the pusillanimous anxiety of Judges in Banc to support their rulings at Nisi Prius. Very different was the conduct of a Judge in recent times, who, after all his brethren on the bench had pronounced judgment in his favour, said, "For the reasons given by my Lord and the rest of the Court, I think that I was entirely wrong, and that there ought to be a new trial! " 66 CHAP. CLXXXVIII. into the state of the country, Erskine said, with much feeling: My Lords, I am now an old man, and have been nearly forty years in Parliament; yet I declare solemnly that A. D. 1819. I never felt more unqualified regret for any proceeding in it than the rejection of the amendment proposed by my noble friend, and so eloquently pressed upon our attention on the first day of the session. If your Lordships had fortunately adopted it, you could have had nothing farther to consider on this painful subject, and would have escaped the second error of rejecting the proposition of the noble marquess tonight, which I cannot but painfully foresee. You would then have had an unanimous Parliament reprobating all seditious combinations, calling upon both magistrates and people by the combined authorities of the state, to support the Constitution, and to maintain public order and tranquillity. The amendment asked nothing more than that the people should not be condemned unheard. I have had many more opportunities of knowing the sentiments and feelings of those who are classed as seditious subjects than most of your Lordships can have had, and it is my unalterable belief that a system of alarm, supported by mysterious green bags and the array of special commissions, followed as they have been, and will be, by convictions sufficiently numerous to inspire terror -not sufficiently numerous to enforce subjugation — only exasperate evils, the unfortunate existence of which we all deplore. The present discontent may be silenced by severity, but it will be a dangerous silence." "As to the Spenceans,' he said, " they cannot be gravely considered objects of criminal justice. Instead of the warrants of magistrates, the certificates of apothecaries may secure their persons if they become dangerous. What other prison, indeed, but a madhouse can be opened to receive persons so completely insane as to entertain an expectation that in such a country as England they can bring its whole surface and property into general division and distribution. By an ordinary display of spirit and resolution insurrection may be repressed, without violating the law or the Constitution. In the riots of 1780 when the mob were preparing to attack the house of Lord CHAP. CLXXXVIII. Mansfield, I offered to defend it with a small military force; but this offer was unluckily rejected; and afterwards, being A. D. 1819. in the Temple when the rioters were preparing to force the gate and had fired several times, I went forward to the gate, opened it, and showed them a field-piece which I was prepared to discharge, in case the attack was persisted in; they were daunted, fell back, and dispersed." After this somewhat vainglorious narrative of his martial prowess (for which I find no other authority), he entered at great length into the law respecting public meetings, and having commented upon the late conduct of the Government on this subject, he observed, "The threatened severe measures cannot restore confidence, nor willing obedience to Government. Confide yourselves in the people, and all murmurs and discontents will be at an end. For my own part, while I have life and strength to raise my voice, I will continue to protest against them here and every where. I will not repeat with the same oath what I swore in the House of Commons when similar restrictions were in agitation*, but I will say firmly, that I was born a freeman, and I will not die a slave."† Dissatisfied with himself, he solution of thus apologised for what he considered his want of energy in Parliament as compared with his forensic efforts. "I despair altogether of making any impression by any thing I can say —a feeling which disqualifies me from speaking as I ought. I have been accustomed during the greatest part of my life to be animated by the hope and expectation that I might not be speaking in vain, — without which there can be no spirit in discourse. I have often heard it said, and I believe it to be true, that even the most eloquent man living (how then must I be disabled?) and however deeply impressed with his subject, could scarcely find utterance, if he were to be standing up alone, and speaking only against a dead wall.” Erskine's his failure in Parliament. As the several bills came forward, he strenuously, though * Perhaps he recollected the lines in the "Pursuits of Literature," in which the author of that satire, among things impossible, ("Sooner, &c.") says, "Or Erskine cease from impotent grimace, And his appeals to God,- his prime disgrace." † 41 Parl. Deb. 441 ineffectually, opposed them in every stage *; but I do not dwell upon their odious enactments, as in better times they have all been repealed or allowed to expire, and there seems no danger of their ever again being proposed, as, with a much greater disposition to insurrection among the lower orders than then existed, both the great parties in the state have wisely and successfully trusted to a vigorous and judicious use of the ordinary powers of the law. † CHAP. CLXXXVIII. 1820. Death of While these discussions were pending, George III. expired. Jan. 29. Although the government had still been carried on in his name, he had long ceased to control or to be conscious of George public events, and for many years as if already sleeping in the grave— III. Caroline. The Prince of Wales, under the title of REGENT, had George IV. exercised without restriction all the prerogatives of the and Queen Crown, and this event merely changed his title to that of George IV., without at all affecting his political position. But the lady to whom he had given his hand, instead of an outcast, wandering in foreign countries, sometimes under a feigned name, with hardly pecuniary supplies to defray the expenses of her slender suite, was suddenly Queen of England, entitled by law to share the throne, and to enjoy many powers and privileges suitable to her exalted rank. The new Sovereign was now to pay a dreadful penalty for the manner in which he had insulted and abandoned her. From the levity of her conduct, after the "Letter of Licence" he had given her, whether she had actually broken her marriage vow or not, - he could not receive her back as his wife without dishonour, and he could take no proceedings to obtain a divorce from her without exciting the sympathies of all mankind in her favour, and exposing his conduct towards her in * 41 Parl. Deb. 682. 695. 706. 966. 981. 1304. 1307. 1310. 1374. † I allude to the Whig Government in 1839-40, and to the Conservative in 1841-42. I must again express my joy at being at liberty to reprobate the old system of coercion, without being liable even to the suspicion of trying to throw odium on political opponents. |