Mr. Attorney was more successful with his misdemeanors, but I can not say that he thereby increased his credit. He obtained a conviction, followed up with fine and imprisonment, of the proprietor and printer of the Courier newspaper, for a paragraph which appeared in that journal, stating that "the Emperor of Russia (Paul) was rendering himself obnoxious to his subjects by various acts of tyranny, and ridiculous in the eyes of Europe by his inconsistency. ."* Then came the scandalous verdict against Mr. Cuthell, the respectable bookseller, because, without his authority or knowledge, a few copies of Gilbert Wakefield's pamphlet had been sold in his shop. I must do Mr. At torney the justice to say, that he seemed heartily [FEB. 21, 1799.] ashamed of this case, for he hardly said more to the jury than laying down for law-that "every man who publishes a book is answerable for the contents, whether he knows them or not; and when a man publishes a book, he takes his chance; if it be an innocent book, it is well-if a libel, the publisher is answerable for its contents:" but he did not venture to grapple with the question, whether, in fact or in law, the defendant was the publisher ?† Mr. Attorney's last exploit in this line was prosecuting the Rev. Gilbert Wakefield himself for the pamphlet, which contained, with much sound learning, much that was absurd and censurable, but which was not calculated to do any serious mischief. The defendant having addressed the jury as his own counsel, with ingenuity and erudition, but little discretion,-Sir John Scott observed, "From what the reverend gentleman has said, he seems to conceive that there should be one law for him, and another for all the rest of his countrymen. I should think that I degraded myself, and insulted you, by offering to make any reply to what has fallen from him." The defendant was sent to prosecute his studies two years in Dorchester gaol.§ I by no means impute these proceedings to any harshness in the character of Sir John Scott, which, on the contrary, was mild and benevolent, but to the rancorous policy then adopted by the party to which he belonged. It is agreeable to think that there is no danger of again seeing a "Reign of Terror" in this country. Of late years such prosecutions would as little have been instituted by Sir Frederick Pollock or Sir Frederick Thesiger as by Sir John Campbell or Sir Thomas Wilde. * Rex v. Vent, 27 St. Tr. 617. Antè, Vol. VI. 27 St. Tr. 641. † Ib. § 27 St. Tr. 679. Upon this trial Lord Kenyon, laying aside "latet anguis in herbâ," introduced a new quotation-saying, in allusion to the defendant's great classical acquirements,— 66 ingenuas didicisse fideliter artes is an expression which has often been used; but the experience of this case has shown that it is not always correct." The ideas of that age are strikingly illustrated by a letter written in 1801 by Sir John Mitford, the new Attorney General, who was likewise a very mild, good-natured man:-"I flatter myself that the very temperate exercise of the office The last appearance of Sir John Scott in a criminal court was in prosecuting the Earl of Thanet and Mr. Cuilar Fergus[APRIL 15, 1799.] son for a riot in attempting to rescue Arthur O'Connor, after his acquittal at Maidstone. If all that the witnesses for the Crown swore was true, there had been a grave insult offered to the administration of justice in the presence of the King's Judges, and little blame was incurred by bringing the case before a jury; but the defendants showed that they had tried to quell the disturbance, instead of exciting it; and they would probably have been acquitted, had it not been for the foolish declaration of Mr. Sheridan, when examined on their behalf, that he "believed they secretly wished Mr. O'Connor to escape, although he observed nothing in their conduct to show that they felt such a wish." In reading this and other trials in which Sir John Scott was concerned, I have in vain desired to select passages which might convey a favourable opinion of his style as an advocate. He confined himself to a detail of facts, mixed up with protestations of his own honesty and good intentions, quite careless as to the structure of his sentences or the order of his discourse. I can offer nothing better than the following very sensible statement of his duty as public prosecutor:-" The Attorney General of the country, as it appears to me, has a public duty to execute, in reference to which, he ought to conceive that he has properly executed that duty if he has brought a fit and proper accusation before a jury, and has proceeded to the length of honestly and fairly examining the several circumstances given in evidence in support of, and in answer to, that accusation; always recollecting that the jury will finally hear, from that wisdom which cannot mislead them, the true inferences that will arise upon facts which have been given in evidence on both sides." When sentence was to be pronounced on Lord Thanet and Mr. Fergusson, he said, My Lords, I owe it to the noble Peer who stands before me, and I owe it to the learned gentleman who has been bred to my own profession, and I owe it to myself and to the public, to declare to your Lordships, that no inducement could have persuaded me to institute this prosecution, but a conviction, produced by that evidence which was laid before me, that the noble Lord and the other defendant were justly implicated in the charge. Having done my duty to the public, according to what my notions of my duty require of me, I cannot do better than to leave the case where it is, and to call upon your Lordships to do that which is right between these defendants and the public.* I wish I could enliven these dull details of criminal proceedings by some professional facetiæ; but I must not introduce well-known stories on no better plea than that Lord Eldon was in the habit of telling them. of Attorney General whilst Lord Eldon held it, and since it has been in one who has carefully followed his steps, has had an effect in producing a general persuasion that the powers of that officer have never been used but where the case manifestly demanded that they should be put in force." * 27 St. Tr. 821-986. One or two, in which he was an actor while Attorney General, perhaps deserve to be recorded. "Lord Thurlow, when Chancellor, had asked me if I did not think that a wooden machine might be invented to draw bills and answers in chancery ?* Many years after this, when he had ceased to be Chancellor, and I was Attorney General, a bill was filed against his friend, Macnamara, the conveyancer,-and Lord Thurlow advised him to have the answer sent to me to be perused and settled. The solicitor brought me the answer; I read it. It was so wretchedly ill-composed and drawn, that I told him not a word of it would dothat I had not time to draw an answer from beginning to end—that he must get some gentleman to draw the answer, from beginning to end, who understood pleading, and then bring it to me to peruse. I went down to the House of Lords the same day, to plead a cause at the bar there. Lord Thurlow was in the House, and came down to the bar to me, and said, 'So I understand you think my friend Mac's answer won't do.' 'Do!' said I, 'my Lord, it won't do at all: it must have been drawn by that wooden machine which you formerly told me might be invented to draw bills and answers.' That's very unlucky,' says Thurlow, and impudent too, if you had known the fact that I drew the answer myself." "† "I was generally successful against those who committed frauds on the revenue-but one smuggler beat me completely. There being a great rage among the ladies for French kid gloves, which were contraband, he imported from Calais 3000 right-hand gloves, which being immediately seized and sold by the Custom-house, he bought them for a trifle, as they were of no use without the left-hand gloves. He then imported 3000 left-hand gloves, and these he contrived to buy in a similar manner, as they were of no use without the right-hand gloves. Having got both sets, he was entitled to sell them at his own price, under the authority of the Government, to every milliner in London. 66 Jemmy Boswell called upon me at my chambers in Lincoln's Inn, desiring to know what would be my definition of Taste. I told him I must decline informing him how I should define it, because I knew he would publish what I said would be my definition of it, and I did not choose to subject my notion of it to public criticism. He continued, however, his importunities in frequent calls, and in one, complained much that I would not give him my definition of taste, as he had that morning got Henry Dundas's (afterwards Lord Melville,) Sir Archibald Macdonald's, and John Anstruther's definitions of taste.-Well, then,' I said, Boswell, we must have an end of this. Taste, according to my definition, is the judgment which Dundas, Macdonald, Anstruther and you manifested when you determined to quit Scotland, and to come into the South. You may publish this if you please." "+ But perhaps there is nothing more amusing than the account of his soldiering, for when the dread of invasion spread over the land, he, too, * Mr. Babbage is said to have taken from this the idea of his "calculating machine." ‡ Ib. + Twiss, i. 207. wished to become a soldier, and bought a gun and a bayonet. But this was not the line in which he was destined to acquire a high reputation and to serve his country: "During the long war," said he, "I became one of the Lincoln's Inn volunteers, Lord Ellenborough at the same time being one of that corps. It happened, unfortunately for the military character of both of us, that we were turned out of the awkward squadron for awkwardness. I think Ellenborough was more awkward than I was, but others thought that it was difficult to determine which of us was the worst." It should be mentioned, however, for the honour of the house of Scott, that Sir William used to say, "militavi non sine gloriâ," for he actually commanded a corps of Civilians at Doctors' Commons, who were exceedingly warlike, their profitable practice in the Admiralty Court being threatened with annihilation by any rumour of peace.* As Sir John Scott is forthwith to be raised to the Bench, I am desirous of taking friendly leave of him as a barrister; and I cannot do this more effectually than by quoting the testimony in his favour left us by William Wilberforce: "Sir John Scott used to be a great deal at my house. I saw much of him then, and it is no more than his due to say, that, when he was Solicitor and Attorney General under Pitt, he never fawned and flattered as some did, but always assumed the tone and station of a man who was conscious that he must show he respects himself, if he wishes to be respected by others."+ I likewise copy, with pleasure, the simple and forcible praise of Townsend: "For six years of active official and extra-official duty, during which he screwed the pressure of his power more tightly than any Attorney General before or since, with the single exception of Sir Vicary Gibbs, he still retained a large share of personal good-will, and was the favourite alike of the Bar, of suitors, and the public."‡ * Mr. Attorney, in a letter to his brother-in-law, Mr. Surtees, dated 6th June, 1799, thus speaks in modest terms of his own military prowess and Sir William's "We had a most glorious exhibition here on the King's birth-day, in the review of the volunteer corps, which furnished much the most magnificent spectacle I have ever seen. As a non-effective in an awkward squadron, I had the modesty not to show myself in arms, though I have military character enough to attend the drill occasionally in a more private scene. Your friend Major Sir William Scott's corps, not having yet been bold enough to attempt the strong measure of firing, were also absent.""-Twiss, i. 216. t Life of Wilberforce, vol. v. p. 214. Eminent Judges, ii., 401.--Since finishing the composition of this chapter, I have been furnished with the following testimony to Lord Eldon's amiable and disinterested conduct while he was at the Bar, from a most worthy clergyman of the Church of England, who is still living, and who, I hope, will long continue to tell anecdotes of his old patron: "My knowledge of Mr. Scott commenced at a very early period of my life-when I was so young that, had he not been subsequently so eminent, and so very good to me, I doubtless should not have retained in memory the following particulars of this knowledge. My father died in France, in the prime of life, and so unexpectedly that he could not obtain professional assistance in making his will, and consequently it was in some points so at variance with the forms of law, that it could not be carried into execution. Thus the affairs of my family were thrown into Chancery, and so misconducted CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF LORD ELDON TILL HE WAS MADE LORD CHANCELLOR. On the 8th of July, 1799, died Sir James Eyre, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas—and the Attorney General claimed his "pillow." Mr. Pitt and Lord Loughborough, the Chan- [A. D. 1799.] cellor, wished much to retain him in his office-representing to him how important it was for the Government to have his assistance in the House of Commons, and suggesting that, for his own sake, it would be better to wait for higher promotion. But his health and comfort requiring repose, he insisted on his right-and it was conceded to him, under an arrangement that he should be raised to the peerage. He used always to add: "The King, likewise, made it a condition, that I should promise not to refuse the Great Seal when he might call upon me to accept it-and this condition I thought I was bound to accede to."*-While there for several years, by a superannuated and not very honest Solicitor, and a very dishonest Receiver, that my poor mother could not help apprehending that she and her children would be ruined. It happened, however, fortunately, that the gentleman of the Bar who had been engaged to conduct the suit for the widow and her children was promoted, and that Mr. Scott was the party fixed upon subsequently to lead it. He was not, it is conceived, satisfied with the statements wherewith he was officially furnished, and requested that he might confer with my mother and her solicitor, at his chambers. She went there immediately, taking me with her, and my sister. The subjects of conference were, of course, beyond my understanding; but I remember hearing that Lord Thurlow said, 'It was a d-d hard case, and he did not like to decide it;' and that Mr. Scott added, And I say it is a VERY hard case, and ought to be decided.' The great good nature, too, of Mr. S. to my sister and to me made an indelible impression on us, especially as an apology was offered for my presence. He replied, patting my head, that he seldom met at consultations any one giving him so little trouble, and protested that I was a very fine fellow,' though I was commonly described as a short, puny child. At the commencement of these visits, he had one of his feet in a cloth shoe, resting on two or three folios enacting cushions, though a comparatively young man; and the constitutional gout, which rendered this necessary, he ascribed, with humorous solemnity, to his having been a three-bottle man at college,'-a description which raised in my mind strange wonderments, which were never laid till I became, on going to Oxford, intimate with his contemporaries, and was assured by them that his collegiate life was one of great prudence and hard study. He conducted the Chancery suit to a termination, through a long series of years, with his usual industry and ability, but positively declining to take any fees in a case which he thought so hard; and when I state that this suit cost my family 10,0007., it will be clear that the sacrifice thus made by him was one of no ordinary character." * George III. certainly had felt a high regard for him ever since the Regency question, and entirely approved of all his conduct, both in Parliament and as public prosecutor; but, perhaps, Lord Eldon a little magnified his Majesty's fondness for him, with the view of showing that he held the Great Seal directly of the Crown, and that he was at liberty to take part, if he chose, against the Prime Minister. |