For three weeks his house was a garrison, and during all that time he could only get to Westminster Hall by going stealthily through the Museum Gardens, and diving into all the ob. [A. D. 1815.] scure alleys in which he could find a passage, attended by Townsend, the Bow Street officer, and a rear-guard of policemen. Such were the stories he told,—but I think that, like other great lawyers giving an account of their conflicts with mobs, he must have exaggerated a little both his perils and his prowess.*

The discussion about the corn laws and all internal disputes were suddenly suspended by the astounding intelligence that Napoleon had escaped from Elba, had landed at Cannes, had been joined by all the troops stationed at Grenoble, had proceeded in triumph to Paris, and was again established at the Tuilleries in the place of Louis XVIII., who had fled to Ghent. Although a wild Jacobin who thought that the world must be regenerated by the subversion of all the old monarchies in Europe, joyously tossed up his hat at the thought of the coming confusion-the rightly disposed of all parties in the state now cordially concurred in assisting the Government to crush our implacable foe, and to maintain our independence as a nation.

It is not mine to record the glories of Waterloo, and there was no memorable occurrence, within my humble sphere, till, on Napoleon being brought captive in an English ship of war to Plymouth, the question arose, how his person was to be disposed of? Lord Ellenborough, Sir William Grant, Sir William Scott, and other [JULY.] great jurists being consulted, they gave conflicting and very unsatisfactory opinions with respect to the law of nations upon the status of the Emperor, some saying that he was to be regarded as a prisoner of war-others as a subject of Louis XVIII., to whom he should be delivered up to be tried for treason-and others as a pirate or hostis humani, generis, carrying about with him caput lupinum-while there were not wanting persons so romantically liberal as to contend that, having thrown himself on our hospitality, he was entitled to immediate freedom, and that he should be allowed to range at pleasure over the earth. I think Lord Eldon took a much more sensible view of the subject than any of them—which was "that the case was not provided for by any thing to be found in Grotius or Vattel, but that the law of selfpreservation would justify the keeping of him under restraint in some distant region, where he should be treated with all indulgence compatible with a due regard for the peace of mankind." Accordingly, St. Helena was selected as the place of his exile; and to put a stop to all experiments in our Courts, by writs of habeas corpus, or actions for false imprisonment, an Act of Parliament was passed to legalize his detention. † Had the disgraceful disputes been avoided which afterwards

* Vide ante, Vol. VI.

† 56 Geo. 3, c. 22. Lord Eldon very properly resisted a motion of Lord Holland, for a reference to the opinion of the Judges relating to the character in which Napoleon Bonaparte stood after his surrender, and our right to detain him as a prisoner.-8th April, 1816. 33 Parl. Deb. 1019.

took place respecting the number of bottles of wine he should be allowed for dinner, and the domiciliary visits to which he should be liable, I believe that his captivity at Longwood would have brought no impeachment on British justice or generosity, either in his own age or with posterity. As things were managed, I am afraid it will be said that he was treated in the nineteenth century, with the same cruel spirit as the Maid of Orleans was in the fifteenth; and there may be tragedies on the Death of Napoleon, in which Sir Hudson Lowe will be the "SBIRRO"-and even Lord Eldon may be introduced as the Stern Old Councillor who decreed the hero's imprisonment.

CHAPTER CCIII.

CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF LORD ELDON TILL THE DEATH OF GEORGE III.

Ir will be impossible for the future historian to clear Lord Eldon's fame from the charge of sadly mistaking his duty respecting the institutions of his own country.

Some thought that with peace a new era of improvement would have begun, the answer to all attempts at reform during [A. D. 1815.] the last quarter of a century having been-"This is not the time for such projects, when we are fighting for our existence;" but Lord Eldon still obdurately defended every antiquated abuse and absurdity which disgraced our jurisprudence. Sir Samuel Romilly sent up from the House of Commons a bill to subject freehold lands to simple contract debts, for the purpose of preventing this fraud (among others,) that a man might borrow 100,000l. to buy an estate, and dying, leave it unencumbered to his son-without a shilling of the debt being ever repaid. But Lord Eldon rejected the bill, after a long speech, in which he condemned it as contrary to the wisdom of our ancestors, and subversive of the Constitution under which we had long flourished. I believe he was quite sincere; and the great bulk of his audience listened to him with reverence-insomuch that Lord Grey, who ably advocated the measure, was obliged to give it up without a division.* A few years after, I had the pleasure of humbly assisting my friend, Mr. John Romilly, the son of Sir Samuel, to pass this very bill through Parliament-when, even in the House of Lords, it met with hardly any opposition. Its justice and expediency are now so universally acknowledged, that people can hardly believe there was so recently a state of the public mind which could permit its rejection. Strange to say, Lord Eldon countenanced an innovation in the ad

* 31 Parl. Deb. 1037.

ministration of justice in Scotland, although it was most strenuously resisted by many enlightened men in that [A. D. 1816.] country, and among others by Sir Walter Scott,-the introduction of trial by jury in civil causes. I must confess that I myself entertain very serious doubts as to its expediency. This mode of trial works admirably well in England, where, from long usage, the procedure is so well understood, and it accords entirely with the habits of the people as well as with the frame of our laws. But where the relative duties of judge and jury were necessarily so little understood,-where issues of fact were to be framed in every cause by an officer of the Court, not always competent to understand on what facts the judgment was to depend,-where the Bench and the Bar were imperfectly acquainted with the rules of evidence,-and "bills of exceptions," "special verdicts," and "new trials," were terms not to be found in all Erskine's Institutes, or in all Morrison's Dictionary,-there might have been a misgiving that the reformation, however plausible, would produce confusion in practice, and occasion much expense and vexation to the suitors. A better plan probably would have been-separating the law from the facts upon the record-still to have reserved the decision of disputed facts for the Court, and to have improved the manner of taking the written depositions, or to have examined the witnesses in court viva voce. Lord Eldon, however, insisted on at once introducing the English system, and required that the jury should be unanimouscontrary not only to theoretical reasoning, but to the experience in Scotland of juries in criminal trials. One great object he had in view was to get rid of the immense number of appeals from the Court of Session to the House of Lords on mere questions of fact, by which his time had been most unprofitably and vexatiously consumed. The measure was, without difficulty, carried through Parliament; but the expectations entertained from it have been by no means realized, and before long this new system must either be abolished or reformed.

Lord Eldon was not called upon to come forward in debate during the session of 1816, except in opposing a motion in

favour of the Irish Roman Catholics; and, in spite [JUNE 25, 1816.]

of his zealous exertions, he was exceedingly distressed to find it supported by a Bishop, and rejected by the alarmingly small majority of four.*

He was farther annoyed by the return to office of Mr. Canning, whom he regarded as little better than a Whig. Although Catholic emancipation henceforth became an open question, he had the full assurance of Lord Liverpool and of the Regent that it should not be granted. On this understanding alone would he have consented to remain in the Cabinet. My firm belief is, that, in spite of his professions, by which he tried to deceive others, and perhaps deceived himself, he was strongly attached to the Great Seal; but I am sure that he would have resigned it without one moment of doubt, rather than have agreed

* 73 to 69. 31 Parl. Deb. 1954.

to a surrender of any of those safeguards which he considered necessary to preserve our Protestant Establishment. His retention of office was probably rendered doubly agreeable to him by the reflection that he could thereby more effectually watch and counteract the dangerous schemes of his latitudinarian colleagues.

Now he had to arrange the preliminaries of the marriage between the Princess Charlotte and Prince Leopold of Saxe [MAY 2, 1816.] Coburg-destined to be followed by other alliances with that illustrious house, which auspiciously promise to connect it for ever with the throne of Great Britain. When the ceremony took place, the Chancellor was treated with peculiar distinction by the Regent, and the royal bride and bridegroom.*

His graceful manners and skilful tact as a courtier, in which, by intuition as it were, the coal-fitter's son, reared in the purlieus of Lincoln's Inn, excelled all the hereditary nobility of England, had so completely ingratiated him with his "young master,' "that he was not unfrequently invited as a guest to the private symposia at Carlton House, where, with his Northern-Circuit stories, he was a full match for professed wits, although he wisely took care to testify a conscious inferiority in jovial powers, as much as in rank, to his Royal Highness, who, in his imitations of Lord Thurlow, and in the relation of ridiculous anecdotes of other public characters, really was a very considerable performer. We have a striking proof of the familiarity with which "Old Bags" was now treated by the man against whom "the Book" had been indited a few years ago, in the notes to him from the Regent, which all conclude, "Your very affectionate friend, GEORGE P. R.," or "Very affectionately yours, GEORGE P. R.," and particularly in one urging him to complete some law arrangements without further delay-thus concluding with a very good-humoured caution, that his Lordship should not be quite contented with his own notions of despatch: "Forgive me also, my dear friend, if I add, and bring your recollection (and I can hardly do so without its forcing at the same time a smile on my countenance) that a snail's gallop is but a bad thing, and a very poor pace at best, in most of the occurrences of life, and I am sure that you would particularly find it such in the present." The Chancellor knew too well both his duty and interest ever to forget for a moment that it was his sovereign who jested with him; and

* The Chancellor and Lady Eldon were likewise present at the wedding of the Princess Mary with the Duke of Gloucester, on the 22d of July following. We have an account of this ceremony in a letter from him to one of his daughters :"Mamma (Lady Eldon) went through her part of the ceremony capitally well; but dear Princess Mary's behaviour was so interesting and affecting that every body was affected. Even the tears trickled down my cheeks; and as to Mamma, she cried all night, and nine-tenth parts of the next day." It is delightful to think that this illustrious lady, whose kindness of disposition and exemplary conduct have ever secured to her the admiration and respect of all classes of the community, is still likely to be long preserved, as an example of the union of the highest rank with the highest virtues.

†2d May, 1817.

[ .

therefore, while other boon companions were speedily cast off, he long retained the favour and the respect of George IV.

The transition from a long war to profound peace, the derangement of our monetary system by the Bank Restriction Acts, and the contemplated return to cash payments, had caused much commercial distress -with want of employment, and a great lowering of wages in many & manufacturing districts. The consequence was, a dangerous ferment in the minds of the lower orders. How was this to be met? Said Lord Eldon, Lord Liverpool, Lord Castlereagh, and Lord Sidmouth: -"By suspending the Habeas Corpus Act, by passing a new act against Seditious Meetings, and by making perpetual [A. D. 1817.] the Treason Extension Act passed in 1796,* which was

to expire with the reign of George III." Perhaps they were right; but, after much consideration and experience, having formed an opinion, that for such an emergency the true remedy is a vigorous execution of the old constitutional law, not new measures of coercion, I think that a mistaken policy was pursued-to which may be ascribed the increased irritation and discontent which prevailed for some years the outbreak in 1819, called the "Manchester massacre,"—and the supposed necesesity for the suspension of the Constitution by the passing of the "Six Acts." There was not the smallest ground for the imputation thrown upon the Ministers, that they had a plan for permanently encroaching on public liberty, and suspicion of indirect motive could not reasonably be carried farther than that they wished to strengthen themselves as a party, by spreading alarm that there were really plots against the Government which required a prohibition of public meetings without a license, the detention in prison of persons for political offences for an unlimited time without bringing them to trial, and more stringent enactments against high treason than the law which had been found sufficient in England for four centuries. However, in the session of 1817, the proposed measures all passed, with the zealous, and, I doubt not, sincere advocacy of Lord Eldon, and he went so far as to defend both the legality and expediency of Lord Sidmouth's famous "Circular," recommending magistrates to hold to bail persons who published libels, without waiting till an indictment should be found against them; which, if acted upon, might (contrary to the intention of the framer of it) have filled the jails with persons who had written against the existing Administration. Lord Grey having questioned the law laid down in the Circular," and censured as unconstitutional the issuing of any instruction to magistrates from a Secretary of State respecting the manner in which they should administer justice to any particular class of offenders, Lord Eldon declared that in his opinion the law was correctly stated in the "Circular," and contended that there could be no impropriety in a correct exposition of the duty of judges coming from any quarter. He defended the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act; and so alarmed was he by frame-breaking, and other enormities of the "Luddites,"

66

* 36 Geo. 3, c. 7. 57 Geo. 3, c. 6.