CHAP subsequent life, and occasioned extensive and ever-memorable CLXVI. A.D. 1774. Bill of dis covery filed against Franklin. Breaking out of the disturbances in America. consequences." ”米 Although the present exultation was unbounded, a day of repentance and humiliation was to follow: "Turno tempus erit, magno cum optaverit emtum Oderit." Meanwhile, to keep up the annoyance and irritation, Wedderburn caused a bill in equity to be filed against Franklin, under pretence of praying an account of the profits which he had made by publishing the letters from Boston, but with the real view of compelling him to discover on oath from whom and by what means he had received them. In his answer he swore "that he neither caused nor was privy to the printing of the letters, and that he had not made nor ever intended to make any profit by them." To the rest of the discovery he put in a demurrer, which, on the argument of the Solicitor General, was overruled by Lord Bathurst; but this petty warfare in the Court of Chancery was interrupted by the glare of conflagrations and the booming of artillery on the western shore of the Atlantic. It happened that immediately after the judgment of the Privy Council, by which the giddy multitude, comprehending persons in the highest station, thought that the pretensions of the Americans were for ever crushed, and that they must be brought into a state of quiet if not contented subjugation, news arrived of the combination at Boston against the consumption of taxed tea, of the seizure of several cargoes of this commodity, and of the burning of an English ship of war sent to enforce regulations for the levying of the tea duty.† †The Gaspée. It is hardly possible to conceive that the continent of North America could have permanently continued an appendage of our little island, and the actual event is perhaps better even for us; but had it not been for the infatuated resolution to persist in this wretched tax for the purpose of showing that we possessed a power which all parties now agreed could not be beneficially exercised, the connection between the two countries might have long continued - till at last they amicably separated. It required a long course of wanton irritation to root out the inclination of the vast mass of the colonists in favour of the mother country, and to overcome their reluctance to abandon their regular industrial pursuits. CLXVI. In American coercion fence of A royal message was immediately sent to both Houses of Par- CHAP. liament, demanding measures of vengeance. The "Boston Port Bill," and the "Bill for the improved administration March 7. of justice in the Province of Massachusets Bay," were 1774. introduced, and warmly supported by Wedderburn. answer to the argument that these bills violated char- bills. ters, he boldly said: "It will be found necessary to dis- Wedderregard their charters if you mean to restore subordina- burn's detion among them; but I hope and firmly wish that even the them. idea of your authority being known to them will at once prevent the exertion of it. I agree with the honourable gentleman (Colonel Barré) that conciliation is desirable; but while you hold out the olive branch in one hand, you must grasp your sword with the other. Peace will be established on proper principles when there is a power to enforce it; and your authority once established, I would then drop the point of the sword, and stretch out the olive branch to the vanquished. The learned gentleman's speech," exclaimed Burke, "demands blood; the sword must convince the Americans and clear up their clouded apprehensions! The learned gentleman's logical resources surely desert him if he is obliged to call such a coarse argument as an army to his assistance. Not that I mean to cast any personal re.. flection upon him: I always respect, and sometimes dread his talents." * On one clause of the Massachusets Bill, Wedderburn gained Appeal of a decided advantage over his opponents. This suspended the murder. power of bringing "an appeal of murder "—a proceeding which, according to the common law of England, might be resorted to by the heir of the deceased after an acquittal by a jury on a prosecution in the name of the King, in which the trial was by BATTLE, and in which, upon a conviction, the Crown had no power to pardon. Such is the force of faction in perverting the understanding and the feelings, that an outcry was now made against the government, as if trial by jury had been to be abolished. "I rise," said Dunning, VOL. VI. 17 Parl. Hist. 1207. CHAP. CLXVI. A. D. 1774. "to support that great pillar of the constitution, the appeal for murder: I fear there is a wish to establish a precedent for taking it away in England as well as in the colonies. It is called a remnant of barbarism and Gothicism. The whole of our constitution, for aught I know, is Gothic. Are you, then, to destroy every part of that Gothic constitution, and set up a Macaroni one in its stead? Under a system of ministerial despotism every institution is denounced which may tend to support our rights and liberties. I wish, Sir, that gentlemen would be a little more cautious, and consider that the yoke we are framing for the despised colonists may be tied round our own necks." Nay, the grave, the enlightened, the didactic, the philosophical Edmund Burke, said, "There is nothing more true than that man has given up his share of the natural right of defence to the state, in order to be protected by it. But this is a part of a system of jurisprudence which ought to be viewed as a whole. If there is an appeal for rape and robbery, you ought to have one for murder. If this branch of our privileges is lopped off, you may soon lay the axe to the root of the tree in our own country. I allow that judicial combat was part of this appeal -which was superstitious and barbarous to the last degree; yet I cannot consent that the subject should be dealt with piece-meal and that any thing valued by our ancestors should be taken away from one part of his Majesty's subjects, while it is retained by another." Mr. Solicitor General Wedderburn. "Sir, the taxation of America was once denounced as a grievance by gentlemen opposite; but that seems to have sunk into insignificance in their eyes compared with the grievance of suspending in that country trial by battle in cases of murder. The apprehension lately professed by them of the establishment of tyranny at home by the arbitrary acts of the House of Commons, is absorbed in the danger to our liberties by a similar privation. They allow that the appeal of murder is only an effort of private revenge that it may lawfully be stopped at any time by the appellant on receipt of a sum of money and that, if it proceeds, the appellee, or accused, by throwing down his glove, is CLXVI. entitled to have his guilt or innocence determined by a deadly CHAP. combat between the parties or their champions. Certainly in times not very remote the Judges of the Court of Common A. D. 1774. Pleas did seat themselves on their tribunal in Tothill Fields to see a Writ of Right so determined. But the public was scandalised the fight was stopped and no attempt has been made since the reign of Elizabeth to resume this mode of elucidating truth. I must be allowed to doubt whether it is an essential part of our constitution. What a blow, then, did our constitution sustain when the ordeal fell into disuse, and women no longer proved their chastity by walking blindfold over burning plough-shares? But I should in vain try to reconcile those gentlemen to the proposed alteration of the law, if it were to be permanent, and I can only try to soften their opposition by reminding them that the act is meant to be temporary; so that, at no distant day, they may hope to see their fellow-subjects in America restored to the right which they enjoy, and which patriots in England so highly prize." Mr. Fox came to the rescue of his friends. He said that he was for abolishing appeals in all criminal cases, and he allowed that the circumstance of their taking away the power of pardoning from the crown, was an insuperable objection to them but he said he condemned the partial, pitiful legislation of this clause, and he should vote against it. The clause was withdrawn upon the understanding that there should be a general act upon the subject, according to the suggestion of Mr. Fox, but the law continued unaltered till the year 1819, when an appellee having thrown down his glove on the floor of the Court of King's Bench, and demanded trial by battle, all such appeals were swept away.t 17 Parl. Hist. 1291. † 59 George 3. c. 46. See Ashford v. Thornton, 1 Barnewall and Alderson, 405., and the proceedings against the brother of Lord Chancellor Cowper, antè, vol. iv. CHAPTER CLXVII. CHAP. CLXVII. Feb. 2. 1775. Wedderburn's speech on Burke's conciliatory resolutions. Feb. 20. 1776. CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF LORD LOUGHBOROUGH TILL HE In the beginning of the following year, notwithstanding the measures of coercion resorted to, the exasperation and the courage of the Americans rose; they prepared for resistance, and civil war was clearly impending. In the grand debate which then took place on Lord North's motion for an address to the King, to assure him of the support of parliament in putting down the rebellion, Wedderburn answered Burke, and he still made use of very intemperate language. He treated rather lightly the distress which had arisen from the interruption to trade in consequence of the measures of government in America. "In the present instance," said he, "interests are at stake of much greater magnitude. The power of parliament is defied; a portion of his Majesty's subjects, although they have not yet formally cast off their allegiance, are actually in open rebellion. An enemy in the bowels of a kingdom is surely to be resisted, although manufactures should be interrupted and commerce should languish. The integrity of the empire is more to be regarded than the accumulation of wealth. The question is not now how we may derive most advantage from our American colonies, but whether we are to keep possession of them. The sufferings of individuals are nothing, compared with the safety of the state." Government then had a majority of 304 to 105. Wedderburn's reckless advocacy may be conceived from the following account of his speech, when, after the affairs of Lexington and Bunker's Hill, regular hostilities had been carried on, and Mr. Fox moved for inquiry into the causes of the ill success of the British arms: "The Solicitor General 18 Parl. Hist. 233. |