287 "MY DEAR LORD, "I am most extremely concerned that you should have had the "I am, my dear Lord, ever, with great truth, "Starbleden, Friday night, 11 o'clock P. M., Aug. 30th, 1799." "MY DEAR LORD, "GEORGE P. "I arrived late last night here, and am very desirous, now that I have paid my respects to their Majesties, to have half an hour's conversation with you. Will you do me the favour of calling upon little before two o'clock this day, or shall I call upon you? assure you it is a matter of no choice to me; but if you are in the least apprehensive of the badness of the weather, I shall, with the greatest readiness and pleasure, wait upon you. me a I "I am, my dear Lord, CHAP. CLXXIII. A. D. 1799. Weymouth, Sept. 17th, 1799, "Very sincerely yours, "GEORGE P. half-past 12 P. M." * The controversy was never brought to a conclusion, and I am not aware that Lord Loughborough ever gave any opinion upon it beyond the wary saying recorded in the following extract of a letter to him from Lord Thurlow:-" The Prince expressed himself much gratified with your Lordship's opinion of him, That he could have no wish upon a question of law, but to know what the law is.'" † CHAP. CLXXIII. A. D. 1799. Marriage of the The Chancellor was likewise much occupied this year with negotiations in the royal family, arising out of the marriage of the Duke of Sussex with Lady Augusta Murray, and his papers contain an immense mass of correspondence on the subject. In justice to the Prince of Wales, of whom I cannot always speak so favourably, I am bound to say that he with Lady behaved on this occasion with kindness and generosity. I copy one short letter, which is creditable to both brothers. Duke of Augusta Murray. Lord Lough borough protects Sir James Mackin tosh against the Bench ers of in coln's Inn. "MY DEAR PRINCE OF WALES, My dear Prince of Wales, "AUGUSTUS FREDERICK." I am now to relate an affair which reflects much honour on Lord Loughborough, and (I am grieved to say) very little on a learned body to which I belong. Sir James Mackintosh, struck with the defective state of legal education in England, and particularly with the gross ignorance displayed by his brethren at the bar of the principles of general jurisprudence, proposed to give a course of lectures on "the Law of Nature and Nations," and asked the Benchers of Lincoln's Inn that he might have the use of their hall as a lecture-room. These venerable men, who had reached their present dignity without being required to do more than to eat a certain number of dinners in public, and whose principal occupation now was to order, for their own table, all the choice delicacies of the season, under the name of "exceedings"† were greatly *Rossl. MSS. At the Benchers' table there is supposed to be the same dinner as at the Students', and the same 66 commons" are actually put before them, but with the addition of any other dishes that any bencher may fancy. A lean student having complained to a fat old bencher of the starved condition of those who dined in 6 shocked by this proposed innovation, and being almost all blindly furious Antijacobins, trembled at the idea of the minds of the rising generation being poisoned by the author of the "Vindicia Gallicæ." While they were deliberating, there appeared, as a prospectus, the Preliminary Discourse, of which Thomas Campbell truly and beautifully said, "If Mackintosh had published nothing else than this Discourse,' he would have left a perfect monument of his intellectual strength and symmetry; and even supposing that that essay had been recovered only imperfect and mutilated—if but a score of its consecutive sentences could be shown, they would bear a testimony to his genius as decided as the bust of Theseus bears to Grecian art among the Elgin marbles." But if the Benchers of Lincoln's Inn read it through, they remained untouched even by the concluding sentence: "To discover one new link of that eternal chain by which the Author of the universe has bound together the happiness and the duty of his creatures, and indissolubly fastened their interests to each other, would fill my heart with more pleasure than all the fame with which the most ingenious paradox ever crowned the most ingenious sophist." The use of Lincoln's Inn Hall as the place where the eternal chain, with its new link, might be exhibited, was still refused.* Lord Loughborough, ashamed of his order, deemed it his duty to interfere. He had no direct jurisdiction on the subject, but, as head of the law, and himself a member of the Society, he thought that his advice would be listened to. In a letter circulated among the Benchers, after highly praising the "Preliminary Discourse," he said, "A lecture in the spirit of that Discourse would at all times be of great utility, and of much ornament to our profession. In times like the the lower part of the hall, received this answer: "I assure you, sir, we all fare alike we have the same commons with yourselves." The student replying, —“I can only say, we see pass by us very savoury dishes on their way to your table, of which we enjoy nothing but the smell." "Oh !" exclaimed the bencher, "I suppose you mean the exceedings,' but of these the law takes no cognizance." An eminent King's counsel being asked, "Whether he did not admire Mackintosh's character of Grotius?" — certainly one of the finest pieces of composition in our language, - answered by another question, "Who was Gro tius?" CHAP. CLXXIII. A. D. 1799. CLXXIII. present, it is capable of rendering great service to the cause of religion, morality, and civil policy." He then went on, in A. D. 1799. soothing and respectful terms, to express a hope that the resolution against the author, which had probably been adopted without a due knowledge of his intention, might be reconsidered.* Delusion as to Mr. Pitt's plan for paying off the national debt. This appeal was successful; and the lectures being given, it was hoped that the name of Mackintosh would be connected with a new era in the history of juridical study in England. "The novelty of the undertaking, the acknowledged abilities of the author, and his early fame acquired by the powerful support of opinions which it was known that the course of public events had induced him to modify, threw an interest over the execution of the design, that daily filled Lincoln's Inn Hall with an auditory such as never before was seen on a similar occasion. All classes were there represented; - lawyers, members of parliament, men of letters, and country gentlemen, crowded to hear him."† Lord Loughborough expressed deep regret that the discharge of his numerous public duties did not permit him to be of the number of the listeners, but he had full accounts brought to him of the lectures, and he was loud in their praise. Although the Chancellor now took so little part in the debates in the House of Lords, when the income tax was brought forward with a view to raise a large portion of the supplies within the year, he made a speech in support of it, chiefly remarkable for showing with what admiration Mr. Pitt's delusive scheme for paying off the national debt was still regarded. "It ought to be recollected," said he, "that the present Chancellor of the Exchequer, who has proposed this bill, is the very person who proposed and effe Mr. Pitt, always liberally inclined, at the same time wrote a private letter to Mackintosh, in which he said, "I cannot refuse myself the satisfaction of assuring you, that the plan you have marked out appears to me to promise more useful instruction and just reasoning on the principles of government than I have ever met with in any treatise on that subject." Life of Mackintosh, by his son, vol. i. 107. Mackintosh delivered two courses of lectures; but when he withdrew, the plan of reforming legal education was abandoned, and "we have still the sea to drink." CHAP. CLXXIII. tually supported the plan of annually setting aside a portion of the supplies to be applied in reduction of the national debt- a plan from which advantages so important have been a D. 1799. derived, that the country can never forget the gratitude it owes to the man whose genius prompted him to carry into execution a design so noble and so useful."* Lord Grenville cheered these sentiments, - although he afterwards demonstrated that the national debt was much greater, and much less likely to be redeemed, than if the sinking fund had never been established. 34 Parl. Hist. 207. |