CLXIV. flow of business, while he remained in a stuff gown. He CHAP. was employed, at intervals, in cases in which a "splash was to be made,—particularly where actors and authors were 1757-1760 the parties. Newspapers now began occasionally to notice cess till he trials of public interest, although there were no daily reports into poliplunged of "Law proceedings," and Wedderburn's name appeared tics. more frequently in print than that of others who, in truth, were going on much more steadily and successfully. Doctor Robertson, misled by this circumstance, in a visit he made to London in 1759, wrote as follows to his friend, Dr. Jardine:—" Wedderburn makes all the progress we could wish: Letter from even the door-keeper of the House of Peers tells me d-d clever fellow, and speaks devilish good English.' very morning he was retained in a Plantation cause, before burn's prothe Privy Council, which is a thing altogether extraordi- gress at the English nary for so young a man. You cannot imagine what odd bar. fellows his rivals are, and how far, and how fast, he is likely to go." he is a Dr. Robertson This mentioning residence in Eng- Wedder ing state of affairs mentary at end of the for parlia adventurers the latter reign of George II. But Wedderburn's fee-book did not present a flattering Unpromis result; there was little chance of his getting on at the bar by rising professional reputation, and he concluded that it was only through politics that he could hope for legal preferment. For the first three years of his land party struggles had entirely ceased, a division in either house of parliament in a whole session, and it seemed as if never again would there be any scope for adventure in courtiership or patriotism. To our keen-eyed Scotchman, however, "coming events cast their shadows before." George II., though in good health, had reached a great age. Lord Bute, on very intimate terms with the Princess Dowager of Wales, was supposed to enjoy a great influence over the heir-apparent to the throne, and had instilled into his mind principles of government which, when acted upon, were sure to bring about a complete change in the aspect of public affairs. The embryo minister had been a member of the "Select Society" at Edinburgh, and had taken much notice of our débutant from the time when he was called to the English bar, not only introducing him into fashion CHAP. CLXIV. A. D. 1760. Accession of George III. Sept. 27. 1760. March 25. 1761. May 2. 1762. Wedder burn sup Bute. able London society, but confidentially conversing with him respecting the plans and prospects of Leicester House. On the 25th of October, 1760, it was announced that the old king was no more, and a sudden joy was infused into the minds of all those who had looked forward with impatience to a new reign. The multitude believed that there would be no change in the public councils, and that Pitt, who had so raised the national glory, might continue to hold the reins of government as long as Sir Robert Walpole; but the initiated knew that a scheme had been laid not only to break down the Whig aristocracy, which for half a century had monopolised all the favours of the crown, but to encourage the doctrine of divine hereditary right, and to rule on the genuine Churchand-King maxims which had been thought incompatible with the title of the Hanoverian dynasty. The favourite's dependents enjoyed the satisfaction of seeing him first sworn a privy councillor, then made secretary of state, and, finally, placed at the head of the Treasury, and declared prime minister. Neither upon the present nor any subsequent turn of his fortune was Wedderburn at all troubled by political qualms,—and with an unclouded mind he ports Lord only considered what course was most for his own advantage. He belonged to a Whig race, and he would never in his own country join any of the clubs who, on their knees, drank to "the King over the water,”—although a majority of the advocates retained the same Jacobitical opinions which animated them when they so graciously received the medal from the Duchess of Gordon, with the motto "Suum cuique tribuito." He was now willing to think that not only was it improper to exclude one great party in the state from the participation of power and patronage, but that the right of the people to interfere in the affairs of government had been pushed to an inconvenient length from the necessity of guarding against a Popish ruler,—and that when protestantism was at last secure under a monarch who wished to show himself truly the "Defender of the Faith" by refusing civil privileges to all who did not belong to the established religion of the country, the time was come when popular licentiousness might be CHAP. CLXIV. repressed, and the people, ever incapable of governing themselves, might be governed by that prerogative which, for their benefit, God had bestowed upon his vicegerent the 1760-1763. King. He therefore professed himself a warm partisan of He is reLord Bute, and by his influence was returned to the House Parlia of Commons for the Rothsay and Inverary district of Scotch ment. burghs.* turned to extant of From the very defective account we have of parliamentary No account proceedings at this period, we are left in almost entire ig- his early norance of Wedderburn's early parliamentary career. We speeches. know that he was not only a steady voter, but that he was a frequent speaker in support of Lord Bute while that minister remained in office, and as long as there was any chance of his return to power. † He braved all the fury of the storm which burst out against his nation, and joined in the resolution that the "North Briton, No. 45., should be burnt by the hands of the common hangman." He had the mortification to see his friend and preceptor Macklin pandering to the passions of the English mob by bringing Sir Archy Macsarcasm and Sir Pertinax Macsycophant on the stage, with some touches of character which he was supposed to have taken from Wedderburn himself. It is said that he tried to Abuse of retaliate in the periodical publications of the day, and that he the Scotch. was particularly severe in exposing the irregularities of the profligate Churchill, who, in his "Prophecy of Famine," had with great felicity ridiculed the pride and poverty of the Scotch; but I have been unable to learn any particulars of Journals, 12th Parliament of Great Britain. †The only information I can find of any particular debate in which he took part, is in a letter signed Clio, published in the Morning Post in the year 1775:"He once entered the lists with Mr. Pitt, under Lord Bute's administration, upon the subject of general warrants, by producing one of that Minister's for seizing a ship. Wedderburn asked with great triumph if martial law existed on the river? Pitt, amidst a blaze of indignant eloquence, asked, if the great Statute of Treasons there existed? defended himself with becoming spirit, and ran down the Scotchman beyond the possibility of a reply." I know few finer efforts of imagination than his description of Scotland in the "Prophecy of Famine," beginning "Far as the eye could reach no tree was seen, CHAP. CLXIV. A. D. 1763. Character of Wedder burn in the Rosciad. Wedder burn ob gown. this warfare which he carried on, to justify the national motto"Nemo me impune lacessit."* There seems much probability in the story of his personal quarrel with Churchill, from the savage manner in which he is assailed in the "Rosciad:" "Roscius deceased, each high aspiring player Wedderburn is introduced to us as counsel for Murphy: "To mischief trained, e'en from his mother's womb, And reach the heights which honest men despise, Dull 'mongst the dullest, proudest of the proud, Guilt in his heart, and famine in his face, Stood forth; and thrice he waved his lily hand, And thrice he twirl'd his tye-thrice stroked his band ;- Men void of faith usurp faith's sacred name), • At friendship's call I come, by Murphy sent, Meanwhile Wedderburn reaped the first reward of his tains a silk party zeal by obtaining a silk gown-then a high distinction. He immediately communicated the good news to his mother at Edinburgh in the following letter, which shows the great difficulty he had to give the old lady a notion of the nature of his new office: "DEAR MAMMA, "Lincoln's Inn, Feby. 18th, 1763. † "You will not be sorry to hear that I have kissed his Majesty's hand for a preferment which the newspapers had bestowed upon me long ago. It is an honour which may be of considerable * Generally speaking, the Scotch in London at this time as little resented as provoked the persecution excited against them. The state of the public mind is described in a lively manner by Hume, in a letter to Robertson, dated 14th January, 1765. "The rage and prejudice of parties frighten me; and above all, this rage against the Scots, which is so dishonourable, and, indeed, so infamous to the English nation. We hear that it increases every day, without the least appearance of provocation on our part. It has frequently made me resolve never in my life to set foot on English ground." He had some time before transferred himself to Lincoln's Inn, for the convenience of occupying chambers there, and he was at this time elected a Bencher of that Society. service to me hereafter, though attended with no present profit. But it is what I wished for extremely, and I feel myself under the CHAP. CLXIV. highest obligations to the Chancellor for this instance of his pro- A. D. 1763. tection and goodness to me. "I can't very well explain to you the nature of my preferment, but it is what most people at the bar are very desirous of, and yet most people run a hazard of losing money by it. I can scarcely expect any advantage from it for some time equal to what I give up, and, notwithstanding, I am extremely happy, and esteem myself very fortunate in having obtained it. "I am sure it will give great pleasure to my aunt and you, to know of my having met with any good fortune-and I ever am, "Your dutiful and affectionate Son, AL. WEDDERBURN.' on the I now reach a passage of his history which shocks us His forray lawyers excessively, although its enormity may not be so Northern palpable to the "lay gents,"—the uninitiated. He had never circuit. yet gone any circuit, and no rule can be better established among us than that a barrister is not for the first time to join a circuit with a great professional reputation already acquired, whereby he may at once step into full business, and suddenly disturb vested rights. For this reason a barrister may only change his circuit once, and this must be done (if at all) while he is still "clothed in stuff." The penalty for the transgression of such a rule is, that the offender is excluded from the bar mess on the circuit, and although he cannot be prevented from appearing in Court and pleading a cause for any client who may employ him, no other barrister will hold a brief with him, and he is "sent to Coventry." The spirit, if not the letter of this law was now flagrantly broken by Wedderburn. Sir Fletcher Norton, long "the cock of the walk," had just left the Northern circuit on being made Attorney General, and had given up an immense quantity of business to be struggled for. There were various speculations as to the manner in which it would be distributed among his juniors, who had long been impatient for his death or promotion when the in Ross. MSS. |