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ledge of particular laws required a particular study of them; that the greatest genius, without such study, could no more become master of them than of Japanese literature without understanding the language of the country; and that the writ of habeas corpus at common law was a sufficient remedy against all those abuses which this bill was supposed to rectify."' However, in a more enlightened age the bill was again introduced and received unanimous support in both Houses of Parlia ment.'

Lord Mansfield was now called upon for the first time to preside at a state trial; and as the case was clear, and popular feeling ran with the prosecution, he passed through it without censure, although in reality he was both prosecutor and judge. Dr. Hensey, a physician, had, since the commencement of the war, been in the pay of the French as a spy, receiving £100 a year. Our Government intercepted his letters, arrested him, seized his papers, and indicted him for high treason. His trial came on at the bar of the King's Bench before Lord Mansfield and the other judges of that court.

The evidence was entirely documentary, consisting of letters written to the prisoner from agents of the French Government, which were found in his bureau,-and letters written by him to these agents, which were intercepted in the General Post Office in London-showing that he was in the habit of giving information to the enemy of the sailing of our fleets, and that in telling them of our projected expedition against Rochfort, he advised them to prevent it by invading England. His counsel strongly objected that the papers found in his bureau, not being written by him, and possibly being disapproved of by him, were no evidence against him; and that the letters in evidence which he had written did not amount to an

115 Parl. Hist. 9ou. Horace Walpole says,-" He spoke for two hours and a half. His voice and manner, composed of harmonious solemnity, were the least graces of his speech. I am not averse to own, that I never heard so much argument, so much sense, or much oratory, united. His deviation into the abstruse minutiae of the law served but as a foil to the luminous parts of the oration. Perhaps it was the only speech which in my time had real effect, that is, convinced many persons; nor did I ever know how true a votary I was to liberty till I found I was not one of the number staggered by that speech."-Mem. Geo II., ii. 301.

55 Geo. III. c. 100.

overt act of treason any more than if they had remained in his bureau, as they were still in London when they came into the possession of the English Govern

ment:

"But Lord Mansfield said, that the papers found in the prisoner's bureau were clearly admissible evidence; it would be for the jury to say what weight was to be attached to them, and to consider how far the prisoner had repudiated them or acted upon them. The sendingoff by the post a letter communicating intelligence to the enemy in time of war, he held to be a clear overt act of high treason, although it never reached its destination, the crime charged in the indictment being the compassing of the King's death, which, according to all the authorities, was proved by writing and sending off a letter conveying intelligence to the King's enemies, whether or not it reached its destination."

The other judges concurring, the prisoner was found guilty, and the Chief Justice pronounced sentence of death upon him,-but he was afterwards pardoned, and there was reason to think that, as usual, he had acted as a spy on both sides.'

During the remainder of the reign of George II., Lord Mansfield did not appear before the public except in the ordinary discharge of his official duties. The House of Lords only met to adjourn-and when the King's grandson, the Prince of Wales, on coming of age, took his seat, and wished to try his powers of oratory in that assembly, it was found impossible to get up a debate for his maiden speech. Cabinets, when held, Lord Mansfield regularly attended, but they were very rare, and being chiefly for the consideration of domestic affairs, then of small importance, they attracted little notice." Mr. Secretary Pitt, the Prime Minister, discussed in his own bosom all measures respecting foreign policy and the conduct of the war, and communicated his resolu. tions only to the functionaries who were to carry them

1 19 St. Tr. 1342-1382; Harris's Life of Lord Hardwicke, iii. 170; Walp. Mem. Geo. II., ii. 309.

It is not very generally known, that both Lord Hardwicke and Lord Mansfield were cabinet ministers during Lord Chatham's first administration,

into execution.' Till the commencement of the new reign, Lord Mansfield's seat in the Cabinet was a mere honorary distinction. But from that era he acquired great political consequence, and for fifteen years to come there was probably no individual who more influenced the counsels of the nation both at home and abroad.

1 Not always even to them, for he would make the Lords of the Admiralty sign papers which they were not allowed to read.

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CHAPTER XXXVI.

CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF LORD MANSFIELD TILE

H

THE DISAPPEARANCE OF JUNIUS.

ITHERTO Lord Mansfield had always called himself a Whig, although entertaining and not disguising what are considered Tory principles; but now that on the accession of George III. there was to be a new distribution of parties, and that the Tory flag was openly hoisted by royalty, he rallied under it.

According to the construction put upon the Act of Settlement, which enacted that judges should hold their offices during good behavior instead of during pleasure, he might have been removed on the demise of the Crown; but he was joyfully reinstated, and he soon became a special favorite of the new sovereign. His party had always been opposed to Leicester House, and he had been looked upon with dislike by all its adherents, but no sooner did Lord Bute come forward with pretensions to be Prime Minister than there was a secret sympathy between them. They were countrymen, they equally cherished the doctrine of the divine right of kings, and they both hated Pitt. While Bute impatiently coveted the possession of Pitt's power, Murray enviously beheld the dazzling ascendency attained by the man whom he had often beaten since their poetical struggle at Oxford.

Without any quarrel with the falling minister, or formal treaty with his successor, the sagacious Chief Justice showed a growing coldness towards the one, and cordiality towards the other,-not concealing his satisfation when Lord Bute was made a Secretary of State in the room of Lord Holdernesse and was introduced into the Cabinet. At last the crisis arrived, and it was necessary to take a decided part either with the one or the other. Pitt was now obliged to bring forward great

measures in a very different fashion from that adopted by him at the end of the last reign. Having certain intelligence of the family alliance between the several branches of the House of Bourbon, he had formed a magnificent scheme of at once declaring war against Spain, sweeping the ocean of her ships, and conquering the richest of her colonies. There seems every reason to believe, that if promptly executed it would certainly have succeeded-but he was obliged to submit it to a cabinet. Mansfield took part with Bute, and the Great Commoner, being outvoted, declared that "he would not remain in a situation which made him responsible for measures he was no longer allowed to guide.' From that hour Lord Bute was considered Prime Minister, although it was some time before he could be placed at the head of the Treasury, from the adhesiveness of the Duke of Newcastle, who was willing to submit to any degradation rather than be driven to resign.

The new chief acted most cordially with Lord Mansfield, who had so essentially helped his elevation; and their proceedings were very prudent. Furious popular discontent was apprehended from the dismissal of the GREAT COMMONER, and even insurrections were talked of in the city of London and other great towns.

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'Hi motus animorum, atque hæc certamina tanta,
Pulveris exigui juctu compressa quiescunt."

They advised the King to offer him a pension and a peerage for his wife. The offer was accepted, and the same Gazette announced his resignation and the honors and rewards heaped upon him. For a space he not only ceased to be formidable, but was denounced by his former admirers as sordid and corrupt.' "Oh that foolishest of men!" cried Gray. "What!" exclaimed Horace Walpole, "to blast one's character for the sake of a paltry annuity and a long-necked peeress!" The tide ran so strong against the once GREAT COMMONER, that he was obliged to publish a letter addressed to his

"These," said Burke, "were the barriers that were opposed against that torrent of popular rage which it was apprehended would proceed from this resignation. And the truth is, they answered their end perfectly the torrent for some time was beaten back,-almost diverted into an opposite course."—Annual Register, 1761, p. 45.

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