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were renewed with additional force of eloquence on both sides. The Lord-chancellor Thurlow" wished to submit to their lordships the necessity of so amending the bill as to make it conformable to what its principle-if any principle it had pretended to be." His lordship then went into a long argument, in which he elaborately contended for the doctrines he had stated in the former debate on the second reading of the bill, justified the learned judges for the opinion they had delivered, and asserted that the bill would go out of the house a parliamentary condemnation of the opinions and rule of practice which they had entertained and acted upon in pursuance of the example of their ancestors. Lord Kenyon spoke on the same side. Lord Camden replied to both, and again contended with a spirit and zeal extraordinary in one of his age, that a jury had an undoubted right to form their verdict themselves according to their consciences, applying the law to the fact; if it were otherwise, he said, the first principle of the law of England would be defeated and overthrown. If the twelve judges were to assert the contrary again and again, his lordship declared he would deny it utterly, because every Englishman was to be tried by his country; and who was his country but his twelve peers, sworn to condemn or acquit according to their consciences? If the case were otherwise, and the opposite doctrine was to obtain, trial by jury would be a nominal trial,- -a mere form; for in fact the judge, and not the jury, would try the man; and for the truth of this argument, his lordship said he would contend for it to the latest hour of his life,-‘ Manibus pedibusque. The amendment moved by the lord-chancellor was rejected, and the rest of the bill gone through and agreed to without further amendment.

From the moment that the libel bill received the royal sanction, Camden never afterwards appeared in the house of lords. It was the climax of his political life, and he was contented himself with performing his duty as president of the council, which he regularly attended whenever his growing infirmities would permit him. About a year before his death he again solicited his sovereign for leave to resign; but as his lordship's mind was fully competent to the discharge of that high office, his majesty was graciously pleased to acquaint him, "That he claimed a continuation of his services whilst he was so well able to perform them." In this interval to the time of his death, every indulgence was shown him that was possible. Councils were often previously held at his house, and draughts of deliberations sent him down into the country, where he for the most part resided in the domestic enjoyments of his family, for whom he always manifested a truly parental and affectionate attachment. Finding his health visibly declining about the beginning of the year 1794, he removed from Camden-place in Kent -his country-seat--to his town residence in Hill-street, Berkeleysquare, where, more through the pressure of old age than any immediate disorder, he died at the advanced age of eighty-one, on Friday the 18th of April, 1794.

Lord Camden's character as a judge is utterly without impeachment. In his equal administration of justice, with his spirited and effectual condemnation of general warrants, his efforts in favour of the rights of election, his unceasing exertions in support of the rights of juries in cases of libel, particularly the last splendid exertion of his eloquence

on this subject, together with his uniform attachment to the constitution upon all occasions, every Englishman must acknowledge him the faithful guardian of their rights and liberties.

"His lordship's parliamentary abilities," says one of his contemporaries, "are unquestionable. In point of contrast to the last noble lord, he is by no means so great an orator in the strict sense of the word; but he is infinitely his superior in depth of reasoning, in logical definition, in the philosophical arrangement and separation of his ideas, and in his knowledge of the fundamental laws of this constitution. He never leaves those openings to his antagonists which eternally recur in the harangues of his learned and noble brother. He seldom addresses himself merely to the passions; and if he does, he always almost addresses them through the medium of true argument and sound logic. In fact, if he was to speak in an audience composed of men of talents and experience only, there is no man in either house would stand the least chance to contend with him for victory; but in merely driving or leading a herd, Lord Mansfield, Lord Chatham, and even Lord Lyttleton, are confessedly his superiors. In respect of delineation, Lord Camden is cool, deliberative, argumentative, and persuasive. He is fond of first principles; he argues closely, and never lets them out of his view; his volubility, choice of language, flowing of ideas, and of words to express them, are inexhaustible. The natural rights of the colonists, the privileges and immunities granted by charter,—and their representative rights as native subjects of the British empire,— are the substrata on which he erects all his arguments, and from whence he draws all his conclusions. His judgment is, if possible, still greater in debate than his mere powers of oratory as a public speaker. He either takes a part early in it, decides the question, or embarrasses his adversaries, or he waits till they have spent all their force, and rests his attack upon some latent or neglected point, overlooked or little attended to in the course of the debate. In fine, as Lord Mansfield is the greatest orator, so we do not hesitate to pronounce Camden by much the most able reasoner in either house of parliament. On the other hand, his lordship deals too much in first principles, denied or controverted by his adversaries, and seems more eager to convince the people of America, though at three thousand miles' distance, that they are right, than to persuade his noble auditory that they are wrong. Many of his speeches bear an inflammatory appearance."

In the circle of his friends, Lord Camden was pleasant, easy, and communicative, carefully avoiding the lawyer or the statesman. He was the intimate friend of Garrick, and frequently badinaged with that great actor. The following observation has been attributed to him :"Lord Mansfield has a way of saying 'It is a rule with me-an inviolable rule-never to hear a syllable said out of court about any cause, that either is, or is not, in the smallest degree likely to come before me.' Now I, for my part, could hear as many people as choose to talk to me about their causes; it would never make the slightest impression upon me."

The punishment of the stocks having been spoken lightly of by a barrister, on a trial at which he was presiding, he said, leaning over

Lord Mansfield.

the bench to the counsel, "Brother, were you ever in the stocks?" Being answered in the negative, he whispered, "Then I have; and can assure you it is by no means such a trifle as you have represented it." His lordship, it appears, when on a visit at Lord Dacre's, was walking near Alveley in Essex, with a gentleman, whom he requested to open the parish-stocks for him, that he might be enabled to judge of the nature of the punishment. Having done so, his companion, who was remarkable for absence of mind, walked on, occupied with a book, and the earl being unable to extricate himself, asked a countryman to release him. "No, no, old gentleman," quoth the rustic; " not set there for nothing."

Sir Edward Hughes.

DIED A. D. 1794.

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THIS officer entered the navy at an early age, and served as a mioshipman at the capture of Porto Bello with so much credit, that he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant on the 25th August, 1740. In 1747 he obtained the command of the Lark. In 1756 he was nominated to the Deal Castle, of twenty-four guns, and in 1757 became captain of the Somerset, a seventy-four, in which ship he continued until near the termination of the war. In 1758 he served in the successful expedition against Louisburg, under the direction of Admiral Boscawen, and afterwards in that against Quebec, under Sir Charles Saunders.

In 1770 Hughes was reappointed to the Somerset, and three years after proceeded in the Salisbury, of fifty guns, with the rank of commodore, to the East India station, where he remained until 1777. On the 23d of January, 1778, he was promoted to the rank of rear-admiral of the blue, and soon after received the insignia of a knight of the bath. Early in 1779 he became commander-in-chief on the East India station, and in his way out effected the reduction of the French settlement of Goree, on the coast of Africa. On the 7th of March, 1779, he was made rear-admiral of the red, and on the 26th of September, 1780, vice-admiral of the blue. In December, 1780, he attacked and destroyed the squadrons of Hyder Ali, in the ports of Calicut and Mangalore.

M. de Suffrein, one of the ablest naval officers in the French service, soon after arrived in India, for the purpose of opposing the force under Admiral Hughes. On the 15th of February, 1781, the French admiral was seen off Madras, having with him five or six prizes, which had been taken on his passage. On the 16th five of these, and one of the enemy's vessels with 300 soldiers, besides cannon, military stores, and ammunition on board, fell into the hands of the British. The two fleets neared each other on the succeeding day; but the English van not being able to tack and get into action for the want of wind, an unequal contest of three hours' duration ensued, between eight of the enemy's best ships and four of the British squadron, among which was the admiral's ship, the Superbe. Notwithstanding their superiority the French fleet sustained considerable damage, and, taking advantage of a favourable breeze, hauled their wind and stood away.

After having repaired two of his ships at Trincomalé, in Ceylon— which place he had just captured from the Dutch-the English admiral put to sea on the 4th of March, and on the 30th was joined by a reinforcement from England. The adverse fleets met again on the 12th of April, and, after a warm engagement, the enemy drew off. On the 20th of June, in the following year, Sir Edward Hughes, who had previously been joined by Admiral Bickerton with six ships of the line, again engaged his old antagonist, De Suffrein, who, after three hours' spirited fighting, bore away. On the 22d of the same month the two fleets were in sight of each other, off Pondicherry, but no action took place. Fifteen hundred of his men being rendered unfit for duty by the scurvy, Sir Edward Hughes now repaired to Madras; whence, peace having been proclaimed, he proceeded with the fleet to England, and did not afterwards assume any command.

On the 24th of September, 1787, he was promoted to the rank of vice-admiral of the red, and on the 1st of February, 1793, to that o admiral of the blue. He died at an advanced age, at his seat in Essex,

on the 17th of February, 1794.

Marshal Conway.

BORN A. D. 1720.-DIED a. D. 1795.

THIS accomplished and upright man was second son of the first lord Conway. He entered the army in 1740, and distinguished himself on several occasions by his personal prowess as well as military science. In 1741 he was returned to the Irish parliament for the county of Antrim, and, in the same year, to the British house of commons, for HighamFerrers.

In 1757 he was employed as second in command, under Sir John Mordaunt, in the Rochefort expedition. His advice, on this occasion, was that the place should be attacked, but Mordaunt did not act upon his recommendation. Towards the end of George the Second's reign, he was appointed groom of the bed-chamber, which post he continued to fill in the establishment of the new sovereign. In 1761 he commanded the British forces in Germany under Prince Ferdinand, in the absence of the marquess of Granby.

In the keen debate on general warrants, in the house of commons, towards the close of the year 1764, General Conway spoke and voted against ministers. This act of integrity cost him all his military employments; but the duke of Devonshire, in consequence of the disinterestedness and independence which General Conway displayed on this and other occasions, soon after bequeathed him a legacy of £5000. On the formation of the Rockingham administration, General Conway was appointed one of the secretaries of state, and filled that office, till 1768, in a manner which extorted the applause even of his political antagonists.

In the debates on American affairs, General Conway advocated the rights of the colonists with great ability and determination. He moved the repeal of the stamp act under circumstances which have been thus glowingly described by Burke, in his famous speech in 1774: “I will

do justice-I ought to do it-to the honourable gentleman who led us in this house (Conway). Far from the duplicity wickedly charged on him, he acted his part with alacrity and resolution. We all felt inspired by the example he gave us, down even to myself, the weakest in that phalanx. I declare for one, I knew well-enough-it could not be concealed from any body-the true state of things; but, in my life, I never came with so much spirits into this house. It was a time for a man to act in! We had powerful enemies, but we had faithful and determined friends, and a glorious cause. We had a great battle to fight, but we had the means of fighting; not as now, when our arms are tied behind us. We did fight that day, and conquer. I remember, Sir, with a melancholy pleasure, the situation of the honourable gentleman (Conway) who made the motion for the repeal, in that crisis when the whole trading interest of this empire, crammed into your lobbies, with a trembling and anxious expectation, waited, almost to a winter's return of light, their fate from your resolutions. When at length you had determined in their favour, and your doors thrown open, showed them the figure of their deliverer in the well-earned triumph of his important victory, from the whole of that grave multitude there arose an involuntary burst of gratitude and transport. They jumped upon him like children on a long absent father. They clung about him as captives about their redeemer. All England, all America, joined in his applause. Nor did he seem insensible to the best of all earthly rewards-the love and admiration of his fellow-citizens. Hope elevated and joy brightened his crest! I stood near him, and his face, to use the expression of the scripture of the first martyr, his face was as if it had been the face of an angel.' I do not know how others feel; but if I had stood in that situation, I never would have exchanged it for all that kings in their profusion could bestow. I did hope that that day's danger and honour would have been a bond to hold us all together for ever; but, alas! that, with other pleasing visions, is long since vanished."

In the session of 1782 General Conway introduced the motion which drove North from the premiership. He had already declared, in his place in parliament, that he would rather submit to the independence of America than persist in the prosecution of so pernicious and unjust a war. On the 22d of February, he moved "that an address should be presented, imploring his majesty that the war might be no longer pursued for the impracticable purpose of reducing the people of America by force." The motion was seconded by Lord John Cavendish, and opposed by Wellbore Ellis, the new secretary for the American department, who declared, "that it was now in contemplation to contract the scale of the war, and to prosecute hostilities by such means as were very dissimilar from the past. In order to obtain peace with America we must vanquish the French; and as in the late war, America had been said to be conquered in Germany, so in this America must be conquered in France. In the present circumstances," he continued, "the administration were conscious of the necessity of drawing into a narrow compass the operations of the American war,—a change of circumstances demanding a corresponding change of measures." motion was lost only by a single vote; and as a majority of the absent members were supposed to be adverse to ministry, it was thought expedient to bring the question again before the house in a different form.

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