1

I may refresh the recollection of the reader by copying a few of the passages in which the victorious libeler seeks to revenge himself on Lord Mansfield for the vain attempt to bring him to justice. Thus, in the letter to the Duke of Grafton, describing the destitute condition of his Grace's party, having said that "Charles Fox was yet in blossom," and that "Wedderburn had something about him which treachery could not trust, "-he observes, "Lord Mansfield shrinks from his principles; his ideas of government perhaps go farther than your own; but his heart disgraces the theory of his understanding." Commenting on Lord Mansfield's compliment to Lord Chatham for supporting the right of impressment, which he imputes to a design of injuring the great patriot, he says, He knew the doctrine was unpopular, and was eager to fix it upon the man who is the first object of his fear and detestation. The cunning Scotchman never speaks truth without a fraudulent design. In council he generally affects to take a moderate part. Besides his natural timidity, it makes part of his political pian never to be known to recommend violent measures. When the guards are called forth to murder their fellow-subjects, it is not by the ostensible advice of Lord Mansfield. Who attacks the liberty of the press? Lord Mansfield! Who invades the constitutional powers of juries? Lord Mansfield! Who was that judge who to save the King's brother, affirmed that a man of the first rank and quality, who obtains a verdict in a suit for criminal conversation, is entitled to no greater damages than the meanest mechanic? Lord Mansfield! Who is it makes Commissioners of the Great Seal? Lord Mansfield! Who is it frames a decree for these Commissioners deciding against Lord Chatham? Lord Mansfield! Compared to these enormities, his original attachment to the Pretender (to whom his dearest brother was confidential secretary) is a virtue of the first magnitude. But the hour of impeachment will come, and neither he nor Grafton shall escape me."

1 22d June, 1771.

Alluding to an absurd calumny that a wrong decision of the Lords Com. missioners about the Pynsant estate, aiterwards reversed in the House of Lords, was maliciously framed by Lord Man.1.eld,

5th October, 1771.

Then arose the grand controversy about Lord Mansfield's power to bail Eyre, charged with theft, in which JUNIUS was egregiously in the wrong-clearly showing that he was not a lawyer, his mistakes not being designedly made for disguise, but palpably proceeding from an ignorant man affecting knowledge. Thus he urges Lord Camden, whom he accuses of remissness, to prosecute and to punish the delinquent Judge: "When the contest turns upon the interpretations of the laws, you cannot, without a formal surrender of all your reputation, yield the post of honor even to Lord Chatham. Considering the situation and abilities of Lord Mansfield, I do not scruple to affirm, with the most solemn appeal to God for my sincerity, that, in my judgment, he is the worst and most dangerous man in the kingdom Thus far I have done my duty in endeavoring to bring him to punishment. But mine is an inferior ministerial office in the temple of justice. I have bound the victim and dragged him to the altar." '

There were many consultations between Lord Mansfield and his friends how these atrocious libels should be dealt with. Sir Fletcher Norton strongly recommended a prosecution, and even a summary application to commit the printer, and the author if he could be got at, for a contempt of court; but this advice was rejected, being supposed to be prompted by a desire to bring the party libeled into greater disgrace, so that he might be forced to resign, and that the adviser, who had for many years been impatient to be put on the bench (although he never accomplished his object), might succeed to the vacant Chief Justiceship. There appeared in the DAILY ADVERTISER a very able paper, signed ZENO, in defense of Lord Mansfield against all the charges JUNIUS had brought against him, which was supposed to have been written by Lord Mansfield himself; but it only drew forth a more scurrilous diatribe in the shape of a letter to ZENO from PHILO-JUNIUS,-and all hope of refuting or punishing him was abandoned as hopeless. At last "the great boar of the forest," who had gored the King and almost all his Court, and seemed to be more formidable than any" blatant beast," was conquered, not by * January, 1772.

the spear of a knight-errant, but by a little provender held out him, and he was sent to whet his tusks in a distant land.

This certainly was a very great deliverance for Lord Mansfield, who had long been afraid at breakfast to look into the DAILY ADVERTISER, lest he should find in it some new accusation, which he could neither passively submit to nor resent without discredit; and although he might call the mixture of bad law and tumid language poured out upon him ribaldry, it had an evident effect in encouraging his opponents in parliament, and in causing shakes of the head, shrugs of the shoulders, smiles and whispers in private society, which could not escape his notice.

CHAPTER XXXVII.

CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF LORD MANSFIELD 1ILL THE DEATH OF LORD CHATHAM.

T

HE excessive violence of the attacks upon Lord Mansfield by JUNIUS had made their effect more transitory, and they were gradually forgotten amidst a succession of stirring events at home and abroad. In the autumn of 1774 he paid a visit to Paris, where his nephew, Lord Stormont, had by his interest been. appointed ambassador, and had shown great energy in counteracting the intrigues of the Duke d'Aguillon for French aggrandisement. Louis XVI. had just commenced his inauspicious reign, and many other distinguished Englishmen had come over to witness the festivities in honor of his accession. Lord Mansfield was presented to the King, and to the young Queen, still"glittering like the morning star, full of life and splendor and joy." He was treated by both of them with marked civility; for his reputation as a great magistrate had spread over Europe, and his noble appearance and manners added to the interest which this had excited. Amidst the splendors of his receptions at Versailles, little did he think he should live to hear the tidings of Louis and Marie Antoinette losing their heads on the scaffold.

Now was the city of London convulsed by the dispute respecting the publication of parliamentary debates,-in the course of which the messenger of the House was committed to Newgate, and the Lord Mayor to the Tower. Events of stupendous magnitude were taking place in the East Indies, where a mercantile company, at first content with a store-house in which they might expose their wares to sale, had become masters of a

He was so much pleased with the recollection of this scene, that on his return he had his portrait painted in the costume which he then wore.

mighty empire. But it was America that chiefly absorbed the public attention. The scheme of taxing the colonies had been insanely resumed; Franklin had been insulted by Wedderburn; there had been riots at Boston; coercion had been tried in vain; a general spirit of resistance manifested itself from the St. Lawrence to the Mississippi, and civil war was impending. The paltry squabbles for place which had prevailed since the resignation of Lord Bute, till the appointment of Lord North as minister, were forgotten; and the leaders of all parties, animated by nobler thoughts, deliberated upon the measures by which a sinking state might be saved from perdition. Lord Mansfield resumed his position a political leader, and was again the chief organ of the Government in the House of Lords. Lord Bathurst, the Chancellor, seldom spoke, and never with effect. The other holders of office in the Upper House were Lord Sandwich, Lord Hillsborough, Lord Gower, and Lord Dartmouth, who were respectable in debate, but very inferior to the occupiers of the opposition bench, Lord Chatham, Lord Rockingham, Lord Camden, and Lord Shelburne. On the one side the only hope held out was from determination, vigor, and severity; while the other clung to gentleness, confidence, and conciliation, -without as yet for a moment admitting the possibility that the mother-country could be reduced to the necessity of renouncing her sovereignty over her transatlantic colonies.

The first occasion when Lord Mansfield appeared as leader in this memorable struggle was upon the motion to agree to a joint address of both Houses to the King "lamenting the disturbances which had broken out in the province of Massachusetts, beseeching his Majesty to take the most effectual measures for enforcing due obedience to the laws and the authority of the supreme legislature, and assuring him of their resolution to stand by him at the hazard of their lives and fortunes.'' The House of Lords having got into sad confusion, and the Government being in danger of discomfiture from the imbecility of the Lord Chancellor, the Chief Justice rose

118 Parl Hist. 223.