YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY Bought with the income of the CHARLES B. FENNELL FUND SIR S. ROMILLY, K.C., M.P. From an enamel after a picture by Sir Thomas Lawrence. AN ACCOUNT OF The Life and Principles OF Sir Samuel Romilly, K,C„ M.P., H.M. SOLICITOR-GENERAL, 1806-1807, By CHARLES MILNER ATKINSON. A Stipendiary Magistrate for the City of Leeds, Assisted by JOHN EDWIN MITCHELL, of the Middle Temple, Barrister-at-Law. Dbebt : HoBsoN AND Son, Ltd., Market Place. 1920. "By 5g 2 1 Tr^- PREFACE. SOME twenty years after Romilly's death, there appeared three volumes of " Memoirs," edited by his sons. This publication contained copious extracts from a Diary which Romilly began to keep when nearly fifty years of age, together with a selection from his correspondence. It comprised also the text of two auto biographical "narratives," written respectively in 1796 and 1813, and embracing the first thirty-two years of his life. The " Memoirs " have been frequently quoted in the present work without the insertion of any precise reference : indeed, those three volumes necessarily constitute the main — almost the sole — source of supply for purely personal details, although the labours of Sir W. Collins and of Mr. H. Wagner, in this connection, deserve grateful recognition. The measure of success secured by Romilly's efforts in the direction of legal reform did not become apparent until he had been some years in the grave. But, as the lessons of history often prove of considerable practical value, an attempt has been made to elucidate the nature of the legal problems to the solution of which he devoted so large a part of his Parliamentary life. Most of the social and political questions which engrossed his attention presented themselves for decision towards, or shortly after, the close of the Napoleonic wars ; and it is interesting to note how many of them have again demanded public attention, in somewhat similar conditions, during the recent crisis in this country. The Editors of the " Memoirs " expressly disclaimed an intention of writing anything in the shape of a " Life," and it has, accordingly, been sought, in this book, to collate and interweave such references in contemporary and later writers as serve to shed further light on the various and varied aspects of Romilly's career. INDEX OF PERSONS. ABBOT, CHARLES (Baron Colchester): 60, 91, 174. ABINGER, LORD. See Scarlett. ADAM, WILLIAM: 127. ALISON, SIR ARCHIBALD: Cited 59, 61, 222 251 ALLEN, LANCELOT BAUGH: 12. ALTHORP, LORD (Third Earl Spencer) : 110, 203. ARDEN, LORD: 99, 170. ASAPH, DEAN OP ST. (Shipley) : 42. AUCKLAND, LORD. See Eden. BANKE8, GEORGE: 207. BANKES, HENRY: 99. BACON, LORD: 67, 167. BAREINGTON, SHUTE (Bishop ot Durham) : 69. 70. BATHURST, BRAGGE: 147, 161. BATHUEST, LORD : 23. BAYLEY, JUSTICE: 134. BAYNES, JOHN: 32, 33, 43, 44, 45. BEDFORD, DUKE OP: 192, 226. BELLINGHAM, JOHN : 166. BENNET, HON. H. G. : 162, 185, 206, 230. BENTHAM, JEREMY: 49, 67. 63, 68. 78. 104, 111, 119, 134, 166, 171, 174, 180, 213, 214, 226. BEST, SERGEANT (Lord Wynf ord) : 166. BEXLEY: See YaJisittart. BICKERS, S. Romilly's Clerk: 38, 39. BICKERSTETH, HENEY (Lord Lajigdale) : 226. BLOOMPIELD, BENJAMIN (Major- General) : 193. BONAPARTE: 61, 64, 123, 133, 184, 188, 139. BOOTLE, WILBRAHAM (Baron Skelmersdale) : 144. BOSTON. LORD: 23. BOUVBRIE, WILLIAM PLEYDELL. See Folkestone. BROUGHAM, LORD: 1, 11, 156, 170, 179, 184, 191, 213, 220, 222, 226, 228, 230. BULLEE, SIE FEANCIS : 41. BUEDETT, SIE PEANCIS: 85, 104, 126, 128, 129, 130, 136, 198, 206, 224. BURTON (Welsh Judge) : 106. BYRON, LORD: 28, 179, 185, 193, 224. CAMDEN, LORD: 18, 156. CAMPBELL, LORD: 93. CANNING, GEORGE: 92, 108, 115, 120, 138, 139, 155, 209. CAEOLINB, PEINCESS: See Princess ot Wales. C.4.ETWRIGHT, MAJOR: HI, 224. CASTLE (Mayor of Bristol) : 161, 162. CASTLEEEAGH, LORD (Second Marquis of Londonderry): 79, 108, 115, 125, 156, 158, 170, 175, 187, 190, 219. CAVENDISH, LORD GEOEGE : 192, 225. CHAMBRB, ME. JUSTICE: 134. CHESTER, BISHOP OP (Law): 154. CHRISTIAN, EDWAED : 33. CLANCARTY, LORD: 190. CLARKE, MRS.: 109. COBBETT'S ' WEEKLY REGISTER ' : 127. COCHRANE, LORD: 128, 198, 224. CODEEC, MONSIEUR: 8, 15. COCKBUEN, LORD : Cited 65, 56, 209. COLCHESTER, BARON. See Abbot. COLERIDGE, JOHN TAYLOR: 107. COLERIDGE (Bernard, Lord): 107. COLLINS, SIR WM. Cited 4. 7, 14, 15, 17, 19, 53, 59, 191. COPLEY, SERGEANT (Lord Lyndhurst) : 202. CRABBB, GEORGE: 224. CEEBVEY, THOMAS: 71, 72, 73, 78, 109. 141, 155. CEOMWELL, OLIVER. Cited 103. CUR WEN'S BILL: 79. DARTMOUTH, EARL OF: 82. DAVIS, HART: 161. DE LA HAIZE, PHILIP : 12. DELESSERT, MADAME: 31, 59. DIX, MAEY ANNE: 153. DOUGLAS, SIR JOHN: 75, 172, 174. DOUGLAS, LADY: 75. 76, 172, 174. DOUTHWAITE'S " GEAY'S INN": 18. DUDLEY, BATE : 173. DUMONT, ETIENNE : 28, 42, 45, 50, 53, 55, 58, 60, 108, 136, 174, 188, 213, 228. " Trait^s de Legislation " : 68, 104, 133. The " Courrier de Provence " : 50. ReooLlectiojis of Mirabeau: 2, 29, 48. DUNDAS, HENRY: See Melville. DUNNING, JOHN (Lord Ashburton). DUROVEEAY: 50. EDEN, SIR FRBDBEICK (Nephew of Wm. Eden: 68. BDEN, WILLIAM (Lord Auckland): 68, 133. ELDON, LORD: 69, 77, 99, 142, 143, 154, 169, 171, 179, 211, 229. ELLBNBOEOUGH, LORD: 76, 33, 92, 106, 114, 121, 154, 159, 179. 183. ELLIOT, SIR GILBERT (Lord Minto) : 41. 43, 62, VS. ELLIS, CHAELES : 116. ELTON, SIE .ABRAHAM: 161. BESKINB, LOED: 51, 63, 65, 76, 83, 113. FACQUIEE, MAEGARET: 5, 7, 10. FAZAKBRLEY, J. N.: 203. 228. FITZHBRBBRT, MRS. MARIA : 72, 73, 145. FITZ WILLIAM, SECOND EARL: 132, 201. FLACK. Teiioher of S. Romilly: 7, 8. FLUDYER, SIR SAMUEL: 9, 10. FOLKESTONE, LORD (Third Earl of Radnor) : 79, 115, 153, 204, 219. POX, CHARLES : 63, 71, 31 ,82, 88, 89, 90, 91. FRANKLIN, BENJAMIN: 33, 34. INDEX OF PERSONS.— rCon«nue Cautley and ® Hailstone " and *^^ Popple have been with us pretty constantly ; " ''') Mansell, the Momus of our Pantheon, supplies us as " liberally with puns as Harry Gordon, our Ganymede, with " his nectarean port. Alas ! poor Gordon ! for our Seniors, " the other day, thought proper to displace him, after Christ- " mas next, for an insult on some of their own body. We are " all unanimous and facetious and merry ; what can I say more?" And, indeed, the " Juniors " might well be merry ; they had special cause to be of good cheer, for they were engaged in a stimulating and notable struggle. Ten of them — Baynes, Cautley, Hailstone, and Popple being of the number — had presented a memorial, in effect censuring- certain of the Seniors for concerning themselves in the election of Fellows without having taken any part in the examinations. This was countered by a solemn admonition cautioning the Juniors to behave with more deference to their superiors. But Baynes and Popple appealed to the Crown as Visitor of the College, and on the suggestion of Lord Chancellor Thurlow, the admonition was withdrawn, while the Master (John Hinchcliff, the liberal-minded Bishop of Peterborough) insisted that, thenceforth, each of the electors to a fellowship should become bona fide an examiner.* Thus, in the result, the Juniors emerged triumphant from the contest ; but the death of Baynes had occurred three months before the appeal was finally disposed of by Lord Thurlow. On his return from the summer circuit of 1 788, Romilly, Paris accompanied by his friend Dumont, set out for France, pro- in 1788. posing to spend the greater part of the long vacation in that country. Paris was reached after a "delightful journey" through Normandy, by way of Dieppe and Rouen, and the state of public affairs in the French capital was found to be "highly interesting." A seething ferment stirred the city in every direction. Lomenie de Brienne had just been dis missed and Necker recalled to power. After an interval of more than a century and a half, a meeting of the States General had been announced for the following May : an event of happy auguiy that seemed to herald the dawn of a brighter day. (1) 2id Wrangler, 1777. (2) 2nd Wrangler, 1782 ; Woodwardian ProfesBOi of Geology, 1788-1818. (3) Senior Optime, 1778. (4) 1753-1820) Master ol Trinity, 1798; Bishop of Bristol, 1808. * Mont's "Life of Bentley," Vol. IL, p. 423; Cooper's "Annala of Cambridg«" (1352), Vol. IV., p. 424. 46 SAMUEL ROMILLY The Dawn of the Revolution. Count Mirabeau. But what were the functions to be assumed by the National Assembly? Were the three orders to vote separately? Qu'est-ce que le Tiers Etat7 Were its representatives to be limited to the same number as those of the Clergy or the Noblesse ? Armed with letters of introduction from Lord Lansdowne, the young Englishmen enjoyed frequent intercourse with a number of prominent citizens all deeply engrossed in the solu tion of these embarrassing problems. There were the Duke de la Rochefoucauld — the liberal Anglomaniac Duke, as Carlyle called him — and M. de Malesherbes, the Abbe Morellet,, M. de Lafayette, and many another interesting figure. Romilly also seized the opportunity to renew his acquaint ance vifith Mirabeau, passing "many hours in his captivating "society." "As to Count Mirabeau," said Lord Lans downe one day to Bentham, " I always looked upoii our "friend Romilly as a man of great honour and discretion; "' but I have always been astonished at his courage in risking " a connexion with such a man."* Lord Acton, § too, affirms that the horror which his life inspired made his genius' in efficient, and that the labours of the Assembly failed becaiise they deemed him too bad for power. Indeed, Dumontj in his record of this visit to Paris, represents Mirabeau's reputa tion as being then at such a low ebb that Romilly, alnjost ashamed of his former friendship, was very near refusing to renew their intimacy ; but the engaging Count, still in Dumont's eyes " the most interesting object " in the whble city, soon overcame these scruples and carried them both off to dinner. Before leaving Paris they dined on several othir occasions with Mirabeau — once it was at Vincennes, wha; he showed them the dungeon in which he had been immure 1 for three years. Romilly, as we have already seen, never sought to derr that there were defects in the Count's character : defect serious enough in all conscience, but altogether outweighel by his many excellent qualities. True, he was a notorioi* plagiarist ; but it was avarice, not poverty, that led him ti appropriate the wit and eloquence of others. As Carlylk said of him: Seldom had man such a talent for borrowing; the idea, the faculty of another man he could make his ; th f ? An Edinburgh Reviewer assigns Eomilly's "partiility" to MfrSi? (vSl 7T*p"'23'™' ^""^ ^''^ " f^^"''^ti°er mainers " of 5 " Lectures on' the French Revolution," p. 156. (MaoWillan, 1910.) FIRST YEARS AT THE BAR (1784-1791) 47 man himself {le could make his. " The fire-pan, the " kindling, the bitumen were his own ; but the lumber of " rags, old wood, and nameless combustible rubbish (for all " is fuel to him) was gathered from hucksters, and ass- " panniers, of every description under heaven. Whereby, " indeed, hucksters enough have been heard to exclaim : ' Out "'upon it, the fire is mine!'" Romilly acknowledged, too, that the Count was inordinately vain and unduly ambi tious, but maintains that his ambition was to act a noble part : lo secure the liberties of his country while, at the same time, establishing a limited monarchy on the English model. Again, it must be confessed that Mirabeau carried on a secret cor respondence with the Court, and probably accepted money from the King. " The gross immorality of such conduct I " am not disposed to justify or even to palliate," wrote Romilly ; " but," added his amiable apologist, " those who " believe that he suffered himself to be bribed to do what his " own heart and judgment condemned, and that unbribed he " would have acted a very different part, do him, in my "opinion, very great injustice." According to Carlyle, the great Frenchman was without Decalogue, Moral Code, or Theorem of any fixed sort, yet not without a " strong living soul in him and sincerity there"; " a Reality, not an Arti- 'ficiality, not a Sham": — "In fiery rough figure, with 'black Samson-locks under the slouch-hat, he steps along ' . . . . like a burning mountain he blazes heaven-high ; 'and for twenty-three resplendent months, pours out, in flame 'and molten fire-torrents, all that is in him, the Pharos and , Wonder-Sign of an amazed Europe : and then lies hollow, cold, forever : Pass on, thou questionable Gabriel Honore, the greatest of them all ; in the whole National Deputies, in the whole Nation, there is none like, and none second to thee." Even Lord Acton, who assails Mirabeau as odious " and " foredoomed to failure," allows that " he ' was yet the supreme figure of the time."* Romilly inspected the hospital of Salpetriere and the Notes prison of Bicetre and made some notes of his visits. These on the lotes he handed to Mirabeau, who translated them into Freiich gj'jjjjlg,'* in the course of a single day, and published the translation under the title of Lettre d'un Voyageur Anglais sur le Prison de Bicetre, adding some further observations suggested by Romilly's tract in reply to Madan. This pamphlet proved • " Lectnres on the French Revolution," p. 156. 48 SAMUEL ROMILLY Return to England. Delay at Boulogne. Attendance at Sessions. for the moment a great success : indeed, Dumont asserts that the profits " covered Mirabeau's expenses for a month "; but it was speedily suppressed by the police of the city. On his return to London, Romilly published in Vaughan's Repository his original notes relating to Bicetre — the " school of every crime " — representing them as being a mere trans lation from the French pamphlet. In Dumont's "Recollections of Mirabeau" we are assured that, during their stay in Paris, Romilly's society was much courted. Dumont describes his companion as displaying considerable activity, and yet as markedly quiet in manner and measured in his move ments : he was, says Dumont, a man who found leisure for everything, but did not lose even minutes, for, although, like the hand of a clock, he was never at rest, his motions were so equable and uniform as to be scarcely perceptible. After a long visit, " as instructive as it was amusing,,' the two friends quitted Paris in good time to enable Romilly to attend the Coventry and Warwick Sessions early in Octobbr : an object which he very nearly failed to achieve. So vioent a storm was raging in the Channel that it was found impos sible to embark, either at Calais or Boulogne. Detained W contrary winds which prevailed throughout a whole wei, the travellers were " imprisoned " in a miserable inn at Boulogne no less than six days, and " to add to our mortii- " cation, with the coast of England full in our view." Thet was no chance of putting to sea until the afternoon of Satut- day, the sixth day ; but by dint of travelling during the whoK of two nights, and hastening through London without evel waiting to unpack his trunks, Romilly reached Coventry bj mail coach at nine o'clock on Monday morning, just one houj before the sitting of the court. Punctilious as he was to put in an appearance at Quarte Sessions, which he continued to attend long after he hai acquired considerable business in the Courts of Chancery, h nevertheless looked upon the practice at Sessions and Assizei rather in the light of a useful exercise than as a source o pecuniary profit. It was, said he, "more for the sake of' _ cultivating the habit of addressing juries, of examining and I cross-examining witnesses, and exercising that presence of ^ mind which is so essential to a nisi prius advocate, and ' which I thought might be of great use to me in the higher "stations of the profession to which I began to aspire, than I on account of the emolument I might derive from it, that ' I remained on the circuit." FIRST YEARS AT THE BAR (1784-1791) 49 Ainong Romilly's closest friends at this period was George George Wilsoti, at one time leader of the Norfolk circuit. He is ^"^''" described as being over six feet high, and " a slave to the jeremy fashion," cold and reserved in bearing, but possessed of a Bentham warm heart and a clear understanding, full of the " tenderest sympathy " for the misfortunes of others. He was, more over, an eminent and excellent lawyer : " If judgeships were ' elective," wrote his friend, " and the Bar — that is, the ' men best able to estimate the qualifications of a candidate ' — were the electors, he would, by their almost unanimous ' suffrages, have been raised to the Bench." But he was a ' most determined whig." " If he had entertained political ' principles less liberal and less honourable to himself than 'he did," said Romilly to Sir James Mackintosh, on the occasion of Wilson's death in 1816, "he would probably ' never have seen men, far his inferiors in learning and talent, ' raised over his head to those honours which, of right, should ' have been his." So early as 1785, Romilly had made the acquaintance of Jeremy Bentham, whom he met on several occasions in George Wilson's chambers. "When I first " knew Romilly," said Bentham, " he was in Gray's Inn. " I remember calling on him and seeing there another inan's " puss, which excited my concupiscence. I always enjoyed " the society of tame animals. Wilson had the same taste — " so had Romilly, who himself kept a noble puss before he "came into great business. I never failed to pay it my re- " spects. Our love for pussies — our mutual, respect for " animals — was a bond of union." But soon after their first meeting, Bentham left England for a two years' sojourn in Russia, and the acquaintance did not ripen into intimacy until his return to this country in 1788. The author of the " Frag ment on Government " was then just forty years of age and occupied residential chambers in Lincoln's Inn, but it was not in the "dusky purlieus of the law" that he again met Romilly. It was at the house of their common friend. Lord Lansdowne : " Great was my surprise," said Bentham many years afterwards, " and a most agreeable surprise it was to " meet Romilly at Lord Lansdowne's table." In the spring of the year 1 789, the Count de Sarsfield wrote paper on from Paris asking for some book containing information as to Procedure the rules and procedure of the British House of Commons. Jj'^jf^®^, "There was no such book to be found, and, as Romilly deemed ^igjembly. it of supreme importance to France that the States should, at the outset, frame regulations to insure order and method in their debates, he undertook to prepare a statement, giving 50 SAMUEL ROMILLY The French Revolution. The Courrier de Provence, particulars of the procedure at that time obtaining in this country. Some corrections were made by his friend Gilbert Elliot — afterwards first Earl of Minto — who also submitted the paper to Ley, an assistant clerk of the House of Commons. The document was then despatched to de Sarsfield, who began to translate it into French but died before his task was accom plished. Cf. Bowring's "Bentham" : Vol. 10, p. 212. The work of translation was afterwards taken in hand, and completed by Mirabeau and Dumont. " Je dois ce travail," said Mirabeau, " entrepris uniquement pour la France, a un " Anglais qui, jeune encore, a merite une haute reputation, et " que ceux dont il est pariiculierement connu regardent comme " une des esperances de son pays." " It was never, however, " of the smallest use," wrote Romilly, " and no regard what- " ever was paid to it by the National Assembly, as the States " General were pleased, soon after their meeting, to call " themselves They did not adopt these rules, and "they hardly observed any others." The story goes that, when, at the opening of the States General, Mirabeau laid the paper before the Assembly, the deputies cried with one accord : Nous ne sommes pas des Anglais, et nous n aeons pas besoin des Anglais. " I am sure I need nqt tell you," wrote Romilly to Dumont on the 28th July, 1 789, a fortnight after the storming of the Bastille, " how much I have rejoiced at the Revolution which " has taken place. I think of nothing else, and please myself with endeavouring to guess at some of the important conse- " quences which must follow throughout Europe. .... It " will, perhaps, surprise you, but it is certainly true, that the " Revolution has produced a very sincere and a very general " joy here." Even at the University of Cambridge, one of the annual prizes for a Latin Essay was awarded to * John Whishaw, of Trinity (afterwards the executor under Romilly's will) for a dissertation maintaining that the French Revolution was likely to prove advantageous to Great Britain. In August of the same year, Romilly again paid a visit to France. Setting out immediately on his release from the circuit, he reached Paris shortly after the issue of the celebrated decrees of the 4th August abolishing all class privileges. On arriving at Versailles, he found Dumont and Duroveray living together and jointly engaged in conducting Le Courrier •Afterwards F.R.S. and Auditor of the Exchequer. Born in 1764, he was the son of Hugh Whishaw, of Chester, and was edn- P**??.,^* Macclesfield School. He was elected a scholar of Trinity m 1785. FIRST YEARS AT THE BAR (1784-1791) 51 de Projoence, a periodical which published accounts of the proceedings of the National Assembly. " Our principal care "in important discussions," wrote Dumont, " was to omit no " argument advanced by either party. It was an impartial summing up of the debate .... barring a few innocent " pleasantries, which served to amuse our readers, we never " indulged in personalities." Associating with these men, on terms of the closest intimacy, was Count Mirabeau, and the paper passed with the public as his production ; but Romilly attributed " all the good " done by it to Dumont arid Duroveray. Writing to Benjamin Vaughan, afterwards member for Calne, he says, " I believe it is no exaggeration " to say that all the good which Mirabeau has done was sug- " gested to him by -Dumont and Duroveray, and that they have "prevented him from doing nothing but what was mis- "chievous.." In a letter to Dumont, written on his return to London, Romilly mentions the Courrier as having become "very fashionable" there; and, though the booksellers charged half-a-guinea for a month's subscription, he found in one shop a list of forty-five subscribers, including the Duke of Portland, Lord Loughborough, and Mr. Grenville. Leaving Paris towards the end of September, 1789, so as to be able lo attend the Quarter Sessions, he confessed that he quitted the French capital with a much less favourable opinion of the state of public affairs than he had entertained on his arrival, six weeks before. And, writing to Dumont on the 20th October, he was forced to admit that the popular cause in France was finding less favour with the English : — " We begin to judge you with too much severity ; but the truth " is that you taught us to expect too much, and that we are " disappointed and chagrined at not seeing those expectations " fulfilled." Yet, in January, 1790, he still maintained that it was no longer possible, even for the most incredulous, to doubt the value and the success of the Revolution ; while, early in the same year, he published anonymously a short pamphlet in an approving strainj entitled Thoughts on the Probable Influence of the French Revolution in Great Britain. Nor did he stand alone in upholding an optimistic view ; for, despite Burke's passionate outbursts, Pitt declared that ' 'the present convulsions " in France must sooner or later culminate in general harmony " and regular order," and Romilly relates how, in September, 1790, Erskine, the virtual leader of the common-law_Bar, had just returned from Paris a pronounced democrat : — " He has ''had a coat made of the uniform of the Jacobins, with buttons 52 SAMUEL ROMILLY Death of Mirabeau. Massacres In Paris. "bearing the inscription Vivre libre ou mourir, and he, says " he intends wearing it in the House of Commons." Writing in the Edinburgh Review more than a quarter of a century later, Romilly refers to these early days of the Revolution as a period "when every generous and enlightened mind looked " forward with sanguine hopes to the blessings that seemed " dawning upon mankind, and when the National Assembly ' ' was in possession of means of improving the human condi- " tion, such as never before was commanded by any assembly " of men." On Saturday, the 2nd April, 1791, Mirabeau died. "One can say," declares Carlyle, "that had Mirabeau " lived, the history of France and of the world had been " different. Further that the man would have needed, as few " men ever did, the whole compass of that same Art of " Daring, Art d'Oser, which he so prized ; and likewise that "he, above all men then living, would have practised and *' manifested it Had Mirabeau lived one other "year!" Thirteen months after the death of Mirabeau, Romilly was still convinced that, notwithstanding the misery that had resulted, the Revolution was a " most glorious "event"; its evils were transitory, the good effects would endure for all time. While condemning the mischievous decrees of the National Assembly, he recalled a saying that he once heard fall from the lips of Charles Fox : — "A Parliament, however ill it "may be constituted, is better than none at all — even if it were to consist of the first five hundred men who should be " met passing in a certain street at a certain hour." But a few months later, shortly after the September massacres in Paris, we find him writing to Dumont : " How could we ever be so deceived in the character of the French " nation as to think them capable of liberty ! wretches, who, " after all their professions and boasts about liberty and " patriotism and courage at the very moment when their country is invaded and an enemy is marching through "it unresisted, employ whole days in murdering women and " priests and prisoners ! " In the evening of the day on which this letter was written, he dined with Bentham and, during the course of the dinner, one of the guests, M. de Liancourt — Carlyle's other " liberal Anglomaniac Duke," for whom Romilly had a special liking and regard — received news of the horrible death of their friend the Duke de la Rochefou cauld. The cruel treatment meted out to the Catholic priests was peculiarly revolting to Romilly's feelings ; for his FIRST YEARS AT THE BAR (1784-1791) 53 repugnance to religious persecution did not, as is too often the case, depend upon personal sympathy with the tenets of the persecuted. So, too, wrote Lord Lansdowne, on 8th October, 1792 : "I pity the French very sincerely, particu- " larly the clergy ; but, after all, those who have any elevation of mind cannot be considered in such a desperate situation '' . . . . The clergy have no families; the harshness under ' I which they suffer gives a dignity to their deportment, if they know how to assume it, and certainly no small degree of interest. I am sure there is not a priest among them who " will be half so miserable as the Duke of Brunswick, if he " continues to have the worst of the campaign." Even Dumont could no longer defend the conduct of the revolutionists : — " Je ne veux extenuer des horreurs qui font " chanceler tous mes principes." Yet he had a word to say in mitigation : — " Mais je cherche a voir ce qui est ; c'est que, "si les peuples sont feroces, les despotes ne le sont pas moins. " Comptez les personnes qui ont ete en Pologne les victimes " d'une seule femme (Catharine II.) Pensez a " Louis XIV.'' In the year 1792 there appeared a small octavo volume Letters printed by Johnson of St. Paul's Churchyard and entitled, on the Letters containing an account of the late revolution in France, ^[^^."'."^^ and observations on the laws, manners, and institutions of the English, written during the author's residence at Paris in the years 1 789-90 : Translated from the German of Henry Frederic Groenvelt." The book was, in fact, a compilation of certain letters written by Romilly himself, some others translated by him from the French of Dumont, and one *No. 23) written by James Scarlett (afterwards Lord Abinger). These letters, observes §Sir Wm. Collins, con stitute " a slashing contemporary indictment of the civil and criminal law and of the Constitution of England in the " eighteenth century "; it is not siu-prising to learn from Sir William that Romilly afterwards " destroyed every copy he " could lay his hands on." It is said that he retained a single copy, which, after his death, passed into the possession of Scarlett. Revolution. * Described in Nat. Diet, of Biog. as " an ironical note appended, I Op. cit. p. 17. Chapter IV. Removal ta Lincoln's inn. Large Increase ol Praetice. SUCCESS IN THE COURTS OF CHANCERY (1791-1805). Removal to Lincoln's Inn. — Visit to Edinburgh.— DuGALD Stewart. — Narrative of Early Life (1796).— Visits to Bowood.— Anne GARBEfT.— Marriage.— Rapid Rise at the Bar. — His Advo cacy. — Paris in 1802. — Reflections on the Duties and Opportunities of a Lord Chancellor.— Becomes Chancellor of the County Palatine of Durham. At the close of the long vacation of 1791, there came a removal from the old rooms in Gray's Inn to a set of cham bers in New Square (No. 2), Lincoln's Inn ; but this change, prompted solely by professional considerations, was, in no wise, to Romilly's liking. His windows no longer looked upon a delightful garden ; he was faced by a dismal row of houses, and, in whichever direction he cast his eyes, there was, he complained, nothing to be seen save scattered groups of barristers and attorneys. This enforced migration he deplored as another of the many sacrifices demanded by his profession, to which nothing but "inevitable necessity" would have constrained him to submit : a profession, too, wrote he, "which I every day feel more and more unfit for, and " which I dislike the more, the more I meet with success " in it." He describes himself as being overloaded with business, and engrossed in the most " insipid and uninteresting " occu pations. Indeed, his practice was, at this time, increasing very rapidly and, when, early in 1792, Lord Lansdowne offered him a seat in Parliament, the pressure of professional work compelled him to decline the proposal, and the vacant seat at Calne was filled by his intransigent friend Benjamin Vaughan, who, two years later, found it prudent to depart Success in the Courts of Chancery (1791-1805). 55 this realm and take up his quarters in Paris. " You would " perhaps set some value on this letter," he writes to Dumont in November, 1793, " if you knew how many things I have "to do and what excuses I must make to-morrow to some "stupid attorney for having devoted to you the time which " I ought to employ upon a Bill in Chancery." But, despite the heavy claims made upon him by his profession, he managed to follow with close attention the march of political events in France, while the movement for the abolition of the slave trade aroused in him the deepest interest. " One of the most re- " markable things about Romilly," observed William Wilber force, "was that, though he had such an immense quantity ' of business, he always seemed an idle man. If you had ' not known who and what he was, you would have said ' he's ' a remarkably gentlemanlike pleasant man ; I suppose, poor ' fellow, he has no business, for he would stand at the bar ' of the House and chat with you, and talk over the last ' novel, with which he was as well acquainted as if he had ' nothing else to think about." During the autumn of 1 793, a professional engagement Visit to took him to Edinburgh, where he moved amongst lawyers and Edinburgh, men of letters, enjoying every day " dinner and supper parties g,"^,.t " in a very excellent society." He there saw a good deal of Dugald Stewart (1753-1828), who was at that time passing through the Press his " Account of the Life and Writings of "Adam Smith," which had been read, in the early part of the year, at meetings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. The first two volumes of his "Philosophy of the Human Mind " had been published in 1792. Four years before his visit to Edinburgh, Romilly had met Stewart at the table of Beiijamin Vaughan, and always paid great homage to his conspicuous talents, while esteeming him also for the " qualities of his "heart." Lord Cockburn,* who, in 1793, was a student attending Stewart's classes in the University, ascribes to him " an unimpeachable taste, an imagination imbued with poetry, " and oratory, liberality of opinion, and the loftiest morality. The impression made on Romilly's mind by the Scotch capital and its inhabitants was altogether favourable : — He admired the rich, highly-cultivated, and well-wooded country lying around the city, with the sea and the mountains beyond; indeed, he found nothing lacking but a genial climate to make it the most admirable of all towns in which to pass one's life. Every- * " Memorials of hia Time," p. 2J. 56 SAMUEL ROMILLY Prosecution of Thomas Muir. Travelling in Scotland. Narrativeof Early Life, 1796. thing that he saw pleased him, save only the persons of the women in the lower ranks, who were, he maintained, ' cer- " tainly very plain." But he was shocked at the mode in which justice was administered in this admirable city : the procedure of the criminal courts he characterised as "detestable." It so chanced that an able young advocate, Thomas Muir, was, at this time, being tried for sedition. His sole offence, says J. R. Green, was an advocacy of Parliamentary reform ; he was charged with using language which, as Lord Campbell put it, would, in the years 1831 and 1832, " have been considered " tame and conservative." Romilly was present in court throughout the two days that the shameful trial lasted, and the conduct of the judges during the enquiry afforded a revolting exhibition of injustice and brutality such as has rarely disgraced the tribunals of any civilised community. Muir was con demned to fourteen years' transportation ; and so general was the panic that marked the earlier stages of the war with France, that *Braxfield, the coarse and harsh, yet dexterous ruffian who presided — ^to adopt Lord Cockburn's epithets — secured, for his odious services at the trial, the congratulations of William Pitt! Leaving Edinburgh, and travelling by way of Linlithgow and Falkirk, past the ironworks of Carron, Romilly journeyed to Stirling, and thence to Loch Lomond. At Stirling he noted with approval a quaint inscription upon some almshouses, recently founded by a tailor who had amassed a considerable fortune : it concluded thus : — " Forget not, reader, that the " shears of this man do more honour to human nature than the " swords of conquerors." The traveller expressed his pro found astonishment at the richness and high cultivation of the " calumniated country" through which he was passing ; and, writing to Dumont from an inn by the shores of Loch Lomond, he deplores that a storm of rain was spreading a watery veil between him and one of the most beautiful views ' ' human eyes " had ever seen." When the long vacation came round, Romilly would often remain in town, reading history or light literature with impartial assiduity : Mitford's Greece, then in course of publication, or one of Charlotte Smith's novels, "Emmeline," " Celestina " or " Desmond." The evening was generally passed on the ? Robert Maoqueen (1722-1799), Lord Braxfield ; lord justice clerk, 1788; pourtrayed by R. L. Stevenson in "Weir of Hermiston" {Edn. of 1897, Yol. 7, p. 300). Success in the Courts of Chancery (1791-1805). 57 banks of the Thames or at Kensington. It was during the month of August, 1796, after the courts had risen, that he wrote the narrative of his early life (1757-1778), which appears in the first volume of the "Memoirs" (pp. 1-39). Sometimes he would spend a week in the neighbourhood of Richmond ; sometimes Dumont would tempt him to share lodgings at Worthing or Hastings, provided always that the two could dine tete-a-tete, for he had an absurd and unaccount able aversion from dining in general company. " If I under- " stood that I must dine either with boarders in a house, or " even in the public room of a coffee-house, it would," he wrote, " be quite decisive with me not to set foot in " Worthing." But the pleasure that, far beyond all others, relieved and Visits to brightened this period of his life was the visit, in September, Sowood. to Lord Lansdowne's hospitable mansion at Bowood, where he usually passed some weeks on his way to Warwick Sessions. Many were the friendships he formed there, and many were the happy days he spent in the society of the enlightened and engaging guests whom Lord Lansdowne gathered round him. " I only wish you to like Bowood half as well as Bowood likes " you," wrote his genial host after a visit in 1792 ; while the ladies of the house told Bentham that his friend had ' ' suc- " ceeded beyond expression." "O rare Mr. Romilly!" exclaimed Bentham, " what a happy thing it is to ' succeed beyond expression " where a man would wish beyond expres- " sion to succeed !" But, in later years, a special and enduring charm bound Anne Romilly to Bowood : it was there, in the autumn of 1 796, that Carbett. he first saw Anne Garbett, his future wife. During the annual visit of that year, he wooed and won his " dearest Anne," as she is styled throughout his Diary. Twenty years afterwards, and not many months before the day when the grave closed on both of them, he declared that to her alone he owed all the many and exquisite enjoyments of domestic life ; nay, more ! even his extraordinary success in his profession, the labour of which he could never have endured had he not been cheered and exhilarated by her beloved society. When first they met, she was in her twenty-third year, and, with her father and younger sisters, had been staying for some weeks at Lord Lansdowne's — the day fixed for her departure being the eve of that on which Romilly was to arrive. By some happy accident, she had joined an " equestrian party " to visit a landmark, in the form of a white horse grotesquely cut out upon the downs, and situate several miles from the house. 58. SAMUEL ROMILLY Marriage withAnneCarbett. Overheated by the ride, she contracted a severe chill and was detained several days beyond the date originally fixed for leav ing Bowood. In the meantime Romilly arrived, and, writing nearly twenty years after their marriage, he thus describes the impression made upon him : — " I saw in her the most beautiful "and accomplished creature that ever blessed the sight and " understanding of man. A most intelligent mind, an uncom- " monly correct judgment, a lively imagination, a cheerful dis- " position, a noble and generous way of thinking, an elevation " and heroism of character, and a warmth and tenderness of " affection such as is rarely found even in her sex, were among " her extraordinary endowments. I was captivated alike by " the beauties of her person and the charms of her mind." Without accepting as conclusive this and many another glowing tribute couched in Romilly's copious and effusive rhetoric, there is abundant independent evidence that his wife was a woman of great personal charm. Lord Minto vouches for her beauty ; and Bentham, while suggesting that the Bowood ladies spoke slightingly of her mental faculties, confesses that she always seemed to him to be of an understanding both " strong and " sound." Her father, Francis Garbett, was a man of sub stance living at Knill Court, in the county of Hereford, and came of a Quaker family. Her grandfather, according to Bentham, carried on business at Birmingham as a manufacturer of oil of vitriol.* : — " There came a man from Birmingham " — a man of great eminence whom Lord Lansdowne had sent " for to get all manner of details in relation to some branch "of political economy. He was, I believe, the grandfather "of Lady Romilly." The marriage, which took place on the 3rd January, 1798,t seems to have occasioned some surprise among Romilly's friends, to very few of whom had he confided the secret of his engagement. Three days after the event, Dumont writes from Kensington : — " On est tres-impatient et tres- curieux de voir la personne qui vous a fait passer sous le " joug ; parcequ on sait bien, avec les sentiments qu on a *Th6 Birmingham Directory for 1777 contained an entry: ' Garbett Sam, Chymist and Refiner. Steelhovise Lane." TThe Rector of Knill (the Rev. Montagu Scott) kindly showed to the writers the entry in the Marriage Register, above the signa tures of the contracting parties: — " Samuel Romilly of Lincoln's " Inn in the County of Middlesex, in the Diocese of London, Esquire, " a Bachelor, and Anne Garbett of Knill Court in the County of " Hereford and Diocese of Hereford, a Spinster, and married in the " Church of Knill, by Licence, this 3rd day of January, 1798. By " me, Richard Williams, Curate. In the presence ot Francis " Garbett, H. Harley, F. Harley, S. Garbett. John Garbett." KNILL CHURCH, HEREFORDSHIRE. The Burial Place of Romilly. Success in the Courts of Chancery (1791-1805). 59 •pour vous, que cela n'a pas pu se faire avec un merite com- " mun." In a letter of the 8th January, Manners-Sutton — now become a Welsh judge — says : — "I think marriage must create a new interest in your mind in the situation of public " affairs, and in some way or other give the country the advan- " tage of an understanding which I never thought much inferior " to that of the ablest man in it." A month later, Romilly writes to the daughter of Madame Delessert : — " I remember " telling you some time ago that I was unmarried, and likely " to remain so ; but I did not at that time know that such a " woman, as I have now the supreme happiness of having for " my wife, existed." In the narrative which he wrote in 1813, his life before marriage is depicted as " wasting away " with few lively enjoyments. There was, in those days, no prospect of his leaving any trace by which, when he had been dead twenty years, it could be known that he had ever lived. But the union with a woman whose " intellectual perfections " were graced and adorned by " the most splendid beauty that "human eyes ever beheld," wrought a mighty change. He was at once transported into realms of unspeakable rapture ; his happiness "the constant study of the most excellent of " wives." Indeed, the pages of his diary abound in expres sions of deep gratitude for the good fortune that so constantly attended him. Yet they display, here and there, a foreboding sense of sorrow, for he could never wholly banish the presage of coming evil. In a mind so exquisitely attuned as his, some alloy of apprehensive fear is sure to mingle with the most " sober certainty of waking bliss." Impressionable comme une femme, writes Sir Archibald Alison, might be taid with not less truth of Romilly than of Lamartine in after days. (History of Europe, Vol. I., p. 356.) Romilly and his wife established themselves at No. 54, ""•''*" Gower Street,* and, in the autumn of 1 798 a son was born to them. In the long vacation of the following year, " little " William " is described as improving every day, walking already, full of joy and laughter ; everybody that saw him was surprised that " so healthy and strong a child should have been nursed in London." * "At my suggestion," writes Sir Wm. Collins. " the London "County Council proposed to indicate by a medallion that Sir "Samuel Romilly lived at this house. The Duke of Bedford, on " learning of the proposal, caused a bronze tablet to be put up. When this house was demolished, the bronze tablet was, at the instance of Sir Wm. Collins, placed, by the Duke of Bedford, on U. Enssell Square, where Romilly afterwards lived and died. 60 SAMUEL ROMILLY " Sandford andMerton." Romilly takes Silli. Ceases t* "Answer 'Jases." Evert in that early stage, Dumont was propounding views on education, and advising the mother not to allow Day's " Sandford and Merton " — the last volume of which had been published ten years before — to be read until the boy had reached the age of fifteen. It seems that this story throws " a sort of odium upon the higher ranks of society by always " making the little farmer play the good part, and the little " gentleman the bad one." To Dumont, the book appeared to be in the nature of a satire ; he disapproved the adminis tration of sauce piquante, and asked " et ce contraste continuel " entre les deux est-il sans danger? On conviendra qu'il ne " seroit pas trop bon entre les mains des petits fermiers ; je " conviendrai qu'il seroit moins mauvais entre les maines des " petits ' gentlemen ' exclusivement." Romilly's practice as an advocate was, at this period, in creasing very rapidly : he speaks of himself as often ' ' spending " nine or ten hours of the day in a crowded court of justice." On the 6th of November, 1800, he took silk, and, in 1803, became Treasurer of Gray's Inn. Writing on 3rd September, 1802, to Charles Abbot, afterwards Speaker of the House of Commons, Bentham observed : — " You probably know better than I whether, for some time past, he (Romilly) has not " been by far the first man in the Court of Chancery." He was, indeed, so deeply engrossed in business that, during the winter, spring, and early summer he enjoyed little or no leisure. After a few years he declined, so far as possible, the giving of " opinions " — " answering cases " as it was then called — otherwise he would have found himself fully occupied even in the vacations, and occupied, too, in a manner which he describes as being "extremely disagreeable" to him. "It "is so important that one's opinion should be right (for in " many cases it has the effect of a decision to the parties, and " in others it involves them in expensive litigation) ; and at " the same time it is so difficult, in the state of uncertainty " which the law is in, to satisfy one's mind upon many ques- " tions put to one ; and, in many cases, it must depend so " much upon the particular mode of thinking of the judge " before whom the question may happen to be brought, what " the decision will be, that I have long found this to be the "most irksome part of my profession." But, although his labours were thus materially lightened, he was, not even on Sunday, free from professional engagements. Writing on the 19th August, 1822, to his brother-in-law James Stephen, Wilberforce recalled Stephen's early endeavours to prevail SAMUEL ROMILLY. Success in the Courts of Chancery (1791-1805). 61 on lawyers to give up Sunday consultations, " in which poor " Romilly would not concur." " If he had suffered his mind "to enjoy such occasional remissions," added Wilberforce, "it is highly probable the strings would never have snapped " as they did from overtension."* At the Bar, Romilly spoke with great persuasive force ; """"'"y's and it is said that, even when engaged in quite ordinary busi ness, he exhibited peculiar grace and ease, coupled with an urbane and modest suavity that won the hearts of all his hearers. He is described by a lawyer, who often heard him in court, as somewhat apathetic in manner, resting his hands upon his upright brief, with downcast looks and a tinge of melancholy in his countenance. His Parliamentary style was wholly different : in the House of Commons he stood erect, spoke in animated tones, and displayed considerable energy in manner and action. He took very few notes, and his argu ments were generally rested on broad grounds of public policy. Charles Long (afterwards Lord Farnborough), a political adversary, who was, according to Brougham, the most experi enced and correct observer among the Parliamentary men of his time, declared that he was never away from his seat in the House while Romilly spoke without finding that he had cause to lament his absence, f But it would seem that his great influence as a speaker, whether at the Bar or in Parlia ment, must be ascribed in large measure to personal charm ; for, although his matter was usually weighty and well-arranged and his words well-chosen, the style was careless and diffuse rather than crisp or concise, and it would be difficult to find in his writings or recorded speeches a single sentence that could rank as an epigram. The early years of Romilly's married life were times of Political great political excitement ; and, for two hours each morning, ^g^jj' the busy barrister found himself occupied with military exer cises which had become " the business of everybody," for the Directory was urging Bonaparte to attack this country. Nor were the anxieties confined to our foreign relations. In July, 1800, wheat had risen to over 134 shillings a quarter, and the scarcity and high price of provisions pressed hardly upon the people. * See port p. 186. Curiously enough. Sir Archibald Alison represents Romilly as a strict Sabbatarian : " he never allowed labour to inter- "' fere with the appointed seventh day of rest." IBmory of Europe, Vol. I. (1815-1819), p. 356.) t Brougham's " Historical Statesmen," Vol. I., p. 367. 62 SAMUEL ROMILLY Position In Society. Widespread distress led to much rioting and civil commo tion, and, in Romilly's view, London was almost the only place where the rioters were not triumphant ; for, while the disturbances in the provinces were generally repressed without much difficulty by armed force, yet the price of the necessaries of life was, for the time being, lowered, and so the insurgents " carried their point." " The poor mis guided wretches who engage in these riots are," he wrote, ' greatly to be pitied Great pains have been taken ' by persons in high authority to persuade them that what they ' suffer is not to be ascribed to those natural causes which ' were obvious to their senses, but to the frauds and rapicious- ' ness of the dealers in provisions. They are told that there ' are severe laws in force against these crimes, and yet that ' the crimes are everywhere committed ; it is clear, therefore, ' that no justice is done for the people until they do it for ' themselves. Then, indeed, resolutions are entered into, ' which the persons who make them admit to have been neces- ' sary, but which they never thought of entering into while ' they only saw their poor neighbours starving around them, ' and till the moment arrived when their own barns were about ' to be burnt, and their houses to be pulled down over their ' heads. Certainly a poor man, who, actuated by such con- ' siderations, has the courage to expose himself and his family ' to ruin for the public good, acts most meritoriously, though ' the men who have contributed most to mislead him, will be ' the first to send him without pity to the gallows." At the beginning of the nineteenth century, Romilly's position in social circles had become as well-assured as his standing in the legal world. In December, 1802, Lord Minto writes of a dinner at Gaily Knight's : " The principal " personage was Mr. Romilly, whom you may remember my " liking very much as a friend of Mirabeau's." Lord Minto goes on to refer to him as universally respected and remarkably pleasing as well as able : " bidding as fair for Chancellor as " anybody at the Bar." Francis Horner tells of the advice he received, " particularly from Mr. Romilly," to practice in the Chancery Courts, seeing that the King's' Bench was quite over-stocked. He relates how, dining at the " Crown and Anchor " in the Strand, be discovered, amidst a distin guished company. Mackintosh, Romilly, Whishaw,* and Scarlett. Romilly, he says, evidently received from the whole ., _ .yhishaw, according to Creevey, lived " almost entirely at Holland House." (Creevey's " Papers," Vol L, o. 111). Cf. antir p. 50 and port p. 222. Success in the Courts of Chancery (1791-1805). 63 party an unaffected deference and imposed a certain degree of restraint. His cpnversation differed greatly from that of Mac kintosh, never indicating a design to display, but flowing from the abundance of an enlightened and richly formed under standing. Scarlett, the future Lord Abinger, showed sublety, while in Romilly, who exhibited a " remarkable degree of " softness and elegance," the distinguishing characteristic was refinement. The long vacation was, now, usually spent on the coast. Trip to or in visits to Bowood and Knill Court, in Herefordshire ; but, France in 1802, taking advantage of the short peace which this country " enjoyed after the treaty of Amiens, Romilly, accompanied by his wife, left London for France on the 30th August, and did not return to Gower Street until the 19th October. On arriving in Paris, he called upon Talleyrand, the Foreign Minister, who had paid long visits to England some years before : he saw also the Abbe Morellet, Suard, Berthier and other prominent men with whom he was acquainted. Talley rand asked him to Neuilly to meet a distinguished company at dinner, including Charles Fox and Lord Holland ; but the banquet was " stately and^melancholy," and the host received him coldly enough, " with the air and manner of a great " Minister, and not of a man with whom I was once intimate." The Romillys, during their stay in Paris, saw a good deal of Dumont and of Lord Henry Petty,* the younger son of Lord Lansdowne ; while in their own rooms at the Hotel de la Courlande, in the Place de la Concorde, they entertained Erskine and Bentham. In the compaiiy of Erskine and his son, a visit was paid to the Jardin des Plantes, where Cuvier himself showed them over his Cabinet of Anatomy. They went to the Opera on the occasion of the first representation of " Tamerlan," and to the Opera Buffa to see " II Barbiere di Seviglia." One night, on leaving the Opera, they hired a hackney coach to carry them home, as they wished to give their own horses a rest ; and, as a result, they were condemned to wait three-quarters of an hour, while the " politer part of "the audience" drove away. It appeared that all private carriages (no matter in what order they stood) had precedence over a hired vehicle : — " I could not but think this a singular "order of police," wrote Romilly, "enforced as it is by " dragoons and foot-soldiers, in a city where it is impossible " to stir a step without seeing the word ' Equality displayed * Afterwards third Marquis of Lansdowne. Cf . post p. 86. 64 SAMUEL ROMILLY The Cross- examination of Accused Persons. Bonaparte In 1801. " on some public building, or at the corner of a street, in "conspicuous characters." He saw the guillotine In operation in the Place de Greve, and paid a visit to the criminal courts, which were found to be adorned with busts of Brutus and Jean Jacques Rousseau. At the Tribunal Criminel the judge summed up, without the assistance of a single note, in a " very masterly " fashion, and Romilly approved the practice of putting the accused under examination — a practice wholly at variance with the canons that guided procedure in the courts of his own country. " This would have shocked most Englishmen," he wrote, "who have very superstitious notions of the rights and privileges of the persons accused of crimes. It would seem, how ever, if the great object of all trials be to discover the truth, to punish the guilty, and to afford security to the innocent, that the examination of the accused Is the most Important and an indispensable part of every trial." But to the practice, as it prevailed In the French courts, there was one grave objec tion, which did not escape Romilly's scrutiny : the danger lest the judge, seeking to secure the admiration of his audience, should make a display of his own ability by a skilful cross- examination of the prisoner : such action on the part of the judges "necessarily makes them, as it were, parties, and gives them an interest to convict." The cross-examination of an accused person should, in general, be left to the prosecuting counsel ; for, as Romilly was careful to point out, a prisoner who foils the judge by his mode of answering questions, at any rate if, by that means, he raises a laugh from the audience, is like to receive very short shrift from a vain or ill-conditioned magistrate. More than once he saw the *" little bronze-complexioned " artillery officer of Toulon," just then elected First Consul for life, with power to nominate his successor. After the fashion of _ his time, Romilly brands Bonaparte "a tyrant and usurper"; but he Is constrained to allow that the great warrior and magistrate was " almost universally " admired by his own people. He discovered, too, a mildness, a "serenity" in the countenance of the First Consul, which was very pre possessing, and none of the sternness to be found In his pic tures : "his painters seem rather to have wished to make the "picture of a very extraordinary man than to paint a portrait very like him." But Bonaparte was not popular in the ordinary sense ; he seemed, indeed, to despise popularity, and ' Carlyle : French Rev. Bk. 7. c. 2, p. 249. Success in the Courts of Chancery (1791-1805). 65 was at no pains to gain the affections of the people. " His " character is of that kind which inspires fear much more than "It conciliates affection. He is not loved by any of the " persons who are about him, not even by the officers who " served with him To increase the beauty and mag- " nificence of the" city, to build new bridges, to bring water " by a canal to Paris, to collect the finest statues and pictures " of which conquered nations have been despoiled, to en- " courage and Improve the fine arts, are the great objects of "Bonaparte's ambition in time of peace." Such was Romilly's critical estimate of the future Emperor ; but, unlike Erskine and Mackintosh, he did not seek to be presented at his Court. The long vacation of the year preceding that in which Romiiiy's Romilly, with so many thousands of his compatriots, re-visited „„ f^l'" "* Paris* had been spent by him at Tenby in Pembrokeshire. Duties and He had retired to the western coast for a long spell of perfect Opportu- qulet and undisturbed leisure, and it was during this retirement "'"*^ °' ^ that he prepared the most interesting document that ever came chancellor. from his pen. It assumes the form of a letter addressed to a barrister, supposed to be placed in a situation similar to that in which he then found himself. Recent changes In the Administration had removed from the court in which he prac tised both the Law Officers of the Crown, leaving him beyond all dispute the " leader " of the Chancery Bar : — Sir John Mitford, shortly to become Lord Redesdale (1748-1830), had been chosen Speaker of the House of Commons, while Sir William Grant (1752-1832) had just been raised to the Bench as Master of the Rolls. In these circumstances, the most modest of men, situated as Romilly was, reflecting on his position and professional prospects, could hardly fail to recognise the probability of attaining the highest office of judicature : — " Recollecting what duties that high station would bring with " it, and fully sensible of my own inability adequately to dis- " charge them," he explained six years later, "I applied " myself to the consideration of what a Chancellor of Great "Britain ought to be ; of what extensive means he has of " improving the condition of his fellow creatures ; and how " anxious he should be not to suffer opportunities of benefi- "cence, which are afforded to so few, to pass unimproved." * " SuchI eagerness to visit a capital not too remarkable for the " morality and decency its various societies exhibit, is more to the " advantage of our sneering neighbours than to our national "character." — Annual Register; cited in Smart's "Economic Annals," at p. 54. 66 SAMUEL ROMILLY Congratula- tions on Rapid ProfessionalAdvance ment. Indebteo-ness to Roget, who Predicted GreatSuccess. Under the influence of these generous sentiments, he was minded to sketch in outline such reforms as he would wish to see effected, and, that he might profit the more by his medi tations, he resolved to reduce his scheme into writing. But, " so ridiculous " did his aspirations seem, he dared not trust his thoughts to paper, even though no eyes but his own should see the document. Accordingly, he determined to accomplish his object, and yet escape ridicule, by the expedient of a letter of advice supposed to be written by an intimate friend' to a barrister in his present situation. He could, in this way, suggest reflections in which he wished himself to indulge, and purport to offer as advice to another what he intended to pre scribe for himself as a law. The letter begins by a reference to his rapid advancement at the Bar, recounts the circumstances which had led him to embrace the higher walks of the legal profession, hints at his satisfaction in being privi leged to assist members of his family to establish themselves " in that middle order of society in which happiness is most " easily attainable," and then proceeds to picture bright visions of the future. But if we would form any just ot adequate conception of the writer's true character, his generous and loving disposition, the high motives that impelled and guided him, and the noble aims to which his life's work was directed, portions of the letter must be read in exienso : — Tbnby, 1801. Our friendship, my dear C, is of too long standing, and has been proved on too many occasions, for you to doubt my sincerity, when I assure yon that nothing ever gave me more pleasure than to hear how very successful you have lately been in your pro fession. Though I never entertained any doubt that the rank of King's Counsel would be of great advantage to you, I did not foresee that your progress could be so rapid. . What satis faction would it not afford our dear Roget, if he were still living, to see so much of his predictions accomplished, to exult in your success, and to enjoy your reputation ! He would be well entitled to enjoy it, since it is to him, in a great degree, that you owe it; for it was his advice and encouragement which induced you to enter upon a career for which you did not venture to think yoar- self qualified. Do you recollect the conversation which passed between you one night in his garden, in the neighbourhood of Lausanne ? I shall never forget it. It was a very short time before the necessity of your return to England separated you from him — separated you (as the unfortunate state of his health gave you both, at the time, but, too much reason to fear, and as the event too fatally proved) for ever. We were walking together on that fine elevated terrace, which commands one ot the noblest views perhaps that the world affords, where the Lake of Geneva is seen spread out in the whole of its eiitent, with the Alps rising behind it in wild and stapendous masses. It was a clear serene night of autumn; there was no moon, but there was not a single Success in the Courts of Chancery (1791-1805). 67 cloud ; and on every side the sky was resplendent with stars. The faint twilight was just sufficient to show the outline of the sublime scene before us, and to leave it to imagination or to memory to finish the picture. We had been discoursing on literary subjects : the eloquence of the ancient orators was one of our topics; insen sibly the conversation passed to your profession, and from your profession to yourself. You seemed unconscious of the powers which Boget thought you possessed. I remember his telling yon that he was quite confident of your success. The time, the scenery about us, the awful stillness of the night, the ideas which the former part of the conversation had set afloat in his mind, gave him an uusual degree of animation. With a warmth of eloquence which surprised me, even in him, he spoke of the great part you were to act as that which was certain, and, in the spirit of pro phecy, unfolded to you your future life. God grant that in what is to come he may prove as true a prophet as in that which is past ! If he does, the sublimest enjoyment that human life affords is reserved for you — ^that of exercising in an exalted station the noblest faculties of the soul-, of improving the condition of mankind, and adding to the happiness of millions who are unborn. *« »? » » ? ? I would have you familiarize yourself with the idea of becoming Probability a benefactor, not to individuals only, but to a whole nation, and of beooming to future ages; in short, I would nave you prepare yourself for Lord that eminent station which it is not impossible, or if I were to Chanoellor. express myself as sanguinely as I feel in common with many of your friends, I should say it is not improbable, that you may one day fill. Be assured that not only the event is possible, but that it may happen much earlier than your friends have any expectation of. ******* It has happened, I believe, to most of those who have filled the great office to which I allude, to have found themselves placed in it without ever having formed any plan, or adopted any principles, to guide them in the discharge of its duties. I should be sorry that, in that respect, you should follow their example. I would have you now, when alone it can importance be done, finish that self-education which I have heard yon say is of prepara- the only one you ever received, by fitting yourself for the execu- tion for so tion of that most important trust which may perhaps one day be great a committed to you, in such a manner as will be the most beneficial trust. to mankind. Whenever that day arrives, it will be too late to form plans, or to trace out a line of conduct In the pre sent state of society, I know of no situation in which an individual can have a greater influence on the happiness of mankind than that of a Chancellor of England He has always a seat m ParUament, and, in the present order of things, his situation gives him a degree of weight and authority in everything that he pro poses, which no talents or integrity, not invested with magistracy .^ ., .g can confer. Whatever great reforms are to be made in the civil ^""""^'. and criminal jurisprudence of the country are wholly in the power "^ of a Lord Chancellor. The almost irresistible authority which he "' „ posseses on such subjects has, indeed, been hitherto exercised only •';~,„f. to prevent reforms; but there is little doubt that it would be "" equally efficacious in promoting them The great Bacon alone, of all the Chancellors of England, seems to have turned his thonghtg to the accomplishment of important reforms. . . . .The single circumstance, that for a very long period of time none bnt 68 SAMUEL ROMILLY Dumont's" Trait^s de Legislation.' Romilly appointed Chancellor of Durham- practising lawyers have been appointed to the office of Chancellor, may sufficiently account for the manner in which its duties have been discharged. Can we be surprised that the same ignorance of everything but law, the same narrow views, the same prejudices, the same passions, the same little mind, are to be found in the magistrate as marked before the hired and hackneyed advocate ? . . .1 would prevent your so devoting yourself to your present occupation as not to look forward to that higher destiny which awaits you. Suffer nothing to escape you which has the least chance of being useful to a Chancellor, such as you conveive he ought to be; and note down everything which you observe. Look about amongst your friends and acquaintances for the men who are likely to be zealous coadjutors in your designs, and treasure up their qualifications in your memory, till you can call them into action; and, in the meantime, consider yourself as such a coadjutor. Dumont's French version of certain Benthamic manuscripts on the Civil and Penal Codes passed through the press in the spring of 1802, and was published at Paris in the month of June, under the title Traites de Legislation, Civile et Pinale. On the 2nd February, Bentham had written to Dumont : — Romilly has heard at Holland House of your intended "publications. His hypothesis is that the intelligence came "from Lord Henry [Petty]. He mentioned a parcel of " Lords as curious and expectant on the subject — aristocrats as "well as democrats." Several of Bentham's friends — among them the overworked barrister, Romilly — spoke of preparing an English translation, a task not. In fact, accom plished for more than half-a-century. "As to translation," wrote Bentham to Sir Frederick Eden* on the 4th September, " Romilly, In a tete-a-tete between us t'other day, was talking "to me about his undertaking It. The proposition was an " odd one enough from a man broken down with business, " and wearing the marks of his labours but too conspicuously " In his face. To do him justice — I mean in point of sanity — ' ' It must have been rather In the way of velleite than volition : " and, at the earliest, he could not have looked for any earlier " period than the next long vacation for the commencement of " it." But Eden is warned that, if he contemplates undertaking the task himself, he must, before setting to work, procure a release of all prior claims, signed and sealed by Romilly. Sir Joseph Yates and the younger Willes had both clung to the Chancellorship of the County Palatine of Durham while holding judgeships of the High Court, but Sir Thomas Manners * (1766-1809) Nephew of William Eden, first Baron Auckland, and a descendant of Robert Eden, who married Margaret Lambton, and is mentioned by Pepys as being temporarily in that lady's "dis favour ever since the other night that he came in thither fuddled, when we were there." (April 7th, 1669.) Success in the Courts of Chancery (1791-1805). 69 Sutton, with greater propriety, resigned the office, when, in 1805, he was raised to the Bench as a Baron of the Exchequer. Sutton's old friend Romilly became Chancellor in his stead, the appointment being made without any application, direct or indirect, although, as we may readily believe, " some earnest " and very powerful solicitations " had been urged on behalf of divers claimants for the post. Shute Barrington,* the Bishop, approached Romilly quite unexpectedly : — " He came to me " one day below the bar in the House of Lords, after the "business I was attending on was concluded, and offered the " position to me with many compliments more flattering than " the offer Itself." The office was, indeed, not one of the highest distinction, nor were the emoluments very consider able ; and, in accepting the Bishop's offer, Romilly yielded. In a large measure to public opinion. Even law officers of the Crown had not felt at liberty to refuse nomination, and he feared to incur the reproach of being solely intent upon amassing a fortune at the bar. Moreover, he was curious as to how he would acquit himself in the discharge of judicial functions ; but the experience to be gained at Durham was not extensive, for, although equity lawyers so distinguished as Eldon and Redesdale had presided in the Court, not more than four or five causes were heard and determined in the course of a year. Indeed, as he explained, one could hardly look for much business in a court empowered to enforce its decrees against those only who happened to possess real pro perty in a single small county. Before his appointment to the Chancellorship, Romilly's k Preven- acqualntance with the Bishop was very slight. As counsel in tion is the Courts of Chancery he had appeared for Dr. Barrington Better and had held briefs against him ; but personal intercourse was limited to a single occasion in connexion with a Society for advancing in various ways the general good of mankind. Romilly had suggested that the Society's work might very well usefully be extended to the alleviation of the lot of " mute animals." In particular, he urged the society to promote and foster a mode of slaughtering cattle which had been approved by the Board of Agriculture ; this might well be done by offering rewards to such butchers as should practise the approved plan. Their " vanity," he contended, " would "be "the more flattered by receiving a prize for their " humanity, as it was a virtue of which they are generally *Hon. Shute Barrington (1734-1826); translated from Salisbury to Durham, 10th June, 1791. 70 SAMUEL ROMILLY "supposed to be least susceptible." He maintained that every effort should be made to avoid ' ' legislative interposi- " tion "; for experience taught that, in such cases, a statute, based on penal sanctions, usually became a " dead letter," as it were, by general consent. He was, indeed, deeply imbued with the true spirit of reform : nemo ad supplicia exigenda pervenit, nisi qui remedia consumpsit.* He knew well enough that punitive legislation can only prove successful when applied within certain limits ;- he grasped the superiority of "reward " over "punishment " as an expedient In pro moting morality and humanity. He had, in fact, adopted the course which an able and experienced judge of our own times has commended to the consideration of "societies and " private institutions for the suppression of vice" before clamouring for penal laws ; he had read history and digested its lessons. Ceremonial There was not, as we have seen, much business in the Recaption Palatine Court ; but the new Chancellor found himself sur- at Durham, rounded with "grandeur and magnificence and homage" — trappings of greatness by no means to his liking. The Castle of Durham — the episcopal palace — was given up to him ; the Bishop's servants waited upon him as their lord ; the Bishop himself attended on invitation and was received as a guest. A costly banquet, provided at the Bishop's charges, was, by a kind of legal fiction, considered as given by the Chancellor, who was called upon to preside and do the honours. Romilly, accompanied by his wife, reached Durham after nightfall, at the close of a hasty tour through the Lake District of Cumber land. " In the midst of bows and compliments, and numerous ' attendants, we were conducted through long lighted gal- ' leries into a drawing-room, where some of tbe officers of the court and their wives were waiting to receive us, and my Lord ' and ' your Honour ' ushered in every phrase ' that was uttered." The shy and reserved Chancellor felt very keenly " the ridicule of all this mimic grandeur "; and he declared that the experience of two tedious days at Durham would have been sufficient to cure him of all ambitious desires, if he could have " imagined that the duties of a Chancellor ]' of England bore any resemblance to those of a Chancellor " of Durham." * Beneea, De dementia, I. 14. Chapter V. PARLIAMENTARY PROJECTS (1805-6). The Prince of Wales Offers a Seat in Parliamej^t. — Guardianship of Mary Seymour ; Mrs. Fitz- herbert and Lady Hertford. — The "Delicate Investigation." — Romilly's Varied Fortunes as a Parliamentary Candidate. In the autumn of the year 1805, on his return from the j^^. j„ County Palatine, Romilly received from the Prince of Wales parliament the offer of a seat in Parliament. Coming from such a offered quarter, the proposal was naturally regarded as " flattering," •'!' "" but it was not pne that he was willing to entertain. Writing La?^ ' from Brighton, "by command," on the i8th September, Thomas Creevey* said that the Prince had expressed the greatest desire that he should himself be the means of bring ing Romilly into Parliament. ' ' His Royal Highness went at great length into your history and merits ; pronounced ' you to be the chief of your profession and a certain future Chancellor You would have been amused had you heard the familiarity with which he handled the pos sible objections : he said your Parliamentary business was principally in the House of Lords, with which the seat would not interfere, and that you seldom or ever attended election committees." It further appeared from Creevey's letter that the idea of Romilly's coming into Parliament had been hailed with delight by Fox. The writer did not know whether the seat was to be " gratuitous," but he was under the impression that it was so intended : " unfortunately princes * (1768-1838) Educated at Cambridge and Gray's Inn; elected in 1802 for the Dnke of Norfolk's borough of Thetford on the recom mendation of Lord Petre; later M.P. for Appleby. Secretary to the Board of Control. 1806; Treasurer of Ordnance, and, afterwards, of Qr»etiwi«h Hospital, 1830. 72 SAMUEL ROMILLY Meeting with the Prince of wales. The Guardian ship of Mary Seymour. "'A Judicial Decision." "are very vague discoursers, and, still more unfortunately, " one has no means of cross-examining them or compelling " them to put their sentiments upon paper." The only personal Intercourse between the Prince and Romilly had taken place In connexion with a cause which was, for some years, depending in the Court of Chancery. Their meeting came about in this wise. A question had arisen as to the guardianship of a little child,* one of the two orphan daughters of Lord Hugh Seymour, fifth son of the first Marquis of Hertford. Soon after the child's birth, her mother, fEady Horatia Seymour, who was then seriously ill and about to leave England for Madeira, placed her in the care of a near friend, Maria Fitzherbert, with whom the Heir Apparent had contracted a clandestine and irregular marriage. In July, 1 80 1 , a few weeks after her return to this country. Lady Horatia died, and her husband survived her but two months. Lord Euston and Lord Henry Seymour, the execu tors of Lord Hugh's will, had been content that little Mary Seymour should remain in Mrs. Fitzherbert's care until the summer of 1803, and the Prince, meanwhile, had offered to settle £10,000 on the child if she continued to do so ; but the executors refused their consent to such an arrangement, urging, with other objections, Mrs. Fitzherbert's profession of the Catholic faith. The Prince of Wales and his morganatic wife had, by this tim.e, both become tenderly attached to "little Minnie" : "the idea of having her torn from him seemed to be as painful to the Prince as it was to Mrs. Fitz- " herbert," says Romilly, who was one of the counsel retained to support in the Court of Chancery that lady's claim to the guardianship. During the legal proceedings, Romilly was invited to attend at his client's house, in Tilney Street, and he, there, discussed with the Prince certain points that had been raised in the course of the litigation. This was the only occasion on which the two men met before the receipt of Creevey's letter. Lord Lidon, confirming the Master s report, approved the executors of Lord Hugh's will as guardians ; but, to com plete the story, it may be added that Erskine and Romilly * Mary Georgiana Emma; b. 1798; m. 1825, Et. Hon. G. L. Dawson DameT; d. 1848 (cf. Wilkins' "Mrs. Fitzherbert and George IV.," Vol. II. p. 59). In 1837 Mrs. Darner raised a marble monument to the memory of Mrs. Fitzherbert in St. John the Baptist's Church at Brighton. (lb. p. 291). + The youngest of three beautiful sisters— daughters of the second Earl Waldegrave. PARLIAMENTARY PROJECTS. (1805-6). 73 advised an appeal, and, about a year later. In June, 1806, when Erskine had become Chancellor, Romilly procured a reversal of Eldon's order by the House of Lords. Lord Hertford, " little Minnie's " uncle, as head of the family, had offered to assume the guardianship of the child, and it was known that, if allowed to do so, he would not remove her from the custody of Mrs. Fitzherbert. Some eighty or ninety peers were present on the hearing of the appeal : ' ' the attend- " ance in the House of Lords on this occasion," wrote Whishaw to Bentham, " was greater than was ever known — " greater even than up>on the discussion, some years ago, rela- " tlve to the first day of partridge shooting." The fact was that the Prince had entreated all his friends to attend the House, much to the chagrin of Romilly, who greatly depre cated this canvassing of votes for a " judicial decision." We may recall as an indirect result of this litigation, the notorious intimacy that sprang up between the Prince and Lady Hert ford : " the beautiful Marchioness was by no means disposed "to play the role of a Lady Jersey," writes Mr. Pearce, " and her coldness sent the foolish amorous Prince into a "maudlin condition."* "When he was first In love with " Lady Hertford," Thomas Creevey declares, " I have seen " the tears run down his cheeks at dinner, and he has been "dumb for hours. "t " Much ado there was, God wot ; " He would love and she would not." But, in the end, her ladyship yielded, entirely supplanting Mrs. Fitzberbert in the royal favour. The Seymour case, it was said, gained Mrs. Fitzherbert a child, but lost her a husband. In Croker's phrase, she kept the child and lost the Prince. § Romilly's surprise on receiving Creevey's letter was not Romilly greater than the difficulty he felt in finding terms wherein to Refuses couch his rejection of the Prince's offer. He avowed that no p^^^^g.^ event in the whole course of his life had been so gratifying to offer. bim as the honour thus unexpectedly conferred ; though he feared that some partial and exaggerated account of his merits had led his Royal Highness to bestow on hiin a meed of praise far beyond his true deserts. "I have," he continued, " formed no resolution to keep out of Parliament ; on the con- " trary, it has very long been my Intention, and Is still my * " Beloved Princess." p. 93. , . „ , „ -,»« + Creevey Papers," Vol. I. p. 143; and cf. Vol. II., p. 320. S Croker Papers (1884), Vol. I. p. 123. 74 SAMUEL ROMILLY The " Delleata Investiga tion " as to the Prinoass of wales. ' wish, to obtain a seat in the Commons, though not imme- " diately. My politics you are already acquainted with ; if ' I had been a member from the beginning of the present ' Parliament, my vote would have been uniformly given in ' a way which I presume would have been agreeable to the ' Prince of Wales When I was a young man, a ' seat in Parliament was offered to me ; it was offered in the ' handsomest way imaginable.* No condition whatever was ' annexed to it. I was told that I was to be quite independent, ' and was to vote and act just as I thought proper. I could ' not, however, relieve myself from the apprehension that, ' notwithstanding all these declarations, the person to whom ' I owed the seat would consider me, without being quite ' conscious of It himself, as his representative In Parliament. ' I formed to myself an unalterable resolution never, ' unless I held a public office, to come into Parliament but ' by a popular election, or by paying the common price for ' my seat. As to the first of these, I know, of course, that ' I must never look for it ; and, as for the latter, I determined ' to wait until the labours of my profession should have ' enabled me to accomplish it without being guilty of any ' great extravagance." The writer added that, if his Royal Highness thought his coming Into Parliament would prove at all useful to the public, he would gladly, at the first oppor tunity, procure a seat for himself. Creevey reported that, after reading the letter, "over and over again," the Prince had professed himself perfectly satisfied with it, and said that he hoped Romilly would enter Parliament upon his own terms. ' He told me," wrote Creevey, " that, if you would not ' permit him to give you a seat (which would have been his ' greatest delight), he would take care you should be sure of ^ one when you wanted it, in any way you chose to have it." ' But," added the writer, " he was evidently mortified." In rejecting these overtures, Romilly spoke the truth and nothing but the truth ; but he did not tell the whole truth. He was averse from being brought into Parliament by any man, but by the Prince, perhaps, beyond all others, for he believed that he knew the motive which had impelled the offer of a seat. Several years earlier. Lord Lansdowne had related a conversation with Lord Moira,t who told him that his Royal Highness was in search of some lawyer upon whose advice he could safely rely, and in whom he could place ? Cf . antt p. 54. t (1754-1826) Afterwards first Marquis of Hastings. PARLIAMENTARY PROJECTS. (1805-6). 75 unbounded confidence : the Prince had, indeed, definitely made up his mind to form such a connexion before his actual accession to the throne. ' ' The subject of this desired con- " fidence was also mentioned to me," Romilly significantly adds ; ' ' and it was one upon which I imagined the best advice " was likely to bei the least acceptable." The accuracy of this conjecture was amply confirmed when, on the 1 1th Nov., 1805, in response to a summons from the Prince, he attended at Carlton House. After thanking him for his letter to Creevey, and after some conversation on the Seymour case, the Prince referred to a subject which he described as one of the highest Importance and of the most confidential character : — involving, indeed, the prospect of a disputed succession to the Crown. This exordium was followed by a long and detailed state- '"""^^^ ments of facts, relative to the Princess of Wales, which had i_ajy been communicated through the Intervention of the Duke of Douglas. Sussex. The information was, in the main, supplied by the wife of Sir John Douglas, one of the Duke's equerries. Lady Douglas was of humble origin, her father being, it is said, a private soldier and her mother the Illegitimate child of an attorney practising at Bath. She made grave allegations of mis-conduct on the part of Caroline, based to some extent upon certain facts that were beyond dispute. In Novem'oer, 1802, the Princess had, indiscreetly perhaps, adopted a child, known as " Willlkln," whom she was bringing up In Montague House, her residence at Blackheath. Caroline's friends were given to understand that "Willlkln" was the son of a sail- maker engaged In the Dockyard at Deptford, and that his true name was William Austin. The boy's father had been discharged from the Dockyard on the proclamation of Peace ; and his wife, bearing the suckling child in her arms, had pre sented herself before the Princess with a petition, beseeching Caroline to secure her husband's restoration. . According to Lord Minto, Douglas and bis wife bore a personal grudge against the unfortunate Princess, who, as Ranger of Green wich Park, had laid claim to a house which was in Sir John's occupation. But the presence of the boy at Montague House had undoubtedly given rise to scandalous rumours, which were generally current in London society, and lent colour to Lady Douglas' story. She implicated Sir Sidney Smith, Sir Thomas Lawrence, the painter, and a certain Captain Manby in her allegations ; and her statements in the form of a written narrative, were submitted to Romilly, who held a consultation with Lord 76 SAMUEL ROMILLY The Prince seeks the guidance of Romilly. The" Delicate Investiga tion." Thiurlow on the matter. Thurlow, now in his seventy-fifth year, had been III and still seemed very infirm, but he was in full possession of his faculties, and expressed himself with the directness and coarse energy for which he had long been remarkable. The first point to be considered was whether Lady Douglas was speaking the truth and, for his part, he didn't believe her : no doubt it was a strange thing to take a beggar's child and adopt it as one's own, but Princesses had strange whims which nobody could account for, and, in some respects, the situation of the Princess was deserving of much compassion. Upon the whole, the evidence was not such as to justify immediate action : his Royal Highness must wait and see what facts might come to light in the future. Thurlow had been on friendly terms with the Princess, and he has been denounced by those who espoused her cause as a deserter to her husband's camp ; but there seems nothing to show that the old man, in giving his advice, assumed an attitude in any way hostile to Caroline. When Thurlow's views were communicated to him, the Prince proclaimed his willingness to be guided entirely by Romilly, who discreetly suggested that Erskine also should be consulted. Owing to the death of his wife, Erskine was, however, unable to give serious consideration to the details, and, on 3 Ist December, Romilly sought a personal interview with Lady Douglas. She answered all his questions with great readiness and self-possession, and impressed him very favourably as a witness of truth. Some months later, when he had become Solicitor-General, Romilly again saw Lord Thurlow, and, at his instance, collated the written declarations which had come into his possession. He also prepared- n statement of the more material allegations affecting the con duct of the Princess. This document was read to the King by Erskine, now in office as Lord Chancellor. After hearing the statement, his Majesty authorized the Chancellor, with Lords Spencet, Grenville, and Ellenborough, to institute an enquiry ; and, thereupon, an ex parte investigation was opened on Sunday, the Ist June, 1806. Many witnesses were examined, Romilly acting as a sort of secretary, taking down the depositions. The testimony of Lady Douglas was con tradicted In most material particulars, and, after an exhaustive enquiry, the Commissioners reported that there was no foun dation for the allegation that the Princess had been pregnant in 1802. It was asserted that she had been actually delivered of a child in that year. But, while exonerating the Princess on the main Issue, the Commissioners were of opinion that PARLIAMENTARY PROJECTS. (1805-6). 77 certain passages between Caroline and the aforementioned Captain Manby were of a kind that deserved ' ' the most serious consideration." In the autumn of the same year, the Princess addressed a letter to the King in the form of an answer to the Report of the four Lords of the Council : it was really, _ says Romilly, a " long, elaborate, and artificial plead- " ing " drawn by Perceval and settled by Thomas Plumer, who, next year, succeeded Romilly In the office of Solicitor- General.* So great was the " art and ability " displayed In this document that it was thought advisable, more than a twelve month later, to procure from Lord Eldon, at a private hearing, an injunction to restrain the editor of a Sunday paper from communicating its contents to the public. Romilly asserts that the letter was originally printed under the superin tendence of Perceval, with a view to its publication ; but the " change of administration " rendered the publication un necessary to " the men whose object it was to make the trans actions the means of bringing odium on their political oppo nents." The King was, on the whole, well disposed towards his Action ot niece ; but, in January, 1807, after much delay and reference George III. of the matter to the Cabinet, he addressed a written message to Caroline, in which, while expressing satisfaction that the principal charges against her had proved baseless, he added : " even in the answer drawn in the name of the Princess by her legal advisers, there have appeared circumstances of conduct on the part of the Princess which his Majesty never "could regard but with serious concern." The King, with bis own hand, struck out the word " disapprobation," and substituted " serious concern." He declined, however, to receive his daughter-in-law, pending further investigations, and, a few weeks later, it was announced that a volume would shortly appear, entltledf : " The Narrative of the Circum- " stances and Proceedings upon the Subject of the Inquiry " into the Conduct of the Princess of Wales with a Statement "of Recent Events." This volume, which became generally known as " The Book," is said to have been prepared with "''"''* __ the connivance of Eldon and Perceval ; but although printed ^'"'''¦ by Longmans and quite ready for publication. It was never in fact published — a few advance copies were privately cir culated. At this juncture, the Whigs were turned out for * The letter is set out in " The Eoyal Exile," by Adolphus; Vol. I. pp. 212-27^ (IBth Edn., 1821). t " Beloved Princess," p. 127. 78 SAMUEL ROMILLY refusing to yield to the King on the Catholic question :' Eldon became^ Lotrd Chancellor and Perceval Chancellor of the Exchequer ! A minute of Council was, then, passed* ab solving the Princess from all imputations of misconduct. In the Edinburgh Review for April I838§ is to be found a curious passage relating to "the Book" and implicating George III in its preparation. It is suggested that the work was undertaken with the object of injuring the Prince of Wales and not for the purpose of vindicating the character of his con sort. ' ' There is no doubt whatever that the Book, written by Mr. Perceval and previously [ ? privately] printed at his house under Lord Eldon's superintendence and his own, was prepared in concert with the King, and was intended to sound the alarm against Carlton House and the Whigs, when a still more favourable opportunity of making a breach with the latter unexpectedly offered itself In the Catholic question." In March 1809 the following advertisement appeared in the press : — A BOOK ! A BOOK ! Any person having in his possession a copy of a certain " book, printed by Mr. Edwards in 1807, but never published, " with W. Lindsell's name as the seller of the same on the " title page, who will bring It to W. Lindsell, bookseller, " Wimpole Street, will receive a handsome gratuity." (cf. Morning Chronicle, 20 March, 1809.) The correspondence with Creevey in the autumn of 1805 Parna«ientary^^^ shown to a friend, who may readily be Identified as Candidate. Jeremy Bentham. To Romilly's great surprise, Bentham asked him if he was seriously minded to buy a seat and whether he could possibly reconcile such a measure with his conscience. Certainly, was the reply ; no doubt it would be better if bur gage-tenure boroughs were abolished, or, if allowed to continue, that their owners should not make the privilege of nomination a subject of pecuniary traffic. But, rebus sic stantibus, so long as burgage-tenure representatives are only of two descriptions — those who buy their seats and those who discharge the parliamentary trust at the pleasure, and almost as the servants, of another — surely there can be no manner of doubt in which class a man should choose to enrol himself. If his scruples will not permit him either to purchase, or to- Romlilyas a His Views on the Purchase of a Seat. * " Mrs. Fitziifirbert and George IV." Vol. 2, p. 94. §Vol. 67. p. 28. PARLIAMENTARY PROJECTS. (1805-6). 79 accept, a nomination, he must be ' ' under the dominion of a " species of moral superstition." In later years after the purchase of seats had been declared illegal, Romilly was at some pains to explain and justify his attitude as to tbe various modes of entering Parliament. His letter to Creevey had avowed an " unalterable resolution " never (unless holding public office) to come into Parliament "but by a popular election or by paying the common price for his seat," and his subsequent, experiences in the field of politics were certainly sufficiently varied to suggest the need of some explanation if he wished to maintain a reputation for consistency. On taking office in 1806, he accepted the Government varied seat at Queenborougb. Next year, the Duke of Norfolk con- Experiences sented to bring him in for Horsham, but Romilly undertook f^ ^ to pay £2,000 for the nomination unless he lost his seat on Queen- petition — as, in fact, he did. Unseated at Horsham, he pur- borough. chased a seat at Wareham, in April 1808, for £3,000. Worsham. About the same time, Castlereagh and Perceval had procured, wareham. , at considerable cost, a seat in Parliament for one Quintin Dick. Having failed to induce Dick to vote as they wished, during the debates in 1809 on the conduct of the Duke of York, his patrons intimated to their nominee that he ought to give up his seat, which Dick, accordingly, did. On the 1 1th May, 1809, Romilly formed one of the minority, who supported a motion for an enquiry into the conduct of the two Ministers, who had themselves insisted during debates in the earlier part of the session, that the proceedings in relation to the Duke of York were purely judicial : ' ' Their offence, therefore, was no less " than obliging a magistrate to resign a judicial office, because he was about to decide a cause as his conscience dictated." Within a few weeks of the rejection of the motion for an enquiry, a measure was introduced into the House by Cutwen, the member for Carlisle, designed to prohibit altogether the sale of seats in Parliament. Many material parts of the Bill were negatived, and the rest was so amended that Romilly voted against it in its later stages, while Lord Folkestone moved, in derision, that its title should be : " An Act for more " effectually preventing the Sale of Seats in Parliament for " money, and for procuring the monopoly thereof to the "Treasury by the means of Patronage." According to the Edinburgh Review,* the Bill as amended, was opposed by almost all its original supporters, and was " pushed through •Vol. 17, p. 256. 80 SAMUEL ROMILLY Abolition of Pur chase of Seats. Bristol. Arundel, " by Mr. Curwen, with the strenuous assistance of its foster- " fathers of the Treasury." However, the Act, defective as it was (cf. 49 Geo. 3 c. 1 18), in effect, declared illegal the purchase of seats in the manner formerly practised, and, during the general eleciton of 1812, Romilly, after a defeat at the polls in Bristol, was faced with a difficult situation. The Duke of Norfolk, approving his political principles and his public conduct, was willing to bring him into Parliament as one of the members for Arundel " without any other expense " than just that of a dinner to the electors which was always " usual." The right of voting at Arundel was confined to such of the inhabitants as paid scot and lot ; while of 3 1 0, the whole number of electors, 195 were " supporters " of any candidate his Grace might recommend. Romilly, who accepted the Duke's offer, explains in his "narrative" that he had never intended any "universal censure " on men who suffered them selves to be placed in Parliament by the proprietors of boroughs. On the contrary, a man, who has already estab lished his public character, may well be brought in by a private individual without the slightest reproach. In such case, he argues, it is his past, and not his future, conduct to which he owes the seat. Nay, even in the absence of claims based on prior services, there may well be circumstances in the character of the giver and of the acceptor of the seat, in their mutual confidence, in their mutual friendship, which would make such a connexion " an honour to both of them." The only alter native in Romilly's case was " to decline Parliament " altogether." " After the part I have already acted in Par- " llament, no doubt can be entertained that the Duke of " Norfolk is quite sincere in telling me that I shall be quite " independent of him ; and no person will, I believe, suspect "me of Intending to speak and vote on any question merely " as the Duke may wish, and not according to my own judg- " ment and conscience." The election took place without any opposition and Romilly, with his more influential consti tuents, was entertained at a dinner in the Castle. Thus he became member for Arundel, and "Jockey of Norfolk" — whose "convivial talents" the newly-elected representative found to be " universally acknowledged by all who knew him " — declared that he considered the acceptance of the seat by Romilly as an obligation conferred upon himself. There is, said the Duke, no possible fetter on the Parliamentary action of our member ; all that we require of him is that he shall do us the favour of dining at Arundel once a year. Chapter VI. ENTRY INTO PUBLIC LIFE (1806-7). Ministry of Ai:,l the Talents.— Romilly Becomes Solicitor-General and M.P. for Queenborough.— Flogging in the Army and Navy.— State Lotteries. — Impeachment of Melville. — Abolition of the Slave Trade.— Death of Fox. — Charging Simple Contract Debts on Land. — The Catholic Ques tion. — Fall of the Ministry. — Innocent Man Hanged on a Plea of Guilty. — The Dissolution. — Romilly Becomes M.P. for Horsham, but is Unseated.— Elected for Wareham, 1808.— Irish AND Education Bills. — Disposal of Offices in Reversion. — The Long Vacation, 1807. On the death of Pitt, in January, 1 806, Whigs of divers The complexions coalesced with the Tories, and an administration Ministry of was formed, under Grenville, Fox, and SIdmouth, still known *" J*!® to us, from Canning's epithet, as the Ministry of All the Talents. On the King sending for Lord Grenville, the Prince of Wales despatched to Romilly a messenger In the person of Colonel M'Mahon, presumably the attendant referred to by Mr. Pearce as a sort of " general utility " at Carlton House.* "M'Mahon informed me," writes Romilly, " that he had the Prince's commands to say to me " that he had told both Lord Grenville and Mr. Fox that it " was his particular wish that I should hold some office in the " administration that was to be formed." On the 8th February, Romilly was appointed Solicitor- Romilly General. It was in these circumstances that he was intro- Appointed duced to what he himself distinguishes in his diary as his soiicitor- ° General. *" Beloved Princess" at p. 60: Huish, in his "Memories of George IV.," describes M'Mahon as " a husband who would leave his residence at one door while a Prince entered at another." John M'Mahon, Private Secretary and Keeper of the Privy Purse to the Prince, died in 1817. He is said to have been the natural son of a butler in the service of th© first Lord Leitrim, his mother being a chambermaid in the same family. 82 SAMUEL ROMILLY He resolves to keep a Diary. He becomes "Sir Samuel." Romilly returned for Queen- borough. " public life"; and, while expressing a hope that he might be as happy as he had been in the days of privacy and obscurity, he records his determination to keep a journal of all transactions appearing to be of any public or private import ance. "I may hereafter probably find it very useful to " ascertain past events with more accuracy than a memory so " defective as mine could enable me to do ; and, in record- " ing every day the acts of my life, I shall be compelled to " reflect on them, and on the motives by which I have been "actuated and, as it were, to pass judgment on my conduct " before it is too late for any self-confession to be of use." On the 12tK February, he and Arthur Leary Piggott, the new Attorney-General, were duly sworn in together, after wards attending the levee at the Queen's House — now Buck ingham Palace — to kiss the King's hand on their appointment. During the first two or three decades of his reign, George III. had not discovered the necessity for knighting his judges and law officers ; but, later, he Insisted on adopting this course, although Perceval, the last Attorney-General, had been per mitted, when he became a law officer in 1801, to decline knighthood, on the score that he was the son of a peer. Romilly and his colleague appealed to the Earl of Dartmouth, the Lord Chamberlain, profoundly deprecating the ceremony that awaited them: — "never was any city trader, who " carried up a loyal address to His Majesty, more anxious to " obtain, than we were to escape, this honour." But the rule proved to be rigid, and the reluctant Ministers, deprived ot all choice in the matter, submitted to the infliction of " this " humiliation." Fox assured the new Solicitor-General that the adminis tration would bring him into Parliament without any expense on his part, and Romilly found no scruple in accepting a seat from the Ministry : — " If I had come in as a private indivi- " dual, I would not have accepted a seat from anybody. But, " as long as I hold the office to which I have been appointed, " I must support the administration. As soon as they appear "to me unworthy to be supported, it will be my duty to " resign." At Fox's instance, one of the members for Queenborough — a small market-town in the Isle of Sheppey, afterwards totally disfranchised by the Reform Act* — applied for the Chiltern Hundreds, and Romilly was elected to serve * Gibbon refers to the " strong and stately castle of Queen borough which gua,rded the entrance to the Uedvay " as a " monn- ment of the skill " of one of his anoettors in the reign of Kdward III. ("Autobiography.") ENTRY INTO PUBLIC LIFE (1806-7). 83 in Parliament in his stead. The sitting representatives had, apparently, been chosen in opposition to the late Government and in the teeth of strenuous exertions on the part of the cor poration ; but the new member found the whole constituency " very well disposed towards him, and he was spared the " trouble of a contest." That rich and coveted prize, the office of Lord High Erskine Chancellor--with its "bed of down," as Bentham called the *P^''°'""'' retiring pension — fell to Thomas Elrskine, youngest son of the chancellor. tenth Earl of Buchan (1750-1823). By turns a midshipman, an officer in a regiment of foot, and an intrepid barrister, con spicuous by his brilliant efforts in the defence of Lord George Gordon, of the Dean of St. Asaph, and of Thomas Paine, Erskine was justly renowned as a strenuous, eloquent, and fearless advocate ; but he had never practised in the Courts of Chancery, and he knew little or nothing of equitable doc trines or of the complex system of statute and case law which he was now called upon to administer. The appointment naturally met with considerable disapproval, openly expressed; and, indeed, a man of Erskine's intelligence could not fail to realise that he was quite unfit to dispose of the immense arrears of business left him by his " tardy and doubting pre- "decessor," Lord Eldon. No sooner did he know of his appointment than he came round to Romilly's chambers and ingenuously begged to be told what to read and how best to qualify himself for his new situation : — " You must make me " a Chancellor now," said he to his friend, " so that I may " afterwards make you one." Sir James Mansfield, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, who was at this time seventy-three years old, had declined the Great Seal on the score of age. Ellenborough, too, had refused the Chancellorship, having no special acquaintance with the practice or principles of equity, while, as Lord Chief Justice of Eiigland, he already held high office of life tenure. It is said that Erskine himself pressed the Great Seal upon Ellenborough, declaring that by accepting the offer he would " add to the splendour of his reputation." According to Lord Campbell.* the caustic chief, knowiiig that, if Ac refused, Erskine was to be appointed, exclaimed : — How " can you expect me to accept the office of Lord Chancellor, " when I know as little of its duties as you do !" A proposal to include Ellenborough in the Cabinet provoked considerable • Camphell'i " Life of L. C. J. Ellenborough " : Vol. III., p. 242. 84 SAMUEL ROMILLY Flogging In the Army and Navy. " inexpe dient to Interfere." Barbarous Practices in the Services. criticism ; but Romilly, although of opinion that it was un desirable for a judge to take any part in politics, advised that there was nothing illegal or unconstitutional in the course pro posed, and it was, in fact, adopted. " The chiefs of all the "three courts are," he argued, " always Privy Councillors ; " and the Cabinet is only a Committee of the Privy Council, " and, as a Cabinet, is unknown to the Constitution." Eager for reform, Romilly was not long in testing the quality of his political associates and probing the limits of Whig zeal for legislation on humanitarian lines. During the month of April, 1806, he attended an enquiry before the Privy Council which revealed to bim that — without any show of legality or pretence of court-martial — severe, and, indeed, horrible punishments were being inflicted on seamen in the Navy. Charles Grey, afterwards second Earl Grey, the Whig Reformer of 1 83 1 , was at this time First Lord of the Admiralty, and Romilly brought the facts to his notice ; but Grey ' ' thought that any measure which would draw the " public attention to the subject was very objectionable." The First Lord seemed, indeed, impressed by Romilly's representations, and agreed with his colleague in condemning the illegal practices, while, even in cases where the law was observed, he disapproved the severity of the punishments then inflicted in both the services, ' ' but he seemed to think it " dangerous, or at least inexpedient, to interfere with them." It was left for that distinguished and humane soldier. Sir Charles James Napier (1782-1853), many years afterwards, to denounce, roundly and effectively, the brutalities which this cautious politician was willing to condone, or with which, at any rate, he deemed it "inexpedient to interfere." The sentence of flogging, as imposed in the services, was sometimes executed by instalments, this prolonged torture being applied, wrote Napier, " for the avowed purpose of adding "to its severity." "On these occasions," observed the General, "it was terrible to see the new, tender skin of the " scarcely healed back again laid bare to receive the lash. I declare that, accustomed as I was to such scenes, I could "not bear to look at the first blows."* Convulsed and screaming, whilst tortured with the cruel pain of the first two or three hundred lashes, the poor fellows In the later stages would — in Napier's words — " often lie as if without life, and " the drummers appear to be flogging a lump of dead raw * " Military Law," pp. 160, 163. ENTRY INTO PUBLIC LIFE (1806-7). 85 " flesh." On the very day that the faint-hearted First Lord announced to Romilly his unwillingness to "interfere," their brilliant colleague, William Windham — a supporter of bull- baiting and the slave traffic — who was, at that time, in charge of the War Office, introduced a Bill to improve the condition of the army, and limit the period of service ; but he did not propose any mitigation of the cruel punishments to which the men were exposed, observing that a very severe discipline was what he coneived to be necessary. " For myself," wrote Romilly, " I have no doubt that the savage and most inhuman "punishments, to which soldiers and sailors alone of all " British subjects are exposed, have a most fatal influence " upon the discipline of the army ,and upon the character of " the nation." Some five years later, dining one day at the table of the King's nephew, William Frederiqk, Duke of Gloucester, be chanced to sit next Lord Hutchinson,* a seasoned warrior, who told him that, while he was at Gibraltar, a soldier, whose offence consisted simply in coming dirty upon parade, was flogged with such severity that death ensued within a few days. Hutchinson mentioned another case, also within his own knowledge : — Having served thirty years In the Guards without incurring the displeasure of his officers in a single instance, a soldier was removed into the veteran battalion of the Tower. For being absent but one day without leave, this man, at the age of sixty, was sentenced to receive three hundred lashes, and the barbarous sentence was actually carried Into execution. In March, 1812, Burdett proposed, for insertion in the Efforts to Mutiny Bill, a clause designed to secure the abolition of flogging Secure in the Army. Romilly was one of the small minority of eight Re**""""- (including the tellers) who divided in support of the clause ; and. In the following month, he engaged In an unsuccessful attempt to obtain a return of military punishments. His latest effort to mitigate the severity of the " flogging " system was in 1815, when he sought, in vain, to limit the number of lashes that might be inflicted to one hundred. Eight years earlier, George III. had been "graciously pleased" to sug gest that the punishment should not exceed one thousand lashes ! : the General Order ran thus : — "It appearing to his " Majesty that a punishment to the extent of 1,000 lashes is * (1757-1832) : John Hely-Hutohinson, raised to the peerage, with a I pension, in 1301. Succeeded in 1825 as 2nd Earl of Donoughmore: An intimate friend of the Prince of Wales. (Cf. " Creevey Papers, : Vol. L, p. 48.) 86 SAMUEL ROMILLY The Questionof State Lotteries. " a sufficient example for any breach of military duty, short " of a capital offence, and even that number cannot be safely " inflicted at any one period, his Majesty has been graciously " pleased to express his opinion that no sentence for corporal " punishment should exceed 1,000 lashes."* One day, in April, 1806, when the Chancellor of the Exchequer (Lord Henry Petty (1780-1863), afterwards third Marquis of Lansdowne) was dining at his house, Romilly took occasion to suggest to his guest the desirability of discontinu ing State lotteries. The youthful Chancellor, who was a most enlightened politician and a genuine reformer, agreed with the views of his host, "but said that, during the war, " he thought it would be hardly possible to go on without them." Surely a strange conclusion, seeing that the contri bution to the Exchequer from this source seems to have been estimated to yield no more than £380,000 for the year,t and Petty had himself explained, in his Budget speech, only a few days before, that the total supply asked for was nearly forty-nine millions. Three years later, on the 12th May, 1809, when Perceval, introducing the Budget, included a " lottery" among his resources for the year, Romilly, with the support of Whitbread, Windham, and Wilberforce, recorded an ineffectual protest against the recurring presence of this Item in "Ways and Means." The reformers went so far as to divide the House, and Romilly acted as one of the tellers for the minority, the numbers on the division being 90 against 36. It Is true that some " safeguards" were introduced at this time, and, in particular, the plan of drawing the whole lottery on one day had been inaugurated, many persons having ruined themselves in the hope of recovering their first losses ; but this mischievous means of raising money was continued annually throughout Romilly's life, and was persistently defended by Perceval and Vansittart, Chancellors conspicuous for their religious professions. The upholders of this system urged that the impost, being a " voluntary tax," was cheer fully assented to ; that It could not be called gambling. § " for the person knew the disadvantage under which he bought " the ticket, and considered himself a contributor to the neces sities of the State ' ' ; moreover, tbe maintenance of a State lottery checked " little goes " and private gambling gener ally ; the lottery contractors seldom gained much by their bargains and sometimes were losers ; and so on. * " Drafts on my Memory." by Lord William Lennox (1866). Vol. I., p. 200. t Smart's "Annals of the Nineteenth Century." p. 113. § Smart's "Annals." pp. 482, 558. ENTRY INTO PUBLIC LIFE (1806-7). 87 Romilly records how. In March, 1817, he supported Lyttleton, the member for Worcestershire (afterwards third Baron Lyttleton), in an unsuccessful endeavour " to make the " moral and pious Chancellor of the Exchequer (Vansittart) " sensible of the wickedness of this measure of finance, which " he annually and with such complacency resorts to." Lyttle ton, said Wilberforce, § argued much too like a man who is conscious that he is liable to be quizzed by his gay companions for talking of religion, morality, etc.; while Romilly, " as " commonly, was feeling, moral, and elevated." All lot teries had, long before, been declared, by a statute of William III., to be public nuisances, while all patents for lotteries were to be deemed void and contrary to law ; but, in Romilly's day. State lotteries, authorised under annual Acts of Parlia ment, were "favoured" by the Government and publicly drawn by commissioners appointed for the purpose. So early as 1808, a Committee of the Commons had reported strongly against the continuance of a source of revenue based on the encouragement of " a vice which it is the object of the law, " in all other cases and at all other times, most diligently to " suppress " : but, the Commons' report notwithstanding, this evil institution was maintained until 1826.t Romilly's first appearance in Debate was on the 17th First April, 1806. The House chanced to be in Committee on a JJfggJg^^"" declaratory measure, known as the Witness Bill, of which the object was .to "declare" the law as expounded by a majority of the judges, when called upon to advise the Lords in a recent case. The Bill, in effect, provided that a witness should not be permitted to refuse an answer to a question, on the sole ground that such answer might expose him to civil, as distinguished from criminal, proceedings. Subjecting a witness to a temptation to commit perjury is undoubtedly mis chievous ; but, argued Romilly, the evil must be regarded as unavoidable where the testimony of the witness, on a parti cular point, is necessary to the due administration of justice. Some weeks later, as one of the managers of the Com- impeach- mons, the Solicitor-General was called upon to sum up the ment of evidence against Lord Melville (1742-1811),* a lord of the L'iJJ,,,^ admiralty in the last administration, who had been impeached I Wilbertorce's " Life, Vol. 4, p. 317. tSmart's "Annals." p. 169. * Henry Dundas, first Viscount Melville; created 1802. Whit bread acted as prosecutor, ajid tendered himself as a witness : See the Life of the second Earl of Liverpool, by C. D. Yonge (1868), Vol. I., pp. 189-193. SAMUEL ROMILLY The Foreign Slave Trade Bill. for malversation of public funds. Melville was, in the result, acquitted of actual fraud, but Francis Horner (1778-1817), a competent and faithful critic, declares that, in his speech which lasted nearly three and a half hours, Romilly " kept ' everyone chained with attention and made the whole case 'distinct to the dullest." Though " a model of the simple ' style," his address must be acounted In the rank of the ' highest order of composition " ; and, continues Horner, ' the proof he cannot fail very soon to display of resolute ' consistency in political principle will so attract to him the ' confidence of all liberal men that, in the times we have to ' observe or act in, he must have the most important weight ' In the state." When Romilly entered the House of Commons his ac quaintance with Wilberforce had been interrupted for some nine or ten years. It does not appear that there had been any positive estrangement ; but, whatever may have been the cause of the intenuption, Romilly declared that it had not been occassioned by any fault attributable to him. On his appearance in the House, Wilberforce came towards him In the most friendly way, sat by his side, and pressed him to speak in support of a measure that had been introduced to secure the Abolition of the Slave Trade. As may be sup posed, Romilly readily promised to render all the assistance in his power. There was not, as yet, any question of " emancipation." It was merely proposed to abolish the existing traffic, the kidnapping and forced deportation of African negroes. Such abolition, said the Bishop of Asaph, would " gradually produce all the amelioration in the state " and condition of African slaves that was practical or, indeed, "desirable." Even Whig peers, such as * Holland and Grenville, declared that " emancipation " would not benefit the slaves but would " tend to their own Injury," and Wilber force himself deprecated any open discussion of the topic. Early in the session of 1806, the Attorney-General f intro duced a partial and limited measure to prevent the importation of African negroes, by British subjects or British shipping, into the colonies recently conquered by or ceded to this country, and further to provide against the fitting out of foreign slave ships from British ports. "If it be true," Fox had exclaimed years before, " that the colonies would be supplied " by foreign ships — Dutch or American, no matter what — in • Smart's "Annals " : p. 132. ^Ibid: pp. 123, 124. ENTRY INTO PUBLIC LIFE (1806-7). 89 " God's name let them in any ships but ours ! Let us wash " our hands of the guilt of the trade. If other nations would commit robbery and murder that is no reason why we should "imbrue our hands in blood." ("Speeches," Vol. IV: p. 400.) George Rose (1744-1818), member for Christchurch, foresaw, in the proposals of the Attorney-General, the ruin of the manufacturers of Manchester, while one of the members for Liverpool viewed with great alarm any sort of restriction on the slave trade — "the great cause of the prosperity and "opulence of Liverpool, the one great foundation of our " maritime strength." But the Foreign Slave Trade Bill, despite strenuous opposition In the Commons, passed the Lords in May, 1806, by 43 votes against 18. One third of the minority vote was cast by the sons of George III. — the Dukes of York, Clarence, Cumberland, Kent, Sussex, and Cambridge. The King's nephew, William Frederick, Duke of Gloucester, spoke in favour of the Bill and voted with the majority. After this sucess, Wilberforce decided to post- Fox's pone his own measure for the total abolition of the Trade, Resolution. and it was arranged that a general Resolution should be submitted to the House in these terms : " That this House, " conceiving the African Slave Trade to be contrary to the " principles of justice, humanity, and sound policy, will, with *' all practicable expedition, proceed to take effectual measures for abolishing the said trade, in such manner, and at such "period, as may be deemed advisable." Fox, although seriously ill, undertook to attend and move the Resolution — it proved to be his last appearance In the House of Commons, and he declared that, if he were fortunate enough to accom plish the object of his motion, he could " retire from public " life with comfort and the conscious satisfaction that he had "done his duty." Romilly, supporting the Resolution, asserted that, in recent times, the British had, by this cruel- trade, dragged hundreds of thousands of human beings from the coasts of Africa, although, more than fifteen years before, it had ' ' been ascertained, by a great body of evidence which stood recorded against the nation, that the trade was carried "on by robbery, rapine, and murder." These plain -words gave "great offence" to the Right Hon. George Rose, to Sir William Young, one of the members for St. Mawes, and to other gentlemen ; but, writes Romilly In his diary, " I shall " probably use the same expressions again, when I have next 'occasion to speak of the trade." Fox's Resolution was agreed to, and, on the 24th June, was accepted by the Lords ; whereupon Wilberforce moved and carried an address 90 SAMUEL ROMILLY Abolition of the Slave Trade. Proroga tion of Parliament. to the Crown, asking for the establishment, " by negotiation "with foreign powers," of " a concert and agreement for " abolishing the African Slave Trade." Fox died in September, 1806, and, early in the month of January following, Grenville introduced a Bill for the Abolition of the African Slave Trade, which he carried in he Lords by 100 votes against 34. "Tills measure had ' always been rejected in the House of Lords during the ' administration of Mr. Pitt," writes Romilly significantly, ' notwithstanding all the zeal he professed on the subject, ' and the very great personal and ministerial influence which ' he possessed in that House." Pitt seems, in later years, to have grown lukewarm in the cause, though he can hardly, like Lord Nelson, have come to regard abolition as *" a damn able and cursed doctrine" ; perhaps, in Lecky's phrase, he did not care to " peril his political existence on the issue, "t When the Bill came down to the House of Commons, Romilly spoke on the second reading with much vehemence and with great success. In an extravagant peroration, loudly applauded and often quoted, he instituted a strained and invidious com parison between "the pangs of remorse," which, as he supposed, assailed Bonaparte on retiring to bed, and the feelings of Wilberforce when he should withdraw that night " into the bosom of his happy and delighted family." We have Wilberforce's own assurance that Romilly's rhetoric so completely overpowered his feelings§ " that he became insen sible to all that was passing around him." Grenvllle's Bill, which was, in effect, the same as one introduced into Parlia ment no less than sixteen years before, was carried through the Commons by overwhelming majorities, and received the Royal assent on 25th March. But, like much remedial legis lation, the measure proved quite inadequate. Four years later, Romilly remarks in his diary : " Notwithstanding the Act for " its abolition, the Slave Trade is still carried on to a consider- " able extent." During the interval, the horrors attendant on this traffic had constantly formed the subject of Parliamentary debate ; and, as is well known. It was not until 1833 that an Act was passed which led to the complete abolition of slavery throughout the British dominions. With a view to an amendment of the existing Bankruptcy Law, then In a condition as crude as it was complex, Romilly * Smart, p. 87. t England: Vol. V., p. 344. S Wilberforce's "Life," Vol. III., p. 298. ENTRY INTO PUBLIC LIFE (1806-7). 91 prepared and introduced several measures, the first of which received the Royal assent on the 22nd July, 1806, the day before the Prorogation of Parliament. At the end of the following month he held his Court as The court Chancellor of the County Palatine of Durham, and found the »* *"* Ijusiness there " very Inconsiderable." It seems that the soli- palatine. citors' fees were much lower than those allowed in the Court of Chancery of England, so that It proved far more profitable to a solicitor to institute proceedings in London and employ an agent to do the work for him, than to file a bill at Durham and transact all the business himself. As it was to this circum stance that the officials of the court ascribed the light cause list, the Chancellor thought it would be well to increase the scale of fees ; but, eight years after the increase took effect, be was still complaining that there was " scarcely any business " in the court,'' adding : ' And there never can be unless an " Act Is passed to enable the Chancellor to enforce the pro- " cess of the court out of the County Palatine." After his sittings at Durham, the Chancellor, proposing Death of to make a long tour In the Highlands of Scotland, journeyed Fox. northwards to Edinburgh and Stirling, accompanied by Lady Romilly and his eldest son ; but, whilst at Fort Augustus, on the 21st September, news reached him of the death of Fox, which had occurred eight days before. This untoward event led him to shorten his tour by some weeks, and he returned to London in time to be present, as one of the mourners, at Fox's funeral, on the 10th October. " Nothing," wrote he, " could be more solemn and affecting. The funeral was very, " numerously attended ; and most of the persons seemed as if " they had lost a most intimate and most affectionate friend"." The peace negotiations with Talleyrand, from which Fox had hoped so much, unhappily resulted In failure ; and, a fort night after the funeral obsequies of the Foreign Secretary, Parliament was dissolved. " At the ensuing election. Ministers secured a large majority, Romilly being again returned, with out opposition, as one of the members for Queenborough. • TTie new Parliament met on the 15th December, and Charles Abbot, afterwards Lord Colchester, was chosen as Speaker. The Solicitor-General's first essay in the Parliament of payment 1807 consisted of a cautious attempt to curtail the privileges of Simple that attached to the owners of real property in relation to the n^!"*'. discharge of their simple contract debts. Suppose, for ,, ^^,1 ¦example, that money was lent to a landowner on a bill or note. Estate. and that the borrower died before judgment had been obtained .against him for the amount of the loan. In such case, the 92 SAMUEL ROMILLY unfortunate lender had no remedy of any kind enforceable against real property of any tenure. Even though the money lent had been actually expended by the borrower in the pur chase of additional landed estate, his heir took this estate wholly discharged of any liability for the debt ! In these circumstances, Romilly, with the acquiescence of the Prime Minister, brought in a measure to make the freehold estates of persons, who had died Indebted, assets for the payment of their simple contract debts — surely a most modest and reason able proposal. But, while professing that he himself highly approved of the Bill, Ellenborough assured Its author that he would " meet with great opposition, particularly from country gentlemen and men of landed property, who would be " alarmed at the Idea of subjecting real property to any charges " from which it Is now exempt." The Bill — continued the Chief Justice — ought to be referred for the consideration of the judges individually. Romilly naturally demurred to this view of the situation : "if the judges are to be consulted, of " course, their opinions are to be followed ; and, conse quently, if they, or if only a majority of them, disapprove ' ' of any proposed alteration In the law, it must be aban- " doned " : a most "unconstitutional doctrine." However, after the introduction of the Bill, he sent a copy to each of The judges. — Sir William Grant, the Master of the Rolls, member of Parliament for Banffshire, came down to the House, vehemently opposed the measure on the ground of ' ' expe- " diency," and, after the debate, wrote a strong letter complaining of the tone adopted by the Solicitor- General in his caustic and forcible reply. Canning, who hnd refused office in Grenvllle's administration, saw In this Bill ' ' an attempt to sacrifice the landed to the commercial interest, " a dangerous attack made upon the aristocracy, and the " beginning of something which might end like the French "Revolution." Ministers gave themselves "no trouble to " support " their Solicitor-General, and. on the 18th March, the third reading of the Bill was rejected by 69 votes to 47. Francis Horner, the able young member for St. Mawes, wrote three weeks later : "1 suffered more irritation from the sort '' of spirit and opinions that prevailed against Romilly's little " Bill than I have received In amusement from all my rime in _'the House of Commons. There was something lost In 'he " Bill itself ; but the symptoms that attended It were dis couraging to every attempt of the sort In future." Romilly then introduced a measure directed to the same purpose, but confined In its operations to persons in trade ^ ENTRY INTO PUBLIC LIFE (1806-7). 93 Curious to relate, he carried the third reading of this mea-sure a month after the rejection of the original Bill, and not a single word was uttered in opposition to the " innovation " : Country gentlemen ' ' (he wrote) ' ' have no objection to " tradesmen being made to pay their debts ; and, to the " honour of men in trade, of whom there are a good many m " the House, they, too, had no objection to it." Owing to a dissolution, the Bill was lost for the time being ; but it became law in the same year (as 47 Geo. 3 c. 74), receiving the Royal assent on the 4th August. When the Bill was before the Lords' Committee, Lord Redesdale had recourse to an ingenious manoeuvre. He moved that the Bill be made of general application, hoping, apparently, as he was an oppo nent of the measure, that It would be thrown out when returned to the Commons in its extended form. But the amendment was rejected, and Redesdale's plan miscarried. Yet, writes Joshua Williams, in his famous " Principles of the Law of Real Property," *" notwithstanding the efforts of a Romilly were exerted to extend so just a liability, the lands of all deceased persons, not traders at the time of their death, con tinued exempt from their debts by simple contract till the year 1833 ; when a provision, which, but a few years before, had been strenuously opposed, was passed without the least difficulty" (cf. 3 and 4 Will. 4, c. 104). Lord Campbell, t too, records the great satisfaction he felt, as member for Stafford, In "humbly assbting " his friend John Romilly, then member for Bridport — a son of the promoter of the original Bill — to pass the later measure through Parlia ment, " when, even in the House of Lords, It met with hardly " any opposition." At this -juncture, George III. and his Ministry of All the The Talents were at loggerheads over the Catholic question. In Catholic March, 1807, a short Bill was depending in the House of «"«*""•• Commons to authorise the employment of the Catholic gentry as officers in the Army and Navy. There was no suggestion of any comprehensive scheme for securing religious liberty on the lines contemplated by Pitt six years before, as a sequel to the Act of Union. The measure was as modest as it was just, but the bigoted King, not content with a withdrawal of the obnoxious Bill, demanded a solemn pledge that Ministers would never again offer him counsel on the Catholic claims. "What !" exclaimed Sydney Smith In one of the Plymley * 11th Edn., p. 82. t " Lives," Vol. 7, p. 94 SAMUEL ROMILLY Fall of the ¦Ministry of All the Talents. letters, "When Turk, Jew, Heretic, Infidel, Catholic, " Protestant, are all combined against this country ; when " men of every religious persuasion and no religious persuasion, " when the population of half the globe is up in arms against ' ' us, are we to stand examining our generals and armies as " a bishop examines a candidate for holy orders, and to suffer "no one to bleed for England who does not agree with you " about the 2nd of Timothy?" The King's presumptuous demands were too much, even for Whig placemen ; the required pledge was not forthcom ing ; and, as Ministers determined not to resign, they were dismissed from office without more ado. The Cabinet were summoned to attend and deliver up their seals on the 25th March ; but Romilly remained in office a few weeks after that date, as Plumer, who succeeded him, did not receive his patent as Solicitor-General until the 11th April. No longer a Law Officer of the Crown, he resumed his attendance at the Rolls, which he had quitted on becoming a member of the late Administration. " I have some satisfaction, now the "Ministers are out," he wrote, "in reflecting that I never " asked them for a single favour. There was one thing that " I very much wished for ; and it is such a trifle that I take " it for granted that, if I had asked Lord Moira (the Master " of the Ordnance) for it, it would have been done for me " immediately. It was only to get my brother's youngest "son* into the Military Academy at Woolwich. However, " I did not ask for it ; and, to the poor boy's great disappoint- " ment, it was not done." A motion by the recently elected member for Worcester shire, young William Lyttleton, f recording the regret of the House at the recent change in his Majesty's Councils was rejected, on the 15th April, by 244 votes against 198 ; and, a few days later. Parliament was dissolved. "It is neces- " sary," wrote Romilly, " not to lose a moment, in order to " obtain the benefit of the unfounded clamour which Minis- " ters have industriously raised," In the speech on the prorogation, the Lords Commissioners announced the King's anxiety to recur to the sense of his people, while recent events were yet fresh in their recollection : "His Majesty has directed " us most earnestly to recommend to you that you should " cultivate, by all means in your power, a spirit of union, " harmony, and goodwill amongst all classes and descriptions • Francis Eomilly, born 28th Aug., 1793. t Afterwards 3rd Baron Lyttleton. ENTRY INTO PUBLIC LIFE (1806-7). 95 " of his people." What detestable hypocrisy ! cried Romilly, comnaenting on this effusion. And, in truth, the new Ministers did revive the " No Popery " scare with great vigour and effect. Lyttleton boldly charged them in the House with awakening " the furies of bigotry and fanaticism." On seeking re-election, Perceval, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, informed the burgesses of Northampton that he came forward in the service of his Sovereign, seeking to uphold His Majesty at a critical moment, when he " was making so " firm, and so necessary, a stand for the religious establishment " of the country." The man has the head of a country parson and the tongue of an Old Bailey lawyer ! said Sydney Smith of the author of this address. One of the cases laid before Romilly and Sir Arthur innocent Piggott, during their brief tenure of office as Law Advisors Man Hanged of the Crown, made a deep and abiding impression on o" a plea of Romilly's mind. It affords a striking illustration of the danger " Guilty." arising from acting on a plea of guilty, when the accused is not protected by adequate professional assistance. In the autumn of the, year 1797, a serious mutiny had occurred on the ship " Hermione,"'and, In the course of the revolt, several men were murdered. Nine years later, a sailor, named Thomas Wood, was charged with complicity in these crimes, and, on the 6th October, 1806, was tried by court-martial at Plymouth. The accused, at this time, appeared to be about twenty-five years old, so that, at the date of the alleged offence, he must have been a boy some sixteen years of age. The master of the " Hermione " swore that Wood had served on that vessel under the name of James Hayes and had taken a very active part in the mutiny. This was the only evidence tendered at the trial in support of the charge, and it was not corroborated In any single particular. The witness admitted that he had never seen the prisoner since his boyhood. But, when called upon to plead, the accused handed in a document, which proved to be a supplication for mercy rather than a defence to the charge. "At the time when the mutiny took ' place ' ' — -so ran the plea — ' ' I was a boy in my fourteenth ' year. Drove by the torrent of mutiny, I took the oath ' administered to me on the occasion. The examples of ' death, which were before my eyes, drove me for shelter ' among the mutineers, dreading a similar fate with those that ' fell, if I sided with them or showed the smallest inclination 'for mercy." The prisoner further declared that, since the fatal day, he had not enjoyed a single hour's repose of mind. On the master's evidence, and on the strength of this avowal. 96 SAMUEL ROMILLY the members of the court-martial found" Wood guilty and con demned him to death. The result of the trial coming to the knowledge of Wood's brother and a sister, who lived in London, instant application was made to the Admiralty. The authorities were implored to grant a respite of the sentence, as it could be conclusively established that, in September, 1 797, when the mutiny occurred, the prisoner was at Portsmouth, serving on board the " Marlborough." In proof of this com plete alibi, a certificate was procured from the Navy Office, and despatched forthwith to Plymouth. But, notwithstanding these representations and the evidence adduced to support them, the death sentence was carried into execution on the 17th October, 1806. When it became known that Wood had been hanged, the authorities were denounced with condign severity in the columns of a newspaper, named the Independent Whig. The officials responsible for the sentence, resenting their castigation, called upon the Lords of the Admiralty to bring to punishment the publisher of the " libels." The Law Officers of the Crown advised that, before launching a pro secution. It would be well to make some investigation into the circumstances ; and the Solicitor to the Admiralty very soon satisfied himself that the accused was in no wise con cerned in the mutiny, having been, as his relatives asserted, on board the " Marlborough " when the mutiny arose on the " Hermione." Wood, It seems, had procured another man to compose a " defence" for him, and had made use of this composition to excite compassion, believing. In common with many Ignorant persons In a like predicament, that a mere denial of the alleged facts would avail him nothing. When the police or the public authorities invoke the condemnation of a tribunal, well known to be plastic or Incompetent, It is not uncommon for an innocent person to have recourse to this mode of mitigating a punishment which he supposes it impossible entirely to avert. t°"ltf,'m* On the dissolution in April, 1807, Romilly resolved t& """*""" purchase a seat in the new Parliament, if he could manage to secure one at a reasonable figure. But Ministers had been unusually busy, and the market was very brisk, prices ruling higher than they had ever been before ; as much as £5,000, or even £6,000, being given for a single seat, without any stipulation as to tenure or the imposition of any condition in the event of a speedy dissolution. George Tierney (1761- 1830), who had been President of the Board of Control, and was now managing electoral traffic for the former Adminis tration, complained that at Westbury, where the two seats Horsham. ENTRY INTO PUBLIC LIFE (1806-7). 97 ^ere on sale by trustees for the creditors of the late Wil- loughby Berticj the democratic Earl of Abingdon, he had " met with a refusal," although he had made a firm offer of £10,000. Indeed, Romilly bad almost abandoned the pro ject in despair when, through the kind offices of Sir Arthur Piggott, the Duke of Norfolk came to the rescue and con sented to bring him in for Horsham, which, from the time of Edward I. until the passing of the Reform Bill, returned two members to Parliament. As a nominee of the Duke, the Lord of the Manor, he was assured of a majority of votes, but it was almost equally certain that his return would be chal lenged on petition. On Sunday, the 10th May, 1807, he drove down to the little Sussex borough, and, next day, the election began. The number of votes cast was only 44 for Major Parry Romilly and himself, and 29 for the rival candidates ; but the polling Elected for lasted until Tuesday evening, as the poll clerk had to take JJ"'*'!™' down the description of every burgage tenement from the ' deeds of the voters: "a very long operation." To avoid misunderstanding, tbe terms on which the seat had been accepted were carefully recorded in a letter written to Piggott immediately after the declaration of the poll : " If I keep the seat, either by the decision of a Committee upon a petition, . or by a compromise (the Duke and Lady Irwin returning one member each. In which case It is understood that I am to be the member who continues) I am to pay £2,000 ; If, upon a petition, I lose the seat, 1 am not to be at any expense." As related in an earlier page of this chapter, *"'' he did " lose his seat." A Committee of the pgif^uapy' House, although it had decided all the questions -jsos. raised by counsel In favour of the sitting members, finally, in February, 1 808, decided against them upon a ques tion of law, "which" (wrote Romilly) "had never been Insisted upon by the counsel for tbe petition, and which was "' quite Incapable of being supported." But his absence from Parliament was of brief duration. Elected for One of the seats at Wareham was held by Sir Granby Thomas wareham, Calcraft (1770-1820), a cavalry officer, whose elder brother ^l^^;^^^' bad been Clerk of Ordnance in the late Administration. The Money, Opposition Managers procured Sir Granby to apply for the £3,000. Chiltern Hundreds, and, on the 20th April, Romilly was duly installed in his stead. The price of the seat thus vacated was £3,000, and of this sum it was proposed that the new member should provide £2,000, the balance to be defrayed 98 SAMUEL ROMILLY Irish Coercion Acts: 47 Ceo. 3, Sess. 2, cc. 13, 54 Whitbread's EducationBill. out of the party funds. On reflection, Romilly made up his mind to find the whole £3,000 himself. " Do not ascribe " this to any pretensions to an extraordinary degree of deli- " cacy," he wrote to Piggott. " But, where one is in doubt, "it Is best to be on the safe side ; and, as it Is only a pecu- " niary sacrifice that is to be made, it is a great satisfaction "to be quite sure that one will not hereafter have cause to " repent of what one has done." When in opposition during the second session of 1807, Romilly was found voting, in small minorities, against two Bills directed to the coercion of Ireland — the Irish Insurrec tion Bill and the Irish Arms Bill. The report stage of the Insurrection Bill was entered on after three o'clock in the early morning of the 28th July, and the third reading was carried two hours later. The measure had been intro duced by the Chief Secretary, Sir Arthur Wellesley, after wards Duke of Wellington ; and several members, including Lord Milton and Ponsonby, withdrew their opposition on the strength of Henry Grattan's assertion that " to his knowledge "there was a French party In Ireland." But Sheridan divided the House, and Romilly was one of a minority of 10 (Including the tellers), against 108. This Act empowered the Lord Lieutenant to proclaim disturbed districts, and authorised the arrest of persons found outside their dwellings between sunset and sunrise. The people were exposed to domiciliary visits, and liable to have their houses broken opeii in the dead of night : anyone, who chanced to be from home and could not produce witnesses to prove that it was on some lawful occasion, became liable to be transported as a felon to New South Wales. "What triumphant arguments," wrote Romilly, " will not this Bill, and that which is depend- '' ing in the House for preventing the people having arms, " furnish the disaffected with in Ireland !" Ten days later, an opportunity was afforded to assist in carrying through the Commons a Bill introduced by Whit bread, and designed to secure the establishment of a school for the education of the poor In e.very English parish. Even Romilly's late colleague, the cultured and enlightened Wind ham, was strenuous In his opposition to the measure ; as earnest as he had been a few months before in resisting tbe abolition of the slave trade. When it Is proposed to give knowledge to the lowest orders of society we must — it was said — have very explicit assurances as to what sort of knowledge it is intended to give them. It must be made quite clear that they will not imbibe errors in religion and politics, ratber than ENTRY INTO PUBLIC LIFE (1806-7). 99 truths. But, retorted Romilly, it is not proposed to impart knowledge of any kind to the poorer classes ; merely to qualify them to attain knowledge by teaching them reading, writing, and arithmetic. The groundless fear that false notions will be spread broadcast among the people springs from tbe false supposition that, if discussion were left free, error would be likely to prevail over truth. Sed magna est Veritas et pr&valet. A few days before the prorogation In August, 1807, the Disposal ot House of Commons had occasion to consider a Bill introduced Sinecure by Henry Bankes,* Chairman of the Finance Committee, to Reye'r^gio'Ji. prevent the grant of places, in reversion — a privilege of the Crown which had long been gravely abused. These grants for the most part related to sinecure offices ; and sometimes the reversion would be bestowed on two or three Individuals : first to one persos, and. If he or she should die, to another; and, if he or she should die, to a third. In this way were granted a great number of places in the Irish Establishment, and many of the most valuable sinecures. As a result of this undesir able exercise of patronage, the emoluments of public offices were not infrequently enjoyed by women ; or even by children In the nursery : at one time, a lady became " chief usher " in the Court of Exchequer, while a baroness was a "sweeper" of the Mall in the Park.f Bankes' Bill passed the House without objection from any quarter ; but, on reaching the Lords, it was vehemently opposed by Lords Eldon, Melville, Redesdale, and Arden, and promptly rejected. The last named peer, as Registrar of the Court of Admiralty, himself enjoyed a lucrative office, which had been granted to him more than forty years before when It was In reversion, and whilst his father was First Lord of the Admiralty, with a second reversion to his brother, Spencer Perceval, now Chan cellor of the Exchequer ! It may be added that Lord Arden continued to hold this office for many years after the untimely death of his younger brother In 1812 ; and, during the period of the war, the annual average of his emoluments from this source alone reached £12,562 net. J His lordship, perhaps not unnaturally, denounced the proposal embodied in Bankes' Bill as ''an indecent attack upon the King's lawful prero gative. After the rejection of bis measure in the Lords, * 1757-1834 : M.P. for Corf e Castle. t " Black Book ": p. 488. I He also made £7,000 a year more by interest and profits of suitors' money, sometimes employing over £200.000 of such money at interest. Eomilly's "Diary," 24th June, 1812; Vol. III., p. 44; see post p. 170. 100 SAMUEL ROMILLY Long Vacation1807. Projects for Reform ot Criminal Law. Bankes moved an address to the King praying him not to grant any office in reversion before the expiration of six weeks from the opening of the next session of Parliament. The Commons unanimously acquiesced in the motion ; and, in several subsequent sessions, proposals to prevent grants in reversion were accepted by the House almost without oppo sition. But, in February, 1812, Spencer Perceval, then become Prime Minister, opposed a Bill on the lines of Bankes' measure, and it was rejected by 56 votes against 54. f The Long Vacation of the year, which saw the close of Romilly's career as a Minister of the Crown, was spent by him at Cowes, in the society of his wife and children. Dumont, the " interpreter" of Bentham, was his guest dur ing the greater part of the holiday : " the hot weather we have had in town " — he wrote, when begging his " excellent friend " to join the party — " the ten hours a day which I have been almost uninterruptedly passing for some time in the Court of Chancery, the House of Lords, and the Rolls, with the addition of now and then a very late night in the House of Commons had given me a most ardent longing for the country ; and I am now almost satiating myself with its delights. I hope to enjoy, for some weeks at least, the greatest of earthly blessings — ^the most perfect calm and tranquillity, in a beautiful country, and with those who are dearest to me in the world." Dumont had prepared a French version of some of Bentham's manuscripts on the Penal Code — the greater part written thirty years before — and, during the visit to Cowes, he submitted the work for bis host's perusal. " Romilly " read a good deal of it in the Isle of Wight,"* writes Dumont to Bentham on 3rd November, 1807, " and is very " much pleased. His approbation has given me spirit. He deems the publication most important, and says it will " awaken public attention." Dumont's version did not, how ever, appear until 1811, when it was embodied in the " Theorie des Peines et des Recompenses, " published during that year In London. Released from the cares of office. tPor many years Lord EUenborough's eldest eon held office as Chief Clerk ot the Court of King's Bench, with emoluments amount ing to nearly £10,000 a year. When it was proposed to reduce the emoluments of this sinecure, the subtle Chief Justice argued that reduction of salary could surely proceed only on the ground of dimmution ot duties; and, as nothing had ever been done by an occupant of the office held by his son, it was impossible that less could be done in the future. Cf. J. Taylor's "Age We Live In," Vol. 1, p. 86. * Bowring's " Bentham," Vol. X., p. 428. ENTRY INTO PUBLIC LIFE (1806-7). 101 Romilly was himself contemplating certain reforms in the Qlmlnal Law. Beyond the barbarous character of the punish ments then in vogue, many defects in law and procedure had engaged his attention from his earliest days on circuit. " He " found the Criminal Law of England written in blood " — declares the Society known by bis name — " and, with rare " courage and perseverance during a busy life, attacked and "exposed Its many abuses." It is, unfortunately, true that his personal efforts were rarely crowned by any immediate Parliamentary success, but it is equally certain that it was he who, as pioneer, prepared the way for the legislative achieve ments of Mackintosh and Peel in the decade that followed his death. His diary records an incident that impressed upon bis mind, A Question at this time, the importance of all questions arising as to the "' " B^"-" allowance of bail in Criminal cases. On the 23rd October, 1807, he held his Court as Chancellor of Durham, and, next day, he was called upon to preside in a Court of Gaol Delivery. This Court was continued by successive adjourn ments, from one assize to another ; and the justices had arranged the sittings so that they might secure Romilly's assist ance in the determination of an application for bail, made to them by a prisoner who had been committed on a capital charge. The particular felony imputed to the accused was that of firing at a man with a gun loaded with shot ; one of the offences made capital under EUenborough's Act (43 Geo. 3, c. 58). The statute in question is ill-drafted, and Romilly was of opinion, after reading the affidavits submitted to him, that the prisoner would probably be acquitted at the trial, and ought to be bailed forthwith. In conformity with the Chan cellor's opinion, the prisoner was released on bail, and, at the ensuing Assize for the county, was, in fact, acquitted, as Romilly had anticipated. If bail had not been allowed, the prisoner, who had already been a month in custody, must have lain in gaol until the following August — a further period of nearly ten months ! When he had disposed of this appli cation for bail, the Chancellor left Durham to join Lady Romilly at Bath. His itinerary is, perhaps, not devoid of interest nowadays : ' 'After dining with the Bishop at Auck- ' land, I went on and slept at Catterick Bridge. The next ' night, October 25th, I slept at Chesterfield ; the 26th, at ' Worcester ; the 27th, at Bath. On the 29th, I arrived ' in London. Next day, the 30th, the Lord Chancellor held ' his first seal before the Michaelmas Term." Chapter VII. Romilly's Attitude towards the Criminal Code. LEGISLATIVE ATTEMPTS.— DUKE OF YORK. (1808-9.) Reform of Criminal Law. — Capital Offences. — The Death Penalty for Pocket-picking. — Compensation for Acquitted Persons. — Charges Against the Duke of York.— Overtures from the " Re formers." — The Bankruptcy Laws. — Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. — Perceval Becomes Prime Minister. — A Sermon at Durham. From the outset of his public career, Romilly was, as we have already seen, bent on reforming the Criminal Code ; yet, when he had ceased to hold office as Solicitor-General, he hesitated, in his capacity as a private member, to Introduce any measure that involved a crucial amendment of the existing laws. He realized that a "reform" supported by the Government of the day has an infinitely greater chance of being adopted than an " innovation " advocated by a private member, which would probably encounter the active opposi tion of those in power. It was, he thought, wiser to hold himself in reserve for some more convenient season, and to be content, meanwhile, with submitting proposals for minor amendments. He refrained, therefore, from the introduction of any general or comprehensive scheme of reform. But, as time wore on, the day for the return of bis party to power seemed to grow more and more remote ; and, in a few years, after scoring one or two small but grateful successes, followed by many disappointments and rebuffs, he came to the conclu sion that the only task ever likely to be allotted to him was " to propose useful measures with little hope of being able to " to carry them." " Some good, however, may be done "even by such unsuccessful attempts," he wrote, "and I "shall, therefore, persevere in them." Legislative Attempts. Duke of York- (1808-9.) 103 While yet a briefless barrister attending the Courts of oepraoia- Assize as a silent spectator, Romilly had been greatly im- "''" '" pressed by the serious consequences that flowed from the ^^^y" depreciation in the value of the currency. Throughout many consequent centuries, all varieties of theft had been punishable by death increase in in case the article stolen was worth more than twelvepence ; "umber of but, in Saxon times, the culprit might redeem his life by the charges. payment of a pecuniary ransom. Although this privilege of redemption was taken away in the reign of Henry I., the simple larceny of goods to any value had, long before Romilly's day, become a "clergyable" felony; that is to say, the offender was, for a first offence, allowed his " benefit " of clergy," and excused the pains of death. There were, however, many forms of larceny to which, under numerous statutes, the capital penalty still attached, even in the case of a first offence. Thus, e.g., if chattels above the value of 12d. were stolen in a church or chapel ; or, to the value of 5s., were "privately" (i.e., secretly) purloined in a shop, the offence amounted to a capital crime ; so, too, if goods to the value of 40s. were taken from a dwelling-house ; or, to the value of 5s. only, if the house were "broken," although no person were on the premises when the felony was committed. In these cases, various statutes had deprived offenders of their "benefit of clergy," on the ground that such forms of theft involve what Blackstone terms ' ' domestic aggravations " of larceny." Oliver Cromwell, in his admirable speech to the Parliament of 1656, had urged the repeal or amendment of such provisions as these : " wicked and abominable laws," he called them. " To see men lose their lives for petty " matters !" he exclaimed. " That Is a thing that God will " reckon for ; and I wish it may not be upon this nation a day " longer than you have an opportunity to give a remedy." Early In the seventeenth century. Sir Henry Spelman com plained that, while everything else had risen in Its nominal value and become dearer, the life of a man had continually grown cheaper ; and, in the course of time, as money gradu ally depreciated In value, the anomaly, which Spelman decried, became more and more pronounced and mischievous. Juries, accordingly, committed, in Blackstone's phrase, many " pious perjuries " : they humanely found articles to be worth less than a tenth part of what was notoriously their value. In these circumstances, Romilly contemplated a short measure designed to bring such pecuniary limitations into conformity with the existing currency ; and on his return for Wareham, in the spring of 1808, he discussed the projected reform with 104 SAMUEL ROMILLY Bills to Abolish the Death Penalty for Pocket- Piclting and to Compensate Innocent Defendants, his friend James Scarlett — afterwards Lord Abinger — the accomplished advocate who, a quarter of a century later, suc ceeded Lord Lyndhurst as Chief Baron of the Exchequer. Scarlett counselled him not to rest content with a mere raising of standard values, but to attempt, once for all, a repeal of such statutes as rendered " unclergyable " any theft that was not attended by circumstances of actual violence. "This "suggestion," says Romilly, "was very agreeable to me. But, as it appeared to me that I had no chance of being " able to carry through the House a Bill which was to ex- " punge at once all these laws from the Statute Book, I deter mined to attempt the repeal of them one by one ; and, to " begin with, the most odious of them, the Act of Queen " Elizabeth,* which makes It a capital offence to steal " privately from the person of another." Accordingly, on the 1 8th May, 1 808, Romilly moved for leave to bring in (a) a Bill to repeal this statute of Elizabeth ; and (b) a Bill enabling persons, acquitted on a charge of felony," to be re-imbursed their expenses, together with some amends for losses actually sustained. It was proposed that it should be left to the court by which the prisoner was tried to determine whether he should receive any, and, if so, what compensation. Bentham had maintained, years before the making of this proposal, that t" when an innocent man has " suffered through some judicial error — when he has been " arrested, cast Into gaol, branded as a criminal, and con- " demned to endure the anxiety of a trial and the anguish of " long imprisonment, it is not only on his account, but for the "sake of her own fair fame, that Justice should make full " and speedy reparation. Established to redress all wrongs, " does she alone seek an exclusive privilege to work iniquity ?" But Plumer, the Solicitor-General, and Sir Francis Burdett both opposed the second part of Romilly's motion on the ground that the measure proposed would establish a distinction between acquittals with the approbation of the Judge and those without such approbation. No doubt, replied Romilly, the production of the Judge's certificate allowing his expenses would be decisive evidence of the prisoner's Innocence ; but the non-production of such a certificate would only leave him " in a state in which all acquitted men are at this moment, "that is. In a state in which it is doubtful whether they ate * 8 Sliiabeth: c. 4. sa. 1, 2. t Dumont's TraiUt de Ligitlaiion, 1602. (Translated by 0. H. Atkinson. Vol. IL, at p. 334.) Cf. poet p. 107. Legislative Attempts. Duke of York. (1808-9.) 105 "really innocent or guilty." Shaw Lefevre, described as "once a lawyer, and now a country gentleman," also dis approved the proposal on the conventional ground that pay ment of compensation would impose an additional burden on the county rates. Perceval, while expressing great doubt, thought leave might be given to bring in the Bill, and leave was given accordingly. But a hundred years rolled by before the Legislature sanctioned a general provision in the Costs in Criminal Cases Act, 1908, authorising payment of the costs of defence out of public funds. The first part of Romilly's motion, which sought leave to introduce a Bill for the repeal of the Elizabethan statute, was not directly opposed, although there was the usual talk about the danger of innovation and the unparalleled excellence of our legal system ; but, when the House went Into Committee on the measure, in the month of June, considerable debate ensued. It will be recalled that simple larceny was, at this period, Benefit of a "clergyable" offence, punishable by transportation for Clergy in seven years as. a maximum penalty. This "merciful mitiga- "Simpie^^ " tion " of the law resulted — so Blackstone tells us — from the '¦"'^"^¦ long and laborious process " of a " noble alchemy." " By the merciful extensions of the benefit of clergy by our modern statute law" — he vwites — "a person who com mits a simple larceny to the value of thirteen pence or thir teen hundred pounds, though guilty of a capital offence, shall be excused the pains of death ; but this Is only for a first offence The wisdom of the English legislature, in the course of a long and laborious process, extracted by a noble alchemy rich medicines out of poisonous ingredients, and converted, by gradual mutations, what was at first an unreasonable exemption of particular Popish ecclesiastics. Into a merciful mitigation of the general law, with respect to capital punishment." But the offence of privately stealing from a man's person stealing — as by picking his pocket " privately and without his know- " Privately" " ledge " — although a mere larceny at the common law, had, ?'omthe by the statute of Elizabeth, been debarred the ' ' benefit of . ^'"picket- " clergy "; and, after conviction for such a crime, if the jury picking." found the goods stolen to be of a higher value than one shilling, the Judge left the prisoner for execution, although it was his first offence. The severity of this statute is said to have been prompted by alarms arising from the ease and bold ness with which the offence of pocket-picking was committed in the days of the Tudors : such crimes were practised, we 106 SAMUEL ROMILLY are told, even in the Queen's court and in her Royal Presence. The Act itself recites that audacious pilferers were wont to rifle the pockets at the very foot of the gallows even* " at the time of doing of execution of such as had been attainted ' ' of any murder, felony, or other criminal cause, ordained "chiefly for terror and example of evil-doers." It will be seen, therefore, that the effect of a repeal such as Romilly proposed would be to leave the crime of pocket-picking a simple larceny, punishable as such, in case of a first offence, with seven years' transportation. Plumer, with the support of a Welsh judge named Burton, maintained that this. par ticular crime was rife and increasingly prevalent, and urged that there should be no mitigation in the severity of the punish ment. If the existing law proves Inefficacious — retorted Romilly — that surely supplies an excellent reason for amend ing the law and making it more certain in its operation. Any alteration must needs be In the direction of a mitigation of the punishment : " to add to its severity is Impossible," said he, " since we already provide the same punishment for plck- " pockets and for murderers." The Solicitor-General con tended, further, that, in any event, seven years' transportation was one of the most objectionable punishments that could be inflicted : it only rendered the criminal more hardened and depraved, and, when turned loose in the end, he was more dangerous to society than he had ever been before. Trans portation, if resorted to, should be for a much longer period or for life. The number of offenders now being transported for seven years is three times larger than the number of those transported for longer periods — observed Romilly — and to point out that the Legislature has hitherto made a very injudicious choice of lighter punishments can hardly support a plea for recourse to Inordinately severe penalties. It was, however, plain that there existed in the House a general disposition towards an extension of the term of transportation. Plumer, too, showed Romilly a letter he had received from Ellenborough, saying that, if any alteration of the law were necessary, of which he was by no means satisfied, it was his clear opinion that the Judges ought to have a power of transporting for life. " This," writes Romilly, " did not surprise me. I know the " severity of Lord EUenborough's disposition." Such " severity of disposition " he found to be, in no wise, peculiar to the awe-inspiring Chief Justice. Writing in his * Ives' " Penal Methods," p. 148. Legislative Attempts. Duke of York- (1808-9.) 107 diary on the 15th June, 1808, he says : " It is but a few nights " ago that, while I was standing at the Bar of the House of " Commons, a young man, the brother of a peer, whose name " is not worth setting down, came up to me, and, breathing ' ' in my face the nauseous fumes of his undigested debauch, " stammered out : — ' I am against your Bill. I am for hang ing all.' I was confounded ; endeavouring to find out some excuse for him, I observed that I supposed he meant that the certainty of punishment affording the only prospect " of suppressing crimes, the laws, whatever they were, ought "to be executed. ' No'l No 1' said he, ' it Is not that. ' There Is no good done by mercy. They only get worse. " ' I Would hang them all up at once.' " This being the mental attitude of many of his fellow- Abolition legislators, Romilly was fain to accept Pluraer's terms ; and pgi'aitv'' on the day of the prorogation of Parliament, the 4th July, for 1808, his Bill, as amended, found a place in the Statute " Pocket- Book. By ^his Act (48 Geo. 3, c. 129) the offence of steal- picking." ing from the/ person, whether privately or otherv/ise — as dis- '" Jlj"' ^* tinguished from robbery ' ' with force or putting In fear ' ' — thus became punishable by transportation for life as a maximum penalty. " After all, your achievement was " noble," wrote Dr. Parr, the worthy vicar of Hatton, on the 28th September, " and I hope you will follow It up." John Taylor Coleridge, then a lad at Eton, destined to become a distinguished judge, and the father and grandfather of dis tinguished judges, admired without stint Romilly's proposals for the reform of the criminal law, which had " long been a " disgrace to the policy and humanity of the nation." " He " goes very wisely and temperately to work," writes the schoolboy, " first of all he proposes only the repeal of part "of an absurd statute of Elizabeth. Another part of his plan ' ' is good in theory ; I fear it will fail or be hurtful in prac- " tice. It Is to grant compensation to the poor acquitted man "for the loss he has suffered by his confinement. This is to " be done at the discretion of the court, not the jury, and " to be paid by the county. Beyond a doubt a labourer, the " sole dependence of his family, ndust suffer amazingly by a " confinement of several months (In the Northern counties It "may be a year) on suspicion of a crime, of which, when " acquitted, he may possibly find bis wife and family In a " workhouse." Romilly's was the first word uttered on this subject, declares Lord Coleridge, the schoolboy's grandson, from whose interesting " Story of a Devonshire House " the 108 SAMUEL ROMILLY Visit to KnillCourt. Charges against the Duke of York. Corruption In the Army. extract is taken (p. 162); sed cf : Bentham's observations, cited ante p. I04. The long vacation of this year was, for the most part, spent at Knill Court, the picturesque seat of Lady Romilly's father, situate some twenty-three miles north-west of Hereford, and within a mile or so of the Welsh border. One " very delight- "ful" feature of the holiday was a tour down the river Wye — a trip in which George Wilson and Dumont joined the family party. As was his wont, Dumont brought with him to Knill a pile of Benthamic MSS., including a treatise on punishments. The MS. struck Romilly as pos sessing very extraordinary merit, and likely to impress the public mind. It ultimately formed part of the volumes pub lished in London, three years later, under the title " Theorie " des Peines et des Recompenses." Parliament re-assembled on the 19th January, 1809, and, a week later. Colonel Gwyllym Lloyd Wju-dle, member for Okehampton, moved for the appointment of a Committee to investigate certain charges preferred against the then Com mander-in-Chief, Frederick Augustus, Duke of York. Per ceval, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with the support of Castlereagh, Canning and Whitbread, insisted that these charges, which related to the bestowal of commissions and pro motions in the Army, should be referred, not to a Select Com mittee, but to a Committee of the whole House, so that the witnesses might be examined in public. Romilly saw a letter In which the Prince of Wales stated, in terms, that he con sidered any attack upon his brother as an attack upon himself ; while it was well known that the King took " the strongest "possible interest for the Duke," who was, indeed, his favourite son. It is clear, therefore, that Perceval must have conceived the course on which he insisted to be one well cal culated to serve the cause of the Commander-in-Chief ; but it is equally plain that he was, in fact, adopting a procedure wholly at variance with the true interests of the Duke. Though no violation of the law might be established against him," wrote Romilly, " yet the mere exposing to the public " that he, who was mistakenly supposed by most persons to " be leading a moral, decent, and domestic life, was entertaln- " ing at great expense a courtezas — the wife, too, of another " man, and a woman who had risen from a very low situation " in life — could not fail to do him irreparable mischief in the " public estimation." But the public were not quite so cen sorious as Romilly seemed to suppose. After all the " dis- " closures," Charles Greville declared that the Duke was KNILL COURT, HEREFORDSHIRE. Legislative Attempts. Duke of York- (1808-9.) 109 loypd and respected" as the only one of the Princes who had " the feelings of an English gentleman "; though he adds, ¦Strangely enough : " he is very easily amused, and particularly " with jokes full of coarseness and indelicacy : the men with " whom he lives most are tres-polissons and la polissonnerie is " the ton of his society. But his aides-de-camp and friends, " while they do not scruple to say everything before and to "' him, always treat him with attention and respect."} The examination of witnesses at the Bar of the House began on the 1 st of February, and occupied twelve days. The evidence so taken was<«considered by the Commons on the 8th March, and the debate — which arose on a motion for an .address to the Crown praying the Duke's removal — was pro longed by successive adjournments for seven days, the first division occurring at five o'clock in the morning of Thursday, the 16th (Hanseurd : Vol. 13, p. 639). The witnesses had established beyond all cavil or dispute that the Duke had per- (mitted his mistress — the wife of a stonemason named Clarke — to interfere in military promotions ; that he had given com missions at her instance ; and that she had received money for the recommendations. Mrs. Clarke further asserted, not ionly that the Duke was cognisant of these money payments, but also that the establishment maintained for her by his Royal Highness had, to his knowledge, been in part supported out of the monies so procured. Many lawyers engaged in the each other," wrote Romilly, " either one side must have sacrificed theirs, or there must have been an abandonment of principle on all sides, " and a sort of common understanding among them, that the " only object on which they should be steadfastly intent should " be the preservation of their places. ' On the 25th October, 1809, Romilly was holding his court at Durham, where the sole business to be disposed of was a single motion. As it chanced to be the day appointed by Government for the celebration cf the Jubilee of George III, the Chancellor attended divine service in the City Cathedral. Among the divers measures upon which the Preacher enlarged as entitling the King, beyond all other Princes, to the affection of his people, was the abolition of the slave trade. The effrontery of this servile priest seems to have astounded Romilly : " the gross adulation of ascribing the merit of that " measure to His Majesty," he wrote, " excited in me a " degree of indignation which I could ill restrain. That the " King who was always personally most averse to the abolition " of the slave trade ; who, by those men in both Houses, who " have been usually called his friends, constantly opposed it ; " who, probably alone, counteracted the zeal of his Ministers, " and actually prevented for several years, the measure being " canied ; and who may be truly stated to have been the im- " mediate cause of many thousands of human beings and " their posterity having been doomed to the most cruel of all slaveries ; that he should have incense offered up to him as " the destroyer of this abomination ; and that by a reverend "divine, a high dignitary of the Church before a numerous t Charles Bose Ellis (1771-1845) : created Baron Beaf ord, 1826. Legblatiee Attempts. Duke of York- (1808-9.) 117 " audience, and in a place consecrated to tbe worship of the God of "Truth, might really astonish even those who know " to what exc(^s of flattery priestly ambition will sometimes " have recourse," Chapter VIII. Attempt to Abolish Capital Penalty In certain cases. Bills to Repeal ID & 11 WIN. S, 0.23; DEATH PENALTY.— PRIVILEGE OF PARLIAMENT. (1810.) Fruitless Attempts to Abolish Capital Punishment IN Certain Cases of Larceny. — A Question of Parliamentary Privilege. — The Case of Gale Jones. — Proceedings Against Sir Francis Burdett. In the early decades of the nineteenth century, "petty" larceny — that Is to say, the stealing of goods found not to exceed one shilling in value — was usually punished by mere imprisonment or by whipping ; while the theft of goods to any larger value, where the crime was unattended by an act of personal violence, was, in the absence of express statutory provision, a "clergyable" felony, and was frequently pun ished, even in the case of a first offence, by transportation beyond the seas.* But there were, as we have seen, a number of felonies, undistlngulshable from simple larceny at the common law, in which "benefit of clergy" had been taken away by reason of circumstances involving, what Black stone called, " domestic aggravations." Thus, under certain Acts of William III., Anne, and George II., the death penalty attached to the crime of stealing privately in a shop, ware house, coach-house, or stable, goods to the value of five shillings ; and also to the crime of stealing goods to the value of forty shillings, in dwelling-houses, or, above that value, on board vessels in navigable rivers. On the 9th February, 1810, Romilly moved for leave to bring in three Bills to repeal respectively the statutes of William, Anne, and George II. — urging that the Legislature * The Conrt might, in its discretion, order transportation for any simvU larceny, arand or netit ¦¦ 4 Geo. I. o. 11. As to the history of Transportation," see post p. 131. Death Penalty. Privilege of Parliament. (1810.) 119 would thus, by lessening the severity, increase the certainty, of 12 Anne, punishment, and so tend to reduce the number of offences, st. 1, 0. 7, Wilberforce, who was unable to come down to the House, ^* ^"'' *• wrote to his brother-in-law, James Stephen* : — " I particularly ' ' wished to attend to-day to bear Sir Samuel Romilly on capital punishments, a subject on which, I believe, I agree with him." But Plumer, the Solicitor-General, "with his usual panegyrics on the wisdom of past ages, and declama tions on the danger of interfering with what is already established," announced his Intention of opposing the Bills when they should be brought in; and, in point of fact, not one of these reforms was achieved in Romilly's life-time. Francis Horner, then member for Wendover, begged Romilly to pub lish the speech he had delivered in support of his motion : — Nothing seems to me so certain now, as that Parliament in all these matters of legislative improvements follows only public opinion, and that, to overcome in the House of Commons the resistance of which Plumer is so worthy a leader, you must bring the weight of public opinion to beat upon the House by enlightening it through the press. On the subject of the criminal law, the prejudices are all among the lawyers; the public in general seem to have none and, at the same time, take a lively interest always in such discussions." Nor did Horner stand alone in ascribing formidable obstruction to the lawyers; Bentham declared that they resolutely opposed these reforms on the same grounds that led workmen to resist the Introduction of machinery into mills ! The substance of Romilly's speech was published soon Pamphlet afterwards in a pamphlet issued by him under the titlef : — °" "i"^'*^' , • ' /-M .- 1/— --ii 1. ./-ng those who had sup ported his own election as Steward of Bristol — then described as " the second city of the Empire " — to look to Romilly as a proper person to represent that city in Parliament. Gren ville conveyed the hearty good wishes of himself and the Duke of Norfolk — " in concert with whom he had acted in " all that regarded Bristol " — for the success of the proposed candidature. To this letter, Romilly, writing from the Isle • " Beloved Prinoeas." p. 220. 146 SAMUEL ROMILLY of Wight, on the 27th August, replied: "Hovever much " I might be flattered with the honour of repreenting such " a body of constituents, yet nothing can be less suited to my " inclination than to engage in a contest to obtan it. I cer- " tainly would not incur the expense of it ; ani I could still " less expose myself to the trouble and vexati>n which must " attend it. 1 am told, however, by the onlygentleman who " has ever talked with me on the subject t'at the proposal " would never be made to me unless it coud be first ascer- " tained that I could come in without any contest, and con- " sequently without any expense." About the same time, overtures as tr the representation of Middlesex were made through Basil IVbntagu (1770-1851) and Major Cartwright. At a meetin|^of the Freeholders' Club, held at the Crown and Anchor Tavern on 24th Sep tember, 1811, it was resolved to put Romilly in nomination and to raise a subscription for defraying " all legal and un avoidable expense ' ' ; but the nomiration was subject to the candidate signing a declaration in fivour of Parliamentary Reform and Annual Parliaments. To this Romilly would not consent. " To put myself forward, though upon the "Invitation of a most respectable oody of freeholders, as a " candidate and to subscribe an ajcicle of political faith, as a " condition upon which a subscrptlon was to be set on fool ' ' to defray thp expense of a ccntest in my favour, is that " which, though I shall not presume to censure it In others, " would neither suit my inclina'ion nor agree with those rules " by which I have always determined to govern my conduct." I am no candidate, he declared : I have not asked, and I will not ask, any man for his vote. The freeholders pressed him again and again to re-consider his decision, but their efforts were in vain. They even vent so far as to indulge in artifice. A " case " marked with i fee of three guineas was left at his chambers to be submitted for his opinion : he was asked to advise "A," " B," and "C" whether constitutional law "doth not require that Parliamentary representation should have at least as wide an extent as direct taxation, " in support of the poor, the Church and the State?" etc., etc. But he declined altogether to answer the queries pro pounded by the ingenious freeholders, inasmuch as he could not "consider the case as laid before him In the regular course of his profession, for his opinion on any question tion from Towards the end of the year, Romilly was approached the Whig directly on behalf of certain members of the Bristol " Inde- Club at Bristol. PARUAMENTARY EFFVRTS (1810-11). 147 pendent snd Constitutional Club." It had long been agreed between the leaders of the two great political parties in that city n* to interfere vvith each other at a Parliamentary election. Tiere was to be a Whig member and a Tory member, chosei respectvely by the Whig Club and the Tory Club : an arrangement whereby, as Romilly observed, Bristol was, in effect, Struck out from the popular representation. The Whig iiember, one Baillie, was about to retire on the score of ill-kealth, while Bragge Bathurst, afterwards Chancellor of theuDuchy, the sitting Tory member, was to be re-elected ; so ihat it devolved upon the members of the " Independent and Constitutional Club" — established for the avowed purpose of preserving the freedom of election ! — to choose a successor to\BaillIe. Certain members of the club asked to be allowed k> put Romilly in nomination, as they conceived that his opiiions in Parliament "might possibly " derive some additional weight from his being the represen- " tative of the second city in the kingdom." To this he replied : — " For myself lean only say that, highly as I should "prize the honour of repiesenting Bristol, it is that which I " should not a moment itesltate to forego if, in order to " obtain it, it were necessary for me to engage in a personal " contest, or to enter upon a canvass of the voters, of even " to take any step which cou\d be considered as announcing " myself as a candidate previous to a dissolution of Parlia- " ment or to a vacancy in the representation of the city. However, on the 7th January, 1812, the choice of the Nominated " independent and constitutional " clubmen fell upon Romilly ?*5*J'y ['i,, by a large majority ; " although the pretensions of a London p|y,j_ banker, one Edward Prothero, who had special claims as a " Bristol man," found considerable favour. Indeed, the Prothero family, ignoring the decision of " the club," began straighway to canvass the city, while the candidate and his brother. Sir Henry Prothero, both issued addresses, which were pjibllshed in the local press. "Orator" Hunt,* the Radical farmer from Wiltshire, also appeared in the field, avowing himself a follower of Sir Francis Burdett. In these circumstances, Romilly, yielding, as he pleads, to the pressure of his " Bristol friends," himself published an address to the " Gentlemen, Clergy, Freeholders and Freemen " of the city: — "I should proudly exult at being able to enter the " House of Commons with such authority for the opinions I * Henry Hunt (1773-1835). M.P. for Preston. 1830-33. 148 SAMUEL ROMILLY Objeetion to a Personal Canvass. Arrangements for a Public Dinner. Ceremonious Reception at Bristol. " have maintained and the principles on which I have acted, ' ' as they would derive from your unsolicited aid honourable " choice." But, as he went on to explain, he was not about to com mence a personal canvass for votes — an assuraice which gave rise to no little misunderstanding. By some of the electors his words were construed to mean that, in the event of an election taking place, he would remain in London ; and, as this was not his purpose, he wrote from Lincoln's Inn, on the 31st January, 1812: "It is, and alwiys was, my inten- " tion, upon a dissolution of Parliament, to hasten to Bristol, " and there offer myself to the choice of the electors, and to express to them my gratitude for the honour which I have " been led to believe they would confer upon me I _ am at this moment canvassing for tteir votes, and I shall _ continue to canvass for them, by a close attendance in Par- __ llament and by an anxious care not to neglect my public duty. These are the only arts I am practising, and which ' I shall continue to practice, to obtain their suffrages." But his " Bristol friends " were far from being content to rely solely on the practice of these ingenuous " arts." Adopt ing more usual methods, they pursued an active personal canvass of the citizens, and resolved to celebrate Eastertide by a public dinner, which Romilly was pressed to attend. Again yielding to the friendly pressure, he set out for Bristol on Tuesday, Bfst March, in the company of a well-known solicitor of Lincoln's Inn — Mr. Vizard — who chanced to have a large circle of acquaintances in the western city. Lying that night at Reading, they, next day, reached Bath, where they were joined by three of the " Dinner Stewards," who proposed to accompany them for the rest of the journey. As they drew near their destination on Thursday morning, they were surrounded by groups of horsemen who had come forth from the city to meet them ; and, attended by a great escort, they anived at Bristol about half after one o'clock. Some mile or more outside the town, an Immense concourse had assembled, and the people, unyoking the horses of a phaeton in which Romilly was, perforce, installed. Insisted upon drawing the carriage through the streets thronged with cheering crowds. " In this manner I entered Bristol, amidst ] the repeated huzzas of the people. Nothing could be more 'unpleasant to me than all this parade, and I had done I everything in my power to prevent it : but it was unavoid- able. .... I can most sincerely say that my unwillingness to disappoint and give pain to the persons who have been PARLIAMENTARY EFFORTS (1810-11). 149 i " zealously everting themselves In my behalf has greatly con- " tributed to ii^duce me to submit to these ceremonies which " are so disagreeable to me." His Committee Rooms were at the Bath Tavern, and, on arrival at that hos\elry, he made a speech to the crowd, giving them his reason fot not canvassing: " I said it was out of ' respect for them \ that votes which were not asked for ' acquired a value npm the very circumstance of their being ' unsolicited : that, as such votes could only be given from ' public motives, they were always honourable alike to the ' giver and to him for whom they were given ; and I earnestly ' exhorted them not to suffer the peace of the city to be ' interrupted by any disturbance." When the dinner was over, Romilly, In response to the Romilly toast of, bis health, made an oration which was " very favour- 'ePllas to "ably received." It is reported, almost at length, in the ^j ^g|„„ Times newspaper for Tuesday, the 7th April, 1812. He a "Party" looked forward with exultation to the hour when he should Man " and a address the House " not as an humble and unsupported indi- "ForB'sner." " vidual, but with the weight and authority and commanding "influence of that great and populous city." It had been objected to him that he was a man devoted to a political party: — "Gentlemen, if by devotion to political party is meant the giving up of my judgment, and voting against my " reason and conviction, for measures, because those with " whom I generally act, and whose principles I approve, have "adopted them, I wholly deny the charge, and I appeal to " my conduct in Parliament for my defence ; but, if attach ment to party means only an adherence to those whose prin- " ciples I wholly approve, and in whose hands I, in my con- " science, believe the Government can be most safely en- " trusted, to that charge I have no defence to make." It had, too, been bruited about that he was not an Englishman. True, his grandfather was not an Englishman by birth ; he bad sought an asylum in " this land of liberty," and thus became an Englishman by choice. Supporting himself by his own exertions, and educating his sons in useful trades, he was content to bequeath to them, instead of his original patri mony, "no other inheritance than the habits of industry he *' had taught them, the example of his own virtuous life, an " hereditary detestation of tyranny and injustice, and an "ardent zeal in the cause of civil and religious freedom." " To him I owe it, among other inestimable blessings, that I ""am an Englishman." "Gentlemen!" — cried Romilly in 150 SAMUEL ROMILLY conclusion — ' ' this is my origin ; I trust that I need not blush to own it." Before quitting Bristol, he Issued a second address to the ectors, aglow with grateful thanks for his reception and full f confidence In victory : " If I do not already anticipate the triumph which seems prepared, not for me as an individual, but for the principles and measures which have recom mended me to your favour, it Is because the language of moderation seems best suited to the occasion, and Is most respectful to you." Next day, he left for London, and, passing through Devizes, lay the night at Maidenhead, reach ing home on Sunday, the 5th April. Chapter X. A YEAR OF POLITICAL ACTIVITY (1812). Political Activities in 1812. — The Office of Vice- Chancellor.— Reform of Ecclesiastical Courts ; Excommunication. — Death Penalty for Begging. — Relief of Catholics. — Charitable Trusts. — Tellerships of the Exchequer. — Death of Perceval. — The Liverpool Ministry. — The Long Vacation of 1812. — Defeat 'at Bristol. — ^A Seat Provided at Arundel: "Jockey of Norfolk." — "Tanhurst." Throughout the session of 1812, Romilly played a promi- Political nent part in public affairs. Reference has already been made *"*'!''*"? to his exertions in promoting a reform of procedure in the "" Courts of Chancery ; to his support of the Reversions Bill ; and to bis efforts for the abatement of brutal punishments In the Army. He also secured the appointment of a Committee to inquire into the state of the police in the Metropolis : — " Crimes had multiplied, and this, too, in a time of war " (during which crimes have generally been observed to be " comparatively few in number) to a most alarming degree." Moreover, many recent outrages had been marked by a savage and peculiar atrocity. All that Richard Ryder,* the Secre tary of State, could suggest was " an inquiry into the state of "the nightly watch"; but Romilly pointed out that such an Inquiry must prove quite inadequate. One of the foremost causes of the Increase in crime was imprisonment on the " hulks," a punishment that notoriously hardened the criminal and rendered him more profligate than he was before. Again, the system of pecuniary rewards to police officers and thief- takers deserved severe condemnation, for it gave such men * (1766-1832) ; son of 1st Baron Harrowby; M.P. for Tiverton 1795- 1830. 152 SAMUEL ROMILLY Creation of the Office of viee- Chancellor. a direct interest in the multiplication of crimes. The self- complacent Perceval replied that he should prefer to extend the system of rewards to every crime rather than to abridge, or circumscribe, it in any way. Romilly, however, managed to secure his Committee; but, when, in March, 1912, their Report was issued, he complained that its object seemed to have been " to suppress all information as to the state of " the police." The document contained, indeed, no evi dence, and did little more than refer to a few old Acts of Parliament. Four years later, at Romilly's instance, the Hon. H. G. Bennet* obtained further reports on this subject, and brought in a Bill for the better regulation of Ale Houses. As a remedy for the scandalous delays In the Courts of Chancery and on appeal therefrom, a Select Committee of the Lords had reported In favour of the appointment of an addi tional judge. Following this recommendation, Redesdale, with Eldon's concurrence, Introduced a Bill enabling the King to appoint a barrister of fifteen years' standing to assist the Lord Chancellor, and to be called Vice-Chancellor of Eng land. The Bill, which was brought down to the Commons in July, 1812, Romilly strenuously opposed. He maintained that the new creation would not ensure the Chancellor's more assiduous attendance In the Lords unless the additional judge relieved him from the hearing of causes and, perhaps also, from the hearing of interlocutory proceedings on motions and petitions; and this, in view of the nature and growth of our equity jurisprudence, would be a highly objectionable altera tion in the constitution of the court. It would, in effect, separate the office of Lord Chancellor from Its most essential functions : "he would have a variety of great and important ' duties to discharge, but the least of them would be to tran- ' sact the business of the Court of Chancery; and, in the ' meantime, the ancient office of Lord Chancellor would be ' divided between the two Masters of the Rolls (or whatever ' name they are to be called by) neither of them subject to ' the control of the other, but each in his own hall exercislhg ' an original and independent jurisdiction." He foresaw that the Chancellor would thus become a political, rather than a judicial, functionary. The Bill, dropped for the session, was reintroduced in the Lords in December of the same year, at a time when Romilly was without a seat in Parliament. He * Second son of the 4th Earl of Tankerville, see post p. 206, and Smart p. 570. A YEAR OF POLITICAL ACTIVITY (1812) 153 accordingly published a pamphlet entitled, "Objections to "the Project of creating a Vice-Chancellor of England." This brochure was issued anonymously, but the author openly avowed it and sent copies to Eldon and Redesdale. Redes dale replied with : — " Observations occasioned by a pamphlet " entitled etc., etc.," and Romilly rejoined with: "A Letter " to a Noble Lord by the Author of ' Objections, etc., etc' " The Bill ultimately became law on 11th March, 1813, and the pfflce of Vice-Chancellor was bestowed on Plumer, the Attorney-General, who, according to Romilly, proved himself even slower in hearing causes than the Chancellor, although he had not the " additional defect" of never deciding what he slowly heard. Three years later Romilly informed the House that his view as to the inexpediency of the appointment was entirely confirmed by actual experience, and In a much greater degree than he would have supposed possible in so short a time. He added that, during the first year, the Chan cellor heard only two or three original causes, and, since then, he had not even appointed days for hearing them, while the appeals to his Lordship had increased from about twenty-four to upwards of seventy. During the session of 1812, a petition preseated by a Reform penniless young woman named Mary Anne Dix created no of the small stir in Parliament. Dix had lain more than two years Eecieslas- in Bristol gaol for failing to pay the costs of a suit for defama- *'**' tion brought against her in the local Consistory Court, a ''°'""'*' spiritual tribunal having jurisdiction to punish the utterance of slanderous words In respect of which no action would lie in the courts of law, as for calling one an adulterer, usurer, or the like. *In the month of May^ 1808, when only eighteen years of age, she had been summoned for traducing a certain Mrs. Ruffy with whom she had quarrelled in the street, and, refusing to withdraw the aspersions cast upon Mrs. Ruffy's character, she was pronounced contumacious, sentenced to do penance in the Church of St. Mary Redcliffe, and ordered to pay the costs. Excommunication was publicly proclaimed, thereby depriving Dix of all civil rights, and the girl was arrested on a writ d_e excommunicato capiendo; the next step in the course of ecclesiastical censures would, in former days, have been to issue a writ de heretico comburendo I Lord Folkestone, t the young radical member for Salisbury — son of ?Hansard, Vol. 21, p 99. t (1779-1869) ; William Pleydell Bouverie, afterwards third Earl of Eadnor. 154 SAMUEL ROMILLY The Death Penalty for Soldiers and Sailorsfound Begging. Relief of Catholics. a Tory of the Old School — took occasion to move for a Com mittee to enquire into the state and working of the inferior ecclesiastical courts. Romilly vigorously supported the motion, and actually induced Sir William Scottt of the Court of Admiralty, a judge who had but little relish for reform, to promise a Bill remedying the mischiefs that arose from the power of excommunication, — ^mischiefs to which James I. had called the attention of the House of Lords more than two. centuries earlier. This pledge was redeemed in the following year, but with much reluctance, for Sir William " would " never have undertaken such a task if it had not been. In " a great degree, forced uf)on him." Romilly secured the re insertion in the Bill of a clause (which Scott afterwards sought lo abandon), requiring such a qualification for Judges of the Consistory Courts as would exclude clergymen from the judiciary. Scott's brother, the Lord Chancellor, had ex pressed his high approval of the clause, and, when informed that the Bishops would almost certainly oppose it, exclaimed : " They had better not say anything about it, I can tell them. ' " It gave me no surprise, however," says Romilly, " to find, ' upon Lord Ellenborough and his brother, the Bishop of " Chester, vehemently opposing the clause, that the Lord " Chancellor very patiently acquiesced in its being struck out." Under an old statute of Queen Elizabeth (39 Eliz., c, 17), it was made a capital offence for any soldier or mariner to wan der abroad and beg for alms, unless he held a pass from a Magistrate or his commanding officer. On the 18th March, 1812, the House of Lords acquiesced in a measure which Rwnllly had introduced in the Commons for the purpose of repealing this statute of Elizabeth (52 Geo. 3, c. 31). Romilly's Bill recited that the proposed repeal was "highly" expedient, and the word " highly " gave great offence to Lord Ellenborough, who caused it to be expunged. The enacting part of the measure was, however, accepted, and death ceased to be the legal punishment for soldiers and sailors who chanced to be found begging. Romilly had, moreover, much satisfaction in supporting a motion by Henry Grattan* to secure an enquiry into the penal laws affecting Catholics in Ireland : he avowed his belief that Grattan's motion would, in the natural course of events, lead to the removal of the disabilities under which the dissenters t C1745-1836), M.P. for Oxford Univ.; afterwards Baron Stowell. * (1746-1820); M.P. for Dublin. brother of Lord Eldon, and A YEAR OF POLITICAL ACTIVITY (1812) '155 from the established church then laboured. " 1 am de- .scended," said he, " from Protestant ancestors who were " themselves the victims of persecution, and the prejudices " produced in my mind by my education in early life it has " required all my matured reason to shake off." The motion "was rejected by 300 votes against 215 and, five years later, on 9tb May, 1817, Grattan, once more, failed to carry a .motion for a Committee to report on the state of the Catholics, although he was supported in debate by both Canning and Lord Castlereagh. Lockhart, in the same session of 1812, introduced a Charitable measure to compel the registration of charitable trusts. ^'¦"***' Romilly proposed the addition of clauses designed to provide a more summary method for the abuses which had arisen ; but his proposals were dealt with separately from Lockhart's Bill, and constituted the statute 52 Geo. 3, c. 101 . Lockhart had brought In a similar Bill in the previous year, and Romilly had then pointed out the inadequacy of the only existing remedy for abuses : an information In Chancery, at the instance of a relator, in the name of the Attorney-General. In case of a suspected breach of trust, the delay and liability to heavy charges naturally deterred relators, while the trustees of the charity, if they resented the interposition of the Court, would frequently protract the hearing of the cause, they having the funds of the charity at their disposal to defray expenses. The true remedy,* said Romilly, was to put an end to this expense and delay by enabling the court to interfere In a summary way on petition, supported by affidavits. He also made an attempt to mitigate some of the " harsh Coercion in " and dangerous " powers conferred on magistrates by an Act Lancashire passed to suppress certain disturbances, which had arisen In Yorkshire. the counties of York and Lancaster owing to the stagnation of manufactures and the scarcity of provisions ; but his efforts In this direction were in vain. On the 17th May, 1812, Creevey directed the attention Tellerships of the House of Commons to the scandalous sinecures known "* *''^ as " Tellerships of the Exchequer." A Teller was em- *' eQusi". powered by his patent to appoint a deputy who transacted all the business of the office ; if the Teller himself did not, at that time, execute, nor had it been usual for him to execute, any part of the duties whatever, t At this juncture, one of these * Hansard : Vol. 19, p. 516. t" Black Book," pp. 373, 374; Eetnrn to Parliament in 1832. 156 SAMUEL ROMILLY Tellerships had fallen to the lot of George Nugent-Temple- Grenvllle, first Marquis of Buckingham (1753-1813), an elder brother of Lord Grenville, the "Whig" leader; while the second Earl Camden§ (1759-1840) had already enjoyed a similar sinecure for some thirty years. Owing to the immense issues of public money lavished on the Napoleonic wars, the annual emoluments of each of these officials had risen to the enormous amount of £26,000 or upwards. Creevey submitted that ' ' in the present state of unparalleled expenditure and dis tress " It was the duty of Parliament " to confine the profits " to some fixed and certain sums." But Lord Grenville made it known that he regarded the motion as " aimed personally " at himself, his family, and his friends'" so the Whigs stayed away or voted with Ministers, and Romilly found himself (with Whitbread and Brougham) in a minority of 38 against 146. It should be recorded, to his honour, that, five years later, Camden, who had then amassed some hundreds of thou sands of pounds, voluntarily resigned the fees and emoluments of his office, retaining only the regulated salary of £2,500. Death of On the afternoon of Monday, the 11th May, 1812, as ferceval was entering the lobby of the House of Commons he was shot through the heart by a man named John Belllng- ham. The assassin appeared perfectly cool and collected; making no attempt to escape, he walked calmly towards the fire and, placing his pistol on a bench beside him, observed that what he had done was perfectly justifiable. " Where Is '' the villain who fired?" cried a by-stander. *" I am the unfortunate man," was the placid response; " my name is Beilingham; it is a private injury. I know what I have " done; it was a denial of justice on the part of the Govern- " ment." Beilingham added that he had set an example which would prove highly useful to mankind. It seems that he was in straits for money and had, on more than one occa sion, unsuccessfully sought compensation from the Treasury for wrongs which, as he alleged, had been sustained by him in Russia. A great concourse soon assembled in the streets and about the avenues of the House, and, strange to relate, when news of the catastrophe reached the people, the most savage cries of joy and exultation arose in all directions, accompanied by expressions of regret that other statesmen — in particular, Vicary Perceval. § Created Marquis in the same year, 1812. ?Annual Eegiater, 1912, at p. 75. A YEAR OF POLITICAL ACTIVITY (1812) 157 Glbbs,* the Attorney-General — had not shared the same fate. " The English character," wrote Romilly in his diary, "seems " to have undergone some unaccountable and portentous " change." This change for the worse was not, it would seem, con- conviction fined to the lower orders of the people. Beilingham was o* the brought to trial at the Old Bailey four days after the death Assassin. of Perceval. His counsel desired an opportunity of estab lishing that the accused was insane, and, in support of that plea, proposed to call witnesses from Liverpool, where Bel- lingham's friends lived. Accordingly an application was made for a short adjournment of the hearing; It was shown that if. Immediately on the prisoner's arrest, a letter had been despatched to his family, it would have been impossible for any reply to have reached London. Yet, the Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, Sir James Mansfield (1733-1821), and his fellow judges, refused the adjournment that was sought; and on Friday, the 15th May.| Beilingham stood convicted of murder. " No person," wrote Romilly, " can have heacd " what the conduct and demeanour of this man has been since " he committed the crime, or can have read his defence, with- " out being satisfied that he is mad; but it is a species of mad- " ness, which probably, for the security of mankind, ought " not to exempt a man from being answerable for his actions " . . . The application, however, to put off the trial was " surely very reasonable, and it might well have been post- " poned, though but for a few days." " How often," Lord Broughamt relates, " have I beard Erskine express his horror " of this proceeding ! He often referred, as he well might, " to that beautiful passage in bis defence of Hadfield§ " describing ' the whole nation as, by statute, placed under a fifteen days' quarantine to secure the mind from the con tagion of partial affections in cases of treason. In spite of political differences, Romilly, as we have seen. Provision always retained personal goodwill towards his old circuit ^"""^ friend, with whom he had lived, for years, " in a very de- " lightful intimacy," and he willingly concurred in the vote of the House making provision for the widow and family of the late Prime Minister. " His public conduct I in the * (1751-1820). He was created a Judge of the Common Pleas three weeks after this event, and Lord Chief Baron in the following year. t " Life and Times of Henry, Lord Brougham " : Vol. 2, p. 18. § James Hadfleld, who, in 1800, fired at George III., was ao- (juitted on the ground of insanity. Perceval's Family. 158 SAMUEL ROMILLY Resignation of Ministers. The LiverpoolMinistry, " highest degree disapproved and, as a Minister, I was con- " stantly opposing him," wrote Romilly; "yet there was " never, I believe, a more affectionate husband or a more " tender parent." But, while concurring in the vote, he regarded the actual provision as excessive, and, indeed, ex travagant. Besides the erection of a public monument and a handsome pension to the eldest son, the sum of £50,000 was voted for the younger children. In addition, a life annuity of £2,000 was assured to the widow, who, within a twelve month, bestowed her hand and fortune on one Carr, an officer of the Guards. On the 21st May, the House of Commons resolved to address the Regent, praying that he would take such measures as would enable him to form a strong and efficient administra tion. The mover of the address was Stuart Wortley, an able and consistent supporter of the late Prime Minister; while a seconder was found in Lord Milton,* the scion of a race at that time renowned as stalwart friends of liberty and reform. These two members were chosen to carry up the address, and, next day, all the Ministers tendered their resignation. Authorised by the Prince to form an administration. Lord Wellesley approached both Grenville and Grey, but those noblemen, in turn, rejected his overtures. Lord Moira also made a vain attempt to form a government : whereupon, the Prince installed Lord Liverpool as First Lord of the Treasury and determined to carry on with his old Ministers. Nicholas Vansittartt (1766-1851) was chosen Chancellor of the Ex chequer, and SIdmouth became Home Secretary, while Castle- reaghl (1769-1822), the future leader of the House of Com mons, resumed office as Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. According to Romilly, the whole of the negotiations were conducted with a previous determination on the part of the Prince and of those who enjoyed his confidence that they should not end in Lord Grey and Lord Grenville and their friends being in power. . . It might have been much worse if Lords Grey and Grenville had not been deterred from taking office by the obstacles which were purposely thrown in their way. They would have been suffered lo remain in the Ministry but a very short lime; some pretext would have been anxiously watched for, and eagerly * (1786-1857) ; afterwards third Earl Pitzwilliam, described by Sidney Smith as " one of the most ungainly looking young men " he ever saw. Lre. 6th June, 1812. Cf. " Creevey," Vol. 1, p. 146. tCreated Baron Bexley, 1823. f .Succeeded as second Marquis of Londonderry in 1821. A YEAR OF POLITICAL ACTIVITY (1812) 159 " seized, to turn them out with loss of character, "or a new cry against Popery would have been raised, " and they would probably have been the victims of it." Princess Charlotte of Wales, who always remained a stedfast Whig, was said to have wept at the failure to form a Whig Ministry; and the story gave occasion to Byron's well-known impromptu — eight lines which, as their author remarked, gave birth to eight thousand of vituperation in the Ministerial Press : Weep, daughter of a royal line, A sire's disgrace, a realm's decay ; Ah ! happy if each tear of thine ' Could wash a father's fault away ! Weep — for thy tears are Virtue's tears — Auspicious to these suffering isles; And be each drop in future years Repaid thee by thy people's smiles!" The Chancellor sat on until the morning of the 18th The Long August; but, on the evening of that day, Romilly, accom- *,"??A'°" panied by his wife and eldest son, left town to seek rest and enjoyment in the north. After the sittings at Durhap, a visit visits to was paid to George Wilson, § who had been compelled by C. Wilson, an attack of palsy to quit the Bar two years before and now Sydney lived " In a small but very delightful literary society" at n?!aaid Edinburgh. " He resigned himself with such a contented Stewart, attachment to the new scene, ' * writes *Lord Cockburn, ' ' that Lord Oroy. " it almost seemed as if he was glad of a calamity that enabled " him to indulge in so rational a retirement." Romilly spent " a very happy week " with his old friend, whom he found rather languid, "but in the full possession of his faculties." Endowed with every qualification for high judicial office, Wil son had been passed by owing to his political opinions, though he never obtruded them on any one and always ex- " pressed them with moderation." Even the silk gown, that was bestowed late in life, came through the private frrencf- ship of Lord Ellenborough with whom he always maintained a close intimacy, which) in Romilly's view, " probably " served to temper and restrain his Lordship's violence." So great, indeed, was Wilson's influence over the redoubtable Chief Justice that he once ' ' prevailed on his Lordship to " endeavom to read Adam Smith's excellent and very cele- "brated work," the " Wealth of Nations"; but Ellen- §Cf. ante p. 49. * " Memorials ot his Time," p. 303. 160 SAMUEL ROMILLY borough soon returned the book with an avowal that he found it quite impossible to read it ! A short time was afso spent with Sydney Smith (1771-1845), who was now settled in his remote Yorkshire rectory — " twelve miles from a lemon," as he bemoaned — whither he had retired with a fixed resolve " never to smite the partridge. . . . For, if I fed the poor, " and comforted the sick, and instructed the ignorant, yet I " should be nothing worth if I smote the partridge."* Amongst other friends visited, after the week's sojourn in Edinburgh, were Lady Minto, whose husband was abroad as Governor-General of India, and Dugald Stewart (1753- 1828), who had ceased to lecture but still retained the chair of Moral Philosophy in the University. We had the satisfac tion, wrote Romilly, to see Stewart in the full vigour of his great talents, and in the lively enjoyment of everything about him, of his books, of his leisure, and, above all, of the delight he experiences in the pursuit of his metaphysical researches. The Romilly^ stayed also at Howick with Lord Grey, still a comparatively young man, ""who lo be properly known must " be seen, as we saw him, in his retirement surrounded by his '' family, his servants, and his tenants, and appearing to be " an object of love and admiration to all who are about him." They were, too, entertained by James, fifth Duke of Rox burgh (1738-1823). just come into the possession of his title and magnificent domain, but already In the decline of life when " the sense of enjoyment seemed to be fast wearing out.'' His claim to the peerage and estates had been dis puted m the courts, and Romilly had been engaged as counsel m the case. According to Creevey, the old Duke, who after wards married for the first time, lived to become the father of several children, and. in 1821, accepted office as Grand Chamberlain of Queen Caroline. " Poor Romilly gained him his estate, ' wrote Creevey," and had the highest opinion of him. t IT^fo^nt'TsK. R ^i" ^^ching London towards the end of September, Komilly found that the dissolution of Parliament was immi nent, and there were awaiting him urgent letters from Bristol begging him lo proceed to that city without delay He at once escorted Lady RtMnilly to Eastbourne, where the younger children were passing the vacation and returned to town on Monday, the 28th September. Next day he posted ?Letter to Lady Holland, 24th Jnne, 1809. t " Creevey Papers," Vol. IL, p. 3. A YEAR OF POLITICAL ACTIVITY (1812) 161 to Lord Lansdowne's seat at Bowood, and lay there one night, arriving at Bristol about five o'clock on Wednesday afternoon, a few hours after the news of a dissolution had reached that city. Three months before the dissolution, Bragge Bathurst, the sitting Tory member, had vacated his seat on appointment as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, and one Hart Davis, then member for Colches ter, — a Bristol man — had accepted the Chiltern Hundreds in order to contest the seat at the bye-election. He was un successfully opposed by " Orator " Hunt, the friend of Cob bett, who excited the populace " to commit great excesses " by promising that, if elected, he would bring about peace and lower the price of bread. At the general election, Davis was once more the Tory candidate, Protheroe and Hunt being also in the field against Romilly, who found his supporters " sanguine, nay certain of success." Every voter had been canvassed, three thousand "promises" had been secured, and, if these promises were redeemed, victory was assured. Under the pressure of his " friends," Romilly very reluctantly undertook a sort of canvass himself : " I consented to wait on " the electors, not to ask their votes, but to thank those who " had promised lo vote for me, and merely to show myself to " the others." During four long days, many hours were passed in this " tiresome and most fatiguing " fashion. The prospect before him, undoubtedly seemed "very flattering"; but there were rocks ahead. The election was fixed for the 6th October, and, on that day, he was proposed by the Mayor (a Mr. Castle), while his nomination was seconded by Sir Abraham Elton, a clerical baronet whose ancestors had been chosen, more than once, to represent Bristol in Parliament. The show of hands went greatly in favour of Romilly and Hunt; but the day had been " spent in speeches" and, on a poll being demanded, there was time for only three or four votes to be recorded. Next day it became apparent that an intrigue was afoot and that the friends of Davis and Protheroe contemplated a coalition to oust Romilly. The hall being crowded with his supporters, the agents and partisans of the coalition did their utmost to prevent any votes being taken. They raised a contention as to the mode of voting though the plan had been already settled ; they made long speeches dis puting every vote that was tendered; they proposed that the candidates should poll by tallies, a course extremely advan tageous to Davis and Protheroe as they would probably poll double votes. As a result of these tactics, the poll at the end of the second day was : Romilly, 28 ; Davis, 18 ; Protheroe, 162 SAMUEL ROMILLY Romilly Withdrawsfrom the Contest. 16. Davis affected to be no party to any joint action, but his cockades were supplied by Protheroe's committee to their supporters, who crowded the hustings "with an ostentatious "display of the united colours." On the third day of the polling, Protheroe forged ahead by sixty votes, and, the coali tion being now openly recognised, it became manifest that Sir Samuel had little, if any, chance of success. On the eighth day, he abandoned the contest, although he had, unfortunately, declared that he would stand the poll so long as any freeman could be found to vote for him. " There ' was no resemblance in this to a pledge," wrote Romilly, ' but still I ought not to have suffered myself to be provoked ' to make such a declaration; nor should I if I had, at the ' moment, recollected that it was not at my own expense, but ' at that of others, that the contest was carried on; and that ' it must be unpardonable in me to prolong that expense one ' moment after it had become apparent that the object of it ' could not be accomplished." Leaving the Guildhall, he withdrew to the Buck Tavern, and there addressed the electors in a short speech. He then returped thanks to his Committee, and repaired lo the house of the Mayor, whose carriage was in waiting for him. The people pressed round to shake his hand and bid him farewell. " They took the horses from my car- " riage and drew me home. As I came out of the carriage, " a hundred hands were held out to be pressed in mine, and " the eyes of many were suffused with tears. I am aware, "while I am writing this, of the ridicule which it may pro- " voke; but yet it really contains nothing more than a plain and " unexaggerated statement of the fact." Next morning he left for Eastbourne, whence he wrote, on the 1 8th October, a letter of thanks to bis host the Mayor of Bristol, surrounded, he declared, by countenances as happy and as much delighted as they could have been if he had returned crov^med with the laurels of victory. " It would, indeed, have been extremely ' painful to me to have owed my election to the support of ' those who had been, at the same lime, desirous of being ' represented in Parliament by a gentleman (Davis) who — ' however high be the claims which his private virtues may ' give him to the approbation of his fellow citizens — enler- ' tains such different opinions on public affairs from myself that ' I do not recollect that, since the dismissal of the Whig ad- ' ministration in 1807, we have ever been found, in any one ' division, voting on the same side. Writing, on the same day to Francis Horner, he expresses his belief that his friends fell the disappointment more sensibly than himself. " I certainly A YEAR OF POLITICAL ACTIVITY (1812) 163 " was very anxious to succeed, and, till the third day of the " election, I thought my success certain; but, after that, I " soon saw what was to happen and had made up my mind " to it The Bristol business certainly would, in addi- " tion to my other labours, have overloaded me with fatigue, " and no doubt the very West India merchants, who most " actively opposed me, would not have been the most back- " ward in exacting my services on all occasions." On the 24th November, 1812, the new Parliament assem bled, and, six days later, the session was opened by the Regent. " In his way to the House, and back again," says Romilly, " he was received with a dead and humiliating " silence; no marks of disapprobation but no applause." On the other hand. Princess Charlotte of Wales, then a girl of sixteen, who had been present as a spectator of the opening ceremony, was greeted with loud and repeated huzzas. The Duke of Norfolk had promised to bring Romilly into Romilly Parliament should the venture at Bristol miscarry; and, as ^"''^ * related in an earlier chapter, a seat was found him at ^^^,J^gl Arundel. Henry Howard, a relative of the Duke, who had been returned for Gloucester as well as for Arundel, elected "jockey of to sit for Gloucester, thus leaving one of the seats at Arundel Norfolk." open to Romilly. On Sunday, the 20th December, he reached his destined constituency, and, next day, was duly chosen to represent the 310 scot and lot voters In Parliament. It was expressly stipulated that, when in the House, he should be free to vote "just as he should think proper." Charles Howard, eleventh Duke of Norfolk (1 746-1815), is described by Romilly as a man of excellent understanding, with a sound and Intimate knowledge of constitutional history, and. In discourse, vastly entertaining and instructive. Other authorities represent this nobleman In a very unfavourable light. " He was," *writes Mr. Wilkins, " heartless in his " dealings with men, and worse than heartless in his relations " with women. Gross in his tastes he affected low company " and low pleasures, a glutton and a drunkard; so dirty was he " in his personal habits that he rarely washed himself and still " more rarely changed his linen." "Drunkenness," declared tthe venomous Sir Nathanial Wraxall, "was in him an heredi tary vice, transmitted down, probably, by his ancestors from " Plantagenet times, and inherent In his formation." Unlike most of his race, he became a Protestant, but his unyielding * " Mrs. Fitzherbert and George IV.," Vol. il., p. 50. t " Memoirs of My Own Time." 164 SAMUEL ROMILLY adherence to Whig principles brought him Into constant dis favour with the court of George III. : indeed, the royal resent ment went so far as to deprive him of the lord-lieutenancy of the West Riding for a political speech delivered at the "Crown and Anchor" banquet in 1798. On the 24lh January of that year, the 49th anniversary of Fox's birthday, more than 2,000 persons dined at the " Crown and Anchor," the Duke occupying the chair. " Give me leave," cried the noble chairman, " to call on you to drink our sovereign's " health : the Majesty of the People." The toast was fol lowed by rapturous applause but, as a result of ' 'the seditious "and daring tendency" displayed in this and certain other speeches of the " Jockey," he was dismissed from his lord- lieutenancy and from his regiment in the militia. (Cf. : "An nual Register " for 1798). A close friend of the Prince of Wales In his earlier days, he was " slighted and shunned" like the rest of the Whigs, when the Prince assumed the Regency. His " convivial talents " were universally recog nised, and seem to have been, in large measure, the primary cause of his death in December, 1815. " The Duke might " have lived many years longer but for his indiscretions," wrote Romilly. " What reason is there not to deplore the " habits of dissipation which he in his youth acquired, and ' which he had never since endeavoured, or at least never "been able, to shake off!" The Christmas holidays of 1812 were spent at "Tan hurst." hurst," a pleasant country house* which had just been taken on a yearly tenancy. This place, situate upon the south western slope of Leith Hill, a few miles from Dorking, amidst the most beautiful surroundings, continued in Romilly's occupa tion until his death, six years afterwards. Christmasat "Tan *The owner, at that time, was Sir H. Fitzherbert, who, in 1827, sold the property to Mr. Edmund Lomax. Mr. Lomax devised Tanhurst to his youngest daughter (Lady Vaughan-WilliamB) : Page s " History of Surrey " (1911) ; Vol. III., p 155 CHAPTER XI. THE PARLIAMENTARY SESSIONS OF 1813 AND 1814. Political Activities in 1813-4. — The Shoplifting Bill. — The Punishment of Traitors. — Corruption of Blood. — Relief of Insolvent Debtors. — Regis- trarship of the Adiwiralty. — Princess Caroline of Wales. — The Regent's Overtures to Romilly. — Criticism of Speaker Abbot. — The First Treaty OF Paris and the Slave Trade. — Adventures of the Princess Charlotte. — Resignation of the Chancellorship of Durham. — Illness of Romilly. Despite the engrossing duties of professional life, Romilly parlia- showed conspicuous activity In Parliament during the busy mentary sessions of 1813 and 1814. When it was expected that fn"*,',,"* there would be a long sitting, he would go to bed shortly after j,„j ,j,4_ ten o'clock and, rising early next morning, hasten to West minster in the hope of taking part In the division. Sometimes he would find that the House .had already divided, and, thus, took nothing for his pains; as, in the early morning of the 3rd March, 1813, when, arriving at four o'clock,* he was too late to " add one to the majority," on Grattan's motion for an enquiry into the state of the laws relating to His Majesty's Catholic subjects. On the meeting of Parliament in the spring of 1813, he The Death again sought leave to bring in his Bill to abolish capital punish- Penalty ment for the offence of stealing " privately " in a shop, etc., |!y!jfg'*''' to the amount of five shillings ; but, as we have already seen, the death penalty was not got rid of in his lifetime. (Cf. : 1 . Geo. 4, c. 11 7). In commenting on the inefficacy of the * Cf. : Hansard, Vol. 24, at p. 1075. • 166 SAMUEL ROMILLY law, he drew attention to the fact that, during the years 1805 to 1809 inclusive, only 188 persons in London and Middlesex had been committed to take their trial for this offence; while, of these, only 18 were convicted and not a single one executed. He explained that he had no wish to censure the forbearance which thus disarmed the law of its ferocity; but "he con- " demned the retention of a law which was found too cruel " for application, and which was, therefore, superseded in " almost every instance by a discretionary adoption of that " wise and humane principle that no unnecessary suffering, no useless pang ought ever to be inflicted under the sanction " of the legislature."* The Bill was, however, thrown out in the Lords on its second reading. The Em- Romilly also moved for leave to bring in a Bill affecting bowelling the punishment of high treason : a crime for which, in those of Traitors. Jays, a man was subject to be "hanged, drawn, and quar tered." After being dragged to the gallows upon a hurdle, and hanged by the neck, the traitor was cut down alive. Whilst still living, his entrails were torn from his body and burnt "before his face"; although, as Bentham justly observes, "when a man neither feels nor sees anything, " what becomes of his bowels, and whether, if burnt, they are " burnt behind his back or before his face, is not " that sort of difference by " which human conduct can be governed." After the observance of these barbarous rites, the head of the offender was cut off and his body divided into four parts, which were placed at the disposal of the Crown. Romilly's Bill, which proposed to omit the embowelling and quartering, passed through Committee but was defeated on the Report Stage by 55 votes against 43. A copious report of the Debate was published by Basil Montagu, and is appended to the 28th vol. of " Hansard," pp. Ixxxii to cxxxix. Next year, he car ried the measure through the Commons, subject to a proposal by Charles Yorke, late First Lord of the Admiralty, t who sought to retain the severance of the head from the dead body of the hanged offender as part of his punishment. Yorke was supported by Seirgeant Best§ (afterwards Lord Wynford), and other legal luminaries on the ground that, if his proposal *Ct. : Hansard, Vol. 24, at p. 563. Smart p. 366. t (1764-1834) ; M.P. for Liskeard. Cf. : Hansard. Vol. 27, p. 538. § (1767-1845) ; M.P. for Bridport. Best had recently become a Tory, and was in a few months to become Solicitor-General to the Prince of Wales. The Parliamentary Sessions of 1813 and 1814. 167 were not adopted, the King would be debarred from substitut ing " beheading " for the ordinary punishment : a course not infrequently p'jrsued when the attainted traitor was a person of distinction. The authority of Coke, Hale, and Bacon was invoked to establish that the Crown could not, by our con stitution, change one sentence for another; the royal prerogative being limited to a remission of some part of the original sen tence. " Surely," said Romilly, " a very puerile conceit." But he was fain to agree with the suggestion, and, indeed, to accept a further amendment moved by the Lords, who in sisted on retaining tbe " quartering " of the beheaded body. He, however, records his opinion that " such horrible specta cles as that of mangling a body, from which the vital spirit " had just departed, before a crowd of spectators tended only " to deprave their minds and to harden their hearts." Subject to these amendments, the Bill became law on the 25th July, 1814 (54 Geo. 3, c 146); and it was not until 1870 that the judgment in all cases of treason was reduced to a sentence of death by hanging. A measure, introduced by Romilly in the session of 1813 "Corrup- to mitigate the evils arising from " corruption of blood " JJoJ,^.. after attainder of treason or felony, was ultimately passed, after with limiting amendments, in 1814, on the same day that he Attainder secured bis punishment of treason Bill (54 Geo. 3, c. 145). "IX'Jf^"" As amended, the measure, without abolishing the doctrine of " corruption of blood," took away all its ill effects except in so far as they affected the attainted person during bis life only. This absurd doctrine was based on the purely fantastic notion that an innocent grandson should not inherit from his Innocent grandfather because, forsooth, his rights became abridged or destroyed in passing through the blood of a guilty father. An attainted person could neither inherit lands nor transmit them by descent to any heir, vvhile his attainder served to obstruct all descents to his posterity in case they were driven lo derive a title, through him, from a remoter ancestor. Black stone tells us that this species of escheat to the 'lord was " adopted from the feudal constitutions," but Bentham never failed to denounce it as a cruel fiction invented by the lawyers " to cover up the injustice of confiscation "; and even Black stone expressed a hope that it " might in process of time be " abolished by Act of Parliament." It was manifest that the law operated to Inflict punishment on the innocent for the crimes of the guilty ; and this, possibly, a century after the death of the offender and when his crimes had long been for gotten. Moreover, as Romilly explained, detestable as were or Felony. 168 SAMUEL ROMILLY Redesdale's Bill for the Relief of Insolvent Debtors. " Cessio bonorum." " forfeitures " lo the Crown, the dread of them might con ceivably deter criminals ; but " corruption of blood " could have no such deterrent effect, inasmuch as confiscation might always be defeated by the making of a will. It was only m the case of the person seized dying intestate that the law could come into operation. Yet Romilly's proposal met with much opposition and. In the session of 1913, bis Bill had been defeated. Forfeitures and corruption of blood were, indeed, not finally abolished until 1870. A Bill for the relief of Insolvent Debtors, introduced in the Upper House by Lord Redesdale, received Romilly's approval and active support. Indeed, so busy was he in pro moting the Bill that, during the Westminster Election five years later, il was persistently rumoured that he himself had been the author of the measure, whereby he lost a good many voles, for Redesdale's legislative effort did not prove a great success. So far as 'persons other than traders were concerned, the Insolvent debtor of those days — In pecuniary straits possibly through no fault of his own — might, speaking generally,* be condemned to imprisonment for the rest of his natural life, although he were willing lo give up all bis worldly possessions to satisfy debts, honestly contracted on terms agreeable lo his creditors. It is true that the principle cessio bonorum was rudely applied by confused and complex Bankruptcy statutes ; but this relief was rigidly confined to traders, for the law, as Blackstone tells us, deemed it an " unjustifiable practice " in any person other than an actual trader to encumber himself with debts lo any considerable amount. In the form of charitable donations, large sums were raised to aid the imprisoned debtors ; and, at uncertain intervals, when the gaols had become full to overflowing. Parliament was driven to relieve the pressure by suspending the operation of the law. In 1809, for example, an Act had been passed which secured the release of such debtors as owed no more than £2,000 ; while, by the same Act, relief was given to debtors for £3,000 who had been in custody for five years, and also to debtors for any amount who had been confined for a period of sixteen years. Lord Redesdale proposed to found an entirely new Court wherein debtors, after being detained in execution for three months, might claim their discharge on surrendering all their properly. Under this scheme, after- acquired property was to be made subject to payment of debts. *Cf.: ante p. 112. The Parliamentary Sessions of 1813 and 1814. 169 and, in Ccise of false accoimting or fraud, the debtor's dis charge might be recalled by direction of the Court. The Common Council of London resolutely opposed the measure. They appointed a deputation to wait on Romilly and sought a conference with him, which resulted, he tells us, " in im- " diminished hostility to the measure on their part, and " imabated zeal for it on mine." In the event of the Bill becoming law, the Common Council were anxious to secure a provision enabling creditors to compel a debtor — whether he desired to take the benefit of the Act or not — lo surrender all bis property for the payment of his debts. Romilly, while approving the suggested provision, declared that any attempt to introduce it would wreck the Bill altogether. The Royal assent was given to Redesdale's Act on the 10th July, 1813 ; but the execution of it was delayed by Eldon's neglect to appoint a Judge of the newly- appointed Court. " Every day " that the Chancellor delays the appointment," wrote Romilly, " is an additional day of misery inflicted by him on 3,00O " individuals ; and of these, many have wives and children "to share their sufferings." At last, on 21st September, Sergeant Palmer was app>ointed to the judgeship ; but, when Parliament met, some weeks afterwards, Ellenborough announced his intention of bringing in a Bill to repeal the Act as " impracticable ; and a further Bill to secure the imme diate relief of those insolvent debtors whose expectations had been raised by Its provisions. His lordship told Romilly that the statute was nonsense and quite unintelligible. He said, too, that Redesdale ought to be put In a strait waistcoat ; while, as for the member whom Redesdale had put in charge of the Bill in the Commons (presumably, William Kenrick), he knew him to be a great fool : "I did not contradict his " lordship," adds Romilly. On the 1 1th November, Romilly presented a petition from the prisoners in the Fleet deploring the delays that had occurred in the execution of the Act, and, three days afterwards, a petition from foreign debtors confined in the King's Bench Prison praying that the benefits of the Act might be extended to them. He seized the opportunity to observe that it would be strange, indeed, if no means could be devised to make effectual a measure, which merely applied, in a limited degree, to all debtors the root principle of bank ruptcy, cessio bonorum. Two years later. Sergeant Best brought in a Bill to increase the severity of the Act, but < Romilly vigorously opposed Best's measure and it did not even secure a second reading. There was, however, no doubt that the mitigatory provisions of the statute had been grossly 170 SAMUEL ROMILLY Registrar- ship of the Admiralty. IngeniousMinisterial Oevloe. Princess Caroline of Wales. abused, and that many frauds had been committed under them, resulting in countless petitions for repeal from London, Westminster, Bristol, and other large commercial centres. Accordingly, in 1816, a committee was appointed, on Romilly's suggestion, lo Inquire generally into the working of the Act. Lord Arden, elder brother of Spencer Perceval, was and had long been Registrar of the Admiralty and Prize Courts — a very lucrative office. We have already seen (ante p. 99) that the Registrar, whose fees amounted to some £12,000 a year, managed to add another £7,000 In the shape of profits resulting from the use of suitors' monies : — he would some times be found employing at interest more than £200,000 of such monies. During the session of 1812, Henry Martin had introduced a Bill to regulate the office by preventing its holder from making, for his own use, any profit of the suitors' monies deposited in his hands. Romilly supported the Bill, which, after being opposed by Sir William Scott, then member for the University of Oxford, and by Plumer, was rejected by 65 votes against 27. But, in the following session. Sir William Scott and his Ministerial friends were found, strangely enough, adopting with much effusion the very measure which they had formerly so vigorously opposed. They had, indeed, conceived an ingenious plan to protect Arden's interests by moving a clause In Committee. "They supported," says Romilly, "and, of course, carried a clause to postpone the operation of the Bill till after the death of the present " Registrar, Lord Arden, a lord of the bedchamber, and a "constant supporter of the Administration." As Lord Castlereagh would not suffer the Bill to be withdrawn, Martin and his fellow reformers both spoke and voted against the amended measure ; but, with the aid of their " thirty or " forty minor placemen," Ministers easily carried the day.* As soon as her husband became invested with kingly powers, the Princess of Wales, acting under the advice of Brougham, seized every opportunity of calling ioi the produc tion of the depositions which had been taken, some six years earlier, during the " delicate investigation " before certain members of the Privy Council. This seemed a rash course to pursue If, as Romilly believed, publication could not fail " lo destroy her reputation for ever in the opinion of the " public." But Brougham's advice was shrewd enough, for * Cf . : Hansard, Vol. 26. p. 1173. The Parliamentary Sessions of 1813 and 1814. 171 the refusal of Ministers to comply with the repeated demands of the Princess led the public to take it for granted that her innocence would be conclusively established once the deposi tions saw the light of day. Romilly suggests that. In view of the " factious conduct " of some of those who, in 1807, were amongst the Prince's most active political opponents, , Ministers dare not, at this juncture, produce the documents, as "by so doing they would condemn themselves." Recall ing how warmly the cause of the injured woman had been espoused by Eldon, now basking In the favour of her Royal Husband, the Chancellor's audacity at this period seems pro digious. At a dinner given by Ponsonby, leader of the OpEpsition, Lord Grey told Romilly that, as he sat by the Chancellor on the woolsack a few days before, Eldon observed : " My opinion is, and always was, that though the " Princess was not with child, she supposed herself to be With " child'; adding, "1 do assure you (you may believe II ornot as " you may think proper) that, when I had the conference with " the King in 1807> which I requested. It was solely for the " purpose of representing lo him what mischief might follow " if Perceval was not prevented from publishing the book "which he was then bent on publishing." According to Bentham,* Ministers deposited " the papers they had against " her (Caroline) in Whitbread's hands that her chief adviser " Brougham might see them, making sure that he would be " Intimidated and that, accordingly, she would keep silence. " When he saw them, however, he saw that there was nothing " in them that he was not fully prepared for." Be this as It may, the question was definitely raised In Johnstone's Parliament by the Honble. A. Cochrane Johnstone. John- motion stone was, at this time, member for Grampound, and. In the for the following year, fled the country and was expelled the House Production jfter conviction on charges of conspiracy. In which he was implicated with his nephew and co-adventurer. Lord Cochrane. On the 5th March, 1813, Johnstone moved a long resolution condemning the proceedings of 1806 and demanding the pro duction of papers. Romilly vigorously defended the legality and propriety of the ex parte enquiry in 1806 and the papers were not produced ; but, as he was fain to allow, the debate proved " a very triumphant one for the Princess, and must " have been extremely mortifying to the Prince," for Castle reagh and some of his colleagues, " to save themselves," con curred In acquitting Caroline of all blame and thereby cast * Bentham's Works, Vol. X., p. 474. 172 SAMUEL ROMILLY The Regent makesOvertures to Romilly. upon the Regent the odium of the neglect which she had suffered. Why were not Sir John and Lady Douglas prose cuted for perjury? enquired Johnstone on the 12th March. Tbe Cabinet, replied Castlereagh, did recommend a reference to the then law officers of the Crown to consider of such a prosecution. That it was not instituted did not arise " from any doubt in the minds of those law officers as to the punishment that would be brought down upon the degraded " and guilty heads of Sir John and Lady Douglas, but from " a wish to avoid bringing such subjects before the public."* This course of action was, perhaps, forced upon Ministers, as Perceval's " Defence of the Priiicess of Wales, including the " charges against her," appears to have been made public at this juncture, by insertion in Cobbett's Register. The h3T30crisy ' ' of Castlereagh was denounced by Stuart Wortley in a speech of great power and dignity. Three days after the debate on Johnstone's motion, John Nash,t the architect, "who ever since his projected improve ments of Marylebone Park had been in great favour with the " Regent," called on Romilly In the early morning and assured him that the " manly part " he had played In the Commons had been " very thankfully received at Carlton " House." Nash then enquired whether Romilly would object to see the Prince on the subject of his relations with the Princess : — Romilly, with great respect, declined to attend, as the matter was one of v£ist public concern, and it appeared to him " lo be very unconstitutional for the Sovereign to advise " with any persons but his Ministers on any public matter." But the Regent would not treat this refusal as final, and, a few days later, Nash called again to urge that the Prince had, surely, a right to consult counsel on his own family affairs. Romilly replied that the subject proposed for discussion was as much a matter of public concern as the war with Spain or America. Nash then insinuated an enquiry whether Romilly — who had ceased to leave his name at Carlton House — would " think it a duty to refuse the Great Seal," if it were offered him, unless " all his political friends formed part of " the Administration." " I told him," says Romilly, " that * A few days later Sir John Douglas petitioned the House to adopt some measures wl^ich would support a prosecution against himself, as he was advised that the so-called " depositions " of 1806 were not such as to make a prosecution possible. Cf. • " The Eoyal Exile," by Adolphus (18th Edn., 1821), Vol. I., at p. 384. t (1752-1835) ; Nash planned Regent Street, and laid out Regent's Park and the terraces in its neighbourhood. The Parliamentary Sessions of 1813 and 1814. 173 " it was not by party motives that I was actuated ; but that my opinion was that no good could be done to the country " unless those men who had acted upon Mr. Fox's principles " were in administration ; and that I should not consent to form part of any administration in which they were not com- " prehended." Whitbread having tabled a motion condemning the pro ceedings of 1806, Nash came a third time and pressed still nfbre urgently for a visit to the Prince, who " had no person " who would speak honestly and openly to him." What Romilly would say, declared Nash, might well lead the Regent to a total change of administration — as he was still attached to his old political friends : "it was ridiculous that " Lord Yarmouth* and Lord Hertford should be made by the opposition an objection lo their coming into power : those " Lords, he was sure, cared little about any particular party, " and only wished to retain their situations about the Prince." Next Sunday, the Romillys dined at Nash's house and found that Lord Yarmouth had been asked to meet them. Romilly was taken aside by his host, who told him that every thing v/as in confusion at Carlton House ,and that it was pre cisely the moment for bringing about a change of administra tion. Moreover, added Nash, "you are the link by which " the Prince might be re-united with his former political asso- " ciates." A fortnight after this dinner, out of "civility" to Romilly and to the great surprise of Romilly's friends. Lord Yarmouth was found voting with them on the " Corruption of Blood " Bill : he declared, too, that he should have attended to support the Shoplifting Bill, ten days before, had he known that it was to be called on. But nothing further came of these overtures and "civilities" on the part of the Regent and his henchmen.The Prince and his advisers apparently decided that it Publication would be prudent to make the proceedings, at the enquiry by of the the Privy Councillors, public, before the debate on Whit- °',|'j'„*'iJJ''"* bread's motion could take place. On the 13th March, the ij|)j.7_ Morning Herald — a paper owned by the " Fighting Parson, Bate Dudley, t whom the Regent had just created a baronet — published the whole of the depositions taken against the Princess in 1806. Long extracts from them were also inserted in tbe Morning Post, the journal most strongly in the interest * Chamberlain to the Regent. His father, Lord Hertford, was Chamberlain of the Household. t (1745-1824) ; he became Prebendary of Ely in 1817. 174 SAMUEL ROMILLY Parlia mentary Recess, 1113. Morpeth's. Criticism of the Speaitsrfor his referenceto the Debates In the Commons. of the Government. But the publication does not seem to have led to any result. The Regent's cousin, William Fredk., Duke of Gloucester, told Romilly that he disbelieved all the evidence against the Princess, and that, in his judgment. Sir John and Lady Douglas and all the other witnesses were perjurers ; while, on the 12th April, the Lord Mayor and Livery of London carried up to the Princess an address of congratulation on "the manifestation of her innocence." It was arranged that this address should be received at Kensing ton Palace rather than in Caroline's house at Blackheath, so that the procession might pass through the main thoroughfares ; and the City magnates were followed to Kensington by an immense concourse of persons, largely composed of working- men. Parliament was prorogued on 22nd July, 1813 ; and, during the long vacation, among the visitors entertained at Tanhurst were Bentham, Dumont, James Mill, and Scarlett. At Bowood, Romilly met Madame de Stael, Sir James Mackintosh, and Rogers, the poet. On the 4lh November, Parliament re-assembled : the Prince went down to the Lords and opened the Session in person. " I saw him returning," wrote Romilly, " a dead " silence prevailed ; no huzzas ; very few hats were taken " off." On the 20th December, the Commons adjourned until the 1st March, and, a few days after the adjournment, Romilly, with his wife and all his children, now seven in number — six boys and a girl — ^returned to Tanhurst. He records in his diary that the weather during the Christmas holidays was the "finest imaginable" — "a bright sunshine " not interrupted by a single cloud ; while London and the " country many miles around it were for the greatest part of " the time, involved in some of the thickest fogs ever remem- " bered." On the last day of the session of 1813, when presenting to the Regent, at the Bar of the House of Lords, a Bill enabl ing the Crown lo raise money, Charles Abbot,* the Speaker, made what Romilly describes as a very extraordinary declara tion : — " Other momentous changes have been proposed for " our consideration. Adhering; however, lo those laws by " which the Throne, the Parliament, and the Government of " this country are made fundamentally Protestant, we have ' not consented to allow that those who acknowledge a * (1757-1829^ ; afterwards first Baron Colchester. His mother waa Bentham's step-mother. The Parliamentary Sessions of 1813 and 1814. 175 " foreign jurisdiction should be authorised to administer the " powers and jurisdictions of this realm." On the 22nd April, 1814, Lord Morpeth (1773-1848), the member for Cumberland (afterwards sixth Earl of Carlisle), moved a reso lution which implied a censure on the Speaker for this oration ; and, although the resolution was defeated by 274 votes against 1 06, Abbot was treated with much severity by Whitbread, C. W. Wynn, and Plunkett In the course of a long debate : "The " Speaker seemed fixed in his chair only to be reprimanded " for six hours together by every member successively that " chose." Thomas Moore referred to this incident in his ballad " Little Man and Little Soul " : — " There was a little Man, and he had a little Soul, " And he said ' Little Soul ! let us try, try, try ! " Whether It's within our reach " To make up a little Speech, " Just between little you and little I, I, I,' "* etc., etc. Reference has already been made to Romilly's efforts in """f'-g?/""*" connexion with Bills to deal with the Corruption of Blood ; to regulate the punishment of High Treason ; and to subject freehold estates to the payment of simple contract debts. On the 6th June, the treaty of peace just concluded with France (the first Treaty of Paris) was communicated to Parliament by Lord Castlereagh ; but the Session of 1814 was, as a whole, remarkably uneventful. It seemed to Romilly that the great object of the Regent was to prevent the Princess of Wales from attending the Queen's drawing-room, or being present at any of the numerous festivals organised to celebrate the restoration of peace. "It Is hardly credible," he writes . to Dumont, " what pains he has given himself to accomplish ' this noble purpose. Is not the condition of this nation a ' happy one when these are our most important public events ? ' In the meantime, however, the war vvith America still con- ' tinues, and we seem to have got so much accustomed to war, ' and to consider It as our natural condition, that it is cer- ' tainly not unpopular. The Times newspaper, having no ' Bonaparte to rail at, pours forth all its gross abuse upon the ' Americans, and would fain excite the nation to conquest, ' and to every species of Injustice and extravagance." The Treaty of Peace denounced the Slave Trade as y,.gaty''o( repugnant to the first principles of natural justice, while Paris Sweden and Holland, inspired by this country, were willing and the Slave Trade. ?Poetical Works (1859), Vol. III., p. 205. 176 SAMUEL ROMILLY that it should be abolished forthwith. But France — to whom all her captured colonies were now being restored, except Mauritius, St. Lucia, and Tobago — insisted that the traffic should be kept alive for a further term of five years. It was, however, provided that no slave merchant should import or sell slaves elsewhere than in the colonies of the state of which he was a subject. Although the trade was to cease definitely in the course of five years, this Article in the Treaty proved very disappointing to the enemies of the traffic ; and Whit bread, stirred up by Romilly, joined him in approaching the Duke of Gloucester, President of the African Association, who summoned the directors to a conference. Lord Milton told the House of Commons in very plain terms that he doubted whether France would observe the stipulation as to a five years' limit : "if she felt indisposed to abandon this abominable " traffic at a time when she reaped no commercial advantage " from its existence, what would be her disposition when the " extinct commerce of her colonies should begin to revive?" Moreover, the fixing of a time limit would tend to encourage slave-traders to carry off, and planters to purchase, as great a number of slaves as possible so long as the opportunity should continue to exist. Romilly advocated a general meeting of all the friends of abolition, and bis view was adopted by the directors, despite opposition from the timorous Villiers, " a " warm friend to the abolition, but a zealous supporter of " Government, and from Wilberforce, who was always afraid " of giving offence to Ministers." A meeting, under the presidency of the Duke, was, accordingly, convened at Free masons' Hall, on the 7th June, when strong speeches were delivered by Grey, Whitbread, Lansdowne, Wilberforce, and Holland. Other meetings followed In many of the great towns and numbers of petitions were presented to Parliament. Grenville addressed the House of Lords, in a pKjwerful speech of several hours' duration, and moved for papers on the subject, but his motion was negatived by 62 votes to 27. " This," said Grenville, " is a case where the prior and paramount laws ' of universal and eternal justice must, of necessity, supersede ' the local and partial obligations of any separate community. ' On every ground this contract is void. We cannot cove- ' nant for crime ; we cannot barter away the rights of others ; ' the lives and liberties of the nations of Africa have not been ' placed by our Creator at the disposal of France and Eng- ' land." " No nation," retorted Liverpool, " is justified In ' continuing a war for the purpose of imposing on another ' nation a moral obligation." Next day, 28th June, Horner The Parliamentary Sessions of 1813 and 1814. 177 raisedpe question in the Commons by a similar motion, and Romiiy supported him in a highly successful speech, express ing probund disapprobation of the article in the Treaty. His speech Vas afterwards printed and widely circulated.* In 1414 — and, again, in 1815 — the Peace Congress seems to have keen afforded an excellent opportunity of denouncing slave tracing as a piratical offence and a crime against the law of nationi The Governments of Spain and Portugal were alone conierned in maintaining it ; and those nations were, in truth, at tke mercy of the Allies. But the opportunity was lost ; and,\a quarter of a century later, considerably more tban 1 50,0Cp negroes were still being imported yearly into the Spanish ano^ortuguese colonies. t On the s\me day (28th June) Romilly spoke in support court of a motion t» Sir John Newport (1756-1843), member for ^e**- Waterford, uriing the appointment of a Commission to Inquire into the fees tacen in Courts of Justice, and the motion was carried by 49 Wes against 48. Romilly, in the course of the debate,, stand his belief that a pernicious custom of taking "expedition" ftes prevailed In some of the courts. To celebrate the Treaty of Paris, the Regent, with the Romilly Emperor of Russn, the King of Prussia, and other illustrious Meets personages, was eWertained at a great banquet given in the **"'"'"''''¦ Guildhall. RomilW was bidden to the feast, but preferred to dine at Lansdowns House to meet Alexander de Humboldt, the famous traveller! who chanced to be in London in his capacity as Great Chamberlain of the King of Prussia. It was in this year that there appeared the first volumes of an English translation of\Humboldt's Travels and Researches, " concerning the Institutions and Movements of the Ancient " Inhabitants of Ameiica : with descriptions of the most " striking Scenes in the\Cordilleras." This translation was revised by the author hinself ; and the book is carefully reviewed in the EdinburMi for November, 1814 (Vol. 24, p. 133). ¦ 1 During the festivities W the ' ' Peace ' ' Summer, an m-j-i. escapade of the Princess Charlotte of Wales, the Regent's monialAdventures of the * Cf. : Hansard, Vol. 28, p. 394.\ An Edinburgh Reviewer says of ^H'""" this speech : " It excels anything! we have ever seen by the same cnarioite. distinguished author in perst^asiye, dexterous, yet manly eloquence." (Vol. 24, p. 117). tCf.: "The African Slave Tradb, and the Remedy for It," by Thomas Fowell Buxton: Lonqon, 1840. 178 SAMUEL ROMILLY only child, caused no small stir in social and political circles, and led to Romilly's advice being sought by Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex (1773-1843), the favourite uncle of that impulsive and headstrong, but deservedly popular, Princess. The Duke propounded certain questions as to the legal status of his niece, and related to Romilly some curious facts as to her engagement with the hereditary Prince of Orange, an amiable young man of unprepossessing appearance — described, indeed, as " ugly, sallow, slender, and spindle- " legged " — to whom, under pressiu-e of her father, she had plighted her troth some months before. The Princess had just made up her mind to break the engagement. Rightly or wrongly, she had reached the conclusion that tlie matrimonial scheme was to banish her from England and so separate her from her mother, the Princess Caroline. On the 1 6th June, 1814, *she wrote to her betrothed: — Unforeseen events, "particularly those regarding the Princess, make me feel it " impossible to quit England at present, or to enter into any " engagements leading to it at a future time." Some said that she had, of a sudden, fallen deeply in love with Prince Augustus of Prussia ; others would have it that Leopold of Saxe Coburg, the valiant and handsome young man whom she afterwards married, was already finding great favour in her eyes. But Brougham told Creeveyt ihat her action was induced by a dread of losing her title to the Crown ; for he (Brougham) had impressed on her the iirportance of remaining in this country and of preventing her mother from leaving it, as, in the event of Caroline quitting England, a divorce would almost certainly follow, and the Regent would, then, contract a second marriage. The Duke of York, it will be remem bered, had no issue, and none other of the Royal Dukes had as yet taken a wife. Be the cause what it may, one day, shortly before the prorogation of Parliament, her father appeared at Warwick House, § where she was then livings and peremptorily ordered her to remove at once to quarters prepared for her at Carlton House. AH her servants and the members of her household were dismissed straightway : even Miss Cordelia Knight, who * " Beloved Princess," p. 351. t " Creevey's Papers," Vol. I, p. 197. § Warjfick House stood at tie end of Warwick Street, an impatu running out of Cookspur Street and nearly parallel to Pall Mall. A road divided the garden from the garden of Carlton House and there were doors of communication. " London, Past and Present." by Wheatley and Cunningham. Vol. III., p. 451. rhe Parliamentary Sessions of 1813 and 1814. 179 had long|been in constat attendance upon her. The outraged girl, esc^ing by the back-stairs, ran towards Charing Cross, where sm sprang into a hackney-coach and drove to her mother's louse in Connaught Palace. Eldon — "Old Baggs," as Chariole and her Royal uncles disrespectfully called him — ^was sen\ after her post haste, but could not gain access to the house. \ The Chancellor was followed by the Regent's friend, John Leach,* member for Seaford — known as " Little Baggs " — ajd, after him, came in turn the Prince's Attorney General, Wlliam Adam, Lord Ellenborough, and Charlotte's tutor, the Bihop of Salisbury. Neither Caroline nor her daughter woud receive any one of these distinguished emis saries ; but, i^ the end, the Duke of Sussex and Brougham prevailed on Qarlotte to comply with her father's commands, urging that, as Regent, he had a legal right to dispose of the persons of such 'members of the Royal Family as were under age. " Broughan and Romilly," wrote Bentham in 1812, " are the Princes Charlotte's two great heroes, whom she is 'I continually trumpeting. If she were on the Throne, " Romilly would,\of course, be Chancellor." Two years after her expulsion Vom Warwick House, the Princess married the handsome Leopad ; but, unhappily, on the 6th November, 18l7, within four hVurs of giving birtb to a dead child, she herself died, and hei death, deeply deplored by a sorrowing nation, was regarded as a serious blow to the Whigs. " This ' great change in the\ order of succession," wrote Romilly, 'will, it is probable! have a very sensible effect upon the ' Opposition. In all l\kelihood it will both thin their ranks ' and relax their efforts.V The Princess had been taught by her father to admire Chirles Fox and his friends : — " Upon ' her father's casting off ihat (the Whig) party, without reason 'assigned, she would not\" says Bentham, t "go with him; ' but, being disgusted witnhis behaviour towards her mother, ' and on so many other actounts adheres to her mother, and ' retains her original political feelings in great force." "Of sackcloth was thy Wedding garment made,§ Thy bridal's fruit is a^es : in the dust " The falr-hair'd daught^of the Isles is laid ; " The love of millions ! How we did entrust " Futurity to her ! and thoWh it must " Darken above our bones. Jet fondly deemed * (1760-1834) ; afterwards Vice-ChanoHlor of England, and, later.. Master of the Rolls. See post p. 218. \ t Bentham's Works, Vol. X., p. 472. VLetter of 9th July, 1812. S Childe Harold, Fourth Canto, clxx.V 180 SAMUEL ROMILLY Romilly Resigns the Chan cellorship of Durham. Serious Illness ot Romilly, " Our children should obey her child, and blessed " Her and her hoped-for seed, whose promise seem'd " Like stars to shepherds' eyes : — 'twas but a meteor beam'd." Although the prorogation of Parliament took place on 30th July, the Chancellor continued his sittings until the end of August, and Romilly was obliged to attend in court many hours every day. Scarcely had he recovered from the effects of these fatiguing and irksome duties when he wes required to undertake his annual journey to Durham — a task that began to pall upon him as years advanced. Indeed, so greatly did he find this engagement disturb the even tenour af the vacation that, in the late autumn, he resigned the office of Chancellor of the Palatine. Parliament met on 8th November, 1814, but, after sitting three weeks, both Houses adjourned ; and, on the very day of the adjournment, Romilly was seized with a severe attack of fever, accompanied by an inflammation of the lungs. His sister's son. Dr. Peter Mark Roget* (afterwards Secretary to the Royal Society) treated him with marked success ; and, after much letting of blood, coupled with a few weeks' visit to Tanhurst, the patient returned to town on the 1 1 th January, 1815, " nearly as well as ever." But, six months afterwards. Brougham speaks of Romilly as having been " bled out of a "violent inflammation of the lungs," adding, "and I think " him damaged by it, next winter will show whether perma- " nently or not ; but, at 58, such things are not safe, and " he continues to work as hard as evef."t " During part of " my illness," wrote Romilly, " my life was in some danger ; " and I was fully sensible of It. . . . Nothing could exceed " Anne's affectionate care and trem1)ling anxiety for me during " the whole of my illness. While I was confined to my bed, " she scarcely quitted me day or night. In a short but most " affecting conversation I had with her on the danger I was " in, she assured me that a seme of duty to our dear little "children would, she was certain, enable her to bear up " against the calamity of losingime. This is the first alarming " illness that I have ever experienced. If it had ended In " death, perhaps as far as concerns myself, it had been for- " tunate. My life had been one of unchequered prosperity, "cheered and animated through the whole of it by the exertion * (1779-1869) : P.R.S. ; author of " Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases," 1852. t " Creevey Papers,' Vo). I., p. 243. x he Parliamentary Sessions of 1813 and 1814. 181 \ " of sucl\ faculties as I have possessed, in the pursuit of, I " hope, no unworthy objects." Comiilg events cast their shadows before, and he seems to write w\fh a foreboding sense of the cruel fate in store for him. In Itss than four years, it fell to his lot to watch, for weary weeks, by the couch of his dying wife ; and, when she was gone, l^e could not, alas ! summon strength to support the bitternessi of his sorrow. Chapter XII. END OF THE WAR WITH FRANCE : 1815-6. The Session of 1815.— The Price of Wheat.— Pro hibition OF Importation. — The Pillory. — Napoleon's Escape From Elba.— Death of Whit bread. — Registration of Slaves. — Tour on the Continent.— Session of 1816.— Strictures on the Conduct of the Allies. — Persecution of French Protestants.— Castlereagh's Alien Bill.— Benja min West. — Funeral of Sherhjan. — Dinner at the Guildhall. Session Early in the session of 1815, Lord FitzwlUiam in the The'prico House of Peers and Romilly In the Commons called attention of Wheat. to the illegality of continuing the militia still embodied, nine Prohibition months after the signing of a definitive Treaty of Peace — a of impor- proceeding which appeared to Romilly extremely dangerous and unconstitutional. A few days later he voted in a small minority against the second reading of a Bill to prohibit the importation of foreign corn for home consumption, whenever the price of wheat should fall below eighty shillings a quarter. The price at that time stood at little over sixty shillings, and the condition of agriculture was undoubtedly very serious. During the war, patches of miserably poor land had been brought into cultivation — old pastures had been ploughed up— and the cost of production, in such circumstances, was neces sarily great. The country was being glutted with wheat from France; and thousands of farmers who, a year before, had been highly prosperous, now found themselves unable to meet their rents or even pay their taxes. It could not be denied that. If these poorer lands were thrown out of cultivation, the home produce would be considerably diminished, and It should never be forgotten, urged Frederick Robinson,* Vice- * (1782-1859). Son of Thomas, second Baron Grantham : created Viscount Goderich, 1827; Earl of Ripon, 1833; Prime Minister, 1827. END OF THE WAR WITH FRANCE 1815-6. 183 President of the Board of Trade (who introduced the Bill) that there might be another war, or there might be a general scarcity not only at home but abroad. Both Houses were overwhelmingly in favour of the measure, though it was criti cised in trenchant fashion by Grey and Grenville in the Lords, while the great manufacturing centres were all intensely hos tile. " If the measure passes," prophesied Sir Robert Peel, the veteran member for Tamworth, " the manufactures of "the towns will be destroyed. "t There was considerable rioting in London and in other parts of the country, several persons being killed or wounded by the soldiery : the Lord Chancellor's house was attacked and part of its contents destroyed, while the dwellings of Robinson and other political supporters of the Bill suffered damage at the hands of the mob. In the same session a small but useful measure was intro- Returns duced, at Romilly's Instance, to compel clerks of Assize and "' Crime, clerks of the Peace to make regular returns of criminals tried at Assizes and Quarter Sessions, with a record of their crimes and sentences. The Bill, being brought in by the Govern ment, passed into law : 55 Geo. 3, c. 49. And see 55 Geo. 3, c, 50 and 56 Geo. 3, c. 1 16 as to the abolition of Gaol fees. Romilly also spoke in favour of a Bill introduced by The Michael Angelo Taylor to abolish the punishment of the " P'"ory." pillory. It was accepted by the Commons with absolute unanimity but rejected by the Lords on the motion of Lord Ellenborough, who declared that the institution dated from 1269, and " as usual, declaimed against Innovation."* Next year, this form of punishment was abolished in all cases except after convictions for perjury or subornation of perjury ; and, twenty-one years later. It was at last abolished altogether (Cf. : 1 Vict., c. 23). As he left the Court of Chancery on the 1 0th March, Escape of 1815, Romilly was told that, rather than a week before, {J.^^JJ'"" Bonaparte, escaped from Elba, had landed on the southern ^iba. coast of France and was marching towards Grenoble at the head of a thousand men. Some ten days later, news spread Diffsrancei that Louis XVIII. had found It expedient to quit Paris In a in the mighty hurry as the soldiery were everywhere refusing to take Whig Party. up arms against the illustrious invader. In these circumstances serious difference of opinion arose, threatening a grave rupture t Hansard, Vol. 29. p. 1059. *Cf. : Hansard, Vol. 31, p. 1125. 184 SAMUEL ROMILLY in the Whig party. Grey maintained that peace should be preserved so long as it was at all possible, while Grenvllle's sentence was for open and immediate war. Ponsonby, leader of the Opposition in the Commons, convened a meeting of the party at his house for the evening of the 6th April, and declared his intentioq of concurring in the address to be moved on the Regent's message to Parliament. This course, said he, would not pledge the House to war, but merely to an increase of armaments and the continuance of our concert with the Allies. Mackintosh was of the same mind, while Tiemey and Romilly pronounced in favour of an amendment simply recommending the maintenance of peace. Next day, Romilly supported, in the lobby, an amendment, moved on these lines by Whitbread, and, "to my surprise," he wrote, " thirty- " eight persons voted for it. I expected to have been in a " minority of 16 or 17 only." A month later, he did actually find himself " in a minority of 17 only," when voting against the renewal of the subsidy of £5,000,000 guaranteed to the Allied Powers in the spring of 1814 by the treaty of Chau- mont. " Yes," exclaimed Whitbread, " in this day of " morality, when we were about to wage war in order to put " down that arch-fiend of Europe, Buonaparte, this country " undertook to pay a debt contracted by Russia for such an "abominable purpose as the dismemberment of Poland!"* Even Erskine recorded a silent vote in the Lords In support of the treaties entered Into at Vienna on the 25th March with Russia, Austria, and Prussia, t He had already accepted a green riband from the Regent. " Erskine is K.T." v^rote Brougham to Creevey on 17th January, " and says he passes " the happiest hours of his life at the Pavilion, which is like '' enough if his w — e§ knocks him down before his son as " she lately did." But his lordship's was a silent vote and he did not explain how he had come to change the opinions expressed by him in the famous pamphlet that passed through thirty editions after the Peace of Amiens. After the battle of Waterloo, when Napoleon delivered himself up to the "generosity" — as he phrased it — of the English nation, he was brought aboard the Bellerophon to Torbay and thence to Plymouth, the intention of the Govern ment being to send him to St. Helena. " The newspapers, "^ ?Hansard: Vol. 31. p. 471. t " Creevey Papers," Vol. I., p. 211. § Erskine's second marriage proved a very unhappy one ; Cf . r Townsend's " Lives of Twelve Eminent Judges " (1846), Vol. 2, p. 128. END OF THE WAR WITH FRANCE 1815-6. 185 said Romilly, " are in the daily habit of loading him with " the lowest and meanest abuse; while some individuals take " a very strange Interest in his fate. Sir Francis Burdett " called on rtje this morning (3rd August) and told me that, " if moving for a writ of habeas corpus would procure him " (Napwleon) his liberty, or In any way be useful to him, he "' would stand forward to do it. I told him that I thought Bonaparte could not possibly derive any benefit from such " a proceeding." This sort of "hankering after Bonaparte," which excited the ire of an Edinburgh .Reviewer of the day,t was doubtless induced by the foul and vulgar abuse to which ¦ the fallen emperor was constantly subjected. Indeed, the Reviewer himself admitted that the feeling proceeded " from " the circumstance of his being now abused and insulted by "the servile tools of tyrants not much better than himself." During the session of 1815, on the 6th July, the country Death of suffered a severe loss by the death of the forceful and fearless Whitbread. Whitbread. " Everyone must regret the loss of Whitbread," wrote Bjn:on, next day, to Thomas Moore ; "he was surely " a great and very good man." He died at the age of 57 years, by his own hand, cutting his throat with a razor during a period of depression, which culminated, apparently. In a fit of Insanity. Romilly describes him as the promoter of ¦every liberal scheme for improving the condition of mankind, the warm and zealous advocate of the oppressed In every part of the world, and the undaunted opponent of every species of corruption and ill-administration. " His anxious desire to do justice impartially to all men certainly made him, upon some occasions, unjust to his friends, and induced him to give "credit and bestow praise on his political enemies to which "they were in no respect entitled." "He lived," wrote Bennet, " but for mankind;* he was by far the most honest public and private man I ever knew." " An insolent ^' Tory," Spencer Walpole§ tells us, "had once the In decency lo allude to him as a brewer of bad porter. The " House was uproarious. Whitbread alone kept his temper. I rise, Mr. Speaker, as a tradesman,' he quietly began, ' to complain of the gallant officer for abusing the commodity which I sell.' " His speeches were impressive and in excellent taste, though his manner was homely, almost rough. tVol. 25, p. 511. *Hon. H. 6. Bennett to Creevey, 7th July, 1815; "Creevey 3'apers," Vol. I., p. 242. and Cf. : Hansard, Vol. 31, pp. 1147 et ttg. § Spencer Walpole's "History of England"; Vol. I., p. 314. 186 SAMUEL ROMILLY Registration of Slaves in the Colonies. " He spoke," said Wilberforce, " as if he had a pot of porter "at his lips and all his words came through it." "But," adds the critic, " I remember his drawing tears from me on the " Lottery question!" Only two days before his death, he addressed the House on a motion by one Sir J. Majoribanks, Lord Provost of Edinburgh, who proposed to vote the thanks of the Commons to the Duke of York, on the ground that, during the Duke's period of office as Commander-in-Chief, a notable victory had been won by Wellington — "^ a piece of " gross adulation in the person who moved it," comments Romilly. But the motion was put and carried without a division.* The African Institution, under the presidency of the Duke of Gloucester, had long contemplated a measure to secure the statutory registration of all slaves in the colonies, and the Society had just published a pamphlet on the subject from the pen of Wilberforce's brother-in-law, James Stephen, one of the Masters in Chancery, t It was urged that registration would tend to improve the condition of the slaves and would serve as a step towards their final emancipation. Ministers encouraged the belief that they were themselves about to introduce a measure on the lines suggested by the Society, and this occasioned much delay. But, at last, the Govern ment declared against the proposal, and Stephen,§ who repre sented East Grinstead, feeling himself no longer able to support ministers, promptly resigned his seat in Parliament. On the 3rd June, 1815, Romilly attended a meeting of the Committee of the Institution held at the President's house. Wilberforce, ' ' ever unwilling to act against the wishes of " Government," was inclined to further postponement on the chance of Ministers changing their minds; but Grenville, Lans downe, Horner — indeed, all the other members of the Committee — pronounced for immediate action. Wilberfwce, accordingly, undertook to move for leave to bring in a Bill; and, on the 1 3th June, leave was obtained and the Bill printed. Wilberforce explained that his object was to secure, by regis tration, a ready mode of identifying the slaves, and so prevent the illicit introduction of negroes in violation of the Act for the Abolition of the Slave Trade. " In all the British " colonies," declared Romilly, " any person not of a white "complexion is presumed to be a slave, and, when a man ?Hansard: Vol. 31, p. 1118. t Wilberforce's "Life." Vol. 5, p. 339. i (1758-1832) ; grandfather of Mr. Justice Stephen. END OF THE WAR WITH FRANCE 1815-6. 187 " stole his certificate from an unhappy black who had procured " his freedom, he stole from him his liberty. . . It is even " common for negroes to be seized, and sold, to pay their " prison fees !"* The measure was ultimately postponed for the session in the vain hope that action would be taken by the Colonial legislatures; but the debate proved of value as it jtecured from Lord Castlereagh a definite admission of the right of Parliament, if so minded, to enact such a law — a position which the Colonies had, theretofore, challenged with great determination. The publication of Wilberforce's Bill excited grave discontent In the West Indies, where it was regarded as a plain indication that "emancipation" was the real un- avQwed object of the "pretended philanthropists" — as Wilberforce and his friends were called. Violent resolu tions were passed denouncing the measure as an attempt by Parliament, in which colonials were not represented, to make laws for the regulation of their internal concerns. Such legis lation, it was urged, manifestly amounts to a violation of the "glorious prin(;Iples of the British Constitution!" Aye! exclaimed Romilly, even if the proposal is a novel one, we must not forget that the real purpose for which these " noble doctrines ' ' are appealed to is to render domestic slavery more absolute and more intolerable, under the auspices of English liberty, than It has ever been under the yoke of the most uncontrolled despotism. Parliament was prorogued on the 12th July, 1815, and, visit to some five weeks later, Romilly, accompanied by his wife, ®*j'"aly" his daughter, and his son John, left England for Geneva, ,„ ,g,5_ "where the eldest boy was being educated. As France was at that time "over-run with foreign troops," the travellers passed through Flanders, and, following the course of the Rhine, approached Geneva by way of Schaffhausen, Con stance and Lausanne. Brussels was found crowded with English, for great numbers had crossed from Margate, Raras- gate, and other watering places to " gratify their curiosity " in gazing on the field where the battle of Waterloo was recently fought." The battered walls of a farmhouse pierced by bullets and cannon-balls, and the remains of a villa con sumed by fire, were " the only vestiges of the late devasta- " tion " seen by the Romillys, though there were traces of musketry damage visible on the walls of the room in which they supped in the little village of * Hansard: Vol. 51, p. 782. 188 SAMUEL ROMILLY Genappe. At Geneva, where they met Dumont, Romilly formed an interesting acquaintance with Sismondi, the his torian; but the general society of the town proved " a little "disappointing," as cards for the old and dancing for the young were the " never-failing substitutes for conversation." Towards the end of September there came an excursion into northern Italy. Traversing the fine road which Napoleon had lately constructed along the southern bank of the Lake of Geneva, under the rocks of Meillerie, Romilly's party passed through the Valais, a land which seemed by no means "the " seat of happiness and innocence " represented by Rousseau. " The Government," wrote Romilly, " is severe and tyranni- " cal, and the people ignorant in the extreme. In the whole. " state there is not a single bookseller, not even at Sion, the " capital." The magnificent road over the Simplon he declared to be " alone sufficient to transmit the name of Bona- " parte to the most remote generations," while at Milan he found everything that was " grand and beautiful in the exter- " nal appearance of the city " connected with that great name. " Dreadful, indeed, are the evils which Bonaparte has brought " on the human race; but he must be strangely prejudiced who " can deny that, in Italy at least, against those evils are to be " set some very considerable benefits of which he is the " author." Romilly was " enchanted " with the beauties ol Genoa, the adjoining hills studded with villas, and the splendid Apenine mountains that lay beyond ; but his indigna tion was aroused against " the unprincipled policy of Eng- " land and the other great Powers of Europe," who had just taken on themselves to deliver over the whole state, with all its territory, into the hands of a narrow-minded and bigoted Prince, " a stranger to the people, disliked and despised by them, and who never had any pretensions to aspire to dominion " over them."* Paris in At the end of October Romilly, was back in London; but,. October, on the return journey, a considerable stay was made at Paris, 1815. where he renewed acquaintance with Lafayette, M. Morellet,. the Due de la Rochefoucauld (formerly Liancourt), and others. The city was given up to a foreign army : the pic tures and statues claimed by foreign states were being removed * " To the kingdom ot Sardinia, reconstructed under Victor Emmanuel I., Prance ceded its old provinces, Savoy and Nice; and the Allies, especially Great Britain and Austria, insisted on the- addition to that monarchy of the territories of the former republic of Genoa, in order to strengthen it for the duty of acting as a buffer state between Prance and the small states of Central Italy."" Encyclopaedia Brit : 11th Edition, Title, " Italy." , END OF THE WAR WITH FRANCE 1815-6. 189 from the gallery of the Louvre. " It was by English soldiers "that this was done," wrote Romilly, " on the English all " the odium of the measure had fallen, and it was astonishing " how great that odium was." Day by day, and hour after hour, the crowds that thronged the streets bad to make way for " the ostentatious carrying off, by British soldiers with " fixed bayonets, of some fresh trophy over their humiliation " and disgrace." Many of these valuable objects had become the property of France by the express stipulation of treaties; and the people complained bitterly of the perfidy of the Allied Powers, who approached Paris professing hostility only against Bonaparte and those who had armed in his support. But, " when, with these professions, they had lulled the coun- ' ' try into a fatal security, when they had succeeded in numb- " ing the feelings of the people, when they had gained " possession of Paris by a convention in which safety was " promised to all who had acted under the usurper, and when " they had Induced the army which was on the banks of the " Loire to disband, then, and not till then — not till by artifice " they had made all resistance impossible — did they begin to " talk about inflicting punishment on the nation, and requiring " from it securities, and exacting Indemnities and contribu- " tions." Having in mind the scenes witnessed by him in Paris, Session Romilly, more than once during the session of 1816, called °* \^^' attention to the attitude of the Allies after the battle of Water- „„ ^^^ loo, insisting that a system of deluding the French had been conduct of practised until, by the convention of St. Cloud, the surrender •he Allies. of the capital had been secured. It was not, he said, until France, relying on our assurances, had abandoned the power ful means of resistance at her disposal that we fixed the Bour bon on the throne without any regard to the wishes of the people.* He reminded the House how, in the spring of 1815, Ministers had frequently avowed that their sole object was to dispossess Bonaparte of his authority. ' ' These pro- " fessions were held after the battle of Waterloo > they were " proclaimed in the triumphant march of the Allied armies; " they were declared by the Duke of Wellington until he " arrived at St. Cloud. "f He recalled, too, the professions * " The Allied Sovereigns. . . have promised to his Most Christian Majesty to support him with their arms against all revolutionary con vulsion, tending to overrun by force the state of things actually established." Compact cited Edin. Review, Vol. 29, p. 186. t Hansard: Vol. 32, p. 47. 190 SAMUEL ROMILLY Persecution of French Protestants. of Lord Clancarty,§ the British plenipotentiary at the con gress of Vienna, who, on 6th May, 1815, after Napoleon's overtures for peace, wrote : " The Allied Powers have no " design to oppose the claim of the French nation to choose " their own form of Government, or their independence as a " great and free people. But they do think they have a right, " and that of the highest nature, to contend against the re- " establishment of an individual as the head of the French " Government, whose past conduct has invariably demon- " strated that, in such a situation, he will not suffer other " nations to be at peace." In these debates Romilly received valuable support from Horner and other members; but the Ministers, of course, secured large majorities. On the 22nd May, 1816, he raised a further question as to the persecution of Protestants in the department of the Gard and its immediate neighbourhood.* Thousands had been robbed by the populace, while more than two hundred had been murdered, and some two hundred and fifty houses pil laged and destroyed. " Thirty women of good education and " connexions were stripped naked in the streets and scourged " with such cruelty that eight died of the treatment they had " received." Romilly's assertions received full corrobora tion from facts collected by an agent wbcrni Ministers had despatched to Nismes for the purpose of enquiry on the spot ; but Casdereagh disposed of the matter in the ordinary official way. " The motion," he declared, " would have a tendency ' to revive ancient religious animosities, and such officious ' interference was likely to prove mischievous to the Protes- ' tants themselves. Moreover the Duke of Wellington had ' reported that the French Government had done everything ' that was possible to prevent these enormities." The French Government had, in fact, done nothing but make pro fessions, while the local authorities had issued proclamations more calculated to excite, than to restrain, the violence of the mob. The Prefect deplored that the people had been deluded " by their great love for the king!" In this country events followed the usual course. The servile organs of the Govern ment loaded Romilly with irrelevant abuse, while a Committee of French Protestants sent him a resolution conveying grateful thanks. 8 (1767-1837), Richard Le Poer Trench, second Earl of Clancarty; first Viscount Clancarty. Cf.: "Edin. Review," Nov. 1817, p. 185. * Hansard: Vol. 34, p. 739. END OF THE WAR WITH FRANCE 1815-6. 191 It was to his action in this matter that Romilly attributed "astie- the appearance of some lines in the Courier — Altfn bii II Pray tell me why, without his fees, isi't. ' ' " He thus defends the refugees. And lauds the outcasts of society ? "Good man! he's moved by filial piety." But Sir Wm. Collins§ would seem nearer the mark in assign ing, as the origin of this doggerel, Romilly's opposition to an Alien Bill which had just been introduced by Castlereagh. The Bill conferred on the King power, under his sign manual, to send any foreigner out of the country, throwing on the person sought to be ejected the burden of proving himself to be a British subject. To Romilly, Brougham, Mackintosh, Hoirner and other opponents of the measure, it was clear enough that it was really directed against foreigners who sought an asylum from political persecution in their own coun try; and, a hundred years ago, there were still many English- • men proud to share and acclaim Edmund Waller's belief that this island " Was sure designed " To be the sacred refuge of mankind." For my part, declared Romilly, I should be the most un grateful of men if, forgetting the protection which my ancestors and I have received in this country, I was not anxious that the same resource should be left open to others.* The Whitsuntide holidays of 1816 Romilly spent with John Nash. his friend, John Nash, the architect, at Cumberland Lodge Benjamin in Windsor Park. Amongst the guests in the house was old West. Benjamin West,t George the Third's favourite painter, who had exhibited at the first exhibition of the Royal Academy nearly half a century before. West is described by Romilly as talking a good deal and with great freedom in the intimacy of private society. " He speaks, indeed, so deliberately and ' in so low a tone of voice that it Is something of an effort to " listen to him; but his conversation is very interesting, par- ' ticularly when he talks (as he does very willingly) of the " fine arts and of the incidents of his own life." West was born in Pennsylvania in 1 738, and Leigh Hunt describes how, in West's parlour, he used to hear of the stout yet kind-hearted Englishmen, who set up their tents with Penn in the wilder ness. "In that parlour," writes Hunt, "we learned to S Op. cit. at p. 27. * Hansard: Vol. 28, p. 527. t (1738-1820); painted the "Death- of Wolfe," etc. 192 SAMUEL ROMILLY " unite the love of freedom with that of the graces of life; " for our host, though born a Quaker, and appointed a royal painter, and not so warm in his feelings as those about him, " had all the natural amenity belonging to those graces, and " never fully lost sight of that love of freedom. "§ The old man accompanied Romilly to Stoke Poges, " the scene of " Gray's elegy," and there they saw the monument which the Hon. Thomas Penn had erected in 1799 : — Mr. Edmund Gosse denounces it tas "a heavy and hideous mausoleum, bear- " ing a eulogistic inscription to Gray, and due to the taste of "James Wyatt, R.A." One day, the Regent, who came over to see a cottage which was being built for him in the park, spoke of Romilly to Nash in "very friendly terms," but "lamented" his politics. It is Romilly's " own fault," said the Prince, that his juniors and inferiors are passing him in his profession. " How little does the Prince know me," wrote Romilly, " if " he imagines that the promotions which have taken place, or " any of those which may follow, have excited, or are " likely to excite, in my mind any feeling of regret." Funeral of The funeral of Richard Brinsley Sheridan, who had died Sheridan. at the age of sixty-four, took place on the 13th July, 1816, and, on the invitation of the family, a few of his political friends attended the ceremony — the Duke of Bedford, Lords Holland, Erskine, and Lauderdale, Lord George Cavendish, Lord Robert Spencer, and Romilly, who was astonished at the number and description of ' ' the persons who were assem bled." Political opponents, like the Duke of York, Lords SIdmouth, Mulgrave, Anglesea, Lynedoch, Wellesley Pole, and many others could only have been present to pay a tribute to the " extraordinary talents " of the versatile genius : " The orator-dramatist-minstrel, who ran " Through each mode of the lyre, and was master of all."* " How strange a contrast! For some weeks before his "^ death he was nearly destitute of the means of subsistence. '' Executions for debt were in his house ; and he passed his " last days in the custody of sheriff's officers, who abstained from conveying him to prison merely because they were assured that to remove him would cause his immediate i ., ^ ^^^. ''y ^^^ ^"6' and other Papers " (Boston, 1870). p. 333. t Gray" in English Men of Letters Series; p. 54 Poetical Works of Thomas Moore" (1854), Vol 7 p 81 END OF THE WAR WITH FRANCE 1815-6. 193 " death,t and now, when dead, a crowd of persons the first " in rank, and station, and opulence, were eager to attend him " to his grave. I believe that many, and I am sure that some, " of the mourners were self-invited. Such certainly were " three of the Prince's friends. Lord Yarmouth, Bloomfield,§ " and Leach.:}: The Prince, about ten days before " Sheridan's death, when he was in great distress, and after " some of the newspapers had observed upon the strange " inattention he met with, had sent him a present of £200 ; " but Mrs. Sheridan had the spirit to refuse It, and when she " communicated to her husband what she had done, he " approved her conduct." Ten years later, George IV. gave to Croker a very dif ferent account of this Incident. According to Croker's narra tive, the Regent sent £200 as an Instalment of £500 for the relief of Sheridan's necessities, and of this some £130 or £140 was, in fact, expended. Two days later, the £200 was returned with an intimation that " Mrs. Sheridan's friends had " taken care that Mr. Sheridan wanted for nothing."* Mr. Fraser Rae, however, declares Croker's version to be "wholly untrue," the fact being that the Regent's messenger saw Sheridan's medical man " at his own house, told him that he " was commissioned to hand over a sum for the relief of his patient, and, on being informed that the money was neither "required nojr would be accepted, he carried back the sum " with which he was entrusted, never having set bis foot In "Sheridan's house. "t Four days after the funeral, Byron wrote : — " While Eloquence — Wit — Poesy — and Mirth, " That humbler Harmonist of care on earth. Survive within our souls — while lives our sense " Of pride in Merit's proud pre-eminence, " Long shall' we seek his likeness — long In vain, " And turn to all of him which may remain, " Sighing that Nature formed but one such man, " And broke the die — in moulding Sheridan." On the 9th November in this year Romilly dined at the Dinner at the ~ ~~ " Guildhall, tHe was no longer in Parliament and was, therefore, sub- l''^- ject to arrest; "his dread was a prison and he felt it staring him in the face," wrote Hon. H. G. Bennet to Creevey (Creevey Papers, Vol. I., p. 257). 8(1768-1846). Major-General Benjamin Bloomfield; Knighted 1815; Irish Peerage 1825. tCf.: Post p. 218. * " The Croker Papers " (1884), Vol. I., pp. 311, 312. t " Biography of Sheridan " (1896), "Vol. II., p. 284. 194 SAMUEL ROMILLY Guildhall with Matthew Wood§ (father of the future Lord Hatherley), who had just been re-elected to the office of Lord Mayor. "As the present Ministers do not approve of Mr. "Wood's politics," wrote Romilly, "they all absented " themselves. They had done the same last year." It is worthy of note that one of the earliest acts of Queen Victoria, on her accession to the Throne, was to bestow a baronetcy on this same Matthew Wood. Immediately after Christmas Day, 1816, Romilly left town for his country house at Tanhurst, where he remained, as he tells us, until the 10th January following, "with my dear Anne and all my children, except William, who is " still with Mr. Otter.* Mine has been a happy life, but I " know not any fortnight in it which I have passed more " happily than this." § (1768-1843), Baronet 1837. * William Otter (1768-1840) ; afterwards Bishop of Chichester. His daughter married John (afterwards Lord) Romilly. CHAPTER XIII. A STRENUOUS FIGHT FOR LIBERTY: 1 81 7. The Session of 1817. — Suspension of Habeas Corpus. The Seditious Meetings' Bill.— Abandonment of THE " Spy " System. — Trial of Watson and Thistlewood. — Repeal of Suspension Act. — Executive Interference with the Magistracy. — Sidmouth's Circular. — The Game Laws. — Deaths of Horner and Ponsonby. — Southey's " Wat Tyler." — Gift of Plate From Dr. Parr. — Bentham's " Codification Papers." — Invitation to Contest Chester. To the disturbance of his professional occupations and at Parlia- much personal Inconvenience, Romilly played an unusually 'J^l"i^ly prominent part in the debates of the Session of 1817. If the during the Government should chance to fall, the highest judicial situa- Session tion seemed to be within his grasp, and he well knew that, °* '^"" in some quarters, a consuming desire to occupy the Woolsack was supposed to be the spur impelling him to increased political activity. An earnest disavowal of any such desire is recorded in his diary : — " How little do those who ascribe my conduct to such motives know me ! With the utmost sincerity I can declare that I have no such ambition. I am deeply Impressed with the conviction that that high station would add nothing to my happiness, or even to my reputation* .... The large income which I enjoy, and which is equal to all my wishes, has been entirely produced by my own industry and exertion; for no portion of it am I indebted to the Crown ; of no particle of it is it In the power of the Crown to deprive me. The labours of my profession, great as they are, yet leave me some leisure both for domestic and even for literary enjo)Tnents. In those enjoyments, in * " Title and office would have diminished instead of adding to his reputation," wrote an anonymous critic a few months after Romilly's death; "to be Chancellor would have been less than to be a Romilly." " Criticisms of the Bar," by Amicm Curia (i.e. Payne Collier); London, Simpkin and Marshall, 1819. 196 SAMUEL ROMILLY Suspension of Habeas Corpus. " the retirement of my study, in the bosom of my family, in "the affection of my relations, in the kindness of my friends, " in the goodwill of my fellow citizens, in the uncourted popu- " larity which I know that I enjoy, I find all the good that " human life can supply. . . . The highest office and the greatest dignity the Crown has to bestow might make me " miserable ; it is impossible that it could render me happier " than I already am. One great source of misery to me in " such a situation, the public and even ray most intimate friends " little suspect : it Is the consciousness that I am not qualified " to discharge properly its most important duties. I have " neither that knowledge in my profession, nor those gifts of " nature, which such duties demand. Destitute of all talents " I know that I am not. The faculties which I do possess " I believe I fully and justly appreciate; but in those which " are most essential to a judge, in strength of memory, and in the power of fixing the attention on one simple object, and " abstracting the mind from all other considerations, I know "myself to be most lamentably and irremediably deficient." The true source of his increased activity during this Session is to be found in the character of the business that occupied the attention of Parliament. In particular, he regarded the Bills for the suspension of Habeas Corpus as measures at once unnecessary and unconstitutional, fraught with peril to the people, and establishing for all time a most evil precedent. Founded upon the broad basis of Magna Charta — ^wrote his contemporary, Henry Hallam — the statute of Charles II. Is the principal bulwark of English liberty, and, "if ever" —the great historian goes on to warn his readers — " temporary "^ circumstances or the doubtful plea of political necessity shall " lead men to look on its denial witlj apathy, the most distin- " guishing characteristic of our Constitution will be effaced." Romilly and Hallam little dreamed that, close upon a cenmry later, what Milton calls " the tyrant's plea " would still avail to overthrow, for many a long day, the constitutional principle they held so dear. Could they have " dipt into the " Future," they would have found one of the ablest lawyers of his age — a former Lord Justice of Appeal* — writing to the Times In February, 1916 : — " That the habeas corpus should I be abolished in its integrity, that the lettre de cachet of the ^^ Home Secretary should invade the liberty of the person, that we should no longer be able lo describe ourselves as 'Sir Edward Pry, 25th February, 1916. A STRENUOUS FIGHT FOR LIBERTY : 1817. 197 " a' land where '.freedom broadens slowly down from prece- " dent to precendent,' that all this should have happened " almost without our knowing It, is to some of us a matter " of serious sorrow." Shortly before Sir Edward Fry penned these memorable words, a " Defence of the Realm " Act had been passed, empowering the Privy Council " to Issue " regulations for securing the public safety and the defence " of the realm." By virtue of an order of the Home Secre tary made under one of the so-called " regulations," a natural ized citizen of this country was summarily " interned " : after suffering Incarceration for more than eighteen months, without being brought to trial and, indeed, without any charge preferred against him, he was refused a writ of habeas corpus.* This arbitrary and unexplained action of the executive was supported by the judges as a valid " measure of preventive justice," but Lord Shaw dissented, and, in a luminous, trenchant, and memorable speech, denounced the "regulation" as ultra vires. " Regulation," said his lordship, " means the formulation of " rules In the interests of public safety or defence — rules of " action, behaviour, and conduct — in obedience to which the " citizens may co-operate for these ends, and for disobedience " to which they may be punished. But the ' regulation ' "now challenged is not of that character. It Is not the " formulation of a rule of action, behaviour, or conduct to be " obeyed by the citizen; but it is for the summary arrest and ' detention of his person, grounded, and grounded alone, on " the subject's hostile origin or associations. Against Regula- " tions, in their generality, as thus construed, nothing can stand. No rights, be they as ancient as Magna Charta; no laws, be they as deep as the foundations of the Constitution : " all are swept aside by the generality of the power vested in the Executive lo issue ' Regulations.' " The great lawyers of a hundred years ago, to whom this dubious expedient was unknown, or possibly repugnant, adopted the straight forward, if more cumbrous, method of express statutory enact ment; and they, moreover, contented themselves with depriving of the constitutional safeguards, for a definitely limited time, such persons only as were charged with treason or treasonable practices. The Introduction of the obnoxious Bills of 1817 came about Events In this wise. Towards the end of the year 1816, the poverty Preceding and distress following in the wake of the Napoleonic wars ""^ ^"*" had occasioned grave public discontent. When Parliament *Rex V. Halliday: [1917] A.C. 260. 198 SAMUEL ROMILLY met, on the 28th January, 1817, the Regent, while returning from the House of Lords, was hooted by the populace, some of whom pelted the State-coach with stones, and a pane of glass was broken in the carriage window. Rumour ran that the Prince had been fired upon and, as no one could be found who had heard the report of a firearm, it was pretended that his assailant had used an air-gun. ' ' Lord SIdmouth announced " to the House of Peers that, on the return of the State carriage "through the Park, the glass of the window had been per- " f orated by two stones, or bullets from an air-gun, which " appeared to have been levelled at the royal person."* Petitions for reform were presented to the House of Commons by Lord Cochrane and Sir Francis Burdett, signed by tens of thousands of persons, but they were sum marily rejected by reason of the " disrespectful " language In which they were couched. t Romilly, a firm believer in conciliatory methods, urged that they should be received, con tending that, in the circumstances, it was. very unwise to be astute In discovering pretexts for the rejection of the people's petitions. According to Francis Place, § the difficulties of the situation were greatly aggravated by the Castlereagh adminis tration, who had inflamed the partial disaffection of the people by employing spies to hatch plots, foment sedition, and excite tumults. " Every movement of the populace which could " be instigated, every paltry penny publication (some of which " were their own) which could be made to talk seditiously, as the nonsense they contained was called (sic), were magnified " into serious seditions, outrageous tumults, horrid and widely "extended treasons, shaking the very foundations of the " Government and threatening Its overthrow." Be this as It may, great crowds had assembled in the Spa Fields near Isling ton, under the.presidency of Romilly's old opponent at Bristol, " Orator " Hunt; and, after one meeting, in December 1816, at which violent speeches were delivered, there had occurred outrages on property in the City of London, " organised," as some said, " by a few physical force revolutionists under "the direction of a Government spy."} A week after the assembling of Parliament, sealed papers were, by order of the Regent, laid before both Houses, and referred to a secret Committee. Within a few days, warrants were issued by the Privy Council, for the arrest of several persons charged with *Pellew's "Life of Sidmouth," Vol. III., p. 168. t Hansard: Vol. 35, pp. 90, 157. § Wallas' " Life of Place," p. 121. : Wallas' "Life of Place," p. 120. A STRENUOUS FIGHT FOR LIBERTY: 1817 199 treasonable practices; the accused being certain obscure and indigent man, who had taken part in the meetings at Spa Fields and had signed the notices convening them. A fort night later, the Committee reported to Parliamentt the hatch ing of a plot to excite a general insurrection, and the existence of various secret societies, formed, it was said, with the express object of securing " a division of the Landed, and extinction "of the Funded, property of the country." The Incidents of the " intended" Insurrection," which " assumed the symbols " of the French Revolution," were painted in vivid colours: the soldiery were to be taken by surprise and overpowered, their artillery captured, and the main thoroughfares of the Metropolis barricaded, while the Tower and the Bank were to be carried by storm. The Report declared that " the same " designs still continue to be prosecuted with sanguine hopes " of success,"* but contained no hint that the active conspira tors were six or seven in number, of whom three were already in custody. This publication was framed to support, and was immediately followed by the Introduction of, a Bill empowering the authorities "to secure and detain such persons as His " Majesty shall suspect are conspiring against his person and "Government." By the terms of this measure — introduced in the House of Lords on the 21st February, and known as a Bill for the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act — persons arrested, under a warrant issued by the Secretary of State, or signed by six Privy Councillors, for suspicion of High Treason or Treasonable Practices, might be detained in prison until 1st July, 1817, and not bailed or tried without an order from the Privy Council. On the 24th February, the Report of the Secret Committee Represslvei was taken into consideration by the House of Commons, and Measures. Castlereagh informed the House that, in addition to suspending the Habeas Corpus, it was proposed : (a) To revive the Act of 1795 for preventing seditious meetings and assemblies; (b) To revive an expiring Act which punished with death the seduc tion from their allegiance of soldiers and sailors (Cf . 56 Geo. 3, c. 10 and 57, Geo. 3, c. 12); and (c) To pass an Act making such attempts as were then High Treason If directed against the King, also High Treason if directed against the life or person of the the Regent (Cf . 57, Geo. 3, c. 6). During the ensuing debates, Romilly — warmly supported by Lord John Russell, then In bis twenty-fourth year — criticised t Hansard: Vol. 35, pp. 438-447. * Hansard: Vol. 35 at p. 443. 200 SAMUEL ROMILLY Extension of the Suspension Act to Scotland. these proposals with great vigour, and observed that, before they made new laws. It would be well to know what steps had been taken to enforce those which already existed. The Attorney-General, Sir William Garrow, was fain to admit that, until a few days before, not a single prosecution had been instituted. A petition against the suspension of Habeas Corpus was promptly presented by the Livery of London; but the Bill obtained a second reading on the 27th February, and, next day, was read a third time and passed by 265 votes against 103 (Hansard, Vol. 35, p. 822). It received the royal assent on the 4th March, though some eighteen peers (Including the Duke of Sussex) signed a formal "Protest" which was entered upon the Journals of their House (Hansard, Vol. 35, p. 588). Francis Place declares* that by far the most valuable support given to the Government " in the vile " measures they contemplated " was afforded by the Whigs, who, " by their abuse of the people, gave encouragement to " Ministers to go much further than they themselves contem- " plated." Indeed, Romilly's resolute attitude, his sturdy vindication of constitutional principles and the rights of per sonal liberty, gave great offence to many of his political asso ciates. They deplored his adhesion to " a party advocating " extreme opinions," and avowed that " It kept him aloof " from the friends who had recognised bis talent and brought " him forward in Government office. "t Although powerless to defeat the forces of reaction, Romilly managed to secure an important amendment of the Suspension Bill so far as It related to Scotland. The clauses affecting Scotland, as originally drafted, deprived of their remedies for " wrongous imprisonment " all persons committed for treason, though under the warrant of an inferior magistrate, such as a Sheriff Substitute, or Justice of the Peace; and, when once committed, the prisoner could be brought to trial only under an Order signed by six Privy Counsellors. There was, of course, no probability that an obscure manufacturer or artisan would ever have interest enough to procure such an order; and, Romilly's amendment, limiting the scope of the clauses affect ing Scotland, placed Scots on the same footing as Englishmen, from whom the benefits of Habeas Corpus were to be taken away only in the event of committal under a warrant issued by a Secretary of State or six Privy CounsellorsJ (Cf., Sec. 2). * Wallas' " Lite of Place, p. 123. t Buckingham's " Manners, etc," Vol. II., p. 283. I Hansard: Vol. 35, p. 823. A STRENUOUS FIGHT FOR LIBERTY : 1817. 201 A few weeks later, Romilly received a formal letter of thanks for his action in the matter, signed by many prominent citizens of Edinburgh. The power of the Executive to anest and detain individuals The without bringing them to trial is the cardinal requisite to support f*"'''""* . r 1 -. .1 ^ . . '^K a. Meetings any system ot arbitrary government; but, as a vwiter in the* sill. Edinburgh Review of those days shrewdly observed, "other "measures are necessary to complete and protect it." The right of public meeting' must be destroyed or abridged; the liberty of free sjieech must be curtailed; and the Press must be corrupted or coerced. Hence the introduction of the Seditious Meetings Bill, one of a series of measures known later as the "Gagging Acts"; It was supported by large majorities and passed both Houses in the same month as the Suspension Bill. Romilly roundly denounced the Bill, and in particular the clause which empowered a single magistrate to disperse a meeting, and to direct the arrest of any person uttering words which. In the judgment of the magistrate, might seem calculated to excite the people to hatred or contempt of the Government and the Constitution (Cf., 57 Geo. 3, c. 198). These Coercive Acts did little to restore public tran.qulllity; Abandon- but the exposure and consequent abandonment of the odious ment of Spy System " soon accomplished what coercion and repres- y* " *?,* sion had wholly failed to effect. A spy named Oliver had ^^ *""' been despatched into the manufacturing districts of the West Riding. This emissary of the Government assumed the character of a " delegate " from London, and declared that the friends of Reform In the Metropolis were well-nigh heart broken because the country folk remained so quiet. Supplied with ample means, the wretch got together a few Ignorant work men. Induced them to attend a meeting at Thornhlll Lees in the character of delegates, and then delivered them into the hands of a party of soldiery. But, the plot was boldly denounced in the columns of the " Leeds Mercury," and the shrewd Yorkshiremen on the local bench perceiving that it was Oliver himself who had fomented the movement, the prisoners were at once discharged. t It so chanced that Earl Fitzwilliam — a member of the Secret Committee and, there fore, a supporter of the Suspension Act — was present during the examination of the accused and heard enough to change *Vol. 28, p. 533. t Hansard: Vol. 36, p. 1016. Cf . : Edin. Rev. Vol. 28. p. 540. For a defence of Oliver's employment and methods, see Bean Pellew's "Life of Lord Sidmouth," III. pp., 185 et seq. i 202 SAMUEL ROMILLY Acquittalof James Watson, Thistlewood, and others on a Charge of Treason. his mind as to the necessity for any further suspension. As may be supposed, that upright nobleman lost no time in making open avowal of the change, and this circumstance had a marked effect on public opinion — at any rate, in the great industrial centres of the North.* When, in June, 1817, a Bill was introduced to suspend Habeas Corpus for a further period — until the 1st March in the following year — Romilly spoke at some length In opposition to the measure and presented a petition signed by fourteen hundred inhabitants of Hull.t The Bill, of course, passed; but, during the progress of the debates, the conduct of the Government in employing spies and informers was trenchantly denounced, and so generally condemned by the House, that Ministers shortly afterwards abandoned the use of these discreditable agents. From that time, signs of disaffection rapidly disappeared and there was no longer any interruption of public tranquillity. During the same summer, an apothecary named Watson was brought to trial, with three other persons, on a charge of treason arising out of the meeting at Spa Fields in the pre ceding December. But " the fate of these miscreants was by " no means commensurate with the heinousness of their offence ' ' bemoans the Right Reverend biographer of Lord Sidmouth (Vol. III., p. 158). Watson, who had been com mitted to the Tower, was arraigned with great solemnity, before four judges, at the bar of the Court of King's Bench. He was admirably defended by Sergeant Copley (in later years. Lord Lyndhurst), who appeared with Charles Wetberell, J the Tory member for Shaftesbury, as counsel on his behalf. After a trial lasting seven days, Watson was acquitted, and the Crown offered no evidence against Thistlewood, || Preston, and Hooper, who had severed In their challenges of jurymen and so became liable to be tried separately. § " If these men * " The conversion of Lord Pitzwilllajn and the stoutness of " Milton have somewhat roused the people from their indiffer- " ence and very much shaken any disposition there was to approve " these revivals of Pitt's worst measures."— Lord Holland to Creevey, 24th June, 1817.—" Creevey Papers," Vol. 1, p. 263. t Hansard: Vol. 35, p. 1078. I (1770-1846) ; Wetberell, who practised mainly in the Courts of Chancery and before Parliamentary Committees, volunteered to lead for the defence in Watson's case. He " travelled out ot his " court and certainly shewed that he was not very familiar with " the subject of which he was treating." Criticisms o» the Bar, 1819. at p. 229. II Four years afterwards Thistlewood engaged in the Cato Street conspiracy and was executed for high treason. Copley, on that occasion, appeared as counsel for the Crown. § So as to prevent the delay which might arise from the whole panel being exhausted by the challenges. Cf. : R. Charnock; 3, Salk, 81. A STRENUOUS FIGHT FOR LIBERTY : 1817. 203 " had been committed to Newgate, tried at the Old Bailey, " and indicted merely for a very aggravated riot, they would," wrote Romilly, "without doubt have been convicted. In- " stead of this, they are declared innocent and escape all " punishment, except, indeed, a long and close Imprisonment " previous to trial, which, as they have been finally acquitted, " has the appearance of a great injustice done to them." It was *Lord Althorp's intention, when Parliament met "epeal in January, 1818, to give notice of a motion for the repeal Habeas of the Suspension Act; but Ministers forestalled him. Lord corpus Sidmouth bringing in a Bill which was read three times in Suspension the Lords on the 28th January. Next day it was read three *"*' times in the Commons, and the royal assent was given on the last day of the month (58 Geo. 3, c. 1 .). Romilly had, how ever, seized an opportunity on the first day of the Session to place on record his condemnation of the Act. Writing In his diary on the 27th January, he says : " Being fully convinced ' that the late suspension of the Habeas Corpus was a most ' unnecessary and mischievous measure, and that It will be ' a most dangerous precedent, I took this the first opportunity ' of the House of Commons meeting to call the attention ' of the House to what had passed during the recess; — to the acquittal of the prisoners who had been apprehended at Manchester, without Government even offering any evi- ' dence against them; — to the trial of M'Kinlay in Scotland, ' who was also acquitted; — to the nature of the case proved ' in evidence upon the trials at Derby; — and to the three ' late extraordinary trials of Hone; to show how little founda- ' tion there was for the exaggerated statements which had ' formerly been made, and how 111 the suspension of Habeas ' Corpus was adapted as a remedy for the evils which really 'did exist." On the 10th February, Lord Archibald Hamilton, t the member for Lanarkshire, moved for the pro duction of the record in M'Klnlay's case, with a view to exposing the conduct of the law officers who had grossly tam pered with a witness for the Crown. Next day, Fazakerley, the member for Lincoln, moved :^" That It be an instruction " to the Secret Committee (then recently appointed) to inquire " and report whether any steps have been taken to detect and "punish the spies employed by Ministers, who by their * 1782-1845; John Charles Spencer, 3rd Earl Spencer; M.P. for Northamptonshire 1806-34. t (1770-1827) ; son of ninth Duke of Hamilton ; a supporter of Queen Caroline. 204 SAMUEL ROMILLY Attempt to Deny Visiting Justices Access to Certain Prisoners. Executive Interference with the Magistracy. Sidmouth's Circular to the LordsLieutenant. " conduct had encouraged the evils they were only to detect." A week later. Lord Folkestone moved to ref« to a committee the petitions of persons, complaining of the hardships they had suffered by Imprisonment during the late suspension of Habeas Corpus. These three motions were supported by Romilly, but, needless to say, they were all lost by large majorities. Eight months earlier. Lord Folkestone had run a tilt against Ministers and vigorously challenged their unconstitu tional action in seeking to prevent the visiting justices of gaols from having access to prisoners committed on a charge of treason. It was contended by the Law Officers that the gaols belonged to the King and that the Crown could, therefore, at its pleasure, deny access to them, any law or statute to the contrary notwithstanding. At any rate (they urged), it is a peculiar prerogative of the Crown to regulate the treatment of " State " prisoners — as, for example, persons chMged with the heinous offence of treason — and this prerogative cannot be abrogated save by express statutory enactment. TTie Berk shire magistrates, however, refused to submit to any interfer ence that would deprive them of their statutory rights (Cf. : 31 Geo. 3, c. 46); and Romilly gave his support to Folke stone, who moved for papers by way of protest against the amazing doctrine advanced by the Law Officers.* In the spring of 1817 when the Gagging Bill was before Parliament, Lord Sidmouth, as Secretary of State for the Home Department — an official then beginning to be known as "The Head of the Police" — Issued to the lieutenants of counties a circular letter which created no small stir in political circles. Sidmouth's action was the worst — If not the first — direct attempt made, up to that time, by the Execu tive to interfere with the free exercise of judicial discretion by the magistracy, who, although guided in some measure by the charges of judges on circuit, were, then as now, answer able, not to any State Official, but to the Court of King's Bench, for their administration of justice and their interpreta tion o^f the statute law.t The circular enjoined magistrates to secure the arrest of all persons found selling or publishing ?Hansard: Vol. 36; p. 1025. Cf. ; Lord Holland's motion in the Lords, 3rd June, 1817; Hansard, Vol. 36, p. 869, and see "Edinburgh Review," Vol. 28, p. 537. tThe Honourable George Pellew, D.D., Dean of Norwich, in his eulogistic " Life of Lord Sidmouth," deplores " the sad defi- " ciency of troops, which constituted Iiord Sidmouth's most formid- " able difficulty in his long campaign against the disaffected." Vol. III., p. 154. A STRENUOUS FIGHT FOR LIBERTY : 1817. 205 blasphemous or seditious pamphlets; its author observing that he was advised by "the law servants of the Crown" that any such person might be brought immediately before a justice of the peace under a warrant Issued for the purpose and compelled to give bail to answer the charge. The circular further requested the lord-lieutenant, in the event of his not attending the next quarter sessions, to communicate with the Chairman, so that the magistrates might be recommended to act " in all cases where any person shall be found offending " against the law in the manner above mentioned. I beg " leave to add that persons vending pamphlets or other publi- " cations in the manner alluded to should be considered as " coming under the provisions of the ' Hawkers and Pedlars " Act ' and be dealt with accordingly, unless they show that they are furnished with a licence as required by the said "Act." Even the subservient Ministerial press betrayed some doubt as to the absolute legality of the circular, for, while according the customary commendation, one faithful organ* applied Shakespeare's words : — " I beseech you " Wrest once the law to your authority — "To do a great right, do a little wrong, " And curb these wicked devils of their wlll."t In June of the same year (1817), Lord Grey moved for a copy of the case upon which the opinion of the law officers had been founded. Romilly made a like motion in the Commons, t and pressed upon the House the mischief of allowing an executive officer to interfere with the exercise of a discretion vested in the judiciary, or to presume to pro nounce ex cathedra on doubtful matters of law. Regarding Sidmouth's circular as a most evil precedent, he tabled a resolution in these terms : — " That it is highly prejudicial to " the due administration of justice for a Minister of the Crown " to interfere with the Magistrates of the county In cases in " which a discretion is supposed to be by law vested in them, " by recommending or suggesting to them how that discretion " should be exercised. Secondly, that It tends to the sub- " version of justice, and is a dangerous extension of the pre- " rogatlve, for a Minister of the Crown to take upon himself "to declare in his official character to the magistracy what *Cf.: "Edinburgh Review"; Vol. 28, at p. 536. J The Letter and Ooinion of the Law Officers is given ia Hansard, Vol. 36, p. 447. t Hansard: Vol. 36, p. 1158. 206 SAMUEL ROMILLY Motion by the Hon. H. C. Bennett. Cruelty to Slaves. Parlia mentary Reform. Attempts to Amend the Came Laws. " he conceives to be the law of the land; and such an exercise " of authority is the more alarming when the law so declared "deeply affects the security of the subject and the liberty " of the press, and Is promulgated on no better authority than " the opinions of the law officers of the Crown." Romilly's motion for a copy of the case was negatived; and, at the instance of Sir Samuel Shepherd, the Attorney-General, his resolutions were got rid of by the previous question, being approved by 49 votes only against 157. Nearly a year later. In May, 1818, H. G. Bennet, the member for Shrewsbury,* a zealous upholder of liberty and free speech, moved to refer to a Committee the petitions of two booksellers trading at Warrington. The petitioners had been carried before a justice and charged with publishing libels. Their fate affords a striking illustration of the m.ischief likely to result from such a circular as that issued by Sidmouth. Not being In a position to find the bail demanded of them, the accused were sent in Irons to the House of Correction and there kept to hard labour until the Quarter Sessions, at which they would have been tried had not the Attorney General caused the indictments to be removed by certiorari into the King's Bench. Before trial, their houses were searched, and their books and papers seized and removed. " A proceeding " so outrageous and so illegal," wrote Romilly, " would, " a few years ago, have been thought incredible. The " House, however, on such a case being brought before it, "refused, by a considerable majority (73 to 17), even to " institute any Inquiry." During the Session of 1817, Romilly also called the atten tion of the House to several flagrant Instances of barbarous cruelty and injustice to slaves, and, on more than one occasion, dilated on the Inefficacy of the West Indian laws to protect them from the most gross and wanton ill-treatment. Supporting Sir Francis Burdett's motion in favour of Parliamentary Reform, he found himself in a minority of 77, there being 265 votes cast against the motion. During the Sessions 1817-18, the severe Game Laws at that time in force became the subject of much hostile criticism and Romilly took occasion, more than once, to comment on their pernicious effects. In particular he deplored the spirit ? (1777-1836) ; second son of the 4th Earl of Tankerville ; " He " is most amiable, occasionally most boring, but, at all times, "most upright and honourable," said Creevey; Cf. : "Smart," P. 570. A STRENUOUS FIGHT FOR LIBERTY : 1817. 207 of inhumanity and ferocity which these enactments seemed to engender in all classes of society. The disposition to savagery was, he declared, daily becoming more and more pronounced, alike in poachers and in the preservers of game. Gangs of men armed to the teeth — poachers and gamekeepers — went forth by night prepared for acts of desperate violence, and bloody affrays were of frequent occurrence; while It had become a constant practice for the owners of enclosed grounds and woods to conceal therein spring guns and other like engines of death or mutilation, whereby terrible injuries were inflicted on perfectly innocent people. At the opening of the Session of 1817, he moved for The Night leave to bring in a Bill to repeal the Night Poaching Act of P"a<''''"S 1816 (56 Geo. 3, c. 130). That statute, which added greatly *"*¦ lo the severity of the existing law, had received the royal assent the very day before the prorogation. It had stood. In Its different stages, as an order of the day amidst forty or fifty other orders, and had passed without a single word being said upon it. The provisions of the Act were very wide, and applied even to men who held one or other of the peculiar qualifications then necessary to entitle the holder to kill or take game. In those days, the qualifications (as they were styled) for killing game were (a) Having a freehold estate ot £100 'per annum, or a leasehold for 99 years of £150 per annum; (b) Being the son and heir apparent of an esquire, or person of superior degree; or (c) Being the owner or keeper of a forest, park, chase or warren. In Blackstone's view, the pursuit of game by " low and indigent persons," who did not possess " such rank or fortune as is generally called a qualifi- " cation," promoted Idleness and took the sportsmen away "from their proper employments and callings." They were, accordingly, rendered obnoxious to heavy penalties im posed by the statutes for preserving game. Blackstone, in deed, went further than many lawyers of his own time, for be declared that all persons " of what property or distinction "soever," that killed game out of their own territories, or even upon their own estates, without the King's licence ex pressed by the grant of a franchise (such as a free warren), were guilty of a heinous offence — no less than that of ' en- " croaching on the royal prerogative '." The statute of 1816 was so framed that any person, qualified or unqualified, found snaring a hare or a rabbit, before 7 o'clock in the morning at the beginning of October, might be transported for seven years. When Romilly's Repeal Bill stood for second read ing on the 21st March, George Bankes, the member for Corfe 208 SAMUEL ROMILLY The Sale and Purchase of Came. Death of Francis Horner and of Ponsonby. Castle, who afterwards became the last^of the cursltor barons of the Exchequer, moved a postponement for ten days : other wise, said he, the persons then in custody under the Act, awaiting trial at Quarter Sessions, would be discharged and escape all punishment. "True," replied Romilly, "but " surely it is better to suffer some guilty persons to escape " with impunity than to expose those, who have committed " no greater crime than trying to snare a hare or a rabbit, to " the risk of being transported for seven years." The House took a different view and put off the second reading; but, later in the Session, this obnoxious measure was, in fact, repealed, and an amending Act passed (Cf . : 57 Geo. 3, c. 90). The amending Act was itself repealed in 1829 by 9 Geo. 4, c. 69, which, to this day, prescribes the law as to Night Poaching. It had long been illegal for any person to sell game, and, on the 18th May, 1818, Bankes proposed to prohibit its purchase, under penalties. Romilly gave unqualified support to Bankes 's proposal, for, unlike most enemies of the Game Laws, he thought the prevailing system had been rendered even more mischievous by the circumstance that, while the selling of game was punished as a crime, its purchase had never been in any wise unlawful. If there were no buyers of game, there would be ho sellers; it is the buyers, said he, who make and encourage the poachers, and yet amongst those very buyers is often to be found a most rigid upholder of the Game Laws. And Bankes carried his Bill; but, after the first season, the measure proved practically a dead letter. There was no abatement in the illicit commerce; indeed, "the scandal and depravation, arls- " ing from the example of a whole community, from the highest " to the lowest, banded against the law,"* continued for some twelve years after Romilly's death, wben a general traffic in game was legalized under the statute of William IV. which is still in force. Francis Horner, by whose side Romilly had so often waged an unequal fight against the forces of reaction, died at Pisa in the early spring of 1 81 7 at the age of thirty- eight. His death, following close upon that of Whitbread, was keenly felt and deeply deplored. George Ponsonby, too, was seized with apoplexy in the House of Commons, and, on 7th July, the attack proved fatal. Though scarcely fitted for the position of leader, which he occupied for nearly ten years, Ponsonby was an able, high-minded gentleman, and possessed, as a statesman, many excellent qualities. "Thinned * Edin. Eeview, Vol. 54, p. 297. A STRENUOUS FIGHT FOR LIBERTY : 1817. 209 " as the rinks of Opposition have lately been," wrote Romilly, " t becomes each of us who remain to do all we " can to resit the pernicious measures of Government." In the autumn o\ 1816, Horner, threatened with serious illness, had left England in the vain hope of regaining his health. " Considering *jis knowledge, bis talents, his excellent judg- " ment, his pkriotic intentions, and the prospect of years "which he had before him," wrote Romilly, "I regard "his death as aWblic calamity. " The son of an Edinburgh shopkeeper, he lad never held any office and was the warm adherent of an unoopular party; yet his personal charm appears to have endeared wm to friend and foe alike. He is described by Lord Cockburi* who was with him at the High School, as " grave, studiots, honourable, kind." I thought him a god, adds his enthusiastic sfchoolfellow. He was, it is true, a very ugly man, bu, as Sydney Smith used to tell him, the ten commandments SKmed to be written on his countenance : "there is no crime, '\ quoth Smith, "you might not commit " with impunity for leither judge nor jury would give the " smallest credence to\any evidence against you." Horner's success at the Bar had; by no means, conesponded with his merits; but he never relaxed in laborious application to legal pursuits, for he deemed, it essential to the maintenance of political independence thit he should attain a position such as would enable him to look to bis profession alone for honours and emoluments. Wheiy on the 3rd March, 1817, Lord Morpeth moved for a writto elect in bis stead a member for St. Mawes, the occasion Was not allowed to pass without glowing tributes to Horn^s public and private virtues. "From all sides of the usually cold House of Commons," writes tBagehot, " great statesmen and thorough gentlemen " got up to deplore his loss.". Canning followed Morpeth, Manners Sutton and Charles William Wynn followed Can ning, in the general eulogy. Romilly observed that he should ill express bis feelings were he to consider the extraordinary qualities of Horner apart from tke ends and objects to which they were directed. " The grfeatest eloquence Is in itself " but an object of vain and transient admiration; It is only "wben ennobled by the uses to which it is applied, when " directed to great and virtuous ends, to the protection of the " oppressed, to the enfranchisement of the enslaved, to the * " Memorials of His Time," p. 9. tW. Bagehot's "Estimates of Some Englishmen and Scotch men " (1858) at p. 21. 210 SAMUEL ROMILLY Southey's Revolu tionary Poem, "V^at Tyler." Application for an Injunction. " extension of knowledge, to dispelling the cloads of ignor ance and superstition, to the advancement of the best interests " of the country, and to enlarging the sphere of human happi- " ness that It becomes a national benefit and a puollc blessing." On the de^th of the poet-laureate Pye, ¦vhlch occurred in 1813, the laurel crown fell to the lot of Robert Southey : " Consider," quoth Byron, "one hundred marks a year! "besides the wine and the disgrace." Some twenty years before this event, Southey had written a foolish forcible-feeble piece entitled: "Wat Tyler: A Dramatic Poem." It abounded with invectives against kings, ind nobles, and governments, boldly asserting " the claims of the people to " a perfect equality of rights and a division jf property." This precious poem was presented to a bookseller, named Eaton, who dared not venture on its publicatloa; and, indeed, it remained altogether unknown until the oeglnning of 1817, when the author, by the violence of hi? censures on all those who avowed any liberal opinions, " provoked his enemies," as Romilly put it, " to bring the poem to light that It might " be seen to what extremes, on contrary sides, he at different times had gone." Commenting In Parliament on the need less severity of the Government proposals for the suppression of disorder, the veteran member for Norwich, William Smith (1756-1835), expressed bis belief tlat certain violent passages in a recent number of the Quarterly Review, calling loudly for vindictive measures, were actually composed by the author of "Wat Tyler." In the course of his remarks. Smith declared that the passages cited from the Review exhibited 'the malignity of a renegado"; and Southey thereupon addressed an open letter to him, complaining that the Dramatic Poem ' ' had been printed ' ' by some skulking scoundrel, who had found booksellers not more honourable than himself to undertake the publication." 9n the 18th March, 1817, the author of " Wat Tyler " applied to the Court of Chancery for an injunction to restrain its publication. Romilly, who appeared, on behalf of the publishers, to resist the application, had been furnished with an affidavit sworn by a dissenting minister of the name of Winter- botham. Certain sermons preached at Plymouth in 1794 had, it seems, led to the prosecution of Winterbotham and his sub sequent confinement in the prison of Newgate. This deponent swore that Southey, accompanied by Eaton, the bookseller, came to him as he lay In Newgate, and there produced and prof erred to him the " Dramatic Poem," explaining that it was " the pure offering of his heart in the cause of freedom." A STRENyOUS FIGHT FOR LIBERTY : 1817. 211 While protesing that he had no desire to derive profit from the sales, Souhey, at that time, manifested a great anxiety that his play skould be published; but Winterbotham depre cated publicatil(n as being extremely dangerous. On this affidavit Romillj proposed to rely for the purpose of showing that Southey ha^ relinquished his claim to any copyright and had abandoned fiis work to the public. Unfortunately, the attorney who act^ for the publishers had negligently omitted to file Winterbotiam's affidavit, and, objection being taken on this ground, it bicame impossible to make use of it. There upon Romilly, with much adroitness, submitted to the Chan cellor that the worlwtself was of so scandalous a nature that no Court ought to be\asked to interfere on behalf of its author. Eldon, having read \he poem, declared it to be of a most dangerous tendency, ^quiesced in Romilly's submission, and refused to grant any fo^m of Injunction. As on many other occasions, Romilly is found complaining Newspaper that the reports of the Y Wat Tyler" case in some of the Fictions. neiwspapers contained gross misrepresentations. The journals of the day frequently gav?, as coming from counsel, speeches and strokes of humour whiph were the pure inventions of the reporters themselves. In Jds diary for 13th August, 1817, we find : " TTie Morning Ciironicle has been endeavouring to ' justify or extenuate the Chancellor's unexampled and cruel ' delays; and, for this purpose. It has sometimes represented ' me, and sometimes Sir Arthur Piggott, as praising him in ' high and extravagant terms for the mode In which he dis- ' charges the., duties of bis office. At other times, it makes ' the Chancellor himself express the painful anxiety he feels ' to do justice, and the hours he consumes in endeavouring ' to discover the truth in each case. These representations, ' however, are mere fictions. Not only the expressions con- ' tained in these newspapers wer^ never used, but nothing ' passed which could afford a pretext for pretending that they ' had been used. The substance as well as the language, the ' panegyrics, and the apology, are all pure Invention. Among Romillly's many admirers, scholarly Dr. Parr Gift of (1747-1825), the friend of Bentham, Fox, and Priestley, stood ^[.f^pV;""" conspicuous for devout fidelity. Writing from bis parsonage at }-Iatton, near Warwick, In May 1817, Parr announced his intention to make a valuable gift of silver : " Forty-eight " silver plates, four silver covers (which could be used as " eight), two large silver dishes, a silver tureen and stand, " and a bulky silver waiter." Certain of these articles had been purchased by the old man himself, though the greater 212 SAMUEL ROMILLY part of them had been presented by his numerous pupils. They already formed the subject of a bequest to Romilly by will, but, as the donor had now in large measure lost the power of enjoyment, he resolved to convert hs legacy into an immediate gift inter vivos. " In the spirit oi old Barzlllai," he wrote, "having passed my seventieth year, I shall cease " to have the same pleasure in gazing upon my silver. I ' recollect with satisfaction the joy which i^ has so long given me. I do not want It for my own use — I do not desire it, and I wish to distribute it among those whom I love and '" respect, as a memorial of my friendship, and I will not wait " for death as a signal for me to part wifh that which I could' " not employ, or even behold, in the grave." But the donee found himself "not a little embarrassed," for, although anxious lo avoid giving offence to his eld friend, he was very reluctant to accept so costly a gift. He begged that the silver might remain at Hatton during the owner's lifetime; but Parr would not be gainsaid, and, on the 19th June, bis servant reached 21, Russell Square, with the whole service packed in two large boxes. On Romilly's death in November of the next year, the following passage was found in a codicil to his will : "I leave to Dr. Samuel, Parr, as a token of my respect and affection for him, my copy of Aristophanes, " Editio Princeps. I likewise bequeath to him all the plate _ which he some time ago very generously presented to me. ' It was a testimonial of his approbation of my conduct of ¦ I which I was justly proud; he had originally left it to me _ by his will, and afterwards thought proper to discharge the " legacy in his life-time. I will, however, consider It but as a legacy to me; and, therefore, if I do not survive him, I return It to him by this my will." On being apprized of the terms of this codicil. Dr. Parr at once wrote to John Whishaw, Romilly's executor : " I set a just value on the " motives which induced my dear friend to bequeath the plate ]' to me. First, I shall accept it as given by him, and I will send a receipt to the executors. But no earthly considera- ^_ tion will induce me to keep possession of it. I must entreat you, at a proper time, to convey to the eldest son of Sir ^ Samuel Romilly my earnest wish that he would have the goodness to accept the whole service of plate as a mark of my unfeigned goodwill to himself, and of my unalterable ^^ esteem, affection and veneration for the dear and sacred ,,/??,'?'^ °D his father." It need hardly be recorded that William Romilly accepted the gift thus graciously tendered to him. A STRENU^OUS FIGHT FOR LIBERTY: 1817. 213 \ On the risite of the Courts in August 1817, after spending the Long a fortnight at Tanhurst — our " earthly paradise," as he fondly vacation called it — Romilly set out on a round of visits, accom- " ""¦ panied by his wife and only daughter, at that time a girl in her eighteenth y^r.* He stayed first with bis friend Phelps at Chevenage, a house some two miles north-west of Tetbury, In Gloucestershire*; — then with Lord Lansdowne at Bowood, bowooH " a place which \ always see with delight," he wrote to Dumont, "not only', on account of tbe kindness and excellent " qualities of its pjesent owners, but of the many pleasing " recollections of past times with which it Is In my mind " always associated, i You must well know, my dear Dumont, " how great a part you must have had In those recollections. ']The days we have passed there, and the delightful walks "we have taken together, can never be effaced from the " memory of either of us ; but, above all. It Is because I "there first saw my deaiest Anne that I never see or think " of Bowood but as the Cause of all the real happiness that " I have enjoyed in life." 'Tis well that, from all creatures. Heaven hides the book of Fate ; never again was Romilly to gaze upon the scenes hallowed to him by these endearing memories. The end of the vacation was passed with his " old and Bentham "most venerable friend," Jeremy Bentham, at Ford Abbey, at Ford a large house near Chard, which had once belonged to Sir *'•'••>'• Edmond Prideaux, Attorney-General of the Commonwealth, who " first established a weekly conveyance of letters unto all parts of the nation. "t To the remains of a monastery of Gothic architecture had been added, in the days of the Tudors, a great pile of buildings, broken Into different blocks, and very richly adorned. Romilly was "not a little surprised" to find the recluse of the Westminster " Hermitage " lodged in such a " palace " : — the grandeur and richness of the Abbey, he wrote, " form as strange a contrast to Bentham's philo sophy as the number and spaciousness of the apartments, ' the hall, the chapel, the corridors, and the cloisters, do to the modesty and scantiness of his domestic establishment. We found him passing his time, as he has always been ' passing it since I have known him, which is now more than ' thirty years, closely applying himself for six or eight hours a day, in writing upon laws and legislation, and in com- ' posing his Civil and Criminal Codes ; and spending the * Married, in July, 1820, Eight Hon. T. F. Kennedy. She died in October, 1879. t Blackstone, Vol. I., p. 323. 214 SAMUEL ROMILLY Review of Bentham's" Codifioa- tion Papers." " remaining hours of every day in reading, or taking exercise " by way of fitting himself for his labours, or, to use his own " strangely invented phraseology, taking his anti-jentacular " and post-prandial walks, to prepare himself for his task of " codification. There is something burlesque enough In this " language ; but it is Impossible to know Bentham, and to "have witnessed his benevolence, bis disinterestedness, and " the zeal with which he has devoted his whole life to the " service of his fellow creatures, without admiring and rever- " ing him." Among other guests in the house of their cherished friend, the Romillys found James Mill with his wife and family, and also a " very extraordinary person " by the name of Place, described as a master-tailor, who kept a shop at Charing Cross. " He is self-educated, has learned a great deal, has a very strong natural understanding, and possesses great influence In Westminster — such influence as almost to determine the " elections for members of Parliament." He was, in truth, none other than the famous " Francis Place," destined within a twelvemonth to exert his " great influence in Westminster " in a vain, though vigorous, effort to prevent Romilly's return for that constituency. During his visit to Ford Abbey, Bentham handed to his guest a fasciculus of essays which had just come from the printers, entitled " Papers relative to Codification and Public "Instruction." In the early part of October, after his return to Tanhurst, Romilly prepared a review of Bentham's work, with the object of calling public attention to the defects in herent in any system of unwritten law, such as the Common Law of England. The manuscript was entrusted to Brougham, who v^as, at this time, closely connected with The Edinburgh, ' and Romilly's article found a place In the November number of that quarterly. " I have spoken in " it of Bentham with all the respect and admiration which I "entertain of him," said Romilly; "but I have thought " myself bound not to disguise his faults. I shall be extremely concerned if what I have said should give him any offence." Coupled with a generous tribute to the author's genius and extraordinary merits " — his unwearying devotion to the welfare of mankind — there occurred a very can did and outspoken onslaught on Bentham's " exag geration " of the abuses he exposed, and a free criticism of bis later style of writing. Sir William Collins tells us that" some coolness appears to have resulted"; but, if this be so — If, In truth, umbrage was taken by Bentham, A STRENUOUS FIGHT FOR LIBERTY: 1817. 215 as is likely enough — we may rest assured that it proved quite transient in its nature. Romilly records how, a few months afterwards, on the 5th April, 1818, he paid a visit to his old friend for the purpose of urging the suppression of a tract ,styled " Church of Englandism and its Catechism examined : " preceded by Strictures on the Exclusionary System, as pur- " sued in the National Society's Schools." "I have made " a point of seeing him to-day, and, by the strong representa- " tion I have made to him of the extreme danger of his " being prosecuted and convicted of a libel, I have prevailed " on him to promise immediately to suspend. If not to stop " altogether, any further sale of the book." Now, no human being was ever more " touchy" than Bentham, and he was hardly of a temper to accept advice or counsel from any man with whom bis relations were not completely cordial. More over, Romilly's objections to bis later style of composition and -to his habit of exaggeration had long been known to him. Six teen years earlier, on the " Panopticon Papers " being sub mitted to him by Bentham, Romilly had written in plain terms to their author : — " I see no objection to any part of " them but their violence and the very strong expressions that " are used in them : — On affoiblit tout ce qu'on exagere." In its Issue for Saturday, the 20th December, 1817, the invitation ^'Chester Guardian and Cambrian Intelligencer" informed*"''''"**** the Freemen of Chester that an invitation asking Sir Samuel Romilly to become one of their representatives in Parliament y^^ would be ready for signature at ten o'clock on the morning of crosvenor that day. Then followed — writes Sir Samuel — a description influence. of the place where the invitation would be found, together with " a great many praises of me, and a statement that an " early canvass for me would be undertaken." The proposed candidate was not acquainted with a soul in Chester, and he Inew nothing whatever of the proposal until the following Monday, when a letter reached him from a Mr. Joseph Swan- wlqk, " the Chairman of the Committee." " You have prob- " ably noticed the conduct of this city on the late Suspension " Acts and the fact of Sir John Egerton's resignation in con- " sequence of the acknowledged displeasure of his constituents " for his conduct on that question." [Egerton had voted for the suspension of Habeas Corpus.] " Sir John was seated after a very severe struggle with the Grosvenor interest, and "it was generally imagined that the influence of that family " would be again exerted in its full force to carry two members " for Chester. But some of those who, while they admired "his Lordship's [Earl Grosvenor's] political conduct, were 216 SAMUEL ROMILLY still strongly attached to the independence of the City, have had a most satisfactory explanation with his Lordship upon the subject ; and he has pledged himself not to oppose the introduction of a member of liberal principles, but, on the contrary, if he should appear to meet the approbation of the citizens, to give him his decided support. In these cir cumstances, our eyes were naturally directed towards your self," etc., etc. Learning that the Ministerialists -bad already begun a brisk canvass in favour of Egerton, Romilly at once replied : — " To represent so very respectable a body of constituents in Par liament, I should consider as one of the highest honours that could be conferred on me, and as the best reward I could receive for any endeavours that I may have used to serve the public ; and, yet, that honour and that reward, highly as I should prize them, I should find myself obliged most respectfully and reluctantly to decline, if, as I fear is the case, it cannot be obtained without offering myself as a can didate and soliciting the votes of the electors." But " his Lordship " speedily relieved the worthy citizens of any neces sity for considering Romilly's scruples and misgivings ; it soon leaked out that this capricious noble had changed his mind, and intended, after all, to run — (in additlt>n to a nominee of the family) — the sitting member, his cousin Thomas Grosvenor, at that time a lieutenant-general in the Army and colonel of the 65th Regiment. It was accordingly "with chagrin and disappointment" that Swanwick wrote, on the 29th December : — " We can assure you that we have not acted upon light grounds : — direct interviews with Lord Grosvenor, in the presence of his confidential agents, convinced both them and us that the General was not to be brought forward ; but, owing to unpleasant rumours, we again saw Lord Grosvenor on Satur day evening last, when it appeared by no means so certain that General Grosvenor would be withdrawn. Under these circumstances, with the details of which we will not trouble you, we thought ourselves called upon to close our intercourse on this subject with his Lordship." Tliree days later, Romilly wrote to assure the Committee that, as he had formed no sanguine expectations, he had suffered no dis appointment : " I am proud of the good opinion of those " citizens of Chester who were desirous that I should be their " representative, and I shall be always most grateful for their " good wishes." And, at that time, no more was heard from Chester's "free" and "independent" electors. Chapter XIV. THE LAST YEAR: 1818. Legal Changes : Sir Wm. Grant ; Sir Thomas Plumer ; Sir John Leach. — Illness of Lady Romilly. — Treatment of Slaves in the West Indies.— Close of Career in Parliament. — The Westminster Election. — Dinner Given by Duke of Sussex. — Illness and Death of Lady Romilly. — Death of Romilly. — His Religious Views. The opening of the year 1818 was marked by several Legal notable changes in the Courts of Chancery. Just before the Changes. Hilary Sittings, Sir William Grant resigned office as Master sir of the Rolls, a position which he had occupied since 1801. William Grant's resignation was greatly deplored by the counsel who practised before him and. Indeed, by the legal profession generally. He was then in his sixty-sixth year : — as a young man he had held a command of volunteers at the second siege of Quebec. His patience and impartiality; his courtesy to the Bar, his dispatch, and the masterly style in which his judgments were pronounced would, at any time, have com manded the highest praise; "but," wrote Romilly, "his " mode of administering justice appeared to even greater " advantage by the contrast it afforded to the tardy and most " unsatisfactory proceedings both of the Chancellor and the "Vice-Chancellor [Sif T. Plumer]." At the outset of Romilly'; Parliamentary career. Grant had consistently opposed all his attempted reforms, and, on one occasion, as we have seen {ante p. 92), the Judge's attitude in the House well nigh caused a breach in their personal relations. " He " has used me most unkindly," wrote Romilly in his diary, on 21st March, 1807, " and, I think, has acted in a manner "^ unworthy of himself : — but I have no desire to be at enmity " with him, or, indeed, with any man." In later years, how- ¦ever, the Master of tbe Rolls gave his support to measures 218 SAMUEL ROMILLY Sir Thomas Plumer. Sir John Leach. for the reform of the criminal law ; and, more than once in the debates, his assistance proved of great value to Romilly and his friends, for he undoubtedly took rank as a Parlia mentary speaker of the first order. " His style," says Brougham, "was peculiar ; it was that of the closest and ' severest reasoning ever heard in any popular assembly : — ' reasoning which would have to be reckoned close in the ' argumentation of the bar or the dialectics of the schools. ' It was, from the first to the last, throughout pure reason and ' the triumph of pure reason."* Grant's successor at the Rolls was Sir Thomas Plumer (1753-1824), while John Leach was created Vice-Chancellor in Plumer's stead. Nine years afterwards. Sir J. Leach was- himself promoted to the Rolls : — an office filled, a generation later, by Romilly's son, John. Before the making of these apopintments, Romilly had resolved to discontinue his attend ance in the Rolls Court at the opening of the next Parlia mentary session ; and "if," said he, "I had no such previous ^ intention, this change would have determined me. Plumer ' has great anxiety to do the duties of his office to the satls- ' faction of everyone, and most beneficially for the suitors ; ' but they are duties which he is wholly incapable of dis- ' charging." Two years earlier, when John Leach deserted the Whigs and wertf over to Government, Romilly had described him as possessing great facility of apprehension and considerable powers of argumentation, coupled with remarkably clear and perspicuous elocution, but extremely deficient, withal. In legal knowledge: — "he is of all the persons almost that I have '' known in the profession the worst qualified for any judicial situation." Moderately learned even in his own profession — wrote an tEdlnburgh Reviewer — beyond it, he was one of the most ignorant of men that ever appeared at the Bar. Yet, on Leach's appointment as Vice-Chancellor, in 1818, Romilly was satisfied that, despite this sorry equipment for judicial office, he would, in. the then state of the Court, prove himself a useful judge :-— " he Is very quick ; he has few doubts ; he ^ will decide with great despatch, and will not, like the two _ otha: judges of the Court, hesitate and delay bis judgments I in the plainest cases. I shall not be surprised If, in a few I years,_ the contrast between Leach's despatch and the Chan cellor's delay becomes so striking that his Lordshfp will find * Brougham's "' Historical Statesmen,' T Edin. Eeview," Vol. 67, p. 39. Vol. I., p. 367. THE LAST YEAR: 1818. 219 " it difficult to retain his office. But that Leach will, by his " extraordinary presumption. Involve himself in some ridicu- " lous difficulties, is not at all improbable." Though there was a great show of what Bacon calls "affected despatch" in Leach's court — for he had more regard to the number than to thequallty of his judgments — Romilly's anticipations were hardly realised. It is, indeed, said that he soon professed himself, much to Eldon's delight, as better pleased with the tardy justice of the chief's court than the swift Injustice of his deputy. The wits of the day dubbed the Chancellor's court the court of oyer sans terminer. Leach's court being known as the court of terminer sans oyer ; while a deputation from the Bar waited upon the Vice-Chancellor to protest against his demeanour. An entry iri his diary of the 1 1th March, 1818, marks the illness of first break in the era of unclouded happiness now enjoyed by '-^''5' Romilly for full twenty years. Already the coming sorrow •"""'"*• that was to crush him seemed to cast its tragic shadow on his path. He had spoken at considerable length against the Indemnity Bill,* Introduced by the Government to relieve Ministers and magistrates in connexion with the suspension of Habeas Corpus: — "it was at a most Inconvenient time to " myself that I had to do it, and I spoke under very great " anxiety of mind, my dear Anne being extremely ill." When Easter comes, be records that he is spending the holi day In town, " my dear Anne continuing too ill to allow of her going to Tanhurst, though she is, I hope, recovering." Relieved by a few brief spells of such anxious and delusive hope, the torture of ceaseless apprehension pursued him to the end. " Romilly," wrote Lord Folkestone, t early in the session. Defence " is in high force this year "; and. In view of his heavy work of civil at the Bar and grave domestic anxieties, the Parliamentary Liberties. record is, indeed, remarkable. He spoke with great vigour against a motion by Lord Castlereagh to refer certain "sealed -,„ j^g papers," relative to the state of the country, to a secret com- vvest mittee to be chosen by ballot : — that was, in effect, to be Indies. named by Ministers themselves. This move on Castlereagh's part was, manifestly, to secure a report upon which the Bill of Indemnity might be founded. In no wise discouraged by beavy numerical defeats, Romilly boldly supported Folkestone in his efforts to obtain a hearing for certain unhappy persons * Cf. 58 Geo. 3, c. 6 (17 March, 1818). t Letter to Creevey of 23 Feb. : " Creevey Papers," Vol. 1., p. 272. 220 SAMUEL ROMILLY who had undergone the hardship of imprisonment during the late suspension of Habeas Corpus. "If tranquillity be ' restored," quote he,"t it is owing to the suspension of ' Habeas Corpus ! If disturbance increases, suspension of ' the Habeas Corpus Act is necessary to put it down ; and ' if the disturbance.be only partial, it would have been much ' worse but for the suspension of the Act, whose operation ' would seem inconsistent with any possible condition of out ' internal affairs ! ! For my part, I believe, most ' firmly, before God, that these continual and unjustifiable ' suspensions will, unless the House of Commons should do ' its duty, which it has not done hitherto, end in the complete ' ruin of our liberties."} Not content with upholding civil liberties in this country, Romilly engaged in an attempt to mitigate the unhappy lot of the negroes in the West Indies. With Wilberforce, Brougham, Mackintosh, and Zachary Macaulay, he was at a loss to determine how best to bring before Parliament the condition of these unfortunate slaves ; for their cause had been, to some extent, discredited and, of late, had lost much ground, through the Incautious zeal of their champions in this country. An account of alleged Ill-treat ment, published with the authority of the African Institution, had proved to be unfounded ; and, from this single Instance, the public were exhorted to condemn all allegations of cruelty as mere fabricated calumnies. As the most promising expe dient, Romilly. and his friends decided to revive the Registry Bill, which Wilberforce had introduced three years before, providing that any negro who did not appear In the Register should be deemed to be free. This measure was designed to make effectual the Act for the Abolition of the Slave Trade, and to get rid of the presumption prevalent in all the colonies that every black man was, in fact, a slave. But the promotion of the Bill aroused fierce opposition in the West Indian interest. It was pretended that the very mention of such a measure had inflamed the negroes, and had already excited amongst them a spirit of revolt. Some disturbances in Bar- badoes, though wholly unconnected with the Bill, seemed to lend colour to these alarming rumours ; while Wilberforce and his friends were roundly denounced In the English news papers, which, for the most part, sought to enlist public sympathy with the poor defamed planters, overseers, and t Hansard, 37 Vol., p. 177. J Hansard, 37 Vol. p. 496. THE LAST YEAR: 1818. 221 managers of West Indian estates. " It has become extremely " difficult to counteract the effects of this powerful combina- "tlon," wrote Romilly : — "By means of the Press it is "hardly possible: the Judges of the King's Bench having, " when they passed sentence on Hatchard (the printer of the " African Institution), declared that it was a libel to say of a " West Indian Grand Jury that they were disposed to refuse " justice to an injured individual It seems, therefore, " to be only in Parliament that, in the present circumstances, " facts respecting tbe conduct of the Comts of Justice in the " West Indies, however well authenticated, can with any "security be stated." Having reached this conclusion, Romilly, on the 22nd April, 1818, brought to the notice of the House of Commons, by way of a motion for papers, cer tain scandalous outrages that had recently occurred in the islands of Dominica and Nevis. The facts relating to Dominica were detailed in letters from the Governor which he had in his possession, while the circumstances attending an atrocity perpetrated in Nevis had been communicated to him by one of tbe counsel for the prosecution. A month later, he secured the appointment of a Committee to consider the papers for which he had applied ; and, on the 3rd June, he moved with success for a copy of the depositions taken before the Coroner on an enquiry at St. Kitts, concerning the death of a slave who bad been barbarously flogged at the instance of a manager named Rawlins, a clerk in holy orders. At the end of the Session, an Alien Bill, introduced to C|^°5^«»f^ continue the Alien Act for a further period, was considered by pauament. Parliament. During the debates. Ministers discovered that, under a Scotch Act of 1695, all foreigners who acquired stock in the Bank of Scotland to a certain amount became, thereby, naturalized subjects. Accordingly, they procured the Inser tion, by the House of Lords, of a clause depriving foreigners of this concession where the stock hgd been purchased since the 28th April, 1818 ; but, wben this amendment came down from the Lords, Romilly successfully opposed it, his objection being founded on the privilege of the Commons to originate all Money Bills. The Speaker (Manners Sutton) seems to have expressed an opinion that the clause fell directly within the rule.* In the course of his remarks, Romilly passed in review the more important misdeeds of the Parliament which *A separate Act was passed to meet Eomilly's objection; but it had merely a prospective operation. Criminal Law. 222 SAMUEL ROMILLY was just about to be dissolvedt : — Habeas Corpus twice suspended ; the Act of Indemnity ; the disregard of the wrongs complained of by those who had suffered under the exercise of ministerial authority ; the employment of Govern ment spies and informers ; the sanction given to Lord Sid mouth's circular letter, and the severe penalties imposed on men accused of publishing purely political libels. Last of all, the Alien Act, " by which, even in time of peace, we " have shut our ports against foreigners flying from persecution " in their own country and seeking with us an asylum." This was on Friday, the 5th June, and he never again addressed the House ; the close of his peroration — tbe last words uttered by him in Parliamentary debate — ran " Who our successors " may be I know not ; but God grant that this country may " never see another Parliament so regardless of the liberties ' ' of the people, and of the principles of general justice, as " this Parliament has been." Bequest ot By a codicil to his Will made in the following October — «fi'?f^ffi" 'be month preceding his death — Romilly bequeathed his papers on the Criminal Law to be dealt with by his executor, John Whishaw, adding : *" If it were not to suit him to under take such a task, perhaps my friend Mr. Brougham, who " finds time for anything that has a tendency to the advance- " ment of human happiness, would be able, notwithstanding " his numerous occupations, to perform this office of friend- " ship. "J The task of Criminal Law reform was largely assumed by Sir J. Mackintosh, whom a contemporary " brother " scot," Sir Archibald Alison, exalts, at poor Romilly's expense, in these terms : — " Yet it is, perhaps, not to be "regretted in a general point of view, however grievous his " loss was to his family and friends, that he [Romilly] was cut short when he was in his career of mercy, for his mantle " descended on a much superior man — a greater philosophic lawyer. He was by no means the equal either in philosophy, " oratory, or political wisdom of Sir James Mackintosh, who " followed his footsteps." Patrice fumus igne alieno lucalentiorl tSth Jnne, ISIS. Hansard, Vol. 38, p. 1276. * Campbell's " Lives of the Chancellors," Vol. VIII., p. 591. As to Whishaw, see ante pp. 60, 62. J Adjacent to the memorial tablet of the Eomillya in the Church of Enill is one in memory of Whishaw, described as "M.A., P.E.S. Born at Chester in 1764; Died in London on 2lBt December, 1841." This tablet records that it was "erected by tiis " wards, the sons of Sir Samuel Bomilly." THE LAST YEAR: 1818. 223 Early in June, 1818, it had become certain that an imme- west- diate dissolution would take place. The Duke of Norfolk* minster found it impossible to bring Romilly in for Arundel again ^ieotion. without leaving Lord Hemy Howard, his brother, out in the cold. Sir Arthur Piggott, who had filled one of the seats at Arundel for a dozen years, generously pressed the Duke to consent to his retirement, but the Duke "would not consent ' to leave out so old and faithful a friend; and it has, I know, ' very much mortified bim," wrote Romilly, " that, in con- ' sequence of bis unavoidable anangements with respect to his ' seats at Steyning and Horsham, be is unable to provide for ' me." However, many offers of a " safe seat " were forth coming from the constituencies of " popular election." Liver pool, Coventry, Chester, Hull, Huntingdonshire and Glamor ganshire were all bent on securing his services. But, to Romilly's mind, the most attractive proposal was contained in a requisition signed by some sixty or seventy influential electors of Westminster. It reached him on the 8th June, couched in the terms following : — " Anxious to see this populous and important city represented in Parliament by a person con- ' spicuous in the country for talents and integrity, we, the ' undersigned inhabitants of Westminster, request you to per- ' mit us to put you in nomination at the ensuing election. We ' farther request you to abstain from all persona] attendance. ' trouble, and expense : We require from you no pledge, ' since the uniform tenor of your honourable life, your known ' attachment to the Constitution, your zealous and umemitting ' efforts for the amelioration of the laws, the conection of ' abuses, and the support of the cause of freedom, justice, ' and humanity, wherever assailed, are a sure pledge to us of ' your qualifications for our service, in common with that of ' the country at large." To this singular Requisition, he at once replied that to be chosen one of the representatives of Westminster would, in bis view, be tbe highest honour to which he could attain > and, in less than ten days, canvassers were busily, engaged in all the various parishes comprised in the constituency. Throughout the course ol the election he reso lutely refused to appear on the hustings, but, under great pressure from Lord Holland, he yielded a grudging consent to the enrolment of his son William — a youth of nineteen— in the army of canvassers. " I can hardly think that there is "much consistency," he protested, "in refusing to solicit "votes myself, and yet allowing my son to solicit them." * Bernard Edward Howard, the 12th Duke (1765-1842.) 224 SAMUEL ROMILLY The Candidates. The Poll. Bomilly Returns Thanks to the Electors. The Duties of a Liberal Member. There had been no contested election in Westminster for eleven year>; and, during that period, the city had been repre sented by the sitting members. Sir Francis Burdett and Lord Cochrane. The junior representative was no longer available as a candidate, for he had just accepted from the people of Chili, who were in revolt against Spain, an offer of " £5,000 " a year and other advantages," with the rank of Admiral and the command of the Chilian fleet. When Romilly became tbe nominee of the Whigs, the Radicals, or " Reformers," had already put forward Burdett and the Honourable Douglas Kinnaird, while Captain Sir Murray Maxwell was standing in the Government interest. Two other candidates were in the field: "Orator" Himt, who stood to assure himself of an opportunity for making truculent speeches, and old Major Cartwright, the originator of the six points of the Charter,* who was then seventy-eight years of age and seems to have been put forward by some irresponsible person without any hope of success at the polls. The show of hands resulted in favour of Romilly and Hunt; and, on the night of the 20th June, the third day of the poll, the figures were: — Romilly, 1276; Maxwell, 1241; Burdett, 484; Kinnaird, 63; Hunt, 38; Cartwright, 20. It being clear that Kinnaird had no chance of election and that Burdett's position was endangered by his friends canvassing for his colleague in opposition to Romilly, the Reform Com mittee, in some haste and to the indignation of Francis Place, determined to withdraw Kinnaird. After the polling on Monday, the 22nd June, the figures were : — Romilly, 1879; Maxwell, 1726; Burdett, 1263; while, at the close on Satur day, the 4th July, the last day on which the poll could law fully be kept open, the result was declared as follows : — Romilly 5,339 Burdett 5,238 Maxwell 4,808 Hunt 84 During the whole contest Romilly had applied himself quietly to his business, attending every day in the Court of Chancery : one evening he dined with the author of " "The " Pleasures of Memory," and at Rogers' elegant abode met another poet of repute, George Crabbe. If you enter Rogers' house — ^wrote Lord Byron t — you say "this is not the dwelling of a common mind. There is not a gem, a coin, a book * Cf . : Wallas' " Frajicis Place," at p. 62. t " Diary " for 1813. THE LAST YEAR: 1818. lib " thrown aside on his chimney-piece, his sofa, his " table, that does not bespeak an almost fas- " tidious elegance In the possessor." On no occasion did Romilly go near the hustings ; but after his triumphant return at the head of the poll, he " felt bound to attend to thank the electors." " The Represen tative of Westminster should express bis thanks," said he, by a faithful discharge of the sacred duties which you have imposed upon him ; by a constant and vigilant attention to the public interests ; by being a faithful guardian of the people's interests, and a bold assertor of their rights ; by resisting all attacks, whether open or insidious, which may be made upon the liberty of the press, the trial by jury, and the Habeas Corpus — the great security of all our liberties ; by defeating all attempts to substitute, in place of that government of law and justice to which Englishmen have been accustomed, a government supported by spies and Informers ; by endeavouring to restrain the lavish and improvident expenditure of public money ; by opposing all new and oppressive taxes, and, above all, that grievous, unequal, inquisitorial imposition, the income tax, if any attempt should be made in the new Parliament to revive it ; by endeavouring to procure the abolition of useless and burthensome offices, a more equal representation of the people in Parliament, and a shorter duration of the Parlia ment's existence ; by being the friend of religious, as well as of civil, liberty ; by seeking to restore this country to the proud station which it held amongst nations when it was the secure asylum of those who were endeavouring to escape, in foreign countries, from religious or political per secution. These are the thanks which the electors of Westminster are entitled to expect." The embarrassing ceremony known as " chairing " fol lowed the delivery of this speechj and, hoisted aloft by enthusiastic constituents, the new member was everywhere hailed with cheers and congratulations. A long anay of canlages and horsemen passed through the Strand, Pall Mall, and St. James' Street towards Burlington House, the resi dence of Lord George Cavendish, whence Romilly made his escape through the garden door, and " walked very quietly home, unobserved by anyone." His friend Creeve}^ wrote from Brussels that this election * Creevey had just lost his seat for the Duke of Norfolk's pocket borough of Thetford, which he had been allowed to hold tor sixteen years.—" Creevey Papers," Vol. I„ p. 274. 226 SAMUEL ROMILLY Oppositionot Jeremy Bentham. would prove a just and lasting reproach to the Whig aris tocracy, who had made no arrangement for securing his con tinuance in Parliament ' ' and who could never have antlci- " pated this fortunate eventt; and, lastly, it is a great and " signal triumph over the intemperate partizans of Burdett, " who have been compelled, for the first time in their lives, " to suspend their blackguard abuse and folly, from pure " extorted deference to your own personal character." Romilly records; as a " strange incident " which occurred during the election, the " decided part " taken against him by his " excellent friend " Jeremy Bentham. " He did not " vote, indeed ; but he wrote a handbill, avowed and signed " by him, in which he represented me to be a most unfit " member for Westminster, as being a lawyer, a Whig, £^nd " a friend only to moderate reform. This handbill he sent " to Burdett's committee ; but, as it did not reach them till " after they had become sensible that they had injured their "cause by their abuse of me, they refused to publish it. " Some of my friends were very angry with Bentham for this " hostile interference against me. For myself I feel not the " least resentment at it. Though a late, I know him to be "a very sincere convert to the expediency of universal " suffrage > and he is too honest In bis politics to suffer them "to be influenced by any considerations of private friend- " ship." And, indeed, Bentham had good reason to disown Romilly and his friends as political allies. On the sugges tion of Henry Bickersteth, afterwards Lord Langdale, he had quite recently drawn up a series of resolutions demanding universal suffrage and annual Parliaments, coupled with a declaration in favour of the Ballot. Bentham's resolutions were moved by Sir Francis Burdett* a few days before the dissolution, and met with violent denunciation from Brougham and the rest of the Whigs, who got rid of them by a motion for the order of the day. But it is pleasing to find that no ill-blood was occasioned by these purely political differences, occurring as they did after thirty years of close personal friendship. On Monday, the 27th July; the newly-elected member dined with the " Hermit " of Queen Square Place : " a small but very pleasant party met at his table — Rush (the American Minister), Brougham, Dumont, and James Mill." t Eomilly afterwards learned that the Duke of Bedford had, in fact, arranged to provide a seat for him. * Lord Cochrane acted as co-teller with Burdett, but no member supported them on the division. THE LAST YEAR: 1818. Ill It is probable that^entham never saw again the face of the friend whom he loved so dearly. A large gathering of the opposition was convened to meet Dinner at Brooks's Club on Sunday, the 12th July, when George fj["nuk Tierney (1761-1830), who, in bis earlier days, had fought a of Sussex. duel with Pitt, was chosen as leader of the party. Romilly attended the meeting, and afterwards dined with Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex, who had prepared a banquet at Kensington Place to celebrate the " Westminster victory." By being present at this dinner, Romilly did not evince any desire to ingratiate himself with Royalty. He had long felt assured that such "political principles" as be bad always professed — principles with which he avowed a resolve "to "descend into the grave" — must, for ever, exclude those who acted upon them from the favour of the Regent. " In the Duke of York and the other of the King's sons (with the exception of the Duke of Sussex, who Is too far re moved from tbe succession to afford any prospect of its devolving upon him) are to be found the most narrow and bigoted notions of Government. God forbid that my public conduct sbould ever recommend me to the favour of any of these princes." " Princes, the dregs of their dull race, who flow " Through public scorn — mud from a muddy spring." Thus did Shelley dispose of these same Royal Dukes, a few months later, in bis sonnet, " England In 1819." " Though it be now evident that I shall never be raised " to any high office," wrote Romilly, " yet I am resolved so " to conduct myself as If I knew that the highest dignity was "my certain destination." He realised that, while largely increasing bis responsibilities, his return for Westminster would add, in no small measure, to bis " means of being useful "; and this assurance made him more than ever resolute to persist In strenuous efforts for the promotion of the public, weal. But, with all these inspiring hopes and lofty resolutions, illness he was sick at heart : — oppressed by a sense of coming sorrow. ""^ Death The condition of bis wife's health still gave rise to much ^o„"||^ anxiety ; and, when the election was over, he secured a cottage at Hampstead Heath, where she might breathe a purer air. He himself was engaged In constant attendance In the Courts of Chancery ; but, at the end of the term, immediately after the rising of the Courts, he took Lady Romilly to Cowes, In the Isle of Wight, which was reached on the 3rd September. After many weeks of suffering, she died there on Thursday, the 29th October. A loose sheet 228 SAMUEL ROMILLY Death of Romilly. of paper was found in the last volume of Romilly's diary : it contained a few brief but sadly pregnant notes : — " Septem- ' ber 3rd : Arrived at Cowes. 12th : Anne went into the. ' sea bath. 13th: Taken III. 14th: Sailed with Mr. ' Fazakerly* to Southampton. 16th: Consulted Mr. ' Bloxam. 19th: Roget and William arrived, and Mr. ' Nash. October 9th : Slept for the first time after many ' sleepless nights. 10th : Relapse of Anne." " No- ' thing," said Dumont, who came to the island on October 3rd, "could equal the excruciating pains of Sir Samuel, but ' his fortitude and resignation. He was almost entirely ' deprived of sleep Twice or three times he expressed ' to me' his fears of mental derangement. He said bis brains ' were burning hot."t On Lady Romilly's death, he at once returned, distraught with grief, to his house In Russell Square, which was reached about 5 p.m. on Sunday, 1st November. He was accom panied on his journey from the Isle of Wight by his daughter, Roget, and the ever-faithful Dumont, who related to Lord Holland§ how on being reminded. In passing Holland House, that his youngest three children were there, Romilly " be- " trayed some symptom of emotion, but rapidly relapsed Into " deep depression of spirits which betokened his despair." His physicians, said Brougham, may have been right or wrong in their treatment : " in leaving him alone, they cannot have " been right. "|| Long and agonizing vigils at his wife's bedside, with alternations of faint hope and deep despair, had broken his spirit and unhinged his mind. On the 27th September, he had written to Dumontf : ' ' She Is for the pre sent a little better, and I take care neither to let her nor the poor children see the anxiety I feel, but it costs me a great deal. With all this, do not suppose that I have not resolution to undergo everything to preserve my health for my children's sake." Yet he could not live without her : — * Presumably, John Nicholas Fazakerly, M.P. for Lincoln. t Evidence given at the inquest on Komilly : "Annual Eegister." 1818, p. 149. 8 Lord Holland's ' ' Further Memoirs ot the Whig Party" ot 1905, at p. 263.) (Edn. II Roget had, in fact, slept in his uncle's bedroom every night after leaving Cowes. Eomilly sent his daughter, who was in attendance upon him, to the drawing-room, to aek Roget to come upstairs, and it was during this brief interval that he destroyed himeelf.— "Annual Eegiater, 1818, p. 148. 1 Lre. 27 Sept., 1818. See "Annual Register " for that year, p. 149. f.. Of*Jt <:r> i«H Miiif'iSnY's an Nst-i »¦ M>! ^ t ft \t ( }J II- it 'H f" *''V( t-* t„ ¦!>(:< f-> ff I tJ-J- KNIKio. < <:>! K ( »- *»0''- MEMORIAL TABLET IN KNILL CHURCH. THE LAST YEAR: 1818. 229 " She was his life, " The ocean to the river of his thoughts, " Which terminated all." For three days he had wrestled with the grief that tore his heart ; but, in the afternoon of Monday, the 2nd Novem ber, he died, mutilated, by his own hand. Lord Eldon had heard the fatal news next day before taking his seat on the Bench ; but, glancing towards the spot within the Bar where Romilly was wont to stand, he burst Into tears, exclaiming : " I cannot stay here," and abruptly left the Court. Nine days later Romilly and his wife were laid side by side in Knill* churchyard : — lovely and pleasant in their lives, in death they were not divided. Several of his contemporaries have left, on record, appreciations of Romilly's personal charm and of the great qualities of bis mind. Some of these have already been cited : we may, perhaps, add another from the pen of one who knew him well in his later years : — " Romilly was a man of strong sensibility and as strong "opinions, indulgent even to tenderness to those he loved," wrote Lord Holland. t ' He had neither vanity nor guile ; " but he was not perhaps entirely exempt from that gall which " intense pursuit of an object engenders in a proud and ardent, "but pure and affectionate, mind. His powers of reflection and reasoning were of the very highest order, and he was " capable of unbounded devotion to a cause .... Yet no " advocate was more apt to persuade himself that his client's cause was the best in tbe world, and none certainly was " more eager and earnest In enforcing that opinion." Writing, the day after his death, to her sons, then undergraduates at Cambridge, Mrs. George VilliersJ refers to the event as being not only one of the most melancholy instances of the frailty of all that is human, but one of the greatest national calamities that ever occurred : — " I never knew any man, in public or " private life, so universally esteemed and respected — * There is a mural tablet in the beautiful little Norman church at Knill: "Sir Samuel Romilly, Knight, one of His Majesty's " Counsel, and Solicitor-General in 1806 and 1807. Born March let, "1767; died November 2nd, 1818. Also Ann Lady Eomilly, hia wife, "eldest daughter of Francis Garbett, of Knill Court, Esauire; born "November 20th, 1774; died October 29th, 1818." The Rector of Knill (the Rev. Montagu Scott) has courteously supplied the writers with a copy of the entry in the Eegister of Deaths ; and he is of opinion that the remains ot Eomilly and his wife lie in the vault ofthe Walsham family beneath the chancel. t" Memoirs ot the Whig Party," p. 263. tLife and Letters of George Wm. Fredk., fourth Earl of Clarendon, by the Eight Honble. Sir Herbert Maxwell": Arnold, 1913. 230 SAMUEL ROMILLY " respected In every sense of the word, for he kept everybody " in check by his uprightness— the Chancellor, Vice-Chancellor, " and Court of Chancery, the Regent and Parliament. To " think that two such men as Whitbread and Romilly should " have destroyed themselves within three years is dreadful ! " I am perfectly convinced that Intensity and continuity of " study such as theirs, but particularly Romilly's, can never " be endured with impunity ; It wears the intellect thread- " bare, and, then, at the first great shock, it snaps, and is " gone. Of all men in their senses, Romilly was least likely " to commit suicide. Eight [? seven] children! Gracious " Heaven ! it is enough to deprive them of reason, too. . . . " Fancy seeing them the end of July, both him and Lady " Romilly in health and happiness at Lady Jersey's assembly " after the election was over." The notices in the Press were couched In a similar strain ; thus, the Observer news paper of 8th November declared that the self-destruction of " this truly venerable and amiable man " was a calamity which ' ' robbed private relations of an amiable father, a be- " loved friend, a kind master, and the public of one of the "most distinguished ornaments of human nature." In the political world, Romilly's death was regarded as a grave misfortune to the Whig cause, which had recently sustained more than one serious blow. Thus, Brougham, who (as Holland feared), from motives of jealousy, " had much derided" the tribute paid to his old school-fellow Horner, yet avowed and felt great deference for Romilly. "It is in " vain to regret or repine," he said to Lord Grey, on the 7th November, ' ' but I certainly never thought we should live to " sustain a loss which might make even Whitbread's seem " Inconsiderable." Writing from Brussels, on the 30th December, to Honble. H. G. Bennettt Creevey deplored " the great calamity we have all sustained in the death of poor Romilly. His loss is perfectly Irreparable. By his "courageous and consistent public conduct, united with his " known private worth, he was rapidly acquiring an authority " over men's minds that, had his life been spared a few years, " would, I think, have equalled, if not surpassed, even that of " Mr. Fox. He, indeed, was a leader, that all true Whigs ' would have been proud to follow, however his modesty " might Induce him to decline being called so." Lord Holland, reviewing, years afterwards, the political situation t Letter from Creevey to Bennett: "Creevey Papers," Vol. 1, 292. THE LAST YEAR: 1818. 231 during the Sessions of 1817 and 1818, declared that Romilly was more nearly than any other member " the leader of the "Whig party in the House of Commons." The charm of his beautiful nature, wrote Harriet Martineau, won its way even where wide difference of political principle and senti ment might have been expected to create some prejudice against him.* Romilly's letters and diary contain scant reference to Romilly's theological dogma. He made no profession of his religious yfj^s'""* faith, and the articles of his creed are unknown to us. By some he has been styled a "Deist," while Sir Archibald Alison, as we have seen, claimed him, with strange inaccuracy, as a strict Sabbatarian of the Scottish type. During the debate on Grattan's motion for the relief of the oppressed Irish Catholics, a member named Fuller, speaking In opposition to the motion, sneered at Romilly as holding a retainer for the Dissenters, alluded to him, indeed, as the head of the Dis senting body, and expressed surprise that he had managed to "swallow" the Parliamentary oath. "As to my being at " the head of the Dissenting body and my having swallowed " the test which he mentions," retorted Romilly, " the honour- " able gentleman — as he takes so much Interest in me — will " be glad, perhaps, to hear that I was educated In the Estab- " lished Church ; that I have always attended places of religious worship according to the rites of the Established " Church ; and that I do not recollect that I have ever been, " even out of curiosity, in a Dissenting meeting house." It Is plain that he possessed a mind pious in the highest sense of the word, and that he was imbued with the principles and spirit of a most lofty humanity ; but such religious tenets as he held seem to have been of a vague and elusive character. Following in his father's footsteps, he probably " attached much less importance to the forms of religion than to the " substance of it," being, perhaps, well content with " the pure religion and undefiled " conceived by the Christian apostle: — "To visit the fatherless and widows in their 'affliction and to keep himself unspotted from the world." Writing as a young man to Roget, he declared everything he saw in Paris, on his visit during tbe autumn of 1 781 , convinced him that, independently of future happiness and the sublimest enjoyments of this life, religion is necessary to the comforts, the conventions, and even to the elegancies and one's lesser 'History of England, Vol. I., p. 203. 232 SAMUEL ROMILLY pleasures: — "Not only I never met with a writer truly " elegant, who did not, at least, affect to believe in religion, " but I never met with one in whom religion was not the "richest source of his eloquence." Yet it is manifest that he is here using the word " religion " in the broadest sense possible, embracing even its pagan forms, for he adds, with out a break : — " Cicero, sceptical as he is in his philosophical writings, in his orations always (except once or twice where it was his interest to shake the established faith of his country) appears to be a firm believer .... the instances are innumerable where his eloquence owes all Its wonderful force to the fables, the errors, and the superstitious rites of heathenism." Romilly's attitude will, perhaps, be best explained and illustrated by quoting the words of a prayer written by him in the year 1812, and preserved amidst the leaves of his diary : — "Almighty God, creator of all things ! the source of all wisdom, and goodness, and virtue and happiness ! I bow down before thee : — ^not to offer up prayers, for I dare not presume to think or hope that thy most just, unerring, and supreme will can be In any degree influenced by any supplications of mine — nor to pour forth praises and adorations, for I feel that I am unworthy to offer them, but, in all humility, and with a deep sense of my own Insignificance, to express the thanks of a contented and happy being, for the innumerable benefits which he enjoys." After referring to his special sources of happiness, he con tinues : " I cannot reflect on all these things, and not express my gratitude to thee, O God ! from whom all this good has flowed. I am sincerely grateful for tbe happiness of all those who are most dear to me, of my beloved wife, of my sweet children, of my relations, and of my friends. I pros trate myself, O Almighty and Omniscient God, before thee. In endeavouring to contemplate thy divine attributes, I seek to elevate my soul towards thee ; I seek to improve and ennoble my faculties ; and to strengthen and quicken my ardour for the public good ; and I appear to myself to rise above my earthly existence, while I am indulging the hope that I may, at some time, prove an humble instrument in the divine work of enlarging tbe sphere of human happiness ! ! " ¦I-* ^ YALE iUTISH HISTORY? : iKiESERVATION PROJECT BUPPORTED BY NEH ^ . . . . ¦ f iilh: .' . **a?5'^'^/ i: ^L ^ •IH^T-M-'^-:,.;- > i p }.'l<