the treasury when the revenues were in the greatest confusion? Is credit revived, and does it now flourish? Is it not at an incredible height? and if so, to whom must that circumstance be attributed? Has not tranquillity been preserved both at home and abroad, notwithstanding a most unreasonable and violent opposition? Has the true interest of the nation been pursued, or has trade flourished? Have gentlemen produced one instance of this exorbitant power; of the influence which I extend to all parts of the nation; of the tyranny with which I oppress those who oppose, and the liberality with which I reward those who support me? But having first invested me with a kind of mock dignity, and styled me a prime minister, they impute to me an unpardonable abuse of that chimerical authority which they only have created and conferred. If they are really persuaded that the army is annually established by me, that I have the sole disposal of posts and honours, that I employ this power in the destruction of liberty and the diminution of commerce, let me awaken them from their delusion. Let me expose to their view the real condition of the public weal. Let me show them that the Crown has made no encroachments, that all supplies have been granted by Parliament, that all questions have been debated with the same freedom as before the fatal period in which my counsels are said to have gained the ascendency,-an ascendency from which they deduce the loss of trade, the approach of slavery, the preponderance of prerogative, and the extension of influence. But I am far from believing that they feel those apprehensions which they so earnestly labour to communicate to others; and I have too high an opinion of their sagacity not to conclude that, even in their own judgment, they are complaining of grievances that they do not suffer, and promoting rather their private interest than that of the public.

[At the time this speech had a great effect, and the motion. for an address was negatived, but the tide of popular favour having set in against him, he was compelled to resign all his offices on the 11th of February 1742.]

W

ILLIAM MURRAY, first Earl of Mansfield, was born at Scone Castle, near Perth, March 2, 1705. He was sent to England, where his education was completed at Westminster School and at Oxford. When called to the bar, business flowed in upon him.

He

was appointed Solicitor-General in 1743, and was at the same time elected a Member of Parliament, where he distinguished himself on the Tory side of the House. He became AttorneyGeneral in 1754, and was afterwards created a peer and raised to the bench as Chief Justice of England. In 1776 he was created Earl of Mansfield. He died in 1793. The following speech was delivered on June 8, 1768.

[John Wilkes had been prosecuted in 1764 for a libel upon the King and an obscene essay on women. Verdict had been declared against him, and, as he did not appear to receive sentence, he was outlawed. Wilkes returned to England in 1768, applied to the Court of the King's Bench for a reversal of the outlawry; numerous meetings were held in his favour in the metropolis, and on the 8th of June 1768, when the decision was made public, the court was crowded by a highly-excited mob. While Lord Mansfield was engaged in reading his decision, he suddenly stopped, and addressed those present in the following speech.!

SPEECH WHEN SURROUNDED BY A MOB IN THE COURT OF THE KING'S BENCH, ON A TRIAL RESPECTING THE OUTLAWRY OF JOHN WILKES.

But here let me pause.

It is fit to take some notice of various terrors being out; the numerous crowds which have attended and now attend in and about the hall, out of all reach of hearing what passes in court, and the tumults which, in other places, have shamefully insulted all order and government. Audacious addresses in print dictate to us, from those they call the people, the judg ment to be given now, and afterward upon the conviction. Reasons of policy are urged, from danger in the kingdom by commotions and general confusion.

Give me leave to take the opportunity of this great and respectable audience, to let the whole world know all such attempts are vain. Unless we have been able to find an error which bears us out to reverse the outlawry, it must be affirmed. The constitution does not allow reasons of state to influence our judgments; God forbid it should! We must not regard political consequences, how formidable soever they might be. If rebellion was the certain consequence, we are bound to say, Fiat justitia, ruat cœlum [‘Be justice done, though heaven in ruins fall.'] The constitution trusts the King with reasons of state and policy. He may stop prosecutions; he may pardon offences; it is his to judge whether the law or the criminal shall yield. We have no election. None of us encouraged or approved the commission of either of the crimes of which the defendant is convicted. None of us had any hand in his being prosecuted. As to myself, I took no part (in another place) in the addresses for that prosecution. We did not advise or assist the defendant to fly from justice; it was his own act, and he must take the consequences. None of us have been consulted, or had anything to do with the present prosecution. It is not in our power to stop it; it was not in our power to bring it on. We cannot pardon. We are

to say what we take the law to be. If we do not speak our real opinions, we prevaricate with God and our own consciences.

I pass over many anonymous letters I have received. Those in print are public, and some of them have been brought judicially before the court. Whoever the writers are, they take the wrong way! I will do my duty unawed. What am I to fear? That mendax infamia [lying scandal] from the press, which daily coins false facts and false motives? The lies of calumny carry no terror to me. I trust that the temper of my mind, and the colour and conduct of my life, have given me a suit of armour against these arrows. If during this King's reign I have ever supported his government and assisted his measures, I have done it without any other reward than the consciousness of doing what I thought right. If I have ever opposed, I have done it upon the points themselves, without mixing in party or faction, and without any collateral views. I honour the King and respect the people; but many things acquired by the favour of either are, in my account, objects not worthy of ambition. I wish popularity, but it is that popularity which follows, not that which is run after. that popularity which, sooner or later, never fails to do justice to the pursuit of noble ends by noble means. I will not do that which my conscience tells me is wrong upon this occasion, to gain the huzzas of thousands, or the daily praise of all the papers which come from the press. I will not avoid doing what I think is right, though it should draw on me the whole artillery of libels--all that falsehood and malice can invent, or the credulity of a deluded populace can swallow. I can say with a great magistrate, upon an occasion and under circumstances not unlike, 'Ego hoc animo semper fui, ut invidiam virtute partam, gloriam non invidiam, putarem' ['Such have always been my feelings, that I look upon odium incurred by the practice of virtue not as odium, but as the highest glory'].

The threats go further than abuse,-personal violence is denounced. I do not believe it. It is not the genius of the

worst of men of this country, in the worst of times. But I have set my mind at rest. The last end that can happen to any man never comes too soon, if he falls in support of the law and liberty of his country (for liberty is synonymous with law and government). Such a shock, too, might be productive of public good. It might awake the better part of the kingdom out of that lethargy which seems to have benumbed them, and bring the mad part back to their senses, as men intoxicated are sometimes stunned into sobriety.

Once for all, let it be understood that no endeavours of this kind will influence any man who at present sits here. If they had any effect it would be contrary to their intent; leaning against their impression might give a bias the other way. But I hope and I know that I have fortitude enough to resist even that weakness. No libels, no threats, nothing that has happened, nothing that can happen, will weigh a feather against allowing the defendant, upon this and every other question, not only the whole advantage he is entitled to from substantial law and justice, but every benefit from the most critical nicety of form which any other defendant could claim under the like objection. The only effect I feel is an anxiety to be able to explain the grounds on which we proceed, so as to satisfy all mankind 'that a flaw of form given way to in this case, could not have been got over in any other.'

[Lord Mansfield, along with the other judges, declared a reversal, adding, 'I beg to be understood that I ground my opinion singly on the authority of the cases adjudged, which, as they are on the favourable side, in a criminal case highly penal, I think ought not to be departed from.' This reversal did not free Wilkes from the operations of the verdicts formerly declared against him, and ten days after, Mr. Justice Yates pronounced the judgment of the court, sentenced him to be imprisoned for twenty-two months, and to pay a fine of one thousand pounds.]