The National Register. — London, England, 1817-01-20 00:00:00

fry., 4 Satio nail ~~ d•b An.l 11 10 tit r Our littna, rho [art attar ilaiviL No. 467.—V0t. X. Utgat Ntograptp: OR, Memoirs ofthepresenteludges. No. 111. THE RIGHT HONOURABLE SIR WILLIAM GRANT, MASTER OF THE ROLLS. THE LAW has long been considered as one of the highways to preferment and political exaltation, through the exercise of individual talent. Genius and industry arc not wanting in any parts of the Empire. In poetry, in the arts, ha the sciences, in politics, and in war, there seems to have been an equal rivalry amongst the three sister kingdoms ; yet in the Law, there seems an accidental disparity as relates to one of them, which we cannot immediately ascount for. That Scotland is fertile in Genius, in Talents, and in Indus try, it would be in vain to deny. That the practice of the English Law affords ample scope for the talents of Scotchmcn is undeniable. But were we asked the question, whether the natives of Ireland or of Scotland would attain to most eminence iu the practice of En glish Law, we should hesitate perhaps for awhile, but ar7ning a priori we should form no {great expectation that the natives of Scotland should be peculiarly at tracted to the study and practice of the Law in this coun try, as all its firm and usuages arc essentially different feom those adopted iu their own. Yet it has actually batmened that, although the Irish have the same code t;f laws, the same forms of pleadings, and arc compelled to perform their law exercises, and pursue their studies in England, very few hare settled here for practice, and none yet acquired at considerable eminence either ai pleaders, or on the Bench, while Scotian.] has given to us the first great ornament of our Courts of Justice in Lord Manlficid, and the most perfixt of Nisi Prins itdvocates, the most fascinating and elegant of forensic pleaders, in Lord Erskine, who may justly he deemed the Cicero of the English Bar. Other instances of success ful Scotchmen, in practice as English lawyers, must be fresh in every one's recollection. Lord Loughborough was eminent both as a Chancellor and a political de bater ; Sir Archibald Macdonald for many years adorn rd the Exchequer, with the elegant urbanity of a cour tier, delighted the circuit-table with a never-ceasing fund of anecdote, and administered the criminal law of the country at the Old Bailee, and on the circuits, with a steady firmness, blended with humanity and discre tion, which gained him the affection anti jatst esteem of all who had opportunities of witnessing his merito rious career. Sir Wm. Adam has for a long period held the chief practice as a parliamentary advocate, anti now fills an honorable rank as a Judge, appointed to introduce the inestimable boon of the Trial by Jury in Ms own country ; while in the ranks of our English bar we at present reckon amongst its most rising ornaments, Brougham, Horner, and others, who seem desirous in the aim at metropolitan celebrity to rise from the hum bler sphere -of mere Scottish fume, and extend the re putation of the United Kingdom by seeking to distin guish themselves as English Lawyers and British Se nators. Sir WILLIAM GRANT, the subject of our present 'Memoir, is one of those adventurous Seotehmen who have emancipated themselves from the narrow boundsof their own native regions, and sought and obtained fme, fortune, and high rank in that city, which may stiled the centre and focus of the united talents of the three kingdoms. From the best accounts which we can collect of his origin, he is by birth a Northern Highlander. The place of hi,. nati..ity was Elchirs,en the bunks or the Spey, where his father then lived and carried on some agricultural concerns upon a moderate scale about the veer 1754. liere it has been said he frequently passed his time in habits of solitude, like the 141iustrel of Beattie, now 'wing on the brook, now MONDAY, JANU. .1' 1.0, 1817. ranging amidst the mountains after the cattle, and now musing ou some rocky crag as the sheep and the herds fed below him. • Elgin, the neighbouring tom, was then famous for its grammar school, and thither he and a younger bro ther, who was formerly collectorat Martinico, were sent for their education, and boarded at the house of Mr. John Irvine, nephew to a worthy and respectable clergy.. man of that place. Mr. Milne and Mr. Sheryl' were successively his instructors therC; rind though neither of them lived to witness the advarement and experience the gratitude of their scholar in 'his subsequent eleva tion, he has paid the just tribute of thankful recollection fur the benefits derived from them, by recently contri buting to the rebuilding' of the school, the funds of the institution being found inadequate to the purpose. • After a short residence at aria, Mr. (inAsir com pleted his education at King'st'alege, Aberdeen, and had, like many of his countrymen, a profession and fur tune to seek. In this he was luckily assisted by an uncle, who having gained wealth in commercial pur suits, and purchased an estate at Elehies in the county of Moray, where he had been born, gained his admis sion to the Inns of Court, and at lust procured his call to the Bar. At that time it was much the fashion for young men of rank and education, to appear at those public debat ing societies, which have, since the French Revolution, been classed with the clubs of the Jacobins, and ren dered almost contagious to the reputation of their fre quenters. Mr. GRANT, it is said, made his first ap pearance as a speaker at the Mini's-hend, in Newgate street ; but from his retired habits and unostentatious, not to say backward manner, upon all subsequent occa sions, we presume, that he attained none of that cele brity, which attached to the names of Ikirke, Garrom, Dallas, and, to b.! just, we must add Adolphus ! ! The charact or of Mr.(;a A si T a eloquence could never have been enthusiastically vehement, sweetly splendid in fi gure, or acrimoniously pungent in sarcasm, to a sufficient degree to suit the vitiated tastes of a popular assembly, though we are as certain that there, a:: well as in the senate, he would have been at ail times listened to with profound attention, for the depth of his views, the extent of his information, the clearness of his me thod, the ti rce of his arruinents, and the unembarrassed , rood sense and ease of his manner and language. His first exertion as an advocate was in the House of Peers, upon an appeal from the Courts in Smarm,/ ; and we are told, that he confessed he was " rather inti midated at appearing betiire so august an assembly." We doubt not but this was stiil fly the fact, and but that we think persons of the cool terperament and cor rect judgment of Sir W. GRANT, either fed or appear to feel, less than others, and to act more steadily, we should readily credit the narration, if he had declared that his f.eling upon such an occasion, were all but overwhelm ing to his talents. That Mr. GRANT'S success was not at this time rapid or even promising we are well assured. Remark able for taciturnity in ordinary society, it is said of' hint, that he travelled the home circuit some years Vithont speaking once in or out of Court, and such were his habits of retirement and meditation, that we have been inflamed at the lodgings where he took up his rest, fur all that time, he was neither visited by client nor associate, and never relaxed into any ordinary chat with his landlord, as with men of freer habits we have found by no means unfrequent.. With such habits which bespeak modesty, timidity, or conscious superiority, and are the very reverse vof the pliant sycophancy, which is attributed to so many of his countrymen by the Satirist who wrote the Man of the World, be was certainly ill-formed to shine at Nisi Prins, :and would have been long in seeking advance ment at the Chancery Bar. At length, soon after the iloseriwn war broke out, Mr. GRANT quitted England and emlairked for Canada, where he arrived at the critical period when the capi tal was threatened with a siege by the celebrated Ge neral Munlgcnnes;y, who, assisted by Arnold, remarkable afterwards fur his desertion, after a rapid march over an immense tract of country, appeared, durinr• the winter, before the walls of Quebec, and commenced military operations against that city. Many of' the inhabitants took to flight, and the remainder were struck with ccn sternation at the event so unexpected, ill a climate au PRICE. 9id. inhospitable. Mr. GRANT, however, with the native courage of u Highlander, accustomed to the rigour of the seasons, and the sports and labour of a country life in his native mountains, was roused to a pitch of mili tary ardour which does nut appear to have descended to many of the forensic tierces of the present day, or in which we should rather say some of them appear to be deficient. As an officer in the colonial militia he served during the remainder of the war, with some in terruption to his professional career, in which, how- , ever, he obtained there the rauk-of AtisnierGeneral ; and, retaining to Westminster Hall, renewed, with a considerable accession to his fortune, that pursuit of the higher honours of his profession, which he had been bethre obliged to abandon for a long time. He was somewhat noticed by Lord Merlon); but steady friend an I patron was his countryman Lord Melville, then the more celebrated Harry Dundas, who, we have been informed, had the highest opinion of his judgment, and consulted him upon every occasion. We are indeed told, that upon subjects of politics those two very able country IV VII were often claietted for many mornings together at Lincoln's Inn, where Mr. GRANT then resided. In point of business in the Law we believe Mr. GRANT never attained lunch practi.•e till he was made a King's Counsel and Solicitor-General, but what he had was of the most respectable kind, and must have sufficiently evinced the general character of his ability. It is in parliament, however, that we must seek for the principal display of his talents, and it is to his parlia mentary exertions that he owes the chief cause of all his promotion. Ills parliamentary career we shall there. thre endeavour to trace with accuracy and attention, and to enable our readers the better to judge of the merits of the subject of this memoir, we shall notice his most remarkable speeches as the most important eras of his life, and the certain steps by which he has ascend ed to one of the highest ranks in the Law. IO he Continued.) ANECDOTE tbi'llze GRAND DUKE NICHOLAS. His Imperial Highness the Grand Duke Nicholas is returned to London after his tour. The following cur rent tale, may afford some insight into his character. On leaving Chester for Montgomeryshire, he perceived one of the outriders to be mounted on a good horse ; being a fine morning, his Highness felt disposed to take a ride, and requested to change place with tlle courier; it was a 14 mile stage, and, on descend'ng a very long and steep hill, his Highness did not like to crawl down so slow as the others, and told his suite that he would ride on and order some refreshment and horses for them. On his Highness arriving at the inn, he desired the landlady to prepare some beef-steaks and mutton-chops thr the Crazed Duke and suite. The landlady obsurved, that they should be immediately got re.•ady ; and, taking his llighness fits the courier, asked him to accept of a glass of something:, which he polite ly declined; observing, that he would wait until the company arrived. She then took him to shew the room she had prepared for the Grand Duke, and asked him if he thought it would do? His Highness told her that it would do extremely well. The carriages shortly atter arrived ; at this moment the hostess begged his Highness would have the goodness to point out to her the Grand Duke ; his Highness smiled, and said that she would be sure to see him. On Generals Kutcsre and Munsel getting out of their carriage they saluted his Highness, and asked hint how he liked his ride. He said that he had never rode a more pleasant horse, sad asked General Kutitsoff to examine his mouth, in order to ascertain his age; which, when don', his llighness asked the post-boys if their master would sell the horse, and what would be the price of him. The boys said, that their master had no objection to sell the horse, and that the price was (30 guineas ; which sum. his Highness in :tautly agreed to give. During the in terval, the hostess lost no time in asking the servants which of the Gentlemen was the Grand Duke. When they pointed him ost to her, she said that was the cou rier, nor would she believe them until General Mansel introduced his Highness to bar. • ill % r i .., v, \ ... -. il .*::: • . NI i..r.e. N. . • ~...:-:......: .~ .. •.`'