The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1822-11-16 00:00:00

MEMBER 16, 1822

inolsoble that .Coke intended to alight, she rininji
by his informal marriage, bezause be was always a
firm friend to the chuical and the clergy ; selsickis!
apparent from an extraordinary vo e of thaitk• )(lieu
him tinder veil by the ch titter of the cathettral
church of Norwich, for his gash/nous mud unsofieitial ,
exertions in preserving many of the morsel the
'chapter from the illegal practices of persona clam-
mis them under pretence of concealments; us also
. 9
froth his liberality in the bestowment of the twine-
'l4;ut benefices in fits gift. to regard to which he fre-
quently declared, amoug the many ether memo-
rattle *eying.: of his which are recorded, that he
would have church livings pass by livery and steins,
no' by bargain and sale.
Of the numerous dratingtialied lawyers •Ito Bon-
risherf ID the latter part reign of Elizabeth.
Yelverion. Philips', Ffsl OAake lit.-15•0.
ham, Anderson. Dorldertitge, Mbar. and.many
others, none, were treated with greater respect iu his
profession or in private life than Coke. as Queen's
Attorney; for lie was consulted by the Ministry
in nil matters of difficulty. and furnished them with
a legal colour fur some of their proceedtivi, which
might otherwise have been esteemed unjust and
tiOntordiorry. The most important tiffatr in whir
lie was officially concerned at this tune, was the pm-
! seciaton or the unfortunate Errl of Essex, who, to•
getter will. hi. kinsman, the Earl of Southampton.
was brought to trial before the Lords in the year
1600, for ins ill-advised attempt to stir tip the city
of Loudon to rebel. and assist him in getting pos..
ors.ion of the Queen'. person by force of arm*. The
evidence against these Noblemen was fun and de-
cities,. and their guilt unquestioned ; but they con-
stantly accused the Aitorney-Gesieral, who con-
ducted the prosecution for the Crown, of unioihter•
prolog their motives, pressing ahem with undue se-
verity,abusitig threats sftlie Lords with slanderous
charges, and acting from a desire to rubserve the
personal enmity 01 the Ministers toward% the ac-
cused, rather than from a sincere regard to justice.
The Earl of Essex especially complained of being
talked out of his life by corrupt crews ; and
Southampton, in his defence, said to Coke—" You
urge the matter very far, and you wrong me there-
to ; my blood be upon yam head." • Batt although
the Attorney•Oenetal sometimes addressed these
Noblemen with considerable sharpness in the course
of the trial, lie does not seem, from the report which
we have of it in the State Trials and Camden's
Elisabeth, In hive extended their crime any further
than he was borne oat in doing by the law and the
evidence.

As Coke had been in habits of intimacy ond con-
fidence with the Miiiisters at the close of Eliza-
beth's reign, so he continued in the Lieginuisig of
the nest; there is even good reason to believe that
the proclamation of King Jamas and _other state-
pspers of this period, were drawn up by him; and
although he was not so eager as were many persons
of Miens,. rank, to gain admission to dames, yet
when the stew King, on account of his peaceable
occeveion, entertained the principal gentlemen of
his kingdom at Greenwich (1603), he, together
weds Henry Lee, the Lord Mayor, and Juho
Creeke, Recorder of Loudon, received the honour
of kinghthoird.
In the same yea► happened the famous trial of
Sir Walter ((sleigh, on a charge of high treason,
before • Court ,r Special Cummissionere at AViii-
cheater; iu the muusgement of which trial Sir
Edward Coke intairditaleigh with such interupe-
rate sod overbearing violence, as left en indelible
blot upon his character. The whole plot in which
Raleigh was charged with, bring implicated is now,
as it was then, involved in the deepest my•trit• ;
and whether be was guilty-or not. it is certain that
the evidence produced at the trial was wholly mead-
fiction. not to say palpably absurd; and the ►esehiet
must have bees obtained from the jury by foul
means, in order to graiify the resentment of the
Knit; and has Meunier' against Sir Walter. But.
the virulesit abuse heaped on Raleigh by the At-
weary-General is no less remarkable thou the week-
near of the proofs on which the conviction was
(minded. Sir Edward Coke was not merely am-
wilted with coutunially styling Raleigh a notonoos
traitor, but even went so ter ea to bestow such epi.
theta us " viper, moaner. siiidet of hell, vile and
execrable traitor, odious fellow,
,and damnable
Atheist," upon one of the must willow' and ucconi-
[dished geutlemen of England. who both as a
scholar and as a soldier deserved to be accounted
ilw pride of his country, and who has rendered
himself for ever memorable lit the history of our
own, by his noble exertions to the discovery and
settlement of Americo. Tim customs of that age,
indeed, allowed. great severity on the part of putiliC
officers toward State criostiah, the hardship of
whose situation in this respect was mach aggravated
by their being denied counsel. sod obliged to reply
to the charges brought ogaiost them without any
preptiratiou for defeiseet but So Edward's semi tor
the cause of justice, o► obsequiousness to the
Crown, appears. iu this case, to have hurried bum
beyond all bonnets, so that on one occasion he
treated the Court its►lf with indeeeney. For when
Loyd Cecil. one of the Cutiounowners, interrupted
Sir Edward Coke, pad, as *owe authors affirm, re-
buked him fur his conduit with much asperity, Sir
Edward immediately nit down, and refused to
speak any more. until he was urged sad esstrealtd
to proceed by the Commiesinsiers. when; after
much difficulty. he agam rum stud rer•spitelated all
the evidence, in a owner still wore attune. than
before his interruption 6.
Sir Edward Coke's behatioar in this trial raised
up many enemies against him at the time, endless
been justly and universally condemned eve► Illiet ;
but be retiieved he. credit seen afterwards by Ilia
vigileuce and moody to onrovelliog the fidonjous
sod monstrous project knows. by the name of the
Powder Treamn, rod by his arlasitoble 11611 in roa-
nsOw the trial of the eonspirstors: At the trial of
Garnet, esiwcially, he 1/overuses osswinclog proofs
Ist ;his tatoossm. gispecity and solid judgment.

as induct, d Lurd Cecil, flf,W become Earl of Sias
Itsbuty, to say, in regard to the speech of the At•
torireyrOeneral, tltat—.. He had never heard melt
,a manor of matter better crittracted, or made .more
intelligible to a Jory ;" and the hest judges *
later times have confirmed him opinion, all acconnts
rug this speech Sir Edward Coke'e masterpiece in
forensic oratory.
In remuneration of his services on this and other
occasion., the next year (1606) he was called to the
degree of Serjoigilt at Law, ptepsrstory to his being
itgmrdiiiirly oberwards indite Chief Justice of the
Court of Common Pleas. It has been observed,
that the motto which lie gave upon his rings es Ser.
jesit, Le: est tartisstraa couis, proved very appli-
cable to his subsequent fortune. By his promotion
be made way far Sir fleetly. Hobart to tweeted him,.
Itt.-41!"Atkile(tetPl. Winch enabled Sir ',rouges
aeon to twain the poet of Solicitor. It- appear!!
from • letter*, which Bacon wrote to Ceke jnot
before these several appointments tank place. that
Sir Francis had repeatedly sought for the station of
Solicitor iu the last reign and she present, and at-
tributed Ins failure in not obtaintng it to the bed
offices of Coke ; which circumrairce shows the ori-
gin i,nd cause of the animosity that, as we shall pre-
sently tree, grew up between these great men, and
prompted them to harass and mortify each other
whenever they rould find an opportunity.
After Sir Edward Coke had d as Chief 'hit-
her of the Common Pleas • little over seven years,
with great probity and sufficiency, and as it seems
without any desire to change, he was removed to
the King's Deitch, ostensibly, indeed, because it
was alleged that his great abilities might be more
esserful to the KII, in the leiter sitealtoue but in
reality, as it has been sioppmed, through, the in-
trigues of Sir Francis Bacon, who was now its
(rigour with the King, and who lbws procured the
place of Attorney-General, by the oppowtment of
Sir Henry Hobart to the Common Pleas, to the
room of Sir Edward Coke. Sir Edward Will also
sworn of the Privy Courted • few weeks afterwards
(1613), although he had never shown himself •
friend to the boundless prerogative claimed by the
King, and itt sonic particular eases thwarted the
wishes of his master, which lauded Sir Francis
Bacon occasion to represent hint in a rather un-
favourable light to King James. Thus, when the
King once desired to procure from the Judges au
extra-judicial opinion with regard to • supposed
care of treason, Sir Francis Bacon, who was chosen
to manage the business, easily succeeded with the
other Judges of the King's Bench, but met with
an obstacle in Sir Edward Coke, whose constant
maxim it was to be • Judge in a Court and not a
Chamber, and who, ilietefOre, tiotwith.tandong the
dexterity and address of Bacon, returovri an att-
ract so little satisfactory, that Sir Francis. told the
King he was glad to seod it iu the Chief Justice's
hand-writing for his own discharge. Another time,
however, when Oliver St. John was sentenced to
hue and imprisonment by the Star Chamber (1613)
for opposing a benevoleece set on foot by the King,
the Chief Justice delivered his opimon of the low
vet y strongly for the beurvoli nee, unit might per-
ils!), have thereby recovered the good graves of his
master if this act of Compliance had been more sea.
suitable.

In the same year (1615) was discovered the poi-
soning of Sir Thounni_ ()witry in the Tower;
and a. the Chief Jostler, by rrnaon of his office,
(14 obliged to be peculiarly active to bringing the
offenders to punishment. and thus incurred the
hatred Of the many powerful person. implicated in
the Earl or Somerset'. crime or injered by thus
sunsion's fall, we are not to wonder that hi. con-
duct in the whole alai► was violently censured Il4id
grossly misrepresented by many of the contempo-
►ary historians. lie was personalty directed by the
Kitt to investigate the circumstructs of the mu►-
der. as WWII as the perpetration of it W.lll known.
awl, at biologist request, was jostled in coinum,sion
with several Noblemen, in order that !hey might
share the heavy responsibility, whirls he foresaw
must attend such a scrutifty. to detecting the per.
mous concerned in this ilreadfel tragedy. the Chief
Justice proceeded wish equal vigour and caution,
and with onweatied diligence. taking several hun-
dred examination., until all the subordinate agents
in the murder were eturvicted snots the must.ample
eradenett. Notwithstanding the aspersion, thrown