The Statesman.
London, England, 1823-11-22 00:00:00

THE STATESMAN

—fearless of offending the bench, to the full advantage of
his clients. As a politician, he was -remarkable for
en undeviating adherence to the party of the liberal wbigs.
His own sentiments, at one period, we have reason to
know, went much farther than whiggism ; but his most
intimate friends were enlisted on that side, and lie did not
chase to erect, or to follow, a standard mote correspond-
ing, with his own feelings. A morning paper says, while
his Chancellorship was not long, no one regretted its ab-
rupt termination ; and that his decrees are not quoted as
authorities. Certainly, if Lord Eldon is qnalified for the
Chancellorship, Lord Erskine was not ; hut we have seen
so much of the evils and abuses of the Court of Chancery,
that we shonld never think of blaming a man for short-
ening them by hasty decisions. A suitor had better have
a wrong done to him, by which he may lose that which he
claims, than have all that he has wasted in a vain
pursuit of right. We are not aware, however, that any
great proportion of Lord Erskine's decrees were set acide ;
and we know several who are very grateful to him for
having put an end to expenres and anxieties which harrass-
ed them for many years. As to his jedgments not being
referred to as authorities, it is time enough vet. It is the
fashion, we are aware, to tell Lord r.tdon that his decrees
will be immortal in the court ;. bat let him not believe it.
They are as mortal as himself. Wad Chancellors find. as
few flatterers as dead Kings. Iljs tears will be remembered
by those who will never read his speeches; and he may I
onlyjmemorable for having occupied the situation so much
I longer than most of his predecessors. Lord Erskine, on
the contrary, is personally identified with the history of his
country, in its must interesting features—the propagation
of liberal ideas, and the progress of man to maturity in
knowledge.

A project is said to be on foot, to convert Greece into a
monarchy, and to make the Greeks a present of the PriAce
of Cobourg, or the son of Es• King of Sweden., to govern
them! ►►'e are not surprised to hear such thinga talkeJ
of, in this portion of Etirope ; but we are astonished to
hear, and can harJly believe, that the Greeks will give
into any such absurd Weis. Thuir libcry and promerity
can only be s-cared by a ropresmitative Government,
totally free from the monarchical'absurdities with which
each a project would encntither them.

A Committee has been forme I to solicit ealmeriptions
for the distressed Spaniards in London ; and we are told
that this is done without reference to political feeling of any
description; and is merely an :pp••al to the benevolence of
the country.‘Ve think this is an erroneous view of the titles.
lion, anti a ta:ne shrinking front an impornat ditty—that
of proclaiming an attaeloneat to tit, prinrieks which
have brooglit tl • r distress upon them. It is not merely
because these Spaniards are distressed, that we are called
upon to relieve them, bat because their distress has arisen
out of their political attachments. It is a mistalca to sup-
pose that their political enemies will do any , thing to
assist them, out of regard to their moral charac-
ters, or personal sufferings. Besides, the public sympathy
cannot be roused by private solicitation. Enough for
i bread may be produced by it : bat this would do us no
credit as a nation, nor is it the mere alleviation of the
pangs of hunger and thirst that the parties themselves
require. A more cordial welcome, should be given to
them in England. A despotic administration could welcome
the refugees of despotism and open t 6 them the purse of the
nation, with a lavish hand. Let the nation itself welcome
the wandering friends of liberty, wi'h all the ardour of
brother freemen. A public meeting should be called we
think, by the Committee appoi.:ted to manage the subscrip-
tion for the Spaniards. A report of what they have done,
may now be safely given ; and since nothing an we can be
effected for Spain, let the Committee t ilia the Spaniards
in England, and Pause who may yet arrive, under
their protection, and crown their lab )urs, by erecting a
monument to the gallant, martyred, lticgo. They will
have then done all in their power ; and what remains
unaccomplished, mutt be placed to the account of a destiny
beyond their controul.

It is again rumoured that N'erdinand will recognize the
whole of the Spanish loans. We have wandered that in
common sagacity, as a means of getting more, that he did
not reco4nize them at first; since the recognition
cost him nothing, nor add one farthing to the •alue of the
bond•, which will never be paid, while a King reigns in
Spain, and " the Church" eats up so much of the surplus
produce of the land.

The county of Lincoln is likely to be the scene of a very
revere election contest. Notice has been formally sent the I .
Sheriff, that Sir John Thorold will be proposed against S r
Wan. I ngilby ; and that a poll will be demanded in his'
behalf. shoald the skew of hands be declared against him.
Col. Johnson has pledged himself to propose Sir John
Thorold, in the event of no other more influential indi
vidoal being ready to perform that duty ; and we have
therefore every thing in train for a well run race between
the courage and honesty of.the freeholders, and the influence
of Lord Yarborough ; who is understood to be the patron
of Sir William Ingilby. We are afraid there is not spirit
enough in the county, to carry the indepenient
candidate; but at all events we trust there will
be enough to make the nomination rather expensive to
Lord Yarborough. This is the only means left in the
bands of the present race of electors to purify the Repre-
sentation ; and we hope that they will use it to as great as
extent as possible. There are a great number of small

freeholders in Lincolnshire—quite enough to outvote any
influence of the great propiieters ;though theyare pi overbial
for being difficult to bring op to the llustinga ; but political
information has been malting its way, though slowly,
amongst them ; and perhaps they may have acquired a
much as to know that they hold their votes in trust for the
benefit of their country; and that it is their do y to give
them whenever they are called upon, although it may cost
them a little time and trouble.

DEATH OF LORD ERSKINE. '
--enor.--
(FROM THE MORNING CHRONICLE.)
We have this day to communicate the melancholy intel-
ligence of the death of Lord Erskine. This took place on
Monday evening, at Almondsle, the teat of his late distin-
guished brother, the Hon. Henry Erskiue. Having been
at sea, he was completely drenched on landing, by which
he caught a cold that brought on a violent inflammation of
the lungs, which in a few days put a period to his existence.
He had twice before suffered severely from the same disease,
and the last time his life was despaired of by his Physici-
ans. On that occasion he ordered himself to be bled to an
excess that alarmed his Medical Advisers, and he attributed
his recovery to his bold disregard of their injunctions. His
Lordship was in his seventy-fifth year, and from the native
strength of his constitution, but for this inflammatory
disease, would, in all probability, have lived many years.
Ile left London for Edinburgh about three weeks ego,
accompanied by his eldest son, by his second marriage,
whom he intended placing at College in Scotland ; he pro-
ceeded by the Edinburgh steam packet; and, weunderstand,
left that city about a fortnight ago for London, making
choice of the same mode of conveyance. The vessel
encountered a severe gale, and be was forced to land at
Scarborough, whence, we suppose he returned immediately
to Scotland.
His son (now Lord Erskine) received on Tuesday last,
a letter from one of the oldest friends of his father, acquaiut-
leg- him with his dangerous illness ; he was much sur-
prised at the singular circumstance of his not having heard
of him for the seven days preceding. That very evening
he set out for Sealant); The Hon. Thomas Erskine, the
barrister. the second son, also took the same journey a day
or two before ; hut it is supposed that he coald not reach
Edinburgh in time to see his father in life. Letters re.
1 ' crived in town yesterday morning from the Hononrable
i Thomas Erskine contained the intelligence of what had
taken place.
These are all the particulars which have come to our
1 knowledge respecting Lord Erskine's death.

His Lordship was the youngest of three eons. The
eldest, the Earl of Buchan, is vox the only survivor; the
second snn, the lion. Henri Erskine, long the grace and
ornament of society in Edinburgh, and at the Scottish
Bar, died several years ago. The father left Lord BR. 1
chan with an encumbered estate, on which to support him- !
self, and complete the education of his two brothers, and
it is believed they both owed much to his exertions in their
behalf. A profession was the only resource for both the
younger brothers, and it is singular that each should have
I ken the most eloquent min of his day of the Bar to which
Ihe belonged. Had that arrangement which has lately
been made in the Scottish Law Courts taken place, when
1 first proposed during the 11 big administration, subsequent
i to the death of Mr. Pitt, another striking singularity in this
I family would have presented itself. Henry Erskine would
114%-e been created a Peer, and placed at the head of one of
Ithe divisions ; and each of the three brothers would have
been nobles in his own respective right.

Thomas, however, was not at first 41-stined for a learned
profession ; he went to sea with Sir John Lindsay, a
n-phew of the Earl of Mansfield, and after serving in the
West Indies, during part of the seven years' war, he came
home in the year 170, in the uniform of a midshipman as
passenger on board a Jamaica Packet, in company with
an old acquaintance of the writer of this article, who often
used to speak of the vivacity and talent which the young
aspirant displayed throughout the voyage. Having
;Fired the navy, in consequence it is said, of
his slender chance of obtaining promotion in it;
he] entered in 1768, into the Army as an Ensign in the
Scots Royals, or First Regiment of Foot, and continued in
the service about six years. It is said ,that he was impelled
to quit the service and betake himself to the Bar by the
intreaties of his mother, who deemed this career more
enitahle to the genius of her son. He was about twenty-six
when he commenced his legal studies. He entered as a
1 Fellow Commoner of Trinity Colleg-o, Cambridge, in the
year 1777, and at the same time entered himself on the
books of Lincoln's Inn. In order to allnire a knowledge
of the technical part of his profession lie became a pupil of
Judge Buller, then an eminent Special Pleader. He had
to encounter all the evils of poverty during his legal
'studies, for he hat m erried while a soldier, and his wife
I had even accompanied him to Minorca, in which island he
I passed three years with his regiment. Oa the promotion
1 of Mr. Boller to the Bench, he went into the office of Mr.
i •
Wev;d, in which he continued a year after he had b een in
vensideralde business at the Bar, to which he was called in
Trinity Term, 1773.
Mr. Erskine is a singular exception to the tardy ad-
vancement of professional merit at the English Bar. Copt.
flailhe, who had been removed:from the superintendence of
Greenwich Hospital by the late Earl of Sandwich, then
first Lord of the Admiralty, and one of the Governors o•
Greenwich Hospital, was charged with having pnblislerd
a libel on that Nobleman, and the Attorney General was
instructed to move fur leave to file a criminal information
against him ; this was the occasion of Mr. Erskine's first
speech in Court. In opposing tits motion of Mr. At.
torney General, an opportnuity presented itself of entering
into the merits of the case in behalf of Capt. Baillie. He
accordingly expatiated upon the services which had
been rendered by his client, and on the firmness
with which he resisted the intrigue and artifice to which be
attributed the prosecution set on foot egainst him ; and in the
course of this speech, lie also attacked the Noble Earl in a
tone of sarcastic and indignant invective. I. rd Mansfield
interrupted him more than once ; but the Advocate did not
abate of the severity of his animadversions. It was at that
time co cornmoo spectacle to observe a man, so little known
to the Court and the Rae. commenting with asperity of remark
on ti c conduct of a powerf il titatesinvn, w o : e'd an el sr ited
post in the Administration, and distinguish. d himself rev a
a E.:es of confid.oice not usna:l. felt in ear y e.
.o is of pm b is
speaking, under circumstances that rendered it prudent to an-
stain train personal severity, aod conciliate *the Benen he was
addressing.
1‘ linnet immed'ately after this trial,Mr. Erskine appeared
t...t the bar of the House of Commons as Counsel for Mr.
Canon, the boo!tseller, against a 1111 introduced by Lord
North, then Prime Minister, to reveat in the Universities
the monopoly in Alinanacks, which Mr. Carnan had suc-
ceeded in abolishing by legal judgments, and he had the
good fortune to place the Noble Lord in a considerable 1
minor:ty upon a division.
To the reputation which these speeches confvred upon
him, it has been said that he attributed the ettbseqai n•
success be experienced in his profession; and that, as he
left the Court upon one of these occasions, nearly 30 briefs
were offered to him by the attrrneys who happened to be
present. Ile was now surrounded by clients, and occupied
by business.
The public feelings were then strongly excited by the
interesting trial of Admiral Lieppel, Mr. Erskine was
retained as Counsel for the Adiuiral—a circuins'ancelowing
to the ignorance of the Counsel ( Or. Dunning and Mr.
Lee, who were originally engage I) displayed relathe to
the sea phrases, without some knowledge of which the case
was in a great measure unintelligible. The former, after-
' swards created Lord Ashburton, recommended Mr. Erskine
as complttelr qualified for the task, in consequence of
having been made acquainted with the manner to which
i.e had passed the former ;tart of his life.
Having drawn up his defence, lie personally examined all
the Admirals aid Captains of the Fleet, and satisfied Wiese!'
that he could substantiate t ie innocence of his client, be-
fore the apt e ::i which he had written for hitn was read.
For Lis exei darts en this mem treble occasion, Me. Erskine
received a timusand e pineal.
Of the subsequent events in Lord Erskine's brilliant
career, we cannot, at present, give even an outline. To
tli.se, however, we shall recur on the first opportunity ; and