A Sketch of the Life of the late Henry Cooper Part 3

The conference proceeded, the obstacles to success at the bar were weighed against the certainty of domestic calamities if he remained in his present profession, and they parted, both of opinion, that in the direction of the bar, Thomas Erskine was most likely to leave behind his present embarra.s.sment and reach prosperity. It remained, however, to procure the consent of her son; that was not easy: he had no predilection for the bar, and was attached to the army, and his regiment, to the officers of which his sprightly and amiable manners had endeared him, and in which he was soliciting promotion and expecting it. At last, however, his conditional consent was drawn from him. He agreed to let his mother dispose of him as she wished, if he should be unsuccessful in his application for the vacant captaincy in the Royals. This was far from satisfying his mother, but he was peremptory, and she could not induce him to more positive terms; thus, if Erskine could have gained the rank of captain in the Royals, the destination of which was, then, an American colony, by which he might have gained the privilege of being scalped by the savages, or perishing in the swamps or forests of North America, the country would never have known that splendid eloquence, which is its boast and its pride; Tooke, Thelwall, Hardy, and the rest of those unfortunate men who were held so long under the terror of death, would probably have been hanged, and the country oppressed by a gloomy precedent of constructive treason, under which no man who has raised himself in opposition to a corrupt and sinister government could have been safe; one is inclined to shudder, like a man whom a shot has missed only by the breadth of a hair, in contemplating how near so much danger was incurred, and so much benefit lost. But it is not on the magnitude, but continuity of the chain, that great results depend; on examining the past, we shall find that as small a link struck out at one point or other of succession, would have disappointed the most important events of history. Happily for Erskine and his country, his claims from the merit of his services were eluded, and though he was more urgent in his applications, since the alternative was to be the bar, he was refused promotion. There was a singular coincidence in the fortune of the late Lord Chatham and Erskine: the former was sent into parliament and driven into violent opposition to Sir Robert Walpole, because that minister had deprived him of a company of horse, and dismissed him the service, an act of which the minister had reason to repent. He was like the emblem of envy with the recoiled dart in his own bosom; except Charles I., who stopped Hampden and Cromwell from embarking upon the Thames to follow liberty into the wilderness of America, no man had ever so much reason to curse himself for his own acts. In the same manner a slight of Erskine's claims to promotion sent him to display an eloquence that had never yet been heard at the English bar. His fame as an advocate, drew the notice of the Whig party on him; he was enlisted in their ranks and added an importance to the opposition, which not unfrequently increased the embarra.s.sment of the minister. While he was held in suspense by those who had the disposal of commissions, he was quartered at Maidstone, and entering the court during the a.s.sizes there, was placed in his military uniform upon the bench, beside the great Lord Mansfield, to whom he was distantly related, and who at intervals of business, conversed with him on the proposed change of arms for the gown. This was another of the accidents which, by minds of a certain frame would be regarded as an omen. After relating this anecdote, he added, "Only four years from that time, I was at the place in the lead of that very circuit." All his hopes of promotion at an end, the commission so unequal to the demands for subsistance upon it, was disposed of, and he was at once entered a student of the Law Society of Lincoln's Inn, and a Commoner at --- College, Cambridge

A few days before he was called to the bar, a friend came and invited him to accompany him to dine at the villa of a wine merchant, a few miles from London. The allurements were a good dinner, and wine not to be procured but by a dealer, who could cull his own stock from thousands of pipes, and they were not to be resisted by a young man fond of pleasure, to whom such luxuries must come gratuitously, if they come at all.

Economy, which was important to Erskine, was not quite beneath the regard of his friend, and after many proposals of several modes of conveyance, which were all rejected, either for their expense, or their humbleness, they agreed to walk; I have heard playful exertions of the mind or body attributed to what was denominated an excessive flow of animal spirits, a phrase that sounds significantly in the ear, but gives no information to the understanding. Those who use it, mean, I suppose, to express that when the body has received more nutriment than is necessary to promote its growth, or maintain it the redundancy is thrown off in almost involuntary exertions of the limbs or of mind. If this physiology be just, Erskine had an extraordinary surplus of supply,--that regular discharge like the back water of a mill, and it found vent in various gambols and effusions of humour on the way to the wine merchant's. While Erskine, buoyed by high health and ardent hope, scarcely felt the ground that he trod, the sight of a ditch by the side of the road, tempted him to exercise his agility. The impulse, and obedience to the impulse, were the same. He made the attempt, but the ditch was too wide for his spring, and he leaped a little short of the opposite bank. His dress above was splashed with foul water, and his legs booted in mud. Nothing was to be done on his part but to return, and his companion with a kindness that does him honour, would have returned with him, but this, Erskine was too generous to allow; and while his friend continued his journey to the wine merchant's house and sumptuous dinner, Erskine solitary and in pain (for he had severely sprained his leg) returned to town; on reaching his lodgings Mrs. Erskine proposed a change of dress, and urged him yet to go to dinner at the wine merchant's. He objected his lameness from the sprain, which she answered by proposing a coach and the expense, which he hinted, was not to be weighed against the benefit he might derive from the friends which his manners and spirits were likely to make him in the mixed and numerous company he would meet there.

This was a consideration so important to a young man on the verge of the bar, that Erskine's disinclination was overcome by these reasonings of his wife. A coach was procured, and he again set out, but he did not arrive till dinner was half over, and found himself placed by this accident by the side of Captain Bailey, of Greenwich Hospital. With the modesty which is always united with true genius, Lord Erskine always spoke of this event as the greatest instance of good fortune which ever befel him. But for this, he said to me, "I might have waited years for an opportunity to show that I had any talent for the bar; and when it occurred I should not have pleaded with such effect, depressed and mortified as I might have been by long expectation, and its attendant evils, instead of seizing it with all the energy and confidence of youth elated with hope." I record this to show how little he was actuated by arrogance or presumption; I by no means a.s.sent to his opinion, on the contrary, I think he would have waited a very short time for occasion to exert his prominent talents. He slipt from high ground into the profession. His rank would have drawn notice upon him, and he had friends full of eagerness, and not altogether without power. No more is the partiality which, it is said, was manifestly shown him by Lord Mansfield, to be deemed a main cause of his success. On the contrary I am so little inclined to attribute such an effect to it, that I believe even the hostility of the bench could not have kept Erskine from rising.

His mind was not of the ordinary mould,--he was excited by obstacles.

Such was his temperament, that the damp slight of discouragement which would have quenched common spirits, by the ardour of his mind would have been converted into fuel, and have increased the splendour with which he burst forth at once at the English bar. How was the delay of opportunity, or the frown of the judge to suppress the eloquence whose first essay excelled, both in matter and delivery, the latest efforts of the most experienced speakers in our courts? when he rose Dunning, Bearcroft, Wallace and others, were in the height of their reputation as speakers in Westminster Hall. They were even eloquent, according to the judgment of the day gazed at as the luminaries of the profession; but, brilliant as they were, they were combust in the splendour of Erskine, on his first appearance as an orator. This considered, it is in vain to pretend, that, but for favourable conjunctions which have happened to him and not to others, the prosperous and devious career on which he immediately entered, could have been prevented or even long delayed.--[Alas, no more!]

BRIDGE STREET BANDITTI, _v._ THE PRESS.

REPORT OF THE TRIAL OF MARY-ANNE CARLILE, FOR PUBLISHING A NEW YEAR'S ADDRESS TO THE REFORMERS OF GREAT BRITAIN; WRITTEN BY RICHARD CARLILE; AT THE INSTANCE OF THE CONSt.i.tUTIONAL a.s.sOCIATION: BEFORE MR. JUSTICE BEST, AND A SPECIAL JURY, AT THE _Court of King's Bench_, _Guildhall_, _London_, _July_ 24, 1821.

WITH THE n.o.bLE AND EFFECTUAL SPEECH OF MR. COOPER, IN DEFENCE, AT LARGE.

LONDON: PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY R. CARLILE, 55, FLEET STREET.

1821.

DEDICATION.

TO HENRY COOPER, ESQ., BARRISTER AT LAW;

For the n.o.ble stand and more n.o.ble att.i.tude which he took on this trial--for the very eloquent, very bold, and very honest style of his defence--and, above all, for the manly resistance which he made to, and the contempt which he showed for, the menacing frowns of those persons who conducted, advocated, and supported this prosecution: and to those HONEST JURYMEN who resisted their fellows in the attempt to throw the defendant into the hands of her enemies, and the enemies of their country; and who, by their honesty and independence, have given a death blow to those corrupt, wicked, and malignant _would-be_-censors of the Press, calling themselves a Const.i.tutional a.s.sociation; this report of the proceedings is gratefully dedicated by, and the sincere and heartfelt thanks is hereby offered to them, of

MARY-ANNE and RICHARD CARLILE.

REPORT, &c., &c.

This was an indictment at the prosecution of "The Const.i.tutional a.s.sociation," and their first attempt to obtain a verdict. The defendant pleaded Not Guilty.

The following are the names of the Jurors:--

SPECIAL.

John Stracey, of Smithfield Bars, Merchant, Philip Jacob, of the Crescent, Cripplegate, ditto, James Byrne, of Dyer's Court, ditto, Charles Wright, of the Old Jury, ditto, (foreman) Henry Houghton, of King's Arms Yard, ditto, John Webb, of Coleman-street, ditto.

TALESMEN.

Joseph Blackburn, Russia Mat Dealer, John Davis, Painter, John Williams, Cheesemonger, Bryan Mills, Packer, Michael Williams, Agent, Frederick Bennet, Smith.

Mr. Justice BEST, at the request of the defendant, enquired if either of the Jurors was a member of the Const.i.tutional a.s.sociation. The answer was in the negative.

Mr. TINDALL opened the pleadings.

Mr. GURNEY appeared to conduct the prosecution, and Mr. COOPER was for the defendant.

Mr. GURNEY.--May it please your lordship; gentlemen of the Jury; my friend, Mr. Tindall, has told you the nature of this action, and it is now my duty to lay this case before you. The indictment has been found by a grand jury, upon the prosecution of the Const.i.tutional a.s.sociation; and it charges the defendant, Mary Ann Carlile, with publishing a libel upon the government and the const.i.tution of this country; and, gentlemen, after a not very limited experience in these cases, I will say, that a more criminal and atrocious libel never met my observation. It purports to be written by Richard Carlile; it is dated from Dorchester Gaol, and it has been published by the defendant, the sister of that man who is now suffering imprisonment for his own criminal conduct. It is ent.i.tled, "A New Year's Address to the Reformers of Great Britain;" and, among other objectionable pa.s.sages not charged as libelous, it contains the following; "As far as the barrack system will admit"--

Mr. Justice BEST.--I do not think that you are ent.i.tled to read that pa.s.sage, Mr. Gurney.

Mr. COOPER.--I think not, my lord; I was just rising to interrupt Mr.

Gurney.

Mr. GURNEY.--I have no objection, my lord, to abstain from reading the pa.s.sage to which I was about to call your attention. I shall read the pa.s.sage which is charged as libelous, and if the learned counsel for the defendant can find throughout a single pa.s.sage to qualify its malignity, do you, gentleman, give the defendant the benefit of it. The pa.s.sage is this:--"To talk about the British Const.i.tution, is, in my opinion, a sure proof of dishonesty; Britain has no const.i.tution. If we speak of the Spanish const.i.tution, we have something tangible; there is a substance and meaning as well as sound. In Britain there is nothing const.i.tuted but corruption in the system of government; our very laws are corrupt and partial, both in themselves and in their administration; in fact, corruption as notorious as the sun at noon-day, is an avowed part of our system, and is denominated the necessary oil for the wheels of the government; it is a most pernicious oil to the interests of the people."

And in another pa.s.sage the following words were contained:--"Reform will be obtained when the existing authorities have no longer the power to withhold it, and not before. We shall gain it as early without pet.i.tioning as with it, and I would again put forward my opinion, that something more than a pet.i.tioning att.i.tude is necessary. At this moment I would not say a word about insurrection, but I would strongly recommend union, activity, and co-operation. Be ready and steady to meet any concurrent circ.u.mstances." Now, gentleman, these are the pa.s.sages charged as libelous, and I defy even the ingenuity of my learned friend to show that they are not most odious libels. What! are the people of this free and independent country to be told that they have no const.i.tution? It is an a.s.sertion, the malignity of which is only equalled by its falsehood. We have a free and glorious const.i.tution. It has descended to us from our brave and free ancestors, and I trust that we, too, shall have virtue and magnanimity enough to transmit it unimpaired to our posterity. We have laws, too, equal in their administration. We have a const.i.tution where no lowness of birth--no meanness of origin--operate as an obstacle to preferment; in which the chief situations are open to compet.i.tion, and for which the only qualifications are integrity and information. Our laws are here stigmatized as partial and corrupt. If they were not impartial, this man would never have dared to vilify them. The very accusation proves that the charge is false; for if it were true, this libeler must have suddenly suffered for this a.s.sertion. It is because that they are administered in a spirit of mercy unknown to the laws of any other country--it is because they are administered in tenderness, that this man has had the power to promulgate his vile and odious falsehood. He thought it meet and right, and most becoming too, to tell the world that this was not the precise time for insurrection. He plainly indicates, that he has no objection to it; but he would not say a word about it at present, the time was not come; but he tells his fellow reformers to be "ready and steady to meet any concurrent circ.u.mstances." Gentlemen, it would be an idle and impertinent waste of time to make any further observations upon the pernicious tendency of this libel. But what is the defence which is to be set up by my learned friend? Are we to be told that the prosecution of this libel is an invasion of the liberty of the press? I will not yield to my learned friend, nor to any man in existence, in a just regard for the freedom of the press. But who, I would ask, is invading its liberty? He who brings to justice the offenders, or he who under the sacred form of liberty promulgates such language as I have just read to you? I do not think that on this subject you can entertain a doubt. I feel the most perfect confidence in committing this case to your good sense. If you believe that the defendant is guilty of publishing this libel with the intention charged, you will p.r.o.nounce your verdict of guilty. If, on the other hand, you think that the pa.s.sages which I have read to you contain nothing libelous, or that the defendant is not the publisher, I shall sincerely rejoice in your conscientious acquittal.

_James Rignall_ deposed, that he had purchased the pamphlet in question of the defendant, at her shop in Fleet Street, on Friday evening, the 9th of March. There were several other copies lying about on the counter.

Cross-examined by Mr. COOPER.--Who are you?--I am an agent to the Society for the Suppression of Vice.

But you are also employed by these const.i.tutional people, as they call themselves?--Only in this one instance.

Were you employed to purchase the pamphlet in question?--I purchased that and others.

You were employed by the Const.i.tutional Society to purchase them?--Yes, I was.

Who sent you?--Mr. Murray.

The Attorney?--Yes.

And he directed you to purchase this pamphlet, eh?--He did not particularize any.

Did he state his object in the purchase?--No.

What wages are you to have?--I have no wages.

Then you perform this agreeable duty gratuitously?--No, I do not say that.

Then how are you paid?--I made a charge for my time.

Perhaps you belong to the society?--No, indeed I do not (with vehemence).

Well, I do not wonder that you should be anxious to separate yourself from the society (a laugh amongst the auditory).

Mr. GURNEY.--I desire that no such remarks may be made.

Mr. COOPER.--What have you had for this particular job?--I have made a charge for several other little things I did (a laugh).

Mr. GURNEY (to the spectators),--I shall certainly move his Lordship to take notice of some particular persons that I see misconducting themselves.