250 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
Pitt, in concluding an able speech in his defence, contended that '' Great
allowances were to be made for an active and ardent mind, placed in the situation
of the Advocate General. He felt under peculiar circumstances the pressing
perils of the country, and his conduct should be judged of on the principles of
indulgent consideration, with which the law judges the conduct of inferior
Magistrates, when they act, as in this instance, with pure and upright motives ;
for these and other reasons, he should vote for the order of the day, and against
the original motion."
When the House divided, there were eighty-two for the motion, and one
hundred and fifty-nine against it. - On the death of Sir David Rae, Bart., Lord Justice Clerk, Mr. Hope was
appointed in his room. He took his seat on the opening of the Court, 28th of
November 1804, and addressed the judges in a concise but chaste speech, expressive
of the importance he felt to be attached to the appointment, the duties
of which, by the assistance of their lordships, he trusted to discharge in a satisfactory
manner. During the seven years
his lordship presided in the Criminal Court, justice was well administered ; and
under none of his predecessors had the office been filled with greater ability, or
the business conducted with a dignity and solemnity more in keeping with the
procedure of a Court of Justiciary.
An address by his lordship, delivered. at Glasgow, on closing the assize in
1808, was so much admired for its elegance and power, that, on the earnest
solicitation of the magistracy of that city, he consented that it should be printed.
The speech is of considerable length, but the. topics are interesting, and an extract
or two may not improperly be admitted here. After his lordship, in the
usual manner, had inquired whether there were any persons present who had
cause of complaint against the judicial conduct of the Sheriffs of this district, he
said :-
" This ceremony of calling up the Sheriffs at the conclusion of each Justice Eyre, and making
open proclamation for any person to come forward who thinks he has been injured by them in
the exercise of their office, is of considerable antiquity in our law, and was originally of great
utility. At the time when the ceremony was enjoined, almost all our sheriffdoms were hereditary
in the families of great and powerful barons, who often were the rivals of the king himself ;
aud from whom, therefore, if they were guilty of oppression, the people subject to their jurisdiction
were little likely to obtain redress. I t was therefore wisely provided by our ancestors,
that, at the conclusion of each Justice Eyre, before dismissing the jury, the Sheriffs should be
obliged to stand up and answer to any complaint made against them before the Grand Justiciar
invested with the whole majesty of the law, and armed with the power of the whole array of the
district.
" Thank God, we live in times when the original cause which led to this ceremony no longer
exists. The office of Sheriff is now intrusted to professional gentlemen, qualified by their
education to administer justice with ability, and without power, without temptation, to transgress
the laws ; and, besides, from their judgment there lies a regular appeal to the Supreme Courts
of Session and Justiciary.
'( But although the original reason for this ceremony has ceased, I am far from thinking that
it has become useless. On the contrary, I hope and trust that it never will be abolished. While I
sit here, it shall never be omitted. We all must feel how apt the best of us are to become
intoxicated with power ; and, therefore, how useful it must be, from time to time, to remind
Magistrates that they are responsible for their conduct. Even if I thought this ceremony might
now be safely discontinued as to you, I wish it to be preserved for my own sake ; for I cannot
Majority, seventy-seven.
In this he was eminently successful.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 251
thus remind you of your duty, and of your responsibility, without at the eame time being
reminded of my own; and I am not vain enough to think that such responsibility is less
necessary for me than for you. Perhaps the higher the office, and the greater the power, it is
the more useful that frequent opportunities should recur of reminding Magistrates that their
power is conferred on them for the benefit of others ; and that, in the exercise of it, they are
accountable to their superiors.”
Next addressing “ the gentlemen Sheriffs, the Lord Provost and Magistrates,”
his lordship adverted to the assize in which they had just been engaged ; and,
from a list of commitments and prosecutions officially transmitted to him, enlarged
at considerable length on the vast disproportion of crime in England and
Scotland. He said it had been stated by a political writer, that one Quarter
Sessions at Manchester sends more criminals for transportation than all Scotland
in a year.’ This enviable inferiority of his native country he attributed to its
laws and institutions-the education of youth-a resident clergy-and the
maintenance of religion. ‘‘ Let us then, gentlemen, be thankful for the blessings
we enjoy. While we venerate the general constitution of England, by our
union with which our liberties have been secured on a surer basis than by the
old constitution of Scotland, let us not undervalue our local laws and institutions,
by which essential advantages are given to us, and which we ought not rashly
to endanger by attempting violent innovations, the full bearing of which it is
impossible to foresee.”
Alluding to the Revolution in France, and the war then waging with Napoleon-
a war in which, his lordship observed, “ our very existence as a nation is
at stake,” he concluded his energetic appeal as follows :-
“ Let us, than, maintain our Constitution as it stands, satisfied with the liberty we have,
and dreading, from the example of France, that an attempt at perfect freedom may land us in
the extremity of slavery and debasement. Above all, let us maintain our Constitution from
foreign invasion. If subjection to a foreign foe be, and it is, the most dreadful calamity which
can befall a people, even when its own Government is bad, think what wonld be the misery of
conquest to us. Language never uttered-imagination never conceived-humanity never endured
the horrors which await us, if subdued by the arms of France. To be utterly extirpated would
be mercy, compared with the outrages we must suffer ! Let, then, the resolution of us all be
fixed as yours-to bring this contest to a happy termination, m perish in the attempt. Hardships
and privations we may expect ; but, when we compare them with those we shall avoidwhen
we consider them as the price, and the cheap price, of liberty such as ours-for ourselves
and our children, I trust that we shall bear them with cheerfulness, and receive our reward iu
the gratitude of posterity.”
The address of the Lord Justice-clerk was listened to with profound attention.
The peculiar interest which it excited is of course referable to the then
state of the country-agitated as it was by the fear of an immedirtte invasion
from the armies of France. It is at all events highly creditable to the spirit
and eloquence of the Judge.
On the death of Lord President Blair, in 1811, the Right Hon. Charles
Hope was promoted to his place. On taking his seat, 12th November of that
year, he entered into a warm and feeling panegyric of his gifted predecessor.
It is a remarkable fact, that the whole criminal trials in Scotland, at the autumn circuit in
1808, amounted only to eighteen ; and throughout the year they were no more than eighty ! Now,
however, they are seldom less than‘seventy at a single circuit in Glasgow alone ; and the yearly
average for the whole of Scotland may be stated 89 not under six hundred,
