1817.] 

 this opportunity to state the general princi- 

 ple by wblcii lie was actiiaietl; it was — 

 "that no man Uad a riglit to oppress ano- 

 tlier ; that liberty of conscience, freedom 

 of investigation on matters of religion, and 

 tlie riglit of private jtulifmcnt, were t!ie in- 

 defeasible and inalienable rights of man- 

 kind ; and that it was wholly on this sacred 

 right of private jiidanietit, th;it the Pro- 

 testant reli{;ion itself was founded." 



During tlie debate on tiiis bill, Lord 

 Stanhope is reported to have asserted, 

 "that, if the Riijht Reverend Bencli of 

 Bishops would not suffer him to load away 

 their lubbisli by carts full, he would en- 

 deavour to cairyit awiiy in wheel-barrows ; 

 and, if that mode of removal were resisted, 

 he would take it away, if possible, with a 

 spade a little at a time." 



Memoirs of Earl Stanhope. 567 



accordingly moved an address to tlie King, 

 proposing, " that no country possesses the 

 right to interfere with another independent 

 nation ; and that tliis House do beseech his 

 Majesty, in his equity and justice, to 

 acknowledge the French Republic." Oo 

 this occasion his lordship acquired the ap- 

 pellation of the "Minority of One," bein? 

 unsupported by any other peer what- 

 soever. 



Soon after this he instituted an enquiry 

 into the severe sentence pronounced 

 airaiiist Mr. Muir; but here again he wiis 

 foiled. On this, as on all similar occasinns, 

 however, he in-erted a spirited protest 

 against the judgment of the Court of 

 Justiciary in Scotland; and, now that tiie 

 war is over, and political animosities are 

 abated, it must be owned, that the trans- ' 



Nodiiug discouraged by the fate of tliis portation to Botany Bay, for asserting the 



• ■ necessity of a reform in Parliament, at the 



instigation, or at least after the example, 

 of the Duke of Richmond and Mr. Pitt, 

 one of whom bad obtained tlie master-ge- 

 neralship of the ordnance, while the other 

 was elevated to the premiership, must ap- 

 pear somewhat harsh to all cool and dis- 

 passionate men. 



During the trial of Mr. Hastings, no 

 member of the House of Lords was more ' 

 constant and assiduous in his atteudaiiee. 

 Yet he did not choo?e to vole wlien the 

 final determination, at length, took place. 

 Tliis is said to have proceeded from the 

 suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act, 

 under pretext of a plot ; for, after that pe- 

 riod, he declined to appear in Westminster 

 Hall. On the subsequent impeachment of 

 Viscount Melville, as no such cause inter- 

 vened, he pronounced his lordship guilty, 

 on the 1st, '2d, 3d, .ith, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9lh, 

 and 10th, charges. 



In 17v';) Lord Stanltope was unanimously 

 called to the chair to celebrate the acquittal 

 of all those who had been arraigned for 

 high treason. Among the persons in ques- 

 tion was the tutor to his own sons, against 

 whom tliere was not the slightest degree 

 of evidence : he was imprisoned in conse- 

 quence of a ridiculous mistake, and never 

 obtained any indemnification whatsoever! 



Nearly a')out the same time, in conse- 

 quence of a rejection of a resolution of- 

 fered by him, '• that this country ought 

 nor, and will not, interfere in the internal 

 affairs of France," Earl Stanhope look 

 leave, for a time, of the House ot Lords; 

 to which he did not return until lOOO. He 

 signalised this epoch of his life by a new 

 motion for peace : this, however,- proved 

 equally inefficacious with all his foimer 

 propositions on thesamesiibject. In loOo, 

 when the Cathnlic question was debated, 

 he contended for an extension, or rather 

 an equality, of rights, but was on this occa- 

 sion once more in the minority. Tlic last 

 of his public labours was one of great im- 

 portance to this country, no less than the 

 simplilicatiou of the laws, by a new ar^ 

 Ti^Dgcijeat, 



Bill, he gave notice of another, tor the 

 purpose of repealing an act of the '27th of 

 Henry VIII., aod thereby preventing vexa- 

 tious suits and proseciitions on the part of 

 that denomination of Christians called 

 Quakers. He stated, that, at Coventry, 

 six of ■ this respectable body had been 

 prosecuted for refusing to pay Easter of- 

 ferings, which in the whole amounted to 

 but two shillings. For this trifling sum 

 they had been summoned before the 

 Spiritual Couit, where their expeuces 

 amounted to 16.5J. l.v. 6<l. in addition to 

 their own proctei's bill of 128/. 1«. 6d. At 

 Worcester, a man of some property had 

 been thrown into the common jail for re- 

 fusing to pay his tyihes, which amounted to 

 only five shillings. Although these, and 

 many similar facts, remained alike uncon- 

 tradicted and undefended — and, notwith- 

 standing his present purpose was merely 

 to prevent a more expeditious and certain 

 mode of obtaining the claims of the church 

 — yet this Bill also was rejected. 



As Earl Stanhope had supported Mr, 

 Pill's political principles during the de- 

 bates on the Regency Act, in 1788, so in 

 179'i; he defended an<l maintained the legal 

 positions of Mr. Fox, when his famous 

 '' Libel Bill" was carried up to the House 

 of Lords. On this occasion he termed the 

 "Trial by Jury," tlie "Gibraltar of the 

 Kngli-sh constitution,'' and warmly, ably, 

 and successfully supported that ancient and 

 undoubted claim of jurymen, to decide on 

 botJi law and fact, in all cases of a libellous 

 Datiire. 



In 179;}, when Mr. Pitt and liis asso- 

 ciates determined to declare war against 

 the Freiiidi Republic, they experienced a 

 hold, niaiily, and decided opposition on 

 the part of Ihe subject of this memoir : he 

 undertook to prove that, both by the spirit 

 and letter of the late commercial treaty 

 Uie firit aggression had been committed on 

 the part of this country ; for the sending 

 away a minister, as had beei> tloiie in the 

 lireseut iiistuiice, was to bo deemed 

 UnUuiouut tu a decluraliou of war. lie 



