1803. | 
his argument; let us unfwathe this Egyp-. 
tian corpfe, and bereave it of its falt, 
gum, and mummy, and fee what fort of 
a dry fkeleton it is underneath—nothing 
buta precedent! The gentleman afferts, 
that a Bill only can declare the confent of 
Parlidment—not an addrefs—not a refo- 
lution of the Houfe; yet he thinks that 
arefolution of the Houfe would, in this 
cafe, be betterthan a Bill of Indemnity: 
fo that we find a bill is nothing, a refo- 
lution is nothing —nay, I tear our lsberty 
is nothing; and that, ere long, ourrights, 
freedom, and {pirit, nay, this TWoufe it- 
felf, will vanifh, in a previous quefion.”’ 
In refpeét to his pr«feffion, it was ob- 
ferved, in the periodical produstions of 
the day, ‘* that the patriotifm of a lawyer 
is always problematical ;”’ and thar, “¢ hav- 
ing been accuftomed, in the Courts be- 
low, to plead for or againit, according to 
his brief, he had carried the fame facility 
of difpofition up ttairs with him.’ His 
early education was allo faid to have been 
unfavourable to liberty; he had been 
bred to the practice of a jurilprudence 
bottomed on civil law, at a tribunal 
founded on a French model, and in a 
country where there was no Grand Jury 
in any, orjury at all in civil cafes ; while 
in criminal ones unanimity was not re- 
quired. The arrows of fatire, barbed 
with both poetry and profe, were fhot at, 
or rather fhowered upon him; and 
Churchill, then in the blaze of an -ephe- 
meral reputation, is fuppofed to have 
drawn a caricature, rather than a refem- 
blance of him, in the ‘* Rofciad ;’’ for 
the features are grofsly diftorted, and he 
is condemned for his attachment to Mr. 
Murphy, which certainly did him honour. 
It is, indeed, rather a charge on his me- 
mory, that the penfion lately conferred, 
in order to cheer the old age of his friend, 
Memoirs of the Earl of Rofslyn. 
fhould have-been granted at the inftance 
of any one except his Lordfhip. The fol- 
lowing are the lines alluded to :— 
‘6 To mifchief train’d, even from his mo- 
ther’s womb, 
Grown old in fraud, tho’ yet in manhood’s 
bloom, 
Adopting arts by which gay villains rife, 
And reach the heights which honef{t men 
defpife; 
Mute at the Bar, and in the Senate loud, 
Dull ’mongit the dulleft, proudeft of the 
proud, 
A pert, prim prater, of the Northern race, 
Guilt in his heart, and famine in his face, 
Stood forth—-and thrice he wav’d his lilly 
hand— 
Aud thrice he twirl’d his tie-thrice ftrok’d 
his band,” Sc. 
/ 
45. 
Junius alfo, the polifhed, the accom- 
plithed, the infidious Junius, took aim 
at him in filencesand obfcurity, behind an 
anonymous name. 
But thefe darts, although they appear. 
ed to gall him for the time, glanced 
harmlefs from the impenetrable buckler 
of the Solicitor General, and, inftead of 
preveoting, may be tairly f.id to have ac. 
celerated his preferment. The minifterial © 
writers, at the fame time, were loud 
praife of his talents, his genius, his love 
of order, his liberality of conduét, his 
_patriotifm, and his virtues. 
In Trinity Ferm (June 10), 1778, 
Mr. Wedderburn was nominated Attor=- 
ney General, in confequence of the eleva- 
tion of Lord Thurlow to the Chancery 
Bench, of which his former’ colleague 
had now alfo a nearer view of than before. 
In this fituation we do not recollect, note 
withftanding the critical pofture of the 
times might, as ufual, be pleaded, that 
he exercited the cflice of Diabolus Regis, 
or Profecutor, for the Crown, with any 
extraordinary degree of afperity. On the 
contrary, we believe, that, when com- 
parei with any of his fucceffois, his offi- 
cial conduct was mild and meritorious. 
In the mean time, he perfevered in fup- 
porting the meafures of Lord North, 
which were intended, to reduce America 
to a fate of unconditional fubmiffion.* 
So ftrenuous was the zeal of fome indivi- 
duals, at this period, that they offered to 
fubfcribe money, and raife regiments, for 
the purpofe of coercing the colonics: Mr. 
Dunning, afterwards Lord Athburton, 
who was confidered to be the foundelt 
conftitutional lawyer of that day, ob- 
je€ted to the propriety of this meafure 5 
which was, however, defended by the 
* It was a little before this period (in 
¥774), that the celebrated Dr. Franklin-hap- 
pened to be examined before the Privy Couns 
cil. The office of interrogation devolved on 
the then Solicitor General, who was fup- 
pofed, at the time, to have conduéted him- 
felf with an animated, but impolitic, degree 
of refentm._nt. We believe Dr. Franklin 
was accompanied, on this occafion, by Dr. 
Prieftley 5and, itis pretty well known, that, 
anterior to that event, he was rather luke- 
warm in refpeét to the queftions of refiftance 
and independency ; but ‘it is equally impro~ © 
bable, and untrue, that he whifpered in Mr. 
Wedderburn’s ear, as he retired, * I will 
make your mafter a little King for this!” 
He withdrew without uttering a fingle word ; 
but the proceedings of that day are faid to 
have furk into his heart,-and were never af~ 
terwards efiaced. 
Attornry 
