Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1800-1859, was born in the village of Rothley,
Leicestershire. On his father's side, he descended from Scotch Highlanders
and ministers of the kirk. His education began at home, and was completed
at Trinity College, Cambridge. While a student, he gained much reputation
as a writer and a debater. In 1826 he was admitted to the bar. In 1825
began his connection with the "Edinburgh Review," which continued twenty
years. Some of his most brilliant essays appeared first in its pages. He
was first chosen to Parliament in 1830, and was reelected several times.
In 1840 his essays and some other writings were collected and published
with the title of "Miscellanies." His "Lays of Ancient Rome" was
published in 1842. His "History of England" was published near the close
of his life. In 1857 he was given the title of Baron Macaulay. "His style
is vigorous, rapid in its movement, and brilliant; and yet, with all its
splendor, has a crystalline clearness. Indeed, the fault generally found
with his style is, that it is so constantly brilliant that the vision is
dazzled and wearied with its excessive brightness." He has sometimes been
charged with sacrificing facts to fine sentences.
In his statesmanship, Macaulay was always an earnest defender of liberty.
His first speech in Parliament was in support of a bill to remove the
civil disabilities of the Jews, and his whole parliamentary career was
consistent with this wise and liberal beginning.
###
The place in which the impeachment of Warren Hastings was conducted, was
worthy of such a trial. It was the great hall of William Rufus; the hall
which had resounded with acclamations at the inauguration of thirty kings;
the hall which had witnessed the just sentence of Bacon, and the just
absolution of Somers; the hall where the eloquence of Strafford had for a
moment awed and melted a victorious party inflamed with just resentment;
the hall where Charles had confronted the High Court of Justice with the
placid courage which half redeemed his fame.
Neither military nor civil pomp was wanting. The avenues were lined with
grenadiers. The streets were kept clear by cavalry. The peers, robed in
gold and ermine, were marshaled by heralds. The judges, in their vestments
of state, attended to give advice on points of law. The long galleries
were crowded by such an audience as has rarely excited the fears or the
emulation of an orator. There were gathered together, from all parts of a
great, free, enlightened, and prosperous realm, grace and female
loveliness, wit and learning, the representatives of every science and of
every art.
There were seated around the queen, the fair-haired, young daughters of
the house of Brunswick. There the embassadors of great kings and
commonwealths gazed with admiration on a spectacle which no other country
in the world could present. There Siddons, in the prime of her majestic
beauty, looked with emotion on a scene surpassing all the imitations of
the stage. There Gibbon, the historian of the Roman Empire, thought of the
days when Cicero pleaded the cause of Sicily against Verres; and when,
before a senate which had still some show of freedom, Tacitus thundered
against the oppressor of Africa. There, too, were seen, side by side, the
greatest painter and the greatest scholar of the age; for the spectacle
had allured Reynolds from his easel and Parr from his study.
The sergeants made proclamation. Hastings advanced to the bar, and bent
his knee. The culprit was indeed not unworthy of that great presence. He
had ruled an extensive and populous country; had made laws and treaties;
had sent forth armies; had set up and pulled down princes; and in his high
place he had so borne himself, that all had feared him, that most had
loved him, and that hatred itself could deny him no title to glory, except
virtue. A person, small and emaciated, yet deriving dignity from a
carriage which, while it indicated deference to the court, indicated,
also, habitual self-possession and self-respect; a high and intellectual
forehead; a brow, pensive, but not gloomy; a mouth of inflexible decision;
a face, pale and worn, but serene, on which a great and well-balanced mind
was legibly written: such was the aspect with which the great proconsul
presented himself to his judges.
The charges, and the answers of Hastings, were first read. This ceremony
occupied two whole days. On the third, Burke rose. Four sittings of the
court were occupied by his opening speech, which was intended to be a
general introduction to all the charges. With an exuberance of thought and
a splendor of diction, which more than satisfied the highly raised
expectations of the audience, he described the character and institutions
of the natives of India; recounted the circumstances in which the Asiatic
Empire of Britain had originated; and set forth the constitution of the
Company and of the English Presidencies.
Having thus attempted to communicate to his hearers an idea of eastern
society, as vivid as that which existed in his own mind, he proceeded to
arraign the administration of Hastings, as systematically conducted in
defiance of morality and public law. The energy and pathos of the great
orator extorted expressions of unwonted admiration from all; and, for a
moment, seemed to pierce even the resolute heart of the defendant. The
ladies in the galleries, unaccustomed to such displays of eloquence,
excited by the solemnity of the occasion, and perhaps not unwilling to
display their taste and sensibility, were in a state of uncontrollable
emotion. Handkerchiefs were pulled out; smelling bottles were handed
round; hysterical sobs and screams were heard, and some were even carried
out in fits.
At length the orator concluded. Raising his voice, till the old arches of
Irish oak resounded--"Therefore," said he, "hath it with all confidence
been ordered by the Commons of Great Britain, that I impeach Warren
Hastings of high crimes and misdemeanors. I impeach him in the name of the
Commons House of Parliament, whose trust he has betrayed. I impeach him in
the name of the English nation, whose ancient honor he has sullied. I
impeach him in the name of the people of India, whose rights he has
trodden under foot, and whose country he has turned into a desert. Lastly,
in the name of human nature itself, in the name of both sexes, in the name
of every age, in the name of every rank, I impeach the common enemy and
oppressor of all."
NOTES.--Warren Hastings (b. 1732, d. 1818) was Governor-general of British
India. He was impeached for maladministration, but, after a trial which
extended from Feb. 13th, 1788, to April 23d, 1795, and occupied one
hundred and forty-eight days, he was acquitted by a large majority on each
separate count of the impeachment.
William Rufus, or William II. (b. 1056, d. 1100), built Westminster Hall
in which the trial was held. Bacon; see biographical notice, pages 332 and
333. Somers, John (b. 1651. d. 1716) was impeached for maladministration
while holding the office of lord chamberlain. Strafford, Thomas Wentworth,
earl of, (b. 1593, d. 1641,) was impeached for his mismanagement while
governor of Ireland. He conducted his own defense with such eloquence that
the original impeachment was abandoned, although he was immediately
condemned for high treason and executed. Charles I. (b. 1600, d. 1649),
after a war with Parliament, in which the rights of the people were at
issue, was captured, tried, and condemned to death.
The House of Brunswick is one of the oldest families of Germany. A branch
of this family occupies the British throne. Siddons, Sarah (b. 1755, d.
1831), was a famous English actress. Gibbon, Edward (b. 1737, d. 1794),
was a celebrated English historian. Cicero; see note on page 156. Tacitus
(b. about 55, d. after 117 A. D.) was a Roman orator and historian, who
conducted the prosecution of Marius, proconsul of Africa. Reynolds, Sir
Joshua (b. 1723, d. 1792), an English portrait painter of note. Parr,
Samuel (b. 1747, d. 1825), was an English author. Burke, Edmund; see
biographical sketch accompanying the following lesson.