“As an advocate in the forum, I hold him to be without an equal in
ancient or modern times.” This is the judgment of the author of “The
Lives of the Lord Chancellors,” in regard to Thomas, Lord Erskine.
But for the modern student, Erskine was not merely the most powerful
advocate that ever appealed to a court or a jury, but what is more
important, he was, in a very definite sense, so closely identified
with the establishment of certain great principles that lie at the
foundation of modern social life, that a knowledge, at least, of some
of his speeches is of no little importance. The rights of juries,
the liberty of the press, and the law of treason were discussed by
him not only with a depth of learning and a power of reasoning which
were absolutely conclusive, but at the same time with a warmth and a
brilliancy of genius which throw a peculiar charm over the whole of the
subjects presented.
Thomas Erskine was the youngest son of the Earl of Buchan, the
representative of an old Scotch house, whose ample fortune had wasted
away until the family was reduced to actual poverty. Just before the
birth of the future Lord Chancellor, the Earl of Buchan abandoned his
ancient seat, and with wife and children took up his abode in an upper
flat of a lofty house in the old town of Edinburgh. Here Erskine was
born on the 10th of January, 1750. The poverty of the family made it
impossible for him to acquire the early education he craved. Some years
at the schools in Edinburgh, and a few months in the University of St.
Andrews, completed his academic days. He gained a very superficial
knowledge of Latin, and, if we may believe Lord Campbell, “little of
Greek beyond the alphabet.” In the rudiments of English literature,
however, he was well instructed; and he seems, even while at the
university, to have acquired something of that freedom and nobleness of
manner which so much distinguished him in after-life.
The condition of the family, however, made it impossible for him to
complete the course of studies at the University; and accordingly, at
fourteen, he was placed as a midshipman in the navy. Here he remained
four years, during which time he visited different parts of the globe,
including the Indies and the English colonies in North America. At the
end of his term he determined, like the elder Pitt, to enter the army;
and, taking the whole of his small patrimony for the purpose, he bought
an ensign’s commission in the Royals or First Regiment of Foot. Here
he remained from the time he was eighteen till he was twenty-five.
At twenty he was married to a lady of respectability, though without
fortune. But this step, which, with most persons, would have been
the sure precursor of poverty and obscurity, turned out in the case
of Erskine to be a means of inspiration and assistance. His mind was
balanced, and his vivacity was reduced to earnestness. As the regiment
was in garrison, he had abundant leisure, and he applied himself in
the society of his wife to the systematic study of the masterpieces
of English literature. The best parts of Milton and Shakespeare he
acquired such mastery of that he continued to know them by heart
throughout life. It is evident that his attainments were beginning to
attract attention; for, in April of 1772, Boswell speaks of him as
dining with Johnson, and characterizes him as “a young officer in the
regimentals of the Scotch Royals, who talked with a vivacity, fluency,
and precision which attracted particular attention.”
It was not until two years after this time that we find Erskine
interested in the proceedings of the courts. He subsequently declared
that, while a witness of judicial proceedings, it often occurred to
him in the course of the argument on both sides how much more clearly
and forcibly he could have presented the points and urged them on the
minds of the jury. It was this consciousness that led him one day,
while dining with Lord Mansfield, to ask: “Is it impossible for me to
become a lawyer?” The answer of the Lord Chancellor did not utterly
discourage him; and he became a student of Lincoln’s Inn at the age
of twenty-five. In order to abridge his term of study, he determined
to take a degree at one of the universities, as, being a nobleman’s
son, he was entitled to do on examination and without residence. In
fulfilment of this design, he became a member of Trinity College, at
Cambridge, in 1776, while he was prosecuting his legal studies in
London, and still holding his commission in the army as a means of
support. In July of 1778, when in his twenty-ninth year, he was called
to the bar.
A singular combination of circumstances almost immediately brought him
forward into great prominence. He had been retained as junior counsel
with four eminent advocates for the defence of one Captain Bailie,
who had disclosed certain important corruptions of the government
officials in charge of Greenwich Hospital. Bailie was prosecuted
for libel, and the influence of the government was so great, that
the four older counsellors advised him to accept of a compromise by
withdrawing the charges and paying the costs. From this opinion Erskine
alone dissented. Bailie accepted the advice of the young advocate
with enthusiasm, and thus threw upon him the chief responsibility of
conducting the cause. The result was one of the most extraordinary
triumphs in the history of forensic advocacy. Erskine’s power revealed
itself, not only in the remarkable learning and skill which he showed
in the general management of the cause, but in the clearness with which
he stated the difficult points at issue, and the overpowering eloquence
with which he urged his positions on the court and the jury. It was his
first cause. He entered Westminster Hall in extreme poverty; before
he left it he had received thirty retainers from attorneys who had
been present at the trial. Demand for his services continued rapidly
to increase, till within a few years his income from his profession
amounted to 12,000 pounds a year.
It was but natural that so great success at the bar should carry
Erskine, at an early day, into the House of Commons. In 1783 we find
him on the benches of the House as a supporter of the newly formed
Coalition of North and Fox. His fame as an orator had become so great,
that the Coalition hoped and the Opposition feared much from his
eloquence. But he disappointed his friends, and showed as soon as he
took the floor, that his manner was suited to the courts and not to the
legislature. Croly, in his “Life of George IV.,” relates that great
expectations were raised when it was announced that Erskine was to make
his maiden speech. Pitt evidently intended to reply, and sat, pen in
hand to take notes of his formidable opponent’s arguments. He wrote,
however, but a few words. As Erskine proceeded, his attention relaxed;
and finally, with a contemptuous expression, he stabbed his pen through
the paper and threw them both on the floor. “Erskine,” says Croly,
“never recovered from this expression of disdain; his voice faltered,
he struggled through the remainder of his speech and sank into his seat
dispirited, and shorn of his fame.” It was not until late in life, that
he was able to recover the equanimity lost on that night in the House
of Commons. But, although after some years, he made several eloquent
parliamentary speeches, all his legislative efforts were far surpassed
by the brilliancy of his speeches in Westminster Hall.
From 1783 till 1806 Erskine adhered to the liberal political doctrines
advocated by Fox. His influence in Parliament, however, was not great,
and his principal energies were expended in the courts; when, in 1806,
Grenville and Fox came into power, Erskine received the highest award
to which an English attorney can aspire. But, he had not long to enjoy
his new honors as Lord Chancellor, for Pitt soon came once more into
power. The usages of the legal profession in England did not allow
Erskine to return to the bar, and therefore the remaining years of
his life were unimportant, and not without disappointment. The great
advocate died November 17, 1823, in the seventy-fourth year of his age.
Erskine was not only the greatest of English advocates, but he is
entitled to the still higher distinction of having given so clear an
exposition of some of the most subtle principles at the basis of human
liberty, as to cause them to be generally recognized and accepted.
It was his lot to be much more frequently employed in defence, than
in prosecution, and many of his arguments in behalf of his clients
are marvels of clear and enlightened exposition of those fundamental
rights on which English liberty is established. His speeches in behalf
of Gordon, Hadfield, Hardy, and Tooke, constitute, as a whole, the
clearest exposition ever made of the law of treason. Of the speech in
defence of Gordon, Lord Campbell goes so far as to say: “Here I find
not only great acuteness, powerful reasoning, enthusiastic zeal, and
burning eloquence, but the most masterly view ever given of the English
law of high treason, the foundation of all our liberties.” The plea
in behalf of Stockdale, commonly considered the finest of Erskine’s
speeches, is perhaps a still more felicitous exposition of the
principles involved in the law of libel. Of his speech on the rights
of juries, Campbell says that it displayed “beyond all comparison
the most perfect union of argument and eloquence ever exhibited
in Westminster Hall.” His address in behalf of Paine, if somewhat
less successful than the great efforts just alluded to, was still a
remarkable presentation of the principles of free speech. But the most
noteworthy characteristic of Erskine was that notwithstanding the depth
and ingenuity and learning of his arguments, his whole presentation was
so illumined by the glow of his genius, that his address was always
listened to with the greatest popular interest. His speech in behalf
of Hardy was seven hours in length, but the crowd of eager auditors
not only heard him to the end, but “burst out into irrepressible
acclamations which spread through the vast multitude outside and were
repeated to a great distance around.”
It need scarcely be added that for students of English law, Erskine is
the most important of all the English orators.