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 charges and paying the costs.

ion Erskine alone dissented.

withdrawing the From this opin

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 in

come 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 ComBut, 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.

mons.

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