William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield

“ Much honor is due to that judicial luminary, William Murray, Earl of Mansfield, who presides over the King's-Bench, for introducing equity into the courts of law, where she had long been a stranger.
The Court of Requests may justly be charged with weakness, and what court may not? It is inseparable from man.
A person cannot chuse his capacity, but he may chuse to be a rogue; one is an act of nature, the other of the will. The greater the temptation to go astray, the greater must be the resolution to conquer it. ”

“ The French have always denied the Duke of Marlborough's military talents, though he always beat them. The Duke of Argyle said that he had general talents (like William Murray, Lord Mansfield) , which would have enabled him to make pretty much the same figure in whatever line he adopted. He was most undoubtedly an excessively wise man, with wonderful command of temper, and uncommon sagacity, a master of intrigue, but no literature whatever. ”

“ The French government adopted [111] the instrument since known as the guillotine; it had been in use in various countries several centuries before.
1793. William Murray, lord Mansfield, died. He was eminent as a lawyer, and dignified as a judge; as an elegant scholar, of highly cultivated and vigorous intellect, he shone in the constellation of great men which arose in the reign of queen Anne; in eloquence and beauty of diction he outrivaled his predecessors, and has not been excelled by any successor in the high office he held. ”

“ Murray, afterwards Lord Mansfield, had by far the best talents—public and private—of the set. Lord George Sackville, one of the worst men living, was another Westminster.
"Mr. Hollwell was not without learning, and certainly laid himself out to be serviceable to me in point of reading. I read with him a good deal of natural law and the law of nations, some history, part of Livy, and translated some of the Orations of Demosthenes with tolerable care. I read by myself a great deal of religion. ”

“ Murray, Lord Chief Justice, afterwards Earl of Mansfield, i. 48, 123, 130, 142, 143, 150, 151, 165, 243, 251, 254, 255, 284, 287, 290, 297, 303, 305, 308, 309, 315, 318, 322, 342, 345, 351, 369, 379, 380, 387, 390, 391, 404, 408, 418; ii. 5, 6, 7, 8, 13, 15, 52, 60, 62, 74, 85, 107, 111, 114, 115, 134, 135, 143, 148, 149, 161, 178, 182, 198, 220, 221, 227, 249, 260, 273; iii. 6, 33, 114. Vide Mansfield.
Newcastle, Thomas Pelham Holles, Duke of, i. ”

“ His nephew David Murray [q. v.] accordingly succeeded him as second earl.
On occasion of Lord Chatham's final scene in the House of Lords, on 7 April 1778, Mansfield disgraced himself by exhibiting an ostentatious indifference ; nor did he attend the great patriot's funeral, or pay his tribute of respect to his memory in the debate on the bill for pensioning his posterity. On 25 Nov. 1779 he proposed a coalition of all parties for the purpose of grappling with the now desperate situation of American affairs. His advice was rejected, and he took little further part in politics. ”

“ Her accomplishments were as remarkable as her beauty. She played the harp exquisitely, and excelled also on the piano and in singing. She spoke French and Italian fluently and with a perfect accent." Diary of Frances, Lady Shelley, pub. John Murray, 1812, page 15. Miss De Visme married, June 28th, 1810, Henry (Sir) Murray, K.C.B., a distinguished officer, born 1784, died 1860, fourth son of David, 7th Viscount Stormont and 2nd Earl of Mansfield, by his second wife Louisa, third daughter of Charles, 9th Lord Catheart, of the 14th Dragoons. ”

“ He was very fond of dramatic entertainments, and he enacted much; was accounted a good actor; so was his crony, Jack Wilson, so well known at Mrs. Hobart's, &c., for his fal de ral tit and for his duets with Lady Craven, Lady A. Foley, &c, &c.
Lord MANSFIELD, then William Murray, here began his career. When at school, he was not remarkable for personal courage, or for mental bravery; though one of the stoutest boys of his standing, he was often beat by boys a year or two below him ”

“ Miss Nicky Murray was indeed famed. She was a sister of the Earl of Mansfield, and lived in Bailie Fyfe’s Close, and there “finished” young lady cousins from the country, and introduced them into society. She presided over the Assemblies, seated on a raised throne, and a wave of her fan silenced the musicians. “It is said that Miss Murray,” writes Mr. Robert Chambers, “on hearing a young lady’s name pronounced for the first time, would say: ‘Miss ——, of what?’ If no territorial addition could be made, she manifestly cooled.” ”

“ William Murray was sixteen years of age when he came out of Scotland, and spoke such broad Scotch that he stands entered in the University Books at Oxford as born at Bath, the Vice-Chancellor mistaking Bath for Perth. He certainly was by nature a very eminent man, bred like all the great families of Scotland an intriguing aristocrat, poor and indefatigable, very friendly and very timid. ”

“ Lord Mansfield’s great reputation rests chiefly on his judicial career. The political trials over which he presided, although they gave rise to numerous accusations against him, were conducted with singular fairness and propriety. ”

“ Lord Campbell states the case more creditably, and, as we think, more fairly to Lord Mansfield. "From a high feeling," says the biographer, "that his destiny called him to reform the jurisprudence of his country, he sincerely and ardently desired to be placed on the bench, and the especial object of his ambition was to be Chief Justice of England." We remember that, whilst a lad, and destined by his parents for the church. Murray, of his own motion, dedicated himself to the study of the law, feeling a "calling" for that profession. ”

“ Lord Mansfield was a very able advocate, but of no kind of force or elevation, and cowed by Mr. Pitt in the House of Commons, with the imputation of early Jacobitism constantly hanging round his neck, besides belonging to the Duke of Newcastle. I have heard from different members of the Cabinet, that he never opened his lips during that administration. He was the most diligent of human beings. It is a great mistake to suppose that these remarkable men are not diligent. ”

“ On her return to England she busied herself in taking measures for her defence. On 20 March 1775 her first husband, Hervey, succeeded his brother as Earl of Bristol. The duchess appeared in the court of king’s bench on 24 May, before Lord Mansfield, to answer the indictment preferred against her. She was attended by the Duke of Newcastle, Lord Mountstuart, and others, and entered into a recognisance (herself in 4,000l. and four sureties in l,000l. each) to stand her trial by her peers in parliament assembled. ”

“ The Earl of Murray, Lord Regent of Scotland, was not esteemed a great man in his day. His behavior was modest, his abilities were apparently but moderate, and for more than two hundred years he has figured in history as an ordinary man, overlaid by the more violent and intriguing spirits of his time, and his character obscured and distorted by the glamour which surrounds the name of his beauteous but abandoned sister and murderess, Queen Mary. ”

“ He desired Mansfield and me to introduce him into the House of Lords, telling every one as he went up the House that he asked one to get him into every scrape, the other to get him out. His bon mots were numberless, if they had been collected; I should not be surprised if he had collected them himself, for he was a perpetual writer and collector of political anecdote. ”

“ The House of Commons under its present institution has had its day, and Parliament itself is no longer considered as Omnipotent as Lord Mansfield used to call it. As knowledge has spread and the representatives have become corrupted, it has ceased to impose, and has no longer the same confidence with the people. It may still do a little good or prevent a little harm of itself, but it is the public opinion which decides, which the House of Commons must obey, as every part of Government must in this and every country of Europe where it shows itself. ”

“ The proposals of the Commissioners appointed under the second of Lord North's Conciliatory Bills were summarily rejected by Congress. Before leaving America they issued a Proclamation which contained threats of carrying on the war in future with the utmost severity. The Proclamation was said to have received the approval of Mansfield, against whom it had been an article of accusation in former years that when prosecuting the rebels of 1745 he never applied the epithet rebels or any other harsh epithets to them. ”

“ Fox became paymaster of the forces; the Duke of Bedford received the lord lieutenancy of Ireland; Hardwicke, the greatest lawyer of his age became lord chancellor; Legge, the ablest financier, was made chancellor of the exchequer. Murray, a little while before, had been elevated to the bench, as Lord Mansfield. There was scarcely an eminent man in the House of Commons who was not made a member of the administration. All the talent of the nation was laid at the feet of Pitt, and he had the supreme direction of the army and of foreign affairs. ”

“ He had the most undaunted courage of body and mind, of which innumerable proofs must remain among the profession, from the daily instances he gave of it, in fighting up his own way against the frowns and arts of Lord Mansfield the cause of many a poor client against that judge's partiality and caprice, and the Law of England itself against the various novelties which Lord Mansfield's vanity and unconstitutional principles made him perseveringly attempt, which Mr. Dunning as perseveringly resisted. His presence of mind never failed him. His mind furnished him with resources on all occasions. ”

“ Since then, so the King went on to Lord Ashburton, he had nothing to do with Lord North, but he had sent for and seen the Chancellor, who though he agreed in the propriety of resisting the combination, had nothing instead to suggest, and told him he had had a conversation with Lord Mansfield, who thought that all soberminded people would set their faces against it. Upon which the Chancellor asked, "where the sober-minded people were to be found": and added, "sober-minded people before they set themselves to crush one Administration should have another to put in its place." ”

“ We will not be afraid
To fight with foraign enemies,
And set our nation free:
And thus I end the bloody bout95
Of brave Lord Willoughbèy.
[Pg 119] THE BONNY EARL OF MURRAY. From The Tea-Table Miscellany, ii. 188.
In consequence of a suspicion that the Earl of Murray had been party to an attempt of his cousin, the notorious Bothwell, against the person of the King (James VI.) , a commission was issued for bringing Murray before the sovereign for examination. The arrest was inconsiderately entrusted to the Earl of Huntly, Murray's mortal enemy. ”

“ Lord Mansfield took upon himself a considerable lead: alleged that it was the last overt act of high treason, proceeding from over-lenity and want of foresight; that it was, however, the luckiest event that could befall this country, for that all might be recovered; compensation to the India Company he regarded as no object of the bill; that if this Act passed, we should be passed the Rubicon; that the Americans would then know that we should temporize no longer; and if it passed with tolerable unanimity, Boston would submit, and all would pass sine cæde. ”

“ Be this as it may, the classic rivalry begun at school between Pitt and Murray became fiery strife between Chatham and Mansfield, fit for a civilized world to witness and to profit by.
From Christ Church to Lincoln's-inn was a transfer of abode, scarcely a change of habits or of life. Murray was four years nearer to his goal, but that goal had still to be reached, and could only be won by untiring, patient, and ceaseless endeavor. At Oxford he had attended lectures on the Pandects of Justinian, "which gave him a permanent taste for that noble system of jurisprudence." ”

“ A tragic moan from Moira.
“We ought to have a gramophone for the week-ends that played ‘The Maid of the Mountains.’”
“Oh no! Oh no!” cried Isabel’s voice. “That’s not fair to William. Be nice to him, my children! He’s only staying until tomorrow evening.”
“Leave him to me,” cried Bobby Kane. “I’m awfully good at looking after people.”
The gate swung open and shut. William moved on the terrace; they had seen him. “Hallo, William!” And Bobby Kane, flapping his towel, began to leap and pirouette on the parched lawn. “Pity you didn’t come, William. The water was divine. ”

“ The Port Bill underwent a fuller, and by all accounts a fairer, discussion on Tuesday in the House of Lords than it did in the House of Commons. The debate took a general turn; and Lord Camden, in his reply to Lord Mansfield, met the question fully, and even as near the extent of his former principles as he could well do. The remarkable features of the day were the notorious division among the Ministry, which was very near avowed, some calling what passed in Boston commotion, others open rebellion, a more than disregard to Lord Dartmouth, and somewhat of the same sort towards Lord North. ”

“ At the close of 1770, Glyn unsuccessfully proposed a committee to "inquire into the administration of criminal justice, and the proceedings of the judges in Westminster Hall, particularly in cases relating to the liberty of the press and the constitutional power and duty of juries," while Chatham in the Upper House engaged in a review of the legal arguments of Mansfield, as imprudent as it was improper. ”