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THE EARL OF MANSFIELD.

Drawn by J. Jackson after the Portrait by Sir Joshua Reynolds.

E genius of Reynolds has seldom shown to better advantage than it does here in the intangible touches which change a mere portrait into a personification of the majesty and severity of law. If we may judge portraits as works of art without having seen their originals, we need not hesitate to conclude that this is one of the best in existence.

implore us to think more of the character of our people than of its numbers; to look upon our vast natural resources, not as tempters to ostentation and pride, but as a means to be converted, by the refining alchemy of education, into mental and spiritual treasures; they supplicate us to seek for whatever complacency or self-satisfaction we are disposed to indulge, not in the extent of our territory, or in the products of our soil, but in the expansion and perpetuation of the means of human happiness; they beseech us to exchange the luxuries of sense for the joys of charity, and thus give to the world the example of a nation whose wisdom increases with its prosperity, and whose virtues are equal to its power. For these ends they enjoin upon us a more earnest, a more universal, a more religious devotion to our exertions and resources, to the culture of the youthful mind and heart of the nation. Their gathered voices assert the eternal truth, that, in a republic, ignorance is a crime; and that private immorality is not less an opprobrium to the state than it is guilt in the perpetrator.

Manning, Henry Edward, Cardinal (England, 1808-1892.)

"The Greatest Glory of Man » - You are set in an age when the material civilization of the world has been piled up to a gigantic height, to testify that there is an order higher still; that as the soul is more than the body, and eternity than time, so the moral order is above the material; that justice is above power; that justice may suffer long, but must reign at last; that power is not right; that no wrongs can be sanctified by success; nor can the immutable laws of right and wrong be confounded. You are the heirs of those who renewed the face of the world and created the Christian civilization of Europe. You are the depositories of truth and principles which are indestructible in their vitality. Though buried like the ear of corn in the Pyramids of Egypt, they strike root and spring into fruit when their hour is come. Truths and principles are divine; they govern the world; to suffer for them is the greatest glory of man.- - (1863. On the 2615th anniversary of the foundation of Rome.)

Mansfield, William Murray, Earl of (England, 1705-1793.)

Liberty and License-To be free is to live under a government by law. The liberty of the press consists in printing without any previous license, subject to the consequences of law. The licentiousness of the press is Pandora's Box, the source of every evil. Miserable is the condition of individuals, dangerous is the condition the state, if there is no certain law, or, which is the same thing, no certain administration of law to protect individuals, or to guard the state.

"The Deplorable Alternative of Coercion » My lords, we are reduced to the alternative of adopting coercive measures, or at

once submitting to a dismemberment of the empire. Consider the question in ever so many lights, every middle way will speedily lead you to either of these extremities. The supremacy of the British legislature must be complete, entire, and unconditional; or, on the other hand, the colonies must be free and independent.

The claim of nontaxation is a renunciation of your authority. If the doctrine be just, it extends to the right of separating from you, and establishing a new republic. It is to the last degree monstrous and absurd to allow that the colonists are entitled to legislate for themselves on one subject, and not on all. If they have any such privilege, the defense of it would justify resistance; and I have not yet heard any noble lord say that their resistance would not be rebellion.

I admit the impolicy of the taxes imposed in 1767, which have been the cause of the troubles and confusion which we now deplore. They irritated the colonists, cramped our own commerce, and encouraged smuggling for the benefit of our commercial rivals. But the course was to petition for their repeal, and not to treat them as illegal. Concession now is an abdication of sovereignty. All classes will feel severely the effects of war, and no one can answer for its events. The British forces may be defeated; the Americans may ultimately triumph. But are you prepared to surrender without striking a blow?

The question being whether the right of the mother-country shall be resolutely asserted or basely relinquished, I trust there can be no doubt that your lordships are prepared firmly to discharge your duty, convinced that the proper season for clemency is when your efforts have been crowned with victory.-(February 7th, 1775.)

Attempts to Bias Judgment in the Case of Wilkes It is fit to take some notice of the various terrors being held out to the judges on this bench; the numerous crowds which have attended and now attend in and about this hall, out of all reach of hearing what passes in court; and the tumults which, in other places, have shamefully insulted all order and government. Audacious addresses in print dictate to us, from those they call the people, the judgment to be given now, and afterwards upon the conviction. Reasons of policy are urged, from danger to the kingdom by commotions and general confusion. Give me leave to take the opportunity of this great and respectable audience, to let the whole world know that all such attempts are vain. Unless we have been able to find an error which will bear us out to reverse the outlawry, it must be affirmed. The Constitution does not allow reasons of state to influence our judgments. God forbid it should! We must not regard political consequences, how formidable soever they might be; if rebellion was the certain consequence, we are bound to say, "Fiat justitia, ruat cœlum.» We are to say what we take the law to be; if we

Mansfield- Continued

do not speak our real opinions, we prevaricate with God and our own consciences.

I pass over many anonymous letters I have received; those in print are public; and some of them have been brought judicially before the court. Whoever the writers are, they take the wrong way; I will do my duty unawed. What am I to fear? That mendax infamia, from the press, which daily coins false facts and false motives? The lies of calumny carry no terror to me. I trust that my temper of mind, and the color and conduct of my life, have given me a suit of armor against these arrows. If, during this king's reign, I have ever supported his government, and assisted his measures, I have done it without any other reward than the consciousness of doing what I thought right. If I have ever opposed, I have done it upon the points themselves, without mixing in party or faction, and without any collateral views. I honor the king, and respect the people; but, many things acquired by the favor of either are, in my account, objects not worth ambition. I wish popularity, but it is that popularity which follows, not that which is run after; it is that popularity which, sooner or later, never fails to do justice to the pursuit of noble ends by noble means. I will not do that which my conscience tells me is wrong, upon this occasion, to gain the huzzas of thousands, or the daily praise of all the papers which come from the press; I will not avoid doing what I think is right, though it should draw on me the whole artillery of libels, all that falsehood and malice can invent, or the credulity of a deluded populace can swallow. I can say, with a great magistrate, upon an occasion and under circumstances not unlike : "Ego hoc animo semper fui, ut invidiam virtute partam, gloriam, non invidiam, putarem.»

The threats go further than abuse; personal violence is denounced. I do not believe it; it is not the genius of the worst men of this country, it is the worst of times. But I have set my mind at rest. The last end that can happen to any man never comes too soon, if he falls in support of the law and liberty of his country, -for liberty is synonymous with law and government. Such a shock, too, might be productive of public good; it might awake the better part of the kingdom out of that lethargy which seems to have benumbed them, and bring the mad back to their senses, as men intoxicated are sometimes stunned into sobriety. Once for all, let it be understood that no endeavors of this kind will influence any man who at present sits here; no libels, no threats, nothing that has happened, nothing that can happen !—(1768.) Marcy, William L. (American, 1786-1857.)

Spoils To the victors belong the spoils of the enemy.- (U. S. Senate, January, 1832.) Marshall, John, Chief-Justice (American, 1755-1835.)

Democracy and Liberty-The supporters of the Constitution claim the title of being firm friends of the liberty and the rights of

mankind. They say that they consider it as the best means of protecting liberty. We, sir, idolize democracy. Those who oppose it have bestowed eulogiums on monarchy. We prefer this system to any monarchy, because we are convinced that it has a greater tendency to secure our liberty and promote our happiness. We admire it, because we think it a well-regulated democracy. It is recommended to the good people of this country; they are, through us, to declare whether it be such a plan of government as will establish and secure their freedom.-(1788. Virginia Convention.)

The Only Happy Country-Happy that country which can avail itself of the misfortunes of others- which can gain knowledge from that source without fatal experience ! - (1788.)

Extension and Representation-The extent of the country is urged as another objection, as being too great for a republican government. This objection has been handed from author to author, and has been certainly misunderstood and misapplied. To what does it owe its source? To observations and criticisms on governments, where representation did not exist. As to the legislative power, was it ever supposed inadequate to any extent ? Extent of country may render it difficult to execute the laws, but not to legislate. Extent of country does not extend the power. What will be sufficiently energetic and operative in a small territory will be feeble when extended over a wide-extended country.-(1788.)

Marshall, Thomas F. (American, 1800-1864.)

Peace the True Policy of the WorldPeace, sir, is emphatically the policy of this country; peace is the true policy of the world; a policy into which religion and the most enlarged philosophy may yet indoctrinate mankind

"Oh! monarchs, did ye taste the peace ye mar, The hoarse, dull drum might sleep, and man be happy yet."

In one sense, industry and commerce are bribes to peace. The peculiar industry of the South is emphatically a bribe to peace. War, which would interrupt, if not destroy, our foreign commerce, and cut off the planting interest from their best customers, their most profitable markets, war would fall with aggravated hardships upon the agriculture of the South. Shall we inhibit the growth of cotton? Shall we break up all industry which has foreign consumption for its object? Shall we sunder the chain which binds the civilized nations of the world into one great commercial Republic ? Shall we undo all that art, science, reason, and religion have achieved to change the direction of human genius, to soften and beautify the face of modern society? Shall we teach nations again to look to war, spoils, and conquest, for the means of subsistence and the only true foundations of glory and of empire ?— (U. S.. House of Representatives, 1841.)

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