Edward Hyde, (Earl of Clarendon, and Lord Chancellor of England,) was born in 1608, and died abroad in 1673. He was a steady adherent to the royal party, but in 1667 he was accused of treason, and obliged to withdraw secretly into France. He was a man of great abilities, and wrote the well-known history of the Rebellion. His daughter was married to James II.
George Villiers, (Second Duke of Buckingham,)—Born 1627, died 1688. He is famous for having written the satirical play of the Rehearsal. His speech at a grave conference between the lords and commons, to decide the limits of the judicial authority of the former, is very like what one might expect from him. He seems chiefly anxious to avoid the imputation of knowing or caring more about the matter than became a gentleman, and a wit; at the same time he talks very well about it.
Lord Bristol.—I have given the following Speech, because it discovers a quaint sort of familiar common sense.
Heneage Finch, (First Earl of Nottingham, Son of Sir Heneage Finch,) was born 1621, and died 1682. He was member for Oxford, and in 1670 appointed attorney general, and afterwards lord keeper and lord chancellor. In this latter office he succeeded Lord Clarendon. He was rather an elegant speaker.
Sir Leoline Jenkins, (An eminent Civilian and Statesman,) was born in Glamorganshire, in 1623, and died 1685. He was one of the representatives of the University of Oxford, and principal of Jesus College.
Lord William Russell, (Who is generally looked upon as one of the great martyrs of English liberty,) was born 1641, and beheaded 1683, on the same charge of treason on which Algernon Sidney was also condemned to suffer death.
Earl of Caernarvon.—The account of this speech is singular enough. ‘Among the speakers on this occasion was the earl of Caernarvon, who is said never to have spoken before; but having been heated with wine, and rallied by the duke of Buckingham on his never speaking, he said he would speak that very afternoon; and this having produced some wager between them, he went into the house with a resolution to speak on any subject that should offer itself. He accordingly stood up, and delivered himself to the following effect:’
Anthony Ashley Cooper was born at Winborn, in Dorsetshire, in 1621, and died 1683. In 1640, he was chosen member for Tewksbury. In 1672, he was created earl of Shaftesbury, and appointed lord chancellor. This office he did not long retain, as he was a man of fiery passions, turbulent, violent, and self-willed; and was constantly opposing the schemes and measures of whatever party he was connected with. He is the person described by Dryden under the character of Achitophel. There is an instance recorded of his great sagacity, which carries the prophetic spirit of common sense as far as it can go. It is said that he had been to dine with lady Clarendon and her daughter, who was at that time privately married to the duke of York; and as he returned home with another nobleman who had accompanied him, he suddenly turned to him, and said, ‘Depend upon it, the duke has married Hyde’s daughter.’ His companion could not comprehend what he meant; but on explaining himself, he said, ‘Her mother behaved to her with an attention and a marked respect, that is impossible to account for in any other way; and I am sure of it.’ This shortly afterwards proved to be the case. The celebrated author of The Characteristics was his grandson.
Henry Booth, (Lord Delamere, and afterwards created Earl of Warrington,) was member for Cheshire in the time of Charles II. and a great opposer of the court, and popery. He was committed to the Tower for high-treason, by James II. but was acquitted. He died 1694. There is a collection of his speeches in one volume, octavo. That which I have given is not, perhaps, the best; but there is an air of homely interest in it, a mixture of local and personal feeling, which makes it the most amusing. The independent country gentleman, the justice of the peace, the custos rotulorum, (to which latter office he appears to have been as much attached as justice Shallow himself could be,) his own personal disinterestedness, his political zeal, and his great friendship for sir Thomas Manwaring, who seems to have been a man of much importance in his time, though now totally forgotten, are all brought together in a way that I like exceedingly; and I can assure the reader, that if I do not present him with a good collection, by following my own inclination in taking those speeches which I like myself, and merely because I like them, I should, however, make a much worse in any other way.
John, Lord Somers, was born 1652, and died 1710. He was member for Worcester in the convention parliament, where he was appointed to manage the conference with the lords, on the abdication of king James, and in 1697 was made lord chancellor. He was one of the principal persons employed in bringing about the revolution. From this and the following speeches two things appear to me tolerably clear, in opposition to the theories both of Mr. Burke and Dr. Price on the subject; that the great constitutional leaders who were concerned in producing this event, believed first, that the hereditary right to the crown was not absolute, but conditional; or that there was an original fundamental compact between the king and people, the terms of which the former was bound to fulfil to make good his title; secondly, that so long as these conditions were complied with, the people were bound to maintain their allegiance to the lawful successor, and not left at liberty to choose whom they pleased, having no other law to govern them in their choice than their own will, or fancy, or sense of convenience. There was indeed an estate of inheritance, but then this was tied down and limited by certain conditions, which, if not adhered to, the estate became lapsed and forfeited. There was no question as the case stood, either of sovereign absolute power, or of natural rights: the rights and duties of both parties were defined and circumscribed by a constitution and order of things already established, and which could not be infringed on either side with impunity: that is, they were exactly in the state of all contracting parties, neither of them independent, but each having a check or control over the other: the one had no right to enforce his claim if he did not perform what was in the agreement, and the other party, so long as this was done, could not be off their bargain. The king could not therefore be said to hold his crown ‘in contempt of the people,’ for both were equally responsible and bound to one another, and both stood equally in awe of one another, or of the law. But in case of any difference on this head, the right to decide must of course belong to those who had the power; for by the very nature of the thing there is nothing to restrain those who have power in their hands from exercising it, but the sense of right and wrong; and where they think they have a right to act, what is there to hinder them from acting in vindication of what they conceive to be their right? I am not here entering into the abstract question of government, nor do I pretend to say that this is the true law and constitution of England; I am only stating what was understood to be so by the prime movers and abettors of the revolution of 1688.