AGAINST JOHN HORNE TOOKE. man of talents and ambition could find no compensation, embittered his spirit, and determined his character and conduct in a direction to which they did not naturally tend. His powers of ridicule and satire, which the restraints of professional or political life would have kept within bounds, became the instruments by which he sought to avenge himself on society for the wrongs he had endured. He was as little suited for the vocation of demagogue as for that of a parish priest. He might, perhaps, have accommodated himself with outward decency to a profession which he hated as Swift had done before him; or he might have found that the conscientious discharge of the duties of his sacred calling was not incompatible with the most brilliant reputation, as Sidney Smith subsequently proved. But Horne Tooke was deficient in some of the essential qualities of a popular leader. He neither felt, nor could with any plausibility simulate, a hatred for the upper classes, because his habits and tastes were those of a scholar and a gentleman. For the same reason, he could not stoop to flatter the mob. While he abused the House of Commons as a sink of corruption, he talked about the hereditary nobility being disgraced by the intrusion of that skip-jack, Jenkinson,' in the style of a Talbot, or a Howard. He denounced the Opposition, on whom many of the democrats affected to fawn, as a pack of scoundrels,' like the Ministerial party; and declared that both parties were equally com 110 Ch 34. 1794 Effrontery of JOHN HORNE TOOKE bined to cajole that poor man the King,' and to deceive the people of England. But he never expressed any desire that these scoundrels should be superseded by his friends of the Constitutional and Corresponding Societies. There was, in fact, nothing in common between Horne Tooke and his fellow conspirators-not even treasonable designs. He could hardly cabal with shoemakers, lecturers, playwrights, and that nondescript class described in the indictment as 'gentlemen,' whom a man of his intellect could not have failed to hold in ridicule and contempt. The distempered parson would, no doubt, have gone great lengths to avenge himself on the envious tribe of placemen and parasites, who had shut him out from the high places of ambition; but he had no idea of pulling down the Constitution which had been reared by the Pyms, the Hampdens, and the Somerses, for a Republic to be fashioned by the Hardys, the Thelwalls, and the Holcrofts. Such was the man-ruined by a long conflict with adverse fortune, broken with bodily infirmities and advanced years-whose blood the Government now sought at the hands of a jury of his countrymen. The prisoner himself, however, so far from being moved by his dangerous position, was never in more buoyant spirits than when he was tried for his life. His wit and humour had often before been exhibited in Courts of Justice; but never had they been so brilliant as on this occasion. Erskine had been at his request assigned PUT UPON HIS TRIAL. to him as counsel; but he himself undertook some of the most important duties of his advocate, cross-examining the witnesses for the Crown, objecting to evidence, and even arguing points of law. If his life had really been in jeopardy, such a course would have been perilous and rash in the highest degree; but nobody in court, except, perhaps, the Attorney and Solicitor-General, thought there was the slightest chance of an adverse verdict. The prisoner led off the proceedings by a series of preliminary jokes, which were highly successful. When placed in the dock, he cast a glance up at the ventilators of the hall, shivered, and expressed a wish that their lordships would be so good as to get the business over quickly as he was afraid of catching cold. When arraigned, and asked by the officer of the court, in the usual form, how he would be tried? he answered, 'I would be tried by God and my country-but-' and looked sarcastically round the court. Pre i Horne Tooke, whenever he went before a Court of Justice, behaved with the greatest effrontery, and affected to turn the proceedings into ridicule. In 1781, being defendant in a civil action, to which there was no defence either in fact or in law, he nevertheless appeared in court for the purpose of insulting Lord Kenyon, who tried the cause, and of delivering a violent invective against the administration of justice. Kenyon, who had neither dignity nor temper, was so completely cowed by the parson's wit and insolence, that, after a faint struggle, he gave up the attempt to repress this scandalous outrage on the decency and regularity of his court. It was not without difficulty, indeed, that he could satisfy the jury that they were bound to give a verdict for the plaintiff. III Ch. 34. 1794. 112 CROSS-EXAMINATION OF SHARP 1794 Ch. 34. sently he made an application to be allowed a seat by his counsel; and entered upon an amusing altercation with the Judge, as to whether his request should be granted as an indulgence or as a right. The result was that he consented to take his place by the side of Erskine as a matter of favour. In the midst of the merriment occasioned by these sallies, the Solicitor-General opened the case for the Crown. It was Hardy's case over again, with the omission of some aggravating circumstances, such as the infamous play-bill, and the treasonable copy of verses, which had been given in evidence in the former trial. With these atrocious libels it was not alleged that Horne Tooke had any connection. The law officers did not venture to produce any of the spies who had been so damaged in Hardy's case. One of the new witnesses, a man named Sharp, on crossexamination, proved enough for an acquittal. He said that the prisoner was opposed to universal suffrage, and that he only desired such a reform as would restore the constitution to the state it was in at the Revolution; that he wished to maintain King, Lords, and Commons; that he had been denounced at the Constitutional Club as an aristocrat; and that he generally absented himself from the deliberations of that body. This witness, by an involuntary repartee, for once turned the laugh against the parson. Tooke asked if he considered him a bigot; upon which Sharp, who was evidently willing to help his old acquaint WITNESSES FOR THE DEFENCE. ance as much as possible, replied that so far from being a bigot, he did not think the prisoner had any religion at all. 113 Ch. 34. 1794 Cartwright. After another masterly speech from Erskine, Major several witnesses were called for the defence. Major Cartwright, a very honest man, known such common concert towards treasonable action, as would have involved the persons who took part in the proceedings of the club in a common guilt. Fox, Sheridan, and other eminent Whigs, were called to prove, what was not very relevant, that in former years the prisoner had been favourable to moderate schemes of reform. Pitt himself was put into the box to prove, that in 1782, he and the prisoner attended a meeting at the Thatched House, to petition Parliament in favour of reform. At length, on the fifth day, the Judge summed up, and the jury, in about five minutes, agreed upon a verdict of Not Guilty. |