dent of the court of session. Somewhat earlier in this year Erskine had been appointed advocate, and state councillor to the Prince of Wales in Scotland. In the debate in the House of Commons on 14 Jan. 1784, concerning the charges of bribery made against the former ministry, Dundas thus vindicated the political integrity of the late lord advocate: ‘He said he [Erskine] was incapable of being prostituted into the character of a distributor of the wages of corruption, and he was convinced that such description of him had originated in misinformation’ (Parl. Hist. xxiv. 341). In December 1785 Dundas resigned the post of dean of the Faculty of Advocates, and at the anniversary meeting on the 24th of that month Erskine was elected in his place by a decided majority, in spite of the influence of the government, which was exerted against him. In 1795 Erskine, who, though he had always been in favour of reform, had hitherto endeavoured to restrain the zeal of the more revolutionary reformers, became greatly alarmed at the introduction of the ‘sedition’ and ‘treason’ bills; and at a public meeting held in Edinburgh on 28 Nov. 1795 he moved a series of resolutions which, while expressing horror at the late outrages on the king, condemned the bills as striking ‘at the very existence of the British constitution.’ Erskine had been annually re-elected dean of the faculty since 1785, but in consequence of the prominent part which he had taken at this meeting it was determined by the ministerial party to oppose his re-election, and at the anniversary meeting on 12 Jan. 1796 Robert Dundas of Arniston, then lord advocate, was chosen dean by a majority of eighty-five, only thirty-eight members voting for Erskine. Lord Cockburn, in commenting on this unjustifiable proceeding, says: ‘This dismissal was perfectly natural at a time when all intemperance was natural. But it was the Faculty of Advocates alone that suffered. Erskine had long honoured his brethren by his character and reputation, and certainly he lost nothing by being removed from the official chair’ (Life of Lord Jeffrey, 1852, i. 94). For many years afterwards ‘The Independence of the Bar and Henry Erskine’ was a favourite toast among the whigs, and at the public dinner at Edinburgh, given to Lord Erskine on 21 Feb. 1820, the health was drunk of ‘the remaining individuals of that virtuous number of thirty-eight, the small but manly band of true patriots within the bosom of the Faculty of Advocates who stood firm in the support of the Hon. Henry Erskine when he had opposed the unconstitutional and oppressive measures of the ministers of the day.’
On the death of Lord Eskgrove in October 1804 the office of lord clerk register was offered through Charles Hope to Erskine, who, however, declined it, refusing to separate his fortunes from those of his party. In the early part of 1806 the ministry of ‘All the Talents’ was formed, Thomas Erskine was made lord chancellor, while his elder brother Henry once more became lord advocate. At a bye election in April he was elected for the Haddington district of burghs, and took his seat in parliament for the first time. At the general election in November 1806 he was returned for the Dumfries district of burghs, but the downfall of the ministry in March 1807 deprived him of office, and the dissolution in the following month put an end to his parliamentary career. Though Lord Campbell's statement that Erskine ‘never opened his mouth in the House of Commons, so that the oft debated question how he was qualified to succeed there remained unsolved’ (Lives of the Lord Chancellors [1847], vi. 705), is clearly erroneous, it does not appear that he took any conspicuous part in the debates (Parl. Debates, vi–ix.). This was probably owing to the fact that the only important Scottish question which came before parliament at that time was the bill ‘for the better regulation of the courts of justice in Scotland,’ which was introduced into the lords by Lord Grenville and never reached the House of Commons. Erskine was succeeded as lord advocate by Archibald Campbell-Colquhoun [q. v.], with whom he engaged in a sharp controversy on the respective merits of Lord Grenville's and Lord Eldon's bills for the reform of legal procedure (Scots Mag. for 1808, pp. 70–2, 149–52). On 2 Nov. 1808 he was appointed on the commission to inquire into the administration of justice in Scotland (Parl. Papers, 1809, vol. iv.). Upon the death of Robert Blair [q. v.] in May 1811 it was expected that Erskine would have been appointed president of the court of session, but Charles Hope, the lord justice clerk, who was some fifteen years junior at the bar to Erskine, eventually received the appointment. Though Erskine's mind was still clear and active, his health had already begun to fail him. Being deprived of preferment, which was justly his due, he resolved to give up his practice at the bar, and thereupon retired to his country house of Ammondell in Linlithgowshire. Here he amused himself with his garden and his violin until his death on 8 Oct. 1817, when he was in the seventy-first year of his age. He was buried in the family vault adjoining Uphall Church. Erskine was a man of many brilliant gifts. Not only was he endowed with a handsome
