memory and to describe as "a narrow-minded man and a mere lawyer"[1] the illustrious statesman whom Sir William Jones delighted to honour,[2] and of whom Lord Lansdowne, himself not given to the use of unnecessary compliments in his writings, whatever may have been the case in his conversation, has left the following character:—
Lord Ashburton
"He had the peculiar characteristic of a great man, intuition. Like Shakespeare and Milton, nature hid nothing from him. He had the greatest power of reasoning which can be conceived, and such a habit of it, that he could not slight a cause, no more than an able artist could suffer a piece of work to go imperfect from his hands. He could not pass a link in the chain, and had such a faculty of arrangement that he would take an absolute chaos of matter, and return it to you in an instant so clear and distinct, as of itself to present a proper judgment without need of discussion. His speeches at the bar were sometimes long (in Parliament he was always short), and tried the attention of his hearers, in an age indisposed to close investigation of any sort, much more to mathematical demonstration, without which his accurate mind could not be content in any cause which admitted of it. It was no want of neatness nor of wit, two qualities which he possessed in such a superior degree, that upon many occasions they appeared to be his strength. One proof of the former, among a multitude which remain, is the famous Resolution of the House of Commons relative to the Power of the Crown which he dictated, after a long professional attendance, in a few words comprehending everything, pleasing everybody, and commanding the union of all within and without doors.[3] His wit, in which, as Sir W. Jones says, no mortal ever surpassed him, was not more surprising than his perfect command of it. He
- ↑ Bentham, Works, x. 236.
- ↑ Sir W. Jones' Works, iv. 577.
- ↑ See supra, pp. 54-56. The resolution stated: "That the influence of the Crown has increased, is increasing, and ought to be diminished."
