Dr. Watson, the Bishop of Llandaff, in the course of a speech, in
which he supported the claims of the Prince of Wales, incidentally
cited a passage from Grotius, with regard to the definition of the
word _right_. "The chancellor, in his reply," says the bishop in his
memoirs, "boldly asserted that he perfectly well remembered the
passage I had quoted from Grotius, and that it solely respected
natural, but was inapplicable to civil, rights. Lord Loughborough, the
first time I saw him after the debate, assured me that before he went
to sleep that night he had looked into Grotius, and was astonished to
find that the chancellor, in contradicting me, had presumed on the
ignorance of the house, and that my quotation was perfectly correct.
What miserable shifts do great men submit to, in supporting their
parties! The Chancellor Thurlow," continues the bishop, "was an able
and upright judge, but as the speaker of the house of lords, he was
domineering and insincere. It was said of him, that in the cabinet he
opposed everything, proposed nothing, and was ready to support
anything. I remember Lord Camden's saying to me one night, when the
chancellor was speaking contrary, as he thought, to his own
conviction, 'There now! I could not do that: he is supporting what he
does not believe a word of.'"
_Roscoe's Lives of Eminent Lawyers--Cabinet Cyclopaedia_.
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MANNERS AND CUSTOMS.
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