health, hastened to London to present once more the petition of the Roman Catholics of Ireland. He was afterwards mainly instrumental in bringing together the sixty-nine peers, whose resolutions to support this great measure of public justice and political expediency materially hastened its consummation. He died in the month of August, 1825.

Charles, Earl Whitworth.

BORN A. D. 1754.—died A. D. 1825.

THIS nobleman was of an ancient Staffordshire family, which, in the beginning of last century, was represented by Lord Whitworth, a diplomatist of some celebrity. He was the eldest son of Sir Charles Whitworth, who was knighted in 1768. After having held a commission in the Guards for a short time, he resolved on trying his fortune in political life, and obtained the appointment of plenipotentiary to the court of Stanislaus Augustus of Poland. He resided two years in Poland, after which the scene of his diplomacy was transferred to St Petersburg, where he acquitted himself with considerable dexterity. On his return to England in 1800, he was created an Irish peer by the title of Baron Whitworth of Newport Pratt in Galway.

His next mission was to Copenhagen. Towards the latter end of 1862 he went to Paris as ambassador extraordinary; but demanded his passports on the 13th of May in the following year. On the 14th of June, 1814, he was created a peer of Great Britain by the title of Viscount Whitworth of Adbaston in Stafford, and in the following year was raised to the dignity of an earl. He succeeded the duke of Rich

mond as viceroy of Ireland in 1814; but resigned in 1817. Earl Whitworth died on the 13th of May, 1825.

Sir David Ochterlony.

BORN A. D. 1758.-DIED A. D. 1825.

THIS distinguished officer went out to India as a cadet in the year 1776. His first campaign was made under Sir Eyre Coote. His gallantry and good conduct procured him steady and early advancement. Immediately after the decisive battle of Delhi he was nominated envoy, or British resident, at the Shah's court.

In January, 1812, he received a coloneley; and on the 4th of June, 1814, was promoted to the rank of major-general. His vigorous and successful campaign against the Nepaulese, in 1815, procured him the thanks of the East India company, and a Grand cross of the order of the Bath.

On the 14th of January, 1817, the Gazette bore the following aunouncement relative to Sir David: "His royal highness the prince regent, in the name and on the behalf of his majesty, taking into consideration the highly-distinguished services rendered by Sir David Ochterlony, Bart., a major general in the army in the East Indies, and knight Grand cross of the most honourable military order of the Bath,

on divers important occasions, during a period of thirty-nine years, particularly in the course of those arduous operations of the Mahratta war. which conduced to the decisive victory gained by the British forces under the command of the late General Viscount Lake, in the memorable conflict before Delhi, on the 11th September, 1803; to the consequent surrender of that capital; and to the restoration of his majesty, Shah Alum, to the throne of his ancestors; as also the proofs of wisdom and military talent afforded by this officer during the subsequent defence of the said city against the whole force of Jeswunt Rao Holkar; his prudent arrangement and disposition of the comparatively few troops under his orders; his judicious conduct at so difficult a crisis, in the discharge of the high and important functions of British resident at the court of Delhi, combined with his great energy and animated personal exertions, to which were chiefly attributed the safety of that capital, and of the person of Shah Alum, at a time when the loss of either might have proved highly prejudicial to the public interests in Hindostan ; and further, the unremitting zeal, foresight, and decision, manifested by the said major-general, under circumstances of great difficulty, during the late contest with the state of Nepaul, especially in that series of combined movements, during the nights of the 14th and 15th of April, 1815, against the fortified positions of the Gorkah army on the heights of Mullown, which led to the establishment of the British troops on that range of mountains, theretofore deemed to be impregnable; to the evacuation by the enemy of the fortresses of Mallown and Jytuck; to the defeat and surrender of Umar Sing Thappa, the chief commander of the hostile force; and to the successful and glorious termination of that campaign; and, lastly, the judgment, perseverance, and vigour, displayed by the said major-general, as commander of the British forces, upon the renewal of the contest with the aforesaid state, the happy and triumphant results of which have been consolidated by a treaty of peace between the East India company and the rajah of Nepaul, highly beneficial to the interests of the British empire in India:—His royal highness, desirous, in addition to other marks of his royal approbation, of commemorating the faithful and important services of the said majorgeneral, by granting unto him certain armorial augmentations, has been pleased to give and grant his majesty's royal license and permission, that he, the said Sir David Ochterlony, and his descendants, may bear to the armorial ensigns of Ochterlony the honourable augmentations following, viz.-‘On an embattled chief two banners in saltire, the one of the Mahratta states, inscribed Delhi, the other of the state of Nepaul, inscribed Nepaul, the staves broken and encircled by a wreath of laurel,' with this motto to the arms, viz.- Prudentia et animo;' and the crest of honourable augmentation following, viz.-'Out of an eastern crown, inscribed Nepaul, an arm issuant, the hand grasping a baton of command entwined by an olive branch;' provided the said armorial ensigns be first duly exemplified according to the laws of arms, otherwise the said royal license to be void and of none effect."

In 1817 he received the thanks of both houses of parliament for "“the skill, valour, and perseverance displayed by him in the late war with Nepaul." In the Mahratta and Pindary wars of 1817 and 1818, Sir David had a principal command. In 1822 he was intrusted with the

superintendence of the affairs of Central India, as resident in Malwah and Rajpootana.

After nearly fifty years' service in India, Sir David died at Meerut in July, 1825, when on the eve of embarking for England.

Robert, Lord Gifford.

BORN A. D. 1779.-died a. d. 1826.

THIS eminent lawyer was the son of a merchant in Exeter. He was originally articled to an attorney, but entered himself as a student at the Middle Temple in 1800, and in 1808 was called to the bar. In May, 1817, he became solicitor-general, and shortly after took his seat in parliament for the borough of Eye. In July, 1819, he succeeded Sir Samuel Shepherd as attorney-general. In this situation the arduous duty of arranging the Queen's trial fell upon him and the solicitorgeneral, Sir John Copley. He managed his part with firmness and moderation. The following is the peroration of his reply which occupied in its delivery the greater part of two days:

"I congratulate your lordships that I have just arrived at the conclusion of my address to you; because I am sure your patience must be exhausted, and your attention fatigued. My lords, my duty has been an anxious one; it has been to bring before your lordships the evidence in the case. I have strictly confined myself to that duty. I trust your lordships will at least acquit me of having, in the course of my observations, made any unnecessary appeals to your feelings, or your passions. I have done that which was the only duty your lordships imposed upon me, and which I was anxious to discharge to the best of my ability. I have fairly commented, as I trust, upon the evidence produced. That, my lords, was my duty. But it seems there is another code of duty for advocates of the accused, that has just been discovered by my learned friend, Mr Brougham. The duty of the advocate of the accused is to protect his client at all hazards; nay, 'separating even,' Mr Brougham says, 'the duty of a patriot from that of an advocate, he must go on, reckless of consequences, if his fate should unhappily be to involve his country in confusion for his client.' Such is the text! Your lordships have had the speeches for a comment. My lords, what duty was imposed upon my learned friends? To lay before you the case of the queen, to establish her innocence of the charges against her; that was the duty imposed upon them, and that they have attempted to do by the evidence they have produced. My lords, have they confined themselves to that duty? No, my lords. Το them it is permitted to launch out into invectives against all the constituted authorities of the realm. Even the monarch is not to be spared. Modern history is to be ransacked; the annals of corrupt Rome are to be searched, in order to find out some quotation by which the feelings of the monarch may be wounded, by which the monarchy may be brought into disrespect in the country. The cruellest tyrant, the man the most detested in antiquity, is to be brought forward as a supposed parallel in this case. Nay, the monarch is not the only one to suffer

from their imputations. Your lordships are not spared, no one concerned in this proceeding is spared, in the observations of my learned friends. My lords, I will not say I pardon them; although, perhaps, some excuse is to be alleged for them under such a trying situation. But, if the queen was innocent, those topics were perfectly irrelevant and unnecessary. The queen's innocence cannot be established by hurling envenomed darts against other persons. No, my lords; innocence stands secure in its own defence; innocence wants not to

find motives for revenge. It is time enough when the queen's innocence is established, if ever that period shall arrive, to give vent to such feelings; but, during the time of its being established, I cannot help thinking that the path of duty was clear before her advocates. But it appears, from the conclusion of my learned friend Mr Brougham's eloquent speech, that the public have pronounced a verdict upon this occasion. The public, my lords, have pronounced no verdict. There is a part of the community, undoubtedly, who have attempted to do so; who have, by the most base, by the worst, and the most insidious means, endeavoured to deceive the well-meaning, and the loyal, and the good part of the community; who have, by every means in their power, attempted, during this investigation, to blacken the characters of all concerned in it, and of the witnesses who were produced on the occasion. My lords, while they had the cause of the queen in their mouths, they had another object in their hearts-that of change and revolution. That is their object. To further that object this has been done. It pains me, as it must pain every one,—it will pain persons in future who may read the annals of the present period,—to find that any countenance has been given to such attempts. I trust it has not been given by the illustrious person accused; and that the historian will draw a veil over this part of the transaction. But, my lords, it has not only been brought before your lordships as a ground on which you are to pronounce your decision, but you have been told,-undoubtedly in magnificent language, in a manner I have rarely seen surpassed, in effect great and considerable,—you have been told in the peroration of my learned friend, Mr Brougham, that your lordships are to pause; that you are standing upon the brink of a precipice; that it will go forth, your judgment, if it goes forth against the queen, but that it will be the only judgment you will ever pronounce which will fail of its object, and return upon those who give it. Nay, my lords, you were called upon afterwards, as the only means of saving the honour of the crown, and protecting the purity of the altar, you were called upon at all hazards, at all risks whatever; you were called upon to pronounce a verdict of acquittal; because, forsooth, such is the judgment of what my learned friends choose to call the country, and because your lordships are to be actuated by such intimidations! My lords, God forbid that the time should ever arrive when such threats should have any weight in this assembly! I address persons of high honour, of character unstained, whose decisions hitherto have commanded the respect of the country; and why? because they have been founded in justice. My lords, the throne will be best protected, the altar best preserved, by a judgment pronounced by your lordships according to the evidence which has been produced before you. Upon that evidence I rest the conclusion, having commented upon it as it was my duty to do. The result to which

I think it inevitably leads, is a verdict of guilty. If your lordships shall be of that opinion, I am sure you will pronounce it with firmness. It will be satisfactory to your own conscience,—it will, sooner or later, be satisfactory to the country."

In 1824 Sir Robert was, on the resignation of Sir Robert Dallas, appointed chief-justice of the court of Common pleas, and deputyspeaker of the house of lords, into which he was introduced by the title of Baron Gifford of St Leonard's, Devon.

On the 5th of April, 1824, he was made Master of the Rolls. His lordship died on the 23d of August, 1826.

The following tribute was paid to his memory by a political opponent: "Few men will be more deeply deplored by their family, or more tenderly remembered by their friends. His own affectionate nature secured for him the warm regard of those who were near enough to see into his character. His mind, unstained by vice, had no need of concealment, and was at liberty to indulge its native frankness. He was unassuming, unaffected, mild, friendly, indulgent, and, in intimate society, gently playful. His attachments were constant, his resentment (for he had no enmity) was hard to provoke, and easily subsided. In his last moments he was sustained by the domestic affection and religious hope which had cheered his life. His natural simplicity and modesty were unspoiled by rapid elevation and splendid prospects of ambition; and if these retiring virtues could, without losing their nature, be generally known, they must have softened many of those ungentle feelings which such an elevation is apt to excite. It may with truth be said of him, that he rose by 'fair means,' and in a high station bore his faculties meekly. By the very diligent application of an uncommonly quick, clear, and distinguishing mind, he became so learned in his profession, that the late Lord-chief-justice Gibbs (himself one of the greatest lawyers of his age) assured the present writer, that, since the death of Dunning, he had known no man equal as a general lawyer to Gifford. He had the gift of conveying the subtle distinctions and abstruse learning of the law with a very rare union of perspicuity and brevity. He was soon distinguished on the Western Circuit, where the friendship of two such admirable persons as Horner and Lens was an earnest of the esteem of wise and good men. He was sought out by ministers, to all of whom he was personally unknown, to fill the office of solicitor-general. Sir Samuel Romilly, a severe but most upright judge, in the house of commons declared his satisfaction that the appointment had been made on the fair principle of professional merit. It was his lot to hold office in a stormy season; but all who knew him will bear a testimony, now unsuspected, that the performance of rigorous duties was uncongenial to his nature. The most remarkable display of his talents was made on a splendid theatre, but on an occasion so painful, that to revive the remembrance of it more distinctly would not be in unison with his amiable temper. He was appointed, with universal approbation, Lord-chief-justice of the court of Common pleas, with a title of honour which seemed to be the pledge of higher advancement. When the immense accumulation of Scotch appeals was thought to require some alteration in the Appellate jurisdiction, Lord Gifford was chosen, for his unequalled knowledge of Scotch law, to carry the new measure into effect, and for that purpose was appointed to the