Thomas Hope, after having
distinguished himself at school in no small degree, entered upon the
study of the law, and made so rapid a progress in juridical knowledge,
that he was at a very early age called to the bar. However, like the
generality of young lawyers, he enjoyed at first a very limited
practice; in 1606, he burst at once upon the world on the following
occasion.
Six ministers of the
church of Scotland having thought proper to deny that the king and his
council possessed any authority in ecclesiastical affairs, were on that
account imprisoned for some months in Blackness castle, indicted for
high treason, and on the 10th of January, 1606, put upon trial at
Linlithgow, before a jury consisting chiefly of landed gentlemen of the
three Lothians. As it was carefully promulgated that the king and court
had openly expressed the highest displeasure against the ministers, and
had declared that they would show no favour to any person that should
appear in their behalf, none of the great lawyers chose to undertake
their cause; even Sir Thomas Craig, although he was procurator for the
church, refused to be concerned in this affair, and Sir William
Oliphant, who had at first promised to plead for them, sent word, the
day before, that he must decline appearing. The ministers, thus
abandoned, applied to Mr Hope, who, pitying their case, with the
greatest cheerfulness and resolution undertook their defence; and,
notwithstanding the reiterated endeavours of the court to perplex and
browbeat him, contradicted it in so skilful and masterly a manner, that
he made a deep impression on the jury. However, by an unlawful tampering
with the jurors (some of the lords of council having procured admittance
to them after they were locked up,) and assurance that no harm was
intended against the persons or goods of the accused, nine of the
fifteen jurymen were induced to bring in a verdict of guilty, and the
ministers were sentenced to banishment forth of the kingdom, which was
accordingly executed.
By the commendable
intrepidity, knowledge of the law, and singular abilities, manifested by
Mr Hope at this important trial, he became so greatly the favourite of
the presbyterians, that they never afterwards undertook any important
business without consulting him; and he was retained in almost every
cause brought by that party into the courts of justice, so that he
instantly came into the first practice of any lawyer at that period. By
this, in a few years he acquired one of the most considerable fortunes
ever made at the Scottish bar; which enabled him to purchase, between
1613 and 1642, the lands of Grantoun, Edmonstoun, and Cauldcolts in Mid
Lothian, Prestongrange in East Lothian, Kerse in Stirlingshire, Mertoun
in the Merse, Kinninmonth, Arnydie, Craighall, Ceres, Hiltarvet, and
others in Fife.
It was the policy of king
Charles I. to bestow honours and emoluments upon those who had most
power to obstruct his designs, and hence, in 1626, the great
presbyterian barrister was made king’s advocate, with permission,
revived in his favour, to sit in the bar, and be privy to the hearing
and determining of all causes, except those in which he was retained by
any of the parties. He was also in 1628 created a baronet of Nova
Scotia. If the king expected by these means to gain him over from the
presbyterians, he was grievously disappointed, for although Sir Thomas
discharged the duties of his high office with attention and propriety,
his gratitude, principles, and inclination, were all too powerfully
engaged to his first friends and benefactors to admit of his deserting
them: it was, on the contrary, with pleasure that he beheld that party
increasing every day in numbers and consequence. It would draw out this
account to too great a length, to enumerate all the various steps taken
by them in pursuance of his advice; it is enough to say that he acted as
their confidant throughout the whole affair of the resistance of the
Liturgy in 1637, and that he was intimately concerned in framing the
bond of resistance, entitled the National Covenant, which was subscribed
by nearly the whole population of Scotland in the succeeding year. The
king, with fatal weakness, nevertheless retained him in an office,
which, of all others in the state, implied and required a hearty service
of the royal cause. In 1643, when a parliament was required to meet in
order to settle the Solemn League and Covenant with the English
parliament, Sir Thomas, to get over the dilemma of illegality which must
have characterized such a meeting, as it could not legally take place
till the next year, recommended a convention of estates upon the
precedent of some such transaction in the reign of James V.; and thus
was achieved a measure which, more than any other, perhaps, was fatal to
the royal cause: the army voted in this irregular meeting being of great
avail in the decisive battle of Longmarston moor, which was fought soon
after.
Charles, nevertheless, still persisting in his unfortunate policy, appointed Sir Thomas
Hope to be his commissioner to the General Assembly, which met in
August, 1643; an honour never before or since bestowed upon a commoner.
The royalists were so much incensed at the appointment of an enemy
instead of a friend, that they very generally absented themselves from
the assembly, and the field was therefore left in a great measure clear
to the covenanters, who carried all before them. As the sanction of this
body was necessary to the transaction above alluded to, the credit of
the whole, direct or indirect, lies with Sir Thomas Hope.
In 1645, Sir Thomas Hope
was appointed one of the commissioners for managing the exchequer, but
did not long enjoy that office, dying the next year, 1646. He had the
singular happiness of seeing, before his death, two of his sons seated
on the bench while he was lord advocate; and it being judged by the
Court of Session unbecoming that a father should plead uncovered before
his children, the privilege of wearing his hat, while pleading, was
granted to him. This privilege his successors in the office of king’s
advocate have ever since enjoyed, though it is now in danger of being
lost through desuetude.
The professional excellencies of
Sir Thomas Hope are thus discriminated by Sir George Mackenzie, in his
Characteres
Advocatorum.
The following are the
written or published works of Sir Thomas Hope. -- l, Carmen Seculare in
serenissinum Carolum I. Britanniarum Monarcham, Edin. 1626.—2, Psalmi
Davidis et Canticum Solomonis Latino carmine redditum, MS.—3, Major
Practicks—4, Minor Practicks, (a very well known work),—5, Paratitillo
in universo Juris Corpore.—and 6, A Genealogie of the Earls of Mar, MS.
In Wood’s Ancient and
Modern account of the Parish of Cramond, from which, the above facts
are chiefly taken, is given a very perfect account of the numerous
descendants of Sir Thomas Hope, including the noble race of Hopetoun,
and many other races distinguished in the two past centuries, by
official eminence and public service.