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Sir William Grant, another
great man connected with Canada during the time posterior to the conquest,
and third attorney-general of the province of Quebec, an eminent lawyer;
was descended from the Grants of Beldornie, so long distinguished in the
history of Scotland. He was born in 1754, at Elchies, on the banks of the
Spey, in the county of Engin, and was partly educated in the grammer
school of Elgin, from which he removed to the old college of Aberdeen,
where he completed his education, and then repaired to London, and entered
at Lincoln's-Inn, where he pursued the study of law. His whole mind was
engrossed in the endeavor to obtain knowledge of his profession, and of
the various business of life; and so successful were his efforts, that at
the age of twenty-five, he was considered competent to fill the situation
of attorney-general of this province, to which he was appointed, and he
quitted England without having been called to the bar. His commission
bears date 10th May, 1776. On his return to England, some time after, he
engaged in practice in the courts of common law, and joined the home
circuit. Being naturally of a reserved and retired turn, he travelled the
circuit for several years without obtaining a single brief; but happening
to be retained in sme appeal from the Court of Session in Scotland to the
House of Lords, Lord-Chancellor Thurlow was much struck with his powers of
argument, and having learned his name, observed to a friend, "Be not
surprised of that young man should one day occupy this seat." That this
prophetic opinion was not exactly fulfilled, has been attributed to his
having refused that high office. He subsequently left the common-law bar
and practised solely in the Court of Chancery. At the general election in
1780, Mr. Grant was returned to Parliament for the borough of Shaftesbury,
and soon distinguished himself as a powerful coadjutor of Mr. Pitt. He
seldom spoke, and never but on questions with which he was fully
acquainted; but his talents and intelligence were soon so generally
recognised as to render his assistance essentially valuable, and on one
occasion in particular, when the question for a new code of laws for the
province of Qubec, excited much disccussion. Mr. Grant's local
information, and his great professional skill, particularly in the civil
law, powerfully strengthened his reasoning; and it was then that the
celebrated Mr. Fox, after warmly complimenting him, saluted him as one of
his most formidable antagonists. It was in 1791 that he thus distinguished
himself in the great debate relating to the laws of Canads; and in 1792 he
made a most able, acute and argumentative speech in defence of the
ministry on the subject of the Russian armament. He was called within the
bar with a patent of precedence in 1798, and in the same year was
appointed a Welsh judge, but he was not re-chosen; however, a vacancy for
Windsor happening in the following January, he was selected for that
borough; he was at that time solicitor-general to the Queen. In 1796, he
was chosen knight of the shire for the Scottish country of Banff. In 1798,
he was appointed chief-justice of Chester. In 1799, he succeeded Lord
Redesdale as solicitor-general, and, as is usual, obtained the honor of
knighthood on his promotion; and on the 20th May, 1801, in consequence of
the elevation of Sir Pepper Aiden to the chief-justiceship of the Common
Pleas, he was nominated Master of the Rolls. In 1802, Sir W. Grant made a
speech in Parliament in favour of the definitive treaty of peace with
France. In February, 1805, he supported the address to the crown in
defence of the war with Spain; and in the course of the same year he
opposed Mr. Whitehead's proceedings against Lord Melville, and the
subsequent motion for the impeachment of that nobleman for his conduct
while treasurer of the navy. He opposed the American intercourse bill in
1806, and received the thanks of a committee of merchants of the city of
London for his conduct on that occasion. In 1807, he animadverted at some
length on the bill brought into the House of Commons by Sir Samuel Romilly,
the object of which was to alter the law as to the claims of creditors on
the landed property of their debtors. Sir. W. Grant continued to represent
the shire of Banff till the dissolution of Parliament in 1812. During a
period of more than sixteen years did he fill the judicial chair in the
Roll's Court, with undiminished ability and reputation. At length he
became anxious to retire while yet in full possession of his faculties.
This purpose he carried into effect towards the close of 1817. During the
last two years of his life he lived chiefly at Barton House, Dawlish, the
residence of his sister, the widow of Admiral Schank; and at that place he
died, May 25, 1832.
Sir W. Grant is spoken of
in Mr. Charles Butler's "Reminiscences" in the following tersm:-
"The most perfect model of
judicial eloquence which has come under the observation of the reminiscent
is that of Sir William Grant. In hearing him it was impossible not to
think of the character given of Menelaus by Homer, or rather by Pope, that
'He spoke no more than just the thing he ought;' but Sir William did much
more: in decompounding and analysing an immense mass of confused and
contradictory matter, and forming clear and unquestionable results, the
insight of his mind was infinite. His exposition of facts and of the
consequences deducible from them, his discussion of former decisions and
shewing their legitimate weight and authority, and their real bearing upon
the point in question, were above praise; but the whole was done with such
admirable ease and simplicity, that while real judges felt its supreme
excellence, the herd of learners believed that they should have done the
same. Never was the merit of Dr. Johnson's definition of a perfect style,
'proper words in proper places,' more sensibly felt than it was by those
who listened to Sir William Grant. The charm of it was indescribable; its
effect on the hearers was that which Milton describes when he paints Adam
listening to the angel had ceased to speak; often and often has the
reminiscent beheld the bar listening, at the close of a judgment given by
Sir William, with the same feeling of admiration at what they had heard,
and the same regret it was heard no more." |
