carried before the Court of Queen's Bench, contrary to the opinions both of the Attorney-General and the Solicitor-General of the day; and Lord Ellenborough adopted his view of the question, notwithstanding the opinion of the law officers of the Crown. Lord Ellenborough was the Judge, who, as Lord Campbell observes in his "Lives," "gained great credit with all sensible men from his conflict with Lord Kenyon about forestalling and regrating. He had studied successfully the principles of political economy, and he admirably exposed the absurd doctrine that the magistrate can beneficially interfere in the commerce of provisions; but he had the mortification to see his clients sentenced to fine and imprisonment for the imaginary crime of buying with a view to raise the price of the commodity." In those days, as the same biographer elsewhere remarks, "the cry was as strong for protection against forestallers, as it has more recently been for protection against foreign importation; and so general was the agitation, that corn-merchants were in great danger of being torn to pieces by judge-led mobs. I am ashamed to say that most of the puisne judges participated in the hallucination of Lord Kenyon; insomuch that Sydney Smith thus wrote in his old age

"The absurdity of attributing the high price of corn to the combination of farmers and the dealings of middle-men, was the common nonsense talked in those days of my youth. I remember when ten judges out † R. v. Waddington, 1 East. 166.

* Vol. iii. 138.

any harbour, even though, with respect to their destination, they were further off than when they set out. This was not at all according to Mr. Hume's notions of progress; but there was no help for it. It so happened that there was a French lady on board who had some time previously become insane, in consequence of the sudden death of her husband and two children; and she was constantly and piteously exclaiming that she could see them. This poor lady took a great fancy to Mrs. Hume, whose influence over her was immediate and complete; very much to the comfort and satisfaction of her attendant, who was continually soliciting Mrs. Hume's interference, whenever she had occasion to control or to pacify her.

It was a little before this time that Mr. Hume first became known to the public beyond the walls of the Custom-house. His situation often imposed upon him the duty of writing reports upon subjects connected therewith for the use of the Commissioners. One of these papers had been forwarded to Mr. Huskisson, and related to a subject upon which he happened to be seeking information. Struck, probably informed, by the document, he begged to see the individual who had written it; and he, of course, had not long conversed with Mr. Hume before he perceived his worth, how much he had reflected upon, and how thoroughly versed he was in every branch of political economy.

We may here mention that not long after Mr. Deacon Hume became Controller of the Customs, he succeeded in having a case relating to the duties of that office

carried before the Court of Queen's Bench, contrary to the opinions both of the Attorney-General and the Solicitor-General of the day; and Lord Ellenborough adopted his view of the question, notwithstanding the opinion of the law officers of the Crown. Lord Ellenborough was the Judge, who, as Lord Campbell observes in his "Lives," "gained great credit with all sensible men from his conflict with Lord Kenyon about forestalling and regrating. He had studied successfully the principles of political economy, and he admirably exposed the absurd doctrine that the magistrate can beneficially interfere in the commerce of provisions; but he had the mortification to see his clients sentenced to fine and imprisonment for the imaginary crime of buying with a view to raise the price of the commodity." In those days, as the same biographer elsewhere remarks, "the cry was as strong for protection against forestallers, as it has more recently been for protection against foreign importation; and so general was the agitation, that corn-merchants were in great danger of being torn to pieces by judge-led mobs. I am ashamed to say that most of the puisne judges participated in the hallucination of Lord Kenyon; insomuch that Sydney Smith thus wrote in his old age

"The absurdity of attributing the high price of corn to the combination of farmers and the dealings of middle-men, was the common nonsense talked in those days of my youth. I remember when ten judges out ↑ R. v. Waddington, 1 East. 166,

* Vol. iii. 138.

of the twelve laid down this doctrine in their charges to the various grand juries on their circuits.""

And yet those were times when such words of wisdom as the following had recently been uttered by Burke:"The balance between consumption and production makes price. Market is the meeting and conference of the consumer and producer, when they mutually discover each other's wants. Nobody has observed with any reflection what market is, without being astonished at the truth, the correctness, the celerity, the general equity, with which the balance of want is settled. They who wish the destruction of that balance, and would fain by arbitrary regulation decree, that defective production should not be compensated by increased price, directly lay their axe to the root of production itself."

21

CHAPTER II.

MR. HUME CONSOLIDATES THE LAWS OF THE CUSTOMS-HE BECOMES JOINT-SECRETARY OF THE BOARD OF TRADE-DEATH OF MR. HUSKISSON.

"This chaos of legislation (the laws of the Customs) was compressed by Mr. Hume into ten acts-a sort of Code Napoleon.”— STAPLETON'S Life of Canning.

THERE are few subjects which, for many years, have attracted greater attention than proposals for the consolidation of the Statute Law. We are about to record a memorable instance of success in a particular branch of it.

In the autumn of 1822, Mr. Deacon Hume first entertained the vast idea of consolidating the Laws of the Customs. Grave heads had often been shaken, when the possibility of such a result was seriously spoken of. Such demonstrations, however, produced no effect upon the mind of Mr. Hume. At the close of the year, with the sanction of the Lords of the Treasury, he addressed himself to the work. Having, as we have already mentioned, located his family at St. Omer, he established himself in chambers in Parliament Street, Westminster, a locality convenient for his purpose. Here, his duties at the Custom House being necessarily suspended, for the space of nearly three