the doom to the criminal, Mr. Hume addressed himself to their
lordships in a bitter complaint of the injustice of his own sentence. It was in
vain that he was interrupted, and reminded of the purpose for which he had come
hither; »I ken what ye want of me weel eneugh,« said the fellow, »ye want me to
be your Dempster; but I am come to be none of your Dempster, I am come to summon
you, Lord T --, and you, Lord E --, to answer at the bar of another world for
the injustice you have done me in this.« In short, Hume had only made a pretext
of complying with the proposal, in order to have an opportunity of reviling the
Judges to their faces, or giving them, in the phrase of his country, »a sloan.«
He was hurried off amid the laughter of the audience, but the indecorous scene
which had taken place contributed to the abolition of the office of Dempster.
The sentence is now read over by the clerk of court, and the formality of
pronouncing doom is altogether omitted.
 
46 This nobleman was very dear to his countrymen, who were justly proud of his
military and political talents, and grateful for the ready zeal with which he
asserted the rights of his native country. This was never more conspicuous than
in the matter of the Porteous Mob, when the ministers brought in a violent and
vindictive bill, for declaring the Lord Provost of Edinburgh incapable of
bearing any public office in future, for not foreseeing a disorder which no one
foresaw, or interrupting the course of a riot too formidable to endure
opposition. The same bill made provision for pulling down the city gates, and
abolishing the city guard, - rather a Hibernian mode of enabling them better to
keep the peace within burgh in future.
The Duke of Argyle opposed this bill as a cruel, unjust, and fanatical
proceeding, and an encroachment upon the privileges of the royal burghs of
Scotland, secured to them by the treaty of Union. »In all the proceedings of
that time,« said his Grace, »the nation of Scotland treated with the English as
a free and independent people; and as that treaty, my Lords, had no other
guarantee for the due performance of its articles, but the faith and honour of a
British Parliament, it would be both unjust and ungenerous, should this House
agree to any proceedings that have a tendency to injure it.«
Lord Hardwicke, in reply to the Duke of Argyle, seemed to insinuate, that his
Grace had taken up