At a later period of the evening Mr. Grenville entered fully into the questions of the House, and discussed with great ability the celebrated cases of Ashby _v._ White, and Rex _v._ Lord Banbury, where in the former instance the decision of the House of Commons, and in the latter of the House of Lords, had not been recognised by the courts of law.--E. [218] The debate in reported in Cavendish, vol. i. p. 360–86.--E. [219] Lord North is stated by Cavendish to have withheld his consent to the course recommended by Conway, on the ground that it would not be justifiable to convey to the Americans the idea of a repeal of the Act so long as there was a possibility of their being disappointed. The best speeches on this debate were those of Edmund Burke and his cousin William, both being clever and animated. (Cavendish, vol. i. p. 390–401.)--E. [220] Serjeant Whitaker was also counsel against Wilkes in the action against Lord Halifax tried in the Common Pleas in the following November. His speech, on that occasion, is reported in the _London Museum_ for 1769. It possessed sufficient interest at the time to cause his style of speaking to be burlesqued in Foote’s Comedy of the “Lame Lover.” His name does not often occur in the reports. He had been made King’s Serjeant in 1759, and afterwards became Treasurer of his Inn. He died of apoplexy in 1779.--E. [221] Afterwards the Right Hon. Sir James Graham, one of the Barons of the Exchequer. He died in 1836, at the great age of ninety-two. He believed himself to belong to the Montrose family. It is more certain that he was the son of a schoolmaster at Hackney. His personal accomplishments and amiability made him a general favourite throughout life, which perhaps prevented his attaining any considerable reputation as a lawyer.--E.