11.

13.

statesman.

Second only to Earl Grey in influence and | Brougham took an interest, or has been mainstation, and superior to him in versa- ly instrumental in promoting, are Character tile power, LORD BROUGHAM now stood considered, we shall have more cause His charac of Lord prominently forward in a totally dif- to admire the variety of his acquire- ter as a Brougham. ferent sphere and position from that ments, the versatility of his powers, in which he had first moved and risen to such than the length of his vision or the solidity of eminence. A tribune of the people, he was his judgment. He did not foresee the real tendsuddenly made a senator; a brilliant and suc-ency of the measures which he so powerfully cessful advocate, he was at once, and without advocated, and in consequence brought about having gone through any of the intermediate results the very reverse of what he intended stations, elevated to the very highest judicial and desired. He professed to "stand upon the station; a common lawyer, chiefly known in ancient ways of the constitution" in all his propolitical or popular cases at nisi prius, he was jects of reform; and yet he strenuously supput at the head of the Court of Chancery, and ported, or besought the House of Peers, "on immersed in all the subtleties of conveyancing, his bended knees," to pass a bill on that suband the niceties of the law of equity. He was ject, which entirely altered those ways, bethe first barrister, if we except perhaps Lord cause, in lieu of the old representation of classErskine, who was made Lord-Chancellor, and es and interest, it introduced the new repreput at the head of the court of last resort, en- sentation of mere numbers. He was the untirely from political considerations, and to avoid compromising foe through life of West India a difficulty in the formation of an administra- slavery, and the generous advocate of the poor tion, without any regard to his competency to negro's rights; and yet, by urging on the fatal discharge the important duties with which he step of immediate and unprepared emancipawas intrusted. tion, he has proved his worst enemy, and thrown back the sable inhabitants of the Antilles centuries in the path of real and lasting improvement. No man saw more clearly, or has expressed more strongly, the decline which would be brought on British agriculture from the unrestrained competition of foreign states; and yet he has been active in the furthering of a series of measures which have rendered Great Britain, in seven years, from being practically self-supporting, dependent on foreign states, in ordinary years for a seventh, in unfavorable ones for a fifth, of the national subsistence.* In two important particulars, however, his labors have been attended with unmitigated good. He has been through life the zealous supporter of the cause of general education, although sectarian jealousy has hitherto much impeded the beneficent results of his efforts; and he has devoted his great powers, with equal judgment and success, to the great and difficult subject of Law Reform.

He was no common man who could stand 12. such a change of position, not only His merits with no diminution, but in some reas a Judge. spects with an increase of reputation. It is reported to have been said of him, when he was elevated to the Wool-sack, by a very great lawyer, "It is a pity Lord Brougham does not know a little of English law, for then he would know something of every thing;" and certainly his judgments in the Chancery Court will never be placed on a level with those of Lord Eldon, or Lord St. Leonards, or the other great masters of the law of equity. But it is a mistake to imagine that he proved a failure on the bench. It was not to be supposed that a man of his extraordinary versatility of talent and variety of information should have acquired the vast store of precedents which can be mastered only by a powerful mind exclusively devoted to their acquisition; still less that he should be on a level with ex

perienced equity lawyers, when the first time he entered the Chancery Court was in advanced years as its head. But his example, and the great ability which he has shown now for a quarter of a century in determining cases in the House of Peers, proves that an extensive acquaintance with precedents is not an indispensable requisite for a great Judge; and that strong natural talents, and habits of forensic debate, in a different branch of jurisprudence, may, when the cases are fully laid before him, sometimes enable the Judge to supply the want of early acquaintance with another branch of law. Lord Eldon's judgments on Scotch cases are universally regarded with the utmost respect by the Scotch bar, and yet he never practiced at it, and had little experience of appeal cases from that part of the island before being put on the Wool-sack.

If the legislative measures in which Lord

these small shop-keepers chiefly dependent on the moneyed and commercial, instead of the landed and aristocratic class; 3. The vast extension of the commerce and manufactures of the country, which rendered the greater part of the boroughs, and many of the counties in the manufacturing districts, dependent on the employment furnished by the great manufacturing cities, not the purchases made by the impoverished landlords in their vicinity.

14.

His style of speaking, though always energetic and powerful, affords the most striking contrast to that which his IIis style taste approves, and which he has uni- of oratory. formly recommended to the imitation of others. The last is condensed even to the confines of dryness; the first diffuse to those of excess. No one feels more strongly, or has expressed more emphatically, the manly simplicity of ancient oratory; and yet no one in his own speeches has deviated more completely from the style of Demosthenes, or overlaid ideas always forcible, often striking, by an overwhelining deluge of words. It would seem as if in his own style of oratory he was desirous, by the process of reductio ad absurdum, of estab lishing the truths of the general principles on eloquence which he has elsewhere inculcated.

This verbose habit is very much to be regret- | principle has always been the advancement of ted, for, on the few occasions on which it has the power and glory of his country; and that been avoided, he has left most striking pieces he has taken a part in so many administrations, of oratory. His expressions in each clause of because they successively furnished him with a sentence are generally forcible, often epigram- the means of advancing that primary object. matic; it is the frequent repetition of the same He has been through life not so much a statesidea in different expressions, and putting it in man as a diplomatic soldier of the State. different lights, which weakens the force of his oratory. Yet, however widely it may deviate from the standard of ancient eloquence or ideal perfection, if we are to judge from the result, it was well calculated for the persons to whom it was addressed; for he was mainly instrumental in achieving the four great Liberal triumphs of the last half century-the repeal of the Orders in Council, that of the Income-Tax, the passing of the Reform Bill, and of Negro Emancipation.

15.

If there is any British statesman of his age who has acquired a European repLord Palmer- utation, it may safely be pronounced ston: his Eu- to be LORD PALMERSTON, whose name ropean repu- will be forever associated with the great change in our foreign policy, and the substitution of Liberal for Conservative alliances. Foreign nations, not aware of the vital change which the Reform Bill made in our Government, ascribe this change chiefly, if not entirely, to his individual influence; and according as their statesmen and historians belong to the democratic or monarchical party, he is the object either of vehement laudation or of impassioned hatred. In truth, however, he is not the fit object of the praise he has received, or the vituperation with which he has been encountered. In a despotic country, a minister may impress his own principles upon the measures of government; in a constitutional one he must receive it from the Legislature. The Reform Bill having vested the government of England in the class of urban shopkeepers, the majority of whom are imbued with Liberal principles, the carrying out of their wishes into our foreign policy became a matter of necessity, to which every minister, however otherwise inclined, must bend.

acter.

16.

and orator.

His talents for diplomacy and administration are unquestionably of a very high 17. order. To immense acquaintance His characwith foreign treaties and conven- ter as a ditions he unites the rarer but not less plomatist essential knowledge of courts and statesmen, and the prevailing influences by which they are severally governed. As Secretary at War during the contest with Napoleon, and Home Secretary under Queen Victoria, his administrative powers have been equally conspicuous; and such are his oratorical talents, that no man can with greater certainty alternately keep the attention of the House of Commons awake during a long detail of diplomatic proceedings, or fascinate a popular audience by the beauties of a varied and highly wrought eloquence. Indefatigable in his attention to business, he yet finds time, as men of a similar energetic turn of mind often do, for the pleasures of society; and much of his political influence is owing to the charm which manners of the highest breeding, and courtesy of the most finished kind, lend to a varied and delightful conversation.

18. His errors.

The great fault of this accomplished minister and it is a very serious one, for it has more than once brought his country to the brink of the most serious danger-is, that he never calculates the means at his disposal for effecting the projects which he has at heart, and engages in designs which he has not the means of carrying through, or stimulates movements in other countries which he has not the means of supporting. Bred in the school of Pitt, and essentially patriotic in his feelings and ideas, he sometimes forgets the difference in the situation and power of the country at different times, and has often held as If this change of policy, however, was im- high language in diplomatic intercourse, when a posed upon the country by the Re-refomed House of Commons had not left twenty His versa- form Bill, it is equally true that the thousand disposable men in the country, or ten tile talents character and talents of the Liberal ships of the line to form a Channel fleet, as when and char- Foreign Secretary, in a prominent Lord Castlereagh wielded the power of one manner, fitted him for carrying it hundred and fifty thousand, and one hundred through. His abilities are not only of the ships of the line bore the royal flag. A sincere highest order, but they are of the most mark- friend of freedom, he has sometimes proved its etable description. No man knows better how worst enemy, by stimulating movements of the to address himself in speaking to the prevail- Liberal party among the excitable inhabitants ing feelings and tastes of his audience, in act- of other states, which the people of this country ing to the inclination and interests of the class had neither the means nor the inclination to in society upon which his influence is rested. support, and being forced, in consequence, to Great as are his talents, varied his accomplish- leave them to be crushed by the military force ments, they are rendered still more powerful of despotic states. With admirable skill he arby the versatility of their possessor. He can ranged all the other powers of Europe to check be, when he pleases, all things to all men. He the ambition of France on the Eastern Question has been a member of every administration, in 1840; and it was owing to the influence of his with the single exception of the short one of diplomacy that the cordial alliance of France Lord Derby in 1852, for the last fifty years. and England was formed which put such a briHe has alternately aided in expelling his for- dle in the mouth of Russia in 1854. But on mer friends from power, and reinstating them other occasions his ill-timed assertions of Britin office; yet, strange to say, his character for ish influence have been attended with the utconsistency has not materially suffered from all most hazard; for they brought us to the verge these changes. The reason is that all men see of a war with France, and once with France and that, like the Duke of Wellington, his leading Russia united, at a time when the country was

wholly unprepared to maintain a contest with | with which his connection is more nominal than either the one or the other.

real-a conduct which has done more than any thing else to win for him the respect of the country, for the obvious reason that it is the rarest quality in public men, and the one which most observers feel themselves least competent to imitate.

21.

LORD JOHN RUSSELL has not obtained the same 19. elevated niche in the temple of fame Lord John as Lord Grey and Lord Palmerston; Russell. but still the nobleman who carried the Reform Bill through the House of Commons, and has since for years held the highest place in LORD MELBOURNE was a man of very differthe councils of his Sovereign, or been the lead-ent abilities and character from the er of the House of Commons, must be regarded as no common man. As an orator he occupies a useful rather than a distinguished place. He seldom aims at the highest flights of eloquence, and his speeches are distinguished by business-like habits, by information on the sub-guished place in a contemporary gallery of state ject, and acuteness in reply, rather than either genius of conception or cogency of argument. If he owed, however, the distinguished position he has so long held in the House of Commons, in the first instance, to family influence, and the prestige of an illustrious name, he has since shown that he was not unworthy of it, by the qualities he has exhibited while discharging its duties. To admirable temper and great tact in debate he unites a thorough acquaintance with the feeling and prevailing inclination of the House, and especially of his own side-qualities invaluable in the leader of a party, and much more important than the more showy qualities which often dazzle only to mislead. His figure is not commanding, and his voice feeble, so that nature has not endowed him with the physical qualities requisite for subduing stormy assemblies, but she has in a great degree made up for the deficiency by the gift of the prudence and judgment which succeed in the end in leading them.

20.

Sydney Smith has said, that such is Lord John Russell's confidence in himself, His intrepid- that he would, with equal readiness, ity and self- at a moment's warning, assume the confidence. lead of the House of Commons, or take the command of the Channel fleet, or undertake to cut for the stone. Assuming that the celebrated discourser has here strained somewhat for the sake of point, it is evident, from Lord John Russell's public career, that there is some truth in the assertion, though his success in literature and biography by no means warrants the belief that the confidence is well found

ed. On several important occasions he has shown that he does not shrink from responsibility, and that, supported only by courage and conscious rectitude, he can engage fearlessly in the most hazardous undertakings. His conduct as the leader of the House of Commons on occasion of the Reform Bill in 1831, and the war with Russia in 1854, and of Cardinal Wiseman's assumption of titles when he was prime-minister, sufficiently demonstrates this. Unfortunately, his colleagues in the Cabinet are not always possessed of the same determination, and thus it has not unfrequently happened that the most in trepid denunciations on his part have been followed by no corresponding state measures, and thus have entirely lost their effect. In one respect his conduct has always been worthy of the very highest admiration: he never shirks responsibility, but, on the contrary, not only takes his full share of it when his own, but generously comes forward to divide with others a responsi bility which belongs to their department, and

eminent ones which have now been Lord Meldrawn; but he has occupied too im- bourne. portant a position in the councils of his Sovereign, on her first accession to the throne, and for some years after, not to deserve a distinportraits. If his talents were not of the highest order, they were of the kind of all others best adapted for the important and responsible duty to which he was called, of guiding a youthful Queen in the first and most important years of her reign. To great and almost unrivaled powers of conversation he united the charm of the highest breeding, and the grace of the most polished manner. A man of the world in every sense of the word, he had mingled in all its circles only to glean from each what rendered him a delightful companion, a brilliant ornament to the most elevated. His store of anecdote was immense, and related to the most interesting characters; his felicity in recounting them equal to the tact with which they were given out or withheld. An accomplished classical scholar, and well versed in the traditional history of great families, he had little information on the subjects required by a statesman, and took his opinion on the measures brought forward rather from the authority of others than his own reflection. Yet his suavity of disposition and courtesy of manner conquered all opposition; and when, as prime-minister, he gave in the House of Lords, with perfect nonchalance, in answer to a question put to him, "I really know nothing at all about the matter," there was a loud laugh from all sides, and no farther inquiries were made. The truth was, all parties, and especially those of them who were nearest the throne, were aware of the vast importance of the duties which, when prime-minister, he discharged as counselor and almost guardian of our present gracious Sovereign in her early years; and if we are to judge of the debt of gratitude which the nation owes him for the manner in which he discharged them, from the strict propriety and wisdom of her Majesty's conduct ever since her accession to the throne, the debt is great indeed.

SIR JAMES GRAHAM owes more to natural ad

Sir James

istrative

vantages than any of the statesmen 22
who have been mentioned. A tall and
commanding figure, handsome coun- Graham:
tenance, and powerful sonorous voice, his admin-
give him the superiority in debate powers.
which, in civil almost as much as mili-
tary contests, these qualities never fail to confer;
and to these he unites administrative and ora-
torical talents of a very high order. As First
Lord of the Admiralty on the Whigs' accession
to office in 1830, and again when the Russian
war broke out in 1854, he evinced a degree of
vigor and capacity which was appreciated and
acknowledged by all parties; and he displayed
equal ability as Home Secretary during a very

trying time, from 1841 to 1846. Indefatigable | and satisfaction in the determinations of Parliain his attention to business, and endowed with ment. Any thing short of this will be insuffigreat powers of application, he is always pre- cient. But while seeking for this end, I am pared on his own subjects; and, unlike Lord anxious not to disturb, by violent changes, the Melbourne, can give a satisfactory answer to established principles and practice of the conevery question put regarding them. The ex-stitution. To such a measure I have secured pression of his countenance has a supercilious his Majesty's assent. The important matter of cast, a quality which has been complained of of the poor will also be considered, and the laws him in official intercourse, though none is more which regulate the provision which the State bland or courteous in private society. He is a makes for them. The whole and earnest atpowerful debater, as well from the cogency of tention of my colleagues and myself shall be argument employed as the stores of information directed to economy in every department of displayed, and is excelled by none in the rare the State, and every saving that can Mirror of and effective power of reply. Occasionally, possibly be made shall be adopt- Parliament, though not frequently, he rises to the highest ed with the most unflinching sever- 1830, ◊ ii. flights of eloquence. ity."

310.

winter.

Inconsistency is his great defect, and his rep- After a few routine measures had passed, Par23. utation has suffered more from this liament adjourned to the 9th Febru- 25. His incon- peculiarity than that of Lord Palmer- ary. The interim was a state of great Distracted sistencies. ston, who is also chargeable with it, alarm and anxiety in England. The state of Enbecause he has at different times taken more southern counties around London gland durdecided and contradictory views on the same were, as Lord Grey afterward said in ing the question. There is hardly a subject of import- Parliament, "in a state of open insurance discussed of late years on which there rection;" and midnight fires or predial outrages will not be found, in the parliamentary debates, seemed to have been imported into the peacean admirable refutation of a previous equally ful realm of England from the distracted and admirable argument on the opposite side, of this wasted fields of Ireland. The special commisskillful rhetorician. This, however, is the fault sion, however, which was opened in December, of the age and circumstances under which he had a salutary effect: the execution of some deslived, rather than of the individual man. Such peradoes, convicted of fire-raising, spread a uniis the mutability of general opinion in every versal terror among the peasantry, and the transpopular government, that the rulers of the State portation of great numbers of others, at length can only maintain their ascendency by chang-arrested the disorders which had attained so ing with it. The philosopher may be consist- alarming a height. But the excitement in the ent, because his aim is the discovery of truth, towns was not so easily appeased. Public meetwhich is ever the same; the historian, because ings were every where held, in many cases prehe traces the unchanging laws of the social or-sided over by distinguished members of the der through all the mutations of fortune. But Whig aristocracy, at which the most inflammathe statesman in a popular community, who tory language was used. Constant reference aims at the enjoyment of power, can attain it was made to the armed insurrection which had only by the suffrages of the multitude, and to overthrown the government in France and Belgain them he must often share its mutability. gium, and hints given that, if the English arisConsistency in such a case is a passport to ulti-tocracy adopted a similar system of resistance mate fame, but it leads to present downfall. Such were the chiefs of the Liberal party, who now succeeded to power, and in Earl Grey's whose hands, with a few brief interannounce- missions, the government of the country has since been constantly vested. Earl Grey, immediately after his accession to office, made the following profession of the principles of his administration, which diffused general satisfaction: "Prominently, and in the foreground, I place Reform in Parliament. I have, when out of office, declared that that great question could be satisfactorily introduced by the Government alone, and that the Government ought immedi- The proceedings and language of Mr. O'Conately to propound some measure concerning it. nell," says Mr. Roebuck, "became 26. What out of office I have professed, I am now every day more hostile and threat- Agitation and in office about to perform; and I promise that ening: he went about the country increased misa proposal for the reform of our representative making violent harangues, gather- ery in Ireland. system shall be introduced immediately for the ing together numerous assemblages of the peoconsideration of Parliament. It shall be a pro-ple, under color of meetings for the purposes posal not of any wild or unreasoning change, not of universal suffrage, not a mere theory of pretended accuracy and efficiency. I desire to * Mr. Sheil, not the least violent or able of Mr. O'Constand as much as possible on the fixed and set- nell's friends, said at this time: "If the Union is not repealed within two years, I am determined that I will neitled institutions of the country. What I seek ther pay rent, tithes, nor taxes. They may distress my to do is all that is necessary to secure to the peo-Buy? Mind, I don't tell any man to follow my advice; goods, but who'll buy, boys?-that's the word-who'll ple a due influence in the great Council of the but so help me God, if I don't do it, you may call me nation, and to secure by that means confidence Sheil of the silk gown.'"-ROEBUCK, vol. ii. p. 15.

24.

ment of his principles of govern

ment. Nov. 22.

to the public voice, their fate might be the same. These threats were always received with the most vociferous applause, insomuch that not merely the timid and temporizing, but even the firm and intrepid, began to think that a general convulsion was at hand. Mr. O'Connell and the other members of the Catholic Association were in an especial manner laudatory of the revolution at Brussels, which, as leading to 2 Ann. Reg. the overthrow of a government and 1831, 2, 3; the disruption of a kingdom by a Roebuck, ii. rebellion fomented by the Romish of Parliapriesthood, was held up as a glorious ment, 1831, object, worthy of general imitation.2* 1209.

66

2, 3; Mirror

of petitioning, or of celebrating some feast or