from certain charges preferred against them by Mr. (now Sir Robert) Peel: and in the short but memorable Session of 1819-20, he strenuously opposed the celebrated Six Acts, and spoke at some length upon the Address in reply to the Regent's Speech on opening the Session, and on a Motion respecting Mr. Owen's plan for ameliorating the condition of the poor.

At the General Election consequent upon the death of George III., Mr. Brougham again contested the County of Westmoreland; but was defeated after a seven days poll, by a majority of 63, the numbers being at the conclusion of the Election, Lord Lowther, 1530; Colonel Lowther, 1412; Mr. Brougham, 1349. He, therefore, took his seat in the new Parliament for Winchelsea, for which he was returned for the third time.

On the 5th of May, 1820, he moved a Resolution in the House of Commons, declaratory of the expediency of the House, with a view to the settlement of the Civil List, taking into consideration the Droits of the Crown, and Admiralty, and other funds not usually deemed

to be under the immediate controul of Parliament. This motion produced an animated debate, at the close of which the Resolution was negatived by 273 to 155. In the course of the Session he also delivered a Speech on Agricultural Distress, and obtained leave to bring in a Bill for the better education of the poor, by the establishment of parochial schools throughout the kingdom; but this measure, in consequence of the opposition it met with, he ultimately abandoned.

On the third day of Easter Term, he took his seat within the Bar of the Court of King's Bench, as Attorney General for the Queen; and in the beginning of June, proceeded to St. Omers, at her Majesty's request, where, on her behalf, he conducted the celebrated negociation with Lord Hutchinson. After her Majesty's arrival in England, he was again employed on her behalf, to meet the Duke of Wellington and Lord Castlereagh on the part of the King, in order to effect an arrangement of the differences subsisting between their Majesties. He also, in his place in the House of Commons, advocated the Queen's cause, with great zeal and

eloquence, on Lord Castlereagh's motion for a Secret Committee, to consider certain papers relative to her Majesty; on Mr. Wilberforce's motion for adjusting the differences in the Royal Family; and on every other occasion in which her Majesty's honour or interests were concerned.

Upon the introduction into the House of Lords of the far-famed Bill of Pains and Penalties, Mr. Brougham, as the Queen's principal Law Officer, on the 6th of June, addressed their Lordships at considerable length respecting the method of proceeding adopted against her Majesty. On the 17th of August, he was heard against the principle of the Bill; on the 18th, in reply to the King's Attorney and Solicitor General on that subject; and on the 3d and 4th of October, he addressed the House on the evidence adduced in support of the Bill, in one of the most masterly, eloquent, and effective Speeches ever delivered in either House of Parliament.

His Parliamentary exertions during the Session of 1821, were almost exclusively confined

to the various discussions which took place relative to the Queen; and on the 4th and 5th of July, he delivered an able and learned argument before the Lords of the Privy Council, in support of Her Majesty's claim to be crowned with the King at the ensuing Coronation,

On the 11th of February, 1822, Mr. Brougham, in an able, argumentative, and luminous Speech of considerable length, moved a resolution in the House of Commons, declaring it to be the duty of that House to take into its consideration the pressure of public burthens upon all, but especially the agricultural classes, and to effect such a reduction of taxation as was suited to the change in the value of money, and would afford an immediate relief to the distresses of the country: this Resolution was negatived by 212 against 108. In the course of the same Session, he spoke at some length on the Address in reply to the King's Speech, the State of Ireland, Agricultural Distress, the Navy Estimates, the Salt Tax, Naval and Military Pensions, &c. &c. ; and on the 24th of June, moved a Resolution, "that

"the influence possessed by the Crown is unnecessary for maintaining its constitutional

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prerogatives, destructive of the independ"ence of Parliament, and inconsistent with "the well government of the realm;" this resolution, however, was negatived on a division by 216 against 101.

Considerable sensation was excited by his bold and powerful defence of Mr. Williams, the proprietor of the Durham Chronicle, who was tried at the Durham Summer Assizes of this year, on a criminal information for a libel contained in certain remarks inserted in his paper, reflecting on the Clergy, for omitting to order the bells of the several Churches in that City, to toll on the death of her late Majesty. Mr. Brougham's eloquent address was repeatedly interrupted by the enthusiastic applause of the crowded court, although the Jury, after above five hours deliberation, returned a qualified verdict against his client.

He delivered a most admirable Speech respecting the interference of the Holy Alliance in the affairs of Spain, on the opening of the