attended eight different public meetings of the electors, delivered at each a powerful speech of considerable length, and travelled over a space of 120 miles: notwithstanding all this exertion, he appeared on the following morning in the Assize Court of York, apparently as little fatigued as if he had spent the preceding day in chambers.

On the opening of the new Parliament, Mr. Brougham gave notice of his intention, on that day fortnight, to submit to the House a proposition on the subject of Parliamentary Reform. In consequence, however, of the unsettled state of public affairs, arising from the defeat of the Wellington Administration, and the non-appointment of another Ministry, he postponed this proposition to another day; but before the time appointed for its coming on, he was made Lord Chancellor, and took his seat in that capacity in the House of Lords, on the 22d of November, 1830, on which day he was created a Peer of Great Britain, by the title of Baron Brougham and Vaux, of Brougham, in the County of Westmoreland. This appointment gave great satisfaction throughout the

country generally, though an absurd attempt was made by a faction, in the House of Commons, to represent his acceptance of office as an abandonment of principle, and a sacrifice. of the interests of his constituents; but the enthusiastic applause with which he was greeted, when he shortly afterwards paid a visit to York, demonstrated that the Freeholders of that County concurred with his Lordship, in considering that his accession to power, "from disabling him to discharge his duty to "his country-far from rendering his services "less efficient, but enlarged the sphere of his utility, and held out the gratifying prospect,

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"that in serving his King, he should, at the same time, be better able to serve his "country."

In the House of Lords, he introduced a Bill for the establishment of Local Courts, similar to that brought into the Commons in the preceding Session. He also introduced three Bills for regulating the Court of Chancery, and a Bill for establishing a Court of Bankruptcy; none of these, however, were passed, on account of the dissolution; but the latter became a

Law in the next Parliament, in which, on the 28th of September, 1831, he brought in a Bill for the more expeditious administration of justice in the Court of Chancery; the prorogation, however, prevented this Bill from being proceeded with. On the 7th of October, he supported the second reading of the Reform Bill, in a Speech of unrivalled brilliancy and force.

To enter into an examination of his Lordship's performances of the varied duties attached to the high and honourable situation which he now fills, would be foreign to the purpose of the present Memoir; but we cannot help alluding to his indefatigable labour in the business of the Court of Chancery. In the last year, he concluded his sittings on the 1st of September, having sat but two days longer than Lord Eldon; but by devoting more hours each day to the business of his Court, he was enabled, in the course of a few months, to decide no less than 120 Appeals; and instead of leaving, as his predecessor had done, a large arrear of causes, he had the gratification of saying, that he had not left a single appeal unheard, nor one petition unanswered. His beneficial

exertions in this respect, together with his constant regard to literary merit, in disposing of the church and other preferment in his gift, cannot excite too much admiration.

Lord Brougham is, beyond all doubt, a most consummate master of every branch of oratory; but the distinguishing characteristic of his eloquence, is its great energy and irresistible strength. His generous and noble sentiments, his copious and nervous diction, the aptitude of his illustrations, the earnest solemnity and occasional vehemence of his manner, his bold and dauntless bearing, the bitterness of his irony, and the fierceness of his invective, produce the most powerful effects on the passions of his auditors: his voice, without being particularly loud, is surprisingly clear; his enunciation, though rapid, is distinct; and he expresses himself with extraordinary fluency, and a total absence of every thing in the least resembling hesitation. We believe there are but few, even of his most virulent political admirers, who will not allow his conduct, as a Statesman, to have been uniformly open, straight forward, and consistent. His sentiments are liberal, and his

views enlarged: he has ever proved himself the foe of tyranny, corruption, injustice, and intolerance; the advocate of the oppressed, the friend of humanity, and the intrepid defender of popular rights: his exertions to increase the commercial prosperity of the country, to reform and improve its institutions, and to diffuse the advantages of education amongst all classes of the community, have justly endeared him to his fellow countrymen. Though esteeming war as the great obstacle to the improvement of mankind, yet has he never evinced the slightest disposition to purchase the incalculable advantages of peace at the cost of the honour and dignity of the nation: and to him may we truly apply the praise bestowed by Burke on an eminent and enlightened Statesman of the last century: "In opposition, he respected the principles of government; in administration, he "has provided for the liberties of the people, "and employed his moments of power in realis

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ing every thing he professed in a popular "situation." His intimate acquaintance with the principles and history of our constitution and legal polity, and his extensive knowledge of the laws of other nations, entitle Lord