Peroration:

delay.

err is human, justice deferred enhances the price at which you must purchase safety and peace; nor can you expect to gather in another crop than they did who went before you, if you persevere in their utterly abominable husbandry, of sowing injustice and reaping rebellion.

But among the awful considerations that now bow down my mind, there is one which stands pre-eminent above the rest. You are the highest judicature in the realm; you sit here as judg es, and decide all causes, civil and criminal, without appeal. It is a judge's first duty never to pronounce sentence in the most trifling case without hearing. Will you make this the exception? Are you really prepared to determine, but not to hear, the mighty cause upon which a nation's hopes and fears hang? You are. Then beware of your decision! Rouse not, I beseech you, a peace-loving, but a resolute people; alienate not from your body the affections of a whole empire. As your friend, as the friend of my order, as the friend of my country, as the faithful servant of my Sovereign, I counsel you to assist with your uttermost efforts in preserving the peace, and upholding and perpetuating the Constitution. Therefore, I pray and exhort you not to reject this measure. By all you hold most dear

too ludicrous to be seriously refuted; that the bill is only a favorite with the democracy, is a delusion so wild as to point a man's destiny toward St. Luke's. Yet many, both here and elsewhere, by dint of constantly repeating the same cry, or hearing it repeated, have almost made themselves believe that none of the nobility are for the measure. A noble friend of mine has had the curiosity to examine the list of peers, opposing and supporting it, with respect to the dates of their creation, and the result is somewhat remarkable. A large majority of the peers, created before Mr. Pitt's time, are for the bill; the bulk of those against it are of recent creation; and if you divide the whole into two classes, those ennobled before the reign of George III. and those since, of the former, fifty-six are friends, and only twenty-one enemies of the reform. So much for the vain and saucy boast that the real nobility of the country are against reform. I have dwelt upon this matter more than its intrinsic importance deserves, only through my desire to set right the fact, and to vindicate the ancient aristocracy from a most groundless imputation. My Lords, I do not disguise the intense solicitude which I feel for the event of this Danger of debate, because I know full well that the peace of the country is involved in by all the ties that bind every one of us to our the issue. I can not look without dismay at the common order and our common country, I solrejection of the measure. But grievous as may emnly adjure you-I warn you-I implore you be the consequences of a temporary defeat--yea, on my bended knees, I supplicate you-retemporary it can only be; for its ultimate, and ject not this bill! even speedy success, is certain. Nothing can now stop it. Do not suffer yourselves to be persuaded that even if the present ministers were driven from the helm, any one could steer you through the troubles which surround you without reform. But our successors would take up the task in circumstances far less auspicious. Under them, you would be fain to grant a bill, compared with which the one we now proffer you is moderate indeed. Hear the parable of the Sibyl; for it conveys a wise and wholesome moral. She now appears at your gate, and offers you mildly the volumes-the precious volumes-of wisdom and peace. The price she asks is reasonable; to restore the franchise, which, without any bargain, you ought voluntarily to give; you refuse her terms-her moderate terms-she darkens the porch no longer. But soon, for you can not do without her wares, you call her back; again she comes, but with diminished treasures; the leaves of the book are in part torn away by lawless hands-in part defaced with characters of blood. But the prophetic maid had risen in her demands -it is Parliaments by the year-it is vote by the ballot-it is suffrage by the million! From this you turn away indignant, and for the second time she departs. Beware of her third coming; for the treasure you must have; and what price she may next demand, who shall tell? It may even be the mace which rests upon that wool-sack. What may follow your course of obstinacy, if persisted in, I can not take upon me to predict, nor do I wish to conjecture. But this I know full well, that, as sure as man is mortal, and to

So completely had Lord Brougham wrought up his own feelings and those of his hearers at the close of this speech, that it was nothing strained or unnatural—it was, in fact, almost a matter of course-for him to sink down upon one of his knees at the table where he stood, when he uttered the last words, "I supplicate youreject not this bill !" But the sacrifice was too great a one for that proud nobility to make at once, and the bill was rejected by a majority of forty-one, of whom twenty-one belonged to the board of bishops of the Established Church.

The question, "What will the Lords do?' which had agitated and divided the public mind for some months, was now answered, and a burst of wounded and indignant feeling followed throughout the whole country. The London papers were many of them arrayed in mourning; some of the Lords who had opposed the bill were assaulted by the populace in the streets; others were burned in effigy in the neighborhoods where they lived; riots took place in many of the large towns, at which the property of the anti-Reformers was destroyed; and in the vicinity of Nottingham the ancient palace of the Duke of Newcastle was consumed by fire. The great body of the nation, while they disapproved of these excesses, were wrought up to the highest pitch of determination that, come what might, the bill should be carried. Public meetings, embrac ing a large part of the entire population, were held in all parts of the kingdom, and men of the highest standing and ability came forward to

66

was up, but I need not tell you that the contest was unequal. The Atlantic Ocean beat Mrs. Partington. She was excellent at a slop or a puddle, but she should not have meddled with a tempest. Gentlemen, be at your ease-be quiet and steady.

You will beat Mrs. Partington."s

form them into one compact body, with the King | The Atlantic was roused, Mrs. Partington's spirit in their midst, to press with the united force of millions on the House of Lords. Before such an array the aristocracy of England, for the first time, with all its wealth, and talent, and hereditary claims on the respect of the people, were seen to be utterly powerless. They were even treated with contempt. "The efforts of the On the 12th of December, 1831, the bill was Lords to stop the progress of reform," said the introduced into the House of Commons for the Rev. Sydney Smith at the Taunton meeting, re- third time, and was passed by a majority of one minds me very forcibly of the great storm at hundred and sixty-two; but was rejected in the Sidmouth, and of the conduct of the excellent House of Lords on the 7th of May, 1832, by a Mrs. Partington on that occasion. In the win- majority of thirty-nine. The ministry instantly ter of 1824, there set in a great flood upon that resigned, and the King, after an ineffectual eftown; the tide rose to an incredible height, the fort to form another, invited them back, on the waves rushed in upon the houses, and every condition that he would create enough new Lords thing was threatened with destruction. In the to carry through the bill. This ended the conmidst of this sublime and terrible storm, Dame test. To escape such an indignity, a large numPartington, who lived upon the beach, was seen ber of the anti-Reformers signified their intenat the door of her house with mop and pattens, tion of being absent when the bill came up anew, trundling her mop, squeezing out the sea-water, and it finally passed the Upper House on the and vigorously pushing away the Atlantic Ocean. | 4th of June, 1832, by a vote of 106 to 22.

INAUGURAL DISCOURSE

OF MR. BROUGHAM WHEN ELECTED LORD RECTOR OF THE UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW, DELIV ERED APRIL 6, 1825.

INTRODUCTION.

Ar Glasgow a Lord Rector is annually chosen by a major vote of the members of the University. The station is simply one of honor, like that of Chancellor in the English Universities, involving no share in the government or instruction, and is usually awarded to some public man who has a distinguished name in literature or politics.

course.

When inducted into office, the Lord Rector returns thanks in an address which is usually short, as a mere matter of form and compliment, expressing his sense of the honor conferred, and his best wishes for the prosperity of the institution. Lord Brougham, however, when called to this office, took a different He prepared an elaborate address on "the study of the Rhetorical Art, and the purposes to which a proficiency in this art should be made subservient.” He urges the study of rhetoric, however, not in mere treatises on the subject, but (as in the case of the sculptor and painter) in the direct study of the great productions of the art itself, and especially of the Greek orators; of whom he affirms, "the works of the English chisel fall not more short of the wonders of the Acropolis, than the best productions of modern pens fall short of the chaste, finished, nervous, and overwhelming compositions of them "that fulmined over Greece." The discourse is full of striking remarks, many of them of great value as the result of the author's own experience, and it therefore forms a very appropriate close to this volume. One fact respecting it is certainly remarkable, that, containing so many and such extended quotations, it was written not at home among his books, but "during the business of the Northern Circuit."

DISCOURSE, &c.

Motives for diligence in a col

I feel very sensibly that if I shall now urge you by general exhortations to be Transition: instant in the pursuit of the learning which, in all its branches, flourishes lege life. under the kindly shelter of these roofs, I may weary you with the unprofitable repetition of a thrice-told tale; and if I presume to offer my advice touching the conduct of your studies, I may seem to trespass upon the province of those venerable persons under whose care you have the singular happiness to be placed. But I would nevertheless expose myself to either charge, for the sake of joining my voice with

8 It scarcely need be said that this mention of the good lady gave rise to the frequent occurrence of her name in the newspapers of the present day.

ages, that you may always possess within your-you assured that the works of the En- Inferiority of

selves sources of rational and refined enjoyment,glish chisel fall not more short of the all gla which will enable you to set at naught the grosser pleasures of sense, whereof other men are slaves; and so imbue yourselves with the sound philosophy of later days, forming yourselves to the virtuous habits which are its legitimate offspring, that you may walk unhurt through the trials which await you, and may look down upon the ignorance and error that surround you, not with lofty and supercilious contempt, as the sages of old times, but with the vehement desire of enlightening those who wander in darkness, and who are by so much the more endeared to us by how much they want our assistance.

แ

Greeks, which composed almost exclusively his treatise De optimo genere Oratoris;" as if to write a discourse on oratorial perfection were merely to present the reader with the two immortal speeches upon the Crown. Sometimes we find him imitating, even to a literal version, the beauties of those divine originals-as the beautiful passage of Eschines, in the Timarchus, upon the torments of the guilty, which the Roman orator has twice made use of, almost word for word; once in the oration for Sextus Roscius, the earliest he delivered, and again in a more mature effort of his genius, the oration against L. Piso.1

Roman elo

quence as a model.

satisfied with studying the Roman, we should
only be imitating the imperfect copy, instead of
the pure original-like him who should endeavor
to catch a glimpse of some beauty by her reflec-
tion in a glass, that weakened her tints, if it did
not distort her features.
In the other case, we
should not be imitating the same, but some less
perfect original, and looking at the wrong beau
ty; not her whose chaste and simple attractions
commanded the adoration of all Greece, but some
garish damsel from Rhodes or Chios, just brill-
iant and languishing enough to captivate the less
pure taste of half-civilized Rome.

The style and

manner of Cie to the present

ero not suited

day.

But there are other reasons too weighty to be I have dwelt the rather upon the authority of passed over, which justify the same Inferiority of M. Tullius, because it enables us at decided preference. Not to mention once to answer the question, Whether the incomparable beauty and power a study of the Roman orators be not of the Greek language, the study of sufficient for refining the taste? If the Greeks which alone affords the means of enriching our were the models of an excellence which the first own, the compositions of Cicero, exquisite as they of Roman orators never attained, although ever are for beauty of diction, often remarkable for inaspiring after it-nay, if so far from being satis-genious argument and brilliant wit, not seldom fied with his own success, he even in those his excelling in deep pathos, are nevertheless so exmasters found something which his ears desid-tremely rhetorical, fashioned by an art so little erated (ita sunt avidæ et capaces; et semper aliquid immensum infinitumque desiderant [so eager are they and capacious, so continually desirous of something boundless and infinite])—he | either fell short while copying them, or he failed by diverting his worship to the false gods of the Asian school. In the one case, were we to rest

1 Μὴ γὰρ οἴεσθε, τὰς τῶν ἀδικημάτων ἀρχὰς ἀπό θεῶν, ἀλλ' οὐχ ὑπ' ἀνθρώπων ἀσελγείας γίνεσθαι μηδὲ τοὺς ἡσεβηκότας, καθάπερ ἐν ταῖς τραγῳδίαις, Ποινὰς ἐλαύνειν καὶ κολάζειν δασὶν ἡμμένοις αλλ'

concealed, and sacrificing the subject to a display of the speaker's powers, admirable as those are, that nothing can be less adapted to the genius of modern elocution, which requires a constant and almost exclusive attention to the business in hand. In all his orations which were spoken (for, singular as it may seem, the remark applies less to those which were only written, as all the Verrine, except the first, all the Philippies, except the first and ninth, and the Pro Milone) hardly two pages can be found which a Some admirable modern assembly would bear. arguments on evidence, and the credit of witnesses, might be urged to a jury ; several passages, given by him on the merits of the case, and in defense against the charge, might be spoken in mitigation of punishment after a conviction or confession of guilt; but, whether we regard the political or forensic orations, the style, both in respect of the reasoning and the ornapiments, is wholly unfit for the more severe and less trifling nature of modern affairs in the Senate or at he bar. Now it is altogether otherwise with the Greek masters. Changing That of the a few phrases, which the difference Greeks perfect. of religion and of manners might ren- modern times. der objectionable-moderating, in some degree, the virulence of invective, especially against private character, to suit the chivalrous courtesy of modern hostility-there is hardly one of the political or forensic orations of the Greeks that

αἱ προπετεῖς τοῦ σώματος ἡδοναὶ, καὶ τὸ μηδὲν ἱκανὸν ἡγεῖσθαι, ταῦτα πληροῖ τὰ λῃστήρια-ταῦτ' εἰς τὸν ἐπακτροκέλητα ἐμβιβάζει — ταῦτά ἐστιν ἑκάστῳ Ποινή, κ. τ. λ. - ΑΙΣΧΙΝ. κατά Τιμάρxov. Let no one think that crimes arise from the instigation of the gods, and not from the rash intemperance of men; or that the profane are driven and chastised, as we see them on the stage, by furies with blazing torches. The eager lusts of the flesh,

and the insatiable desire for more-these swell the

ranks of the robber, and crowd the deck of the rate-these are to every one his own fury!

Nolite enim putare, quemadmodum in fabulis sæpenumero videtis, eos, qui aliquid impie scelera teque commiserint, agitari et perterreri Furiarum tædis ardentibus. Sua quemque fraus, et suus terror maxime vexat; suum quemque scelus agitat, amentiaque afficit; suæ malæ cogitationes conscientiæque animi terrent. Hæ sunt impiis assidua domesticæque Furiæ; quæ dies noctesque parentum pœnas a consceleratissimis filiis repetant.-Pro Sexto Ros

cio Amerino.

Nolite enim putare, ut in scena videtis, homines consceleratos impulsu deorum terreri Furiarum tædis ardentibus. Sua quemque fraus, suum facinus-suum scelus-sua audacia, de sanitate ac mente deturbat. Hæ sunt impiorum Furiæ-ha flamme-he faces.-In Luc. Calp. Pisonem.

The great improvement in Cicero's taste between the first and the second of these compositions is manifest, and his closer adherence to the original. He introduces the same idea, and in very similar language, in the Treatise De Legg, Lib. 1.Brougham. 2 Orator., c. 29.

ly adapted to

There is a singular example of this in the remarks on the evidence and cross-examination in the oration for L. Flaccus, pointed out to me by my friend Mr. Scarlett (now Lord Abinger), the mention of whose name affords an illustration of my argument. for, as a more consummate master of the forensic art in all its branches never lived, so no man is more conversant with the works of his predecessors in ancient times. Lord Erskine, too, perhaps the first of judicial orators, ancient or modern, had well studied the noble remains of the classic age.-Brougham.