Lord Liverpool, then, may be said to have passed the whole of his life in the service of the public. From his first appointment to the India Board in 1793, when he was only twenty-three years of age, to the fatal seizure, which terminated his political career in 1827, with the exception of a short interval of only a few months, he was constantly in office. It was his good fortune, as Secretary of State for the Foreign Office, to win the gratitude of his country by concluding the peace of Amiens; it was his good fortune as Secretary of State for the Colonies to supervise the operations of the Peninsular campaign; it was his good fortune as Prime Minister to conclude the most durable peace by which the perseverance of a nation or the ability of a commander had ever been rewarded. But, though Lord Liverpool's official career was, in proportion to his days, longer than that of any other British minister, and though his name is associated with some of the most important occurrences in the history of the world, he is not usually regarded as a great statesman. Respectable in everything that he undertook, he was eminent in nothing. His smooth and sensible oratory never rose to eloquence; his steady and business-like administration never displayed any genius. During his long career he excited no popular sympathy; but he aroused no aristocratic prejudices. His was eminently the temperament to deal with materials and constitutions as he found them. He had neither the audacity which attempts reform or the penetration which foresees its necessity. No repressive law was abolished, no popular change was accomplished, at his own instance, during his long administration. But the machinery of government was preserved unimpaired, the authority of the executive was largely, and perhaps needlessly, increased during his tenure of office. Lord Eldon was Lord Chancellor for even a longer period than that during which Lord Liverpool retained the Premiership. He received his high office at the very Though, however, he was narrow in his views, though his influence undoubtedly retarded the accomplishment of many necessary and beneficial reforms, Lord Eldon's name will always be remembered with honour. His eminent ability, his unflagging industry, his strict honesty, his unfailing consistency, his immovable loyalty, illustrate and adorn his public life: just as his genial manners, his excellent temper, and his cheerful, affectionate disposition endeared him to his family and his 1 Twiss's Eldon, vol. i. p. 340. CHAP. III. CHAP. III. friends. Lord Eldon, it must always be recollected to his honour, began life with small advantages. He was the younger son of a Newcastle tradesman, and obtained his education at the free grammar school of the town. His elder brother, William, subsequently famous as Lord Stowell, had been educated at the same place, and had obtained by his ability a scholarship, which had enabled him to proceed to Oxford. By William Scott's advice John Scott was rescued from trade in 1766, and sent to his elder brother at the university. But the wisdom of the proceeding seemed long doubtful. The first important step which was taken by the future chancellor, after leaving Oxford, was to provoke the animosity of his friends by running away with Miss Surtees. The elopement was certainly imprudent. The marriage, of course, compelled young Scott to vacate the fellowship which he had won at Oxford. He had no other means except a deputy professorship at Oxford to depend upon; he had not even definitely chosen a profession; and his health was seriously impaired. Fortunately for him his wife's family forgave him, and settled on him a small income, which the death of his own father subsequently increased. Still more fortunately Miss Surtees, besides possessing unusual beauty, made an excellent housekeeper and a most affectionate wife. Seven years passed after Scott's marriage before his professional career was cheered by a ray of hope. After seven years had passed an extraordinary and unanticipated success, in the case of Ackroyd v. Smithson,' ensured his ultimate advancement. Young man,' said a solicitor to him as he left the court, 'your bread-andbutter is cut for life.' The solicitor's prediction was fulfilled. Three years after his argument in Ackroyd v. Smithson' Scott received his silk gown. Almost at the same time he was elected, through Lord Weymouth's inTwiss's Eldon, vol. i. p. 119. III. terest, to represent the now disfranchised borough of CHAP. Weobly in Parliament; and, after a Parliamentary career of five years, he was knighted and made Solicitor-General. Five years later, or in 1793, Sir John Scott became Attorney-General; in 1799 he was appointed Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas and made Lord Eldon. Lord Eldon filled his new office for a very brief period; but in that short time he discharged its duties with extraordinary ability. He promised to become one of the greatest common law judges which the country had ever seen. The necessities of political life, however, removed him almost immediately afterwards from the sphere for which he was most eminently qualified. Pitt resigned; Lord Loughborough was compelled to retire from the Chancellorship; and the king, who had already formed a very marked affection for Lord Eldon, insisted on the Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas succeeding Lord Loughborough. His majesty drew the seals from beneath the left side of his coat, saying, 'I give them to you from my heart.' 1 1 Lord Eldon did not maintain in the Court of Chancery the high judicial reputation which he had acquired at the Common Pleas. An excessive prudence made him hesitate to decide. Hesitation produced delay and arrears; the business of his court became hopelessly encumbered with the vast accumulation of business which was the result of the chancellor's doubts But, if the chancellor, in one sense, failed as a judge, he succeeded as a politician. He was, perhaps, the strongest' member of the Duke of Portland's administration; and the known affection with which George III. regarded him increased his influence. The time, indeed, came when Lord Eldon's influence declined. George III. was incapacitated; the country moved on; and Lord Eldon stood still. But, to the latest, when deserted by his old friends and laughed at for the opinions 1 Twiss's Eldon, vol. i. p. 368. CHAP. III. Lord Sidmouth. which only a few months before they had cheered, the venerable lawyer continued the struggle. He stood almost alone in the breach, striving to repair it, while the rising tide of Emancipation and Reform was surging around him. Lord Sidmouth occupied a very different position, both in the cabinet and in the House of Lords, to that which was filled by his near connection, Lord Eldon.1 He was an ex-prime minister; and, as an ex-prime minister, had a rank, in the estimation of the public, which was enjoyed by none other of Lord Liverpool's colleagues. He was the chief of a small but important party of friends and relatives of his own, whose support no ministry could easily spare. His father, Dr. Addington, a physician at Reading, married a Miss Hiley, the daughter of the head master of the Reading Grammar School. A successful practice induced Dr. Addington to move to London, where he became a fashionable physician, and where his son, the future minister, was born, in 1757. The boy was sent at an early age, to Cheam, where his master, Mr. Gilpin, formed a very high opinion of his parts, but a very low one of his industry. From Cheam he was moved to Winchester, where his master was Dr. Huntingford, and where he formed the acquaintance of Brother Bragge,' his future brother-in-law. From Winchester, after a short stay at Dr. Goodenough's, at Ealing, he passed on to Brasenose. The tutors of great men, in those days, were sometimes extravagantly rewarded. Dr. Huntingford became Bishop of Hereford; Dr. Goodenough Bishop of Carlisle. Addington, after passing creditably through Oxford, studied for the bar. But he never applied himself seriously to his profession. Dr. Addington had been the favourite physician of the great Lord Chatham. Young 1 Lord Eldon's niece, the daughter of Lord Stowell, was Lord Sid mouth's second wife. She was |