confesses how important an ally eloquence must be. But in peaceful times, when the progress of events is slow and even as the silent and unheeded pace of time, and the jars of a mighty tumult in foreign and domestic concerns can no longer be heard, then, too, she flourishes-pro- | tectress of liberty-patroness of improvement guardian of all the blessings that can be showered upon the mass of human kind; nor is her form ever seen but on ground consecrated to free institutions. "Pacis comes, otiique socia, et jam bene constitutæ reipublicæ alumna eloquentia" ["Eloquence is the companion of peace and the associate of leisure; it is trained up under the auspices of a well-established republic."] To me, calmly revolving these things, such pursuits seem far more noble objects of ambition than any upon which the vulgar herd of busy men lavish prodigal their restless exertions. To diffuse useful information-to further intellectual refinement, sure forerunner of moral improvement-to hasten the coming of the bright day when the dawn of general knowledge shall chase away the lazy, lingering mists, even from the base of the great social pyramid-this, indeed, is a high calling, in which the most splendid talents and consummate virtue may well press onward eager to bear a part. I know that I speak in a place consecrated by the pious wisdom of ancient times to the instruction of but a select portion of the community. Yet from this classic ground have gone forth those whose genius, not their ancestry, ennobled them; whose incredible merits have opened to all ranks the temple of science; whose illustrious example has made the humblest emulous to climb steeps no longer inaccessible, and enter the unfolded gates, burning in the sun. I speak in that city where Black having once taught, and Watt learned, the grand experiment was afterward made in our day, and with entire success; to demonstrate that the highest intellectual cultivation is perfectly compatible with the daily cares and toils of working men; to show by thousands of living examples that a keen relish for the most sublime truths of science belongs alike to every class of mankind.

To promote this, of all objects the most important, men of talents and of influence I rejoice to behold pressing forward in every part of the empire; but I wait with impatient anxiety to see the same course pursued by men of high station in society, and by men of rank in the world of letters. It should seem as if these felt some little lurking jealousy, and those were somewhat scared by feelings of alarm-the one and the other surely alike groundless. No man of science needs fear to see the day when scientific excellence shall be too vulgar a commodity to bear a high price. The more widely knowledge is spread, the more will they be prized whose happy lot it is to extend its bounds by discovering new truths, or multiply its uses by

inventing new modes of applying it in practice. Their numbers will indeed be increased, and among them more Watts and more Franklins will be enrolled among the lights of the world, in proportion as more thousands of the working classes, to which Franklin and Watt belonged, have their thoughts turned toward philosophy; but the order of discoverers and inventors will still be a select few, and the only material variation in their proportion to the bulk of mankind will be, that the mass of the ignorant multitude being progressively diminished, the body of those will be incalculably increased who are worthy to admire genius, and able to bestow upon its possessors an immortal fame.

To those, too, who feel alarmed as statesmen, and friends of existing establishments, I would address a few words of comfort. Real knowledge never promoted either turbulence or unbelief; but its progress is the forerunner of liberality and enlightened toleration. Whoso dreads these, let him tremble; for he may be well assured that their day is at length come, and must put to sudden flight the evil spirits of tyranny and persecution which haunted the long night now gone down the sky. As men will no longer suffer themselves to be led blindfolded in ignorance, so will they no more yield to the vile principle of judging and treating their fellow-creatures, not according to the intrinsic merit of their actions, but according to the accidental and involuntary coincidence of their opinions. The great truth has finally gone forth to all the ends of the earth, THAT MAN

SHALL NO MORE RENDER ACCOUNT TO MAN FOR HIS BELIEF, OVER WHICH HE HAS HIMSELF NO CONTROL. Henceforward, nothing shall prevail upon us to praise or to blame any one for that which he can no more change than he can the hue of his skin or the height of his stature.* Henceforward, treating with entire respect those who conscientiously differ from ourselves, the only practical effect of the difference will be to make us enlighten the ignorance on one side or the other from which it springs, by instructing them, if it be theirs; ourselves, if it be our own, to the end that the only kind of unanimity may be produced which is desirable among rational beings-the agreement proceeding from full conviction after the freest discussion. Far then, very far, from the universal spread of knowledge being the object of just apprehension to those who watch over the peace of the country, or have a deep interest in the permanence of her institutions, its sure effect will be the removal of the only dangers that threaten the public tranquillity, and the addition of all that is wanting to confirm her internal strength. Let me therefore indulge in the hope that

This has been looked upon by many as a hasty utterance, contradicting the tenor of Scripture teaching.

matter than to enjoy all that office can bestow office, of which the patronage would be irksome encumbrance, the emoluments superfluous, to one, content, with the rest of his industrious fellow-citizens, that his own hands minister to his wants and as for the power supposed to follow it-I have lived nearly half a century, and I have learned that power and place may be severed. But one power I do prize-that of being the advocate of my countrymen here, and their fellow-labourer elsewhere, in those things which concern the best interests of mankind. That power I know full well no government can give-no change take away.

ON PARLIAMENTARY REFORM.* We stand in a truly critical position. If we reject the bill, through fear of being thought to be intimidated, we may lead the life of retirement and quiet, but the hearts of the millions of our fellow-citizens are gone for ever; their affections are estranged; we and our order, and its privileges, are the objects of the people's hatred, as the only obstacles which stand between them and the gratification of their most passionate desire. The whole body of the aristocracy must expect to share this fate, and be exposed to feelings such as these. For I hear it constantly said, that the bill is rejected by all the aristocracy. Favour, and a good number of supporters, our adversaries allow, it has among the people; the ministers, too, are for it; but the aristocracy, say they, is strenuously opposed to it. I broadly deny this silly, thoughtless assertion. What, my Lords! the aristocracy set themselves in a mass against the people-they who sprang from the people are inseparably connected with the people-are supported by the people-are the natural chiefs of the people! They set themselves against the people, for whom peers are ennobled bishops consecrated-kings anointed -the people, to serve whom Parliament itself has an existence, and the monarchy and all its institutions are constituted, and without whom none of them could exist for an hour! The assertion of unreflecting men is too monstrous to be endured as a member of this House, I deny it with indignation. I repel it with scorn, as a calumny upon us all. And yet there are those who even within these walls speak of the bill augmenting so much the strength of the democracy as to endanger the other orders of the state; and so they charge its authors with promoting anarchy and rapine. Why, my Lords, have its authors nothing to fear from democratic spoliation? The fact is, that there are members of the present cabinet who possess, one or two of them alone, far more property than any two administrators within my recollection; and all of them have ample wealth. I need hardly say,

* Delivered in the House of Lords, October 7, 1831.

I include not myself, who have little or none. But even of myself I will say, that whatever I have depends on the stability of existing institutions; and it is as dear to me as the princely possessions of any among you. Permit me to say, that, in becoming a member of your House, I staked my all on the aristocratic institutions of the state. I abandoned certain wealth, a large income, and much real power in the state, for an office of great trouble, heavy responsibility, and very uncertain duration. I say, I gave up substantial power for the shadow of it, and for distinction depending upon accident. I quitted the elevated station of a representative for Yorkshire, and a leading member of the House of Commons. I descended from a position quite lofty enough to gratify any man's ambition; and my lot became bound up in the stability of this House. Then, have I not a right to throw myself on your justice, and to desire that you will not put in jeopardy all I have now left?

But the populace only, the rabble, the ignoble vulgar, are for the bill! Then, what is the Duke of Norfolk, Earl Marshal of England? What the Duke of Devonshire? What the Duke of Bedford! [Cries of "Order" from the Opposition.] I am aware it is irregular in any noble lord that is a friend to the measure; its adversaries are patiently suffered to call peers even by their Christian and surnames. Then I shall be as regular as they were, and ask, does my friend John Russell, my friend William Cavendish, my friend Harry Vane, belong to the mob, or to the aristocracy? Have they no possessions? Are they modern names? Are they wanting in Norman blood, or whatever else you pride yourselves on? The idea is too ludicrous to be seriously refuted; that the bill is only a favourite with the democracy is a delusion so wild as to point a man's destiny towards 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 groundless imputation.

My Lords, I do not disguise the intense solicitude which I feel for the event of this debate,

because I know full well that the peace of the country is involved in the issue. I cannot look without dismay at the rejection of the measure. But, grievous as may be the consequences of a temporary defeat-temporary it can only be, for its ultimate, and 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 offer 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 cannot 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 has 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 woolsack. What may follow your course of obstinacy, if persisted in, I cannot 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

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 judge, 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 the 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-by all the ties that bind every one of us to our common order and our common country, I solemnly adjure you-I warn you-I implore you-yea, on my bended knees, I supplicate you-reject not this bill! disenthralled by the irresistible genius of "universal emancipation."

[This theatrical conclusion, it has been remarked, has excited the derision of some, and it is to be feared that Lord Brougham, in the scene here enacted, was in perilous proximity to the region of the ridiculous.]

SLAVE EMANCIPATION.

IF our rulers and legislators will undertake to emancipate the slaves, and do it as it ought to be done, immediately, I beg those who set themselves against such a measure, to point out the danger, and to prove it. The onus lies upon them. And what evidence do they give us? Where is it to be found? In what circumstances shall we discover it? From what principles and probabilities shall we infer it? We must not have mere hypothesis-mere allegations-mere fancied horrors, dressed up in frightful language. We must have proof to substantiate, in some good measure, their theory

of rebellion, warfare, and blood. If any such thing exists, let them produce it. Sure am I it is not in the conduct which the slaves have hitherto maintained. Notwithstanding all that these poor beings have suffered from the exactions and ruthlessness of their oppressors, how seldom has any case of insurrection occurred, and how easily have all such tumults been put down! And while we may expect a more cheerful submission after they are made free, than can be looked for so long as they are in cruel bondage, the same strength that has heretofore coerced them remains to coerce them still. We are told, indeed, to look to Hayti as furnishing an example of the horrors that would

be realised in our colonies, if the slaves were immediately set free. But it appears to me that the case of Hayti, so far from being an instance in favour of the alarmists, is an instance that may be confidently appealed to in support of the more quiet expectations which we entertain of the result. The disturbances in that island, the insubordination and bloodshed which prevailed in it, were owing to the white men, who introduced the revolutionary principles of France, liberated the slaves to serve their own ambitious or revengeful purposes, and instigated them to the atrocities that were committed. But when the black population were left to themselves, they at length settled down into social order and regular government. Look at the Haytians as they are now, and have been for many years, and you see a peaceable, industrious, prosperous, and, as far as can be in their circumstances, a happy as well as independent community!

It is quite absurd and delusive to say that eight hundred thousand slaves are to be let loose at once upon the white population. This is calculated to alarm the ignorant and the timid; but it is in reality a gross misstatement. The slaves are not to be let loose upon their masters. They are merely to be made free, and are still to be made subject to that legal and adequate control which it is the duty of our government to impose upon all its subjects, in every part of the British dominions, and which it will especially exercise where the necessity for it is great and pressing. Then, from the 800,000, it is fair to subtract the half as consisting of females, and whom we cannot surely dread as very formidable in their power of resisting the constituted authorities, or the military force. Still further, subtract the male children under twelve years of age, who may be classed with the women as to their inability to frighten or annoy either the planters or his Majesty's troops. Yet again, subtract all who are aged and sickly, or of docile disposition and submissive habits, attached to the masters that have been kind and merciful to them, and who would either not engage to revolt, or assist in quelling it. Once more, subtract that portion who have, in spite of all obstructions, imbibed the principles and spirit of Christianity, who would employ their influence and their efforts to prevent every sort of rapine, and to give to the abolition its full moral effect-and whom, though brethren in Christ Jesus, your gradualists would consign to unrequited toil, to undeserved suffering, to cruel bondage, during the remainder of their lives. Make all these deductions, and of the 800,000 slaves who, in the mass, are so apt to strike people's minds with terror, you will leave a number that the planters and the government should be ashamed to confess that they could not cope with, or preserve in due submission and in tranquillity

especially as they happen to be in numerous divisions, separated from each other by sea, and therefore unable to concentrate their hostility, or to unite their efforts, if they should choose to rebel.

I request the meeting now to turn their attention to the state of the free black population, which forms an important element, though too little heeded, in the argument I am now addressing to you. The grand distinction in the colonies is between the white people and the people of colour. The white people treat all the people of colour with perfect contempt. And the latter have every reason to feel and show resentment to the former. But those of them who are free have been guilty of no attempts to overturn a dominion, which they must every day feel to be of the most galling kind. And think not that it is on account of their being less considerable in number. On the contrary, the white people, in the crown and chartered colonies, are only 119,000, whereas the free blacks amount to no fewer than 144,000. But, sir, in the character and condition of the free blacks you will find a solution of the fact, and you will find, moreover, an additional security against all the evils which have been so eagerly pressed upon us, as likely to result from an immediate and total abolition. I have told you their number, 144,000. Think next of their wealth. That is allowed to be very great. In some places their opulence rivals or surpasses that of the white people. And thus they have a stake in the country, which will make them more than ordinarily anxious to repress even the beginnings of any tumult, from which they could look for nothing but the plunder and destruction of their property. They are more than opulent; many of them are remarkably intelligent, men of good education, of liberal ideas, conversant with the government of states, and with whatever contributes to the public weal. They have even established newspapers, in which they discuss the very question of the abolition of slavery, and advocate the measure both with zeal and talent, and in other respects display an extent of knowledge, a power of reasoning, and a tone of moral and religious feeling, which might be transferred with considerable advantage into a certain portion of the newspaper press of Edinburgh. Besides this, the free blacks are distinguished by their loyalty, and their decided attachment to the mother country-so much so, that when, in consequence of the interference of our government, the white colonists threatened to rebel, they were told, through the medium of the journals I have alluded to, that if they did so, they might be assured that they would be opposed by the free blacks, and by all the coloured population to a man, in defence of British sovereignty. And in addition to their loyalty, consider their general good conduct. I