CHAP. position in 1841. the complete overthrow of the Whig Government. Lyndhurst anxiously, but silently, looked on. He now felt himself A.D. 1841. much more dependent upon Peel than he had been when Lyndhurst's there could be no Conservative competitor for the Great Seal. Pemberton Leigh, an eminent equity lawyer, who had refused the office of Solicitor General, had distinguished himself in the House of Commons on the Conservative side, and would have made a most excellent Chancellor,*-and Sir William Follett, who had been Solicitor General during "the hundred days," had displayed great debating powers, possessed Peel's entire confidence, and was looked forward to as the future Chancellor. Lyndhurst, therefore, could no longer set up for himself, or venture to do anything to offend Peel, who was now recognised as the sole master of the destinies of Conservatism. Lord Melbourne, although while minister he had declared that "to propose a repeal of the Corn Laws would be madness," as a last resort consented that a fixed duty—which amounted in effect to a repeal of the Corn Laws-should be proposed as a measure of his Government. But this alienated many Whig supporters, and gave fresh energy to Tory opposition. In consequence, the leading proposals of the ministerial budget were rejected by the House of Commons. A hope was fostered that Free Trade was more popular in the country, and a dissolution was determined upon. Peel then moved a direct vote of want of confidence, which was carried by a 22nd June. majority of one. Still many friends of the Government thought that an appeal to the people would be successful, and Parliament was dissolved. 4th June. General Election. I cannot speak from my own observation of what was now going on in England, for I had been sent to Ireland to succeed Lord Plunket as Lord Chancellor there; but I was told that Lyndhurst watched the elections with very great solicitude, and that when the returns were decidedly on the Conservative side, free trade professions as yet meeting with little favour, *August 15th, 1858. The Loudon Gazette' announces that Pemberton Leigh is raised to the Peerage by the title of "Baron Kingsdown, of Kingsdown in the county of Kent." He will greatly strengthen the appellate jurisdiction of the House of Lords. Peel intimated to him that he should wish for his assistance in the new Government, which he must be commissioned to form on the meeting of the new Parliament. CHAP. VI. A.D. 1841. When I came over from Ireland to take my seat in the House of Lords, I was like a convict led out to execution. We full well knew our fate; but we resolved to put a good face upon it, to meet Parliament, and to make the Queen deliver a speech in favour of Free Trade. Then came the 19th Aug. Amendment in both Houses,-"to assure her Majesty that no measures could be properly considered while her Majesty had advisers who did not enjoy the confidence of Parliament." This was carried by large majorities in both Houses, and of 30th Aug. course led to a resignation of the Whig ministers. CHAPTER VII. СНАР. again Chancellor. LORD CHANCELLOR UNDER SIR ROBERT PEEL. SEPTEMBER, 1841-JULY, 1846. AFTER a short adjournment during the construction of the new Cabinet, which had been long foreseen and pre-arranged, A.D. 1841. Lyndhurst re-entered the House of Lords, preceded by his 6th Sept. mace-bearer and his purse-bearer with the Great Seal, and Lyndhurst took his place on the woolsack. He was excessively nervous, and, looking bewildered, did not seem at all to recollect the forms with which he had so long been familiar. Lord Melbourne, in a loud whisper, said to me, "Who would think that this is the same impudent dog who bullied us so unconscionably in his 'Reviews of the Session '?" But Lyndhurst was soon himself again, laughing at everybody and everything, and especially delighting in a jest against any of his colleagues. Prorogation, 7th Oct. Conclusion of first ses sion of the new parlia ment. During this brief session the new Chancellor only spoke once—which was respecting an amendment (my coup d'essai in the House of Lords) upon a bill for the creation of two additional Vice Chancellors. I proposed to provide "that Irish as well as English barristers should be considered qualified for the appointment." He consented to the amendment; but slyly insinuated that the only object of the Irish ex-Chancellor was to make himself less unpopular in Ireland; that Irish barristers might give him a more cordial reception than he had experienced when he first visited that country to supersede Lord Plunket. Sir Robert Peel now preserved the most profound silence respecting his future measures. The late Government having dissolved Parliament and gone to the country upon their Free-Trade budget, "Protection" was the cry of their opponents, and this cry had produced the overwhelming majority VII. by which the Whigs were crushed. The new Premier was a CHAP. "free-trader" in his heart, and already meditated the commercial reform which he afterwards accomplished. But as A.D. 1841. yet neither friend nor foe could extort from him any avowal of his intentions; and, having carried a few unimportant bills, he hurried on the prorogation. In the evening before the day of this ceremony-entering the House of Lords a few minutes past five-I found Lyndhurst returning to his private room, after an adjournment had been moved and carried, there appearing no business to be brought forward. I complained to him of this sudden adjournment as a trick-saying that, "being now in opposition, I was coming down, after his example, to take "a review of the session," that I might contrast the promises of the Conservative party with their performance since they had been in office. Lyndhurst.-“If you had been as wise as we have been, and not brought forward measures to be rejected, I might still have been taking 'a review of the session,' and you might have been enjoying the sweets of power." I ought to mention that in a very obliging and good- Lyndhurst's obliging natured manner he now gave me a small place for my clerk, disposition. who had been with me when I was Chancellor in Ireland, and who was cast away along with me in the recent wreck. To excite me to discontent and desertion, he pretended to say that the Whigs were much to blame in leaving me without any retired allowance or provision of any sort. But I was quite content to remain five years working for the public in the judicial business of the House of Lords, and in the judicial Committee of the Privy Council. I had voluntarily waived my claim to the retired allowance of Irish Chancellor, and I had no right to complain. fourth On the first day of Michaelmas term, Lord Chancellor Lyndhurst's Lyndhurst again received the Judges and Queen's Counsel Chancellorat his levee, and led the grand procession to Westminster ship. Hall. He was now in his fourth Chancellorship,-the first having been under George IV.; the second under William IV., from the accession of that monarch till the formation of Lord Grey's Government, in November, 1830; the third again under William IV., during the hundred days from VII. CHAP. November, 1834, to April, 1835; and, lastly, under Queen Victoria, of whose conscience he was the keeper for five A.D. 1841 years. No Chancellor had received the Great Seal so often from different sovereigns since the Plantagenet reigns. 1846. Lyndhurst talis qualis. In the Court of Chancery he was now exposed to a very disagreeable comparison; for Lord Cottenham, his immediate predecessor, although very inferior to him in grasp of intellect and general acquirements, was a consummate Equity Judge; and had given entire satisfaction to the Bar and the suitors in the Court of Chancery. Some supposed that Lord Lyndhurst would now show himself (as he might have done) one of the greatest of Chancellors. Between five and six years he had enjoyed entire leisure, and as during the whole of that period he seemed to be in the near prospect of resuming his high office, and eager again to possess it, those who were not well acquainted with his habits. conjectured that he was preparing himself for its duties, with which, when he before held it, he had been of necessity imperfectly acquainted. But, in truth, he had been absorbed in political intrigue. He hardly ever attended to the judicial business of the House of Lords; with one exception, he never sat in the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, and he did not trouble himself with reading the periodical reports of the decisions of any of the Equity Judges.* No improvement was discoverable. He took no bribes, and he never was influenced by any improper motive in deciding for one party rather than the other-further than taking the course which was likely to give himself least trouble, and which least exposed him to unpleasant criticism. His excellent good sense and admirable tact kept him out of scrapes. Avoiding danger, he was careless about glory; and *The instance in which he did sit in the Privy Council was an appeal from the Arches on the will of Jemmy Wood, the banker at Gloucester, a case involving property to an immense amount, and attended with very great difficulty. I was counsel for the appellant, and I thought Lyndhurst a Daniel; for the Court, by his advice, decided for my client. But such was Lyndhurst's disinclination to judicial work, that I could not prevail upon him to attend the hearing of the appeal in the House of Lords on which the disruption of the Church of Scotland depended; and this was disposed of exclusively by two peers, Lord Brougham and Lord Cottenham. His presence might have saved a great national calamity. |