CHAP. VIII. A.D. 1851. to the Louise. permanently sacrificed to it, contrary to a pledge given both by the Crown and the House of Commons. But fortunately he was defeated. However, by the end of October all our differences seemed My visit buried in oblivion. I then paid him, with my family, a most Château agreeable visit at the Château Eleanor Louise, on the shore Eleanor of the Mediterranean, as we were returning from Italy. He still talked of "Jonathan Wilde," or "Tom, the Queen's cousin," but did so now without any rancour, and he appeared so mild and gentle and goodhumoured that no one would have believed that he ever could have had a provoked or unprovoked enemy in the world.* and Lynd At the opening of the Session in 1852 Brougham was at Factious proceedings his post, and, without any ulterior view beyond badgering of Lords the Lord Chancellor, joined with Lyndhurst in obstructing Brougham the law reforms proposed on the part of the Government. hurst. To such a pitch of factiousness did they proceed that they complained of the Common Law Procedure Act for not going far enough, although it corrected flagrant abuses which had existed without disturbance while the two vituperators respectively held the Great Seal, and it made a greater change in the courts of common law than had been effected by all the statutes that had passed since the reign of Edward I. Lyndhurst even went so far (Brougham cheering him) as to com * In a short account which my father wrote of his journey in 1851, I find the following mention of his visit to Lord Brougham:-"I felt great curiosity and interest when, after changing horses at Antibes, I drew near to the château of 'my noble and learned friend.' . . . I found him quite alone,— that is, with one gentleman (Mr. Vane), who always goes abroad with him as his 'companion.' His place at Cannes is indeed most exquisitely beautiful. He calls it 'Château Eleanor Louise,' in honour of his daughter, to whose memory he is still tenderly attached. There are inscribed upon the walls verses in her praise by himself, by the late Lord Carlisle, and by the late Lord Wellesley. I thought the sight of my three daughters strongly revived the recollection of her in his mind, and that he was assailed by the sense of his own derelict condition. He comes, a solitary being, to a foreign land, where there is no one to welcome him, without any occupation to excite him, the projects of ambition which he has been fostering since his fall from power for ever blasted, and the infirmities of old age perceptibly laying hold of him. At first he seemed very melancholy, but he gradually brightened up as we talked over our old friends. . . . He conversed very agreeably about the culture of his oranges and his olives, but he chiefly delighted in discussing the bills of the last session and those of the session which is to come. As to the forthcoming new Reform Bill, we were pretty well agreed."-Ed. VIII. Fall of Lord sell. CHAP. plain that written allegations of the complaint and of the defence were not entirely swept away,—so that the parties A.D. 1852. might come before the judge, verbally state their case, and at once have a final adjudication upon all their differences. Lord John Russell at last fell by his own imprudence in bringing forward, to please the Radicals, a new Reform Bill, which all parties condemned, the principal enactment being a resuscitation in groups of the rotten boroughs extinguished by himself in 1832. Brougham imagined that his opposi tion had materially contributed to the change, and for this he quickly felt remorse. Instead of "Jonathan Wilde" he now saw on the woolsack Sugden, whom he disliked more heartily. Regret of Brougham under Lord St. Chancellor. Brougham bore the misfortune with apparent magnanimity. In public he affected to be rather cordial with the new Leonards as Chancellor, but he poured out his griefs pathetically into the ear of a private friend. The truth was that he stood considerably in awe of Sugden, who was infinitely superior to him in professional knowledge and had far higher reputation as a lawyer, while infinitely inferior to him in eloquence and in liberal acquirements. When I returned from the Spring Circuit in April I found that the new Chancellor had been setting all the law lords at defiance, and had threatened to repeal a bill which I had introduced as head of the Real Property Commission, to regulate the execution of wills of real and personal property. I was called in by Brougham to assist in repressing this "aggression," and we gave our "noble and learned friend" a lesson which made him comparatively modest and humble during the remainder of his short tenure of office. 1st July. After the prorogation and dissolution of Parliament, Brougham remained in England for the autumn session promised by the Protectionists for bringing forward their measures. But he made no memorable speech during the existence of the Derby Government. The struggle which resulted Overthrow in its overthrow was carried on exclusively in the House of Commons on Mr. Disraeli bringing forward his rejected budget. of the Derbyites. Brougham was rather pleased with the coalition of the CHAP. VIII. A.D. 1852. favours the Peelites and the Whigs which now took place. He felt no disappointment in not being included in the arrangement, for he sincerely and bona fide had renounced all hope, and, I believe, all wish of resuming office. Instead of the formid- Brougham able Sugden he saw on the woolsack the meek and pliable coalition Rolfe, created Lord Cranworth, whom he expected easily to between the Whigs and manage. Lord Aberdeen would be more grateful for his Peelites. support than Lord Derby had been. The only interested object which he now had in view for himself or his family was to obtain a remainder of his peerage for his brother William. He once had a great desire to become an Earl, but this was entirely extinguished by the elevation of Cottenham to that dignity. When Lord John Russell conferred that promotion on the retiring Chancellor, Brougham was very indignant, and either wrote or dictated a pamphlet ridiculing it, to which was affixed, rather felicitously, as a motto "The offence is RANK." CHAP. Sketch of the years 1852 to 1856. * CHAPTER IX. 1852-APRIL, 1859. I HAVE now brought down the life of Lord Brougham to the end of 1852, marked by the fall of Lord Derby's Govern ment. Since he became a parliament man my narrative has been divided by years or sessions of parliament, and I have hitherto found without difficulty something memorable that he had done, spoken, or written in each of these portions of time. He has retained his mental and physical powers almost quite unimpaired, but his career has become much more quiet and uniform. I will not say that "the flaming patriot who scorched us in the meridian now sinks temperately to the west, and is hardly felt as he declines." But if I were to continue any minuteness of detail I should now have only to relate year by year how he left his château at Cannes in the middle of January, and, passing a few days in Paris, turned up in the House of Lords on the first night of the session to make some desultory observations in the debate on the Address in answer to the Queen's Speech; how he presented many petitions to the House every evening, taking the opportunity of reminding their Lordships of what he had done and what he still intended to do for law reform; how he claimed the county courts as his creation, and attempted to give the county court judges unlimited jurisdiction over all matters civil and criminal, legal and equitable, military and ecclesiastical; how he made repeated speeches on the same subject-when giving notice of a motion, when withdrawing the notice, and renewing the notice as well as when the motion came on; how he still made himself prominent in the House by a copious distribution of praise and censure * The memoir was resumed at this point by my father in the year 1856, after an interval of three years.-ED. IX. 1854. nong those he mentioned or alluded to; how he was CHAP. er esteemed a very delightful companion in private, flatring his friends to their face and laughing at them be- A.D. 1852ind their back; how he affected to attend judicially to he hearing of appeals when he was writing notes to his ale and female acquaintances at the rate of a score in morning; how he gave pleasant dinners at which he oved to assemble those with whom he had had the bitterest uarrels, and charmed them all with his good humour and indness; how he delivered speeches at the Law Amendnent Society, exalting himself and vilipending all com petitors in the race of law reform; how he steadily made the Law Review' a tiresome vehicle of self-laudation and vituperation of others; how he would get sick of such occupations about Easter, and run off for relief to rapid motion and the sight of the Mediterranean sea; how at the end of a month he would return and resume his old course till the end of the session, having in the mean time published various speeches and pamphlets, and prepared new editions of some of his innumerable works; how he then retreated to Brougham Hall, where he hospitably entertained those whom in his writings he had attacked, was attacking, and intended to attack; how the unceasing rains and mists of Westmorland drove him away in search of a more genial climate; how in Paris he gave lectures on his philosophical discoveries to the members of the Institute, who, notwithstanding their natural politeness and respect for his energy and perseverance, experienced some difficulty in steadily preserving a countenance of admiration; and how he again hybernated in the Château Eleanor Louise till awoke by the Queen's proclamation summoning another session of Parliament at Westminster. The repetition of such matters year by year would be irksome, and for the joint benefit of my "noble and learned friend" and myself it will be better that I should merely, in a few sentences, mention anything that has subsequently occurred respecting him out of the common routine to which I have referred. Although he might have been very willing to accept He supports VOL. VIII. 2 P Lord Aberdeen. |