HWJf
RH
HANDBOUND
AT THE
UNIVERSITY OF
TORONTO PRESS
A BOOK OF
PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
A BOOK
OF
Compiled from Authentic Sources,
G. H. JENNINGS AND W. S. JOHNSTONE.
" I love anecdotes. I fancy mankind may come, in time, to write all aphoristically,
xcept in narrative ; grow weary of preparation and connection." DR. JOHNSON.
CASSELL, FETTER, AND GALPIN,
LONDON, PARIS, AND NEW YORK.
PREFACE.
IN the following pages an attempt has been made to bring
together for the first time, in the form of anecdote, some
of the more striking facts in the history of our Parliaments
and the public lives of distinguished statesmen. As the
value of such anecdote must mainly depend upon its
authenticity, the compilers have gone for their material
only to sources of established repute, appending in each
case the authority from which the facts are quoted. It
would have been a comparatively easy task to collect a
mass of unauthenticated incidents, but the result would
have been worthless in proportion to the facility of the
undertaking. To interest and amuse is but a part of the
aim of the book. It is also designed to furnish informa-
tion of a useful character, and to form a reliable work of
reference ; and it is hoped these objects have been in
some degree secured.
The public career of living statesmen, and of those
lately deceased has been sparingly dealt with. State-
vi PREFACE.
ments respecting recent events are more frequently dis-
puted than matters which have passed into the domain
of history ; and, moreover, the narration, in such cases, of
incidents which belong to the region of mere party feeling
has been thought undesirable.
In the Index will be found references to a number of
the celebrated expressions which have become political
household words. Some of these not given in the Per-
sonal division of the book have been included in the
Miscellaneous section.
CONTENTS.
PART I.
PAGE
ILLUSTRATIONS OF PARLIAMENTARY HISTORY i
PART II.
PERSONAL ANECDOTES
PART III.
MISCELLANEOUS ANECDOTES 315
A BOOK OF
PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
PART I.
ILLUSTRATIONS OF PARLIAMENTARY
HISTORY.
ANTIQUITY OF PARLIAMENTS. Parliaments, or General
Councils, are coeval with the kingdom itself. How those
Parliaments were constituted and composed is another
question, which has been matter of great dispute among our
learned antiquaries, and, particularly, whether the Commons
were summoned at all ; or, if summoned, at what period they
began to form a distinct assembly. * * * In the main,
the constitution of Parliament, as it now stands, was marked
out so long ago as the seventeenth year of King John,
A.D. 1215, in the great charter granted by that prince;
wherein he. promises to summon all archbishops, bishops,
abbots, earls, and greater barons, personally ; and all other
tenants- in-chief under the Crown, by the sheriff and bailiffs,
to meet at a certain place, with forty days' notice, to assess
aids and scutages when necessary. And this constitution has
subsisted in fact at least from the year 1266 (49 Henry III.),
there being still extant writs of that date to summon knights,
citizens, and burgesses to Parliament. Blackstone's Com-
mentaries.
B
2 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
"ENGLAND CAN NEVER BE RUINED BUT BY A PAR-
LIAMENT." It was a known apothegm of the great Lord
Treasurer Burleigh that " England could never be ruined but
by a Parliament ;" and, as Sir Matthew Hale observes, this
being the highest and greatest court, over which none other
can have jurisdiction in the kingdom, if by any means a
misgovernment should any way fall upon it, the subjects of
this kingdom are left without all manner of remedy. To
the same purpose Montesquieu though, I trust, too hastily
presages that as Rome, Sparta, and Carthage have lost
their liberty and perished, so the constitution of England will,
in time, lose its liberty will perish : it will perish whenever
the legislative power shall become more corrupt than the
executive. Ibid.
THE FIRST PARLIAMENT AFTER THE CONQUEST.
A Parliament was elected and called together in the fourth
year of William I. (1070). Twelve representatives were
elected in each county in the whole kingdom, and were
sworn before the King. In this Parliament the laws of
Edward the Confessor were adopted and confirmed.
Oldfield's "History of the House of Commons:'
THE MAD PARLIAMENT. In the year 1258, on April
loth, a Parliament met at London, which was called
insanum Parliamentum. Simon Montford, Earl of Leicester,
complained very boldly to the King (Henry III.), appealing
to the Parliament for justice; upbraided the King that
he promoted and enriched strangers, and despised am
wasted his own people; neglected his subjects that faithfully
served him, as he had charged the King six years before ;
that he had not performed his promise of rewarding him for
his services and -expenses in Gascoigny. To which the King
answered, that he would not stand to any promise made to
one that proved a traitor. The earl told the King he lied,
and, were he not a King, he would make him eat his words.
Gur don's "History of Parliament"
HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS. 3
THE PARLIAMENT DE LA BOND. One of Edward II.'s
Parliaments (1321) was called "Parliament de la Bond" from
the barons coming to Parliament armed against the two
Spencers, wearing coloured bands upon their sleeves for
distinction. Ibid.
THE WONDERFUL PARLIAMENT. The Parliament which
was summoned in the eleventh year of Richard II. (Feb.
3rd, 1388) has been called by some historians "the Par-
liament that wrought wonders;" by others, "the Merciless
Parliament." In it articles of high treason were exhibited
against the King's ministers, who were, accordingly, sen-
tenced to death or banishment. Parry's "Parliaments of
England"
THE LACK-LEARNING PARLIAMENT. Speaking of this
Parliament, which assembled in 1404, Lord Campbell, in his
" Lives," says, the recklessness of the Commons may have
arisen from their not having had a single lawyer among
them. Lord Chancellor Beaufort, in framing the writs of
summonses, illegally inserted a prohibition that "no ap-
prentice or other man of the law should be elected." * * *
In return for such a slight our law books and historians have
branded this Parliament with the name of Parliamentum
indoctum, or the "lack-learning Parliament."
THE PARLIAMENT OF BATS. In the 4th of Henry VI.
(1426), a Parliament was summoned to meet at Leicester,
and orders were sent to the members that they should not
wear swords, so they came to the Parliament (like modern
butchers) with long staves, from whence the Parliament got
the name of " the Parliament of Bats." And when the bats
were prohibited, the members had recourse to stones and
leaden plummets. Gurdoris "History of Parliament"
THE DIABOLICAL PARLIAMENT. In the 38th year of
Henry VI. (1460), a Parliament was summoned to meet
on the 2oth November, at Coventry. It was there enacted
that all such knights of any county as were returned to the
B 2
4 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
Parliament by virtue of the King's letters, without any other
election, should be good, and that no sheriff, for returning
them, should incur the pain therefore provided in the Act of
the 23rd of Henry VI. And as to the Upper House, the
lords of the house of York, then allies and friends, were in
a great measure neglected. The Queen and her party
carried all before them in this Parliament, which, from its
works, was called Parliamentum diabolicum. Ibid.
THE LONG PARLIAMENT. The Long Parliament, or
the fifth of Charles I., assembled November 3, 1640 "a
Parliament which many, before that time, thought would
never have had a beginning, and afterwards that it would
never have had an end." It was, however, abruptly and
violently dispersed by Cromwell, April ipth, 1653. He came
with a body of soldiers (says the " Parliamentary History "),
and entering the House in a furious manner, bid the
Speaker leave his chair; told the House that they had
sat long enough, unless they had done more good; that
some of them were whoremasters (looking then to Henry
Martyn and Sir Peter Wentworth), that others of them were
drunkards, and some corrupt and unjust men, and scan-
dalous to the profession of the Gospel ; and that it was not
fit they should sit as a Parliament any longer, and desired
them to go away. The Speaker not stirring from his seat,
Colonel Harrison, who sat near the chair, rose up and took
him by the arm, to remove him from his seat, which, when
the Speaker saw, he left his chair. Cromwell bid one of the
soldiers take away that fool's bauble, the mace, and stayed
himself to see all the members out of the house, himself
the last, and then caused the house to be locked up. The
next day there was a paper by somebody posted upon the
Parliament House door, thus : " This House is to be Lett,
now Unfurnished." After various vicissitudes a bill was
read a third time for " Dissolving the Parliament begun and
holden at Westminster 3rd of November, 1640, and that
HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS. 5
the day of dissolution shall be from this day, March i6th,
1659." Macaulay describes it as "that renowned Parlia-
ment which, in spite of many errors and disasters, is justly
entitled to the reverence and gratitude of all who, in any
part of the world, enjoy the blessings of constitutional
government." On the other hand, Cobbett, in his "Par-
liamentary History," observes, "Thus ended the Long
Parliament, which, with innumerable alterations and several
intermissions, had continued the scourge of the nation for
nearly twenty years."
PRIDE'S PURGE. When the Commons were to meet on
Dec. 6th, 1648, Hume says, Colonel Pride, formerly a dray-
man, environed the House with two regiments, and, directed
by Lord Grey of Groby, he seized in the passage forty-one
members of the Presbyterian party, and sent them to a low
room, which passed by the appellation of "hell," whence
they were afterwards carried to several inns. Above 160
members more were excluded, and none were allowed to
enter but the most furious and the most determined of the
Independents ; and these exceeded not the number of fifty
or sixty. This invasion of the Parliament commonly passed
under the name of " Colonel Pride's Purge," so much was
the nation disposed to make merry with the dethroning of
those members who had violently arrogated the whole
authority of government, and deprived the King of his legal
prerogatives. The remains of the Parliament were called
the " Rump."
TH.E RUMP. "The nickname originated," says Isaac
D'Israeli, " in derision on the expulsion of the majority of
the Long Parliament by the usurping minority. * * *
The collector of 'The Rump Songs' tells us, 'If you asked
who named it Rump, know 'twas so styled in an honest
sheet of prayer called the Bloody Rump, written before
the trial of our late sovereign ; but the word obtained not
universal notice till it flew from the mouth of Major-General
6 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
Brown, at a public assembly in the days of Richard
Cromwell/ "
BAREBONE'S PARLIAMENT. This Parliament, summoned
by Cromwell, met for the first time July 4th, 1653. Hume
says, "Among the fanatics of the House there was an
active member much noted for his long prayers, sermons,
and harangues. He was a leather-seller in London, his
name Praise-God Barebone. This ridiculous name, which
seems to have been chosen by some poet or allegorist to
suit so ridiculous a personage, struck the fancy of the
people, and they commonly affixed to the assembly the
appellation of * Barebone's Parliament.' "
PARLIAMENTARY HOSTAGES. In the sixth year of King
John (1205), a Parliament was held, at which the children
of the barons were required as hostages for their allegiance.
Oldfield's History.
AN UNWISE COUNSELLOR. Henry III., being straitened
for money, issued a warrant ordering the nobles to meet him
in London. Accordingly, on the day of St. Hilary, 1237,
a countless multitude proceeded to the palace at West-
minster to hear the King's pleasure. Having heard with
consternation the royal demand for a thirtieth of all movable
property, they were about to retire for the purpose of con
sultation, when Gilbert Bassett said to Henry, in the
hearing of all, " My lord King, send some one of your
friends to be present at the conference of your barons."
In reply to his speech, Richard Percy said, "What is it,
friend Gilbert, that you said ? Are we, too, foreigners ; and
are we not among the number of the King's friends ?" And
Gilbert felt himself rebuked for his unpleasant speech.
Matthew Paris.
SELECTION OF PARTIAL PARLIAMENTS. In ancient
times it was ordinary for kings to make a show of sum-
HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS.
moning Parliaments, whenas properly they were but par-
liamentary meetings of some such lords, clergy, and others
as the King saw most convenient to drive on his own
designs ; and therefore we find that Henry III., about the
latter part of his reign, when his government drew towards
the dregs, he having in the kingdom two hundred and fifty
baronies, he summoned unto one of these parliamentary
meetings but five-and-twenty barons and one hundred and
fifty of his clergy. Nathaniel Bacon's "Discourse on the
Government of England"
NEGLECT OF THE KING'S SUMMONS TO PARLIAMENT.
Edward III., being troubled with a quarrel between the two
Archbishops of Canterbury and York, concerning superiority
in bearing the cross, and the important affairs of Scotland
so urging, summoned a Parliament at York, which was fain to
be delayed and adjourned for want of appearance, and more
effectual summons issued forth ; but at the day of adjourn-
ment none of the clergy of the province of Canterbury would
be there ; and upon this occasion the Parliament was not
only interrupted in their proceedings, but an ill precedent
was made for men to be bold with the King's summons in
such cases as liked not them ; and thereupon a statute was
made to enforce obedience upon citizens and burgesses, and
such ecclesiastics as held per baroniam. * * * Nor did
Edward III. ever after hold the presence of the prelates at
so high repute at such meetings ; and therefore summoned
them, or so many of them as he thought meet for the occa-
sion sometimes more, sometimes fewer ; and at a Parlia-
ment in his forty-and-seventh year he summoned only four
bishops and five abbots. Albeit the clergy still made their
claim of vote, and desired the same to be entered upon
record. Ibid.
REPRESENTATION AN EXPENSIVE LUXURY. A corre-
spondent of Notes and Queries (Third Series) writes:
"Whatever estimate the people of the present day may put
8 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
upon the elective franchise, it would seem that our ancestors
'held the privilege very lightly ; for although the wages to
be received by members of Parliament were fixed by the
1 6th of Edward II. at the low rate of 45. a day for a knight
of the shire, and 23. for a citizen or burgess, yet we are told
by Prynne that many boroughs petitioned to be excused from
sending members to Parliament, on account of the expense ;
and in a note to " Blackstone " we learn that from the 33rd
Edward III., uniformly through the five succeeding reigns,
the Sheriff of Lancashire returned that there were no cities
or boroughs in his county that ought or were used, or could,
on account of their poverty, send any citizens or burgesses
to Parliament. There were some instances where even a
less sum than that established by statute was allowed ; and
it is on record that in 1463 Sir John Strange, the member
for Dunwich, agreed to take a cade and half a barrel of
herrings as a composition for his wages."
A MEMBER SUING FOR HIS WAGES. Mr. Hall, member
for Grantham, having published a book in 1580, which gave
offence to the House, was ordered to be expelled, fined,
and imprisoned. On the 2ist of November, 1586, Mr.
Markham, then member for Grantham, informed the House,
on the part of the inhabitants of that borough, that Mr.
Arthur Hall, at one time their member, had brought a writ
for his wages (amongst other times) for his attendance at
the late session of Parliament, holden at Westminster in
the twenty-seventh year of the Queen, during which time he
did not serve in the House. A committee appointed by the
House desired him to remit the said wages, which he did
" freely and frankly." HatseWs "Precedents, &C."
SAFETY AND QUIETUDE FOR MEMBERS. A Parliament
was summoned by Edward III. to meet at Westminster,
March i2th, 1332, reciting in the summons the King's reasons
for calling them. Where that we may see (says Joshua
Barnes) what prudent care was then taken by these august
HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS. 9
assemblies that their debates should not be awed by fear or
disturbed by tumults it was first by the King's order pro-
claimed, " That no man, upon pain of forfeiting all his
substance, should presume to use or wear any coat of metal,
or other weapon, offensive or defensive, in London, West-
minster, or the suburbs of the same. And also that during
the time of this session no games or other plays of men,
women, or children, should be used in Westminster, to the
disturbance of the Parliament." A Parliament met at York
in the following year. On the first day of their sitting com-
mandment was given to the Mayor of York, in presence of
the King and all his Parliament, to see the King's peace
kept in the said city, and suburbs thereof, and to arrest all
that offended against it. Also, proclamation to be made
against weapons and plays, by the steward and marschal,
before the house where the Parliament sat, and by the
mayor and bailiffs in the city. Parliamentary History.
THE FIRST SPEAKER. On the 4th August, 1377, writs
were issued for the calling a Parliament to meet fifteen days
after Michaelmas. The Commons chose Sir Peter De La
Mare, knight of the shire for Herefordshire, as their Speaker,
and the first upon record. Sir Peter on this occasion made
a protestation and said, " That what he had to declare was
from their whole body ; and therefore required that if he
should happen to speak anything without their consents,
that it ought to be amended before his departure from the
said place. He commended the feats of chivalry heretofore
practised, for which this nation was so renowned ; and said
that by the decay of the same, the honour of the realm did
and would daily decrease." Ibid.
A ROYAL ABSENTEE. In the tenth year of Richard II.
(1387) the Commons sent a message to the King, in which
they stated that if the King shall wilfully estrange himself
from his Parliament, and be absent from them for the space
of forty days, it shall be lawful for all and every of them,
TO A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
without any damage from the King, to go home and return
into their own countries. " And now you," continue the
remonstrants, " for a longer time have absented yourself,
and have refused to come among them." Oldfiehfs History.
AN EARL'S APOLOGY. In a Parliament of Richard II.,
held at Westminster, 1394, the Earl of Arundel exhibited a
complaint against the Duke of Lancaster, consisting of
four distinct charges. To the accusation the King himself
answered and affirmed that what the Duke of Lancaster
had done was all right and good. And his Majesty, with
the assent of the Lords, awarded that the said earl should
ask the duke's pardon, in full Parliament, and in the very
words following, which he spoke accordingly : " Sir,
Sith that it seemeth to the King and other lords, and eke
that each here hath been so mickle grieved and displeased
by my words ; it forethinketh, and I beseech you of your
grace and lordship to quit me your man-tallant." Parlia-
mentary History.
EATING HUMBLE PIE. In 1397 the House of Com-
mons required of the King (Richard II.), amongst other
demands, an avoidance of the extravagant expenses of the
King's household, and that bishops and ladies, who had no
particular business there, should be forbidden to frequent
the Court. The King, hearing of this, was highly incensed
and charged the Speaker, Sir John Bussy, upon his allegiance
to inform him v who it was that had brought the matter into
Parliament. The Commons, on being told the King's mind
in a conference with the Lords, made a most submissive and
even abject apology for their presumption; gave up the
name of the person who had brought it into their House
one Thomas Haxey, clerk; and furthermore, proceeded to
try poor Thomas Haxey, clerk, and condemned him to die
the death of a traitor. The King then informed the Com-
mons that he, out of his royal benignity and gracious
seigniory, freely excused them. The scape-goat also came
HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS. n
in for a share in the royal clemency, his life being spared
on the petition of the Archbishop of Canterbury and the
other prelates. Ibid.
A Pious SUBSIDY. Henry IV. called a Parliament
which met October 6th, 1404. " The Chancellor," says
Lord Campbell, in his " Lives of the Chancellors," " in a
speech from the text ' Rex vocavit seniores terra] having
pressed most urgently for supplies, the Commons came in a
body, and, the King being on the throne, proposed that
without burthening his people he might supply his occasions
by seizing on the revenues of the clergy. Archbishop
Arundel replied that the stripping the clergy of their estates
would put a stop to their prayers night and day for the
welfare of the State. The Speaker of the Commons,
standing at the bar, smiled and said openly that he thought
the prayers of the Church a very slender supply."
ROYAL REWARDS TO THE SPEAKER. Of the Parlia-
ment which assembled at Westminster, March ist, 1406,
Sir John Tibetot was chosen Speaker. Sir John excused
himself on account of his youth and other causes; never-
theless, the King confirmed his election. This youthful
Speaker appears to have discharged his functions to the
satisfaction of the Court at least; for at the close of the
Parliament the King, to show his generosity and gratitude to
Sir John, granted to him, in fee, all the lands and heredita-
ments of Richard ap Griffith ap Voethus, in the counties of
Carmarthen and Cardigan, and elsewhere in the principality
of South Wales, forfeited to the King by his being an ad-
herent to Owen Glendower, rebel and traitor ; and also the
office of keeper of the forests of Weybridge and Sapley, in
the county of Huntingdon, without any fee or out pay-
ments ; and further, the goods and chattels of Peter
Priswick, carpenter, a felon, amounting to ^"150. He was
afterwards made Earl of Worcester. Parliamentary History.
PETITION AGAINST A JUDGE. In 1434 (13 Henry VI.)
12 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
a petition was presented to the Commons of England
against Sir William Paston, knight, a judge of the Court of
Common Pleas, by William Balling. The fact that the
Commons were appealed to on such a matter, at this early
era in our records, is worth notice. The petition is thus
given in Sir John Fenn's " Paston Letters " : " Please it to
the right sage and wise Commons of this present Parliament,
that where(^) every justice of the King is sworn that he
should not take no fees or rewards for to be of counsel with
no man, but only with our sovereign lord the King, and
thereto they be sworn. Please it to (the) Commons of the
present Parliament that William Paston, one of the justices
of our sovereign lord (the) King, taketh divers fees and re-
wards of divers persons within the shires of Norfolk and
Suffolk, and is withhold with every matter in the said
counties; that is to say Of the town of Yarmouth, is.
yearly; of the Abbot of St. Benet's, 263. 8d. [several more
are here instanced] ; and of Katherine Shelton, 10 marks
(6 T 3 S - 4-d), against the King, for to be of her counsel for
to destroy the right of the King and of his ward that is
for to say, Ralph, son and heir of John Shelton." In a note
prefixed to this petition, it is mentioned that Sir William
Paston was born in 1378, became a judge of the Common
Pleas in 1430, and from the propriety of his conduct was
called the " Good Judge."
HENRY VIII.'s METHOD WITH THE COMMONS. The
Ministers of Henry VIII., says Oldfield, "moved in 1536
that a bill be brought in to dissolve such monasteries as had
not above ^"200 per annum in land. The bill remained so
long in the House that the King, who was impatient to
have it passed, took upon himself to expedite its progress.
He sent for the members to attend him in his gallery, when,
having kept them waiting for a considerable time, he told
them fiercely that if the bill did not pass it would cost
many of them their heads." It is also related that while
HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS. 13
the opposition of the Commons to the imposition lasted,
Henry sent for a Mr. Edward Montague, who had consider-
able influence in the House, and said, " Ho, man ! will they
not suffer my bill to pass?" and, laying his hand on Mon-
tague's head, who was then on his knees before him, " Get
my bill passed by to-morrow, or else to-morrow this head of
yours will be off." The bill was passed, and Mr. Montague's
head was permitted to remain in its ordinary position.
ORIENTAL ADULATION. In 1537 an insult was put upon
the House of Commons, which shows most strikingly the
degraded state to which Parliament was reduced in the reign
of Henry VIII. On the recommendation of the Court,
Rich, whose bad character was notorious, and who was
hardly free from any vice except hypocrisy, was elected
Speaker. He repaid this promotion by comparing the King,
on the first day of the session, for prudence to Solomon, for
strength to Samson, and for beauty to Absalom; and on
the last to the sun, that warms, enlightens, and invigorates
the universe. Campbell's "Lives of the Chancellors"
" RENDER UNTO CAESAR," &c. Speaker Crooke told
Queen Elizabeth (when he was presented to her in the
House of Lords, on the occasion of his election to the chair)
that England had been defended against the Spanish Armada
by her mighty arm ; to which she answered from the throne,
" No ; but by the mighty hand of God, Mr. Speaker."
DEweJ Journal.
BRIBING MEMBERS. Against the calling a new Parlia-
ment great sums of money were remitted by the Emperor
(Charles V.) to Gardiner, to soften the leading nobility,
and carry elections for commoners that would comply with
the designs of the Court. The Londoners not liking the
intended marriage of Mary with the Prince of Spain, the
Parliament was summoned to meet at Oxford, April 2nd,
1544. Lord Chancellor Gardiner having granted pensions
to many of the leading members of the House of Commons,
14 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
thereby softened them. Gur don's "History of Parlia-
ment"
COMMENCEMENT OF THE JOURNALS OF THE COMMONS.
A Parliament was called to meet at Westminster on the
4th of November, 1547, in the first year of the reign of
Edward VI. The "Parliamentary History" says, "We are
now come to a period from which the Journals of the House
of Commons are extant. The first volume, which begins
with the reign, contains little more than a diurnal succinct
account of proceedings in reading bills, &c. * * * The
Journals of the Lords are more explicit in the reign before
us than those of the Commons."
SECESSION OF MEMBERS FROM THE COMMONS. In the
Parliament which assembled nth November, 1554, the first
of Philip and Mary, the legislative enactments of the three
previous reigns against Roman Catholicism were repealed.
" A circumstance occurred of a very extraordinary nature in
this Parliament " (says the " Parliamentary History "), " and
the like of which we have not before met with in the
course of this history. This was a voluntary secession
of some members of the Commons, who actually left
the House when they saw the majority inclined to
sacrifice everything to the ministry. Lord Coke, who,
in order to do honour to their memories, has preserved
their names in his ' Institutes/ states that the Court re-
sented this separation of the members, and ordered the
Queen's Attorney-General to indict them in the Court of
Queen's Bench. Six of them were so timorous as to submit
to the mercy of the Court, and paid their fines. All the
rest, amongst whom was that famous lawyer Plowden, tra-
versed ; but judgment against them was prevented by the
Queen's death."
THE COMMONS AND THE SUPPRESSED MONASTERIES.
In 1557 it was stated that Queen Mary intended to rebuild
the monasteries and restore the lands which had been
HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS. 15
alienated. The knowledge of this intention created such
warmth of debate in the Commons that several of the
members laid their hands on their swords, saying,
"They knew how to defend their own properties." This
put a stop to the intentions of the Court. Oldfield's
History.
THE "MEDDLESOME" COMMONS. A Parliament met in
April, 1571, when the Lord Keeper Bacon, in answer to the
Speaker's customary request for freedom of speech in the
Commons, said that Queen Elizabeth, " having experience of
late of some disorder and certain offences, which, though
they were not punished, yet were they offences still, and so
must be accounted, they would, therefore, do well to meddle
with no matter of State but such as should be propounded
unto them, and to occupy themselves in other matters con-
cerning the commonwealth." A member having rather pre-
maturely suggested the offer of a subsidy, several complaints
were made of irregular and oppressive practices, and Mr.
Bell said that licences granted by the Crown and other
abuses galled the people, intimating also that the subsidy
should be accompanied by a redress of grievances. This
occasion of introducing the subject, though strictly consti-
tutional, was likely to cause displeasure. The Speaker in-
formed them, a few days after, of a message from the Queen
to spend little time in motions, and make no long speeches.
And Bell, it appears, having been sent for by the Council,
came into the House " with such an amazed countenance,
that it daunted all the rest," who for many days durst not
enter on any matter of importance. It became the common
whisper that no one must speak against licences, lest the
Queen and Council should be angry. And at the close of
the session the Lord Keeper severely reprimanded those
" audacious, arrogant, and presumptuous members " who
had called her Majesty's grants and prerogatives in question,
meddling with matters neither pertaining to them nor within
1 6 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
the capacity of their understanding. Hallairis " Constitu-
tional History"
ENRAGING QUEEN ELIZABETH. Peter Wentworth, a
member whose courageous and independent spirit had
already drawn upon him repeated manifestations of royal
displeasure, presented to the Lord Keeper a petition, pray-
ing that the Upper House would join with the Lower
in a supplication to the Queen for fixing the succession.
Elizabeth, enraged at the bare mention of a subject so
offensive to her, instantly committed to the Fleet Prison
Wentworth, Sir Thomas Bromley, who had seconded him,
and two other members to whom he had imparted the busi-
ness ; and when the House were preparing to petition her
for their release, some Privy Councillors dissuaded them
from the step, as one which could only prove injurious to
these gentlemen, by giving additional offence to her Majesty.
Soon after, James Morice, member for Colchester, an emi-
nent lawyer, who was attorney of the Court of Wards and
chancellor of the Duchy, made a motion for redress of the
abuses in the Bishops' Court, and especially of the enormous
ones committed under the High Commission. Several mem-
bers supported the motion ; but the Queen, sending in
wrath for the Speaker, required him to deliver up the bill to
her ; reminded him of her strict injunctions at the opening
of the sessions, and testified her extreme indignation and
surprise at the boldness of the Commons in intermeddling
with subjects which she had expressly forbidden them to
discuss. She informed them that it lay in her power to
summon Parliaments and to dismiss them, and to sanction
or to reject any determination of theirs; that she had at
present called them together for the twofold purpose of
enacting further laws for the maintenance of religious con-
formity, and of providing for the national defence against
Spain ; and that these ought, therefore, to be the sole objects
of their deliberations. As for Morice, he was seized by a
HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS. 17
sergeant-at-arms in the House itself, suspended from his
office, rendered incapable of practising as a lawyer, and
committed to prison. Aikiris " Memoirs of the Court of
Elizabeth."
A " POPE-LIKE " SPEECH. Wentworth, the most distin-
guished assertor of civil liberty in Elizabeth's reign, related
in the House a conversation he had held with Archbishop
Parker. " I was," he says, " among others, the last Parlia-
ment (15 74), sent for unto the Archbishop of Canterbury, for
the Articles of Religion that then passed this House. He
asked us ' Why we did put out of the book the articles for
the homilies, consecration of bishops, and such like?'
' Surely, sir,' said I, * because we were so occupied in other
matters that we had no time to examine them how they
agreed with the Word of God.' l What ! ' said he ; ' surely
you mistake the matter ; you will refer yourselves wholly to
us therein ? ' ' No ; by the faith I bear to God,' said I,
' we will pass nothing before we know what it is ; for that
were but to make you popes. Make you popes who list,' said
I ; 'for we will make you none.' And sure, Mr. Speaker,
the speech seemed to me to be a Pope-like speech ; and I
fear lest our bishops do attribute this of the Pope's canons
unto themselves Papa non potest errare" Hallanis '''Con-
stitutional History"
ELIZABETH AND THE BISHOPS. Elizabeth, in her speech
to Parliament on closing the session of 1584, when many
complaints against the rulers of the Church had rung in
her ears, told the bishops that if they did not amend what
was wrong, she meant to depose them. Ibid.
A MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT PILLORIED. In Grafton's
Abridgment of the "Chronicles of England," 1571, there
is the following account of a member who fell into great
disgrace in the Parliament which sat in 1570 : " An undis-
crete Burgeoys of the Parliament. And it fortuned that in
the said Parliament one very indiscrete and unmete man
c
1 8 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
was returned a Burgeoys for the borough of Westbury, in
Wiltshire, who being instructed by such as delighted to abuse
his simplicitie to evil purposes, as he himselfe in the Par-
liament Hous (beyng sober) openly declared, or els caryed
by excesse of drink, or both, did spreade abroade lewde and
sedicious rumours against the Queenes Majesties person.
And being thereof detected to the Parliament House, and
the offence by hym confessed, and his defectes and insuffi-
ciency well considered, hee was from the House committed
to ward. And for that there was confessed corruption in
receaving of money for his election, and also a band taken
of him by certein of the town of Westbury, to save them
harmless of the said corrupt retorne (as hee confessed), the
Towne was amerced by the Parliament House at twentie
pounds. And it was ordered that hee should have his said
bande redelyvered. And afterward the sayd person, for the
spreading of his sedicious rumour, he was, by order of the
Quenes Majesties most honorable Council, sett on the
pillory in Chepesyde in London." Notes and Queries.
" HEMMING " A MEMBER DOWN. Serjeant Heale, ad-
dressing the House in 1601, said, "The Queen hath as
much right to all our lands and goods as to the revenue of
her Crown ;" at which all the House hemmed, and laughed,
and talked. "Well," quoth Serjeant Heale, "all your
hemming shall not put me out of countenance." So Mr.
Speaker stood up and said, " It is a great disorder that this
should be used, for it is the ancient use of every man to be
silent when any one speaketh ; and he that is speaking
should be suffered to deliver his mind without interruption."
So the Serjeant proceeded, and when he had spoken a little
while, the House hemmed again, and so he sat down.
Parliamentary History.
PARLIAMENTARY DESPATCH. Mr. Popham, when he
was Speaker, and the Lower House had sat long and done
in effect nothing, coming one day to Queen Elizabeth, she
HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS. 19
said to him, " Now, Mr. Speaker, what has passed in the
Lower House?" He answered, " If it please your Majesty,
seven weeks." Lord Bacon's "Apothegms"
INSULTING THE COMMONS. In the report of a com-
mittee, 2oth June, 1604, the following subject of complaint
to the King was made among others : " The Gentleman
Usher's fault in depriving, by his unaccustomed neglect, a
great part of our House from hearing your Majesty's Speech
the first day of Parliament. * * * The Yeoman of the
Guard's words were very opprobrious ; and howsoever they
might have been not unfitly applied to the peasants of
France, or boores of Germany, yet could they not be other
than very reproachful and injurious to the great dignities
and honour of the Commons of the realm." The following
minute of the circumstance occurs in the Journals of the
House : " Brian Tash, the Yeoman of the Guard keeping
one of the doors of the Upper House, repulsed several
members of the Lower House, and shut the door upon them,
with these uncivil and contemptible terms, ' Goodmen
burgesses, you come not here.' " HatselFs "Precedents, &c."
THE GUNPOWDER PLOT. In the Journals of the Com-
mons, November 5th, 1605, occurs this entry: "This last
night the Upper House of Parliament was searched by Sir
Thomas Knevett, and one Johnston, servant to Mr. Thomas
Percyl, was there apprehended, who had placed thirty-six
barrels of gunpowder in the vault under the House, with a
purpose to blow up the King and the whole company when
they should there assemble. Afterwards divers other gentle-
men were discovered to be of the plot." The King, ad-
dressing the Parliament on that occasion, said : " This
may well be called a roaring, nay, a thundering sin of fire
and brimstone, from the which God hath so miraculously
delivered us all." Parliamentary History.
DISPUTING ROYAL INTERFERENCE. A double returi.
having been made in an election for the county of Bucks
C 2
20 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
in the third year of the reign of King James I. (1606), the
House decided that Sir Francis Goodwin was duly elected,
and nullified the return of Sir John Fortescue. The King
interposing desired the Lords to demand a conference with
the Commons on the subject. This the Commons refused;
and also declined to comply with a positive command that
they should confer with one of the judges. The matter was
adjusted by Sir Francis yielding up his right. Oldfield's
History.
AN EPISCOPAL DISCLAIMER. In 1614 Dr. Richard
Neile, Bishop of Lincoln, uttered some words which gave
offence to the Commons, and they complained of them in
a message to the Lords, to which they received an answer
that the bishop " had made solemn protestation, upon his
salvation, that he had not spoke anything with any evil in-
tention to that House, which he doth with all his heart
duly respect and highly esteem; expressing, with many
tears, his sorrow that his words were so misconceived, and
strained further than he ever meant ; which submissive and
ingenuous behaving of himself had satisfied the Lords, and
their lordships assure the Commons that if they had con-
ceived the lord bishop's words to have been spoken, or
meant, to cast any aspersion of sedition or undutifulness
upon that House, their lordships would forthwith have pro-
ceeded to the censuring and punishing thereof with all
severity." Sir T. Erskine May's "Law, &>c., of Parliament."
THE "KINGS" OF THE LOWER HOUSE. James, not-
withstanding his arbitrary notions of the kingly power and
" right divine," appears to have been duly impressed with
the power of the House of Commons. Mr. Forster, in his
"Arrest," relates that Sir Robert Cotton was one of the
twelve members who carried their famous declaration
(against monopolies, in 1620) to King James at New-
market, when the quick-witted, shrewd old monarch called
out, " Chairs ! chairs ! here be twal kynges comin !" The
HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS. 21
following instance of the King's impression is given by
L'Estrange : The King mounted his horse one time, who
formerly used to be very sober and quiet, but then began
to bound and prance. " The de'il i' my saul, sirrah/' says
he, " an you be not quiet I'se send you to the five hundred
kings in the House of Commons ; they'll quickly tame you."
FREEDOM OF DEBATE. In the session of the eighteenth
of King James I. (1621), Sir Edwin Sandys, having spoken
with great earnestness and freedom on various matters of
moment, incurred the displeasure of the King and his
ministers. The House, by its vote, cleared him from having
given any just cause of offence ; but as soon as the adjourn-
ment took place, he was committed by a warrant of the
Privy Council, for a misdemeanour. After a confinement of
nearly six months, he was liberated by a warrant from the
King, a few days before the Parliament again met. This
affair gave rise to violent debates inside the House, and
caused much commotion without. OldfielcTs History.
OPENING OF PARLIAMENT BY JAMES I. IN 1621. In
the King's short progress from Whitehall to Westminster,
these passages following were accounted somewhat remark-
able. First, that he spake often and lovingly to the people,
standing thick and threefold on all sides to behold him,
" God bless ye ! God bless ye ! " contrary to his former hasty
and passionate custom, which often, in his sudden distemper,
would bid a p or a plague on such as flocked to see
him. Secondly, that though the windows were filled with
many great ladies as he rode along, yet that he spake to
none of them but to the Marquis of Buckingham's mother
and wife, who was the sole daughter and heiress of the Earl
of Rutland. Thirdly, that he spake particularly and bowed
to the Count of Gondomar, the Spanish Ambassador. And,
fourthly, that looking up to one window as he passed, full of
gentlewomen or ladies, all in yellow bands, he cried out
aloud, " A p take ye ! are ye there ?" at which, being
22 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
much ashamed, they all withdrew themselves suddenly from
the window. D'wes' Autobiography.
THE KING ERASING A DECLARATION OF PRIVILEGE.
In the session of 1621 the Commons began to show evident
signs of that discontent which afterwards broke out into such
serious controversies with the Crown. Sir Richard Gros-
venor said, "We have hitherto sung nothing but placebo,
and danced to the King's heart ; but it hath now pleased his
Majesty to change this tune, and to make us sing nothing but
lachrymce, and sing loath to depart." * * * At length
the misunderstanding between James and the Commons
attained such a height that the King, with his own hand,
erased from the Journals of the Commons the celebrated
protestation or declaration of their liberties and privileges,
which they had passed in anticipation of a dissolution ; and,
on the 6th January, 1621, published a proclamation declaring
the Parliament dissolved, and animadverting with severity on
those ill-tempered spirits who had compelled him thus to
exercise his prerogative. But James was not contented with
the bare expression of his displeasure ; several leading mem-
bers of the country party, amongst whom was Sir Edward
Coke, were committed to the Tower. Roscoe's "Eminent
British Lawyers."
A PROPHECY. Upon the occasion of impeaching
Bristol and the Earl of Middlesex, James I., says Clarendon,
told his son that "he would live to have his bellyful of
Parliament impeachments."
BOYS IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. Sir Robert Naun-
ton, in his " Fragmenta Regalia," writing of Queen Eliza-
beth's reign, says : " I find not that the House was at any
time weakened and pestered with the admission of too many
young heads, as it hath been of later times ; which remem-
bers me of Recorder Martin's speech, about the tenth of our
late sovereign lord, King James, when there were accounts
taken of forty gentlemen not above twenty, and some not
HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS. 23
exceeding sixteen ; which moved him to say, ' That it was the
ancient custome for old men to make lawes for young ones,
but that then he saw the case altered, and that there were
children elected into the great Councell of the kingdome,
which came to invade and invert nature, and to enact lawes
to govern their fathers.' " Hatsell, in his " Precedents,"
remarks that the poet Waller, among others, sat in Parlia-
ment (1622) before he was seventeen years of age. Not-
withstanding the opinion of Sir Edward Coke as to the
law, it is certain that the practice was different. The
question was, however, finally settled by the yth and 8th
of William III., c. 25, which makes void the election of
any person who is not twenty-one years of age.
FIRST MEETING OF CHARLES I. AND THE PARLIAMENT.
It cannot be alleged against Charles I. that he pre-
ceded the Parliament in the war of words. He courted
their affections ; and even in his manner of reception, amidst
the dignity of the regal office, studiously showed his exterior
respect by the marked solemnity of their first meeting. As
yet uncrowned, on the day on which he first addressed the
Lords and Commons he wore his crown, and vailed it at the
opening and on the close of his speech a circumstance to
which the Parliament had not been accustomed. Another
ceremony gave still greater solemnity to the meeting; the
King would not enter into business till they had united in
prayer. He commanded the doors to be closed, and a
bishop to perform the office. The suddenness of this unex-
pected command disconcerted the Catholic lords, of whom
the less rigid knelt, and the moderate stood : there was one
startled Papist who did nothing but cross himself. Isaac
D 1 Israeli (from MS. letters of the times}.
A SLIGHT FROM THE BLACK ROD. On the ipth of
March, 1627, the Commons were sent for to attend the
King in the House of Lords, by a Mr. Crane. It was very
ill taken that Mr. Maxwell, Knight of the Black Rod, had
24 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
not come himself to bring the message, as had formerly
been used; insomuch that sundry members of the House
advised that Mr. Speaker elect should not stir till they had
received the message by Mr. Maxwell himself. But others
(howsoever they acknowledged this to have been a great
neglect in Mr. Maxwell, and wrong to the House) advised,
because his Majesty stayed for them, that they should not
now further insist upon it, but go up ; and so they did.
Quoted in HatseWs "Precedents, Grc."
A DREAM RELATED IN PARLIAMENT. A startling mes-
sage, on the 1 2th of April, 1627, was sent by the King for
the despatch of business. The House, struck with astonish-
ment, desired to have it repeated. They remained sad and
silent ; no one cared to open the debate. A whimsical,
crack-brained politician, Sir James Nethersole, suddenly
started up, entreating leave to tell his last night's dream.
Some laughing at him, he observed that "kingdoms had
been saved by dreams !" Allowed to proceed he said, " he
saw two good pastures ; a flock of sheep was in the one,
and a bellwether alone in the other; a great ditch wa s
between them, and a narrow bridge over the ditch." He
was interrupted by the Speaker, who told him that it stood
not with the gravity of the House to listen to dreams ; but
the House was inclined to hear him out. " The sheep
would sometimes go over to the bellwether, or the bell-
wether to the sheep. Once both met on the narrow bridge,
and the question was who should go back, since both could
not go on without danger. One sheep gave counsel that
the sheep on the bridge should lie on their bellies, and let
the bellwether go over their backs." The application of this
dilemma he left 'to the House. * * Elliot, Wentworth,
and Coke protested against the interpretation of dreams in
the House. Isaac D* Israeli (from a manuscript letter).
A "SPECTACLE OF WOE." On the 7th of June, 1627, a
sudden message from the King absolutely forbade the Com-
HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS. 25
>ns to asperse any of his Majesty's ministers, otherwise his
[ajesty would instantly dissolve them. This fell like a
mnderbolt ; it struck terror and alarm, and at the instant the
touse was changed into a scene of tragical melancholy.
All the opposite passions of human nature all the national
evils which were one day to burst on the country, seemed,
on a sudden, concentrated in this single spot. Some were
seen weeping, some were expostulating, and some, in awful
prophecy, were contemplating the future ruin of the
kingdom while others, of more ardent daring, were re-
proaching the timid, quieting the terrified, and infusing
resolution into the despairing. Many attempted to speak,
but were so strongly affected that their very utterance failed
them. The venerable Coke, overcome by his feelings when
he rose to speak, found his learned eloquence falter on his
tongue; he sat down, and tears were seen on his aged
cheeks. The name of the public enemy of the kingdom
(the Duke of Buckingham) was repeated, till the Speaker,
with tears covering his face, declared he could no longer
witness such a spectacle of woe in the Commons of
England, and requested leave of absence for half an hour.
The Speaker hastened to the King, to inform him of the
state of the House. They were preparing a vote against the
duke, for being an arch-traitor and arch-enemy to King
and kingdom, and were busied on their " Remonstrance,"
when the Speaker, on his return, delivered his Majesty's
message, that they should adjourn 'till the next day. This
was an awful interval of time ; many trembled for the issue
of the next morning : one letter-writer calls it " that black
and doleful Thursday!" and another, writing before the
House met, observes, " What we shall expect this morning,
God of heaven knows ; we shall meet timely." U Israeli's
"Curiosities of Literature."
COERCION OF MR. SPEAKER. In 1628, during the
Parliament rendered famous by the Petition of Rights,
26 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
Denzil Hollis was one of the most ardent opponents of the
Court, the Duke of Buckingham, and all the oppressive
measures under which the country groaned. On the 2nd
of March, 1629, the Speaker of the Commons, in obedience
to the orders of the King, was about to declare the adjourn-
ment of the House and to leave his chair, when Mr. Hollis
made him resume his seat, and kept him there by force,
saying, " God's wounds, Mr. Speaker, you shall sit still till
it please the House to rise !" Guizofs "Biographic Studies
of the English Revolution"
REFUSING TO PUT THE QUESTION. Sir Simonds
D'Ewes, in his " Autobiography," relates that the House
met on the 3rd of March, 1629, and on "Sir John Finch,
their Speaker, being the Queen's solicitor, refusing to do
his office or to read some particular writings the House
enjoined him, many members thereof fell to reproving him,
others to excuse him ; and the tumult and discontent of the
whole House was so great, as the more grave and judicious
thereof began infinitely to fear lest at the last swords should
have been drawn, and that forenoon ended in blood."
Selden thus addressed the Speaker on this occasion :
" Dare not you, Mr. Speaker, put the question when we
command you ? If you will not put it, we must sit still ;
thus we shall never be able to do anything : they that come
after you may say they have the King's command not to
do it. We sit here by command of the King under the
Great Seal, and you are by his Majesty sitting in his royal
chair, before both Houses appointed our Speaker, and now
you refuse to perform your office."
COMPULSORY DETENTION OF MEMBERS. A motion of
Pym's, on the subject of grievances, was under discussion
in the Commons, November 6th, 1640, when, the time of
rising being come, and other members appearing ready to
continue the debate, an order was suddenly made that the
door be shut and none suffered to go out. The Lords were
HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS. 27
also advertised, that that House, too, might be kept from
rising. Parry's "Parliaments of England"
THE COMMONS ORDERING A SPEECH TO BE BURNT.
Lord Digby having printed his speech on Lord Strafford's
Bill of Attainder, a committee of the Commons appointed
to inquire into the matter made their report on the i3th
June, 1641. The House thereupon resolved: " That no
member of this House shall give a copy, or publish in print
anything that he shall speak here, without leave of the
House ; and declare that Lord Digby's speech was untrue,
and scandalous to the proceedings of this House ; and order
it to be burnt." J^to/A "Precedents, drv."
A CONVENIENT ELEVATION. My Lord Digby having
spoken something in the House of Commons for which they
would have questioned him, was presently called to the
Upper House. He did by the Parliament as an ape when
he hath done some waggery: his master spies him, and
he looks for his whip ; but before he can come at him, whip,
says he, to the top of the house. Selderis " Table Talk"
A MEMBER EXALTING HIMSELF. The Great Remon-
strance lay engrossed on the table of the House on Monday,
the 22nd of November, 1641, waiting the final vote. Mr.
John Digby, member for Milborn Port, came into the House,
and getting upon the ladder that stands at the door of the
House, by which the members thereof usually go up to those
seats which are over the same door under the gallery, he sat
still upon the same ladder. Whereupon Mr. Speaker Lenthal
called out to him, and desired him to take his place, and
not to sit upon the said ladder, as if he were going to be
hanged ; " at which," says the narrator, " many of the House
laughed." Forster's "Grand Remonstrance''
THE GRAND REMONSTRANCE. Hardly had announce-
ment been made of the division which carried the Grand Re-
monstrance by a majority of eleven votes (November 22nd,
1641), when one more strenuous effort was made to have it
28 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE,
addressed to the King. * * Several members opposed
the printing of the declaration, and desired to enter their
protest. About one of the clock of the morning ensuing,
Mr. George Palmer, a lawyer of the Middle Temple, stood
up. He should not be satisfied, he said, for himself or those
around him, unless a day were at once appointed for dis-
cussion of whether the right to protest did not exist in that
House; and, meanwhile, he would move that the Clerk
should now enter the names of all those whose claim to
protest would then have to be determined. At these words
the excitement broke out afresh ; loud cries of " All ! All !"
burst from every side where any of Hyde's party sat ; and
Palmer, carried beyond his first intention by the passion of
the moment, cried out, unexpectedly, that he did for himself
then and there protest, for himself and all the rest " of his
mind," he afterwards declared that he meant to have added,
but for the storm which suddenly arose. The word All !
had fallen like a lighted match upon gunpowder. It was
taken up and passed from mouth to mouth with an exaspera-
tion bordering on frenzy ; and to those who in after years
recalled the scene, under that sudden glare of excitement,
after a sitting of fifteen hours the worn-out, weary assem-
blage ; the ill-lighted, dreary chamber ; the hour sounding
one after midnight ; confused, loud cries breaking forth un-
expectedly, and startling gestures of violence accompanying
them it presented itself to the memory as a very Valley of
the Shadow of Death. "All! all!" says D'Ewes, was cried
from side to side; and some waved their hats over their
heads, and others took their swords in their scabbards out
of their belts, and held them by the pommels in their hands,
setting the lower part on the ground ; so, if God had not
prevented it, there was very great danger that mischief might
have been done. All those who cried " All ! all ! " and did
the other particulars, were of the number of those that
were against the Remonstrance. And amongst them was
HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS. 29
the promising young gentleman of the King's house, Mr.
Philip Warwick, the member for Radnor, who bethought
himself of that brief Scriptural comparison from the wars of
Saul and David (2 Samuel ii. 12 16), his application of
which comprised all that, until now, was known to us
of this extraordinary scene. He thought of what Abner
said to Joab, and Joab to Abner, when they met on either
side of the Pool of Gibeon ; and how, having arisen at the
bidding of their leaders, to make trial of prowess, their
young men caught every one his fellow by the head, and
thrust his sword in his fellow's side, and so fell down
together ; a result which might have followed, had not the
sagacity and great calmness of Mr. Hampden, by a short
speech, prevented it. Ibid.
" PULL THE ROGUES OUT BY THE EARS ! " Mr. Forster,
in his " Arrest of the Five Members," relates the following
scene in the Queen's apartments, on the morning of the 4th
January, 1642, as given in Coke's Manuscript, preserved by
Archetel Grey : " A long and very passionate debate had
passed in the royal chamber on the night of the fruitless
attempt of the Attorney-General, the Queen taking promi-
nent part therein ; and it had ended, according to this
account, in the settled resolve that Charles would himself
demand the members next morning. But his heart failed
him when the morning came. He went to the Queen's
apartments early, and finding Lady Carlisle with her, took
her Majesty into her closet, and there having put to her all
the hazards of the attempt, and all its possible consequences,
declared that he must abandon it. Whereat the Queen, no
longer able to contain her passion, violently burst out,
" Allez, poltron ! Go, pull these rogues out by the ears, ou
ne me revoyez jamais /" Without replying, the King left the
room. The anecdote, says Mr. Forster, is certainly not in any
respect reliable, if accepted strictly in this form ; but it seems
to favour the supposition of some admixture of truth in it.
30 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
A GALLANT CONTRIBUTION. Mr. Henry Killegrew, of
Cornwall, member for West Looe, a staunch Royalist, on
being invited, with the other members, to offer a contribu-
tion towards the formation of an army for the Parliament,
stood up and answered he would provide a good horse, and
a good sword, and a good buff coat, and then he would find
a good cause. "Which for that time," says Clarendon,
"only raised laughter, though they knew well what cause. he
thought good, which he had never dissembled."
IMPRUDENCE. Selden says : " The King calling his
friends from the Parliament, because he had use of them at
Oxford, is as if a man should have use of a little piece of
wood, and he runs down into the cellar and takes the
spigott : in the meantime all the beer runs about the house.
When his friends are absent the King will be lost." Table
Talk.
PEERS SITTING IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. By the
Act passed in March, 1648, for abolishing the House of
Peers, it was declared, " That such Lords as have demeaned
themselves with honour, courage, and fidelity to the Com-
monwealth, and their posterity who shall continue so, shall
not be excluded from the public councils of the nation, but
shall be admitted thereunto, and have their free vote in
Parliament, if they shall be thereunto elected, as other
persons of interest, elected and qualified thereunto, ought to
have." In consequence hereof the Earl of Pembroke took
his seat in the House of Commons on the i6th of April,
1649, as knight of the shire for Berks ; as did also, in
the same year, W. Earl of Salisbury, as a burgess for Lynne,
and Edward Lord Howard, of Escrike, as a citizen for Car-
lisle. These were the only Peers that were elected members
of the House of Commons. Parliamentary History.
ALTERING THE LORD'S PRAYER. There was a most
bloody-minded "maker of washing-balls/' as one John
Durant is described, appointed a lecturer by the House of
HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS. 31
Commons (" The Rump"), who always left out of the Lord's
Prayer, "As we forgive them that trespass against us," and
substituted, " Lord, since thou hast now drawn out thy sword,
let it not be sheathed again till it be glutted in the blodd of
the malignants." U Israeli's " Curiosities of Literature"
THE FIRST REFORM IN PARLIAMENT. A House of
Commons was a necessary part of Cromwell's new polity.
In constituting this body, the Protector showed a wisdom
and a public spirit which were not duly appreciated by his
contemporaries. The vices of the old representative system,
though by no means so serious as they afterwards became,
had already been remarked by far-sighted men. Crom-
well reformed that system on the same principles on
which Mr. Pitt, a hundred and thirty years later, attempted
to reform it, and on which it was at length reformed in
our own times. * * To create a House of Lords
was a less easy task. It was to no purpose that he
offered to the chiefs of illustrious families seats in his new
senate. They conceived that they could not accept a nomi-
nation to an upstart assembly without renouncing their
birthright and betraying their order. The Protector was,
therefore, under the necessity of filling his Upper House
with new men who, during the late stirring times, had made
themselves conspicuous. This was the least happy of his
contrivances, and displeased all parties. The Levellers were
angry with him for instituting a privileged class. The multi-
tude, which felt respect and fondness for the great historical
names of the land, laughed without restraint at a House of
Lords in which lucky draymen and shoemakers were seated,
to which few of the old nobles were invited, and from which
almost all those old nobles who were invited turned disdain-
fully away. * * The first House of Commons which the
people elected by his command questioned his authority,
and was dissolved without having passed a single Act. His
second House of Commons, though it recognised him as
32 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
Protector, and would gladly have made him King, obsti-
nately refused to acknowledge his new Lords. He had nc
course left but to dissolve the Parliament. "God/' h(
exclaimed, at parting, " be judge between you and me !
Macaulay's "History of England"
POWER OF PARLIAMENT TO CONVENE ITSELF. By
statute, 1 6 Car. I. c. i, it was enacted that, if the
neglected to call a Parliament for three years, the Peei
might assemble and issue out writs for choosing one ; and,
in case of neglect of the Peers, the constituents might me<
and elect one themselves. But this, if ever put in practk
would have been liable to several inconveniences ; and tht
Act itself was esteemed so highly detrimental and injurious
to the royal prerogative that it was repealed by statut
1 6 Car. II. c. i. * * The Convention Parliament
which restored King Charles II., met above a mont
before his return : the Lords by their own authority,
and the Commons in pursuance of writs issued in
names of the keepers of the liberty of England by authc
rity of Parliament. The said Parliament sat till the 291!
of December, full seven months after the Restoration,
and enacted many laws, several of which are still
force. But this was for the necessity of the King, whi<
supersedes all law; for if they had not so met, it
morally impossible that the kingdom should have beei
settled in peace. And the first thing done after the King's
return was to pass an Act declaring this to be a good Parli<
ment, notwithstanding the defect of the King's writs.
It was at that time a great doubt among the lawyers whether
even this healing Act made it a good Parliament, and held
by very many in the negative, though it seems to have been
too nice a scruple. And yet, out of abundant caution, it
was thought necessary to confirm its Acts in the next Parlia-
ment, by statute 13 Car. II. c. 7 and c. 14. Blackstone's
Commentaries.
HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS. 33
"DISSOLUTION" OR " INTERRUPTION." -fan. qth, 1659
60. W. Simons told me how his uncle Scobell (Clerk to
the House of Commons) was on Saturday last called to the
bar, for entering in the Journal of the House, for the year
1653, these words: "This day his Excellence the Lord
G. Cromwell dissolved this House," which words the Parlia-
ment voted a forgery, and demanded of him how they came
to be entered. He said that they were his own handwriting,
and that he did it by rights of his office, and the practice of
his predecessor ; and that the intent of the practice was to
let posterity know how such and such a Parliament was dis-
solved, whether by command of the King or by their own
neglect, as the last House of Lords was ; and that to this
end he had said and writ that it was dissolved by his Excel-
lence the Lord G. ; and that for the word dissolved, he
never at the time did hear of any other term ; and desired
pardon if he would not dare to make a word himself what it
was six years after, before they came themselves to call it
an interruption ; that they were so little satisfied with this
answer, that they did chuse a committee to report to the
House whether this crime of Mr. Scobell's did come within
the Act of Indemnity or no. Pepy? Diary.
SCANDALOUS SCENES. December igtti, 1666. I up to the
Lords' House to enquire for my Lord Bellasses ; and there
hear how, at a conference this morning between the two
Houses about the business of the Canary Company, my Lord
Buckingham leaning rudely over my Lord Marquis Dor-
chester, my Lord Dorchester removed his elbow. Duke of
Buckingham asked whether he was uneasy ; Dorchester
replied, yes, and that he durst not do this anywhere else ;
Buckingham replied, yes he would, and that he was a better
man than himself; Dorchester said that he lyed. With this,
Buckingham struck off his hat, and took him by his periwigg
and pulled it aside, and held him. My Lord Chamberlain
and others interposed, and upon coming into the House the
D
34 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
Lords did order them both to the Tower, whither they
are to go this afternoon. This day's work will bring the
Lieutenant of the Tower ^350. * * * Sir R. Ford
did make me understand how the House of Commons is
a beast not to be understood, it being impossible to
know beforehand the success almost of any small plain
thing, there being so many to think and speak to any busi-
ness, and they of so uncertain minds, and interests, and
passions. He did tell me, and so did Sir W. Batten, how
Sir Allen Brodericke and Sir Allen Apsly did come drunk the
other day into the House, and did both speak for half
an hour, together, and could not be either laughed, or
pulled, or bid to sit down and hold their peace, to the great
contempt of the King's servants and cause; which I am
grieved at with all my heart. Pepys 1 Diary.
A WHIP BY THE COURT. December Stti, 1666. The
great Proviso passed the House of Parliament yesterday,
which makes the King and Court mad, the King having
given order to my Lord Chamberlain to send to the play-
houses and brothels, to bid all the Parliament-men that were
there to go to the Parliament presently. This is true, it
seems ; but it was carried against the Court by thirty or forty
voices. It is a Proviso to the Poll Bill, that there shall be
a committee of nine persons that shall have the inspection
upon oath, and power of giving others, of all the accounts of
the money given and spent for this warr. This hath a most
sad face, and will breed very ill blood. Ibid.
PARLIAMENT "FOOLED" BY CHARLES II. Pepys in
his Diary gives the following account of the cavalier treat-
ment of a Parliament by this sovereign : "July 2$t/i, 1667.
I demanded of Sir R. Ford and the rest, what passed to-day
at the meeting of Parliament : who told me that, contrary to
all expectation by the King that there would be but a thin
meeting, there met above 300 this first day, and all the dis-
contented party ; and, indeed, the whole House seems to be
HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS. 35
no other almost. The Speaker told them, as soon as they
were sat, that he was ordered by the King to let them know
he was hindered by some important business to come to
them and speak to them, as he intended; and therefore
ordered him to move that they would adjourn themselves till
Monday next (it being very plain to all the House that he
expects to hear by that time of the sealing of the Peace,
which by letters, it seems, from my Lord Hollis was to be
sealed the last Sunday). But before they would come to the
question whether they would adjourn, Sir Thomas Tomkins
steps up and tells them that all the country is grieved at this
new-raised standing army ; and that they thought themselves
safe enough in their trayn-bands ; and that, therefore, he
desired the King might be moved to disband them." A
vote to this effect being passed, the House adjourned.
Four days afterwards Pepys writes : " Presently comes
down the House of Commons (in Westminster Hall), the
King having made a very short and no pleasing speech
to them at all, not at all giving them thanks for their
readiness to come up to town at this busy time ; but told
them that he did think he should have had occasion for
them, but had none, and therefore did dismiss them to
look after their own occasions till October; and that he
did wonder any should offer to bring in a suspicion that
he intended to rule by an army, or otherwise than by the
laws of the land, which he promised them he would do ;
and so bade them go home and settle the minds of the
country in that particular ; and only added, that he had
made a peace which he did believe they would find reason-
able, and a good peace, but did give them none of the par-
ticulars thereof. Thus they are dismissed again, to their
general great distaste (I believe the greatest that ever
Parliament was) to see themselves so fooled, and the nation
in certain condition of ruin, while the King, they see, is only
governed by his lust, and women and rogues about him.
D 2 .
36 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
The Speaker, they found, was kept from coming in the
morning to the House on purpose, till after the King was
come to the House of Lords, for fear they should be doing
anything in the House of Commons to the further dissatis-
faction of the King and his courtiers."
INTOLERANCE IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. February
10^, 166768. To Westminster Hall, where the hall
mighty full : and, among other things, the House begins to
sit to-day, and the King came. But before the King's
coming the House of Commons met ; and, upon information
given them of a bill intended to be brought in, as common
report said, for Comprehension, they did mightily and
generally inveigh against it ; and did vote that the King
should be desired by the House (and the message delivered
by the Privy Counsellors of the House) that the laws against
breakers of the Act for Uniformity should be put in execu-
tion : and it was moved in the House that if any people had
a mind to bring any new laws into the House about religion,
they might come as a proposer of new laws did in Athens,
with ropes about their necks. Ibid.
NUMBER AND PAYMENT OF MEMBERS. March $oth,
1668. At dinner we had a great deal of good discourse
about Parliament ; their number being uncertain, and always
at the will of the King to increase as he saw reason to erect
a new borough. But all concluded that the bane of the
Parliament hath been the leaving off the old custom of the
places allowing wages to those that served them in Parlia-
ment, by which they chose men that understood their
business and would attend it, and they could expect an
account from ; which now they cannot : and so the Parlia-
ment is become a company of men unable to give account
for the interest of the place they serve for. Ibid.
" OUR MASTERS AT WESTMINSTER." April 22nd, 1668.
"From the Privy stairs," writes Pepys, "to Westminster
Hall : and taking water. The King and the Duke of York
HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS. 37
were in the new buildings ; and the Duke of York called to
me whither I was going. And I answered aloud, ' To wait
on our masters at Westminster;' at which he and all the
company laughed ; but I was sorry and troubled for it after-
wards, for fear any Parliament-man should have been there ;
and it will be a caution to me for the time to come."
HOLDING THE PURSE-STRINGS. April 30^, 1668. The
Parliament several months upon an Act for ^3 00,000,
but cannot or will not agree upon it, but do keep it back, in
spite of the King's desires to hasten it, till they can obtain
what they have a mind in revenge upon some men for the
late ill managements ; and he is forced to submit to what
they please, knowing that without it he shall have no
money; and they as well that if they give the money the
King will suffer them to do little more. Ibid.
ORIGIN OF THE " CABINET." Few things in our history
are more curious than the origin and growth of the power
now possessed by the Cabinet. From an early period the
Kings of England had been assisted by a Privy Council, to
which the law assigned many important functions and duties.
During several centuries this body deliberated on the gravest
and most delicate affairs. But by degrees its character
changed : it became too large for despatch and secresy ;
the rank of privy councillor was often bestowed as an
honorary distinction on persons to whom nothing was con-
fided, and whose opinion was never asked ; the sovereign,
on the most important occasions, resorted for advice to a
small knot of leading ministers. The advantages and dis-
advantages of this course were early pointed out by Bacon,
with his usual judgment and sagacity ; but it was not till
after the Restoration that the interior council began to
attract general notice. During many years old-fashioned
politicians continued to regard the Cabinet as an unconsti-
tutional and dangerous board ; nevertheless, it constantly
became more and more important. It at length drew to
38 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
tself the chief executive power, and has now been regarded,
during several generations, as an essential part of our polity.
Yet, strange to say, it still continues to be altogether un-
known to the law ; the names of the noblemen and gentle-
men who compose it are never officially announced to the
public ; no record is kept of its meetings and resolutions,
nor has its existence ever been recognised by any Act of
Parliament. Macaulay's "History of England''
THE " CABAL." During some years the word Cabal was
popularly used as synonymous with Cabinet. But it hap-
pened by a whimsical coincidence that, in 1671, the Cabinet
consisted of five persons the initial letters of whose names
made up the word cabal Clifford, Arlington, Buckingham,
Ashley, and Lauderdale. These ministers were, therefore,
emphatically called the "cabal;" and they soon made that
appellation so infamous that it has never since their time
been used except as a term of reproach. Ibid.
DEBATE WITHOUT REASON. Lord Keeper Guilford
once dining with Mr. Hugh May, in Scotland Yard, Sir
Henry Capel, who was of his lordship's relation and long
acquaintance, made one. Among other discourse, Sir Henry
Capel was urged much to say why they (meaning the country
party) urged a certain matter so violently in the House of
Commons, and yet there was no tolerable reason in all the
debate given for it. At last he answered that "they did
not use to give the true reasons that swayed them in debates
to the House." His lordship thought it a strange account.
North's Life of Guilford."
A DISPUTED DIVISION. May loth, 1675, a debate
took place in the Commons respecting the English regi-
ments in the French army, the King (Charles II.) having
stated that it would be inconsistent with his honour to
recall them. On a division, the tellers were charged with
negligence or fraud ; instantly the leaders, who sat on the
lower benches, sprung to the table, and the other members
HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS. 39
on each side crowded to their support. Lord Cavendish
and Sir John Hanmer distinguished themselves by their
violence ; and epithets of insult, with threats of defiance,
were reproachfully exchanged. The tumult had lasted half
an hour, when the Speaker, without asking permission, took
possession of the chair; the mace, after some resistance,
was again placed upon the table; the members resumed
their seats, and, on the motion of Sir Thomas Lee, a
promise was given by each in his turn that he would take
no notice out of doors of what had happened within.
Lingard's " History of England"
COUNTING TEN FOR ONE. The former Parliament had
passed a very strict Act for the due execution of the Habeas
Corpus, which was, indeed, all they did. It was carried by
an odd artifice in the House of Lords. Lord Grey and
Lord Norris were named to be the tellers. Lord Norris
being a man subject to vapours, was not at all times atten-
tive to what he was doing ; so a very fat lord coming in,
Lord Grey counted him for ten, as a jest at first, but seeing
Lord Norris had not observed it he went on with his mis-
reckoning of ten. So it was reported to the House and
declared that they who were for the bill were the majority,
though it, indeed, went on the other side. And by this means
the bill passed. Burnefs History of his own Time (1680).
THE CASE ALTERED. A division took place in the
Commons, session 1685, on a motion to consider the King's
Speech before they should proceed to the supply, when it
was carried by one only against the Court. The Earl of
Middleton, of Scotland, then a Secretary of State for
England, and a member of the House of Commons, here
seeing many go out upon the division against the Court who
were in the service of the Government, went down to the
bar, and, as they were told in, reproached them to their faces
for voting as they did; and a Captain Kendal being one
of them, the earl said to him there, " Sir, have not you a
40 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
troop of horse in his Majesty's service?" "Yes, my lord,"
replies the other ; " but my brother died last night, and has
left me ,700 a year." This I had from my uncle, the first
Lord Onslow, who was then of the House of Commons and
present. This incident upon one vote probably saved the
nation. Note by Onslow in Burnefs History.
SETTING HIS HOUSE IN ORDER. A question was raised
in the House of Lords, 1677, as to the legality of a proroga-
tion. Buckingham, Shaftesbury, Salisbury, and Wharton, for
the part they took in the debate, were offered the alterna-
tive of asking pardon as delinquents, or being sent to the
Tower ; they chose the latter. The Duke of Buckingham
left the House while Lord Anglesea was arguing against
their imprisonment, but he came into his place next day, and
excused his departure by saying that, as he saw their lord-
ships intended he should lodge some time in another place,
' and as he kept his family with very exact economy, he had
been home to set his house in order, and was now ready to
submit to their pleasure. Burnefs History.
JUDGE JEFFERIES NOT " PARLIAMENT PROOF." After
the dissolution of the Oxford Parliament, in 1679, tne
country party petitioned for the calling of a Parliament in
terms offensive to the Court ; and in opposition to these
petitions the prerogative party addressed the Crown, ex-
pressing their abhorrence of the tumultuous proceedings of
the petitioners. In encouraging these abhorrers, as they were
termed, Jefferies rendered himself eminently conspicuous,
and, on the meeting of the new Parliament in 1680, he fell,
with the rest of those who had opposed the petition for
its assembling, under the censure of the Commons.
Accordingly, on the i3th of November, 1680, it was re-
solved, " That Sir George Jefferies, Recorder of the City of
London, by traducing and obstructing petitioning for the
sitting of this Parliament, hath destroyed the right of the sub-
ject " and it was ordered that an humble address should be
HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS. 41
presented to his Majesty (Charles II.) to remove Sir George
Jefferies from all public offices. To this address his Majesty
replied that he would consider of it. Jefferies himself
trembled at the prospect of popular indignation. Being
brought to the bar of the House, he received a reprimand
on his knees, and such was the effect of this discipline upon
his spirits, that he immediately resolved to resign his office
of Recorder, which drew from the King the observation
that he was not " Parliament proof." Roscods " Eminent
British Lawyers"
ORIGIN OF THE TERMS "WHIG" AND "TORY." At
this time (1679) were nrst heard the two nicknames which,
though originally given in insult, were soon assumed with
pride, which are still in daily use, which have spread as
widely as the English race, and which will last as long as the
English literature. It is a curious circumstance that one of
these nicknames was of Scotch and the other of Irish origin.
Both in Scotland and in Ireland misgovernment had called
into existence bands of desperate men, whose ferocity was
heightened by religious enthusiasm. In Scotland, some of
the persecuted Covenanters, driven mad by oppression, had
lately murdered the Primate, had taken arms against the
Government, had obtained some advantages against the
King's forces, and had not been put down till Monmouth,
at the head of some troops from England, had routed them at
Bothwell Bridge. These zealots were most numerous among
the rustics of the western lowlands, who were vulgarly called
Whigs. Thus the appellation of Whig was fastened on the
Presbyterian zealots of Scotland, and was transferred to those
English politicians who showed a disposition to oppose the
Court, and to treat Protestant Nonconformists with, indul-
gence. The bogs of Ireland at the same time afforded a
refuge to Popish outlaws, much resembling those who were
afterwards known as Whiteboys. These men were then
called Tories. The name of Tory was therefore given to
42 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
Englishmen who refused to concur in excluding a Roman
Catholic prince from the throne. Macaulatfs "History of
England" Professor Pryme says, in his "Recollections,"
" O'Connell showed me in the library of the House of Com-
mons, as an illustration of the name of Tory, an Irish Act
of Parliament for the suppression of ' Rapparees, Tories,
and other Robbers.' The appellation of Whig, as well as
Tory, was also a nickname, and given by the opposite party
in allusion to sour milk."
A SUBTERFUGE. In the reign of Charles II. many of
the abhorrers (so called from professing their abhorrence of
any encroachment on the royal prerogative) were seized by
order of the Commons, and committed to custody. One
Stowel, of Exeter, refused to obey the Sergeant-at-Arms,
and said he knew of no law by which they pretended to
commit him. The House, finding it equally dangerous to
advance or recede, got off by an evasion. They inserted
in their Journals that Stowel was indisposed, and that a
month's time was allowed for the recovery of his health.
Oldfidd's History.
EARWIGGING THE PARLIAMENT. March loth, 1687.
Most of the greate officers, both in the court and country,
lords and others, were dismiss'd, as they would not promise
his Majesty their consent to the repeal of the Test and Penal
Statutes against Popish recusants. To this end most of the
Parliament-men were spoken to in his Majesty's closset, and
such as refus'd, if in any place or office of trust, civil or
military, were put out of their employments. This was a
time of greate trial, but hardly one of them assented.
Evelyn's Diary.
FREEDOM OF SPEECH IN PARLIAMENT. What was
thought by the House of Commons, in the reign of James
II., unreasonable latitude of speech, is illustrated in the fol-
lowing extract from " Macaulay's History." The Commons
had presented an address to the King on the subject of
HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS. 43
infractions of the Test Act, and were met by a reprimand.
On the reassembling of the House, " Wharton, the boldest
and most active of the Whigs, proposed that a time should
be appointed for taking his Majesty's answer into considera-
tion. John Coke, member for Derby, though a noted Tory,
seconded Wharton. ' I hope,' he said, ' that we are all
Englishmen, and that we shall not be frightened from our
duty by a few high words.' It was manfully, but not wisely,
spoken. The whole House was in a tempest. ' Take down
his words!' * To the bar!' 'To the Tower!' resounded
from every side. Those who were most lenient proposed
that the offender should be reprimanded, but the ministers
vehemently insisted that he should be sent to prison. The
House might pardon, they said, offences committed against
itself, but had no right to pardon an insult offered to the
Crown. Coke was sent to the Tower."*
A STANDING DANGER. On June 28th, 1689, the subject
of the arrest of the Earl of Danby, then a member of the
House of Commons, was discussed. He had fitted out his
pleasure-yacht, and supplied it with arms. It was alleged
that this was done with a view to some treasonable project.
Serjeant Maynard said, in the course of his speech : " If we
take notice of this, and let a member sit amongst us so
accused, we cannot well answer that. We are to vote it a
breach of privilege, and then inquire what those treasonable
practices are. At this rate, we may all be imprisoned and
whipped to our lives' end." Parliamentary History.
DIVISION LISTS. Lists of divisions were, for the first
time in our history, printed and dispersed for the information
of constituent bodies, at the general election in 1690.
Macaulay.
THE CASE OF ASHBY AND WHITE LAW VERSUS PRIVI-
LEGE. The representative history of Aylesbury is the most
important in the annals of Parliament, as it involves the
* Compare p. 117 : "Strong Terms respecting a King's Speech."
44 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
famous case of Ashby and White, being a contest between
Law and Privilege, which produced so serious a difference
between the two Houses as obliged the Queen to prorogue
the Parliament. Ashby had brought an action (1703)
against White and others, the constables, returning officers
of the borough, for not receiving his vote. The House of
Commons considered the interference of a court of law, in a
question which concerned the right of election, as a breach
of their privilege, and ordered all the parties concerned
therein counsel, attorney, and others to be taken into
custody. Lord Chief Justice Holt was also ordered to
attend the House; but, disregarding the summons, the
Speaker was directed to proceed with the mace to the Court
of Queen's Bench and command his attendance upon the
House. The Chief Justice is said to have replied, "Mr.
Speaker, if you do not depart from this court, I will commit
you, though you had the whole House of Commons in your
belly." Oldfidd's History.
A DILEMMA. The Earl of Peterborough, speaking in
the House of Lords, April i4th, 1716, in opposition to the
Septennial Bill, said that if this present Parliament con-
tinued beyond the time for which they were chosen, he
knew not how to express the manner of their existence,
unless begging leave of that venerable bench (turning to
the bishops) they had recourse to the distinction used in
the Athanasian Creed ; for they would neither be made nor
created, but proceeding. Parliamentary History.
EXPULSION OF THE SOUTH SEA DIRECTORS. On the
23rd of January, 1721, the Commons, having ordered their
doors to be locked and the keys to be laid on the table,
summoned Sir Robert Chaplin, Bart, Sir Theodore Janssen,
Bart., Mr. F. Eyles, and Mr. Sawbridge (directors of the
Company), to attend in their places immediately. General
Ross acquainted the House, " That they had already dis-
covered a train of the deepest villainy and fraud that hell
HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS. 45
contrived to ruin a nation." It was then agreed,
nem. con., that Sawbridge and Janssen be expelled the
House ; and on the 28th a like resolution was agreed to
with respect to Chaplin and Eyles. Ibid.
PARAMOUNT DIGNITY OF PARLIAMENT. On the 3rd of
February, 1721, upon Lord Chancellor Macclesfield's not
coming in time to the House, and when he came, excusing
himself, " That he had been summoned to attend his Ma-
jesty at St. James's," the Lords said, " That this is an indig-
nity offered to the House, which is undoubtedly the greatest
council in the kingdom ; to which all other councils ought
to give way, and not that to any other." HatselFs "Prece-
dents, 6*v."
KEEPING THE KING WAITING. "There happened
within my memory," says Hatsell in his " Precedents," " and
since I have been in the service of the House of Commons,
a very extraordinary case, which was in the first year of
his present Majesty, King George III. (on the 2oth of
January, 1761), where the King was actually on the Throne,
and the Black Rod was coming with the message for the
House of Commons to attend his Majesty ; but there not
being forty members present, Mr. Onslow, then Speaker,
declined taking the chair, and the King was kept waiting a
considerable time. The reason of this was that it was
generally known that the only purpose for which the King
came at that time was to give the royal assent to a Money
Bill. This Bill had passed the House of Lords, but the
House of Commons had received no message from the
Lords to inform them that the Lords had agreed to it, and
therefore till this message was received the Speaker could
not take notice of their agreement, or receive or take up the
Bill for the royal assent. And though the Lords' messengers
were at the door, the Speaker could not, agreeable to the
ancient rule and unbroken practice of the House, take the
chair, for the purpose of admitting the messengers, till there
46 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
were forty members present If the Black Rod, instead of
loitering, as he did, in the passage between the Houses, had
come forward and knocked at the door, the Speaker, though
forty members were not present, must have immediately
taken the chair and gone up to the King."
A FORTY DAYS' TYRANNY. On the occasion of an
Order in Council being promulgated to prohibit the exporta-
tion of corn (December, 1766), Lord Camden defended the
proceeding in these terms : " The necessity of a measure
renders it not only excusable, but legal ; and consequently
a judge, when the necessity is proved, may, without hesita-
tion, declare that act legal which would be clearly illegal
where such necessity did not exist. The Crown is the sole
executive power, and is therefore intrusted by the Constitu-
tion to take upon itself whatever the safety of the State may
require during the recess of Parliament, which is at most but
a forty days' tyranny" The power exercised on this occa-
sion was so moderate that Junius Brutus would not have
hesitated to entrust it even to the discretion of a Nero.
Lord Charlemonfs Correspondence.
MUTUAL JEALOUSY OF THE Two HOUSES. The
Speaker, in giving evidence before the Committee on House
of Commons Witnesses in 1869, referring to the traditional
jealousy of the two Houses, said that in 1772 Mr. Burke
complained bitterly that he had been kept three hours
waiting at the door of the Lords, with a Bill sent up from the
Commons. The Commons were so indignant at this treat-
ment of one of their number that, shortly afterwards, when a
Bill was brought down from the Lords to impose a bounty on
corn, the House rejected it by a unanimous vote. The Speaker
then tossed it across the table on the floor, and a number
of members rushed forward and kicked it out of the House.
THE COMMONS AND THE INFLUENCE OF THE CROWN.
On the 6th of April, 1780, Mr. Dunning moved a resolu-
tion, "That the influence of the Crown has increased, is
HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS. 47
increasing, and ought to be diminished." Mr. Dundas
(Ministerialist) moved, as an amendment, to insert before
the resolution the words, " That it is now necessary to de-
clare," &c. Lord North had on several occasions defeated
the Opposition by amending the words of their motions, but
on this occasion Mr. Fox dexterously accepted Mr. Dundas's
words, and the resolution, instead of being weakened, was
strengthened by the amendment. On the whole resolution
the House divided for, 233; against, 215; majority, 18.*
The Opposition then moved and carried two other resolu-
tions to the following effect : " 2. That it is competent to
this House to examine into and to correct abuses in the
expenditure of the civil list revenues, as well as in every
other branch of the public revenue, whenever it shall appear
expedient to the wisdom of this House so to do. 3. That
it is the duty of this House to provide, as far as may be, an
immediate and effectual redress of the abuses complained of
in the petitions presented to this House from the different
counties, cities, and towns of this kingdom." Mr. Fox
moved, notwithstanding the lateness of the hour, to report
the motions immediately to the House, and although Lord
North exclaimed loudly against such proceedings, as violent,
arbitrary, and unusual, the motion was carried. Earl
Russetts "Life of Fox."
THE DISSOLUTION OF 1780. A POCKET MAJORITY.
The dissolution of the Parliament which had been elected
in 1774 took place on the ist of September, 1780. It was
on this dissolution that Mr. Burke lost his seat for Bristol,
and that he made the famous speech, on giving up the con-
test, which is to be found in his works. It was at this
* Boswell relates that having asked Dr. Johnson whether he had not
been vexed by "that absurd vote of the House of Commons," " That the
influence of the Crown has increased, is increasing, and ought to be
diminished," the doctor replied, "Sir, I would have knocked the factious
dogs on the head ; but I was not vexed."
48 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
election also that Mr. Fox was returned for the first time
for Westminster, having defeated his competitor, Lord
Lincoln, by a large majority. * * * The general election
did not make any great alteration in the numbers of the
respective parties. Many seats were in those days in the
hands of the Treasury ; a number of others, making, together
with the Treasury boroughs, a majority of the whole House,
were in the absolute possession of individuals whose interest
led them to the support of the Minister. Thus the sound
of the national voice was often lost amid the corners and
crannies of the House of Commons. Ibid.
CREATION OF PEERS. In the course of the debate on
the appointment of the Prince of Wales as Regent (January
22nd, 1789), Lord Camden got into a scrape, in obviating the
objection to the suspension of the power of making Peers,
by saying that " on any urgent call for a peerage it might
be conferred by Act of Parliament " a proceeding which
appeared to their lordships so unconstitutional and republi-
can that he was obliged to explain and retract. Campbell's
" Lives of the Chancellors."
"ALL THE TALENTS." The death of Pitt (January
23rd, 1806) dissolved the Cabinet. The King, in spite of
his antipathy to Mr. Fox, was obliged to apply to Lord
Grenville to form a Ministry which he knew must include
that statesman. Lord Grenville became First Lord of the
Treasury ; Addington, Privy Seal ; Lord Erskine, Chan-
cellor ; Grey, First Lord of the Admiralty ; Earl Spencer,
Mr. Fox, and Mr. Windham, the three Secretaries ; Lord
Henry Petty, Chancellor of the Exchequer; &c. * * *
The Whigs' tenure of office was much shorter than they had
anticipated. They were personally odious to the King;
their pretensions to superior wisdom and abilities caused
them to be nicknamed "All the Talents," and Mr. Canning
assailed and ridiculed them without ceasing on this head. .
Keightley's "History of England."
HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS. 49
THE DISSOLUTION OF 1831. EXCITEMENT IN THE
HOUSES. Earl Russell, in the introduction to his "Speeches,"
tells us, " Lord Grey prepared the King for the decision to
which the Cabinet arrived, to advise his Majesty to have
recourse to an immediate dissolution of Parliament. The
King, though averse to such a proceeding, little more than
six months after the general election, was disposed, at this
time, to trust implicitly to Lord Grey, and I am inclined
to believe the popular story, that when it appeared neces-
sary, in order to prevent remonstrance from the House of
Lords, that the King should appear in person to dissolve
the Parliament, and some trifling difficulty of plaiting the
horses' manes was interposed as an objection, the King said
at once, 'Then I'll go down to Parliament in a hackney
coach.' * * * The scenes which occurred in the two
Houses of Parliament, so far as I was a witness of them,
were singular and unprecedented. Before the King arrived,
the House of Commons was assembled, and Sir Robert
Peel and Sir Francis Burdett rose at the same time to
address the House. Lord Althorp, amid the confusion and
clamour of contending parties, following the precedent of
Mr. Fox, moved that Sir Francis Burdett be now heard.
Sir Robert Peel on the other hand, imitating a precedent of
Lord North, said, 'And I rise to speak to that motion.*
But instead of saying a few words, as Lord North had done,
to put an end to all further debate, Sir Robert Peel quite
lost his temper, and in tones of the most violent indignation
attacked the impending dissolution. As he went on, the
Tower guns began to fire, to announce the King's arrival,
and as each discharge was heard, a loud cheer from the
Government side interrupted Sir Robert Peel's declamation.
Sir Henry Hardinge was heard to exclaim, ' The next time
those guns are fired they will be shotted !' Presently we
were all summoned to the House of Lords, where the King's
presence had put a stop to a violent and unseemly discus-
E
50 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
sion. The King in his speech announced the dissolution,
and retired to unrobe. The scene that followed was one of
great excitement and confusion." Mr. Buncombe, in
the Life of his father, says, " The change that had taken
place in April, 1831, excited both the great parties equally.
In the Commons the speech of Sir Robert Peel was
interrupted by the sound of the cannon announcing the
arrival of the King ; every report elicited a burst of cheer-
ing from one side, and of yells and groans from the
other. In the Lords the scene was equally extravagant,
Lord Mansfield in his anger doubling up his fist, elbowing
Lord Shaftesbury into the chair, and hooting Lord Brougham
as he left the House."
JEWISH DISABILITIES. In 1849, Baron Lionel Nathan
de Rothschild was returned as one of the members
for the City of London. None could question his
return ; no law affirmed his incapacity ; then how was he
excluded ? By an oath designed for Roman Catholics,
whose disabilities had been removed. He sat there for two
sessions in expectation of relief from the legislature, but
being again disappointed he resolved to try his rights under
the existing law. Accordingly, in 1850, he presented him-
self at the table for the purpose of taking the oaths. Having
been allowed, after some discussion, to be sworn upon the
Old Testament (the form most binding upon his conscience),
he proceeded to take the oaths. The oaths of allegiance
and supremacy were taken in the accustomed form ; but
from the oath of abjuration he omitted the words, "on
the true faith of a Christian," as not binding on his con-
science. He was immediately directed to withdraw ; when,
after many learned arguments, it was resolved that he was
not tntitled to sit or vote until he had taken the oath of
abjuration in the form appointed by law. In 1851 a
more resolute effort was made to overcome the obstacle
offered by the oath of abjuration. Mr. Alderman
HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS. 51
Salomons, a Jew, having been returned for the borough
of Greenwich, omitted from the oath the words which were
the Jews' stumbling-block. .Treating these words as im-
material, he took the entire substance of the oath, with the
proper solemnities. He was directed to withdraw ; but on
a later day, while his case was under discussion, he came
into the House and took his seat within the bar, whence he
declined to withdraw until he was removed by the Sergeant-
at-Arms. The House agreed to a resolution in the same
tform as in the case of Baron de Rothschild. In the mean-
time, however, he had not only sat in the House, but had
voted in three divisions. * * * In 1858 the Lords,
yielding to the persuasion of the Conservative premier,
Lord Derby, agreed to a concession. A bill passed by
the Commons at once removed the only legal obstacle to
the admission of the Jews to Parliament. To this general
enfranchisement the Lords declined to assent; but they
allowed either House, by resolution, to omit the excluding
words from the oath of abjuration. The Lords' amendments
found little favour with the Commons, but they were accepted
under protest, and the bill was passed. * * * The House
of Commons was indeed open to the Jew; but he came as a
suppliant. Two years later the scandal was corrected, and
the Jew, though still holding his title by a standing order of
the Commons, and not under the law, acquired a permanent
settlement. May's "Constitutional History"
HEREDITARY REPRESENTATIVES. It is remarked in
Notes and Queries that nearly 230 years have passed
since the election of the Long Parliament, and yet we see
many of the names reappearing in the Reformed Parliament of
Queen Victoria, as representatives of towns in the same dis-
tricts, and, in some cases, of precisely the same places. Thus,
an Ashton (Assheton) then, as now, represented Clithero; a
Corbett, Shropshire ; a Knightley, Northampton ; a Lloyd,
Cardigan ; a Montagu, Huntingdonshire ; a Morgan, Breck-
E 2
52 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
nockshire ; a Newport, Shropshire ; a Noel, Rutlandshire ;
a Parker, Suffolk ; a Russell, Tavistock ; and a Whitmore,
Bridgenorth. The same paper gives a list of fifty members
in 1869, who were, so far as could be ascertained, the direct
lineal descendants of those who sat in the Long Parliament
in 1640.
"THE ROLLIAD."
This celebrated collection of Parliamentary squibs, which
is a sort of burlesque criticism on an imaginary poem,
appeared in 1785. A full list of the authors, with their
various contributions, is given by Lord Braybrooke (from
a marked copy in his possession) in the first series of Notes
and Queries. " While Mr. Fox," says Earl Russell, " wearied
with strife, was inclined to recruit his strength in the delight-
ful shades of St. Ann's, the followers of the mighty warrior
covered his retreat with the sharp missiles of wit and fun.
A cloud of arrows flying around made the supporters of the
the Minister (Pitt) smart with pain, at once triumphant and
ridiculous. * The Rolliad/ or * Criticisms on the Rolliad,'
as it is more properly called, is the quiver of this squadron of
wits." The origin of the title is thus explained by Moore in
his "Life of Sheridan " : " Mr. Rolle (M.P. for Devonshire),
the hero of ' The Rolliad/ was one of those unlucky persons
whose destiny it is to be immortalised by ridicule, and to
whom the world owes the same sort of gratitude for the wit
of which they were the butts, as the merchants did in
Sinbad's story, to those pieces of meat to which diamonds
adhered. The chief offence, besides his political obnoxious-
ness, by which he provoked this satirical warfare (whose
plan of attack was all arranged at a club held at Becket's),
was the lead which he took in a sort of conspiracy, formed
on the ministerial benches, to interrupt, by coughing, hawk-
ing, and other unseemly noises, the speeches of Mr. Burke.
The chief writers of these lively productions were Tickell,
HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS. 53
General Fitzpatrick, Lord John Townshend, Richardson,
George Ellis and Dr. Laurence."
The interruptions referred to by Moore are thus
alluded to in the work :
" Great Rollo's heir, whose cough, whose laugh, whose groan,
Th' Antaeus Edmund has so oft o'erthrown ;
Whose cry of ' Question' silenced Charles's sense,
That cry, more powerful than Pitt's eloquence."
Pitt and his principal supporters, with their Parliamentary
characteristics, are portrayed in sarcastic lines. Thus
" the Heaven-born Minister "
" Above the rest, majestically great,
Behold the infant Atlas of the State ;
The matchless miracle of modern days,
In whom Britannia to the world displays
A sight to make surrounding nations stare ;
A kingdom trusted to a school-boy's care."
He is, again, the subject of the following :
1 ' Pert without fire, without experience sage ;
Young, with more art than Shelburne glean'd from age ;
Too proud from pilfer'd greatness to descend,
Too humble not to call Dundas his friend ;
In solemn dignity and sullen state
This new Octavius rises to debate. "
His eloquence is described in terms scarcely more compli-
mentary :
" Crown the froth'd porter, slay the fatted ox,
And give the British meal to British Fox.
But, for an Indian Minister more fit,
Ten cups of purest padrae pour for Pitt,
Pure as himself ; add sugar, too, and cream,
Sweet as his temper, bland as flows the stream
Of his smooth eloquence ; then crisply nice
The muffin toast, or bread and butter slice,
Thin as his arguments, that mock the mind,
Gone ere you taste no relish left behind."
54 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
The Speaker of the House is feelingly commiserated :
" There Cornwall sits, and oh, unhappy fate !
Must sit for ever through the long debate.
Painful pre-eminence ! he hears, 'tis true,
Fox, North, and Burke, but hears Sir Joseph too."
Among the small fry of Parliament, one of the best of
the touches is that bestowed upon
" Drake, whose cold rhetoric freezes in its course."
" How happy," continue the " Criticisms," " is the allusion
to Mr. Drake's well-known speech, which, in the meta-
phor of our poet, we may style a beautiful icicle of the most
transparent eloquence : ' Behold, sir, another feature of the
procrastinating system. Not so the Athenian patriots Sir,
the Romans Sir, I have lost the clue of my argument Sir,
I will sit down/ "
Another honourable gentleman is made the subject of
some sparkling lines, with the explanation that they refer
to " an active' young member, who has upon all occasions
been pointedly severe upon the noble lord in the blue ribbon
(North), and who is remarkable for never having delivered
his sentiments upon any subject, whether relating to the East
Indies, the Reform of Parliament, or the Westminster Elec-
tion, without a copious dissertation upon the principles,
causes, and conduct of the American War ":
" Lo ! Beaufoy rises, friend to soft repose,
Whose gentle accents prompt the House to dose.
His cadence just a general sleep provokes,
Almost as quickly as Sir Richard's* jokes.
Thy slumbers, North, he strives in vain to break ;
When all are sleeping, thou wouldst scarce awake,
Though from his lips severe invectives fell,
Sharp as the acids he delights to sell."
In allusion to the last line, the reader is informed of
* Sir Richard Hill.
HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS. 55
Mr. Beaufoy that, " although the elegance of his diction and
smoothness of his manner partake of the properties of oil, he
is, in his commercial capacity, a dealer in vinegar."
But the patrician Pittite is equally the subject of sarcasm
with the trader. The Marquis of Graham had said in debate,
" If the honourable gentleman calls my honourable friend
goose, I suppose he will call me gosling." The remark was
received with significant cheers. The marquis shortly after
was elected Chancellor of Glasgow University, and he is
thus referred to :
' ' If right the bard, whose numbers sweetly flow,
That all our knowledge is ourselves to know,
A sage like Graham can the world produce,
Who in full senate called himself a goose ?
'Th' admiring Commons from the high-born youth
With wonder heard this undisputed truth ;
Exulting Glasgow claim'd him for her own,
And placed the prodigy on learning's throne. "
PART II.
PERSONAL ANECDOTES.
HENRY ADDINGTON.
RESPECTABLE MEDIOCRITY. Henry Addington (Viscount
Sidmouth) was nicknamed " the Doctor," his father having
been physician to the elder Pitt. Earl Russell says of him,
in his " Life of Fox," " He was a man of average under-
standing, equal to the requirements of quiet times, of respect-
able prejudices, and undoubted courage ; but as minister for
a great emergency he excited only ridicule and contempt.
Little could he withstand the daily epigrams of Canning
and the scarcely more endurable compassion of Sheridan :
' As London is to Paddington,
So is Pitt to Addington.'
' When his speeches lag most vilely,
Cheer him, cheer him, Brother Hiley ;
When his speeches vilely lag,
Cheer him, cheer him, Brother Bragge.'
' The Pells* for his son, the pills for himself. 1
These and a thousand other arrows which wit squandered
upon Addington utterly ruined him in public opinion."
A SHEEP IN WOLF'S CLOTHING. A few days before
the declaration of war with France, in 1803, a warlike
* The sinecure of Clerk of the Pells.
58 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
message from the Crown was sent to Parliament. Ad-
dington, then being minister, appeared in the full dress
of the Windsor uniform, and strutted up the House in the
midst of a burst of laughter, just as the Speaker was reading
a medicine bill. "It must have been on this occasion,"
says Earl Russell, " that Sheridan redoubled the laughter of
the House by saying, ' The right hon. gentleman who has
appeared this evening in the character of a sheep in wolf's
clothing,' &c. In fact, nothing could be more tragical than
the occasion, nothing more comical than the chief actor in
the tragedy."
A ROYAL APPEAL. Mr. Addington used to tell his,
friends that at the interview with which he was honoured on
the loth of May, 1804, the King again pressed upon him the
acceptance of the peerage and pension, in terms which it
must have been very difficult for so devoted a subject to
resist: "You are a proud man, Mr. Addington, but I am
a proud man, too ; and why should I sleep uneasy on my
pillow because you will not comply with my request ? Why
should I feel the consciousness that I have suffered you to
ruin your family, and that through your attachment to me?"
SidmoutJfs Life and Correspondence.
SPOILING NATURE. On the 8th of June, 1789, Ad-
dington, who had just completed his thirty-second year, was
elevated to the dignity of Speaker of the House of Com-
mons. Mr. Gilpin, in a congratulatory note, writes on that
occasion : " I was in some little pain at first how you could
restrain the natural modesty of your disposition on so
sudden an elevation to one of the most awful posts I know ;
but Sir John Dayley and other gentlemen gave such an
account of your setting out, that all apprehensions for you
are now over ; and I have only to regret, as a picturesque
man, that such an enlightened countenance as God Almighty
has given you should be shrouded in a bush of horsehair."
ADDISON AGNEW. 59
JOSEPH ADDISON.
SUCCESSFUL SILENCE. Addison sat for Malmsbury in
the House of Commons which was elected in 1708. But the
House of Commons was not the field for him ; the bashful-
ness of his nature made his wit and eloquence useless in
debate. He once rose, but could not overcome his dif-
fidence, and ever after remained silent. Nobody can think
it strange that a great writer should fail as a speaker; but
many, probably, will think it strange that Addison' s failure
as a speaker should have had no unfavourable effect on his
success as a politician. In our time a man of high rank
and great fortune might, though speaking very little and
very ill, hold a considerable post ; but it would now be in-
conceivable that a mere adventurer a man who, when out
of office, must live by his pen should in a few years be-
come successively Under Secretary of State, Chief Secretary
for Ireland, and Secretary of State, without some oratorical
talent. Addison, without high birth, and with little property,
rose to a post which dukes the heads of the great houses
of Talbot, Russell, and Bentinck have thought it an honour
to fill. Without opening his lips in debate, he rose to a
post the highest that Chatham or Fox ever reached ; and
this he did before he had been nine years in Parliament.
Macaulay's Essay on Addison.
SIR ANDREW AGNEW.
QUIZZING A BILL OUT OF THE HOUSE. Sir Andrew
Agnew was identified in the House of Commons with the
question of Sabbath observance. He brought in a measure
so extreme in its nature that his friends appealed to his
judgment in private against such a scheme. Professor Pryme
tells us, "He said, 'I quite agree with you as to the ab-
surdity of some of the enactments, but it is the bill of the
60 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
Society for the Better Observance of the Sabbath, and I
cannot help it.' It was lost, of course, because it went too
far, but the discussion produced great good throughout the
kingdom, in leading people of all classes to attend to the
subject, and improve the observance of the Lord's Day.
The last time that Sir A. Agnew brought forward his bill,
Mr. Hawes, M.P. for Lambeth, and two or three other
members, succeeded in, I may say, quizzing it out of the
House. We were in committee of the whole House, and I
was in the chair. When we came to that clause which
enacted that it should be unlawful for any cab or public
carriage to be let out upon a Sunday, Hawes moved as
an amendment, 'or for any private carriage to be used.'
Before putting it to the vote, Sir A. Agnew appealed to me
not to do so. I answered that, as it had been moved and
seconded gravely, I had no option. The clause was carried
by a majority, and no more was heard of the bill."-
PrymJs " Autobiographic Recollections."
BISHOP ATTERBURY.
BALAAM AND HIS Ass. Atterbury, the celebrated Bishop
of Rochester, happened to say in the House of Lords, while
speaking on a certain bill then under discussion, that "he
had prophesied last winter this bill would be attempted in
the present session, and he was sorry to find he had proved
a true prophet." My Lord Coningsby, who spoke after the
bishop, and always spoke in a passion, desired the House to
remark that one of the right reverend had set himself forth
as a prophet; but, for his part, he did not know what
prophet to liken him to, unless to that furious prophet
Balaam, who was reproved by his own ass." Atterbury, in
reply, with great wit and calmness, exposed this rude attack,
concluding thus : " Since the noble lord has discovered in
our manners such a similitude, I am well content to be
LORD BACON. 61
compared to the prophet Balaam ; but, my lords, I am at a
loss how to make out the other part of the parallel. I am
sure that I have been reproved by nobody but his lordship."
Dr. King's Anecdotes of his own Times.
LORD BACON.
DEPOPULATION. Bacon was returned to the Parliament
that met in 1597, when he introduced two bills against
" enclosures and the depopulation of towns." In his speech
introducing his bills he said, "I should be sorry to see
within this kingdom that piece of Ovid's verse prove true
Jam seges ubi Troja fuit: In England nought but green
fields, a shepherd, and a dog." Parliamentary History.
A REPENTANT PATRIOT. Bacon tried to play a very
difficult game in politics. He wished to be at once a
favourite at Court and popular with the multitude. * * *
Once, however, he indulged in a burst of patriotism which
cost him a long and bitter remorse, and which he never ven-
tured to repeat. The Court asked for large subsidies and for
speedy payment. The remains of Bacon's speech breathe
all the spirit of the Long Parliament. "The gentlemen,",
said he, " must sell their plate, and the farmers their brass
pots, ere this will be paid ; and for us, we are here to search
the wounds of the realm, and not to skin them over. The
dangers are these. First, we shall breed discontent, and
endanger her Majesty's safety, which must consist more in
the love of the people than their wealth. Secondly, this
being granted in this sort, other princes hereafter will look
for the like ; so that we shall put an evil precedent on our-
selves and our posterity ; and in histories, it is to be ob-
served, of all nations the English are not to be subject, base,
or taxable." The Queen and her ministers resented this
outbreak of public spirit in the highest manner. Indeed,
many an honest member of the House of Commons had, for
62 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
a much smaller matter, been sent to the Tower by the proud
and hot-blooded Tudors. The young patriot endeavoured
to make the most abject apologies, and never offended in
the same manner again. Macaulay's Essay on Bacon.
EXEMPLARY ORATORY. Ben Jonson writes of Bacon, in
his "Discoveries made upon Men and Matter": "There
happened in my time one noble speaker who was full of
gravity in his speaking. His language, when he could spare
or pass by a jest, was nobly censorious. No man ever spoke
more neatly, more pressly, more weightily, or suffered less
emptiness, less idleness, in what he uttered. No member
of his speech but consisted of his own graces. His hearers
could not cough or look aside from him without loss. He
commanded where he spoke, and had his judges angry and
pleased at his devotion. No man had their affections more
in his power. The fear of every man that heard him was lest
he should make an end"
SIR JOHN BARNARD.
PRICE OF A CITY MEMBER. Barnard took his seat for
the City of London in 1722. To Walpole's frequent obser-
vation, " Every man has his price," it was once triumphantly
objected, " What, then, is Sir John Barnard's?" "Popu-
larity," was the minister's reply. Memoirs of Sir J. Bar-
nard.
A RECOGNITION. Walpole once paid Sir J. Barnard a
great compliment. Riding out on the same day in two par-
ties, they happened to come where only a narrow close pre-
vented their view of each other. Sir J. Barnard, talking with
his company, was overheard. A gentleman of the other
party said, "Whose voice is that?" Sir Robert replied,
" Do not you know ? It is one I shall never forget \ I have
often felt its power." Ibid.
BEffTINCK BOLINGBROKE. 63
LORD GEORGE BENTINCK.
A SACRIFICE. On the day after the Derby, 1848 (says
Mr. Disraeli), the writer met Lord George Bentinck in the
library of the House of Commons. He was standing before
the book-shelves, with a volume in his hand, and his coun-
tenance was greatly disturbed. His resolutions in favour of
the colonial interest, after all his labours, had been negatived
by the committee on the 22nd, and on the 24th his horse
Surplice, whom he had parted with among the rest of his
stud, solely that he might pursue without distraction his
labours on behalf of the great interests of the country, had
won that paramount and Olympian stake to gain which had
been the object of his life. He had nothing to console him,
and nothing to sustain him except his pride. Even that
deserted him before a heart which he knew at least could
yield him sympathy. He gave a sort of superb groan : " All
my life I have been trying for this, and for what have I
sacrificed it ? " he murmured. It was in vain to offer solace.
" You do not know what the Derby is," he moaned out.
" Yes, I do ; it is the blue ribbon of the turf/' " It is the
blue ribbon of the turtV' he slowly repeated to himself and
sitting down at the table, he buried himself in a folio of
statistics. Life of Bentifuk.
LORD BOLINGBROKE.
EVANESCENCE OF PARLIAMENTARY ELOQUENCE BEFORE
THE DAYS OF REPORTING. In the case of Bolingbroke (re-
marks Lord Brougham), the defect, so often to be deplored
in contemplating the history of modern oratory, attains its
very height Meagre as are the materials by which we can
aim at forming to ourselves some idea of the eloquence of
most men who flourished before our own day ; scanty as are
the remains even of the speakers who figured during the
64 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
Seven Years' War, and the earlier part of the American con-
test when we go back to the administration of Walpole we
find those vestiges to be yet more thinly scattered over the
pages of our history; and in Queen Anne's time, during
which alone Bolingbroke spoke, there are absolutely none.
It is correct to affirm that of this great orator one of the
very 'greatest, according to all contemporary history, that ever
exercised the art, and these accounts are powerfully sup-
ported by his writings not a spoken sentence remains. * *
The contemplation of this chasm it was that made Mr. Pitt,
when musing upon its brink, and calling to mind all that
might be fancied of the orator from the author, and all that
traditional testimony had handed down to us, sigh after a
speech of Bolingbroke desiderating it far more than the
restoration of all that has perished of the treasures of
the ancient world. Statesmen of the Time of George III.
The impression produced by Bolingbroke is shown in
the Earl of Chesterfield's remark to his son : " I would
much rather that you had Lord Bolingbroke's style and
eloquence, in speaking and writing, than all the learning of
the Academy of Sciences, the Royal Society, and the two
Universities united."
MR. BRIGHT.
THE CAVE OF ADULLAM. On the meeting of Parliament
in 1866, a Reform Bill was introduced by Earl Russell's
administration. Several members usually found in the ranks
of the Liberal party either opposed or withheld their support
from the measure. Among them Mr. Lowe and Mr. Hors-
man were most conspicuous. In a debate on the bill, on the
1 3th of March, the following observations by Mr. Bright ex-
cited great merriment, and gave the name of "Adullamites "
to this section of politicians : " The right honourable gen-
tleman below me (Mr. Horsman) said a little against the
MR. BRIGHT. 65
Government and a little against the bill, but had last night
a field-night for an attack upon so humble an individual as
I am. The right honourable gentleman is the first of the
new party who has expressed his great grief, who has retired
into what may be called his political cave of Adullam, and
he has called about him every one that was in distress and
every one that was discontented.* The right honourable
gentleman has been anxious to form a party in this House.
There is scarcely any one on this side of the House who is
able to address the House with effect, or to take much part
in our debates, whom he has not tried to bring over to his
party or cabal ; and at last the right honourable gentleman
has succeeded in hooking the right honourable gentleman
the member for Calne (Mr. Lowe). I know there was an
opinion expressed many years ago by a member of the
Treasury bench and of the Cabinet, that two men would
make a party. When a party is formed of two men so
amiable, so discreet as the two right honourable gentlemen,
we may hope to see for the first time in Parliament a party
perfectly harmonious, and distinguished by mutual and un-
broken trust. But there is one difficulty which it is im-
possible to remove. This party of two reminds me of the
Scotch teirier, which was so covered with hair that you
could not tell which was the head and which was the tail
of it."
THE "INTENSE GLARE AT THE DOORS OF PARLIA-
MENT." Mr. Bright used this expression in a speech on
Reform, at Birmingham, in 1865. Alluding to the fear
which the Tories and many of the Whigs entertained of a
Reform Bill, he said, " What is this apparition which alarms
them ? * * * They are afraid of the five or six millions
of Englishmen, grown-up men, who are allowed to marry,
to keep house, to rear children, who are expected to earn
* i Samuel xxii. i, a.
66 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
their living, who pay taxes, who must obey the law, who
must be citizens in all honourable conduct they are afraid
of the five or six millions who by the present system of re-
presentation are shut out, and insultingly shut out, from the
commonest rights of citizenship. It may happen, as it hap-
pened thirty years ago, that the eyes of the five millions all
through the United Kingdom may be fixed with an intense
glare upon the doors of Parliament ; it was so in the years
1831-32. * * * If the five millions should once unitedly
fix their eyes with an intense look upon the doors of that
House where my hon. friend and I expect so soon to enter,
I would ask, Who shall say them nay ? Not the mace upon
the table of the House ; not the four hundred easy gentle-
men of the House of Lords, who lounge in and out of that
decorated chamber ; not the dozen gentlemen who call them-
selves statesmen, and who meet in Downing Street ; perhaps
not even those more appalling and more menacing personages
who have their lodgment higher up Whitehall. I say there
is no power in the country, as opinion now stands, and as
combination is now possible there is no power in this
country that can say ' Nay ' for one single week to the five
millions, if they are intent upon making their way within the
doors of Parliament."
A PARLIAMENT FROM TEMPLE BAR. In a speech
on Reform at Glasgow, in 1866, Mr. Bright made this
supposition : " If the Clerk of the House of Commons
were placed at Temple Bar, and if he had orders to tap
upon the shoulder every well-dressed and apparently
cleanly-washed man who passed through that ancient bar,
until he had numbered 658 ; and if the Crown summoned
these 658 to be the Parliament of the United Kingdom, my
honest conviction is that you would have a better Parlia-
ment than now exists. This assertion will stagger some
timid and some good men ; but let me explain myself to
you. It would be a Parliament every member of which
MR. BRIGHT. 67
would have no direct constituency, but it would be a Par-
liament that would act as a jury, that would take some heed
of the facts and arguments laid before it. It would be free,
at any rate, from the class prejudices which weigh upon the
present House of Commons. It would be free from the
overshadowing presence of what are called noble families.
It would owe no allegiance to great landowners, and I hope
it would have fewer men amongst it seeking their own gains
by entering Parliament."
THE DERBY MINSTRELS. Speaking on Reform at
Birmingham in 1866, Mr. Bright made an allusion which
told in a circle beyond his audience : " The Government
of Lord Derby in the House of Commons, sitting all in a
row, reminds me very much of a number of amusing and
ingenious gentlemen whom I dare say some of you have
seen and listened to ; I mean the Christy Minstrels. The
Christy Minstrels, if I am not misinformed, are, when they
are clean washed, white men; but they come before the
audience as black as the blackest negroes, and by this trans-
formation it is expected that their jokes and songs will be
more amusing. The Derby minstrels pretend to be Liberal
and white ; but the fact is, if you come nearer and examine
them closely, you will find them to be just as black and curly
as the Tories have ever been. I do not know, and I do
not pretend to say, which of them it is that plays the banjo
and which the bones."
A HEAVY BURDEN. In the debate on the Queen's
Message announcing the declaration of war with Russia,
March, 1854, Mr. Bright condemned the policy of a war on
behalf of Turkey, and in the course of his remarks said,
"The property-tax is the lever, or the weapon, with which
the proprietors of land and houses in this kingdom will have
to support the * integrity and independence ' of the Ottoman
Empire. Gentlemen, I congratulate you that every man of
you has a Turk upon his shoulders."
F 2
68 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
ALWAYS A " WEAK BROTHER " IN THE HOUSE. During
the debate on the Lords' amendments to the Reform Bill, in
1867, Mr. Bright spoke against the representation of minori-
ties, and remarked : " I think the Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer said it was a scheme to introduce into the House
all sorts of crotchety people. I have no objection to crotchety
people. I believe there must be all sorts of people in this
House. I have never been in any Parliament in which
there has not been at least one member generally believed
by the rest of the members to be not quite strong, and ex-
cuses were made for his eccentric conduct because he was
not as responsible as others. That, probably, will always
be the case in the House of Commons." Speeches, edited by
Professor Rogers.
LORD BROUGHAM.
IRREPRESSIBLE SPEECH. Brougham failed in getting
into Parliament till the beginning of 1810, when he was
elected for Camelford. He was expected to fire off an
oration the very night he took his seat, but he had made
a vow not to speak for a month, and he kept it. " It was
remarked " (writes Campbell) " that for the future he never
was in his place a whole evening, in either House of Parlia-
ment, without, regularly or irregularly, more than once
taking part in the discussions." This is a little overstated ;
but his oratory was irrepressible, and he would have suffered
from suppressed speech as another man might suffer from
suppressed gout. Although his first attempt was a failure,
he soon fought his way to the front, and by the end of his
first session was competing for the leadership of the Oppo-
sition, then held by the Right Hon. George Ponsonby, Ex-
Chancellor of Ireland. * * * Careless whether his claim
to the leadership was formally recognised or not, he took
the lead on so many important questions that the general
LORD BROUGHAM. 69
public could not well help regarding him as leader, and the
recalcitrant Whigs gradually succumbed to him. Quarterly
Review.
" BROFFAM " versus " BROOM." Brougham did not get
into regular practice at the bar till he had acquired celebrity
in the House of Commons. He got a few Scotch appeals,
and these brought him into early conflict with Lord Eldon,
who persisted in calling him Mr. Broffam, till a formal re-
monstrance arrived through the assistant-clerk ; whereupon
the Chancellor gave in, and complimented the offended
counsel at the conclusion of the argument, saying, " Every
authority upon the question has been brought before us :
new Brooms sweep clean." Ibid.
His ATTACK UPON CANNING. Brougham took part in
the debate on the Roman Catholic claims, April 17, 1823, and
in the course of his speech said, referring to Canning, he
" had exhibited a specimen, the most incredible specimen,
of monstrous truckling, for the purpose of obtaining office,
that the whole history of political tergiversation could fur-
nish " Mr. Secretary Canning : " I rise to say that that
is false." The Speaker (after a perfect silence in the House
during some seconds) said, in a low tone, he hoped the
right honourable Secretary would retract the expression he
had used. An individual of his high rank and station could
not fail to be aware that such an expression was a complete
violation of the customs and of the orders of the House.
He deeply regretted that, even in haste, it should have been
used. Mr. Canning said he was sorry to have used any
word which was a violation of the decorum of the House ;
but nothing no consideration on earth should induce him
to retract the sentiment. After an appeal to the House on
the part of the Speaker, Mr. Canning expressed his regret,
so far as the orders of the House were concerned, to
have attracted their displeasure ; but he could not in con-
science recall his declaration. Some further discussion
70 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
ensued, when Mr. Bankes moved, " That the Right Honour-
able George Canning and Henry Brougham, Esq., be com-
mitted to the custody of the Sergeant-at-Arms attending this
House." Mr. Brougham opposed the motion, pointing out
that with the unanimous assent of the House it had been
declared by the highest authority that Mr. Canning had com-
mitted a breach of their rules ; and it was proposed by the
motion to take himself also into custody, who had com-
mitted no offence whatever against the orders of the House.
He admitted their power to take such a step if they chose,
but declared if they did so it would be in flagrant violation
of the principles of justice. He begged the House to under-
stand he opposed the first part of the motion no less than
the last. He would be the last man to hold up his hand for
passing a censure upon the right honourable gentleman, or
for committing him to custody for the expression which he
had used on hearing one half of the sentence which was
about to be delivered. Ultimately Mr. Canning Mr.
Bankes having withdrawn his motion said he should think
no more of the matter ; and Mr. Brougham similarly ex-
pressing himself, the affair terminated. Hansard.
"THE SCHOOLMASTER ABROAD." The debate on the
Address on the King's Speech which took place in the
House of Commons January 29th, 1828, was one of an
unusually animated character, in consequence of the Duke
of Wellington having resigned his office of Commander-
in-Chief and formed a new Administration by command
of his Majesty. Brougham confessed that he felt a very
great degree of objection to the arrangement. There was
in it, he said, no security or compensation to the House
or to the country for this union of power. He had no fear,
however, of slavery being introduced into this country by
the power of the sword. It would take a stronger, it would
demand a more powerful man even than the Duke of
Wellington to effect such an object. These were not the
LORD BROUGHAM. 71
times for such an attempt There had been periods when
the country heard with dismay that " the soldier was abroad."
Now there was another person abroad a less important
person in the eyes of some an insignificant person whose
labours had tended to produce this state of things. The
schoolmaster was abroad ! And he trusted more to the
schoolmaster armed with his primer, than he did to the
soldier in full military array, for upholding and extending
the liberties of his country. Ibid.
A NOBLE BOAST. Brougham's speech in the House of
Commons on Law Reform, in February, 1828, was one of
the most effective he ever delivered. The Quarterly Review
says of it that, " directly or indirectly, it has probably led
to a greater number of important and beneficial results than
any other speech, ancient or modern." He spoke on this
occasion for six hours, and concluded thus : " It was the
boast of Augustus it formed part of the glare in which the
perfidies of his earlier years were lost that he found Rome
of brick and left it of marble ; a praise not unworthy a great
)rince, and to which the present reign also has its claims.
But how much nobler will be the sovereign's boast when he
shall have it to say that he found law dear and left it cheap ;
found it a sealed book, left it a living letter ; found it the
patrimony of the rich, left it the inheritance of the poor;
found it the two-edged sword of craft and oppression, left it
the staff of honesty and the shield of innocence."
FAWNING PARASITES. When Lord Althorp moved an
amendment to the motion for adjournment in the House
of Commons (1830), Brougham " launched out against the
[inistry in a strain of bitter invective, of sarcasm vehement
even to fierceness." Mr. Roebuck (" Whig Ministry of
1830") gives the following passage from his speech, which
called forth an indignant protest from Sir Robert Peel :
You will see in this, as in that country (France), that
the day of force is now over, and that he who would rule his
72 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE,
country by an appeal to royal favour or military power may
be overwhelmed, may be 'hurled down by it, if he should
entertain such an idea and I in no wise accuse him of
such an attempt ; him I accuse not ; I " and here the
excited orator stretched out his long bony arm, and pointed
with a lean and almost skeleton finger at the Treasury
bench, " I accuse you, I accuse his flatterers those mean,
fawning parasites Sir Robert rose at once, and, in
grave indignant terms, called the learned gentleman to
order. " I ask the honourable and learned gentleman, as I
am one of those sitting on this side of the House, whether
he means to accuse me of being a fawning parasite?"
Checked thus suddenly in mid-career, Mr. Brougham seemed
at once to perceive that the phrase he had used and the
charge he had brought were not to be justified, and instantly,
therefore, disclaimed every intention of applying the words
to Sir Robert Peel himself, who truly observed, pn this
retractation, that it was hardly sufficient, and declared that
he would therefore, on behalf of Mr. Brougham, make the
apology and retractation which ought to have been made
by the learned gentleman. This he did, and Mr. Brougham
with great good sense and good feeling adopted it.
His ELECTION FOR YORKSHIRE. Campbell, in his
" Life of Brougham," thus speaks of his contest for the re-
presentation of the county of York, in 1830 : " No man ever
went through such fatigue of body and mind as he did for
the three following weeks. The assizes at York were about
to begin, and he chanced to have a good many retainers.
Instead of giving these up, he appeared in court and exerted
himself as an advocate with more than wonted spirit. Having
finished an address to the jury, he would throw off his wig
and gown, and make a speech to the electors in the Castle
yard on "the three glorious days of Paris," and the way in
which the people of England might peaceably obtain still
greater advantages. He would then return to court and
LORD BROUGHAM. 73
reply in a cause respecting right of common of turbary,
having, in the twinkling of an eye, picked up from his junior
a notion of all that had passed in his absence. But, what is
much more extraordinary, before the nomination day arrived,
he had held public meetings and delivered stirring speeches
in every town and large village within the county ; still
day by day addressing juries, and winning or losing ver-
dicts. * * * County elections at that time, lasting fifteen
days, excited prodigious interest. All England looked with
eagerness on this contest, and, when Brougham's return was
actually proclaimed, the triumph was said to form a grand
epoch in the history of Parliamentary representation."
A MATERNAL PREFERENCE. Brougham, after his eleva-
tion to the woolsack (representing the county of York at
the time), like a pious son " as he ever showed himself,"
says Lord Campbell took a journey to Brougham Hall, to
visit his venerable mother, and, kneeling before her, to ask
her blessing on a Lord Chancellor. The good old lady still
preserved her fine faculties quite entire; but while she
reciprocated her boy's affection for her, and was proud of
his abilities and the distinction he had acquired, she said,
with excellent good sense and feeling, " My dear Harry, I
would rather have embraced the member for Yorkshire ; but
God Almighty bless you !"
INTERVIEW OF EARL GREY AND LORD BROUGHAM
WITH THE KING. At the Cabinet Council which was held
April 22nd, 1831, immediately after the defeat of the
Government on the Reform question, it was resolved to
advise the King to prorogue Parliament with a view to an
early dissolution. Earl -Grey and Lord Brougham were
deputed to wait on his Majesty and communicate to him
the advice of the Cabinet. The interview which these
ministers had with King William, in discharge of their
mission, is thus described by Mr. Molesworth (" History of
the Reform Bill ") : The Chancellor approached the
74 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
subject very carefully, prefacing the disagreeable message
with which he was charged with a compliment on the King's
desire to promote the welfare of his people. He then pro-
ceeded to communicate the advice of the Cabinet, adding
that they were unanimous in offering it. " What ! exclaimed
the King, "would you have me dismiss in this summary
manner a Parliament that has granted me so splendid a
civil list, and given my Queen so liberal an annuity in case
she survives me ?" "No doubt, sire," Lord Brougham re-
plied, "in these respects they have acted wisely and
honourably; but your Majesty's advisers are all of opinion
that, in the present state of affairs, every hour that this Par-
liament continues to sit is pregnant with danger to the peace
and security of your kingdom, and they humbly beseech
your Majesty to go down this very day and prorogue it; if
you do not, they cannot be answerable for the consequences."
The King was greatly embarrassed ; he evidently enter-
tained the strongest objection to the proposed measure, but
he also felt the danger which would result from the resigna-
tion of his ministers at the present crisis. He therefore
shifted his ground, and asked, " Who is to carry the sword
of state and the cap of maintenance?" "Sire, knowing
the urgency of the crisis and the imminent peril in which
the country at this moment stands, we have ventured to tell
those whose duty it is to perform these and other similar
offices, to hold themselves in readiness." " But the troops
the Life Guards ; I have given no orders to have them
called out, and now it is too late." This was, indeed, a
serious objection ; for to call out the Guards was the special
prerogative of the monarch himself, and no minister had any
right to order their attendance without his express com-
mand. " Sire," replied the Chancellor, with some hesitation,
"we must throw ourselves on your indulgence. Deeply
feeling the gravity of the crisis, and knowing your love for
your people, we have taken a liberty which nothing but the
LORD BROUGHAM. 75
most imperious necessity could warrant ; we have ordered
out the troops, and we humbly throw ourselves on your
Majesty's indulgence." The King's eye flashed, and his
cheek became crimson ; he was evidently on the point of
dismissing the ministry in an explosion of anger. " Why,
my lords," he exclaimed, " this is treason ! high treason !
and you, my Lord Chancellor, ought to know that it is."
" Yes, sire, 1 do know it ; and nothing but the strongest
conviction that your Majesty's crown and the interests of
the nation are at stake could have induced us to take such
a step, or to tender the advice we are now giving." This
submissive reply had the desired effect : the King cooled ;
his prudence and better genius prevailed ; and having once
made up his mind to yield, he yielded with a good grace.
He accepted, without any objection, the speech which had
been prepared for him, and which the two ministers had
brought with them; he gave orders respecting the details
of the approaching ceremonial, and, having completely re-
covered his habitual serenity and good humour, he dismissed
the two lords with a jocose threat of impeachment.
His REFORM SPEECH IN THE LORDS. On the second
reading of the Reform Bill, in October, 1831, Brougham
delivered his great speech in defence of it, which (says
Lord Campbell) " by many was considered his chef-d'oeuvre.
It certainly was a wonderful performance to witness. He
showed a most stupendous memory, and extraordinary dex-
terity in handling the weapons both of ridicule and of reason.
Without a note to refer to, he went through all the speeches
of his opponents delivered during the five nights' debate,
analysing them successively, and, with a little aid from per-
version, giving them all a seemingly triumphant answer.
* * * The peroration was partly inspired by draughts of
mulled port, imbibed by him very copiously towards the
conclusion of the four hours during which he was on his
legs or on his knees. * * * ' I pray and I exhort you
7 6 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
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 [he kneels]
I supplicate you reject not this bill!' He continued for
some time as if in prayer ; but his friends, alarmed for him
lest he should be suffering from the effects of the mulled
port, picked him up and placed him safely on the woolsack.
Like Burke's famous dagger scene in the House of Com-
mons, this prostration was a failure ; so unsuited was it to
the spectators and to the actor, that it produced a sensation
of ridicule, and considerably impaired the effect of a speech
displaying wonderful powers of memory and of intellect."
ASSERTING A " RIGHT." The House of Lords went into
committee on the Abolition of Slavery Bill, August i4th,
1833, when the Lord Chancellor (Brougham), opposing an
amendment of the Duke of Wellington, said that a slave
who had been freed " would have as good a right to sit in
the other House of Parliament as the noble duke opposite
(the Duke of Wellington), who was illustrious by his actions,
or the illustrious duke near him (the Duke of Cumberland),
who was illustrious by the courtesy of that House." The
Duke of Cumberland rose to order ; he had not said one
word to call for such an attack. The Lord Chancellor said
that the illustrious duke was out of order, and in calling him
to order was most disorderly. The Duke of Cumberland
again rose, and protested that the noble and learned lord had
no cause whatever to address him. The Lord Chancellor
said, the illustrious duke was most disorderly in calling him
to order on the score of having addressed the illustrious
duke. He had a right to address any one of their lordships.
He had exercised the right of addressing the members of
the other House for twenty years, and, please God, he would
continue to exercise that right as regarded their lordships.
Hansard.
LORD BROUGHAM.
77
SEAL FISHING. Brougham had been very sanguine in
his opposition to the bill for repealing the Navigation Laws,
in 1849, and was deeply mortified when it passed both
Houses: " While the bill was depending," says Lord Camp-
bell, " I happened to call upon him one morning, in Grafton
Street, to talk to him about a Scotch appeal, and was shown
into his library. He soon rushed in very eagerly, but sud-
denly stopped short, exclaiming ' Lord bless me ! is it you ?
They told me it was Stanley.' And notwithstanding his
accustomed frank and courteous manner, I had some dif-
ficulty in fixing his attention. In the evening I stepped
across the House to the Opposition Bench, where Brougham
and Stanley were sitting next each other, and, addressing the
latter in the hearing of the former, I said, * Has our noble
and learned friend told you the disappointment he suffered
this morning ? He thought he had a visit from the leader of
the Protectionists to offer him the Great Seal, and it turned
out to be only Campbell come to bore him about a point of
Scotch law.' Brougham : ' Don't mind what Jack Campbell
says ; he has a prescriptive privilege to tell lies of all Chan-
cellors dead and living.' Many jokes were circulated against
Brougham on this occasion. A few days after his great
speech, I myself heard Lyndhurst say to him, ' Brougham,
here is a riddle for you. Why does Lord Brougham know
so much about the Navigation Laws ? Answer : Because
he has been so long engaged in the Seal fishery.' "
SMELLING BOTTLE FOR A PARLIAMENTARY ANTAGONIST.
Charles Williams Wynn, for many years the father of the
House of Commons, who from his youth upwards had been
the great oracle of Parliamentary law, delivered an opinion
in the House, on a question of privilege, contrary to
Brougham's, fortifying his position with many precedents and
references to the Journals. Lord Campbell, relates the in-
cident, and the compliment Brougham paid to the learned
member, winding up with the statement that " In short, he
y8 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
is a man whose devotion in this respect can only be equalled
by that of a learned ancestor of his (Speaker Williams, temp.
Car. II. ), who having fainted from excessive toil and fatigue,
a smelling-bottle was called for, when one, who knew much
better the remedy adapted to the case, exclaimed, ' For
God's sake bring him an old black-letter Act of Parliament,
and let him smell that ! ' I cannot help thinking that, in
like manner, if my right honourable and learned friend
should ever be attacked in a similar way, the mere smelling
of a volume of the Journals could not fail instantly to revive
him."
LORD BROUGHTON.
"A TRIFLING MISTAKE." Mr. John Cam Hobhouse
(afterwards Lord Broughton), the friend and fellow-traveller
of Byron, to whom was dedicated the Fourth Canto of
"Childe Harold," incurred, in 1819, the high displeasure
of the House of Commons, under the following cir-
cumstances, as gathered from "Hansard": On Decem-
ber the roth, Mr. Courtenay rose to complain of a
pamphlet which had been published, entitled "A Trifling
Mistake in Thomas Lord Erskine's recent Preface shortly
noticed, and respectfully corrected, in a Letter to his Lord-
ship, by the author of 'The Defence of the People.'" The
following extract, amongst others, was read from the pamph-
let : " What prevents the people from walking down to
the House and pulling out the members by the ears, locking
up their doors, and flinging the key into the Thames?"
On a subsequent day the publisher of the brochure having
been summoned to the bar, and the name of the writer
divulged, it was -moved and carried "That John Cam
Hobhouse, Esq., be, for his said offence, committed to his
Majesty's gaol of Newgate." The offender remained in
confinement till the death of George III., in the following
January, occasioned a dissolution of Parliament. Shortly
BROUGHTON BURDETT. 79
after this, Mr. Hobhouse took his seat in the assembly
he had denounced in such strong language, as one of the
members for Westminster, and delivered his maiden speech
May 9th, 1820. The occasion was on Mr. Alderman Wood's
motion respecting the criminal conduct and proceedings of
George Edwards, said to have been connected with the Cato
Street Conspiracy. In the course of his address he referred
to his own case in these terms : " Now let me recall to the
honourable member for Corfe Castle the dreadful alarms,
the prompt proceedings adopted against the author of a
pamphlet in which it seemed possible that some recom-
mendations to a dispersion of this House might be found.
Here was no plot, no grenades, no mischief either done or
meditated; but though this Edwards is to walk at large,
the author of a single passage of disputable meaning is to be
sent to prison without trial and without citation."
His MAJESTY'S OPPOSITION. It was Mr. Hobhouse
who first spoke of " His Majesty's Opposition." Canning
accepted the appellation as appropriate. A distinguished
member of the Opposition gave it the stamp of his approval,
while, adding a pithy exposition of its meaning. Tierney
said, " No better phrase could be adopted ; for we are cer-
tainly a branch of his Majesty's Government. Although the
gentlemen opposite are in office, we are in power. The
measures are ours, but all the emoluments are theirs."
Edinburgh Review.
SIR FRANCIS BURDETT.
A FAVOURITE. " Burdett," said Byron, " is sweet and
silvery as Belial himself, and, I think, the greatest favourite
in Pandemonium ; at least, I always heard the country
gentlemen and the ministerial devilry praise his speeches
w/stairs, and run down from Bellamy's when he was upon
his \egs."MoorSs "Life."
80 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
BURDETT'S COMMITTAL TO THE TOWER. J. Gale Jones,
the president of a debating club, published some resolutions
of his society on the debate which arose (1810) relative to
the expedition to the Scheldt. For this he was summoned
to the bar of the House, and committed to Newgate. Sir
Francis Burdett took up his cause, and denied the power of
the Commons to commit to prison any but their own mem-
bers; and repeated his arguments in a letter published in
Cobbetfs Weekly Register. This being brought before the
House, he was committed to the Tower. Cooke, in his
" History of Party," thus describes the circumstances at-
tending the execution of the order : " Crowds surrounded
the house of Sir Francis, who affected to resist the warrant
by force, and barricaded his doors. Twenty police officers,
assisted by detachments of cavalry and infantry, were neces-
sary to execute the warrant. Burdett still resisted ; and,
lest the theatrical display should be incomplete, the con-
stables, when they broke into the house, found him teaching
his infant son to read and translate Magna Charta. As he
was borne along to the Tower, the crowds assembled
attacked the soldiery ; pistol-shots were fired on each side,
and the troops did not return from their ungrateful duty
without a sanguinary conflict, in which several people were
slain. A more useless or unnecessary provocation of a
scene of carnage does not occur in our history. Sir Francis
brought an action against the Speaker, and, being defeated,
thus had the merit of formally establishing the important
principle of the Constitution which he had attacked."
HOISTING CANNING WITH HIS OWN PETARD. It was
in one of those debates of the pre-Reform period that
Canning, in the course of an elaborate defence of the
borough system, urged that it formed an essential element
of the British Constitution, since it had
"Grown with our growth, and strengthened with our strength,"
Six FRANCIS BURDETT. 81
Sir Francis Burdett took up the quotation in reply, and
said, " The right honourable gentleman doubtless remembers
the first line of the distich he has cited, and that it is
' The young disease, which must subdue at length,
Grows with our growth, and strengthens with our strength.' **
Canning acknowledged that the retort was a happy and a
just one. Edinburgh Review.
BURDETT A HIGH TORY. Sir Francis Burdett, reverting
to the notion that the prerogative of the Crown in choosing
its servants ought to be unfettered and uncontrolled, said, in
bringing forward a motion for reform of Parliament, " If a
country gentleman were to offer to a servant out of place to
make him his butler, and the man were to answer, I will
not be your butler unless you will take Harry for your
coachman, and Thomas for your groom, and Dick for your
footman,' the gentleman would be greatly astonished."
This remark proves that Sir Francis Burdett was, as he
sometimes avowed himself to be, a high prerogative Tory of
the days of Queen Anne. Earl RussdFs Introduction to
"Speeches."
His DUEL WITH MR. PAULL. The following parti-
culars of the duel which took place between Sir Francis
Burdett and Mr. Paull are taken from the account of the
occurrence published in the Annual Register. " Mr. Paull,
who was a candidate for the representation of Westminster
in 1807, had advertised a meeting of his friends to dine at
the Crown and Anchor, in the Strand, the chair to be
occupied by Sir Francis Burdett. A correspondence ensued
upon this announcement, opening with a communication
from Sir Francis, in which he disavowed any knowledge of
the proposed gathering, and asserted that he had not
sanctioned the use of his name in connection with it The
dispute between the two gentlemen, increasing in acrimony,
finally culminated in a challenge being forwarded by Mr. Paull
82 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
to Sir Francis Burdett The parties met, attended by their
seconds, at Combe Wood, near Wimbledon Common, on
the 5th of May. They discharged two pistols each; the
second shot fired by Mr. Paull wounded Sir Francis in the
thigh ; the second pistol fired by Sir Francis wounded
Mr. Paull in the leg. This terminating the business, they
both returned from Wimbledon in Mr. PaulFs carriage."
EDMUND BURKE.
BURKE IN THE STRANGERS' GALLERY. One giant
attraction would draw the youthful genius from his desk,
his journeys, and even from the intellectual tables of his
friends. It was Burke's frequent and favourite custom to
go alone to the House of Commons ; to there ensconce
himself in the gallery, and to sit for hours, his attention
absorbed, and his mind enrapt in the scene beneath him.
" Some of these men," he remarked to a friend, " talk like
Demosthenes or Cicero ; and I feel when I am listening to
them as if I were in Athens or Rome." Soon these nightly
visits became his passion ; a strange fascination drew him
again and again to the same place. No doubt the magic of
his own master spirit was upon him, and the spell was
working. He might be compared to the young eagle
accustoming its eye to the sun before it soared aloft
Burke 's " Life of Burke."
His FIRST SPEECH. In January, 1766, Mr. Burke
seized the first opportunity of taking an active part in the
discussion concerning America. Mr. Pitt immediately
followed Mr. Burke in the debate, and complimented him
by observing that " the young member had proved himself
a very able advocate. He had himself intended to enter
at length into the details, but he had been anticipated with
so much ingenuity and eloquence that there was little left
for him to say. He congratulated him on his success, and
his friends on the value of the acquisition they had made."
EDMUND BURKE. 83
On his quitting the House, all his friends crowded round
him, expressing the greatest pleasure at the result, the praise
of Mr. Pitt being of itself, in the general opinion, a passport
to fame. Prior's "Life"
A BULL. In the course of his speech during the debate
on the budget (1772), Burke said, "The minister comes
down in state, attended by his creatures of all denomina-
tions beasts clean and unclean. With such, however, as
they are, he comes down, opens his budget, and edifies us
all with his speech. What is the consequence ? One half of
the House goes away. A gentleman on the other side gets
up, and harangues upon the state of the nation ; and, in
order to keep matters even, another half retires at the close
of his speech. A third gentleman follows their example,
and rids the House of another half (a loud laugh through
the House). Sir (said he, turning the laugh with some
address and humour), I take the blunder to myself, and
confess my satisfaction at having said anything that can put
the House in good humour." Ibid.
A FALSE QUANTITY. Mr. Burke, in the course of some
very severe animadversions which he made on Lord North,
for want of due economy in his management of the public
purse, introduced the well-known aphorism, Magnum
vectigal est parsimonta, but was guilty of a false quantity by
saying vectigal. Lord North, while this philippic went on,
had been half asleep, and sat heaving backwards and for-
wards like a great turtle ; but the sound of a false quantity
instantly aroused him, and opening his eyes he exclaimed,
in a very marked and distinct manner, " Vectlgal" " I thank
the noble lord," said Burke, with happy adroitness, " for the
correction, the more particularly as it affords me the oppor-
tunity of repeating a maxim which he greatly needs to have
reiterated upon him." He then thundered out, " Magnumvectl-
gal est parsimonia" Harfortfs "Recollections of Wilberforce"
OPTIMISM. When a message from the King was read
G 2
84 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
in the House of Commons, April i5th, 1782, recommending
economy in the public expenditure, Burke rose to speak,
and characterised the royal message as "the best of mes-
sages to the best of people from the best of kings."
Parliamentary History.
THE "OFTENER-IF-NEED-BE'S." Burke opposed a motion
by Mr. Flood for parliamentary reform, which produced a
very candid confession from Mr. Fox, that though he thought
such a measure advisable, the country at large did not seem
to be of the same opinion. A jest of Burke on this question,
widely disseminated in private society, threw much ridicule
upon the enthusiasts in this cause. A new party of
Reformers, he said, had arisen still more pure in their creed
than the rest, who deemed annual parliaments not suf-
ficiently frequent, and quoted in support of their doctrine
the latter words of the statute of Edward III., that "a par-
liament shall be holden every year once, and more often if
need be" How to designate these gentlemen from their less
orthodox associates he knew not, except, indeed, their tenets
furnished the hint, and they be known as the Oftener-if-need-
bits. Prior's "Life."
THE BRIGHT PARTICULAR STAR. In the session 1780-1,
speaking on Irish affairs, Burke thus referred to the state of
Ireland : " So many and such great revolutions had hap-
pened of late, that he was not much surprised to hear the
right honourable gentleman (Mr. Jenkinson) treat the loss
of the supremacy of this country over Ireland as a matter
of very little consequence. Thus one star, and that the
brightest ornament of our orrery, having been supposed to
be lost, those who were accustomed to watch and inspect
our political heaven ought not to wonder that it should be
followed by the loss of another.
1 So star would follow star, and light light,
Till all was darkness and eternal night.' "
Parliamentary History.
EDMUND BURKE. 85
THE SPIRITUAL PEERS. A phrase that has often been
used in reference to the presence of the bishops in the
House of Lords is to be found in Burke's " Reflections on
the French Revolution " : " We have not," he says, " rele-
gated religion to obscure municipalities or rustic villages.
No ! We will have her to exalt her mitred front in Courts
and Parliaments."
SALUTARY NEGLECT. Several of Burke's most famous
sayings occurred in his speech in favour of conciliation
with America, in the House of Commons on the 22nd
of March, 1775. For example, with reference to the rapid
growth of the American colonies, he remarked : " No
sea but what is vexed by their fisheries ; no climate that is
not witness to their toils. Neither the perseverance of
Holland, nor the activity of France, nor the dexterous and
firm sagacity of English enterprise, ever carried this most
perilous mode of hard industry to the extent to which it has
been pushed by this recent people a people who are still,
as it were, but in their gristle, and not yet hardened into
the bone of manhood. When I contemplate these things ;
when I know that the colonies in general owe little or
nothing to any care of ours, and that they are not squeezed
into this happy form by the constraint of watchful and sus-
picious government, but that, through a wise and salutary
neglect, a generous nature has been suffered to take her own
way to perfection ; when I reflect upon these effects, when
I see how profitable they have been to us, I feel all the
pride of power sink, and all presumption in the wisdom of
human contrivances melt and die away within me. My
rigour relents ; I pardon something to the spirit of
liberty."
COMPROMISE. It was in the speech just referred to that
Mr. Burke also remarked : " We Englishmen stop very short
of the principles upon which we support any given part of
our constitution, or even the whole of it together. * * This
86 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
is nothing but what is natural and proper. All government
indeed, every human benefit and enjoyment, every virtue,
and every prudent act is founded on compromise and
barter. We balance inconveniences; we give and take;
we remit some rights that we may enjoy others; and we
choose rather to be happy citizens than subtle disputants.
As we must give away some natural liberty to enjoy civil
advantages, so we must sacrifice some civil liberties for the
advantages to be derived from the communion and fellow-
ship of a great empire."
A FORTUNATE PRECAUTION. On the 6th of February,
1778, Burke made a speech of nearly three hours and &
half, in moving for papers relating to the military employ-
ment of Indians on the continent of America. His speech
seems to have been one of wonderful eloquence. Walpole
says, " His wit made North, Rigby, and ministers laugh ; his
pathos drew tears down Barre's cheeks." The Annual
Register tells us that while one member wished to have the
speech posted on the church doors, " a member of great
distinction (Governor Johnstone) congratulated the ministers
upon admitting no strangers on that day into the gallery,
as the indignation of the people might have been excited
against them to a degree that would have endangered their
safety." Earl Russell's " Life of Fox."
BIDING HIS TIME. Directly after the return of Warren
Hastings from India, Burke gave notice in the House of
Commons that he would make a motion respecting his
conduct. Nothing further transpired in the matter for
some months, until at last Major Scott, a friend of Hastings,
called upon Burke in the House to produce his charges.
" Mr. Burke's haughty reply to the major was the relation
of the anecdote of the great Duke of Parma, who, being
challenged by Henry IV. of France to bring his forces into
open field, and instantly decide their disputes, answered,
with a smile, ' that he knew very well what he had to do,
EDMUND BURKE. 87
and was not come so far to be directed by an enemy.' "
BurMs "Life of Burke."
BURKE AND WARREN HASTINGS. There was one man
who had watched Hastings' conduct, and for five years had
made it his peculiar study. He rose from that study
convinced that Mr. Hastings had overstepped all the limits
of conventional law, and broken the bonds of primitive
morality. That man was Mr. Burke. He justified his
animosity by alleging the patience and perseverance of his
inquiries. He was not actuated, he said, by ignorance,
inadvertency, or passion. "Anger, indeed, he had felt,
but surely not a blamable anger; for who ever heard of
a digesting anger, a collating anger, an examining anger,
a deliberating anger, a selecting anger?" Yet this plea is
not quite conclusive ; Mr. Burke kindled his anger by the
perusal of bulky documents, and heaped up the fuel of his
indignation by poring over a vast mass of despatches. Earl
Russells " Life of Fox."
THE GRASSHOPPER. Sir Philip Francis once waited
upon Burke by appointment, to read over to him some
papers respecting Mr. Hastings' delinquencies. He called
on Burke on his way to the house of a friend with whom he
was engaged to dine. He found him in his garden, holding
a grasshopper. "What a beautiful animal is this!" said
Burke. " Observe its structure its legs, its wings, its eyes."
" How can you," said Sir Philip, " lose your time in admiring
such an animal, when you have so many objects of moment
to attend to ?" " Yet Socrates," said Burke, " according to
the exhibition of him in Aristophanes, attended to a much
less animal ; he actually measured the proportion which its
size bore to the space it passed over in a skip. I think the
skip of a grasshopper does not exceed its length. Let us
see." " My dear friend," said Sir Philip, " I am in a great
hurry ; let us walk in, and let me read my papers to you."
Into the house they walked. Sir Philip began to read, and
88 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
Burke appeared to listen. At length, Sir Philip having
mislaid a paper, a pause ensued. " I think," said Burke,
" that naturalists are now agreed that locusta, not cicada, is
the Latin word for grasshopper. What's your opinion, Sir
Philip ?" " My opinion/' answered Sir Philip, packing up
his papers and preparing to move off, " is that till the grass-
hopper is out of your head it will be idle to talk to you of
the concerns of India." Butlers "Reminiscences"
A NIGHTCAP WANTED. During one of the debates on
Lord Pigott's recall from Madras, he had twice given way
to other speakers, when, observing the chairman of the India
Company proceeding to read a variety of well-known public
papers, instead of adducing any new arguments, he inter-
rupted him by observing, " That if it were the object of the
honourable member to tire and thin the House by reading
all the heavy folios on the table, he supposed in courtesy he
must submit ; but to prepare for the task he begged leave
to send for his nightcap ;" which producing general laughter,
was followed by a shout to him of "Go on 1 go on !"-
Prior 9 s "Life?
THE LION DISCOMFITED. In a new Parliament which
met in May, 1784, Burke was not viewed with much favour
by many of the members. A prejudice or combination,
chiefly of the younger members of the House, was
formed so strong against him, that the moment of his
rising became a signal for coughing or other symptoms
of pointed dislike, by men who had no chance of success
against him in any other manner. On one occasion, instead
of threatening, like Mr. Tierney when similarly assailed, to
"speak for three hours longer," he stopped short in his
argument to remark that " he could teach a pack of hounds
to yelp with more melody and equal comprehension." At
another time, having occasion to rise with papers in his
hand, a rough country gentleman, who had more ear,
perhaps, for this melody of the hounds than for political
EDMUND BURKE. 89
discussion, exclaimed, with something of a look of despair,
" I hope the honourable gentleman does not mean to read
that large bundle of papers and bore us with a long speech
into the bargain." Mr. Burke is said to have felt so much
irritation that, incapable of utterance for some minutes, he
ran out of the House. "Never before," said the facetious
George Selwyn, who told the story with great effect, " did I
see the fable realised a lion put to flight by the braying of
an ass." Ibid.
BURKE AND WEDDERBURNE. On December 3rd, 1777,
an incident occurred in Burke's parliamentary life of which
we have no other instance. " There were high words," writes
Mr. Crawford to Lord Ossory, " between Wedderburne and
Burke, which so offended the latter that he went out of the
House, and I believe intended to challenge Wedderburne,
but was prevented by a letter from Wedderburne, and an
explanation likewise, which he sent through Charles " (Fox).
He had, it appears, laughed at a part of Wedderburne's
speech when dead silence reigned in the House, so that it
was heard : this produced irritation, followed by what he
understood to be either rudeness or a personal threat ; and
thence the misunderstanding, which, however, was soon
forgotten by both. Ibid.
Two IN ONE. On the day when the celebrated junction
between the parties of Mr. Fox and Lord North was de-
clared, Mr. Burke and Colonel North entered the House of
Commons together, just as the Speaker was beginning to
count the House, and as he pointed to them, and in the
customary manner called out " One, two " Mr. Burke
interrupted him with, " Pardon me, sir; we were two yester-
day, but are only one to-day." Life of Lord Sidmouth.
THE RUPTURE BETWEEN BURKE AND Fox. The pro-
gress of the Canada Bill (1791) was fraught with an interest far
beyond its own. It was made memorable by a collateral
incident which it produced by the utter breach and lasting
90 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
estrangement of the two great leaders of the Opposition.
In arguing against the Canada Bill, Fox had not scrupled to
draw some illustrations from the recent changes in France ;
nor had he forborne from some reflections or what seemed
so on the recent writings of Burke. A debate on a dif-
ferent subject had given Fox another opportunity for going
over the same ground. On this second occasion Burke, who
was not present on the first, had risen with signs of strong
emotion ; but the hour being late, and the House exhausted,
he was stopped by loud cries of " Question ! " chiefly from
the friends of Fox. At a later period Fox is known to have
regretted the injudicious zeal of those who would not allow
Burke to answer his remarks upon the spot. " The con-
tention," he said, "might have been fiercer and hotter, but
the remembrance of it would not have settled so deep and
rankled so long." * * * On the 6th of May the ex-
pectation of the House was wound up to the highest pitch.
But by that time the friends of Fox had discovered that it
was highly irregular and blamable to foist reflections upon
France into debates upon Canada. This irregularity, which
had not struck them while the practice was continued by
Fox, appeared to them in the strongest light the moment a
reply was announced by Burke. When, therefore, on the
6th of May, Burke rose in his place, and was proceeding
with solemn earnestness to inveigh against the evil and the
error of the French Revolution, there appeared a fixed
design to interrupt him. Member after member from his
own side started up to call him to order. * *
A tumultuous scene ensued. There was, as Burke said, a
most disorderly rage for order. When at last he was suffered
in some measure, to proceed, chafed and goaded as he had
been, and even at length by Fox among the rest, he no
doubt spoke against " the right honourable gentleman " (for
now he dropped the name of friend) much more bitterly and
strongly than he had at first designed. " Certainly," 'he
EDMUND BURKE. 91
said, " it is indiscreet at any period, but especially at my
time of life, to provoke enemies, or to give my friends occa-
sion to desert me. Yet, if my firm and steady adherence to
the British Constitution place me in such a dilemma, I am
ready to risk all, and with my last words to exclaim, Fly
from the French Constitution ! " Fox here whispered
across to him that there was no loss of friends. " Yes,"
rejoined Burke ; " yes, there is a loss of friends. I know
the price of my conduct. I have done my duty at the price
of my friend. Our friendship is at an end ! " * * * And
thus ended a friendship of twenty-five years. Stanhopes
"Life of Pitt."
ENTERTAINING HIS FRIENDS. While in town, he fre-
quently asked political and literary friends to dine or sup as
it happened on beefsteaks or a leg of mutton, and commonly
gave no more than his invitation professed. Of this an
instance is related, which as an after dinner story tells
amusingly. Having been detained late in the House, he
asked Fox, Lord John Cavendish, and two or three more of
the party to sup, when, on announcing the object of their
visit to Mrs. Burke, a look of annoyance and despair suffi-
ciently told the ill-provided state of the larder. A pause
ensued. " Surely," said the host, with a comic face, " there
is beef enough ! " Fox and two or three others, making an
apology for momentary absence, hurried off to a neighbouring
tavern, provided themselves each with a dish of such fare as
could be procured, and, amid much laughter from all parties,
particularly the master of the house, who cracked some
jokes on their skill as waiters, passed an amusing evening.
Prior's "Life?
MAKING ELECTION SURE. An instance of his prompti-
tude to seize any incident that offered to aid or illustrate his
aim at the moment, was told frequently by the eminent dis-
senting divine, Robert Hall, as having come under his own
knowledge. While canvassing Bristol, Burke and his friends
92 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
entered a house where the wife of the owner was reading her
Bible. " I have called, madam, to solicit the favour of your
husband's vote and interest in the present election. You, I
perceive," placing his finger on a passage that caught his
eye, " are ' making your calling and election sure.' " Ibid.
" DITTO TO MR. BURKE." When Burke, on his election
for Bristol in 1774, had returned thanks to his constituents
in an eloquent speech from the hustings, " a humorous in-
cident terminated the day's triumph. Mr. Cruger, Burke's
colleague, a worthy merchant in the American trade, and a
citizen of Bristol, but no orator, was dumbfounded by the
eloquence of his mighty coadjutor. When his own turn
came to thank the electors, he had recourse to a speech
which, though savouring of his counting-house, was under
the circumstances about the best he could make. He cried
out, ' Gentlemen, I say ditto to Mr. Burke ! ditto to Mr.
Burke !' A roar of laughter and applause marked the
approval of his audience." Burkes "Life of Burke."
THE DAY OF No JUDGMENT. Dining with Mr. Pitt
at Downing Street one day in 1791, Mr. Burke strove to
alarm Mr. Pitt on the aggressive nature of French prin-
ciples, and the propagandism of revolution. Mr. Pitt made
rather light of the danger, and said, in colloquial phrase,
"This country and constitution were safe to the day of
judgment." "Yes," Mr. Burke quickly retorted, "but 'tis
the day of no judgment that I am afraid of." Prior.
THE DAGGER SCENE. It was on the second reading of
the Aliens Bill, the 28th of December, 1792, that Mr.
Burke enacted the celebrated dagger scene. The following
are the words in which Lord Sidmouth (" Life and Corre-
spondence ") used to relate this anecdote to his friends :
" When Burke, after only a few preliminary remarks, the
House being totally unprepared, fumbled in his bosom, and
suddenly drew out the dagger and threw it on the floor, his
extravagant gesture excited a general disposition to titter,
EDMUND BURKE. 93
by which most men would have been disconcerted ; but he,
observing he had failed of making the intended impression,
immediately collected himself for an effort, and by a few
brilliant sentences recalled the seriousness of the House.
1 Let us,' said he, ' keep French principles from our heads,
and French daggers from our hearts ; let us preserve all our
blandishments in life, and all our consolations in death, all
the blessings of time, and all the hopes of eternity.'" It
appears from a statement by the Earl of Eldon in his grand-
father's "Life" that the dagger had been sent from France
to a manufacturer at Birmingham, with an order for a large
number to be made like it, and that Mr. Burke had only
received it that same day from Sir James Bland Burgess,
on his way down to the House.
GOOD SPEECHES NEVER WITHOUT EFFECT. It is ex-
tremely discouraging to be constantly out-voted, when pos-
sibly not out-argued ; to spend time, labour, and ingenuity,
" to watch, fast, and sweat night after night," as Burke him-
self forcibly expresses it, and not emerge from the slough of
constant minorities. No person felt this more than Burke ;
yet none has more ably stated the necessity and even ad-
vantages resulting to the country and to the members so
situated from a well-directed opposition, than he has done
in a conversation with Sir Joshua Reynolds. " Mr. Burke,"
said the painter, " I do not mean to flatter ; but when
posterity reads one of your speeches in Parliament, it will
be difficult to believe that you took so much pains, knowing
with certainty that it could produce no effect ; that not one
vote would be gained by it." " Waiving your compliment
to me," replied the orator, " I shall say in general that it is
very well worth while for a man to take pains to speak well
in Parliament. A man who has vanity speaks to display
his talents ; and if a man speaks well, he gradually esta-
blishes a certain reputation and consequence in the general
opinion, which sooner or later will have its political reward.
94 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
Besides, though not one vote is gained, a good speech has
its effect. Though an Act of Parliament which has been
ably opposed passes into a law, yet in its progress it is
modelled and softened in such a manner, that we see
plainly the minister has been told that the members at-
tached to him are so sensible of its injustice or absurdity
from what they have heard, that it must be altered."
Prior.
LORD BUTE.
A MINUTE GUN SPEECH. Lord Bute delivered a speech
in favour of the Cider Bill in the House of Lords, on the
28th March, 1763, in reply to Lord Hardwicke, who op-
posed the measure. His deliv.ery on this occasion was so
particularly slow and solemn that Charles Townshend, stand-
ing on the steps of the throne, called out, in an audible
whisper, "Minute guns!" "These," says Lord Campbell
in his " Lives of the Chancellors," " might be considered as
announcing the funeral of Lord Bute's Ministry."
AN UNPOPULAR MINISTER. The First Lord of the
Treasury was detested by many as a Tory, by many as a
favourite, and by many as a Scot. * * * He could
hardly walk the streets in safety without disguising himself.
A gentleman who died not many years ago used to say that
he once recognised the favourite earl in the piazza of
Cove'nt Garden, muffled in a large coat, and with a hat and
wig drawn down over his brows. His lordship's established
type with the mob was a jackboot a wretched pun on his
Christian name and title. A jackboot, generally accom-
panied by a petticoat, was sometimes fastened on a gallows,
and sometimes committed to the flames. Macaulay's Essay
on Chatham.
SIR T. F. BUXTON.
WHAT WEAPONS MAY BE USED. In the spring of 1818
a dissolution of Parliament took place, and Mr. Buxtor
BUXTON BYRON. 95
offered himself as a candidate for Weymouth. * * *
Very frequently the voters were anxious to decide the matter
as Irish counsel used to decide their causes by fighting it
out. Mr. Buxton was obliged to entreat his friends to use
moderation towards their opponents. "Beat them," said
he, " beat them in the generous exercise of high prin-
ciple -j beat them in disdain of corruption, and the display
of pure integrity ; but do not beat them with bludgeons."
11 Memoirs" by his Son.
A WONDERFUL DEBATE. Sir T. F. Buxton, writing to
his brother-in-law, Mr. Gurney, November 25th, 1819, thus
refers to the debate on the Manchester Riots : " We have
had a wonderful debate ; really it has raised my idea of the
capacity and ingenuity of the human mind. All the leaders
spoke, and almost all outdid themselves. But Burdett
stands first ; his speech was absolutely the finest, and the
clearest and the fairest display of masterly understanding,
that ever I heard ; and, with shame I ought to confess it,
he did not utter a sentence to which I could not agree.
Canning was second; if there be any difference between
eloquence and sense, this was the difference between him
and Burdett. He was exquisitely elegant, and kept the tide
of reason and argument, irony, joke, invective, and declama-
tion, flowing for nearly three hours. Plunket was third ; he
took hold of poor Mackintosh's argument, and griped it to
death ; ingenious, subtle, yet clear and bold, and putting
with the most logical distinctness to the House the errors of
his antagonist. Next came Brougham and what do you
think of a debate in which the fourth man could keep alive
the attention of the House from three to five in the morn-
ing, after a twelve hours' debate ? " Ibid.
LORD BYRON.
BYRON'S FIRST SPEECH. He made his first speech
in the House of Lords in February, 1812, on the Nottingham
96 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
Frame-breaking Bill. He was then twenty-four years of
age. In a letter addressed to a friend soon afterwards he
writes : " Lords Holland and Grenville, particularly the
latter, paid me some high compliments in the course of their
speeches, as you may have seen in the papers, and Lords
Eldon and Harrowby answered me. I have had many
marvellous eulogies repeated to me since, in person and by
proxy, from divers persons ministerial yea, ministerial !
as well as oppositionists ; of them I shall only mention Sir
F. Burdett. He says it is the best speech by a lord since
the ' Lord knows when,' probably from a fellow-feeling in
the sentiments. ' Lord H. tells me I shall beat them all if I
persevere ; and Lord G. remarked that the construction of
some of my periods are very like Burke's ! ! And so much
for vanity. I spoke very violent sentences with a sort of
modest impudence, abused everything and everybody, and
put the Lord Chancellor very much out of humour and, if
I may believe what I hear, have not lost any character by
the experiment. As to my delivery, loud and fluent enough,
perhaps a little theatrical. I could not recognise myself or
any one else in the newspapers."
A FORGOTTEN GRIEVANCE. Byron's second display,
says Moore, was less promising than his first. " His
delivery was thought mouthing and theatrical, being
infected, I take for granted (having never heard him
speak in Parliament), with the same chanting tone that
disfigured his recitation of poetry." In the following year
he made his third and last appearance as an orator in
the Lords. " In his way home," writes Moore again, " he
called at my lodgings. He was, I recollect, in a state of
most humorous exaltation after his display, and spouted
forth, in a sort of mock heroic voice, detached sentences of
the speech he had just been delivering. ' I told them,' he
said, ' that it was a most flagrant violation of the constitu-
tion that, if such things were permitted, there was an end
LORD BYRON. 97
English freedom/ 'But what was this dreadful griev-
ance ?' I asked, interrupting him in his eloquence. * The
grievance ?' he repeated, pausing, as if to consider. ' Oh
that I forget.' "
PROSE versus POETRY. Reviewing his own parlia-
entary appearances, Byron thus wrote : " Sheridan told
me he was sure I should make an orator, if I would but take
to speaking, and grow a Parliament man. He never ceased
harping upon this to me to the last ; and I remember my old
tutor, Dr. Drury, had the same notion when I was a boy ; but
it never was my turn of inclination to try. I spoke once or
twice, as all young peers do, as a kind of introduction into
public life ; but dissipation, shyness, haughty and reserved
opinions, together with the short time I lived in England
after my majority (only about five years in all), prevented
me from resuming the experiment. As far as it went, it was
not discouraging, particularly my first speech (I spoke three
or four times in all) ; but just after it my poem of ' Childe
Harold' was published, and nobody ever thought about
my prose afterwards, nor indeed did I; it became to me a
secondary and neglected object, though I sometimes wonder
to myself if I should have succeeded."
PARLIAMENTARY IMPRESSIONS. " I never," said Byron,
" heard the speech that was not too long for the auditors,
and not very intelligible, except here and there. The whole
thing is a grand deception, and as tedious and tiresome as
may be to those who must be often present. * * * The
impression of Parliament upon me was that its members are
not formidable as speakers, but very much so as an audience ;
because in so numerous a body there may be little eloquence
(after all, there were but two thorough orators in all antiquity,
and, I suspect, still fewer in modern times), but there must
be a leaven of thought and good sense sufficient to make
them know what is right, though they can't express it nobly.
Home Tooke and Roscoe both are said to have declared that
H
98 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
they left Parliament with a higher opinion of its aggregate
integrity and abilities than that with which they entered it.
The general amount of both in most Parliaments is probably
about the same, as also the number of 'speakers and their talent.
I except orators, of course, because they are things of ages,
and not of septennial or triennial reunions. Neither House
ever struck me with more awe or respect than the same
number of Turks in a divan, or of Methodists in a barn,
would have done." Moore's " Life of Byron"
EARL CAMDEN.
A FRIEND OF FREEDOM. When the Libel Act was
under discussion in the House of Lords, in 1792, the
Chancellor (Thurlow), as the last effort to retain the law
in judicial hands, asked if Lord Camden would object
to a clause being inserted granting a new trial, in case
the court were dissatisfied with a verdict for the defen-
dant. " What ! " exclaimed the veteran friend of freedom ;
" after a verdict of acquittal ?" " Yes," said Lord Thurlow.
" No, I thank you," was the memorable reply, and the last
words spoken in public by this great man. The bill imme-
diately was passed. Brougham 's " Historical Sketches"
" UNWHIG." Lord Camden, writing to the Duke of
Grafton (August ist, 1782) respecting his intention of re-
signing the Privy Seal, said : " Considering the perilous
condition of the public at this conjuncture, I should be much
concerned if your grace was to take a hasty resolution of
retiring just now, because your retreat would certainly be
followed by other resignations, and would totally ' unwhig '
the administration, if I may use the expression." The only
other occasion I recollect of this word being used was when
Mr. Fox, on the King's illness, having contended that the
heir-apparent was entitled as of right to be Regent, Mr. Pitt
said, "For this doctine I will unwhig him for the rest of
his days." Campbell's "Lives of the Chancellors."
'
GEORGE CANNING. 99
GEORGE CANNING.
His MAIDEN SPEECH. It was on the 3ist of January,
1794, in his second session, that he made his first speech,
in favour of a subsidy proposed to be granted to the King
of Sardinia. In a letter dated March 2oth, 1794, addressed
to Lord Boringdon, he thus expresses himself respecting the
great event : " I intended to have told you, at full length,
what were my feelings at getting up and being pointed at by
the Speaker, and hearing my name called from all sides of
the House ; how I trembled lest I should hesitate, or mis-
place a word in the first two or three sentences ; while all
was dead silence around me, and my own voice sounded to
my ears quite like some other gentleman's ; how, in about
ten minutes or less, I got warmed in collision with Fox's
arguments, and did not even care twopence for anybody or
anything ; how I was roused, in about half an hour, from
this pleasing state of self-sufficiency by accidentally casting
my eyes towards the Opposition bench, for the purpose of
paying compliments to Fox, and assuring him of my respect
and admiration, and there seeing certain members of Oppo-
sition laughing (as I thought) and quizzing me ; how the acci-
dent abashed me, and, together with my being out of breath,
rendered me incapable of uttering ; how those who sat below
me on the Treasury bench, seeing what it was that distressed
me, cheered loudly, and the House joined them ; and how,
in less than a minute, straining every nerve in my body, and
plucking up every bit of resolution in my heart, I went on
more boldly than ever, and getting into a part of my subject
that I liked, and having the House with me, got happily
and triumphantly to the end." Stapletorfs " Canning and his
Times:' " This first speech," says Sir H. Bulwer, " like many
other first speeches of men who have become eminent
orators, was more or less a failure. The subject was a
H 2
ioo A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
subsidy to Sardinia, and the new member began with a scoff
at the idea of looking with a mere mercantile eye at the
goodness or badness of the bargain we were making. Such
a scoff, uttered in an assembly which is the especial guardian
of the public purse, was injudicious ; but the whole speech
was bad. It possessed in an eminent degree all the ordinary
faults of the declamation of clever young men. Its argu-
ments were much too refined ; its arrangement much too
systematic; cold, tedious, and unparliamentary, it would
have been twice as good if it had attempted half as much ;
for the great art in speaking, as in writing, consists in
knowing what should not be said or written." Historical
Characters.
MEN, NOT MEASURES ! In a speech in 1801, in oppo-
sition to the Addington ministry, Mr. Canning said, "Away
with the cant of 'Measures, not men!' the idle suppo-
sition that it is the harness and not the horses that draw
the chariot along. No, sir; if the comparison must be
made, if the distinction must be taken, men are everything,
measures are comparatively nothing. I speak of times of
difficulty and danger, when systems are shaken, when pre-
cedents and general rules of conduct fail ; then it is that
not to that or to this measure however prudently devised,
however blameless in execution but to the energy and
character of individuals, a State must be indebted for its
salvation. " Hansard.
SUBSIDENCE OF THE DELUGE. In supporting the vote
of thanks in the House of Commons, July lyth, 1813, to
the Marquis of Wellington, for the victory gained at the battle
of Vittoria, Mr. Canning said, " How was their prospect
changed ! In those countries where, at most, a short
struggle had been terminated by a result disastrous to their
wishes, if not altogether closing in despair, they had now to
contemplate a very different aspect of affairs. Germany
crouched no longer trembling at the feet of the tyrant, but
GEORGE CANNING. 101
maintained a balanced contest. The mighty deluge by which
the Continent had been overwhelmed began to subside. The
limits of nations were again visible, and the spires and
turrets of ancient establishments began to reappear. It was
this victory which had defined these objects, so lately in-
volved in overwhelming confusion." Ibid.
CANNING ON REFORM. Sir Robert Peel, in reply to a
Repeal speech by O'Connell, in 1834, ridiculed the proposal
by the exclamation, " Repeal the Union ! As well restore
the Heptarchy!" Canning, however, had used it some years
before, in a speech against parliamentary reform, which he
treated as preposterous, saying, " Reform the Parliament !
Repeal the Union ! Restore the Heptarchy ! "
TAKING OBSERVATIONS. " Sir Robert Peel, his dis-
tinguished rival, told me one day," says Sir H. L. Bulwer,
" in speaking of Mr. Canning, that he would often, before
rising in his place, make a sort of lounging tour of the
House, listening to the tone of the observations which the
previous debate had excited, so that at last, when he himself
spoke, he seemed to a large part of his audience to be
merely giving a striking form to their own thoughts."
Historical Characters.
TICKLING THE VICTIMS. Thomas Moore, in his " Dream
of a Turtle," thus humorously hits off some of the charac-
teristics of Canning :
1 ' And on that turtle I saw a rider,
A goodly man, with an eye so merry,
I knew 'twas our Foreign Secretary,
Who there at his ease did sit and smile
Like Waterton on his crocodile ;
Cracking such jokes at every motion,
As made the turtle squeak with glee,
And own that they gave him a lively notion
Of what his own forced-meat balls would be."
PEACE AND WAR. One of the most finished and effective
of Canning's oratorical displays was a speech delivered at
102 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
Plymouth in 1823, in which the following celebrated passage
occurred: "While we control even our feelings by our duty,
let it not be said that we cultivate peace either because we
fear or because we are unprepared for war ; on the contrary,
if eight months ago the Government did not hesitate to pro-
claim that the country was prepared for war, if war should
be unfortunately necessary, every month of peace that has
since passed has but made us so much the more capable of
exertion. The resources created by peace are means of
war. In cherishing those resources, we but accumulate those
means. Our present repose is no more a proof of inability
to act, than the state of inertness and inactivity in which I
have seen those mighty masses that float in the waters above
your town, is a proof that they are devoid of strength and
incapable of being fitted out for action. You well know,
gentlemen, how soon one of those stupendous masses now
reposing on their shadows in perfect stillness how soon,
upon any call of patriotism or of necessity, it would assume
the likeness of an animated thing, instinct with life and
motion how soon it would ruffle, as it were, its swelling
plumage how quickly would it put forth all its beauty and
its bravery, collect its scattered elements of strength, and
awaken its dormant thunder. Such as is one of these mag-
nificent machines when springing from inaction into a dis-
play of its might such is England herself, while apparently
passive and motionless she silently concentrates the power
to be put forth on an adequate occasion. But God forbid
that that occasion should arise. After a war sustained for
nearly a quarter of a century sometimes single-handed, and
with all Europe arrayed at times against her or at her side
England needs a period of tranquillity, and may enjoy it
without fear of misconstruction."
MINISTERIAL PROMPTITUDE. A MAGNILOQUENT BOAST.
On the 1 2th of December, 1826, Canning, then Foreign
Minister, made a masterly speech on the relations between
GEORGE CANNING. 103
Great Britain and Portugal. Mr. Brougham, who rose after-
wards, said the Secretary's eloquence had been inspired
" with a degree of fervour, energy, and effect extraordinary
and unprecedented in this House." In the course of his
speech, Mr. Canning gave an instance of ministerial promp-
titude which has often been cited in reproof of more dilatory
Cabinets. He said, "The precise information on which
we could act only arrived on Friday last ; on Saturday the
decision of the Government was taken \ on Sunday we ob-
tained the sanction of his Majesty; on Monday we came
down to Parliament ; and at this very hour, while I have
now the honour of addressing the House, British troops are
on their march for Portugal." In his reply at the close of
the debate, Mr. Canning again displayed great eloquence ;
and on this occasion he used a famous but somewhat bom-
bastic expression. " If France," said he, " occupied Spain,
was it necessary, in order to avoid the consequences of that
occupation, that we should blockade Cadiz. No. I looked
another way ; I sought materials of compensation in another
hemisphere. Contemplating Spain, such as our ancestors
had known her, I resolved that if France had Spain, it
should not be Spain 'with the Indies.' I called the New
World into existence to redress the balance of the Old."
A DESPATCH IN CYPHER. Sir Charles Bagot, our Am-
bassador at the Hague, was one day attending at court,
when a despatch in cypher was hastily put into his hand.
It was very short, and evidently very urgent ; but, unfor-
tunately, Sir Charles, not expecting such a communication,
had not the key of the cypher with him. An interval of
intense anxiety followed, until he obtained the key ; when,
to his infinite astonishment, he deciphered the following
despatch from the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs :
" In matters of commerce, the fault of the Dutch
Is giving too little and asking too much ;
104 ^ BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
With equal advantage the French are content,
So we'll clap on Dutch bottoms a twenty per cent.
Twenty per cent. ,
Twenty per cent.,
Nous frapperons Falck with twenty per cent.
GEORGE CANNING."
Bcfts "Life of Canning"
IMPROMPTU ON WHITBREAD. The articles of impeach-
ment against Lord Melville were moved by Mr. Whitbread.
His speech (says Mr. Bell) was clear and able ; but some
passages struck Mr. Canning's acute sense of the ridiculous
so forcibly, that he scribbled a parody on them, while
Mr. Whitbread was yet speaking. The following is the
impromptu :
"FRAGMENT OF AN ORATION.
" I'm like Archimedes for science and skill ;
I'm like a young prince going straight up a hill ;
I'm like (with respect to the fair be it said),
I'm like a young lady just bringing to bed.
If you ask why the nth of June I remember,
Much better than April, or May, or November,
On that day, my lords, with truth I assure ye,
My sainted progenitor set up his brewery ;
On that day, in the morn, he began brewing beer ;
On that day, too, commenced his connubial career ;
On that day he received and he issued his bills ;
On that day he cleared out all the cash from his tills ;
On that day he died, having finished his summing,
And the angels all cried, ' Here's old Whitbread a-coming ! '
So that day still I hail with a smile and a sigh,
For his beer with an E, and his bier with an I ;
And still on that day, in the hottest of weather,
The whole Whitbread family dine altogether.-
So long as the beams of this house shall support
The roof which o'ershades this respectable court,
Where Hastings was tried for oppressing the Hindoos ;
So long as that sun shall shine in at those windows,
My name shall shine bright as my ancestor's shines,
Mine recorded in journals, his blazoned on signs !"
AN UNDEBATABLE SUBJECT. The following letter is
CANNING CASTLEREAGH. 105
given in Stapleton's " George Canning and his Times " :
" Foreign Office, January 27th, 1826. My Dear Granville,
It occurs to me, since the sealing of my letter enclosing the
Speech, that M. Villele may possibly inquire why we have
not mentioned the death of the Emperor of Russia, i. It
is not usual to mention the death of foreign sovereigns in
the King's Speech. 2. We did not mention that of
Louis XVIII. 3. The reason of this habitual silence is a
sound one. The King mentions nothing that Parliament is
not expected to echo. Parliament echoes nothing without
discussion. To bring a deceased foreign sovereign before
Parliament for discussion would be to treat him as the
ancient Egyptians did their own kings judge him imme-
diately after his death, a liberty unwarrantable with the
sovereigns of other nations. Ever affectionately yours,
GEORGE CANNING."
His DEATH AT CHISWICK. Lady Holland told me that
in 1827 Mr. Canning, then ill, mentioned to her that he
was going for change and repose to Chiswick, a country seat
of the Duke of Devonshire. She said to him, " Do not go
there ; if I were your wife I would not allow you to do so."
"Why not?" asked Mr. Canning. "Mr. Fox died there."
Mr. Canning smiled ; and an hour after, on leaving Holland
House, he returned to Lady Holland, and said to her, in a
low tone, " Do not speak of this to any one ; it might dis-
turb them." " And he died at Chiswick," concluded Lady
Holland, with emotion. Guizofs "Embassy to the Court of
St. James's."
LORD CASTLEREAGH.
COMMON-PLACE ORATORY. No man (remarks Lord
Brougham) ever attained the station of a regular debater
in our Parliament with such an entire want of all classical
accomplishment, and indeed of all literary provision what-
soever. While he never showed the least symptom of an
io6 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
information extending beyond the more recent volumes of
the "Parliamentary Debates," or possibly the files of the
newspapers only, his diction set all imitation, perhaps all
description, at defiance. It was with some an amusement
to beguile the tedious hours of their unavoidable attendance
upon the poor, tawdry, ravelled thread of his sorry discourse,
to collect a kind of ana from the fragments, of mixed, incon-
gruous, and disjointed images that frequently appeared in it.
" The features of the clause ;" " the ignorant impatience of
the relaxation of taxation ;" "sets of circumstances coming
up and circumstances going down ;" " men turning their
backs upon themselves;" "the honourable and learned
gentleman's wedge getting into the loyal feelings of the
manufacturing classes ;" " the constitutional principle wound
up in the bowels of the monarchical principle ; " " the
Herculean labour of the honourable and learned member,
who will find himself quite disappointed when he has at last
brought forth his Hercules " (by a slight confounding of his
mother's labour, which produced that hero, with his own ex-
ploits which gained him immortality) these are but a few,
and not the richest samples, by any means, of a rhetoric
which often baffled alike the gravity of the Treasury bench
and the art of the reporter, and left the wondering audience
at a loss to conjecture how anyone could ever exist,
endowed with humbler pretensions to the name of orator.
Historical Sketches of Statesmen.
COURAGEOUS LEADERSHIP. When the Tory party,
"having a devil," preferred Lord Castlereagh to Mr.
Canning for their leader, all men naturally expected that
he would entirely fail to command even the attendance
of the House while he addressed it, and that the
benches, empty' during his time, would only be replenished
when his highly-gifted competitor rose. They were greatly
deceived ; they under-rated the effect of place and power ;
they forgot that the representative of a Government speaks
LORD CASTLEREAGH. 107
as one having authority, and not as the scribes ;" but they
forgot that Lord Castlereagh had some qualities well
itted to conciliate favour, and even to provoke admiration,
the absence of everything like eloquence, and without
ever having written a line in the Anti-Jacobin. He was a
bold and fearless man : the very courage with which he ex-
posed himself unabashed to the most critical audience in
the world, while incapable of uttering two sentences of any-
thing but the meanest matter, in the most wretched lan-
guage ; the gallantry with which he faced the greatest
difficulties of a question ; the unflinching perseverance with
which he went through a whole subject, leaving untouched
not one of its points, whether he could grapple with it or no,
and not one of the adverse arguments, however forcibly and
felicitously they had been urged, neither daunted by recol-
lecting the impression just made by his antagonist's brilliant
display, nor damped by consciousness of the very rags in
which he now presented himself all this made him, upon
the whole, rather a favourite witfi the audience whose
patience he was taxing mercilessly, and whose gravity he
ever and anon put to a very severe trial. Nor can any-
one have forgotten the kind of pride that mantled on
the fronts of the Tory phalanx, when, after being over-
whelmed with the powerful fire of the Whig Opposition, or
galled by the fierce denunciations of the " Mountain," or
harassed by the brilliant though often tinsel displays of
Mr. Canning, their chosen leader stood forth, and presenting
the graces of his eminently patrician figure, flung open his
coat, displayed an azure ribbon traversing a snow-white
chest, and declared " his high satisfaction that he could now
meet the charges against him face to face, and repel with
indignation all that his adversaries were bold and rash
enough to advance." Ibid.
LIGHT OUT OF DARKNESS. On one occasion Castle-
reagh had gone on for an hour speaking upon what
io8 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
subject no man could guess, when he exclaimed of a
sudden, " So much, Mr. Speaker, for the law of
nations." On another occasion, when he had spoken for
an hour tediously and confusedly, he declared, " I have
now proved that the Tower of London is a common
law principle." Introduction to Earl RusselFs ''"Speeches."
"Before he spoke," said Lord Granville, "he would
collect what he could on the subject, but never spoke
above the level of a newspaper. Had three things in
his favour : tact, good humour, and courage." S. Rogers'
"Recollections." But some could see more in Castlereagh
than many of his critics would allow. Thus Bulwer, in
" St. Stephen's "
" They much, in truth, misjudge him who explain
His graceless language by a witless brain.
So firm his purpose, so resolved his will,
It almost seem'd a craft to speak so ill
As if, like Cromwell, flashing towards his end,
Through cloudy verbiage none could comprehend."
IGNORANT IMPATIENCE OF TAXATION. Lord Castle-
reagh (says Alison) was at times eminently imprudent in
expression, especially in those curt and pithy sayings which
are easily recollected, and strike between wind and water
the prevailing prejudices of the day. His sayings on these
occasions were generally perfectly true, but that only
rendered them more provoking, and induced the greater
hostility against him. Never was a truer expres-
sion than "the ignorant impatience of taxation," of which
he complained when the income-tax was thrown out in 1816.
Life of Castlereagh. Mr. Gladstone quoted this phrase
when he introduced his "Commercial Treaty" budget in
1860. He said, " It was Lord Londonderry* who com-
plained of the people of England as exhibiting an ' ignorant
* Castlereagh' s later title.
' 'LORD CASTLEREAGH: 109
impatience of taxation ;' but I think, were he to rise from
the dead and 'again take his place in this House, he would
be very much more likely to complain of an ignorant
patience of taxation."
THE CURRYCOMB OF THE HOUSE. The following entry
appears in the Journal of Sir James Mackintosh : " March
22nd, 1817. F said it was delightful to see how com-
pletely the currycomb of the House of Commons had taken
off all the gilding and lackering that Castlereagh had brought
from the Congress."
TAKING THINGS COOLLY. At the time of the trial of
Queen Caroline (1820) the general transports raised the
popular exasperation against Lords Castlereagh and Sid-
mouth, the supposed authors of the proceedings, to the
highest point ; they never appeared in the streets without
being hooted and reviled by the mob, and both daily
received anonymous letters threatening them with instant
death if the Bill against her Majesty were not abandoned.
These intrepid men, however, disregarded those threats, and
walked about the streets as usual, without any attendants ;
and the people, admiring this spirit, abstained from actual
violence. One day at this time they were walking together
in Parliament Street, when, being recognised, a large mob
got up round them, and they were violently hooted. " Here
we go," said Lord Sidmouth, " the two most popular men in
England." "Yes," replied Lord Castlereagh, "through a
grateful and admiring multitude." Alison's "Life of Castle-
reagh."
INSULTING LANGUAGE IN PARLIAMENT. Nothing could
be more just than the rebuke which, as connected with the
question of personal courage, we may recollect his adminis-
tering to a great man who had passed the limits of Parlia-
mentary courtesy. " Every one must be sensible," he said,
" that if any personal quarrel were desired, any insulting
language used publicly where it could not be met as it
no A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
deserved, was the way to prevent and not to produce such a
rencounter." Brougham's "Statesmen?
His DUEL WITH CANNING. Unknown to Lord Castle-
reagh, and without giving him the slightest reason to suspect
its existence, a party had been formed in the Cabinet
inimical to him, and the object of which was to get him
removed from his position as Minister at War, and Lord
Wellesley substituted in his room. This was arranged (says
Alison, in his " Life of Castlereagh ") by the whole Cabinet,
with the exception of his lordship, as early as the 4th of
April, 1809. * * * It was not till Lord Castlereagh was
shown the correspondence of Mr.. Canning by Mr. Perceval
that he showed any resentment or unpleasant feeling on the
subject. It was from that he learned how early his removal
had been consented to by his Majesty and his colleagues,
and it was in that he met with passages which induced him
to challenge Mr. Canning. * * * Lord Castlereagh, con-
ceiving that the whole was an intrigue of Mr. Canning's to
get him removed from office in order to facilitate his own
advancement, and that he himself had been ill-used by being
allowed so long, and at so critical a juncture, to retain the
responsibility of office when his removal had been not only
resolved on by the Cabinet, but submitted to his Majesty
and approved by him, sent Mr. Canning a challenge. The
parties met on Putney Heath, September 2ist, and ex-
changed shots. Mr. Canning's fire did not take effect ; but
that of Lord Castlereagh inflicted a severe flesh wound on the
thigh of his adversary, which fortunately did not prove mortal.
A LOVER OF IRELAND. "It is said," remarks Earl
Russell, " that when Grattan's friends were assembled round
his bed, the dying patriot said to them, ' Don't be hard upon
Castlereagh he loves our country.' It is added that when
Lord Castlereagh heard of these words of his great opponent,
he burst into tears. I cannot vouch for the truth of this
anecdote, but I think it probably authentic."
CASTLEREAGH CHATHAM. in
DEATH OF CASTLEREAGH. On the Qth August, 1822,
the Duke of Wellington was so much struck with the manner
of Lord Castlereagh that, after walking with him to the
Foreign Office, he went to his medical attendant, Dr.
Bankhead, and not finding him at home, wrote a letter
expressing his apprehensions, and not obscurely hinting at
mental delusions. Dr. Bankhead no sooner received this
alarming intelligence than he went out to Cray Farm, Lord
Castlereagh's seat in Kent, and seeing the Duke of Wel-
lington's fears too well founded, he slept in the house the
next two nights, and gave orders to his valet to remove the
razors from his lordship's dressing-case, and take other pre-
cautions against self-destruction. He did so without being
observed ; but, unfortunately, not recollecting that there was
a penknife belonging to the case in one of the drawers of
the washing-stand, he neglected to secure it. The con-
sequences were fatal. During the zoth and nth of August
Castlereagh remained in bed, wandering, but expressing no
alarming intentions. On the morning of the 1 2th of August,
Lady Londonderry, who was with him, reported that he had
passed a restless night, and that he wished to see Dr.
Bankhead, who was in an adjoining apartment. When
Dr. Bankhead went into his dressing-room, he found him
standing opposite the window, looking out, with his hands
above his head, with his throat cut and bleeding profusely.
Consciousness, as is often the case, returned with the flow
of blood. He threw his arms round the doctor's neck, and
saying, in a feeble voice, "Bankhead, let me fall on your
arm ; I have opened my neck ; it is all over ! " sank on the
ground and expired. Alison's "Life of Castlereagh"
THE EARL OF CHATHAM.
THE TERRIBLE CORNET. The antagonist whom Lord
Chatham first encountered, on his entering into public life,
ii2 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
was the veteran Walpole, who instinctively dreaded him the
moment he heard his voice, and exclaimed, " We must muz-
zle that terrible cornet of horse !" Brougham's "Statesmen"
CHATHAM'S PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS. Those who
saw him in his decay when his health was broken, when
his mind was untuned, when he had been removed from
that stormy assembly of which he thoroughly knew the
temper, and over which he possessed unbounded in-
fluence, to a small, a torpid, and an unfriendly audience,
say that his speaking was then, for the most part, a
low, monotonous muttering, audible only to those who sat
close to him; that when violently excited he sometimes
raised his voice for a few minutes, but that it soon sank
again into an unintelligible murmur. Such was the Earl
of Chatham; but such was not William Pitt. His figure,
when he first appeared in Parliament, was strikingly graceful
and commanding, his features high and noble, his eye full
of fire. His voice, even when it sank to a whisper, was
heard to the remotest benches ; and when he strained it
to its full extent, the sound rose like the swell of an organ
of a great cathedral, shook the house with its peal, and was
heard through lobbies and down staircases to the Court of
Requests and the precincts of Westminster Hall. He cul-
tivated all these eminent advantages with the most assiduous
care. His action is described by a very malignant observer
as equal to that of Garrick. His play of countenance was
wonderful ; he frequently disconcerted a hostile orator by a
single glance of indignation or scorn. Every tone, from the
impassioned cry to the thrilling aside, was perfectly at his
command. It is by no means improbable that the pains
which he took to improve his great personal advantages had,
in some respects, a prejudicial operation, and tended to
nourish in him that passion for theatrical effect which was
one of the most conspicuous blemishes in his character.
Macaulay's Essay.
EARL OF CHATHAM. 113
His IMPOSING MANNER. In his earlier time, his whole
manner is represented as having been beyond con tption
animated and imposing. Indeed, the things which he effected
principally by means of it, or at least which nothing but a
most striking and commanding tone could have made it
possible to attempt, almost exceed belief. Some of these
sallies are, indeed, examples of that approach made to the
ludicrous by the sublime which has been charged upon him
as a prevailing fault. * * It is related that once, in
the House of Commons, he began a speech with the words,
" Sugar, Mr. Speaker, " and then, observing a smile to
pervade the audience, he paused, looked fiercely around,
and with a loud voice, rising in its notes and swelling into
vehement anger, he is said to have pronounced again the
word "Sugar!" three times; and having thus quelled the
House, and extinguished every appearance of levity or
laughter, , turned round and disdainfully asked, " Who will
laugh at sugar now?" Brougham's "Statesmen"
FIXING A CHARGE. On one occasion Chatham said,
"Who are the evil advisers of his Majesty? I would
say to them, Is it you? Is it you? Is it you?" (pointing
to the ministers, until he came near Lord Mansfield). There
were several lords around him, and Lord Chatham said,
" My lords, please to take your seats." When they had sat
down, he pointed to Lord Mansfield, and said, " Is it you ?
Methinks Felix trembles." Grattan ^Life and Times").
COMPELLING A RETRACTATION. Mr. Moreton, the
Chief Justice of Chester, happened to say in the House,
" King, Lords, and Commons, or (directing his eye towards
Pitt), as that right honourable member would call them,
Commons, Lords, and King." Pitt arose with great de-
liberation, and called to order. " I have," he said, " heard
frequently in this House doctrines which have surprised me ;
but now my blood runs cold. I desire the words of the
honourable member may be taken down." The clerks of
i
1 14 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
the House wrote the words. "Bring them to me," said
Pitt, in his loudest voice. By this time Mr. Moreton was
frightened out of his senses. "Sir," he said, addressing
himself to the Speaker, "I am sorry to have given any
offence to the right honourable member or to the House.
I meant nothing. King, Lords, and Commons Lords,
King, and Commons Commons, Lords, and King; tria
juncta in uno. I meant nothing ; indeed I meant nothing."
" I don't wish to push the matter further," said Pitt. " The
moment a man acknowledges his error, he ceases to be
guilty. I have a great regard for the honourable member,
and, as instance of that regard, I give him this advice :
whenever that member means nothing, I recommend him to
say nothing." Butler's "Reminiscences"
CHATHAM AND THE FRENCH MINISTER. A letter pub-
lished in the " Grenville Papers/' from Mr. Jenkinson to
Mr. Grenville, June 23rd, 1761, contains the following pas-
sage : " Bussi is horrified with Mr. Pitt's presence, which
makes him act in the manner he does." The editor of the
Papers adds, " In one of Stanley's most secret letters to Mr.
Pitt he says, * M. de Bussi was nominated minister at our
Court before the expedition against Belleisle was even
thought of here. * * * When the Due de Choiseul
informed me of the awe with which he was struck by you,
he said he was not surprised at it car le pauvre diable
tremblait de peur en partant ; he was so much frightened that
he wrote for a passport to return. The Due showed m
this request in his own hand the Due was with the King,
at Marli, when he received it. His reflection upon it was :
Apparemment, sire, qrfil a depld a M. Pitt, qui I'aura fait
sauter par lesf entires? I replied, fe riauraispas trouve bon dans
ce cas defaire la meme gambade par maniere de represailles? "
His ORATORY. Macaulay observes, in his essay on
Chatham, "He was no speaker of set speeches. His
few prepared discourses were complete failures. The
EARL OF CHATHAM. 115
elaborate panegyric which he pronounced on General Wolfe
was considered as the very worst of all his performances.
* No man,' says a critic who had often heard him, ' ever
knew so little what he was going to say.' Indeed, his
facility amounted to a vice. He was not the master, but
the slave of his own speech. So little self-command had he
when once he felt the impulse, that he did not like to take
part in a debate when his mind was full of an important
secret of State. ' I must sit still,' he once said to Lord
Shelburne on such an occasion ; ' for, when once I am up,
everything that is in my mind comes out.' " Lord Brougham
remarks, " He was prolix in the whole texture of his dis-
course, and he was certainly the first who introduced into
our Senate the practice, adopted in the American War by
Mr. Burke, and continued by others, of long speeches
speeches of two and three hours by which oratory has
gained little, and business less." Grattan said, " I heard
him several times when I was at the Temple on the
American War, on the King's Speech in 1770, and on
the privileges of Parliament. He was very great, and very
odd. He spoke in a style of conversation ; not, how-
ever, what I expected : it was not a speech, for he never
came with a prepared harangue. His style was not regular
oratory, like Cicero or Demosthenes, but it was very fine
and very elevated. He appeared more like a grave character
advising than mingling in the debate. His gesture was
always graceful; he was an incomparable actor. Had it
not been so, it would have appeared ridiculous. His ad-
dress to the tapestry* and to Lord Efimgham's memory
required a fine actor, and he was that actor."
* "I invoke the genius of the Constitution. From the tapestry that
adorns these walls the immortal ancestor of this noble lord frowns with in-
dignation at the disgrace of his country. In vain did he defend the liberty,
and establish the religion of Britain, against the tyranny of Rome, if these
worse than Popish cruelties and inquisitorial practices are endured amon.j
us." Speech against the Employment of Indians in the War with America.
I 2
n 6 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
EMPLOYMENT OF INDIANS BY CHATHAM. The Earl of
Chatham's famous speech against the employment of Indians
in the war with the American colonies, was followed by his
adversaries (soon afterwards, if not at the time) with the retort
that he himself had employed Indians in a similar conflict.
The following particulars were communicated to Lord
Brougham by " a most accomplished and venerable person,
the ornament of a former age," and appear in an appendix
to the " Sketches of Statesmen of the Time of George III." :
" The very same thing had been done in the former war
carried on in Canada, by his authority and under his own
immediate superintendence ; the French had arrayed a tribe
of these savage warriors against us, and we, without scruple,
arrayed another against them. This he thought fit to deny
in the most positive manner, although the ministers offered
to produce documents written by himself that proved it,
from among the papers at the Secretary's office. A warm
debate ensued, and at length Lord Amherst, the general
who commanded our troops in that Canadian war, was so
loudly appealed to on all sides, that it compelled him to
rise, and most unwillingly (for he greatly respected Lord
Chatham) falter out a few words ; enough, however, to
acknowledge the fact a fact admitted generally, and even
assumed by the Opposition lords who spoke afterwards.
They seemed to lay the question quietly by, as far as it
concerned Lord Chatham's veracity, and only insisted upon
the difference between the two wars the one foreign, the
other civil; arguing, also, that we might have been under
some necessity of using retaliation, since the French cer-
tainly first began the practice so justly abhorred. The
Annual Register for 1777 states that Mr. Burke took the
same course in the House of Commons. Upon hearing
what had passed in the House of Lords, Lord Bute ex-
claimed with astonishment, 'Did Pitt really deny it?
Why, I have letters of his still by me, singing lo Paans
EARL OF CHATHAM. 117
over the advantages we gained through our Indian allies.'
Could what he thus said have been untrue, when it was
almost a soliloquy spoken rather before than to his wife
and daughters, the only persons present? The letters he
mentioned were probably neither official nor confidential,
but such common notes as might pass between him and
Lord Chatham while still upon a footing of some intimacy.
It must be observed that, in 1777, Lord Bute had long
withdrawn from all political connections, lived in great re-
tirement, and had no intercourse whatever with the people
then in power."
STRONG TERMS RESPECTING A KING'S SPEECH. The
Speech from the Throne respecting the affair of Falkland's
Island had stated that the Spanish Government had dis-
owned the act of its officer. Lord Chatham said : " There
never was a more odious, a more infamous falsehood im-
posed on a great nation. It degrades the King, it insults
the Parliament. His Majesty has been advised to affirm an
absolute falsehood. My Lords, I beg your attention, and I
hope I shall be understood when I repeat that it is an abso-
lute, a palpable falsehood. The King of Spain disowns the
thief, while he leaves him unpunished, and profits by his
theft. In vulgar English, he is the receiver of stolen goods,
and should be treated accordingly." Ibid.
THE DIGNITY OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. Fox,
writing to Lord Hartington on the subject of* the Berwick
election in 1754, at which Wilkes spent, although unsuccess-
fully, between .3,000 and ,4,000, says, " Mr. Wilkes, a
friend it seems of Pitt's, petitioned against the younger
Delaval, chose at Berwick, on account of bribery only. The
younger Delaval made a speech on his being thus attacked,
full of wit, humour, and buffoonery, which kept the House
in a continued roar of laughter. Mr. Pitt came down from
the gallery and took it up in his highest tone of dignity. He
was astonished when he heard what had been the occasion
u8 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
of their mirth. Was the dignity of the House of Commons
on so sure foundations that they might venture themselves
to shake it ? Had it not, on the contrary, by gradations,
been diminishing for years, till now we were brought to the
very brink of the precipice, where, if ever, a stand must be
made." "Memoirs" by Lord Waldegrave.
STABBING THE CONSTITUTION. In the debate (May ist,
1770) which arose on Lord Marchmont's famous midnight
motion, " That any interference of the Lords respecting the
Middlesex election would be unconstitutional," Lord
Chatham exclaimed, "If the constitution must be wounded,
let it not receive its mortal stab at this dark and midnight
hour." Campbell's "Lives of the Chancellors:'
POSTHUMOUS PRAISE. No one can suspect Pitt of
paying a tribute of applause to the memory of Walpole from
mean and adulatory motives ; yet even he observed, in the
House of Commons, that Sir Robert Walpole was a very
able minister. Perceiving several members laugh, he added,
"The more I reflect on my conduct the more I blame
myself for opposing the Excise Bill ;" and then concluded by
saying, with his usual energy, " Let those who are ashamed
to confess their errors laugh out. Can it be deemed adula-
tion to praise a minister who is no more?" The whole
House seemed abashed, and became silent. Coxe's " Wal-
pole"
THE " GENTLE SHEPHERD." Dashwood's financial
statement had been confused and absurd beyond belief,
and had been received by the House with roars of laughter.
He had sense enough to be conscious of his unfitness for
the high situation which he held, and exclaimed, in a
comical fit of despair, " What shall I do ? The boys will
point at me in the street, and cry, * There goes the worst
Chancellor of the Exchequer that ever was. 1 " George
Grenville came to the rescue, and spoke strongly on his
favourite theme, the profusion with which the late war had
EARL OF CHATHAM. 119
been carried on. That profusion, he said, had made taxes
necessary. He called on the gentlemen opposite to him to
say where they would have a tax laid, and dwelt on this
topic with his usual prolixity. " Let them tell me where,"
he repeated in a monotonous and somewhat fretful tone.
" I say, sir, let them tell me where, I repeat it, sir ; I am
entitled to say to them, Tell me where." Unluckily for him,
Pitt had come down to the House that night, and had been
bitterly provoked by the reflections thrown on the war. He
revenged himself by murmuring, in a whine resembling
Grenville's, a line of a well-known song, " Gentle shepherd,
tell me where." " If," cried Grenville, " gentlemen are to
be treated in this way " Pitt, as was his fashion, when
he meant to mark extreme contempt, rose deliberately,
made his bow, and walked out of the House, leaving his
brother-in-law in convulsions of rage, and everybody else in
convulsions of laughter. It was long before Grenville lost
the nickname of the Gentle Shepherd. Macaulay's Essay
on Chatham.
A CLINICAL CONSULTATION. Mr. Pitt's plan when he
had the gout was to have no fire in his room, but to load
himself with bed-clothes. At his house at Hayes he slept
in a long room, at one end of which was his bed, and his
lady's at the other. His way was, when he thought the
Duke of Newcastle had fallen into any mistake, to send for
him and read him a lecture. The duke was sent for once,
and came, when Mr. Pitt was confined to bed by the gout.
There was, as usual, no fire in the room ; the day was very
chilly, and the duke, as usual, afraid of catching cold. The
duke first sat down on Mrs. Pitt's bed, as the warmest
place ; then drew up his legs into it, as he got colder. The
lecture, unluckily, continuing a considerable time, the duke
at length fairly lodged himself under Mrs. Pitt's bed-clothes.
A person from whom I had the story suddenly going in saw
the two Ministers in bed, at the two ends of the room, while
i2o A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
Pitt's long nose and black beard unshaved for some days,
added to the grotesque nature of the scene. Walpoliana.
YOUTH AND AGE. There is a statement which, having
found its way into such an authority as " Chandler's De-
bates," has been incorporated in works pretending to
historical accuracy. On a debate arising out of the
Bill for the Encouragement and Increase of Seamen,
in 1740, Pitt is represented as attacking Mr. Horace
Walpole (uncle of the more celebrated Horace) for having
ventured on a reference to his youth. The fact is that
these debates ' were imaginary, or constructed on a very
slight foundation. Dr. Johnson, as is well known, before
he had obtained his colossal reputation, drew up fictitious
reports of what took place in the House of Commons. Mr.
Horace Walpole having in a discussion been severely
handled by Pitt, Lyttleton, and the Granvilles, all of whom
were much his juniors, lamented that though he had been
so long in business young men should be found so much
better informed in political matters than himself. He added
that he had at least one consolation in remembering that his
own son, being twenty years of age, must be as much the
superior of Pitt, Lyttleton, and the Granvilles, as they were
wiser than himself. Pitt, having his youth thus mercilessly
flung in his face, got up in a rage, commencing, " With the
greatest reverence to the grey hairs of the gentleman "
but was stopped by Mr. Walpole pulling off his wig, and dis-
closing a grizzled poll beneath. This excited very general
laughter, in which Pitt joined with such heartiness as quite
to forget his anger. Warburtoris "Memoirs of Horace
Walpole."
EFFECT OF HIS ELEVATION TO THE PEERAGE. Those
(says Macaulay) who had most loved and honoured the
great Commoner were loudest in invective against the new-
made Lord. London had hitherto been true to him through
every vicissitude. When the citizens learned that he had
EARL OF CHATHAM. 121
been sent for from Somersetshire, that he had been closeted
with the King at Richmond, and that he was to be First
Minister, they had been in transports of joy. Preparations
were made for a grand entertainment and for a general
illumination. The lamps had actually been placed round
the Monument, when the Gazette announced that the object
of all this enthusiasm was an Earl. Instantly the feast was
countermanded. The lamps were taken down. The news-
papers raised the roar of obloquy. Pamphlets, made up of
calumny and scurrility, filled the shops of all the booksellers.
* * * It was now the fashion to compare the two
Williams, William Pulteney and William Pitt. Both, it was
said, had, by eloquence and simulated patriotism, acquired
a great ascendancy in the House of Commons and in the
country. Both had been entrusted with the office of re-
forming the Government. Both had, when at the height of
power and popularity, been seduced by the splendour of the
coronet. Both had been made earls, and both had at once
become objects of aversion and scorn to the nation which
a few hours before had regarded them with affection and
veneration. The clamour against Pitt appears to have had
a serious effect on the foreign relations of the country. His
name had till now acted like a spell at Versailles and Saint
Ildefonso. English travellers on the Continent had re-
marked that nothing more was necessary to silence a whole
room full of boasting Frenchmen than to drop a hint of the
probability that Mr. Pitt would return to power. In an
instant there was deep silence : all shoulders rose, and all
faces were lengthened. Now, unhappily, every foreign
court, in learning that he was recalled to office, learned also
that he no longer possessed the hearts of his countrymen.
Ceasing to be loved at home, he ceased to be feared abroad.
The name of Pitt had been a charmed name. Our envoys
tried in vain to conjure with the name of Chatham.
THE DEATH OF CHATHAM. The Duke of Richmond
122 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
gave notice that on the yth of April, 1778, he would move
an address to the King, entreating him to withdraw his fleets
and armies from America, and make peace with the revolted
colonies. Lord Chatham was at the time at Hayes, slowly
recovering from a fit of the gout ; but the moment he heard
of the intended address, he resolved to attend the House of
Lords, and neither his family nor his friends could induce
him to desist from his purpose. On the 7th of April,
accordingly, he came into the House with feeble steps,
leaning with one arm on his son, William Pitt, and with the
other on his son-in-law, Lord Mahon. After the Duke of
Richmond had spoken, Lord Chatham rose. "The earl
spoke," writes Lord Camden to the Duke. of Grafton, "but
was not like himself; his speech faltered, his sentences
broken, and his mind not master of itself. His words were
shreds of unconnected eloquence, and flashes of the same
fire which he, Prometheus-like, had stolen from heaven, and
were then returning to the place from whence they were
taken. Your grace sees even I, who am a mere prose man,
am tempted to be poetical while I am discoursing of this
extraordinary man's genius." * * * The Duke of Rich-
mond answered Lord Chatham. He rose to reply, but nature
was exhausted ; " he fell back," says Lord Camden, " upon
his seat, and was to all appearance in the agonies of death.
This threw the whole House into confusion ; every person
was upon his legs in a moment, hurrying from one place to
another, some sending for assistance, others producing salts,
and others reviving spirits. Many crowding about the earl
to observe his countenance; all affected; most part really
concerned; and even those who might have felt a real
pleasure at the accident, yet put on the appearance ot
distress." * * '* Lord Chatham was carried into the
Prince's chamber, and laid upon the table, supported by
pillows. After a few days he recovered sufficiently to be
removed to Hayes. But the attack was fatal. He expired
1 EARL OF CHATHAM. 123
at Hayes on the nth of May following. From Russell's
"Life of Fox."
EXAMPLES OF HIS ELOQUENCE.
Lord Brougham gives the following, among other
examples of Chatham's oratory, in his " Historical Sketches
of Statesmen of the Time of George III." :
"All our knowledge of the peculiar nature of his
oratory rests upon a few scattered fragments. There is,
however, some security for our deducing from these a
correct notion of it, because they certainly, according
to all accounts, were the portions of his discourse which
produced the most extraordinary effect, on which its fame
rests, and by which its quality is to be ascertained.
" His remark on confidence, when it was asked by the
Ministry of 1766, for whom he had some forbearance rather
than any great respect, is well known. He said their
characters were fair enough, and he was always glad to see
such persons engaged in the public service ; but, turning to
them with a smile, very courteous but not very respectful,
he said, ' Confide in you ? Oh, no ; you must pardon me,
gentlemen. Youth is the season of credulity; confidence is
a plant of slow growth in an aged bosom !'
" Some one, having spoken of the obstinacy of America,
said 'that she was almost in open rebellion.' Mr. Pitt
exclaimed, ' I rejoice that America has resisted. Three
millions of people, so dead to all the feelings of liberty as
voluntarily to let themselves be made slaves, would have
been fit instruments to make slaves of all the rest !'* Then
speaking of the attempt to keep her down ' In a just
cause of quarrel you may crush America to atoms ; but in
* He added, in allusion to a previous quotation of precedents, " I
come not here armed at all points with law cases and Acts of Parliament,
with the Statute-books doubled down in dog's-ears, to defend the cause of
liberty." Russell's "Fox."
124 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
this crying injustice ' (Stamp Act) ' I am one who will lift
up my hands against it. In such a cause even your success
would be hazardous. America, if she fell, would fall like
the strong man ; she would embrace the pillars of the State,
and pull down the constitution along with her. Is this
your boasted peace to sheathe the sword, not in its scab-
bard, but in the bowels of your countrymen?'
" * Those iron barons (for so I may call them when com-
pared with the silken barons of modern days) were the
guardians of the people ; and three words of their barbarous
Latin, nullus liber homo, are worth all the classics. Yet their
virtues were never tried in a question so important as this '
(the pretension of privilege in the House of Commons).
' A breach is made in the constitution the battlements
are dismantled the citadel is open to the first invader the
walls totter the place is no longer tenable. What, then,
remains for us but to stand foremost in the breach, to repair
it, or to perish in it ? Unlimited power corrupts the pos-
sessor ; and this I know, that where law ends, there tyranny
begins.'
11 Again, he said : ' Magna Charta the Petition of Right
the Bill of Rights form the Bible of the English consti-
tution. Had some of the King's unhappy predecessors
trusted less to the commentary of their advisers, and been
better read in the tex^ itself, the glorious Revolution might
have remained only possible in theory, and their fate would
not now have stood upon record, a formidable example to
all their successors.'
"In 1775 he made a most brilliant speech on the war.
Speaking of General Gage's inactivity, he said it could not
be blamed ; it was inevitable. * But what a miserable con-
dition,' he exclaimed, ' is ours, where disgrace is prudence,
and where it is necessary to be contemptible ! You must
repeal these Acts ' (he said, alluding to the Boston Ports
and Massachusetts Bay Bills), ' and you WILL repeal them.
' EARL OF CHATHAM.
125
I pledge myself for it, that you will repeal them. I stake
my reputation on it. I will consent to be taken for an idiot
if they are not finally repealed.' Every one knows how
true this prophecy proved. The concluding sentence of the
speech has been often cited * If the Ministers persevere in
misleading the King, I will not say that they can alienate
the affections of his subjects from his Crown ; but I will
affirm that they will make the crown not worth his wearing.
I will not say that the King is betrayed; but I will pronounce
that the kingdom is undone/
" Again, in 1777, after describing the cause of the war and
' the traffic and barter driven with every little pitiful German
prince that sells his subjects to the shambles of a foreign
country,' he adds, ' The mercenary aid on which you rely
irritates to an incurable resentment the minds of your
enemies, whom you overrun with the sordid sons of rapine
and of plunder, devoting them and their possessions to the
rapacity of hireling cruelty. If I were an American, as I am
an Englishman, while a foreign troop was landed in my
country, I never would lay down my arms never ! never !
never ! '
" There are other celebrated passages of his speeches in
all men's mouths. His indignant and contemptuous answer
to the Minister's boast of driving the Americans before the
army 'I might as well think of driving them before me
with this crutch !' is well known. Perhaps the finest of
them all is his allusion to the maxim of English law, that
every man's house is his castle. * The poorest man may in
his cottage bid defiance to all the forces of the Crown. It
may be frail its roof may shake the wind may blow
through it the storm may enter the rain may enter but
the King of England cannot enter ! all his force dare not
cross the threshold of the ruined tenement !'"
126 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
THE EARL OF CHESTERFIELD.
BLEEDING FOR ONE'S COUNTRY. Lord R , with
many good qualities, and even learning and parts, had a
strong desire of being thought skilful in physic, and was
very expert in bleeding. Lord Chesterfield, who knew his
foible, and on a particular occasion wished to have his vote,
came to him one morning, and, after having conversed upon
indifferent matters, complained of the headache, and desired
his lordship to feel his pulse. It was found to beat high,
and a hint of losing blood given. " I have no objection ;
and, as I hear your lordship has a masterly hand, will you
favour me with trying your lancet upon me ? Apropos" said
Lord Chesterfield, after the operation, " do you go to the
House to-day?" Lord R answered, " I did not intend
to go, not being sufficiently informed of the question which
is to be debated ; but you, who have considered it, which
side will you be of?" The earl, having gained his con-
fidence, easily directed his judgment ; he carried him to the
House, and got him to vote as he pleased. He used after-
wards to say that none of his friends had done so much as
he, having literally bled for the good of his country.
Maty' s "Memoir of Chesterfield."
DEXTERITY WITH A DIFFICULT SUBJECT. A bill for
the reform of the Calendar was introduced in the House of
Lords by Lord Chesterfield in 1751, and in his "Letters"
he thus alludes to his speech : " This bill was necessarily
composed of law jargon and astronomical calculations, to
both which I am an utter stranger. However, it was abso-
lutely necessary to make the House of Lords think that I
knew something' of the matter, and also to make them
believe that they knew something of it themselves, which
they do not. For my own part, I could just as soon have
talked Celtic or Sclavonian to them as astronomy, and they
EARL OF CHESTERFIELD. 127
would have understood me full as well ; so I resolved to
do better than speak to the purpose, and to please instead
of informing them. I gave them, therefore, only an his-
torical account of calendars, from the Egyptian down to the
Gregorian, amusing them now and then with little episodes ;
but I was particularly attentive to the choice of my words,
to the harmony and soundness of my periods, to my elocu-
tion, to my action. This succeeded, and ever will succeed.
They thought I informed, because I pleased them; and
many of them said that I had made the whole very clear to
them, when, God knows, I had not even attempted it.
Lord Macclesfield, who had the greatest share in framing
the bill, and who is one of the greatest mathematicians and
astronomers in Europe, spoke afterwards with infinite know-
ledge, and all the clearness that so intricate a matter would
admit of; but, as his words, his periods, and his utterance
were not near so good as mine, the preference was most
unanimously, though most unjustly, given to me. This will
ever be the case ; every numerous assembly is a mob, let
the individuals who compose it be what they will."
A HINT TO STATESMEN. The Earl of Chesterfield
delivered a speech in the House of Lords, 1737, against
the Play-house Bill. The following extract is from the
" Parliamentary History": "It is not licentiousness, it is
an useful liberty, always indulged the stage in a free country,
that some great men may there meet with a just reproof,
which none of their friends will be free enough, or rather
faithful enough, to give them. Of this we have a famous
instance in the Roman history. The great Pompey, after
the many victories he had obtained, and the great conquests
he had made, had certainly a good title to the esteem of the
people of Rome ; yet that great man, by some error in his
conduct, became an object of general dislike. And there-
fore, in the representation of an old play, when Diphilus,
the actor, came to repeat these words, l Nostrd miseria tu es
128 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
Magnus] the audience immediately applied them to Pompey,
who at that time was as well known by the name Magnus
as by that of Pompey, and were so highly pleased with the
satire that, as Cicero says, they made the actor repeat the
words a hundred times over. An account of this was im-
mediately sent to Pompey, who, instead of resenting it as
an injury, was so wise as to take it for a just reproof; he
examined his conduct, he altered his measures, he regained
by degrees the esteem of the people, and then he neither
feared the wit nor felt the satire of the stage. This is an
example which ought to be followed by great men in all
countries."
THE EARL OF CLARENDON.
EXCITING SPANISH GRATITUDE. The Earl of Clarendon,
who succeeded to the peerage on the death of his uncle in
1839, never sat in the House of Commons. His earlier
years were devoted to diplomacy, and he had for some
time filled the post of British Minister at Madrid, when
he was called to the House of Lords, and resigned his
ambassadorial functions. He had not been long a member
of the Upper House when a debate on Spanish affairs arose,
in which Lord Clarendon ably defended the policy of the
Government he had represented, and spoke warmly of the
prospects of Liberal institutions in Spain. His speech so
pleased the Spaniards that it was circulated throughout the
country, a gold medal was struck in his honour, and it was
resolved to present the upholder of Spanish dignity with a
handsome work of art.
"DRIFTING INTO WAR." On the i4th of February,
1854, the Marquis of Clanricarde, in moving in the House
of Lords for further information respecting the cessation of
diplomatic relations with the Court of St. Petersburg, and
the war which appeared imminent, inquired of the Govern-
ment, " If we are at peace, what is the peace ? and what is
EARL OF CLARENDON.
129
the peace that is the object of the war ?" In the course of
his reply the Earl of Clarendon, then Foreign Minister,
reported in " Hansard " as replying, " The question had
jen asked whether we were at peace or war, and was one
very difficult to answer distinctly. We are not at war,
because war is not declared; we are not strictly at peace
dth Russia. (A laugh.) My noble friend may laugh ;
>ut he must know perfectly well that I am correct in
lying that we are not at war with Russia, although diplo-
itic relations with that country are suspended. * * *
icrefore, I consider that we are in the intermediate state ;
lat our desire for peace is just as sincere as ever ; but
icn, I must say that our hopes of maintaining it are
idually dwindling away, and that we are drifting towards
ir."
' EUROPE ON A MINE." The Earl of Clarendon used
this expression with reference to the state of Europe before
ic Crimean war. In a speech on the 25th of May, 1855,
ic said : ** We have learnt a great deal of the intentions of
Russia, and the means she possessed of giving effect to
those intentions. We now know what were the vast military
resources of Russia, how stealthily they had been accumu-
lated, and how readily they could be made available. We
now know something of the almost incredible amount of
warlike stores which had been accumulated in Sebastopol,
where Russia had no commerce to protect, and we are also
aware of the gigantic fortifications which were contemplated
at Bomarsund. Why, Europe was really standing upon a
mine without being aware of it, while the influence of Russia
was so skilfully exercised as to paralyse both Governments
and people. * * * The encroachments of Russia were
unheeded, although her designs had been suspected and
denounced ; but it was nobody's business to interfere
effectually, and no one wished to disturb the general
peace until the mine which had been silently and slowly
J
130 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
prepared was exploded by the rashness of Prince Men-
chikoff. "Hansard.
WILLIAM COBBETT.
His FIRST APPEARANCE. At the first general election
after the passing of the Reform Bill of 1832, Cobbett was
returned for Oldham, and delivered his maiden speech
January 29th, 1833, on the choree of a Speaker. The
opening sentence with which he addressed the House
was not of a very complimentary character : " It appears
to me that since I have been sitting here, I have heard a
great deal of vain and unprofitable conversation." On the
nth of February he rose to move an amendment to the
Report of the Address in answer to the King's Speech.
" Other honourable members," he said, " may intercept the
reading of the Report where they please, and move that
such or such parts be omitted ; for my own part, I object
to every tittle of the Report after the words ' Most Gracious
Majesty.'" Meeting with several interruptions by calls of
"Question" and "Order," he said,* "I have a very
sacred duty to perform, and if the House be deter-
mined not to hear me to-night, I will certainly bring it
forward to-morrow, and if the House will not hear me to-
morrow, I will then bring it forward the day after. The
statement I have to make I am determined to make, and
that without any considerable interruption."
His DEMEANOUR IN THE HOUSE. I know no other
instance of a man entering the House of Commons at his
age (between sixty and seventy) and becoming at once
an effective debater in it. Looking carelessly round the
assembly so new to him, with his usual self-confidence he
spoke on the first occasion that presented itself, proposing
an amendment to the Address ; but this was not his hap-
piest effort, and consequently created disappointment. He
soon, however, obliterated the failure, and became rather a
WILLIAM COBBETT. 131
favourite with an audience which is only unforgiving when
bored. It was still seen, moreover, that nothing daunted
him ; the murmurs, the " Oh ! " or more serious reprehen-
sion and censure, found him shaking his head with his hands
in his pockets, as cool and as defiant as when he first stuck
up the picture of King George in his shop window at Phi-
ladelphia. He exhibited in Parliament, too, the same want
of tact, prudence, and truth ; the same egotism, the same
combativeness, and the same reckless desire to struggle
with received opinions, that had marked him previously
through life, and shattered his career into glittering frag-
ments, from which the world could never collect the image
nor the practical utility of a whole. Bulwer's " Historical
Characters"
THE BLACK HOLE OF ST. STEPHEN'S. Complaining of
the deficient accommodation for members in the House,
Cobbett thus gave utterance to his discontent in the columns
of the Weekly Register : " Why are we squeezed into so
small a space that it is absolutely impossible that there
should be calm and regular discussion, even from that cir-
cumstance alone ? Why do we live in this hubbub ? Why
are we exposed to all these inconveniences? Why are 658
of us crammed into a space that allows to each of us no
more than a foot and a half square, while, at the same time,
each of the servants of the King, whom we pay, has a palace
to live in, and more unoccupied space in that palace than
the little hole into which we are all crammed to make the
laws by which this great kingdom is governed." The fire
of 1834, however, burned down the "little hole" so con-
temptuously spoken of by the member for Oldham, and
thus made way for a more commodious structure.
His INFLUENCE. People have about as substantial an
idea of Cobbett as they have of Cribb. His blows are as
hard, and he himself is as impenetrable. One has no notion
of him as making use of a fine pen, but a great mutton-fist ;
J 2
132 A BOOK OP PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
his style stuns his readers, and he " fillips the ear of the
public with a three-man-beetle." He is too much for any
single newspaper antagonist; "lays waste" a City orator
or member of Parliament, and bears hard upon the Govern-
ment itself. He is a kind of fourth estate in the politics of
the country. Hazlitfs " Table Talk."
TAKING OUT THE STING. Cobbett looked like a better
sort of farmer. He was a very able man, but his career in
the House was a complete failure. Though bold in public
assemblies, he was timid and overawed in Parliament, and
was never able to say more than a few sentences. * *
Cobbett was said to have "a good face for a grievance." I
remember one trait which shows it. He moved to bring in
a bill to modify the Stamp Act, more especially that part of
it which obliged every one to give a twopenny stamp on
payment of any sum between 2 and ^5. Lord Althorp
said that it would require great time for modification, and
that it should be taken into consideration, but that mean-
time the member for Oldham might, if he liked, have that
particular grievance of the twopenny stamp redressed at
once. We all who were opposite to him were amused to
observe that Cobbett looked quite disappointed, as if feeling
that the sting was taken out of his complaints. Professor
Pry me 's "Recollections"
POLITICAL NICKNAMES. Cobbett's talent for fastening
his claws into anything or any one by a word or an ex-
pression, and holding them down for scorn or up to horror,
was unrivalled. " Prosperity Robinson," " ./Eolus Canning,"
the " Bloody Times" the " Pink-nosed Liverpool," the
" unbaptised, buttonless blackguards" (in which way he
designated the disciples of Penn), were expressions with
which he attached ridicule where he could not fix reproach ;
and it is said that nothing was more teasing to Lord Erskine
than being constantly addressed by his second title of Baron
Clackmannan." Bulwer's ''Historical Characters"
RICHARD COBDEN.
"UNADORNED ELOQUENCE." The compliment which
was paid to Mr. Cobden by Sir Robert Peel, on the passing
of the bills repealing the Corn Laws, is thus recorded by
"Hansard": "The name which ought to be, and will be,
associated with the success of those measures, is the name
of one who, acting, I believe,, from pure and disinterested
motives, has, with untiring energy, made appeals to our
reason, and has enforced those appeals with an eloquence
the more to be admired because it was unaffected and un-
adorned : the name which ought to be chiefly associated
with the success of those measures, is the name of RICHARD
COBDEN."
THE MINISTER'S RESPONSIBILITY. During the dis-
cussion on the Corn Laws in 1843, Mr. Cobden, after
having maintained that the agricultural population suffered
as much from these law^ as the manufacturing classes, and
that the new law was as baneful as the old one, thus directly
addressed Sir Robert Peel : "What is the remedy you pro-
pose ? What are the proceedings by which you propose to
give relief to the country ? You have acted on your own
judgment, and you are responsible for the consequences of
your act. You passed your law; you refused to listen
to the manufacturers, and I throw upon you all the
responsibility of your own measure. * * * The right
honourable baronet says it is his duty to judge inde-
pendently, and act without reference to any pressure ; and
I must tell the right honourable baronet that it is the duty
of every honest and independent member to hold him in-
dividually responsible for the present position of the
country. * * * I tell him that the whole responsibility
of the lamentable and dangerous state of the country rests
with him." On hearing this charge of responsibility, and
134 d BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
personal responsibility, so often and so vehemently repeated,
Sir Robert rose with visible emotion'. "The honourable
gentleman," he said, "has stated here, very emphatically,
what he has more than once stated at the conferences of the
Anti-Corn-Law League, that he holds me individually
individually responsible for the distress and suffering of the
country ; that he holds me personally responsible. But, be
the consequences of these insinuations what they may, never
will I be influenced by menaces, either in this House or out
of this House, to adopt a course which I consider
He was unable to complete his sentence. Whether friends
or opponents, many members asked themselves what he
meant, and why he was so much affected. It was perceived
that the shade of Mr. Drummond [Sir Robert's secretary,
who was assassinated January 2ist, 1843] haunted his mind,
and that the responsibility for the public distress, charged
upon him with so much vehemence, struck him as a pro-
vocation to assassination. Mr. Cobden at once explained,
protesting earnestly against so unjust a suspicion. * *
Sir Robert accepted his explanation, but coldly, and still
maintained an air of reserved distrust. Guizofs " Memoirs
of Peel?
"CRUMBLING" RUSSIA. At a meeting in London in
1849, called to express sympathy with the people of Hun-
gary, after the Russian intervention on behalf of Austria,
Mr. Cobden thus spoke : " The peace party throughout the
world will raise a crusade against the credit of every govern-
ment that attempts to carry on an unholy war. Hence-
forth, let no one talk of Russian resources and Russian
money. * * * People talk sometimes as though England
and Englishmen were afraid of Russia. I wish to disabuse
all minds as to my views on that subject. I do not oppose
Russia's advances into Hungary in the belief that, in any
possible combination of events, or any accession of territory,
Russia can be in the least degree dangerous to England.
COB DEN COKE. . 135
Should Russia make an attack upon this country, or another
great maritime power, like the United States, it would fall
upon her like a thunderbolt, and crumble that empire into
its own dreary fastnesses in six months, by the aid of its
shipping. Speeches in 1 849, revised by himself. Mr. Henry
Drummond added something to the " crumbling " phrase
of Mr. Cobden's, in the debate, in 1855, on the condition of
the army before Sebastopol : " Whatever the honourable
member for the West Riding may say, his talk about
' crumpling up ' Russia like a sheet of paper ran through the
country, and people thought that Russia was a little, foolish,
second-rate power, which you had the means of crumpling
up whenever you liked."
VOICES OF THE DEAD. On the death of Mr. Cobden,
in April, 1865, Mr. Disraeli passed a high eulogium on his
character as a politician, and in the course of it remarked :
" There is something mournful in the history of this Parlia-
ment, when we remember how many of our most eminent
and valued public men have passed from among us. I
cannot refer to the history of any other Parliament which
will bear to posterity so fatal a record. But there is this
consolation when we remember these unequalled and irre-
parable visitations that these great men are not altogether
lost to us ; that their opinions will be often quoted in this
House, their authority appealed to, their judgments attested ;
even their very words will form part of our discussions and
debates. There are some members of Parliament who,
though not present in the body, are still members of this
House, independent of dissolutions, of the caprice of con-
stituencies, even of the course of time. I think, sir, Mr.
Cobden was one of these men."
SIR EDWARD COKE.
COMPLIMENTS FROM THE CHAIR. Coke, having been
elected Speaker of the House of Commons in 1593, was
1 3 5 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
presented at the bar of the House of Lords, when he dis-
qualified himself to the Queen, saying, " As in the heavens
a star is but opacum corpus until it have received light from
the sun, so stand I corpus opacum a mute body until your
Highness's bright shining wisdom hath looked upon me and
allumed me. How unable I am to do this office my present
speech doth tell." In his speech at the close of the session
he compared Elizabeth to the queen-bee, sine aculev. Par-
liamentary History.
RECITING A COLLECT IN THE HOUSE. After the House
had passed the resolution of adjournment from the 4th of
June to the i4th of November, 1621, Sir Edward Coke,
then upwards of seventy years of age, standing up, with
tears in his eyes, recited the Collect for the King and his
children, and desired the House to say after him ; adding
only to it, "and defend them from their cruel enemies. "-
Hatsetfs "Precedents."
PARLIAMENT AND "THE KING'S WORD.'* On the ist
of May, 1627, Secretary Cooke delivered a message, asking
whether they would rely on the Kings word. This question
was followed by a long silence. Several speeches are re-
ported in the letters of the times. Sir Nathaniel Rich
observed, that "confident as he was of the royal word,
what did any indefinite word ascertain?" Pym said, "We
have his Majesty's coronation oath to maintain the laws of
England; what need we, then, take his word?" He pro-
posed to move, " Whether we should take the King's word
or no." This was resisted by Secretary Cooke : " What
would they say in foreign parts, if the people of England
would not trust their King?" He desired the House to call
Pym to order ; on which Pym replied, "Truly, Mr. Speaker,
I am just of the same opinion I was viz., that the King's
oath was as powerful as his word." Sir John Elliot moved
that it be put to the question, "because they that would
have it do urge us to that point." Sir Edward Coke, on
COKE Co VENTR Y. 137
this occasion, made a memorable speech. " We sit now in
Parliament, and therefore must take his Majesty's word no
otherwise than in a parliamentary way ; that is, of a matter
agreed on by both Houses his Majesty sitting on his throne
in his robes, with his crown on his head and sceptre in his
hand, and in full Parliament ; and his royal assent being
entered upon record, in perpetuam rei memoriam. This was
the royal word of a King in Parliament, and not a word
delivered in a chamber, and out of the mouth of a secretary,
at the second hand ; therefore I motion that the House of
Commons, more majorum, should draw a petition, tie droict,
to his Majesty; which, being confirmed by both Houses, and
assented unto by his Majesty, will be as firm an act as any.
Not that I distrust the King, but that I cannot take his trust
but in a parliamentary way." In this speech of Sir Edward
Coke we find the first mention, in the legal style, of the
ever-memorable " Petition of Right," which two days after
was finished. D' Israeli's " Curiosities of Literature"
SIR JOHN COVENTRY.
SLITTING A MEMBER'S NOSE. Burner, in his " History
of his own Time," relates the circumstances connected
with the outrage upon Sir John Coventry, and from his
narrative the following particulars are taken : Sir John
made a strong reflection on the amours of Charles II., and
struggled much in the House against grants of money.
Referring to the players, who, it was urged by the Court
party, were the King's servants, and a part of his pleasure,
Coventry asked whether did the King's pleasure lie ajnong
the men or the women that acted? This was carried with
great indignation to the Court. Charles accordingly senr.
some of the guards to watch in the streets where Sir John
odged, and leave a mark on him. Sands, and O'Brian, and
some others went thither, and as Coventry was going home
138 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
they drew about him. He stood up to the wall and drew
the flambeau out of his servant's hand ; and with that in the
one hand and his sword in the other, he defended himself
so well that he got more credit by it than by all the actions
of his life. He wounded some of them, but was soon dis-
armed, and then they cut his nose to the bone. The affair
was managed under the orders of the Duke of Monmouth,
to whose house the ruffians repaired after performing their
task. The House passed a bill of banishment against the
perpetrators of it, adding a clause that it should not be in
the King's power to pardon them.
OLIVER CROMWELL.*
His APPEARANCE IN THE HOUSE. The first that ever
I took notice of him was in the very beginning of the Par-
liament held in November, 1640, when I vainly thought
myself a courtly young gentleman, for we courtiers valued
ourselves much upon our good clothes. I came one morn-
ing into the House well clad, and perceived a gentleman
speaking, whom I knew not, very ordinarily apparelled, for
it was a plain cloth suit, which seemed to have been made
by an ill country tailor. His linen was plain, and not very
clean ; and I remember a speck or two of blood upon his
little band, which was not much larger than his collar. His
hat was without a hat-band ; his stature was of a good size ;
his sword stuck close to his side, his countenance swoln
and reddish, his voice sharp and untunable, and his
eloquence full of fervour. For the subject-matter would not
bear much of reason, it being on behalf of a servant of Mr.
Prynne's, who had dispersed libels against the Queen for
her dancing, and suchlike innocent and courtly sports ; and
he aggravated the imprisonment of this man by the council-
* For his dissolution of the Long Parliament, see page 4.
CROM WELL CURRA N. 139
table unto that height that one would have believed the
very Government itself had been in great danger by it Sir
Philip Warwick's Memoirs.
THE " SLOVEN." One day, when Cromwell had spoken
warmly in the House, Lord Digby asked Hampden who he
was ; and Hampden is said to have replied, " That sloven
whom you see before you, hath no ornament in his speech ;
that sloven, I say, if we should ever come to a breach with
the King (which God forbid !) in such a case, I say, that
sloven will be the greatest man in England." Southey's
"Life of Cromwell."
JOHN PHILPOT CURRAN.
His FIRST CONSTITUENCY IN THE IRISH PARLIAMENT.
Lord Longueville, who was the proprietor of the borough
of Kilbeggan, returned Curran to the Irish Parliament in
1783, under an idea of his own that a barrister, with a
growing family and totally dependent on his profession for
subsistence, would scarcely suffer his principles to interfere
with his interests. On the very first occasion, however, he
not only voted against his patron, but, by at least an
energetic speech, proved the total fallacy of all his anticipa-
tions. Lord Longueville of course warmly remonstrated ;
but what was his astonishment to find Curran not only
persevering in his independent opinions, but even appro-
priating the only five hundred pounds he had in the world
to the purchase of a seat, which he insisted on transferring
as an equivalent for that of Kilbeggan. Phillips 's "Curran
and his Contemporaries."
A PARENTHETICAL SPEECH. Curran was once asked
how a member of Parliament had spoken. The answer
was, " His speech was a long parenthesis." He was asked
to explain. "Why," said he, "don't you know that a
parenthesis is a paragraph which may be omitted from
140 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
beginning to end, without any loss of meaning?" Dr.
Croly on Irish Eloquence.
AIRING A VOCABULARY. An able speaker, but addicted
to lofty language, had made a speech in the House of Peers,
at which Curran was present. He was asked what he
thought of the debate. " I had," said he, " only the ad-
vantage of hearing Lord airing his vocabulary." Ibid.
A GHOSTLY HOUSE. On the union of the Legislatures,
the Irish Parliament House was turned into a bank, arid
various changes toojc place in the structure; among the
rest, the interior was gutted, and the very handsome dome
taken down. Curran heard of the remark of a celebrated
and facetious lord, that the house looked " like a traitor
that had undergone the sentence of the law." Curran, in
allusion to that noble lord's activity in carrying the Union,
said, "Ay, no man is likelier to make that remark a
murderer is always afraid of ghosts." Ibid.
A MELTING REGRET. In an election for the borough
of Tallagh, Mr. John Egan, chairman of Kilmainham, an
immense sized man, was an unsuccessful candidate. * * *
It was in the heat of a very warm summer day, Egan was
struggling through the crowd, his handkerchief in one hand,
his wig in the other, and his whole countenance raging like
the dog-star, when he met Curran. " I'm sorry for you, my
dear fellow," said Curran. "Sorry! Why so, Jack why
so ? I'm perfectly at ease." " Alas ! Egan, 'tis but too
visible to every one that you're losing tallow (Tallagh) fast."
Curran and his Contemporaries.
A DELIBERATE AIM. During a debate in the Irish
Parliament, August i5th, 1785, on Orde's Commercial Bill
Curran retorted, with severe sarcasm, to a speech of
Attorney-General Fitzgibbon, in which he had received a
rather gross personal attack. The result of this, reply of
Mr. Curran was a message from Mr. Fitzgibbon. * * *
Mr. Ogle was second to the Attorney-General. The parties
CURRA N DERBY. 141
were to fire by signal; Mr. Fitzgibbon did not do so,
but, reserving his fire, he took deliberate aim at Curran ;
and, having missed him, he walked off the ground, without
receiving or even asking for an apology, or firing a second
time, although he had been the challenger in a case where
the object was to obtain satisfaction. Mr. Curran observed
to him, " It was not your fault, Mr. Attorney, if you missed
me, for you were deliberate enough." Grattaris Life and
Times.
THE EARL OF DERBY.
His MANNER. Gladstone's manner, says Professor Pryme,
"I never saw excelled except by Lord Derby's, when he
was in the House of Commons. The speaking of these two
was like a stream pouring forth ; or it might be described
as if they were reading from a book. I have heard Pitt,
Fox, and other great speakers, but never any to equal Lord
Derby, when Mr. Stanley, for elegance and sweetness of
expression. " Autobiographic Recollections.
His FIRST SPEECH. Mr. Stanley was three years in the
House of Commons before he took part in its debates. His
first speech was made in 1824, upon a bill for lighting
Manchester with gas. Sir James Mackintosh, who spoke
after him, very highly complimented the young member on
his performance, and said, " No man could have witnessed
rith greater satisfaction than himself an accession to the
dents of the House which was calculated to give lustre to
its character and strengthen its influence ; and this was more
ticularly a subject of satisfaction to him when he reflected
lat these talents were likely to be employed in supporting
rinciples which he conscientiously believed to be most
beneficial to the country."
PARLIAMENTARY INSTINCT. Macaulay, in his essay on
Chatham, thus alludes to the readiness in debate which Mr.
Stanley manifested from the first: "Scarcely any person
142 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
has ever become a great debater without long practice and
many failures. It was by slow degrees, as Burke said, that
Charles Fox became the most brilliant and powerful debater
that ever lived. Charles Fox himself attributed his own
success to the resolution which he formed when very young,
of speaking, well or ill, at least once every night. ' During
five whole sessions/ he used to say, ' I spoke every night
but one, and I regret only that I did not speak on that
night too.' Indeed, with the exception of Mr. Stanley,
whose knowledge of the science of parliamentary defence
resembles an instinct, it would be difficult to name any
eminent debater who has not made himself a master of his
art at the expense of his audience."
RAISING A STORM. The Coercion Bill, introduced when
Mr. Stanley was Secretary for Ireland, gave occasion for
one of the most effective displays of his eloquence. The
incident is thus narrated by Earl Russell (" Selections from
Speeches/' &c.). " It was thought right that Lord Althorp,
as the leader of the Government in the House of Commons,
should bring in the Bill. He did so in a manner tame
and ineffective. His detail of the outrages committed in
Ireland was like reading a few of the blackest pages of
the ' Newgate Calendar.' The Liberal majority were dis-
appointed, sullen, and ready to break out into mutiny against
their chief. Mr. Stanley, who was sitting next to me, greatly
annoyed at the aspect of the House, said to me, ' I meant
not to have spoken till to-morrow night, but I find I must
speak to-night.' He took Lord Althorp's box of official
papers, and went upstairs to a room where he could look
over them quietly. After the debate had proceeded for two
or three hours longer, with no change of temper in the
House, Mr. Stanley rose. He explained, with admirable
clearness, the insecure and alarming state of Ireland. He
then went over, case by case, the more dreadful of the out-
rages which had been committed. He detailed, with striking
EARL OF DERBY.
'43
effect, the circumstances attending the murder of a clergy-
man and the agony of his widow, who, after seeing her
husband murdered, had to bear in terror running knocks at
the door, kept on all night by the miscreants who had com-
mitted the crime. The House became appalled and agitated
at the dreadful picture which he placed before their eyes ;
they felt for the sorrows of the innocent ; they were shocked
at the dominion of assassins and robbers. When he had
produced a thrilling effect by these descriptions he turned
upon O'Connell, who led the opposition to the measure, and
who seemed a short time before about to achieve a triumph
in favour of sedition and anarchy. He recalled to the
recollection of the House of Commons that, at a recent
public meeting, O'Connell had spoken of the House of
Commons as 658 scoundrels. In a tempest of scorn and
indignation, he excited the anger of the men thus designated
against the author of the calumny. The House, which two
hours before seemed about to yield to the great agitator,
was now almost ready to tear him to pieces. In the midst
of the storm which his eloquence had raised he sat down,
having achieved one of the greatest triumphs of eloquence
ever won in a popular assembly by the powers of oratory."
A SLIP. We remember (says the writer of a biographical
notice in the Standard} to have heard Lord Macaulay say
that no one ever attempted to catch Lord Stanley trip-
ping, and to interrupt him in his speech, without coming
by the worst in the encounter. He might well say so,
for he was himself an example of the truth of his
words. On one occasion, in the full rush and torrent of
his eloquence, Lord Stanley used the expression " mutually
suicidal." It was, perhaps, not strictly defensible, and the
slip was too much for the " book in breeches," who was
then sitting on the front bench in opposition, to pass over.
Half rising from his seat, and removing his hat with well-
affected courtesy, he repeated the words in an inquiring
144 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
tone, "Mutually suicidal?" Lord Stanley checked himself
or an instant, looked his antagonist full in the face, and,
without attempting to justify the expression, contemptuously
replied, " The right honourable gentleman is a great verbal
critic." The cheers of the House showed the retort had told.
"THE RUPERT OF DEBATE." This well-known epithet
was applied to Lord Stanley by .Lord Lytton in his early
poem, " The New Timon." The following is the passage
in which it occurs :
"The brilliant chief, irregularly great,
Frank, haughty, rash the Rupert of Debate !
Nor gout nor toil his freshness can destroy,
And time still leaves all Eton in the boy.
First in the class and keenest in the ring,
"He saps like Gladstone and he fights like Spring.
Ev'n at the feast his pluck pervades the board,
And dauntless gamecocks symbolise their lord.
Lo where atilt at friend if barred from foe
He scours the ground and volunteers the blow,
And, tired with conquest over Dan and Snob,
Plants a sly bruiser on the nose of Bob ;
Decorous Bob, too friendly to reprove,
Suggests fresh fighting in the next remove,
And prompts his chum, in hopes the vein to cool,
To the prim benches of the upper school.
Yet who not listens with delighted smile
To the pure Saxon of that silver style ?
In the clear style a heart as clear is seen,
Prompt to the rash revolting from the mean."
THE DEMOCRATIC TIDE. It was often imputed to the
Earl of Derby that he had said he considered it his mission
to " stem the tide of democracy." The exact phrase did
not proceed from his own mouth, but it originated in a
passage of a speech he delivered in the House of Lords on
the 1 5th of March, 1852. Replying to a question from
Lord Beaumont as to the intentions of the new Government
with respect to duties on corn, Earl Derby (according to
"Hansard") said, " We are threatened with far more serious
EARL OF DERBY. 145
consequences than could result from the imposition of a 45.,
55., or 75. duty on foreign corn. The question before us is,
whether the Government of this country can be carried on,
and as to the principles on which it is to be carried on.
And when I appeal to the country it will be on these grounds :
Will you, Protectionists and Free Traders, all you who
desire the advantage of all the interests of the country,
place your confidence in, and give your support to, a
Government which, in the hour of peril, did not hesitate to
take the post of danger when the helmsman had left the
helm ? Will you support a Government which is exerting
itself to protect the country against any hostile attack, to
maintain the peace of the world, to maintain and uphold
the Protestant institutions of the country, to give, to the
utmost t of its power, religious and moral education through-
out the land ; and which will exert itself moreover, I don't
hesitate to say, to stem with some opposition, to supply
some barrier against the current of that continually increas-
ing and encroaching democratic influence in this nation,
which is bent on throwing the whole power and authority of
the Government nominally into the hands of the masses,
but practically and really into those of demagogues and
republicans, who exercise an influence over those unthinking
masses will you, I say, support a Government which is
determined to resist that noxious and dangerous influence,
and to preserve inviolate the prerogatives of the Crown, the
rights of your lordships' House, and the liberties of a freely-
elected and freely-represented House of Commons ? These,
my lords, are the questions on which, when I go to the
country, I make my appeal, on behalf of myself and of my
colleagues ; and, in the words which are placed in the
mouths of the meanest felons that stand in the prisoner's
dock, but which are not unworthy of the mouth of the first
minister of the first country in the world, I say, ' I elect
that we shall be tried by God and our country.' "
K
146 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
THE " LEAP IN THE, DARK." On the third reading of
the Reform Bill in the House of Lords, August 6th, 1867,
the Earl of Derby said, " No doubt we are making a great
experiment and ' taking a leap in the dark,' but I have the
greatest confidence in the sound sense of my fellow country-
men, and I entertain a strong hope that the extended fran-
chise which we are now conferring upon them will be the
means of placing the institutions of this country on a firmer
basis, and that the passing of the measure will tend to
increase the loyalty and contentment of a great portion of
her Majesty's subjects." HansarcL
MR. DISRAELI.
His FIRST APPEARANCE. Mr. Disraeli was first re-
turned to Parliament in 1837, as representative of Maid-
stone, and delivered his maiden speech on the 7th of
December in that year, on Irish election petitions. He was
heard with continual interruptions, but concluded with a
prophecy which has become famous. The following was
his peroration, as given in " Hansard " : " Nothing was so
easy as to laugh. He wished before he sat down to show
the House clearly their position. When they remembered
that, in spite of the support of the hon. and learned member
for Dublin (Mr. O'Connell) and his well-disciplined band of
patriots, there was a little shyness exhibited by former sup-
porters of her Majesty's Government when they recollected
the ' new loves ' and the * old loves ' in which so much of
passion and recrimination was mixed up between the noble
Tityrus of the Treasury bench and the learned Daphne of
Liskeard (loud laughter) notwithstanding the amantium
ir& had resulted,- as he had always expected, in the amoris
integratio (renewed laughter) notwithstanding that political
duel had been fought, in which more than one shot was
interchanged, but in which recourse was had to the secure
MR. DISRAELI. 147
arbitrament of blank cartridges (laughter) notwithstanding
emancipated Ireland and enslaved England, the noble lord
might wave in one hand the keys of St. Peter, and in the
other (the shouts that followed drowned the conclusion of
the sentence). ' Let them see the philosophical prejudice
of man.' He would certainly gladly hear a cheer, even
though it came from the lips of a political opponent. He
was not at all surprised at the reception which he had
experienced. He had begun several times many things,
and he had often 'succeeded at last. He would sit down
now, but the time would come when they would hear him."
THE WHIGS CAUGHT BATHING. It was in a debate on
the opening of letters at the Post Office, in 1845, tnat
Mr. Disraeli used this celebrated illustration of the tactics
of Sir Robert Peel. He said, " I know there are some who
think that he is looking out for new allies. I never believed
anything of the kind. The position of the right hon.
gentleman is clear and precise. I do not believe he is
looking to any coalition, although many of my constituents
do. The right hon. gentleman has only exactly to remain
where he is. The right hon. gentleman caught the Whigs
bathing and walked away with their clothes. He has left
them in the full enjoyment of their liberal position, and he
is himself a strict conservative of their garments."
Hamard.
"TEA-KETTLE PRECEDENTS." When Sir Robert Peel
introduced the Bill for the increased grant to Maynooth, he
rested his arguments less upon any broad scheme of policy
which might have compromised him directly with powerful
parties, than upon the fact that the principle had been
sanctioned, though obscurely, by parliamentary authority.
This gave occasion to Mr. Disraeli to make a hit at the
Premier, which was at once humorous and true. He said
that with him great measures were always rested on small
precedents ; that he always traced the steam-engine back to
K 2
148 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
the tea-kettle; that, in fact, all his precedents were
" tea-kettle precedents." Francis's " Critical Biography of
Disraeli"
HEEDLESS RHETORIC. During the debate .on the Irish
Church in 1868, Mr. Disraeli was often taunted with argu-
ments he had used in a speech on the state of Ireland
in 1844. He said, in one of his replies : " I have been
reminded in the course of this debate of expressions which
I used five-and-twenty years ago. I could remind other
gentlemen of expressions they used on the same subject
five-and-twenty years ago ; but I do not much care for that
sort of thing. With reference, however, to that passage
which has been quoted from a speech made by me, I may
remark that it appeared to me at the time I made it that
nobody listened to it. It seemed to me that I was pouring
water upon sand, but it seems now that the water came from
a golden goblet. With regard to the passage from that
speech, there are many remarks which, if I wanted to
vindicate or defend myself, I might legitimately make. * * *
All this I might say ; but I do not care to say it, and I
do not wish to say it, because in my conscience the sen-
timent of that speech was right. It may have been ex-
pressed with the heedless rhetoric which I suppose is the
appanage of all who sit below the gangway; but in my
historical conscience the sentiment of that speech was
right. " Hansard.
AN APPEAL TO THE JURY. In the debate on Mr.
Gladstone's Irish Church resolutions, in April, 1868,
Mr. Disraeli said : " The only objection which I have to
the attacks of the noble lord (Cranborne) is that they in-
variably produce an echo from the other side. When the
bark is heard from this side, the right hon. member for
Calne emerges, I will not say from his cave,* but perhaps
* The Cave of Adullam see page 64.
DISRAELI DUNCOMBE. 149
from a more cynical habitation. He joins immediately in
the chorus of reciprocal malignity
' And hails with horrid melody the moon.'
* * * The right hon. gentleman was extremely exuberant
in his comments upon my character and career. I will not
trouble the House with a defence of that character and
career. I have lived in this House more than thirty years,
and can truly say that during that time comments upon my
character and career have been tolerably free and plain.
But the House has been the jury of my life, and it allows
me now here to address it, and therefore here is not the
place in which I think it necessary to vindicate myself."
THOMAS SLINGSBY DUNCOMBE.
PERSEVERING BRIBERY. Mr. Buncombe first stood
a contest for Pontefract in 1821 took an enormous
deal of trouble in canvassing, and spent much money in
bribery, but was unsuccessful. In 1823 he was again in the
field as a parliamentary candidate, and ventured to
contest a family borough (Hertford) with its proprietor.
He again failed, after spending much money. In the
general election of 1826, Hertford was again canvassed
by him in opposition to Mr. Henry Bulwer, who was then
commencing his political career. There were three claimants
for the suffrages of the electors ; the borough returned two,
and the fight was for the second place. Mr. Buncombe
having bribed handsomely secured a majority. "Life" by
his Son.
MAINTAINING HIS POINT. In August, 1831, Mr. Goul-
burn brought an accusation against Lord Burham for in-
terfering in an election. Mr. Buncombe pronounced it
" a base and wicked calumny." There was a tremendous
call of "Chair!" and the chairman administered a mild
150 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
remonstrance, saying that in Mr. Buncombe's calmer and
more sober moments he would not use such terms. The
latter answered, undauntedly, " I am quite calm, and sober
enough, and mean what I say." Down upon him came Sir
Robert Peel, Sir Henry Hardinge, Sir Henry Inglis ; down
upon him came the parliamentary magnates from both sides
of the House, threatening, advising, and insisting on an
explanation ; but the bold reformer heeded not the menaces,
cared not for the advice, and openly declared that he had
spoken the truth, and meant to maintain it. His firmness
conquered his opponents, and Mr. Goulburn pocketed the
affront. Ibid.
AN EQUIVOCAL COMPLIMENT. On one occasion Mr.
Buncombe received a present from a Leeds clothier, a political
admirer, accompanied by the following note : " Briggate,
Leeds, July 6th, 1842. Sir, I take the liberty of sending
you a trowsers piece, three yards in length, made from ' devil's
dust ' and ' cotton.' If you think it is not suitable wear for
a gentleman, be kind enough to hand it to Mr. Busfield
Ferrand, as a reward for his enormous lying. I can supply
you with any quantity at fourpence-halfpenny per yard.
There are thousands of persons in this town who admire
your honest and independent conduct, and only regret that
you are not better supported in the House. I remain your
obedient servant, WM. WHITEHEAD." Ibid.
LORD ELDON.
His FIRST ELECTION SPEECH. Mr. Scott (afterwards
Lord Eldon) put up for Weobly in June, 1783, and being
returned, took his seat for the first time as representative of
that borough. He says he delivered his speech to the crowd
from the top of a heap of stones. " My audience liked the
speech, and I ended, as I had begun, by kissing the prettiest
LORD ELDON. 151
girl in the place very pleasant, indeed." Campbell's
"Lives."
RECEIVING THE GREAT SEALS. On the i4th April, 1801,
the King handed over the Great Seals to Lord Eldon. " I
do not know," he says, referring to this circumstance, " what
made George III. so fond of me, but he was fond of me.
When I went to him for the seals, he had his coat buttoned
at the lower part, and putting his right hand within, he drew
them out from the left side, saying, ' I give them to you
from my heart.' "WilKs "Lord Eldon."
TAILORS AND TURNCOATS. While the Catholic Relief
Bill was making progress in the House of Commons, there
were, from the commencement of the session, nightly
skirmishes in the House of Lords on the presentation of
petitions for and against the measure. The Chancellor
(Lyndhurst, who had changed sides on the question) some-
times mixed in these, and received painful scratches. Lord
Eldon presenting an Anti-Catholic petition from the Com-
pany of Tailors at Glasgow, the Chancellor, still sitting on
the woolsack, said, in a stage whisper, loud enough to be
heard in the galleries : " What ! do tailors trouble them-
selves with such measures ? " Lord Eldon : " My noble
and learned friend might have been aware that tailors
cannot like turncoats:' (A loud laugh.) Campbell's "Life
of Lyndhurst."
CONSISTENCY. When Lord Encombe, Lord Eldon's
grandson, received his doctor's degree at the hands of the
Duke of Wellington then Chancellor of the University of
Oxford Lord Eldon was present as High Steward, and was
treated with great respect and attention. He himself relates
the following anecdote: "What charmed me very much
when I left the theatre, and was trying to get to my carriage,
was : one man in the crowd shouted out, * Here's old Eldon !
Cheer him ; for he never ratted ! ' I was very much delighted,
for I never did rat. I will not say I have been right through
152 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
life. I may have been wrong ; but I will say that I have
been consistent." Wills' s "Lord Eldon."
ELWES, THE MISER.
UNWIGGING A MEMBER. Elwes, who had a seat in
Parliament, wore a wig ; it looked as if it might have been
picked off a hedge or a scare-crow. At that time we used
to wear dress swords occasionally at the House; for instance,
if going to the opera. One day, Bankes, whose carriage is
stiff and lofty, had on his sword, and was seated next to
Elwes, who leant his head forward just as Bankes was rising
up to leave his place, when the hilt of his sword came in
contact with Elwes' wig, which it whisked off and bore away.
The House was instantly in a roar of laughter. I never shall
forget the scene. There was old Elwes, without his wig,
darting forward to reclaim it ; and Bankes marching on quite
unconscious of the sword-knot which he wore, and wonder-
ing what the laugh was about. Harford's "Recollections of
Wilberforcer
LORD ERSKINE.
His MAIDEN SPEECH AND PARLIAMENTARY FAILURE.
Erskine was returned to Parliament for Portsmouth, Novem-
ber 2oth. 1783, and delivered his maiden speech on Fox's
India Bill. Pitt sat, evidently intending to reply, with pen
and paper in his hand, prepared to catch the arguments of
this formidable adversary. He wrote a word or two. Erskine
proceeded ; but with every additional sentence Pit't's atten-
tion to the paper relaxed, his look became more careless,
and he obviously began to think the orator less and less
worthy of his attention. At length, when every eye. in the
house was fixed upon him, with a contemptuous smile he
dashed the pen through the paper, and flung them on the
floor. Erskine never recovered from this expression of dis-
LORD ERSKINE. 153
dain. His voice faltered, he struggled through the remainder
of his speech, and sank into his seat dispirited, and shorn
of his fame. Crotys " Life of George IV." Sir N. Wraxall
says of this speech: " Erskine's enemies pronounced
the performance tame, and destitute of the animation
which so powerfully characterised his speeches in West-
minster Hall. They maintained that, however resplen-
dent he appeared as an advocate while addressing a jury, he
fell to the level of an ordinary man, if not below it, when
seated on the ministerial bench, where another species of
oratory was demanded to impress conviction or to extort
admiration. To me, who, having never witnessed his juris-
prudential talents, could not make any such comparison,
he appeared to exhibit shining powers of declamation."
Lord Byron said of Erskine's parliamentary oratory : " I
don't know what Erskine may have been at the bar, but in
the House I wish him at the bar once more." Butler,
in his " Reminiscences," relates that, Fox having made
an able speech, Mr. Erskine followed him with one of
the very same import. Pitt rose to answer them. He
announced his intention to reply to both. " But," said
he, " I shall make no mention of what was said by the
honourable gentleman who spoke last ; he did no more than
regularly repeat what was said by the member who preceded
him, and regularly weaken all he repeated."
DEFENCE OF LIBERTY. During the session of 1795-96
Mr. Erskine distinguished himself in Parliament by his
strenuous opposition to two measures, which were, as he
conceived, directed against the liberty of the subject. Upon
the first of these (the Seditious Meetings Bill) he spoke
with an energy and boldness not often exhibited within the
walls of Parliament. " ' If the King's ministers,'" said he,
adopting the words of Lord Chatham, " ' will not admit a
constitutional question to be decided on .according to the
forms and on the principles of the constitution, it must then
154 d BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
be decided in some other manner ; and rather than that it
should be given up rather than the nation should surrender
their birthright to a despotic minister I hope, my lords,
old as I am, I shall see the question brought to issue, and
fairly tried between the people and the Government.' With
the sanction of the sentiments of the venerable and illus-
trious Earl of Chatham, I will maintain that the people of
England should defend their rights, if necessary, by the last
extremity to which free men can resort. For my own part,
I shall never cease to struggle in support of liberty. In no
situation will I desert the cause. I was born a free man,
and, by God, I will never die a slave !" RoscoJs "Eminent
British Lawyers"
WHITEBAIT AND SEAL. When Erskine was Chancellor,
being asked by the Secretary to the Treasury whether he
would attend the ministerial fish dinner to be given at
Greenwich, at the end of the session, he answered, " To be
sure I will; what would your fish dinner be without the
Great Seal?" Campbell's "Lives."
LORD FALKLAND.
His SAYING ABOUT BISHOPS. When Sir Edward Bering's
bill " for the extirpation of episcopacy" was under discussion
in committee, in 1641, as the proceedings were protracted
from day to day, the House began to lose interest in the
matter, and the attendance of members consequently fell
off; "they only who prosecuted the bill with impatience
remaining in the House," says Clarendon, in his " History,"
" and the others who abhorred it, growing weary of so tire-
some an attendance, left the House at dinner time, and
afterwards followed their pleasures ; so that the Lord Falk-
land was wont to say, ' that they who hated bishops hated
them worse than the devil, and that they who loved them
did not love them so well as their dinner.' "
HENRY FLOOD.
HENRY FLOOD.
RETALIATION. Courtenay silenced Flood in the English
House by a crushing reply to a hasty debut of the rival of
Grattan in Ireland. I asked Courtenay (for I like to trace
motives) if he had not some personal provocation ; for the
acrimony of his answer seemed to me, as I read it, to in-
volve it. Courtenay said "he had; that, when in Ireland
(being an Irishman), at the bar of the Irish House of Com-
mons, Flood had made a personal and unfair attack upon
himself, who, not being a member of that House, could not
defend himself; and that some years afterwards the oppor-
tunity of retort offering in the English Parliament, he could
not resist it." He certainly repaid Flood with interest, for
Flood never made any figure, and only made a speech or
two afterwards, in the English House of Commons. I must
except, however, his speech on reform, in 1790, which Fox
called " the best speech he ever heard upon that subject, "-
Byron (Moore's "Life").
A WOODEN ORACLE. One of Flood's methods of " dis-
quieting " a minister was the plying him with inconvenient
questions. On one of these occasions (in the Irish Parlia-
ment) the Secretary referred him to some subaltern who was
absent. " Well, well," said he, " I must be content to wait.
Formerly the oak of Dodona uttered its own oracles, but
the wooden oracle of our Treasury is compelled to give his
responses by deputy." Curran and his Contemporaries.
WHIPPING THE "WHIP." Flood once thus ludicrously
affrighted the luckless " Whipper-in " of the Irish House, as
he crossed him during his speech. " What is that I see ?
Shall the Temple of Freedom be still haunted by the foul
fiend of bribery and corruption? I see personified before
me an incarnation of that evil principle which lives by the
destruction of public virtue." Ibid.
156 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
CHARLES JAMES FOX.
Fox AND PITT IN CHILDHOOD. In 1767, Lady Hol-
land, mother of Fox, paid a visit to Lady Chatham, of which
she gave the following account to her husband : " I have
been this morning with Lady Hester, Pitt ; and there is little
William Pitt, now eight years old, and really the cleverest
child I ever saw, and brought up so strictly and so proper
in his behaviour that mark my words that little boy will
be a thorn in Charles's side as long as he lives." A very
singular prediction, showing not only the early cleverness of
the two boys, but the cherished ambition of their parents,
the wise strictness of Lord and Lady Chatham, and the
sagacity of Lady Holland. Russell's "Life of Fox"
FIRST APPEARANCE OF Fox IN PARLIAMENT, AND HIS
EARLY SPEECHES. Charles Fox was returned for Midhurst
in May, 1768, when he was only nineteen years and four
months old. He took his seat in the following November.*
He made his first speech in the House of Commons on the
9th of March, 1769, when he was little more than twenty
years of age. It seems to have been on a point of order
a singular topic for so young a man. * * * On the 8th
of May he spoke against the petition of the electors of
Middlesex in favour of their right of electing Wilkes. Of
this speech Horace Walpole observes : " Charles Fox, not
yet twenty-one, answered Burke with great quickness and
parts, but with confidence equally premature." Sir Richard
Heron, in a letter to Sir Charles Bunbury, says : " Mr.
Charles Fox, who, I suppose was your schoolfellow, and
who is but twenty, made a great figure last night upon the
petition of the Middlesex freeholders. He spoke with great
spirit, in very parliamentary language, and entered very
* S. Rogers mentions, on Fox's authority, that he was abroad at the
time of his election.
CHA RLES JAMES Fox. 157
deeply into the question on constitutional principle." Lord
Holland, proud of his favourite boy, writes thus to his
friend Mr. Campbell, of Cawdor : "I am told (and wil-
lingly believe it) Charles Fox spoke extremely well. It was
all off-hand, all argumentative, in reply to Mr. Burke and
Mr. Wedderburne, and excessively well indeed. I hear it
spoke of by everybody as a most extraordinary thing,
and I am, you see, not a little pleased with it. I am
told Charles can never make a better speech than he
did on Monday." Ibid. Horace Walpole writes to Sir
Horace Mann in April, 1772 : "I went to the House
of Commons the other day to hear Charles Fox, con-
trary to a resolution I had made never to set my foot
there again. It is strange how disuse makes one awkward ;
I felt a palpitation, as if I were going to speak there my-
self. The object answered : Fox's abilities are amazing at
so very early a period, especially under the circumstances
of such a dissolute life. He was just arrived from New-
market, had sat up drinking all night, and had not been in
bed. How such talents make one laugh at Tully's rules for
an orator, and his indefatigable application. His laboured
orations are puerile in comparison of this boy's manly
reason."
THE ARTIST'S SKETCH. Lord Holland relates the fol-
lowing apropos of the personal appearance of Fox :
" I have in my possession a singular proof of the figure and
impression Mr. Fox made on his first appearance as an orator.
A young artist, and I believe a reporter of debates, a Mr.
Surtees, of Mainforth, happened to be in the gallery
when he first spoke. At that period no stranger was
allowed to make notes, or take any paper or note-book into
the gallery for that purpose. But this gentleman, struck
with the appearance of the youthful orator, tore off part of
his shirt, and sketched on it, with a pencil or burnt stick,
a likeness of him, which he afterwards tried to finish at his
158 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
lodgings, and which, owing to the care of Mr. Sharpe and
kindness of Mr. Fletcher, is still preserved in my possession
at Holland House, retaining many traits of resemblance to
the dark, intelligent, and animated features of Mr. Fox."
CHARACTERISTICS OF HIS SPEECHES. Conversation
Sharpe relates of Mr. Fox that he sometimes put the argu-
ments of his adversaries in such an advantageous light that
his friends were alarmed lest he should fail to answer them.
To state one by one the arguments of the Opposition, and
one by one to reply to them, was the characteristic of his
speaking, and without the aid of this text upon which to
hang his comments he could make little progress. His
opening speeches were almost always bad. Until he got
warmed with his subject he hesitated and stammered, and
he often continued for long together in a tame and common-
place strain. Even in his highest flights he indulged in
incessant repetitions, was negligent in his language, and was
neither polished nor exact in his style. Notwithstanding
these defects, he exercised a prodigious influence over his
hearers. " He forgot himself/' says Sir James Mackintosh,
" and everything around him. He darted fire into his
audience. Torrents of impetuous and irresistible eloquence
swept along their feelings and convictions." Quarterly
Review.
THE MAGICIAN'S WAND. A French gentleman expressed
some surprise at the immense influence which Fox, a man
of pleasure, ruined by the dice-box and the turf, exercised
over the English nation. " You have not," said Pitt, " been
under the wand of the magician." Macaulay's " Biography
of Pitt."
QUELLING INTERRUPTION. But for the inferiority of
the subject, the 'speech upon the Westminster scrutiny, in
1784, might perhaps be placed at the head of all his
speeches. * * * A fortunate cry of "Order !" which he
early raised in the very exordium, by affirming that " far
CHARLES JAMES Fox. 159
from expecting any indulgence, he could scarcely hope for
bare justice from the House," gave him occasion for dwelling
on this topic, and pressing it home with additional illus-
tration ; till the redoubled blows and repeated bursts of
extemporaneous declamation almost overpowered the
audience, while they wholly bore down any further inter-
ruption. Brougham's " Statesmen"
THE SOVEREIGN PEOPLE. In the beginning of May,
1798, the Duke of Norfolk presided at a great dinner of
the Whig Club. At the close of the evening he gave as a
toast, " Our Sovereign the People;" or, as Lord Holland
relates it, " The People our Sovereign." Upon the report
of these doings he was dismissed by the Crown from the
Lord Lieutenancy of the West Riding of Yorkshire. Fox,
glad to defend what he considered the true doctrine, went
afterwards to the Whig Club, and gave the same toast which
had caused so much offence in the mouth of the Duke of
Norfolk. For this Pitt struck his name out of the Privy
Council. Russell's "Life of Fox"
THE COMMONS NOT A PLACE OF MUCH IMPORTANCE.
When Mr. Grey's father, Sir Charles Grey, was made a peer,
Fox wrote thus to Mr. Grey : " I am very much concerned,
indeed, to hear of your father's peerage, more especially as
I understand it vexes you very much. It is undoubtedly a
provoking event ; but, according to my notions, the consti-
ition of the country is declining so rapidly, that the House
Commons has in a great measure ceased, and will
lortly entirely cease, to be a place of much importance. "-
9x's Correspondence.
FOXIANA. The following facts respecting Fox are given
in S. Rogers' " Recollections " : Lord Grenville said, " his
speeches were full of repetitions. He used to say that it
was necessary to hammer it into them ; but I rather think he
could not do otherwise." Lord Holland related that when
he first entered office, being dissatisfied with his handwriting,
160 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
he took lessons. George III. (said the Duke of Wellington)
was no listener. When Fox came out of the closet once,
somebody said, " You have had a long audience." " Given
one, you mean," was his answer.
GRATTAN'S CHARACTER OF Fox. His name excites
tenderness and wonder. To do justice to that immortal
person, you must not limit your view to his country. His
genius was not confined to England; it was seen three
thousand miles off, in communicating freedom to the
Americans ; it was visible I know not how far off, in
ameliorating the condition of the Indian ; it was discernible
on the coast of Africa, in accomplishing the abolition of
the slave trade. You are to measure the magnitude of his
mind by parallels of latitude. His heart was as soft as that
of a woman ; his intellect was adamant. Curran and his
Contemporaries.
DUEL BETWEEN Fox AND MR. ADAM. Mr. Fox had
made a vehement attack on Mr. Adam, who had changed
from the Opposition to the Ministerial side, and had given
as a reason for his change that, although the ministers were
not very competent, no persons more competent were to be
found among their opponents. Mr. Fox, confounding mental
power with moral rectitude, described the minister as turning
round on his new defender, and saying to him, " Begone,
begone, wretch ! who delightest in libelling mankind, con-
founding virtue and vice, and insulting the man whom thou
pretendest to defend, by saying to his face that he certainly is
infamous, but that there are others still more so." Mr. Adam
having in vain endeavoured to obtain an explanation of this
speech from Mr. Fox, to be inserted in the newspapers, sent
Major Humberston to arrange the particulars of a hostile
meeting. The meeting accordingly took place in Hyde Park,
at eight o'clock in the morning of the 2 9th of November.
After the ground had been measured, Mr. Adam desired
Mr. Fox to fire ; to which Mr. Fox replied, "Sir, I have no
CHA RLES JAMES Fox. 1 6 1
quarrel with you, do you fire." Mr. Adam fired ; Mr. Fox
then fired without effect. Upon this the seconds, Colonel
Fitzpatrick and Major Humberston, interfered, asking Mr.
Adam if he was satisfied. Mr. Adam replied, " Will Mr. Fox
declare he meant no personal attack upon my character?"
Upon which Mr. Fox said, "This was no place for apo-
logies," and desired Mr. Adam to go on. Mr. Adam fired
his second pistol without effect. Mr. Fox fired his re-
maining pistol in the air, and said that, as the affair was
ended, he had no difficulty in declaring he meant no more
personal affront to Mr. Adam than he did to either of the
other gentlemen present. Mr. Adam replied, " Sir, you have
behaved like a man of honour." Mr. Fox then mentioned
that he believed himself wounded. On opening his waist-
coat, it was found that Mr. Adam's first ball had taken
effect, but that the wound was very slight. The wits of
Opposition said that Mr. Adam had used Government
powder, notorious for being deficient in strength. No men
were greater friends in after life than Mr. Fox and Mr.
Adam. Russetfs "Life of Fox."
THE RIVALS AT PEACE. The graves of Fox and Pitt,
in Westminster Abbey, are situated within a few inches of
each other. Sir Walter Scott thus moralises on the fact, in
the introduction to the first canto of " Marmion " :
" Where taming thought to human pride !
The mighty chiefs sleep side by side.
Drop upon Fox's grave the tear,
'Twill trickle to his rival's bier ;
O'er Pitt's the mournful requiem sound,
And Fox's shall the notes rebound.
The solemn echo seems to cry
1 Here let their discord with them die ;
Speak not for those a separate doom,
Whom fate made brothers in the tomb ;
But, search the land of living men,
Where wilt thou find their like agen?' "
1 62 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
SIR PHILIP FRANCIS.
AN UNREADY MAN. As a speaker, Francis was un-
successful. His own theory on the subject is given by Lady
Francis in her " Reminiscences." " Here I may account
for his not being a ready speaker in Parliament, except when
roused by indignation or feeling, when he electrified the
House. He accounted for it from Lord Bacon's well-known
axiom : ' Reading makes a full man, writing makes an exact
man, speaking makes a ready man.' ' I had enough and too
much of the former, and none of the latter, in my youth. A
vessel may be too full to part easily with its contents, and
few orators are very exact men ; besides, I had too much
sensibility, and felt the House was against me. The House
was Pitt's, and Pitt could not despise me, but he tried to
make it believe he did.'" Lady Francis adds another
reason for his hesitation in speaking namely, that extreme
anxiety to maintain his secret made him weigh every word
lest it should convict him of being " Junius."
EDWARD GIBBON.
A MUTE MEMBER. The historian of the Roman Empire
was returned for Liskeard in 1774, and sat in Parliament for
eight sessions. Prudence, he says in his "Autobiography,"
condemned him to acquiesce in the humble station of a mute.
" Timidity was fortified by pride, and even the success of
my pen discouraged the trial of my voice." In a letter to a
friend he writes, " I am still a mute : it is more tremendous
than I imagined ; the great speakers fill me with despair, the
bad ones with terror." Gibbon supported Lord North's
administration by his vote, and was appointed one of the
Lords Commissioners of Trade and Plantations. He was
employed by the Government, at the outbreak of hostilities
GIBBON GLA DS TONE. 1 6 3
with France in 1778, to draw up the official manifesto on
that occasion.
A CONTRAST. In a letter to a friend in 1783, describ-
ing his life at Lausanne, the ex-M.P. says: "Acknowledge
that such a life is more conducive to happiness than
five nights in the week passed in the House of Commons,
or five mornings spent at the Custom House." But in
his "Autobiography " he remarks, " I never found my mind
more vigorous, nor my composition more happy, than in the
winter hurry of society and Parliament."
His APPLICATION FOR DIPLOMATIC EMPLOYMENT.
The following letter is given in Gibbon's " Autobiography
and Correspondence." The communication is without date,
nor does the name of the nobleman to whom it was
addressed appear : " My Lord, I am ignorant (as I
ought to be) of the present state of our negotiations for
peace ; I am likewise ignorant how far I may appear
qualified to co-operate in this important and salutary work.
If, from any advantages of language or local connections,
your lordship should think my services might be usefully
employed, particularly in any future intercourse with the
Court of France, permit me to say that my love of ease and
literary leisure shall never stand in competition with the
obligations of duty and gratitude which I owe to his
Majesty's Government." Gibbon also applied to Lord
Thurlow, soliciting an appointment as Secretary to the
Embassy to Paris, in 1783. Of the result he writes : "Thj
scheme is completely vanished, and I support the disappoint-
ment with heroic patience."
MR. GLADSTONE.
A SCHOOL FOR STATESMEN. In a speech on Lord
Derby's Reform Bill, March 29th, 1859, Mr. Gladstone
asked, " Is it not, under Providence, to be attributed to a
L 2
164 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
succession of distinguished statesmen, introduced at an early
age into this House, and once made known in this House
securing to themselves the general favour of their country-
men, that we enjoy our present extension of popular liberty,
and, above all, the durable form which that liberty has
assumed ?" Hansard.
IRISH CHURCH DISESTABLISHMENT. The first clear
intimation of Mr. Gladstone's policy with respect to the Irish
Church took Parliament and the country by surprise. It
occurred in a debate on the state of Ireland, introduced by
an independent member (Mr. Maguire), March i6th, 1868;
Mr. Disraeli's Government then being in office. After
speaking at some length on the various grievances of which
Ireland complained, and of the Church Establishment among
them, Mr. Gladstone referred to his former speeches on the
subject, and said : "I did not use one word, to my know-
ledge, which was contrary to the opinion I held then and
hold now namely, that in order to the settlement of the
question of the Irish Church, that Church, as a State Church,
must cease to exist. * * * Without the slightest
reproach to any of those who bear office in the Irish Church,
I am convinced, from a long observation, that that institution
is, and by the law of its existence must be, the home and last
refuge of the spirit of ascendancy ; and as that which, beyond
all particular and special measures, we need, is the expulsion
of the spirit of ascendancy from Ireland, I take leave to say
that, in order to that expulsion, we must now proceed to
deal decisively with that question of the Irish Church/' He
further remarked, " My opinion is that religious equality is
a phrase that requires further development, and I will
develop it further by saying that, in this religious equality
in Ireland, I, for my part, include in its fullest extent the
word a very grave word, I do not deny, and I think we
cannot be too careful to estimate its gravity before we come
to a final conclusion the very grave word disestablishment.
MR. GLADSTONE. 165
If we are to do any good at all by meddling with the Church
in Ireland, it must, in my judgment, be by putting an end to
its existence as a State Church." Ibid. With reference to
the unexpected character of this announcement, Mr. Disraeli
remarked, in the debate upon going into committee upon
Mr. Gladstone's resolutions (April 3rd, 1868), that the right
honourable gentleman had come forward " all of a sudden,
like a thief in the night."
USE OF QUOTATION. Mr. Gladstone's frequent and
skilful use of quotation in debate is well known ; but quota-
tion probably never took a wider range in a brief compass,
or was more effective, than in the following passage of his
speech on moving his Irish Church resolutions, March 3oth,
1868 : "There are many who think that to lay hands upon
the National Church Establishment of a country is a profane
and unhallowed act. I respect that feeling. I sympathise
with it. I sympathise with it while I think it my duty to
overcome and repress it. But if it be an error, it is ari error
entitled to respect. There is something in the idea of a
National Establishment of religion, of a solemn appropria-
tion of a part of the commonwealth, for conferring upon all
who are ready to receive it what we know to be an inestim-
able benefit ; of saving that portion of the inheritance from
private selfishness, in order to extract from it, if we can, pure
and unmixed advantages of the highest order for the popu-
lation at large there is something in this so attractive, that
it is an image that must always command the homage of
the many. It is somewhat like the kingly ghost in Hamlet,
of which one of the characters of Shakespeare says
1 We do it wrong, being so majestical,
To offer it the show of violence ;
For it is, as the air, invulnerable,
And our vain blows malicious mockery.'
But, sir, this is to view a religious Establishment upon one
side, only upon what I may call the ethereal side. It has
1 66 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
likewise a side of earth ; and here I cannot do better than
quote some lines written by the present Archbishop of
Dublin at a time when his genius was devoted to the Muses.
He said, in speaking of mankind
%
' We who did our lineage high
Draw from beyond the starry sky,
Are yet upon the other side
To earth and to its dust allied.'
And so the Church Establishment, regarded in its theory
and in its aim, is beautiful and attractive. Yet what is it but
an appropriation of public property, an appropriation of the
fruits of labour and of skill to certain purposes ? and un-
less those purposes be fulfilled, that appropriation cannot be
justified. Therefore, sir, I cannot but feel that we must set
aside fears which thrust themselves upon the imagination, and
act upon the sober dictates of our judgment. I think it has
been shown that the cause for action is strong not for
precipitate action, not for action beyond our powers, but for
such action as the opportunities of the times and the con-
dition of Parliament, if there be but a ready will, will amply
and easily admit of. If I am asked as to my expectations of
the issue of this struggle, I begin by frankly avowing that I,
for one, would not have entered into it unless I believed that
the final hour was about to sound.
4 Venit stimma dies et ineluctabile fatum. ' "
Hansard.
A MINISTER'S DUTY. " It is the duty of a Minister to
stand like a wall of adamant between the people and the
Sovereign." Speech at Garston, Nov. \qth, 1868.
THE LORDS " IN A BALLOON." This saying was applied
freely to the Upper House in 1869, in consequence of an
expression made use of by Mr. Gladstone in the discussion
of the Lords' amendments to the Irish Church Bill. The
following is the Times' report of the passage : " The right
MR. GLADSTONE. 167
hon. gentleman says truly that we ought to approach in a
spirit of respect the amendments made by the House of
Lords. As I come to discuss them I shall endeavour, and
my colleagues will do the same, to conform to that rule.
We can hardly expect of the House of Lords that they
should appreciate the humble considerations which govern
the special relations between each member of Parliament
and the portion of the British people that he represents.
From the great eminence on which they sit they can no
more discuss the minute particulars of our transactions than
could a man in a balloon. Had the House of Lords gone
through the experience of such an election as the last, it would
be absolutely impossible for them, as honourable politicians,
to have consented to the clause [in favour of " concurrent
endowment"] which they have put into this bill."
A GENEROUS COMPLIMENT. Mr. Gladstone's readiness
to encourage young and promising members of the House ot
Commons has often been displayed. A striking instance
occurred in committee on the Irish Church Bill, April 29th,
1869. Mr. Chaplin, one of the representatives of Lincoln-
shire, had made an able first speech against the policy of
the Government, and the Premier, rising immediately
after, thus complimented him : " The hon. member
who has just sat down has admonished us, and myself in
particular, that the sense of justice is apt to grow dull under
the influence of a long parliamentary experience. But there
is one sentiment which I can assure him does not grow dull
under the influence of a long parliamentary experience, and
that is the sense of pleasure when I hear whether upon
these benches or upon those opposite to me an able, and
at the same time frank, ingenuous, and manly statement of
opinion, and one of such a character as to show me that the
man who makes it is a real addition to the intellectual and
moral worth and strength of Parliament. Having said this,
I express my thanks to the hon. member for having sharply
1 68 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
challenged us ; it is right that we should be so challenged,
and we do not shrink from it."
'LORD GEORGE GORDON.
THE No POPERY RIOTS. In the session of 1779 an
Act had been passed for the relief of the Roman Catholics,
a measure which induced the formation of the Protestant
Association, with Lord George Gordon as its president. On
Monday, May 2 9th, 1780, says the Annual Register, a
meeting was held at Coachmakers' Hall, when it was re-
solved, " That the whole body of the Protestant Asso-
ciation do attend in St. George's Fields on Friday next, at
ten o'clock in the morning, to accompany his lordship to
the House of Commons, on the delivery of the Protestant
petition." Accordingly, on the day appointed, many
thousands assembled at the place of meeting and marched
in procession to Westminster, preceded by those who bore
the petition against the Catholic Relief Bill. About half-
past two they arrived before the Houses of Parliament,
when they gave a general shout. Members, as they arrived,
were subjected to gross outrage and personal violence.
Almost all were compelled to put blue cockades in their
hats and call out " No Popery ! " whilst some were forced
to take oaths to vote for the repeal of the obnoxious
law. While the mob were venting their fury on peers
and commoners alike, their leader harangued them from the
top of the gallery stairs, inciting -still further by his language
the storm of savage passions that he had raised. Colonel
Gordon, a near relative of his lordship's, addressed him thus :
" My Lord George, do you intend to bring your rascally
adherents into the House of Commons ? If you do, the
first man of them that enters I will plunge my sword, not
into his, but into your body." The greater part of the day
the attention of the House of Commons was taken up in
GORDON GRA HAM. 169
debates concerning the mob. When they had obtained
some degree of order, Lord George introduced his business
by informing them that he had before him a petition, signed
by near one hundred and twenty thousand of his Majesty's
Protestant subjects, praying a repeal of the Act passed the
last session in favour of the Roman Catholics, and moved
to have the said petition brought up. Mr. Alderman Bull
seconded the motion, and leave was given accordingly.
Having brought up the petition, his lordship then moved
to have it taken into immediate consideration, and was
again seconded by Mr. Alderman Bull. After some debate
the House divided, and there appeared six for the petition
and 192 against it. Soon after this the House adjourned,
and, the mob having dispersed from the avenues of both
Houses, the Guards, who had been called out, were ordered
home. This demonstration at Westminster and attempt to
overawe the Legislature was but the prelude to the fearful
riots which succeeded, and which resulted in 285 people
being killed by the troops, and 173 wounded. The number
of those who, sacking the houses, perished from inebriation,
and in the ruins of the demolished buildings, is not known,
but is believed to have been very considerable.
SIR JAMES GRAHAM.
THE CHILD FATHER OF THE MAN. As a boy he
exhibited the future bent of his life. When other boys
were choosing what they would be, he would say, " I will
be a statesman." A stone is still shown in the village
on which the youthful politician stood and harangued his
playmates. Professor PrymJs "Recollections"
AN INATTENTIVE HOUSE. Mr. Graham was first re-
turned for Hull in 1818, at the age of twenty-six. His
election cost his family ,6,000. His first appearances in
the House were failures. Among his early displays was a
1 70 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
speech with regard to a bill which had been introduced to
prevent any person not an inhabitant or freeman of a town
from taking part in its political meetings. Mr. Torrens
says : " Mr. Graham wished to know if a member who sat
for a borough of which he was neither an inhabitant nor
freeman would come within the mischief of the Act ? He
paused to listen for the report of his shot; but few were
attending, and nobody cried ' Hear.' He looked to see
if it had hit, but the under-secretaries were talking to one
another on the Treasury bench, and Lord Castlereagh wa's
occupied in smelling the hot-house flower in his button-hole.
Mr. Graham repeated his question in other words, but with
no better effect. He felt half vexed with himself at
having got up, but he was up, and must go on ; so he
thought he would argue the point. The case was not an
imaginary one, he said, for it was his own, as he happened
to sit for a borough of which he was neither a freeman
nor an inhabitant, and of which he was not likely to become
either, having no connection with the place. At this un-
lucky proffer of irrelevant information he heard, or thought
he heard, something like a suppressed laugh. He felt him-
self getting confused, a little at firs*, and then very much
so. For a few minutes he rambled on through common-
place and reiteration, but no timely cheer came to his
rescue, and he sat down without any distinct recollection
of what he had said or what he had intended to say. Mr.
Henry Lascelles, who sat opposite, whispered to a mutual
friend, 'Well, there is an end of Graham; we shall hear
no more of him.' "
" HATS OFF !" On the 2oth of June, 1837, the King died
at Windsor ; and on the same day both Houses met for the
purpose of taking the oath of allegiance to her Majesty
Queen Victoria. On the following day Lord John Russell
appeared at the bar of the Commons, charged with a mes-
sage from the Queen. A cry instantly arose of " Hats off! "
SIR JAMES GRAHAM. 171
and the Speaker, forgetful for the moment, of the precise
usage on such occasions, announced from the chair that
"members must be uncovered." Everyone present forth-
with complied, with the exception of Sir James Graham, who
excited some observation by continuing to wear his hat
until the first words of the message were pronounced. As
nothing at the time escaped the vigilance of party criticism,
a paragraph appeared the same evening in the True Sun,
reflecting on the supposed indecorum. At the meeting of
the House next day the right honourable baronet called
attention to the fact, for the purpose of explaining that he
had only complied with the older, and, as he thought, better
custom, of waiting until the initiatory word " Regina," or
" Rex," was uttered before uncovering ; a mode of testifying
respect for the Crown which was more emphatic, and which
had, he thought, a better effect. * * * The Speaker said
that the honourable member for East Cumberland was
correct in his observance of the practice of the House ; and
he accounted for his own apparent deviation therefrom by
his desire to preserve order and to save time. Torrent
"Life of Graham."
DISPOSING OF "HANSARD." In 1846 Sir James Graham
had made up his mind to defend a Corn Law no more.
Sentence after sentence and phrase upon phrase, which had
fallen from him in the heat of rhetorical indiscretion in the
days when he sat on the left of the Speaker's chair, were now
dug up out of " Hansard," and flung at him by exasperated
Protectionists, amid the angry cheers of those around him,
and the loud laughter of those opposite. But he had anti-
cipated this, and had made up his mind how to deal with
it. When challenged by Mr. Stafford to say whether or not
he had changed his opinion, he replied, "I freely admit
that past declarations of opinions made by members of the
House who have subsequently arrived at power, or who
aspire to power, much more the declarations made by the
172 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
First Minister of the Crown, if at all at variance with the
course which he has subsequently pursued, are subjects
worthy of reference, and which call for explanation. The
honourable member for Northamptonshire made a direct
appeal to the Government, and challenged us, if we had
changed our opinions, manfully to own it. I answer that
challenge. I do frankly avow my change of opinion, and
by that avowal I dispose of whole volumes of ' Hansard/
and of all the charges which have been made on the ground
of inconsistency." Ibid.
ALTERED CIRCUMSTANCES. When addressing the House
one evening on the oft-debated subject of the connection
between the rate of wages and the price of food, Sir James
reiterated his declaration that experience had convinced
him that the former had a constant tendency to rise as the
latter fell. Lord George Bentinck, who was sitting on the
front Opposition bench below him, threw back his head, and
looking round at him exclaimed, " Ah ! yes ; but you know
you said the other thing before." A shout of laughter, in which
Sir James joined, was followed by cheers and counter-cheers,
and curiosity was on tip-toe for the retort. From his perch,
as he used to call it, the ex-minister looked down at his noble
antagonist, and said, in a tone of ineffable humour, " The
noble lord's taunts fall harmless upon me ; I am not in
office now." Ibid.
SIR WILLIAM GRANT.
A CLOSE REASONER. In Parliament he is unquestion-
ably to be classed with speakers of the first order. His
style was peculiar ; it was that of the closest and severest
reasoning ever heard in any popular assembly. The
language was choice, perfectly clear, abundantly correct,
quite concise, admirably suited to the matter which the
words clothed and conveyed. In so far it was felicitous, no
GRA NT GRA TTA .v. 173
farther ; nor did it ever leave behind it any impression of
the diction, but only of the things said ; the words were
forgotten, for they had never drawn off the attention for a
moment from the things ; those things were alone remem-
bered. No speaker was more easily listened to ; none so
difficult to answer. Once Mr. Fox, when he was hearing
him with a view to making that attempt, was irritated in a
way very unwonted to his sweet temper by the conversation
of some near him, even to the show of some crossness, and
(after an exclamation) sharply said, " Do you think it so very
pleasant a thing to have to answer a speech like THAT?"
Brougham' 1 s " Statesmen."
"THE WISDOM OF OUR ANCESTORS." The signal
blunder, which Bacon long ago exposed, of confounding the
youth with the age of the species, was never committed by
anyone more glaringly than by this great reasoner. He it
was who first employed the well-known phrase of "the
wisdom of our ancestors ; " and the menaced innovation,
to stop which he applied it, was the proposal of Sir Samuel
Romilly, to take the step of reform, almost imperceptibly
small, of subjecting men's real property to the payment of
all their debts. Ibid.
HENRY GRATTAN.
PREPARATION FOR PARLIAMENTARY LIFE. Grattan
had taken a residence near Windsor Forest, where he was
preparing sedulously for his future destination by addressing
imaginary audiences. His landlady took such manifesta-
tions much to heart. " What a sad thing it was," she would
say, " to see the poor young gentleman all day talking to
somebody he calls Mr. Speaker, when there's no speaker
in the house except himself." Phillips' s " Curran and his
Contemporaries. "
His MANNER IN SPEAKING. The chief difficulty in
this great speaker's way was the first five minutes. During
174 d BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
his exordium laughter was imminent. He bent his body
almost to the ground ; swung his arms over his head, up
and down and around him ; and added to the grotesqueness
of his manner a hesitating tone, and drawling emphasis.
* * * Truly, indeed, might it be said of him as he said of
Chatham, " he was very great, and very odd." For a time the
eye dissented from the verdict of the mind ; but at last his
genius carriedall before it, and, as in the oracles of old, the con-
tortions vanished as the inspirations became manifest. Ibid.
His GRANT OF ^50,000. In April, 1782, Grattan
moved a resolution in the Irish Parliament, the main pur-
port of which was the repeal of the statute of George I.,
by which England claimed a right to legislate for Ireland.
He was at the time in a most feeble state of health, his
frame seemed bent down by debility, and everyone sup-
posed he must have sunk under the exertion. But as he
proceeded he warmed with the subject, appeared to shake
off not merely illness, but mortality, and, amid the tumultuous
enthusiasm of the House, he carried his resolution, " That
no power on earth could make laws to bind Ireland except:
her own King, Lords, and Commons. ' The motion was
afterwards proposed and carried in the English Parliament.,
The delight and gratitude of the people were unbounded ;
addresses poured in on him from every village in Ireland,
and statues were voted to his memory. The Parliament
also voted him a grant of ^50,000, as some testimony of
the estimation in which he was held. This grant of
public money subsequently gave rise to a bitter dispute
between Grattan and Flood in the House, which is com-
memorated in the following epigrammatic dialogue :
41 QUESTION. Say,- what has given to Flood a mortal wound?
ANSWER. Grattan' s obtaining fifty thousand pound.
QUESTION. Can Flood forgive an injury so sore?
ANSWER. Yes, if they give him fifty thousand more."
Annual Register.
HENRY G RATTAN. 175
His ORATORY LEADING TO THE EXPULSION OF THE
STUDENTS. The students of Trinity College, Dublin, were
allowed free access to the Irish House of Commons to
hear the debates, and, in 1792, better accommodation
was provided for them than for the public who obtained
admission by member's order. "This proud distinction
the gownsmen, however, soon forfeited. Lord Fitzwilliam
had been sent over as a popular viceroy, and, on his
sudden recall, a strong feeling of disappointment prevailed.
On a night when the subject was brought before the
House, our gallery was full, and I remember well the
irrepressible excitement that seemed to actuate us all. At
length it broke out. Grattan rose to deprecate the mea-
sure, as one calculated to cause the greatest disturbance
in Ireland, by what was considered the perfidy of the
Government, first exciting the high hopes of the people
by promised measures of liberal policy, and then dashing
them, by the sudden removal of the man who had been sent
over expressly to accomplish them. At the conclusion of
Grattan's inflammatory speech, the enthusiasm in the gallery
was no longer capable of restraint. We rose as one man,
shouting and cheering with the boisterous tumult of a popular
meeting. When this subsided, Fosters (the Speaker's)
peculiar voice was heard through his nose, ordering the-
students' gallery to be cleared, and a sergeant-at-arms,
with a posse of messengers, entered among us. We were
pushed out in a heap without the slightest ceremony, and
were never again suffered to enter as privileged persons."-
Ir eland Sixty Years Ago (1851).
THE POWER OF GENIUS. On the i5th of January,
1800, the parliamentary session was opened in Ireland
with a speech from the throne. Sir Laurence Parsons
moved an amendment to the effect that it was their interest
and their duty to maintain the local Parliament. A long
debate ensued, which was carried far into the morning,
176 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
when a scene occurred that seemed the climax of this
exciting contest. "Just when Mr. Egan had risen to
speak, the doors of the House of Commons were thrown
open, and Henry Grattan, who had been returned
for Wicklow the night before, entered the House. His
form was emaciated by sickness, and his face was worn
with anxiety ; his limbs tottered ; he was obliged to lean
upon his friends Arthur Moore and George Ponsonby;
he advanced slowly to the table. Acting on the impulse
of his really noble nature, Castlereagh rose at the head of
the Treasury Bench, and remained standing and uncovered
while the venerable patriot took the oaths. Grattan then
moved slowly to his seat, selecting a place beside Mr.
Plunket, and, having obtained permission to speak sitting,
he addressed the House for nearly two hours in a speech of
great power." Life of Lord Plunket.
A FRIEND'S DEFENCE. On one occasion, in the Irish
Parliament, Mr. Fitzgibbon had attacked Mr. Grattan, who
was not at that time present. Mr. Yelverton defended his
absent friend, saying, " The learned gentleman has stated
what Mr. Grattan is ; I will state what he is not. He is
not styed in his prejudices ; he does not trample on the
resuscitation of his country, or live like a caterpillar on the
decline of her prosperity ; he does not stickle for the letter
of the constitution with the affectation of a prude, and
abandon its principles with the effrontery of a prostitute."
Grattan 's Life and Times.
WAITING FOR THE SIGNAL. " I have heard that when
Grattan made his first speech in the English Commons, it
was for some minutes doubtful whether to laugh at or cheer
him. The debut of his predecessor, Flood, had been a com-
plete failure, under nearly similar circumstances ; but when
the ministerial part of our senators had watched Pitt (their
thermometer) for the cue, and saw him nod repeatedly
his stately nod of approbation, they took the hint from
GRA TTAN GREY. 177
their huntsman, and broke out into the most rapturous
cheers. Grattan's speech, indeed, deserved them ; it was
a chef-d'ceuvre" Byron (Moore's "Life"). When he
rose (says Phillips) every voice in that crowded House
was hushed the great rivals, Pitt and Fox, riveted, their
eyes on him. He strode forth and gesticulated the hush
became ominous not a cheer was heard men looked
in one another's faces and then at the phenomenon before
them, as if doubting his identity ; at last, and on a sudden,
the indication of the master spirit came. Pitt was the first
generously to recognise it ; he smote his thigh hastily with
his hand it was an impulse when he was pleased his
followers saw it, and knew it, and with a universal burst
they hailed the advent and the triumph of the stranger.
EARL GREY.
His FIRST APPEARANCE IN THE HOUSE. Charles,
second Earl Grey, was returned in July, 1786, at the age
of twenty-two, for his native county (Northumberland).
His maiden speech in the House was delivered in op-
position to the address moved by Mr. Blackburne to thank
his Majesty for the Commercial Treaty with France, nego-
tiated by Mr. Pitt. Mr. Addington, afterwards Speaker, in
a letter to his father, thus describes the youthful orator :
" We had a glorious debate last night upon the motion for
an address of thanks to the King for having negotiated the
Commercial Treaty, &c. * * * A new speaker pre-
sented himself to the House, and went through his first
performance with an eclat which has not been equalled
within my recollection. His name is Grey. I
do not go too far in declaring that in the advantage of
figure, voice, elocution, and manner, he is not surpassed by
any member of the House ; and I grieve to say that he is in
If
178 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE. .
the ranks of Opposition, from which there is no chance of
his being detached/' Life and Opinions of Lord Grey.
His OWN ESTIMATE OF HIS DEBATING TALENT.
Writing to Lady Grey in 1804, after a discussion in the
Commons on the King's illness, he remarks, "You will
see that I only said a few words, and those few were as
bad as anything that could have come from the Doctor (Mr.
Addington's usual soubriquet) himself. I feel very much
the want of habit and experience in debate, which is abso-
lutely necessary to give that readiness without which nothing
can be done, and which I unfortunately do not naturally
possess. I feel more and more convinced of my unfitness
for a pursuit which I detest, which interferes with all my
private comfort, and which I only sigh for an opportunity
of abandoning decidedly and for ever. Do not think this
is the language of momentary low spirits ; it really is the
settled conviction of my mind." Ibid.
"No, NO," IN THE LORDS. In a discussion on the
Church Temporalities (Ireland) Bill, in the House of Lords,
July nth, 1833, the Duke of Cumberland interrupted Earl
Grey with a cry of " No, no ; " whereupon (reports
"Hansard") the noble earl "trusted that the illustrious
duke would have the decency not to interrupt him. The
noble duke had a right to maintain his opinion : he might,
if he pleased, rise and defend it ; but, because he had an
opinion, he was not justified in interrupting those who
differed from him." Lord Kenyon appealed to their lord-
ships whether the dissent expressed by using the word
" No " deserved the character of indecency the noble earl
had ascribed to it. Earl Grey certainly did conceive that
the sort of interruption he had received was indecent.
The Duke of Cumberland believed that there was no man
in that House would more unwillingly commit an act of
indecency than himself; but if a noble lord were not to
be allowed to call " No, no," when he felt inclined to
GREY HA MIL TON. 1 7 9
dissent from a proposition, there would be an end of all
liberty of speech.
REGRETS. In 1793 he brought forward his motion for
referring the petition of the " Friends of the People," pray-
ing for parliamentary reform, to a committee. Respect-
ing his connection with this society, General Grey says :
" During his last illness, when no longer able to walk, he
used to be wheeled about the House in a chair, and on one
occasion, when stopping, as he often did, before Mr. Fox's
bust, and speaking of the influence he had held over him,
he added, ' Yet he did not always use it as he might have
done ; one word from him would have kept me out of all
that mess of the " Friends of the People," but he never
spoke it.' When I remarked that, considering he only ad-
vocated as one of the society the principles to which he had
given effect as minister, this was hardly to be regretted, he
replied, ' That might be true, but there were men joined
with them in that society whose views, though he did not
know it at the time, were widely different from his own, and
with whom it was not safe to have any communication.' On
mentioning this conversation to the late Lord Dacre, he
told me he remembered Mr. Fox used always to say he did
not like to discourage the young ones." Life and Opinions.
WILLIAM GERARD HAMILTON.
THE "SINGLE SPEECH." Lord Halifax was the First
>rd-Lieutenant of George III. His secretary was William
Gerard Hamilton, known by the name of "Single-Speech
Hamilton," having made one splendid speech, which he left
unequalled ever after. His first measure was a proposal to
raise six regiments of Irish Roman Catholics, amounting to
three thousand men, to be officered by Catholics, and to be
taken into the pay of an ally, Portugal. He proposed this in a
long and excellent speech; but the measure met with so much
-M 2
180 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
opposition from the Protestant party that it was ultimately
given up by the Government. Grattan's Life and Times.
JOHN HAMPDEN.
His INFLUENCE IN PARLIAMENT. Hampden very
seldom rose till late in a debate. His speaking was of
that kind which has, in every age, been held in the highest
estimation by English Parliaments ready, weighty, per-
spicuous, condensed. His perception of the feelings of
the House was exquisite, his temper unalterably placid, his
manner eminently courteous and gentlemanlike. His
talents for business were as remarkable as his talents for
debate. Yet it was rather to his moral than to his intel-
lectual qualities that he was indebted for the vast influence
which he possessed. "When this (the Long) Parliament
began," says Clarendon, "the eyes of all men were fixed
upon him, as their patritz pater ; and the pilot that must steer
the vessel through the tempests and rocks which threatened
it. And I am persuaded his power and interest at that time
were greater to do good or hurt than any man's in the king-
dom, or than any man of his rank hath had in any time."-
Macaulafs Essay on Hampden.
THE EARL OF HARDWICKE.
VERY PEREMPTORY. On the day Lord Talbot died
(Feb. i4th, 1737) the Great Seal was delivered up by his
executors into the hands of George II. Lord Hardwicke
was now regarded as decidedly the most useful man to be
introduced into the Cabinet, and to preside on the woolsacl
as Chancellor. But there being some difficulty as to th(
accompanying arrangements, the Great Seal remained for
whole week in the personal custody of the King. Meanwhile,
as Parliament was sitting, and there was no Lord Chancelloi
or Lord Keeper, it was necessary to provide a Speakei
HARDWICKE HA R LEY. 181
for the House of Lords, and the Great Seal, while in the
King's possession, was (somewhat irregularly) put to a
commission authorising Lord Hardwicke to act in that
capacity. He accordingly did act for several days as
Speaker, without being Chancellor. During this interval
it is related that Walpole, resisting some of Hardwicke's
demands, said to him by way of threat " I must offer the
seals to Fazakerly." "Fazakerly!" exclaimed Hardwicke,
"impossible! he is certainly a Tory perhaps a Jacobite!"
"It's all very true," coolly replied Sir Robert, taking out his
watch ; " but if by one o'clock you do not accept my offer,
Fazakerly, by two, becomes Lord Keeper, and one of the
stanchest Whigs in all England." The bargain was im-
mediately closed, and Lord Hardwicke was contented with
the promise that the next Tellership should be bestowed
upon his son. Campbell's "Lives of the Chancellors"
TITLES AND TRAPPINGS. The Earl of Hardwicke had
been so long known and spoken of as Lord Chancellor, that
many of his friends even had forgotten his hereditary title.
Upon his first appearance at the royal levee after his resigna-
tion (1756) he was announced as the Earl of Hardwicke,
but the King, with whom he had been much in favour,
lot recognising the title, merely replied by his usual cold
question, "How long has his lordship been in town?"
When he advanced, the alteration hi his appearance caused
by the absence of the wig and robes completed the delusion ;
ic Earl left the presence-chamber without being recognised
>y the master whom he had served so long. Cookes
"History of Party."
ROBERT HARLEY.
HOUSE OF COMMONS TACT. Confessedly one of the most
influential of the members of the House of Commons was he
whom the last three Parliaments of William III. elected for
their Speaker ; yet no man would have listened patiently for
182 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
five minutes to Robert Harley anywhere but in the House
of Commons. There he was supreme. The country gentle-
men voted for him, though they remembered that his
family went to a meeting-house. The younger members put
forth their most able and graceful representative to honour
him, when Henry St. John seconded his third nomination.
And posterity itself had cause to be grateful to him
when, employing for once this influence in its service, he
joined Tory and Whig in a common demand for the best
securities of the Act of Settlement. It was not genius, it
was not eloquence, it was not statesmanship that had
given Harley this extraordinary power. It was House of
Commons tact. Forster's Essay on De Foe.
ENDURANCE OF THE ENGLISH PEOPLE. Pope relates
that some one had observed of a measure proposed, that
the people would never bear it. " None of us," replied
Harley, "know how far the good people of England will
bear."
FRANCIS HORNER.
His FIRST CANVASS. On the iQth of October, 1806,
Mr. Francis Horner received an offer of a seat in Parliament
from Lord Kinnaird, which he accepted, untrammelled by
any conditions. St. Ives was the borough destined for him,
and in a letter to his mother from that place he gives some
account of the election proceedings. " I am glad enough/'
he says, "none of you were here to quiz me as I went
through my duty ; entering every cellar in the place, and
behaving as sweet as possible to every man, woman, and
child. * * * I did sometimes feel ashamed of myself,
I own, and there were some hands that went against my
stomach, if it had not been for the number of pretty women,
three or four of them quite beautiful, whom I found in these
hovels." Homer's Memoirs and Correspondence.
TREATIES OF PEACE. Mr. Horner took part in the
FRANCIS HORNER. 183
debate which arose on the treaties of peace entered into
consequent on the downfall of Napoleon. A speech
delivered by him in the House of Commons, February 20th,
1816, attracted much attention at the time. Referring to
the guarantees to be exacted from France, he said : " The
real security which was required from France, after the de-
struction of that military monarchy which oppressed the
greatest part of the continent of Europe, combined the
integrity of that kingdom with the establishment of a
government agreeably to the wishes and deserving of the
confidence of the people. The question of territorial
cession had been discussed at great length, and he would
merely state that, in his opinion, any attempt to dismem-
ber France, instead of being likely to afford any security
for the continuance of peace, would be the certain source
of inquietude and danger. * * * There was no chance
of the stability of peace if guarantees were sought for in
msasures that must be galling and irritating to the French
people; there was no chance of continued tranquillity
but in conciliatory arrangements; there was no chance of
reconciling them to Europe but by allowing them to
establish the government they liked. We could never
rationally entertain confidence in the pacific dispositions of
people upon whom we forced a government of conquest,
which we maintained by arms." Ibid.
AN ELEMENT OF STABILITY. Referring to the motion
in the House of Commons for a new writ for St. Mawes
in the room of Francis Horner, March 6th, 1817, and to
the encomiums on the character of the deceased member
embodied in the motion, Sir James Mackintosh, writing in
his Journal, says : " A Howard introduced, and an English
House of Commons adopted, the proposition of thus
honouring the memory of a man of thirty-eight, the son
of a shopkeeper, who never filled an office, or had the
power of obliging a living creature, and whose grand
184 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
title to this distinction was the belief of his virtue. How
honourable to the age and to the House ! A country where
such sentiments prevail is not ripe for destruction."
JOSEPH HUME.
SMALL ECONOMIES. Hume had been a surgeon in
India, and had made a fortune. He had an office and kept
a clerk at his own cost, in order to examine the estimates
and accounts of public moneys, and to prepare his state-
ments and facts ; and by his attention to economy effected
a considerable reduction in the national expenditure. He
had his faults, which produced political errors, for he looked
rather to what in his mind was desirable than to what was
practicable. That kind of feeling predominated throughout.
He suggested even the smallest economies. Gilt-edged
paper was, I take it, given up in consequence of his obser-
vation on the extravagance of using it for parliamentary
notices. Parker, secretary to the Treasury, brought up
some reports. Hume remarked, " I think that splendid
gilt paper is unnecessary." Parker, nettled at this, replied,
"Perhaps the honourable member may think the margins
are too wide; " but it had its effect, and in a short time the
paper in the library and writing-rooms, as well as all the
future reports, had no gilt edges. Soon after it went out of
fashion altogether. Professor Pryme's "Recollections"
FIGHTING AGAINST MAJORITIES. In a speech at Bir-
mingham in 1849, Mr. Cobden thus alluded to Hume's
parliamentary career : " I wish our friend Mr. Hume was
here to-night. You do well to receive his name with those
plaudits. A more indefatigable, a more devoted, a more
disinterested patriot never lived in this or in any other
country. * * * He has for nearly forty years fought
against majorities in the House of Commons. But it is
given to few men to possess his physical strength, his
JOSEPH HUME. 185
massive endurance, his powerful energies, his impassive tem-
perament. But few men have the power to do that which
he has accomplished. I confess that I have not physically
the power of going through one-half of his work." Cobderis
Speeches in 1849, revised by himself.
A SINE QUA NON. I recollect a saying of Sir Robert
Peel, that he could not conceive a House of Commons with-
out a Joseph Hume. Lord Broughtorfs " Recollections"
SUPPORT OF THE SPEAKER'S WARRANT. In 1845 a
discussion occurred in the House of Commons on a ques-
tion of privilege. The Sergeant-at-Arms, Sir William Gossett,
had executed a Speaker's warrant against one Thomas
Howard, but an action was brought in the Queen's Bench
by the latter against the Sergeant for excess of authority in
staying an unreasonable time in his house, and ^200
damages were awarded to him. Execution was to be levied
in a day or two, when Mr. Hume remarked : " I hope the
House will order any attempt that may be made to seize
upon the property of the Sergeant to be most severely
punished forthwith. If any one will draw up a resolution
to that effect, I will move it, and, if necessary, I will assist
in executing your warrant. It will not be the first time, sir,
that I have personally assisted in promoting the ends of
justice. I was the first to seize upon the person who com-
mitted an act of murder within the precincts of this place
I allude to the person who shot the late Mr. Perceval and
I kept him fast until a magistrate was found to whose cus-
tody he was delivered. I conceive, sir, that every member
of this House is bound to act in the same manner ; and,
as you are authorised to call upon all magistrates and
persons in authority to assist in carrying your warrant into
effect, so I think you have a prior claim upon the assistance
of the members of this House in enforcing and upholding
your authority." The House adjourned the debate, and
suffered the execution to be levied.
1 86 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
A FREE TRANSLATION. In the discussions on the Orange
system in 1835-36 Mr. Joseph Hume took an active, and,
as usually happens with him, a manly and an honest part.
Here, however, his excitement betrayed his tongue. Mr.
Sheil, alluding to the disclaimer of a certain personage of
very high rank, that he had been aware of the fact of his
name being at the foot of warrants for the creation of
Orange lodges, which had been distributed in some of the
regiments of the line, had said, " When I am called upon
to give credit to this disclaimer, I take refuge in one of the
dicta of my creed, and I say, Credo quia impossibile !" To
this Mr. Hume appended the following free translation :
"Like the honourable member who has preceded me I say,
in reference to the denial, Credo quia impossibile Let who
will believe it I will not ! " John OConnetts "Parlia-
mentary Experiences"
THE DUTIES OF AN ARCHDEACON. Lord Althorp, when
Chancellor of the Exchequer, having to propose to the
House of Commons a vote of .400 a year for the salary
of the Archdeacon of Bengal, was puzzled by a question from
Mr. Hume, " What are the duties of an archdeacon ? " So
he sent one of the subordinate occupants of the Treasury
Bench to the other House to obtain an answer to the ques-
tion from one of the bishops. The messenger first met with
Archbishop Vernon Harcourt, who described an archdeacon
as " aide-de-camp to the bishop ; " and then with Bishop
Copleston, of Llandafif, who said, " The archdeacon is oculus
episcopi" Lord Althorp, however, declared that neither of
these explanations would satisfy the House. "Go," said
he, " and ask the Bishop of London (Blomfield) ; he is a
straightforward man, and will give you a plain answer." To
the Bishop of London accordingly the messenger went, and
repeated the question, "What is an archdeacon?" "An
archdeacon?" replied the bishop in his quick way "an
archdeacon is an ecclesiastical officer who performs archi-
HUNT HUSKISSON. 187
diaconal functions ; " and with this reply Lord Althorp and
the House were perfectly satisfied. Blomfield's "Memoir of
Bishop Blomfield."
"ORATOR HUNT."
THE WHITE HAT. Henry Hunt was the accepted
leader of the discontented, and his inflammatory orations
were published and circulated all over the country. He
was the Radical of his age. The white hat he wore was
regarded as almost as significant as the republican bonnet
rouge in the Reign of Terror. Life of T. S. Duncombe.
EXCHANGING LOOKS. Mr. Hunt, member for Preston,
while addressing the House of Commons in support of the
Reform Bill in 1831, said, "Now, when the honourable
member for Calne (Mr. Macaulay) was talking so much of
the rabble, he looked very hard at me (loud laughter). I
understand that laugh. But I am only sorry that the
honourable member for Calne has not remained in his place,
that I might now have looked in the same way at him."-
Hansard.
MR. HUSKISSON.
LEGAL PHRASEOLOGY IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS.
Mr. Huskisson will be remembered as one of the earliest
advocates, among our statesmen, of the principles of Free
Trade. His eloquence was often forcible, and his style at
times very argumentative, whilst he knew how to make an
effective reply. In February, 1826, Mr. Ellice, member
for Coventry, had moved for a select committee on the silk
trade, and he was seconded by Mr. Williams, a lawyer,
member for Lincoln. To some severe remarks by the
latter gentleman Mr. Huskisson thus replied : " In the
course of his speech the honourable and learned gentle-
man repeatedly told us that he was not at liberty to admit
1 88 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
this, and to admit that. This, I presume, is a mode of
expression in which gentlemen of the legal profession are
wont to indulge, to mark that they keep within the strict
limits of their briefs, and that the doctrines which they
advocate are those prescribed to them by their instructions.
However customary and proper such language may be in
the courts of law, it certainly sounds new and striking in
the mouth of a member of this House." He went on to
say, " To whom did the honourable and learned gentleman
mean to apply the description of an ' insensible and hard-
hearted metaphysician, exceeding the devil in point of
malignity?' I appeal to the judgment of the House
whether the language made use of by the honourable and
learned gentleman, with reference to me, was not such as
to point to the inference that I am that metaphysician.
* * * It is for the honourable and learned gentleman
to reconcile such language with the general tenor of his
sentiments on other occasions to explain, as he best may,
to those around him whether they are included in that
insinuation ; and it is for me to meet that insinuation (as
far as it was levelled at me) with those feelings of utter
scorn with which I now repel it."
His DEATH AT THE OPENING OF THE LIVERPOOL AND
MANCHESTER RAILWAY. The Annual Register gives an
account of the fatal accident to Mr. Huskisson at the
opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, on the
1 5th of October, 1830, from which the following particulars
are taken : The procession, drawn by eight locomotive
engines, left Liverpool twenty minutes before eleven o'clock.
The engine Northumbrian took the south line of railway,
carrying amongst other passengers the Duke of Wellington.
The other seven' engines proceeded along the north line.
On the stoppage of the Northumbrian at Parkside, Mr. Hus-
kisson and several others got out ; and Mr. Holmes, for the
purpose of bringing Mr. Huskisson and the duke together,
' INGL is. 189
and of producing a renewed good feeling between them,
led Mr. Huskisson round to that part of the car where the
duke was stationed. The duke, perceiving the advance
of the right honourable gentleman, immediately held out to
him his hand, which was shaken in a very cordial manner.
Almost at this moment the Rocket was seen to be advanc-
ing, and Mr. Huskisson, in attempting to enter the ducal
car, fell upon the rails and had his right leg crushed by the
wheel of the engine. The unfortunate gentleman lingered
in great agony till the evening, when he expired. In the
interval he showed a natural solicitude respecting his cha-
racter as a statesman. " The country," said he, " has had
the best of me. I trust that it will do justice to my public
character." On the 24th of September his remains were
interred in presence of upwards of 15,000 spectators.
SIR ROBERT INGLIS.
INFLUENCE OF CHARACTER IN PARLIAMENT. On the
death of Sir Robert Harry Inglis, who for a long period had
represented the University of Oxford, the following tribute
was paid to his memory by the Times: "Sir R. H. Inglis
has been for a whole generation one of the most conspicuous
and honourable personages in the great council of the
nation. Much more than any other living man, he illus-
trates the force of what English people are proud to call
* character.' People may or may not have valued his
opinions, or respected his reasoning powers ; they may or
may not have followed the lead of one who scarcely ever
assumed to guide; but all respected, admired, and even
loved the honest, hearty, genial, courteous gentleman, who
spoke the whole truth, as he held it, from his whole soul,
with no respect either of persons or of circumstances, and
apparently with no other object than to record a clear testi-
mony and quiet his own conscience. Hence, while it would
190 A HOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
be difficult to say what Sir R. H. Inglis has done, what vote he
has carried, what measure he has forwarded or delayed, he
has undoubtedly possessed a great, though indefinite, weight
in the Legislature. No one who ever heard him speak
could fail to understand how it was that he won the respect
and affection of men who, nevertheless, declined to acquiesce
in his conclusions."
DR. LAURENCE.
SUGGESTIVE ORATORY. He had (says Brougham) the
very worst delivery ever witnessed a delivery calculated to
alienate the mind of the hearer, to beguile him of his atten-
tion, but by stealing it away from the speaker, and almost to
prevent him from comprehending what was so uncouthly
spoken. It was in reference to this unvarying effect of Dr.
Laurence's delivery that Mr. Fox once said, a man should
attend, if possible, to a speech of his, and then speak it over
again himself : it must, he conceived, succeed infallibly, for it
was sure to be admirable in itself, and as certain of being
new to the audience. But in this saying there was con-
siderably more wit than truth. The doctor's speech was
sure to contain materials not for one, but for half-a-dozen
speeches ; and a person might with great advantage listen
to it, in order to use those materials, in part, afterwards; as
indeed many did, both in Parliament and at the Bar where
he practised, make an effort to attend to him, how difficult
soever, in order to hear all that could be said upon every
part of the question. Lord Brougham adds that he had
repeatedly tried at the Bar the experiment mentioned by
Fox, to a certain extent, and with success.
" ONCE BIT, TWICE SHY." The outward aspect of this
excellent and eminent man was unwieldy, and almost gro-
tesque. His mouth especially excited observation; and
being fancied to resemble a shark's, the House of Commons
LA URENCE LIVERPOOL.
191
jest ran that Alderman Brook Watson, who had lost his leg
by that animal's bite, avoided the side where the doctor sat
or lay. Brougham's "Statesmen" Alderman Watson and
his accident are thus alluded to in "The Rolliad":
" ' One moment's time might I presume to beg,"
Cries modest Watson, on his wocden leg ;
That leg in which such wondrous art is shown,
It almost seems to serve him as his own.
Oh ! had the monster who for breakfast ate
That luckless limb, his nobler noddle met,
The best of workmen and the best of wood
Had scarce supplied him with a head so good."
LORD LIVERPOOL.
SUPERLATIVE PRAISE. In the course of the year 1790,
the authority of Sir James Lowther over the borough of
Appleby the same which had the honour of giving Pitt
the first opportunity of displaying his precocious genius
to the Parliament of his country was exerted to pro-
cure the election of Mr. Jenkinson (afterwards the second
Lord Liverpool). He did not rise in the House till he
had been for above a year a member of it ; though it is
no slight proof how great was the expectation which was
already formed of him that, on the occasion of Mr. Whit-
bread moving a censure on the Government on the question
known as the Russian Armament, Pitt selected him to open
the debate on his side. * * * Our parliamentary annals
have recorded no maiden speech which made so great an
impression. Pitt himself began his own harangue by pro-
nouncing it "not only a more able first speech than had ever
been heard from a young member, but one so full of philo-
sophy and science, strong and perspicuous language, and
sound and convincing arguments, that it would have done
credit to the most practised debater and most experienced
statesman that ever existed." YongJs " Life of Lord Liverpool"
1 92 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
His CHARACTER AS A DEBATER. He was never known
to utter a word at which any one could take exception. He
was, besides, the most fair and candid of all debaters. No
advantage to be derived from a misrepresentation, or even
an omission, ever tempted him to forego the honest and the
manly satisfaction of stating the fact as it was, treating his
adversary as he deserved, and at least reciting fairly what
had been urged against him, if h6 could not successfully
answer it. Brougham's "Historical Sketches"
LORD LOUGHBOROUGH.
COMPLETING A QUOTATION. George Grenville, leader
of the Opposition, having brought forward his famous Bill
for the Trial of Controverted Elections (March 22nd, 1770),
it was opposed by Lord North and the Government ; and
De Grey, the Attorney-General, made a long speech against
its dangerous innovations, concluding thus : " In short,
sir, although there no doubt have hitherto been irregulari-
ties and even abuses while the House retained to itself its
constitutional power of deciding election petitions, it is
better to endure the evils of which we know the extent than,
in a sudden start of disgust and humoursome passion, fly to
others that we know not of." Wedderburn (afterwards Lord
Loughborough), rising immediately after, continued Hamlet's
soliloquy
1 ' And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought ;
And enterprises of great pith and moment
With this regard their current turn awry,
And lose the name of action."
Campbetfs "Lives."
. THE Two BATHS. When Miss Pulteney was created
Baroness Bath, there being a Marquis of Bath, of another
family, existing, Lord Radnor made a motion in the House
of Lords against the patent, contending that it was uncon-
Lo UGHBORO UGH Lo WE.
'93
stitutional and illegal to create two peers with the same
title, and that great inconvenience would arise from it ; as
in their lordships' proceedings " Bath " might often appear
opposed to " Bath." Lord Loughborough thereupon said :
" My lords, in this case there is a sure way of preventing
the future antagonism which haunts the imagination of the
noble earl, for, the heir-apparent of the marquis being a
bachelor, he may marry the young and beautiful baroness,
and then Bath will be merged in Bath!" Parliamentary
History.
MR. LOWE.
" TAMPERING " WITH THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. Mr.
Lowe attained first rank as a debater by his speeches against
Reform in Parliament between 1865 and 1867. The fol-
lowing characteristic passage occurred in a speech delivered
in March, 1866 : "In the course of a long and illustrious
career, this House of Commons has gathered into its hands
a very large proportion of the political power of the country.
It has outlived the influence of the Crown ; it has shaken
off the dictation of the aristocracy ; in finance and taxation
it is supreme ; it has a very large share in legislation ; it
can control and unmake, and sometimes nearly make, the
executive Government. Probably, when the time shall
arrive that the history of this nation shall be written as the
history of that which has passed away, it may be thought
that too much power and too much influence were concen-
trated and condensed in this great assembly, and that Eng-
land put too much to hazard on the personal qualifications
of those who sit within these walls. But, sir, in proportion
as the powers of the House of Commons are great and
paramount, so does the exploit of endeavouring to amend
its constitution become one of the highest and noblest
efforts of statesmanship. To tamper with it lightly, to deal
with it with unskilled hands, is one of the most signal acts
N
194 -^ BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
.of presumption or folly." It was in the same speech that,
alluding to the influence of the constituencies on the House,
Mr. Lowe remarked, "As the polypus takes its colour
from the rock to which it affixes itself, so do the members
*of this House take their character from the constituencies.
If you lower the character of the constituencies, you lower
that of the representatives, and you lower the character of
this House." Lowe's Speeches on Reform.
THE "SHUTTLECOCK" OF REFORM. POLITICAL BED-
FELLOWS. Mr. Lowe was at times severely facetious on the
abortive attempts made by successive Governments to settle
the question of Parliamentary Reform. On one occasion
he remarked, " The way in which the two parties have
tossed this question from one to the other, reminds me of
nothing so much as a young lady and young gentleman
playing at battledore and shuttlecock. After tossing the
shuttlecock from one to the other a few times, they let it
drop and begin to flirt." In a speech in May, 1866, on the
Reform Bill of Earl Russell's Administration, he thus noticed
the objection raised by the Government to a postponement
of the measure, that their honour would not permit them to
take that course : " I think we have heard too much about
the honour of the Government. The honour of the Govei
ment obliged them to bring in a Reform Bill in 1860. It
was withdrawn under circumstances which I need not allude
to, and, as soon as it was withdrawn, the honour of the
Government went to sleep. It slept for five years. Session
after session it never so much as winked. As long as Lord
Palmerston lived, honour slept soundly; but when Lord
Palmerston died, and Lord Russell succeeded by seniority
to his place, the ' sleeping beauty ' woke up. * * * I
think there was no great accession of honour gained last
Monday in the division, when the House really by their
vote took the management of the committee out of the
hands of the executive. All these things do not matter
LOWE LUCAS. 195
much to ordinary mortals, but to people of a Castiliin turn
of mind they are very serious. Sir, I have come to the con-
clusion that there must be two kinds of honour, and the
only consolation I can administer to the Government is in
the words of Hudibras
1 If he that's in the battle slain
Be on the bed of honour lain,
Then he that's beaten may be said,
To lie on honour's truckle-bed.' "
To this Mr. Gladstone retorted, "All that portion of the
right honourable gentleman's speech was one gross and
continued error both of taste and judgment. Because, sir, in
these matters we must look, not only at the merits of the
sermon, but at the individuality of the preacher ; and I want
to know what charge is to be made against the Government
on this score which cannot be made at the very least as
easily against my right honourable friend ? In that ' truckle-
bed ' there may be a bed-fellow."
DR. LUCAS.
A RETRACTATION. Dr. Lucas, who held one of the
seats for Dublin in the Irish Parliament, made an attack
upon his colleague, Mr. James Grattan, the Recorder.
Grattan opposed the Septennial Bill, and Lucas, alluding
to him ironically, said, " He who is so sure of being re-
turned for the city he who has the voice of the people of
Dublin with him." Upon this the Recorder lost his temper,
and got up to call Lucas to order. Lucas, who had a great
deal of self-possession, in a plain voice replied, " If I am
out of order, I will unsay all I have said. Well, then, the
Recorder of the city of Dublin, who is so certain of not being
returned at the next election he who has the voice of the
people directly against him." Grattan 's Life and Times.
SHORT TEMPER AND LONG SWORD. Hutchinson,
N 2
196 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
having taken offence at something said by Lucas in the
Irish Parliament, concluded a severe reply by saying of
him, "Ready to wound, but yet afraid to strike; a shattered
understanding, a warm head, and a cold heart." Lucas
could not gain self-possession enough to answer this, and
he had recourse to fighting instead. He selected Mr.
Adderly as his second, who had no idea of danger, and
was determined that Lucas should have none either.
Accordingly, he kept Lucas with him, and would not
allow him to return to his wife. Lucas, however, who
had lost the use of his legs, determined to fight with a
very long sword, which he chose for the occasion. Mr.
Adderly also provided him with a case of pistols, and thus
doubly prepared him for the encounter. The matter, how-
ever, was adjusted by the seconds, to the satisfaction of all
parties. Ibid.
A PITIFUL FAILURE. When Dr. Lucas, a very un-
popular man, ventured on a speech in the Irish Parliament,
and failed altogether, Henry Grattan said, " He rose without
a friend, and sat down without an enemy." S. Rogers'
"Recollections."
LORD LYNDHURST.
His FIRST APPEARANCE IN THE COMMONS. In 1817
Mr. Copley (afterwards Lord Lyndhurst) was returned
to serve in Parliament for Yarmouth, in the Isle of Wight.
* * * He first broke silence in the House by a few
observations in support of the practice, now abandoned
and universally condemned, of giving rewards to witnesses
upon the conviction of offenders. " He entered his protest
against the broad assertion hazarded by an honourable
member, that the system of granting rewards had been
productive of great confusion throughout the country. He
himself," he said, "had been engaged for fourteen years
LORD LYNDHURST. 197
on the Midland Circuit, and had never known a single
instance to justify such a statement." CampbelFs "Lives"
VIEWS AND PROSPECTS. Lord Lyndhurst, when Solicitor-
General, replying to a taunt of the Marquis of Tavistock,
during a debate on the Blasphemous Libel Bill in 1819,
said, "I would ask the noble lord on what grounds he
brings charges against me for my former conduct ? Why am
I taunted with inconsistency ? I never, before my entrance
into this House, belonged to any political society, or was in
any way connected with politics ; and even if I had intended
to connect myself with any party, I confess that during my
short parliamentary experience I have seen nothing in the
views of the gentlemen opposite to induce me to join them."
Hansard. " This harangue," says Earl Russell (preface
to " Life of Moore ") " was delivered from the Treasury
Bench, and was received with derision by the Whig leaders,
to whom it was addressed. At the conclusion, Mackintosh
whispered to Lord John Russell, who sat next to him,
'The last sentence, with the change of one word for -a
synonyme, would have been perfectly true. Instead of
quarrelling with our views, he should have said that he
did not like our prospects' "
A PLAGIARISM. Campbell, in his " Life of Lord Lynd-
hurst," referring to the celebrated speech against Catholic
Emancipation, delivered March 6th, 1827, by the subject of
his biography who was at that time Master of the Rolls
states that, at the close of his harangue, he sat down amidst
some cheers and a great deal of tittering. The latter indi-
cations of feeling arose from the circumstance that all the
historical facts and arguments which he had used were to
be found, nearly in the same order, in a very able pamphlet
recently published by Dr. Philpotts, then Prebendary of
Durham. Before Copley concluded, the plagiarism was de-
tected by several members, and a stanza from a well-known
song was whispered through the House :
198 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
"Dear Tom, this brown jug which now foams with mild ale,
Out of which I now drink to sweet Nan of the Vale,
Was once Toby Philpotts'."
A SPEECH IN HIS EIGHTY-EIGHTH YEAR. On the 2ist
of May, 1860, the Nestor of the House of Lords, as he was
styled, then in his 88th year, delivered a long and able speech
against the second reading of the Bill for the Repeal of the
Paper Duty. He thus maintained the right of the Lords to
reject a money bill : " I do not dispute nor can it be for
a moment disputed that we have no right whatsoever to
amend what is called a money bill. We have, moreover,
no right whatsoever to originate a bill of that nature. But
that principle does not apply to the rejection of money
bills. I take leave to say that there is not an instance to be
found in which the House of Commons has controverted
our right to reject money bills. * * * My lords, as I
said I would confine myself to this question of privilege, I
will only further observe, that the illusions perhaps I may
say the delusions created by the introduction of the Budget
seem to have passed away, and we have learned that,
although brilliant eloquence has charms, yet, like other
seductions, it is not without its dangers. The same schemes
may bear the impress of genius, of imprudence, of rashness.
Satis eloquently, sapienticz parum, is not an irreconcilable
combination." Hansard.
LORD LYTTON.
EARLY APPEARANCE AS A REFORMER. Mr. Bulwer (Lord
Lytton) first sat in Parliament as the representative of St.
Ives, for which constituency he was returned in 1831 ; and
he addressed the House on the 5th of July, on the second
reading of the Reform Bill. On that occasion he thus
expressed himself on behalf of a popular representation :
" At a time when authority can no longer support itself by
LORD LYTTON. iyg
the solemn plausibilities and the ceremonial hypocrisies of
old, it was well that a government should be placed upon a
solid and sure foundation. In no age of the world, but least
of all in the present, could any system of government long
exist which was menaced both by the moral intelligence and
the physical force of a country." Hansard.
DEMOCRACY. Speaking on the Reform Bill introduced
by Lord Palmerston's Government in 1860, Sir E. Bulwer-
Lytton said : " Pure democracy, in the classic sense of
the word, has conferred on the civilised world too many
benefits, as well as warnings, not to have its full share of
enthusiastic admirers among men of cultivated minds and
generous hearts. But for pure democracy you must have
the elements that preserve its honesty and ensure its
duration. Those elements are not to be found in old
societies, with vast disparities of wealth, of influence, of
education ; they belong to the youth of nations, such as
colonies ; and when any gentleman cites to us the example
of a colony for some democratic change that he would re-
commend to the ancient monarchy of England, I can only
say that he has not studied the horn-book of legislation.
The acute democrats of that sublime republic by which we
are all unconsciously instructed whenever we discuss the
problems of government the acute democrats of Athens
were well aware of the truth I endeavour, before it is yet
too late, to impress upon you ; they were well aware that
democracy cannot long co-exist with great inequalities of
wealth and power ; they therefore began by ostracising the
powerful, to end by persecuting the wealthy." Ibid.
MINISTERIAL COALITIONS. In a speech on Mr. Roe-
buck's celebrated motion in January, 1855, Sir E. B. Lytton
made a very effective remark on this subject. He said :
" Looking through our modern history, I find that most of
our powerful, even popular Administrations, have been
coalitions. Both the Administrations of Mr. Pitt were co-
200 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
alitions ; and the last was very remarkable, for he first turned
out the Addington Government, and then coalesced with six
of its members. Nay, he was not contented till he had
netted the expelled Prime Minister himself, and made him
Lord President of the Council. But then there is one indis-
putable element of a coalition, and that is, that its members
should coalesce. Now, sir, it is that element which seems to
me wanting in the present Cabinet (Lord Aberdeen's). It
has been a union of party interests, but not a coalition of
party sentiment and feeling." Ibid.
LORD MACAULAY.
His CHARACTERISTICS AS A SPEAKER. By all accounts
Macaulay's delivery was far too rapid to be impressive; it '
wanted also variety and flexibility of intonation. Even the
most practised reporters panted after him in vain ; how much
more the slower intellects of country gentlemen and the mass
of the House ! This, however, only heightens our astonish-
ment that speeches so full, so profoundly meditated, yet
with so much freedom, with no appearance of being got
by heart, with such prodigality of illustration and allusion,
should be poured forth with such unhesitating flow, with
such bewildering quickness of utterance. To read them
with delight and profit, we read them rather slowly; we
can hardly conceive that they were spoken less deliberately.
It may be questioned, and has been questioned, whether
Macaulay was, or could have become, a masterly debater.
This accomplishment, except in rare examples, is acquired
only by long use and practice. When Macaulay entered
the House, the first places were filled by men of estab-
lished influence arid much parliamentary training. Even if
he had felt called upon to make himself more prominent,
it may be doubted whether he could have sufficiently
Curbed his impetuous energy, or checked his torrent of
LORD MACAU LAY. 201
words. He would have found it difficult to assume the
stately, prudent, reserved, compressed reply ; he might
have torn his adversaries' arguments to shreds, but he
would not have been content without a host of other argu-
ments, and so would have destroyed the effect of his own
confutation. Still, it is remarkable that on two occasions
a" speech of Macaulay's actually turned the vote of the House,
and carried the question (a very rare event) in his own way
the debate on the Copyright Act, and the question of
judges holding seats in the House of Commons. Though
he took his seat, Lord Macaulay never spoke in the House
of Peers ; he went down, we believe, more than once with
the intention of speaking, but some unexpected turn in the
debate deprived him of his opportunity; his friends, who
knew the feeble state of his health at that time, were almost
rejoiced at their disappointment in not hearing him in that
which would have been so congenial a field for his studied
and matured eloquence. " Memoir" by Dean Milman.
" EXPRESS TRAIN " ORATORY. The following graphic
sketch of his demeanour in the House and his manner in
delivery is from Francis's " Orators of the Age ": " In the
House of Commons, abstraction is his chief characteristic.
He enters the House with a certain pole-star to guide him
his seat ; how he reaches it seems as if it were a process un-
known to him. Seated, he folds his arms and sits in silence,
seldom speaking to his colleagues, or appearing to notice
what is going forward. . * * * An opening is made in
the discussion, and he rises, or rather darts up from his seat,
plunging at once into the very heart of his subject, without
exordium or apologetic preface. In fact, you have for a few
seconds heard a voice, pitched in alto, monotonous, and
rather shrill, pouring forth words with inconceivable velocity,
ere you have become aware that a new speaker, and one of
no common order, has broken in upon the debate. A few
seconds more, and cheers perhaps from all parts of the
202 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
House rouse you from your apathy, compelling you to
follow that extremely voluble, and not very enticing voice,
in its rapid course through the subject on which the speaker
is entering, with a resolute determination, as it seems,
never to pause. You think of an express train, which does
not stop even at the chief stations. On, on he speeds, in
full reliance on his own momentum, never stopping for
words, never stopping for thoughts, never halting for an
instant, even to take breath his intellect gathering new
vigour as he proceeds, hauling the subject after him, and
all its possible attributes and illustrations, with the strength
of a giant, leaving a line of light on the pathway his mind
has trod, till, unexhausted and apparently inexhaustible, he
brings this remarkable effort to a close by a peroration, so
highly sustained in its declamatory power, so abounding in
illustration, so admirably framed to crown and clench the
whole oration, that surprise, if it has even begun to wear off,
kindles anew, and the hearer is left utterly prostrate and
powerless by the whirlwind of ideas and emotions that has
swept over him."
His EARLY SPEECHES. Macaulay's first speech in
Parliament was made on the Jewish Disabilities, in 1830, and
was moderately successful ; but in the following year his
masterly speeches on the Reform Bill brought him to the
front rank as an orator. Jeffrey, his colleague on the
Edinburgh, who was also in Parliament, thus wrote to Lord
Cockburn respecting Macaulay's speech on the second
reading of the Bill : " No division last night, as J predicted,
and not a very striking debate. A curious series of prepared
speeches by men who do not speak regularly, and far better
expressed than nine-tenths of the good speeches, but languid
and inefficient, fro'm the air of preparation, and the want of
nature and authority, with which they are spoken. There
was but one exception, and it was a brilliant one. I mean
Macaulay, who surpassed his former appearance in closeness,
LORD MAC A UL AY. 203'
fire, and vigour, and very much improved the effect of it, by
a more steady and graceful delivery. It was prodigiously
cheered, as it deserved, and I think puts him clearly at the
head of the great speakers, if not the debaters, of the House.
I once meant to have said something, but I now think it
impossible." A session or two later, Jeffrey again wrote : " I
breakfasted to-day at Rogers's with Macaulay and Sydney
Smith ! both in great force and undaunted spirit. Mac. is a
marvellous person. He made the very best speech that has
been made this session, on India, a few nights ago, to a
House of less than fifty. The Speaker, who is a severe
judge, says he rather thinks it the best speech he ever
heard." Lord Cockburris "Life of Jeffrey."
THE "BRAY" OF EXETER HALL. This celebrated
expression, which lost Macaulay his seat for Edinburgh,
occurred in his speech on the second reading of the
Maynooth College Bill, in April, 1845. The passage
containing it is thus given in the edition of his speeches
corrected by himself : " What substitute does the honourable
baronet (Sir Robert Peel) give his followers to console
them for the loss of their favourite Registration Bill ? Even
this Bill for the Endowment of Maynooth College. Was
such a feat of legislation ever seen ? And can we wonder
that the eager, honest, hot-headed Protestants, who raised
>u to power in the confident hope that you would cur-
lil the privileges of the Roman Catholics, should stare
id grumble when you propose to give public money to
ic Roman Catholics? Can we wonder that, from one
id of the country to the other, everything should be fer-
icnt and uproar; that petitions should, night after night,
fhiten all our benches like a snowstorm ? Can we wonder
that the people out of doors should be exasperated by seeing
the very men who, when we were in office, voted against the
old grant to Maynooth, now pushed and pulled into the
House by your whippers-in to vote for an increased grant ?
204
BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
The natural consequences follow. All those fierce spirits,
whom you hallooed on to harass us, now turn round and
begin to worry you. The Orangeman raises his war-whoop :
Exeter Hall sets up its bray : Mr. Macneile shudders to see
more costly cheer than ever provided for the priests of Baal
at the table of the Queen ; and the Protestant Operatives of
Dublin call for impeachments in exceedingly bad English.
But what did you expect? Did you think, when, to serve
your turn, you called the Devil up, that it was as easy to lay
him as to raise him ? "
SUBSCRIPTIONS TO RACE MEETINGS, &c. During
Macaulay's earlier connection with Edinburgh as one of its
representatives, he was applied to for a subscription to the
annual race meeting of the town, the sum of fifty guineas
having usually been given under such circumstances. He
declined to continue the practice, and thus expressed his
views to his friend Mr. Adam Black : " In the first place, I
am not clear that the object is a good one. In the next
place, I am clear that by giving money for such an object
in obedience to such a summons, I should completely change
the whole character of my connection with Edinburgh. It
has been usual enough for rich families to keep a hold on
corrupt boroughs by defraying the expense of public amuse-
ments. Sometimes it is a ball ; sometimes a regatta. The
Derby family used to support the Preston races. The
members for Beverley, I believe, find a bull for the con-
stituents to bait. But these were not the conditions upon
which I undertook to represent Edinburgh. In return for
your generous confidence, I offer faithful parliamentary
service, and nothing else. * * * The call that is now
made is one so objectionable that I must plainly say, I
would rather take ' the Chiltern Hundreds than comply
with it. If our friends want a member who will find
them in public diversions, they can be at no loss. I know
twenty people who, if you will elect them to Parliament, will
MA CA ULA Y MA NS FIELD. 205
gladly treat you to a race and a race-ball once a month.
But I shall not be very easily induced to believe that Edin-
burgh is disposed to select her representatives on such a
principle."
THE EARL OF MANSFIELD.
SECRET OF SUCCESS IN PARLIAMENT. Lord Chester-
field, in one of his letters to his son, thus wrote of Mansfield,
then Mr. Murray, Solicitor-General : " Your fate depends
upon your success as a speaker, and take my word for it
that success turns more upon manner than matter. Mr. Pitt
and Mr. Murray are, beyond comparison, the best speakers.
Why ? Only because they are the best orators. They alone
can inflame or quiet the House; they alone are attended
to in that numerous and noisy assembly, that you might
hear a pin fall while either of them is speaking. Is it that
their matter is better, or their arguments stronger, than other
people's ? Does the House expect extraordinary information
from them? Not in the least; but the House expects
pleasure from them, and therefore attends; finds it, and
therefore approves."
PITT'S ANTAGONISM. Throughout the whole course of
Murray's career in the House of Commons, he was the
invariable object of Pitt's unsparing invective. " Pitt," says
Lord Waldegrave, " undertook the difficult task of silencing
Murray, the Attorney-General, the ablest man, as well as
the ablest debater, in the House of Commons." Dis-
similarity of character, no less than of political principles,
added bitterness to the eloquence of Pitt. Despising the
policy and distrusting the principles of Murray, he eagerly
availed himself of every occasion which presented itself
of expressing his indignant sarcasms. Brilliant and argu-
mentative as was the oratory of Murray, he did not
always possess the nerve necessary to ward off or to
206 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
return assaults so terrible as these, and for the most
part he bore, in agitated silence, the attacks to which he
did not venture to make any reply. In a letter from Lord
Holland, describing a speech just given, the writer says,
" In both Mr. Pitt's speeches every word was Murray, yet
so managed that neither he nor anybody else could or did
take public notice of it, or in any degree reprehend him.
I sat near Murray, who suffered for an hour." Roscoe's
" Eminent British Lawyers"
MANSFIELD'S POWERS IN DEBATE. One of the first
occasions (says Roscoe) on which Lord Mansfield dis-
tinguished himself in the House of Lords, after his eleva-
tion to the peerage, was in the debate on the Bill for the
Amendment of the Habeas Corpus Act. A gentleman
having been impressed and confined in the Savoy, his
friends applied for a writ of habeas corpus; but as the im-
prisonment was not for any criminal matter, it was found
that the statute of 31 Car. II., c. 2, did not apply. This
palpable deficiency in the law attracted the attention of
some friends to liberty, who introduced a bill into the
House of Commons for the purpose of extending the
provisions of the statute of Charles II. to cases where
the imprisonment was not upon any criminal charge. The
bill passed the Lower House, but was violently opposed in
the House of Lords by Lord Mansfield and Lord Hard-
wicke. The King himself talked openly against the bill
at his levee, and the supporters of it were understood to incur
his displeasure. * * * Such was the earnestness and
so great the ingenuity and eloquence which Lord Mansfield
exerted on the occasion that the bill was ultimately rejected.
" The fate of the bill," says Horace Walpole, "which could
not be procured by the sanction of the judges, Lord Mans-
field was forced to take upon himself. He spoke for two
hours and a half; his voice and manner, composed of
harmonious solemnity, were the least graces of his speech.
MANSFIELD MARTEN. 207
I am not averse to own that I never heard so much
argument, so much sense, so much oratory united. His
deviations into the abstruse minutiae of the law served
but as a foil to the luminous parts of the oration. Perhaps
it was the only speech which, in my time at least, had real
effect ; that is, convinced many persons ; nor did I ever
know how true a votary I was to liberty, till I found that
I was not one of the number staggered by that speech."
HARRY MARTEN.
DROWSY MEMBERS. Alderman Atkins, a member of
the Long Parliament, made a motion that such scandalous
members as slept, and minded not the business of the
House, should be put out. Harry Marten, who was wont
to sleep much in the House (at least dog-sleep), starts up :
" Mr. Speaker, a motion has been made to turn out the
noddcrs ; I desire the noddees may also be turned out."
Aubrey MSS.
THE FOOLS AND THE PROFANE. A godly member of
the Long Parliament made a motion to have all profane and
unsanctified persons expelled the House. Harry Marten
stood up and moved that all fools should be put out like-
wise, and then there would be a thin House. Ibid.
A ROLAND FOR AN OLIVER. Oliver Cromwell once
in the House called Harry Marten, either jestingly or
scoffingly, " Sir Harry Marten." " I thank your majesty,"
said Marten, rising and bowing ; " I always thought when
you were King I should be knighted." /bid.
SPOILING A MARTYR. A curious pamphlet, republished
in Lord Somers' Tracts, relates the condemnation to
death of David Jenkins, Esq., a Welsh judge, and Sir
Francis Butler, by a vote of the House of Commons.
Jenkins, who was a stout Royalist, was brought before
the Commons to answer a charge of having, in 1642,,
208 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
condemned to death persons who had taken up arms
against the King in the Welsh country. When desired
to kneel at the bar of the House, the old judge peremp-
torily refused, saying, " Since you, Mr. Speaker, and this
House have renounced all your duty and allegiance to
your sovereign and natural liege lord, the King, and are be-
come a den of thieves, should I bow myself in this house
of Rimmon, the Lord would not pardon me in this thing."
Intense excitement and confusion broke out amongst the
members upon this plain speaking, and both prisoners were
condemned to suffer death for high treason. Then uprose
Harry Marten, and said, "Mr. Speaker, everyone must
believe that this old gentleman here is fully possessed in his
head that he is pro aris et focis mori, that he shall die a
martyr for this cause, for otherwise he never would have
provoked the House by such biting expressions ; whereby
it is apparent that if you execute him, you do what he
hopes for and desires, and whose execution might have a
great influence upon the people, since not condemned by a
jury. Wherefore my motion is that this House would
suspend the day of execution, and in the meantime force
him to live in spight of his teeth." This motion restored
the House to good humour; they agreed to it, and sent
both prisoners off to Newgate. Marten had rightly divined
the mind of the old judge. Mr. Jenkins in the retirement of
his prison occupied himself in devising the details of the
manner in which he should go to the scaffold. " He would
eat much liquorice and gingerbread, thereby to strengthen
his lungs, that he might extend his voice far and near ; he
would come with Bracton's book hung upon his left shoulder,
with the statutes at large hung upon his right shoulder, and
the Bible with a riband put round his neck, and hanging on
his breast. So that when they should see him die, thousands
would inquire into these matters, and having found all he
should tell them to be true, they would come to loath and
ANDREW MARVELL.
209
detest the present tyranny." The elaborate programme of
the old judge was, however, rendered nugatory, for his day
of execution never arrived.
ANDREW MARVELL.
THE INCORRUPTIBLE. Andrew Marvell was chosen by
the electors of Hull, his native town, to represent them in
Parliament, in the year 1660. The newly-elected member
was in a pecuniary condition which compelled him to
accept the wages at that time paid by constituents to
their representatives. He was, says Cooke (" History of
Party"), the last representative who received wages for
the performance of parliamentary duties. The King, de-
sirous to secure the powerful support of Marvell, sent Lord
Danby, his Lord Treasurer, with offers of place and of
money. The royal messenger found the object of his
search occupying obscure apartments in a court near the
Strand ; but all his blandishments failed to produce any
effect on the independent soul of Marvell. The Treasurer at
parting says a pamphlet which professes to give a minute
record of the circumstances slipped into Marvell's hand
an order upon the Treasury for a thousand pounds, and was
moving towards his carriage, when Marvell stopped him, and
taking him again up-stairs, called his servant boy, when the
following colloquy ensued : " Jack, child, what had I for
dinner yesterday?" " Don't you remember, sir, you had the
little shoulder of mutton, that you ordered me to bring from
the woman in the market?" "Very right, child; what have
I for dinner to-day ?" " Don't you know, sir, that you bid me
lay by the blade-bone to broil ?" " 'Tis so, very right, child ;
go away. My lord, do you hear that Andrew Marvell's
dinner is provided ? There's your piece of paper ; I want
it not ; I knew the sort of kindness you intended. I live
o
210 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
here to serve my constituents ; the ministry may seek men
for their purpose ; I am not one."
MARVELL AND MILTON. The following statement ap-
pears in the "Parliamentary History" for 1660 : "Dec. lyth.
The celebrated Mr. John Milton, having now laid long in
custody of the sergeant-at-arms, was released by order of
the House. Soon after Mr. Andrew Marvell complained
that the sergeant had exacted ^150 fees of Mr. Milton;
which was seconded by Colonel King and Colonel Shapcot.
On the contrary, Sir Heneage Finch observed that Milton
was Latin Secretary to Cromwell, and deserved hanging.
However, this matter was referred to the Committee of
Privileges to examine and decide -the difference." Milton
had been ordered to be taken into custody on the i6th of
June previous, and to be prosecuted by the Attorney-
General for having written the " Pro Populo Anglicano
Defensio" against Salmasius, and another book in answer
to the " Icon Basilike."
LORD MELBOURNE.
MAKING MATTERS AGREEABLE. Mr. Buncombe, in the
" Life and Correspondence " of his father, states that the
following story was circulated at the clubs, relative to the
dismissal of the Melbourne ministry in 1834:-^" His
Majesty sent for Lord Melbourne while at Brighton ; and
on the latter proposing to proceed to business, the King,
with his customary bonhommie, exclaimed, ' Come, come, we.
are going to dinner ; let's talk of business afterwards ! '
Nothing loth, the ever agreeable First Lord accepted the
royal hospitality, and did justice to it, revolving in his mind
the propriety of -making political hay while the royal luminary
shone. He did equal justice to the nautical jokes and
anecdotes, and was preparing to profit by his opportunity,
when the King bluffly interrupted him : * Fill your glass ;
LORD MELBOURNE. 211
it's dry talking ! ' Lord Melbourne filled his glass, laughed
at the command, and drank the wine, fully appreciating its
excellence. There then followed more nautical jokes and
more wine ; and the Prime Minister enjoyed both, and was
evidently in a disposition to enjoy everything the sweets
of office for an interminable tenancy included. The dinner
had been cleared, the dessert placed upon the table, and
the cheerfulness of his Majesty was only exceeded by the
cheerfulness of his Minister. There could be no doubt at
all that they were on the best possible understanding. The
Premier was thinking on the main chance, while the Sailor
King, appropriately enough, seemed to be thinking only of
the main brace. So, fearful that he might lose his chance,
after indulging in a thorough burst of mirth at the last con-
tribution from the royal admiral's memory, Lord Melbourne
was about to commence a request, when he was cut short
by an abrupt change in the- King's manner and speech.
' By the way/ said his Majesty, * Lord Al thorp's dead, I hear
so is the Government, of course ; when the head's gone, the
body can't get on at all ; therefore there's no help for it
you must all resign. Here, my lord,' he added, as he took
a letter from his pocket, and handed it to the astonished
Prime Minister, ' here's a letter I've written to the Duke of
Wellington, directing him to form a Cabinet. Be sure you
give it him directly you arrive in town.' Lord Melbourne
took the proffered document and his departure almost simul-
taneously, in rather a hazy state of mind the anti-climax
of the King's securing him as a messenger to bear the tidings
of his dismissal to his successor, every now and then, as he
journeyed to town, making him have recourse to a habit he
had of scratching his head, while uttering an involuntary
exclamation that did not sound like a blessing." Guizot,
in his "Memoirs of Sir Robert Peel," thus notices the
circumstance of the change of ministry : " Lord Melbourne
proceeded to Brighton to submit to the King the new
o 2
212 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
arrangements which this occurrence (the decease of Earl
Spencer, and the consequent removal of his eldest son, Lord
Althorp, to the House of Lords) rendered necessary.
William IV. did not approve of them, but complained of
some of his advisers, and expressed his intention to transfer
the reins of government to other hands. Always cool and
graceful in whatever position he might be placed, Lord
Melbourne himself undertook to convey to the Duke of
Wellington the letter in which the King empowered him to
form a new Cabinet."
A BRIEF REPLY. The most crushing reply (says the
Quarterly Review) that any assailant ever received was on
an occasion when Lord Brougham closed one of his most
brilliant displays with a diatribe against the Melbourne
Government. Lord Melbourne's reply was comprised in
a single sentence : " My Lords, you have heard the
eloquent speech of the noble and learned lord one of the
most eloquent he ever delivered in this House and I
leave your lordships to consider what must be the nature
and strength of the objections which prevent any Govern-
ment from availing themselves of the services of such a
man."
NOT so BAD AS HE SEEMED. The discussions in the
House on Church matters in 1837 gave rise to the following
observations on the policy and opinions of Lord Melbourne
by the Rev. Sydney Smith : " Viscount Melbourne declared
himself quite satisfied with the Church as it is; but if the
public had any desire to alter it, they might do as they
pleased. He might have said the same thing of the
Monarchy, or of any other of our institutions ; and there is
in the declaration a permissiveness and good humour which,
in public men, has seldom been exceeded. * * But,Af the
truth must be told, our viscount is somewhat of an impostor.
Everything about him seems to betoken careless desolation;
any one would suppose from his manner that he was playing
MELBO URNE MORE. 213
at chuck-farthing with human happiness ; that he was always
on the heel of pastime ; that he would giggle away the
Great Charter, and decide by the method of teetotum whether
my lords the Bishops should or should not retain their seats
in the House of Lords. All this is the mere vanity of sur-
prising and making us believe that he can play with kingdoms
as other men can with ninepins. Instead of this lofty nebulo,
this miracle of moral and intellectual felicities, he is nothing
more than a sensible honest man, who means to do his duty
to the sovereign and to the country. Instead of being the
ignorant man he pretends to be, before he meets the
deputation of Tallow-chandlers in the morning, he sits up
half the night talking with Thomas Young about melting
and skimming, and then, though he has acquired knowledge
enough to work off a whole vat of prime Leicester tallow,
he pretends next morning not to know the difference between
a dip and a mould. * * * I believe him to be conscien-
tiously alive to the good or evil that he is doing^and that
this caution has more than once arrested the gigantic pro-
jects of the Lycurgus* of the Lower House." Second Letter
to Archdeacon Singleton.
SIR THOMAS MORE.
THE KING THWARTED BY A "BEARDLESS BOY."
More was returned to the House of Commons in 1504, and
he is recorded as the first member of that assembly who
gained celebrity by public speaking, and who, as a success-
ful leader of opposition, incurred the enmity of the Court.
Henry was entitled (says Lord Campbell in his " Lives ")
according to the strictest feudal law to a grant on the occa-
sion of the marriage of his daughter Margaret with James
IV. of Scotland ; but he thought it a favourable oppor-
tunity for gratifying his avarice, and he required a much
* Lord John Russell.
214 -A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
greater sum than he intended to bestow on the Scottish
queen. When the consent of the Lower House was de-
manded, Sir Thomas, making a grave speech, pronounced
such urgent arguments why these exactions were not to be
granted, that thereupon all the King's demands were crossed,
and his request denied; so that Mr. Tyler, one of the King's
Privy Chamber, went presently from the House and told
his Majesty that a beardless boy had disappointed him of
his expectations. More, however, was twenty-four years of
age when he made this effective speech.
WOLSEY'S ATTEMPT TO OVERAWE THE COMMONS. At
this Parliament (1523) Cardinal Wolsey found himself much
aggrieved with the burgesses thereof; for that nothing was
so soon done or spoken therein, but that it was immediately
blown abroad in every alehouse. It fortuned at that Par-
liament a very great subsidy to be demanded, which the
Cardinal fearing would not pass the Commons' House,
determined, for the furtherance thereof, to be there present
himself. Before where coming, after long debating there,
whether it was better but with a few of his lords, as
the most opinion of the House was, or with his whole train
royally to receive him ; " Masters," quoth Sir Thomas More
(the Speaker), "forasmuch as my lord Cardinal lately, ye
wot well, laid to our charge the lightness of our tongues for
things uttered out of this House, it shall not in my mind be
amiss to receive him with all his pomp, with his maces,
his pillars, his poll-axes, his hat, and great seal too ; to the
intent that if he find the like fault with us hereafter, we may
be the bolder from ourselves to lay the blame on those
whom his grace bringeth here with him." Whereunto the
House wholly agreeing, he was received accordingly. Where,
after he had, by a solemn oration, by many reasons, proved
how necessary it was the demand then moved to be granted,
and further showed that less would not serve to maintain the
prince's purpose ; he, seeing the company sitting still silent,
THOMAS MORE.
215
and thereunto nothing answering, and, contrary to his expec-
tation, showing in themselves towards his request no toward-
ness of inclination, said to them, " Masters, you have many
wise and learned men amongst you, and sith I am from the
King's own person sent hitherto unto you, to the preservation
of yourselves and of all the realm, I think it meet you give
me some reasonable answer." Whereat every man holding his
peace then began (Wolsey) to speak to one Master Marney,
afterwards Lord Marney. " How say you," quoth he, " Master
Marney ? " who making him no answer neither, he severally
asked the same question of divers others, accounted the
wisest of the company ; to whom, when none of them all
would give so much as one word, being agreed before, as
the custom was, to give answer by their Speaker, " Masters,"
quoth the cardinal, " unless it be the manner of your House,
as of likelihood it is, by the mouth of your Speaker, whom
you have chosen for trusty and wise (as indeed he is), in
such cases to utter your minds, here is, without doubt, a
marvellously obstinate silence." And thereupon he required
answer of Mr. Speaker ; who first reverently, on his knees,
excusing the silence of the House, abashed at the presence
of so noble a personage, able to amaze the wisest and
best learned in a realm, and then, by many probable argu-
ments, proving that for them to make answer was neither
expedient nor agreeable with the ancient liberty of the
House ; in conclusion for himself showed that though they
id all with their voices trusted him, yet except every one
them could put into his own head their several wits, he
lone in so weighty a matter was unmeet to make his grace
iswer. Whereupon the Cardinal, displeased with Sir
'homas More, that had not in this Parliament in all things
itisfied his desire, suddenly arose and departed. Roper's
Life of More."
OF ONE MIND. When the short session of Parlia-
ment (just referred to) was closed, Wolsey, in his gallery
216 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
of Whitehall, said to More, " I wish to God you had been
at Rome, Mr. More, when I made you Speaker." " Your
grace not offended, so would I too, my lord," replied Sir
Thomas, " for then should I have seen the place I long
have desired to visit." More turned the conversation by
saying that he liked this gallery better than the Cardinal's
at Hampton Court. But the Cardinal secretly brooded
over his revenge. Sir J. Mackintosh's " Life of More"
THE FIRST DUKE OF NEWCASTLE.
A LIVING CARICATURE. There is scarcely any public
man in our history of whose manners and conversation
so many particulars have been preserved. Single stories
may be unfounded or exaggerated. But all the stories
about him, whether told by people who were perpetually
seeing him in Parliament and attending his levee in
Lincoln's Inn Fields, or by Grub Street writers who never
had more than a glimpse of his star through the windows of
his gilded coach, are of the same character. Horace
Walpole and Smollett differed in their tastes and opinions as
much as two human beings could differ. They kept quite
different society. Walpole played at cards with countesses,
and corresponded with ambassadors. Smollett passed his
life surrounded by printers' devils and famished scribblers.
Yet Walpole's Duke and Smollett's Duke are as like as if
they were both from one hand. Smollett's Newcastle
runs out of his dressing-room with his face covered with soap-
suds to embrace the Moorish envoy. Walpole's Newcastle
pushes his way into the Duke of Grafton's sick room to kiss
the old nobleman's plasters. No man was so unmercifully
satirised. But in' truth he was himself a satire ready made.
All that the art of the satirist does for other men, nature
had done for him. Whatever was absurd about him stood
out with grotesque prominence from the rest of the
FIRST DUKE OF NEWCASTLE. 217
character. He was a living, moving, talking caricature.
His gait was a shuffling trot ; his utterance a rapid stutter ; he
was always in a hurry ; he was never in time ; he abounded
in fulsome caresses and in hysterical tears. His oratory
resembled that of Justice Shallow. It was nonsense effer-
vescent with animal spirits and impertinence. Of his
ignorance many anecdotes remain, some well authenticated,
some probably invented at coffee-houses, but all exquisitely
characteristic. "Oh yes yes to be sure Annapolis
must be defended troops must be sent to Annapolis Pray
where is Annapolis ?" "Cape Breton an island! wonderful !
show it me on the map. So it is, sure enough. My dear
sir, you always bring us good news. I must go and tell the
King that Cape Breton is an island." And this man was,
during nearly thirty years, Secretary of State, and, during
near ten years, First Lord of the Treasury ! Macaulay on
Horace Walpole. Somebody said t'other day, "Yet sure
the Duke of Newcastle does not want parts." "No,"
replied Lord Talbot, " for he has done without them for
forty years." Walpole' s Letters to Mann.
THE DUKE AND THE LEADERSHIP OF THE COMMONS.
The Duke became First Lord of the Treasury on the death
of his brother, Henry Pelham, in 1754. He had some diffi-
culty in finding a leader of the House of Commons, and
opened negotiations with Fox. Macaulay writes : " The
proposition which he made was that Fox should be Secre-
tary of State, with the lead of the House of Commons ; that
the disposal of the secret service money, or, in plain words,
the business of buying members of Parliament, should be
left to the First Lord of the Treasury ; but that Fox should
be exactly informed of the way in which this fund was
employed. To these conditions Fox assented. But the
next day everything was in confusion. Newcastle had
changed his mind. The conversation which took place
between Fox and the Duke is one of the most curious in
218 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
English history. i My brother/ said Newcastle, 'when he
was at the Treasury, never told anybody what he did with
the secret service money. No more will I/ The answer
was obvious. Pelham had been not only First Lord of the
Treasury, but also manager of the House of Commons ; and
it was therefore unnecessary for him to confide to any other
person his dealings with the members of that House. ' But
how,' said Fox, ' can I lead in the Commons without informa-
tion on this head ? How can I talk to gentlemen when I
do not know which of them have received gratifications and
which have not ? And who/ he continued, ' is to have the
disposal of places ? ' 'I myself/ said the Duke. 'How then
am I to manage the House of Commons ? ' * Oh, let the
members of the House of Commons come to me !' Fox
then mentioned the general election which was approaching,
and asked how the ministerial boroughs were to be filled up.
1 Do not trouble yourself/ said Newcastle; 'that is all settled.'
This was too much for human nature to bear. Fox refused
to accept the Secretaryship of State on such terms ; and the
Duke confided the management of the House of Commons
to a dull, harmless man, whose name is almost forgotten in
our time, Sir Thomas Robinson. * * * . sir Thomas
Robinson lead us ! ' said Pitt to Fox. * The Duke might as
well send his jack-boot to lead us.' " Essay on Chatham.
LORD NORTH.
A PATTERN OF GOOD HUMOUR. A few only of his
sayings have reached us, and those, as might be expected,
are rather things which he had chanced to coat over with
some sarcasm or epigram that tended to preserve them ; they
consequently are far from giving an idea of his habitual
pleasantry and the gaiety of thought which generally per-
vaded his speeches. Thus, when a vehement declaimer,
calling aloud for his head, turned round and perceived his vie-
LORD NORTH. 219
tim unconsciously indulging in a soft slumber, and, becoming
still more exasperated, denounced the Minister as capable
of sleeping while he ruined his country, the latter only com-
plained how cruel it was to be denied 1 a solace which other
criminals so often enjoyed that of having a night's rest be-
fore their fate. When surprised in a like indulgence during
the performance of a very inferior artist, who, however,
showed equal indignation at so ill-timed a recreation, he
contented himself with observing how .hard it was that he
should be grudged so very natural a release from consider-
able suffering; but, as if recollecting himself, added that it
was somewhat unjust in the gentleman to complain of him
for taking the remedy which he had himself been considerate
enough to administer. The same good humour and drollery
quitted him not when in opposition. Every one has heard
of the speech which, if it had failed to injure the objects of
its attack, was very effectual in fixing a name on its honest
and much respected author. On Mr. Martin's proposal to
have a starling placed near the chair and taught to re-
peat the cry of " Infamous coalition ! " Lord North coolly
suggested that, as long as the worthy member was preserved
to them, it would be a needless waste of the public money,
since the starling might well perform his office by deputy.*
Brougham's "Statesmen" Earl Russell gives the follow-
ing more concisely than Lord Brougham : " North's good
humour and readiness were of admirable service to him
when the invectives of his opponents would have discom-
fited a more serious Minister. He often indulged in real
or seeming slumber; an opponent in the midst of an
invective exclaimed, ' Even now, in the midst of these
perils, the noble lord is asleep.' ' I wish to God I was,'
rejoined Lord North. Alderman Sawbridge, having accom-
* " I submit that this House is in possession of a Martin, who will
serve the purpose quite as well." Russell's "Life of Fox."
220 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
panied the presentation of a petition from Billingsgate
with accusations of more than ordinary virulence, Lord
North began his reply in the following words : 1 1 cannot
deny that the hon. alderman speaks not only the senti-
ments, but the very language of his constituents/ " Ear!
Russell's " Life of Fox."
EXTRACTING A COMPLIMENT. The assault of Mr.
Adam on Mr. Fox, and of Colonel Fullarton on Lord
Shelburne, had once put the House into the worst possible
humour, and there was more or less savageness in every-
thing that was said. Lord North deprecated the too great
readiness to take offence which then seemed to possess
the House. "One member," he said, "who spoke of
me, called me 'that thing called a Minister.' To be
sure," he said, patting his large form, " I am a thing ;
the member, therefore, when he called me a thing, said
what was true ; and I could not be angry with him. But
when he added, * that thing called a Minister,' he called
me that thing which of all things he himself wished most
to be, and therefore I took it as a compliment." Butler's
"Reminiscences"
SLEEPING THROUGH THE CENTURIES. On an occasion
when Colonel Barry brought forward a motion on the British
navy, Lord North said to a friend of his who was sitting
next him in the House, " We shall have a tedious speech
from Barry to-night. I dare say he'll give us our naval
history from the beginning, not forgetting Sir Francis Drake
and the Armada. All this is nothing to me, so let me sleep
on, and wake me when we come near our own times." His
friend at length roused him, when Lord North exclaimed,
"Where are we?" "At the battle of La Hogue, my lord."
"Oh, my dear friend," he replied, "you have woke me a
century too soon !" Harfortfs "Recollections of Wilberforce"
A NEW MEMBER. Once, when speaking in the House,
Lord North was interrupted by the barking of a dog which
LORD NORTH. 221
had crept in. He turned round, and archly said, " Mr.
Speaker, I am interrupted by a new member." The dog
was driven out, but got in again, and recommenced barking,
when Lord North, in his dry way, added, " Spoke once."
Ibid.
FRETTING. The Duke of Newcastle went to Lord
North, at Bushey Park, to lament the miscarriage at Charles-
ton (June 28th, 1776, during the War of Independence), and
to inquire into his cousin Clinton's behaviour ; but finding
Lord North treat the affair with his usual indifference and
jollity, took notice of it to him. " Faith, my lord," said
Lord North, " if fretting would make me thin, I would be as
sorry as your grace ; but since it will not have that effect, I
bear it as well as I can." Walpole's "Journals"
IMPUDENT SILENCE. Colonel Luttrell moved in the
House of Commons, April i2th, 1774, that the sheriffs of
Middlesex should be called to answer at the bar for their
conduct in summoning Wilkes instead of himself to serve
in Parliament. After a long pause, Charles Fox rose and
said Colonel Luttrell should not want a second ; and then
poured out a torrent of invective against Lord North for his
pusillanimity, and for what he called his impudent and
shameless silence. Lord North, with great quickness and
humour, replied that he had never before heard of impudent
silence ; that he had, indeed, seen gentlemen on their legs
whose shameless impudence had shocked all mankind.
Ibid.
LAUGHING AT THE BANKERS. At the meeting of Par-
liament, January i3th, 1774, when the Address was moved
in the House of Commons, Mr. Prescott, a very rich banker,
complained of the late regulation of the gold coin, by which,
he said, there was not a banker in England that had not lost
^500. Lord North laughed, and made the House laugh at
him, by saying he was glad the loss had fallen on those who
were the best able to bear it. Walpotts "George III."
222 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
THE OTHER OPPOSITION. During the American War
of Independence, Lord North, at a City dinner, having
announced the receipt of intelligence of an important ad-
vantage gained over the "rebels," and being taken to task
by Charles Fox and Colonel Barre, who were present, for
applying such language to "our fellow-subjects in America,"
exclaimed, with the inimitable talent for good-humoured
raillery which distinguished him, " Well, then, to please you,
I will call them the gentlemen in opposition on the other side of
the water" This has been told me as a traditionary anecdote
not hitherto in print. Campbell's "Lives"
A RELUCTANT APOLOGY. In one of the debates on
the American war, in 1782, "Colonel Barre attacked Lord
North violently, calling him the scourge of the country.
Upon this Lord North, for almost the only time in his life,
lost his temper, and said 'he had been used, from that
quarter, to language so uncivil, so brutal, so insolent
At these words the House got into an uproar, and Mr. T.
Townshend called upon Lord North to apologise. Lord
North said he was ready to ask pardon of the House, but
not of Barre*. At the end of a tumult of three hours, he con-
sented to ask pardon even of Barre." Russell's "Life of Fox"
THE FALL OF LORD NORTH. In the session of 1782,
the ministry of Lord North had several times narrowly
escaped a vote of censure. " On the 2oth of March," says
Earl Russell, " Lord Surrey was to renew the motion in a
different shape. When the day arrived, the House was re-
markably crowded, and curiosity was on tiptoe to learn the
event. Before Lord Surrey commenced, Lord North rose,
and said he had some information to give to the House,
which might make any further proceeding in the motion un-
necessary, and might require an adjournment. Upon these
words there was great confusion, many members calling out
* No adjournment !' some * Lord Surrey ! Lord Surrey !' and
some 'Lord North! Lord North!' Upon this Mr. Fox
A T OR TH O 1 CONN ELL. 223
rose and moved, ' That Lord Surrey be now heard ;' upon
which Lord North, with great quickness, said, * And I rise
to speak to that motion.' Lord North then said he could
assure the House, with authority, that the present Adminis-
tration was no more, and that his Majesty had come to the
full determination of changing his ministers. He then took
leave of the House as minister, thanking them for the
honourable support they had given him during so long a
course of years, and in so many trying situations. * * *
Lord North had borne his elevation with modesty; he
showed equanimity in his fall. A trifling circumstance
evinced his good humour. On the evening when he an-
nounced his resignation to the House of Commons, snow
was falling, and the weather was bitterly cold. Lord North
kept his carriage. As he was passing through the greatcoat
room of the House of Commons, many members (chiefly his
opponents) crowded the passage. When his carriage was
announced, he put one or two of his friends into it, and
then, making a bow to his opponents, said, 'Good night,
gentlemen ; it is the first time I have known the advantage
of being in the secret.' Mr. Adam, from whom I heard this
anecdote, says in his memoranda, ' No man ever showed
more calmness, cheerfulness, and serenity. The temper of
his whole family was the same. I dined with him that day,
and was witness to it.' "
DANIEL O'CONNELL.
INTRODUCTION OF THE REPEAL QUESTION. The year
1834 was rendered remarkable by the introduction of the
Repeal question into the House of Commons. O'Connell
told me he was forced to take this step bitterly against his
will. " I felt," said he, " like a man who was going to jump
into a cold bath, but I was obliged to take the plunge. "-
Daunfs "O' Council."
224 ^ BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
A WONDERFUL SHOWER OF RAIN. In the session of
1833, a speech of Mr. Daniel O'Connell's, upon an Irish
question of considerable interest and importance, was not
only grievously abbreviated (by the reporter), but the sense
of it entirely perverted in several passages. As I recollect,
it was a speech on the then very exciting and difficult sub-
ject of the tithes of the Protestant Church in Ireland ; and
Mr. O'Connell, among other things, was made to say that
he would vote in a certain way on the immediate point
under consideration, " although it was directly in the teeth
of all his former opinions on the subject !" On his bringing
the matter before the House, under the usual form of a
" Breach of Privilege," and making complaint of being thus
treated, the defence set up by the reporter .was that, during
his walk from the House to the newspaper office, the rain,
which was falling heavily at the time, had most unfortunately
streamed into his pocket and washed out the notes he had
made of Mr. O'Connell's speech. Upon which the latter
remarked that it was the most extraordinary shower of rain
he had ever heard of, inasmuch as it had not only washed
out the speech he did make, but had washed in another, and
an entirely different one. -John CPConnelFs "Parliamentary
Experiences."
PARODIES. Some of O'Connell's parodies and poetical
applications in debate caught the humour of the House, and
were considered felicitous. Amongst these was his sneer
at the smallness of Lord Stanley's personal adherents after
some general election :
" Thus down thy hill, romantic Ashbourne, glides
The Derby dilly, carrying six insides."
His celebrated parody on three very excellent, and certainly
good-humoured, members of Parliament, Colonels Sibthorp,
Perceval, and Verner, was extremely ready, and produced
a roar :
DANIEL O'CONNELL. 225
1 ' Three colonels, in three distant counties born,
Lincoln, Armagh, and Sligo, did adorn.
The first in matchless impudence surpassed,
The next in bigotry in both, the last.
The force of nature could no further go
To beard the third, she shaved the other two."
Two of these gentlemen looked as if they never needed a
razor, and the third (Sib thorp) as if he repudiated one.
Curran and his Contemporaries.
His AVERSION TO DUELS. O'Connell was not suffi-
ciently guarded in his language when speaking of other men,
and on one occasion some one opposite to him said, " Such
language might provoke a duel." "Oh, no," remarked
O'Connell, pointing to one of his hands with the other;
" there's too much blood upon this hand already." I heard
him say this, and the effect, as he suited the action to the
word, was very great. Professor Pryme. O'Connell here
referred to the incident of his duel with D'Esterre, which
is thus related by Phillips, in "Curran and his Contem-
poraries " : " In one of his many mob-speeches, O'Connell
called the Corporation of Dublin a ' beggarly corporation.'
A gentleman named D'Esterre affected to feel this as a
personal affront, he being one of that very numerous body,
and accordingly fastened a quarrel on the offender. It
is quite true that O'Connell endeavoured to avoid the
encounter. He did not do enough. He should have sum-
moned D'Esterre before the tribunals of the country, after
failing to appease him by a repeated declaration that he
meant him no personal offence, and could not, he being
a total stranger to him. * * * However, on the occa-
sion in question he showed a total absence of what is
vulgarly called fear; indeed, his fixed determination was
remarkable. Let those who read the following anecdote
remember that he most reluctantly engaged in the combat;
that he was then the father of seven children ; and that it
was an alternative of life or death with him, D'Esterre being
p
226 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
reputed an unerring marksman. Being one of those who
accompanied O'Connell, he beckoned me aside to a distant
portion of the very large field, which had a slight covering
of snow. 'Phillips,' said he to me, 'this seems not a
personal, but a political affair. I am obnoxious to a party,
and they adopt a false pretence to cut me off. I shall not
submit to it They have reckoned without their host, I
promise you. I am one of the best shots in Ireland at a
mark, having, as a public man, considered it a duty to pre-
pare, for my own protection, against such unprovoked
aggression as the present. Now remember what I say to
you. I may be struck myself, and then skill is out of the
question ; but if I am not, my antagonist will have cause to
regret his having forced me into this conflict.' The parties
were then very soon placed on the ground, at, I think,
twelve paces distance ; each having a case of pistols, with
directions to fire when they chose, after a given signal.
D'Esterre rather agitated himself by making a short speech,
disclaiming all hostility to his Roman Catholic countrymen,
and took his ground, somewhat theatrically, crossing his
pistols upon his bosom. They fired almost together, and
instantly on the signal. D'Esterre fell, mortally wounded.
There was the greatest self-possession displayed by both."
WANTED, A BELLMAN. At the Clare election, to the
horror of Vesey Fitzgerald, the rival candidate, and a
member of the then administration, Daniel (with the aid of
his priests) polled tenant against landlord. * * * Vesey,
a lord in embryo, could not stand it, and he fled. Next
day was a great day for Daniel. Priest, curate, coadjutor,
bishop he who, with no franchise, had voted notwithstand-
ing ; and he who, having one, had voted very often the
whole available population, the pure children of nature as
he called them, and some of them most justly, hailed their
champion as he shouted from the hustings, " Boys, where's
Vasy Vigarald? Och hone, Vasy, but it's me that's dull
DANIEL O'CONNELL. 227
without ye. Right, mavourneen ! right* and send the bell 1
about for him. Here's the cry for you
' Stolen or strayed,
Lost or mislaid,
The President of the Board of Trade.' "
Curran and his Contemporaries.
SCORNING ADVANTAGE. During a Dublin election, where
Mr. West was a candidate, O'Connell resorted to his nick-
names, and " sow West " and " ugly West " were lavished
liberally. " Gentlemen," said West, good humouredly, "Mr.
O'Connell takes advantage of me, for he wears a wig."
" I scorn all advantage," exclaimed Daniel, casting off the
ornament, and exhibiting a scalp literally without a hair
between it and heaven " I scorn all advantage ; compare
us now, boys ; is sow West the beauty ? " Ibid.
AN UNEXPECTED OPPONENT. Fagan, in his " Life and
Times of Daniel O'Connell," relates an incident that occurred
during the canvass of the constituency of the county of
Kerry, when the " Liberator's" nephew was a candidate for
the representation. Daniel spoke from the balcony of the
Chamber of Commerce in Tralee one day, and opposite
him were the committee rooms of the Knight of Kerry. In
the midst of a very powerful speech a donkey suddenly
began to bray. The effect was most ludicrous. Every man,
woman, and child tittered, while the Conservative gentle-
men roared aloud. Placid and collected, however, O'Connell
looked around. A smile lighted up his face ; and, raising
his voice to its fullest pitch, he cried out, " Hear him ! hear
him, boys ! 'tis the chairman of the Knight of Kerry's com-
mittee."
JUPITER RELENTING. The following is related by C.
Phillips, as illustrative of the arbitrary disposition of the
great Repealer : " On a matter of parliamentary inquiry,
on which I had quite as much experience as himself, our
* " Run, darling ! run !"
P 2
228 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
judgments differed, and I fared accordingly. No one could
ever tell, however, when the storm might arise ; but he had
it ready, and often nursed it in smiles. After walking down
with me to the House of Commons one evening, arm-in-arm,
as friendly as possible, he vehemently assailed me on the
subject alluded to. He refused to retract. No alternative
was left but to right myself, which was done in a way by no
means to his satisfaction. After my excellent friend Colonel
Perceval, in his place in Parliament, read my letter of reply,
Daniel fell into one of his paroxysms. " The gallant
member," said he, " may now congratulate himself on having
severed a friendship of twenty-five years' standing." Friend-
ship indeed ! His translation of the idem velle et idem nolle
must have been a curiosity. For six months and upwards,
when we met, his look was a wild glare. At last it pleased
his Jupitership to relent. He walked up to me one day in
the Reform Club, in high good humour : " Charles, shake
hands; I'm tired not speaking to you. I forgive you /"
THE MOB ORATOR. The following fragment on O'Con-
nell is given by Bulwer in his "St. Stephen's" :
" Had that fierce railer sprung from English sires,
His creed a Protestant's, his birth a squire's,
No blander Pollio, whom our Bar affords,
Had graced the woolsack and cajoled My Lords.
Pass by his faults, his art be here allowed
Mighty as Chatham, give him but a crowd ;
Hear him in Senates, second-rate at best,
Clear in a statement, happy in a jest ;
Sought he to shine, then certain to displease ;
Tawdry, yet coarse-grained, tinsel upon frieze.
His Titan strength must touch what gave it birth ;
Hear him to mobs, and on his mother earth ! "
FEARGUS O'CONNOR.
A HUSTINGS SPEECH PLAGIARISED. Perhaps the
queerest election that occurred in the three kingdoms
(1832-33) was that of Feargus O'Connor, for the county of
FE ARGUS O'CONNOR. 229
Cork. In his canvass he was assisted by his cousin,
O'Neill Daunt, then standing, and afterwards elected, for
the borough of Mallow. Between them both the plan of
taking county and borough aristocrats simultaneously by
surprise had been concocted and carried out with infinite
cleverness ; but Daunt, although very far superior to
O'Connor in information, tastes, habits of life, and general
ability, was no match for him in dexterity. He had a
lamentable proof of it on one occasion in particular, when,
as both stood on the hustings, Daunt, to his dismay and
horror, had to listen while Feargus delivered, ore rotundo,
and greatly to the admiration of the multitude, the very
speech that Daunt himself had most carefully prepared for
that particular occasion ; Feargus having, during their
journey to the place of meeting, most industriously and suc-
cessfully pumped his unsuspecting companion of his tropes
and topics, and, in short, all his treasured eloquence. -John
(JConnelFs "Parliamentary Recollections."
THE CHARTIST PETITION OF 1848. On the loth of
April the Houses of Parliament, says the Annual Register,
were filled with police, and, for the preservation of the
peace, the streets were guarded by 170,000 special con-
stables. The petition, which was to have been carried in
procession from Kennington Common to Westminster, was
transported by the less ostentatious medium of several cabs.
Feargus O'Connor, in presenting it to the House, stated that
it bore 5,706,000 signatures ; but a strict scrutiny reduced
these figures to the still very respectable total of 1,900,000.
The Marquis of Lansdowne, in answer to a question in the
House of Lords, said, " The meeting which was attempted
to be held to-day on Kennington Common was dispersed
by the police only, without the assistance or even the pre-
sence of a single soldier." Lord Brougham held that " those
meetings that are called, whether in England or in Ireland,
* monster meetings,' are, in themselves, essentially illegal"
230 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
MR. BERNAL OSBORNE.
THE "STORMY PETREL OF DEBATE." The nature of
Mr. Bernal Osborne's appearances in parliamentary strife
caused this name to be applied to him many years ago. One
of the most effective passages in his peculiar vein occurred
in the great debate on the conduct of the Government with
respect to Denmark, in July, 1864. Mr. Osborne thus
alluded to Lord Palmerston and his Cabinet : : " The noble
lord and the gentlemen on the Treasury Bench are men of
great capacity, but a little past their time, and they bungle
a little ; but if they wish to put the country in a proper
position with foreign powers, and restore the just influence
of England, it might be easily done by their imitating that
custom which is obligatory on unsuccessful officials in
Japan. If, sir, they would enact, in a modified form, that
'happy despatch' which we have learnt from the Asiatics, I
am sure this country would at once regain its proper posi-
tion. * * There sits the noble lord. Sedet, (zternumque
sedebit. I was about to add, but it would not be true
infelix. I wish to speak of him with every respect, because
I believe that a more active or a more able man never
existed in this country. (General cheers.) It is said of
him that
1 Panting time toils after him in vain.'
He is certainly facile princeps, the liveliest, if not the
youngest, on the Treasury Bench. The noble lord deserves
great credit for his admirable management through so long
a time of the affairs of this House. He has acted with all
sorts of men, and agreed with all sorts of opinions. These
are great feats, but what is his policy ? Sir, his domestic
policy, not to go beyond the line of debate, is paternal
but stationary ; his foreign policy up to this day has been
pugnacious but progressive. * * I have not been unfair
BERNAL OSBORNE LORD PALMERSTON. 231
the noble lord ; but now let us go into his Cabinet His
ibinet is a museum of curiosities. There, sir, are to be
md some birds of rare and noble plumage, both alive and
tuffed. (Great laughter.) But, unfortunately, there is a
iculty in keeping up the breed. For those Whig birds
ive been very barren, and they v/ere obliged to take a
with the famous Peelite breed. * * Certainly it
cannot be said, either by their enemies or friends, that they
ive been prolific of measures since they have taken office,
iven my right hon. friend (Mr. M. Gibson) who is not
mnected with them by family, and somehow got into the
ibinet, but, like the fly in amber, ' one wonders how the
levil he got there ' has not been fertile. I must say that
lis hon. friends the members for Rochdale and Birmingham
I think, disappointed in this 'young man from the
country.' When he married into the family we expected
some liberal measures, but the right hon. gentleman has
become indolent, and almost quarrelsome, under the guid-
ice of the noble lord. Well, sir, what is to be done ?
We know by the traditions of the great Whig party that they
cling to the vessel, if not like shipwrecked sailors, like
lose testaceous marine animals which somehow adhere to
the bottom, thereby clogging the engines and impeding the
>rogress. Sir, should a vote of this House displace that
[ministration, what are the Liberal party to do ? Well, my
idvice to them is that they may feel perfectly happy as to
the issue of this great duel which is being fought. They are
somewhat in the situation of lago in the play, and may say
like him, 'Whether Cassio kills Roderigo, or Roderigo
kills Cassio, or each kills the other,' they must gain."
Times' Report.
LORD PALMERSTON.
ENTRANCE INTO PARLIAMENT. The first constituency
Lord Palmerston aspired to represent in the House of Com-
232 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
mons was that of the University of Cambridge, for which
he was nominated in 1806, and again in 1807, but proved
on both occasions unsuccessful. The earlier of these events
is alluded to by Byron, in " Hours of Idleness/' in the fol-
lowing doggerel stanza:
" Then would I view each rival wight,
Petty and Palmerston survey ;
Who canvass there, with all their might,
Against the next elective day."
His lordship, however, was returned for the borough of
Newport (I. W.) at the general election in 1807, but his
name does not occur in " Hansard " as a speaker till the
following year.
ATTEMPT TO ASSASSINATE HIM. The attempt to
assassinate Lord Palmerston is thus related in a letter from
the Rev. A. Harris to Lord Fitzharris, given in the
"Malmesbury Correspondence": "April 8th, 1818. I
have just seen Palmerston after this horrible attempt to
assassinate him. He has received a contusion upon the back-
bone, but not a very severe one, and there is not the least
reason for alarm. His escape was a very narrow one. The
assassin, whose name is Davis, and who had been an officer
in Spain, met him upon the staircase at the War Office, and
was quite close to him when he fired ; the ball penetrated
his coat and waistcoat about the middle of his spine, and
glanced off. Palmerston walked on to the room where his
secretary was sitting, and told him that he had been shot at,
but did not know what injury he had received. Astley
Cooper, and another surgeon of the name of Lynn, came
immediately, and found the flesh upon the back-bone con-
tused, but that the ball had not penetrated the skin. The ball
was found upon the staircase. The surgeons conveyed Pal-
merston home. Meanwhile the assassin was seized by two
messengers and put into safe custody. Palmerston told me
that he knew him to be mad, and for that reason had
LORD PALMERSTON. 233
declined seeing him, having received two letters lately asking
him to do so." Lord Palmerston thus jocularly refers to the
occurrence in a letter to Lord Malmesbury a few days after-
wards : "After all, I am not half so sore as either Don
Quixote or Sancho, upon many occasions in their adventures.
* * * One comfort is that I shall be recorded in illus-
trious company, as having had the same escape as the Duke
of Wellington and the Regent ; but I have so far the ad-
vantage of the latter that my bullet has been found, though,
luckily, not in me"
A THREE-DECKER. In Canning's lifetime the oratorical
and debating powers of his colleague had lain dormant.
The Prime Minister once even spoke with regret of the loss
he sustained through the silence of his Secretary at War.
" What would I give " he exclaimed, when wearied with
assaults from the Opposition benches " what would I give
to get that three-decker, Palmerston, to bear down upon
them." Westminster Review.
"JUDICIOUS BOTTLE -HOLDING." On the i8th of
November, 1851, Lord Palmerston, as Foreign Minister,
received deputations from the borough of Finsbury and the
parish of Islington, who presented addresses congratulating
his lordship on the aid he had rendered the Sultan of Turkey
in effecting the liberation of Kossuth. The Foreign Secre-
tary declared himself highly gratified by such an expression
of opinion on the part of so large a number of his fellow-
countrymen; and, in alluding to the difficulties which were
felt in the conduct of foreign affairs, he said (Times report),
"a great deal of good generalship and judgment was re-
quired, and during the pending struggle a good deal of
judicious bottle-holding was obliged to be brought into play."
The phrase formed the subject of a characteristic cartoon
for Punch shortly after it w,as uttered.
"Civis ROMANUS SUM." The celebrated application of
this phrase by Lord Palmerston occurred in the House of
234 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
Commons on the 25th of June, 1850. The occasion was
the debate on a vote of confidence in the foreign policy
of Lord John Russell's Government, with especial reference
to the affairs of Greece. Lord Palmerston, as the minister
whose acts were immediately in question, entered into an
elaborate defence of his entire foreign policy, and, after
speaking for five hours, closed his peroration with a passage
which is thus given in " Hansard " : " I contend that we
have not in our foreign policy done anything to forfeit
the confidence of the country. We may not, perhaps, in
this matter or in that, have acted precisely up to the
opinions of one person or of another and hard indeed
it is, as we all know by our individual and private expe-
rience, to find any number of men agreeing entirely in
any matter on which they may not be equally possessed
of the details of the facts, and circumstances, and reasons,
and conditions which led to action. But, making allow-
ances for those differences of opinion which may fairly
and honourably arise among those who concur in general
views, I maintain that the principles which can be traced
through all our foreign transactions, as the guiding rule and
directing spirit of our proceedings, are such as deserve
approbation. I therefore fearlessly challenge the verdict
which this House, as representing a political, a commercial,
a constitutional country, is to give on the question now
brought before it whether the principles on which the
foreign policy of her Majesty's Government has been con-
ducted, and the sense of duty which has led us to think
ourselves bound to afford protection to our fellow-subjects
abroad, are proper and fitting guides for those who are
charged with the government of England; and whether,
as the Roman, 'in days of old, held himself free from
indignity when he could say Civis Romanus sum, so also
a British subject, in whatever land he may be, shall feel
confident that the watchful eye and the strong arm of
LORD PALMERSTON. 235
England will protect him against injustice and wrong."
Sir Robert Peel, although speaking against the vote of
confidence, remarked of Lord Palmerston's defence, amid
the cheers of the House, " His speech made us all proud
of the man who delivered it."
THE MINISTER OF ENGLAND. After the House of
Lords had passed its vote of censure on the foreign policy
of Lord John Russell's Administration, the Premier remarked
of his Foreign Secretary : " So long as we continue the
)vernment of this country, I can answer for my noble
iend that he will act, not as the minister of Austria, or
as the minister of Russia, or of France, or of any other
country, but as the minister. of England." The observation
has sometimes been thought mere tautology ; but it was
not so considered by Sir Robert Peel, who thus referred to
it in a subsequent debate : " The noble lord said that
lis noble friend the Secretary for Foreign Affairs would not
the minister of Austria, would not be the minister of
.ussia, and would not be the minister of France, but would
the minister of England. What was the meaning of
it declaration ? The noble lord has too much prudence
id discretion to point a sarcasm against three of the
itest Powers of Europe ; but he could afford to be very
liberal with such weapons when directed against his pre-
decessors. My construction of that passage was, that the
loble Jord meant to contrast the conduct of the noble lord
the member for Tiverton with the conduct of the Earl of
Aberdeen. " Hansard.
His DISMISSAL FROM THE FOREIGN SECRETARYSHIP.
When Lord Palmerston was dismissed from Lord John
Russell's Government, for having expressed to the French
Ambassador his approval of the coup d'etat, the ministerial
explanations respecting the event were anxiously awaited by
the country. They were given immediately on the as-
sembling of Parliament, February 3rd, 1852, in the debate
236 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
on the Address in answer to the Speech from the Throne.
Lord John made an elaborate statement to the House, in
the course of which he thus explained his reasons for the
course he had felt compelled to adopt : " The Secretary of
State for Foreign Affairs, putting himself in the place of the
Crown, neglected and passed by the Crown, in order to
give his own opinion with respect to the state of affairs in
France. Now, it struck me that a Secretary of State, con-
stitutionally, has no such power. It appears to me that he
can only act with the sanction and the authority of the
Crown in matters of very great importance. In matters of
small importance I am ready to admit that the Secretary of
State must be allowed to take a- course which to him seems
best, without a continual reference to the Crown ; but in
this matter, which was of the utmost importance namely,
that of giving the moral influence and support of England
to the act of the President of the French Republic it seems
to me that it was an affair so great that the opinion, not
only of the Prime Minister, but of the Cabinet, should have
been taken, and that no such opinion should have been ex-
pressed without their concurrence, and without the sanction
of the Crown. * * * When this took place, as I con-
ceived the authority of the Crown had been set aside, and-
set aside for a purpose which the Government could not
sanction, it appeared to me that I had no other course
than to inform my noble friend that, while I held office,
he could no longer hold the seals of the Foreign Office."
Lord Palmerston's statement in his own justification was
to the effect that the communication complained of had
been made in a non-official conversation with the French
Ambassador. He held that " if the doctrine of the noble
lord were established, and if the Foreign Secretary were
to be precluded from expressing on passing events any
opinion to a Foreign Minister, except in the capacity of
an organ of a previously consulted Cabinet, there would be
LORD PALMERSTON. 237
an end to that freedom of intercourse between Secretaries
of State for Foreign Affairs and Foreign Ministers, which
tends so much to good understanding and to the facility of
public business."
OVERTHROW OF THE RUSSELL ADMINISTRATION. Lord
Palmerston speedily avenged himself upon the Government
from which he had been dismissed. On the 2oth of Feb-
ruary only a week or two after the debate just men-
tioned Lord John Russell moved for leave " to bring in a
Bill to amend the laws respecting the Local Militia." Lord
Palmerston proposed some amendments to the motion,
the chief being to omit the word "local." He made a
powerful speech, one of his most telling points 'being as
follows : " The whole of the objections of the Govern-
ment to the formation of a regular militia are founded
upon a radical distrust of the people of the United King-
dom. * * * Sir, there is no foundation for this dis-
trust ; there is no reason to believe that the people of
England would not rally round the national standard. It
will not be for the first time that the people of Scotland
will have risen up in arms and have fought the enemies
of the United Kingdom ; and if it be that we cannot trust
the people of Ireland to be faithful and true to their Queen
and country, why, sir, let us at once send for a Russian
force to defend us, or let us have an Austrian garrison in
London. Let us hide our heads in shame and confusion ;
let us confess that England is no longer England ; that her
people are no longer endowed with that spirit and courage
which sustained them in times gone by; and that they
will not take up arms in their own defence, in defence of
their homes and their families, of their Sovereign and their
country. Such seems to be the idea of the framers of this
Bill." On a division as to the word " local," the Govern-
ment were defeated by 136 votes against 125, and Ministers
immediately resigned.
238 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
THE INDEFATIGABLE. Professor Pryme relates the fol-
lowing in illustration of his well-known capacity for mental
labour : " One night, after a very late division, we were
walking up Parliament Street together, when just opposite
Downing Street he said to me, ' I must leave you here, for
I have a despatch to revise at the Foreign Office.' I ex-
pressed some surprise at his continuing his labours so far
into the night, and he replied that he frequently did so."
His DEBUT IN THE PREMIERSHIP. When he found
himself at the head of the Cabinet, and leader of the
House, he discovered that even his long experience of
that body had not rendered him familiar with many of its
usages. * * * He set himself to learn the routine of
his new position with the same patient industry with which,
more than forty years before, he had mastered the details of
the War Office. Early and late was the Premier in his
place ; one of the first to come, one of the last to leave.
Day after day saw him there before half-past four. Night
after night did the summer morning find him still at his
place. His first appearance as leader of the House of
Commons was not entirely successful; but by the end
of the session of 1855 ^ e ^ a( i effectually grappled with
and overcome the difficulty. He continued the practice he
thus commenced during the whole period of his Premier-
ship. Edinburgh Review.
HAPPY QUOTATION. Lord Palmerston was often pecu-
liarly happy in the quotations with which he enforced an
argument or illustrated a position in debate ; and these not
unfrequently culled rather from the byeways than from the
highways of literature. One instance may be mentioned.
During a discussion on the style of architecture to be
adopted for the new law courts, his lordship was maintain-
ing the propriety of admitting a plentiful supply of natural
light into the obscure and knotty questions of law, and of
giving to the gentlemen of the long robe scope and verge
MR. PEASE. 239
enough to facilitate their movements from court to court.
" We have all heard," he said, " of
1 Rich windows that exclude the light,
And. passages that lead to nothing.' "
These architectural features to which his lordship referred
were characteristics of that ancient pile where in former
times
' ' My grave Lord Keeper led the brawls,
The seal and maces danced before him,"
but he, for one, did not think it desirable that they should
be repeated too often at the present day.
MR. PEASE.
THE FIRST QUAKER IN PARLIAMENT. A curious diffi-
culty (says Professor Pryme) occurred in the session 1832.
A Quaker (J. Pease, jun.) was returned as the Whig member
for the southern division of Durham. When he came to the
table to be sworn, previously to taking his seat, he claimed
to affirm instead of taking the oaths. The Speaker requested
him to withdraw, and Lord Althorp moved that a committee
be appointed to consider whether the" Act of Parliament
permitting affirmation in certain cases extended to this one.
Their report, presented a few days after, was in favour of it,
and the motion was agreed to unanimously. But another
difficulty presented itself. It was a rule that the hat might
be kept on when a member remained sitting, but must be
taken off when moving in the house, and this dilemma was
certain to occur daily. Some friend of Mr. Pease, to ob-
viate this, instructed the doorkeeper gently to remove his
hat and retain it till he quitted the house. In the course
of a year or two he put it on and off for himself. It might
have been thought that an individual of these peculiar
habits would not have felt at home in such an assembly, but
240 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
this was not the case, and the feeling of bonhommie which
generally prevailed in this " best and pleasantest Club," as
ray friend Hope Vere designated it, placed him perfectly at
his ease. As a proof of it I will relate the following anec-
dote. After the termination of Peel's short administration,
when several of us were in the library of the House, writing
letters or conversing on the formation of Lord Melbourne's
Ministry, one of those present jocosely asked Mr. Pease
what place he was to have. He answered, " There is but
one place that I could think of taking, and it has not been
offered to me." "What is that?" we exclaimed, and he
replied, " Of course, the Secretary at War." Pryme's
"Recollections"
A VARIETY. Mr. Lalor, M.P. for Queen's County, is
said to have snatched the occasion for a pun in his own
plain country dialect, from the circumstance of seeing Mr.
Pease, the Quaker member for Darlington, and the late Mr.
Baines, M.P. for Leeds, come into the House together.
" Oh," said he, "we are well off now, for here we have Paas
and Baans (peas and beans) at the same time." -John
aConnetts "Recollections."
SIR ROBERT PEEL.
A PATERNAL CAUTION. An anecdote which I have
from good authority would give reason for believing that Sir
Robert Peel had been long and naturally inclined to the
tendency to which he yielded when, after having been a
stubborn Conservative, he became an ardent reformer. It
is said that in 1809, when he entered the House of Com-
mons, his father, old Sir Robert Peel, went to Lord Liver-
pool and said to him : " My son, you may be sure, is a
young man of rare talent, and will one day play an import-
ant part ; but I know him well ; at bottom his tendencies
are Whig. If we do not immediately enlist him in our
S/j? ROBERT PEEL. 241
ranks, he will escape from us ; give him something to do, he
will serve you well, but you must make sure of him without
delay." Guizofs "Memoirs of Peel"
FATHER AND SON. On the appointment of a committee
to inquire into the state of the Bank of England and the
resumption of cash payments in 1819, Mr. Peel became
chairman, and in that capacity he brought up the report,
and proposed the resolutions it embodied. " His speech,"
writes Mr. G. H. Francis, " was heralded by one of those
dramatic incidents which are so rare in our public proceed-
ings ; rare, perhaps, because they really exercise so slight
an influence on the conduct of our public men. His father,
Sir Robert Peel, in presenting a petition from merchants of
the City of London against the proposed change in the
currency laws, alluded to the relative positions of himself
and his son with respect to the question. Speaking with
much emotion, but with the unpretending frankness which
marked his parliamentary conduct, he said: 'To-night I
shaU have to oppose a very near and dear relative. But
while it is my own sentiment that I have a duty to perform,
I respect those who do theirs, and who consider that duty
to be paramount to all other considerations. I have men-
tioned the name of Mr. Pitt. My own impression is
certainly a strong one in favour of that great man. All
of us have some bias, and I always thought him the first
man in the country. I well remember, when the near and
dear relative I have alluded to was a child, I observed to
some friends that the man who discharged his duty to his
country in the manner Mr. Pitt had done, was the man of
all the world to be admired, and the most to be imitated ;
and I thought at that moment that if my life, and that of
my dear relative, should be spared, I would one day present
him to his country to follow in the same path. It is very
natural that such should be my wish, and I will only say
further of him, that, though he is deviating from the proper
Q
242 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
path in this instance, his head and heart are in the right
place, and I think they will soon recall him to the right
way.' The son did not pass unnoticed this allusion of his
father. At the close of an able and powerful speech, in
which he had explained his own reasons for a change of
opinion, and the general views of the committee, he said :
* Many other difficulties presented themselves to me in dis-
cussing this question : among them is one which it pains me
to observe I mean the necessity I am under of opposing
myself to an authority to which I have always bowed from
my youth up, and to which I hope I shall always continue
to bow with deference. My excuse is now, that I have a
great public duty imposed upon me, and that, whatever
may be my private feelings, from that duty I must not
shrink.' "Francis's "Critical Biography of Peel"
"WHAT is A POUND?" In supporting his resolutions
on the occasion just referred to, Mr. Peel said, as reported
in "Hansard": "The main question is this, Can we go on
safely without a standard of value ? All the witnesses ex-
amined by the committee agreed that we could not, except
one, a Mr. Smith ; who, on being asked if there should be
no standard, said he would retain the ' pound.' Upon being
further asked, What is a pound ? he said it was difficult to
explain, but that there was no gentleman in England who
did not know what a pound was ! He added that a pound
was a standard which had existed in this country eight
hundred years three hundred years before the introduction
of gold coin ! I confess " (continued Mr. Peel) " that I can
form no idea of a pound or a shilling, as detached from a
definite quantity of the precious metals. I have the same
difficulties to encounter as had Martinus Scriblerus in fol-
lowing the metaphysical speculations of his tutor, the philo-
sophic Crambe. Being asked if he could form an idea of
a universal man, he replied that he conceived him to be a
knight of the shire, or the burgess of a corporation, who
SIR ROBERT PEEL. 243
represented a great number of individuals, but that he could
form no other idea of a universal man. Further to puzzle
him, he was asked if he could not form the universal idea
of a lord mayor. To which he replied, that never having
seen but one lord mayor, the idea of that lord mayor always
returned to his mind, and that he had therefore great diffi-
culty to abstract a lord mayor from his gold chain and
furred gown ; and that, moreover, unfortunately the only
time he ever saw a lord mayor he was on horseback, and
that the horse on which he rode, consequently, not a little
disturbed his imagination. Upon this, says the history,
Crambe, like the gentleman who can form an abstract idea
of a pound, swore that he could frame a conception of a
lord mayor, not only without his horse, gown, and gold
chain, but even without stature, feature, colour, hands, feet,
or any body whatever; and this, he contended, was the
true universal idea of a lord mayor."
FINALITY IN REFORM. Sir Robert Peel, addressing the
electors of Tamworth in 1834, stated that he "considered
the Reform Bill a final and irrevocable settlement of a great
constitutional question a settlement which no friend to
the peace and welfare of this country would attempt to
disturb, either by direct or by insidious means." Annual
Register.
"REGISTER, REGISTER, REGISTER!" Addressing the
electors at the Tamworth election dinner, August yth, 1837,
Sir Robert Peel said : " It may be disagreeable, and, indeed,
inconvenient to attend to the registration of voters which
annually takes place throughout the country. All this may
be revolting ; but you may depend upon it that it is better
you should take that trouble than that you should allow
the constitution to become the victim of false friends, or
that you should be trampled under the hoof of a ruthless
democracy. The advice which has been given by some
persons was, 'Agitate, agitate, agitate !' The advice which I
Q 2
244 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
give you is this Register, register, register!" Opinions of
the Right Hon. Sir Robert Peel.
AN HONOURABLE DISTINCTION. In a speech at Mer-
chant Tailors' Hall, May nth, 1835, sir Robert Peel said:
" Gentlemen, Will you allow me to recall to your recollec-
tion what was the grand charge against myself that the
King had sent for the son of a cotton-spinner to Rome, in
order to make him Prime Minister of England. Did I feel
that by any means a reflection on me ? Did that make me
at all discontented with the state of the laws and institutions
of the country ? No ; but does it not make me, and ought
it not to make you, gentlemen, do all you can to reserve to
other sons of other cotton-spinners the same opportunities,
by the same system of laws under which this country has so
long flourished, of arriving by the same honourable means
at the like distinction?"
CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. On the 5th of March, 1829,
Peel proposed, in the House of Commons, the abolition
of the political and civil disabilities which weighed upon,
the Catholics. Two cruel charges were brought against him
tergiversation and fear. He repelled them with candid
and high-minded good sense. "I cannot," he said, "pur-
chase the support of my honourable friends by promising
to adhere at all times and at all hazards, as minister of
the Crown, to arguments and opinions which I may have
heretofore propounded in this House. I reserve to myself,
distinctly and unequivocally, the right of adapting my con-
duct to the exigencies of the moment and to the wants
of the country. This has been the conduct of all former
statesmen, at all times and in all countries." And, with
regard to the charge of yielding to intimidation : "In my
opinion," he said, " no motive can be more justly branded
as ignominious than that which is usually termed cowardice.
But there is a temper of mind much more dangerous than
this, though it may not be so base; I mean the fear of
ROBERT PEEL.
245
being thought to be afraid. Base as a coward is, the man
who abandons himself to the fear of being thought a
coward displays little more fortitude." And when the
debate drew near to its close, with his heart torn by the
recollections of Canning, which had been so often invoked
against him, he said, " The credit belongs to others, and
not to me. It belongs to Mr. Fox, to Mr. Grattan, to
Mr. Plunket, to the gentlemen opposite, and to an illus-
trious friend of mine, who is now no more. * * * I
was on terms of the most friendly intimacy with my right
honourable friend down even to the day of his death ; and
I say, with as much sincerity' of heart as man can speak,
that I wish he were now alive to reap the harvest which he
sowed, and to enjoy the triumph which his exertions gained.
I would say of him as he said of the late Mr. Perceval :
' Would he were here to enjoy the fruit of his victory !'
' Tuque tuis armis, nos te poteremur, Achilla,' "
Guiwfs "Memoirs of Peel."
PEEL'S DENUNCIATION OF COBBETT. In 1833, Cobbett
proposed a lengthy motion, the effect of which was to pray
the King to dismiss Sir Robert Peel from his Privy Council,
as the author of the Bill of 1819, which had been the cause
of the distress of the country. A long, and, though occa-
sionally violent, a feeble speech from Cobbett ushered in
the motion, which was seconded by Mr. John Feilden. Sir
Robert answered him in a magnificent speech, of which the
most remarkable passage, though it has often been quoted,
will bear repetition here. After an elaborate refutation of
all Cobbett's arguments, and a scornful repudiation of the
implied accusation that he had himself gained by the change
of currency, Sir Robert burst forth in these words : " It is
on public grounds that the honourable member assails me.
The honourable member has not the same motives for
attacking me which he has had for attacking others. I have
246 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
never lent the honourable member my confidence ; from me
the honourable member has never received any obligation.
His object in assailing me is, doubtless, to strike terror by
the threat of his denunciations to discourage opposition,
from the fear of being signalised as a victim. But I tell the
gentlemen of England that their best security is in boldly
facing and defying such insidious efforts. God forbid that
the honourable member's speculations on the prospect of
public confusion should be realised. I labour under no
anxiety that they will. I feel confident that whatever may
be the political differences that divide public men, all who
are interested in the upholding of law and property will
unite in their defence to put down such attempts. Not only
would it be the bitterest calamity, but a calamity embittered
by the greatest disgrace, to live under such an ignoble
tyranny as he would impose.
' Come the eleventh plague rather than this should be ;
Come sink us rather in the sea ;
Come, rather, pestilence, and reap us down ;
Come God's sword, rather than our own.
Let rather Roman come again,
Or Saxon, Norman, or the Dane.
In all the bonds we ever bore,
We grieved, we sighed, we wept ; we never blushed before.'
Blush, indeed, we shall, if we submit to this base and vulgar
domination ; and I for one believing as I do that I have
been selected as an object of attack, for the purpose of dis-
couraging resistance to the insidious efforts which the
honourable gentleman is daily making to weaken the foun-
dations of property and the authority of the law I will, at
least, preserve myself from the reproach of having furthered
the objects he has in view by any symptom of intimidation
or submission." The passage from old Abraham Cowley,
delivered with the fine sonorous voice and lofty manner into
which Sir Robert Peel fell in moments of real excitement,
produced an electrical effect. Well we remember the scene.
Srx ROBERT PEEL. 247
Cobbett, his grey hairs pleading for his sincerity, had been
heard as a duty, but with regret. His antagonist had borne
himself along on the rising sympathy of the House. Rarely,
indeed, does the British senate even seem to do injustice ;
but now, the disgust of the listeners, and their excitement
under Sir Robert's stirring address, overpowered all forms.
Cobbett rose, was met with a shout almost of execration,
retired to his seat, rose again, again was met with an in-
dignant repulse, once more and yet once more essayed to
speak against the storm of passion, till at last he staggered
to his place beside his seconder, for the first time, perhaps,
in his life .utterly quelled by his fellow-men. The accused
statesman, gathering himself up with dignity, declared he
would not vote on a question so personal to himself, and left
the House majestically, amidst a hurricane of cheers. Four
members only John O'Connell, Thomas Attwood, James
Roe, and Patrick Leader, were found supporting Cobbett
and Feilden, while the voters for Peel numbered 298. Then
came an incident scarcely less dramatic. Lord Althorp, the
Whig chief of the House, moved that the resolution should
be expunged from the Journals. On a division there were
still only four against the motion, Feargus O'Connor sup-
plying the place of John O'Connell ; and, the votes on the
other side amounting to 295, the resolution of Lord Althorp
was carried out. Francis's '''Critical Biography of Peel."
PEEL'S CHALLENGE TO O'CONNELL. In August, 1815,
in consequence of some expressions used by the great
agitator at a public meeting, a hostile correspondence took
place between Mr. Peel (then Irish Secretary) and that
gentleman, which, however, ended as it had begun. Mr.
O'Connell was arrested, and bound to keep the peace within
the kingdom ; they then agreed to go to the Continent, but
Mr. O'Connell was again placed under arrest on reaching
London. Much controversy occurred relative to this affair,
but the only plausible or fair conjecture is that some friendly
248 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
Argus kept the police on the qui vive, to prevent the shed-
ding of valuable blood. Mac Ghee's "O'Connell and his
Friends." It was with reference to this affair that Lord
Norbury indulged in a jest at O'Connell's expense a short
time afterwards. Mr. O'Connell was addressing his lord-
ship, who seemed to pay but indifferent attention to what
he was saying. "I am afraid, my lord," said O'Connell,
pausing in his argument, " that your lordship does not ap-
prehend me." " I beg your pardon," replied the facetious
judge, " I do perfectly ; and, indeed, no one is more easily
apprehended than Mr. O'Connell, when he wishes to be."
THE FALL OF SIR ROBERT PEEL. On the evening of
the 25th of June, 1846, the announcement was made to the
House of Commons that the Lords had agreed to Sir Robert
Peel's Corn and Customs Bills (effecting the Repeal of the
Corn Laws) without amendment. This was the signal for
the closing of a lengthened debate on the Irish Coercion
Bill, then before the House. The circumstances attending
the division which hurled Sir Robert Peel from power are
thus described by Mr. Disraeli, in his " Life of Lord George
Bentinck " :
" At length, about half-past one o'clock, the galleries were
cleared, the division called, and the question put. In
almost all previous divisions where the fate of a Government
had been depending, the vote of every member, with scarcely
an exception, had been anticipated ; that was not the case
in the present instance, and the direction which members
took as they left their seats was anxiously watched. More
than one hundred Protectionist members followed the
Minister ; more than eighty avoided the division, a few of
these, however, had paired ; nearly the same number
followed Lord George Bentinck. But it was not merely
their numbers that attracted the anxious observation of the
Treasury bench, as the Protectionists passed in defile
before the Minister to the hostile lobby. It was impossible
Ssx ROBERT PEEL. 249
that he could have marked them without emotion ; the
flower of that great party which had been so proud to
follow one who had been so proud to lead them. They
were men to gain whose hearts and the hearts of their
fathers had been the aim and exultation of his life. They
had extended to him an unlimited confidence and an
admiration without stint. They had stood by him in the
darkest hour, and had borne him from the depths of
political despair to the proudest of living positions. Right
or wrong, they were men of honour, breeding, and refine-
ment, high and generous character, great weight and
station in the country, which they had ever placed at his
disposal. They had been not only his followers but his
friends ; had joined in the same pastimes, drank from the
same cup, and in the pleasantness of private life had often
forgotten together the cares and strife of politics.
" He must have felt something of this, while the
Manners, the Somersets, the Bentincks, the Lowthers, and
the Lennoxes passed before him. And those country
gentlemen, 'those gentlemen of England,' of whom, but
five years ago, the very same building was ringing with his
pride of being their leader if his heart were hardened to
Sir Charles Burrell, Sir William Jolliffe, Sir Charles Knightly,
Sir John Trollope, Sir Edward Kerrison, Sir John Tyrrell,
he surely must have had a pang when his eye rested on
Sir John Yarde Buller, his choice and pattern country gentle-
man, whom he had himself selected and invited, but six years
back, to move a vote of want of confidence in the Whig
Government, in order, against the feeling of the Court, to
install Sir Robert Peel in their stead. They trooped on:
all the men of mettle and large-acred squires, whose spirit
he had so often quickened, and whose counsel he had so
often solicited in his fine Conservative speeches in White-
hall Gardens. * * *
" When Prince Metternich was informed, at Dresden,
250 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
with great ostentation, that the Emperor had arrived ' Yes ;
but without his army,' was the reply. Sir Robert Peel was
still First Minister of England, as Napoleon remained
Emperor for a while after Moscow. Each, perhaps, for a
moment had indulged in hope, it is so difficult for those
who are on the pinnacle of life to realise disaster. They
sometimes contemplate it in their deep and far-seeing calcu-
lations, but it is only to imagine a contingency which their
resources must surely baffle \ they sometimes talk of it to
their friends, and oftener of it to their enemies, but it is only
as an insurance of their prosperity and as an offering to
propitiate their Nemesis. They never believe in it.
" The news that the Government were not only beaten,
but by a majority so large as 73, began to circulate. An
incredulous murmur passed it along the Treasury bench.
* They say we are beaten by 73 ! ' whispered the most
important member of the Cabinet, in a tone of surprise, to
Sir Robert Peel. Sir Robert did not reply, or even turn his
head. He looked very grave, and extended his chin, as was
his habit when he was annoyed and cared not to speak.
He began to comprehend his position, and that the Emperor
was without his army."
His CHARACTER BY GUIZOT. Sir Robert Peel is the
most eminent statesman who has sprung from the ranks of
democracy the most honest as well as the most able,
the most congenial and faithful to democracy, at the same
time as the most free from its evil tendencies. Although
adopted by the aristocracy from his very entrance into public
life, and although he served in their ranks, he never gave
himself over to them ; and far from pretending, as it is said,
to the honour of belonging to their body, he was proud of his
plebeian origin, and did not seek to conceal it either by his
manners or by his maxims. He was dignified without
elegance, and with, perhaps, more susceptibility than was
consistent with his superiority, which he ought to have enjoyed
PEEL PELHA M. 251
with greater confidence and ease. On seeing him at court,
in the drawing-rooms of Windsor, I was struck by a little
constraint and stiffness in his attitude ; he was evidently the
most important and the most respected man there, and yet
he did not look as if he were at home ; his sway did not
appear to be exempt from embarrassment; he governed
without reigning. No one felt or expressed a deeper and
more affectionate respect for the ancient institutions, the
ancient manners, the whole old social order of his country ;
he revered and loved the past though he was not of it and
that is a certain mark of great judgment as well as of virtue;
but, at the same time, he regarded aristocratic distinctions
and honours with something more than indifference it was
his fixed resolve to reject them. Guizofs " Memoirs of Peel "
HENRY PELHAM.
His INTREPIDITY. In the debates on the Excise Bill,
in March, 1733, Pelham warmly supported that measure, in
defiance of party and popular clamour. During this period
of agitation he not only defended the Minister (Walpole)
in Parliament, but on one occasion evinced his personal
attachment by an act of great intrepidity. After the last
debate on the bill, as Sir Robert Walpole was passing
through the lobby of the House of Commons, accompanied
by Mr. Pelham, he was surrounded by a clamorous mob,
not of rabble, but of well-dressed persons. When the two
friends had nearly reached the steps leading to Alice's coffee-
house, some individuals seized Sir Robert's cloak, and, as
the collar was tightly fastened, nearly strangled him. At
this moment of danger Mr. Pelham attacked the assailants,
pushed Sir Robert into the passage leading to the coffee-
house, and, drawing his sword, stationed himself at the
entrance, exclaiming in a firm and determined tone, " Now,
gentlemen, who will be the first to fall ? " This spirited
252 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
defiance overawed the .assailants, who quietly dispersed.
Coxfs " Pelham Administration." The archdeacon adds
in a foot-note that the above is a correct version of the
occurrence, which was inaccurately given in his " Memoirs
of Sir Robert Walpole."
A POSTHUMOUS MALEDICTION. The principal article
of the Ways and Means (1752) was the land tax, which the
Minister (Mr. Pelham) entertained hopes of reducing to the
ordinary rate of two shillings in the pound. He discovered,
however, that this reduction could not be effected without
trenching on the sinking fund, and thus depreciating the
public securities, and therefore he determined to continue the
tax at three shillings. This resolution was resisted by some
violent members, whom Lord Orford sarcastically terms
" the sad refuse of all the last Opposition," who contended
that the land was already too much burdened to admit of
the continuance of a tax at three shillings. Mr. Pelham and
his adherents, in reply, alluded to the great rise in the value
of land, which, they said, rendered reduction unnecessary.
The arguments and influence of the Minister prevailed,
and the resolution was carried in the committee by 176
against 50. On the report the opposition was still more
feeble; and Mr. Sydenham concluded a speech which
closed the discussion, by a ludicrous parody of the well-
known epitaph on Sir John Vanbrugh, which he applied to
Mr. Pelham
" Lie heavy on him, land, for he
Laid many a heavy load on thee."
The resolution was finally adopted by a majority of 58
against 19. Ibid.
SPENCER PERCEVAL.
A CHANCELLOR'S DIFFICULTY. The illness of George
III. in 1811, which incapacitated him for affixing his sign-
SPENCER PERCEVAL. 253
manual to bills, gave rise to a singular discussion in the
House of Commons. The matter is thus referred to in
the " Malmesbury Correspondence " : " Mr. Ross to the
Earl of Malmesbury. Spring Gardens, January 4th, 1811.
The business that is to come on in the House of Com-
mons to-night offers none of the least curious circum-
stances of the present eventful times. That two deputy
clerks, whose salaries are not more than 150 per annum
each, should have had the power of stopping the issue of
; i, 5 00,000 of the public money, seems extraordinary, but
so it is. Mr. Perceval (Chancellor of the Exchequer) used
every means to persuade them to put the Privy Seal to the
warrant, and amongst other reasons endeavoured to prove
to them that, as the King only signed but did not write the
bill (for so I understand it is called), they might venture to
do it without the sign-manual. Their oath is not to put the
Privy Seal to any bill which has not the sign-manual." The
sum in question was required for the service of the army
and navy, and to meet the emergency the Chancellor of
the Exchequer moved a resolution which was agreed to by
the House, commanding the auditor and officers of the
Exchequer to pay such sums as the exigency required upon
the warrants of any three or more of the Lords Commissioners
of the Treasury. This resolution of the Commons was also
agreed to by the House of Lords.
His ASSASSINATION. A motion was carried at the end
of April, 1812, for examining the question (the effect pro-
duced on the trade of the country by the Orders in Council)
in a committee of the whole House, and in taking the
evidence which was adduced to show the ruinous effects
of the system, Mr. Perceval with Mr. Stephen bore night
after night the principal part. As they both hoped that the
clamour out of doors would subside, if time were given, the
struggle always was to put off the inquiry, and thus to pro-
tract the decision ; and Messrs. Brougham and Baring, who
254 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
conducted it with some difficulty, prevailed so far as to
begin the examination of the witnesses exactly at half-past
four o'clock. On the nth of May, Mr. Perceval had been
later than the appointed time, and after complaining of
this delay, Mr. Brougham, at a quarter before five, had
called his first witness, and was examining him, when a
messenger deputed to bring the Minister met him walking
towards the House with Mr. Stephen arm-in-arm. He in-
stantly, with his accustomed activity, darted forward to
obey the summons, but for which Mr. Stephen, who hap-
pened to be on his left side, would have been the victim
of the assassin's blow, which prostrated Mr. Perceval as he
entered the lobby. The wretched man, by name Bellingham,
had no kind of quarrel with him, but complained of a suit
at St. Petersburg having been neglected by our ambassador
there, Lord Granville, whom he intended to have destroyed
had not Mr. Perceval fallen first in his way. He never
attempted to escape ; but was taken, committed, tried, con-
demned, executed, dissected, all within one week from the
time that he fired the shot. Brougham's "Historical
Sketches."
WILLIAM PITT.
A CHILD'S AMBITION. In August, 1766, when the
world was agitated by the news that Mr. Pitt had become
Earl of Chatham, little William exclaimed, " I am glad that
I am not the eldest son. I want to speak in the House of
Commons, like papa." Macaulay's "Biography of Pitt"
PRECOCIOUS CRITICISM. When he was at home he had
frequent opportunities of hearing important debates at West-
minster ; and he, heard them, not only with interest and en-
joyment, but with a close scientific attention resembling that
with which a diligent pupil at Guy's Hospital watches every
turn of the hand of a great surgeon through a difficult opera-
tion. On one of these occasions, Pitt, a youth whose
WILLIAM PITT. 255
abilities were as yet known only to his family and to a
small knot of college friends, was introduced on the steps
of the throne in the House of Lords to Fox, who was his
senior by eleven years, and who was already the greatest
debater, and one of the greatest orators that had appeared
in England. Fox used afterwards to relate that, as the dis-
cussion proceeded, Pitt repeatedly turned to him and said,
" But surely, Mr. Fox, that might be met thus ; " or " Yes ;
but he lays himself open to this retort." What the particular
criticisms were, Fox had forgotten ; but he said he was much
struck at the time by the precocity of a lad who, through the
whole sitting, seemed to be thinking only how all the
speeches on both sides could be answered. Ibid.
" NEVER WAS A BOY." The following entry occurs in
the Journal of Francis Homer, 1805 : "On one occasion,
with Ward and John Ponsonby, when there was a great
deal of conversation about the exercises and sports of the
common people, the impolicy of suppressing them, &c., and
when we ran over the names of the different public men,
in the state and the law, whose opinions upon such a
point of policy might come to be of importance, I hazarded
Pitt's name. ' Oh ! ' exclaimed Windham, ' Pitt never was
a boy ; besides, such questions won't conduce to make a
minister.' "
RISING MEN. When he first entered Parliament Pitt
lived much in what may be termed a select club of his
personal friends, young men of great talent, most of whom
looked up to him as their political leader. They were about
twenty-five in number, and met at the house of a man
named Goosetree, in Pall Mall. Among them were Pratt
(afterwards Lord Camden), Althorp (afterwards Lord
Spencer), Grenville (afterwards Lord Grenville), Robinson
(afterwards Lord Rokeby), Smith (afterwards Lord Carring-
ton), Lords Duncannon, Euston, &c. HarforcTs "Recol-
lections of Wiiberforce"
256 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
PITT'S FIRST SPEECH. On the 26th of February (1781),
Mr. Burke's renewed Bill for the Reduction of the Civil
List was rejected by 233 to 190. On this occasion Mr.
Sheridan and Mr. John Townshend made their first speeches.
But, above all, Mr. William Pitt spoke with a fluency, a pre-
cision, a dignity, and a method which are usually the ac-
quirements of many years of practice. Lord North declared
it was the best first speech he had ever heard. The effect
appears to have been prodigious. By no one was Mr. Pitt's
success more warmly greeted than by Mr. Fox. Lord
Holland has related an anecdote which illustrates the
presence of mind of the young orator. "As Mr. Fox
hurried up to Mr. Pitt to compliment him on his speech,
an old member, said to be General Grant, passed by and
said, 'Ay, Mr. Fox, you are praising young Pitt for his
speech. You may well do so ; for, excepting yourself, there's
no man in the House can make such another ; and, old as
I am, I expect and hope to hear you both battling it within
these walls as I have done your fathers before.' Mr.
Fox, disconcerted at the awkward turn of the compliment,
was silent, and looked foolish ; but young Pitt, with
great delicacy, readiness, and felicity of expression, an-
swered, 'I have no doubt, general, you would like to
attain the age of Methuselah.' " Before long Mr. Fox had
an opportunity of testifying in public the admiration he
had avowed in private ; and early in the following year, in
praising a speech of Mr. Pitt, he said " he could no longer
lament the loss of Lord Chatham, for he was again living in
his son, with all his virtues and all his talents." Russetfs
"Life of Fox" Macaulay relates in his biography, " Pitt made
his first speech in. favour of Burke's plan of economical reform.
Fox stood up at the same moment, but instantly gave way.
The lofty yet animated deportment of the young member,
his perfect self-possession, the readiness with which he
replied to the orators who had preceded him, the silver tones
WILLIAM PITT.
257
of his voice, the perfect structure of his unpremeditated
sentences, astonished and delighted his hearers. Burke,
moved even to tears, exclaimed, 'It is not a chip of the
old block; it is the old block itself.' 'Pitt will be one
of the first men in Parliament,' said a member of the
Opposition to Fox. ' He is so already,' answered Fox, in
whose nature envy had no place. It is a curious fact, well
remembered by some who were very recently living, that
soon after this debate, Pitt's name was put up by Fox at
Brookes's."
AGAMEMNON AND ACHILLES. A debate on the Army
Estimates took place in the House of Commons, Decem-
ber, 1781. Lord George Germaine had taken occasion
two days before to declare that, be the consequences what
they might, he would never consent to sign the indepen-
dence of the colonies. Lord North, on the contrary, had
shown strong symptoms of yielding. Pitt was inveighing
with much force against these discordant counsels at so
perilous a juncture, when the two ministers whom he
arraigned drew close and began to whisper, while Mr.
Welbore Ellis, a grey-haired placeman, of diminutive size,
the butt of " Junius" under the by-name of Grildrig, bent
down his tiny head between them. Here Pitt paused in his
argument, and glancing at the group, exclaimed, " I will wait
until the unanimity is a little better restored. I will wait
until the Nestor of the Treasury has reconciled the differ-
ence between the Agamemnon and the Achilles of the
American war." Stanhopes " Life of Pitt"
SPEAKING UNDER DIFFICULTIES. Wilberforce said,
when Pitt undertook, on February 2ist, 1783, the difficult
task of defending the recent peace, I well remember that he
was so oppressed by a severe sick-headache as to be scarcely
able to hold up his head. Fox assailed him in a very able
speech, in the midst of which Pitt was obliged, from actual
sickness, to retire to the entry door called Solomon's Porch,
R
258 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
behind the Speaker's chair. I seem to see him holding the
door in one hand, while he yielded to his malady, and turn-
ing his ear towards the House, that, if possible, he might
not lose a single sentence that Fox uttered. Never do I
recollect to have witnessed such a triumph of mind over
physical depression. When Fox sat down he replied to
him with great ability, though with less brilliancy than
usual ; but on a renewal of the same discussion, a few days
after, in a different form, he made one of the finest speeches
ever delivered in Parliament. Harford's "Recollections of
Wilberforce."
FORBIDDING THE BANNS. The finest, in all proba-
bility, of his speeches is that upon the peace of 1783 and
the Coalition, when he closed his magnificent peroration by
that noble yet simple figure, " And if this inauspicious
union be not already consummated, in the name of my
country I forbid the banns." Brougham's "Statesmen"
His MOST EFFECTIVE SPEECH. On the i8th of May,
1803, war was declared, and on the 23rd and 24th occurred
one of the most memorable debates which ever took place
in the House of Commons. On the first night Pitt spoke,
and on the second, Fox, and both exerted their highest
powers. Of Pitt's speech Lord Malmesbury says : " Pitt's
speech last night was the finest he ever made. Never was
any speech so cheered, or so incessantly and loudly ap-
plauded." But the best account we have of this speech is
from a letter of Lord Dudley, then Mr. Ward, to the Rev.
E. Copleston (afterwards Bishop of Llandaff) : " Whatever
may have been its comparative merits, its effects were
astonishing, and, I believe, unequalled. When he came in,
which he did not till after Lord Hawkesbury had been
speaking nearly an hour, all the attention of the House was
withdrawn for some moments from the orator and fixed on
him; and as he walked up to his place, his name was
repeated aloud by many persons, for want, I imagine, of
WILLIAM PITT. 259
some other way to express their feelings. Erskine and
Whitbread were heard with impatience, and when, at the
end of a tedious hour and a half, he rose (twenty minutes to
eight), there was first a violent and almost universal cry of
' Mr. Pitt ! Mr. Pitt ! ' He was then cheered before he had
uttered a syllable a mark of approbation which was re-
peated at almost all the brilliant passages and remarkable
sentiments ; and when he sat down (nine), there followed
one of the longest, most eager, and most enthusiastic bursts
of applause I ever heard in any place on any occasion. As
far as I observed, however, it was confined to the parlia-
mentary ' Hear him ! Hear him ! ' but it is possible the
exclamations in the body of the House might have hindered
me from hearing the clapping of hands in the gallery. This
wonderful agitation, you will readily perceive, it would not
be fair to ascribe wholly to the superiority of his eloquence
on that particular occasion. He was applauded before he
spoke,* which is alone a sufficient proof. Much must be
attributed to his return at such an awful moment to an
assembly which he had been accustomed to rule, from which
he had been long absent, and in which he had not left a
successor; some little, perhaps, to his addressing a new
Parliament, in which there were many members by whom
he had never or rarely been heard, and whose curiosity
must of course have been raised to the highest pitch."
Russelts "Life of Fox."
AN " INSPIRED " ORATOR. On the breaking up of the
House, after the memorable debate (on the slave trade) in
which Pitt spoke so finely, Windham, who was by no means
partial to Pitt, and who did not take the abolition side, met
Wilberforce and accosted him thus : " Really, if your friend
Pitt should speak often as he did last night, he will make
* This was evidently most unusual in Pitt's time, although it has since
become a common practice. The extract also shows that " Hear him !"
was then the parliamentary sign of approbation.
R 2
260 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
converts of us all. It was as if he were inspired." Har-
fortfs "Recollections of Wilberforce."
EXCEPTIONS. On his Additional Force Bill, in 1805,
Pitt had a meeting of country gentlemen to consider the
measure. One of them objected to a clause for calling out
the force, which he insisted should not be done " except
in case of actual invasion." Pitt replied, " That would
be too late ; " but the gentleman still insisted on the case
of "actual invasion." By-and-by they came to another
clause to render the force more disposable; the same
gentleman objected again, and insisted very warmly that he
never would consent to its being sent out of England.
" Except, I suppose," rejoined Pitt, " in case of actual in-
vasion." Quarterly Review.
EVE. Pitt one night, alluding to his small number of
adherents on the Declaratory Bill, said that he appeared in
the House of Commons as Eve in the garden of God,
single and naked, yet not ashamed ! Lord Orfortfs
Memoirs.
His CLASSICAL STUDIES. Pitt (said Lord Grenville)
" ascribed his fluency to the following circumstances : At
Hayes (his father's seat), where they lived in great seclusion,
it was his custom in the morning to construe his author,
Virgil or Livy, to his tutor, Mr. Wilson ; and in the even-
ing, after tea, to translate the same passage freely, with the
book open before him, to his father and the rest of the
family. He often mentioned this to me as the way he
thought he acquired his fluency in public speaking ; and it
is remarkable that in conversation, when an ancient writer
was quoted, he always turned the passage into English (for
his own use, as it seemed) before he appeared completely to
enter into it a habit I ascribe to this practice." Redhead
Yorke mentions his being present when somebody quoted
the following passage from the " De Claris Oratoribus " of
Cicero to Mr. Pitt : "Est cum eloquentia sicut flamma:
WILLIAM PITT. 261
materie alitur, motft excitatur, et urendo clarescit." It was
observed that it was untranslatable, on which Mr. Pitt im-
mediately replied, " No, I should translate it thus : * It is
with eloquence as with a flame. It requires fuel to feed it,
motion to excite it, and it brightens as it burns.' " Samuel
Rogers' "Recollections."
His STYLE. Mr. Pitt's style was, by Mr. Windham,
called " a State-paper style," in allusion to its combined
dignity and poverty ; and the same nice observer, referring
to the eminently skilful way in which he balanced his
phrases, sailed near the wind, and seemed to disclose much
whilst he kept the greater part of his meaning to himself,
declared that " he verily believed Mr. Pitt could speak a
king's speech off-hand." Brougham's "Statesmen?
FINISHED ORATORY. Of Mr. Pitt, Wilberforce said
that he came into Parliament so accomplished an orator
that in the arrangement of his matter, the force of his
reasoning, and in all the graces of finished elocution, his
first speeches were almost equal to his last. Mr. Wind-
ham's speeches, he said, were known to have been prepared
with assiduous care ; and, though interspersed with anec-
dotes which seemed spontaneous, to have been written
down before delivery. Sheridan's were so diligently
elaborated that he had been known often, before the oc-
currence of a great debate, to shut himself in his room, day
after day, where he was heard declaiming for hours. ffar-
fortfs "Recollections of Wilberforce"
A RECONCILIATION PREVENTED. Lord Brougham re-
lates the following as a "singular instance of the great
effects of trivial circumstances." During the co-operation
of all parties against Mr. Addington's Government, in the
spring of 1804, Mr. Pitt and Mr. C. Long were one night
passing the door of Brookes's club-house, on their way from
the House of Commons, when Mr. Pitt, who had not been
there since the Coalition of 1784, said he had a great mind
262 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
to go in and sup. His wary friend said, " I think you had
better not," and turned aside the well-conceived intention.
When we reflect, says Brougham, on the high favour Mr.
Pitt was then in with the Whigs, and consider the nature
of Mr. Fox as well as his own, we can have little doubt
of the cordial friendship which such a night would have
cemented, and that the union of the two parties would have
been complete. Historical Sketches.
LORD PLUNKET.
" TAKE DOWN HIS WORDS." A remarkable effect is
said to have been produced by Mr. (afterwards Lord)
Plunket, in the Irish House of Commons, upon some one
calling out to take down his words. " Stop," said this con-
summate orator, " and you shall have something more to
take down ; " and then followed in a torrent the most
vehement and indignant description of the wrongs which
his country had sustained, and had still to endure.
Brougham's " Statesmen"
THE FELON TRANSFORMED. Lord Plunket explain-
ing why he had now become a Reformer when he had
before opposed the question, " Circumstances," said he, " are
wholly changed ; formerly Reform carne to our door like a
felon a robber to be resisted. He now approaches like a
creditor ; you admit the justice of his demand, and only
dispute the time and instalments by which he shall be paid."
Ibid.
PROFESSIONAL ACUMEN. Lord Brougham records the
following circumstance in the preface which he wrote for the
" Life of Lord Plunket " : " There was on one occasion a
very remarkable instance of his readiness at taking up a
subject under extraordinary difficulties, and of this my
personal recollection is very distinct, for I had in the debate
experience of his power. On the case of Windham Quin,
LORD PLUNKET.
263
brought before the House of Commons by the friends of
Chief -Baron O'Grady, we examined witnesses for above a
reek, and Sir Robert Peel sat by us supporting his friend
Quin, heard ail the evidence, and, indeed, took a part in the
examination of the witnesses. The evidence was, of course,
printed, and Plunket's only knowledge of our proceedings
was from reading it on his journey to London. Peel made
an elaborate and able defence of his friend, and Plunket
took the same side ; but there was this remarkable difference
between the two speeches ; Peel, familiar with the case in
11 its particulars, spoke in mitigation of censure, admitting
the charge to have been proved. He had gone over the
ground without perceiving that there was enough to support
a plea of not guilty. Plunket at once took that course ; he
had found the materials for it in the printed evidence, though
absent during the whole proceedings ; and, having had to
answer his wonderful speech, I can truly say that no one
could have supposed he had not been present. This inci-
dent was often referred to as showing the difference between
an ordinary person, however able, but unprofessional, and
one with the experience and habits of an advocate. The
admirable defence by Plunket was justly ascribed to his
professional skill, and no one questioned the ability of Peel
or his heartiness in supporting his friend."
RETROSPECTION. Mr. Plunket made perhaps his most
brilliant speech on the motion for a committee on the
Roman Catholic claims, introduced February 28th, 1821.
In adducing names of authority in support of his arguments ?
he said : " Backed by the memories of the great lights and
ornaments of the late reign of Dunning, Pitt, Fox, Burke,
Sheridan, and Windham backed, I say, by the name of
every man who possessed buoyancy enough to float down
the stream of time I feel that I have made out, I had
almost said that I had established, the position that I
sought, triumphantly. But when I look around me, and
264 A BOOK OF PARLIAMENTARY ANECDOTE.
reflect on those whom I miss, and who were present when I
last had the honour of addressing the House on this question,
I am checked. When I reflect that since that period we
have lost Whitbread, the incorruptible sentinel of the con-
stitution that we have lost the aid of the more than dawn-
ing virtues of Horner that we had then Romilly, whose
mature excellencies shed a steady light on his profession,
on his country, and his nature that Elliott, the pure model
of aristocracy that the illustrious Ponsonby, the constitu-
tional leader of the ranks of Opposition in this House, re-
vering alike the privileges of the Crown and the rights of
the subject are no more ; but, above all, when I dwell on
that last overwhelming loss the loss of that great man
(Henry Grattan) in whose place I this night unworthily
stand, and with the description of whose exalted merits I
would not trust myself God knows, I cannot feel anything
like triumph ! Walking before the sacred images of these
illustrious dead, as in a public and solemn procession, shall
we not dismiss all party feeling, all angry passions, and
unworthy prejudices ? " Hansard.
WILLIAM PULTENEY.
A HORATIAN 
