discussion would be to treat him as the ancient Egyptians did their own kings-judge him immediately 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 (writes Guizot) 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 disturb them." "And he died at Chiswick," concluded Lady Holland, with emotion.

WILLIAM HUSKISSON.

(1770-1830.)

Legal Phraseology in the House of Commons.-Mr. Huskis son 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, while 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 gentleman repeatedly told us that he was not at liberty to admit 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."

The Duke of Wellington and Huskisson.-In 1828, when the Duke of Wellington was Prime Minister, "the question of Parliamentary Reform was brought under discussion upon a motion to disfranchise the two boroughs of Penrhyn and East Retford, and invest Manchester and

Birmingham with the electoral privileges thus vacated. In the course of the contest a division was taken on the particular substitution of Birmingham for East Retford. Government said 'No' to the proposal, but Mr. Huskisson, though still Colonial Secretary, had managed to commit himself to an affirmative vote. Confused at his position, he sent the duke what was either a resignation or an offer of resignation, and what the duke chose to think was the former. There was, in plain truth, but little cordiality between them. Unpleasant jars had occurred already. Mr. Huskisson had publicly assured his Liverpool constituents that he had not entered the new administration without a 'guarantee' for the general adjustment of its policy by that of Mr. Canning. This sounded as if a 'pledge' had been exacted and given-an idea which the duke indignantly repudiated, and parliamentary explanations had to be offered before the matter could be set at rest. So this time the difference was made final. In vain did the common friends and colleagues of the two statesmen endeavour to explain' the unlucky communication. The duke, in terms which passed into proverbial use, replied that there was no mistake, could be no mistake, and should be no mistake.' He was not sorry, in fact, that so convenient an opportunity had been created to his hand. Mr. Huskisson therefore retired."-Times' Memoir of Wellington.

His Death. The Annual Register gave an account of the fatal accident to Mr. Huskisson at the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, on the 15th of September, 1830, from which the following particulars are taken :-The procession, drawn by eight locomotive engines, left Liverpool at 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. Huskisson and several others got out; and Mr. Holmes, for the purpose of bringing Mr. Huskisson and the duke together, 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 advancing, 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 character 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.

EARL GREY.

(1764-1845.)

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 opposition to the address moved by Mr. Blackburne to thank his Majesty for the Commercial Treaty with France, negotiated 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 presented himself to the House, and went through his first performance with an éclat which has not been equalled within my recollection. His name is Grey. I do not go too far in declaring that in the advantages 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 the ranks of Opposition, from which there is no chance of his being detached."

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 remarked, “ 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 sobriquet) himself. I feel very much the want of habit and experience in debate, which is absolutely 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."

A Clear Head.-Stanley (writes Mr. Greville) gives the following instance of Lord Grey's readiness and clear-headed accuracy. In one of the debates on the West India question in 1833, he went to Stanley, who was standing under the gallery, and asked him on what calculation he had allotted the sum of twenty millions (for emancipation of the slaves). Stanley explained to him a complicated series of figures, of terms of years, interest, compound interest, value of labour, &c., after which Lord Grey went back to his place, rose, and went through the whole with as much clearness and precision as if all these details had been all along familiar to his mind.

A Soft Answer.-The other night (says Greville) Lord Grey had called Lord Falmouth to order, and after the debate Falmouth came up to him with a menacing air, and said, " My Lord Grey, I wish to inform you that if upon any future occasion you transgress in the slightest degree the orders of the House, I shall most certainly call you to order." Lord Grey, who expected from his air something more hostile, merely said, "My lord, your lordship will do perfectly right, and whenever I am out of order I hope you will."

"No, No," in the Lords. In a discussion on the Church Temporalities (Ireland) Bill, in the House of Lords in July, 1833, the Duke of Cumberland interrupted Earl Grey with a cry of "No, no;" whereupon 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 lordships 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 dissent from a proposition, there would (he said) be an end of all liberty of speech.

Regrets. In 1793 Grey brought forward his motion for referring to a committee the petition of the "Friends of the People," praying for parliamentary reform. Respecting 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 advocated 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."

LORD ALTHORP.
(1782-1845.)

The Rival of Palmerston.-Sir Denis Le Marchant, in his "Memoir of Viscount Althorp," says that when Earl Grey was called upon to form a ministry in succession to the Duke of Wellington, he said he should much prefer Lord Althorp being at the head of affairs, but the latter replied that on no consideration would he ever accept the place of Prime Minister, for which he felt his utter incapacity. It was with the greatest reluctance that he would entertain the idea of office at all; but when Lord Grey positively assured him that unless he became Chancellor of the Exchequer and leader of the House of Commons it would be useless to attempt a Whig Government, and the negotiation must be at once abandoned, he could not resist such an appeal, coming as it did from this noble old man, whom he had so long known and admired. He yielded, however, only with the distinct understanding that, in the event of Lord Grey's retirement, he should not be asked to succeed him. Lord Palmerston the same afternoon actually proposed himself to Lord Grey for the leadership; but, on the mere intimation that the post was reserved for Lord Althorp, he expressed himself perfectly satisfied. In the exhausted state

of the party, no other Whig could be named for whom Lord Palmerston could have been expected to waive his pretensions.

Hatred of Office.-Lord Brougham wrote in his Autobiography : "Nobody ever hated office as Althorp did. Others I have known hate it occasionally, but he detested it at all times. He often said, when he got up in the morning, he wished he might be dead before night; but he always went through his duty manfully. . . His powers were great. His ability was never so remarkably shown as in the Reform Bill, both in 1831 and 1832. He had a knowledge of all its details, and of all the numberless matters connected with it, that was almost supernatural. The others knew it so ill, and got into such scrapes when opposed to formidable adversaries, such as Croker, who had attained something of Althorp's mastery of the subject, that it became necessary to prevent them from speaking, or, as it was then called, 'to put on the muzzle,' and Althorp really did the whole. His temper was admirable, and invariably equal. Sugden said he had learnt a lesson from it, or at least that it was his own fault if he had not-which was not ill said."

His Influence with the House.-The following instance of the influence which Lord Althorp exercised in the House of Commons is given by Sir D. Le Marchant: "Once, in answer to a most able and argumentative speech of Croker, he arose and merely observed that he had made some calculations which he considered as entirely conclusive in refutation of the right honourable gentleman's arguments, but unfortunately he had mislaid them, so that he could only say that if the House would be guided by his advice they would reject the amendment '-which they did accordingly. There was no standing against such influence as this."

His Arrest by the Serjeant-at-Arms.-The following account of this incident is from a note to the Greville Memoirs (1834):-Mr. Hill, a member of Parliament, had stated in a speech that some of the Irish members who most vehemently opposed the Coercion Bill in the House of Commons had nevertheless privately stated to members of the Government that they were glad the Act should be renewed. This charge was denied with great heat by the Irish members in the House when Parliament met. But upon Mr. Sheil's calling upon Lord Althorp to state whether he was one of the members alluded to, Lord Althorp replied that the honourable gentleman was one of them. Sheil immediately denied it in the most solemn and emphatic terms; and, as it was feared that a hostile meeting might ensue between him and Lord Althorp, they were both taken into custody by the Serjeant-at-Arms. Further explanations ensued, and Lord Althorp subsequently withdrew the charge, stating that he believed Mr. Sheil's asseveration, and that he must himself have been misinformed.

Vulgar Language in High Places.-I was sitting by Lord Althorp (writes Earl Russell) when he announced, in his own homely way, his resolution to resign. "The pig's killed," he said. A porcine illustration was not new in our history. When Henry VIII. was considering of the best means of procuring his divorce from Catherine of Aragon, he gave his decision in favour of Cranmer's opinion by saying,