LORD BROUGHAM.

THE MAN OF THE TIME.

THERE are few tasks much more difficult than the one we are assuming. The real worth of the politician must be determined not by actions, but the consequences of actions, of which posterity can be the only adequate judge: we may guess their probable result; but being able to do nothing more than guess, the conclusion of each of us is disputed by the supposition of another. In a party journal then, for such ours must seem to those who divide the supporters of improvement and the adherents to abuses into two opposite factions;in a party journal it is almost impossible, however fairly, in our own estimation, we may speak of the present Lord Chancellor-however much we may turn in distaste from the system of unmitigated panegyric-it is almost impossible but that some will be displeased at any praise, proceeding from principles or feelings in direct opposition to their own. For this there is no remedy. On the other hand, political connection begets personal prejudices and affections, which every writer who pretends to candour, must despair of contesting. "The Author of Nature," it is said by a great English writer, "has thought fit to mingle from time to time among the societies of men, a few, and but a few, of those on whom he is graciously pleased to bestow a larger portion of the ethereal spirit than is given in the ordinary course to the sons of men. These are they, who are born to instruct, to guide, and to preserve-who are designed to be the tutors and the guardians of mankind; when they prove such, they exhibit to us examples of the highest virtue and the truest piety, and they deserve to have their festivals kept instead of that pack of anchorites and enthusiasts with whose name the Calendar is crowded and disgraced. When these men apply their talents to other purposes, when they strive to be great and despise being good, they commit a most sacrilegious breach of trust-they prevent the means— they defeat, as far as lies in them, the designs of Providence, and dispute in some sort the system of infinite Wisdom." Such is the ordinary cant, not always so eloquently expressed, by which it is frequently insinuated that men of extraordinary talent are either so generous as only to labour for the public weal, or so selfish as merely to consider their individual advantage. We believe either of these cases to be of rare occurrence. Those who think solely of themselves, are less capable of doing much than is generally imagined. They are never carried beyond themselves into those fits of vigour and enthusiasm, in which man acquires a mastery over the minds of other men. The talent which enters coldly and abstractedly into the things on which it concerns itself which does not warm at each fact it discovers-and feel, involuntarily feel, having once engaged in the investigation of any truth, an earnest and signal desire for its perfect developement-the talent which embraces all subjects without ever being transported beyond one consideration, is of so stunted and mean a nature, that as no good can be expected from its labours, so little evil is to be feared from its ambition. In men of this caste, purely egoistic, no circumstances, however striking and stirring in their nature, create that heat and excitement which produce marvellous things. They are the figures

of ordinary clay round the statue of Memnon, which the rays of the sun could never render musical.

On the other hand, the amiable persons who, unoccupied with any selfish object, perpetually revolve plans for universal improvement, are, generally speaking, so vague and dreamy in their speculations, and this, perhaps, from the very circumstance that their thoughts are never narrowed and concentred in themselves, as to be as useless and impracticable in all matters of action and business, as the philosophic projectors of Lagado.

It is useless to expect in men of action and men of the world those qualities which, if they possessed, would assign them to a different class; with such men taking an active and useful part in public affairs, the love for the great, the beautiful, and the true, is found to infuse a noble colour into their ambition, while from that ambition springs the manly and practical tone which they give to the mere theories of legislative genius.

What is so common, if a man of ability accepts office, as the sneering ejaculation of the paltry eavesdropper," Ha! I always saw what these fine phrases meant. You see he only wanted place like the rest of them!" Wretched indeed, as Mr. Fox said, must be the condition of the country in which that which should be the reward of men of honour is considered as a disgrace.

We make no charge against Lord Brougham, when we allow, which we do frankly, the bitterest accusation of his detractors—that so far from being insensible to power, he has shown, not in a mean and injudicious manner, but in a tone and temper suited to his ability—a strong and earnest desire to stand in a prominent situation before the people; although we regret to think that he has condescended at times to stoop beneath his genius, and to practise those little arts and devices of popularity which, after all, rarely succeed in attaining their object.

Yet are there few,-searching history where you will-yet are there few examples of a statesman having passed to office by a broader and more straight-forward road—of an individual having more closely connected the public interests with his own, than the present Lord Chancellor of England, whom the people still call by the affectionate and familiar name of " Harry Brougham."

Lord Brougham, as is well known, is of an ancient and respectable family in Westmoreland. He was educated at the High School in Edinburgh; and even as a boy gave those remarkable indications of talent, which his life has fortunately afforded him the opportunity of developing.

A contemporary journal ("The American Review,") supposes, from some favourite theory we presume of the writer, that Lord Brougham was not thought a quick and clever, but a slow and hard-reading boy; on which supposition follows a long tirade against what is called in America "genius." We think that this reviewer is at perfect issue with the truth in the general proposition he puts forth: we are perfectly sure that he argues without foundation in the present instance. Lord Brougham, as a boy, was remarkable for the almost intuitive perception of what was placed before him. He was wild, fond of pleasure, taking to study again by starts, and always reading with more effect than others, when he did read, because it was for some specified ob

ject, the knowledge of which was to be acquired in the shortest possible time.

Even in his early years it happened to him, as it has happened to many who have risen to after eminence in that art, to acquire the rudiments of eloquence in that fluency and facility of expression which proceed from the habits of public speaking. Young Brougham, in "The Speculative Club," exercised almost the same superiority over his youthful competitors, though some were then and afterwards remarkable for their ability, which the present Chancellor holds over his noble rivals in the House of Lords. The late Mr. Horner, the late Lord Kinnaird, Mr. Murray, Mr. Southey, the present Lord Advocate, were the most distinguished members of this society.

But these pursuits, active and engrossing as they more generally are, did not prevent this singular young man from indulging in those fits of abstract meditation with which they are usually considered and found incompatible. From the noisy clamour of a spouting club, it was not unfrequent with him to retire to the study of the more abstruse branches of mathematics; one of the fruits of which was the well-known letter to the Royal Society, which an early friend assures us that he saw when Lord Brougham was only eighteen; a Latin correspondence, which had been for some time carried on with the most distinguished savans in Europe, who had, in all probability, as little idea that the grave professor of science they were addressing with the most lavish superlatives, was a mere schoolboy, as they could have had that he would one day be the Lord Chancellor of England.

We would ourselves willingly stop here to inquire what might then have been the wildest visions of the young philosopher and politician? -with what thoughts he welcomed the dawn of a scientific truth, or sate down with continued "hear-hims" ringing in his ears?-what were the ordinary habits of his life? We might picture him, with the sentimentalists, in the deep stillness of night, bending in sickly meditation over the exhausted lamp, if we did not know that he was frequently occupied at that hour in loud and gay carousals. His was not that order of wisdom in youth which proceeds from a cold predisposition to the habits of age.

On quitting Edinburgh, Mr. Brougham, in company with the present Lord Stuart de Rothsay, made a tour through the northern parts of Europe.

The manner in which he announced himself to the world on his return from the Continent, was as an author.

It is the peculiar characteristic of the eminent man of whom we are speaking, that his talents are so various, that his energies have been so unwearied, that such things as would have distinguished the ability, and been landmarks in the career, of other men, are transitory and incidental, confounded with a thousand other qualificationsconfused with a thousand other actions in his life-so that we are obliged to pass rapidly over each, in order to produce a proper impression from them all. It is with this feeling that we glance at the two volumes before us, "The Colonial Policy of the European Powers." To attempt a critical review of them in the space here allowed us, would be impossible. We cannot, however, lay them

altogether aside; were it only for their merits of composition, we should assign their writer a very high place among literary men. They contain political assumptions, rather hastily made, from some of which Mr. Brougham shrunk in after years. We do not subscribe to all their doctrines. In some, respecting the West Indian colonies, time has shown their author to have been much mistaken. But we do say it is impossible to read through this, we will venture to call it, remarkable work, without being struck by the bold, philosophical, and independent tone of inquiry and discussion with which it proceeds, the vast stores of information which it embodies, the deep resources of thought which it developes, and, what is more striking than all in a man of speculative mind, nor yet intimately acquainted with public affairs, while grappling with so vast and complicated a subject, the keen and practical glance with which different theories are looked through, and some of their most delusive fallacies detected.

In 1802 the Edinburgh Review was commenced;-(Mr. Sidney Smith, we once heard in conversation, but cannot assert the fact, wrote the greater part of the first number.) To this publication Mr. Brougham was an early and powerful, and has continued almost up to the present time a frequent contributor. His articles, remarked at the time of their appearance, have, notwithstanding, sunk into that fatal oblivion from which so few periodical writings ever can escape; and we acknowledge that in reading through the earlier numbers of that (then) remarkable publication, we find it difficult to discover, amidst the general exhibition of ability, any peculiar characteristics by which we might fix upon the productions of Lord Brougham's pen.

Among the various pamphlets, many of which he has been (more often than not erroneously,) supposed the author, "Practical Observations upon the Education of the People" is the most important in its matter, and for its subject. Many of his speeches have been separately published, and indeed it is in them, rather than in the papers, quickly written, and variously dispersed, that, since entering into public life, his literary talents have been most usefully and laboriously displayed.

In 1810 Lord Brougham came into Parliament, introduced there, it was then said, to "spite the Prince." If this on dit be true, it was pretty early that the seeds of that bitter animosity were sown, which the late King was afterwards known to feel towards the advocate of his wife. Mr. Brougham had spoken in 1808 before the House with considerable effect, previous to becoming one of its members. His fame for talent at the bar, considerably heightened by his writings. and the great conversational powers he possessed, excited much expectation. His first effort, nevertheless, added to the innumerable instances of what are called "failures," in men of ability, who for some time mistake the taste of their audience, or at all events do not skilfully contrive to manage that difficult and fastidous assembly"a House of Commons."

We are not quite certain whether the triumph of a first speech is not, in most instances, a sign of mediocrity. The ordinary error which a man of superior mind commits is that of at first assuming the station, and speaking with the tone of those who, though no