when I know that, no longer satisfied with the general results of our form of government, there is a determination to deal with the particular abuses in it-I cannot deny that those abuses exist. The dangers I apprehended were not from this form of government or that, but from men being dissatisfied with the form of government under which they lived. This evil has now come to pass; and we must deal with it, not as constitutional scholiasts, but as practical statesmen. For the same reason then, that I would have done nothing formerly, I would do nothing small or inefficient now; on the same grounds that I would not, some years back, have encouraged dissatisfaction-on these grounds I would now satisfy."

Hardly had the Reform Bill passed, when Lord Grey, weakened by declining years, mortified by the loss of Lord Stanley and Sir James Graham, and annoyed and vexed by small disputes and cabals among his personal friends, came to the wise resolution of leaving, unblemished by future chances, the great monument he had raised to his reputation. Lord Melbourne succeeded to the premiership. Some who saw public affairs from a distance might be surprised; but nearer spectators had their expectations realized. We ourselves remember conversing about a year previously with Lord Durham on the possibility of Lord Grey's demise or retirement, and, on inquiring from him who, in such a case, he thought would be named First Lord of the Treasury? Lord Durham, remarkable for his acute and instinctive judgment, said at once, "Lord Melbourne!"

A great change, however, had by this time taken place in the mind of the Sovereign. His reign had commenced amidst appalling events; he had seen a king whose arms had been just crowned by victory, and whose pretensions were upheld by the clergy and nobility of the land, placing himself across the path of political improvement, and borne down by the onward march of his people; and he had witnessed that people after their triumph -not raising up new edifices in politics and morals, of Babel-like height and fanciful construction, but deepening and strengthening the old and recognized foundations of government and society. There was much in all this to excite fear as to resistance, and to soothe apprehension as to concession.

King William, therefore, had allowed the Reform Bill to be brought forward without opposition on his part, and had even sanctioned the dissolution of Parliament, which ensured its being carried. This monarch, however,

whilst meaning well to his country; whilst wishing his people to be free and powerful, had no distinct conceptions of his own, as to the wants of the nation he had to govern, nor as to the state of that public opinion by which he had to be governed. His royal consort, and many of those in his personal intimacy, were beset by the most gloomy fears. The conduct of the Peers could not but influence his mind. As early as 1832 he had misgivings. For a moment there was even then a question of a new administration. The patriotic prudence of the great leaders of the Opposition, as well as the resolute determination of those in power, saved the country from this crisis; but the feeling that had nearly provoked it remained; and, after the retirement of Lord Grey, whose dignity of character and lofty bearing had always exercised great influence over his contemporaries, it very much increased. It is not, therefore, to be wondered at, that on Lord Althorp's removal from the leadership of the House of Commons, caused in 1834 by Lord Spencer's death, the Sovereign thought he saw an occasion to change the government, in an event which had so much weakened it. At a first glance, the time for this attempt seemed well selected. The spirit of 1830 no longer moved upon the great waters; the storm which, at that period, agitated Europe had subsided; the enthusiasm in favor of Reform in England-what enthusiasm has lasted?-had calmed down. The Liberal party in England was also, in a certain degree, broken up; some of its most eminent members had seceded from it. But though popular feeling had begun to ebb, the tide of reaction had not yet fully set in; and the short-lived administration then formed, only served to show the great temper, extraordinary skill, and infatigable industry of Sir R. Peel as a parliamentary leader. In a few months Sir. R. Peel resigned oflice; and Lord Melbourne, who, on quitting power, had refused the Garter and a higher place in the peerage, now once more became First Lord of the Treasury.

The circumstances under which Lord Melbourne reassumed this position were very difficult and adverse. In the House of Lords there was against the Government a powerful majority, supported by one of the most formidable masters of dignified argument and biting sarcasm that ever shone in that assembly. In the House of Commons there was a powerful minority, led by the most skillful and accomplished debater of modern times, and which had always at its command the

fiery genius of Lord Stanley-the well-con- | sidered and impressive eloquence of Sir James Graham. Nor was this all: the difficulties in the legislative assemblies were increased by difficulties at court, and by difficulties yet more serious in the government of Ireland, where Mr. O'Connell was at this period supreme. To great abilities, marvellous activity and energy, and an extraordinary gift of popular eloquence-his eloquence, in our opinion, was not adapted to any other audience than an excited or easily excitable mob-this singular man united a thorough knowledge of, and identification with, the Irish character. By these qualities and by long service in behalf of the rights of his Roman Catholic fellow-citizens, he had obtained an almost supernatural power over the great body of the Irish people. Almost alone of all demagogues known in history, he was able to re-collect and confine within his Eolian cell the tempest and the hurricane, which anon he could let loose over the minds of his imaginative

countrymen.

The time has not yet arrived to judge Mr. O'Connell with impartiality. We believe him to have been a patriot at heart, and to have had noble and wise desires for his country's welfare; but we believe him also to have been careless as to the means for accomplishing his ends. His political life was tinged with the policy of that distinguished but dangerous order in which his religion has found, at times, her ablest but most unscrupulous champions. The truth of his doctrines, we firmly believe, he weighed and confided in; but the truth of his words and sayings, he never for one moment considered. His language, moreover, was as coarse and virulent as that of the early disputants in theological controversy; and his manner cringing or overbearing, according as it suited his momentary objects. Such a character was peculiarly distasteful to an English gentleman, but it was to be turned to good purposes, if possible, by an English statesman. Resistance to "the great Agitator" had been tried by his ablest opponents; but with no other effect than to have ended by his complete triumph in the act of 1829. Conciliation was now essayed; and its evident effects in the sister kingdom were, undoubtedly, the decrease of our army, the increased strength and popularity of our authority, and the diminished importance of the powerful individual whom we, for the first time, treated with consideration. Party spirit and religious prejudice, however, look little at results; and King William died at the moment when the

force of the Government was almost expended. A new reign gave it new strength; but it also devolved on its leader a more difficult and responsible duty than any with which he had hitherto been charged.

A young and female Sovereign inherited the throne; a Princess whose education had been carefully attended to, but whose understanding could not yet have been formed to the science of government. Lord Melbourne had to gain authority over the mind of his young Sovereign, and to exercise that authority in such a manner as should at once satisfy the popular party of which he was the leader, and maintain the rights of the Crown, which he was bound in duty to protect. It was in this new sphere, for which Providence seemed to have created and educated him, that his various qualities, talents, and acquirements were most usefully exercised, and most eminently displayed. Had he been merely a dry, matter-of-fact man of business, or a mere man of book-acquired knowledge, he would probably have wearied instead of gaining the attention of his royal scholar; had he been a mere man of pleasure, he might have amused and captivated, but he could not have instrueted one on whose knowledge of her duties depended in no small degree the fate of millions; had he been a violent party man, he would have entered upon his task with a warped and partial judgment. With democratical tendencies he would have lowered the just influence of the monarchy; with monarchical tendencies he might have instilled dangerous doctrines into the breast of the sovereign. But with a lofty equanimity of judgment, he happily combined great charm of manner, great experience of the world, great knowledge acquired from reading and reflection. It was these various endowments,

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each of which was required for his office, and all of which united, fitted him so peculiarly for it-that made him at once a minister and a guide so well suited to the beginning of what we trust will be the long, as well as glorious, reign of our present Queen.' deed, he devoted almost entirely the latter years of his official career to the task of instructing his Royal Mistress in the exercise of her important functions. Well able to bear other responsibilities, the responsibility of this office pressed with great weight upon him; more especially as his devotion to the Crown was rendered more intense by a daily increasing admiration for the growing virtues and abilities of the Sovereign. Nevertheless, though his attention to the palace engrossed so much of his time and consideration, he

A misunderstanding, however, respecting the appointment of the ladies of the bedchamber, caused her Majesty to desist from the idea of forming a new administration under Sir. R. Peel, and to command Lord Melbourne's services anew. His return to office, under these circumstances, was a sacrifice as a politician, though a duty as a subject.

To retain it long was impossible; and that he did so for two years was a singular proof of the tact, temper, and judgment with which the leaders of the two Houses of Parliament carried on the public business

In 1841, after a strenuous but vain effort to effect some modification in the Corn Laws, Lord Melbourne finally retired from his high post, predicting that his adversaries would be obliged to claim as an inheritance, the measure they had successfully opposed; a prophecy these adversaries ere long fulfilled at the expense of their consistency as politicians, but to their honor and glory as true patriots.

In the following year he was first attacked by a partial paralysis, arising from disorder of the vital functions, and especially from fatigue of the brain; a melancholy proof that he had not been the lazy, indifferent person that some have idly supposed. From this attack he rallied to a considerable degree; and though his spirits in the morning sometimes drooped, and his faculties shrank from their accustomed exercise-in the evening, among friends, his former brilliant gaiety, and happy and ready memory, usually returned to him. Up to the very last he continued, when he could no longer read with facility, to have every new work of importance read to him; never ceasing to feel warmly for the well-being of his country, and testifying pleasure at the visits of his old friends, though he could not always sustain a conversation with them. For some time death had been visibly preparing its approach:

* Lord Melbourne himself had, in proposing this measure, yielded to what he considered the necessity of the times-acting in opposition to his previous opinions.

As a minister-though not endowed with that determined will and spirit, which gave the two Pitts almost unlimited control over their colleagues and the country-he had still many qualities of a first-rate kind, and which are very rarely seen combined: a temperament cool and courageous; a mind dispassionate and unprejudiced; a manner remarkably good-humored and conciliatory; an intellect of a high order, and which had been improved by incessant, though not forced cultivation. But we can rarely have qualities to an eminent degree, which do not verge towards defects. Accordingly, the extent of Lord Melbourne's acquirements, and the comprehensiveness of his understanding, stood in one sense in his way. They made him so well acquainted with all that could be said on one side or the other of every argument; they presented him so clearly, at the same time, the dark and bright side of every question that the tendency of his judgment was to underrate distinctions, and to deem differences between opinions less wide and less important than they really were. It is remarkable, however, that this habit of mind, while it gave moderation to his judgment, did not infuse irresolution into his conduct. Aware that if one course is to be pursued in preference to another, it must, whether only a little better or much better than the opposite one, be pursued with energy, he never, after having once adopted a policy, faltered in the execution of it.

Great credit is due to him for the appointments he made of able men to offices. When Home Secretary, the New Poor Law Bill, the Municipal Bill, and that of Commissioners of Inquiry into Public Charities, were introduced; and his appointments under them

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free from all bias of party—were directed entirely by views of public interest. same manner, when Prime Minister, he was also remarkable for his disinterested use of the patronage of the Crown, taking no honors for himself, nor giving offices to family connections.

As an orator, Lord Melbourne wanted the abundance of expression, the copia fandi, the power and fullness of diction which so eminently distinguish his friend and contemporary, Lord Brougham; and which are rarely acquired, except by the continual study and and mode of life interfered with his being a His character practice of the forensic art. rhetorician: he had hardly ever spoken but when thought it absolutely necessary for his

own character or the public interest. His speeches consisted for the most part of short and striking sentences, expressing philosophical views, appealing with energy to the instincts of common sense, and retorting with haughty boldness and gaiety upon an adversary's attack.

In the House of Commons (though this seems now partly forgotten) he was, as we have said, though a very rare, a very effective speaker; and, as he had seldom concluded one of his phrases in that assembly before the pause was covered with cheers, a sort of hesitation which sometimes interfered between one phrase and the other was little noted. In the cold and silent audience of the House of Lords this defect was more visible, especially as Lord Melbourne succeeded to a position which Lord Grey had just adorned with a remarkably continuous and stately flow of eloquence. He soon, however, displayed some of the most useful and shining qualities of a debater; a thorough knowledge of his audience; a frankness and good-nature which disarmed animosity; a ready wit which was always at hand to encounter an obstinate antagonist; and such sound and statesmanlike views on all important subjects, as gave the tone of wisdom to his raillery, and the air of dignity to his ease.

In the Cabinet, his equable disposition and conciliatory address soothed down all angry discussions; and as he understood all opinions, and could see into all personal motives, he was ever ready to suggest the compromise or offer the satisfaction that was desired.

In society he was perhaps the most graceful and agreeable gentleman that the present generation can remember.

Everything with every body, he was still always himself. He could meet the politician, the man of letters, the man of the world, each on his own ground, and did so naturally and without effort. His mirth was constant and sparkling, and his wit of that best kind, which Dr. Johnson so aptly designates by saying, "We have never enough of it, if we have not too much."

His first impulse in ordinary conversation, was to treat things lightly; he had no idea of wasting seriousness; but when business really presented itself, his elastie mind recoiled immediately to the form required by the occasion. At such times he drew himself up; his head became erect; his eye earnest; his lip compressed; no frivolous word broke in upon what he had to hear or to say; his

attitude and manner, a moment before goodhumored, easy and arch, became at once sober and impressive.

His person and countenance were always noble and manly; and with the advance of years the latter gained in dignity. In some parts of his habits and character, he resembled the jovial, good-humored, practical Sir R. Walpole; in others, the studious, the speculative, and refining Bolingbroke: there was a great deal, indeed, in him which took one back to the days of Queen Anne and the ministers of a time when politics and letters were intermingled.

Some peculiarities in his character it is here the moment to notice. His antipathy to all exaggeration and affectation, and the keen glance that he was able to give into the motives of others; his aptitude to detect hypocrisy and to discount false sentimentality, established in his own mind a desire to control or to conceal the real kindness of his disposition; and to smile-as if with the incredulity of a man who is ignorant of the feelings he derides-at enthusiasm or disinterestedness.

Yet, Lord Melbourne's view of mankind was not really a harsh one. In Mr. Wilberforce's memoir, there is an anecdote of this gentleman having once asked Mr. Pitt whether his experience as Minister had induced him to think well or ill of his fellowmen. Mr. Pitt answered, "Well ;" and Lord Melbourne, when told this anecdote by a friend, and asked his own opinion, replied"My opinion is the same as Mr. Pitt's." Nor was he inactive and unambitious, as we have heard it stated, from a feeling that nothing was worthy of action or ambition. The fact is, that many of the ordinary motives which stimulate men, did not stimulate him; he was so utterly without vanity, that he could not even comprehend its influence upon others. He was not, consequently, likely to talk or to act merely for the sake of making a figure. For everything in action which did not seem to him to present a possible, practical, and quick result-for everything in ambition which did not seem to him to hold out a solid and prompt reward—his understanding had no sympathy. The business of office, of government, of carrying on society, pleased him in action and satisfied him in ambition.

For office, therefore, though this was not generally known, he was an ambitious man; and in office, though he still wore the easy and careless manner which had marked him in private life, those who knew him well,

knew that his mind was constantly active in considering how its duties were best to be discharged. This point in his character is worth noticing, because it gives more merit to his impartial course in politics to his many refusals of employment; and shows that he was firm in his principles, though they were adopted without enthusiasm.

Upon the whole, without wishing to give this article the air of an eulogy, we think that we may fairly observe, that whilst many have illustrated their career by deeds of greater renown, few have ever gone through a distinguished career more honorably. A member of Parliament during a long period of years, and in the midst of critical and changeful times, his conduct was always marked by moderation; and although his votes were not given to one party alone, he was never accused or suspected by any party of being influenced by self-interest. Now refusing to give up the rights of the Government to the mob; now protecting the interests of the nation against the Government; he was for animating order by activity; he was for maintaining order against agitation. "Mihi semper in animo fuit," as he once said, quoting from his favorite author, ut in rostris curiam, in senatu populum defenderem."

towards the extension of the liberties of the subject, and the prosperity of the empire. Abroad, during the same time, the policy of England was eminently English; viz: prudent, peaceful, liberal.

He died almost regarded as a father by his queen; held in the highest estimation by the most distinguished of his contemporaries; deeply mourned by his relatives and friends; and without leaving behind him an enemy, though ignorance in default of malice may raise him up detractors.* Of the probability of this, he was himself long since aware; nor would it be possible to write anything on such a subject, more touching or more apposite than the passage from one of his own speeches, with which we will conclude our notice.

"The exploits of the soldier are performed in the light of the sun and in the face of day; they are performed before his own army, before the enemy; they are seen, they are known; for the most part they cannot be denied or disputed; they are told instantly to the whole world, and receive at once the meed of praise, which is so justly due to the valor and conduct that achieve them. Not so the services of the minister; they lie not so much in acting in great crises, as in preventing those crises from arising; therefore they are often obscure and unknown, subject to every species of misrep

First minister of the Crown under Queen Victoria, he never allowed the solicitations of his supporters, his own passions or interests, to lead him to exercise the almost unbounded influence which, for a time, he held over his youthful Sovereign, in a manner preju'dicial to the rights accorded to her authority by our constitution, nor to a degree that was unfair to his opponents.

During his administration, the maintenance of tranquillity and order was made useful

tack, and condemnation, whilst in reality entitled to the approbation and gratitude of the country-how frequently are such services lost in the tranquillity which they have been the means of preserving, and amidst the prosperity which they have themselves created."

*It is but justice to add, that he has also found defenders where he might not have expected them; and one of the kindest and ablest notices of his life came from the pen of an opponent.

+ See Mr. Lamb's speech on the 11th of March, 1818, on the Indemnity Bill.