consideration of the temper and character of the times, and of his political comrades; but they necessarily detract from our estimate of his statesmanship. "The same may be said about Parliamentary Reform. It is exactly those who most highly honour the advocates of Reform of Parliament who can most easily see into the difficulties, and understand the opposition, of the anti-reformers in Parliament. But there is no knowing what to say about Mr. Canning's opposition to the repeal of the Corporation and Test Acts. He knew the facts of the case, of course:-his advocacy of the Catholic claims shows that he knew the principle of it. His inconsistency in this case must be regarded as one of the waywardnesses,—one of the faults, at once intellectual and moral (for he alleged no reasons, no plea which he himself would call reasonable)—which are the links that bind down even the greatest to their condition of human frailty.-As for all the rest of him, he was worthy of his endowments and his great function in life. He was an excellent son to his mother, who died, happily for herself, before him,—in March of the same year. He was nearly as large an object in the mental vision of all the leading men of his time as in that of his proud mother, or of his adoring family and private friends. His mind and his name did indeed occupy a great space in the world, from the year 1822 till his death: and when he was gone, there was a general sensation of forlornness throughout the nation which made the thoughtful ponder how such dismay could be caused by the withdrawal of one from amidst its multitude of men." (Memoir prefixed to Speeches.-Bell's Life of Canning.Pictorial History, &c. &c.) WILLIAM WINDHAM. WILLIAM WINDHAM, son of Colonel Windham of Felbrigge, was born in the year 1750. From the age of seven to sixteen he was at Eton school; thence he went to the University of Glasgow for one year, and from thence to Oxford as a Gentleman-commoner of University College. He left Oxford in 1771. Mr. Windham was in early life on intimate terms with Dr. Johnson, who felt and professed the strongest sentiments of esteem for him. The following expressions from one so little prone to pay compliments as Johnson was, show what a favourable impression Windham must have made on the old man's mind. They occur in one of the letters printed by Boswell, addressed to Dr. Brocklesby, in which Johnson says, "Mr. Windham has been here to see me; he came I think forty miles out of his way, and stayed about a day and a half; perhaps I may make the time shorter than it was. Such conversation I shall not have again till I come back to the regions of literature, and there Windham is 'inter stellas luna minores." Such was Windham in early life, and we learn what he was in more advanced years from Lord Brougham, who speaks of him from intimate personal acquaintance. "His manners were the most polished, and noble, and courteous, without the least approach to pride, or affectation, or condescension; his spirits were, in advanced life, so gay, that he was always younger than the youngest of his company. "The advantages of a refined classical education, a lively wit of the most pungent and yet abstruse description, a turn for subtle reasoning, drawing nice distinctions, and pursuing remote analogies, great and early knowledge of the world, familiarity with men of letters and artists, as well as politicians, with Burke, Johnson, and Reynolds, as well as with Fox and North, much acquaintance with constitutional history and principle, a chivalrous spirit, a noble figure, a singularly expressive countenance-all fitted this remarkable person to shine in debate, but were all, when put together, unequal to the task of raising him to the first rank, and were, besides, mingled with defects which exceedingly impaired the impression of his oratory, while they diminished his usefulness and injured his reputation as a statesman." Lord Brougham goes on to point out Windham's strange love for paradox, which led him to advocate the slave trade, bullbaiting, the worst severities of our then sanguinary criminal code; in short, everything against which the current of popular feeling seemed to set most strongly. Bentley's celebrated sarcasm upon Boyle [Phalaris Boyle] might be literally applied to Windham; for "his judgment, like other men's valour, had commonly the generosity to espouse the weaker side." He seems to have been a very effective, though very eccentric speaker in the House of Commons, of which he was a member for many years. He was, first, Secretary at War, and then of the Colonies under Fox and Lord Grenville. On the dismissal of the "Talents" ministry Windham returned to the Opposition benches, which had been his original, and, indeed, his natural place. He died in 1810. Many very amusing stories of his oratory and manners are given by Lord Brougham in the memoir of him, contained in his Lordship's well-known collection; and Sir James Mackintosh has left us this elegantly drawn portrait of Windham: "He was a man of very high order, spoiled by faults apparently small: he had acuteness, wit, variety of knowledge, and fertility of illustration, in a degree probably superior to any man now alive. He had not the least approach to meanness,-on the contrary, he was distinguished by honour and loftiness of sentiment. But he was an indiscreet debater, who sacrificed his interest as a statesman to his momentary feelings as an orator. For the sake of a new subtlety or a forcible phrase, he was content to utter what loaded him with permanent unpopularity; his logical propensity led him always to extreme consequences; and he expressed his opinions so strongly, that they seemed to furnish the most striking examples of political inconsistency; though, if prudence had limited his logic and mitigated his expressions, they would have been acknowledged to be no more than those views of different sides of an object, which, in the changes of politics, must present themselves to the mind of a statesman. Singular as it may sound, he often opposed novelties for a love of paradox. These novelties had long been almost established opinions among men of speculation; and this sort of establishment had roused his mind to resist them, before they were proposed to be reduced to practice. The mitigation of penal law had, for example, been the system of every philosopher in Europe for the last half century, but Paley. The principles generally received by enlightened men on that subject had long almost disgusted him as common places, and he was opposing the established creed of minds of his own class when he appeared to be supporting the established code of law. But he was a scholar, a man of genius, and a gentleman of high spirit and dignified manners." SAMUEL WHITBREAD. SAMUEL WHITBREAD was born in 1758: he was the only son of Mr. Whitbread, a brewer of great wealth, by his second wife Mary, third daughter of Earl Cornwallis. He was sent to Eton at a very early age, where he had Mr. Charles Grey (since Earl Grey) and many others who afterwards filled high stations, among his young contemporaries. After leaving Eton he went to Oxford, and then he made a continental tour of more than usual extent; on returning from which, in 1790, he succeeded in obtaining a seat in Parliament as a member for the borough of Bedford. He at once joined the party of Mr. Fox, and continued to be one of his most devoted adherents until that statesman's death in 1806; and after the death of Fox he still zealously advocated the same line of politics. He was a prominent speaker soon after he entered into parliament; for we find him, on the 28th February, 1792, moving for a committee of the whole house respecting the Ockazow armament, and his name from this time is of frequent occurrence in the parliamentary debates. The most prominent event in Mr. Whitbread's career is the impeachment of Lord Melville for imputed misconduct in the administration of the naval department. On the 8th of April, 1805, Mr. Whitbread moved twelve resolutions on this subject. These resolutions were strenuously opposed by Mr. Pitt, who was supported by Mr. Canning, the AttorneyGeneral, and the Master of the Rolls; while Tierney, Lord Henry Petty, Wilberforce, &c. spoke against the previous question. On a division the members proved exactly equal, there being two hundred and sixteen on each side; but the minister's motion-by which it had been intended to put an end to all inquiry-was negatived by the Speaker's vote. A few days after, Mr. Whitbread moved that an humble address should be presented to his Majesty, praying that he would be graciously pleased to dismiss Lord Melville from all offices held by him during pleasure, and also from his council and presence for ever." This motion, however, was withdrawn; but a vote having been passed "that the former resolutions be laid before his Majesty," and also "that they be carried up by the whole house," the name of Viscount Melville was struck from the list of privy-councillors. On the 11th of June Viscount Melville himself, having been admitted within the body of the house, entered into an elaborate defence; but on his retiring, Mr. Whitbread, after an able speech, moved "That Henry Lord Viscount Melville be impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors." This proposition was baffled by various intervening debates till the 25th, when it was finally carried by a majority of one hundred and sixtysix against one hundred and forty-three. On the 26th Mr. Whitbread moved that the house should nominate twenty-one members to prepare and manage the articles, and was himself placed at the head of this list as manager, on the nomination of Lord Temple. On the 4th of July Mr. Whitbread brought up the report of this committee, which was followed by eight articles of impeachment. The trial accordingly commenced in Westminster-hall on Tuesday, April 29th, 1806. Mr. Whitbread, as soon as the charges and answer had been read, rose and opened the accusations in a speech of great power. The trial then proceeded through fourteen days, and on the fifteenth day Mr. Whitbread closed the proceedings by a rejoinder to the counsel for Lord Melville. On the sixteenth and last day Lord Erskine pronounced a verdict of acquittal. To have obtained a majority in the House of Commons against Pitt on this subject, was considered such a triumph for Whitbread, that he rose greatly in public estimation, which was not materially diminished by his not obtaining a verdict from the House of Lords. Whitbread declined to accept any office from the Fox ministry in 1806, as he thought it would shackle his senatorial independence: and he is one of the few violent Opposition statesmen to whom the desire of place for themselves cannot be imputed as having acted as an incentive to their efforts to eject others from it. Whitbread was an energetic and unremitting opponent of the slave trade; he was zealous in whatever concerned the diffusion of knowledge and the extension of education, and in every measure connected with the amelioration of the condition of the people, the mitigation of the penal laws, and the management of the poor. His thorough and well-known honesty, his fearlessness of incurring dislikes or of making enemies by denouncing what he thought to be wrong, and his steady resolution in following out a purpose, combined to give him weight in the House, and procured for him |