The Sun.
London, England, 1831-10-08 00:00:00


those whom poverty would lay open most effectually to the
influence of corruption. Evil consequences, it was said,would
ensue from the rejection of this Bill. But if it ever passed
into a law—which in God, he hoped it never would!—
not less disastrous consequences would ensue. He was
the advocate for the morals of the people, and as
bribery and corruption would be extended by the
measure, he would appeal to the most Rev. Bench
opposite—if they had not too often been appealed tu—
tu take this into their most serious consideration, and as
the guardians of good order and religion to prevent
the passing of this Bill into a law. The great mass of
the people would find that they were deluded by the
Bill, and would by and bye find themselves and their
rights only placed by this Bill in the hands of those who
would make a better market of them tha❑ under the
present system. He was getting now an old man, but
be had done his best to prevent the country being
placed in that situation of anarchy in which lie was con-
vinced, if the Bill passed into a law, it would be placed.
He called upon their Lordships to pause ere they per-
mitted the Bill to pass a second reading.

The Earl of ELDON said if the Noble and Learned
Lord who bad just sat down felt it necessary to make any
apology to the House, founded on the considerations
of age and infirmity, for trifling on their Lord-
ships' time, he trusted their Lordships would feel
that he was entitled to more indulgence on these
considerations than his Noble and Learned Friend was,
as yet, entit'ed to ask. He had felt it an incumbent duty,
at the hazard of his ace and infirmity, by reason of those
threats which had been held out to their Lordships,
and more particularly addressed to himself, to stand
up, and with respect to those threats from whatever quarter
they might come, to declare that he would rather die in
the execution of these threats, after having lived so long
1 in this blessed country, still to remain, he hoped, the
, happiest and most glorious nation on earth,—he re-
peated it, he would rather die in consequence of these
threats, than desert that last duty he should have it in his
power to discharge.—(llear.) On a former occasion, on
' the discussion of the Catholic claims, he had made a
similar statement, and at that time he thought, having
advanced to the period of fourscore years, that he should
have little likelihood of again addressing the House.
For a short time he enjoyed good health, and although
a :Noble Duke had taunted him with appearing again in
that House, he would not go to his grave without giving his
opinion against this most destructive measure to the
country—a measure which he thought himself at this
period called upon to say would reduce in its conse-
quences this country, hitherto the glory of the earth, to all
those miseries which now afflicted the majority of our
continental neighbours. He might be in the infirmity
of mind which naturally belonged to that of age,
Iris opinions might be grievously mistaken, but so long
as he was able, after much consideration, to form an °pi-
k Mon, he would state the opinion he had formed on this
nsomentous subject. He had heard doctrines stated
with respect to the matter very extraordinary, and when he
heard it stated in the preamble to this Bill, that
it was expedient to destroy all the acknowledged rights of
property, and all charters in the country; when under the
notion of putting an end to close corporations, an end
was to be put to all corporations that were not close, and
the influence of all property was to be taken away, he could
not consent to that doctrine of expediency, unless much
more was done than was intended, preparatory to
the introduction of this measure. It was a popular
notion that, with regard to the boroughs, they were trusts,
and not property ; he thought they were both, and those
old-fashioned gentlemen, Lords Coke and Hale, whose
names would be held in everlasting remembrance,
when the feverish delirium of the day had subsided,
had said of these unpopular things called boroughs that
they were both franchise and right. If they were
abused to the detriment of the people, they ought to be
'taken away, but not without giving them an opportu-
nity of hearing the abuse proved iii their presence at their
Lordships' bar, and having an opportunity, by judicial pro-
ceeding, legislative proceedings, of vindicating their rights.
But the question had been argued as if in borough
rights there was no property. He was governed in
h'. is opinion by these illustrious names, ornaments of the
profession to which he belonged, when he asserted that
it wa's not only a franchise, but a right of property
annexe,' to the land. With respect to the corporations,
much had been said regarding their closeness. But he
would ask, whether they were not as well entitled to their
rights under their charters, under the great seal,
as any of their Lordships were entitled to their Peerages.
Happy would it be for this country, if, by some fortuitous
accident, those who had voted for this Bill in the House of
Commons—as we understood the Noble Earl—and
had been imported into that House as Peers,
were prevented from giving it their support.—
. (Hear, hear.) But there was a report abroad which he
did not believe, because in the state in which this country
was at the present moment situated, he did not believe rosy
one would venture to do it, that the opinion of this House,
I somehow or other, sooner or later, would be finally over-
raded by the importation of new Peers. He had such a
d,-..' ‘tifol feeling in respect to the house of Hanover, as would
never. induce him to believe that a step so detrimental to
the lute: terse of the subject, so subversive of the rights of that
House, he' teaaarld add, so certainly destructive to the mo-
narchy, would sat be recommended. He knew not who
were to be tin! set of men alluded to in the report,
but this he would say, that that Minister, whose cha-
racter, if that measure of his were to fail, would
be still illustrious in future and present generations, would
never degrade that character by such a recommen-
dation, amounting, as it would, to neither more
nor less than, in due time, to an annihilation
of that House. If that report were correct, he hoped
that House would not strip off their robes until they let
their Sovereign know their sentiments. As to close
corporations, some, he admitted, consisted of very few influ-
ential members, by which he meant those who had a voice
in the elections of their representatives ; but had it ever
been heard of, or would it ever he heard of in
this country, that the House of Peers of England took
upon themselves, upon the representation of expediency,
to destroy that which it had been expedient to preserve
from age to age, and which it had been thought wise never
to destroy in any instance, tilt the expediency was proved
at their Lordships' bar. But Were they to sweep
away all corporations because some claw corporations
had been guilty of abuse? He desired to seat any one,
and he particularly addressed the Noble Duke, who I:new
the practices with respect to Members, if through a century
any place in the world had sent more proper repre-
sentatives than thatto Parliament?—(later, hear.) By
the present Constitution in this country, the moat moderate
in ability, improved by industry, might raise them-
selves to the highest situation in this country, and,
for God's sake, he implored their Lordships, ere they I
changed so happy a state of things. When his ashes should
be laid in that grave, in which, probably, they soon
might be placed, he should give to the Corporation• school
in which he had been educated, a legacy, as a small
memorandum that II boy educated there might rise
even to be the Lord Chancellor of England. The
Noble and Learned Lord having stated that he was a
freeman of the town of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and had been
bred in the corporation school, asked what this Bill
would do with regard to that town ? At present
there were 700 votes. True it was said by thin Bill that
the King gave to the Corporation of Newcastle privi
leges which had been held sacred, and had never been
touched by any Acts of Parliament, but that it was
now deemed expedient to create 2,700 3s. 6d. a-week
men, as co-voters with the seven hundred freemen who,
looking to the past history of the town, it would be proved
bad done honour to their freedom ; to take away such
i privileges without hearing them in their defence, was going
farther than any other had heretofore gone. It was
said last night that all the Nobly Lords who
were opposed to this measure except two were
i in favour of some moderate Reform, but what
k that moderate Reform was had not been stated.
!; Having been in the two Houses of Parliament for
nearly a period of fifty years, he could declare
!l that he never had, and never would, give his
assent or dissent to any measure, let it be proposed by
whom it might, whether it was a measure of Reform, or
change, or alteration, for this Rill had all those names,
without he fairly anti calmly considered of the proposition.
Did he do otherwise he would stand in the situation of
having deserted his duty. To assent to a measure
merely because you found no objection to it, nor to the
person who introduced it, was not the strict line of their
Lordships duty. Be had long ago fought under
the banners of Air. Fox, who, on one occasion, considered
it unjust to disfranchise a borough merely because a
, majority of the House wished it,—(Hear.) It was ins-
. posseible for the House, if it wished to maintain its
united, judicial, and legislative character, to assent to
schedule A, because it was founded on every prin-
ciple of danger,—(Cheers fern the Opposition.) The
Noble and Learned Lord then adverted to the existence .
of three associations about the period
of the first Revolu- '
tion, one of which, the Corresponence Society, w,,
governed by principles subversive of all monarchy;
\ and he asked if that Nociety had not been destroyed by tare
Government, in what a situation would the House 01
Peer; have been in at this day.--(The Noble and
Learned Lord, who commenced his speech very audibly,
gradually lowered it, evidently from exhaustion, no that
scarcely a sentence could be heard. The following is what

we could learn:)—After adverting to the coat with
France, he said that lie had touched upon these topics for
the purpose of showing the necessity of thoroughly investi-
gating every measure before he gale it his assent, and he
hoped the House would excuse him until the wisdom of
the present day would inform him what the benefits were
that would result from this measure?—(Hear.) In his
opinion the principle of the Reform Bill struck at the
government of the most established rules of property,
and he begged Noble Lords to read the Bill, and
point out to him a single clause in it which did
not disfranchise or enfranchise without any reason
assigned, any abuse proved, or any party concerned being
heard in his own defence—(Cheers from the Oppo-
s ition)--taking from the freemen that exclusive
right which had been given to them by charter, and which
they ought still to retain. If the Ministers pleased to
bring in a mode of Reform, regarding bribery and nomina-
tion boroughs—if they pleased to say that a man who went
the distance of seven miles and a furlong to vote, should
not be allowed to vote, he could only say that the Lords of
England had no right to say no.
Lord OXFORD rose amidst cries of " Order !" par-
ticularly from Lord Kenyon. The Noble Lord said, he
only wished to inform the Noble and Learned Lord that he,
and those near him, could not hear a word that the Noble
and Learned Lord was addressing to the House.—(Cries
of " Order !")
Lord ROLLE rose to complain of the interruption
which the Noble and Learned Lord had received.—
(Order, order.)
Lord OXFORD assured the House that he did not
mean any thing by his interruption, but to say that the
Noble and Learned Lord could not be heard on his side
of the House.

The Marquis of SALISBURY said the Noble Lord
(Oxford) was himself out of order.

When order was restored,

Lord ELDON proceeded to address the House, but in
so low a tone that he could not be heard at the bar; he
was much affected and evidently greatly exhausted. He
stated that he was sorry to say that his infirm sate would
not allow him to say what he wished upon this all
engrossing subject--(Hear)—bis opinion was, however,
that if their Lordships went tie length of this Bil:, it
would have the effect of introducing annual Parliaments,
universal suffrage, and vote by bsllot.—(Cheers from the
Opposition.) They would introduce a system utterly
incompatible with the existence of the House of Lords—
(Cheers from the Opposition)—and as he knew that he
must soon go to the grave, nothing should induce him to
say what he had said but his love for this House, and his
duty to his Sovereign.—(Cheers.)

The LORD CHANCELLOR rose amidst some con-
fusion, and was for a short time partly inaudible. lie
assured their Lordships, that after having heard so
many of his Noble and Learned Friends state their opinions
upon the all-important question now before the House,
it appeared to him, with great deference to their Lord-
ships, that the debate should be closed in the course
of this night, and that he could not contribute
more effectually to an end so desirable as by choosing this
moment to address the House. Indeed he might say per-
sonally that he had not the choice of any longer postponing
his address ; and his anxiety on the subject was not the
less diminished by the reflection which he now
had present to his mind, and which had pressed
on all around in the course of this discus-
sion, namely, the importance and responsibility of
the situation in which lie now stood, because never before
this moment had he felt the whole weight which fell upon a
Member of the Legislature of this country, standing as he did
upon the very brink of the most adventurous question that
ever the English Peers had come to, and asking to arrest
their Lordships in the course some were about to take, while
it was yet time. If he could have foretold in his earliest
years he should ever have lived to stand in the place he now
occupied, and on such an occasion, he would have devoted
every year and every hour of that life which had passed to
the preparing of himself for the task which lie even felt as if
he would sink under, to gather from all the sources of ancient
wisdom lessons which might have tended to guide him on
so eventful a crisis, and to have enabled him to cor-
rect every infirmity of mind which might tend to im-
pede the discharge of the solemn duty he had un-
dertaken of advising their Lordships; but, above all,
to eradicate from his mind every thing that
might interrupt the most perfect candour and
impartiality of judgment. He advanced then to the
task he had now to perform with those feelings on the one
hand, but cheered on the other by the persuasion that he
had no personal interest in the question—no sinister
view at stake—nothing that could cast even the
shadow of a shade of self-interest in the discharge,
he would hardly say of his legislative duty, but
rather what he should call his judicial duty. He
had heard in the course of these five nights' debate
a vast number of objections to this measure; and baying
beard the arguments that bad been urged to repel
those objections he, careless of whether he gave offence in
any quarter or not, must say that he was so far in-
duced by sotne things he had heard, to be ready to
reconsider certain matters on which be had previously
thought his mind was sufficiently made up. On the other
hand, in the great proportions of objections that had been
urged he certainly could not concur—viewing them as dis-
passionately, and as impartially as he believed any
Member of that House bad ever listened to argu-
ments either for or against a measure, lie was
bound to say they had not influenced his judgment
in respect to the utility and principles of the measure.
If he were to attempt to go through all the arguments
which had been raised, he would engage in a work
the most superfluous ; many of them had been entirely re-
moved by other arguments, therefore in undertaking such
a course he should be only wasting the time of the House.
He would begin, consequently, with the arguments of
one Noble Lord, who, viewing the subject at a dis-
tance, and really never coming into close quar-
ters with it, had made a general reconnoiter
ing of the Reform Bill, never coining near to what
the Bill really was, but delivering a speech or discourse,
or an essay, of the highest possible merit critically viewed,
but which had only this fault practically regarded, namely,
that it was an essay and not a speech upon this Bill.—
(Loud and continued cheers.) It seemed as if some person
had set to his Noble Friend, whose talents no one
could admire more than himself a thesis upon change—
upon republics—upon revolution—upon anarchy—and
upon all those sort of things, to repeat an essay upon
which a more lucid, a more admirable, a more classi-
cal, anti a more elegant exercitation never came from
.nortal than; 14;t et his Noble Friend, in his reconnoitring
of the Bill, went upon an entire fiction of his otvn pro-
curing. He had begged the question from beginning to end.
He assumed the Bill was revolutionary—that it was a mea-
sure for a change. And no doubt if it was revolutionary—
if it waz a, mere measure for a change, his Noble
Friend's illustrations and observations would have been
unanswerable ; but he (the Noble and Learned Lord)
would show that it was a Bill entitling itself to no such
character—a Bill that savoured nothing of revolution,
,xcept so far as it went to prevent it.—(Loud cheers.)
His Noble Friend had talked a deal about change and
about finances What conk' he think of Mr. Pitt's budgets,
not one of which had ever passed through Parliament
without great changes? What thought lie of the timber
duty? If a budget had been brought in with regard to
no other things than that of coal and candle, it would
have been a budget considered highly dietin-
guishabis for the relief of the people, as far
as regarded thol‘a two important articles of fire
and light. Law Raforw. 7.yas another thing, which
the Noble Lord had atated Government was
madly bent on bringing about ; and no a: offer had the
Noble Lord began that part of his speech, than he was
stripped ir; it by finding there was no such
thing in the Among the various changes
and revolutions that were to take place was a change
in the law which lie (the 1410111, and ;Learned Lord)
certainly felt astonished at, knowing ca i did,
that no only that very same Noble Lord, bpi;
the whole tionae without a division, had approved
of a change in ti:e I.aw. His Noble Friend had
then said, that this Bill earn,; forward neither with the
weight of ancient authority, nor was tie attack upon
the system Lets he called it) an attack sanctioned great
genius or deep; mature, and reflecting consideration,
Now it was a source ;of great comfort to him (the
Noble and Learned Lord), and his Noble Friend also
to find that he should be able to supply the defect of his
Noble Friend's recollection by a few wpm's from
an author wl)..arn his Noble Friend ought really to
have some fellow-feeling fors—he meant Dean Swift.
His
Noble Friend must have known that Dean Swift satirized
a being under the form of man which no existence,
but in his own fiction ; so did his Learner' leri,,,,nd sati-
ize a Bill svhich really had no existence but in ilia own
fiction or fancy. Pean Swift, not a Radical, not a Whig,
but a staunch regular thick-and-thin Tory, as it was called
in those days, said more upon the subject of this very Bill
in a few words, and the abuse which it was meant to
remedy, than all that his Noble Friend had said against
'he 13111 in the course of a very long, and, in
Some respects, very able speech, Dean Swift stated
t int gis u
6bei
absurdta t decayed
the
languageboro
ughsoafr et
the
ep
not absolutelyresent Bill
which was as lukewarm to the Dean as it was to his
Noble Friend—ought to he put in Schedule A.
(Hear, hear, hear)—because they return members to

in reality represent nobody at all. The Dean added
that several large towns were not represented, though
full of industrious townsmen, who did much to ad-
vance the trade of the realm. Then as to the shortening of
Parliaments, though that was no part of the present Bill,
it might be asked with respect to the shortening of
Parliaments, what the Statesman who lived in the glo-
rious days of Queen Anne had to say—or what Dean
Swift, Addison, or Steele had said upon shortening the
duration of Parliaments : and Dean Swift had said,.--,,
have an old-fashioned love for the good old Parlia-
ment of the country which was of one year's duration."—
All this was only to show how good old States how
wisdom and authority, sanctioned Parliamentary Reform,
although those very men, if they hail delivered the opi-
nions in our times which they had entertained and expressed,
would have been set down as rank radicals.—( Hear.)
His Nolele Friend then asked a question about the
Cabinet, and who the men were who brought forward
this measure ? Undoubtedly be admitted how exceedingly
fair it was for any Noble Lord to ask the question, who
the men were who propounded a great political measure ;
but then, when the question was asked, and fairly
asked, by whom was the measure brought in, it was as
fair to ask, who were the man by whom the measure
was rejected ?—(Loud cheers.) He would not follow
his Noble Friend through the whole of the speech
which ha made last night, particularly that pin of it in
which he alluded to his ship, because the Noble and
Learned Lord thought that for want of a steamer his
Learned Friend would never have got to the end of his
voyage.—(Cheers and laughter.) Again, in another of
his similies, my Noble Friend says that this Bill is like
the case of a landlord who should ask his visitors to a
dinner utterly uneatable, and who should, after asking
their opinion of the dinner, and receiving for answer that
it was a heap of trash, of garbage, turn round upon them
and say, you are very bad people for telling me so, and do
yoo now try to cook a better dinner. Why, truly, if any
landlord were to say so to his guest, there could be no-
thing harder. But that is not like the case of this Bill ;
I should agree with him if it was ; but it is not. The
men have not eaten our dinner : that is not the case ; nor
is it of the men who are called on to eat our dinner that
wo now ask the opinion, but of the rival cooks who want
to get into onr kitchen.—(Burst of cheering, which con-
tinued for some time.) The House of Lords was as com-
pletely a council of cooks—what Dr. Johnson called a
" Synod of Cooks" on both sides of the Woolsack, as any
set of cooks that could possibly he found ; but a synod of
cooks who were not to partake of any of the dishes they
dressed. The Commons might perchance taste what they
cooked, but the Lords had no right to partake of any
thing whatever—they committed a breach of their duty—
they went out of their places, if they even sipped
in the most delicate manner of any thing whatever
that was to be dressed on this occasion.—(Loud and con-
tinued laughter.) This was one reason in particular why he
(the Noble and Learned Lord) differed with his Noble
Friend in wishing to get into the kitchen of his neigh-
hour. He wished to know what the motive could be
of his Noble Friend in having such a desire. In deal;ng
then with the question who were the men who
brought forward this measure, he (the Noble and Learned
Lord) thought himself quite at liberty to ask who the men
were who set themselves up to reject this measure; and in
doing so he should occupy as little time as possible.
One Noble Lord, whose judgment their Lordships were
called upon to trust, because he was against all Re-
form—not against all Reform— because the Noble Lord
seemed anxious that it should not be understood that he was
an enemy to every Reform—that Noble Lord had expressed
himself very vehemently upon the present Bill ; but
that Noble Lord, it would be recollected, notwithstand-
ing all his vehemence against the present measure,
was three or four months ago decidedly in favour of it.
Was not that, he would ask their Lordships, sufficient to
make persons pause a little before they put
too much confidence in such assertions, or placed
the fate of the country in such hands. Those very men
who now raised the cry against, were formerly in favour
of the Bill.—(Cries of " No, no," from the Earl of WIN-.
CHILSEA• ) Then he (the Lord Chancellor) had been mis-
informed ; but he would read to their Lordships an extract
from the speech of the Noble Earl at Maidstone in March of
the present year. That Noble Earl was stated to have said,
" they have not got a Reform yet ; but when the measure
does come, as I am persuaded it must come, into the law
of the land."—(Cries of " No, no.") Well then, this
perhaps, will do:—" His Majesty's Government areentitled
to the thanks of the country.—(Loud cheers.) The
Noble Earl at the head of the Government is entitled
to the gratitude of his country for the measure
he has brought forward. It is a question, I main-
tain, for which he deserves the support of the country
at large. The measure has not yet been brought
into the House of which I have the honour to be a Mem-
ber."—(Hear, hear, and loud cheering.) That was very
true ; but could their Lordships forget that it had
been discusssed over and over again in the Com-
mons, and every town in the country, and he
(the Lord Chancellor), could entertain no doubt that
there was not not a man in Kent, who did not know
that the present Reform Bill, and the measure introduced
by Lord John Russell, were one and the same thing. The
Noble Earl then goes on to say, " but when it is brought
forward there, I shall be at my post, ready to give it lily
most hearty"—opposition.—( Loud cries of "No, no,"
" support," from the Ministerial side.) Another Noble
Lord, who hail taken a review of what had passed in
the country for the last forty or fifty years, stated that he
was a friend to a substantial Reform. But that all
operations on the subject ought to be suspended,
for two years, and he (the Lord Chancellor) supposed
two days, in order that the people might have
time to think on this subject. That Noble Lord must
permit him to say that he thought he had taken a leaf out
of the book of a Noble Duke who had been extremely
instrumental in bringing forward the Catholic question.
—(Hear, hear.) For lie recollected that that Nob'e
Personage had said let it be sunk into universal obli-
vion, and ;then let it be tried what could be done
with it. So with respect to the present Reform
Bill. That was wished to be sent to oblivion, and the
opponents of the measure should only wait for two years
and two days, anti then see what could be done with it.
A Noble Lord had said that the people wanted Reform, but
hated the Bill : if such were the case, was it not ex-
tremely inconsistent that petitions should pour in
from every quarter, praying for the passing of the
Bill, and nothing but the Bill ? That Noble Lord no
sooner mentions a particular street that is against the
measure, than that street crowds the House with petitions
in favour of the Bill. " Oh, then," said the Noble Lord,
"it is not Bond -street,but Regent-street," and then instantly
conic down several petitions from that street, in favour
of the Bill. The Noble Lord then resorts to another street,
and the same fate still awaits him—(Loud laughter)—till
at last he does not know what street or alley to fix upon. If
he goes to the river, he is met in the same manner there._.
(A laugh.) If he retires into a hackney-coach, lie finds
all the hackney-coachmen in favour of Reform. If he
retires into the country, sick of the town, he would
be followed by people, calling out " the Bill—the Bill.'
If he went to inns, the same fate awaited him. He would
find the landlord and waiters all Reformers, and, tiled and
jaded with his journey, he would return to town heartily
sick of what he had done. Still this Noble Lord was a
Reformer. He was not a bit-by-bit Reformer, but he was,
what at any other time would have been called a
wholesale Reformer. He does not wish for a shadowy,
unsubstantial Reform, but a solid and effectual correction
of the acknowledged abuses necessary to satisfy the Scotch and
English people. Every circumstance used as an argu-
ment against the Bill might be considered as good
an argument against moderate Reform, as against
the Bill itself. Thera was another Noble Earl, whose ar-
guments, it had been much lamented, had received no
definite answer from the Ministerial side of the House--
He (the Lord Chancellor) thought that a very excellent
gmwer had been already given to that argument.—
One or th;., arguments of the Noble Earl was certainly
peculiar. He began with the borough of Tiverton,
with which his family had been long connected,
anti of which connexion he gave a very fair anti
candid account. He said that the connexion was
entirely personal ; he would see now how far
that Went. The Noble Earl's ancestor was Attorney-
General when die pcnnexion commenced, and if
we find that the men of Tiverton were very lucky
in being eint loyed in State affairs, that would pretty well
account for the personal connexions ; and this is one
of the objections to the present system which we propose
to remedy. One of the objections of the Noble Earl to
the present Bill was, that under it there would be no open-
ing for Peers' eldest sons. But lie denied that proposition.
Jn his opinion the case would be entirely the other way.
It was upueceasary to pursse this proposition further, for
it had been well ao,c) ably answered by his Noble Friend,
the Secretary of State fo: tie colonies) and who enu-
merated many counties, which retwued the eons of
Peers. One case in point he would mention. One
Noble Lord, who was an ornament to his family, but being
friendly to the Bill, and they against it, was turned
out of the representation of a borough with which that
family had a personal connexion—he meant the bo-
rough of Tiverton, for which he had sat for several
Sessions. Well, what did the Noble Lord do ?
Did he resign himself to his fate? Was there no opening