The Sun.
London, England, 1832-08-06 00:00:00

rarely seen ; and when, therefore, they do occur,
they ought not to be lost sight of by those who
have any influence with the public, or any means
of making such examples more generally known
than they would otherivise be—not only.for the
sake of the immediate good which is derived by
the public, but on account also of the example
which they hold forth for imitation, and the
influence which they may have on the conduct
of public men generally. How well for the public
good—how wisely fbr his own fame, Lord
Brougham is now fulfilling the pledges which he
gave to the country when a Member of the House
of Commons, it would be needless to relate. He is,
in truth, the reformer from whose reforms every
one will benefit—his name is in every man's
mouth, not only as a tower of strength to the
Administration and to the country, but as the
patriot whose interests are subordinate to the
public good, and whose power is only prized for
its capacity of promoting it—whose pledges
when out of office are not forfeited when in
office, on the hollow pretence of second thoughts,
and whose promises are as sacred as the laws
that were not made to be changed. It cannot,
therefore, we think, be uninteresting, especially
at the present moment, to compare the Brougham
of the House of Commons with the Brougham
of the House of Lords and the Court of Chan-
cery ; and with this object in view, we submit
the following extract from his speech in the
House of Commons, on the 7th of February,
1828, on moving an address to the Crown on
the state of the law. We copy it from an excel-
lent Bide work, which ought to be in the hands
of every one, entitled, " Selections from the
Speeches and Writings of Lord Brougham," ang
published by Ridgway. How well do the sen-
timents of the commoner agree with the practice
of the Peer !

" I must, once more, press upon the attention of the
House the necessity of taking a general view of the whole
system in whatever inquiries may be instituted. Partial
legislation on such a subject is pregnant with mischief.
Timid men, but still more blind than they are timid, re-
commend taking a single branch at a time, and imagine
that they are consulting the safety of the mass. It is the
very reverse of safe. In the body of the law all the
members are closely connected ; you cannot touch one
without affecting the rest; and if your eye is confined to
the one you deal with, you cannot tell what others may
be injured, and how. Even a manifest imperfection may
not be removed without great risk when it is not in some
insulated part; for it oftentimes happens that, by long
use, a defect has given rise to some new arrangement far
beyond itself, and not to be disturbed with impunity.
The topical Reformer, who confines his care to one flaw,
may thus do as much injury as a surgeon who should set
himself about violently reducing a luxation of long stand-
ing, where nature had partially remedied the evil by
forming a false joint, or should cut away some visceral
excrescence in which a new system of circulation and
other action was going on. Depend upon it, the general
reformation of such a mechanism as our law, is not only
the most effectual, but the only safe course. This, in
truth, alone deserves the name of either a rational or a
temperate Reform.
*

" After a long interval of various fortune., and filled with
vast events, but mai ked from age to age by a steady
course of improvement, we are again called to the grand
labour of surveying and amending our laws. For this
task, it well becomes us to begird ourselves, as the honest
representatives of the people. Dispatch and vigour are
imperiously demanded; but that deliberation, too, must
not be lost sight of, which so mighty an enterprize re-
quires. When we shall hive done the work, we may
fairly challenge the utmost approval of our constituents,
for in none other have they so deep a stake.
" The course is clear before us; the race is glorious to
run. You have the power of sending your name down
through all times, illustrated by deeds of higher fame, and
more useful import, than ever was done within these walls.
Yon saw the greatest warrior of the age—conqueror of
Italy—humbler of Ger Many—terror of the north—saw
him account all his matchless victories poor, compared
with the triumph you are now in a condition to win—
saw him contemn the fickleness of fortune, while, in des-
pite of her, he could pronounce his memorable boast, I
shall go down to posterity with the code in my hand !'—
You have vanquished hint in the &id ; strive now to rival
him in the sacred arts of peace! Outstrip him as a law-
giver, whom in arms you overcame! The lustre of the
Regency will be eclipsed by the more solid and enduring
splendour of the reign. The praise which false courtiers
feigned for our Edwards and Harrys, the Justinians of
their day, will be the just tribute of the wise and the
good to that Monarch under whose sway so mighty an
undertaking shall be accomplished. Of 3 truth, sceptres
are most chiefly to be envied for that they bestow the
power of thus conquering and ruling thus. It was the
boast of Augustus—it formed part of the glare in which
the perfidies of his earlier years were lost—that he found
Rome of brick and left it of marble; a praise not unworthy
a great Prince, and to which the present reign has its
claims also. But how much nobler will be our Sovereign's
boast, when he shall have it to say, that he found law
dear, and left it cheap ; found it a sealed book—left it a
living letter ; found it the patrimony of the rich—left it
the inheritance of the poor; found it the two-edged sword
of craft and oppression—left it the staff of honesty and
the shield of innocence ! To me, much reflecting on these
things, it has always seemed a worthier honour to be the
instrument of making you bestir yourselves in this high
matter, than to enjoy all that office can bestow—office of
which the patronage would be an irksome incutnbrance,
the emoluments superfluous to one content with the rest of
his industrious fellow-citizens, that his own bands minister
to his wants; and as for the power supposed to follow it—
I have lived near half a century, and I have learned that
power and place may be severed. But one power I du
prize—that of being the advocate of my countrymen here,
and their fellow-labourer elsewhere, in those things which
concern the best interests of mankind. That power I
know full well no Government cau give—no change take
away!'—Morning Advertiser.

The state of the House of Commons during the
concluding part of the Session reflects the most
marked disgrace upon those who solemnly un-
dertake to perform duties which they thus reck-
lessly and unblushingly abandon. It is a matter
of public notoriety that, at a time when, owing
to circumstances in some degree unavoidable,
the most weighty affairs of the nation have re-
mained to be discussed and transacted, out of
658, scarcely forty Members oan be brought
together, and still more rarely kept together, to
perform the highest and most important duties
which can devolve upon men in society. It is
true that the present is a self-condemned House
of Commons, and that those who have contri-
buted to seal its doom may deem it unneces-
sary themselves to appear any longer as mock
representatives. This kind of reasoning might
be very just, had it led to its functions expiring
with the passing of the Reform Bill ; but, as
long as they are kept alive, those who retain the
rank and privileges of Parliament might conde-
scend, we should think, to attend to its du-
ties. Though, from the amount of these ab-
sentees and seceders, the censure attaches ap-
parently with equal truth to men of all parties,
yet we cannot help thinking that the persons
most to blame are the Anti-Reformers ; they
who have been straining every nerve to
convince the country that the House of
Commons, as hitherto constituted, required
,no alteration, but was fully adequate to
all the wants and just expectations of the coun-
try. Now it was the duty of those persons
especially, we apprehend, to assert these opinions
to the last, not by a mere empty display of them
in debate on the Reform Bill, but by practical
proofs oftheir own honesty, vigilance, and assiduity
in the service of the State. Yet no sooner arc
their boroughs scheduled than off they go : thus
showing, by their Own conduct, the value of their
own assertions, and how vastly they prefer
private pleasure and convenience to public
duties. The exhibition now coming to a close
is the last of the kind, we hope, the country will
ever witness. On the one hand, Ministers,