Litchfield enquirer., 1831-07-28
CANNING AND BROUGHAM.

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 The following description of an attack made upon Canning by Brougham in the year 1923, from vol tune entitled "Atck Fragments"
 Canning chose his words for the sweet 1 ness of their sound, and arranged his peri- ods for the melody oftheir cadence; while, with Brougham, the more hard and un- mouthable the better. Canning arranged his words like one who could play skilfHlly human voice; Brougham proceeded like master of every power of reasoning, and of the understanding. The figures and the allusions of the one were always quadruple by the classical formulc; those ofthe oth- CT could be squared only by the higher d. nalyss of the mind and they scared and an, and pealed and swelled on and on, till single sentence was often complete oration within itself; but still, so clear was the logic, and so close the connection, that every member carried the weight of all that went before, and opened the way for all that was to follow after. The style of Canning was like the convex mirror, which scalters every ray of light that falls upon it, and shines and sparkles in whatever posi- ton it is viewed. That of Brougham was
 
 indiscriminate radiance, but having its light concentrated into one intense and tremen- dous focus. Canning marched forward in a straight and clear track every para graph was perfect in itself, and every cor ruscation of wit and genius was brilliant and delightful; it was all felt, and it was felt at once; Brougham twined round and round in spiral, sweeping tine contents of vast circumference before him, and uni- ting and pouring them onward to the main point of attack. When he began, one was astonished at the wideness and obliquity of his course, nor was it possible to cOmpre- bend how he was to dispose of the vast and varied materials which he collected by the way; but as the curve lessencd, and the end appeared, it became obvious that all was to be efficient there.
 Such were the rival orators, who sat glancing hostility and defiance at each oth- CT during the early part of the session of 1923. Brougham, as if wishing to over- throw the Secretary by a sweeping accusa- ton of having abandoned all principle for the sake of office and the Secretary ready to parry the charge, and attack in his turn. An opportunity at length offered ; and it is the more worthy of being record ed as being the last terrible personal att tack previous to that change in the meas ures of tho cabinet, which, though it had begun from the moment that Canning, Robinson, and Huskisson came into office, was not at that time perceived, or at leas, admitted and appreciated. Upon that oc. casion, the oralion of Brougham was, at the outset. disjointed and ragged, and appar' emily without aim or application. lie ca reered over the whole annals of the world and collected every instance in which gen- jus had degraded itself at the footstool of power. or principle had been sacrificed to the vanity or the lucre of place: but still there was no allusion to Canning, and no conexion, that ordinary men could discov- CT, with the business before the House. When, however, he had collected every material which suited his purpose, when the mass had become big and black, he bound 1t about with the cords of illustration and argument; and when its union was SC. euro, he swung it round and round with the strength of giant and the rapidity of a whlrlwind, in order that its impetus and its effects might be the more tremendous and wh!le doing this. he ever and anon glared aud pointed his finger to make the aim and the direction sure. Canning himself was the first that seemed to be aware, where and how terrible was to be the collision ; aud he kept writhing his body in agony, and rolling his eyes in fear, as if anxious to ind some shelter from the impending bolt. Fhe House soon caught the impression, and every man in it was glancing fearfally, toward the orator, and then toward the Secretary. There was. save the voice of Brougham, which growled in that under tone of muttered thunder which is so fear. fully audible. and of which no speaker oi i the day was fully master but himself. sis !epee as if the angel of retribu.ion had been daring in tho faces of all parties the scroll of their personsl and political sins. A pen. which one of the secretaries drop pea upon the mating. was heard in tho re- mo'e:t part of the House aud the UOting members. who often slept in the side eaIle. Elas during the debate, started up as though