Daily Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1860-1862, 1860-10-20
From letter from DR.. Cheever describing visit to
the House of Lords.
Lord RrOugham--His Appearance in
the HOUSE of Lords--His style of
Speaking.

Our principal object in wishing 10 attend
| the House ON this occasion was to hear th,
veteran champion of freedom, Lord Brough-
am, whose name b opened TO stand first on
The order OF the day for presenting petitions
| on the subject of the slave trade. The prac-
! tice of the House is, that all petitions Shall
| be presented by gu rter past five, when
| the regular business of the evening COM
| mences, and as our friends were in their pla-
ces at quarter before five. they had ample
time to observe the room, the scene and its
personages. Lord Brougham having placed
| those whom he introduced under the care of
an officer of the House, sauutered about the
gangways, exchanging observations with the
few Peers who were present, and causing
much amusement by The humor and causIici-
ty of his remarks. At last he spied a bevy of
ladies outside the bar, and left his fellow
peers to have chat with them.
The liveliness OF his manner and the yigor
of his movements are really wonderful at
his age. He is somewhat above the middle
height, his dress is very plein and his man.
uer engaging and affable. Except a slight
stOOp, no one would discover any mark of
extreme age about him. His eye is not dim,
nor his natural fire abated, and it is impos,
sible to converse with him for half an hour
without feeling impressed with the force OF
those great faculties which, for more than
half century, have secured for this extraor-
binary man chief place in the esteem of
his countrymen, and the admiration and hon
or of all nations for his steodfast heroism in
the cause OF human liberty. We have in our
possession note from him, which we shall
cherish as OF value, especially for its mani
festatIon OF that characteristic, a ruling pas
sion with him, even in OLD age
At five O'Clock the Peers began to droD in
rather rapidly, and the Lord Chancellor(L Lord
Campbell, )whO has recently been transferred
from the Chief Justiceship OF the Queens
Bench, took his seat on the wooisack Earl
Granville, the President of the Council, and
Lord WodebOuse, Under-Secretary of State
for Foreign Affairs, stood close at the bar
near our friends, and arose, engaged in an
animated discussion with a gentleman out
side the bar, when the business of the eve
ming commenced. Lord Hatherton a bluff,
loUd-v0iced gentleman, who has been trained
in the House of Commons, presented "a petit
ton on the subject of church rates; and Lord
Derby, whose appearance is sIrikingly self
assured and aristOcralic, presented another,
having reference to the tenure of land in
Ireland. They simply advanced to the Ia
BILE. which occupies the Centre of the cham
Der; and, having mentioned the subjects of
the petitions, handed them to the clerk for
Lord BrOugham now rose; aud, at once.
the silence of deep attention fell upon the
House. The first petition presented was
from the Council of the Antislavery Society.
of the bad faith of the Spanish
Cover nment in reference to the slave trade.
He was proceeding to make some general re- |
marks, when the Lord Chancellor intrrrupt- |
ed him. by begging that be would confin. |
himself to the subject of the peliIion He !
bowed TO bis noble and learned friend on the |
thanked him for his Instructions
him on the rapidity with which |
he had mastered the difficulties of his posi- |
ton as Lord Chancellor; but he suggested |
hat, since he (Lord Brou gham) bad sat upon
the woolsack, as Chancellor, more years than
Lord Campbell had months it was barely
possible that the experience of the latter did
not exceed that of the former quite in the
alto OF twelve to one. This delicate and
J asterly rebuff was listened to with keen en-
ny ment by the Lords on both sides of the |
House, and was fol owed 10y peais- of laugh.
er, in which Lord Campbell himself good
JOINED.
Lord Granville had, during this little PAS
age-at arms, continued his discussion with
he gentleman outside the bar, and Lord
Srougham having Re. Ommencrd his speech
oticrd that the Lord President was not in
lis place, a. he ought to have been. having
lad notice of the petition. The orator came
TO a dead stop, and looked
"hnd the House, ana dozen peers COM |
nenced calling out "GranvilleI Granviller,
n an impressive whisper. Earl Granville
topped back to his place on tip-toe, and
light have sat there ia peace, had it pleased !
Is evil genius, but it was not so tn be. Un- (
'arned by the fate of Lord Campbell, which
indeed he had not witnessed. the Earl under .
Dok TO int rrupt the orator the second lime.
y telling him the time for presenting peti-
ons was gone by. Lord Brougham replied
nat he would have presented his petitions at a
he usual time if the President of the Coun- =
il, TO whom be had given notice, had been a
resent. Lord Granville said he was pres c
ut. Now this was true as regards the latter. p
ut the noble Lord was Certainly absent i'm
brit, and attending to wholly different mat
rs. Lord Brougbam took advantage of this
strain CT admirable humor. which kept r
he House IN rear of laughter. He imag-
led all manner of out-of-the-way places in q
hich the noble President could have bid =
IN himself, or rendered his presence invisi- is
e. Under the benches, or the table! MOI G
was too bulky for such accommodation. v
arrow and Strengthened. Behind the wool r
cks. Very well; there might have been
me natural ovine affinity between the con- o
nts of that remarkable cushion and the =
Iaracter of the noble Earl. 1t was for him ii
account himself where he was on his
sn proper bench he certainly was not. The :
lighter produced by this display of Wit at
arl Granville.s expense was hearty. and,
deed, Earl Granville himself evidently en-
yed the fun. G.
but Lord Brougham effectuaily suppressed o
one or two saliies OF this nature, all de-
Re to interrupt him, and proceeded to IN
Id the subject matter of his petitions.