The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1868-05-16

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- Lord R-essham ffdsady at tine age
Of" ninety was one or the most re-
markRble intellects of the century.
IF he fell short OF the highest great.
;ness---if neither in literature or
science, nor In law or politics, did he
reach the supreme position, he vet
distinguished himself SO eminently
in them all, asito make it impossible
to compare his character and labors
with those of any of his cotempora-
ries.
Brougham began work young and
never rested from it till death. In
1877, he was writing for the Transac-
tions Of the Royal Society on the re-
fraction of light; and seventy years
afterward, in 1867, he delivered a
discourse before The Sco;., Science
Congress. The earlier and later parts
Of his life were given to science and
letters; and even in the long interval,
when his powers were devoted to
law and politics, he never lost sight
of the studies and pursuits which first
engaged his intellect.
Lord Brougham feared to grapple
with nothing. He would write o
treatise on the most obscure branch
OF the most abstruse science, as readi-
ly as he would deliver o Parliamenta-
ry speech on the political question
of the hour. He would deliver his
critical opinions on current literature
and universal philosophy as readily
as q judgment in the Court Of
Chancery. AS an advocate, he had
the management Of the greatest
cases. AS a politician, he took the
lead in dealing with the largest ques-
tions. AS q reformer, he was the
very ablest that England had during
his lifetime. AS en- orator, he has
his place among the foremost of
modern times.
To even count in the briefest way
the labors Of Brougham would take
up columns; and those interested in
q remarkable life and career, will find
in his biographies material not un-
worthy of study. It was ut the open
ing OF the century that he took part
in the founding of the Edinburgh
Recie,o-an organ whose power soon
became far greater than anything
ever known i'll periodical literature.
A few years afterward, he entered
Parliament, where he at once became
conspicuous by his powers of debate
and his liberal principles, and where
he spoke on every question of homo,
foreign and colonial policy. It is
not necessary to dwell upon his
efforts to abolish the slave trade, and
his signal success. Suffice it to say.
that in 1911 he brought in bill
making the slave trade, by whom
soever practiced, felony, and the bill
received the Royal assent. Such q
feat would have been enough to pre-
serve his name in history. Said one
of his biographers, writing in this
journal: ''The period between 1916
and 1880, that is to say, between his
thirty-eighth and fiftYfsecond year,
were those of his zenith and celebri-
ty. The whole of this period was
one of running warfare between Tory
privilege and popular rights, and the
latter won the day, only step by step
and point by point" The years
1920 and 1921 are epochs in his life,
owing to his conduct in those years
of Queen Caroline's case. His two
great speeches as Her Majesty's At
torney General on her divorce and
coronation, though forensic, greatly
increased his reputation in Parlia-
ment. He took the lead on the
great question of law reform, and
lived to see most of the reforms
which he advocated carried out. To
pass them in review would be to pass
in review the English Statute Book.
When the Wings came into power,
after the passage of the Reform Bill
of 1882. Brougham, to the surprise
of every one, became Lord Brougham
and Vaux and Lord High Chancellor
of England. His activity as Lord
Chancellor was as prodigious as it
had been as plain Mr.. Brougham.
In thereconstruction of 1885, Brough-
am broke from the Wings and re-
tired on his Ex-Chancellorship OF
SIS, 900 year to what has been called
life of energetic isolation" In
his period of independent activity he
was for long time little less promi-
nent than before, and on almost
every measure of reform and advance
ment ha took his ploca Hia loboro