The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1871-05-15
EeB Books

me LIE anu Il tUttS VI I<O ~
Written by himself. Second notice.
The publication Of few volumes can be
more welcome to the reading and rejecting
public than the one bearing the above title,
lust published By Messrs. HARPER Is RRos.
rae lives of IIoRNER, JEFFREY, and SIDNEY
SMITH. written or compiled as they were by
third persons, are necessarily so tlnctufeu
by the channels through which they have
reached us that We eagerly read the life Of
one Of the greatest OF the great Edinburgh
reviewers, written by himself. 81 am
alone" says Lord BRoCGHAM, abiding to
this biography, answera5le tor all It's
statements, faults, and omissions. L Wlll
have no editor employed to alter or rcwrl'e
what desire shall be EXCLUSIVELY MY OWN
We have at present, as we have hereto
fore stated, only the first volume OF This au-
photography before us, but are promised
shortly the other two, and the interest OF
tie present makes us anxiously look 1or-
ward to those that are to come.
The present volume embraces the first
thirty-four years Of the authors life, down
to 1911, including the history OF the frst
publication of the Edinburgh ReOier, ana
The correspondence with Lord GREY and
other leading Wings during the admlnlstra.
tons of hir. Fox, Lord PORTLAND, ana
Lord LIVERPOOL. Although it contains
MANY original letters written at that time,
and two Journals of travels on the CONT
uent, it does not appear that LORD
BRouGHAM thought OF writing his biogra-
phy until some years later. He says that
his reflections on his contemporaries and
1 his own acts during those years, especially
| with regard to the Edinburgh Re01eao, were
| penned after the rage of battle was over
and the dead buried out Of sight. After
the passage of the Roman Catholic emancl-
patton bill and the reform bill, which were
80 much due to the Edinburgh ReUie,o AID
its supporters, Lord BRouGHAA in his re-
trement might have consoled himself with
the reflection that "no one could accuse 1t
the Edinburgh Reoiesc) of personal malice
| or of sinister motives" which may indeed
be true as to most OF the politicians OPP
posed to him; but tue early death of many
a broken-hearted author, " shot by the nr-
row feathered from his wing" tells of NAL
ice concealed by exquisite diction and the
ipolitest aflability in society.
In every warfare, however, men equally
noble and innocent will be sacrificed on
both sides and while we may lament their
untimely fate, it may be that their early
fall prevents greater bloodShed; and it
would be unjust to judge thus Of HENRY
BRoUGHAM, and hold him accountable for
every one who fell by his best-polished and
snarpest-pointed spears. TO judge prop
erly of him we must recall the year 1902,
when the first number of the Edinburgh Re-
uieac made Its appearance, and compare the
! England of the present day with the Eng
land of that. In 1902 "protection reigned
triumphant parliamentary representation
in Scotland had scarcely an existence the
| Catholics were unemancipated the test
acts urrepealed; men were hung for steal
ing q few shillings in dwellug-house no
counsel allowed to prisoner accused Of a
capital offence the horrors of the slave
trade tolerated; the prevailing tendencies
OF the age jobbery and corruption.'
Excepting the last, we in America can
scarcely believe that In this century, may,
not much more. than fifty years ago, such
was the state of liberty in Great Britain.
TO the Improvement Of most and the re-
moyal Of many Of these evils the Edinburgh
Repieso has mainly contributed, and no
one individual man more than HENRY
BRoUGHAM.
| Although, as he says, many Of Lord
BRoUaHAM's reflections are the fruit OF the
calmer judgment of matnrer age, yet it is
evident that, AS far as possible, he has fol.
lowed manuscript as nearly contempora.
ncous with the events recorded as possible,
and many Of his opinions in this first
volume must have been afterwards much
changed. The dazzling intellect and great
personal success OF PITT seem TO have
blinded him to the perverted course
OF that mighty mind, and while he
never speaks of that great comnoner
without the highest praise, he censures
most severely, and, indeed, contemptu.
ou5y, PERoEvAL, LIVERPOOL, and CAM
SlNo' without once rejecting that they
were but the personal representatives OF
Ar. PITT, and merely carried out that
policy which he, in spite of his superior
knowledge, from too great greed of power,