The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1873-06-19

Neal sat still. "AhR said Bentham,
as he drew black silk night-cap over
his spare gray hair, you think that's a
hint to go. Not bit of it. Sit down
III ten you when I'm tired. Tn going
to viblate little that assists digestion,
too" And with that he descended into
the trsneh-like passage of which have
spoken, and commenced walking briskly
back and forth, his head nearly on a
level with ours, as we sat. OF course we
all turned toward him. For full half
an houl, as he walked, did he continue
to pour forth such witty and eloquent
invectiye againt kings, priests. and their
retainers, as 1 have seldom listened to
Then he turned to the head of the table
and kept up the conversation, without
tagging, till midnight, ere he dismissed
us. His parting words to me were
characteristics g God bless you--if
there be such being and at all events,
my young friend, take care of yourself. "
Bentham's standing as reformer of
Jurisprudence was not, at that time,
what it afterward grew to be, especial
in England !; thinks to the translations
and able editing of his works by Du-
mont, le was more highly appreciated
in France. Yet his posthumous fame
was greater than his reputation while
living. heard him spoken of as an
ultra radical by those who thought that
one OF the gravest terms of reproach.
It is true that after saw him, but while
he yet lived, Macintosh admitted that
"Bentlam had done more than any
other nan to rouse the spirit of judicial
reformation" But it was years after
his death that Macaulay paid him this
higher tribute ''Prosterity will pro-
nounce its calm and impartial decision ];
and that decision viii, we firmly believe,
place in the same rank with Galileo and
with Locke the man who found juris-
prudence a gibberish and1eft it a science.
In some of the highest departments in
which the human intellect can exert
itself, he has not left his equal nor his
second behind him."
With John Neal I kept upkthe &C
quaintance thus begun. Ny father,
ardent in his love of civil and religious
liberty, had brought me up to think
highly of America and Americans and
the young mans enthusiastic admiration
of Bentham fell IN well with my own.
He was then engaged in writing, for
Blackwood, sketches of the literary and
political celebrieties of the United
States, which I read eagerly and the
stories he told of his native country had
for me all the charm of romance. One
day when I was walking with him in
Hyde park, we met Henry Brougham,
who aceosted me, Neal sauntering on.
I had spent several days of the previous
week near Birmingham, with the Hills !;
Rowland, afterward Sir Rowland, author
of the penny postage system, and for
many years at the head of the British
post-offico; together with two other
brothers, Frederick and Matthew; the
former noted in later years for his work
on Crime and Causes; the latter, for his
exertions in procuring law reform. They
were then conducting large boarding
school or private college for boys, justly
celebrated in its day; and, as Brougham
knew of my visit, he had stopped me to
learn what I thought of that institution.
I spoke it, as I felt, in terms of the
warmest approval. remember that
one trifing popularity which I related
to him took his fancy, as it had taken
mine; we were reused in the morning,
not by the harsh clang of bell, but by
the soft tones of a cornet, gradually
swelling until the musician concluded
that they were loud enough to awaken
the sleeping population of the house, "a
most pleasant and harmonious ushering
in of new day, it had seemed to me.
Our conversation ended, I rejoined
Neal. "Some school-master, was it
not ?" he asked in an Indifferent tone.
"No, indeed" said I "that was
Henry Brougham. 1 should have in
troduced you, if you hadn't walked of. "
Neal stopped dead short, and stared at
me. ''Henry Brougham p he cried
out at last. "The man of all others 1
wanted to see-and know What an ass
1 was not to see, in his face, the pow
er and talent he has,-to mistake him
for some old pedagogue y
Henry Brougham, though then withss
out title. had been, for years, q dis
tinguished member of Parliament, emil
nent for his passionate eloquence and
vehement invective famous, too, as
the legal defender of Queen Caroline.
He had also been chosen a year or two
before, though Walter Scott was his
competitor, lord rector of the universi-
| ty of Glasgow, and his recent work
| '' On the Education of the People" was
attracting universal attention. No
wonder, then, that my friend Neal, SAN
| guine, impressible, and worshipper of
genius, was provoked with himself for
having missed an introduction.
may state here that there was, be-
tween Brougham and my father, SO
great a personal resemblance, alike in
face and person, that the one was fre-
quentIy mistaken for the other. A year
or two after Brougham obtained his
title, my father, passing through Mac
clesfeld in the mail-coach, was accosted
while it stopped there, by gentleman
who said he was glad to see his lordship
again so soon. Ny father, guessing
the mistake, protested that he was not
Lord Broughsm; but the other rejoin-
ed, "You wish TO travel incognito but
you forget that I had the honor Of din
ing with your lordship three weeks
ago." This was noised about a crowd
collected and when the coach started
again, they gave three hearty cheers for
Lord Brougham, the peoples friend.
My father, while I was with him in
London, introduced me to a noted
author, already known to me through
| two of his works,-Politicai Justice
and Caleb Williams, s,-and as the hus-