cannot be modified so as to be rendered innocuous. The principle of the bill is precisely the same with that which you have already rejected. It is said that we must not go against the wishes of the people and a decided majority of the House of Commons. But you must consider whether the fulfilment of such wishes would not be pernicious to the people; and a majority of the House of Commons, however much entitled to respect, ought not to induce your Lordships to sanction a measure which you believe in your conscience would involve Lords and Commons in the general ruin. Let the Bill be immediately rejected, for any protracted consideration of it can only lead to the delusion as well as to the disappointment of the public. We are threatened with calamitous consequences which may follow the rejection of the bill; but I have no faith in such predictions. I never have despaired, nor will now despair of the good sense of the people of England. Give them but time for reflection, and I am sure they will act both wisely and justly. Of late they have been excited by the harangues of ministers, by the arts of emissaries, and by the inflammatory productions of the periodical press. Let them have time to cool, and they will ere long distinguish between their real and pretended friends. Already there is a growing feeling among the people that they have been following blind guides, and I believe there is a great majority of the nation ready to adopt any measure of temperate reform. This measure, my Lords, leaves nothing untouched in the existing state of the elective franchise. It goes to vest all the functions of government in the other House of Parliament, and if it were to pass there would be nothing left for this House or for the Crown, but to obey the mandates of the Commons. NEVER, NEVER, MY LORDS, SHALL I ENTER THE DOORS OF THIS HOUSE AFTER IT HAS BECOME THE PHANTOM OF ITS DEPARTED GREATNESS." There was still a decided majority of the Peers determined that the Bill should not pass. Nevertheless the expedient course was considered to be, that it should not again be thrown out in this stage, and the second reading was carried by a majority of 184 to 175.* For a few days there seemed reason to think that Lord Lyndhurst's manoeuvre would succeed. The King concurred in it, and a new administration was named to mutilate the bill. But the nation said No! The King 12 Parl. Deb., 3rd Series, 398, 454. was obliged to agree, if necessary, to create the requisite Peers to carry "the Bill, the whole Bill, and nothing but the Bill." The dread of being so "swamped" by fresh creations frightened away a great many of its opponents, and it quietly passed its subsequent stages unchanged. Lord Tenterden was as good as his word. After the Reform Bill received the Royal assent he never more entered the doors of the House. If he had survived a few years, he might have laughed at the disappointment of those who expected from this measure a new era of pure public virtue and uninterrupted national prosperity; yet he would have witnessed the falsification of his own predictions; for, while individual peers ceased to be members of a formidable oligarchy, the House collectively retained its place in the constitution, and, I believe, it has since risen in public estimation and in influence. His health declines. Lord Tenterden was sincerely convinced that the House and the country were doomed to destruction, and this conviction aggravated the disorders by which his enfeebled frame was now afflicted. In the following strain, although almost too feeble to support existence, he poured forth his anguish to Sir Egerton Brydges: "MY DEAR SIR EGERTON, "Russell Square, May 20th, 1832. "I have made several attempts to write to you, but have found myself unable to do so; nor can I write as I ought, or wish to do. My spirit is so depressed, that when I am not strongly excited by some present object that admits of no delay, I sink into something very nearly approaching to torpidity. My affection for you remains unchanged. God bless you. "Your most affectionate friend, Again, on the 8th of June, after addressing the same correspondent upon matters of inferior importance, he adds "We differ upon the great measure that has so long agitated the country. I considered the Catholic Bill as the first, and I consider this as the concluding step to overturn all the institutions of the country. In my anticipations of the effect of the first, I have cer tainly not been mistaken. The present state of Ireland proves this. Would to God I may be mistaken as to the effect of the Reform Bill. Great alarm was felt I hear to day that the yesterday from the Paris news. Government prevailed in the conflict. I have no confidence in a temporary triumph over a principle that I believe was never subdued, and can only be restrained by unintermitting coercion." He rallied a little, and got through the sittings after Term pretty comfortably, giving his annual dinner to the King's counsel; but instead of asking each of them to drink wine with him seriatim as formerly, he drank wine conjointly, first with all those who sat on his right hand, and then with all those on his left, hospitably admonishing them to drink wine with each other. In July he went the Midland Circuit, as the lightest he could choose, and he was able to sit in His last Court and finish the business at every assize circuit. town, notwithstanding the annoyance of a violent cough and other alarming symptoms. After a short stay at Leamington he returned to his seat at Hendon, and there spent the long vacation; sometimes yielding to despondence, and sometimes trying to amuse himself with making Latin verses, and with classical reading, which used to be his solace. vacation Being obliged to come to town for a Council to determine the fate of the prisoners convicted at The long the Old Bailey, he wrote to Sir Egerton before his Brydges the following melancholy epistle, death. which did not reach its destination till the writer was relieved from all his sufferings, and transferred to a better state of existence. "MY DEAR SIR EGERTON, "I came to town yesterday to attend His Majesty on the Recorder's report, and have received your letter this morning. I have lately suffered, and am still suffering, very severely from an internal complaint, which they call an irritation of the mucous membrane. It troubled me during all the circuit. I got rid of it for a short time at Leamington, but it soon returned with greater violence, and has for some time deprived me of appetite, and produced great depression of spirits. Sir Henry Halford, however, assures me that a medicine he has ordered me will in time remove the complaint, and my confidence in him induces me to trust it may be so, though after a trial of six days I cannot say that I find any sensible improvement. God bless you. "Your most affectionate friend, "TENTERDEN." His last appearance in court. However, his mental faculties remained wholly unimpaired; and he was determined" to die, like a camel in the wilderness, with his burden on his back." An important Government prosecution, in which I was counsel-The King v. Mayor of Bristol-was appointed to be tried at bar immediately before Michaelmas Term. This excited prodigious interest, as it arose out of the Reform Bill riots at Bristol, in which a considerable part of the city was laid in ashes. The Chief Justice appeared on the Bench with the other Judges, and continued to preside during the first two days of the trial. I recollect one characteristic sally from him, indicating his mortal dislike of long examinations. Mr. Shepherd, the junior counsel for the Crown, having asked how many horses were drawing a messenger's post-chaise sent in quest of the mayor, and being answered "four," Lord Tenterden sarcastically exclaimed in a hollow voice, "and now, Sir, I suppose you will next get out from your witness what was the colour of the post-boys' jackets." But his bodily health was evidently sinking. When he went His death. home in the evening of the second day of the trial he had no appetite for the dinner prepared for him, and he fancied that fresh oysters would do him good. He ate some; but they disagreed with him, and an access of fever supervening, he was put to bed, from which he never rose. Although attended by Sir Henry Halford, Dr. Holland, and Sir Benjamin Brodie, his disease baffled all their skill. He became delirious and talked very incoherently. Afterwards he seemed to recover his composure, and, raising his head from his pillow, he was heard to say in a slow and solemn tone, as when he used to conclude his summing up in cases of great importance, "And now, gentlemen of the jury, you will consider of your verdict." These were his last words: when he had uttered them his head sunk down, and in a few moments he expired without a groan. His funeral. According to directions left in his will, his remains were, in a very private manner, interred in the vaults of the Foundling Hospital, of which he had been a governor. At the south-east entrance to the hospital is to be seen his monument, with the following modest inscription, written by himself only two months before his death: "Propè situs est CAROLUS BARO TENTERDEN Filius natu minor Humillimæ sortis parentibus, Patre vero prudenti Matre piâ ortus Posteà Collegii Corporis Christi Oxon. Alumnus Primò ad Communia Placita Mox ad Placita coram ipso Rege Tenenda Deinde Justiciarius Capitalis Gratiâ Demum Georgii IV. Regis Quantum apud Britannos honestus labor His epitaph VOL. IV. 2 D |