BROUGHAM.-CANNING. THE TIMES. 205 on the meek Popish spirit of love-for that he, forsooth, had not read the sevenpenny newspapers for some time back—an absurd and indeed incredible inconsistency in the grim genitor of the Twa-Bawbee Magazine. Shepherd. Me and Hairy Brumm's great freens, and batin yoursel, sir, he's the grandest companion I ken, either in a mixed company o' ordinar dimensions, or at a twa-haun crack. He seems to hae made a kind o' triumphal progress or procession through Scotland in a post-chaise, and nae dout occasionally fowre horses; and I was glad to see, for my ain sake, that the Lord Chancellor received the freedom o' the same brughs that, twunty years sin' syne, had conferred that honour on me for the Queen's Wake. Tickler. Scotland has reason to be proud of your friend, James; for with her he passed his brilliant youth, and within the walls of our own old College, and of our own old Parliament House, was first seen fitfully shining that mental fire which ere long burst into so bold and bright a blaze, and illumined his high career in the English Courts of Law, and the greatest Legislative Assembly in the world. Shepherd. He was a real orator. Tickler. He led the Commons—and had no equal but Canning. North. He never led the Commons, and he was no match for Canning. Shepherd. What ails the Times at Hairy Brumm? Shepherd. They 'll no be able to rin him doun, sir. North. The Times hits hard-fights at points-is good with both hands-up to all the manœuvres of the London Ring-always in tip-top condition-and in a close seldom fails in getting the fall either by back-lock or cross-buttock. He can lick all the London dailies-though some of them are strong wiry chaps, and very ugly customers—all but the Standard; and the fine science and great strength of the Standard have given him the championship of the Press. Shepherd. They say the Times fechts booty? North. They who said so lied-he is above a bribe—and by his own power purchases his own gold. But there are other passions besides the "auri sacra fames "-other devils besides Mammon. Shepherd. I weel ken that. There's Belial-and there's Beelzebub-and there's Lucifer-and there's North. These three are sufficient-you need not mention any more—and they are all gentlemen of the press. Shepherd. And a' against Hairy Brumm? North. Certainly not-unless they have lost all regard for consistency of character. Lucifer and he are friends for life. Shepherd. I smell brimstone. Tickler. Merely candle-snuff. One cannot choose but smile to hear the Times telling how he patronised Brougham, and made him Lord Chancellor of England. Yet the boast is not without truth. The Press was a powerful auxiliar to his own great power-and in his favour the Times for years led the Press. It cut down his foes-it cleared his way-it cheered him on-it "bound his brows with victorious wreaths;" and now that "the winter of its discontent" hath come-the question is, will it have the force of frost or blight to wither them? Shepherd. Na. North. But it is base in Brougham to abuse the Press, merely because it now abuses him; for, during all the many long years it bore him up on its strong wings-yet he of himself could fly and soar-the Press, he well knew, was systematically maligning better men, his rivals in the race; and never one word did he utter in its dispraise, till he had laid his own hand on the goal-and then, on an unwonted and unwelcome clamour assailing his ears-loud, indeed, but less truculent than had, to his great satisfaction, tormented superior spirits-superior inasmuch as Wisdom is a nobler gift than Wit, and TALENT but the servant of Virtue-then he turned round, with "visage all inflamed ". Shepherd. "Sawtan dilated stood North.and told the people of England, that he regarded the Press with contempt and scorn! Shepherd. Hairy shouldna hae said that-for o' a' the steam-engines that ever clattered, the maist like a leevin giant is the Printin Machine. North. With all his sins, Lord Brougham is worth a coalwaggon-train-ful of Durhams. It is too ludicrous for laughing to see Lambton pitting himself against, such a man. True, THE DURHAM DEMONSTRATION. 207 he confesses his inferiority in powers of speech; but in the very confession his poor pride is apparent-for by that candour he thinks he proves his claim to superior worth. Now the truth is, that the Coalmaster approaches nearer to the Chancellor in eloquence than in any other natural or acquired gift; for it is wonderful how well he speaks, and he possesses no despicable power of jaw. He is a third-rate radical rhetorician, and has a command of loose lumbering language, very unpleasant to listen to, which he can atrabilariously keep delivering for a trying extent of time. But in powers of thought he is a mere man of the multitude; in his harangues nobody looks for ideas; and his very admirers direct you, for proofs of his abilities, to his forehead and his face. Both are indeed beautiful-but "fronti nulla fides" is an old saw and a wise one-and he would soon become indeed a jaundiced observer, who appealed to the colour of his cheeks. Brougham is no beauty; but his mug is a book, in which men may read strange matters-and take him as he stands, face and figure, and you feel that there is a man of great energy, and commanding intellect. His brain swarms with ideas-of which some have been almost magnificent-and his heart has been often visited by high and generous emotions, which but for a restless temper might have found there an abiding-place; and but that conscience has too often been overcome by ambition, might have made him morally as well as intellectually great, and one of the most illustrious worthies of England. 1 Shepherd. Wasna't Lord Durham that flew intil sic a fury again' the newspapers for sayin something about the flag o' his pleesur yatt,1 -and was for finin and imprisonin folk for some folly o' theirs about some folly o' his, somehoo or ither conneckit wi' the threecolore, and the Cherburgh rods, and the Tyne Louisa, and the Newcastle colliers, and some nonsense about depopulation o' a village, and breakin doun some rails in the Isle o' Wight, and compromeesin some act, by payin the law expenses, and makin affidavits about falsehoods, and North. It was-and I am only astonished, James, at your retaining so distinct a recollection of so many pitiable expo 1 "Lord Durham's yacht had hoisted the tricolor over the British flag, and he prosecuted the Newcastle Journal (a Tory paper) for chronicling the fact."American Editor. 208 ITS OUTWARD AND VISIBLE EFFECTS. sures made of himself by the Champion and Guardian of the Liberty of the Press. Shepherd. Whether, sir, did you admire maist the Grey Festival here in Embro', or the Durham Demonstration yonner in Glasgow ?1 North. Ask Tickler. Tickler. For your opinion? Hem. Pray, Kit, what was demonstrated by the Durham Demonstration? North. That the stomachs of the Glasgow Radicals revolt from wine. Shepherd. Was that a'? North. Not all-but the most important point, established by the plainest proofs. Shepherd. I could hae telt that beforehaun; for wine's waur nor wersh in the mooth to workmen, either in toon or kintra ;—and forbye bein' waur nor wersh in the mooth, it's sickenin to the stamack, and it's irritatin to the temper, and gars folk throw up ither things in folk's faces than mere indigested political maitters. I've seen that happen even amang Tories in the Forest, and we never thocht o' ca'in't by ony ither than the ordinar idiomatic name; but noo we shall adopt that grand-soundin descriptive phraseology-Durham Demon stration. Tickler. Your justification of the Glasgow Radicals is as complete, James, as your justification of the Edinburgh Whigs. Shepherd. It's founded, sir, on the same constitutional principles-and in baith cases the chief blame lies at the door o' the fresh air. Fifteen hunder men o' the hunder and fifty thousand-I like roun' nummers-to whose care and custody Lord Durham said he was wullin to intrust his property and his life (I wunner hoo mony years' purchase they would in that case be worth), comin frae the caller air o' the open 1 The Earl of Durham was fêted by the Glasgow Radicals on the 29th October 1834. "The chair," says the Spectator," was taken a little before six o'clock by Mr James Oswald, Member for Glasgow. The croupiers were Messrs Colin Dunlop, John Douglas ("the Glasgow Gander"), and A. G. Speirs. There were no titled guests besides him in whose honour the feast was held. Lord Kinnaird's brother attended. Messrs Wallace, Gillon, and Buckingham represented the House of Commons; Professor Mylne the University; and there was no want of most respectable gentlemen, merchants, and other persons of consideration in Glasgow and the neighbourhood." WHIG-RAD UNANIMITY. 209 Green intil the foul air o' the closebox o' the Pavilion, and sookin port, couldna be expeckit to get wi' impunity to the dregs at the bottom o' the bottle. But the Men o' the Wast are a strang generation, and no sune coupit―sae they keept their seats in spite o' the soomin round o' the wa's—and a' attempts o' the seats theirsels to steal a march out frae beneath them and opened their mouths for a public Durham Demonstration on a great scale. They made, in fack, a virtue o' necessity; and as it is wrang to hide your talent under a napkin, they exhibited the fruits o' theirs on the table. Tickler. By way of dessert. Shepherd. They were determined, sirs, that everything should be aboon board-and disdainin to keep doun their risin emotions, to mak a clean breist. In this way, it may be said, by a metonymy Tickler. A metonymy! Shepherd.that they discharged their consciences, and were entitled, with as good a grace as Lord Brougham, to hauld them up and exclaim, "These hands are clean." North. It must have been a proud sight for the wives and daughters of the Demonstrators, and that anonymous class of ladies whom the Gander alluded to, as dearer even than wives and daughters Shepherd. Wha are they? North. He best knows. I should have felt for Lord Durham at the shockingly insulting stop put to his return of thanks on an occasion on which I verily believe no man was ever so interrupted before-not even at a supper after the Beggars' Opera in Poossie Nancy's-had he not had the ineffable baseness to exclaim, "That comes from a Tory-there's an enemy in the camp." It required no readiness to improvise such a foolish falsehood—and he must have been ashamed of himself for venting it, when, sick of the scene, he retired from the Pavilion, in vain attempting to pick his steps among the disjecta membra of the Durham Demonstration, that had for hours been oozing through the joints of the deal-tables, till they adorned the floor. Shepherd. "O laith! laith! was the Durham Lord, To wat his high-heeled shoon." North. Lord Grey exultingly asked the wise men of the VOL. IV. |