Volume III Part 3 (1/2)

Yesterday the first ham's new Bill of 'the Judicial Committee,' the Chancellor, Vice-Chancellor, Baron Parke, Justice Bosanquet, and Erskine (Chief Judge in Bankruptcy) I can't perceive that e sat there, though the Chancellor endeavours to confer all the iure there hi and Tory papers, of which he has been the object, the for his judicial incoinal causes are brought before him, and he has little business except appeals which must come into his Court He feels himself every day in aiet rid of his judicial duties

That he will by a series of tricks wriggle out of them there can be no doubt, for just now he can do whatever he pleases What he wants is to be Prime Minister; his restless and versatile mind will then find sufficient occupation, and there is no department of Govern over, leaving as he would do all troublesome details to be worked out by others

Nove of our Court yesterday The Chancellor co's Advocate) told me that he believed the Chancellor's object was to transfer all appeals from the House of Lords to the Privy Council Lyndhurst (whom I met at Mrs Fox's) said that it was quite true that he had no business in his own Court, for nobody would plead there, that he wanted to be Prie of the Great Seal, and getting rid of its duties There can be no doubt that he does, and if Lord Grey dies, or is ill (in which case he will resign), he probably will succeed It is as; his present object is to raise the Judicial Co all the business there he can collect; in order to increase the appeals he proposed to allow of them from the Indian Courts _in forma pauperis_ This, however, was strenuously resisted by all the Judges and others present, and as he always takes the lead in all discussions relating to rules and regulations, when he found that the unanimous opinion of the Coued against his own proposal, stating or anticipating the objections of the others, just insinuating incidentally counter-argu the question ree Head: STRATFORD CANNING AND DEDEL]

Mada which highly delighted her, because it justified the resistance which the Court of Russia made to his nomination to that Embassy The other day Dedel called on Pal-room, he said, 'Tell Lord Pallad to see him,' when a man as there, and whom he did not know, jumped up and said, 'And I desire you will tell Lord Pal here these two hours, and that I expect to see hi to Dedel, 'Sir, this is too bad; two persons have been already shown in to Lord Palmerston, both of whoo in to his Lordshi+p till after me' Dedel, who is the mildest and civillest of ht, and I assure you I have no desire to go in before you, but I only beg that if Lord Palmerston should send for ;' and then the other, 'Sir, I a' 'And I am Mr Dedel' This extraordinary scene he told Mada what had passed about thethat he shall not go there, and no other Ambassador is to be named till it is quite convenient to Palmerston

The day before yesterday I 's, when a conversation occurred which produced a curious coincidence We were talking of Vaughan, the Minister in America, how dull he appeared, and yet how sossa,' which he published at the time of the Spanish war Sydney Smith said that the truth was he had not written a word of it, and on being questioned further said that he was hiiven him the materials, and he had composed the narrative He then went on to say that it was not the only instance of the kind, for that the celebrated pa had not been written by her, not a word of it, that it had been written by Stapleton I said that I had it in my power to contradict this, for that I had been privy to the composition of it, had seen the manuscript, and had at her request undertaken the task of revising and correcting it Thus were two mistakes accidentally cleared up, by the circumstance of the only persons who could have explained thee Head: THE UNKNOWN TONGUES]

I went yesterday to Edward Irving's chapel to hear hiues The chapel was for, with a sealleries all round, and in the semicircle there are tiers of benches, in front of which is a platfor himself, and a sort of desk before it; on each side the chair are three arm-chairs, on which three other preachers sat The steps from the floor to the platform were occupied by men (whether peculiarly favoured or not I don't know), but the seats behind Irving's chair are evidently appropriated to the higher class of devotees, for they were the best dressed of the congregation The business was conducted with decency, and the congregation was attentive It began with a hyiven out by one of the assistant preachers, and sung by the whole flock This, which see services, is always very fine, the full swell of hu delivered a prayer, in a very sloling tone, rather long, and not at all striking in point of language or thought When he had finished, one of thebeside him arose, read a few verses from the Bible, and discoursed thereon He was a sorry fellow, and was followed by two others, not much better After these three Spencer Perceval stood up He recited the duty to our neighbour in the catechism, and descanted on that text in a style in all respects far superior to the others He appeared about to touch on politics, and (as well as I recollect) was saying, 'Ye trusted that your institutions were unalterable, ye believed that your loyalty to your King, your respect for your nobility, your'--when suddenly a lownoise was heard, on which he instantly stopped, threw his arm over his breast, and covered his eyes, in an attitude of deep devotion, as if oppressed by the presence of the spirit The voice after ejaculating three 'Oh's,' one rising above the other, in tones very on, which, whether it was in English or in gibberish I could not discover

This lasted five or six minutes, and as the voice was silenced, another woman, in more passionate and louder tones, took it up; this last spoke in English, and words, though not sentences, were distinguishable I had a full view of her sitting exactly behind Irving's chair She ell dressed, spoke sitting, under great apparent excitement, and screaradually died away, and all was still Then Spencer Perceval, in slow and solemn tones, resumed, not where he had left off, but with an exhortation to hear the voice of the Lord which had just been uttered to the congregation, and after a few more sentences he sat doopreached His subject was 'God's love,' upon which he poured forth a mystical incomprehensible rhapsody, with extraordinary vehe like eloquence in his ser illustrations to char in his coe, wild countenance, his vehe power of his voice, its compass, intonation, and variety, which arrests attention, and gives the notion of a great orator I daresay he can speak well, but to waste real eloquence on such an auditory would be like throwing pearls to swine 'The bawl of Bellas' is better adapted for their ears than quiet sense in sinifico,'

can scarcely find a happier illustration than aation whose admiration is probably in an inverse ratio to their comprehension

December 6th, 1833 {p042}

The Vice-Chancellor, Parke, Bosanquet, and Erskine o on so quickly with es as with one, whether it be more satisfactory or not The Chancellor, the last time we met, announced to the Bar (very oddly) that for the future their Lordshi+ps would give judght was his friend, laughed at this yesterday with me, and said that he wanted to throw off from hi, I forget what, about the Chancery Bill) ould be left for the Chancellor to do when that Bill was passed He said, 'Nothing, that he meant to be Prime Minister and Chancellor, and that it hat he had been driving at all along, that the Bill for regulating the Privy Council was only a part of his own plan, and that all his sche political bias aside, it is curious, considering his station, to hear the lawyers talk of him, the conte the contrast with the profound respect which is paid to Lord Eldon The other day, in the action brought against the Chancellor for false iive evidence; when he entered the Court, while he was examined, and when he departed, the whole Bar stood up, and the Solicitor-General _harangued_ him, expressed in the na hi in these reverential testimonials to a man fro into the grave, and I doubt if, at the close of his career, Brougham will ever obtain the same

December 9th, 1833 {p043}

Went yesterday with Frederic Elliot and Luttrell to hear Fox, a celebrated Unitarian preacher, at a chapel in South Place, Finsbury Square He is very short and thick, dark hair, black eyes, and a countenance intelligent though by no , and his articulation imperfect, he cannot pronounce the s His sermon was, however, ad so far He read the whole of it, the language was beautiful, the argu powerful, and there were occasionally passages of great eloquence The conclusion, which was a sort of invocation to the Deity, was very fine I like the simplicity of the service: hyy preferable--our own, much abbreviated, would be the best

Decee Head: LORD TAVISTOCK ON THE LIBERAL PARTY]

Met Tavistock at dinner the other day, and talked about the Government; from his intimacy with Althorp and connection with the others he knows their sentih an opinion of Althorp that he ly he does relad to retire, but that he will go on as long as he can, because the Governreat ehah he believed his popularity in the country to be great; that all depended on the part Peel took in the next session, for in the event of Lord Grey's resignation he looked to the King's sending for Peel to for did when Lord Liverpool died), principally composed of course of the _purest_ materials, but not exclusively, and that he did not think the great body of the Liberal party wouldoffice under Peel; that Stanley would not He (Tavistock) thinks that Peel could not coton; the Tories (Irvine, eg) think he would not come in _without_ him

December 18th, 1833 {p044}

Went with Moore yesterdayto the State Paper Office, and introduced him to Lemon[4] It was at the new office, where the docuement, and for the future they will be accessible and useful John Allen told Moore the other day that he considered that the history of England had never really been written, so much matter was there in public and private collections, illustrative of it, that had never been reat measure confirm that assertion, as his researches had afforded hiht upon modern history, fro is conventional; people take the best evidence that has been produced, and give their assent to a certain series of events, until more facts and better evidence supplant the old statements and establish others in their place They are now printing Irish papers of the time of Henry VIII, but from the folly of Henry Hobhouse, ould not let the volu dined with Moore at the Poodle's He told a good story of Sydney Smith and Leslie the Professor Leslie had written upon the North Pole; soh Review' in a way that displeased hi on horseback, and in a great hurry Leslie began with a grave complaint on the subject, which Jeffrey interrupted with 'O daeon, and soon afterhim disturbed, asked as the matter He told him what he had been to Jeffrey about, and that he had in a very unpleasant way said, 'damn the North Pole' 'It was very bad,' said Sydney; 'but, do you know, I am not surprised at it, for I have heard him speak very disrespectfully of _the Equator_'

[4] [Robert Lemon, Esq, FSA, was the Deputy Keeper of the State Papers, who rendered the greatest services in the classification of the Records, which at this time were but little known and had not been opened to literary investigation]

Decee Head: HOSTILITY TO RUSSIA]