ader present in the same
assembly, and competent under all circumstances to represent its
opinions in debate. Lord George, although a very proud man, had no
vanity or self-conceit. He took a very humble view of his own powers,
and he had at the same time a very exalted one of those necessary to a
leader of the House of Commons. His illustrious connection, Mr. Canning,
was his standard. He had been the private secretary of that minister
in his youth, and the dazzling qualities of that eminent personage
had influenced the most susceptible time of life of one who was very
tenacious of his impressions. What Lord George Bentinck appreciated
most in a parliamentary speaker was brilliancy: quickness of perception,
promptness of repartee, clear and concise argument, a fresh and
felicitous quotation, wit and picture, and, if necessary, a passionate
appeal that should never pass the line of high-bred sentiment. Believing
himself not to be distinguished by these rhetorical qualities, he would
listen with no complacency to those who would urge in private that the
present period of parliamentary life was different from the days of Mr.
Canning, and that accumulated facts and well-digested reasoning on their
bearing, a command of all the materials of commercial controversy, and
a mastery of the laws that regulate the production and distribution of
public wealth, combined with habits of great diligence and application,
would ensure the attention of a popular assembly, especially when united
to a high character and great social position. This might be urged;
but he would only shake his head, with a ray of humour twinkling in his
piercing eyes, and say, in a half-drawling tone, 'If Mr. Canning were
alive, he could do all this better than any of them, and be not a whit
less brilliant.'

There was also another reason why Lord George Bentinck was unwilling to
assume the post of leader of the Conservative party, and this very much
influenced him. Sprung from a great Whig house, and inheriting all the
principles and prejudices of that renowned political connection which
had expelled the Stuarts, he had accepted, in an unqualified sense, the
dogma of religious liberty. This principle was first introduced into
active politics in order to preserve the possessions of that portion
of the aristocracy which had established itself on the plunder of
the Church. It was to form the basis of a party which should prevent
reaction and restitution of church