over the peers, what a share he took in making and unmaking
ministries, with what idolatrous veneration he was regarded by one great
party in the State, with what dread and aversion he was regarded by the
other. When the long reign of Lord Eldon had terminated, other judges,
Whig and Tory, appeared at the head of contending factions. Some of us
can well remember the first ten days of October, 1831. Who, indeed, that
lived through those days can ever forget them? It was the most exciting,
the most alarming political conjuncture of my time. On the morning of
the eighth of October, the Reform Bill, after a discussion which had
lasted through many nights, was rejected by the Lords. God forbid that
I should again see such a crisis! I can never hope again to hear such
a debate. It was indeed a splendid display of various talents and
acquirements. There are, I dare say, some here who, like myself, watched
through the last night of that conflict till the late autumnal dawn,
sometimes walking up and down the long gallery, sometimes squeezing
ourselves in behind the throne, or below the bar, to catch the eloquence
of the great orators who, on that great occasion, surpassed themselves.
There I saw, in the foremost ranks, confronting each other, two judges,
on one side Lord Brougham, Chancellor of the realm, on the other Lord
Lyndhurst, Chief Baron of the Exchequer. How eagerly we hung on their
words! How eagerly those words were read before noon by hundreds of
thousands in the capital, and within forty-eight hours, by millions
in every part of the kingdom! With what a burst of popular fury
the decision of the House was received by the nation! The ruins of
Nottingham Castle, the ruins of whole streets and squares at Bristol,
proved but too well to what a point the public feeling had been wound
up. If it be true that nothing is so hateful to the noble lord, the
Member for Kent, as a judge who takes part in political contentions, why
does he not bring in a bill to prevent judges from entering those lists
in which Lord Brougham and Lord Lyndhurst then encountered each other?
But no: the noble lord is perfectly willing to leave those lists open to
the Master of the Rolls. The noble lord's objection is not to the union
of the judicial character and the political character. He is quite
willing that anywhere but here judges should be politicians. The Master
of the Rolls may be the soul of a great party, the head of a great
party, the favour