petitions were presented; the great West Indian petition by Lord Chandos. At length, about 6, Mr. Fowell Buxton' was called: he presented two petitions, one from the Archbishop of Tuam, and his clergy, and the other from the Delegates of the Dissenters in and near London. The order of the day was then called, and he moved his resolution, which was for a Committee to consider and report upon the best means of abolishing the state of slavery throughout the British dominions, with a due regard to the safety of all parties concerned.' He spoke very well indeed, and they listened to him far better than last year; in short, the subject obviously carried much greater weight with it, and the effect of the speech last year on population was manifest, as indeed it has been ever since. * * * Lord Althorp proposed the amendment of adding 'conformably to the resolutions of 1823.' Then came the trial: they (privately) besought my father to give way, and not to press them to a division. They hated,' they said, 'dividing against him, when their hearts were all for him; it was merely a nominal difference, why should he split hairs? he was sure to be beaten, where was the use of bringing them all into difficulty, and making them vote against him?" He told us that he thought he had a hundred applications of this kind, in the course of the evening; in short, nearly every friend he had in the House came to him, and by all considerations of reason and friendship, besought him to give way. Mr. Evans was almost the only person who took the other side. I watched my father with indescribable anxiety, seeing the members, one after the other, come and sit down by him, and judging but too well from their gestures, what their errand was. One of them went to him four times, and at last sent up a note to him with these words, immovable as ever?' To my uncle Hoare, who was under the gallery, they went repeatedly, but with no success, for he would only send him a message to persevere. My uncle described to me one gentleman, not a member, who was near him, under the gallery, as having been in a high agitation all the evening, exclaiming, Oh, he won't stand! Oh, he'll yield! I'd give a hundred pounds, I'd give a thousand pounds, to have him divide! Noble! noble ! What a noble fellow he is!' according to the various changes in the aspect of things. Among others, Mr. H came across to try his eloquence; Now don't be so obstinate; just put in this one word, interest;' it makes no real difference, and then all will be easy. You will only alienate the Government. * * Now,' said he, I'll just tell Lord Althorp you have consented.' My father replied, 'I don't think I exaggerate when I say, I would rather your head were cut off, and mine too; I am sure I had rather your's were!' What a trial it was. He said afterwards, that he could compare it to nothing but a continual tooth drawing, the whole evening. At length he rose to reply, and very touchingly alluded to the effort he had to make, but said, he was bound in conscience to do it, and that he would divide the House. Accordingly the question was put. The Speaker said, I think the noes have it.' Never shall I forget the tone in which his solitary voice replied, 'No, sir.' 'The noes must go forth,' said the Speaker, and all the House appeared to troop out. Those within were counted, and amounted to ninety. This was a minority far beyond our expecta

*

tions, and from fifty upwards, my heart beat higher at every number. I went round to the other side of the ventilator to see them coming in. How my heart fell, as they reached 88, 89, 90, 91, and the string still not at end; and it went on to 136. So Lord Althorp's amendment was carried. At 2 o'clock in the morning it was over, and for the first time my father came up to us in the ventilator. I soon saw that it was almost too sore a subject to touch upon; he was so wounded at having vexed all his friends. Mr. would not speak to him after it was over, so angry was he; and for days after when my father came home, he used to mention, with real pain, somebody or other who would not return his bow. On Friday, Dr. Lushington came here and cheered him, saying, 'Well, that minority was a great victory;' and this does seem to be the case; but we hardly know how to forgive some of those who ought to have swelled its numbers.'-pp. 289–292.

Mr. Buxton was not long in reaping the reward of his decision. His motion was lost, but his cause triumphed. The influence of the ministry secured, for the day, a majority against him, but they knew full well that their advantage could not be maintained. The feeling out of doors was too intense to be trifled with, and its religious character, -whatever sneering and half-infidel politicians may allege to the contrary,-commanded attention, though it could not win their hearts. I saw T. B. Macaulay, yesterday,' writes Mr. Buxton, on the 27th of September.' He said, 'You know, how entirely everybody disapproved of your course in your motion, and thought you very wrong, very hard-hearted, and very headstrong; but two or three days after the debate, Lord Althorp said to me, that division of Buxton's has settled the slavery question. If he can get ninety to vote with him when he is wrong, and when most of those really interested in the subject vote against him, he can command a majority when he is right. The question is settled; the government see it, and they will take it up.' The same decision marked his subsequent procedure. The government, however, still wavered, and at the eleventh hour attempted to play him false, till at length his inflexibility wrung from Lord Althorp the discreditable declaration, 'Well, if you will not yield, What followed is known. Little honor is due to the Whigs. They acted under compulsion and not willingly, though now they seek to plume themselves in the honors of emancipation.

we must.'

Turning from this grave theme, our readers will be interested with the sketch given of a dinner party, at the brewery in Spitalfields, at which some of the most distinguished political characters of the day were present. Lord Grey and the Spanish General Alava were of the party,' the former, the dignified, stiff, sedate, British nobleman of the old school; the latter, the

entertaining, entertained, and voluble foreigner.' The Lord Chancellor Brougham, says Mr. J. J. Gurney, 'was in high glee; he came in a shabby black coat, and very old hat; strangely different from the starred, gartered, and cocked-hat dignity of the venerable premier :'

Something,' says Mr. Gurney, led us (Lord Brougham and myself) to talk about Paley, and I mentioned the story of his having on his death-bed, condemned his Moral Philosophy,' and declared his preference of the Hora Paulinæ,' above all his other works. This led Brougham to speak of both those works. 'Did you ever hear that King George III. was requested by Mr. Pitt to make Paley a bishop? The King refused; and taking down the Moral Philosophy' from the shelf, he showed Pitt the passage in which he justifies subscription to articles not fully credited, on the ground of expediency. This,' said the King, is my reason for not making him a bishop.' Lord Grey overheard the Chancellor's story and confirmed it; but,' added the Chancellor, I believe the true reason why George III. refused to make Paley a bishop was, that he had compared the divine right of kings to the divine right of constables!' * The Chancellor was very cordial, and we were all delighted with his entertaining rapidity of thought, ready wit, and evident good feeling. Nor was it possible to be otherwise than pleased with all our guests, with whom we parted, about eleven o'clock at night, after a flowing, exhilarating, and not altogether uninstructive day.'-p. 266.

* * *

Mr. Buxton mentions some further particulars, which are too illustrative of character to be omitted. After naming the parties present, in all, twenty-three, he says:

'I first led them to the steam-engine; Brougham ascended the steps and commenced a lecture upon steam-power, and told many entertaining anecdotes; and when we left the engine, he went on lecturing as to the other parts of the machinery, so that Joseph Gurney said he understood brewing better than any person on the premises. I had Mr. Gow up with his accounts, to explain how much our horses each cost per annum; and Brougham entered into long calculations upon this subject. To describe the variety of his conversation is impossible

From grave to gay, from lively to severe.'

The memory

'At dinner I gave but two toasts, "The King,' and of George 111.,' whose birthday it was. We had no speeches, but conversation flowed, or rather roared like a torrent, at our end of the table. The Chancellor lost not a moment; he was always eating, drinking, talking, or laughing; his powers of laughing seemed on a level with his other capacities.

Talking of grace before dinner he said, I like the Dutch grace best, they sit perfectly still and quiet for a minute or two. I thought it very solemn.'

He enquired the wages of the draymen. I told him about 45s.

weekly, and we allow them to provide substitutes for a day or two in the week, but we insist on their paying them at the rate of 26s. per week. Yes,' said he, I understand; these rich and beneficed gentry employ curates, and the curates of the draymen get about as much salary as those of the clergy.'

'After dinner we took them to the stables to see the horses. Somebody said, Now the Lord Chancellor will be at a loss; at all events he knows nothing about horses. However, fortune favoured him, for he selected one of the best of them and pointed out his merits. Some one proposed that he should get upon his back, and ride him round the yard, which he seemed very willing to do; and thus ends my history of the Lord Chancellor.

'Lord Grey looked care-worn, but was remarkably cordial.'-p. 267.

We must indulge in another piece of pleasantry, which is specially interesting at the present moment, from the political prominence now given to a member of the family concerned. Writing to his daughter, February 14th, 1834, Mr. Buxton

says:

'We yesterday dined at Ham House to meet the Rothschilds; and very amusing it was. He (Rothschild) told us his life and adventures. He was the third son of the banker at Frankfort. There was not,'

he said, 'room enough for us all in that city. I dealt in English goods. One great trader came there, who had the market to himself: he was quite the great man, and did us a favour if he sold us goods. Somehow I offended him, and he refused to show me his patterns. This was on a Tuesday; I said to my father, 'I will go to England.' I could speak nothing but German. On the Thursday I started; the nearer I got to England the cheaper goods were. As soon as I got to Manchester, I laid out all my money, things were so cheap; and I made good profit. I soon found that there were three profits-the raw material, the dyeing, and the manufacturing. I said to the manufacturer, I will supply you with material and dye, and you supply me with manufactured goods.' So I got three profits instead of one, and I could sell goods cheaper than anybody. In a short time I made my £20,000 into £60,000. My success all turned on one maxim. I said, I can do what another man can, and so I am a match for the man with the patterns, and for all the rest of them! Another advantage I had. I was an offhand man. I made a bargain at once. When I was settled in London, the East India company had 800,000 lbs. of gold to sell. I went to the sale, and bought it all. I knew the Duke of Wellington must have it. I had bought a great many of his bills at a discount. The government sent for me, and said they must have it. When they had got it, they did not know how to get it to Portugal. I undertook all that, and I sent it through France; and that was the best business I ever did.'

'Another maxim, on which he seemed to place great reliance, was, never to have anything to do with an unlucky place or an unlucky man. 'I have seen,' said he, many clever men, very clever men, who had

not shoes to their feet. I never act with them.

Their advice sounds

very well; but fate is against them; they cannot get on themselves; and if they cannot do good to themselves, how can they do good to me?' By aid of these maxims he has acquired three millions of money.

I hope,' said 'that your children are not too fond of money and business, to the exclusion of more important things. I am sure you would not wish that.' Rothschild. I am sure I should wish that. I wish them to give mind, and soul, and heart, and body, and everything to business; that is the way to be happy. It requires a great deal of boldness, and a great deal of caution to make a great fortune; and when you have got it, it requires ten times as much wit to keep it. If I were to listen to all the projects proposed to me, I should ruin myself very soon. Stick to one business, young man,' said he to Edward; 'stick to your brewery, and you may be the great brewer of London. Be a brewer, and a banker, and a merchant, and a manufacturer, and you will soon be in the Gazette. One of my neighbours is a very illtempered man; he tries to vex me, and has built a great place for swine, close to my walk. So, when I go out, I hear first, grunt, grunt, squeak, squeak; but this does me no harm. I am always in good humour. Sometimes to amuse myself I give a beggar a guinea. He thinks it is a mistake, and for fear I should find it out, off he runs as hard as he can. I advise you to give a beggar a guinea sometimes, it is very amusing.' "The daughters are very pleasing. The second son is a mighty hunter; and his father lets him buy any horses he likes. He lately applied to the emperor of Morocco, for a firstrate Arab horse. The emperor sent him a magnificent one, but he died as he landed in England. The poor youth said very feelingly 'that was the greatest misfortune he ever had suffered;' and I felt strong sympathy with him. I forgot to say, that soon after M. Rothschild came to England, Bonaparte invaded Germany; The Prince of Hesse Cassel,' said Rothschild, 'gave my father his money; there was no time to be lost; he sent it to me. I had £600,000 arrive unexpectedly by the post; and I put it to such good use, that the prince made me a present of all his wine and his linen.'-pp. 343-345.

Lord

The discussions attendant on the Abolition Bill, elicited various opinions amongst the anti-slavery party. These respected, more especially, the compensation awarded to the planters, and the term of apprenticeship imposed on the negroes. Stanley who had charge of the bill, was evidently indifferent, if not hostile to it, and did all in his power to thwart its noble object, and to render its example inoperative. Mr. Buxton felt this, though he differed from many of his warmest supporters in his view of the course to be pursued. They were opposed to any money grant, as involving a most vicious principle, and would have demanded immediate and unconditional emancipation. He, however, voted for the grant of £20,000,000, but