LORD BROUGHAM
Sostrt of the Lord Chancellor's admirers complain that he has met with hard usage lately in our columns. They declare that he means well, though (a sorry compliment this to a Lord Chan- cellor) his judgment is weak. It would be uncharitable, and probably unjust, to deny him the very common merit of acting, on the whole, from good motives. The objection to Lord BROUGHAM is, that his public life is not consistent; that he is too fond of scheming, and managing, and working by indirect means. He is so slippery, that no one can feel certain of his adherence to any principle; no one can depend upon his hearty cooperation in any measure. It is this grand defect in his character as a public man, which neutralizes his usefulness in the Cabinet, in Parliament, and in the country.
Lord BROUGHAM would stand far higher in public estimation, if lie would abandon his nauseous habit of flattering friend and foe, especially the latter. It may be all very well for such crafty and smooth politicians as Lord LYNDHURST to play the courtier; but Lord BROUGHAM was never intended for any thing so mean, and performs the part with exceedingly bad grace. He sadly overdoes the thing ; and never, we will venture to say, has he gained a single vote by his most cunningly-compounded doses of adulation. While he gains nothing, he loses much in this way— he gives all who hear him the impression that he is an insincere man. No human being believes that a person of his powers and acquirements, his early habits and associations, really feels that respect for narrow-minded booby Peers which he occasionally affects. On the other hand, when he
"Bares the mean heart that lurks beneath a star,"
—when he exposes the contemptible prejudices and ignorance of his brother Peers,--when he openly avows his consciousness of having been forced upon them, and of being the object of their ill-concealed hatred,—then every one recognizes the HENRY BROUGH AM of the House of Commons, the triumphant Member for Yorkshire, the man who wielded the "fierce democracy" of England, the champion of Reform. Then it is that Lord BROUGHAM is great ; because he is honest, and plain-spoken. Lord BROUGHAM seems to forget, that a statesman should be cautious, not only in what he utters himself, but in what he au- thorizes others to say for him. His fair fame has been much pre- judiced by the representations and misrepresentations of his opinions and intentions. All sorts of contradictory things are said of him. His speeches and actions in Parliament frequently sur- prise his best friends for this reason. The Lord Chancellor of England, even though he were a mere sit- ting dictionary of precedents, would have no lack of flatterers. Lord BROUGHAM, in addition to the power bestowed by the patronage of his Mice, is a distinguished orator and litterateur. He receives a prodigious quantity of adulation. It greets him in many quarters—from lawyers, divines, sucking statesmen, and 'gentle- men of the press." But it is not from such that he will obtain sound advice : they are not the persons to tell him of the damage
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