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in support of Mr. Peel's
motion for Catholic Emancipation, which he described as going "the
full length that any reasonable man ever did or ever can demand; it
does equal justice to his Majesty's Roman Catholic subjects; it puts an
end to all religious distinctions; it exterminates all civil
disqualifications on account of religious belief. It is simple and
efficacious; clogged with no exceptions, unless such as even the most
zealous of the Catholics themselves must admit to be of necessity
parcel of the measure."
In the session of 1829, Mr. Brougham explained the proceedings of the
Commissioners appointed to inquire into Public Charities, who, it
appeared, had examined sixteen counties, and partially examined ten;
altogether amounting to more than 19,000 charities, being more than
half the number in the whole kingdom.
In 1830, Mr. Brougham supported Lord John Russell's plan for
Parliamentary Reform, as an amendment to a motion of Mr. O'Connell;
in which Mr. Brougham opposed universal suffrage and vote by ballot.
In the same week also, he spoke at some length on the punishment of
Forgery by death. The opinions which he expressed, Mr. Brougham
said, he had learned from his great and lamented friend, Sir Samuel
Romilly; and he concluded by expressing his hope that he should live
to see the day when this stain should be removed from our statute-book.
In the following month Mr. Brougham brought in a bill for local
jurisdictions in England, for diminishing the expense of legal
proceedings. On June 24, Mr. Brougham spoke at great length upon the
inadequacy of the ministerial bill for the reform of the Court of
Chancery. On July 13, he moved for the abolition of West India
Slavery, and expatiated at great length and with extreme
earnestness--first, on the right of the mother country to legislate for the

colonies, and next on the legal and moral nature of slavery.
Upon the dissolution of parliament, consequent upon the death of
George IV., Mr. Brougham was invited to the representation of the
extensive and wealthy county of York. In his speech to the electors he
alluded to Parliamentary Reform, a revision of the Corn Laws, and the
extinction of Colonial Slavery, as three grand objects of his ambition;
and concluded by thus explaining his becoming a candidate--"because
it would arm him with an extraordinary and a vast and important
accession of power to serve the people of England." It need scarcely be
added, that his election was secured; his return was free of all expense:
indeed, never was triumph more complete.[3]
Soon after the assembling of the new parliament, Mr. Brougham, in
connexion with the topic of the recent revolutions on the continent, and
parliamentary reform in this country, concluded an interesting debate
by saying--"He was for reform--for preserving, not for pulling
down--for restoration, not for revolution. He was a shallow politician, a
miserable reasoner, and he thought no very trustworthy man, who
argued, that because the people of Paris had justifiably and gloriously
resisted lawless oppression, the people of London and Dublin ought to
rise for reform. Devoted as he was to the cause of parliamentary reform,
he did not consider that the refusal of that benefit, or, he would say,
that right, to the people of this country (if it were a legal refusal by
King, Lords, and Commons, which he hoped to God would not take
place) would be in the slightest degree a parallel case to any thing
which had happened in France."
Mr. Brougham's elevation to the exalted station which he now fills need
be related but briefly, since the particulars must be fresh in the
recollection of our readers. Upon the resignation of the Wellington
ministry--with the title of BARON BROUGHAM AND VAUX, he
took the oaths as Lord Chancellor, November 22, and his seat in the
Chancery Court on November 25, 1830.
In the House of Lords, in reply to some censurable observations on his
acceptance of office which had been made elsewhere, his lordship
explained his motives with great candour. After an allusion to his
difficulty in resigning his high station as a representative for Yorkshire,
Lord Brougham said, "I need not add, that in changing my station in
parliament, the principles which have ever guided me remain

unchanged. When I accepted the high office to which I have been
called, I did so in the full and perfect conviction, that far from disabling
me to discharge my duty to my country--far from rendering my services
less efficient, it but enlarged the sphere of my utility. The thing which
dazzled me most in the prospect which opened to my view, was not the
gewgaw splendour of the place, but because it seemed to afford me, if I
were honest--on which I could rely; if I were consistent--which I knew
to be