LONDON Published for the European Magazine. by Asperne, 32. Cornbill Oct 1817 The Right Honourable. Engraved by HMeyer frem an original Painting by S.Drummond Efq. RA. EUROPEAN MAGAZINE, AND LONDON REVIEW, FOR SEPTEMBER, 1817. MEMOIR OF THE RIGHT HON. CHARLES ABBOT, [WITH A PORTRAIT, ENGRAVED BY HENRY MEYER, FROM AN ORIGINAL PAINTING BY SAMUEL DRUMMOND, ESQ. A.R.A.] Τὸ μὲν ἦν ἐπιλιμᾷν, ἴσως φήσαι τις ἂν ῥᾴδιον καὶ παῖος εἶναι· τὸ δ ̓ ὑπὲρ τῶν παρόλων τι δεῖ πράτειν ἀποφαίνεσθαι, τέτ ̓ εἶναι συμβόλα. Δημοσθ. Ολυνθ. Γ. ζ. TH ~ It may, perhaps, be said, that it is an easy matter, and within the compass of every one's ability, to call others to order; but that it requires a skilful adviser to decide upon what is expedient to be done in circumstances of present exigency. DEMOST. Olynth. i. 7. HERE never existed a period of lities and personal worth of the new more importance to the welfare Speaker: and it is no more than what of our country, or that more seriously its experience warrants, to pronounce implicated all that could concern the that these expectations could not be of character and credit of its Government, greater extent than the knowledge, than that during which Mr. Abbot, now judgment, and diligence of him who Lord Colchester, filled the Speaker's was the object of them;- since, in no Chair in the House of Commons:- instance has it occurred, among the nuand it is our duty, as it is our pride, merous difficulties and intricate cases to declare, that this high office has at which presented themselves, many of no time, nor by any individual, been which were without precedent, that Mr. more ably sustained, and its laborious Abbot gave a wrong decision, or misavocations more assiduously attended to, led the confidence of the House ;than by that Gentleman. insomuch that party feeling at once surrendered all its excitements of passion and prejudice to his unbiassed direction and well-grounded conclusions. In the year 1802, which, from the peculiar circumstances that opened upon its commencement, and increased in momentous progress towards its close, may justly be considered as one of the most eventful in the revolutionary an nals of the last twenty-five years, Mr. Abbot was elected the successor to Sir John Mitford, who, after having conti nued in the Chair for a short interval in succession to Lord Sidmouth, was appointed Chancellor of Ireland by the title of Lord Redesdale.-The consummate talent with which Mr. Speaker Addington had fulfilled the duties of that exalted station, was strongly impressed upon the recollection of the British public, when Mr. Abbot succeeded to this office; and it may, without any adulatory reference, be asserted, that a brighter example of dignified integrity and faithful service could not have preceded a succession in which that example was emulated with all the intelligence and inflexible impartiality which that estimable man and conscientious minister had uniformly displayed. The expectations of the country were ite knowledge of the abi And when it is recollected, that in no æra of our Parliamentary history have more stormy debates been known within the walls of St. Stephen's than during the last fifteen years, it conveys no inferior testimony to the conciliatory influence of the Speaker's personal worth, and the respect with which his official authority was acknowledged, when it can with truth be observed, that the profound wisdom of his correctives and counsel has in all cases been invariably admitted, and his advice accepted and followed, by hoth sides of the House :-indeed, so thoroughly versed was he in the law of precedents, and so promptly did he develope the bearings of every anomalous and incidental question, that this admission reflected equal honour upon the House and the Member whom by its unanimous suffrages it had selected as the arbitrator of its debates. On the 10th of February, in the year already mentioned, he was proposed as a candidate for the Chair by Sir WWHIR Grant, The Master of the Rolls, who was seconded by Mr. Baker, member for the county of Hertford. At the same time, Mr. Sheridan nominated Mr. Charles Dundas, and was seconded by Lord George Cavendish. The proposer, however, of the latter gentleman ingenuously professed, that he had no objection to urge against the other candidate; and avowing his unfeigned esteem for the talents and virtue of Mr. Abbot. contented himself with observing, that "in periods of more prosperous and less constrained circumstances of pational condition, it had been the practice of the House to elect a Speaker from the landed-interest." A plain, disinterested, and liberal answer was given to this observation, even by the gentleman in whose favour it was advanced. "The Honourable Gentleman," said Mr. Dundas, "who has previously been proposed, is so much better qualified than myself for the office to which I should have other wise aspired under such flattering auspices, that I do not hesitate to declare I feel myself bound in conscience to support his nomination." This mauly declaration decided the question, and Mr. Abbot was chosen without a dissenting voice. The office of Speaker is certainly the highest dignity with which a Member of the Commons can be invested-but its duties are most arduous, nor can its eminence of station be adequately maintained without the most unremitting perseverance in the performance of them, and a self-devotedness of mental vigour and physical strength to the incessant toil which is unavoidably attached to them. Its requisites also are of the first order, as, in addition to an unblemished character, and a marked reputation for talent, much learning, dignified deportment, uncommon patience, and unyielding impartiality, added to an extraordinary degree of research, are all required-when also it is known that the whole business of the Commons of England is organized, adjusted, and completed, by their Speaker, it will be allowed that the fatigues of his office make it necessary, that among all the other indispensable qualifications just enumerated, that of a good constitution should not be the least; for independent of his constant attendance in the House, it very frequently happens, that the evening debate is protracted to a late hour in the morning, and from beginning to end the Speaker is bound to support decorum, enforce of obedience to order, decide every con test, and declare the law and usage Parliament on every disputed point; and all this he is expected to do, whatever may be the pressure upon his health, or the necessity of wearied nature.-Nor is it only during such fatiguing calls upon his attention that his powers are kept in action. In the Speaker's office all the money and other bills which originate with the House are first engrossed; and the whole of what may be termed the mechanical business of Parliament commences and is carried forward, under the Speaker's inspection and control; -so that the plans and operations not only of the members individually, but those of the whole branch of the Legisla ture, are thus silently indeed, but expeditiously, effected.-The Speaker is also, ex officio, a Member of the Privy Coun cil, and his attendance can seldom be dispensed with in this department of his parliamentary employ :-he is likewise a Trustee of the British Museum, and one of the Governors of Greenwich Hospital :-hence, therefore, it will be perceived, that the multiplicity of his services, and the responsibility of his station, must keep his body and mind continually exercised in those personal and mental exertions which can allow him but little remission from the most laborious anxiety :-and even the seasons of his relaxation are, during the sitting of Parliament, burdened with the formalities of official state;-for the Speaker is supposed, and indeed enabled, to exercise the rights of hospitality, and that too with a magnificence becoming his exalted station ;-it is true, that for this purpose he is provided with a splendid service of plate, and a liberal aflowance, to which a spacious mansion in Palace-yard is added. Still, however, even this hospitality, with all its facilities, is to him a business; and however acceptable it may be made to those who participate in it, by the urbanity and polished courtesy of such a man as the noble subject of this Memoir, it is evident, that as far as the Speaker is individually concerned, it must take the character of effort, when the mind is so incessantly pressed upon by the numerous avocations which leave him but very few intervals of leisure at his own disposal. Yet it appears that, notwithstanding the incessant calls upon his attention, Mr. Abbot met them all with an unsubdued energy, and even attached a gratuitous addition to them, by ac cepting a commission in the volunteer force of the kingdom-The weight of the mace was not felt by him so burdensome as to prevent him from taking up the sword at a period of extraordinary national emergency, when he deemed it incumbent upon him to blend his personal example with the general loyalty of the country. His accurate sense of his duty as an Englishman induced him to join a troop of cavalry in the North Surrey Legion, with the rank of Lieutenant-colonel, and at a review of the forces of the district actually commauded the right wing of the Sussex line under Lord Sheffield.-This noble trait of an active mind and patriotic spirit was the same as manifested itself in one of his predecessors, Lord Sidmouth; and if justification were necessary for an act which its motives sufficiently vindicate, a precedent may be found in the conduct of one of the speakers during the Civil Wars.* -It cannot, however, be at all ne cessary to revert to past times for such a precedent, when in our own we have seen the Prime Minister of Great Britain stepping forward upon the same laudable principle of personal concurrence with the voluntary impulse of the people.-And if we look at the circumstances under which this impulse was acknowledged by the whole population of the country, nothing can be more just than the conclusion, that every individual, whatever might be his station or his employment, however ele vated or important, was imperatively called upon to prove that the general interests of the nation were his paramount concern, and that he scorned any reservation which the duties of office or the privilege of situation might have urged in plea of exemption from that universal obligation, the defence of his native land against the menace or effort of hostile aggression In such defence all inequality of condition must necessarily be absorbed; since without it, the design of the aggressor would have been facilitated in its accomplish ment, and in such a result the high and the low, the rich and the poor, the government and the governed, the sovereign and the subject, would have been confounded in one indiscriminate subversion of the claims and rights and comforts and hopes of all. Besides, at the eventful period to which we refer, there was not a single member of Lords or Commons who was not in some degree engaged in promoting the common armament which then took place-and the adventitious distinctions of Premier or people, representative or constituent, were not to weigh in the balance against the question, whether our country was or was not to be surrendered an easy prey to a sanguinary and revengeful invader. At such a crisis, the influence of power could only be rendered efficient by the conjunction of effort on the part of those who used it, and those who were expected to be actuated by it; the cause was common to all, all were indispensably implicated, and therefore all were equally subjected to the common necessity for personal cooperation. With this impression, and with this consciousness of relative character, Mr Abbot felt that the Speaker of the House of Commons was no more than one among the millions who constituted the aggregate of the country's strength. Such an impression was worthy of his mind, and such a consciousness was characteristic of his heart, in which no selfish reserve of individual consideration, no isolated exception of present or prospective advantage, have ever found possession or encouragement. The valuable opportunity which we possess of enriching our pages with the portrait of a man who is not less an ornament to his country than to human nature, demands at our hands as ample a Memoir of so distinguished a personage as the delicacy of living biography will admit. We can only regret that we cannot be more minute in particularising the various evidences of his worth, both public and private, which characterise him as a faithful servant of his sovereign, as a conscientious depositary of his Country's privileges, as a husband, a father, a friend, and a fellow-subject, And our regret is increased by the well-assured conviction, that there is not a single action, or even motive, which has marked his conduct in all these relations, that would not hold out an edifying example to every one who is emulous of obtaining the unprejudiced opinion, and de served commendation of those who know and feel the obligations of man to his fellow-creatures, -as one who claims their unqualified regard and deference; and as one, who in the more intimate connection of social life, has endeared himself to all who have the happiness to boast of his acquaintance. We can, however, speak generally, and in this testimony, by which our pen is honored, we know that we shall be amply warranted by the according voice of a just and grateful nation. Before we proceed to those few biographical particulars which we possess, we desire to dwell awhile upon the faithfulness and ability with which this excellent man has uniformly acquitted himself of the solemn charge that devolved upon him. Whoever has seen him exercising his exalted functions, must have marked the firmness and patience which he has constantly exercised in the most trying moments of his official life. If his opinion of order has been disputed, as sometimes has occurred, the wise consistency with which he has supported it, has always proved the invalidity of the objection. If, in the heat of debate, he has been referred to by the contending parties, his decisions have carried with them that conciliatory conviction which has seldom failed to reconcile differences, out of which much personal enmity might have arisen. If words have escaped from the lips of any member that have trespassed upon the dignity of so august an assembly as that over which he presided, this dignity has been maintained by him with a corrective influence which bas ever been attempered by a courteous forbearance, that no less characterised the accomplished gentleman, than it adorned the authority of the chair. If a question of privilege or precedent was suggested, his answers were always delivered with that evidence of sound knowledge, which the house, without hesitation, admitted as affording sufficient grounds for its confidence and procedure. If at any time the popular voice of the country, perverted and misled by the efforts of men who sought to make it the instrument of their passions or prejudice, aimed at overawing the deliberative councils of the House, the attempt was sure to be met by him with that fortitude of sentiment, which never failed to draw a just distinction between the privileges of the people, and those of their representatives; to whom, as the guardians of their rights, the former had been submitted by their own choice. If the injudicious zeal of any member led him to indulge in contumelious reflection upon the character or proceedings of the House, he never sought to check that freedom of speech which was thus presumed upon, unless a direct appeal was made to the chair; and in his reasons for enforcing order, he in no instance swerved from the strictest impartiality of restraint. When it has been his duty to notify the vote of the Commons in the language of reprimand to any one who had committed a breach of privilege, the justice of the infliction was blended with a merciful regard for the feelings of the object of it. But when engaged in the more pleasing application of his office, the communication of the thanks of the House to those who, by their meritorious services, were thus distinguished by its favour,* his language glowed with all the warmth of approval, and rose into an elevation of style that enriched the reward with a charm which made it still more acceptable to those on whom it was conferred, In his speeches to the Throne, the important subjects were clothed with a manly eloquence and classical grace never excelled, and seldom equalled. Here we would close our observations upon Mr. Speaker Abbot's official merits by a notice of one instance of his conduct, which must always endear him to every one who cherishes in his heart a regard for pure religion and conscientious feeling. When that decies repetita struggle betwixt the Protestant and Papistical interests for ascendancy in the polity of these realms The Catholic Question was brought to its most momentous point. When the apprehensions of the one, and the expectations of the other, appeared to be suspended in an equili brium of support and opposition, then it was that Mr. Abbot pre-eminently displayed all those comprehensive talents; that firmness of mind, and that noble inflexibility of principle for which he was so justly admired and esteemed; and in a most impressive speech from the chair, he avowed himself the undismayed defender of the great cause of our conntry, and the able vindicator of her established laws of political and religious government. The powerful influence of this speech was anticipated by the leader of opposition himself,+ and the truly patriot effort of the speaker was accomplished in complete success. The question was lost!-and for that time the Church and State were rescued from the perilous ambiguities in which both were so nearly involved. The sacred oath of our revered monarch was preserved inviolate; our venerable con Vide Ægis of England, 8vo. 1817, + Mr. Whitbread. |