1823-1824] Brougham s Great Speech 157 



speech was not a very good one ; he had a bad cause and he 

 appeared to feel the weight of it. Denman spoke very well, 

 but Brougham's speech was delightful. He spoke for an 

 hour and 10 or 20 minutes, and it was the most incomparable 

 thing I ever heard. I could have screamed or jumped with 

 delight. He handled Scarlett and Canning to my soul's 

 content tossed them about like a cat a couple of mice from 

 one paw to another, teased them and threw them into the 

 air, with equal grace and strength. Copley and Tindal had 

 their share. The cheers of the house was like a dram to one. 

 Mack said that Brougham's speech gained 3 votes, one a 

 West Indian, and had sent off 8 from the House without 

 voting. The Ayes and Noes sounded so equally numerous, 

 that the division was a very interesting moment, and the 

 cheers were glorious on the numbers being told. I saw Mr 

 Canning pick up his papers very much crestfallen and walk 

 off very slowly. He kept his head down all the time of 

 Brougham's speech, and Mack said Peel looked extremely 

 disturbed at it, visibly so. John [Allen] and M. came up 

 to the ventilator 1 in a great state of excitation; the former 

 said it was the best speech he had ever heard in debate. I 

 must not forget to tell you our pretty history in the venti- 

 lator. Mr Money brought up Mr Inglis 2 to us. He staid to 

 hear a little, and our Cerberus came in and sent him off. 

 Mrs Littleton and Lady Georgina Bathurst came late, only 

 to hear Canning's speech, and as soon as Brougham was up 

 they told their gentlemen they were ready to go and went 

 off ! ! ! Mr Horton Wilmot was not forgotten in Brougham's 

 speech; he threw a pebble and felled him to the ground. 

 We found broad daylight below stairs, and the faithful 

 W. Wright in the Coffee house. We all walked together up 



1 The ventilator was the then Ladies' Gallery. The old Parlia- 

 ment house (before the fire of 1835) was the ancient St Stephen's 

 Chapel its site is the present hall where the statues of statesmen 

 are. In this a ceiling had been put below the high Gothic vault of 

 the building, and in this ceiling there was a large oval opening round 

 which the ladies sat, looking down into the House below ministerial 

 ladies on one side, opposition on the other. One heard there better 

 than anywhere in the House. 



2 Afterwards Sir Kobert Inglis, the well-known Tory M.P. 



