140 Tlie late Pioseculions againsl the Press. [AuGf> 



that he would have relied upon his reputation ; and that he would never 

 liave descended to the verdict of a jury for a proof of his honesty. But 

 we had formed our opinions by the stern virtues of an old school of 

 politicians ; we had been thinking of his lordship's lofty-minded pre- 

 decessor, who amidst the heartless opprobrium of the basest foes that 

 ever beset a functionary, persevered in his onward career with a true 

 and inward sense of the purity of his life. 



Times and parties are, no doubt, altered since the date of Lord Eldon's 

 retirement. A new party has arisen in the state, which, retaining the 

 responsibility of office without the consolations of popularity, is forced 

 into measures of preservation the most repugnant to the genius of our 

 institutions. Let not the country be deceived; let not the people 

 suppose that Lord Lyndhurst's case is merely the assertion of an indi- 

 vidual's fame. There are other motives at work ; there are other repu- 

 tations to sustain, and other objects to secure. If our readers will recal 

 the parliamentary proceedings of tlie last six months, they will be able 

 to trace the origin and growth of that party, which must, sooner or later, 

 abandon the power that accident and the want of co-operation in the sturdy 

 friends of the constitution, have thrown into its hands. That pai'ty is 

 the neuter gender in the political grammar. It is neither Whig nor 

 Tory ; but, concentrating the worst elements of each, it forms an inter- 

 mediate purgatory, where the sins of the outcasts of both may be 

 absolved, to prepare the ready tools for the great future of office. The 

 obstruction which mainly stops the passage of arbitrary authority, 

 is a free press ; it rears its front, like the impassable Balkan, to the 

 invaders of public rights ; and it is, of course, the first impediment 

 against which the cannon of despotism will direct its fire. To whom, 

 then, and to what must be attributed the late proceedings } Do we not 

 see clearly the master cloud under whose motions this storm is traversing 

 the horizon ? Shall we not house and cloak ourselves while we may, 

 before the rending elements burst upon our heads ? It is wise to take 

 the caution in time; and we say, by all means await patiently the 

 result; it is not far distant; already have the signals of distress been 

 thrown out ; and if we can contrive to preserve the press unshackled 

 through the brief exigency, an ultimate triumph awaits our prudence. 



By one of those accidental freaks in which Fortune sometimes indulges, 

 IVIr. Copley rose by slow and persevering steps from the painter's closet 

 to the enviable office of Attorney General. The family name is yet 

 to be found in the annual catalogue of the Water Colour Exhibition. 

 A seat in the House of Commons is the natural retreat where minis- 

 ters deposit the rising genius of the bar ; and, accordingly; IMr. Cop- 

 ley entered upon the usual parliamentary career of all successful 

 lawyers with the flattering support of the Tory party, under whose 

 banners he enlisted. To follow to his final elevation the progress 

 of the Attorney General, would involve us in subtleties we are 

 willing to avoid ; but it must be some advantage to the future his- 

 torian to know, that Sir John Copley was the violent opponent of 

 Mr. Canning ; that, in addition to his own declamatory powers, he 

 superadded all the knowledge, theological and historical, that could 

 be gleaned from Dr. Philpotts' exposition of the Catholic Ques- 

 tion ; and that, by the aid of those irresistible resources, he esta- 

 blished himself as the most acute and philosophical reasoner upon 

 constitutional rights. The integrity of our establishment in church and 



