APPENDIX OF NOTES. 543 



of the humble witnesses who gave testimony against him. Canning, 

 who is spoken of as praising the speech, was severely handled in 

 it. It will be found in Hansard, xiii. 299. 



IX. (p. 87.) 



In the roll of members of the Speculative Society there is 

 entered : 



"316. Henry Brougham. Admitted, November 21, 1797; ex- 

 traordinary, December 2, 1800 ; honorary, April 19, 1803. 

 Essays : Political Remarks on the Union ; The Balance of 

 Power ; Indirect Influence of the People ; Influence of Na- 

 tional Opinion on External Relations ; An Examination of 

 certain Plans that are at present entertained of cultivating 

 the Crown Lands in the Ceded Islands." 



The third essay has been preserved. It is written in a bold, 

 peculiar hand, in which one would at once recognise the germ of 

 the peculiarities which distinguished it in later life, though it is 

 naturally far more legible. 



The subject afforded scope for the rhetorical powers the author 

 had been cultivating, and the following conclusion will perhaps be 

 sufficient to show that he had done so with success : 



"Before concluding these few desultory observations, it may not 

 be improper to take notice of a consequence which will perhaps 

 occur to some as deducible from them. It may be said that if the 

 measures directly taken by a government the laws, for instance, 

 which are passed, only derive force from submitting to the assim- 

 ilating power of the constitution, it becomes a matter of little 

 consequence strenuously to exert those rights of opposition which 

 a popular form secures. Thus, it is acknowledged that laws, if too 

 severe, are not put into execution if too mild, their bounds are apt 

 to be exceeded; and if they arm any one branch with power hostile 

 to the spirit of the constitution, there is no fear of that power being 

 exerted. But it should be remembered that the laws have an 

 indirect influence themselves that though arising from circum- 

 stances, they react in their turn and that they may gradually lead 

 to a state of things in which the controlling power of the whole 

 body may be much impaired. It is no doubt true that whilst we 

 retain that general diffusion of knowledge for which this age and 



