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 matter of absolute necessity in
my nature; and if I were as able as I knew myself honest and
consistent--a field of exertion more extended. That by which the Great
Seal dazzled my eyes, and induced me to quit a station which till this
time I deemed the most proud which an Englishman could enjoy, was,
that it seemed to hold out the gratifying prospect that in serving my
king I should be better able to serve my country."

Already has the official elevation of Lord Brougham been attended with
manifest advantages, and promises of still greater benefits to the
nation. Only such as are accustomed to the cares of office can form
but a faint idea of the perplexities which beset the Lord Chancellor
on the recent dissolution of parliament; yet in this arduous scene
Lord Brougham is believed by all but the bitterest of his political
opponents, to have comported himself with becoming equanimity. A
political contemporary observes, upon his recent appointment--"There
is no instance in modern times of an elevation marked with the same