. Some of his orations were masterpieces of argument
and rhetoric in favor of reform, and of all liberal movements in
philanthropy and education. In the opinion of eminent statesmen he was
the most "rising" member of the House, and sure to become a leader among
the Whigs. But he was poor, having only about L500 a year--the proceeds
of his fellowship and his literary productions--to support his dignity
as a legislator and meet the calls of society; so that in 1833 he was
rewarded with an office in the Board of Control, which regulated the
affairs of India; this doubled his income, and made him independent.
But he wanted an office in which he could lay up money for future
contingencies. Therefore, in 1834, he gladly resigned his seat in
Parliament and accepted the situation of a member of the Supreme Council
of India, on a salary of L10,000 a year, L7000 of which he continued to
save yearly; so that at the end of four years, when he returned to
England, he had become a rich man, or at least independent, with leisure
to do whatever he pleased.

In India, as chairman of the Board of Education, as legal adviser of the
Council, and in drafting a code of penal laws for that part of the
Empire, he was very useful,--although as a matter of fact the new code
was too theoretically fine to be practical, and was never put in force.
His personal good sense was equal to his industry and his talents, and
he preserved his health by strict habits of temperance. Even in that
tropical country he presented a strong contrast to the sallow, bilious
officials with whom he was surrounded, and in due time returned to
England in perfect health, one of the most robust of men, capable of
indefinite work, which never seemed to weary him.

But in Calcutta, as in London, he employed his leisure hours in writing
for the Edinburgh Review, and gave an immense impulse to its sale, for
which he was amply rewarded. Brougham complained to Jeffrey that his
essays took up too much space in the Review, but the politic editor knew
what was for its interest and popularity. Macaulay's long articles of
sometimes over a hundred pages were received without a murmur; and every
article he wrote added to his fame, since he always did his best. His
essays in 1830 on Southey and Montgomery, and one in 1831 on Croker's
edition of Boswell's Life of Johnson, were fierce, scathing onslaughts,
even cruel and crushing,--revealing Macaulay's tremendous powers of
invective and r