8] is
concerned, but in no other way, for they are perfectly callous,
and the public entirely apathetic. Melbourne was very smart in
reply to Brougham, but did not attempt to deal with the question.
The case, after all, is not a very strong one, and, though
Normanby was much to blame in releasing prisoners and commuting
sentences in the manner and to the extent he did, the principle
on which he acted was sound, and it has proved beneficial. Had he
known how, and been equal to the task, he might have made a fine
defence by taking a high instead of a deprecatory line, and by a
confident appeal to results; but it required more of an orator
and a statesman than he is to handle his case with sufficient
effect, and to stand up against such a master of his art as
Brougham, backed by a favourable audience. This curious and
versatile creature is in the highest spirits, and finds in the
admiration which his eloquence, and the delight which his
mischievousness excite on the Tory benches and in Tory society, a
compensation for old mortifications and disappointments. After
acting Jupiter one day in the House of Lords, he is ready to act
Scapin anywhere else the next; and the day after this great
display he went to dine at Greenwich with the Duchess of
Cambridge and a great party, where he danced with Lady Jersey,
while Lyndhurst capered also with the Dowager Lady Cowper. After
dinner they drank, among other toasts, Lady Jersey's health, and
when she said she could not return thanks, Brougham undertook to
do it for her, speaking in her person. He said, that 'She was
very sorry to return thanks in such a dress, but unfortunately
she had quarrelled in the morning with her maid, who was a very
cross, crabbed person, and consequently had not been able to put
on the attire she would have wished, and in the difficulty she
had had recourse to her old friend Lord Brougham, who had kindly
lent her his best wig and the coat which he wore upon state
occasions.' After more nonsense of this kind, that 'she was very
sorry she could not say more, but that in the peculiar situation
she then was in, she could not venture to remain any longer on
her legs.'

[7] [Lord Brougham moved on the 6th August five resolutions
censuring the Irish policy of the Government: they were
carried in the House of Lords by 86 votes to 52.]

[8] 'L'une des qualites indispensables d'un Gouvernement
c'est d'avoir cette bonne re