ereign's side, and the party to which Mr. Sadler was attached, had once more an opportunity of resuming the reins of government.

The counsel given by Mr. S. at this eventful crisis, was," an instant prorogation." Had this course been adopted, accompanied by a pledge from the sovereign, that an extensive measure of Reform should be frankly offered to parliament, immediately on its reassembling,-the result would unquestionably have been, the casting back the Whig party into the weakness from which they had emerged only a few months before. Their power lay in the then existing house of Commons. That once broken up, and scattered through the provinces, a government of power and energy would have had little to fear. A few weeks of repose would have calmed the public mind; and parliament would have reassembled in the autumn with very different feelings from those with which it separated.

That house of Commons contained a considerable number of members whom the sudden emergency alone had so elevated. Many of these had no very definite principles or attachments, and their concurrence might have been expected in any scheme, emanating from either party, which promised a satisfactory termination. to this great controversy. Considerations such

as these, with many others that might be added, rendered a prorogation, which would at once have secured a pause, and an interim for negociation, the most clearly desirable. But by one of those singular "happenings" which men too generally ascribe to chance, a summons to a private consultation, addressed to Mr. Sadler by one of the leaders of his party, miscarried, and reached his hands more than two hours after the consultation had taken place. The decision then taken was in favour of a hesitating, doubtful course. The retreating party saw their advantage; rallied; threatened popular movements; carried a strong resolution through the house of Commons; and in the end, the greatest captain of the day again retreated before the dread,—not the fact,-of internal discord, and the Whigs were placed in the singular position of being obliged to carry their own Bill,-which they had proposed merely as a means of exciting popular animosity against the Tories, and which they expected and intended the house of Lords greatly to modify,-they were obliged, we repeat, by the popular feeling which they had themselves raised, to carry this measure, entire, through both houses!

Whether, had Mr. Sadler been present at the conference above alluded to, his ready eloquence and clear discrimination of the difficulties of the

case, might have prevailed in favor of a bolder policy, it is of course impossible now to tell. But, on a retrospect of the whole of that vast and long-protracted struggle, the evil results of the hesitating and temporizing policy adopted, in both the crises described above, are so clear and indisputable, that it is impossible not to be at once impressed with the conviction, that the man who, in each case, at once counselled the bolder course, shewed himself, above all concerned in these transactions, the true and native-born states

man.

The motion, in seconding which, Mr. Sadler made the speech we have recently described, having been carried, in spite of the opposition of the government, a dissolution of Parliament naturally followed. The excitement then prevailing rendering the result of an election at Newark extremely doubtful, and Mr. Sadler's parliamentary friends being desirous of placing his return to the next parliament beyond a doubt; he was advised, by the same noble friend who had originally been the means of introducing him to the legislature, to become a candidate for Aldborough in Yorkshire; a borough in which his Grace possessed the natural influence of large property; and for which Mr. S. continued to sit during the re

Without,

mainder of his parliamentary career. however, any communication with him, and without even a visit to the place, he was nominated, at the same general election, for the city of Norwich, and, a poll taking place, as many as 977 votes were recorded in his favor. Success, indeed, against two ministerial candidates who had personally canvassed the town for several days, and who expended a very large sum of money, was not anticipated. But the appearance of nearly a thousand electors of a single city at the hustings in his favor, unsolicited and unrewarded, was, certainly, a mark of public esteem, of which any man might reasonably have felt proud.

CHAPTER X.

SECOND MOTION FOR POOR LAWS IN IRELAND—WITHDRAWMENT OF HIS MIND FROM POLITICS-MOTION ON THE STATE OF THE AGRICULTURAL LABOURERS.

ON the 29th of August, 1831, Mr. Sadler again brought under the notice of Parliament the great question of Poor Laws for Ireland. He adverted, in thus repeating his effort, to the evident progress which the question had made, both within the legislature, and throughout the country; as one indication of which, he could refer to numerous petitions praying for such an enactment. His own labours, both in the House of Commons and through the medium of the press, had mainly contributed to arouse this public feeling; and his speech on this occasion was well calculated to sustain and increase it. It added several further arguments; the weight of some of which was quite