Edward L. Pierce, Memoir and letters of Charles Sumner: volume 1

[353] material, emblazoned with numerous heraldic escutcheons in gold. It is a room that you would love; and I now sit in a beautiful bow-window, which commands the fair lawn and terraces about the house, and the distant mountains which give a character to the scenery of this country, and in whose bosom lie the far-famed lakes of England. At breakfast the next morning I was gladdened by your letter of Aug. 10 and its enclosure, and Judge Story's generous double letter of Aug. 11; also Cushing's and Lieber's. Think of these meeting me at the breakfast-table of Lord Brougham! I took the liberty of reading to his Lordship what Judge S. said of his judicial opinions,—namely, that they were remarkable monuments of judicial reasoning, —and his Lordship seemed much gratified, and repeated the kind expressions which he had employed last evening about Judge S. He added, that his work on the ‘Conflict of Laws’ enjoyed a reputation and authority here which caused it to be cited almost as a judgment of court. His mind, however, did not rest on law or on America; but quickly reverted to topics of interest between him and his friend, and which were of great interest to me, inasmuch as they illustrated the character of this wonderful man, and as they brought out much personal anecdote. Nothing was discussed, and no opinions expressed, except about individuals; and of these he expressed himself with the greatest freedom. The late Duke of Gloucester he styled ‘a d—d bore and fool,’ and told an odd story of the duke extracting at table from Wilberforce, by means of blunt and princely impertinence, the account of Necker offering his daughter, Madame de Stael, in marriage to Pitt. He also mentioned that, at the time Lord Chatham made his celebrated speech against employing Indians,¹ Lord Bute had in his possession letters from Chatham, when William Pitt, in which he boasted of employing Indians successfully, and exclaimed, ‘Sing lo Poean! by means of Indians we have got the trick.’ Brougham, you know, is the author of the article in the last ‘Edinburgh’ on Chatham.² He spoke of the article at table this morning, and seemed to be quite interested in the character of that statesman. He thought that the authorship of ‘Junius’ would never be discovered, and said that Horne Tooke said ‘the author must have been a man in office, and a damned rascal.’ The Duke of Gloucester, pleased with his success in extracting the above affair of Necker from Wilberforce, at the same table turned round to Lord Grenville, and said, ‘My Lord, they say you know the author of “ Junius.” ’ No answer; and the question was impertinently repeated. ‘I have never said so,’ was the reply of Lord Grenville in a very decided manner; and silence reigned in the company for more than five minutes. After breakfast, I sat in the library talking with Mrs. Brougham, who told me that she was eighty-six. She said that she thought ‘the efforts for slave emancipation were the greatest and most honorable thing of Henry's life.’ When I said that I had the pleasure of hearing his last speech on that important subject, she added, ‘And a good speech it was.’ Was it not delightful to listen to