and there being considerable noise in some parts of The House,-he exclaimed in that animated apostrophe,—“ It has nothing of a political, or party, or personal nature. It involves no inquiry into the conduct of the Royal Family. It regards no violation of the Privileges of The House. It is alike unconnected with the preservation and the pursuit of Place, and can afford gratification to no malignant or interested feeling. It has but a sorry chance, then, of fixing the attention of such as love to devote their minds to those higher matters. But I stand here to do my duty as Chairman of your Committee, and if the task which interests me should prove dull to others, I only beg to assure them, that I neither desire their attention nor their presence, and if, perchance, they have any more pressing avocation elsewhere at this particular moment, I should feel obliged, by their pursuing it, and leaving us, without disturbance, to the dull, plodding, ignoble work, of vindicating the cause of the Poor,-of sup

porting those, who can have no other advocates,―of urging the necessity of Universal Education, and imploring Parliament to impart that Blessing which can alone preserve the Virtue of a populous, commercial, and luxurious Empire, and prevent it's stability from being shaken by the progress of it's Refinement.”

In describing the qualifications of The Commissioners, he observes,-" I trust that the time is now come, when Parliament will adopt the only measure which can secure a real, effectual investigation of all Charitable abuses. For this purpose it is absolutely necessary, that able and active men of business, chiefly Lawyers, should be engaged to devote their whole time to the inquiry. They must be persons not only of incorruptible integrity, but of a stern disposition, and inaccessible to the cajolery which oftentimes shuts the eyes of those, whom grosser arts would assail in vain. They must be easy of approach to all accusers,—never closing their ears to suggestion or information,

because it may proceed from spiteful or malicious motives, or may denounce abuses too enormous to be credible, or accuse parties too exalted to be suspected,—not even rejecting the aid of informers who may withhold their name, as well aware that their office is to investigate and not to judge, and that anonymous, or interested, or malignant sources may supply the clue to guide inquiry,—in a word, their propensity must be to suspect abuses, and lean towards tracing them,-their principle must be, that no man who complains of an evil is to be disregarded, be his apparent motives what they may."

In justice to individuals whose characters might seem to be aspersed, Mr. BROUGHAM could not conclude without observing, that many abuses exist without blame being imputable to any one. Neglects may be handed down as it were from father to son, until the right course of administration is forgotten. A person may hold funds as his own, which some remote ancestor diverted from their

pro

per object, and for many years the existence of the misappropriation may have been unsuspected. Trusts are every where found defeated by their originally imperfect construction,-most commonly by defective powers of appointment where vacancies arise. And cases have occurred, where those who were bound to make payments, could find nobody entitled to receive, so that they were obliged to keep the money in their own hands. His decided opinion was, that a great majority of the abuses discovered, would be found to consist of these classes, and to reflect no blame on any one, except, perhaps, the original Founders of the Charity, who may have been negligent, or their immediate Successors, who may have begun the abuses that time has both perpetuated and made innocent by concealing their origin.

This admirable speech was concluded by the following still more noble sentiments," It is impossible," said he, “for “It me to close these remarks without expres

sing the extraordinary gratification which I feel, in observing how amply the Poor of this Country have in all ages been endowed by the pious munificence of individuals. It is with unspeakable delight that I contemplate the rich gifts, which have been bestowed,—the honest zeal displayed by private persons for the benefit of their fellow creatures. When we inquire from whence proceeded these magnificent endowments, we generally find, that it is not from the public policy, nor the bounty of those who in their day possessing princely revenues, were anxious to devote a portion of them for the benefit of mankind,—not from those, who, having amassed vast fortunes by public employment, were desirous to repay in Charity a little of what they had thus levied upon the State :-It is far more frequently, some obscure personage, some tradesman of humble birth,—who, grateful for the education which had enabled him to acquire his wealth through honest industry, turned a portion of it from the claims of nearer