Mr. Favell then left the Court, along with Alderman Wood, and Messrs. Oldham and A. Brown, the mover and seconder of the resolution of the 20th of December, to introduce them to the Corporation. Shortly afterwards they returned with the learned gentlemen, and in the following order of procession:

First walked Mr. Alderman Wood; then Mr. Sheriff Waithman; then the Chamberlain of the city of London; after him, Messrs. Oldham and Brown; and last of all, Mr. Brougham, Mr. Denman, and Dr. Lushington. After they had taken their stand at the table under the Lord Mayor, the Chamberlain administered the oath of citizenship to the three gentlemen; and shaking hands with each of them, presented them with the boxes containing the freedom of the city in the following speech:

"Gentlemen,-You have been selected from the body of a learned profession to perform a duty the most arduous and important; and when we consider the exalted rank of the individual more immediately concerned in the result-the splendid talents of those by whom the great cause was conducted— the august tribunal before which it was pleadedand the interest and anxiety with which, not only this country, but the whole civilized world looked forward to the issue, I am not aware that the annals of mankind can afford its parallel. This was a cause which required the genius and eloquence of a Demosthenes, a Cicero, and a Mans

field; and I can venture to assert, without fear of contradiction, that these great qualities were exhibited in the fullest extent by those whom I have now the honour to address. The great orator of Greece, by the manly force of unaffected eloquence, which (in the language of an elegant writer of our own country) rushed like a torrent too impetuous to be withstood,' and astonished and delighted the most polished assembly then in existence; and the father of Latin eloquence commanded applause, and influenced the determination of a Roman senate; but, gentlemen, the fame of your eloquence has already extended to countries wholly unknown to those great characters; and already in realms which never witnessed the triumphs of Alexander, nor the progress of the Roman eagles, are recorded the transcendent talents and eloquence of a Brougham, a Denman, and a Lushington."

Mr. Brougham came forward and addressed the Court. He said that,-Great as was the difficulty which he had always felt upon endeavouring to give an adequate expression of his thanks to any of his fellow countrymen, who entertained a favourable opinion of his exertions as a man and as an advocate, he felt that difficulty now considerably increased by the manner in which his feelings were overpowering him. He should therefore waste as little of their time as possible in attempting to give utterance to those feelings which were so strong that he was not able to describe them, and should proceed without delay to express, on his

own behalf, how deeply he valued the high and the all but unprecedented honour which the corporation of London had just conferred upon him. If he might be allowed upon the present occasion to go further back than the immediate transaction out of which that honour had originated, he might flatter himself with the recollection, that his acquaintance with the merchants and citizens of this great metropolis had not that day begun. It had been his lot to be singled out at a time of great commercial distress and difficulty, to plead the cause of the merchants of London before the same tribunal which it had been his fortune recently to address. In the year 1808 he reckoned that selection as one of the proudest distinctions which they could bestow upon him; but he thought that he might now indeed be permitted to congratulate himself upon the grounds on which he had received another, and a still prouder distinction at their hands. Any little merit which he might possess was lost in the superior merit of those able advocates with whom he had been joined; but even their merit would not have been able to produce that happy result in which the whole country rejoiced, had they not been defending upon the principles of British law before a British tribunal, and in the face of the British people, a cause that could not know defeat. All those advantages, however, would have availed them nothing, had not public opinion loudly and decidedly declared itself averse to the mode of secution employed. The cause which his learned

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friends and himself were intrusted to defend was in reality-and so the citizens of London had considered it the cause of justice; and their efforts had been directed to staying the progress of violence and oppression, and to preventing right from being trampled under foot by the injustice of might. He trusted that it would not be considered irrelevant in him to observe, in conclusion, that what his learned friends and himself had been enabled to do by means of public opinion for the most illustrious of his Majesty's subjects, it would have been equally their duty to have performed under similar circumstances for the meanest and most humble: for it was one of the advantages of the bar in this free country, that an advocate knew of no distinction of rank in his clients, and that he was bound to do as much for the peasant as he was for the prince, who stood in need of his advice and assistance. The honourable and learned gentleman then proceeded to express his satisfaction that the heats and animosities which had arisen out of the prosecution of her Majesty were now nigh over, and that the people, after having shown that they would not suffer the unjust prosecution of an unfortunate and defenceless woman, were now returning to a state of repose and tranquillity. He then sat down, after again repeating how grateful he was to the Corporation, of London for the distinguished honour which they had conferred upon him.

Mr. Denman next addressed the Court, He commenced his speech by saying that after his