[Born 1751. Died 1838. Aged 87.]
A great lawyer. His legal learning, it is said, has never been
surpassed, If it has been equalled. For many years of his long life he
sat on the judgment seat, and in the councils of his Sovereign. But the
fame of Eldon as a politician has not survived him. He was narrow-minded
and narrow-hearted. Lord Brougham has summed up his political faith when
he says, “he was alike the determined enemy of all who would either
invade the institution, or extirpate the abuse.” He worshipped things as
they were. Whatever existed--whether a rotten borough, a sanguinary
enactment, or an unjust civil disability--to the mind of Lord Eldon it
formed part of the “British Constitution,” and that Constitution had in
his eye a sanctity, like religion. No argument was admitted against this
iron and immovable belief. Hence, though all men respected his
sincerity, all enlightened men pitied his bigotry, and felt it as a
public relief when he departed in his ripe old age. He was the last
great man of the remorselessly obstructive school to which he belonged.
As Lord Chancellor, his decisions have obtained great respect, but he
was generally so long in arriving at them, and hesitation and doubt
formed so marked a characteristic of his judicial character, that the
pecuniary losses and human misery for which he became responsible were
considerable. Lord Eldon was of humble origin, and his chances of
promotion seemed in early life so remote, that he was actually at the
minute of quitting London in despair when he received the brief that
took him on to fortune.
[By Chantrey.]