The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 19, No. 555, Supplementary Number. Various

The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 19, No. 555, Supplementary Number

fraudulent debtors, whose creditors by no process could compel them to pay; these circumstances were alone sufficient to constitute an inquiry into the state of the laws relating to debtor and creditor." This motion being acceded to, a committee consisting of Mr. Grey, Mr. Pitt, Sir John Sinclair, Mr. Vansittart, Mr. Martin, the Attorney and Solicitor Generals, and other legal gentlemen, was immediately appointed. The origin of this inquiry is an indicative of the liberal policy of the statesman as it is of the humanity of the mover.

In 1792, Mr. Grey instituted an inquiry into the conduct of ministers with regard to the recently threatened hostilities with Russia. His animadversion upon the vacillating and ruinous measures of government were characterized by that fearless intrepidity, truth, energy, and eloquence, which have distinguished his political career. The motion for the inquiry was lost, though the powerful remarks of the mover drew from Mr. Pitt the following memorable confession: "All unlimited confidence is unconstitutional; and I hope the inglorious moment will never arrive, when this house will abandon the privilege of examining, condemning, and correcting the abuses in the executive government. It is the dearest privilege you possess, and should never be relinguished."

During the schisms occasioned in this country by the French revolution, Mr. Grey enrolled himself in a political society, called the Friends of the People. He also became a member of the Whig Club, then in the zenith of its celebrity. His active advocacy of the cause of a reform in parliament was equal within and without the house of commons. To quote one of his Lordship's most recent speeches, "In 1786 he had voted for reform. He had supported Mr. Pitt in his motion for shortening the duration of parliaments. He had given his best assistance to the measure of reform introduced by Mr. Flood, before the French revolution; and, on one or two different occasions, he had originated motions on the subject." 3

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1

Wilton Castle, on the Wye, was for several centuries the baronial residence of the Greys of the South, who derived from it their first title, and became its owners in the time of Edward I.—See Mirror, vol. xiv.

1

2

The barony of Werke was given to the family of Ros, Barons of Hemsley, in Yorkshire, by Henry I. for the service of two knights' fees, and was in their possession till 1399; but in the next year was found to belong to Sir Thomas Grey, of Heton. It gave title of baron in 1622, to Sir William Grey, who died in 1674. The village of Werke, and its ruined castle, are all that remain of the possessions of the barony; the former consisting of a miserable cluster of thatched cottages; the latter of mere fragments of ashlar work, near its foundations and lines of its moat. The village stands on the margin of the Tweed: and the castle is celebrated in the border annals. Heton, of which we have just spoken, in Edward the First's reign, belonged to William de Heton; and in the next reign, to Sir Thomas Grey, captain of Norham Castle. Sir John Grey, of Heton, in 1420, was graced with the order of St. George, or the Garter; and from him the estate descended to the Tankervilles.

3

Speech on the second reading of the Reform Bill, in the House of Lords, Oct. 4, 1831.

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Speech on the second reading of the Reform Bill, in the House of Lords, Oct. 4, 1831.