He possessed essentially the arts of party; he knew how to deal with vast masses of mankind; he could carry along with his interests the fervid heart of the multitude; he had in the highest degree that gift, useless in most other lands--in all lands where popular assemblies do not exist--the gift of popular eloquence.

Ages elapsed, after the Norman conquest, ere eloquence again became a power in England.

[80] But like all men renowned for eloquence, he went with the popular feeling of his times; he embodied its passions, its prejudices--but also that keen sense of self-interest, which is the invariable characteristic of a multitude.

He was the sense of the commonalty carried to its highest degree.

Whatever the faults, it may be the crimes, of a career singularly prosperous and splendid, amidst events the darkest and most terrible,--shining with a steady light across the thunder-clouds,--he was never accused of cruelty or outrage to the mass of the people.