quire the confidence of the house, and that hold upon public opinion, without
which no member of the British senate can be an efficient statesman. His
speeches were little remarkable for ornament, or in a high degree for what is
generally called eloquence ; but he brought to the examination of every subject
the power of a clear and matured understanding; and as he made it a point
never to address the house upon any subject of which he had not made himself
fully master, he never failed to command attention and respect. The excellence
of the speaker consisted in accurate reasoning, logical arrangement of the facts,
and clear and forcible illustration.
On the 1st of February, 1810, Mr Homer entered upon that part of his parliamentary career in which he reaped his most brilliant reputation. The extraordinary depreciation of the paper-currency, and the unfavourable state of the exchanges for the last two years had attracted the attention of the best economists of the day, and engaged Messrs Mushet, Ricardo, and Huskisson, and many others, in the investigation of the general principles of circulation, and of the various results which are occasioned in different countries by the variations in their respective currencies. This was a subject upon which Mr Horner felt himself at full liberty to enter. He had early turned his attention to economical subjects, and- had given the result of his inquiries to the public in varion articles which he contributed to the Edinburgh Review, which had attracted very considerable notice from their first appearance. Accordingly, pursuant to notice, lie moved for a variety of accounts and returns, and during the spring of that year, called the attention of the house at different times to the important subject of the circulating medium and bullion trade. At the same time that Mr Horner was establishing his reputation as an economist, he neglected not the other duties of a statesman. On the 10th of May, 1810, when Alderman Combe made a motion censuring the ministers for obstructing the address of the Livery of London to his majesty in person, we find Mr Horner supporting it in the following constitutional terms: " He considered it as a question of vital importance, respecting which ministers had attempted to defend themselves by drawing the veil from the infirmities of their sovereign. It was the right of the Livery of London, as it was of other subjects, to have access to his majesty's person in the worst times,—even in those of Charles II. these had not been refused. The most, corrupt ministers indeed, had no idea it would ever be refused. How complete would have been their triumph if they had discovered the practice which of late had prevailed! The obstruction of petitions was a subversion of the fundamental law of the land." Towards the conclusion of the same session, the house marked its sense of Mr Homer's superior information by placing his name at the head of "the bullion committee." Mr Horner presided for some time as chairman of that committee during the examination of the evidence, and drew up the first part of the report; the second was penned by Mr Huskisson; and the third by Mr Henry Thornton. They reported "that there was an excess in the paper circulation, of which the most unequivocal symptoms were the high price of bullion,[1] and next to that the low state of the continental exchange;[2] that the cause of this excess was to be found in the suspension of cash-payments, there being no adequate provision against such an excess, except in the convertibility of paper into specie; and that the unfavourable state of the exchange originated in the same cause, and was farther increased by the anti-commercial measures of the enemy." They added "that they could see no sufficient remedy for the present, or security for the future, except the repeal of the law suspending the
