brought down a party of whigs from London, who succeeded in rejecting a vote in the Cambridge senate for a petition against catholic emancipation. In January 1828 Lord Lyndhurst made him, in spite of his politics, a commissioner in bankruptcy. The office, added to his fellowship, and his earnings from the ‘Edinburgh Review,’ made up his income to 900l. a year. In February 1830 Lord Lansdowne, who had been impressed by the articles on Mill, wrote to offer the author a seat for Calne, without asking for any pledges as to voting. The offer was gratefully accepted, and Macaulay made his first speech in the house on 5 April 1830, in support of the second reading of Robert Grant's bill for the removal of Jewish disabilities. He visited the continent for the first time, after the French revolution of July, and wrote an article upon the state of France, which, to his great vexation, was cancelled by Napier in deference to a remonstrance from Brougham. He began a book upon the history of France, from the restoration of the Bourbons till the accession of Louis-Philippe, for ‘Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopædia,’ which was partly printed, but never finished or published.
In the parliament which met on 26 Oct. 1830 he again sat for Calne. On 2 March 1831 he spoke in the debate upon the second reading of the Reform Bill. The speaker told him that he had never seen the house in such a state of excitement. Peel praised his opponent, and he was compared to all the famous parliamentary orators. His success encouraged him to become a frequent speaker. He was welcomed at Holland House, invited to breakfast by Rogers, who became really attached to him, introduced to Sydney Smith, Moore, Hallam, and all the literary celebrities, and overwhelmed with the most flattering attentions. The abolition of his commissionership by Grey's administration, at a time when his fellowship (tenable for seven years only by a layman) was just running out, reduced his means so far, that he was obliged to sell his university gold medals (ib. p. 127). To a bachelor, indeed, with the road to success so widely open, such an evil was endurable enough. It is, however, to his credit that he never incurred debts, and more so that his social successes never interfered with the affectionate intercourse with his family, especially with his two sisters, Hannah and Margaret. His letters to them, giving many details of his parliamentary career, are charming proofs of his affectionate nature. The sudden death, in 1830, of a third sister, Jane, grieved him deeply, and it was followed by the death of his mother, who had never recovered the shock of losing her daughter, in 1831 (ib. p. 145). He acquired at the same time an antipathy or two, especially for J. W. Croker [q. v.], with whom he had various parliamentary encounters, and whose edition of ‘Boswell’ he attacked with perhaps excessive acrimony in the ‘Edinburgh Review.’
Although Macaulay never became a skilful debater, his set speeches had made a great impression; and he had obtained a position in the house, which was recognised by his appointment (ib. p. 184) in June 1832 to be a commissioner of the board of control. He worked hard at his duties, rapidly acquiring a wide knowledge of Indian affairs. By rising at five he managed to write some articles for the ‘Edinburgh,’ in spite of his official and parliamentary duties. He had been invited in October 1831 to stand for Leeds in company with Mr. J. G. Marshall. He took a very independent line with the electors, refusing to give any definite pledges. When an elector asked him at a meeting to state his religious opinions, he denounced the rash inquirer for turning a meeting into an arena for theological discussion; and though he declared himself to be a ‘Christian,’ treated the question as an exhibition of intolerance. He was opposed by Michael Sadler, whose theories of population he had attacked in the ‘Edinburgh Review.’ Marshall and Macaulay were elected in Dec. 1832 by 2,012 and 1,984 votes (respectively), to Sadler's 1,596.
Just before the election, Macaulay had been appointed secretary to the board of control, of which Charles Grant [q. v.], afterwards Lord Glenelg, was president. Their main duty in the session of 1833 was to carry through parliament the bill for renewing the charter of the East India Company; by which the monopoly of the China trade was abolished, and the company ceased to be a commercial body. Macaulay distinguished himself by a speech on the second reading, upon which his chief pronounced an enthusiastic eulogy; and the bill was passed with ease and with general approval. The bill for the abolition of slavery had been introduced by government, with a provision for a twelve years' apprenticeship of the liberated slaves. The abolitionists, led by Sir Fowell Buxton, strongly objected to this proposal; and Macaulay was in constant correspondence with his father upon the subject. Zachary Macaulay had now fallen into poverty, and Thomas, helped by his brother Henry, was devoting all that he could save to paying off his father's creditors. All parties, however, took for granted that he should, if necessary, sacrifice his income to his duty. He sent in his resignation to Lord
