Historical and genealogical account of the Clan Maclean

214 HISTORICAL NOTICES.
bers of the imperial parliament possess more
respectable abilities than the honourable mem-
ber for Oxford ; a fact now generally ac-
knowledged, and which I know all Macleans
will learn with pleasure. As a public speaker
he ranks among the first ; but hitherto his
speeches have been principally confined to ques-
tions connected with the foreign policy of the
country. On these he displays an acquaintance
with the subject certainly inferior to no member
within the walls of parliament, and those against
whom his attacks are levelled, suffer severely
enough from the force of his rebukes and the
overwhelming fluency with which he hurls his
accusations upon them.
The descendant of the ever loyal Lords of
Duart is of course in politics what Macleans ever
were, faithful and fervent friends of the sove-
reign and of the constitution, or what in our day
is termed Conservative principles : he is, of
course, opposed to the Melbourne administra-
tion, and no weak opponent either, of which his
parliamentary career has already offered ample
testimony.
The Maclean legislator of the nineteenth cen-
tury is the same firm supporter of the throne,
the same uncompromising enemy of all innova-
tion on constitutional rights, and of all factious
principles, that his loyal forefathers of the seven-