completely by surprise. They expected to hear from him much that was forcible, fanciful, and passionate-profusion of imagery and exaggeration of sentiment, but very little of the clear, sober, and practical. He astonished them by the thorough purity of his style, although he had learned in a school in which, to quote a critical canon prevalent with our neighbours, "all the fresh and rude virtues flourished which mark the transition from savage life to comparative refinement." Mr. Plunkett soon convinced them that an Irish orator was somewhat in advance of a Chippewa chief, or of children who are ever mistaking finery for elegance, and flowers for fruit-that he could be, in fact, a man of business and practice, exhibiting sound and solid attainments. He threw on the adversaries of Irish eloquence the burthen of proving in what respects an English differed from an Irish speaker, and whether the style of the one country was not characterized by as much true and healthy thought, by as much chaste-' ness of sentiment, and strength and propriety of expression, by as much weight of argumentation, and as much practical knowledge of the common affairs of life, as that of the most favoured orators on the other side of the Channel.

His first experiment in the British parliament was on Mr. Grattan's motion for Catholic relief, which placed his reputation as an orator among the most exalted of the age. Before his appearance, the merits of that important question had been comparatively unknown. It had often been discussed by energetic advocates on both sides, but it remained for him to place it in a moral, social, and political light, through which it had never before been contemplated. He paralyzed the House by his stupendous powers of logic and eloquence. "The fire of his magnificent mind," said Grattan with noble enthusiasm, "was lighted by coals from ancient altars, in the delivery of that unrivalled speech." It was from beginning to end a stream of the closest argument. It would be difficult to select any one passage for extraction, for its power consists more in the fine proportions and consummate unity of the whole than in separate bursts; but we take the following, which, as a specimen of unanswerable logic, is unequalled.

"The topic that toleration admits of one consideration, and political power of another, has little application to this case, even if it were true; for here it must be contended that rank and station and honour are not the proper appendages of wealth and knowledge and education, and of everything which constitutes moral and political strength. In every system of human policy the few must govern the many, but their legitimate government must arise from their superiority in wealth and knowledge; if, therefore, you exclude the wealthy and educated, you throw into the scale of the many the only weight which could have preserved the balance of the state itself. This is universally true; but when you reject the opulent and the educated on account of a condition which they have in common with the many, you add the attraction of politics and party to the operation of general and moral causes; and if the principle of exclusion be a religious one, you organize the principles of furious and interminable revolution. Put the policy of the separation of political rank from property and education in the extreme case of their total division, or in any intermediate degree, the conclusion is equally true, that the attempt to separate establishes a principle, not of government, but of the

dissolution of all government. So sensible of this truth were our ancestors, that when they saw, or thought they saw, a necessity for dishonouring the Roman Catholic, they adopted as a necessary consequence the policy of impoverishing and barbarizing him. That policy was consistent-the means had a diabolical fitness for the end. What have we done? We have trod back their steps, we have rescued the Catholics from the code which formed at once their servitude and our safety, and we fancy we can continue the exclusion from civil station which superinduced that code. Theirs was not a real or fancied necessity, but a consistent system; we pretend no necessity, we have voluntarily abdicated the means of safety, and we wilfully and uselessly continue the causes of danger. The time to have paused was before we heaved from those sons of earth the mountains which the wisdom or terrors of our ancestors had heaped upon them, but we have raised them up, and placed them erect ; are we prepared to hurl them down and bury them again?"

The instances in the British senate are very rare where eloquence has triumphed over the prejudices of party, where the most powerful arguments have had the effect of gaining over a single vote. It has been truly remarked, that if Demosthenes were to speak in the House of Commons, his oratory would go for nothing, so far as its influence on the division were taken as a test of success. Every member having predetermined to pursue a certain line of policy, all the oratory of Greece or Rome would be lost on his stubborn prejudices or passions. Parties might as well divide without any discussion, for debates seem to have no direct power, and are only useful in the formation or correction of public opinion. Mr. Plunkett's speech was an exception; for he gained over some Scotch members who were systematically adverse to the Catholic claims, and confirmed some of his own party who were wavering in their allegiance. Of this speech Sir James Mackintosh said, "Plunkett's has made a deeper impression than any speech since Sheridan's, in 1783, on the charge against Hastings respecting the Begum of Oude. It is, I believe, the only speech which has been known to determine the votes of several individuals. For the honour of Scotch conscience I am happy to say that it was the direct and sure cause of two Scotchmen, Mr. A. and Mr. F. The last is enthusiastic in his admiration of Plunkett. The members of the House of Commons were more influenced by his speech than any other in modern times." Such was the opinion of a very high authority on the effects of Mr. Plunkett's eloquence, which was allowed by all to be of the most elevated character, and that at a time when the Commons boasted of a Wyndham, a Wilberforce, a Canning, Horner, Brougham, and Romilly. One of the great secrets of his parliamentary success was, that he rarely took part in debates except on subjects connected with Ireland, with which he had a most extensive acquaintance, and on which he could never be taken by surprise. The principal instance in which he deviated from this safe and prudent course was a memorable one—the debate on the Manchester riots— where he acted a conspicuous part. For his conduct on that occasion he has been much blamed. He has been charged with abandoning his popular principles with a view to advance his own interests, and sanctioning a violation of constitutional liberty to gratify his own ambition. His famous speech was no doubt a powerful support to the

ministry, but in justice to Mr. Plunkett it should be borne in mind that some of the most influential of the Whig party, among them Lord Grenville, adopted the same line of policy. When the public liberty or safety is in peril, it is the duty of every honest citizen to say with the Roman, " Non me impedient publicæ lites vel privatæ offensiones, quo minus pro respublicæ salute etiam cum inimicissimo consentiam," and it would be absurd to deny that the crisis was a menacing one, and required the application of an instant remedy. The government erred on the side of despotism-all the guarantees of freedom were put in abeyance; but why accuse Mr. Plunkett for an excess which he could not correct or control? We are happily removed from those times, and we hope the period will never again arrive, when a meeting of the people to petition for redress will be dispersed by shot or sabre; but great discontent, not unmingled with strong revolutionary feelings, then pervaded the working classes in England; and Mr. Plunkett, knowing the contagious character of insurrection and the influence which the example of England in disorder was likely to produce on the inflammable Irish mind, stung by the repeated refusals of parliament, took his stand not so much to assist the government in its arbitrary violence, as to keep in check the swelling indignation at home.

We now bring him back to Ireland. While Saurin was Attorneygeneral, the celebrated case of O'Grady and the Crown was heard, to which we alluded in our notice of Chief Justice Bushe. The Chief Baron was the early friend and patron of Mr. Plunkett, and he retained him with an ample fee of five hundred pounds, knowing well that money is the greatest stimulant to exertion. The Attorney-general stated the case with that calm and simple clearness which characterized him, and he was replied to by Mr. Plunkett. The cord of friendship had of late years been rather lax between the two great lawyers, for Mr. Plunkett felt, though he did not openly express it, that Saurin was a sort of usurper in the high office he held. He meditated revenge, and he had it. His speech was a torrent of burning invective; he fiercely attacked the unbecoming conduct of the law advisers of the crown, and menaced them with impeachment. Saurin bitterly felt the personalities, his rival apologized, but the wound had been inflicted, and their ancient friendship was never, we believe, fully restored. A change of administration, in 1822, renewed the official fortunes of Mr. Plunkett. Saurin was displaced from the attorney-generalship after a tenure of fifteen years; he was offered the chief-justiceship, but he aspiredto the seals, and he dallied with the offer, until Bushe at last secured it as the just reward of his genius and his services. Mr. P. was at once named Attorney, with Joy as Solicitor-general.

The union in office of the representatives of such opposite principles was strange enough, but political compounding was a vast favourite with the Marquis of Wellesley, who sought the amalgamation of parties, and endeavoured to work out the true theory of Irish administration from the crucible in which liberalism and Toryism were oddly mixed together. The process, however, was unsuccessful; the famous Bottle Riot soon occurred, and the prosecution of the upper gallery conspirators followed.

The accused were indicted for "conspiring to raise a riot and disturbance in the theatre while the Lord Lieutenant was present therein, and wickedly, unlawfully, riotously and routously, to insult and assault the said Lord Lieutenant in said theatre; and for that they, for the purposes and in pursuance of such conspiracy, did print and prepare divers papers on which were written the words No Popery,' and others on which were written the words The Protestants want Talbot, and the Protestants have got all but!! and Fleming, though he has the mace, will find it hard to keep his place;' and others in which were written the following of and concerning the most noble the Marquis of Wellesley, that is to say, Ex-Governor of the Bantams will change his Morning-tone,' with intent to disperse said papers in said theatre," &c. &c. Joy's situation was a very novel one: all his life was devoted to that very cause which he was now called on to impugn. He was very reluctant to compromise his old character, and he would cheerfully bolt, had he the power. But his colleague pinned him to his new faith, by stating in the commencement that the high talents, enlightened information, and extensive knowledge of his brother Solicitor assisted him in every step of the prosecution, and that to his cordial zeal and co-operation no terms could be sufficiently strong to render justice, and express his gratitude! Joy was too old a gudgeon to be caught with such a bait; he laughed in his heart at the nailing process so dexterously attempted by the Attorney-general; but as the disagreeable burden was imposed, he assumed an air of sincerity. He analyzed the evidence with great skill, and commented on it with consummate coldness. He kept his own feelings altogether in the background; he reasoned for Lord Wellesley; and in the course of his speech he took care to neutralize the effects of his colleague's insidious compliments on his zeal and co-operation.

Far different was Mr. Plunkett's display; it was a magnificent specimen of forensic eloquence, the finest perhaps he ever delivered. His, too, was a delicate task, but arising from very different causes; his soul was set on a verdict, for he desperately hated Orangeism, a feeling which was amply reciprocated; for, like the object of Priam's animosity, they would devour him raw without salt." He knew well that the jury was compounded of the most unfavourable materials for justice, and he sought to flatter their pride as Protestants, by identifying their principles with those of William the Third and the Revolution. In all that has been written of that monarch there is nothing which approximates in grandeur to the description of his personal character, his policy, and the difficulties he had to encounter, drawn by the Attorney-general. Perhaps the colouring is excessive, but the occasion required some sacrifice to real truth in order to produce the desired effect.

"There is not, my lords, perhaps to be found in the annals of history a character more truly great than that of William the Third. Perhaps no person has ever appeared in the theatre of the world who has conferred more essential and more lasting benefits on mankind: on these countries, certainly none. When I look at the abstract merits of his character, I contemplate them with admiration and reverence. Lord of a petty principality, destitute of all resources but those with which nature had en

dowed him, regarded with jealousy and envy by those whose battles he fought, thwarted in all his counsels, embarrassed in all his movements, deserted in his most critical enterprizes, he continued to mould all these discordant materials, to govern all these warring interests, and merely by the force of his genius, the ascendency of his integrity, and the immoveable firmness and constancy of his nature, to combine them in an indissoluble alliance against the schemes of despotism, and the universal dominion of the most powerful monarch of Europe, seconded by the ablest generals, at the head of the bravest and best disciplined armies in the world, and wielding without check or control the unlimited resources of his empire. He was not a consummate general. Military men will point out his errors; in that respect fortune did not favour him, save by throwing the lustre of adversity over all his virtues. He sustained defeat after defeat, but always rose, adversù rerum immersabilis unda. Looking merely at his shining qualities and achievements, I admire him as I do a Scipio, a Regulus, a Fabius-a model of tranquil courage, undeviating probity, and armed with a resoluteness and constancy in the cause of truth and freedom, which rendered him superior to the accidents which control the fate of ordinary men. But this is not all-I feel that to him, under God, I am at this moment indebted for the rights I enjoy as a subject of these free countries-to him I owe the blessings of a civil and religious liberty, and I venerate his memory with a fervour of devotion suited to his illustrious qualities and his godlike acts."

The following piece of exquisite adulation must have been very grateful to the royal ears for which it was intended. The artifice of the construction is only equalled by the eloquence.

"In the history of royal lives there seldom has occurred an instance affording a more gratifying subject for the historian to dwell on than the royal visit to Ireland. The statement of splendid victories, the developement of profound schemes of policy, the application of able counsels, and of powerful resources, the defence of the liberties of the world, all these are the subjects of historic detail, and may be the fair subjects of political controversy. But here, by the mere impulse of his own feelings, the heartiness of his nature, a moment was created, in which, without calling on any of the common-places of royalty, without the aid of fear, or force, or flattery, without arms, or power, or patronage, by the mere indulgence of his kind and generous nature, he gained to himself the most exalted privileges which a human being can exercise, that of bestowing happiness, and sharing it with millions of his fellow-creatures. The promptness with which the moment was seized-the gracious and condescending manner by which it was improved-the thousand and ten thousand blessings which are to be derived from it, all these may be subjects of just applause and of sober criticism. But here the true value of the act is its simplicity. To enter into the hearts and become master of the enthusiastic affections of an entire people, merely by showing himself the friend and father of them all, was a felicity to him and them unparalleled in the eventful history of this nation. It was worthy the successor of the great monarch whose talents and virtues he emulated, and whose memory he rescued from the disgraceful orgies by which it had been tarnished. Equal in the motive and the feeling, happier in this, that the hard fortune of William the Third compelled him to visit this country as a conqueror, but it was reserved for the peculiar felicity of George the Fourth that he was the first British king who ever placed a friendly step on the Irish soil."

The

We will give one more passage from this splendid oration. advocate having done all in his power to flatter the loyalty of the imMay 1841.-VOL. XXXI.—NO. cxxi.

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