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SKETCHES OF PUBLIC CHARACTERS IN IRELAND.

No. I.

MR. O'CONNELL.

It is strange, when we remember the close and intimate union that has existed between England and Ireland for ages, how little we are yet acquainted with the real character and manners of the inhabitants of the latter country. Long accustomed to regard that fine and fertile island in the light of a subjugated province, and its peasantry as semibarbarous, prejudice has usurped the place of investigation, and enquiry has been superseded by cold indifference or contempt. We can ourselves almost recollect the time, when a journey to the interior of Ireland was considered seriously hazardous, and its people mentioned as the "Wild Irish," just as we now speak of the predatory Arabs of Bidulgered, or the Great Desart. The accounts that have been given us of Ireland have, in general, been prejudiced or superficial: with the exception of Arthur Young, Mr. Wakefield, and one or two other writers, those, who published their fying tours through that island, knew nothing whatever of the country or its inhabitants. Their anecdotes were collected from the worst and lowest sources, and their bulls and jokes from some vulgar wornout jest-book. Time, the great enlightener, has gradually been working a most important change. As the intercourse between the two countries has become more frequent, the asperities of prejudice every day disappear. The people of Ireland are at length somewhat better known; their virtues are credited to them as their own, and their failings (which cannot be disguised) are charged to the long account of oppression and suffering, which, like a pestilence, has smote the land. Centuries of blood and conquest rolled over that hapless country, during which the chariot wheels of the victor seldom were staid, and the hand of misgovernment never ceased to be busy. The tempest of woe and destruction, that swept over Europe, seemed to have rolled back on the billows of the Atlantic, and to have settled in one Eur. Mag. Jan. 1823.

dense cloud of misery over that fair but unhappy land; with every cabability of human happiness, she has long been a waste of human misery; with the richest and most productive soil, her population have been starving in thousands; with as fine a peasantry as any in Europe, the nakedness of poverty is every where visible; in place of her people being happy and united, she has been a dreary scene of civil proscription, and a bloody theatre for contending factions. Yet, through all this gloom and moral darkness, she has at intervals been illuminated by gleams of the finest genius. The greatest of her orators sleeps within the mausoleum of departed glory, but her poet yet lives who has clothed her sufferings in immortal song. A better day has at length, we trust, dawned over her. The frown of a gracious monarch has denounced the bands of faction, and proclaimed equal justice and protection to all his Irish subjects. Her distresses have been met by the warmest sympathy in English bosoms, and the stores of their munificence poured out for her relief; calm and tranquility appear again to have resumed their sway; but there is yet a great deal to be done, and more to be undone in Ireland, Her inhabitants have much to learn and much which the rising generation must endeavour to forget. The blessings of extended education, united with good government, can alone banish ignorance and crime, and lead to patient industry, and permanent peace and quiet. The introduction of manufactures, particularly the great staple one of the north, the linen trade, into the southern and western parts of Ireland would bring with it incalculable benefits. Much of the deplorable misery now prevailing is owing to the facility with which the potatoe is procured, and the excess of population that swarms over the land. Famine has been unable to subdue it, and emigration amid so many millions is scarcely felt or perceived. The early and unprovided marriages

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of the Irish peasantry are attended with the most melancholy results. They ought to be discouraged by their clergy as much as possible, by every influence and representation. The price of labour is much too low in Ireland; it will not purchase a single comfort of life, and scarcely a necessary of existence; it is apportioned to the cost of rearing that vegetable which is the peasant's sole support. English enterprise and capital once introduced would do much to remedy that evil. The more the people of England become acquainted with Ireland and its inhabitants the better, industry, cleanliness, and comfort will gradually follow. The situation and the wants of Ireland, the character and conduct of its leading personages, possessing power or influence, cannot be too generally made known, or too publicly canvassed. In England, all that is marked by genius or acquirements, that is elevated or remarkable, finds instant record and publicity through the mighty medium of its press. In Ireland its influence is local and little diffused beyond its immediate shores. Under such circumstances, we felt considerable gratification on reading, in a distinguished miscellany, sketches by a masterly hand of two of the first and ablest of the bar in Ireland. We were glad to see portraits of those distinguished individuals, whose names and characters gradually become a part of the history of their country. The talents of such men are in themselves an imperishable distinction; they draw nothing from official rank or judicial elevation. Indebted for their fame to no fortuitous concurrence of time or circumstances, they would do honour to the best and brightest days of Ireland's independence, and still shed a lustre on its darkness and depression. All that was once great and illustrious in that land has almost passed away; but men still point to a Plunkett and a Bushe, as examples of that eloquence, which thundered in her senate for liberty, or roused her patriot citizens to her defence. The period of her triumphs was short and fleeting, but presenting in its duration a constellation of talent which rivalled the proudest exertions of

England, and was surpassed by nothing in Greek or Roman story. The names of Grattan, of Flood, of Burgh, of Curran, now only live in the annals of their country; they are gone with the freedom of that land over which they mourned. Rome, in her decline, was disturbed by the contests of sectaries, or the disputes of sophists, when the vigour of her legions was no more, and the tumult of arms no longer brought her triumphs. In Ireland the debates of her senate are now supplied by aggregate meetings or corporation halls. The decking out a statute, or the concession of a veto, are the subjects of that discussion, which forty years since produced a free trade, and roused a population to arms. Party divisions and religious strifes are the themes for her present eloquence. The ephemeral popularity of a mob has succeeded to the applauses of a nation; men of different mould have appeared, fit for those lesser combats, who are content with the oaken wreath, when the olive crown is no longer attainable. Each age and its occurrences possess their hero ; and we now give the character of a gentleman, who, though not distinguished by the splendour of talent and high attainments of a Bushe, or a Plankett, has yet shewn great versatility of powers, and considerable energy; and, borne on the turpid wave of popular discontent, has risen almost suddenly into marked notice; and long filled, if not an elevated, at least a most conspicuous station in the eyes of Ireland.

Daniel O'Connell, esq. the subject of this memoir, was born we believe at Derrynagh, in the county of Kerry, in Ireland, in or about the year 1773. His father, Morgan O'Connell, esq. was a Catholic gentleman, of ancient family, and considerable fortune; known for his hospitality, and much respected in the county where he lived. The penal code was then in full proscriptive force in Ireland; and the national university was closed against Catholics, who were excluded from the whole range of the liberal professions; these desolating

enactments had exiled numbers of the Irish youth to foreign countries,

We have

at once for education and employment, and Mr. O'Connell was early sent to be educated in France. He had an uncle, General Count O' Connell, high in the French service, during the ancient Regime, and another near relative then also on the continent; and now a Chamberlain at the Court of Vienna. heard he was at first intended for the Catholic priesthood. The habits of his later life, of strict devotion to the ceremonies of that church, give a strong colouring to the report; and had he assumed the sacred garb, there can be little doubt that his talents would have secured him high elevation within the pale; bringing as he would to its service, either in the pulpit or for the mission, the same bold eloquence, and fearless intrepidity, which have distinguished him in a different profession in subsequent life. The beneficence of the Monarch and the wisdom of the British Legislature had, however, soon after abated much of the severity of that frightful code which carried proscription through Ireland, among other concessions, the doors of admission to the liberal professions were again thrown open; and whether from feelings of youthful ambition, or dislike to the austerities of a foreign cloister, Mr. O'Connell rejected the tonsure, and its denials, and determined to devote his talents,not to the studies of Aquinas or Augustine, but to the more mundane though not less subtle dis-. quisitions of Bracton and Coke. He was entered, accordingly, at Lincoln's Inn ; and, after keeping the usual terms there, and in Ireland, was called to the bar of that country about the year 1800. This was an agitating period in that Island; men's minds were roused to the highest pitch of anxiety and alarm. The dreadful insurrection of 1798 had only just passed away; the stains of blood were not yet washed out, or the smouldering fires of ruin extinguished, when the question of a legislative union between the two countries was again renewed. It bad already once failed; though (supported by the whole influence of the British minister) it had passed the English Parliament, it was rejected by a majority in Ireland;

but that majority was so small, that the then Irish Secretary (Lord Castlereagh) determined, with his wonted perseverance, to propose it again. Every artifice of influence in the internal was used to gain proselytes to that destructive measure. Rewards, titles, promises, pensions, were unsparingly lavished for the purpose. The great patriot of 1782, (Mr. Grattan) attacked it when brought forward, with the whole force of his oratory; though feeble with illness, he entered the house, to the dismay of ministers, soon after midnight; and from his place, seated, and unable to stand, pointed the thunders of his eloquence against that motion, which went to destroy for ever the independence he had atchieved for Ireland: his invectives against the ministerial benches were terrible and overpowering. He depicted in dark colours the corruption which was every where around him; and its followers succumbed beneath his voice and eye. Never was he greater in his spring-time of youth and glory; though his summer strength. had passed away he seemed, amid illness and debility, gradually to struggle with, and at length shake off his mortal coil, and to exist on the imperishable energies of his spirit alone. He closed by a reply to the coarse attack of the Irish Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr. Isaac Corry, which was only inferior to his celebrated philippic against the great Flood. It produced an instant duel between the parties, fought in the twilight of morning: both left the house immediately: Mr. Grattan with a conviction, as he said, that the castle and its adherents, unable to subdue him in any other way, had determined if possible to pistol him off. The meeting between the great patriot and Mrs. Grattan was a more than Roman one. He tore himself from her arms, prepared to die. Fortunately he survived the determined combat, as he did the independence of Ireland, which fell soon after. He lived to prove to a British Parliament, what the eloquence of that country was in her best days. At this period the press was inundated with pamphlets. Politics were the avenues by which distinction or preferment were

opened to the Irish bar. Though Mr. O'Connell has been fond of writing in latter days, we do not find that he employed his pen on this occasion. He was, we know, a determined opponent of the union, but had, we believe, then seduously devoted himself to study; and was employed in acquiring that knowledge of his profession which led to his early advancement, and subsequently procured for him so much emolument and reputation. The bar has proved an up-hill and disheartening pursuit to many, subsequently distinguished by splendid ability, and ranking high in the annals of legal fame. Mr.O'Connell was more fortunate; his endeavours proved early successful; he rose rapidly in his profession, and the interval of only a few years elasped between his being called, and his business producing him at least two thousand pounds annually; his professional income at present is probably double that amount. He is not considered a profound lawyer; nor is his manner either captivating or impressive. He is distinguished in the court more by his energy and shrewdness, than by any higher qualities of research or eloquence. His industry is greater than his ability, and he owes much to his firmness and self-possession, which never desert him; his accent is bad, and his language in general com. mon-place and inelegant; his pronunciation is markedly vicious, a compound of Irish and Gallic badly associated, which the late witty Mr. Keller used to call "his Glanerogh English.' He has a manner of extending his mouth, when he wishes to be impressive, which is any thing but graceful; and a habit of flying from one observation to another, both in his addresses to juries and his arguments before the judges, leaving his best points undefended, and his illustrations incomplete; but he is generally effective, and always useful. Subtle in the examination of a hostile witness, and gifted with great powers of discernment and penetration, his knowledge of the manners, the customs, and the failings of the Irish peasantry is complete; and he is able with such a witness, to unravel the most perplexing web of fraud

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and falsehood, and to search every winding of the heart. His figure is manly and imposing, and his voice powerful in its compass and distinct in its intonations. The con tour of his countenance is pecularly Irish; perhaps there is little else remarkable in his features, either singly or as a whole; his eyes are grey, and small, presenting nothing that interest when in a state of repose, but bright and animated when lit up by exertion. Mr. O'Connell is considered one of the best motion-lawyers in the courts; quick in arraying his own strongest points, and equally acute in seizing and exposing the least weakness of his adversary. He is in full business; the Munster circuit producing him probably more money than any gentleman of that bar. He has, from his ability, a monopoly of what is called the Dock, in Ireland, that is, the criminal business of the circuit, which is a source of great emolument. With his briefs on these occasious, he will not take less than a fee of three guineas, and constantly receives infinitely more. He is, besides, retained in every civil case of any importance. His proscription as a Catholic has deprived him of that official rank as a King's Counsel, which would add to his importance, even though it reduced his emoluments; he has seen in the course of his practice a silk gown given to many of his associates of inferior talents, that precedence and distinction to which his standing and abilities had unquestionably entitled him. It is but natural he should feel deeply on such occasions. One of the failings of Mr. O'Connell's character is a strong tinge of vanity and egotism, which colours all his actions, and those feelings of disappointment he has accordingly constantly and publicly avowed. He made, however, an effort in 1820, soon after the late Queen's return to England, which, had he succeeded, would have more than supplied the rank he had so long regretted. He applied, through Alderman Wood, for the situation of her Majesty's Attorney General for Ireland; and for some time entertained the strongest hopes of success. Every disposition was shewn by the Queen's official advisers to

make the grant, if consistent with
former, usage.
His own anticipa-
tion spoke of the appointment as
certain; he had even selected his
associate as Solicitor General in the
person of Mr. Bennett. It would
have been to Mr. O'Connell an
acquisition of first rate importance;
giving him the full precedence of a
King's Counsel without affecting
the considerable emoluments derived
from his lesser practice in criminal
business. The prints of Ireland at
the period were full of his elevation;
the coat of office was bespoke by
him, and even worn. It was re-
marked he did not appear at home
in the official garb, that

"New honours come upon him
Like our strange garments, cleave
not to their mould
But with the aid of use."

But Mr. O'Connell had in this in

stance of his individual promotion, as he has too often done in public life, suffered his wishes and feelings to outrun his calmer judgment. He had made no search, or ascertained whether; at any previous period, any of the Queen's Consorts of England had exercised such a right as that of which he sought the advantage. In seizing the idea, his usual shrewdness and quick ness were displayed, for it was not included in the penal code, as one of the offices denied to Catholics: but her Majesty's advisers in Eng land were much too wise and pru dent to recommend any hasty ap pointment affecting her rights, which could not subsequently stand the fall test of scrutiny and contest. On investigation it was found that no record existed of such an appoint ment in Ireland, except in one weak instance, which could not possibly be erected into a precedent; they were, therefore, obliged reluctantly to pause in the nomination; and under the circumstances of her Ma jesty's demise soon after, and the loss of situation (if granted) which must have followed, it was, perhaps, preferable for Mr. O'Connell to have endured a temporary dis appointment, rather than have experienced the humiliation, a return to the back bar, and the reassump tion of a stuff gown, must infallibly lave brought with them. But it is not

to his career as a lawyer, however successful, that Mr. O'Connell owes the distinction, or at least the publicity, which he has long attained and enjoyed; we say enjoyed; for, with him, to be talked of is to be every thing-to be "broad and general as the easing air" is the sum mit of happiness and ambition. Nonpublicity would be non-existence. He lives but on the sound of the public voice; and exists but on the notice of the public eye. Many men who make more money than Mr. O'Connell, and in a higher walk of the profession, are compa ratively unknown, even in Ireland, and never heard of here. But his voice has been for years the loud bell that tolled an alarm to the castle. He is the warder on the tower of Catholic orthodoxy; he rings the annual peal which is to rouse the disheartened population again to the task of petition. He comes forward, unsolicited, as their champion clad in his spiritual panoply as in armour proof, and surrounded by countless legends of holy anchorets and fathers. He talks to them of the sacrifices he has himself made, and the endless losses he has endured in their cause. He has but just returned from the defence of a burglar, or a horsestealer; and he assures them "they are the finest and the bravest prople on the face of the earth." He dwells on the beauty of the "whitebosomed daughters of Erin," and their misfortunes on being the wives and mothers of slaves; his auditors drink in his accents, and become happy in their bondage; some favorite orator follows, and resolutions are proposed worthy of the days of Chalcedon or Constance. Anathemas are showered upon every thing, vetoistical or heterodox; and the apotheosis of their leader is determined and pronounced by a thousand exulting and applauding voices at once. It was in the year 1809, as well as we remember, that Mr. O'Connell made his first appearance in public life at an aggregate meeting in Dublin. It was assembled to petition for the repeal of the grievances still affecting the Catho lic body, and the then Lord French presided in the chair. His speech on that occasion possessed all the

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