which he intended to inculcate with the splendid semblances of truth.

After having wrought his hearers to a species of enthusiasm, and alarmed Attorney-General Saurin by declaring, with an attitude almost as noble as the sentiment which it was intended to set off, that he would throw the constitution to his Catholic countrymen as widely open as his own breast, he suddenly turned back, and, after one of those pauses, the effect of which can be felt by those only who have been present upon such occasions, in the name of those very principles of justice which he had so powerfully laid down, he implored the jury to suppress an institution in the country, which he asserted to be the greatest obstacle to the success of that measure, for the attainment of which it had been ostensibly established.

The eloquence of Mr. Bushe, assisted by certain contrivances behind the scenes, to which government is, in Dublin, occasionally obliged to resort, produced the intended effect. I doubt not that a jury so properly compounded (the panel of which, if not suggested, was at least revised) would have given a verdict for the crown, although Mr. Bushe had never addressed them. But the government stood in need of something more than a mere verdict. It was necessary to give plausibility to their proceedings, and they found it in the oratory of this distinguished advocate. Is it not a little surprising that Mr. Bushe should, in despite of the vigor of his exertions against the Catholic board, and their success, have still retained his popularity? It would be natural that such services as he conferred upon the ministry, which appeared so much at variance with the interests, and in which he acted a part so diametrically in opposition to the passions of the people, should have generated a feeling of antipathy against him. But the event was otherwise. He had previously ingratiated himself so much in the general liking, and so liberal an allowance was made for the urgency of the circumstances in which he was placed, that he retained the favor not only of the better classes among the Roman Catholics, but did not lose the partialities of the populace itself. At all events, the benefits he rendered to the

THE CHIEF BARON'S CASE.

135

government were most material, and gave him the strongest claims upon their gratitude.*

Another remarkable instance occurred not very long ago, of the value of such a man to the Irish administration, and it is the more deserving of mention, as it is connected with circumstances which have excited no inconsiderable interest in the House of Commons, and brought Mr. Plunket and his rival into an immediate and honorable competition. I allude to the case of the Chief Baron O'Grady,† when he set up a claim to nominate to the office of clerk of the pleas in the Court of Exchequer in Ireland. The prize for which the learned Judge was adventuring was a great one, and well worth the daring experiment for which he exposed himself to the permanent indignation of the government. The salary of the office was to be counted by thousands, and the Chief Baron thought it would be as conducive to the public interests, and as consistent with the pure administration of justice, that he should appoint one of his own family to fill the vacancy which had occurred, as that the local ministry of Ireland should make the appointThe matter was brought before Parliament; and much

ment.

* At Kilkenny private theatricals, when pressed for an opinion, he said that he preferred the prompter, for he heard the most and saw the least of him. At a dinner given by a Dublin Orangeman, when politics ran high, and Bushe was suspected of holding pro-Catholic opinions, the host indulged so freely that he fell under the table. The Duke of Richmond, who then was Viceroy, picked him up and replaced him in the chair. "My Lord Duke," said Bushe, " though you say I am attached to the Catholics, at all events I never assisted at the elevation of the Host." Sir Robert Peel, who was present, related this bon-mot. One of Bushe's relations, who rarely indulged in any ablutions, complained of a sore throat. "Fill a pail with hot water, until it reach your knees; then take a pint of oatmeal, and scrub your legs with it for quarter of an hour," was what Bushe recommended as a remedy. "Why, hang it! man," said the other, "that's washing one's feet."—"I admit, my dear fellow," replied Bushe, gravely, "it is liable to that objection."— M.

+ Standish O'Grady, born in 1766, called to the bar in 1787, appointed Attorney-General for Ireland in 1803, and made Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer, which office he held until 1831, when he was created Viscount Guillamore and Baron O'Grady, in the peerage of Ireland. He died April 21, 1840, aged seventy-four. He was a man of shrewd and caustic wit, a good lawyer, and a social companion. He was very proud of his family, which was one of the oldest in Ireland.-M.

was said, though I think unjustly, upon the ambitious cupidity of his pretensions. The right of nomination was made the subject of legal proceedings by the Crown; and the AttorneyGeneral, Mr. Saurin, thought proper to controvert the claims of the Chief Baron in the shape of a quo warranto, which was considered a harsh and vexatious course by the friends of the learned Judge, in order to ascertain the naked question of right. The latter secured Mr. Plunket as his advocate. He had been his early friend, and had contributed, it was said, to raise him to the place of Solicitor when he was himself appointed to that of Attorney-General, and had lived with him upon terms of the most familiar intercourse. It was statedbut I can not answer for the truth of the general report—that he sent him a fee of three hundred pounds, which Mr. Plunket returned, but which the Chief Baron's knowledge of human nature (and no man is more deeply read in it) insisted upon his acceptance-partly, perhaps, because he did not wish to be encumbered with an unremunerated obligation, and no doubt because he was convinced, as every lawyer is by his professional experience, that the greatest talents stand in need of a pecuniary excitation, and that the emotions of friendship must be stimulated by that sense of duty which is imposed by the actual perception of gold.* I am sure that Mr. Plunket would have strained his mind to the utmost pitch, without this additional incentive, upon behalf of his learned friend; but still the Chief Baron exhibited his accustomed sagacity, in insisting upon the payment of a fee.

This was a great cause. The best talents at the bar were arrayed upon both sides. The issue was one of the highest importance, and to which the legislature looked forward with anxiety. The character of one of the chief Judges of the land was in some degree at stake, as well as the claims which he had so enterprisingly advanced; and every circumstance conspired to impart an interest to the proceedings, which does not

*It is recorded of the eminent Dr. Radcliffe, founder of the library at Oxford which bears his name, that when he felt unwell he used always to take a guinea out of one pocket and deposite it in another (as a fee), before he would feel his own pulse and prescribe for himself. —M.

frequently arise. Mr. Saurin stated the case for the Crown with his usual solemnity and deliberation, and with that accuracy and simplicity which render him so valuable an advocate in a court of equity. He was followed by Mr. Plunket, who entered warmly into the feelings of his client, and thought that an unfair mode of proceeding had been adopted in his regard. He exhibited in his reply that fierce spirit of sarcasm which he has not yet fully displayed in the House of Commons, though it is one of the principal ingredients in his eloquence. His metaphors are generally sneers, and his flowers of speech are the aconite in full blow. He did not omit the opportunity of falling upon his political antagonist, in whom he left many a scar, which, though half-healed, are visible to the present day. His oration was as much a satire as an argument, and exhibited in their perfection the various attributes of his mind.

As for Bushe, who had to reply, his oratorical ambition was in all probability powerfully excited by the sentiment of emulation, and he exerted all the resources of his intellect in the contest. His speech was a masterpiece; and in the general opinion, in those parts of it which principally consisted of declamatory vituperation, he won the palm from his competitor. He was pure, lofty, dignified, and generously impassioned. If his reasoning was not so subtile and condensed, it was more guileless and persuasive, and his delivery far more impressive and of a higher and more commanding tone. A very accurate and cold-blooded observer would have perceived, perhaps, in the speech of Mr. Plunket, a deeper current of thought and a more vigorous and comprehensive intellect: but the great proportion of a large assembly would have preferred the eloquence of Bushe. The true value of it can not be justly estimated by any particular quotations, as the chief merit of all his speeches consists in the unity and proportion of the whole, rather than the beauty and perfection of the details.*

The great reputation obtained by Mr. Plunket in the House of Commons, and which has given him a sway so much more important, and a station so much more valuable than any pro

*

Brougham said of Bushe's five hours' speech in the Trimbleston cause, that the narrative of Livy himself did not surpass that great effort.-M.

fessional elevation, no matter how exalted, can bestow, must have often excited in the mind of Mr. Bushe, as well as in his admirers, a feeling of regret that he did not offer himself as a candidate for a seat in the Imperial Parliament. It is the opinion of all those who have had the opportunity of hearing Mr. Bushe, that he would have made a very great figure in the English House of Commons; and for the purpose of enabling those who have not heard him to form an estimate of the likelihood of his success in that assembly, and of the frame and character of his eloquence, a general delineation of this accomplished advocate may not be inappropriate.

The first circumstance which offers itself to the mind of any man, who recalls the recollection of Bushe, in order to furnish a description of his rhetorical attributes, is his delivery. In bringing the remembrance of other speakers of eminence to my contemplation, their several faculties and endowments present themselves in a different order, according to the proportions of excellence to each other which they respectively bear. In thinking, for example, of Mr. Fox, the torrent of his vehement and overwhelming logic is first before me. If

I should pass to his celebrated antagonist, I repose upon the majesty of his amplification. The wit of Sheridan,* the bla

* Richard Brinsley Sheridan, born at Dublin in 1751, died in London, July 7, 1816. He was eminently distinguished, as a wit, boon-companion, orator, politician, and dramatist, at a time when eminent men were abundant. He was the friend of Fox, and long the intimate of the Prince of Wales. Habits of improvidence and extravagance made him constantly in difficulties. Intemperate habits ruined his health, and he died, broken in spirit, and in great want. His wit and eloquence were remarkable. Having stated that he never spoke well until after he had drank a couple of bottles of port, Father O'Leary said "this was like a porter; he could not get on without a load on his head." When he wrote, he always drank. "A glass of wine," he used to say, "would encourage the bright thought to come: and then it was right to take another to reward it for coming."- Moore's Life of Sheridan, although naturally apologetic for its subject, is a brilliant record of a brilliant career. Byron's opinion of Sheridan, hastily thrown off in conversation, was this: "Whatever Sheridan has done or chosen to do has been par excellence, always the best of its kind. He has written the best comedy (School for Scandal), the best opera (the Duenna-in my mind far better than that St. Giles's lampoon, The Beggar's Opera), the best farce (The Critic-it is only too good for an after-piece), and the best address (Monologue on Garrick), and to crown all, delivered the very