A Weekly Journal of

Vol. XIV.

“This is tvue Liberty, when Freeb

Ry

olitics

eats a Ea a

orn Men, having

i Charlottetown, Prince Edward Islayd, Monday,

Literature, and

to advise the Public, may speak free.’’---Euripides.

gona a Sons

February 8, 1864.

sews,

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SSS ez - a

——— eo Se ee

ew Series.---No

ELOQUENCE AS AN ART. pupRACING A GLANCE AT IRISii ELOQUENCE, WITH ILLUSTRATIVE PASSAGES FROM GRATTAN AND CURRAN’S SPEECHES.

A LECTURE DELIVERED BEFORKR THE CATHOLIC YOUNG MEN's INSTITETH BY THE HON. EDWARD WHELAN.

Lantre and GeyrLewen—

You, Mr. President, are quite familiar with the anecdote of the Roman General, who, having been sent to subdue a hostile nation, found no enemy to confront him ; but, in order to convince his countrymen that he had really visited the land to whieh he had been ordered, he commanded his sol- cers to fill their koapsacks with pebbles, which they found on the beach, aod which were paraded as a poor substitute for the ** tributaries’ that should Follow him to Rome,

Te grace in captive bonds his chariut w heels.” And every one is acquainted with the less classical but no less forcible eaecdete of the maa, who, having a five brick maasien to sell, went about exhibiting a detached brick as a specimen of the whole edifice. When you have heard this Lecture yea can make your choice of either aneedote—either will apply to it. To attempt to compass in a few pages, for the rcading of which only an hour is allotted, a satistactory view of the extent aud richness of the annals of [rish Klo-

quence, with illustrations from the sawe, would be no less |

absurd than the act of the Roman General, when he atteapted to convey aa idea of the physical resources of au enemy's country by some kaupsacks of pebbles. And if you hope to obtain, in the same compass and same space of time, a view of the magnificent monuments which lave been reared by Irish gewius to one of the most ennobling arts with which the

Almighty bas gifted mankind, so might you be able to esti- mate the value of the mansion of which a # :cimen brick was

carried about, uot ia the baad, [ suspect, but in the hat of | momeat compare with any of them in making a brilliant

| speech,

the owner.

Before I preseed to speak of Irish Eloquence, it may be necessary to offer a few remarks on Ejoquence in general. Like the sister arts of Poetry, Music, Puiuting and Statuary, Eloquence of the highest order must be born with its posses- sor. Genuine eloquence cannot be acquired by any extent of study. Hard aud persevering study will make good speakers, as it may make tolerably fuir painters, singers, rhymers and sculptors ; but the genius which 1s to give im- mortality iv « work in any department of art is alone the gift of the Almighty; and we should be, as | hope we are, humbly thuukfal that this, like all other gifts of Omnipo- teuce, is cowfiucd to no privileged class. The peasant as well as the peer giay possess it, and instances are not rare in the history of civilized nativns showing how the peasant has raised himself to the condition of the peer by the poss ssion of this divine atiribute. It is not, perhaps, more than ouce in a generation, in any country, that a true orator, like a true poet, rises to startle aud delight mankind. God, for his own wise purposes, has made the gift thus rare, because, perhaps, it is too precious to be lavished ov the mass of man- kind, and beeause, perchance, if too general, might be used lor pernicious purposes. It is, however, the duty of those who may not possess the gift of eloqueuce to study it care- fu:iy in order to arrive at a correct appreciation of the art, and to be able to apply the tesix by which genuine Kioquence may be detected from the spurious article which is so often pa'med upou the world for the genuine, as is also the case in ocher departmeuts of art. We have false coinage in Klo- quence as we have in money, acd it behoves us to be on our guard to be able to detect the ring of the true metal io either case.

Kloquence—when soaring toits highest ultitades—exercises immense indeeuce in the #ffsirs of life. Religious, moral, ecouomical, aed political questions are all vastiy controlled by the breath of the orator. He who can exercise the rare gift in all its wataral and majestic furce may sometimes hold the destivies uf empires and of individaalsin his bands. His powers are enuimous. iis respousibilty to Soc ety and to his Creator is equally so. It is given to him to bless cr eurse the sphere in which he moves-——to be the benefactor or scourge of bis evuntry. Ancient and modern history presents rewarkable instances of the power and influeuce of the orator

in deciding the fate of uations—in sometimes plunging them |

into the dark abyse of war, inundating them with oceans of biood, aad destroying the land-marks of peace, arts and civi- lization, And, again, the inspired lips of the orator, whose eloquence is-attuned to softer avd gentler chords, may win glorious chaplets to decorate the brow of the country of his love, to make its ways the ways of pleasantness, and all its paths the paths of peace.— Pulpit eloquence is always solemn aod impressive. The sanctity of the place in which it is employed — the holiness of the day usually dedicated to its exercise —ihe alienation of the miod from earthly cares, and the coatemplativa of thy miracles of diviue love and mercy with which most Christians are occupied in listening to a good sermon —are things which give to the pulpit orator of eve pussab'e powers immense sway over the hearts of bis hearers. But when the pulpit orator is one whore soul over- flows with the divine afflatus-—whove lips uuroll the majestic periods—* the words that glow and thoughts that burn’”’- - which teli—as no ordinary lips could teli—the long tale of man's siu/uloess aod the fearful price paid for bis redemption —when the slambering emotions of the heart are stirred to their inmermost depths, and hope and fear are alternately excited—then Eloquence asserts ite power as a heaven-born art —then may iis influence be witacssed on the bitherto obdurate beart of the sinner; or in the fullness, brightness aud ecstacy of the visions which fill the lately troubled spirit that ioileth patieutly and reverently through a world whereia human syapathy lightened vot its travails, but which in- dulged iu dim imagivings of that distant bourne where Weariness finds re-t, and patient tribulation, reward.

It is well, then, that we should comprehend the full extent |

of the tremenud: us power that Kloquence of the highest order can wield. Aud what constitutes E’oquence of the highest order? Not merely the learning of the schools—not the pedantry of the rhetorician—not the polish and grace of the cvuctier, or the craft of the statesman ; but the great God-like gifts of Truth and Earuestness—the sel!-sacrilice of a pure aed lofty spirit to the cause which enlists the oratorical power. The chetoricians define Eloquence to be “the art of persussion.” To induce persuasion in the minds of his _ heurers, the orator must first convince them that he is in earnest—that he is truth‘ul, to the extent of bie conceptions of the truth ; aud that he is willing to sacrifice every earthly cousideration for the sake of that trath. This carnestuess, uu¢ trythiplness, and self-devotion, whea combined with a lively iagination, a well-balanced judyment, a large ex- perience of the world, and liberal acquirements in the domain of knowledge-—can never fail to make the true orator, whose impress will live forever in the country honoured by his achievements, and be gratefully preserved in the lauguage he bas enriched. _ Minds so gifted and endowed are exceedingly rare, and it is ouly the pressure of great events which now and theo forees them into notice. If asked who are the great orators of the present day, speaking the Knglish language on beth

sides of the Atlantic, it would be dflicult to recall the names | of more than three or four that would avswer the description |

I have given. The United States of America abounds with ingenious debaters — Congress bas them in abundance—the Leciure Room is erowded with them —— the Pulpils groan Leveath the rumble of their thunder; but the lightoing of geoulne Kloquence is scarcely ever visible. Since the time of Patrick Henry — who, by the way, was an Irish Orator Of the purest water that first added lustre to the stars of ihe tafant Kepublic — since Randolph, Clay, Calhoun, Webscer aud Chanping — all now in the same shadowy land with Patrik Henry — the United States have not witnessed the rise of one great orator, unless we make an exception in favour of Edward Everett, whom I have had opportunities Of listening to, aud from all I have read as emanating from the other great men whose names J bave mentioyed, 1 do hot believe be las ever come up ‘o their standard. The Eloquence of our public men in the Colonies— and upon this Point | must speak cautiously — ig not certuinly of a very mferior order, but it is uot of the highest order—it will not Sve enduring fame to the history of the Colonies — it will Bot ebed a ray of glory rourd their records such as the

uence of Curran, Grattan, Flood, O'Connell, Shiel gives to tho anoals of Ireland — such as the eloqueuce of Burke,

| Legislature. speech as the late Lord Macaulay <r as ‘se late Lord Lynd. |

oon

Sheridan, Canning, and other great Irish Orators has given to the debates of the Imperial Parliament — such as the magnificent oratory of the great Lord Chatham, and the ex- quisitely polished periods of Lord Bolingbroke, gave to the Parliamentary Eloquence of Eng!and of a bygone generation. * It isu marvellous fact that in the British House of Com- mons at the present day —the most august assembly upon earth, in which there is more learning and genius aud rank

——— een mn

than in suy other public body of whieh we have any know- |

ledge—there is vot one man who rises to the dignity of ora- tory except Mr. Gladstoue, the Chancellor of the Exchequer. To the House of Lords the same remark will, to neavly the same extent, apply. Lord Brougham and Lord St. Leonards

are the ouly two peers whose names caa be brought in com. |

petition with the Chathams or Boliogbrokes of a past age, or with the Macaulays and Lyndhursts of a later day. Sul,

there are great debaters in both branches of the Imperial | brilliant a |

Lord lussell eannot make so

—he is more of a ; uim for his wisdom

burst, but he is more pructical thea business man—the nation will liste:

and sagacity—fir bis vast experience, his kuowledye of the |

world — ard wall pardon the stutter and hesizancy of bis manner for the slaia truths which he inculeates, and which

are more Valuabie to the nation than the brilliant corrusca- | tions which flashed trom the lips of Macaulay or Lyndhurst |

at fitiul intervals, In the House of Commons, | may point

to Lord Paimers'on as the greatest aud most influentiaal de- | | bater alter Sir Robert Walpole that ever swayed the des- known that he |

tinies of the British Ewpire. Lt is well never made a speech that could be pronounced an eloquent ote in the true sense of that term: but the greatest orators

_ that ever adorned the House of Cominons — neitber Pitt,

| diec away almost with the echoes of their voice; while Pal- | Merstou’s Vigorous common sense, couched in unadorned |

} additions to

Fox, Sheridan, nor burke—exercised so much influence and for so long a period as Lord Palmerston. orators far trauscended Palmerston in the higher modes of eloquence,—iu fact, the veteran Premier could not for one

Sheridap and Burke charmed and delighted Parlia- ment and people by sudden bursts of great oratorical power, but their influence, or L should rather say the glamour which their genius, like a wizard’s spell, spread over the nation,

homely Saxon phrase, sinks iuto the minds of the people who, like himself, are bent upon practica! pursuits -- who could not understand or appreciate the flowing periods, the attic wit, the brilliant metaphor, the classic tura of thought with which the finished orator would embellish his discourse.

I have thus hastily sketched, without the aid of any autho- rities, the true character of Kioquence and the condition in which we find it in two great branches of the human family. I heve glanced at the United States, at the Colonics, aud [ have run my eye rapidly through the British Parliament. The sketch | know to be lamentably imperfect, but time will not allow me to make it more elaborate. 1 cannot, however, leave this branch of my subject without inviting your atten- tion, for vue moment, to the great aud learned profession of the law in England, There is no profession in the world io which there is so much taleut and learning centred as in that profession — it constantly recruits the Commous and Peerage of Great Britain, aud is frequently giving valuable our literature.. In England the members of that profession are counted by thousands ; and he who attains high rank in it where the number of competitors is so great,

Must possess extraordinary powers. Parliamentary influence | or great noble connexious will sometimes procure a seat on |

the Beach tor an active Barrister ; but there is not, perbaps, al instance upon record, except a recent one, where we have seen that great gerius as an UOrator, combiced with high in- tegrity and legal‘seumen, have effec'ed that consummation so devoutly to be wished for by all who wear the jung robe. You must perceive that I aliude to the elevation of Mr. Shee. He was ao Lrish Barrister, and a Catholic ove, with- oui any Parliamentary influence,—be bad no bigh connexions

| in the Peerage, and be bad no pre-emineut claims upon the

Ministry, But the Miuistry—conatrolling the action of the Lord Chancellor — have, for the fi st time, since Catholic hmancipation, paid a graceful tribute to Lrish genius in the high departiaens of Eloquence, by appointing Mr. Shee to a

| Judyeship, sud this they did without considering his religioa

|

to be @ disqaalification. How the Orange bigo's of Prince Eljward Isiund must guash their teeth in bitterness of soul wheo they reflect that a Catholic Judge has been deemed worthy of administering law to Protestant Eng'and! How they would fume and rage if a Catholic Barrister, supposing we had one of brilliant genius and character, were raised to the Beneh in this Colony! But this is not the poiot I wish t> observe here. Nearly all the English papers have heartily commended Mr. Shee’s appointment — they praise the Mi-

pistry for this tardy act of justice ; but they lament that in |

Mr. Shee’s leaving the Bar he Jeaves no orator behind hiw ! This is a splendid tribute to [rish genius in the departmeut of Kloquence, to say that amongst the thousands of Kngli-h- meu and Seotchmen whio fil the Loans of Court in England— who bave access to the Parliament and to the halls of the Nobility—wheo have rank aud wealth—and who are illustra- ting by their learning and talents the most laborious, most

abstruse and, perhaps, most useful of all the professions—a |

Catholic Lrish Orator in a Protestant country is considered the only man worthy of wearing the ermined robes.

But let us now turo to the country which rejoices in hav- ing given birth to the vew Judge, aud glance at a period wheo it might have been truly said she was

“ Great, glorious and Free, First flower of the Earth, and first gem of the Sea.”

The memorable year of 1782 was the golden era of Ireland’s independence and prosperity. For nearly thirty years belore that time, the Parliament of Lreland maintaine | a struggle, with wore or less vigour, agaiust the Parliament of Eugiand as to the right of the latter to make laws for the Government of ireland. Tuis assumed right was based upon a Statute passed iu the reign of Heury the Seventh, commonly ealled Poyning’s Jaw, under which the trade and commerce of [reland were greatly fettered. ‘Che result was, that the country Was impoverished, aod the Parliament of Ireland was a mere slave to the English Minister. Irish resistance to English pretensions culmivated shortly after the close of the Awerivw war, ogland was humbled by that war, as well as by the ware between herself god France and other European Powers. Her Army was withdrawa frow Lreland ; and theu sprang up the most splendid organization ever witnessed in ancient or mioJern times—spicndid, because it Was spontaneous, because it was an outburst of patriotism,

* | should vot like to convey the unpression that our Colonial Legis- |

lutures have not been, or are not yet distinguished for eloquence of a very high order.

James B. Uniacke, when in the full vigour of bis health and faculties, about twenty years ago. Hoe had a fine commanding figure, and a voice of singular power, melody and sweetness. ‘The Hon. Mr. Howe, his contemporary, bis rival, aud latterly his friend and cou- panion in political strife, was often equal to Mr. Uniacke in glorious bursts of eloquence, and generally his superior in wit and humour,

orator par excellence. The Hon. S. G. W. Arehibald, formerly Chiet Justice in this Island, and jn his latter years Master of the Rolls in

Nova Sevtia, who preceded Howe and Uniacke in his entrance into |

public life, bore a very high reputation for great oratorical power. I can only remember bim when the “sere and yellow leat’’ had fallen on his days, and whea, calm aaa glorious autumnal evening, he closed a use(u! and weil spent life-—The Hon. William Young and the Hon. J. W. Johnston should not be passed over in a note of this kind. The opportunity for oratorical displays on the part of the former is now passed by — the stateliness and dignity of the Bench checks the impulse to passionate and brilliant declamation, which was felt on the floorof the House, aud which often enraptured Parliament and People. The same may, to a great extent, be said of Mr. Johuston, He ia uot on the Beach, although I sheuld be glad to see him there; but he has no “foemau”’ in the House, in the

absence of Uniacke, Howe and Young, “ worthy of his steel;” and |

the polished rapier which he used with so much effect against such valiant foes, must e’en now rust in the seabbard & The Parhia- ment and people of Nova Scotia are, however, Justly proud of hie genius, and will not soon part with the recollection of the great intel’ectaal combats in which he was one of the most prom- neat figures. Lf he waa not often the victor in bis contests with Uniacke, Howe, and Young, he was never daunted by their triple strength; and to vanquish such & foo was an honour in which the three mnight not be ashamed to participate.—I know so {little of the public new &Canada and New Brunswick that 1 cannot speak with accuracy as to qheir merits in the departwent of Eloquence. The two great nameg that occupy a high place in the Cana ian annals of Eloquence are Bapinea, in the last, and D'Arcy MeGee in the pre- sent, generatign. The one is a French descendant, and the other so Trishu but both claim Canada for their country; and Canada has certain! 7no reason to be ashamed of them.

E.tber of these |

In the Parliament of Nova Scotia, few men, in.

any country, could surpass, and not many could equal, the late | ‘ ja ! | claims; but he never survived the fatigue of the voyuge. |

EEE

seacoast

because it was unsupported by the Crown, because it was al- ways loyal to the Crown, and because the Crowu was forced | to rest upon it for the defence of its authority. The Army

' of Coruwailis, just returned from their defeat in America, |

spread themselves, to a great extent, through [reland ; and | spread, likewise, the liberal opinions which they imbibed on | this side of the Atlantic. The remnant of the army of | Cornwallis became incorporated with the Volunteers of _ Treland—they could not understand why Ireland should not | aspire to freedom as well as America; and their enthusiasm, | experience, and valour greatly served to increase the effi- | ciency of the Volunteers. | improvised, while England was weak, England was uot able to resist the just demands of the Irish P-rliament, and re- ; luctantly conceded legislative independence to Ireland in | 1782, uoder which every impedimeut to trade and commerce | was removed, and the country attaived toa degree of pros: perity such as she never before or since experienced, Arts | and manufactures were liberally encouraged—the most | splendid edifices were erected in every city—some of the costliest public buildings in the metropolis of the King Jom, | such us the Four Courts, the Rotunda, and the Custom | House in Dublia, were built during the eighteen years which | elupsed between the Rise and Pall of the lri-h Nation. The wealthy Nobility spent their large revenues in Dublin, and

of those who helped to destroy her nationality, declared in one of his speeches, ‘ that no nation on the habitable globe

the sume rapidity as Lreland trom 1782 to 1860." Another author, alluding to the warvellous mental activity which was one of the happy resulis of legislative freedom in [reland,

perishable, but the fragments of the ennobled mind of a nation live on through ages, when all else has perished. We can readily imagine, indeed, how the mind of Ireland was ennobled by the radiant action of her native parliament ; how her youth prepared themselv2s fur a distinguished man- hood in the Senate, at the bar, or in the walks of well-fostered science. ' sity, who, from drinking in the eloquence of Cicero or Demosthenes in the day, came to Aear eloquence as iuspiring,

| Burgh, or Curran, in the evening. All that history relates | of the proud and virtuous Cato was realized before his eyes | in the infl-xible Henry Flood; all that is in eloquence at- tributed to Demosthenes was realized to his ravished senses | in the equally eloqueut harangues of Grattan ; and Cicero ‘found an embodiment in the philosophic aud transcendant Curran. This teaching of the Lrish mind produced a rave of |scholars, philosophers, patriots, and orators, whose brilliant

|track in the field of time stands out a beacon light, inviting |

|their admiriag posterity to a vigorous emulation.”

| Sir Jonah Barrington, alluding to this period in his “ Rise

and Fall of the Irish Nation,” says :—* The Labits of com- |

‘merce aud the pursuits of avarice bad not, a: this period, }absorbed the spirit or contracted the intellect of the Ivish | people. That vigorous,com prehensive and pathetic eloquence, | so peculiar to Ireland, which grasped at once the reason and | the passions, still retained its ascendancy at the bar, and its | preeminence in the Senate; and the Commons House of | Parliameut, about the period ef Lord Clare's first intro- | duction into public notice, contaimed as much character, as | much eloquence, and as mach sincerity, as any popular assembly since the most brilliaut era of the Roman republic.”

A far higher authority than Sir Jonah Barrington depicts in more forcible and glowing sanguage the greatness and

hands, demauded Legislative independence and tree trade. Henry Grattan, whose pa'riotisim and genius were the chief instruments in effecting the Revolution of that time, thus bears testimony to the proud attitude of the Irish nation, contrasted with the weakuess and prostration of Eugland :—

“ England now smarts under the lesson of the Americin war; the doctrine of Imperial legislatiou she feels to be per- nicious ; the revenues and monopolies annexed to it she bas | found to be unrenablé: she lost the power to euforee it; her | enemies are a host pouring upon ber from all quarters of the ‘earth; her armies are dispersed; the sea is not hers; she | has no minister, uo ally, vo admiral, none in whom she long | confides, and no general whom she has vot disgraced; the balance of her fate is in the hands of lreland. ‘* You,” said the vrator, addressing the Lri-h Parliament, on the 19 b of April, 1780, io support of a motioa claiming the Legislative independence of Ireiand—*‘ You are not ouly the last con- nexion of Kagland you are the ouly nation in Ku:ope that is not her euemy. Besides, there dves, of late, a certain damp and spurious supineness overcast ker arms aud councils, miraculous as that vigour which has lately inspirited yours : | —fur with you everything is the reverse: never was there a | Parliament to [reland 50 possessed of the coufidence of the people: you are the greatest politic.) assembly now sitting in the word: you are at the bead of an immense army : nor do we ony po-sess an unconquerable public force, which has touched all ranks of wen like a visitation. ‘Turo to the | growth and spring of your country, and behold avd admire | it: where do you find a nation, who, upon whatever concerns the rights of mankind, expresses herself with more truch, or force, perspicuity or jusice ? not the set phase of schulastic men, uot the tawe unreality of court addresses, not the

| | | vulgar raving of a rabble, but the genuine speech of liberty, | and the unsophisticated oratory of a free oatiou.” | Grattan’s fame as aa orator rests chiefly on his speeches | in the Lrish Parliawens; and on three events iu that Parliament. Ist. His advocacy of free trade and a fice | Parliameat—2d. Liis support of the Catholic eloims to a

| participation in the beuetirs of the Cons‘itation ; avd 3-d. |

| Hs strenuous opposition to the Act of Univa. For tie first,

Fifty Thousavd Pounds Sterling, which he tray said was no | more thun his deserts; and for the second and toird, all |

| frishmen, no maiter whether Catholics or Piotestante, who truly love their couvtry and despise intolerauce aud prejudice, will forever venerate his memory. ‘The year after the Act

} : ; ; 3 ; | signaliged bimeel| by unwavering deyotion to the cause of the

| Qatholics ; but his eacqueuce did not appear to possess that —

| force, fire and majesty which characterised it in bis own country. He cortainly did vot command io the British

| He died in 1820, and though

| exercised in the Lrish Huuse. | his health was enfeebled for several years before his death,

| that event was undoubtedly precipitated by bis devotion to |

the Catholic cause. Qontrary to the advice of his medical ' atrendauis, he let: [reland to attend Parliament solely sor the purpose of presenting a petition in favour of Catholie

' fis death was regarded as a national calamity, and lamented by all ranks and condisious of mea in the Empire. His i posited iu Westminster Abbey at the earnest

remains were deposited iu Westminster Abbey at the earnes

+, solicitation of bis English admirers, of whom Lord Brougham, — in solid argument, and in matters of detail; but Uniacke was the |

who has paid sp eloquent tribute to Grattau’s mewory, was one of the forewost. | Before giving a brief summary of Grattan’s intellectual character, I shai! give tWo or three specimens of that foreible,

sembly, nor, perhaps, by the best orators of ancient times.

monishes his countrymen in the Lrish House to cast aside the yoke of the Imperial Parliament, and deslare for Lrish | legislative independence :—

“Do not,” says he, necessity, or expire, or the laws of England, Jreland, or the laws of nature, or t

bave a duration in your aiind. Oe De not tolerate that power which blasted you fora century, that

wer whieh shattered your loom, bavished your manutactures, dis- | eal your peerage, and stopped the growth of your people; do | not, I say, be bribed by an export of woollen, or an import of sugar, and permit that power which bas thus d the |i in your country and have existence in your pusillamurity. dal “Do not sufer the arrogance of Kngland to imagine a surviving hepe in the fears of Ireland ; de net send the people to their own re- solves fur liberty, passing by the tribunals of justice and the High | Court of Parhament; neither imagine that, @y any formation of | apology, you cap pulliate such a commission to yout hoarts, still less

a

Iv the face of a great Army, thos |

every species of art was stimulaied by geverous patronage. | Lord Clare, who was no friend to Lreland, and who was ove |

advanced in cultivation, commerce and manu‘actures, with |

as lofty, and as pure, from the living lips of Grattan, Flood, |

prosperity of Lreland when the Volunreers, with arms in their |

his grate(ul country presented him with a magnificent ¢ ft of |

of Union, in 1801, Mr. Grattan was clected to a seat in the | {mperial Parliament, which be held until 1820, where he |

| House of Commons anything like the influence which be |

vehement, brilliant, aod antithetical style of oratory, which | was altogether origina! witt bim—which bas baffled insitation © —and which bas never been excelled in any modern as-—

Toe first extract [ shall give wiil be from his speech in the | House of Commons, on the 19th April, 1780, wherein he ad- |

“tolerate a power—the power of the British |

J ver this land, which has no foundation in utility or | Parliament, over this . a he ae a

he laws of God,—do not sutfer it |

withered the land to remain |

| for having interposed between thei and their Maker—robbing them | of an immense occasion, and losing an opportunity which you did | hot create, and can never restore. | _ “ Hereatter, when these things shall be history, your age of thral- | dom and poverty, your sudden resurrection, commercial redress, and | miraculous armament, shall the historian stop at liberty, and observe | that here the principal men amongst us fell into mimic trances of gratitude—they were awed by a weak ministry, and bribed by an empty Treasury —and when Liberty was within their grasp, and the

te-uple opened her folding doors, and-the arms of the people clanged, |

| and the zeal of the nation urged and encouraged them vu, that they tell down, and were prostrated at the threshold.

“I might, as a constituent, come to your bar, and demand my liberty. I do cull upon you, by the laws of the laud and their | Vielation, by the instruction of eighteen counties, by the arms, in-

spiration, and providence of the present mumeut, to tell us the rule |

by which we shall go—assert the law of [reland—declare the liberty of the land. , | “will not be answered by a public lie in the shape of an amend- meut; neither speaking tor the subject’s freedom, am Ito hear of | faction, I wish fer nothing but to breathe, in this our Island, in | common with my fellow subjects, the air of liberty. 1 have no | ambition unless it be the awbition to break your chains, and coutem- | plate your glory. [never will be satistied so long as the meanest cottager in [reland has a link of the British chain clinking to his rags ; he way be naked—he shall not be in iron ; and I do see the time is at Laud, the spirit is goue forth, the declaration is planted ; and thougl great men should apostatize, yet the cause will live; and | though the public speaker should die, yet the immortal fire shall out- | last the orgau which conveyed it, and the breath of liberty, like the words of the holy man, will vot die with the prophet, but survive him.”

The great error of Grattan’s public life consisted in not | taking a leading pirt iu the movement for Parliameutary

Reforu:, as he alone was able to do, when that measure was |

pressed upon the attention of the Lrich House of Commons _ by the Armed Volunteers, with Lord Charlemont and al! | the leading men of Irelaud at their head. Although the | trish House achieved a brilliant victory over the Kuglish

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says :—** Cities, and temples, and canals, and highways, are | Ministry, when the latter was weak, and when a sudden | country canot be lost.

| glow of patriotism was diffused through the former by the | Volunteers, sti!! the Irish House was radically corrupt and | venal, and in eighteen years fell a victim to the corruptions | of Lord Castlereagh and the other minions of power. Grattan | saw, when it was too late, the error he committed in taking | a neutral position in the agitation for Parliamentary Reform.

We car imagine her classic youth of the Univer- | T'bis peutrality was induced by two circumstances. His |

great services to the nation were, for a short time, under- | valued,—by one of those strange iofatuations which will sometimes take possession of the public mind, the idol of public affection was hurled from his throne, and [lenry | Fiood became the reigning deity. Grattan, though not | jealous of Fivod, still feit that he was injured by the andue | preference given to the latter, and left his great rival to | work out Parliamentary Reform as best he might. Fiood | was not equal to tho task, though his popularity was great, ; aud he possessed talents of a bigh ordém, Besides, Grattan

to yorr children, who will sting you with their curses in your grave | No such thing. The charge

is false. The civil war had : | menced when I left the kingdom; and I could not ~ pede: | Without taking a part. On the one side there wae the camp of the rebel: on the other, the camp of the minister, a greater traitor than that redel. The stronghold of the constitution was nowhere te be | found. I agree that the rebel who rises against the government | Should have suffered; but I missed on the scaffold the right henour- | able gentleman Two desperate parties were in arma against the | constitution, The right honourable gentlen:an belonged to one of those parties, and deserved death. I could not juin the rebel — I could avt join the government—I could not join torture — I could not join halt-hanging — I could not join free quarter — I cauld take part with neither. I was therefore absent from a scone where I coulc not be active without s:lfreproach, ner indifferent with safety. “"dany honourable gentlemen thought differently trom me: £ | resp: ct their opiuions, but I keep my ewn; and I think now, as I thous bt then, that the treason of the minister against the liberties the people was infinitely worse than the rebellion of the people against | the minister. “I have returned, not as the right honourable member has said to raise another storm—I have returned to discharge an honourable | debt of gratitude te my country, that conferred a great reward tor | past serviees, Which, 1 am proud to say, was not greater than my desert. I have returned to protect that cunstitutlon, of which L was the parent and the founder, trom the assassination of such men as the honourable gentleman and his unworthy associates. They are | corrupt—they ure seditious—-aud they, at this very moment, are in | 4 couspiracy against their couutey. I have returned to refute a hbel, as talve as it is malicious, given to the public under the appel- | lation of a report of the committee of the Lords, Here I stand ready for impeachment er trial: I dare accusation. | defy the houourable gentleman ; 1 dety the government; I defy their whole phaians ; let them come forth, 1 tell the ministers I will neither | give then quarter ner take it. Tam here to lay the shattered re mains of my constitution on the floor of this House in defence of the libertivs of my country.”

Another beautifal passage on the Union question I cannot forbear reading. Hloquence, poetry, passion, patriotism, are all combined in it :—

“The constitution may be for a time so lost: the character of the Lhe wivisters of the crown will, or may | perhaps at length find that it is not so easy to put down for ever an | ancient and respectable nation, by abilities, however great, and by | power and by corruption, however wresistible ; liberty nay repaic | her golden beams, and with redoubled heat avimate the country ; | the ery of loyalty will not long continue against the principles ‘of liberty; loyalty is a noble, a judicious, and a capacious principle ; but in these countries loyalty, distinct from liberty, is corruptior, | hot loyalty. Y '

“The ery of the connection will not, in the end, avail against the principles of liberty. Counexion is a wise and a profound policy ; but connexion without an Lrish Parliament, is conneaion without ite own principle, without analogy of condition, without the pride of honour that should attend at; is inpovation, is peril, is wtlegdion —not connexion.

“The ery of disaffection will net, in the end, avail against the principles ot liberty.

“ Identification is a solid and imperial maxim, necessary for the preservation of freedow, vecessary for that of empire ; but, without union of hearts—with a separate government, and without a separate parliament, identification is extinction, is dishunour, is conquest— not identification.

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beld too high an opinion of the virtue and patriotism of his countrymen in the Lrish Parliament. He regarded the | majority of the Parliament as boldand incorruptible as himeelf. | | He viewed them from tbe stand point of his owa excellence ; | and in this he was greatly deceived. Had the Parliament been | reformed, when the Convention of Armed Volunteers demanded | it—-when the British Ministry dreaded it, as the crisis of the peaceful revolution of 178-*—when Parliamentary Reform | | could bave been accomplished through the genius, evergy | | and courage of Grattan, some of the private friendships of that great man would have remained uabroken—the Ke- bellion of 179% might have been averted ; and certainly the Parliament of L[reiand would have beev purged of the venality

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purchase it, and no Union would have been effected.

I have uot space for a detail of the eveuts thus briefly | noticed, The Act of Union met with the unquali- fied opposition of Grattan oo all occasions. In sickness | or in health his courageous and eloquent voice was raised

aginst it. His patriotism never shoue more brightly than | it did in his struggles against the Union. Neither the | frown of the Minister, nor the insslence of Power, nor the | iafirmity of body, ever prevexted him fiom denouncing the | measure as suicidal to the liberties of his country; but, on the contrary, his eloquence glowed and sparkled under | ministerial opposition—his courage, iu the possession of which quality no man was his superior, rose with the great occasion, and if apparently docile in the absence of a tvue— gentle always to those who enjoyed h's affections, simple as a child in the domestic circle, playful as a boy to those who knew him well aud could appreciate the outpourings of an undefiled heart,—yet he was fierce as a lion, and more un- | conquerable than one when the whole phalanx of the English , and [rish Ministry assailed bim. In one of the debates on ' the Union question be was very violently attacked by a / member of the [rish Goverament, Mr. Chancellor Corry, _ and ke replied in the following strain of luvegtive, the most scatbing and eloquent ever uttered :—