The Marquess of Wellesley was succeeded by a nobleman his opposite in very many particulars. Frank, firm, generous, educated in camps, and unbiassed by the pernicious intrigues, and the narrow views of cabinets, he came to Ireland, not as the servant of any party, but as the impartial guardian of the rights of all, resolved to sacrifice every thing to justice, and to rule for the good of the entire nation, and not in the sense, or for the monopoly of any of the wretched factions which continued to distract it. His feelings were not adverse, but not in favour of the country: he was open to conviction he was anxious for information:* he was

power and government; the Viceroy, the mere decoration and pageant of Irish administration. The Under-Secretary often ruled the Secretary with as much despotism as the Secretary ruled the Lord Lieutenant. But every thing in Ireland was studiously inverted. This was only the first illustration of a system, which almost reached down to the cabin door.

Lord Anglesey's opinions at an early period were favourable to Emancipation. He vacated his seat in Parliament in 1803, when Mr. Pitt went out of office, in consequence of the obstacles he met with in his attempt to bring forward the measure. Subsequently he opposed concession, from a misapprehension (natural under the circumstances) of the conduct and intentions of the Catholic leaders. But previous to his departure for Ireland, he had taken the utmost pains minutely to inform himself of the real state of

desirous of making up opinions for himself, and not of taking them second-hand, as had hitherto been the case, from the false reporters who stood between the country and the Castle. A few short months of inquiry from all parties, of fair and honest observation, with no object but the discovery of truth upon all sides, laid open to his calm and clear mind the real malady of the country. He was not a man to stop at secondary symptoms: he went to the internal seat of the disease: he probed it, he proved it, and had the courage to point it out, and to press it again and again upon those, in whose hands lay the certain and immediate cure. No praise can be too high for this species of moral chivalry it is the noblest conflict in which a high-minded and

Ireland. His inquiries were not confined to one party. He consulted not only the ministry who had appointed him, but the Liberals and Whigs to whom he had been opposed. A sort of domestic or friendly committee (if it can so be called), of the most distinguished political characters of the day, sate upon the subject. He listened,-he treasured up,he planned for himself, a rule of future conduct. That no mistake should possibly occur, he had interviews with Lord Wellington, and subsequently with his Majesty. His intentions of governing in a sense very different from those who had preceded him, were frankly and warmly avowed. In these intentions he left England. He was not long in Ireland before he realised them.

honourable nature can be engaged the victory was well worthy of the contest; it is the highest which a citizen can enjoy, or a patriot could have conferred. Ireland required such a man. He was the first viceroy who, since Lord Fitzwilliam, seems to have fully understood her character, and devoted himself with real and heartfelt earnestness, to her cause. By far too many of her former rulers reasoned and felt about her, as about a country whose sole utility was, the providing them with the means of bettering or retrieving their fortunes. They came to plunder, or to economise; gathered up their vintage, and then, like the inhabitants of Naples, turned away from the sides of the volcano. But the Marquess of Anglesey thought of the country first, and of himself last,—this, and this only, was the secret of his power. No man ever ruled Ireland so completely, yet he ruled her with a silken thread. He seized fully the national heart, and after that, every thing was easy. Mutual esteem, mutual attachment, was the bond: he was the best servant at the same time of the sovereign, and the most popular leader of the people.

The first mention of his name in Ireland excited a momentary triumph on one side and the deepest despondency on the other. The false

report of a few unfavourable expressions in Parliament had sunk deep into the Catholic heart. It was some time before they could be prevailed on to forgive him. But as they mutually approached each other, both saw, both repented, and both forgave their mutual distrusts. Every act of his government tended more powerfully to cement this union. We shall see later, with what cool and kindly persuasion, in times beyond comparison the most difficult since the period of 1798, he brought over the country to its own good. We shall see how he stood between all parties, tempering and staying all how he enlightened the cabinet, and how he tranquillised the people: how he actually did what Lord Fitzwilliam wished to do: how he had the courage and the wisdom to give, all that a lord-lieutenant was permitted to give, for the liberation and pacification of the country.

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CHAP. X.

Churchwardens-Liberal Clubs-Brunswick Clubs-How composed-State of parties-Clare Election-Mission of Mr. Lawless to the North-Reconciliation meetings, &c. in the South-The Army-Exclusive Dealing, &c.

THE apprehensions which were at first entertained of the Marquess of Anglesey's hostility to the Catholics and their cause, were soon dissipated. The Association was not suppressed the country was not kindled by coercive statutes: "the rebellion was not made to explode :" discussion was allowed to proceed; and the people to advance in their peaceable course of constitutional agitation, to the complete restoration of their rights.

It may have been observed by the reader, that the greater proportion of the late measures of the Association were chiefly directed towards the improving into a more complete system of organization, the spirit which now had been so