and gave his interest against O'Connell at the famous Clare election. He was also member for the county of Limerick from 1835 to 1849, when, in consequence of his conviction for high treason, he was expelled the House. Not only were the O'Briens opposed to Mr O'Connell at the Clare election, but Mr Smith O'Brien on one occasion, in his place in the House of Commons, strongly censured the conduct of the chief of the Repeal party. A great change, however, subsequently passed over his political views. He became an ardent friend of the national party, and advocated their cause with such extreme enthusiasm, that he was continually embroiled in quarrels with the House, which resulted on one occasion in his committal to

the custody of the sergeant-at-arms. Various explanations may be assigned for the curious conversion of a middle-aged country gentleman, of Conservative opinions, and a "stanch Protestant," into a violent partisan of the Young Ireland party. Perhaps he had looked into the past, and pondered so long over the power of his family in forgotten times, that his view of things present and future had become infested with such notions of greatness. The wrongs and growing miseries of his country, which were set before him by the eloquence of O'Connell, found, in the descendant of the great O'Brien family who possessed an ardent and excitable disposition, a receptive mind. Added to this, there may have been the disappointment of a clever man at not being particularly successful in commonplace public life. But, however we account for the change, he exhibited after it the zeal of a convert; the ambition to be a leader of the Irish popular cause seemed to take complete hold of him, and having begun by opposing O'Connell, he ended by out-Heroding Herod, and exciting the jealousy of his former antagonist by usurping his place as a rival. It may be imagined how great was the delight of the National party when, at the commencement of the state prosecutions in 1844, which deprived them for awhile of the Liberator himself, they saw his vacant chair, in Conciliation Hall, occupied by this miraculously converted Protestant, landlord, and Tory. His descent from King Brian Boru, the hero of Clontarf, the only great purely Irish victory, kindled high the flames of popular enthusiasm; and the ardour of such a temperament is sure to feed on the excitement it produces. When O'Connell returned from prison, he was obliged to accept O'Brien as his lieutenant. But there was a wide divergence between them. A party of irreconcileables had grown up in Conciliation Hall; its appeal was to the sword, and it looked upon the moral force party with contempt, as semiSaxon and not truly patriotic. Mr O'Connell had never intended his physical force demonstrations as more than a parade; the Young Irelanders, who strove to raise Mr Smith O'Brien into the chief command, intended physical force seriously. O'Connell knew the power of England to crush insurrection; the Young Irelanders were blinded by enthusiasm, misty poetry, and ancient Irish history, and had as little idea of the disproportionate nature of the struggle they were provoking as if they had expected it to be waged with flint-headed arrows, seeming ignorant of the inventions of gunpowder, railway travelling, and the telegraph. Again, O'Connell was a strict Roman Catholic, and would do nothing without the priests; the Young Ireland party

adopted a Protestant leader, excluded religion, and proclaimed secularism in treason. This was a principal cause of their complete failure to rouse the people, or to invoke the courage that Irishmen possess, in a cause of which their conscience approves. Smith O'Brien, Davis, Duffy, Meagher, and the rest of the party, thought that a national, as distinguished from a religious rebellion, was possible in Ireland, but in this they found their wretched mistake. Without the priests, the agitators were nothing, when it came to the point of physical force. This was proved again in the Fenian insurrection. As Meagher said to his fellow-prisoners in Richmond Bridewell, "We made a fatal mistake in not conciliating the Roman Catholic priesthood. The agitation must be baptised in the old holy well."

In consequence of these differences between Young and Old Ireland, the former retired in a body from Conciliation Hall in 1846, and set on foot the Irish Confederation, which contemplated the establishment of an Irish republic, of which O'Brien was to be the president. With such objects in view, the confederation in 1848 sent a deputation to Paris to solicit the aid of the Republican Government then recently established. The deputation consisted of O'Brien, Meagher, and O'Gorman, who presented a congratulatory address to President Lamartine. He told them that the great democratic principle was "the new Christianity bursting forth at the opportune moment; that the destiny of Ireland had always deeply moved the heart of Europe; that the children of the glorious isle of Erin would always find in France, under the Republic, a ger arous response to all its friendly sentiments. But the Republic was at peace with England, and would not utter a word or breathe an insinuation at variance with the prin ciple of the reciprocal inviolability of nations which it had proclaimed." He concluded thus-"The fallen monarchy had treaties and diplomatists-our diplomatists are nations." After his return from Paris, we next find O'Brien,' in his place in the House, opposing the "Crown and Government Securities' Bill," describing the military strength of the Republican party in Ireland, and calculating its chances of success He was, however, interrupted by a scene of indescribable commotion, and overwhelmed in a torrent of jeers, groans, and hisses; while Sir George Grey, in replying to him, was cheered with the utmost enthusiasm. The Bill, despite his opposition, became law, and under its provisions John Mitchell was tried, found guilty, and transported. O'Brien and Meagher were also tried, but, owing to a disagreement of the jury, they were acquitted.

Towards the end of July Lord Clarendon took effectual measures for crushing the rebellion. In order to avoid arrest the leaders fled from Dublin. On the night of the 22nd, O'Brien started by the Wexford Mail, and proceeded to Enniscorthy. Thence he crossed the mountains into the county Carlow, where he visited the parish priests, whom he expected to assist him in raising the country. Their answer was, that in their opinion those who attempted to raise a rebellion were insane. In the towns of Carlow and Kilkenny he harangued the people, and called upon them to rise. He then went to Cashel, where he left his portmanteau, containing a letter from Mr Gavan Duffy, which was produced as evidence against him. In the

meantime a reward of £500 was offered for the apprehension of William Smith O'Brien, and £300 for each of Meagher, Dillon, and Dogherty. The insurrection had now actually commenced; at a place called Mullinahone, where at the ringing of the chapel bell, large numbers of the peasantry assembled in arms, they hailed Smith O'Brien as their general. On the 26th of July he proceeded to a police barrack containing six men, to whom he promised better pay and promotion if they would join his ranks, bidding them refuse at their peril. They peremptorily refused, and he marched off without attacking them. On the 29th he appeared on Boulagh Common, near Ballingarry, on the borders of Tipperary. There, Subinspector Trant, with about fifty men, had fortified himself in the house of "the Widow Cormac." The rebels surrounded the house, their chief standing in the cabbage garden, and parleying with the constabulary through the window. He quickly retired, however, and mounted a horse which he had taken from a policeman; Trant, apprehending an attack, ordered his men to fire, and a fight ensued. Two shots were aimed at Smith O'Brien, and a man that stood beside him was killed. Another party of police, under the command of Mr Cox, and accompanied by Mr Trench, a magistrate, came up at the moment and fired on the rebels, who fled in the greatest confusion. Eighteen were killed and a large number wounded, the constabulary suffering no damage whatever. O'Brien now abandoned the cause in despair, and concealed himself for several days among the peasantry, not one of whom was tempted to betray him even for the large reward of £500. Unaccustomed to, and not relishing his fugitive life, he ventured from his hiding-place in the Keeper Mountain on the 5th of August, and went to the railway station at Thurles. While taking a ticket for Limerick, he was recognised and arrested by a railway guard named Hulme. Thus ended the insurrection of 1848. O'Brien was tried at Clonmel, by special commission, which opened on the 21st of September. With him were tried Meagher and MacManus. The trial lasted nine days. All three were found guilty of high treason, and sentenced to be hanged. The sentence was commuted to transportation for life; but owing to the powerful intercession of friends, the clemency of the Crown was extended to him after eight years, and he was permitted to return to his native land. Since that time, with few exceptions, he kept himself aloof from politics, but his opinions were still unchanged. After his return from Australia, he travelled extensively on the Continent, and also in North America. When he got back to Ireland he delivered lectures on the condition of that country, in which he charged everything that was amiss in the country to English misgovernment.

Personally, Mr Smith O'Brien was a man of the most estimable character, and he was regarded by all parties as one of the most truthful, honourable, and kind-hearted of men. His talents were respectable, and his errors and misfortunes arose perhaps from a natural ́ pride in his illustrious descent.* His sallow, interesting countenance,

* The O'Donoghue, in his "Historical Memoir of the O'Briens," has given a special history of this family.

gentlemanly and quiet, but suggestive of enthusiasm and morbid sentiment, was remarked when he attended the debates of the College Historical Society, and listened to the youthful efforts of the members, some years after his return from exile.

Mr O'Brien died at Bangor on the 18th of June 1864. His remains were conveyed to Ireland, and, contrary to the wishes of his family, his funeral was made the occasion of a tumultuous gathering of the Nationalist party.

SIR WILLIAM SHEE.

BORN 1804-DIED 1868.

THE Hon. Sir William Shee, one of the justices of the Court of Queen's Bench, a distinguished lawyer, advocate, and judge, who died on the 19th of February 1868, was descended from an old Irish family. His father, Mr Joseph Shee, of Thomastown, in the county Kilkenny, was a London merchant, and his mother was Teresa, daughter of Mr John Darrell, of Scotney Castle, in Kent. He was born at Finchley, Middlesex, in 1804, and he was educated at the Roman Catholic College of St Cuthbert, Ushaw, Durham, whence he proceeded to the University of Edinburgh. Having been admitted a member of Lincoln's Inn, he was called to the bar by that Society, June 19, 1828, and began his distinguished career by going the Home Circuit, and attending the Surrey Sessions. Both there and in the London Courts he rapidly rose to eminence. He was made a Serjeant-at Law in 1840; and in the same year he published an edition of Lord Tenterden's work on shipping, in which he displayed a thorough knowledge of that difficult branch of law, and fully sustained his high character as a sound and able lawyer. In 1847 he received a patent of precedence, and was made a Queen's Serjeant in 1857. He unsuccessfully contested. the borough of Marylebone at the general election in 1847. In 1852 he was elected M.P. for his family county, Kilkenny, which he represented in Parliament till 1857. He was subsequently rejected by the constituencies of the county Kilkenny and of Marylebone. He was a moderate and consistent Liberal in politics, and in the House of Commons he supported the principles which he had always professed, naturally advocating the claims of the Roman Catholics. practising at the bar for a period of thirty-five years, he was raised to judicial rank in 1864, as a justice of the Court of Queen's Bench. During his professional career he had long been the head of his circuit, and in London he was one of the most popular leaders. On more than one occasion he was appointed on circuit to preside in place of an absent judge. He was the first Roman Catholic judge of the Superior Courts of Westminster under the Roman Catholic Relief Act, the last Roman Catholic judge before him having been Sir Richard Allybine, a justice of the Court of King's Bench, who died in the year 1688. He was a man of the most amiable disposition and genial manners. In his professional and political life he always evinced a high and independent spirit, and unswerving integrity of purpose. To great talents he united

After

a large share of sound common sense, and his elevation to the bench was deservedly popular with both branches of the legal profession, and all members of the law, as well as with the general public. Mr Justice Shee was knighted in 1864. Of his short judicial career it has been justly remarked that "his manly bearing and untiring energy, his sound knowledge, and other excellent qualities, were making him also conspicuous on the bench, when, in the midst of apparent health, a sudden illness carried him off."

He married, in 1837, Mary, the daughter of Sir James Gordon, of Gordonstown and Letterfowrie, the premier baronet of Scotland.

THE EARL OF DUNRAVEN AND MOUNTEARL.

BORN MAY 1812-DIED OCTOBER 1871.

RICHARD WINDHAM WYNDHAM-QUIN, third Earl of Dunraven and Mountearl, and Viscount Mountearl and Baron Adare of Adare, in the county Limerick, in the peerage of Ireland; also Baron Kenry, of Kenry, of county Limerick, in the peerage of the United Kingdom, was the elder son of Windham Henry, second Earl (who was for many years a representative peer of Ireland), by his wife Caroline, daughter and sole heiress of the late Mr Thomas Wyndham, of Dunraven Castle, Glamorganshire, whose name his father in consequence assumed. His lordship was born on the 19th of May 1812, and was educated at Eton. He succeeded to the honours of the Irish peerage at his father's death, in August 1850, and was made a deputy-lieutenant for Glamorganshire, and lord-lieutenant and custos rotulorum of the county Limerick. He was the proprietor of large estates, both in England and Ireland, and enjoyed a high character as a landlord. He also gave employment largely to the labouring classes, expending considerable sums annually in the improvement of his Irish estates. Born a Protestant, his lordship became a convert to Roman Catholicism, and was distinguished for his earnest devotion to the faith of his adoption. Upon his estate in Limerick he restored the abbey, and built the convent of Adare. He also contributed the greater part of the funds for the building of a small church at Sneem, in the county Kerry. His lordship, who was a man of high intellectual attainments, was a Commissioner of National Education in Ireland. He devoted himself specially to archæology, and in this branch of study he enjoyed no inconsiderable repute, being well known as an active member of several archæological societies and academies of Great Britain and Ireland. He was one of the members for Glamorganshire, which he represented in the Conservative interest from the general election of July 1837 till the year 1851, but he never took a prominent place as a politician. He was for some years one of the representative peers for Ireland, and obtained the honour of an English peerage, by creation, in June 1866. Lord Dunraven was twice married-first, in 1836, to Augusta (third daughter of Thomas Goold, a Master in Chancery, in Ireland), who died in 1866; and second, in January 1870, to Anne, daughter of Henry Lambert of Carnagh, county of Wexford, formerly M.P. for Ir.

IV.

D