The Press. — London, England, 1856-06-21 00:00:00

fiteraturc. Speeches of Lord Plunket at the Bar and in the Senate. Edited, with a Memoir and Historical Notices, by John Cashel Hoey. Dublin : Duffy. FOR the intellectual powers of the late Lord Plunket we entertain much respect, but we feel no admiration for his tortuous and intensely selfish career. He was undoubtedly a consummate Parliamentary orator. and had rare faculties of strong reasoning As a forensic advocate he was inferior to Erskine and Curran, and we think also to O'Connell. He could not melt the heart nor moisten the eye of manhood ; and his speeches are unequal, some parts being wonderfully grand, and others sinking into the commonplace and trivial. "If bred to Pa.rhament," said Sir James Mackintosh, " Plunket would have been the " greatest speaker that ever appeared in it "—a most preposterous exaggeration, as no training could make Plunket the equal of Bolingbroke, or Chatham, or Chatham's son. Argument, passion. 'and masculine energy belonged to his style ; but he could not sap or insinuate with subtle art, and he never could maintain the tone of a practical statesman. "On his legs " he was formidable, but on the Bench he was feeble ; in the Cabinet he was rash and wa vering, and in public life he was flagrantly in consistent. He was immeasurably inferior in moral dignity and worth of character to his own countrymen, Burke, Grattan, and Curran ; and he never could wield over the public mind that extraordinary power which Henry Brougham from 1820 to 1832, and Lord Lyndhurst from 1838 to 1841, exercised in Parliamentary politics. It seriously detracts, also, from Lord Plun ket's reputation that he is chiefly an orator of one subject. The " Catholic Question " was to Lori Plunket what " The French Revolu tion " was to Mr. Croker, or the Corn Laws to Mr. Cobden. On all social questions Lord Plunket was second rate, and he has no pre tensions to the fame of a statesman or of a s►►ccessful administrator. That he feared " Mr. Brougham " in debate is beyond doubt, and we coull cite the particular discussion in which Brougham put him down. Invective in the English Legislature Lord Plunket judi ciously abstained from, except in one instance, when (after some provocation) he ferociously assailed the late Marquis (Charles William) of Londonderry. He kept carefully clear of Brougham and Lyndhurst, and would cer tainly have avoided collision with O'Connell at the time when Mr. Macaulay shrunk from the Agitator. Another consideration, also, detracts from the fame of Lord Plunket. From first to last we find him " crammed" from Burke's tracts ; and parallel passages between his speeches and Burke's works would not redound to the originality of Plunket as a thinker. In short, Plunket was only a lawyer politician of the first rank, but he was neither a patriot nor a practical or phil )sophical statesman. Like men of his day, he overrated the political value of the " Catho►ic Question." The social problem in Ireland, its tangled perplexities, and the manifold economic questions suggested by it, received from him no appreciation. He was decidedly superficial in his views He rendered vast services to the Catholics by artfully disarming many Protestants of their political fears of the consequences of concession. He always argued the question as one of security for the Establishment. So late as 1828 Lord Plunket thus delivere.l him self in the House of Lords upon the Irish Church : I look on the Protestant fundamental principle of our imperial take it to have been unalterably settled at the Union, and that to talk of changing the Protestant religion of Ireland without shaking the Protestant Establishment of the empire is idle. I speak no new language, now that for the drat time I have had an opportunity of delivering my sentiments in the presence of the right reverend bench : I utter but the opiniqns I have entertained find expressed in the other House of Parliament. I think a religious estab lishment essential to oar well being, and that without a dignified estalilishruent in times like these, religion itself world be degraded. I am, therefore, persuaded, not only that the establishment is necessary, but that the rank, affluence, and dignity of the hierarchy art important to of Ireland as a THE PRESS. our best interests. I think further, that its power and influence Are and ought to be so great, that unless that hierarchy be connected with the State, it may be too power. ful for the State ; and hence the necessity of maintaining that connection for the benefit of the State. On these grounds, and not for any fanciful and theoretical reasons, assigned by some writers upon this subject, I never for a moment would consent to anything which should endanger the Protestant Establishment. I further feel that the Protestant Establishment of Ireland is the very cement of the Union; I find it inter. woven with all the essential relations and institutions of the two kingdoms ; and I have no hesitation in admitting that if it were destroyed, the very foundations of public security would be shaken, the connection between England and Ireland dissolved, and the annihilation of private property must follow the ruin of the property of the Church. In five years afterwards, when several of the Reform Ministers, on principle, seceded from the Grey Cabinet, Lord Plunket retained his Chancellorship of Ireland, supported "Appro priation," and took part in the "Lichfield house Compact," after having been in Tory times a zealous Anti-Reformer ! To the fame of a commanding speaker, bril liant, powerful, and occasionally overwhelming. Lord Plunket is justly entitled. He had r ason, memory, imagination, and he shone with the fire of genius. The speech on the " Bottle Riot Treason" (so called) is the most perfect specimen of his powers. It is also the best reported. The following characterisa tion of William 111 is extremely brilliant. It was introduced iu his speech by Plunket in order to bias the feelings of the jury, who were of the " Orange " persuasion : Perhaps, my lords, there is not to be fonnd in the annals of history a character more truly great than that of Wil liam 111. Perhaps no person has ever appeared on the theatre of the world who has conferred more essential or more lasting benefits on mankind ; on these countries, certainly none. When I look at the abstract merits of his character, I contemplate him with admiration and reve rence. Lord of a petty principality—destitute of all resources but those with which nature had endowed him— regarded with jealousy and envy by those whose battles he fought; thwarted in all his counsels; embarrassed in all his movements ; deserted in his most critical enterprises— he continued to mould all those discordant materials, to govern all these warring interests, and merely by the force of his genius, the ascendancy of his integrity, and the im• movable firmness and constancy of his nature, to combine them into an indissoluble alliance against the schemes of despotism and universal domination of the most powerful monarch in Europe; seconded by the ablest generals, at the head of the bravest and best disciplined armies in the world, and wielding, without theca or control, the unlimited resources of his empire. He was not a consummate general; military men will point out his errors; in that respect fortune did not favour him, save by throwing the lustre of adversity over all his virtues. He sustained defeat after defeat, but always rose adverse rerum immersabilis unda. Looking merely at his shining qualities and achieve- ments, I admire him as I do a Scipio, a Regulus, a Fabius ; a model of tranquil courage, undeviating probity, and armed with a resoluteness and constancy in the cause of truth and freedom which rendered him superior to the accidents that contiol the fate of ordinary men. But this is not all. 1 feel that to him, under God, lam at this moment indebted for the enjoyment of the rights which I possess as a subject of these free countries ; to him I owe the blessings of civil and religious lihert and I venerate his memory with a fervour of devotion suited to his illustrious qualities and to his godlike acts. We have known it asserted, upon good au thority, that the late Sir Robert Peel thought the foregoing character finer than Mr. Nlacau lay's portraiture of the same hero. We men tion the story on the relation of the late Mr. Sheil. Our readers are aware that we have directed their attention to the fact of some tardy justice being at length done in many quarters to the memory of that great statesman the late Lord Castlereagh. Fifty years ago he was referred to in Plunket's words as "an apology for a Minister." Mr. Hoey has yet to learn the true character of that extraordinary man. He writes of him thus : Neither Mr. Pitt nor Earl Camden seems to have per fectly discerned the amazing element. of power which lay latent in this extraordinary young man. Who indeed could have believed that under that bland adolescent air, that lithe and dazzling front, and, stranger still, that tongue so awkward and maladroit, were hidden a heart as subtle, a will as truculent, a courage as cold, and a conscience as unscrupulous as Caesar Borgia's ! For a model of Castle reagh's character we naturally refer, not to the generous ambitions and the gallant rivalries of the British Parlia ment, but to the crafty, impassible. and implacable ideal of Maehiavelli's prince, or to the inexorable volition, passion. less wisdom, and atrocious cold blood of the Third Napo leon. He was not then quite thirty years of age, and wore them with such a blooming, patrician beauty, that it was the custom of the Opposition to speak of the secretary as a smooth-faced minion of Mr Pitt. He had that order of mind, difficult and ungraceful of display in the liberal air of public assemblies which " men of intellect," far excel- SATURDAY, knee, are always so vain to contemn To the last days of his life Castlereagli's mixed metaphors and rigmarole rta soiling were the sport o the wits of Opposition. But sneer, stricture, and invective alike glanced aside from his imperturbable, polite placidity, and his callous pluck. Few men have ever possessed such extraordinary executive faculties, such reticence, tact, and duplicity, such skill in deceiving, and such address in managing men, and so intense and even an energy iu the conduct of great affairs. Mr. Hoey does not appear to know that Castlereagh was Pitt's favorite pupil, and that the " Castlereagh Papers" abound with tri butes to Castlereagh from Pitt and Camden. But Mr. Hoey sees, at least, the force of Castlereagh's mind and its " amazing elements "of power." After Plutikees coarse invectives against him in the House of Commons, it is strange to find him thus paying an humble tribute after Castlereagh's death to one whom he reviled while living, without any provo cation : His friendship and confidence were the prime causes which induced his Majesty's Government to desire my services; and I can truly add that my unreserved reliance on the cordiality of his feelings towards toe, joined to my perfect knowledge of the wisdom and liberality of all his public objects and opinions, were the principal causes which induced me to accept the honour which was pro. posed to me. Nothing can ever occur to me in political life so calamitous as the event which, itt common with all his country and Europe, I so deeply deplore. When shallow declaimers talk idly about the cruelty f Castlereagh, it is well to recollect Lord Plunket's written opinion of him.* It is odd that the first attempt at an elabo rate posthumous notice of Lord Plunket should be from the pen of so strong an opponent of Whigs and Tories as the editor of these speeches. Mr. Cashel liney is a pupil in politics of Mr. Gavan Duffy, to whom this volume is inscribed! The introductory memoir is more circumspective than might be ex pected from oiie so committed in politics as Mr. Cashel Hoey. His style is too vehement, and wants smoothness ; and he aims too much at Carly Tian effects. He shows also that he likes the rough-and-ready mode of the late Thomas Davis, who never aimed at the laurels of a mere writer, but relied on the resources of his various and encyclopedic intellect. The " historical notices " prefixed to the seve►al speeches in this volume are well executed, though too onesided. Mr Hoey, while using the pliant pen of a practised journalist, preserves an individualism of his own. Though we cannot accept his dicta as authoritative, we see that he can be superior to the cant of par tisanship. He has talents for literature, apart from politics, and with a more careful choice of correct models he ►night obtain distinction as an historical essayist. On the whole, this volume, particularly oz account of its re ferences to Protestant and Catholic affairs, deserves a place in the politician's library. Caravan Journeys and Wanderings in Persia, Afghanistan, Turkistan, and Beloochistan. By J. A. Ferrier. London : flu: ray. This volume would be valuable if only as an itinerary of some principal routes through Central Asia. The author, with a pracision worthy to he copied by all travellers in coun tries little known, notes every placa he passed through, and gives the length of each day's journey. He is also particular in describing his modes of travel, and in furnishing alt such information as may serve as a guide to other travellers, or can give a correct conception of the nature and habits of the people through whose territories he passed. The volume is so full of matter that we can bu• glance at its contents ; and first a few words on the author. M. Ferrier is a French officer, at present holding a Government appointment in Pon dicherry. About sixteen years ago he was selected with other French officers to drill and organise the Persian army. He rose to the rank of adjutant-general in the Persian army, hut in 1843 was removed, as he believes, by the intrigues of the Russian Ambassador. Failing to interest the French Government in his complaints, he determined to travel through Asia, and seek service under Runjeet Singh, in the State of Lahore. There is some inaccuracy in the preface from which we take these details, as while it is stated that Nf. Ferrier arrived in France from Persia in 1543. • Mr. Hoey sh3uld hare stated that the extract quoted in the text is to be found in the introduction to the liCaatleresfb Pagers." jt iq *roost remarkable pusqe • I 592