The Press. — London, England, 1855-08-04 00:00:00

. THE PRESS. 742 Canada the Irish peasant (and Irish peasants constitute by far the majority of our emi grants) will find his nationality respected and his religion revered. In the United States the former will be despised and the latter ridi culed. Let the Irish emi g rant read the news papers reporting what the Know-Nothings are doing. Why, we ourselves remember some thing like a revolution at Boston because an Irishman and a Roman Catholic was ap- pointed to be one of the night watchmen of the city. _ _ Of all the works which we have read on American travel we consider Captain Murray's volumes and Mr. Sullivan's "Rambles and Scrambles." which appeared a year or two ago, by far the best. Sketches of the Irish Bar. With Essays Literary and Political. By William Henry Curran, Esq. London : Colburn. WHEN the late Thomas Campbell, about thirty years since, was editor of the New Monthly, he collected about him a staff of light, sparkling writers with the peculiar qualities required for contributors to magazines. Amongst the best of those was the author of the lively " Sketches " now before us. The son of the eminent Irish orator, Mr. W. H. Curran inherits much of the humour of his father, though he wants that personal ascendancy which, combined with original wit and eloquence of great power, raised the late Mr. Curran to the first rank amongst the celebri ties of Ireland. The " Sketches of the Irish Bar " were much talked of at the time of their publication, but subsequent events have destroyed much of the interest attaching to them. We shall not blame the clever writer of them for not having foreseen events with more prescient sagacity. He took a rose coloured view of the popular Irish barristers of whom he treated, and he never seemed to note any of the unsightly defects which dis figured the subjects of his " Sketches." Queen Elizabeth wished that she should be painted without any shadow, and both Lord Plunket and the late Daniel O'Connell have been so treated in these volumes. But we can scarcely censure Mr. W. H. Curran having been so strong a flatterer of the noisiest advocates of " Catholic Emancipa tion." The author followed his father's politics with almost blind credulity ; and we must not accept his testimony as that of an impartial witness on Irish affairs. His views on party politics are of that narrow and one sided kind which marked the Irish (self styled) " Liberal Protestants " of the pre emancipation period. The first of these volumes contains much smart writing. The style is pleasant, and effervescing with a flavour of original wit. It often bubbles, but it never bursts ; and though sometimes as shallow as the mock river in the grounds of a landscape gariener, it leaps gracefully along with an airy lightness that pleases. The sketch of Mr. Sergeant Goold is the best piece of writing in the two volumes, and exhibits most original power. It thus The French Revolution had scarcely burst upon the world, and its portentous incidents were still the daily subject of universal astonishment or dismay, when there arose in the metropolis of Ireland a young gentleman, who, feeling jealous of the unrivalled importance the conti nental phenomenon was enjoying, resolved to start in his own person as an opposition•wonder. Beginning • the world with ten thousand pounds, Mr. S. Goold soon got to the end of his purse in the " Young Rapid " style : He never appeared abroad but in a costly suit of the most persuasive cut, and glowing with bright and various tints. He set up an imposing phaeton, in which with Kitty Cut-a•dash, of fascinating memory, and then the reigning illegitimate belle of Dublin, by his side, he scoured through streets and squares with the brilliancy and rapidity of a meteoric coruscation. He entertained his friends, the choicest spirits about town, with dinners, such as bachelor never g.ive before—dishes so satisfying and scientific, as to fill not only the stomach, but the of The satirical stroke at " the bishops " is characteristic of the tone of these papers ; but we should like to know what does Mr. Curran think of the " P.Ps." and " the coadjutors " who now monopolise the political power of the Roman Catholic interest in Ireland? But we need not stay to controvert the fallacies or expose the illusions of the author. Con tinning his account of Mr. Goold, he gives us a passage written in a highly pleasant style of humour : After a considerable stay at Paris, where, however, he arrived too late to stop the revolutionary torrent, he passed on and visited several of the German Courts — gave " travelling opinions" upon the course of policy to be respectively pursued by them at that critical juncture, and afterwards satisfied himself that the most important events that followed were mainly influenced by his timely inter position. He left Germany with some precipitation. The rumour ran that there were State reasons for his departure. The subject was too delicate to be revealed in all its circum stances, but upon his return to Ireland, his friends heard in broken sentences of a certain Palatine princess—the dogged jealousy of royal husbands—the incorrigible babbling of maids of honour—muttered threats of incar ceration—and a contiden ial remonstrance on the part of a very sensible man, a member of the Aulic council, re• specting the confusion that might hereafter ensue should it come to be suspected that the lazy stream of reputed legitimacy had been quickened by a tributary nil of Munster blood. There are many more passages in thes e volumes equally well written. It is a great defect in this work that its contents are so fragmentary. The sketches were written in the years immediately pre ceding " Emancipation," and the subsequent career of tho persons described are not re corded. The flagrant inconsistencies of the later years of Lord Plunket are left out of view altogether, and the author does not even append notes stating whether his estimates of Mr. North, Mr. Wallace, Mr. Doherty, and other eminent barristers, were confirmed or confuted by their careers in the House of Com mons. The essay on Mr. North is a piece of writing more elaborate than the other sketches. A good specimen of the art of damning with faint praise, it meals to our recollection some of the performances of Lord Dudley in the Quarterly Review. But those who did not know the late Mr. North would conceive from it a most unjust estimate of his talents. Accord ing to Mr. W. H. Curran the late Chief Baron Woulfe was a more distinguished ornament of the bar of Ireland ! Yet Mr. North had un questioned success as a speaker in the debates on the Reform Bill, and we could cite various testimonies to his genius even from con temporary Whigs. Mr. North undoubtedly wanted active passion, and saw too much of the logical considerations at all sides of a sub ject. His acuteness diminished the power of his mental intensity, and many features in his character as described by Mr. W. H. Curran recal to us the mingled strength and weakness of a far more remarkable person, Mr. Gladstone. The author struck the weak point of Mr. North when he penned the following passage : 1 have been often asked "if I considered Mr. North to be a man of genius? " My answer has been, "he would be, if be dared." IT it were possible to transfuse into his system a few quarts of that impetuous Irish blood which revels in O'Counell's veins—if he could be brought to bestir himself, and burst asunder the conventional fetters that enchain his spirit, he has many of the other qualities that would entitle him to that envied appellation. But as it is, his powers are enthralled in a state of magnetic sus pension between the conflicting influences of his ambition and his apprehensions. With all the desire in the world to be an eminent man, and conscious that the elements of greatness are within him, one of its most necessary attri butes he still is without—a sentiment of masculine self reliance, and along with it a calm and settled disdain for the approbation of little friends, and the censure of little enemies, and the murmurs of the tea-table, and the mock-heroic gravity with which mediocrity is ever sure to frown upon a style of language or conduct above its com prehension. It is only fair, however, to recollect that Mr. North died at the early age of forty-three, and that the state of party politics in his time was very unsuited for the best display of his peculiar powers. Some portions of the essay on O'Connell are • fro? SATURDAY, evinces a metaphysical subtlety of perception which nothing can elude. The must slippery distinction that glides across him he can grasp and hold, pressis manibus, until he pleases to set it tree. But his argumentative powers lose much of their effect from want of arrange. merit. His thoughts have too much of the impatience of conscious strength to submit to an orderly disposition. Instead of moving to the conflict in compact array, they rush forward like a tumultuary insurgent mass, jostling and overturning one another in the confusion of the charge; and though finally beating down all opposition by sheer strength and numbers, still reminding us of the far greater things they might have achieved had they been better drilled. O'Connell was remarkable chiefly as a physical orator. His presence and extra ordinary voice did wonders for him, and Mr. Curran does not sufficiently record the peculiar qualities of the latter The following remarks are strictly just : The want of compactness in his periods, however, I attribute chiefly to inattention. He has phrase in abun• dance at command, and his ear is sensible of melody. Every now and then he throws off sentences not only free from all defeat, but extremely felicitous specimens of diction. As to his general powers of eloquence, he rarely fails, in a case admitting of emotion, to make a deep im pression upon a jury ; and in a popular assembly he is su preme. Still there is much more of eloquence in his manner and topics than in his conceptions. He unques tionably proves, by occasional bursts, that the elements of oratory, and perhaps of the highest order, are about him ; but he has had too many pressing demands of another kind to distract him from the cultivation of this the rarest of all attainments, and accordingly I am not aware that any of his efforts, however able and successful, have de served, as examples of public speaking, to survive the occa sion. His manner, though far from graceful, is earnest and impressive. It has a steady and natural warmth. without any of that snappish animation in which gentle men of the long robe are prone to indulge. His voice is powerful, ar. 4 the intonations full and graduated. I under stand that waen first he appeared at the Bar his accent at once betrayed his foreign education. To this day there is a remaining dash of Foigardism in his pronunciation of particular words ; but, on the whole, he has brought him self, as far as delivery is concerned, to talk pretty much like a British subject. We have been disappointed with the (so called) " Conversations with the late Chief Justice Bushe They consist chiefly of anec dotes of no historical importance, and some of them, like the ridiculous story about Lady Coventry and Lord Mansfield, are quite apocryphal. A few specimens of the Irish wit in them are very good. For example : A difference of political sentiment dissolied the inti macy that had for many years subsisted between Curran and Yelverton. Curran thought him a corrupt politician, and expressed his opinion with great severity, before Yel verton had derived any benefit from his desertion of his former principles. " But, after all," said a friend to Curran, " you see that he has got nothing for himself or his family." " Oh! that only shows that a man, though a keen sportsman, may be a very bad shot." Curran, speaking of his loss of business in the Court of Chancery from Lord Clare's hostility, and the consequent necessity of resuming common nisi prius business, said, " I had been under full sail to fortune ; but the tempest came, and nearly wrecked me, and ever since 1 have been only bearing up under jury-masts." Soon after Lord Clare became Chancellor, Curran was asked how he had behaved on the occasion of the duel be tween them. " With perfect coolness; he took a steady, deliberative aim. Of that I had no reason to complain; but now the fellow is Sring at me every day in his own court." And then again : The Chief Baron was asked why a particular person, never noted for gallantry, had now provided himself with two mistresses. " I suppose," he said, " that he may be able at all times to excuse his absence from both, by pre• tending to each of them that he is with the other." Grattan said, that he found the best way to prevent his cabbages being stolen was to fence them round with several rows of cabbages. So, also, this is a noble thought of Grattan : He loved old trees, and used to say,'' Never cut down a tree for fashion-sske. The tree has its roots in the earth, wuich the fashion has not." The following is striking, but it could only be appreciated by those who had .seen Grattan, or heard him well imitated : Grattan's eldest sister by five years (Miss Grattan) died, at the age of seventy•three, of water on the chest. Most of the family had died at the same age of the same complaint. I attended the funeral, and went down to the family vault with him. The coffins of many members ti the family were there. The most solemn and terrible thing I ever witnessed was Grattan in the vault, with his face perfectly white, his disordered grey hair, his agitated and seienunc, as to nii not only we awmacn, out the Dottie portions ot tne essay on V - t✓onnell are lace pertecuy wnite, nis disordered grey hair, his agitated gestures, and his strange mutterings as he bended over mind—claret, such as few even of the Irish bishops could written from close observation. The following procure, and champagne of vivacity exampled only by his remarks on O'Connell's style (or want of it) the coffins and read the inscriptions. " Ay, there they own. He furnished his stable with a stud of racers; and, are," he would say, striking the coffins seriatim, and if lam rightly informed, lie still, half-laughing, half-won• are well expressed : naming the persons within them—`• there you are, aged dering at his former self, meals the times, when mounted If his mind had been duly disciplined, he would have seventy-three—then water on the chest—and then a fins upon a favorite thoroughbred, and flaming in a pink satin been a first rate reasoner and a most formidable sophist. large coffin—a large coffin is a good thing--a very good jockeydress, he distanced every competitor, and bore away He has all the requisites from nature—singular clearness, thing (striking one of them in his peculiar manner) — the Curregh Cup. promptitude, and acuteness. When occasion requires, he and I too must have a tine large coffin—but not for nye - -111111Comm eeminimmumm --- I