The Press.
London, England, 1858-01-23 00:00:00

THE PRESS, JANUARY 23, 1858.

WEEK.

In the Times of Wednesday the Dublin correspondent, referring to
the law appointments, writes thus :
It
may be safely affirmed that the elevation of Mr. Sergeant O'Brien to the Bench
will not be unpopular with the profession generally, and that it will only serve to
strengthen the public feeling that, sooner or later, there must be a change in the present
system of promotion to high legal offices.
This expression of opinion is entirely in accordance with the tone of
this Journal on the Irish Judicature, but it derives additional force
from the fact of its having been expressed after the whole subject of
the law appointments had been canvassed in Dublin for several days.
" What the Whigs can possibly mean " by these extraordinary appoint-
ments has puzzled all parties. In a Bar where the great majority is
Protestant, and where the most distinguished politicians are Protes-
tant, three Roman Catholics and only one Protestant have been simul-
taneously promoted. If Ministers think that this question is only
an Irish one, the supposition shows their ignorance of the
attention bestowed on it by the English Bar and English society.
People ask, what can Ministers mean by appointing able men in
England (like Mr. Sergeant BYtes), without regard to his opinions,
' and nominating Mr. Sergeant O'BRIEN in Ireland, because he was
M.P. for Limerick, and because—(of course, without the knowledge of
that learned personage)—certain Roman Catholic clerical influences
were brought to bear on the question of who was to succeed Mr. Jus-
tice Mooing in the Queen's Bench. The fact is, that all this scanda•
lous jobbery has been perpetrated because the Cabinet thinks that the
Conservatives and independent members of the Irish Bar will
not bestir themselves about it. Mr. Warr/tuna was per-
fectly right in saying that Conservatives disapproved of " agita-
tion," and would decline to employ it. But no one knows better than
that brilliant orator that remonstrance is a constitutional right of the
subject ; and we have yet to learn whether every power of the cliques
at Dublin Castle could contravene the rights of the Protestants of Ire-
land, in public meetings assembled, to tell the advisers of the Crown
that out of the twelve Judges only three have been taken from that
portion of the Bar which represents the feelings and convictions of the
overwhelming majority of the Protestants of Ireland.

The late Duke of DEVONSHIRE filled during his life a first-rate
place amongst the most princely nobles in Europe. His immense
fortune, his grand baronial halls, his galleries of art and exquisitely
choice collections of virtu, his love of gorgeous entertainments, the
munificence of his gifts, and the stately style of his equipage, all
pointed him out as a patrician of the highest dignity. Though defi-
cient in the stamina of character required for public life, his Grace
was by no means wanting in intellectual qualities, and his mind was
stored with much curious and miscellaneous information on subjects
rarely studied by a man in high life. Some of the tastes of his famous
kinsman, the chemist CAVENDISH, were possessed by him, and his
knowledge of the scientific preparations and preserved curiosities in a
museum often surprised strangers who were not acquainted with his
habits. His abilities, such as they were, were more passive than
active. But it was in the extraordinary splendour of his entertain-
ments that the Duke's nature was best seen. Of those magni-
ficent revellings it might truly be said that they were not
only banquets but spectacles. They were not simply " got
up " with the hackneyed aid of professional caterers, but they were
designed with an artistic mind. The gorgeous and the graceful were
never better joined than at his brilliant balls, in all the arrangements
for which his Grace took much pleasure, and spent no small trouble.
About eight years since, after a temporary absence from fashionable
life, the Duke gave a series of entertainments at Devonshire house
which excited the admiration of all who participated in them; and
even those most familiar with the splendour of foreign capitals,
declared that they had never seen such receptions. In this taste for
display, combined as it was with artistic finish, it was impossible not
to see many of the characteristics which marked the famous and
fascinating GEORGIANA, Duchess of Devonshire. That celebrated
beauty had also a taste for arranging grand receptions in a style not to
be attained by mere expenditure, however lavish ; and her productions
with both pen and pencil showed much of talent, ani occasionally not
a little of genius. Like many of the Spencer family, from whore she
sprung, the Duchess of Davos:sums had some eccentricities of manner,
not forgotten by Fox in his well-known lines :

And then young, fair, fantastic Devon,
Wild as the comet in mid heaven, &..c.
And occasionally some peculiarities in the late Duke were of a kind
rather "fantastic," and suggestive of the eccentricity, if not of the
brilliancy, of the " comet ". alluded to by Cu/attics Fox. But for these
oddities and whimsicalities great allowance was always made by
society, who always looked on the Duke of DavoNsatas as a benefac-
tor, from the joy and diffusive brightness of life which usually encir-
cled him where he dwelt. Of late years, his Grace's principal amuse-
ment was enlarging and richly embellishing his seat of " Lismore
Castle," in the county of Waterford, which he converted into a resi-
dence fit for an Esterhazy. It was always understood that her
Majesty was to have been splendidly entertained there at some future
time, and that the first private abode to be honoured by a night's
sojourn in Ireland, on the part of the Queen, was to be the picturesque
and magnificent castle which was bequeathed to the Cavxtrnisnits from
the BOYLES. In party politics the Duke was a conventional Whig, of
the Brookes's Club type, but his general views of life had been much
influenced by his frequent residences abroad. Of the various idle
tales connected with his family and birth, this is not the place to
speak. Some of them are ridiculously false, and others are only
partly true; but such matters do not fall within the sphere of public
discussion. •