The Sun.
London, England, 1860-07-12 00:00:00

IRELAND.

DUBLIN, WEDNESDAY MORNING.
A SKETCH OF LORD PALMERSTON.

Mr. Maguire, in one of his letters to the Cork
EzZininer, draws the following sketch of the speech
delivered by the Prime Minister on Thursday even-
ing in moving the privilege resolutions :--
" Amidst breathless silence, and no little anxiety,
the Premier addressed himself to his task ; and I
venture to assert that, whatever the feelings of
disappointment or mortification he provoked by the
manner in which he sought to make things plea-
sant,' and the mode in which he palliated and ex-
- plained the conduct of the other house, there was
no one present who did not concede to his speech
the merit of consummate skill. The artifice was
so natural•like, and yet so transparent that it ex-
cited admiration, and not the slightest shade
escaped the attention of those who watched him
from all sides, and very opposite points of view.
Many of the Radicals were furious at the gloss
which was put upon the resolution, and on account
of the admissions which were made; but not the
most angry of them could refuse to the mode in
which a difficult and critical task was executed the
tribute of his admiration. There was not the
slightest attempt at declamation or oratory, so
called. Indeed, he scarcely rose for a moinent above
the level of an easy address, almost conversational
—the very style suited to one who has to settle a
difference between two bodies, and whom the least
indiscretion on the part of the party interfering
would at once set by the ears. Lord Palmerston's
object in rising was to assure the Commons that the
Lords meant no harm in what they had done ; that
what they had done they had done for the best, and
with the sincerest respect for the Commons; but
that, if they really meant wrong, which he felt
they did not, if they attempted it again, the Com-
mons would then know how to settle the affair
after their own fashion. Now, this role would be
spoiled by declamation, utterly ruined by fine figures
of speech and grand or picturesque images ; there-
fore, it was as simple and unpretending as it was
skilful and effective. Well, this speech, which occu-
pied nearly an hour in its delivery, was concluded
about half-past five &clock ; and what was the
hour, think you, when he who spoke it left the
House ? A quarter past two the next morning.
For nearly tea hours he occupied the same
place, not merely sitting out the debate, but
the business which followed—ready, at the very
latest moment, to rise and extricate his subor-

dinates from a difficulty, to ward off in-
convenient opposition by a few conciliatory
words, or to yield it with apparent willingness
if he found it too strong to be resisted. And fre-
quently at such an hour this gay and gallant veteran
walks to his house in Piccadilly—perhaps after
having been at work, more or less continuously, for
twice the length of time of any, even the humblest
clerk in a public office. I happened,' said a mem-
ber to whom I was speaking of him, ' to follow Lord
Palmerston as he left the cloak-room the other
morning, after a late sitting, and, as I was going
his way, I thought I might as well see how he got
over his ground.—At first he seemed a little stiff in
the legs, but when he warmed to his work he be-
gan to pull out, and before he got a third of the
way he bowled along splendidly—so that he put
me to it to keep him in view.' Perhaps, in a few
hours after that long sitting, and that walk home,
and the brief sleep which followed, the Premier
might have been seen standing bolt upright at one
end of a great table in Cambridge-house, receiving
a deputation from the country, and listening with
patient and courteous attention to some tedious
spokesman, or astonishing his hearers by his know-
ledge of their affairs, and his intimacy with the
mysteries of their trade or business. I may detest
his foreign policy, I may doubt his sincerity as a
politician ; but as a man I confess I admire him
vastly. The fact is, most members like him, and
even his bitterest opponents entertain for him per-
sonally the kindest feeling ; while his own imme-
diate followers would do anything for him because
of his own qualities, and his unswerving fidelity to
his friends. In that respect, to use the emphatic
language of an enthusiastic admirer and out-and-
out backer, Palmerston is a genuine brick."