CHAP. LII. St. George Daly obtained for his aiding the Lord Chancellor to advance the Union. A meeting of the members of the Bar was held to consider how Mr. Fitz Gerald should Union, and rank. be thanked for his vote; 116 attended; and a vote of loses his thanks was passed to Mr. Fitz Gerald for his disinterested Bar patriotism,'-never was there a more just and honourable meeting. tribute paid to an honest public character.1 The Bar also resolved that the precedence hitherto Resolve to yield enjoyed by the Prime Serjeant should be continued to the him predisplaced patriot.' cedence as usual. Conduct before the Lord Chan It was motion day in Chancery, and the Attorney and Solicitor-General having moved, the Chancellor called on of the Bar Mr. Smith, Father of the Bar, who bowed and said, 'Mr. Saurin had precedence of him;' he then called on Mr. cellor. Saurin, who bowed and said Mr. Ponsonby had precedence of him.' Mr. Ponsonby, when named, said Mr. Curran had precedence;' and Mr. Curran being called on said 'he could not think of moving before Mr. Fitz Gerald, who certainly had precedence of him.' The Chancellor Address said, “I see, gentlemen, you have not relinquished this of the business; it would be better at once for his Majesty's cellor. counsel, if they do not choose to conform to the regulations of the Court, to resign their silk gowns than to sit thus in a state of rebellion against their Sovereign.’He then directed all these motions to be struck out, and left the bench. This conduct of the Irish Bar reminds me of the scene related as having occurred in Westminster Hall during the time of Lord Keeper Guilford, when he was Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, and the Serjeants refused to move before him. He got into very bad odour with them for allowing his brother Roger, not of the order of the coif, to make certain motions, which they said belonged exclusively to them. To show their resentment they one day refused to bring forward any business. The Chief Justice in great indignation adjourned the Court, saying "that the following day they would hear common Barrington's Irish Nation, p. 390. VOL. II. Lord Chan LII. CHAP. barristers, or attorneys, or the suitors themselves plead, in spite of the monopoly of the Serjeants, that there might not be a failure of justice." This was like thunder to the Serjeants, and they fell to quarrelling one with another about being the cause of the great evil they had brought upon themselves. In the afternoon they attended the Chief and other Judges of the Court, and in great humility owned their fault, and begged pardon, and they would be careful not to give the like offence for the future. The Chief told them "that the affront was in public, and in the face of the Court, and they must make their recognition there next morning in such manner as the greatness of the offence demanded, and there they should hear what the Court would say to them." Accordingly they did, and the Chief first, and then the rest in order, gave them a formal chiding, with acrimony enough,-all which with dejected faces they were bound to hear. When this discipline was over the Chief pointed to one to move, which he did more like one crying than speaking; and thus ended the comedy, as it was acted in Westminster Hall, called "The Dumb Day." Embarrassing conduct of The anti-Catholic bias of the Lord Chancellor often proved a source of serious embarrassment to his colleagues in office. A very remarkable instance of this took respecting place April 11, 1799, when the order of the day for going Maynooth. into Committee on the Bill for supporting the College of the Lord Chancellor Maynooth was read; the Chancellor could not restrain himself from making a violent anti-Catholic speech, in which he stated that the object of limiting the amount to 25l. a year for each student, was, that they should be from the lowest class of society, and thus the priesthood of Ireland would continue to be taken from the dregs of the people.' 2 The effect of this violent harangue was to cause the rejection of the Bill by a majority of 25 to 1. But the Viceroy was in a perfect rage, and in a letter marked Lord Campbell's Lives of the Lord Chancellors of England, vol. iii. p. 452. 2 Cornwallis Correspondence, vol. iii. p. 91. CHAP. LII. of the Viceroy. private, complained to the Duke of Portland of the course taken by their mutual friend,- Neither myself nor Lord Castlereagh were aware that the Chancellor intended to Complaint throw out this Bill, though it was believed he was not a friend to it; and, as his Lordship had taken this step without giving me notice, I thought it my duty to express in writing to his Lordship the embarrassments which his conduct has created.' from the Lord Lieu The conduct of the Lord Chancellor not only gave great annoyance to the Irish Executive, but highly offended the Roman Catholics of Ireland. Lord Kenmare, and other leading persons of that creed, expressed themselves strongly on the sectarian and violent language of the indiscreet Chancellor. He tried to excuse himself, and, on April 18, Letter he replied to the letter from the Lord Lieutenant, stating Chancellor 'that he considered it essential to public security that to the there should be a well-regulated academy in Ireland for tenant. the education of the Roman Catholics,' and he assigned his reasons for regarding the Bill in question as insufficient for this purpose. That nothing was further from his desire or intention to cause any serious mischief.' To this letter the Lord Lieutenant returned an immediate answer, assuring the Lord Chancellor he never charged him with intending serious mischief to the country, but people in general regarded the Chancellor's vote as omi- Effects of nous of danger to the College of Maynooth, and as indi- the Chancating that it was to be altogether abolished. That vote. this idea had caused great exultation in many overzealous Protestants.' The Lord Lieutenant was too well acquainted with the inflamed state of parties in Ireland at that melancholy period, not to be aware the Government of which the Chancellor was a very prominent member would be held responsible for his conduct, though it was altogether unshared and disapproved of; and he therefore suggested the Chancellor would take some opportunity of removing the impression produced by his vote.'1 By the Chancellor's throwing out this Bill the College cellor's CHAP. The Viceroy repairs the mischief. would have been left without funds for its support, as according to the rules of Parliament a bill to renew the grant could not then be introduced; but the Lord Lieutenant defrayed the expense on his own authority, relying on the faith of a vote from the Commons to reimburse him.' Lord Clare very favourably impressed the Lord-Lieutenant, Marquis Cornwallis, with the notion of his political honesty. At the same time he did not conceal from the Viceroy his intense fear of the Roman Catholics of Ireland. His Excellency when writing to Mr. Pitt from Dublin Castle in September 1798, thus refers to the Irish Chancellor :- The principal people here are so frightened, that they would, I believe, readily consent to a Union, but then it must be a Protestant Union, and Chancellor even the Chancellor, who is the most right-minded politician in this country, will not hear of the Roman Catholics sitting in the United Parliament.' Lord Cornwallis's opinion of Lord Earl of Prepares a Statute to enable the Provost and Fellows While Lord Clare was Vice-Chancellor of the University of Dublin, he prepared a Statute enabling the Provost and Senior Fellows to marry. This was either refused or neglected by the Duke of Portland, and the Vice-ChanCollege to cellor of the College considered himself badly treated. He was not a man to sit down under an affront, and was in no very tranquil mood, when he wrote the following letter to Lord Castlereagh:2 of Trinity marry. Chancellor Ely Place, February 23, 1799. My dear Lord, I send you a copy of the Statute for enabling the Provost and Senior Fellows of Trinity College to marry. You will, I hope, agree with me, that if I am to continue Vice-Chancellor of the University of Dublin, and a Visitor of Trinity College, that I have a right to expect from the Duke of Portland an acquiescence in any recommendation I may make of Statutes which relate to 2 Idem. vol. ii. p. 414. 1 Cornwallis Correspondence, vol. iii. p. 374. 1 the interior economy of the College; and I must repeat that on this subject I feel I have very strong reason to complain of something worse than neglect and inattention on the part of his Grace. This most irksome and unpleasant office has been forced on me by the Duke of Gloucester; and nothing short of a strong sense of duty on my part to the King's brother should have induced me to accept it. I have already had the misfortune of holding repeated visitations of the College, which I can assert with confidence have rescued it from ruin; and I do desire that it may be understood by the Duke of Portland, finally and explicitly, that I will continue to hold the situation of Vice-Chancellor of the University and Visitor of Trinity College, on no other terms than those which I feel I have a right to demand from him, and from every other Minister of the Crown. I seek not to dabble in patronage, but after the labour which I have undergone, and which I must still submit to, in keeping that seminary within any reasonable limit, I do expect that when I apply for any statute for its better government, my application will receive the attention which I feel it has a right to command. I cannot see any good reason why the Duke of Portland should interfere with me on a subject so peculiarly within my province, and which he cannot have the means of understanding. СНАР. LII. 'My dear Lord, 'CLARE.' The Statutes here referred to were for the purpose of permitting the Provost and Senior Fellows of Trinity College to marry. Hitherto they were enjoined celibacy How under penalties, which were evaded by designating their penalties wives by their maiden names. Thus an invitation to evaded. dinner, &c. would run :- The Reverend Dr. A. and Miss B. request,' &c.2 The imperative mood of the Irish Chan Chancellor of the University. 2 Cornwallis Correspondence, vol. iii. p. 68, in note. were |