curly, one takes a pride in sarcasm and invective. One feels some interest in a young relative of a distinguished member of this House; and, although the statements were not very agreeable to her Majesty's Ministers, I felt that he was a chip of the old block. I felt-and I hope my colleagues share in the sentiment-that when that young gentleman entered this House, he might, when gazing upon the venerable form and listening to the accents of benignant wisdom that fell, and always fall, from the right honourable gentleman the member for Carlisle (laughter) he might learn how reckless assertion in time might mature into accuracy of statement-and how bitterness and invective, however organic, can be controlled by the vicissitudes of a wide experience (much laughter). Sir James replied to this a few nights afterwards: "The right honourable gentleman remarked upon the mild influences of age, presenting in his own person a contradiction to the Horatian maxim, 'Lenit albescens animos capillus,' because he was an illustration of the fact that one might lose one's curls and still retain one's taste for sarcasm. The right honourable gentleman will pardon me if I express to him an opinion. I regard him as the Red Indian of debate. By the use of the tomahawk he has cut his way to power, and by a recurrence to the scalping system he hopes to prevent the loss of it" (cheers and laughter).

DANIEL O'CONNELL.

(1775-1847.)

Introduction of the Repeal Question.-The year 1834 was rendered remarkable by the introduction of the Repeal question into the House of Commons. O'Connell told me (says Mr. Daunt) he was forced to take this step bitterly against his will. I felt," said he, "like a man who was going to jump into a cold bath; but I was obliged to take the plunge."

A Wonderful Shower of Rain.-In the session of 1833 (writes his son) a speech of Mr. Daniel O'Connell's, upon an Irish question of considerable interest and importance, was not only grievously abbreviated (by the reporter), but the sense of it entirely perverted in several passages. As I recollect, it was a speech on the then very exciting and difficult subject of the tithes of the Protestant Church in Ireland; and Mr. O'Connell, among other things, was made to say that he would vote in a certain way on the immediate point under consideration," although it was directly in the teeth of all his former opinions on the subject!" On his bringing the matter before the House under the usual form of a "Breach of Privilege," and making complaint of being thus treated, the defence set up by the reporter was that, during his walk from the House to the newspaper office, the rain, which was falling heavily at the time, had most unfortunately streamed into his pocket and washed out the notes he had made of Mr. O'Connell's speech. Upon which the latter remarked that it was the most extraordinary shower of rain he had ever heard of, inasmuch as it had not only washed out the speech he did make, but had washed in another, and an entirely different one.

"Beastly Bellowings."-Macaulay writes in his Journal, June 11, 1840 "The House was engaged upon Stanley's Irish Registration Bill. The night was very stormy. I have never seen such unseemly demeanour, or heard such scurrilous language in Parliament. Lord Norreys was whistling, and making all sort of noises. Lord Maidstone was so ill-mannered that I hope he was drunk. At last, after much grossly indecent conduct, a furious outbreak took place. O'Connell was so. rudely interrupted that he used the expression 'beastly bellowings.' Then rose such an uproar as no O. P. mob at Covent Garden Theatre, no crowd of Chartists in front of a hustings, ever equalled. Men on both sides stood up, shook their fists, and bawled at the top of their voices. Freshfield, who was in the chair, was quite unable to keep the smallest order. O'Connell raged like a mad bull; and our people-I for one-while regretting and condemning his violence, thought it was much extenuated by the provocation. A short and most amusing scene passed between O'Connell and Lord Maidstone, which in the tumult escaped the observation of many, but which I watched carefully. If,' said Lord Maidstone, the word beastly is retracted, I shall be satisfied. If not, I shall not be satisfied.' 'I do not care whether the noble lord be satisfied or not.' 'I wish you would give me satisfaction." 'I advise the noble lord to carry his liquor meekly.' At last the tumult ended from absolute physical weariness. It was past one, and the steady bellowers of the Opposition had been howling from six o'clock with little interruption."

His Duel with D'Esterre.-O'Connell was not sufficiently guarded in his language when speaking of other men, and on one occasion some one opposite to him said, "Such language might provoke a duel." "Oh, no," remarked O'Connell, pointing to one of his hands with the other; "there's too much blood upon this hand already." I heard him say this, and the effect, as he suited the action to the word, was very great.Professor Pryme. O'Connell here referred to the incident of his duel with D'Esterre, which is thus related by Phillips :-" In one of his many mob-speeches, O'Connell called the Corporation of Dublin a beggarly corporation.' A gentleman named D'Esterre affected to feel this as a personal affront, he being one of that very numerous body, and accordingly fastened a quarrel on the offender. It is quite true that O'Connell endeavoured to avoid the encounter. But he did not do enough. He should have summoned D'Esterre before the tribunal of the country, after failing to appease him by a repeated declaration that he meant him no personal offence, and could not, he being a total stranger to him. However, on the occasion in question he showed a total absence of what is vulgarly called fear; indeed, his fixed determination was remarkable. Let those who read the following anecdote remember that he most reluctantly engaged in the combat; that he was then the father of seven children; and that it was an alternative of life or death with him, D'Esterre being reputed an unerring marksman. Being one of those who accompanied O'Connell, he beckoned me aside to a distant portion of the very large field, which had a slight covering of snow. Phillips,' said he to me, this seems not a personal, but a political affair. I am obnoxious

to a party, and they adopt a false pretence to cut me off. I shall not submit to it. They have reckoned without their host, I promise you. I am one of the best shots in Ireland at a mark, having, as a public man, considered it a duty to prepare, for my own protection, against such unprovoked aggression as the present. Now remember what I say to you. I may be struck myself, and then skill is out of the question; but if I am not, my antagonist will have cause to regret his having forced me into this conflict.' The parties were then very soon placed on the ground, at, I think, twelve paces distance; each having a case of pistols, with directions to fire when they chose, after a given signal. D'Esterre rather agitated himself by making a short speech, disclaiming all hostility to his Roman Catholic countrymen, and took his ground, somewhat theatrically, crossing his pistols upon his bosom. They fired almost together, and instantly on the signal. D'Esterre fell, mortally wounded. There was the greatest self-possession displayed by both.”

Wanted, a Bellman.-At the Clare election, to the horror (says Phillips) of Vesey Fitzgerald, the rival candidate and a member of the then administration, Daniel, with the aid of his priests, polled tenant against landlord. Vesey, a lord in embryo, could not stand it, and he fled. Next day was a great day for Daniel. Priest, curate, coadjutor, bishop-he who, with no franchise, had voted notwithstanding; and he who, having one, had voted very often-the whole available population, the pure children of nature as he called them, and some of them most justly, hailed their champion as he shouted from the hustings, "Boys, where's Vasy Vigarald? Och hone, Vasy, but it's me that's dull without ye. Righi, mavourneen! righi,* and send the bell about for him. Here's the cry for you—

'Stolen or strayed,

Lost or mislaid,

The President of the Board of Trade.'"

Scorning Advantage.-During a Dublin election, where Mr. West was a candidate, O'Connell resorted to his nicknames, and sow West" and "ugly West" were lavished liberally. "Gentlemen," said West, good humouredly, "Mr. O'Connell takes advantage of me, for he wears a wig." "I scorn all advantage," exclaimed Daniel, casting off the ornament, and exhibiting a scalp literally without a hair between it and heaven-"I scorn all advantage; compare us now, boys; is sow West the beauty?"-Curran and his Contemporaries.

An Unexpected Opponent.-Fagan, in his "Life and Times of O'Connell," relates an incident that occurred during the canvass of the constituency of the county of Kerry, when the "Liberator's" nephew was a candidate for the representation. Daniel spoke from the balcony of the Chamber of Commerce in Tralee one day, and opposite him were the committee rooms of the Knight of Kerry. In the midst of a very powerful speech a donkey suddenly began to bray. The effect was most ludicrous. Every man, woman, and child, tittered, while the Conserva

* "Run, darling! run!"

tive gentlemen roared aloud. Placid and collected, however, O'Connell looked around. A smile lighted up his face, and, raising his voice to its fullest pitch, he cried out, "Hear him! hear him, boys! 'tis the chairman of the Knight of Kerry's committee."

Parodies. Some of O'Connell's parodies and poetical applications in debate (remarks Phillips) caught the humour of the House, and were considered felicitous. Amongst these was his sneer at the smallness of Lord Stanley's personal adherents after some general election :"Thus down thy hill, romantic Ashbourne, glides

The Derby dilly, carrying six insides."

His celebrated parody on three members of Parliament, Colonels Sibthorp,
Perceval, and Verner, was extremely ready, and produced a roar :--
"Three colonels, in three distant counties born,
Lincoln, Armagh, and Sligo did adorn.
The first in matchless impudence surpassed,

The next in bigotry-in both, the last.

The force of Nature could no further go

To beard the third, she shaved the other two."

Two of these gentlemen looked as if they never needed a razor, the third (Sibthorp) as if he repudiated one.

and

Jupiter Relenting.-The following is related by Phillips, as illus. trative of the arbitrary disposition of the great Repealer: "On a matter of parliamentary inquiry, on which I had quite as much experience as himself, our judgments differed, and I fared accordingly. No one could ever tell, however, when the storm might arise; but he had it ready, and often nursed it in smiles. After walking down with me to the House of Commons one evening, arm-in-arm, as friendly as possible, he vehemently assailed me on the subject alluded to. He refused to retract. No alternative was left but to right myself, which was done in a way by no means to his satisfaction. After my excellent friend Colonel Perceval, in his place in Parliament, read my letter of reply, Daniel fell into one of his paroxysms. The gallant member,' said he, may now congratulate himself on having severed a friendship of twenty-five years' standing.' Friendship indeed! His translation of the idem velle et idem nolle must have been a curiosity. For six months and upwards, when we met, his look was a wild glare. At last it pleased his Jupitership to relent. He walked up to me one day in the Reform Club, in high good humour: Charles, shake hands; I'm tired not speaking to you. I forgive you !'" The Mob Orator.-The following allusion to O'Connell is to be found in Lord Lytton's "St. Stephen's" :

"Had that fierce railer sprung from English sires,

His creed a Protestant's, his birth a squire's,

No blander Pollio, whom our Bar affords,
Had graced the woolsack and cajoled 'my Lords.'

Pass by his faults, his art be here allow'd-
Mighty as Chatham, give him but a crowd;
Hear him in senates, second-rate at best,

Clear in a statement, happy in a jest;

Sought he to shine, then certain to displease;

Tawdry yet coarse-grain'd, tinsel upon frieze.

His Titan strength must touch what gave it birth;

Hear him to mobs, and on his mother earth!"

And the poet thus records his own observation of the power of O'Connell's voice over an immense crowd:

"Methought no clarion could have sent its sound

Even to the centre of the hosts around;

And, as I thought, rose the sonorous swell,

As from some church-tower swings the silvery bell.
Aloft and clear, from airy tide to tide,

It glided, easy as a bird may glide;

To the last verge of that vast audience sent,

It play'd with each wild passion as it went;
Now stirr'd the uproar, now the murmur still'd
And sobs or laughter answer'd as it will'd.

"Then did I know what spells of infinite choice,
To rouse or lull, has the sweet human voice;
Then did I seem to seize the sudden clue

To the grand troublous Life Antique-to view,
Under the rock-stand of Demosthenes,
Mutable Athens heave her noisy seas."

The Last Speech.-On the 3rd of April, 1846 (writes Mr. Disraeli in his "Life of Bentinck") Mr. O'Connell had announced that he should state his views at length on the condition of Ireland. Accordingly, when the order of the day for resuming the adjourned debate (on the Irish Coercion Bill) was read, he rose at once to propose an amendment to the motion. He sat in an unusual place, in that generally occupied by the leader of the Opposition, and spoke from the red box, convenient to him from the number of documents to which he had to refer. His appearance was of great debility, and the tones of his voice were very still. His words, indeed, only reached those who were immediately around him, and the ministers sitting on the other side of the green table, and listening with that interest and respectful attention which became the occasion. It was a strange and touching spectacle to those who remembered the form of colossal energy, and the clear and thrilling tones that had once startled, disturbed, and controlled senates. Mr. O'Connell was on his legs for nearly two hours, assisted occasionally in the management of his documents by some devoted aide-de-camp. To the House generally it was a performance in dumb show, a feeble old man muttering before a table; but respect for the great parliamentary personage kept all as orderly as if the fortunes of a party hung upon his rhetoric; and though not an accent reached the gallery, means were taken that next morning the country should not lose the last and not the least interesting of the speeches of one who had so long occupied and agitated the mind of nations.