created among those in high quarters against Mr. Sheil, and it was decided by the government that the Attorney-General should avail himself of the first opportunity which Mr. Sheil should furnish to institute a prosecution against him. A series of vehement harangues were delivered by Mr. Sheil, which were considered to be of a very exciting nature, but it was not until he selected the memoirs of Theobald Wolfe Tone, as the subject of a speech, which the government considered to be fully as minacious as it was admonitory, that it was deemed judicious to institute proceedings against Mr. Sheil in a criminal court. There can be no doubt that the Attorney-General (the present Lord Plunket,) prepared an indictment against Mr. Sheil with great reluctance. It was understood that he took this step by the express directions of the English government :-But in the cabinet itself there were doubts entertained regarding the justice of this proceeding, and Lord Melbourne many years afterwards told Mr. Sheil, at the table of the late Lord Sydenham that Mr. Canning had declared that there was not a sentence of the speech, which would have produced a call of "order" in the House of Commons. Informations having been sworn, Mr Sheil gave bail:-his bail were Mr. O'Connell, and the late Chief Baron Wolfe, between whom and Mr. Sheil there existed a strict friendship from the period in which they first met in Trinity College, to the day on which the country was deprived of that eminent man, in whom a great understanding and a most tender nature were united :-in the interval between the taking of informations, and sending up the indictment, Mr. Sheil made the course pursued by Mr. Plunket the subject of animadversion, and instead of shrinking, declared that he would meet Mr. Plunket face to face in court, and prove that there was nothing in his speech on Wolfe Tone, (of whom Mr. Plunket had been an intimate friend,) so seditious as several speeches delivered by Mr. Plunket himself. It was felt by the law-officers that Mr. Sheil might perhaps make a great impression on the jury by pressing topics of this kind, and in order to ensure a conviction, it was of great moment to give in evidence another speech of Mr. Sheil, delivered before that on Wolfe Tone's memoirs, and published in Carrick's Morning Post, by Mr. Sheil nimself. Mr. Sheil when in Paris, in the year 1826, had become acquainted with the Abbé de Genoude, the proprietor of the Etoile, which is now published under the name of the "Gazette de France." Mr. Sheil's facility in writing French struck the Abbé, and at his suggestion Mr. Sheil wrote several articles on

Ireland, which were read with a great deal of interest in Paris and attracted the notice of the English government. Mr. Sheil had referred to these publications in a speech at the Catholic Association, and although it could not separately afford ground for a prosecution, it was considered by the Crown Counsel, that it would, if given in evidence, have a great effect in ensuring a conviction. Mr. Lonergan, the proprietor of Carrick's Morning Post, was called on by the Crown Solicitor for Mr. Sheil's manuscript, but that gentleman peremptorily declared that he would not produce it at the trial. The Crown Counsel then recommended that proof should be given of the words spoken by Mr. Sheil, and accordingly, Mr. Christopher Hughes, who reported at the Association, was applied to by the Crown, but that gen tleman, although wholly unknown to Mr. Sheil, and notwithstanding that intimations were given by the Crown that his services would be remembered, gave it to be understood in a manner most honourable to himself, that from him no co-operation in effecting Mr. Sheil's conviction was to be expected. The Crown was thus baffled, and the success of the prosecution became problematical. Bills of indictment were sent up to the Sessions' grand jury. Mr. Plunket attended the court in Greenstreet, and was accompanied by his friend, Mr. Peter Burrowes. That gentleman seemed anxious to sustain the Attorney-General, whose spirits appeared to droop, or rather to shrink from the performance of a most distasteful office-the prosecution of a man whose language was at most indiscreet, and had been uttered in a cause in which Mr. Plunket himself had spoken so often, with much glowing eloquence, and much indignant elocution. He looked at Mr. Sheil with a countenance expressive of mournfulness, in which sympathy for Mr. Sheil was not unassociated with self-reproach, and when the bills were found, turned his eyes towards Mr. Sheil's counsel with an earnest anxiety to learn what they would do. Mr. Sheil was not himself anxious for postponement, but thought it better that his fate should be at once determined :- but his counsel, Mr. O'Connell, Mr. Holmes, and the present Judge Perrin, suggested on legal grounds that the trial ought to be postponed. The Attorney-General instead cf objecting, which he might have done, at once acceded to the proposition, and appeared as if a great weight had been taken off his heart. The event proved the wisdom of procrastination; it was not conjectured at the time that the trial was deferred that it could be postponed beyond a few weeks; but in the interva! between the finding of the bills, and the law term to which

the trial had been delayed, Lord Liverpool was struck with apo plexy. Mr. Canning became Prime Minister, and the prosecution was abandoned.

Mr. Canning's administration having within a few months cerminated with a life, which sunk under the great aristocratic combination which was leagued against him, and the Goderich cabinet having been found incapable, the Duke of Wellington was placed at the head of affairs, under circumstances most inauspicious to Ireland. The energies of Mr. O'Connell were only augmented by the impediments thrown in his progress, and Mr. Sheil continued to assist him with all the resources of excitement at his command. The public mind was prepared by the Catholic Association and its great leader for a tremendous struggle, and at the Clare election, the whole prowess of Catholic Ireland was put forth. Mr. Sheil attended that election: his speech at the close is inserted in this volume, with an account written by him of the remarkable incidents of which he was a witness when that great victory was won, which led to the immediate settlement of the Catholic Question.

After Mr. Vesey Fitzgerald, a cabinet minister, the attached friend of Mr. Peel, had been defeated, it was known in the political circles, that some great measure connected with the Catholics of Ireland was in discussion in the cabinet. Alarm was

taken by the popular fanaticism, of which the county of Kent offers perhaps a more remarkable example than any other district in England, and a great meeting was announced to be held at Penenden Heath on the 24th of October, 1828. This meeting Mr. Sheil determined to attend. He proceeded to London, purchased a freehold, in order to entitle him to speak, and went to the meeting. An account of that remarkable assembly was published at the time, from which the following extract is taken :

At twelve o'clock the chair was taken by the High Sheriff, and at this moment we turned our eyes to contemplate this amazing assembly, and we do not exaggerate when we say that, with much experience, we have never witnessed a spectacle at all comparable to it. Upwards of 20,000 men stood gathered together in profound silence, but in that momentary hush it was easy to perceive the deep solicitude and the anxious passions by which the two great parties, thus marshalled against each other were equally agitated. Round the Sheriff were assembled what we con jectured to be a class of persons that affected to occupy a neutral station between the two parties, and, indeed, we observed from this smal knot, that scarcely any expression, either of approbation or dissent, during the whole course of the day proceeded. The whole mass upor the left, deep and deuse, presented at once the evidence of the strength

of the Protestant party, and of their inflexible determinaticu. On the right hand, the opposers of the objects of the meeting were assembled in an immense body, in which, unquestionably, much of the wealth and rank of the country were collected. In the waggon next to the Sheriff, on the right, which was that of the Earl of Radnor, stood his lordship with a number of his friends. We remarked that Lord Camden had no waggon. That venerable, mild, and dignified individual, occupied a place on the hustings next the Sheriff, and we thought that the selec tion of that peculiar locality was intended by him as an indication, that however opposed to the objects of the meeting, he did not enter into it with the feelings of a partizan. Adjoining the waggon of Lord Radnor was that of the Earl of Darnley; next came that of Lord Sondes.

In an adjoining waggon two gentlemen took their station, who, notwithstanding the mourning ordinances of the Gazette, were habited in an attire very little suited to the melancholy mood. The first of these gentlemen, tall, strong, healthy, and agricultural, with an aspect and demeanour in which rusticity and intellect were happily blended, though his head was grey, had a cheek fresh and ruddy. His blue eye seemed to glitter with flashes of strong thinking, whilst a latent expression of severity and derision was perceivable, by an attentive observer, under the aspect of jocularity which was spread over his features. This was Mr. Cobbett. Immediately near him was Mr. Hunt. Under these two champions there was gathered a large assemblage of their friends, who gazed with admiration upon them. A succession of other wag gons closed the right wing, which were occupied by a numerous body of the Kentish yeomanry. Between the two wings was a large caval. cade of farmers drawn up like troops of horse. Behind them was ar immense quantity of vehicles, consisting of private and public carriages, with clusters of freeholders hanging about them. Within the circle which was formed by the waggons, stood upon the ground a dense body of the peasantry, who arranged themselves on the left or the right wing according to their respective political predilections. The whole scene presented a most extraordinary and impressive exhibition. Before beginning the description of the proceedings, it may be necessary to notice a little preliminary address by Mr. Cobbett to the people shortly after his arrival on the ground. He was accompanied thither by Mr. Hunt, with banners; both were greeted with applause as soon as they presented themselves in front of the waggons.

Mr. COBBETT.-My friends, you will hear a great deal of talk here to-day no doubt you will-about the Pope and the devil.-(A laugh). Do you take care to have nothing to do with either-take care of yourselves-pay attention to the things that belong to you, and you will do that if you attend to me.

After Mr. Plumtree, the member for the county; Lord Camden Lord Darnley, Lord Winchilsea, Mr. Shee, and Lord Teynham had spoken, Mr. Sheil addressed the meeting in a speech that was repeatedly interrupted.*

See page 44

In consequence of the loud uproar with which Mr. Sheil wa almost incessantly assailed; Mr. Sheil published it in the Times and Sun newspapers, and it attracted very general notice. The famous Jeremy Bentham was greatly struck by it, and wrote the following letter, which appeared in the Morning Chronicle of November 6, 1828. It was addressed by the great philosopher to Mr. Galloway, in reference to a public dinner which was afterwards given to Mr. Sheil at the London Tavern, at which Mr. Smith of Norwich presided.

"Queen-Square-Place, October 31, 1828. "MY DEAR GALLOWAY,-So masterly an union of logic and rhetoric as Mr. Sheil's speech, scarcely have I ever beheld. I have just received the circular inviting my attendance at the dinner. You know I labour under complaints which prevent my stirring from home, cases of absolute necessity excepted. For years upon years it has been out of the question with me.

"The dinner good-printing and diffusion of the speech still better this surely will not be omitted. In the Herald of this day are two or three abominable letters against Sheil. What say you to adding them, together with the exculpatory statement in the Sun, to the reprint of his speech? Might it not be of use in the way of contrast, and as an exemplification of impartiality, in particular, that signed “ Verus ""

To Alexander Galloway, Esq."

"Yours ever,

"JEREMY BENTHAM.

After this adventurous undertaking, Mr. Sheil returned to Ireland, and was cordially received by his countrymen, who conceived that good service had been rendered by him to the great cause in which he had been so strenuously engaged. But at the very time that the meeting at Penenden Heath was held, the Duke of Wellington and Sir Robert Peel were giving way to the enormous pressure of the Catholic Association and its great Leader, Mr. O'Connell, and alarmed at the organised disaffection of which Ireland had exhibited the evidence, had determined on the enfranchisement of the Irish people. The resolution of the government was, however, kept secret for several months previous to the meeting of parliament. Parliament met on the 6th of February, 1829, and the speech from the throne recommended "a final, equitable, and satisfactory adjustment of the Catholic claims." It was believed that a voluntary dissolution of the Association would assist the ministry in carrying the great measure which they had announced, and Mr. Sheil moved the dissolution of that body, which was almost unanimously carried.