In consequence of the loud uproar with which Mr. Sheil wat almost incessantly assailed; Mr. Sheil published it in the Timer 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,

66

"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.

The Catholic Question having been settled, a great change took place in the fortunes of Mr. Sheil. He was made a king's counsel through Lord Francis Egerton. The Duke of Northumberland paid him marked attention; and Sir Henry Hardinge having 'been appointed Secretary for Ireland, exhibited towards Mr. Sheil a strong predilection, which continued long after Mr. Sheil became vehemently opposed to the party of which Sir H. Hardinge was one of the chief. Sir H. Hardinge told Mr. Sheil that he had been intrusted to award one-third of the patronage at his disposal to Roman Catholics. He did not continue in office sufficiently long to carry this resolution into effect. The Tories. were sent out of office upon Sir Henry Parnell's motion, in November, 1830, and Mr. Sheil dined at the Castle on the day on which the news of their defeat arrived in Dublin. It was an exceedingly dismal festivity: a profound depression was spread over the countenances of almost all the functionaries, who were to meet no more in their official gatherings-the Duke of Northumberland himself did not appear to consider his liberation from the Irish royalty of the Castle as a fortunate incident in his life; and so lugubrious was the feeling which diffused itself over this final conviviality, that with all his fine wit, his admirable humour, and mirthful narrative, Sir Philip Crampton, who was there, failed to produce the ordinary results with which his delightful hilarity is attended.

He

Upon the change of administration, Mr. Sheil proceeded to London, and received from Lord Anglesea, the new Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, an intimation of his desire to see him. had been presented to Lord Anglesea in Ireland, and already enjoyed his favourable opinion. Mr. Sheil had always done justice to the earnest, solicitude of Lord Anglesea for the happiness of Ireland, and Lord Anglesea was anxious in every way to promote the wishes of Mr. Sheil. Having learned that he wished to obtain a seat in the House of Commons, he told him with that fascinating smile by which all are charmed, by whom Lord Anglesea is approached, that he would do his utmost to introduce Mr. Sheil into the House of Commons.

Mr. Sheil has always expressed the highest admiration for the many noble qualities by which Lord Anglesea is adorned. He regards him as the most chivalrous and high-minded of all the great aristocracy with whom he has ever had any intercourse, and has never failed to say, that the faults committed during his viceroyalty of Ireland were to be imputed to the predominance

Lord Stanley, by whom the generous policy of Lord Angleses was uniformly thwarted and counteracted.

Lord Anglesea brought Mr. Sheil into parliament in March, 1831, for the borough of Milbourne Port, for which he sat for three months. Mr. Sheil made his first speech in the House of Commons on the 21st of March, on the Reform Bill. A great deal of curiosity was excited by his first appearance on a stage No great and so new. Notwithstanding that prejudices had existed against him, in consequence of the extreme violence of his popular harangues, he was kindly received, and a favourable hearing was given him. Mr. Sheil's voice, his small figure, his angular action, and the restless inquietude of his countenance, were observed with surprise: the efflorescence of his style, too, which is in contrast with his manner, was soon noted, and occasioned some unpropitious conjectures regarding his ultimate success as a parliamentary speaker-he committed one or two mistakes in the use of artificial embellishments, which had well nigh occasioned his failure. But at the conclusion of his speech, in which he spoke with a more natural fervour, and warned his hearers against committing the great error, which had attended the Catholic Question, by a delay of justice; he, at last, excited the house, and was considered to have succeeded. Sir Robert Peel spoke of the speech in the terms of liberal encomium, and Lord Grey, a few nights afterwards, told Mr. Sheil at his house, that he had made "an excellent speech." The critics in the newspapers differed some condemned the speech as a total failure others observed that, with many imperfections, there were evidences of ability to do much more than Mr. Sheil had effected. The following is the criticism in Blackwood, (August, 1831,) in the Noctes Ambrosianæ, which are attributed to a celebrated writer. After an exceedingly unfavourable portraiture of Mr. Sheil's exterior, Tickler says: "But never mind-wait a littleand this vile machinery will do wonders.

"NORTH.-We can wait-fill your glass.

“TICKLER.—To make some amends for her carelessness in al other external affairs, nature has given him as fine a pair of eyes as ever graced human head-large, deeply set, dark, liquid, flashing like gems, and these fix you presently, like a basilisk, so that you forget every thing else about him; and though it would be impossible to conceive anything more absurdly ungraceful than his action, sharp, sudden jolts, and shuffles, and right-about twists and leaps, all set to a running discord of grunts and moans, yet, before he has spoken ten minutes, you

forget all this too, and give yourself up to what I have always considered a pleasant sensation-the feeling, I mean, that you are in the presence of a man of genius !"

Parliament having been dissolved in consequence of General Gascoign's motion having been carried, by a majority of eight, Mr. Sheil was returned again for Milbourne Port; but having been informed by the present Judge Crampton, the then SolicitorGeneral for Ireland, that Lord Anglesea was anxious, provided Mr. Sheil could obtain a seat in Ireland, that he should leaves Milbourne Port at his disposal, Mr. Sheil stood for the county of Louth, and was returned with the concurrence of Sir Patrick Bellew, and his brother, Mr. Richard Montesquieu Bellew, the present member for the county. Mr. Sheil stated distinctly at the hustings at Louth, that being returned by a great popular constituency, he should regard the interests of the Irish people as paramount to every other consideration; and that he would never support the government at their expense. There arose a speedy and unfortunate occasion for electing between the Irish people and the ministry. The latter had determined to maintain the abuses of the Irish Church-the people of Ireland insisted on a measure of large and sweeping retrenchment. The excitement in Ireland on the Church Question was as great as that of England on the question of Parliamentary Reform. In a very short time, O'Connell and almost the entire body of the Irish liberal representatives were placed in virtual opposition. They remonstrated with the minister, but the influence of Mr. Stanley, who was devoted to the Irish Church, was predominant. He had exhibited great ability in debate, and his utter incapacity for government had not yet been signally proved. But his ser vices as a public speaker were more than counterbalanced by the hostility which his demeanour had produced. Abrupt, peremptory, jeering, sardonic, alternately scolding and mocking, heedless of giving pain, reducing every man by whom he was addressed in his own estimation, and giving way, in the midst of the most important discussions, to a kind of harsh puerility, Mr. Stanley contrived to centralize in himself the antipathies of almost every Irishman to whom the Whig government should naturally have looked for support. It was determined by a large body of Irish members to remonstrate with Lord Grey on his Irish policy, and a document, signed by upwards of thirty members, was laid before the Prime Minister, in which a strong expostulation on the course which his government were pursuing was contained. Lord Grey appointed a meeting in Downing-street, at the close of the

session of 1832, almost immediately before the dissolution of par liament, with the Irish members by whom he had been addressed More than thirty attended. The scene was remarkable. The Irish members entered in a body, and bowed to Lord Grey with great and unaffected respect. Mr. O'Connell was not only polite, but deferential in his deportment. No intention was entertained of giving offence to the eminent person whom they had approached and Mr. O'Connell took care to convey that assurance before a word was uttered by him. Lord Grey was cold, lofty, and aus tere. He drew himself up to his full height, and stood, at first, erect before the Irishmen who were gathered before him. In his fine countenance, displeasure and sorrow were associated; and his voice quivered as he desired the great agitator and his retinue, afterwards known by a more ignominious appellation, to sit down. Lord Grey also sat down, and still holding himself in as much altitude as his position would permit, stated that he had read the address of the Irish members with great pain, and that he was surprised that after all he had done and sacrificed for Ireland, he should have been so ungenerously used. He adverted, with a good deal of genuine emotion, to his long labours in the cause of Irish liberty, and complained of the manner in which he had been requited. Mr. O'Connell said, with great submission in his manner, but with a voice, of which the intentions were not in accordance with his deportment, that the Irish members were fully sensible of the services of Lord Grey, and that nothing but a sense of duty could have induced them to expostulate with so eminent a man, upon what they conceived to be the principles of his government in reference to Ireland. Lord Grey, after hearing Mr. O'Connell for a short time, intimated some impatience, and said that the Irish Catholics were taking such a course, that they would drive the government to the necessity of adopting measures of severity for their suppression. He added, however, this remarkable declaration—" that he would never be the minister by whom those measures, however necessary, should be proposed." The meeting almost immediately after broke up. The first Reform parliament was called, and the first measure proposed was the Coercion Bill. His engagement with himself was not kept by Lord Grey.

Parliament having been dissolved in 1832, and Mr. Sheil hav ing by his marriage with the daughter of Mr. John Lalor c Crenagh, in the county of Tipperary, the widow of Mr. Edward Power, of Gurteen, become connected by property with the county of Tipperary, he stood for that great county, and was