much to the honour of my administration, but be of essential service to the affairs of this kingdom, to have the advantage of your Lordship's councils, I am to request of your Lordship to allow me to remove the impediment, and give me leave to have the honour of submitting your name for his Majesty's gracious consideration, to be placed as one of the Privy Council of this kingdom. If it will be a measure agreeable to your Lordship, I I shall have the highest satisfaction in shewing your Lordship this mark of my esteem and regard. "Being, with great esteem, "My Lord, your most, &c. "NORTHINGTON.'" To this Lord Charlemont immediately replied: "That although he had not thought of requesting such a favour, he could not decline a compliment so politely offered to him. One condition, however, he begged to propose, that Mr. Grattan, with whom, close as was their political union, he was still more closely allied by friendship, should be recommended, at the same time, for a seat in the privy council, otherwise he should, although with not less grateful respect to the Lord Lieutenant, totally relinquish the proposal.”* This condition, so honourable to Lord Charlemont, was promptly and cordially acceded to by his Excellency; and the Irish people were gratified at seeing their two most incorruptible patriots enrolled amongst the number of his Majesty's constitutional advisers. It was during this administration that the celebrated convention was held in Dublin, in which the indiscretion, (to call it no worse name,) of the popular advocates, for the first time opened the eyes of the nation to the danger of a military assembly, and led to the downfall of the Volunteers. After every constitutional grievance had been redressed, and a declaration had received the sanction of parliament, that nothing could, thenceforward, interrupt the harmony which existed between Great Britain and Ireland, that powerful body, who felt that to their energy was owing the concessions which had been made, affected to deem these concessions insecure, unless they were followed by a reform in parliament. For this purpose, numerous deputies from their body as sembled in Dungannon, and came to a resolution expressive of their determination to hold a convention in Dublin, in which the Volunteers might be fully represented by delegates, chosen by their several corps, who might sit and deliberate upon the best means of carrying into effect their important object. Although it was very well known that Lord Charlemont inclined against the extremes to which many were now about to push matters, it could not be that the opinion of one whose station and character entitled him to so much deference, should be altogether neglected. He was, therefore, consulted by the Volunteers of Belfast, previously to the meeting at Dungannon, and asked to point out some specific plan of reform, to be recommended to the consideration of parliament. The following is an extract from the answer which he returned to this solicitation, and clearly shows how little he sympathised with the dissatisfied spirits who now began to exercise a pernicious influence over the people. "A reform in the representation of Ireland is a measure which most certainly meets with my warmest approbation, and you may be assured that I shall co-operate with every sincere lover of his country, towards the attainment of that desirable object; but to point out a specific mode, is a matter of so difficult a nature, that I should esteem myself presumptuous, if I should attempt it certain as I am, that it will require the united efforts and the most deliberate consideration of the wisest men in this kingdom, to produce such a plan as may be deemed unexceptionable. The pain, however, which I must at all times feel from being compelled to refuse my immediate compliance with any request of your's, is in the present instance somewhat alleviated, by my being clearly of opinion that it is not pointed out to you; and since you have now necessary that such mode should be been pleased to ask my advice, permit me, as a sincere friend to the object of our mutual wishes, to advise that, at the Dungannon meeting, the measure alone should be recommended, without specifying any mode whatsoever; which last consideration ought, according to the best of my judgment, to be left entirely to the mature deliberation of your parliament, and particularly of those representatives whom you are now about to chuse." Hardy, vol. II. p. 84. This was good advice, but, had it been adopted, the doom of the volunteers would not have been so speedily sealed; and their extinction was now as necessary for national repose, as ever their embodying had been for national honour or national safety. It was not without considerable misgivings that Lord Charlemont suffered himself to be chosen as one of the delegates to the convention. But he deemed it necessary that whatever now existed of virtue or of moderation amongst the assertors of the people's rights, should assemble and use all their influence for the purpose of imposing some salutary check upon the violence of those from whose extra vagances most disastrous results might be expected. With the same view he prevailed upon several of his friends to consent to be nominated as his associates; and, by their aid, he hoped that the assembly about to be called together might be made to assume a constitutional aspect, and that any serious danger to be apprehended from it might be asserted, even though he should not be able To smoothe the raven down His private opinion was decidedly against the holding any such convention; but in that he could not prevail ;— and he resolved, as he thought, patriotically, to encounter its perils, in the hope that, by so doing, he might best mitigate its evils A fearful alternative! by which popular leaders must often be embarrassed, when the spirit which they have excited has once passed the limits within which they would fain have it restrained, and when it may become as pernicious in its excess, as it might have been salutary in its moderation. The convention had now assembled, and Lord Charlemont was chosen to preside over their deliberations. This was an important point gained, for his rival, the Bishop of Derry, would have valued that dignity more than his Episcopal rank; and had he been chosen to fill such an office at such a time, we have very little doubt that his leaning to the intemperate party would have led to a civil war, which would have perilled the connection of Great Britain and Ireland. The following account of the procession of that ambitious prelate to take his seat in that assembly, is given by an eye-witness, Sir Jonah Barrington, and without, we are sorry to say, that reprobation by which such dangerous and discreditable folly in an ecclesiastic should be stigmatised. "Previous to the meeting of the delegates, the Bishop of Derry had determined to convince the Irish people that he was no lukewarm professor of adherence to their interest; his character, already given, is confirmed by every act of his life when in Ireland. He took his seat amongst the Irish delegates at and to prove that he prefered the claims the Rotunda, with the greatest splendour; of the Irish Volunteers to both his English rank as Earl of Bristol, and his Irish rank as a spiritual noble, he entered Dublin in royal state, drew up his equipage at the entrance to the House of Lords, as if he halted to teach the peers their duty to their country, and then moved forward to take his seat at the Rotunda, as an Irish delegate in the National Convention. Such a circumstance can be scarcely credited in England; but had not Lord Charlemont's temporizing neutralized his spirit, it is probable that the Convention might have succeeded in its object. It is not, therefore, wonderful, that a British peer, an Englishman, and above all a Bishop, taking so decided a part in the cause of Ireland, should gain a popularity that few before him ever had so fully, or perhaps more justly experienced. He certainly was sincere; his proceedings on this occasion were extraordinary, and not unworthy of a special notice. "The lords had taken their seats in the House of Peers, when the Bishop of Derry began his procession to take his seat in the Convention. He had several carriages in his suite, and sat in an open landau, drawn by six beautiful horses, He caparisoned with purple ribands. was dressed in purple, his horses, equipages, and servants being in the most He splendid trappings and liveries. had brought to Dublin, as his escort, a troop of light cavalry, raised by his unfortunate and guilty nephew, George dressed and accoutred, and were mounted Robert Fitzgerald; they were splendidly on the finest chargers that the Bishop or their commander could procure. A part of these dragoons led the procession, another closed it, and some rode on each side of his lordship's carriage. Trumpets announced his approach, and detachments from several volunteer corps of Dublin joined his lordship's cavalcade. He never ceased making dignified obeisances to the multitude: his salutations were enthusiastically returned on every side" Long live the Bishop," echoed from every win dow; yet all was peace and harmony, and never did there appear so extraordinary a procession within the realm of Ireland. "This cavalcade marched slowly through the different streets, till it arrived at the portico of the House of Lords, which adjoined that of the Commons. A short balt was then made, the trumpets sounded, the sudden and unexpected elangor of which echoed throughout the long corridors. Both Houses had just finished prayers, and were proceeding to business, and, totally unconscious of the cause, several members rushed to the entrance. The Bishop saluted all with royal dignity, the Volunteers presented arms, and the bands played the Volunteers' march. Of a sudden another clangor of trumpets was heard; the astonished Lords and Commons, unable to divine what was to ensue, or the reason of the extraordinary appearance of the Bishop, retired to their respective chambers, and with great solicitude awaited the result. The Bishop, however, had done what he intended; he had astonished both Houses, and had proved to them his principles and his determination. Amidst the shouts and cheers of thousands, he proceeded to the Rotunda, where, in point of dignity and importance, he certainly appeared to surpass the whole of his brother delegates. He entered the chamber in the greatest form, presented his credentials, took his seat, conversed a few moments with all the ceremony of a temporal prince, and then, with the excess of that dignified courtesy of whieh he was a perfect master, he retired as he had entered, and drove away in the same majestic style, and amidst reiterated applanses, to his house, where the Volunteers had previously mounted a guard of honour. He entertained a great number of persons of rank at a magnificent dinner, and the ensuing day began his course amongst the delegates as an ordinary man of business." Such was the individual who now attracted much of popular regard, and whose influence in the assembly began to be most formidable to the friends of peace and social order; but fortunately he was the advocate of a measure which was at that time but little relished even by many of his most factious adherents. This was the emancipation of the Roman Catholics, upon which he was strongly opposed both by Lord Charlemont and Mr. Flood, and which, after endeavouring to force it upon the attention of the meeting, he was obliged reluctantly to relinquish, but not before a division of sentiment had been produced by the introduction of it, VOL. IX. which afterwards contributed its full share to the dissolution of the Volun teers. It is needless to dwell upon the various topics which were brought under the notice of this extraordinary assembly of armed men. Suffice it to say, that Mr. Flood obtained an entire ascendency over them, which he used for the purpose of procuring their sanction to a plan of reform peculiarly his own, which, at his instance, and to the consternation of Lord Charlemont, by such members of the convention as it was resolved that he, accompanied should bring down and present to the were also members of parliament, House of Commons, and that the convention should remain in delibera tion until its reception or its rejection was ascertained. A bolder attempt to overawe a legislature never was made. Had it succeeded, it would have overthrown all legitimate authority, and been the commencement of a military tyrauny in Ireland. Of the stormy debate which ensued upon the presentation of this imperious mandate, we cannot afford space to speak. Suffice it to say, it excited all the constitutional indignation which was to be found in that assembly, and the manner in which the question was forced upon their notice, cooled the zeal, or determined the opposition of many of the most strenuous reformers. The debate continued until an early hour the next morning, when it was decided, by a large majority, not only to reject the petition, but to present an address to his majesty expressive of the loyalty of the house, and the determination of its members to pledge their lives and fortunes for the maintenance of their happy constitution. Meanwhile, the delegates, after two hours' anxious deliberation, were induced by Lord Charlemont, who began to fear what had really taken place, to adjourn until the following Monday. The intervening Sunday was spent in consultation with his friends, as to the course most fitting now to be pursued ; and they wisely resolved to anticipate the usual hour of meeting on the following morning, and to adjourn the convention sine dic, before any opportunity was afforded for those angry remarks, or that intemperate and stormy eloquence, which might "Fright the isle from its propriety." Accordingly, on Monday they assembled; and resolutions having been G This was, probably, the greatest service which Lord Charlemont ever performed for his country; and yet, his conduct in breaking up this assembly did not more strongly provoke the ire of the demagogues, than his countenancing it so far as to become a member, excited the wrath of administration. This we state, because he has been suspected by some of having acted in obedience to the suggestions of the court, in defeating, as he did, the objects of the intemperate party in the convention. Barrington broadly insinuates as much; but never was insinuation more unfounded. Although success may in some measure justify him, we will not by any means, justify his lordship for becoming associated with a body which he deemed both dangerous and unconstitutional. He thereby incurred a fearful weight of responsibility, and the consequences might have been very fatal. But of the purity of his motives in so doing, there should be but one opinion; as he encountered great personal risque without any personal object, and with the perfect certainty of offending the government, and displeasing some of his most valued friends. passed expressive of their determina- generous impulse, which could endear, tion still to prosecute parliamentary or exalt, or dignify humanity. His reform in a constitutional way, this eloquence, when he entered, as he did armed body quietly dissolved, to the on the present occasion, in earnest great relief of every hater of discord, into the field of discussion, was sponand the manifest confusion of those taneous, glowing, splendid, and prowho were bent upon going lengths found; exuberant of rich, impassionwhich would have periled the ex- ed imagery; and abounding in istence of the monarchy, and who, those graces of expressions and those even though "Chaos should come classical idioms of thought which again," would have resolved society threw a sort of pellucid atmosphere into its original elements, rather than around the feelings and the sentibe defeated in their machinations. ments to which he gave utterance, and made his hearers often fancy that they were listening to a sage in the region of Greece, rather than to a senator or a judge, in the kingdom of Ireland. His mind, though steeped in learning, was never overlayed by his acquisitions. The native strength of his intellect always enabled him to appropriate, in the strictest sense of the word, to his own immediate use, his rich and varied attainments. He never, by his assimilating in sentiment to the great characters in Greece and Rome, lost his personal identity. His admiration of them was not exhibited by tame subserviency, but by congenial ardour; and his influence with his hearers was as frequently owing to the transparent purity of his motives, and the excellence of his heart, as to the captivations of his classical imagery, or the cogency of his lordly ratiocination. Yet was he, at times, very unequal. Nature was not more liberal to him of those endowments which lead to eminence, than he was himself careless in turning them to the best account, or setting them off to most advantage. His faculties seemed like petted chil dren, not wholly obedient to his own control. Sometimes they would unite in an effort of surpassing power. At other times they would scatter, and leave him in a state of the most pitiable destitution. And no one, not even he himself, could predict the moment, when, some brilliant train of thought enkindling in his mind, he would be taken, as it were, involuntarily, into one of those lofty strains of oratory, which may almost be described as the apotheosis of human elocution. When his great powers were summoned and marshalled for a great achievement, and when they obeyed the call, his march was, as Grattan described it, "like the march of an elephant ;" and the admiration which he caused was less the tribute which is extorted by transcendent intellect, than the homage which men involuntarily pay to one of Of the eminent senators of this period, by whom the dignity and the privileges of parliament were vindicated, Barry Yelverton, (afterwards Lord Avonmore,) was, perhaps, the individual who filled the largest space in the public eye, and whose eloquence and authority were alike influential in procuring the rejection of the dangerous and unconstitutional motion of Mr. Flood, both by the convictions which he inspired, and the respect with which he was regarded. He was, indeed, no common man, but one who was alike distinguished and adorned by his genius and his virtues. His head was enriched by the treasures of classic antiquity, and by legal and constitutional lore, while his heart was the scat of every kindly affection, and every the great productions of nature. The movements of his mind were like the heavings of the ocean, and even when he was most despotic in his influence over the feelings and understandings of others, he was himself as much the child of impulse, as any amongst the agitated group over whom he was exercising a momentary fascination. But, it may be truly said, the straggling disarray of Falstaff's recruits would hardly be too extravagant a metaphor, to represent the negligence and the disorder of his ideas, when his faculties were not amenable to his will, or when he did not brace them for the onset. In private, the richness and variety of his conversation was as inexhaustible as it was delightful; and there the playful urbanity of his manners, and the social zest with which he entered into all the innocent festivity of his companions, conciliated universal love. But there, also, was his weakness most conspicuous; and, it must be admitted, what should have been "a feast of reason and a flow of soul," not unfrequently was converted into a theatre of ribaldry, and even sometimes degenerated into a scene of dissipation. The unfenced garden of his virtues was a prey to every spoiler. Sharpers too frequently abused his generosity; and parasites were suffered to play, without rebuke, upon the easy credulity of his nature. Peace to his asbes! The subject of this sketch loved him cordially while he lived; and we could not suffer him to pass before our mind's eye, sustaining the part that he did, in the drama of life that has been brought before our view, without offering, poor and worthless as it may be, our tribute of commemorative admiration. The viceroyalty of Lord Northington soon came to an end. It shared the fate of the coalition ministry. He was succeeded by the Duke of Rutland; and the patriots, who had recovered their constitution from the grasp of the British minister, began to abuse their newly acquired privileges, by urging the parliament to commence a war of prohibitory duties against the English manufactures; a measure which, if adopted, must have thence forth led to a system of retaliatory enactments, which would have ruined the trade of Ireland. Fortunately the proposal was rejected. But the difficulty of regulating the commercial interests of two independent portions of a common empire, strikingly appeared, when the commercial propositions of Mr. Secretary Ord were brought under discussion. These, as they were modified by Mr. Pitt, (who felt it his duty to take in a larger horizon than that which bounded the view of the Irish politicians,) were construed as invading the independence of the Irish parliament, in matters of external legislation; and although the advantages of the proposed arrangements were sufficiently great, because they were hyperbolically described by Grattan and others, as a barter of constitution for commerce, they were indignantly rejected. was Lord Charlemont free from the prevailing infatuation. He was as earnest as any in contending for that exclusive national competency for the regulation of our affairs, both foreign and domestic, which could not consist with any due regard to the exigencies of imperial legislation; and thus, a theory, not only idly visionary, but absurdly false, was made the pretext of a contrarious and impracticable policy, by which important national interests were neglected. This system could not last. It contained the seeds of its own dissolution. Nor In 1786 Lord Charlemont was elected president of the Royal Irish Academy, a situation which he continued to fill, with honour to himself, and advantage to that learned body, during the remainder of his life. His duties in that capacity were far more congenial to his elegant and cultivated mind, than those which awaited him in those more conspicuous stations, in which he was constrained to do a violence to the retiring gentleness of his nature. But, in the Academy, he felt himself at home, and he presided over its concerns with a gracious urbanity and intelligence which greatly endeared him to its enlightened members. "Not one of the members attended did; few so constantly. the Academy meetings oftener than he Those who long call to mind his urbanity, the graces were his contemporary academicians must of his conversation, and the variety of literary anecdote, ancient or modern, with which he amused, and indeed instructed them, during the intervals of their agreeable labours at the Academy. In such labours he bore himself no inglorious part; and, in their first session, he favoured them with an essay, drawn from no common sources, in which he undertakes to prove, from an Italian author, Fazio Delli Uberti, a nobleman of Flo |