favour were also bestowed upon those who had supported government on that occasion. A creation of eight peerages took place, and numerous new appointments were made. Among the latter was the elevation of the Attorney General (Fitzgibbon) to the office of lord chancellor, vacant by the death of Lord Lifford; and it is remarkable that he was the first Irishman who had ever been raised to that dignity. But he had rendered eminent service to government: he took his stand in the breach with undaunted courage, and fearlessly opposed himself to the united forces of opposition, strengthened, in the manner already related, by the expected dominion of the Prince of Wales.

The increasing unpopularity of the viceroy and the hopelessness of ever regaining that confidence which accompanied his first arrival under Lord Shelburne, or his last, when the memory of past services quickened men's expectation of future good, induced him to think of his departure, which accordingly took place on the 30th June, 1789, when the new Chancellor Fitzgib bon, and Mr. Foster the Speaker were sworn in lords justices. His excellency took shipping from Mr. Lea's villa at the Black Rock; and it was remarked if he had departed publicly his retreat would have been accompanied with very different symptoms to what attended his arrival,

CHAP. VI.

Administration of the Earl of WestmorelandConvenes the parliament-Mr. Grattan's character of the Marquis of Buckingham's administration-The French Revolution-Its influence upon certain persons in England-Eulogy of Mr. Pitt's conduct on that momentous occasion-The catholics assemble-United Irishmen of Belfast and Dublin-Commencement of catholic relief-Proceedings in parliament on this subject-Parliament prorogued.

THE Earl of Westmoreland was appointed as successor to the Marquis of Buckingham, and he met, the parliament on the 21st Jan. 1790 *. The whole of the session was chiefly occupied in the unsuccessful efforts of the popular party to obtain certain leading questions which they considered as of vital importance. When the address was moved, Mr. Grattan strongly marked his disapprobation of the late administration, and among other brilliant touches drew the following

About this time the Dublin Whig Club was instituted, under the auspices of Lord Charlemont, for an account o which see Appendix, No, V,

highly animated picture of its prominent fea

tures.

"Such has been the conduct of your reformer. This was the man. You remember his entry into the capital, trampling on the hearse of the Duke of Rutland, and seated in a triumphal car, drawn by public credulity, on one side fallacious hope, and on the other many mouthed profession; a figure with two faces, one turned to the treasury, and the other presented to the people, and with a double tongue speaking contradictory languages.

"The minister alights: justice looks up to him with empty hopes, and peculation faints with idle alarms. He finds the city a prey to an unconstitutional police;-he continues it:-he finds the country overburthened with a shameful pension list; he increases it; he finds the house of com mons swarming with placemen; he multiplies them; he finds the salary of the secretary increased to prevent a pension; he grants a pension; he finds the kingdom drained by absentee employments, and by compensations to buy them. home-he gives the best reversion in the country to an absentee-his brother! he finds the government at different times, had disgraced itself by creating sinecures, to gratify corrupt affectionhe makes two commissioners of the rolls, and gives one to another brother; he finds the second council to the commissioners put down, because useless;-he revives it; he finds the

boards of accounts and stamps annexed by public compact; he divides them; he finds three resolutions, declaring that seven commissioners are sufficient-he makes nine; he finds the country has suffered by some peculations in the ordnance; he increases the salaries of offices, and gives the places to members; to members of parliament."

Nothing, of importance was effected during this session, though many attempts were made, by the opposition, to carry certain strong measures. On the 5th, April 1790, the parliament was prorogued, and on the 8th, of the same month it was dissolved. The new parliament was -summoned to meet on the 20th, of May, but before that time it was further prorogued to the 110th, of July, when it met for dispatch of busiThe session lasted only 14 days, and the only purport of its sitting was to obtain a vote of credit for 200,000l. That accomplished, it was again prorogued, and did not meet for the -dispatch of business till the 20th of Jan. 1791. í

-ness.

The interval was employed by the viceroy, in endeavours to acquire popularity, and by his secretary (Mr. Hobart, now Earl of Buckinghamshire) in a visit to England, in order to concert with the minister, the plan of operations to be pursued in the next parliamentary campaign. One of the methods pursued by the viceroy in his exertions to become popular was, that both he and his lady always appeared clad in Irish manu

factures on all solemn occasions. Another plan, and which it is said, highly gratified the people of Dublin and secured their affections, was permitting the Beggar's Opera to be performed in that city. Lord Buckingham it seems had prohibited it. How cheap a thing is public love, when a few songs can purchase it!

At this period (1791) the principles upon which the French revolution had been accomplished, and upon which that stupendous event was still proceeding, began to produce visible effects in the British dominions. Liberty was the fond word that beguiled the early admirers of that revolu tion; and in the generous enthusiasm with which they contemplated and sympathized with a whole people, rising in their strength to shake off the chains that bowed them to the earth, something may be pardoned in consideration of the noble and honourable motive that unquestionably impelled many among them. But these many, the greater part of whom have since abandoned the cause they so warmly advocated, because the delusion was dispelled, and they saw in every subsequent step of that mighty convulsion, a sanguinary spirit, roaming through the land, seeking whom it might devour, hostile to the freedom that nourished and gave it birth, and cradling a gigantic despotism in billows of blood:-these many, thus happily won from their error, by the stern aspect of the times that followed, were not the only ones who embraced with avidity the form of de