HC Deb 14 June 1820 vol 1 cc1054-66
Sir James Mackintosh

rose to move, that the Speaker should issue his writ for the election of a citizen to serve in parliament for the city of Dublin, in room of the right hon. Henry Grattan, deceased. In the absence of his right hon. friend, the member for Waterford, who from some circumstances, found it impossible to attend, he had been requested to address a few words to the Chair on this most melancholy occasion. He could assure the House, that in acceding to the request which had been made to him, he felt the deepest sense of his own inability to do justice to that immortal name which must connect itself with all that he had to say, and he could with equal truth assure them, that by acceding to it on this occasion he by no means evinced a partiality for such proceedings in general. Far from approving of such a course being pursued in cases of an ordinary description, he was ready to admit that if the practice were extended beyond the very narrow limits within which it had been of late years con6ned—if friendship, or any other inadequate cause, should make such addresses degenerate into matters of course, he should most sincerely deplore the departure from our recent custom, and heartily wish to return to the modest silence of our forefathers. Indeed studied panegyric on the dead was not consistent with the general character and simple habits of Englishmen; it was a practice rather suited to an enslaved people than to a land of freemen, for those who were debarred from the manly exercises open to the natives of this country, and restrained to a few subjects might be expcted, in the absence of other themes on which they might dilate, to exhaust themselves in laboured orations and in worthless praise; Hitherto, in modern times, the House had preserved a very becoming temperament on these subjects, and such tributes had been limited to cases of recent death, where warm respect, admiration, and af- fection, made it impossible for any difference of opinion to prevail. The bounds which had thus been observed ought not to be exceeded. The House had acted wisely in reserving such distinctions for occasions of an extraordinary nature. Were this not done, the practice would soon resolve itself into a hollow and hypocritical parade, conferring no honour on the subject of it, reflecting no credit on the House, and degrading to the feelings of the nation. If he should be ashamed of being found wanting in respect to the memory of those he had most loved and honoured on earth, he should not be less so of suffering feelings of personal regard to influence him on an occasion like the present, so as to induce him to bring forward the merits of an individual as entitled to public admiration, where it was at all doubtful whether posterity would confirm the decision that might be come to in the first instance. The honours they might render to those who were no more ought to be strictly confined to such cases as he had supposed. They owed this as well to the memory of those who had received such honours as to those who had not received them, to their own characters, as well as to those of their friends, for many who had not been so distinguished were entitled to the highest honours that friendship could bestow, though not to that peculiar mark of public consideration in that House which ought to be the appropriate reward of exalted public virtue and transcendant talent. He could not but insist that the restraint imposed on their feelings ought to be continued, for that eulogium and those plaudits would become utterly worthless, if for a moment it could be doubted that they were sincere. When he stated that exalted virtue, great public services, and transcendant talent, were the conditions on which such honours should be granted, and uttered the name of Mr. Grattan, he was confident that every one who heard him would be ready to reply with eagerness, that he had satisfied them all. Mr. Grattan had been peculiarly distinguished in the course of his parliamentary career. He was the first (so far as he was informed) and certainly he was the only individual of our age to whom parliament had voted a recompense for services rendered to the country, by one who was no more than a private gentleman; and who had neither civil nor military honours. Mr. Grattan was the only man to whom a parliamentary grant, under such honourable circumstances, had ever been made. It was near forty years since the Irish parliament voted an estate to Mr. Grattan and his family for his public services; not indeed as a recompence, because it was wholly impossible to recompense such services; but, as the vote itself expressed it, "as a testimony of the national gratitude for great national services." These were the words of the grant. He need not remind the House what those services were, or what were the peculiar terms in which they were acknowledged: the only thing necessary to be said was this—that he was the founder of the liberties of his country. Mr. Grattan found that country a dependent province upon England, and he made her a friend and an equal, he gave to her native liberties, and he gave a name among the nations of the earth, a brave and generous people. So far as he (sir James Mackintosh) knew, this was the only man recorded in history whose happiness and glory it was, to have liberated his country from the domination of a foreign power, not by arms and blood, but by his wisdom and eloquence. It was Mr. Grattan's peculiar felicity that he enjoyed as much consideration in that country whose power over his own he had done his utmost to decrease, as he enjoyed in that for which he had achieved that important liberation. But there were still more peculiar features in the general character and respect which he was so fortunate as to maintain in both kingdoms. It must be admitted that no great political services could be rendered to mankind without incurring a variety of opinions, and of honourable political enmities. It was then to be considered as the peculiar felicity of the man whose loss they deplored, that he survived them for a period of 40 years; he survived till the mild mellowing hand of time, and the private virtues of advanced age, in him so particularly conspicuous, had produced so general an impression, that that House divided as it was on other subjects, all united to do honour to his talents and merits; and followed by their admiration to the end of his career, he doubted not that the tribute which he called on the House to render to his memory, would be deep, sincere and unanimous. He had said that such honours should only be bestowed in cases where posterity would be sure to approve the decision. Grattan, he was certain, every one must feel, would be a great name in our annals. His history would fill a most important space upon the page of history, for it would be connected with the greatest events of the last century. Fertile as the British empire had been in great men during our days (as fertile as it had been in any former period of our history), Ireland had undoubtedly contributed her full share of them. But none of these, none of her mighty names,—not even those of Burke and Sheridan, and Wellington, were more certain of honourable fame, or would descend with more glory to future ages, than that of Grattan. He had not touched, neither did he intend to touch, upon any question which might have a tendency to provoke political discussion; he meant no allusion which should apply to any opinions entertained by hon. gentlemen; but he might be allowed to observe, that that conviction of his great public services which had obtained for Mr. Grattan the gratitude of his country in the year 1782, was totally distinct from the opinions which might be formed upon other subsequent acts of his, and particularly as regarded the union; for, whatever those latter opinions might be, this at least was certain—that no safe and lasting union could have been formed between the two countries till they met upon equal terms, and as independent nations. What Mr. Grattan said of the union—which he (sir J. Mackintosh) trusted might be lasting to eternity—was this—that, instead of receiving laws from England, the Irish members in this country would now take their full share and equal participation of the duties of legislation, and of the conduct of the affairs of both kingdoms. Whatever therefore might bethought by some individuals of the union, the reward which Mr. Grattan had formerly received was equally merited; and he was still equally entitled to the approbation of his countrymen. If he might be permitted to mention the circumstance, he would observe, that there was one strong peculiarity in Mr. Grattan's parliamentary history, which was, perhaps, not true of any other man whoever sat in that House. He was the sole person, in the history of modern oratory, of whom it could be said, that he had arrived at the first class of eloquence in two parliaments, differing from each other in their opinions, tastes, habits, and prejudices,—as much, possibly as any two assemblies of different nations. Confessedly the first orator of his own country, (of which, he would say, that wit and humour, sprang up there more spontaneously than in any other soil), he had come over to this country at a time when the taste of that House had been rendered justly severe by its daily habit of hearing speakers such as the world had rarely before witnessed. He had therefore to encounter great names on the one hand, and unwarrantable expectations on the other. These were his difficulties, and he overcame them all. He had out-stripped the affectionate expectations of his friends, and he had made those bend to his superior genius, who had, perhaps, formed a very different estimate of his powers. He had felt himself called upon to allege these peculiarities of character and qualification in order to justify his address to the House—in order to show that the present case was beyond the ordinary rule, and could establish no dangerous precedent. This great man died in the attempt to discharge his parliamentary duties. He did not, indeed die in that House, but he died, in his progress to it, to continue his efforts in that cause of which he had so long been the eloquent advocate. He expired in the public service, sacrificing his life with the same willingness and cheerfulness with which he had ever devoted his exertions to the same cause. It was not for him to define what those services and exertions were. He called on no man to remodel or to alter his former opinions relative to that great measure which Mr. Grattan was about once more to propose to them; but he would only mention, that Mr. Grattan considered it in the same light as he (sir J. Mackintosh) had always done. Mr. Grattan risked his life to come into that House for the purpose of so proposing it; because he believed that it would be the means of healing the long-bleeding wounds of his suffering country; of establishing peace and harmony in a kingdom, whose independence he had himself achieved; of transmitting to posterity, with the records of her political the history of her religious liberation; of vindicating the honour of the Protestant religion; of wiping from it the last stain that dimmed its purity, and of supporting the cause of religious liberty, whose spirit went forth in emancipated strength at the Revolution, and was adopted into our laws, although its principle was long unknown to the reformers themselves. There was one important circumstance in the case of Mr. Grattan winch was well entitled to observation; his was a case without alloy; it was an unmixed example for the admiration of that House. The purity of his private life was equal to the brightness of his public glory. He was one of the few private men whose private virtues were Followed by public fame; be was one of the few public men whose private virtues were to he cited as examples to those who would follow his public steps. He was as eminent in his observance of all the duties of private life, as he was heroic in the discharge of his public ones. He (sir J. Mackintosh) had not the honour to know Mr. Grattan until late in life. Among those men of genius whom he (sir J. Mackintosh) had had the happiness of knowing, he had always found a certain degree of simplicity accompanying the possession of that splendid endowment. But, among all the men of genius he had known, he had never, in advanced age, met with a man in whom native grandeur of mind, with vast stores of knowledge at his command, was so happily blended with rational playfulness and infantile simplicity, such native grandeur of soul accompanying all the wisdom of age, and all the simplicity of genius as in Mr. Grattan. He had never known any one in whom the softer qualities of the soul combined so happily with the mightier powers of the intellect. In short, if he were to describe his character briefly, he should say, with the ancient historian, that he was "Vita innocentissimus; ingenio florentissimus; proposito sanctissimus." As it had been the object of his life, so it was his dying prayer, that all classes of men might be united by the ties of amity and peace. The last words which he uttered were, in fact, a prayer that the interests of the two kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland might be for ever united in the bonds of affection; that they might both cling to their ancient and free constitution; and (as most conducive to effect both those objects) that the legislature might at length see the wisdom and propriety of adopting a measure which should efface the last stain of religious intolerance from bur institutions. He trusted that he should not be thought too fanciful if he expressed his hope that the honours paid to Mr. Grattan's memory in this country, might have some tendency to promote the great objects of his life, by showing to Ireland how much we valued services rendered to her, even at the expense of our own prejudices and pride. The man who had so served her must ever be the object of the reverential gratitude, and pious recollections of every Irishman.—When the illustrious dead were gathered into one common tomb, all national distinctions faded away, and they seemed to be connected with us by a closer union than laws or governments could produce. It was natural to dwell on their merits, and on their probable reward; and he felt that he could not better close what he had to say on this subject than by applying to Mr. Grattan the lines written on one who had successfully laboured to refine our taste and our manners, but who had nothing in common with Mr. Grattan but a splendid imagination, and a spotless life. Of Mr. Grattan, when he should be carried to that spot where slept the ashes of kindred greatness, might truly be said, Ne'er to those chambers where the mighty rest, Since their foundation came a nobler guest; Nor e'er was to the bowers of bliss convey'd, A purer spirit, or more welcome shade.

Lord Castlereagh,

agreeing with the remarks made by the hon. and, learned gentleman, as to the occasions on which a public tribute of applause should be rendered to those who were no more, perfectly entered into the feelings which had been expressed with respect to Mr. Grattan, and thought no individual could hesitate in awarding to his name the honours claimed for it. No man had ever rendered more splendid services to the country, than the individual whose loss was deplored both by the House and the country. He could remember when he (lord C.) first came into public life in 1790, that Mr. Grattan was there in the zenith of his talents, and certainly no talents had ever asserted greater supremacy over a popular assembly than his had done. He was of opinion, that in the great transaction which had been alluded to, England profited not less from the talents of Mr. Grattan than Ireland had done. By the victory which he bad previously gained, Mr. Grattan had laid the foundation for that measure which had united the two islands of Great Britain and Ireland into one empire, and dissipated those mists which had before prevented both countries from seeing their true interests, Mr. Grat- tan had first overthrown the commercial bigotry which once existed, in consequence of his exertions, and the advantages resulting from this were now felt in the wealth which each country poured into the other, and which it was now the business of parliament to make fructify, and increase the commercial prosperity of the empire. The hon. and learned member had, with great good taste, abstained from going into any subject which might have originated a difference of opinion, when he called the attention of the House to the sentiments uttered by Mr. Grattan in his last moments, respecting the Catholic question. Whatever were his (lord Castlefeagh's) feelings on that question, he thought with the hon. and learned gentleman, that to introduce any thing relating to it on the present occasion would be foreign to the purpose. Whether Mr. Grattan was right in the view which he took of that question or not, it could at least be said that his death was consistent with his life, and that, in his attempt to perform what he considered to be a duty to his country, he had given a memorable testimony in the last effort of his feeble frame, but great mind, of fidelity and attachment to the cause. He deeply regretted he could not more adequately express his high political veneration for the extraordinary talents this distinguished character displayed on various occasions, in many of which he had himself been opposed to him in argument and sentiment. Of one thing he wished the hon. and learned gentleman to be convinced by the vote about to be given on this occasion, that the members on his side of the House were as anxious as those on the opposite side to do justice to the rare endowments and extraordinary talents, of that distinguished and lamented individual, whose virtues he was persuaded would long live in the memory of the British nation, confuted the erroneous idea that was but too prevalent, that the poverty of Ireland was the wealth of England.

Mr. C. Grant

entreated the pardon of the House for occupying their attention for a few minutes on a subject which to him was so deeply interesting. He was glad that this occasion had not been allowed to pass, without paying that just tribute of panegyric to the memory of the late Mr. Grattan, because he thought it was due to the feelings of the House of Commons, to the feelings of Ireland, and he would add, of England; for we had also shared the advantage and glory of his talents. He would not enter into a detail of the public life and character of Mr. Grattan—it was satisfactory and consoling, that upon such an occasion all party differences, should be laid aside. In truth, that great man was now far removed from all party differences, he had already taken his place among kindred spirits, to whom his distinguished virtues on earth had long been approximating him. That great man was as delightful in private life as he was in public. One great beauty in his character was, that love of retirement which the ardour of his patriotism led him to forsake. Encircled as he had been for the greater part of his latter years by his family in the most picturesque and beautiful spot near Dublin, to his last days he felt and admired all the silent charms of nature with all the freshness and ardour of a first affection. He had had many opportunities of seeing him in the midst of his family and friends, and of observing with what urbanity he gave himself up to the pleasures of domestic life. These recollections made him feel far more deeply the irreparable loss which himself, in common with the whole nation, now sustained; but they suggested another more useful feeling—the intimate connection there was between great public and great private virtues. In truth, Mr. Grattan's political exertions had been so productive of beneficial fruits to his country, because they were deeply rooted in the domestic virtues.

Mr. Wilberforce

observed, that the great public services which had been rendered both to Ireland and to Great Britain by the eminent and lamented individual in question, had been well described by his hon. and learned friend. Having witnessed all the exertions of Mr. Grattan's political life, after his introduction into this country, he begged to be allowed to say a single word on the subject. He had never known a man whose patriotism and love for the constitution of his country seemed so completely to extinguish all private interests, and to induce him to look invariably and exclusively to the public good. His mind was of a character which enabled him completely to triumph over party feeling on all, questions of great public importances—He could not abstain from remarking, that to this particular praise Mr. Grattan was entitled in more than an ordinary degree; for although it was well known that he was no friend to the Union at the time that it took place, yet almost his last breath was exhausted in the expression of a fervent wish that that Union might never be disturbed. Although he would not allude more particularly to the topic on which that conduct was exhibited, yet well he remembered that when Mr. Grattan was apprehensive that the love of liberty, which no one had more zealously infused into his countrymen than himself, carried to excess, might betray them into licentiousness.—He freely subjected himself to unpopularity, with a view to avert the evil, and to recall those who were giving way to it to a just sense of the beneficial and excellent qualities of the constitution under which they lived. Mr. Grattan showed true wisdom in thus manifesting that the love of liberty was never so substantially gratified as when it was gratified with a due observance of that proper rule and subordination without which the principles of civil society must immediately dissolve.

Mr. V. Fitzgerald

trusted he might be permitted to occupy the House for a few moments, with the expression of those sentiments which were common to all who had ever known the revered individual whose loss the country had now to deplore. He was fully sensible that whatever might be said on the subject, might do honour to themselves and to the country; but could add no honour to the memory of such a man as Mr. Grattan. The hon. and learned gentleman who had introduced the topic to the House, had expatiated on the character of his illustrious friend with an eloquence and a feeling to which every breast responded. It had been truly said by the hon. and learned gentleman, that if they wished to read the history of M. Grattan, they must read the history of his country. With every memorable occurrence in Irish history during the last forty years, Mr. Grattan's name was connected; and he had stamped it with his character. It was superfluous to dilate on this subject. To Mr. Grattan's exertions, Ireland principally owed her independence. In his own words, the revolution then achieved was "alone in the history of empires, the revolution accomplished without shedding a drop of human blood." He would abstain from dwelling on any topic calculated to excite a difference of opinion; but it was impossible to contemplate the occasion an circumstances of Mr. Grattan's death, without some reference to that particular question, which, to the last moment of that great man's existence, occupied his whole heart and soul. Without entering into any discussion whether Mr. Grattan's opinions on that question were right or not (the House knew his, Mr. V. Fitzgerald's sentiments upon it) he could not refrain from observing, that there was, in the very manner and time of Mr. Grattan's death, a consecration of his opinions on that most important subject which was well calculated to augment their force and impression. He recollected that on the first occasion on which he had the honour and the happiness to hear Mr. Grattan in parliament, in adverting to the talents and services of his eminent but deceased contemporaries, Burgh, Yelverton, and Flood, he observed, that although they had not lived to witness the restoration of the independence of Ireland, their genius might be said to survive, even in the measures which they had themselves failed to accomplish. Mr. Grattan was more felicitous. His fame rested, not on measures which had failed, but on measures which had succeeded; but he (Mr. V. Fitzgerald) trusted that with respect to other great principles so often and so admirably maintained by him in that House, his genius (to use his own expression) might survive and operate, though his mortal part had ceased to exist.

Mr. Becher

declared his conviction that the House would make allowance for the feelings which must animate every Irish bosom on contemplating the qualities of the most distinguished and useful patriot that his country had ever produced. Without stopping for a moment to consider his own incapacity to address the House on such a subject, he should be ashamed to sit silently in any assembly where he had a right to deliver his sentiments, when the name, of Grattan was mentioned; and he was sure that his sentiments were in unison with those of all who heard him, when he expressed his deep lamentation for the loss, and his profound veneration and gratitude for the services of the illustrious individual in question. He by no means intended to enter into any detailed panegyric on that great man. He was totally incapable of the task; and if he were capable of it, it would be altogether superfluous. His principal reason for rising was to mention to the House that a document—the dying exhortation of Mr. Grattan to his Catholic countrymen—addressed to a gentleman who stood by his bedside, and by him immediately afterwards committed to writing—had been communicated to him (Mr. Becher), which, with the permission of the House, he would now read—[The hon. member here read the document in question so rapidly, that we could collect only an imperfect report, to the following effect:]

"I wished to go to the House of Commons to testify with my last breath my opinions on the question of Catholic: Emancipation; but I cannot. The hand of death is on me. I am not afraid of death; but I fear for my country if the object which I have so long cherished should not be accomplished. I sincerely wish the Catholics to be relieved from the oppression under which they have long been labouring, because I have always considered them to be loyal men, worthy to he placed upon a footing with the other members of the community, and to be allowed to worship God according to their own consciences. I wish the question to be settled, because I believe it to be essential to the permanent tranquillity and happiness of the country, which are, in fact, identified with it. The Catholics have behaved well under many trials. If their hopes should be again disappointed, I most earnestly deprecate any coalition on their part with the advocates of Universal Suffrage and Annual Parliaments. Were the friends of those doctrines to be successful in their object, nothing could ensue but the subversion of the constitution, and the establishment of the wildest democracy. There is one thing more. The Catholics must cautiously avoid becoming parties to any dissensions that may unfortunately prevail in the royal family" [Hear!].

Nothing could, in his opinion, be more favourable to Mr. Grattan, than this proof, in his dying moments, of his anxious solicitude that his Catholic countrymen might not fall into error.—He (Mr. Becher) trusted that they would not do so. At the same time, he trusted they would not fail in the attainment of the important object which they had in view. If they should fail, he was persuaded it could only be by a departure from the dying injunctions of their unwearied champion and best friend; and who had taken so solemn an opportunity of giving wholesome advice to them, as he had so frequently done to those who were to legislate for them. He had gratified his own feelings in having said these few words; he hoped he had done no injury to the memory of the great man of whom he had been speaking; and he trusted he had not committed an unreasonable trespass on the patience of the House.

The motion was then agreed to.