CHAPTER XXI.

1846-1850.

Lord John Russell Premier-Mastership of the Mint-" Anatomist without a corpse"-Reproached for being silentDissatisfied with his position-County occupation franchise -Question of the Irish Viceroyalty-Marriage of deceased wife's sister-Anecdotes-Committee on ministers' moneyBust taken by C. Moore.

PREVIOUS to the formation of the new Government Mr. Sheil's anticipation was, that the office of JudgeAdvocate, which he had held when Lord Melbourne resigned in 1841, would again be offered to him.* There were some amongst his friends who did not hesitate to advise him to decline such a proposal, if made, and to assert his claim to be included amongst those who were to form the new Cabinet. But how.

* Letter to M. Staunton, Esq., 30th June, 1846.

ever gratifying such suggestions may have been to his personal feelings, and however calculated to feed the flame of his future ambition, his keen sense of the hindrances that still beset his way, and the clear estimate he formed of the difficulties which his party had to encounter at the time, deterred him from yielding ta such suggestions. He was not a little pleased at finding, two days after, that the Mastership of the Mint had been reserved for him. It had always been regarded as one of the offices which ranked next to the Cabinet, and like that of Secretary at Waz Paymaster of the Forces, and Secretary for Ireland had sometimes been held by Cabinet Ministers, and sometimes not. He naturally felt that this unsolicite step in official promotion was an honourable reco gnition of the services he had rendered, and a justif cation of the hopes entertained on his behalf by others that farther advancement was yet before him.

The

Lord Bessborough was appointed Viceroy of Ire land, and Mr. Labouchere Chief Secretary. former chose for his private secretary Mr. Corry Connellan. The first time Sheil met him afterwards he said, "Be as courteous as you please in receiving postulants for patronage, but never smile-every smile is construed as an assumpsit."

During the famine, a nobleman of large estates in Ireland had rendered himself somewhat remarkable by the publicity of the attentions he paid to a lady of great personal attractions. Many of his friends reproached him with not taking a more exclusive interest at such a time in public affairs. Their remonstrances proved unavailing, and Sheil resolved to try the effect of a joke. "What is the armorial motto of the family?" he asked, "for whatever it is, it must after this year be changed, and I can tell you what the new one will be-Sine Cerere Venus."

Upon the appointment of Lord Clarendon to the Lord-Lieutenancy of Ireland, Mr. Labouchere succeeded him as President of the Board of Trade. Various candidates were named for the Chief Secretaryship of Ireland, which had thus become vacant; and amongst others Mr. Sheil, who, had he claimed it, could hardly have been passed over. Many considerations, however, disinclined him to think of such an office. He disliked the drudgery of multiplied details, and knew that for the performance of the laborious duties of such a post at the period in question, uncertain health would form an insuperable obstacle; but there was something more. He knew too well the intense worship of rank and wealth to

which his fellow-countrymen are devoted, and he likewise knew the inveteracy with which, more especially in the Irish metropolis, the love of depreciation and ridicule seeks its food, at the expense of those who have come of the people. "There is no toleration in Ireland for a man who has raised himself to eminence without being rich. Everything he does is damned ere it is done. If he gives away a place to a young man of family, he is accused of toadying the landlords; if he calls a friend whom he has known and trusted to his side, he is denounced as a jobber; if he ventures to be hospitable, he is sure to offend many whom he forgets to invite, and if he omits to entertain, he is held up as a miser. It would be hard enough for any Irishman to fill the office at such a time; but for a man like me, without title, patrimony, or connexions, it would be a hopeless business." And he would then proceed to give a caricature of himself riding into town from the Secretary's Lodge, with the comments of those whom he passed on his way along the quays.

At the general election of 1849, he announced his intention of again standing for Dungarvan. He was encountered by the opposition of Tories and Repealers. By the one he was held up to reproach as the advocate

of Free Trade; by the other, as the enemy of popular rights and liberties. With much humour he illustrated the anomalous position taken by his opponents. What interest, he asked, had the people of a seafaring town in high rents and dear food? or what identity of ultimate purpose could there be between the followers of Lord Stanley and those of O'Connell ? As for the severance of the Legislative Union by peaceful means, after it had subsisted for forty years, and with the undivided weight of Protestant intelligence and property devoted to its maintenance, the thing was impossible. A revolution was the only method whereby it could ever be achieved; but resort to such an alternative was repudiated by the leaders of the movement as criminal. In 1834, when all the benefits of Catholic Emancipation were still withheld, and it seemed doubtful to some what part the Protestant middle classes might take, the case was different. But ten years had since elapsed, during the greater portion of which the question had been suffered to rest in abeyance, and in the course of which civil exclusion had been practically obliterated by the Government of which he was a member. The Church question had not indeed been settled in the sense that he desired; but it seemed to have ceased to occupy