BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THE LATE MR. SHEIL. (From the "Morning Chronicle.")

New Zealander, Volume 7, Issue 587, 29 November 1851, Page 3

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THE LATE MR. SHEIL. (From the " Morning Chronicle.")

Mr. Shell's life may be divided into three general phases : his career as a literary man and a dramatist — for it was as a writer of tragedies that he first came before the public; his career as an agitator when arguing and enforcing the claims of his Roman Catholic countrymen to civil rights equal to those enjoyed by Protestants — the most stormy, the most characteristic, and the most splendid period of his life ; and his Parliamentary career, which continued almost uninterruptedly from 1831 to 1850, and during which he gradually settled' down from a fiery debater and a keen partisan, into a contented placeman, who only at rare and distant intervals raised that shrill and impetuous voice, which in the old days had so often rung over ronring and swelling multitudes, denouncing the bigotry and the intolerance which placed con-scientiously-felt religion under the ban of civil disability. " Richard Lalor Shell waa the son of Mr. Edward Sheil a gentleman who after realizing a competence as a Cadiz meichant had retired to a property called Bt'llevue, near Waterford. He was born in Dublin in 1794, and was accoidingly, at the time of his death, on the '23rd of May, in his fifty-seventh year. Young Sheil was first placed under the care of a French refugee abb 6? and was afterwards transferied to n London school, conducted by one of the emigr6 noblesse. His education was next entrusted to the authorities of the Jesuit College of Stonyhurst; and he finally entered Ins name on the books of Trinity College Dublin. Mr. Shell's oratorical powers began to show themselves at a very early period of life. He was a member of sundry college and general debating clubs in Dublin, and distinguished himself by the energy and passion of a very crude and extravagant — but by no means ineffective — and eminently Irish oratory. Mr. Sluel's early efforts as a public speaker are said by those who remember them to have been strange pieces of hyperbolic rhapsody, expressed in the most extravagantly adorned and superlative metaphor, but always containing bold, individual, and original thought, and always delivered with an enthusiasm and a headlong excitement which sometimes caused as much merriment as the evident intensity of purpose on the part of the speaker excited respect and admiration. " Leaving Dublin and Trinity, Mr. Sheil entered himself as a student at Lincoln's Inn, and waa in due time called to the bar. His father's affairs had not in the mean time piospered; some unlucky speculations had crippled his resources, and it was to clear the expenses of hip legal education that Richard Lalor first tuined his attention to the diama. His opening tragedy was Adelaide, a piece which owed some slight and temporary success to the impassioned acting of Miss O'Npill, who befi tended her young countryman. Mr. Sheil was now practising at the bar ; but as briefs came in but slowly, he persevoied in his dramatic creations, and either bpfore or not very long after his first marnnge with Miss O'llalloran, pioduced— at Covcnt Garden, we believe— not less than three trage- , dies, — The Apostate Bellamira, and Evudne. Of these the liist was, perhaps, the most successful. It was a Spanish stoiy, the scene laid at the time of the expulsion the Moors, and the play containing a fair allowance of melodramatic incident iind effect. The Apostate was onginally played twelve nights, and has been since

more than onceVvived. Evaihie, however, Insist pl.iy, hab found most'favotir with the rending public. It has been acted sevtr.il times within the List few years at S.idlei's Wells and, if we mistake nor, also at the Surrey Theatre, but with little cr no eflect. In fact, Mr. Sbiel had 100 little in him of the playwngbt to be a successful dramatist. He could wnte good poetry and could develop and elaborate character, but he knew little or nothing about those minor but not less e°sential arts of t>kilful constiuction and startling stage effects. Still his dramatic labours weie not unprofitable; it having been stated that his four tiagedies had brought him not less than jC2i>o(). Mr. Shell followed Sir Walter Scott's advice, however, and looked upon literature, dramatic and otherwise, as a staff rather than a ciutch — giving up the stage and all that appertained to it as soon as he saw a chance of pushing Ins way in Ins profession as a barrister, and finally using the bar as a stepping-stone to political life. The gie.it agitation which ended in the admission of Catholics to the Legislature was, towards the close of the fn&t quarter of the century, rapidly gaining stiength and consistence, and undei" the adroit and vigorous leiideiship of O'Corinell, the Catholic Association was fighting" its stoimy way to the height of political power <( ln 1822 — a year of Irish distress and famine — Mr. Shell joined Mr. O Connell beaitand soul as an agitator for Emancipation, and also for the repeal of the Union. He now became considered as one of the leaders of the popular party. Plis speeches weie vigorous, and—conbideiing the temper of the Government and the nation at the tune — bold even to rashness. When the measuie to suppress the Catholic Association of Ireland was brought in by Mr. Goulbuin, in 1825— a measure uliimatply earned on its third reading by a majority of 130 — botii Mr. O'Connell and Air. Shell were heard at the bar against the bill. The language used by Mr. O'Connell on this occasion was so very violent that the At-toiney-General held him to bail; but the indictment preferied against him was thrown out by the grand jury. Mr. Shell's general succebs in London was not the less brilliant that he had not achieved the main object of his mission. His oratoiical reputation had preceded him. Gieat curiosity pi evailed to hear him speak, and his admirers were amply gratified. Theagitator was petted and caressed by the leading members of the Whig paity, and went back to lieland npt a whit dismayed by the success of Mr. Goulburn's bill. The tone of the speeches in which Mr. Shell now indulged attracted the notice of Government, and at length, after a philippic of especial violence — the subject being in the main the life of Wolf Tone — the Attorney-Geneial, afterwards Loid Plunkelt, was ordered to do his duty. The tnal which ensued bore a striking resemblance to other and more famous state trials. Procrastination was the game played by Mr. Shell's legal defenders — Mr. O'Connell, Mr. Holmes, and the learned gentleman who is now Judge Pen in. Legal objections were taken — all manner of ingeuious flaws were discovered — long technical discussions, and dreary delays and postponements took place — and in the interval the Liverpool Administration having gone out, and Mr. Canning having come in, th° piosecution was allowed to fall through, and the matter dropped. Meantime, however, the impending fangs of the law had by no means sufficed to keep (he versatile and energetic counsellor in check. During the Wellington Administration he was indefatigable in the work of organizing and inspiring with eneigy and courage Catholic Ireland. This was the most active and ener getic period of his life. He harangued, wrote, laboured at the formation of country and branch associations, and was, in fact, with Mr. O'Connell, the main-spring and the active intelligence and soul of the whole movement. The agitation in its then phase culminated in the famous Claie election, which may be regarded as the final stand-up fight, the issue of which decided the concession of Catholic Emancipation. Mr. O'Connell then stood for the county against Mr. Vesey Fitzgerald, a Cabinet Minister. '1 he whole of the landed gentry of Clare threw their utmost influence into the scale of the Government candidate ; but the storm, raised in a great measure by Mr. Sheil's eloquence, was irresistible, and the forty-shillings freeholder^ tiiumphantly seated Mr. O'Connell. The event excited great interest, and some little partial disturbance in England. It was felt that the time had come for something to be done, and the Irish agitators crossed the Channel and flung themselves again into the raging contest between the rival creeds. Then came the celebiated meeting on Penenden Heath, when the yeomanry and freeholders of Kent carried a petition praying Parliament to preserve inviolate the Protestant constitution. Mr. Sbeil was present, and attempted to speak; but not one woid could he succeed in enunciating in consequence of the turbulence and excitement of the meeting, which 'led to scenes of the wildest liot. A good deal of amusement was, however, occasioned by a full report of the unspoken speech, furnished of couise by the orator, appearing in the. columns of the morning papers duly garnished with • hears' and < cheers' which Mr, Sheil thought he was warranted in anticipating. The composition itself was a piece of mingled brilliant declamation and close and clear logic, and may be regarded as a fellow oration to the great speech at the Clare election. The repeal of the Catholic disabilities had now, however, in spite of the Penenden Heath affair, been virtually accomplished. The Peel and Wellington Cabinet yielded ; and on the sth of March, 1829, Mr. Peel, in a four hours' speech, brought in the Catholic Relief Bill ; Mr. Shell soon afterwards proposing and carrying a motion for the dissolution of the Catholic Association, as having done its duty and accomplished the end of its being. " Shortly -after the settlement of the Catholic claims, Mr. Sheil received a silk gown, through the medium of Lord Francis Egerton ; and in 1 831 he was brought into Pailiament by the Marquis of Anglespa, for the family borough of Milbourne Port. Mr. Sheil was not lo )g in giving the House of Commons a specimen of his talents. It wat. the epoch of the introduction of the Reform Bill, which was proposed by Lord John Russell on the Ist of March, and the honourable Member for Milbourne Port took immediate part in the discussion. His success was complete ; and he was publicly complimented by the leadeis of the Reform phalanx, and also by his more generous opponents. Then came the general election following up the two defeats sustained by the Ministry on General Gascoigne's motion and the question of adjournment. Mr. Sheil then stood for the county of Louth, and was triumphantly returned ; but, on the dissolution in 1832, having two years previously been married to the widow of Mr. Edward Power, of Gurteen, by which alliance he succeeded to property in Tipperary, he became anxious 'to become Parliamentary connected with that county, and accordingly was, in the year in question, elected along with a son of Lord Lismore. On the 15th r of February in the following year, Lord Grey brought in his Irish disturbances Bill; a measure which passed through its stages with gieat rapidity, although pertinaciously opposed by the Irish Members, led on this occasion by Mi. Sheil, — a piece of tactics which produced a charge that the honourable member's opposition was a sham opposition, and that in secret he encouraged the ministry to proceed with the bill. This calumny was investigated by a Committee of the House, and proved to be utterly groundless, and its original promulgator apologised most amply for his mistake. The celebrated Lich field House compact, to which Mr. Sheil was of course a conspicuous party, was the next prominent event in his life. Previously, howevei, to that 'amnesty' and 'compact alliance,' Mi. Sheil had distinguished himself by his bitterness in the denunciation of titbos, which he objected to in any shape, and by his very outspoken abuse of the union. ' If,' said Mr. Sheil, in 1832, ' the Union be not repealed within three years, I am determined that I will pay neither lent, tihes, nor taxes. They may distrain my goods, but who'll buy 1 ' After the epoch of Lich field House, however, this tone was given up for good and all ; and after some coqueting with the Melbourne Ministry, during which the Irish Solicitor-Generalship was offered to him, Mr. Shed was ultimately preferred to the Commissionership of Gif itvich Hospital, and shortly afterwaids made Vice-President of the Board of Trade, with a seat in the Privy Council. Mr Sheil was the first Catholic commoner upon whom this dignity was bestowed. Duiing the State Trials in 1843 he defended his old co-partner in agitation, Mr. O'Connell ; and great hopes were entertained by Smith OBrien and his friends that they would again have the advantage of Mr. Sheil's eloquence and moral weight in the Repeal cause. * Shell/ said Smith O'Urien, < must and will forget that he is a Privy Councillor, and only remember that he is an Irishman.' Mr. Sheil, however forgot nothing of the kind. He had sown his oratoiical wild oats, which had brought him a bptter harvest than is usually gathered from the agricultural piocess in question, and he had no notion of giving up snug Government berths for monster meetings and the chance of an ex-officio information. " On the return of the Whigs to office, after the repeal of the Corn-laws, Mr. Sheil succeeded to the Mastership of the Mint; which ollice being abolished last session,* he proceeded to Floience, charged with the duties he was accorded so little time to perform. '' Mr. Sheil was personally a little, square-built, active man. His style of speaking very peculiar; his gesticulation rapid, fierce, and incessant; his enunciation remaikably quick and impetuous — sometimes in-

* A mistake ot the wiilet the M.istuiship of Hie Mini is not abolished, but it 11 no lohjjci a Cabinet ollice.

deed, particularly after lip began to lose his teeth, degenerating into an absolute gabble, working; up ;u the c!o»e of Ins sentences into a sort of loud voluble scream, rendered the more remaik.ible by the high and squeaky pitch of his voice. Mr. Shell's mutter was unilornily well arianged and lucidly logical. " LiLe lMncaulaj, be liked to take one particular view of a question, mid elaborate that by means of a series of close and hitting arguments, and vivid and picturesque illustuitions, clothed m strong, nervous, and very antithetic, if not very t j pigr.nnrnatic language. The stiain alter glitter and rhetorical effect Mr. Shell never gave up. The greater number of Ins speeches wore prepared, and he occasionally wrote them out himself after they hud been delivered."

(From the Spectator, June 7.) Although still young enough to have served upon Committees of the House of Commons, Richard Slnel n.is vntunlly dead to public life. His utility had gone, Ins faculties had dimmed. " Brilliant" is the quality universally applied to his oiatory, and the unbroken cunency of ibe epithet .attests its appropriateness. Sluel was brilliant in the sense, that by a peculiar nicety of apprehension, strengthened with scholarly though not erudite accomplishments, he was able to present ideas already perceived by most men, in a light so startlingly emphatic and vivid, that he flashed upon duller souls a sight of their own halflatent convictions, and animated sluggish conviction into action. At this day, we are inclined to underrate both the character and the value of the man. Forgetting that in Catholic Emancipation and in the Reform Bill he bad not only done bis work, but that in having those two great oppoitunities, he, as <in Irishman, naturally conceived himself under a heavy debt of gratitude to the men who brought both about, we tepvoachtd him too narrowly with being a retainer of Whigs. A heaity and affectionate man, he wore around his neck the mink of the old collar, and never forgot the bands that unfastened it — not even when they forgot their own liaditions. Because we have had no recent occasion to value the light cavalry of his rhetorical forces, we too forgetfully overlooked the services which he rendered in less plodding times. Yet who does not remember the startling effect of his sudden appeal to Sir Henry Ilaidinge, in one of the debates on Ireland, calling upon the Tory soldier to say, if on the field of Wateiloo — "Tell me, for you were there" — the Irish blenched before the enemy, or failed to earn a common victory. Such appeals may not, like logical compulsion, have altered men's convictions, but uddoubtedly they strengthened and animated convictions already existing. Those days bnve long passed : we are no longer struggling (or the Reform Bill ; and if the Whigs are now going back from their Catholic alii- ! ances, no spiritual freedom is seriously endangered. To j their retrospective policy the faithful Shell lent the un- j deserved brilliancy of his grateful rhetoric, and in helping them he imhelped the general ad vancemeut. Even his " appropiiate" appointment to a diplomatic mission at Florence, with instructions for Rome, was a questionable advantage to the public : a Liberal, a Roman Catholic, a man disposed to fall in with policies and oblige his friends, and yet frank because sincere in his own intent, Sbiel was just the one to be used by harder heads in working out discreditable manoeuvres with an outward show of credit. Personally, few public men will be more regretted.