“Dear Sir,—In accordance with the directions contained in
your note of Friday last, and handed to me by Mr. Fagan, I
placed at his disposal all the deeds and securities at
present in my possession, for him to select such as would
appear sufficient guarantee for the sum advanced to you on
that day. I now beg to state that he has made choice of the
title to Lucksleven silver mine, and a bond of joint
mortgage over a French estate which I apprehend to form part
of the dowry of Madame Carew. I endeavored to induce him to
make choice of some other equally valuable document, not
knowing whether this selection might be to your satisfaction;
he, however, persisted, and referred to the tenor of your
note to substantiate his right. Of course, I could offer no
further opposition, and have now only to mention the
circumstance for your information. I have the honor to be,
dear sir, respectfully yours,
“E. Hackett.”
“Curious enough, that, Dan!” muttered my father. MacNaghten assented with a nod, and handed back the letter.
CHAPTER XI. POLITICS AND NEWSPAPERS
The venality and corruption which accomplished the Legislative Union between England and Ireland admit of as little doubt as of palliation. There was an epidemic of baseness over the land, and but few escaped the contagion. To whatever section of party an Irishman may belong, he never can cease to mourn over the degenerate temper of a time which exhibited the sad spectacle of a Legislature declaring its own downfall. Nor does the secret history of the measure offer much ground for consolation.
And yet what a position did the Irish Parliament hold, but eighteen short years before that event! Never, perhaps, in the whole history of constitutional government was the stand of a representative body more boldly maintained, alike against the power and the secret influence of the Crown; and England, in all the plenitude of her glory and influence, was forced to declare the necessity of finally adjusting the differences between the two countries.
The very admission of separate interests seemed a fatal confession, and might—had a more cautious temper swayed the counsels of the Irish party—have led to very momentous consequences; but in the enthusiasm of victory all thought of the spoils was forgotten. It was a moment of national triumph from which even the coldest could not withhold his sympathies. The “Dungannon Declaration” became at once the adopted sentiment of the national party, and it was agreed that Ireland was bound by no laws save such as her own Lords and Commons enacted.
In the very crisis of this national enthusiasm was it that the Duke of Portland arrived as Viceroy in Ireland. His secret instructions counselled him to endeavor to prorogue the Parliament, and thus obtain a short breathing-time for future action. This policy, in the then temper of the people, was soon declared impossible. Mr. Grattan had already announced his intention of proposing a final settlement of the national differences by a “Bill of Rights,” and the country would not brook any delay as to their expectations.
But one other safe course remained, which was, by a seeming concurrence in the views of the Irish party, to affect that a change had come over the spirit of English legislation towards Ireland, and a sincere desire grown up to confirm her in the possession of “every privilege not inconsistent with the stability of the empire.” Mr. Grattan was induced to see the Viceroy in private, and submit to his Grace his intended declaration of rights. Without conceding the slightest alteration in his plan, the great leader was evidently impressed by the conciliating tone of the Duke, and, with a generous credulity, led to believe in the most favorable dispositions of the Government towards Ireland. The measure in itself was so strong and so decisive that the Duke could not say how it would be received by his party. He had no time to ask for instructions, for Parliament was to assemble on the day but one after; and thus was he driven to a policy of secret influence,—the origin of that school of corruption which ultimately was to effect the doom of Irish nationality.
I am sorry to be obliged to impose upon my reader even so much of a digression; but the requirements of my story demand it. I wish, as briefly, of course, as may be, to place before him a state of society wherein as yet the arts of corruption had made no great progress, and in which the open bribery of a subsequent time would have been perfectly impossible.