an. Unfaltering
attachment to the principles of justice, unswerving obedience to the
dictates of honour, unalterable loyalty to rectitude and duty; these
were the characteristics that distinguished him; and these were the
qualities that cast their redeeming light round his failings and his
errors, and wrung from the bitterest of his foes the tribute due to
suffering worth. If nobility of soul, if earnestness of heart and
singleness of purpose, if unflinching and self-sacrificing patriotism,
allied to zeal, courage, and ability, could have redeemed the Irish
cause, it would not be left to us to mourn for it to-day; and instead of
the melancholy story we have now to relate, it might he given to us to
chronicle the regeneration of the Irish nation.

William Smith O'Brien was born, at Dromoland, County Clare, on the 17th
of October, 1803. He was the second son of Sir Edward O'Brien, and on
the death of his kinsman, the last Marquis of Thomond, his eldest
brother became Baron of Inchiquin. He was educated at Harrow and Trinity
College, Cambridge; but his English education, however much it might
have coloured his views during boyhood, did not seriously affect his
innate love of justice, or warp the patriotic feelings which were
developed in his earliest years. The associations into which he was
cast, the tone of the society in which he moved, the politics of his
family, and the modern traditions of his house, combined to throw him
into the ranks of the people's enemies; and that these influences were
not altogether barren of results is proved by the fact that O'Brien
entered Parliament in 1826 as an Anti-Repealer, and exerted himself to
prevent the return of O'Connell at the memorable election for Clare. But
O'Brien was no factious opponent of the national interests; even while
he acted thus, he had the welfare of his country sincerely at heart; he
steered according to his lights, and when time and experience showed the
falseness of his views, he did not hesitate to renounce them. To this
period of his political career Mr. O'Brien often adverted in after life,
with the frankness and candour that distinguished him. "When the
proposal to seek for a Repeal of the Act of Union was first seriously
entertained," said O'Brien, "I used all the influence I possessed to
discountenance the attempt. I did not consider that the circumstances
and prospects of Ireland then justified the agitation of this question.
Catholic Emancipation had