onsider any
man who proposed it his personal enemy. Pitt resigned. Opinions varied
as to his motives. He returned to office in 1804, having promised that
he would not again press the subject; and he adhered to his
determination until his death. The Irish nobles, who had worked hardest
to carry the Union, were somewhat disappointed as to the result. Lord
Clare was told by the Duke of Bedford, that the Union had not
transferred his dictatorial powers to the Imperial Parliament. He
retired to Ireland deeply chagrined, and was soon borne to his grave,
amid the revilings of the people whom he had betrayed. Lord Castlereagh,
who had been less accustomed to command, and had less difficulty in
stooping to conquer, succeeded better with his English friends, and in a
few years he ruled the cabinets of Europe; while the Iron Duke, another
Irishman, dictated to their armies.

In 1803 the flame of insurrection again broke out, and again French aid
was expected, and the expedition ended in disappointment. Napoleon
himself regretted that he had turned his armies towards Egypt, instead
of towards Ireland. Emmet's career was brief, and would probably have
been almost forgotten, but for his famous speech at the moment of
receiving sentence, and for the history of his love and her devoted
attachment to his memory.

In 1805 Grattan entered the Imperial Parliament, at the request of Fox.
An English constituency was found for him. At the same time, Plunket was
brought into the house by Pitt; and thus these two famous men, the one
so full of the brilliant, and the other so full of the powerful, gifts
of mental science, again pleaded their country's cause together, and in
perfect harmony, though differing on some political points. When Grattan
first rose to address the British Senate, there was a hushed attention
to his every word; as his eloquence kindled with his subject, there were
suppressed murmurs of approbation; when he had concluded, there were
thunders of applause. His subject was a petition from the Irish
Catholics, which was presented to both Houses in 1805. The division gave
339 to 124 against going into committee; still it was something gained,
when Englishmen even listened to Irish grievances, or made some effort
to understand them.

The _Veto_ was now suggested. The object of this was to allow the crown
a passive voice, if not an active one, in the nomination of Catholic
bishops. Happily for the Catholic Church in Ireland, th