but had none of the graces of the finished
orator, and he despised all "rhetorical artifices." In conversation
he was persuasive, but in public debate deficient in this quality; and
while he possessed courage to confront mobs, or dictators, as he
did also to meet an armed host in his country's service, he was
not characterised by that presence of mind in public discussion, so
necessary for effective repartee and popular power. He was in religion
a Protestant, and a member of the Established Church; but it is obvious,
from his various papers in connection with Irish affairs, that he
was not a very earnest Protestant, and was entirely unacquainted with
theological studies. His letters and speeches also show that he was
not conversant with political economy, and that his social views were
unsound. He was a man of many excellences, a true friend, an amiable
companion, an honest and brave patriot, a gentleman, a scholar, and a
_litterateur_.

The next most notable person among the leaders of the Young Irelanders
was William Smith O'Brien. Like Thomas Davis, his integrity was
indisputable. A member, and the representative of probably the oldest
family in Europe, descended from the celebrated Brien Boroighome, who
was monarch of Ireland in the twelfth century, he was proudly jealous
of the honour of his lineage and of his name, and never did man bear a
proud name with more unsullied honour than O'Brien. He mourned over the
sufferings of his country with a tender and compassionate heart, and he
ascribed these sufferings to bad government. It was his desire to remove
all grievances by constitutional means, but his experience as a member
of the imperial parliament led him to believe that Ireland never could
receive proper legislative consideration until the union was repealed.
Perceiving that O'Connell's agitation was never likely to effect that
object, despising the mean and corrupt practices by which that agitation
was attended, and being filled with horror at the occurrence of so much
agrarian crime, he came to the conclusion that an armed attempt to sever
Ireland from Great Britain was the duty of Irishmen, and the only hope
left for her political or social redemption. Mr. O'Brien was a member
of the Church of England, and his sympathies were with the evangelical
section. He was well acquainted with the great fundamental differences
between the church of Rome and Protestant communions, and was
conscientiously and firmly a Pro