GRATTAN, HENRY, an illustrious Irish orator and statesman, was born at Dublin in the year 1750. His father followed the profession of barrister, and, though not remarkable for shining qualities, was industrious and prudent. Being a Protestant, the corporation of Dublin extended to him its patronage, in consequence of which he was elected as representative of the city in parliament, and made recorder. After passing through the usual course of scholastic discipline, which he did with much reputation, young Grattan was entered as a fellow-commoner in Trinity College, Dublin. Here he also greatly distinguished himself amongst contemporaries who afterwards became the chief ornaments of the senate and the bar. His original intention was to have studied for a fellowship, but the persuasions of his relatives induced him to remove to England, where he entered himself as a student of the Middle Temple. When the requisite number of terms had expired, he returned to his native country, and in the year 1772 was called to the Irish bar. His practice seems to have been small; but that his talents had already begun to make an impression, is proved by the fact, that in 1775 he was brought into the Irish parliament under the auspices of Lord Charlemont. From this period the life of Grattan became a portion, and a very conspicuous one, of the history of his country. He joined the ranks of the opposition, and the accession of strength which it thereby acquired soon became apparent. The effect of his commanding eloquence was not confined to those who listened to it in the house. He infused the patriotic spirit, with which he was himself actuated, into the country at large. It is allowed, indeed, that the volunteer bands who had begun to assemble in various parts of Ireland, acquired new confidence from the bold, uncompromising tone assumed by the young speaker; and in the course of a few years, their ranks swelled to the number of eighty thousand men, armed, disciplined, and prepared for the field. The menacing attitude which Ireland assumed at this critical period, and the boldness with which the members of the Irish opposition, particularly Grattan, contested the supremacy of the sister kingdom, induced the British legislature, in the year 1782, to repeal the statute of the 6th of George I. By this law it had been enacted that the
town of Ireland should be inseparably annexed to that of Great Britain; that Ireland should be bound by British acts of parliament, if named therein; that the Irish House of Lords should have no appellate jurisdiction; and that the last appeal, in all cases of law and equity, should lie to the British House of Peers. For Grattan's exertions in getting his statute rescinded, his country was profuse in laudatory addresses to him; and the parliament rewarded his services by a grant of £50,000. A more magnificent donation was intended, but Grattan declined to accept it. That be-
stowed was large enough to inspire envy and provoke mis-
construction. The following sessions of parliament were
stormy; and the young patriot had to contend, amongst
others, with Mr Flood, an antagonist formidable alike by
his acknowledged talents and the unscrupulous virulence
of his attacks. The latter maintained that the act of re-
peal did not involve a renunciation of the British claims,
and that therefore they might be resumed and exercised
at any time. This sophistry found supporters in both
houses of parliament, and the reputation of Grattan ac-
tually began to wane. But the energy and success with
which he opposed Mr Ord's celebrated propositions,
fought forward in 1785, fully re-established his fame.
One of these was, that the Irish legislature should, from
time to time, adopt and re-enact such statutes of the Bri-
tish parliament as related to the regulation of commerce.
Opposing this proposal Grattan put forth all his powers,
and from this period he began to be acknowledged as the
leader of the country party, and as the head of the Irish
Whig Club. The members of this association were reci-
procally bound not to accept office under any adminis-
tration which had not for its avowed principle the conced-
ing of certain popular measures. These consisted of a bill
to make the great officers of the crown responsible for
their proceedings; a bill to prevent revenue officers from
voting at elections; and a place and pension bill. Several
other important subjects engaged the attention of Grat-
tan at this period; and amongst these was the establish-
ment of a provision for the clergy independently of tithes.
He also brought in a bill to encourage the improvement
of barren lands, by exempting reclaimed wastes from pay-
ing ecclesiastical dues during the space of seven years.
But both these measures were rejected by the legislature,
principally through the influence of the established church.
About the same period Grattan strenuously advocated
an extension of civil rights to his Roman Catholic country-
men. That a Protestant statesman should exert himself
on behalf of those who professed a religious creed different
from his own, was, at the time when Catholic emancipa-
tion was at length conceded by the British parliament, a
matter of such frequent occurrence, that no personal claim
or distinction could be raised upon that ground. To en-
tertain such sentiments was not considered as sufficient to
subject the person entertaining them to public suspicion as
one infected with pernicious opinions. But during the
early career of Grattan, the subject was viewed in another
aspect, and through a different medium. In Ireland, whilst
the heads of the Protestant church, with the majority of the
Protestants, were arrayed in opposition to any concession
to the Catholics, in England the tide of vulgar prejudice
ran so strongly in the same direction, that a great civil con-
fusion had nearly arisen out of it. When these facts and
circumstances are taken into consideration, the conduct of
Grattan will appear in its true light, as that of a wise
statesman, and a fearless patriot. His principal object
was to obtain the elective franchise for the Catholics; but
the administration of that day indignantly rejected the
prayer of their petitions.
On the arrival of Earl Fitzwilliam, as lord-lieutenant, in
1795, Mr Grattan attached himself to that highly popular
nobleman, and under his auspices originated many plans
which had for their object to promote the peace and pros-
perity of his native land. But the recall of his lordship put
a stop to all amelioration, and at the same time generated
universal discontent, which was increased by the creation of
new sinecures and the lavish profusion of titles. The con-
sequences were memorable and instructive. The society
of United Irishmen, whose ostensible object was reform,
but who really aimed at the independence of Ireland, ac-
quired new courage from these dissensions, and some even
proposed to establish a republic in that country. The tri-
umph of the French Revolution had no doubt inspired these
daring projectors with hopes of success. A large portion
of the people adopted their principles; military associations
were formed, and numbers disciplined and armed; whilst
an intercourse was opened with France, by which succours
and assistance were liberally promised. From the com-
mencement of the rebellion which ensued, Mr Grattan
advised measures of conciliation; and when he saw that
there was no hope of stemming the general movement, he
withdrew from parliament, and retired to his country resi-
dence.
But the grand project of Mr Pitt for effecting a union
between Great Britain and Ireland summoned him from his
retirement. He obtained a seat in parliament for the ex-
press purpose of opposing that measure, which, he main-
tained, would prove fatal to the best interests of Ireland.
Its success did not, however, prevent him from accepting a
seat in the imperial parliament, and there employing his
talents and eloquence for the benefit of both countries. He
was chosen, in 1805, to represent the small borough of Mal-
ton; and in the year following he was returned as one of the
members for Dublin. Throughout the remainder of his
career, his public conduct continued to evince the purest
patriotism and the most undeviating consistency, illustrat-
ed by an eloquence fraught with the finest inspirations of
genius and liberty. Notwithstanding the uniform and ve-
hement opposition of the corporation of the city which he
represented, he continued to advocate the Catholic claims
with equal zeal and ability. Accordingly, towards the close
of his life, we find him complying with an unanimous re-
quisition on the part of the Catholics of Ireland, to pre-
sent their petition to the British parliament, and to give it
his support. Some of his friends represented the fulfil-
ment of this duty as incompatible with his health, which had now
begun to decline; but he nobly replied, that "he would
be happy to die in the discharge of his duty." This event
did actually take place; for he expired on the 14th of May
1820, soon after his arrival in London; and his remains
were interred in Westminster Abbey.
It is comparatively easy for posterity to judge for them-
selves of the moral and political qualities of a statesman's
character, because these can be dispassionately deter-
mined from the information afforded by history as to the course
of conduct which he had pursued, and the measures which
he had supported. If Mr Grattan be thus estimated, he
must ever be accounted one of the most ardent, consis-
tent, and patriotic of modern statesmen. Viewing him as
an orator, we can only judge of his excellence by the re-
port of contemporaries, who but rarely agree in such mat-
ters. We are informed that he had to contend with an
indifferent voice, which was thin, and, considered simply
as an organ of sound, unequal to the expression of impass-
ioned feelings. His action, too, was seldom elegant or
graceful, but it possessed a far higher character; it was
forcible and energetic. Animation and ardour predomin-
ated in his manner; and his pronunciation was distinct
and articulate. These are the qualities which are calcu-
lated most powerfully to impress a mixed assembly; and
the effects which he accordingly produced on several oc-
casions were not surpassed by those of any orator of mo-
dern times. "With much of national peculiarity, but
Grattan, chiefly in the manner," says a very able writer: "with much, too, of individual mannerism, his eloquence is, beyond all doubt, of a very high order. Perhaps, after making every deduction for obvious defects, he may even be accounted an orator of the first class. For he possesses an originality, and a force, rising far above any excellencies of mere composition. Fervid, vehement thoughts, clothed in language singularly pointed and terse: an extraordinary power of invective, so remarkable indeed, that he may be ranked among the greatest masters of the sarcastic style; and, above all, and it is the distinguishing character of his oratory, a copious stream of the most sagacious and original observations, or the most acute and close arguments, flowing, though not continuous and unbroken, yet with an ease the more surprising, because they almost all are in the shape of epigrams:—these are the high and rare merits which strike the reader of Mr Grattan's speeches, and must have produced a still deeper impression upon those who heard him in his prime."—"He had deep, and warm, and generous feelings, and, when roused to enthusiasm, they sometimes found vent in simple language; but his accustomed style of epigram is far more prejudicial to the expression of passion than to the conduct of an argument; and accordingly, his declamation was by no means equal to his reasoning, if we except the vituperative parts of it, which were among the finest of all his performances. He had a lively and playful fancy, which he seldom permitted to break loose; and his habits of labour were such that he abounded in all the information, ancient and recent, which his subject required, and could finish his composition with a degree of care seldom bestowed upon speeches in modern times. Finally, he was a person of undaunted spirit, and always rose with the difficulties of his situation. He was ready, beyond any man, perhaps, who ever laboured his speeches so habitually. No one ever took him off his guard. Whoever dreamt that he had caught him unawares, was speedily roused to a bitter sense of his mistake; and it is a remarkable circumstance, that, of all his speeches now preserved, the two most striking in point of execution are those personal attacks upon Mr Flood and Mr Corry, which, from the nature of the occasions that called them forth, must, of necessity, have been the production of the moment. The epigrammatic form in which he delighted to throw all his ideas, and the diction adapted to it, had become so habitual to him, that, upon such emergencies, they obeyed his call with the readiness of a natural style; and he could thus pour forth his indignation in antithesis and point, as easily as the bulk of mankind, when strongly excited, give vent to their feelings in the sort of language which, from this circumstance, we are accustomed to term the eloquence of nature or of passion.
"In the more glaring defects of what has been called the Irish School of Orators, he certainly did not abound. Extravagance of passion; strained pictures of feeling; exuberance of metaphor, and of forced metaphor; and, worse than all, excess of passion expressed by unnatural and far-fetched imagery, in language quite wide of nature, and often wholly incorrect;—from these characteristic vices of his country's fanciful and ingenious and ready orators, he was exempted beyond all his contemporaries, by the chastening effects of classical discipline. Occasionally, indeed, they do break out in his compositions; but, generally speaking, it is rather in the style than in the ideas that he departs from nature; or if in the ideas, it is in his love of point, rather than in his proneness to metaphor. In one great quality he not only stands single among his countrymen, but may be pronounced eminent-
ly superior to our own greatest orators; and it is that in which all modern compositions, those of Dante and perhaps of Milton alone excepted, fall so far short of the ancient, and especially the Greek exemplars; we mean the dignified abstemiousness, which selects one leading and effective idea, suddenly presents it in a few words, and relies upon its producing the impression desired, without saying all that can be said, and, as it were, running down the topic. In Mr Grattan's speeches we constantly meet with opinions delivered, or illustrations flung out, in a single sentence, or limb of a sentence, and never again recur to, although the opinion may have been so sagacious, and the illustration so happy, that a copious modern, or even an ancient of the school of Cicero, would have worked the one into a dissertation, and the other into an allegory. This is a merit of the very highest order, subject to the remarks already made upon the difficulty of making things thus lightly touched at once perceived by an audience, and the aggravation of that difficulty by the obscurity incident to the epigrammatic style."
Mr Grattan's speeches were collected and published by his son, at London, in 1822, in 4 vols. 8vo.