Hercules"--such are a few of the rhetorical
gems which occasionally sparkled in the dull quartz of his plentiful
output. Nevertheless, so manly was his bearing, so dogged his defence,
that he always gained a respectful hearing; and supporters of the
Government plucked up heart when, after a display of dazzling rhetoric
by Grattan or Plunket, the young aristocrat drew up his tall figure,
squared his chest, flung open his coat, and plunged into the unequal
contest. Courage and tenacity win their reward; and in these qualities
Castlereagh had no superior. It is said that on one occasion he
determined to end a fight between two mastiffs, and, though badly
bitten, he effected his purpose. These virile powers marked him out for
promotion; and during the illness of Pelham, Chief Secretary at Dublin,
Castlereagh discharged his duties. Cornwallis urged that he should have
the appointment; and to the King's initial objection that a Briton ought
to hold it, Cornwallis successfully replied that Castlereagh was "so
very unlike an Irishman" that the office would be safe in his hands.
Castlereagh received the appointment early in November 1798. He, the
first Irishman to hold it, was destined to overthrow the Irish
Parliament.[542]

We must now revert to the negotiations between Pitt and Clare. It is
surprising to find Clare convinced that the Prime Minister would keep
faithful to the Protestant cause its unfaithful champion, Loughborough,
also that Cornwallis had acquiesced in the shelving of Catholic
Emancipation. Probably Clare had the faculty, not uncommon in
strong-willed men, of reading his thoughts into the words of others. For
Cornwallis, writing to Pitt on 8th October, just after saying farewell
to Clare at Dublin, describes him as a well-intentioned man, but blind
to the absolute dependence of Irish Protestants on British support and
resolutely opposed to the admission of Romanists to the united
Parliament. As to himself, Cornwallis pens these noble words: "I
certainly wish that England could now make a Union with the Irish
nation, instead of making it with a party in Ireland"; and he expresses
the hope that with fair treatment the Roman Catholics will soon become
loyal subjects. Writing to the Duke of Portland in the same sense,
Cornwallis shows a slight diffidence in his ability to judge of the
chief question at issue.

Probably the solution of the riddle is here to be found. It seems that
the Lord Lieutenant was politel