gibbon, the attorney-general, in reward for the zeal he had shewn in opposing the exercise of independence by the parliament on this occasion, obtained the chancellorship of Ireland soon afterwards, on the decease of Lord Lifford, this being the first time that honour had ever been conferred upon an Irishman. And, secondly, the measure itself, and the arguments by which it was supported, laid a feasible foundation for effecting the subsequent Union, and furnished the principal reasonings urged by Lord Castlereagh and his partisans, for carrying that measure into effect, by all means, good or bad, and at all risks, as indispensable, to prevent the ultimate separation of both countries.
It is, however, but justice to the liberality of Lord Clare, though a vindictive politician, to state, that on his quitting the bar to mount the chancery bench, he presented his bag of briefs to Mr. Ponsonby as a very distinguishing mark of his professional regard, and his approbation of the legal abilities of his political opponent; who, notwithstanding his parliamentary exertions, which were ardent and indefatigable, pursued his forensic avocations with the most zealous industry and lucrative success. And, although his lordship, who frequently smarted under the satirical lash of Mr. Curran's wit, and once fought a duel with him, carried even to the equity bench his hostility, personal as well as political, to that gentleman, insomuch as to ruin, by his marked discountenance, the chancery practice of Mr. Curran, by much the most important and lucrative part of his profession, he observed a very different deportment towards Mr. Ponsonby.
An incident which occurred to the latter in the course of his legal practice, excited his marked hostility to the chief judge of the court of King's Bench, John Scott, Earl of Clonmell, and terminated in something like the ruin of that noble lord. Mr. Scott had elevated himself by the boldness of his character, and his services to the government, from very humble circumstances to the high office he then filled. A newspaper war had broken out
