" He rises— mark him now ! No grace in feature, no command in height. Yet his whole presence fills and awes the sight. Wherefore, you ask. I can but guide your guess. Man has no majesty like earnestness. His that rare warmth— collected central heat- As if he strives to check the heart's loud beat, Tame strong conviction and indignant zeal, And leave you free to think as he must feel."
From the first he strenuously supported the claims of the Catholics, and worked with his friend Henry Grattan for their advancement. His speech in favour of Emancipation on 21st February 1821 was declared by Peel to stand "nearly the highest in point of ability of any ever heard in this House; combining the rarest powers of eloquence with the strongest powers of reasoning." During the Viceroyalty of the Marquis of Wellesley in 1821, he was again appointed Attorney-General. In
1825 he supported the Bill for putting down the Catholic Association, and advocated the Relief Bill of Sir Francis Burdett, with its "wings." [See O'Connell, Daniel.] For this he became unpopular with the Irish Catholics, as he was already with the English Liberals for his defence of the Peterloo massacre. It is said that on Canning's advent to power in 1827 Plunket would have been appointed Lord-Chancellor but for the personal dislike of George IV. He was, however, made Master of the Rolls for England, but resigned in consequence of the objections of the English Bar. Lord Norbury was thereupon induced to retire from the Irish Bench, and Plunket was appointed Chief-Justice of the Common Pleas in his stead, and elevated to the British peerage as Baron Plunket. In 1829 he had the satisfaction, in the House of Lords, of welcoming the passage of the measure for which he had striven so many years — Catholic Emancipation. In January 1830 he became Lord-Chancellor of Ireland, and held that position, with a short interval, until 1841. Thenceforward, with the exception of supporting the Reform Bill in 1831, the Irish Tithe Bill in 1832, and the Irish Education Bill in 1833, he took little part in politics, devoting himself almost exclusively to his official duties. In June 1841, owing to pressure brought to bear upon him by Lord Melbourne's Ministry, he reluctantly consented to resign his seals, to make way for Lord Campbell, for whom the Government could not otherwise provide — a proceeding stigmatized by Lord Brougham as "the most gross and unjustifiable act ever done by party, combining violence and ingratitude with fraud... Vile as this whole proceeding was, the course taken to defend it was worse than the act itself. It was pretended that a falling off in his powers had been observed, and that his faculties were declining; than which no assertion could be made more utterly groundless." Lord Plunket now withdrew from public life. He spent some time on the Continent, and on his return to Ireland settled at Old Connaught, near Bray, where he tranquilly passed the rest of his days in the midst of a large circle, by whom he was greatly beloved. He died at Old Connaught, 4th January 1854, aged 89, and was buried in Mount Jerome Cemetery. Few specimens of Lord Plunket's oratory have been preserved, mainly in consequence of his dislike to correcting proofs, or putting pen to paper. He often read his briefs or notes whilst driving into town on the morning of the day on which he had to
