486 Shetch from the Irish Bench. [ Nov. 
tune) and «pretensions were but little adequateto the demands'of%a 
contested election.' With an» intuitive knowledge cof mankind)oand°a 
ready wit; Mr. Toler was indefatigable inthe pursuits of ‘his*objeet;'and 
when these qualities failed him, his courage,’ as prompt/as/his repartee, 
came to his support ; enabling him frequently to force those measures; 
which he could)not ‘carry by insinuation.» At'the back ‘of these various 
« good gifts” came the fortune and influence of a wife.> For not only 
was ‘this much favoured gentleman “ tam Marti quam Mercurio,” ‘but; 
like Lothario, he was no less successful in love than arms.) ‘© Equal to 
both and armed for either field,” he had probably but little difficulty in 
winning the lady of his choice ; and in return for her handsome fortune 
he, in the fullness of time, procured for her a peerage in her own right, 
\ which descends to one of her children; while a second peerage after- 
wards granted separately to himself, will at his death go to another: 
With these advantages and with these professional pretensions, if the 
young barrister did not acquire business, he rapidly advanced in office. 
If his bag did not burst with briefs, his pocket was well lined’ with 
salaries; and at the epoch of Lord Fitzwilliam’s arrival to’'take upon 
himself the government of Ireland, he found Mr. Toler > Solicitor- 
General. By principle no less than by interest, by inclination no less 
than by necessity an high protestant Tory, it was expected that Mr. 
Solicitor would vacate his office; but by blustering and threats, he is 
said to have over-awed the castle; and it is certain that he kept pos- 
session of his place till Mr. Pitt, by suddenly recalling Lord Fitzwilliam, 
blasted the hopes of an entire nation, and with them destroyed for ever 
his own reputation for fidelity to his engagements, for sincerity, and 
truth. 
The recall of Lord Fitzwilliam was the first of that untoward series 
of events which led the country through a long career of blood and 
violence to the rebellion and the Union. Incapacity and treachery on 
the one part, and precipitancy and disunion on the other, involved the 
people in contests with the government, in which the tribunals and the 
field afforded an alternate arena, alike irregular,’ and alike bloody. 
Through this fatal period Mr. Toler figured the’ most thorough 
going of ministerial partizans ; and when he occasionally went the circuit 
as a vicarious judge of assize, his presence was reputed) to be fatal 
to all who appeared before him in opposition to government; while a 
tender leniency to the backslidings of the loyal, rendered this severity 
(so opposite to his constitutional good humour) the more conspicuously 
praiseworthy and admirable. How far such an opinion was well or ill- 
founded it is not for us to state; but that it existed at the time, and has 
in some degree followed his Lordship during his subsequent ‘career, is ‘a 
well known. fact. Of Mr. Toler’s mode of doing business on such 
occasions (though we are far from insinuating that they were peculiar 
to the individual) the following instance was given to us ‘by an-ear 
witness of the transaction, of whdse veracity: and) honour we! ‘have 
the highest opinion. About two years before the rebellion, ‘an officer ‘in 
the army, actuated by a zeal in which wine hada greater part than’ 
discretion, unfortunately killed an unoffending peasant; whom he‘chose 
to.arrest in the performance of his lawful avocation. ‘On the ‘trial of 
this individual, the judge, in his charge is reported: to have remarked 
“that it was an unlucky affair, but it rested entirely on this’ dilemma; 
either the murdered man. was, or was not, as loyal’ and \péeaceable a’ 
