“Be it so, then,” said the Secretary, gayly; and at once, without hesitation, he commenced a short and most explicit statement of the Government intentions. Arguments that formed the staple of long Parliamentary harangues he condensed into a sentence or two; views that, dilated upon, sufficed to fill the columns of a newspaper, he displayed palpably and boldly, exhibiting powers of clear and rapid eloquence for which so few gave him credit in public life. Not an epithet nor an expression could have been retrenched from a detail which denoted faculties of admirable training, assisted by a memory almost miraculous. Stating in order the various objections to the measure, he answered each in turn; and wherever the reply was not sufficiently ample and conclusive, he adroitly took occasion to undervalue either the opinion or the source from which it originated, exhibiting, while restraining, considerable powers of sarcasm, and a thorough insight into the character of the public men of the period. If the Knight was unconvinced by the arguments, he was no less astonished by the abilities of the Secretary. Up to that hour he had been a follower of the popular notion of the Opposition party, which agreed in decrying his talents, and making his displays as a speaker the touchstone of his capacity. Darcy was too clever himself to linger longer in this delusion. He saw the great and varied resources of the youthful statesman tested by a question of no common difficulty, and he could not control the temptation of telling him, as he concluded,-- “You have made me a convert to the union--” “Have I, indeed?” cried the Secretary, in an ecstasy of pleasure. “Hear me out, my Lord,--to the union of great political abilities with the most captivating powers of conversation. Yes, my Lord, I am old enough to make such a remark without the hazard of being deemed impertinent or a flatterer,--_your_ success in life is certain.” “But the Bill!” cried Lord Castlereagh, while his handsome face was flushed between delight and eagerness,--“the Bill!” “Is an admirable Bill for England, my Lord, and were there not two sides to a contract, would be perfect,--indeed, until I heard the lucid statement you have just made, I never saw one-tenth part of the advantages it must render to your country, nor, consequently,--for we move not in parallel lines,--the great danger with which it is fraught to mine. Let me now explain more fully.” With these words the Knight entered upon the question of the Union in all its relations to Ireland; and while never conceding, nor even extenuating, the difficulties attendant upon a double legislature, he proceeded to show the probable train of events that must result on the passing of the measure, strengthening his anticipations by facts derived from deep knowledge of the country.