Page:Chronicle of the law officers of Ireland.djvu/324

Rh Rice, and Daly, remained within the kingdom in possession of large properties, and armed in conscious innocence, set their personal or political enemies at defiance. Two of the Judges were Protestants who survived the revolution; even one of them was continued in office by King William; another, an English Papist, removed previous to James's abdication to Westminster, only memorable for being an incumbrance to this country and a disgrace to his own.

There were, indeed, two Irishmen amongst the group not indisposed to cruelty in criminal trials, or corruption in civil suits; however, that base and forward disposition sunk under the superior ascendancy of honest and enlightened brethren: but the great ornament of the Irish Bench during two reigns inimical to English law, both in their turbulence and calms, was John Keatinge, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, a great magistrate, who in a slippery or stormy period exercised official station with mild manners and integrity. He was calm, patient, and humane in the trial of prisoners; clear, laborious and consistent in the discussion of civil suits; faithful to his King and country in the indulgence of political principles, and attached to God in the exercise of Christianity. Thus persecuting Protestants charged him with being a concealed Papist, whilst furious Roman Catholics were confounded at his firm attachment to the established religion. Connected with no party, and dignifying station by despising its tenure, he equally resisted the interested views of Clarendon or Tyrconnell. But the concluding act of an illustrious life must endear his name to civilized society in every age and clime. When James, cloyed with the advice of a pliant Chancellor and perjured Chief Justice, consulted Keatinge, (though that great man well knew what would be palatable to a deluded prince,) he administered honest and salutary advice. James had even sufficient good sense to feel and respect it; but that King was, from situation, necessitated to repeal the Act of Settlement.

James not only departed from the usual wisdom of English councils, but adopted the vicious practice of an Irish cabinet: judges were selected as statesmen, and priests became secret