in good stead; he kept his head and persevered, and Lord Cornwallis, though despondent, supported him. The Duke of Portland expressed approval of his tone and conduct. It was announced that the government meant to proceed at all costs.
Now began a traffic most skilfully conducted by Castlereagh, while Cornwallis held aloof. The votes that argument could not win and patriotism could not secure were bought. Though money compensation for extinguished seats was indeed granted irrespective of votes, and money was not directly paid for votes to any considerable extent, pensions and promotions and advancements in the peerage were freely promised. The only justification for such procedure is that, while it did not affect the principle or policy of the union, it secured it. To the difficulties of these negotiations was added the danger of a fresh rising in view of the renewed plans for a French invasion. Some modifications of the bill had also to be arranged with the English cabinet as regarded the adjustment of the public debt of the two countries, the position of the Roman catholic peers, and some other matters, and Castlereagh attended meetings of the English cabinet for this purpose. Thanks to these changes and to the other influences at work, Castlereagh approached the session of 1800 with confidence. An amendment to the address was lost by forty-two votes. There followed a violent agitation outside of parliament and a series of bitter debates within it; and Castlereagh, though his supporters in the House of Commons might vote for him, had to find all the arguments and the eloquence for himself. His speeches were highly praised, and he kept his temper in public; but he was with difficulty dissuaded from challenging Grattan (Brougham, Statesmen, ii. 113). To his dismay he saw his majorities sinking and his supporters flinching from their bargains. The belief that this was due to more open-handed corruption by his opponents was small consolation, but at length, after four months of conflict, the bill passed the Irish House of Commons on 7 June 1800 by a majority of 65, and the House of Lords by 69.
The bill being safe and the country tranquil, the difficult task began of performing the bargains and distributing the rewards. The English ministry declined to recommend to the king more than half of the peerages promised by Cornwallis and Castlereagh, but gave way when they threatened to resign on 17 and 18 June. Places of profit were also given or promised as rewards for supporting the bill. Castlereagh himself waived any claim for reward, but the king promised that his father should be advanced to the peerage of the United Kingdom whenever he or his son chose. Although Castlereagh had carefully avoided giving any pledges that an emancipation measure should follow the act of union, his opinion as to its justice and necessity was known, and he had written a tract in favour of the Roman catholic claims and planned the establishment of the Roman church in Ireland. He now visited London to press for the introduction of a bill, and the catholic party in Ireland looked for one with confidence. But the king was obdurate; he had only recently heard the views of Pitt and Castlereagh on this point, and he would not accept them. Pitt resigned, and Castlereagh followed his example, holding office, however, till 21 May 1801, when his successor, Charles Abbot (afterwards first Baron Colchester) [q. v.] arrived in Ireland. As a member of the united parliament Castlereagh had removed to London. His recent labours and anxieties brought on severe attacks of fever there, and his health was for some time impaired.
Castlereagh now sat in the imperial parliament for co. Down, and held that seat till July 1805. He was then defeated, and elected for Boroughbridge in Yorkshire in January 1806, for Plympton-Earl in Devonshire in November 1806, and for county Down again in 1812, 1818, and 1820; and on succeeding to the Irish peerage he was elected for Orford in April 1821.
Castlereagh soon came into intimate relations with Pitt again, and adopted his plans and policy, especially in foreign affairs. Though he held no official position, the Addington administration entrusted to him the conduct of its two chief Irish measures in the House of Commons in 1801—the Suppression of Rebellion Act and the Suspension of Habeas Corpus Act. He prepared and submitted to the government elaborate memoirs upon the danger of continuing the exclusion of catholics from parliament in view of a French invasion, and of levying tithes for the protestant clergy in kind. He prepared plans for the commutation of tithes, he recommended the payment of state salaries to the Roman catholic clergy, and the erection of fortifications in different parts of Ireland. His capacity for affairs was so evident that in 1802, in spite of his views on the Roman catholic question, he received, under pressure from Pitt, and accepted the offer of the presidency of the (East India) board of control, with a
