LORD O'HAGAN succeeded, in 1863, in getting a seat. For the next two years we find him unremitting in his attendance on Parliament. He was a strong supporter of national education, of which he was a commissioner. To Mr. O'Hagan's exertions we are indebted for the abolition of special or private bailiffs and the substitution of sheriffs' bailiffs in the execution of writs issuing from the county courts. He also, in 1864, brought in a measure for reforming the practice of the Court of Chancery in Ireland. Mr. Whiteside opposed the measure, though he admitted that "the Attorney-General for Ireland had given the House a clear and able statement," and it was lost for the present, though it was passed later on by a Conservative government. On the 26th of January, 1865, Mr. O'Hagan was elevated to the bench as a judge of the Court of Common Pleas, and of course for a time he left Parliament. But he left it with a grand reputation. In 1867 he was elected president by the Statistical Society in succession to Archbishop Whately and Judge Longfield. In the same year, at the meeting of the Social Science Congress at Belfast, he again dealt with the subject of our criminal classes. A reference to the Brehon Code naturally led up to the neglect of the Irish language in the Queen's Colleges. Mr. O'Hagan's labors on the Marriage Law Commission are well known to the world; they resulted in all distinc tions between Catholic and Protestant clergy marrying Catholics and Protestants being swept away. From the 6th of July, 1866, to the 8th of December, 1868, the Conservatives were in power. But on the 9th of December, 1868, Mr. Gladstone came in, and took the opportunity of promoting O'Hagan to be Lord High Chancellor of Ireland. This was rendered possible by the Obnoxious Oaths Act (30 and 31 Victoria, Chap. 75) being passed in 1867 through the energy of Sir John Gray. The measure had been brought in by Sir Colman O'Loghlen. Its object was to> repeal the restrictions
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which debarred Roman Catholics from holding the offices of Lord Lieutenant and Lord Chancellor of Ireland; also to enable Roman Catholic mayors and judges to attend their own places of worship in their robes of office, and further to substitute for the oaths required of Roman Catholics on taking office the same oath as is taken by members of Parliament of that persuasion. That part of the measure relieving the Lord Lieutenant from these restrictions was disallowed by both Houses, but in other respects the measure passed. It is impos sible to conceive the emotion which was felt on hearing of the appointment of O'Hagan as Chancellor. One hundred and seventy-seven years had passed away since a Roman Catholic Chancellor held the Great Seal of Ireland. Probably Sir Alexander Fitton and O'Hagan were the only Roman Catholic Chancellors since the Reformation. The scene on Monday, the twelfth of Janu ary, 1869, when the new Chancellor took his seat for the first time, will probably never be forgotten. The bar seats, the gallery, the side passages, were filled to overflowing. The bar seats, indeed, were filled by ladies. The Irish Times says: "The moment His Lordship appeared in Court, loud cheers were heard for several minutes." In the Court of Equity the new chancellor exhibited the ability which had distin guished him in the Court of Common Law. Among the cases which he dealt with, probably none is more remarkable than the great and romantic case of Croker v. Croker. In this case there are three impor tant characters, a father, a sort of Sir Anthony Absolute; a son, so weak and impressionable that the father could bend him like wax to his will; and a solicitor, supposed to advise the son, but overawed by the imperious father. The question was whether the deeds prepared by this solicitor and signed by the son were to stand. The Vice-Chancellor said "Yes"; the Court of Appeal, presided over by Lord Chancellor O'Hagan, said "No." Another case which
