Maurice Eustace (Lord Chancellor)

Sir Maurice Eustace (c.1590 – 22 June 1665) was an Irish politician, barrister and judge of the seventeenth century who spent the last years of his career as Lord Chancellor of Ireland, an office for which he felt himself to be unfit and in which he was generally judged to be a failure.

Family background

Eustace was born between 1590 and 1595, at Castlemartin, County Kildare, eldest of the three sons of John FitzWilliam Eustace, Constable of Naas (died 1623). The Eustaces of Castlemartin were a branch of the FitzEustace family who held the title Viscount Baltinglass, but unlike their cousins the Castlemartin family played no part in the Desmond Rebellions, most of them being noted for their loyalty to the Crown. Maurice in time was to recover much of the property forfeited by his cousins.^[1] In religion the family seem to have been divided in sympathy; his granduncle, also named Maurice Eustace, was denounced to the authorities as a Jesuit in 1581 and executed. The judge himself, though a Protestant, was exceptionally tolerant in matters of religion. The later Sir Maurice Eustace, first and last of the Eustace baronets, belonged to the same branch of the family: he should not be confused with a third Sir Maurice Eustace who was the Lord Chancellor's nephew.

Early career

Eustace attended the University of Dublin, and on graduation became a fellow of the University, lecturing in Hebrew; in his will he left a legacy to maintain a Hebrew lecturer at the University. However he had set his mind on a legal career and after two years resigned the fellowship and entered Lincoln's Inn. He was also determined on a career in politics and through his father had made a useful contact in the Lord Deputy of Ireland, Oliver St John, 1st Viscount Grandison.^[2]

He appears to have spent some time in England after he was called to the Bar but was back in Dublin by 1630, and soon built up an enormous practice; it was said he could "earn forty gold pieces in a morning".

He entered the Irish House of Commons in 1634 as member for Athy. Unlike some of the "Old English", he was a whole-hearted supporter of the Lord Deputy of Ireland, Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford, who in return regarded Eustace as a man of integrity and ability. He became Prime Serjeant and a justice of assize. In 1640 he was re-elected to the Commons and became Speaker. His formal speech of welcome to Wentworth is considered a good example of his ornate style of oratory, which was much admired at the time:

"Welcome, most worthy Lord, to the new birth of this our Parliament; this is the voice of the House of Commons , and I am sure it is the voice of the whole assembly; it is beside Vox Populi abroad, and I am sure it is Vox Dei".^[3]

Unlike many of Strafford's political allies, his career did not suffer as a result of Strafford's impeachment and execution in 1641. Although the "Old English" gentry had come to detest Strafford as much as the "New English" settlers did, Eustace was one of their own, and was still generally liked and respected. He remained Speaker until 1647; at its final meeting the House voiced its thanks for "the many good services performed by Sir Maurice Eustace their Speaker", and spoke ominously of the "inveterate hatred and malice of the detestable rebels" against him.

Civil War

So long as Dublin remained under Royalist control, Eustace prospered, despite complaints about the invasion of his property and the theft of his cattle. In 1643, being known as a man who had some sympathy for the Roman Catholic cause, he was sent to negotiate with the Irish Confederacy at Kilkenny; he also obtained the reversion to the office of Master of the Rolls in Ireland, and acquired land at Athy and Cong. In 1647, however, the Marquis of Ormonde surrendered Dublin to the Parliamentary forces. Eustace was arrested and sent to Chester Castle where he remained for seven years. His confinement cannot have been very strict as he formed an extra-marital relationship which produced two children (he and his children's mother were still on friendly terms in the 1660s).^[4]

On his release he returned to Dublin; after being re-arrested, and briefly imprisoned, on suspicion of corresponding with Charles II, he was allowed to resume practice at the Bar. Though his loyalty to the Stuart dynasty was never in serious doubt, and it is likely that he was kept under some degree of surveillance, he seems to have enjoyed the goodwill of Henry Cromwell.

Restoration

At the Restoration, Eustace's unquestioned loyalty and legal and political experience made him on the face of it ideally suited to high office, and he was close to the Duke of Ormonde, who would do anything to help a friend. Accordingly he was appointed Lord Chancellor of Ireland and a Lord Justice of Ireland, exercising the powers of the Lord Lieutenant in his absence, jointly with Charles Coote, 1st Earl of Mountrath and Roger Boyle, 1st Earl of Orrery. He accepted a peerage, but later changed his mind, presumably because he had no legitimate heir.

Ironically the main objection to his appointment came from Eustace himself: he had looked forward to retirement to his beloved country seat Harristown Castle, which he was rebuilding after the damage it had suffered during the Civil War; and he honestly doubted if his age and health fitted him for office. He wrote pathetically to the Secretary of State:

" I.... am now grown too old to perform any public service. I desire no such post nor any favour except to remain in his Majesty's good opinion. I hope I shall not now be put beyond my strength with any public employment "^[5]

Lord Justice

As Lord Justice, Eustace was embroiled in the bitter disputes, which led to passing of the Act of Settlement 1662, between the largely Catholic Royalists who had been dispossessed in the Cromwellian Settlement of 1652 and the newcomers who had bought their estates. Eustace by birth was a member of the dispossessed class and identified entirely with its interests; and though he was himself a Protestant he believed firmly in equal rights for Roman Catholics. This put him at odds with his fellow Lords Justices, Mountrath and Orrery: they were firm supporters of the Cromwellians, whom Eustace regarded as criminals, and in his view were implacably hostile to the Catholics.^[6] In his private correspondence with Ormonde, he denounced his fellow Lords Justices with such venom that Ormonde in reply urged him to show more discretion.^[7] Eustace did obtain some concessions for the Royalists in the Act of Settlement, but the struggle exhausted him and he was thankful when Ormonde's arrival in Dublin in 1662 allowed him to resign . Always a shrewd man of business, Eustace was careful to get a private Act of the Irish Parliament passed to confirm his right to his estates.^[8]

Lord Chancellor

Eustace's prediction that he would be a failure as Lord Chancellor was amply fulfilled; political struggles, physical illness, frequent bouts of depression and family troubles almost incapacitated him. He was also discouraged by the failure of his well-meant efforts to ensure religious toleration for Roman Catholics: Ormonde, though he was personally tolerant enough in matters of religion, would give him no support in this, having settled on a policy of simply turning a blind eye to the practice of the Catholic faith in so far as this was possible.^[9] He refused to let Eustace permit Catholic barristers to plead in his Court, or to be appointed to Commissions for the Peace, and gave him the sensible advice that he should not worry about what he could not change.^[10]

By 1663 complaints about Eustace's unfitness for office had reached the English Lord Chancellor, Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon, who had not been consulted on Eustace's appointment and had an extremely low opinion of his abilities. Clarendon wrote to Ormonde that Eustace should either do the honourable thing by resigning, or be dismissed.^[11] Ormonde was loyal, perhaps to a fault, to old friends: Ball remarks that those whom he ever loved, he would love to the end. He did not defend Eustace's conduct as judge, but pointed to his long record of loyalty to the Crown and suggested that dismissal would be a poor reward for it. In the event it proved very difficult to find a suitable replacement as Chancellor and the question of Eustace's dismissal was still pending when he died. His death did not resolve the problem of finding a suitable replacement, and for the last time it was decided to appoint a senior cleric, Michael Boyle, Archbishop of Armagh, as Lord Chancellor. ^[12]Ironically Boyle, a non-lawyer, was generally considered to be a better Chancellor than Eustace, as his conscientious devotion to duty made up for his lack of legal training.

Heirs

Eustace had always been an acute man of business and despite his troubles he continued to prosper financially, recovering most of the forfeited Eustace estates and amassing a fortune which was reckoned to be at least eighty thousand pounds (making him a multi-millionaire by modern standards). He owned lands iin several counties, and did much to improve the town of Baltinglass. He bought lands at Chapelizod, which later became part of Phoenix Park.^[13]

How to dispose of his wealth was a problem which greatly pre-occupied him during his last years. His marriage in 1633 to Cicely (or Charity) Dixon, daughter of Sir Robert Dixon, Lord Mayor of Dublin, was childless; but during his years in Chester he had entered a relationship which produced a son (also caled Maurice) and a daughter, both of whom he was anxious to provide for, especially as he was still on friendly terms with their mother, who pressed her son's claim to the inheritance. Ball, who does not name her, suggests that she was a person of some social standing.^[14] Eustace had evidently made some kind of promise to her to leave his lands to their son, which conflicted with a public promise to leave them to his nephew Maurice. He consulted the renowned preacher Jeremy Taylor, Bishop of Down and Connor, on the ethical question whether the pledge to the mother was binding: Taylor advised that it was not.^[15]

Eustace also wished to behave generously to his nephews, Sir John Eustace and Sir Maurice Eustace junior, the sons of his brother William. How to balance the claims of his son and his nephews became almost an obsession, to the point where even his loyal friend Ormonde was forced to rebuke him for neglecting official business over private concerns.^[16] His last will divided the property between his nephews, a decision which reportedly led to ill-feeling and further litigation (as well as a determined effort by one Captain Anglesey to seize possession of Eustace's townhouse). The younger Sir Maurice ultimately gained possession of both Harristown and the townhouse, but died in 1708 without male issue.

Ball states that Eustace was offered a peerage shortly after the Restoration: with that habit of dithering which was so marked a feature of his last years, he at first accepted the title Baron Portlester (commemorating a renowned fifteenth century relative), and then changed his mind, on the ground that there was little point in creating a title which could not pass to either his son or his nephews.^[17]

Death and memorials

In 1665 Eustace, though by then he was at least seventy years old, appeared to have recovered his physical and mental health; at his daughter's wedding in the summer he was "as brisk as a bee". Shortly afterwards however he had a stroke and died. He had asked for a private burial at Castlemartin but the Government decided that he deserved an official burial in St. Patrick's Cathedral.^[18] His widow survived until 1678.

His name was given to Eustace Street in Dublin city centre, where his town house, Damask, stood. ^[19]No trace of Damask survives today, but it is known to have been one of the largest houses in Dublin, and both the house and the gardens were much admired by Jonathan Swift. Eustace's death led to a dispute in which his heirs had to fight off a determined effort by one "Captain Anglesey" to forcibly take possession of Damask.^[20]

References

Political offices
Preceded by Sir Nathaniel Catelyn	Speaker of the Irish House of Commons 1640-1649	Succeeded by Sir Audley Mervyn
Preceded by William Steele	Lord Chancellor of Ireland 1660–1665	Succeeded by Archbishop Michael Boyle