enactment. In consideration of these services he privately agreed that many of the most objectionable clauses in the bill of the preceding year should be omitted in that of the present. This communication, which was made without the knowledge of the Premier, Earl Grey, ultimately led to a memorable exposure of the divisions in the ministry, and the resignation of some of its members. Mr. O'Connell fulfilled his portion of the contract, but when he claimed the performance of the Irish secretary's promises, he was met with evasions and subterfuges. These trickeries he boldly exposed in the House of Commons, and such was the evident justice of his complaints, that first Mr. Littleton, and finally, Lord Grey felt it necessary to bow before him, and withdraw from office. He also exerted himself during this session to obtain for Ireland the most favourable settlement of the tithe questions that the influence of the dignitaries of the Irish Protestant Church would allow.

During this year O'Connell received the tardy justice of a patent of precedence, which entitled him to rank next after the King's second serjeant at the Irish bar.

A general election took place in January, 1835, when Mr. O'Connell was again returned for the Irish metropolis, after a sharp contest, in which his opponents availed themselves of every possible means to procure his rejection. But it was not merely the security of his own seat that occupied the mind of the honourable Member. Every town and county throughout Ireland, that presented the slightest chance of obtaining the return of a Member favourable to the cause of Repeal, was the object of his earnest solicitude; and if his presence was impossible, he never failed to infuse a large portion of his spirit into the constituency, by energetic and well-timed addresses in the local journals.

One of the first public measures of the new parliament was the introduction of resolutions for the appropriation of the surplus revenues of the Irish Church; and in this question, the Conservative Ministry of the time were overthrown, chiefly by the powerful opposition of Mr. O'Connell, and the

numerous body of the Irish Members who acknowledged him as their leader, and whose votes on all national questions were always at his bidding.

Early in 1836, Mr. O'Connell devoted his abilities to the exposure of the malpractices of the Orange Lodges in Ireland, many of which had found their way into the army, under the indirect sanction of the Duke of Cumberland, the then Grand Master. The labours of our hero and his colleagues terminated in the presenting of an address to the Crown, emanating from the House of Commons, and requesting the exercise of the royal authority in dissolving these obnoxious societies. This proceeding had the desired effect, and Catholic Ireland was again indebted to the honourable Member for Dublin and his friends, for relief from the religious animosities excited by sectarian and secret associations. The ministerial plan for the reform of the Irish Municipal Corporations, received the sanction of O'Connell, who viewed it as a large instalment of that justice to Ireland which he was ever anxious to obtain; but the alteration in the Bill, resulting from the opposition of Lord Lyndhurst and his friends in the Upper House, had the effect of destroying the greater portion of the advantages which he had hoped to secure for his country. The "Member for all Ireland," as he was at this time designated, was not singular in considering the measure thus mutilated as unworthy of his acceptance, and it was therefore abandoned. The same fate awaited the Irish Tithe Bill; its character was so essentially changed in its passage through the Lords, that, with the consent of the Whig ministry, it was allowed to fall to the ground.

It was during this year (1836,) that the election of Mr. Raphael as member for Carlow was made a subject of parliamentary inquiry. Mr. O'Connell was accused of selling the seat for £2000, and afterwards neglecting to takethe necessary steps to defend the return, when it was petitioned against for bribery. A committee of the House of Commons, after a patient investigation of the facts of the case, decided,

that, although the conduct of the Member for Dublin was not strictly in accordance with the rules of the House, he was not liable to any charge of corrupt or dishonourable dealing. It was generally understood, that Mr. O'Connell acted in this affair simply as the agent for Mr. Vigors, the other Member for the county, and for an association known as the Political Club, at Carlow, his only object being the accession of an additional vote to the Repeal cause.

The summer and autumn of this year were devoted to the organization of a general association, similar in its construction to the celebrated Catholic Association, but differing in its objects, which the founder declared to be, "To place the Irish corporation towns under popular control, and to secure the election of their own municipal authorities. To watch over the registry of electors; and to use all legitimate means to procure the abolition of tithes."

Mr. O'Connell was at this time actuated by a strong desire to prevent those perpetually recurring appeals to law, which the contentious spirit of many of his countrymen was apt to induce. This feeling led him to propose, and afterwards to institute, by means of this association, a class of delegates named by him "pacificators;" two were appointed for each parish in Ireland. Their efforts were to be constantly directed to the preservation of the peace, and the suppression of feuds and faction fights, and every member of the association was expected to refer any quarrel or dispute in which he might be interested, to arbitration by these officers, in preference to resorting to courts of law. When we consider that Mr. O'Connell was himself a lawyer, and that from long habit his sympathies and prejudices must have been favourable to the legal profession, we can estimate the disinterestedness and patriotism of this measure, which tended to supersede the very profession of which he was himself a distinguished member.

The year 1837 was not productive of much advantage to Ireland: several public measures in which our hero took the greatest interest, were allowed to drop in consequence of

the death of William IV., which took place in June. Mr. O'Connell was most active in calling upon the Irish nation to testify their loyalty on this occasion, and to evince their devotion to a young Queen, from whose amiable disposition and high moral principle he trusted that good to suffering Ireland must inevitably result. He strengthened the hands of her ministers, and exerted himself to promote the measures of the cabinet, with all the parliamentary influence he could command. But this did not prevent him from being publicly reprimanded by the Speaker of the House of Commons, on the 28th of February, 1838, for a general imputation of perjury; on the decisions of Election Committees. Statesmen of all parties acknowledged the truth of the honourable Member's assertions, and the wisest of them were anxious that they should be passed over in silence, but the obstinacy of Lord Maidstone forced the House to make itself ridiculous, and gave to Mr. O'Connell's accusations a publicity and importance which they could never have obtained but for this anomalous proceeding.

It was during this year that the Liberator lost a large portion of that popularity which he had hitherto enjoyed with the working classes of England, by the decided part he took in opposing the combinations of workmen in Dublin, Glasgow, and other large towns. His conduct on this occasion is an evident proof of the falsehood of the assertion so often put forth, that O'Connell was ever willing to flatter the populace, even in their grossest errors, if his personal influence could be increased by so doing. His speeches and his vote upon Lord Ashley's Bill for shortening the hours of labour in factories, had also a very unfavourable effect upon the English public, and there were not wanting persons who boldly insisted that the Member for Dublin was hired by the millowners of Lancashire, to betray the interests of the operatives and their children. It is one of the easiest of all methods of damaging the character of a political opponent, to charge him with corrupt motives; and with the multitude who have neither leisure nor ability to investigate the truth

1

of the accusation, such assertions often pass current for proofs, and the calumniated party is pronounced guilty. That Mr. O'Connell's sentiments upon this question had undergone a change is beyond denial; but that he was actuated by any other than conscientious and well-grounded convictions, it is equally difficult to suppose. His conduct, also, in reference to the Chartist movement is open to the allegation of inconsistency; he took an interest in the plan, and signed his name as one of the original promulgators of the Charter, and yet, on after occasions steadily refused his assistance towards carrying it into practice. The explanation of this may be found in the fact, that however much he might approve of the principles of the measure when considered in the abstract, his judgment told him, that any change produced under the influence of the leaders of the Chartist agitation, would be an injury rather than a benefit to their followers.

During the parliamentary recess of 1838, O'Connell's ever active spirit devoted its energies to the formation of the Precursor Society. The objects of this association were two-fold: First, To obtain for Ireland a larger share in the representation, to which the amount of her population fairly entitled her'; and, by this increased influence, to secure an equal share of the privileges accorded by the Reform and Municipal Corporation Acts to the English and Scotch portions of the empire; and secondly, if defeated in this, to prepare the way for a new and gigantic organization of the whole country for a repeal of the Legislative Union.

The year 1839 was stained by the assassination of Lord Norbury, an Irish nobleman of great talents and sterling virtues. This crime, and others of a similar character, was seized upon by the Conservative party as indications of the misgovernment of Ireland, and they demanded a committee of inquiry in both Houses of Parliament. In the Lords, they carried their motion, but in the Commons the presence of O'Connell was sufficient to insure their defeat. He defended the conduct of the Irish Viceroy, Lord Normanby, and called public meetings in Dublin and other cities in Ireland, at