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which he procured votes of confidence in the existing administration. It may with truth be said, that the Whigs owed their existence as a ministry, to the eloquence and the votes of the Irish party, who acknowledged the Member for Dublin as their leader. He had, for a long time, held the fate of the cabinet in his hands, and as the price of his support, a large portion of the government patronage was placed at his disposal, and the mode in which he dispensed it, gave satisfaction to all but his political adversaries.

The year 1840 witnessed the passing of the Irish Municipal Corporation Reform Act; which, although far inferior to the Bill introduced in the first instance, was still a point gained by the Catholic party, in the sister kingdom. It had been repeatedly lost in the Lords, and was at last conceded most unwillingly. The bulk of the peers had a dread of increasing the power of the great agitator, and they viewed with jealousy any measure that met his approbation; in proportion as his influence extended with the Irish nation, they endeavoured to limit it in the senate. Our space will not allow us to enumerate the various attacks which were made upon Mr. O'Connell, both direct and indirect. He declared that he was "the best abused man in Europe," and it must be acknowledged that he was rarely slow in replying to his adversaries in language as bitter as their own. His speeches, made at the meetings held at the Corn Exchange, Dublin, abound in personalities and invectives, and though often justified in his remarks by the provocation he received, it must have been at times a subject of regret to himself, as well as his friends, that he allowed his tongue to give utterance to sentiments and censures, which, in cooler moments, his better judgment must have condemned.

Mr. O'Connell's ministerial friends held their places merely upon sufferance, and the year 1841 saw them abandon the seals of office to the Conservative party. They went into opposition, and with them of course, our hero. At the general election, which took place on this occasion, he was returned for the county of Cork, by a large majority.

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The reform of the Dublin corporation, which followed the passing of the act of the last session, led to his admission to the dignity of alderman in that city, and in this year he filled the civic chair. His conduct as a magistrate, was unexceptionable; he never permitted his politics to interfere with his duties as a citizen, and Dublin will long remember with gratitude, the benefits she experienced from his rule.

Daniel O'Connell was neither Whig, Tory, nor Radical; he fought under no banner but his own; he was in turn the friend and the foe of all the great parties in the state, yet he had a bias in favour of the Melbourne and Russell ministry; he hoped to win something for Ireland from their fears, if he could not obtain it from their sense of justice, and during their tenure of office he attended to his parliamentary duties with great punctuality; but on the succession of the Conservatives, under Peel, he felt that his presence in the House of Commons was nearly useless. The battle of repeal must commence in the land of its birth, and he set to work with a determination to create, in a brief space of time, a popular feeling, that should be sufficiently powerful to compel the imperial government to listen to his demands. The Repeal Association superseded the Precursor Society, and the whole of Ireland, actuated by one spirit, loudly demanded a restoration of its national parliament. "Monster Meetings," as they were called, were now held in various parts of the country, amongst the principal of which may be named, those on the royal hill of Tara, the Curragh of Kildare, and the Rath of Mullaghmast. The people were drilled and marshalled under appointed leaders; they proceeded to these gatherings with the order and precision of a trained army, heralded by banners expressive of their determination to have a repeal of union, and preceded by bands of music, they marched in large bodies, for many miles, attended the meetings, listened to the speeches of Mr. O'Connell and his associates, and then retraced their steps to their distant homes, without tasting intoxicating liquors, or the slightest violalion of the law. But more than all, they laid aside the insensate faction fights

and party feuds, and buried their ancient animosities in oblivion. Sir Robert Peel had emphatically remarked, when taking office, that "Ireland would be the chief difficulty," and he soon found that these meetings, and the repeal agitation, did not tend to diminish his anxieties upon the affairs of the Emerald Isle.

At a meeting held at Tara, Mr. O'Connell took his station upon the hill on which the Celtic kings of his country had been crowned, in the days of Ireland's independence. He wore a cap resembling the ancient crown, and surrounded. by a staff of friends in brilliant uniforms, he appeared the virtual king of Ireland. In his speech, he told the countless multitude which thronged around him, that Repeal must be conceded, and that too without one drop of Irish blood being shed in the contest; but at the same time, he proudly announced that, if necessary, he could call at any time into the field an effective force of 500,000 fighting men, ready to enforce their demands at the peril of their lives. These announcements were made in different forms at most of these meetings, and the government, which had long watched his proceedings with suspicion, at last determined to interfere. They chose their opportunity; a monster meeting was appointed to come off at Clontarf, on the 8th of October, 1843, but on the day preceding, the viceroy issued a proclamation forbidding the meeting, and declaring it illegal. It was one of the great points of Mr. O'Connell's career, that he carefully avoided any collision with the law. He therefore caused a countermanifesto to be issued, calling upon the people to remain at home, and scrupulously abstain from any act of violence; to place implicit confidence in him, and he would guarantee Repeal. His word was law to the Irish nation; they obeyed, and the peace was preserved. The government, however, could not stop here; a few days after, they arrested. Mr. O'Connell and the leading members of the Repeal Association, on charges of conspiracy and sedition. O'Connell was required to put in bail, himself in £1000, and two sureties in £500 each. The whole of the Michaelmas term

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following, was occupied in settling the preliminaries, and the trial itself did not commence till the 16th of January, 1844. Twelve gentlemen of the bar appeared on behalf of the Crown, and sixteen others defended the accused. Before the trial commenced, O'Connell took an objection to the very unfair means by which the jury list had been selected, and denied the legality of any jury chosen from a deficient and mutilated record. The trial was notwithstanding persevered in, and the attention of the court was engaged for twenty-five days. A volume would scarcely comprise the speeches and evidence, and our limits forbid us giving even an outline, but this is the less to be regretted, as the details are part of the national history of Ireland's struggle for independence, rather than the private biography of the individuals concerned. Mr. O'Connell's defence was made with his accustomed talent and legal acumen, but it was in vain, judge and jury had alike predetermined that their verdict should be guilty, and after a tedious deliberation, they announced their decision to that effect.

The sentence was not passed 'till the 30th of May, when Daniel O'Connell was condemned to be imprisoned for twelve months, to pay a fine of £2000, and to be bound in his own security in £5000, and two other securities in £2500 each, to keep the peace for seven years. In pursuance of this sentence, he was committed to the Richmond Penitentiary, Dublin. His residence here was rather a series of triumphs than a punishment. Consolatory addresses were presented by deputations of the most influential inhabitants from all parts of Ireland, and the visits of his friends and supporters were so numerous, that he was compelled to appoint stated days for their reception. He was viewed by the nation as a martyr, and honoured accordingly.

But Mr. O'Connell was not the man to tamely acquiesce in an unjust sentence. He was no sooner imprisoned than he appealed to the House of Lords by a writ of error. The case was duly heard by the legal peers, and after an unusually lengthened inquiry, the judgment of the inferior court

was reversed, Lords Lyndhurst and Brougham being of opinion that the sentence should be confirmed, while Lords Denman, Campbell, and Cottenham, formed a majority on the opposite side.

Mr. O'Connell and his friends were liberated immediately this decision was known in Dublin. He was at once surrounded by a numerous body of friends, who hastened to congratulate him on the event, and a lengthened procession escorted him from the prison to his residence in Merrion Square. This was a proud day for our hero, he had defeated his enemies, and that too with their own weapon, THE LAW; but this was the last of his victories, his popularity and his success had raised up foes, traitors in the ranks of Repeal, who envied him his well-deserved and hard-earned supremacy. That which the goverment of Great Britain could not effect, though backed with all the wealth and talent their position enabled them to command, was at length achieved by the restless ambition of a few young men more anxious to acquire notoriety for themselves than to benefit their country. willed and impatient of the control of a master-spirit, they rebelled against the Liberator; deriding his love of peace, they advocated violence and an appeal to arms, and when defeated in their desire to carry these theories into practice, they fomented disunion in the Association, and finally separated themselves from it, and founded an independent body, known as "Young Ireland."

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The conduct of these persons was a source of the greatest anxiety to Mr. O'Connell; in vain he at first commanded, and afterwards argued, and then alternately solicited and threatened; he laboured by every available method to heal the wound, and re-unite all the friends of Ireland under the same banner. The seceders were obstinate, but talented and enthusiastic, and their party rapidly increased in numbers, wealth, and influence. Their progress was most painful to our hero; he felt that he was no longer a young man, and that advancing years and a decaying constitution precluded him from entering upon the combat with a fair chance of success, and a war with his

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