were received with the highest honours by the sovereign pontiff, and the funeral obsequies celebrated with all the solemnity and magnificence that the awe-inspiring rites of the Catholic Church could bestow. Every creed and every country contributed its quota of respect to the memory of the Liberator of Ireland, and the deliverer of his countrymen from the chains of religious bondage. Father Ventura composed a funeral oration, which occupied two days in delivery; he was listened to by thousands of attentive hearers, embracing all the best society in Rome, and including nearly the whole of the foreign residents in the city.

The mortal remains of Daniel O'Connell were safely conveyed to England, and after waiting a few days at Chester, till the necessary preparations were concluded, they were transferred to the Duchess of Kent steamer, and landed at Dublin. Here they were received with every token of public mourning, and deposited in the Metropolitan Catholic Church, in Marlborough Street. The ceremonial of lying-in-state took place in this church, and a countless multitude thronged to gaze upon the coffin enclosing the body of their departed friend.

The funeral was appointed to take place on the 4th of August, and a more imposing and magnificent procession was never witnessed in Ireland. All ranks and ages vied with each other in their exertions to testify their sorrow for the death, and their respect to the family of the deceased. The Lord Mayor and municipal authorities of Dublin, the dignitaries of the Church, the leading members of the Repeal Association, the brothers of the various religious orders, the associated trades, and a great number of the resident gentry formed the first part of the funeral procession, the remainder comprised nearly the whole population of the city, and some thousands of strangers from different parts of the country, who visited Dublin expressly to be present on this mournful occasion. Even England and the continent contributed to swell the attendants at O'Connell's grave. The whole route from the church to the cemetery at Glasnevin, was lined with spectators.

Business of every kind was entirely suspended. Almost every person was in black-even the very poorest endeavoured to do honour to their own O'Connell by the assumption of such testimonials of mourning as their circumstances enabled them to procure. The services at the tomb were conducted by the Venerable Archbishop Murray, assisted by the principal members of the priesthood, who had taken part in the procession. They were brief, but solemn and affecting in the highest degree, and at their conclusion the vast multitude sadly departed to their respective homes, their grief in some degree alleviated by the feeling that they had shared in the last homage that Ireland could pay to her Liberator.

We have now rapidly sketched the principal events of the closing years of the Liberator's Life, and these incidents are both numerous and important. The results of many of his labours are not yet fully evident, and will, in all probability, seriously influence the destinies of his country for years to come, but we live too near his time to form a just and impartial estimate of O'Connell's character. In conclusion, however, we may ask the reader to contemplate seriously the mighty effect of one man's labours in Ireland's behalf; to admire the energy and perseverance of one gifted individual, devoting his heart and soul to the patriotic cause of national freedom, and labouring on, through good and evil report, to raise Catholic Ireland from a state of helotism, unparalleled in modern Europe, to a due appreciation of her own rank in the scale of nations. O'Connell's public life was one long continued struggle in behalf of seven millions of his fellowcreatures; a perpetual effort to improve the moral character, and elevate the social position of his countrymen, and to raise them from that state of political apathy which deprived them even of the desire for liberty, while, in too many instances, it disqualified them for the enjoyments of the rights of freemen and citizens, with which he was ever anxious to endow them. If he sometimes erred in his conduct, let us remember that he was mortal, and, therefore, not without

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MEMOIRS OF DANIEL O'CONNELL, ESQ.

failings; that he was placed in a dangerous position, and surrounded by peculiar temptations; that he was unscrupulously opposed by a powerful party; and that he had to lead the opinions of an uninstructed and easily excitable people, impatient of control, and unwilling to investigate the causes of the evils under which they suffered. When we have taken these circumstances into our estimate of O'Connell's character, we shall perhaps be more astonished that he did so much, than disposed to question the means by which it was effected. Be this as it may, his memory will long be cherished by his countrymen; his actions will form part of Ireland's history to the remotest ages; and whatever may be the opinions of his contemporaries, posterity at least will do justice to the name of O'Connell, and connect it with the independence of his country, and the sacred cause of civil and religious freedom.

FINIS.

DIRECTIONS TO THE BINDER.

Portrait of Mr. O'Connell to face the engraved Title Page.