O'Connell as they could upon the
Dublin and Liverpool.

voyage between

Ascending the mountain road between Dublin and Glancullen, in company with an English friend, O'Connell was met by a funeral. The mourners soon recognised him, and immediately broke into a vociferous hurrah for their political favourite, much to the astonishment of the Sassenach; who, accustomed to the solemn and lugubrious decorum of English funerals, was not prepared for an outburst of Celtic enthusiasm upon such an occasion. A remark being made on the oddity of a political hurrah at a funeral, it was replied that the corpse would have doubtless cheered lustily too, if he could.

One curious illustration of the extent of O'Connell's fame, is the following definition, in Flugel's "German and English Dictionary" (Leipsic, 1827):

"Agitator, n. an agitator-D. O'Connell especially."

In Scotland he found many admirers. Among the most distinguished of these was the celebrated Chalmers. Differing widely in politics and in religion from O'Connell, Chalmers yet cordially admitted his great qualities; observing, to a foreigner,

"He is a noble fellow, with the gallant and kindly, as well as the wily genius of Ireland."*

On Mr. Fitzpatrick's visiting London, in 1843, one of the habitués of the Stock Exchange said to him: "Your Daniel O'Connell, so far as the money market is concerned, is one of the Great Powers of Europe. His movements have a sensible effect upon the funds."

In the month of May, 1840, Feargus O'Connor was imprisoned in York Castle, for the part he had taken in the advocacy of Chartism. In a few days after his imprisonment, he published a letter, in which he bitterly complained of the indignities and hardships to which he was subjected. Some of these were excessively severe. And, accordingly, when the case of Feargus' oppression-so disgraceful to those who inflicted it came before the House of Commons, O'Connell denounced the severities inflicted on the prisoner as being highly illegal, and took part with those who sought their mitigation.

Mr. O'Connell often spoke of Feargus O'Connor's abilities with considerable admiration.

"In addressing the populace," said he, "Feargus is irresistible. He has great declamatory powers; but he is wholly destitute of logical ability. He "Hogg's Weekly Instructor."

declaims admirably; but he would not do for debate. He has vast energy (he has taken that leaf out of my book), and energy always tells well in a speaker, especially a popular speaker.”

On being asked whether Feargus, or some Chartist leader, named Taylor, was the abler man, he said "Pshaw! don't compare them. Feargus has done things. What has Taylor done?" But his admiration of Feargus did not extend to his writings. On taking up the Northern Star, he said "Come, let us see what poor Balderdash has got to say for himself this week. Upon my word, this Northern Star is a perfectly unique affair. Look where you will-editorial articles, correspondence, reports of speeches-it is all praise of Feargus! praise of Feargus! praise of Feargus! Well! the notion of a fellow setting up a newspaper to praise himself is something new at any rate. The paper is, in this respect, quite a literary curiosity!"

CHAPTER VIII.

Speculations on War-Was O'Connell a Bigot?-Letter to Archbishop Mac Hale-O'Connell's Reception of a Protestant Member of his Family-The old Orange Corporators -O'Connell and "Forgery M'Ghee"-O'Connell and the Quakers.

In the summer and autumn of 1840, a general war seemed probable. Utterly averse to the effusion of human blood, O'Connell earnestly deprecated war and its multitude of evils; but he firmly resolved, if it should occur, to avail himself of whatever facilities it might offer him towards the accomplishment of his darling project-the Repeal.

"If France puts England into difficulty now," he said one day after his return to Dublin, "the first hostile shot that's fired in the Channel, I'll have the government in my hand! But what a wretched cause of war! What is the quarrel all about? Just to settle which of two barbarians shall misgovern Syria! And civilised nations go to war about that!"

No accusation was more frequently made against

O'Connell, by the unprincipled party orators and writers who hated him because he served his native land, than the charge of sanguinary bigotry. His object was uniformly stated by such persons to be the restoration of papal hierarchy in the plenitude of political power, and the ultimate extermination of the Irish Protestants. I recollect at this period, being shown a private letter addressed by O'Connell to Archbishop Mac Hale—a confidential epistle which its writer never meant for publication, and which in fact, was never published-I remember perusing this letter, which O'Connell had written to solicit the archbishop's assistance in the agitation for Repeal; and among the beneficial consequences held out by the writer, as likely to result from that measure, was "The abolition of all sectarian ascendancy. There would be," he predicted, "no Protestant ascendancy over the Catholics, and no Catholic ascendancy over the Protestants; religion would be perfectly free." This glorious consummation was O'Connell's ardent wish; to achieve it was one of the chief labours of his life; and the man whose earnest aspirations were directed to this laudable end, was habitually traduced by the Tory party, as being quite prepared to light again the fires of Smithfield on the first opportunity.