generous mind by the spectacle of unconstitutional oppression, you cordially united in O'Connell's movement for the Restoration of the Irish Parliament. You did so at great personal inconvenience and expense. You have not been chilled by the dispiriting defections that have taken place from the body which he instituted. You have not been wearied by the protracted struggle for liberty. Your activity and devotion to the cause are now as great as on the day when you and I first worked together under the guidance of our departed Chief. When honourable, though mistaken men, seceded from the Association, you were amongst those who stood firmly by the Old Man's banner; justly appreciating the infinite evils of division. O'Connell has more than once pronounced you "an invaluable ally."

Ever believe me,

Your affectionate friend.

Kilcascan, County Cork,

8th March, 1848.

W. J. O'N. DAUNT.

PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS

OF

O'CONNELL.

CHAPTER I.

Early Impressions of O'Connell-Curiosity excited by his Fame - O'Connell's Letters on Repeal in 1830-Anti-tithe Agitation General Election of 1832-Irish National Council-Session of 1833-O'Connell's Repeal Policy-Coercion Bill for Ireland carried by English Reformers.

DURING the period that O'Connell's agitation for the removal of Catholic disabilities was at its greatest height, I was just at the age when political impressions the most strong and permanent are generally imbibed. In every company which I entered, the great Catholic leader was spoken of, and his movements discussed; and as the majority of my associates and connexions were of what are termed "high Tory politics," their renowned oppo

nent was usually named as a regular political Beelzebub. I invariably heard the Catholic body denounced as a turbulent and ignorant mass, who were impudently brawling for privileges to which they had no manner of claim. Amongst my father's ordinary guests and acquaintance, the only two persons who did not participate in a contemptuous hostility to the Catholic cause, were Feargus O'Connor, and his elder brother, Arthur O'Connor, of Fort Robert.

The Tory atmosphere I breathed did not, however, influence my sentiments. The knowledge that the Catholic body were oppressed, was sufficient to enlist my sympathy in their behalf. I incurred paternal censure for joining Arthur O'Connor in an eager defence of emancipation, one evening that the measure was debated in our coterie at Kilcascan. The only argument produced against it, was, that it would destroy the existing Protestant monopoly; and that argument was deemed perfectly conclusive.

My curiosity was strongly excited by the fame of O'Connell. I was anxious to behold the marvellous Agitator, who convulsed the kingdom from one end to the other. The first time I heard him address a public meeting, was in the winter of 1827. It was at the Catholic Association. He did not

quite realise the expectations I had formed from his fame as an orator. The subject, indeed, was not very inspiring; being, if I remember rightly, some portion of the law of landlord and tenant. His discourse was a plain, easy, argumentative address, of no great length.

Thenceforth, I saw nothing of O'Connell for some years. I rejoiced in his great triumph in 1829; but there was another question in which I had at all times felt a much more vivid interest than in Emancipation. That was the Repeal of the Union. It was, therefore, with the highest delight that I read O'Connell's series of powerful letters, addressed to the people of Ireland, in 1830, inviting the nation to combine in an effort to recover the domestic legislature of which they had been defrauded.

To the settlement of the Catholic question succeeded times of stirring agitation. One great injustice was removed; but the tithe system still oppressed the Irish people; and the country was withering from the baneful influences of the Union.

O'Connell's letters, in 1830, were, in the highest degree, spirited and exciting. In point of argument they were masterly. If the advocate of Catholic privileges had awakened my curiosity, the champion of Repeal excited my enthusiasm.

I had, from an early period, been an ardent Repealer. One of the first impressions of which I have any recollection, is the indignant resentment with which I listened to the history of the Union from my elder relatives. To know that we had possessed, for nearly six hundred years, a resident legislature to know that we were despoiled of that possession by violence and fraud-this knowledge was, in itself, enough to make me a partisan of the Repeal.

Cherishing such sentiments, I hailed, with delight, the new agitation set on foot by O'Connell. He uttered not a word to which the feelings of the nation did not instantly respond. It is a great mistake to suppose that he originated the national desire for Repeal. He did no more than organise the people in a national confederacy, and give public utterance to the sentiments which millions had already entertained. The Irish were Repealers, and would have been such had O'Connell never existed.

In 1831 and 1832 the oppressive exactions of the tithe system had awakened a general resistance throughout the kingdom. O'Connell, of course, took a prominent part in the anti-tithe agitation. He recommended that at every parliamentary election, the tests of "Repeal and No tithes" should be