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14
stand in one of the most famous elections in Irish history at Clare in 1828. With the
same powerful organization O’Connell won triumphantly. O’Connell, being a
Catholic, could not of course yet take the seat he had won. But when he stood again
and won the government backed down before the implications of such a menacingly
disciplined display of Irish opinion. And it was this submission rather than the
Emancipation Act which soon followed, which was O’Connell’s real victory. He had
made Irish popular opinion a force in British politics for the first time.
At the beginning of the 1840s he turned similar techniques and an even more
powerful organization of a similar type to an even more ambitious cause: that of
Repeal of the Act of Union and a restoration of the rights of an Irish Parliament
which now of course would be dominated no longer by a Protestant ascendancy
minority but by the Catholic majority. In other respects he sought the same
constitutional position for Ireland as Grattan had done. It was a somewhat rose-
coloured fantasy. But the argument by which he hoped to convert English opinion
was one which all constitutional nationalists were to use in future, namely that, far
from encouraging separation, such recognition of Ireland’s claim to be a nation would
undermine and silence all calls for it. Only failure to grant such recognition could
bring separation about, ran the argument. But O’Connell did not rely chiefly on
argument.
In a series of what became known as ‘Monster Meetings’ he once again deployed
vast crowds of disciplined and good-natured supporters. The greatest of all such
Monster Meetings took place on 15 August 1843 on the Royal Hill of Tara and its
ancient Gaelic earthworks. O’Connell himself, who never had the slightest fear of
exaggeration, put it at one and a half million.
To the extent that the Irish people were now, under O’Connell, manifesting
something of the strength of a giant in British politics this was true. All subsequent
Irish nationalists were to benefit from this strength which O’Connell had stored. But
when the government called the bluff of the Monster Meetings and banned one
planned for Clontarf, O’Connell climbed down. He and his closest colleagues were
sentenced to a year in prison for conspiracy, though the judgment was reversed in the
House of Lords.
O’Connell died in 1847 but before this a calamity had struck the Irish people
beside which a political issue like Repeal seemed an irrelevant abstraction. This was
the Great Famine of the years 1845-9 in which the only consideration for most
Irishmen and their families was how to try and stay alive.
For the long-term future what was to be of the greatest importance to nationalism
was not only that store of national strength which O’Connell had built up but also the
way in which he had done so. For with his great organizational campaigns for
Emancipation and Repeal, backed by priests and people, he had successfully
channeled the power of the Catholic Church’s bond with the people into politics. He
himself linked Roman Catholicism and Irish consciousness into a great movement.
3. Retell the text.
14
stand in one of the most famous elections in Irish history at Clare in 1828. With the
same powerful organization O’Connell won triumphantly. O’Connell, being a
Catholic, could not of course yet take the seat he had won. But when he stood again
and won the government backed down before the implications of such a menacingly
disciplined display of Irish opinion. And it was this submission rather than the
Emancipation Act which soon followed, which was O’Connell’s real victory. He had
made Irish popular opinion a force in British politics for the first time.
At the beginning of the 1840s he turned similar techniques and an even more
powerful organization of a similar type to an even more ambitious cause: that of
Repeal of the Act of Union and a restoration of the rights of an Irish Parliament
which now of course would be dominated no longer by a Protestant ascendancy
minority but by the Catholic majority. In other respects he sought the same
constitutional position for Ireland as Grattan had done. It was a somewhat rose-
coloured fantasy. But the argument by which he hoped to convert English opinion
was one which all constitutional nationalists were to use in future, namely that, far
from encouraging separation, such recognition of Ireland’s claim to be a nation would
undermine and silence all calls for it. Only failure to grant such recognition could
bring separation about, ran the argument. But O’Connell did not rely chiefly on
argument.
In a series of what became known as ‘Monster Meetings’ he once again deployed
vast crowds of disciplined and good-natured supporters. The greatest of all such
Monster Meetings took place on 15 August 1843 on the Royal Hill of Tara and its
ancient Gaelic earthworks. O’Connell himself, who never had the slightest fear of
exaggeration, put it at one and a half million.
To the extent that the Irish people were now, under O’Connell, manifesting
something of the strength of a giant in British politics this was true. All subsequent
Irish nationalists were to benefit from this strength which O’Connell had stored. But
when the government called the bluff of the Monster Meetings and banned one
planned for Clontarf, O’Connell climbed down. He and his closest colleagues were
sentenced to a year in prison for conspiracy, though the judgment was reversed in the
House of Lords.
O’Connell died in 1847 but before this a calamity had struck the Irish people
beside which a political issue like Repeal seemed an irrelevant abstraction. This was
the Great Famine of the years 1845-9 in which the only consideration for most
Irishmen and their families was how to try and stay alive.
For the long-term future what was to be of the greatest importance to nationalism
was not only that store of national strength which O’Connell had built up but also the
way in which he had done so. For with his great organizational campaigns for
Emancipation and Repeal, backed by priests and people, he had successfully
channeled the power of the Catholic Church’s bond with the people into politics. He
himself linked Roman Catholicism and Irish consciousness into a great movement.
3. Retell the text.
