franchise, several weeks elapsed before the election took place, and in the meantime he was busily engaged in canvassing the constituency. On 30 July he was returned unopposed. Soon afterwards he applied for silk, and was refused.
If O'Connell had ever deluded himself with the expectation that emancipation would put an end to religious dissension in Ireland, he was speedily disabused of the idea. The act had hardly become law when the old feuds between the Orangemen and ribbonmen broke out afresh. ‘You are aware,’ O'Connell wrote to the Knight of Kerry in September, ‘that the decided countenance given to the Orange faction prevents emancipation from coming into play. There is more of unjust and unnatural virulence towards the catholics in the present administration than existed before the passing of the Emancipation Bill’ (Fitzpatrick, Corresp. i. 194). To sectarian jealousy was added a revival of agrarian outrage in Tipperary and the borders of Cork and Limerick. In co. Cork it was insisted that there was a regular conspiracy, known as the ‘Doneraile Conspiracy,’ on foot to murder the landlords of the district. A number of persons were indicted, and in October a special commission, presided over by Baron Pennefather, sat at Cork to try them. The trial had begun, and one unfortunate prisoner had already been found guilty and sentenced to death, when O'Connell, who had been summoned post-haste from Darrynane, entered the court. Under his cross-examination the principal witnesses for the crown broke down, and the remaining prisoners were discharged. O'Connell's victory over the solicitor-general, Dogherty, was one of his greatest forensic triumphs, and added greatly to his fame.
He was now at the height of his popularity. He had long been the dominant factor in Irish political life. In England his utterances attracted as much attention as those of the prime minister himself, while his agitation of the catholic question had made his name familiar in countries which usually paid no attention to English politics. But his enemies were not sparing in their denunciations of him. Writing at this period with special reference to the ‘Times,’ to whom his epithet ‘the venal lady of the Strand’ had given mortal offence, and which subsequently published three hundred leading articles against him, he said: ‘I do not remember any period of my life in which so much and such varied pains were taken to calumniate me; and I really think there never was any period of that life in which the pretext for abusing me was so trivial.’
His activity, however, was ceaseless. The new year (1830) opened with a series of public letters, in which he gave expression to his views on such current political topics as the repeal of the union, parliamentary reform, the abolition of slavery, the amendment of the law of libel, and the repeal of the sub-letting act, most of which have since received the sanction of the legislature. Shortly before leaving Dublin for London he established a ‘parliamentary intelligence office’ at 26 Stephen Street, which served the additional purpose of a centre of agitation. He took his seat on the first day of the session without remark (4 Feb.), and on the same day spoke in support of an amendment to the address. ‘I am,’ he wrote to Sugrue on 9 Feb., ‘fast learning the tone and temper of the House, and in a week or so you will find me a constant speaker. I will soon be struggling to bring forward Irish business’ (ib. i. 198). He kept his promise in both respects; and though his speeches were, with the exception of one on the state of Ireland on 23 March and another on the Doneraile conspiracy on 12 May, of no great length, they were numerous and varied. He spoke without premeditation, naturally, and without any affectation of oratorical display. He never entirely overcame the prejudices of his audience, but the tendency to snub him gave way gradually under the impression of the sterling good sense of his arguments, and he soon established a reputation as one of the most useful members of the house. His exertions were not confined to the House of Commons, and Hunt and the radical reformers found in him an ardent and valuable ally. He returned to Ireland for the Easter recess, and on 6 April he established a ‘Society of the Friends of Ireland,’ the object of which was to obliterate ancient animosities and prepare the way for the repeal of the union. After a short-lived existence the society was suppressed by proclamation. Owing to an attempt to increase the revenue by assimilating the stamp duties of Ireland to those of England, which was resented as unfair to the poorer country, O'Connell in June sanctioned a proposal for a run on the Bank of Ireland for gold. His action was brought under the notice of parliament. In replying, he disclaimed any intention of defending his conduct to the house. ‘I have,’ he said, ‘given my advice to my countrymen, and whenever I feel it necessary I shall continue to do so, careless whether it pleases or displeases this house or any mad person out of it’ (24 June). The stamp duties were abandoned, and with them the retaliatory proposal.
George IV died on 26 June 1830, and on
