CHAPTER III.

O'CONNELL'S LAST EFFORT FOR REPEAL-MR. MAGINN'S ZEAL IN THAT AGITATION-HIS CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE MARQUIS OF NORMANBY -HIS CONFIDENCE IN O'CONNELL'S TRIUMPH-HIS ELEVATION TO THE EPISCOPACY-CONGRATULATIONS THEREUPON-NATIONAL POLITICSHIS OPINION OF THE YOUNG IRELAND PARTY-HIS SUCCESS AS AN ADMINISTRATOR.

THE great domestic question in Irish politics, from 1840 till 1848, was the repeal of the Act of Union. In '34 this question had been raised in the country and in Parliament by Mr. O'Connell, who was sustained in his motion by forty-five members of the House of Commons. In the following session "The Liberator," as the Catholics fondly and justly called him, abandoned the question for an experiment of "justice to Ireland," which he hoped to obtain from the new reform administration of the Empire. This "justice" he sought for in a series of measures which would raise Ireland in religious freedom, in representation, in commerce and in patronage, to an equality with the imperial island. Discovering, after five years support of the British whigs, that the prospect of such equality was annually grow

* Forty-four Irish and one English member (Sir Joshua Walmsley) voted for the Repeal of the Union in '34.

ing less, Mr. O'Connell in 1840 set on foot the "Loyal National Repeal Association,” and invited all good Irish men to follow him.

In the Catholic provinces, this invitation was re sponded to with considerable unanimity. It had been the natural result of former agitations to bring out a local leader in every town and barony, each a small O'Connell in his sphere, and these magnates naturally took the lead in the new combination. In Ulster, however, it was different. Except the Belfast Vindicator, Repeal had no organ north of Newry. The Primate, Dr. Crolly, consecrated in 1834, cordially fell in with the Archbishop of Dublin's policy of conciliation, and his nega tive influence had its effect.

In January, 1841, Mr. O'Connell, to test the north, made his somewhat celebrated visit to Belfast, where a Presbyterian mob was excited to interrupt and assault him by the Rev. Dr. Cooke, the principal spokesman of that sect. On this occasion, he was met at Belfast by the Bishop of Derry and several of his clergy, including the Rev. Mr. Maginn, whose national enthusiasm was always on the alert. They were witnesses to a scene of popular commotion far from honorable to the Unionists and Orangemen, but which unquestionably proclaimed that the worshippers in the Kirk were opposed to the restoration of the Irish Parliament. They could see in it only an attempt at Catholic ascendancy; and having

long known what it was to exercise exclusive authority, they could not imagine that Catholics in power would not retaliate. In the scale of the Empire they were secure though insignificant; and as they had not yet learned to trust those who so recently escaped their persecutions, they resolved to lend their influence to perpetuate the provincialism by which both classes were bowed down.

In 1843 and '44, the repeal agitation was at the full. "Monster meetings" of half a million, three-fourths, and even a million men, obeyed the beck of O'Connell. He gathered them on the historic hills at Lismore, at Mallow, at Mullaghmast, at Tara-to show the world that Ireland, after forty years of the Union, declared it null and void. He spoke mainly words of peace, though a muttered menace sometimes broke the tenor of his speech. It was a singular spectacle; and looking back, at this distance, on the multitude, the man, and the cause, not without its glory. Where O'Connell could not possibly attend in person, it was thought necessary to complete the demonstration of the national will by drawing out the whole able-bodied population, and in their name and presence, denouncing the iniquitous Union. Such a gathering was held in Innishowen, on Monday, the 7th day of August, 1843. Mr. Maginn was the leading spirit throughout the proceedings; the resolutions evi

dently are his; the cast of parts his; he moved the chairman; his was the speech of the day; he presided at the concomitant banquet in the evening. Thirty other priests were present; from 50,000 to 100,000 men formed the auditory. As illustrative of the spirit of the times and the people, we quote from the account of a local paper, not committed to the national cause: "This meeting," says the Derry Journal, "which took place yesterday in the central town of Innishowen, nineteen miles from Londonderry, was preceded on Sunday by the arrival here of an immeuse number of Repealers from near and remote parts of the counties Derry, Tyrone and Donegal, some of them from the latter county having came from the remote barony of Boylagh. The temperance musical band of Letterkenny were among the arrivals, but we presume that the other Repealers of that town, or most of them, found their way to the place of meeting by the ferry at Rathmullan, by which ferry, we understand, very large numbers were brought across Lough Swilly to Runner-raw Point, within a few miles of Buncrana, on the same Sunday. The parties who arrived at Derry remained in Bishop-street, outside the walls, during the day, and a pledge was given to the Mayor that there should be no music, which was duly observed. To quiet all alarm, the constabulary were in readiness; but there was not the slightest occasion for

their services, the peace having been undisturbed throughout the whole day."*

At this meeting, a petition to the sovereign, drafted by Mr. Maginn, was adopted, and ordered to be transmitted to the Marquis of Normanby, for presentation. The prayer of the petition was that "her Majesty might deign to exercise her royal prerogative" by calling together the Irish Parliament. Mr. Maginn, who had, half a dozen years before, presented an address of congratulation from the inhabitants of Innishowen to the Marquis, (then Lord Lieutenant), conveyed to him the request of the Carndonagh monster meeting that he should present their prayer to the Queen. The Marquis, in rather a

* Mr. Maginn's speech on this occasion is not otherwise remarkable than for betraying the usual retrospective habit of his mind. In one place, speaking of the loyalty of Catholics, he said: "Abroad, at home, in every country and clime, Irish Catholics stand conspicuous for loyal and enthusiastic attachment to their kings and princes. It was an Irish Catholic priest who accompanied the unfortunate Louis to the scaffold, and who, whilst death was flinging its shadows around him, and the guillotine in action before his face, had the boldness to cry out, in the hearing of the Jacobinical butchers, to the illustrious victim, "Fils de est Louis montes au ciel ;" and a namesake of my own carried the consolations of our holy religion to the unhappy Marie Antoinette, in spite of the bloodthirstiness of the guards and the vigilance of her jailers. At home we lost our all except our holy faith, by our loyal adhesion to the unfortunate and ungrateful Stuarts. It is a fact Sir, that cannot be controverted, that the good Ever McMahon, Bishop of Clogher, was fighting to the death for a Charles I., at the head of the Ulster Catholics, near Enniskillen, at the very time that the same Charles was signing the Scotch covenant to exterminate the Catholic name! Shall we, then, Sir, who have been faithful to our royal enemies, prove faithless to a royal friend?" &c., &c.