Catholics and the Army

Ireland was now on the very verge of revolution. The whole mass of the people had been organized like a regular army and taught to act with the most perfect unanimity.

Continuing Catholic Emancipation in Ireland,
with a selection from Leaders of Public Opinion in Ireland by William E.H. Lecky published in 1871. This selection is presented in 6.5 installments, each one 5 minutes long. For works benefiting from the latest research see the “More information” section at the bottom of these pages.

Previously in Catholic Emancipation in Ireland.

Time: 1829

The excitement at this announcement rose at once to fever height. It extended over every part of Ireland and penetrated every class of society. The whole mass of the Roman Catholics prepared to support him, and the vast system of organization which he had framed acted effectually in every direction. He went down to the field of battle, accompanied by Sheil, by the well-known controversialist Father Maguire, and by Steele and O’Gorman Mahon, two very ardent “Repealers,” who proposed and seconded him. Steele began operations by offering to fight a duel with any landlord who was aggrieved at the interference with his tenants — a characteristic but judicious proceeding, which greatly simplified the contest. O’Connell, Sheil, and Father Maguire flew over the country, haranguing the people. The priests addressed the parishioners with impassioned zeal from the altar; they called on them, as they valued their immortal souls, as they would avoid the doom of the apostate and the renegade, to stand firm to the banner of their faith. Robed in the sacred vestments and bearing aloft the image of God, they passed from rank to rank, stimulating the apathetic, encouraging the faint-hearted, and imprecating curses on the recreant. They breathed the martyr-spirit into their people and persuaded them that their cause was as sacred as that of the early Christians. They opposed the spell of religion to the spell of feudalism — the traditions of the chapel to the traditions of the hall.

The landlords, on the other hand, were equally resolute. They were indignant at a body of men who had no connection with the county presuming to dictate to their tenants. They protested vehemently against the introduction of spiritual influence into a political election and against the ingratitude manifested toward a tried and upright member. Fitzgerald had always been a supporter of the Catholic cause. He was an accomplished speaker, a man of unquestioned integrity and of most fascinating and polished manners. His father, who was at this time lying on his deathbed, had been one of those members of the Irish Parliament who had resisted all the offers and all the persuasions of the Ministry, and had recorded their votes against the union. The landlords were to a man in his favor. Sir Edward O’Brien, the father of Smith O’Brien, and the leading landlord, proposed him, and almost all the men of weight and reputation in the county surrounded him on the hustings. Nor did he prove unworthy of the contest. His speech was a model of good taste, of popular reasoning, and of touching appeal. He recounted his services and the services of his father; and, as he touched with delicate pathos on this latter subject, his voice faltered and his countenance betrayed so genuine an emotion that a kindred feeling passed through all his hearers, and he closed his speech amid almost unanimous applause. The effect was, however, soon counteracted by O’Connell, who exerted himself to the utmost on the occasion, and withheld no invective and no sarcasm that could subserve his cause. After two or three days ‘ polling the victory was decided, and Fitzgerald withdrew from the contest.

Ireland was now on the very verge of revolution. The whole mass of the people had been organized like a regular army and taught to act with the most perfect unanimity. Adopting a suggestion of Sheil, they were accustomed to assemble in every part of the country on the same day, and scarcely an adult Catholic abstained from the movement. It was computed in 1828 that in a single day two thousand meetings were held. In the same year Lord Anglesey had written to Sir Robert Peel, stating that the priests were working most effectually on the Catholics of the army, that it was reported that many of these were ill-disposed, and that it was important to remove the depots of recruits, and supply their place by English or Scotchmen. The contagion of the movement had thoroughly infected the whole population. If concession had not been made, almost every Catholic county would have followed the example of Clare, and the ministers, feeling further resistance to be hopeless, brought in the Emancipation Bill, confessedly because to withhold it would be to kindle a rebellion that would extend over the length and breadth of the land.

It was thus that this great victory was won by the genius of a single man, who had entered on the contest without any advantage of rank or wealth or influence, who had maintained it from no prouder eminence than the platform of the demagogue, and who terminated it without the effusion of a single drop of blood. All the eloquence of Grattan and of Plunket, all the influence of Pitt and of Canning, had proved ineffectual. Toryism had evoked the spirit of religious intolerance. The pulpits of England resounded with denunciations; the Evangelical movement had roused the fierce passions of Puritanism, yet every obstacle succumbed before the energy of this untitled lawyer.

The most eminent advocates of emancipation had almost all fallen away from and disavowed him. He had devised the organization that gave such weight to public opinion; he had created the enthusiasm that inspired it; he had applied to political affairs the priestly influence that consecrated it. With the exception of Sheil, no man of commanding talent shared his labors, and Sheil was conspicuous only as a rhetorician. He gained this victory not by stimulating the courage or increasing the number of the advocates of the measure in Parliament, but by creating another system of government in Ireland, which over awed all his opponents. He gained it at a time when his bitterest enemies held the reins of power, and when they were guided by the most successful statesman of his generation, and by one of the most stubborn wills that ever directed the affairs of the nation. If he had never arisen, emancipation would doubtless have been at length conceded, but it would have been conceded as a boon granted by a superior to an inferior class, and it would have been accompanied and qualified by the veto. It was the glory of O’Connell that his Church entered into the constitution triumphant and unshackled-an object of fear and not of contempt –a power that could visibly affect the policy of the empire.

William E. Gladstone begins here. William E.H. Lecky begins here. Daniel O’Connell begins here.

More information here and here, and below.

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