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 O'BE

Daniel, the 4th Viscount, at Pignerol in 1693, and Charles, the 5th Viscount, at Ramillies in 1706. This branch of the O'Briens became extinct on the death of Charles, the 7th Viscount, at Paris in

1774. ^^3

O'Brien, Sir Lucius, Bart., (of the Dromoland O'Briens), descended from a younger son of the ist Baron Inchiquin, was born in the first half of the i8th century. On the death of his father, Sir Edward, in 1765, he entered the Irish Parliament as member for Clare. He sided with the popular party in their eflForts for the advancement and indepen- dence of Ireland ; and " pursuing an independent parliamentary career, which extended over the administrations of thir- teen viceroys, from the Duke of Bedford to the Earl of "Westmoreland, a period of six-and-thirty years, he has left to his country and his posterity the character of a high-minded patriot and statesman, as zealous for the interests of his country as he was thoroughly acquainted with its wants, and ready to assert its rights. The appreciation of his high and independent character, his public spirit, and his illus- trious lineage, by the House of Commons, was frequently testified by the deference paid to his opinions whenever questions of impoi'tance or difficulty happened to en- gage their attention." He was a Privy- Councillor, and Clerk of the Crown and Hanaper. Sir Lucius died 15th January 1795. 54^63

O'Brien, William Smith, grandson of preceding (second son of Sir Edward O'Brien, a member of the Irish Parlia- ment, who strenuously opposed the Union), was born at Dromoland, County of Clare, 17th October 1803. He was educated at Harrow and Cambridge University, entered Parliament in the Conservative interest in 1826, as member for Ennis, and repr .ented the County of Limerick from 1835 to 1848. His name does not appear in Hansard until the 3rd June 1 828, when he addressed the House in favour of the paper currency. In July of the same year he spoke in Parliament in favour of Emancipation, and avowed himself a mem- ber of the Catholic Association; yet he opposed O'ConneU's second candidature for Clare in 1829, and fought a duel with Thomas Steele.^ss in 1830 he published a pamphlet on the question of Irish Poor Re- lief. Although his views must have been gradually veering towards those held by the Irish nationalists, it was not imtil January 1844 that he formally joined the Repeal Association, and presided, over a meeting in Conciliation Hall, Dublin. " I 368

O'BE

find it impossible," exclaimed O'Connell, who was present on the occasion, " to give adequate expression to the delight with which I hail Mr. O'Brien's presence in the Association. He now occupies his natural position — the position which centuries ago was occupied by his ancestor, Brian Boru." Six weeks afterwards a banquet was given in Limerick to celebrate his adhesion to the Nationalist cause. O'Connell was pre- sent. O'Brien gave the following as the reasons which had wrought such a change in his opinions : " The feelings of the Irish nation have been exasperated by every species of irritation and insult ; every proposal tending to develop the resources of our industry, to raise the character and improve the condition of our population, has been discountenanced, dis- torted, or rejected. Ireland, instead of taking its place as an integral portion of the great empire which the valour of her sons has contributed to win, has been treated as a dependent tributary province ; and at this moment, after forty-three years of nominal union, the affections of the two nations are so entirely alienated from each other, that England trusts for the main- tenance of their connexion, not to the attachment of the Irish people, but to the bayonets which menace our bosoms, and the cannon which she has planted in all our strongholds." The prospects of the Repeal movement were not at their brightest when O'Brien entered Conciliation Hall ; nevertheless the prestige of his name and the influence of his example were expected to do much. He soon perceived the dis- asters likely to arise from the party temporizing with the Government and permitting its adherents to take govern- ment pay and government place, in the expectation that the influence in favour of Repeal would thereby be strengthened. An ever-widening breach was soon appa- rent between the Old and Young Irelanders — the parties of O'Connell and O'Brien — one tending more every day to timidity and conservatism — the other advancing farther on the path of revolution and republicanism. In July 1846, O'Brien, Mitchel, Meagher, and Duffy, with their followers, quitted Conciliation Hall. Six months later a meeting was held in the Rotunda, at which the Irish Confedera- tion was established, for the purpose of "protecting our national interests, and obtaining the legislative independence of Ireland by the force of opinion, by the combination of all classes of Irishmen, and by the exercise of all the political, moral, and social influence within our reach." The horrors of the famine, and the French Re-