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 left their cards on him next day. D'Esterre died three days afterwards, and though no proceedings were taken against O'Connell, the affair left a painful and lasting impression on his mind. He contributed to the support of D'Esterre's family, who were but slenderly provided for. Archbishop Murray's exclamation on learning the result of the duel—"God be praised; Ireland is safe"—may be taken as an index of the estimation in which O'Connell was held. In August of the same year he was involved in an affair of honour with Robert (later Sir Robert) Peel, who resented imputations cast upon him at a public meeting. They were about to proceed to the Continent to fight; but O'Connell was arrested in London, and bound over to keep the peace, and the affair terminated. The peace of 1815 laid the hopes of the Irish Catholics prostrate; and to aggravate matters, the divisions on the Veto question continued unabated for several years. This was a proposal that the grant of Catholic Emancipation should be coupled with a Government power of veto in the appointment of the Catholic Bishops. Pope Pius VII., in 1815, "felt no hesitation" in conceding it; but the Catholics of Ireland were seriously alarmed for the independence of their church. Grattan and Shell advocated the concession, whilst O'Connell vigorously opposed it. At length O'Connell's party prevailed: it was agreed that no plan of Catholic Emancipation should be accepted that allowed any governmental interference in the affairs of the Catholic Church in Ireland. The state of politics until 1819 might have caused any man less energetic and buoyant than O'Connell to despair. There was in the Catholic party no spirit, no heart, no united action. The committee rooms had to be removed to smaller premises in Crow-street, and for some time O'Connell alone paid all the expenses connected with keeping them up. On one of the few occasions on which he addressed a public audience during these years, he spoke despondently of " the depression of those miserable times." In 1819 a meeting of Protestants was held in Dublin to support Catholic Emancipation, and notwithstanding Grattan's death in 1820—a loss deplored by none more than by O'Connell, who had often been obliged to oppose Grattan's policy—the cause again commenced to make way. Plunket's relief Bills, passed by the Commons, but rejected by the Lords, were from the first repudiated by O'Connell as unsatisfactory. During George IV.'s visit to Ireland in 1821, O'Connell showed him as subservient a deference as the rest of his countrymen. The Catholics were soothed by soft words and promises. Lord Eldon afterwards said the King at one time half believed himself to be sincere, and that his departure was thereupon hastened by the Ministry. At length Catholic feeling gathered sufficient strength to enable O'Connell to found the Irish Catholic Association. Care was required in drawing up the rules to avoid infringing the Convention Act and similar laws hampering the free expression of public opinion in Ireland. The first meeting was held on the 12th May 1823, in a tavern in Sackville-street. Forty-seven gentlemen put down their names as members, and for a time the Association made steady progress. O'Connell was the life and soul of the movement. His diatribes were directed not alone against the opponents of Emancipation, but against Catholics themselves, who compromised their cause by carelessness and want of spirit, in not vindicating and exercising such rights as they already possessed. At a meeting on the 4th February 1824—a quorum of ten having been obtained by O'Connell running down into Coyne's book-shop, over which the Association met, and forcing up stairs two reluctant Catholic priests (ex-officio members of the Association) whom he found there—the motion for establishing the Catholic "rent" was carried. Although this fund never reached the amount originally expected (£50,000 per annum), it attained a very respectable figure: in 1825, £616,213; 1826, £6,261; 1827, £3,067; 1828, £21,425; three months of 1829, £5,300; in all, £52,266. It was principally allocated for parliamentary expenses, services of the press, legal defence of Catholics, education, and the cost of meetings. At a gathering on 17th December 1824, O'Connell declared "he hoped that Ireland would never be driven to the system pursued by the Greeks. He trusted in God they would never be so driven. He hoped Ireland would be restored to her rights; but if that day should arrive—if she were driven mad by persecution, he wished that a new Bolivar might arise—that the spirit of the Greeks and of the South Americans might animate the people of Ireland." This, called his "Bolivar" speech, led to a Government prosecution, but the Grand Jury ignored the bills. On 10th February 1825, Lord Liverpool introduced a Bill for the suppression of the Association, when he said: "If Catholic claims were to be granted, they ought to be granted on their own merits, and not to the demand of such associations, acting in such a manner." 376