Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 41.djvu/385

 Villiers Stuart, afterwards Lord Stuart of the Decies, was returned for co. Waterford, in opposition to Lord George Beresford. Hitherto the county had been regarded as the property of the Beresfords; but under the influence of the new organisation, and with the assistance of O'Connell, it broke away from its allegiance. The defeat of Beresford was the work of the despised forty-shilling freeholders, and their example was followed elsewhere—in Monaghan, Louth, and Westmeath. O'Connell, who was astonished at the extraordinary independence which their conduct revealed, took immediate steps for their protection. Towards the end of August he founded his ‘order of Liberators’—whence his title of ‘the Liberator’—to which every man who had performed one real act of service to Ireland was entitled to belong. The object of the society was to conciliate Irishmen of all classes and creeds; to prevent feuds and riots at fairs; to discountenance secret societies; to protect all persons possessed of the franchise, especially the forty-shilling freeholders, from vindictive proceedings; and to promote the acquisition of that franchise and its due registry. In order to render the new organisation effective, local committees were formed and a new fund started, called the ‘New Catholic Rent,’ to be devoted to the defence of the forty-shilling freeholders by buying up outstanding judgments and procuring the foreclosure of mortgages against landlords who acted in an arbitrary fashion.

The accession of Canning to power in April 1827 seemed to offer a more impartial system of government than had hitherto prevailed; and O'Connell, to whom good government was of greater importance than any number of acts of parliament, consented to suspend his agitation in order not to embarrass government. But his hopes of administrative reform were doomed to disappointment. The ‘old warriors,’ Manners, Saurin, and Gregory, still retained their former position and influence in the government; and whatever prospect of gradual change there might have been was dashed by the premature death of Canning, and the accession of Wellington to power, in January 1828. Of necessity, the catholic agitation immediately recommenced; but O'Connell, who governed his policy by the necessities of the moment, was willing to give the new administration a fair trial—the more so as the views of the Marquis of Anglesey [see, first ], who had accepted the post of lord-lieutenant, were suspected to have undergone an alteration in favour of the catholics. Affairs were thus in a state of suspense when the resignation of Huskisson and the appointment of Vesey Fitzgerald [see ] as president of the board of trade rendered a new election for co. Clare necessary. Fitzgerald was a popular candidate, and his return was regarded as inevitable. But at the eleventh hour it was suggested to O'Connell that he should personally contest the constituency, although it was generally assumed that he was legally debarred as a catholic from sitting in parliament. He himself believed that in the absence of any direct prohibition in the Act of Union no legal obstacle could prevent a duly elected catholic from taking his seat. After some hesitation he consented to stand, and on 24 June he published his address to the electors of Clare. The announcement of his resolve created an extraordinary sensation; and money for electoral purposes flowed in from all quarters. The election took place at the beginning of July. On the fifth day of the poll Fitzgerald withdrew, and O'Connell was returned by the sheriff as M.P. for Clare. In apprehension of a riot, the lord-lieutenant had massed a considerable military force in the neighbourhood of Ennis; but the election passed off without any disorder. The result was hailed with a great outburst of enthusiasm. The week after the election the rent rose to 2,704l. Liberal clubs sprang up in every locality; and it was evident that the country was undergoing a great political revolution. Anglesey was not blind to these signs of the times; and though, as he declared, he hated the idea of ‘truckling to the overbearing catholic demagogues,’ he insisted that the only way to pacify the country was to concede emancipation, and transfer the agitation to the House of Commons. Parliament rose on 28 July, and relieved government from the necessity of an immediate decision.

On his return to Dublin O'Connell, alluding to Peel's amendment of the criminal law, announced his intention of taking an early opportunity to bring the question of a general reform of the law before parliament, adding that in this respect he was but a humble disciple of the immortal Bentham. His remark drew from Bentham a cordial letter of recognition, which was the beginning of an interesting and intimate correspondence. Meanwhile Wellington and Peel were anxiously seeking a solution of the catholic question. Neither of them was satisfied with Anglesey's administration. Matters, however, took a more serious turn in August, in consequence of a speech by George Dawson, Peel's brother-in-law and M.P. for