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 mayor of Dublin under the new act, being the first catholic that had occupied the position since the reign of James II. Being asked how he would act in his capacity of lord-mayor upon the repeal question, he replied, ‘I pledge myself that in my capacity of lord-mayor no one shall be able to discover from my conduct what are my politics, or of what shade are the religious tenets I hold.’ He kept his promise faithfully, and was the means of negotiating an arrangement by which catholics and protestants were to hold the chair alternately. In his desire to act impartially he refrained almost entirely from agitating the question of repeal during his year of office. He was, however, assiduous in attending to his parliamentary duties, and on 13 April he spoke at length in opposition to the imposition of an income tax, urging that it was essentially a war tax, and advising the substitution of legacy duties on landed property.

Meanwhile the cause of repeal received considerable accession of strength by the establishment in October 1842 of the ‘Nation’ newspaper. At the beginning of the new year (1843) O'Connell, now no longer lord-mayor, determined to devote himself entirely to the agitation of repeal. During the debate on the Municipal Bill he had declared that the corporate bodies would become ‘normal schools of agitation.’ As if to make his statement good, he in February inaugurated a repeal debate in the Dublin Corporation. He was answered by Isaac Butt [q. v.] The debate lasted three days, and O'Connell carried his motion by forty-one to fifteen. The effect was enormous. The agitation, which hitherto had hung fire, woke into full activity. The rent, which in February only amounted to about 300l., rose in May to over 2,000l. a week, and by the end of the year reached a grand total of 48,000l. The old rooms in the Corn Exchange were soon found too small for the transaction of the business of the association, and a new hall, called Conciliation Hall, was built and opened in October. On 16 March 1843 the first of the famous monster meetings was held at Trim. From the meeting at Trim to the ever memorable one on the Hill of Tara on 15 Aug., when it was estimated that close on a million persons were present, thirty-one monster meetings were held in different parts of the country. In May government became alarmed at the progress of the agitation, and removed O'Connell and other repealers from the magistracy. The conduct of the administration was approved by parliament, and in August powers were granted for the suppression of the agitation. The series of meetings was to have terminated with one at Clontarf on Sunday, 8 Oct. 1843, which was to have exceeded all the rest in magnitude. Late in the afternoon of the preceding day the meeting was proclaimed, and all the approaches to Clontarf occupied by the military. The people were already assembling, and the action of the government in postponing the proclamation to the eleventh hour might have proved disastrous had it not been for O'Connell's promptitude in countermanding the meeting. No event in his life reflects greater credit on him than his action at this critical moment.

A week later warrants were issued for his arrest and that of his chief colleagues on a charge of creating discontent and disaffection among the liege subjects of the queen, and with contriving, ‘by means of intimidation and the demonstration of great physical force, to procure and effect changes to be made in the government, laws, and constitution of this realm.’ Bail was accepted, and O'Connell immediately issued a manifesto calling on the people not ‘to be tempted to break the peace, but to act peaceably, quietly, and legally.’ The indictment, consisting of eleven counts and forty-three overt acts, and based chiefly on utterances at public meetings, varied against each traverser. On 8 Nov. 1843 true bills were found by the grand jury, but the trial did not begin till 15 Jan. 1844. On that day business was suspended in Dublin. Accompanied by the lord-mayor and city marshal, O'Connell proceeded through streets thronged with onlookers and sympathisers to the Four Courts. There was a formidable array of counsel on both sides, but from the first he insisted on being his own advocate. The judges were Chief-justice Pennefather and the judges Burton, Crampton, and Perrin. There was not a single Roman catholic on the jury. After a trial which lasted twenty-five days, O'Connell and his fellow-conspirators were pronounced guilty in February, but sentence was deferred. O'Connell proceeded at once to London. On his way he was hospitably entertained at Liverpool, Manchester, Coventry, and Birmingham, and a great banquet was given in his honour at Covent Garden Theatre. ‘I am glad,’ he wrote to Fitzpatrick, ‘I came over, not so much on account of the parliament as of the English people. I have certainly met with a kindness and a sympathy which I did not expect, but which I will cheerfully cultivate’ (, Corresp. ii. 318). On entering the House of Commons he was received with enthusiastic cheers. He spoke on 23 Feb. on the state of Ireland, and on 11 March moved for leave to bring in a bill relating to Roman catholic charities.