The Sun.
London, England, 1847-05-27 00:00:00

IVI A Y 27, 1847.

MR. O'CONNELL.
The Paris National publishes the following elo-
quent, and in many respects just; biographical sketch
of O'Connell :
" We should write an entire book, comprising the
history of Ireland for the last fifty years, it we would
give a complete idea of the life of O'Connell. In writing
those lines, in which we shall unite some personal im-
pressions with recollections well known to everybody,
we desire to appreciate that great character without dinn-
nishine its proportions, and to pass judgment on the
politician without giving to his acts a sense or a mean-
ing contrary to his own. Daniel O'Connell entered
upon public life at 22 years of age; death alone with-
drew him from it at the moment when ho was about to
attain his 74th par. The almirers of his glory may
consider that his death art iced at too late a period.' Had
he fallen five years since under the last persecution of
the Tories, and in that prison to which he was accom-
panied by an entire nation, he would have been, to tn.
the language of Bosruet, ' entombed in his triumph.'
His destiny did not permit that; it struck him in a
foreign land, far from that green Erin which be adored,
and during latter years whilst his powerful constitution
was declining gradually and Ireland was being decimated
by famine—lreland, a victim full of resignation, had no
longer the force to cause her groans to be heard. At
that period every eye was directed towards that man
who held the nation suspended at his will ; he was re-
minded of so many speeches full of hope, so many
illusions maintained by his eloquence—he was accused
of having by a compromise paralysEd every burst of
courage, and crushed in the bud every real attempt at
emancipation. The inclemency of the weather and the
unproductiveness of the season were attributed to him.
'ln what were we deficient at that moment,' exclaimed
lately a patriot of the Young Ireland school, • neither
hands, heart, or intellect. We are possessed of all those
advantages in the name of our eternal rights. At pre-
sent we possess none of those—and the violence of con-
quest; and the culpable weakness of those who have made
a treaty with our enemies, have caused the continuation
of that impious and homicide rule which converts
8,000,000 of Irishmen into a type of the most miserable
amongst cividzed nations!' The bitterness of those com-
plaints fell drop by drop on the heart of O'Connell,
whose blood was congealed and no longer felt that ener-
getic excitement by means of which he governed so long.
He himself felt that the stamina of his best days could
scarcely suffice to make head against so desperate a
situation. That aspect of Ireland, whose wounds were
gaping—those accusations, which appeared to impute to
him a part of the' most perilous responsibility—the bold
plans of the Young Ireland party, which filled him with
terror—the feeling of his own declining health—all corn
biped to hasten his last moments. We are not so unjust
as to refuse to acknowledge the great services which he
his rendered. He, it is true. did not accomplish a work
apportioned to the power which he enjoyed, but what
we wished of him he did not wish. lie has been

frequently honoured with the title of tribune ; he
never possessed more than its exterior qualities—
the lofty stature—the athletic force—the exterior pas-
sion, and perhaps the language; but he neither possessed
the instincts nor the resolutit n of a tribune. There
is nothing more common than to be deceived by ap
pesrances ; genius possesses the rare privilege of com
prehending everything, and we imagine that we expe-
rience profound sensations when we merely reflect those
of others. It was thus that O'Connell became the
indefatigable echo of grief which he did not feel, and
passed for a tribune of the people whilst he was merely
the powerful advocate of the middle classes. Daniel
O'Connell had seen in his youth the efforts of tLe rnul.
ritude. the ardent impatience of that oppressed nation—
the mysterious insurrection—the frequently sanguinary
violence of the Irish perishing of hunger—those appeals
of the secret societies to arms, succeeded by those terrible
executions of which the traces were to be found on the
high road or at the gates of the rich—the entire his-
tory of a people reduced to despair, which feels the
weight of invasion on its breast, and which contends
with fire and sword against the foreigner. Well l he
execrated that history ; he came not to organize that
army, but to destroy it ; he di dared so in the first
speech by which he established his reputation ; he
wished to substitute a struggle in the face of the sun for a
►nidnight battle,—legal means for violent conduct,—for
the vengeance of despair he substituted that activity which
afflrds hope. From the commencement he spoke
with respect of lel:ality ; he declaimed vehemently
against the oppressed, who by their crimes
appeared to wish to justify their oppressors ;
and in the year 1811 be pronounced those words,
so often repeated by him, that the greatest progress of
the human mind was not worth a single drop of human
blood. It was easy to see from that moment in what
circle he had enclosed himself. The sight of the mas-
sacres, the political trials, and the sentences of death
passed in the year 1798 struck his mind with an invin-
cible horror for the Saturnalia of force. At a later
period, having been insulted by one of his countrymen,
he fought and killed his adversary in a duel. After this
affair he ran to a Catholic church in a state of distract

tin, and vowed that he would never again touch an in

,trument of destruction. Tnat double impression decid.d
his political career. Thus oppression., might stretch its
.springs and double the number of iMtvictims. O'Connell
determined to combat and pursue it withont any cessa•
ion. but he had previously traced the line beyond which
he would not pass. if **as in legality he placed his
-.,-it Is legality which was his only flag—that was
his feebleness and latterly of his impotence
wise his force as an agitator and as an orator
,stitn'others, 'Pace everywhere, and for ever ;'
itti rimy was neither idle nor disgraceful—it was
:5 14,' rife, corrupt, inert, nor sleepy. He was
t° ' ihit peace formidable to England, and he
." tfi'it alt the conquests which it was possible
irsailt* From the population of Irish peasants,
under the banner of the Whiteboys, he
form an immense Catholic legicn, the clergy
It was not through calculation that he
_ _ ___

PRICE SD.

tesque with the same facility...an e 1 quence spontau'eous,
multiplied, varied, affecting every chord of the human
heart—exciting at h s pleasure the laughter or the tears
of the auditory, according to circumstances —iutlatuttig
the passionik—rating and calming storms—sometimes
burning, and someuwes picturesque, but ever animated
with that spirit of inspiration arawn I,om the love u:
country and hatred of oppressioa. He f&.und pleasure
in quoting old patriotic adages, even when they ~(re
opposed to his principle:. How many times did he nut
repeat those celebrated lines— •

' Hereditary bondsmen, know ye not
Who would be tree himself must strike the blow r
And again ho invoked all the beauties of ins dear Ire-
land and her veruuut fills, and her pictureequ. sites, art,i
her itnruense s, and her popu►ation, biave,.houest.
devoted, intellectual, and so worthy to be happy, so
well disposed to biieutoe au, and v. Bich the brutal oAnd
of the baxon crushed like a Honer of which you brcalt
the stem. • Ireland, first itoner of the carat and nist

gem of the sea 1' Aid with this enthusiasm be
mingled the traditional history, the rema►k.ebie
deeds of arms, the ancient gl.ry of his coon try,
which gave mast, r$ w all Europe, uud which was learned
when other nations were plungvd iu ignorance laid bar.
barism. This was the inexeaustible theme of his
speeches, and it was by re.4auilhating ttiat love of coun-
try more and more, .that he was able to conquer the
most uubouuded empire and popularity:ewer enjoyed by-
any man. The he torx of that that association .is
similar to that of all the others, 'and the talent, as s ell
as the power of O'Oonnelcpreeerved Since then the same
character. The Eaglish, seeing that new struggle in
the name of the law, wiphed to terminate it by tees
The Bill ot 1825, presented by eitealburn, afforded Sir Re
Peel an occasion to pronounce a remarkable speech,
which subsequently caused him embarrassments, and:
perhaps excited iu his breast the remorse attending a
bad action. It summed up the whole English constitute
Lion in these words:—' hatred of Catholicism, distrest•
tovearde.,lrieb idolaters!' The Bill adopted prohibit: d
all meetings, all associations, during more thau four-
teen days! This was sufficient for O'Connell to con-
tinue to develop his work. The law was promulgated
in the month of March. On thr 13th of July the
Catholic Association was re-modelled on a Lew legal
basis. It no longer had a centre nor a constant duration.
It had as many centres as there were towns, as many
meetings as there were villages; the principal enter.,
and O'Connell at their head, traversed Ireland in every
direction, and innumerable assemblies hailed them with
transports of enthusiasm. It was un the 13 h ttf July,
in the chinch of Waterford, amidst the prelates and
crowd which thronged the edifice, that the new assoeia-
uon was inaugurated. —The Catholics, nut satisti,d with
speaking, resolved to act. They were excluded fi lions
Parliament, and determined to force their way into it.
Fitzgerald, the representative of Clare, had become
Cabinet ilinieter, and again solicited the suffrages of his
former constituents. An order was given to elect
O'Connell in his place, although O'Connell was not
eligible. The particulars of that solemn demonstration
are known to everybody. During three days the Irish
electors, escorted by a multitude of peasant-, repaired
to the hustings, and openly voted tor O'Counell. During
three days the people. in a 'Less, kept watching, and,
strange to say, no act of disorder, no sign intemper-
ance, disturbed that immense reuniou. A solemn cir-
cumstance imparted a dramatic colour to the event.
At niglattal, when the result of the poll was about to
be proclaimed, a Catholic clergyman made his way
through the crowd, ascended r e hustings„send c .m-
-mandiug silence with his hand, slowly peanat,„,
these words—' Irishmen 1 brethren 1 an butrouir;
Catholic had the misfortune to vote for Ft a
gwrald.'—(' Shame! shame!' vie:limed the indignant*
people.) replied the speaker, in a seve a tenet
tee indignation of man is feeble cetnpated with the
wrath or Gedl The hand of the Almighty has
punished him. I iuturin you that he has just been
struck with apoplexy. A prayer for his soul!' And in
an instant the whom multitude fell on its knees, when
some stentorian voices shouted out. O'Connell is re-
turned! O'Connell for ever! O'Connell and Ireland
free!' The crowd then dispersed in every direction,
carrying to the extremity of the island the glorious
tidings which made every heart rejoice. Ile proceeded.
to London, presented himself in the House of Commons,
and when tendered au oath he could no: take he protested
and retired. The electors of Clare refused to eh et
another deputy, and the agitation ot Irel end be-coining
wore and more menacing, the Euglish aristocracy was
compelled to yield, and the emancipation of the Catho
lies was proclaimed by that same Sir Robert Peel, whose
fortune was always magettied by the strange circum-
stance that he was obliged to carry the measor, s
most violently opposed by himself and his party. We
shall nut cuntinue the biography of O'Connell
any further. The events are too near us, and the
traces of his passage though Parliament cannot
be so soon effaced. When the %Vhigs resumed
the direction of affairs O'Connell, confiding in their
good intentions, extinguished the tire he had kit
and which he was able to rekintlee during the Tory
Adinielstrtuion. His influence save. the masses still en-
dured, but his mien over the enlightened tied resolute
patriots had long been on the wane. The Cabinet of
Sir Riibert Peel renewed the popularity ve the Agitator
by instituting against him judiciary pi oceedings, similar
to those already directed against him, at atiot,,er
to the discomfiture of his pereeruvors. But on the re-
turn of Lord John Russell, all those angers, thiise pro-
mises of repeal, all that inurement imparted to a popu-
lation which lle was certain to restrain, all th4t ardent
and sarcastic eloqu, nee, which preserved in his old age
all the power and vivacity of bis youth, suddenly
vanished like a phantom. Then an opposition formed
itvelf round him, and ultimately against him. This was
his deathblow."
The National then concludes with an extract from ene
of O'Connell'e speeches, delivered at Waterford, in
which he predicted that the rising generation would not
be so patient under suffering as those that' preceded it.

RAILWAY SHARE MARKET
LIVERPOOL, MAT 25.

STOCK ExcmixoE.—The sales are-Birkenhead, Lanca-
shire. and Cheshire Junction. 2 dis.—Chester and Birken-
head, 42%—.East Lancashire, New, 1% dis.—Edinburgh and
Glasgow, Halves, 614 p.—Great Northern, 1% ais.—Leeds
and Dewsbury, dis.—London and North-Western, 169!i
—Ditto, New Quarters, 91,4 p.—Ditto. Fifths, 134 p.—Dit to,
Quarters (G. J.), 154 p.—Manchester and Birmingham,
6514—Ditto, Quarters (C), 514 p.—Manchester and Leeds,
(late Hud. and Shoff:), par—Manchester, Sheffield, and Lin-
colnshire, Quarters, No. 1, 134 p.—Midland, 114142—Ditto
Consolidated (Birmingham and Derby), 89 -Newcastle and
Berwick, New, 114 p. —North British. Thirds (scrip), 235.
9d. p.—Ncrth Staffordshire, 11; p.—Shrewsbury and Here-
ford, 1% dis.—Shrewsbury and Chester (late N. 314
p.—Shrewsbury and Birrningham_(B), 1 dis.—Soutb -Ea%tern
and Dover, 3542—Ditto, New, No. 4, 811 9J. dis.—York
and Newcastle, Preference, 8 p.—Dublin and Ballast Junc-
tion, 12%2 die. _ _ _

GLASGOW, MAY 24.
STOCK EXCRANOK.—The sales are—Caledonian, 23/. 4%.
—Ditto, New, 37s.—Dundee and Pertl, 3014 Last L hien
Central, 325. 6(l—Edinburgh and Perth (New Co. ),
Glasgow, Dumfries, and Carlisle, 4!. 18s.—Great Northern,
Al.—Kilmarnock and Ayr Direct, 12s. 9(l.—.l.laucheitee
and Southampton, 9s. 9d.

LLOYD'S SHIPPING.
LONDON, MAY 26.—Wind S., brit breez,,, and fine
clear weather.

DEAL, MAT 25.—Wind S.W., fresh ; 10 P.M ,
W.S.W., light breeze.—Sld. Ricard, Batavia;
Brown, Porto Rico. Arrd. from the River the Agricola,
Calcutta; Burette, St. Croix.
PORTSMOUTH, MAT 25.—Wind W.S.W.—Off port,
Oaeu Glendower, Robertson, Bombay, which passed the
Mary and Ellen, of Cardigan, abandoned with eight feet
of water in her hold, on the 20th in,tant.
FALMOUTH._ MIT 18.—Wind W. S. W.—Sid. Pheno-

N -w York.
LIVERPOOL, MAY 25.—Wind W.S.W.. to W.N. W.,
fresh.—Arrd: Brilliant. Cowan, Mauritus; Star, Tholap.
ion, Rio Janeiro; Undaunted, Brown, Philadelphia; Co-
lumbia, Furber, New York, sld. ht instant. The Ash •
land, Williams, hence to New York, went on shore on
Long Island 29th ult., and remained, making water, iu
an easy position ; assistance had been sent from New
York.

CLYDE, MAY 24.—Wind S.—Arrd. Ganymede, Joy,
Jamaica. Sid. Victory, Calcutta ; Francis, St. Kitts ;
Ann Campbell, Halifax.
DUBLIN, MAY 24.—Wind E. ; P.M. S.W.—Arrd.
Venus, Soal, Philadelphia - Claremont, Fleming, New
Orleans ; Ella Cesander, New York. Sld. Friendship,
Quebec. _ _

CORK, MAYN23.—Wind S.W., strong.—Arrd. En-
chantress, Ellis, New York.
WA'yERFOIR, MAY 24.—Wind S. to W. S.W.—Arrd.
Beaver, Lawson, Porto Rico. •
linicsrows, MAT 24.—Wind S.W.— Arrd. Glide,
M'Lloyd, Boston.
Lai*, Alex 24.—Wind N.—Arrd. Fadrenesminde,
Hyortif, Demerit,*
RE

.01111ERY ANIPINABROW 'ESCAPE.—YesteI ty a,
noon, as Mr. Joseph Yardley, formerly a captain in th 6
army, but now a city merchant, was proceeding down
Chiswell-street, Finsbury, he felt a suddea tug at his
coat pocket, and saw a man dart into the Paul's Head
gin-shop, c
-shohpiwe,swllic-hstirseettuat Without e at the
waitingcornerof Awl i I tiotsic-esrttraeinet
whether he had been robbed or not, and remembering,
that there was a side door, he rushed round the
corner into Milton-street, -and was just in time to
collar the thief who had opened the door for him, and
had got his silk handkerchief in his possession. Mr,
Yardley on feeling his other coat pocket, however, found
that his pocket-book, which contained nearly 3001 which
he had Just received, was safe. He bad no doubt been
watched and followed by the thief, who had by mistake
picked the wrong pocket, and who, on being given tn!
custody was recognised as the notorious swell-mob-rnan
"Billeefe.;
MONET
AREET.--The premium on gold at
of
is 18 per milk, which, at the English Mint
'3/. 17s. 100. per ounce for standard
gold, gives 11%1 :Itchange of 25.60 ; and the exchatige at Paris ondon at. short being 25.70, it foUlisys that gold is Lori
per
mi
which,
taa,
tmdearer h int
he
priceLondono than
f gold is in Paris.
Byeradmvaiorit
English Mint price of 31. 17s.plOid. pt.
ounce for standard gold, gives an exchange of 13.9
.ad the exchange at II bts gh I.undon.4( silo! t tx-D:
13.91,•
it follows that the price oi goid is the 'same in
LOUon and in liarnburgh.