The Leavenworth weekly times., 1875-08-12
THE o,coNNELL CENTENNIAL.

of Kerry, Ireland, was born In august
ITS. The hundredth anniversary OF his
birth will be celebrated in this city to-
morrow. The family OF the great liber-
ator was ancient but somewhat straighten.
ed in circumstances Daniel received his
frt education from hedge schoolmaster,
and after further training under priest,
was sent, in 1890, 10 the English college at
St. Omer His school reputation was very
high but he was driven home premature
" by the outbreak of the Revolution, and
in 1894 entered As law student at Lin
coins Inn. In 1898 he was called TO the
bar, and it was the boast Of his late career
as an advocate Of the Repeal Of the Union
with Englsnd that.his first public speech
was delivered at meeting in Dublin, con-
vened to protest against the projected mea-
snre. BY degrees, the Roman Catholic
party began TO rally from the pros
tration into which they had been thrown
through the rebellion Of 1898 and its conse-
quences. O'Copnell was an active member
of all the successive associations which, un-
der various names, were organized for the
purpose Of procuring the repeal
of the civil disabilities Of the Catho-
lie people. BY means of these associations
OConnell created so formidable an organiza-
ton throughout Ireland that it gradually
became apparent that the desired measure of
relief could not longer be safely withheld, and
the crisis was preciritated by the bold ex-
pedient adopted by O'Connell, of procuring
himself TO be elected member of Parliament
for Glare. in 1905, notwithstanding it was
we'll known that he was legally disquali-
fed from serving in that body, in conse-
quence Of his refusal TO take the prescribed
oath, which then formed the ground OF the
exclusion of Roman Catholics from the
Legislature. This decisive step towards the
settlement OF the question, although it
failed to procure for OConnell admission to
Parliament, led to discussions within the
House, and to agitations outside, 10 forInid-
able that in the beginning of the year 1929,
the Duke of Wellington and Sir Robert
Peel, found il expedient TO give way, and
they introduced and carried through, in the
spring of that year, the well known meas
ures OF Catholic emancipation. OCon-
nell was at once reelected, and took
his seat for Clare, and from
that date until his death he con-
tinued to sit in Parliament. In the pro-
gress of more than one OF the political ag-
itations which made him famous, his asso-
Citations were suppressed by the Govern
ment, and he and Others were arrested on
charge of seditious conspiracy, and after a
long and memorable trial, OConnell was
convicted and sentenced to a years impris-
sonment, with fine OF two thousand
pounds; this judgment was reversed by the
House of Lords, and O'Connell on his dis
charge resumed his career. But his health
had suffered from confinement, and the en-
nifty Of supposed friends. Toward the end
: OF the struggle, his health gave way. lie
was ordered to try milder climate, and on
his journey to Rome, in the spring of 1917,
he was suddenly seized with paralysis, and
died at Geneva, on the 18th Of May of that
year. O'Connell was firm believer in
moral force" and always endeavored TO
obtain for Ireland her rights, by means of
argument.
He vas not only the champion of the
do0u0odden in his native isle, but wherev-
9s hnman being was found in slavery, in
OOnnell he found a sympathizer and
- lfAing to extend a helping hand.
trade had no more persistent and
btt3f opponent than the great Liberator.
Yesterday a gentleman told us that
he was once present at monster
meeting where O'Connell was the orator OF
the day. He opened the exercises by read
ing from list the names Of those who had
donated various sums in aid Of the cause
for which he was struggling.
He had not proceeded far, when the
name of the Governor of one Of the Caro-
linas caught his eye, he paused, and indig-
nantly and sconfully rejected the offering.
'What" said O'Connell, "a man whose
constituency are dyed IN she. blood of the
pso., oppressed Afrii tebering Irish
men monez n oheain t1;f freedom. We
con 81 n Fspula rather zee Irish
nsnsliss lid 1cvh ~ith iron bands,
than 1sssass, s the cost of the poor
negro The career of O'Connell has been
aptly compared with Napoleon by the
Cafhotie World, which says: "Yet if We
compare O'ConnelPs labors and their re-
suits with those Of the great soldier whose
career had closed while the former was on
ly beginning his peaceful struggle with
England, there is no reason TO
shrink from the verdict. Emancipa.
tion was worth many Msrengos. The roIe
81 the Eberator may fairly he set off against
'shat of the Conqueror. The civic crown of
green and gold placed on O'Conneil's head,
on the Rath Of Mullaghmast, in the pres
snceof 100000 men, was an emblem of true
sovereignty greater in many ways than that
iron crown which Napoleon lifted with his
own ambitious hands from the altar at Mi
Ian. One was rust eaten, it might he said,
with the blood and tears of unknown thou
sands the other Was invested with the halo
Of peace, which the attainment of religious
liberty and education in the rights of free
nsa had introduced into million humble
homes. The career of both Napoleon and
OConnell ended in defeat. But how con-
flicting the emotions of each IA he gazed for
the last time on the shores Of his coun-
try! One preoccupied by the shat
tering of his gigantic ambition
and the assertion of petty details of eti-
quette in the midst of the ruin around
him; the other, oblivious OF self, weighed
oown by the doom of famine impending
over his country-his last words solemn
and pathetic appeal for its protection. In
the hour of adversely, stripped of the ad-
ventitious circumstances of power, O'Con-
nell stands forth figure Of greater moral
grandeur. of the victories OF Napoleon
nothing remains bat their name, and the
terrible retribution that has followed them.
L. E l.