The Irish standard., 1902-08-09
One of the Chief Characteristics of His
Early Life Was Bold and
Fearless Courage.
The Marvellous Eloquence of the Patriot
Made Him More Than Match
For His Enemies.


drals only to be found in the old
world, that we must view them at a
distance in order to be able to judge of
their real magnitude and just proper
tions. So it is with the character of
Daniel O'Connell, which was so vast
in all it's developments that it is prob
able that future generations will ac-
cord him more honor and appreciate
better his far-seeing policy.
Born under another system of gov
Grnment, such for instance as our own,
he might have aspired to the most eX-
alte4l position in the state. AS it was,
he became the moral leader of a down.
tr, ,dden pc pie, whom Ire found dis
pirited. ,uneducated and divided, and
whom by the lahors of nearly half a
century he raised UP. united and dis
enthralle(l. In parliament. his career
was Il triumph from the beginning.
His powerful eloquence. irresistible
hnmor. and whitening sarcasm made
him Il tower cf strength for his friends
and Il terror to knaves and bigots.
says the Irish World.
Daniel O'Connell came of an CID
Catholic Kerry family. being born at
Callan on August 6. 1915. AS Catholics
the O'Connells experienced the pres
sure of the Penal laws. Norris O'Con-
1,o11 fa{o hot
not ''discoverable." Morgan O'C~n-
nell. Daniels father. held his lands
through a trustee, who WAS a Protest
ant.
The O'Connell family was. in many
ways, Il remarkable one. Daniel
O'CCnnell. the liberat"rs namesake
and raised himself to high rank by his
own merit. He served with signal dis
tlnction in many parts of the world.
All the early years of THE liber;,tor
belonged to a time of great European
excitement. While he was still a
child the war for American imlepend.
ence' was going on. Later on he was
at school in France Mt the very time
the Reign Of Terrcr began and it was
only with considerable danger that he
and his brother were able to make
their way back from France to Ire
land.
One of the chief characteristics of
O'Connells early life was courage 1t
needed 10 small courage for young
man. and Catholic. to lift up his
voice eloluently against the Union at
Il meeting well-nigh overawed by the
presence Of armed soldiery. under the
command of the GeteStel Major SIR.
Abiding TO the Irish parliament which
had voted away the liberty of Ireland.
O'Connell said:
'The representatives we had elected
for the short space of eight years had
no authority to dispose of their coun-
try forever. They We're the servants
of the nation. not its masters. l deny
that the natl II itself has a right to
barter its independence or to commit
political suicide. But when our ser
wants destroyed our existence as a ma
tion tlpay added to the baseness of as
sassination all the guilt of high trea-
SON.
1t needed no small courage. too. sscl
such a man to take upon himself. as
he did little later. the cart of TIL;
champion of the Catholics of Ireland
At the time when O'Connell was
rapidly making his way into the front
rank of the legal profession. the Irish
Catholics We're reduced by oppression
by privation and the Penal laws to &
condition of almost despairing apathy
They had no ambitions which they
f~uld hope to crafty: they had nc
privileges as citizens: they had almost
no rights as human beings.
1t was for this class that young
man of their own faith now dared tc
come forward, not merely as their de
fender. but as their yindicator and
iustifipr. From the first he held his
hid high and cared for no man
From the first he adopted an attitude
of defiance and tone of even aggres