The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1910-03-18


 one of the most nomentous questions, attaching the clergy to his cause. en- listing the efforts of the brilliant Shell | who so ably seconded O'Connen ar l ranging meeting after meeting of his countrymen by petition. pledging every 1 parish in Ireland to the fight so that l than two thousand meetings were he'd l in one day In a letter of O'ConnelPs s 1 to Lord Shrewsbury in his last days, ! he says: 'tFor more than twenty years l before emancipation the burden of the l cause was thrown on me. I had to
 arrange the meetings, prepare the res 1 olutions. furnish replies to the corre- l spondents. examine the case of each l person complaining of practical griev- ances. arouse the torpid, animate the
 lukewarm, control the violent and in 1 fammatory. avoid the shoals and 1 breakers of the law, guard against
 multiplied treachery and at all times l to oppose. at every peril, the enemies i of the cause.''
 1 It was thus that the victory so long | sought for by Ireland's statesmen was | won by the courage and intelligence | of one man who consecrated his life to i the cause. Against the denuncia tions 1 of English statesmen and clergymer, against the very administration of 1 Wellington which was pledged to the
 annihilation of emancipation, O'Con- nell, the man without rank or infiu- 1 ence, wealth. pitted his strength
 and won one of the most notable vic i tories in behalf of religious equality I i relentless enemies. from statesmen of l surpassing grasp and acumen, O'Con- l nell gained triumph which is as glOr- l ious for his church as for his country as it once and for all struck from his 1 co-re1igionists the shackles of religious l disability and opened to all citizenship | and high office. We'll then did his l countrymen in loving memory of his | unselfsh service rear a statute of their | hero in Sackville street, Dublin, rep | resenting Erin as freed from chains, | Emancipation and with the other 1 pointing upward to O'Connell the tri- bune and Hberator of his people, who found his country chained. but left her free.
 And yet Emancipation, great as it was, was only a means to a greater end that OConnell had in mind from the very outset of his career, namely, the repeal of the Union. It was to-
 wards this that O'Conne1 bent the tireless energy of his later years, and if he did not secure the fullest success of his efforts, he set into action the
 very elements that later demanded and secured fuller concession of rights from the British Parliament. His election at Clare in 1928 as a Represen- tative- to British Parliament enabled him to carry the struggle to the very doors of his enemy. and never during the remainder of his stormy career did he leave off in his struggle for abso- 1ute self government of his people. In his own words he summarized his whole career: fI have but one wish Inder heaven, and that is for the lib erty and prosperity of Ireland: I am for leaving England to the English, Scotland to the Scotch; but we must have Ireland for the Irish. I will not be content until I see not single man in any office from the lowest constable to the Lord Chancellor but Irishmen.'' O'Connell's genius for organization was prodigious and his natural ability as a leader universally acknowledge Organization after organization by him was formed to unite his countrynen dissolved under the law than another sprang Tlp under a new name, always strictly within the limits of the con stitution. His was the master mind that directed the energies of his coun- trynnen in the most trying period of their existence-never were people leader; never was 8 leader more wor- thy of his followers He planted him. self upon the millions and trusted fully for victory in honest agitation of a righteous cause and the great fact that stands out in bold relief more prominently than any other in power entrusted to his hands he never abused it. but directed it along lines constitutional and pacific. As one of his biogra phers said: s"The truth is his position so far from being a com mon one, is absolutely unique in his tory. We may search in vain through who without the effusion of drop of blood the advantages of office rank succeeded in governing a people so absolutely and so long, and in creat- ing so entirely the clements of his power. He made himself the focus of the attention of other lands, and the center around which the rising intellect of his own revolved. He transformed the whole social system of Ireland, almost reversed the relative position of Protestants and Catholics renodeled by his influence the repre- sentative. ecclesiastical and educa- tiona1 institutions and created a pub dreams of his predecessors. Can we wonder at the proud exu1tation with which he exclaimed. 'Grattan sat by the cradle of his country and followed her hearse; it was left for me to sound the resurrection trumpet and to show she was not dead, but sleeping.''
 O'Connen was pre-erninently a born orator. one of the most popular and effective that ever ruled the hearts and intelligence of the people. A natural leader, a skilled cross-examiner and counsellor, cautious, humorous and caustic, knowing thoroughly the Celtic character, he obtained quickly the ative returns in his profession. Un- selfshly abandoning this extensive le- gal practice he threw himself into the Irish strugg'es and became one of the ing O'Connel1 speak. John Randolph of Virginia. an orator of no small re- nown. said: t'This is the man. these are the 1ins. the most eloquent that speak Enelish in my dav.' And Wen dell Phillips. a real disciple of O'Con- nell, placed him in 8 class far beyond Choate. and Webster. and Everett. His voice. deep. sonorous and musical, was acknowledged by Disraeli to have been the finest ever heard in British ParIfa nent and Bulwer Lytton be- took himself to poetry to describe the effect of OConnelTs voice on the null titude: As from church tower swings the
 si1very bell, A1oft and clear, from airy tide to tide It g1ided, easy as bird may glide. Even to the verge of that vast audi
 ence sent, It played with each wild passion as it
 went; Now stirred the uproar. now the mur-