O'connell and Ireland

Daniel O’Connell

Irish Roman Catholic political leader Daniel O’Connell, known as the Liberator, worked for two decades to repeal British laws that barred Roman Catholics from Parliament. He established the Catholic Association in 1823 and, six years later, saw his goals accomplished with passage of the Catholic Emancipation Act, which removed most civil restrictions on Roman Catholics.

Although Ireland was united to Great Britain by the Act of Union in 1800, she still required a separate existence, in many respects. During this period Ireland had her own troubles, and a series of laws was passed concerning Ireland alone. Thus her histo­ry must still be treated apart.

Pitt hoped that Irish troubles would become better in England when Irish members sat in the Imperial Parliament, and he be­lieved that those troubles would be more wisely considered and put to end in that Parliament than in a separate assembly at Dub­lin. But the Tory governments which controlled all the difficulties for a generation after the Union too often turned a deaf ear to Irish complaints; and when, after 1832, more attention was paid to Irish questions, great ignorance existed, and nobody wanted to go to the roots of the difficulty.

The evils from which Ireland suffered after 1800 were princi­pally these. In the first place, the Roman Catholics, who numbered five-sixth of the population, were excluded from Parliament and the higher official positions. The Protestant Church — the church of a small minority — was supported by tithes drawn from the mass of the people, believers in another creed.

Along with this religious inequality went many social troubles. There was little trade; agriculture was almost the only industry of the people, and agriculture was very backward. The population was too large, so there was great competition for land, and rents were so high that it was impossible for most tenants to pay for them. Miserable poverty was general throughout the west Ireland. Only the linen trade flourished, and the people were better off here.

As the landlords were for the most part stupid and wasteful, they did not make anything to improve their estates and were often heavily in debt. The inhabitants of Dublin were cultivated and some of them were even brilliantly educated, but the people in general throughout the whole country were utterly ignorant. The govern­ment of Dublin Castle, presided by the Lord Leutenant and his Chief Secretary, was careless and in-efficient, and the evils of aris­tocratic influence and patronage were numerous.

Such a state of things could not but produce widespread dis­content. The great war on the Continent distracted the attention of the British Government, and encouraged the more violent elements in Ireland to band together. Though the rebellion of 1798 had been suppressed, its spirit was not dead. There were organised many revolutionary and secret societies — the Whiteboys, the Orange­men, and others — which alarmed the government, and the latter ran to the measures of repression. The Habeus Corpus Act was suspended six times between 1800 and 1824.

But no attempt was made to fight with the evils which were the reasons for discontent. The movement for Catholic Emancipation for a time absorbed the energies of the Irish people. It was success­ful, as we have seen, in 1829, when the religious inequality was removed. But its leader, O'Connell, was not satisfied with this success. As soon as Catholic Emancipation was reached, he began to agitate for the repeal of the Union.

The Catholic Association was now revived under the name of the "Friends of Ireland". The agitation for refusing the Union soon be­came universal throughout Ireland, and O'Connell's power over the Irish peasantry seemed very strong. But the discontent was as much religious and social as political. A general resistance to the English began, and agrarian outrages became more and more frequent.

Lord Grey's government felt it necessary to obtain special powers to enforce order. A Coercion Act for Ireland was one of the first measures passed by the Parliament (1833); but it was immedi­ately followed by an Act which reformed the Irish Church. This Act reduced the number of bishopics, and freed the Roman Catholics to pay "cess" — a tax which was taken to maintain the parish protestant churches.

O'Connell, now a member of the House of Commons, had gathered round him a brilliant body of young followers, who came to be known as the Young Ireland Party. The Irish question contin­ued to occupy the government for several years; but their measures were ineffective. In 1838 the Irish Poor Law was passed, and in 1840 Irish municipal government was reformed. A little later the govern­ment began to reform the education of the people. Colledges open to representatives of all religions were established at Cork, Galway, and Belfast, and a large annual grant was made to the Roman Catholic Colledge of Maynooth (1845).

But nothing was done to improve the condition of the masses, and O'Connell, who had dropped his agitation against the Union since 1834, because he hoped that efficient reforms would be take place, now revived his slogans. The movement was actively spread by the Young Ireland Party, their meetings were held all over Ire­land; and though everything was conducted in a regular and orderly way, the state of things became so alarming, that Sir Robert Peel felt obliged to interfere.

In 1843 a great meeting at Clontarf, near Dublin, was prohibit­ed; and shortly afterwards O'Connell, with several other leaders, were on the charge of "conspiracy to intimidate the government, and to bring contempt upon the law". The trial that followed (1844) ended in the condemnation of o'Connell and his fellows. The ver­dict was declared, on technical reasons, by the House of Lords. The sentence of a year's imprisonment and a fine of < 2000 was after­wards reversed, but O'Connell's influence was now at the end, and he took very little further part in public affairs. The movement which he had headed collapsed for the time.

But though the cry for repeal ceased to be heard, the social evils which were the chief cause of the disturbances still remained undiminished. Naturally, agrarian crime continued to increase, and the government had passed another Act, but at once the fruit of such a measure was disclosed by the frightful famine that spread through­out the country in 1846. The potato crop failed, and thousands of people were reduced to starvation.

The famine was followed by fever, and in the midst of these awful troubles the landlords evicted the large number of tenants, in order to reduce the excessive population. The misery of the people during the years 1846-1848 was appalling. Large numbers emigrated, and the population fell, in a few years, from over eight million to six and a half million. This domination of the population was in itself a material gain to those who remained; but the emigrants carried away with them a bitter sense of wrong which has been the source of many troubles.

NAMES AND EXPRESSIONS

a series of laws — ряд законов (не серия!)

turned a deaf ear to — не желали слышать (буквально — поворачивали глухое ухо к...)

believers in another creed — последователи другой веры

was backward — отставало

could not but produce — не могло не породить (вызвать)

The Habeus Corpus Act (лат.) — закон о неприкосновенности личности a material gain — материальные выгоды

abitter sense of wrong — горькое ощущение несправедливости

Дата добавления: 2015-11-16