David O'Connell: Catholic Emancipation & Repeal of the Act of Union

Résumé du document

The success of the Catholic Emancipation campaign aroused a lot of hopes in Ireland. Six seventh of the Irish population was catholic, and hence, it was possible for them to "hold all civil and military offices except the offices of Regent, Lord Chancellor and Lord Lieutenant" . Daniel O'Connell (1775-1847), lawyer and leader of the Catholic Association was largely responsible for this first victory. Strictly speaking, in the long term, he strove for the repeal of the Act of Union because it did not represent the reality but maintained an oligarchy led by the Protestants. Indeed, the Protestant population represented one seventh of the Irish inhabitants (most of them lived in the province of Ulster) and "by the terms of the Union, twenty-eight Protestant peers and four Protestant bishops represented Ireland in the British House of Lords, and 100 Protestants MPs represented Ireland in the House of Commons" . He was truthfully convinced that only a native Irish parliament could achieve the political, civil and religious rights for all Irishmen. As a result, no sooner was the Catholic Emancipation Act passed in April 1829 than Daniel O'Connell began his campaign for the Repeal of the Act of Union, and continued to struggle until his death in 1847.The campaign for the Repeal of the Act of Union was as controversial and inextricable an issue in the English politics as the Catholic Emancipation campaign. Nevertheless, this second campaign failed. Thus it is necessary to cast light on this breakdown which raises some issues. What were the proceeds and the political strategy of O'Connell for this campaign? What was the ideology of the movement? Who were the supporters of the Repeal? What was the cohesion within the Repealers? Which political party had the majority in Westminster at that time? It is also necessary to underline the success of the movement of the Catholic Emancipation. Thus this essay will try to draw parallels between both campaigns in order to explain why O'Connell campaign to achieve Catholic Emancipation was a success, while his campaign to achieve Repeal of the Act of Union, a failure? Using this approach, it might be possible to give an answer to this complex question. To begin the essay, I will present the role of Daniel O'Connell in both campaigns, and with respect to his aims, before analyzing his strategy and the underlying tensions within his own movement. Finally I will investigate the contemporary British politician who helped or opposed both campaigns.

Extraits

[...] O'Ferrall, Daniel O'Connell (Dublin: Gill and Macmillan, 1981), p G. Ó Tuathaigh, Ireland before the famine, 1798-1848 (Dublin: Gill and Macmillan, 1990), p O'Connell gave up his practise at the bar in 1829. L. J. McCaffrey, Daniel O'Connell and the Repeal Year (University Press of Kentucky, 1966), p F. O'Ferrall, Daniel O'Connell (Dublin: Gill and Macmillan, 1981), p W. Hinde, Catholic Emancipation, A shake to Men's Minds (Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1992), p F. O'Ferrall, Daniel O'Connell (Dublin: Gill and Macmillan, 1981), p W. [...]

[...] a result of this declaration the Young Irelanders left the hall in a body and the long threatened cleavage between the two wings of the national movement had become an accomplished fact”[29]. Unlike the campaign of the Catholic Emancipation, the actions for the Repeal of the Act of Union could be pointless because of party warfare. The divergences turned on the generation gap and the disagreements of the agitation's proceeds. With very few exceptions the motions voted within the Repeal Association were never unanimous. [...]

[...] Both of them were not so disconnected. Indeed “each was a means of attaining and exercising influence. Largely by his forensic skill, he accumulated political capital in Ireland, and largely by his forensic skill, he spent it judiciously in the House of Commons”[17]. However, the actions of O'Connell are more delicate to grasp because he used new proceedings but he also turned to the same methods of the Catholic Emancipation campaign. Indeed on one hand he was in favour of the “Repeal he approved the scheme of an annual collection. [...]

[...] In return O'Connell undertook to support their Government and to postpone indefinitely his campaign for the Repeal of the Act of Union”[21]. In the House of Common this strictly political alliance was an historic scene when O'Connell and his followers joined the mass crossing from the opposition to the ministerial benches. O'Connell preferred to find compromise by the system of political alliance in order to achieve his ends. The more the time was gone on, the more he wanted to find allies at any price in order to secure the movement. [...]

[...] Without a firm political support at Westminster the campaign for the Repeal of the Act of Union was hopeless. Nevertheless thanks to the Irish Municipal Reform Act, O'Connell became the Lord Mayor of Dublin from the 1st November 1841 to the 31 October 1842. was, of course, extraordinarily convenient for O'Connell to find another arena for activity just as his prospects in parliament were dimmed”[38]. It was the base to organize new corporations for the 1843 repeal campaign in order to gather supporters. [...]