him, and the petition was presented by Grattan on 23 May. When proposing to refer it to a committee, Grattan claimed to have been authorised by the catholics to concede a veto to the crown on the nomination of bishops (Parl. Debates, xi. 556). It soon appeared that catholic opinion in Ireland was divided on the subject—the aristocracy and a large portion of the mercantile class favouring the veto, the hierarchy and the people generally repudiating it. The schism did much harm to the catholic cause. Despair succeeded to a state of apathy. O'Connell, who from the first had sided with the priests and the people, constantly, it is true, urged the necessity of agitating; but his words fell for the most part on dull and hostile ears. The first symptom of revival came from an unexpected quarter. Early in 1810 a movement had been set on foot in the Dublin Corporation for a repeal of the union, and it had met with so much success that a meeting of freemen and freeholders was convened in the Royal Exchange on 18 Sept. to discuss the subject. O'Connell attended the meeting, and delivered an important speech. He claimed that the prophecies of Grattan and Foster as to the evil consequences of the union had been more than realised. For himself, he would abandon all wish for emancipation if it delayed the repeal of the union. ‘Nay,’ he concluded, ‘were Mr. Perceval tomorrow to offer me the Repeal of the Union upon the terms of re-enacting the entire penal code, I declare it from my heart, and in the presence of my God, that I would most cheerfully embrace his offer.’ The subject of the penal code was one which at this time seriously occupied O'Connell's attention as chairman of a sub-committee for reporting on the laws affecting the catholics. The report of the committee was published in 1812 under the title ‘A Statement of the Penal Laws which aggrieve the Catholics of Ireland,’ and is generally attributed to Denis Scully [q. v.], but the moving spirit of the committee was O'Connell.
It was by quiet unostentatious work of this sort, by framing resolutions for adoption at aggregate meetings, and by unremitting attention to practical details, that, in spite of incredible jealousy, he gradually asserted his leadership of the catholics. His great object was to reconcile the differences that existed among the catholics themselves, and to devise some scheme for placing their affairs on a broad national basis. The Convention Act of 1793 made representation by delegation illegal, and O'Connell had, as he said, no intention ‘to violate the law and expose the catholic committee to a prosecution.’ But it was possible, he thought, to increase the influence of the committee by adding to it informally from other parts of the country than Dublin. At his instance, accordingly, a letter (ib. xix. 3) was published on 1 Jan. 1811, addressed to the catholics generally, calling on them to appoint ten managers of the catholic petition in each county. This the chief secretary, Wellesley Pole, pronounced on 12 Feb. to be a contravention of the Convention Act. Pole's action was severely criticised in parliament, and for a time he deemed it prudent to overlook the proceedings of the reorganised committee. During the summer numerous meetings to protest against Pole's conduct, and to petition for his removal, took place, and at one, held during the assizes at Limerick, O'Connell presided. It was the general opinion that government had suffered a defeat, and at a meeting of catholics on 9 July it was resolved to extend the principle of ‘appointment’ to five persons chosen by the catholic inhabitants of each parish in Dublin. In taking this step O'Connell recognised that they were sailing very close to the wind; but ‘he considered it a legal experiment, and he cheerfully offered himself as the first victim of prosecution.’ Government immediately accepted the challenge, and, after giving the catholics a chance of withdrawing from their position, issued a proclamation on 2 Aug. declaring such elections illegal. The elections, however, took place, and on 12 Aug. a number of persons who had taken part in them were arrested on a warrant by Chief-justice Downes. On 21 Nov. the state trial of Dr. Sheridan, one of the traversers, began, O'Connell being retained as one of the counsel for the defence. Government failed to convict; but in charging the jury, Chief-justice Downes clearly intimated that under the act the catholic committee as reorganised was an illegal assembly; and the trial and conviction of Mr. Kirwan on a similar charge in the following year proved, as O'Connell said, that the resources of government were adequate to a conviction. On 23 Dec. the catholic committee as reorganised was dispersed, and it was resolved to revert to the old plan of entrusting the preparation of the petition to a non-delegated board of catholics, and for ordinary purposes to fall back on the cumbersome machinery of aggregate meetings.
With the catholics generally, O'Connell had looked forward to the regency as likely to witness the success of emancipation. His expectations had been disappointed, and his disappointment was all the keener because
