Was Daniel OConnell a Great Irish National Leader Essay Example

Was Daniel OConnell a Great Irish National Leader Essay Example Was Daniel OConnell a Great Irish National Leader Essay Was Daniel OConnell a Great Irish National Leader Essay The rebellion of 1798 and the Act of Union in 1800 had dashed the hopes of the Catholic leaders on the Irish Question, the Catholics were in a state of vassalage and they were still pariahs compared with the Protestants. Many of the leaders had accomplished very little and their prospects of success looked very bleak, they were even willing to support a compromise Emancipation Bill which, even though granted political and civil rights to the Catholics, included a veto which allowed the British government the right to vet ecclesiastical appointments to the Roman Catholic Church in order to ensure that only loyal clerics were appointed. But Daniel OConnell, an unknown Catholic lawyer, denounced the bill and inaugurated a different policy that soon gave the Catholic movement an energy it had not possessed before. With the failure of the 1821 Catholic Emancipation Bill (which included the above veto) to pass through the House of Lords, OConnell and his supporters set up the Catholic Association in 1823 as a pressure group campaigning for full civil and political rights for the Catholics. But it was in 1824 where OConnell introduced Catholic Rent of a penny a month that was collected by priests from the supporters and enabled the small pressure group to transform into a national mass movement with huge support from the Irish peasantry. The Catholic Association was able to represent the popular voice of Ireland due to its cheap subscription of a penny a month which many people could afford as 80% were living in dire poverty, other associations were not so successful as they were only made up of the small Irish middle class. The massive subscription allowed the Catholic Association to have sizeable funds that equated to  £35,000 between 1826 and 1829, this enabled the Association to pay for leaflets, posters and even to be able to run their own newspaper which all helped to spread the message throughout Ireland. OConnell also realised the important role of the priests who not only collected the rent but also influenced the people to join the Association. One of the Associations most effective methods of generating awareness was by holding massive open-air meetings that OConnell addressed himself. OConnell, using his skill as a lawyer, was an excellent orator and was known to the peasantry as the Deliverer as he demanded justice for Ireland and full Catholic Emancipation. OConnell was very successful with the Catholic Association as he was able to successfully mobilise the masses and use the open-air meetings to veil his threats to the British government. He threatened the British with mass disobedience, possible violence and eventual separation if their demands were not met. This was a policy of brinkmanship which OConnell used successfully to exploit his mass following. In 1828 brinkmanship was used in the County Clare Elections where OConnell decided to stand as candidate, with the backing of the Association and local priests, the Catholic voters defied their Protestant landlords and OConnell won the seat with ease. This posed a huge problem for the government as OConnell would not have been able to take a seat in the commons without a change of law, so effectively he forced Catholic Emancipation on Peel. Peel backed down after realising the threat of civil disorder and pushed emancipation through the House of Lords, the Lords passed the Catholic Emancipation bill by a two to one majority and it became an act in 1829. The Act allowed full civil and political rights to Roman Catholics and was OConnells greatest achievement as this was what the Association had set out to achieve. He claimed to a friend one of the greatest triumphs recorded in history- a bloodless revolution. In 1840 OConnell began the Repeal Campaign which was very similar to the Catholic Association and employed similar methods such as the Repeal Rent. But unlike the Association it collapsed as OConnell himself was not too committed with the Campaign and also the Catholic middle classes were more concerned about economic gains from the Union. OConnell again used his policy of brinkmanship but this time it was not successful, in 1843 the monster meeting in Clontarf was banned by Peel and Peel threaten military action by sending a small army and a naval ship. In this confrontation we see the limitations of mass mobilisation and brinkmanship as OConnell is forced to back down, as he is not prepared to back up his rhetoric with violence. So the Repeal Campaign was a failure for OConnell. The Catholic Emancipation Act of 1829 had an important impact on Westminster as it led to the split of the Tory Party with the emergence of the new Whig Party, and also allowed 33 OConnellites to take seats in the House of Commons. The Irish Party looked set to continue increasing its size with the passing of the Great Reform Act in 1832 which increased the franchise, but in fact only an extra 9 OConnellites were elected. The main reason for this was because the franchise was increased from 40 shillings freehold to a  £10 householder suffrage which dramatically reduced the Irish electorate to a sixth of its former size. Nevertheless the Irish Party still had an impact on the House of Commons where they put the Irish Question on the agenda and raised awareness in Britain, but they were also an important third party as it was their support which allowed the Whigs to get the Great Reform Bill through Westminster. This was the beginning of the Whig-Irish alliance. In 1813 OConnell said: I have an ultimate object, it is the Repeal of the Union and this was clearly what OConnell wanted to achieve through Parliament but this was not popular outside of Ireland. Therefore OConnell turned his attention to reforms for Ireland and the Whigs did address some of the Irish grievances by introducing a grant for education in 1831 and by passing the Irish Church Bill they reformed the unrepresentative Church of Ireland. OConnell saw, with the massive defeat of the Repeal Bill in 1834, that Irish reforms was all he could achieve even though his partys support was crucial, after 1834, for the Whigs to stay in power. In February of 1834 OConnell was invited to sign The Litchfield House Compact which was an agreement between the anti-conservative forces (Whigs, radicals and Irish) in British politics to form a coalition and oust Peels minority administration. This gave OConnell some political leverage which he used to get reforms. This allowed him to make a significant impact on Parliament and permitted him to achieve something for Ireland, though it was not much and none of the reforms dealt with the fundamental problems of the Irish economy and society. Though the year 1840 shows the decline of the Whig-Irish alliance as in 1841 Peel returned to office with a majority and the Irish Party lost its significance and thus also lost its impact on Westminster. There were major political differences between Peel and OConnell and Peel personally hated OConnell so the Irish Party were unable to cooperate with the new government. This shows that OConnell only made an impact during hung parliament where his partys support was the deciding factor. Though OConnell did achieve some reforms, these included the Irish Poor Law Act which set up workhouses in 1838 and he used his political leverage to persuade Thomas Drummond to reform the police and the judiciary in Ireland. Even though Daniel OConnell failed to achieve the Repeal of the Union he was still a great leader, he had built a rapport with the masses and began the first effective pressure group by forming the Catholic Association. But instead of becoming a great Irish national leader, he became a great Irish national Catholic leader as he rather divided the two religious communities with methods such as the Catholic Association. OConnell achieved a lot for Ireland, making an impact on the parliamentary scene and helped to bring about some legislative reforms, though his greatest accomplishment was the Catholic Emancipation Act. But after 1840 he failed to achieve anything more as the Repeal Campaign was a dismal success and he was politically impotent during the Great Famine.