and the ablest men among the second order of the clergy appeared on the platform, and added sanctity and dignity to the proceedings.  Members of Corporations through the country, and private gentlemen of rank brought to the imposing confederacy the weight of their office, rank and name.  The existing Government in a splenetic attempt to crush it, had dismissed certain magistrates for having their names enrolled on its books.  This new aggression gave a fresh impetus to its progress.  Men who had previously looked on it with doubt or fear, now embraced it as the only safeguard for the remaining liberties of the island.  The parliamentary committee which had been instituted by Mr. O’Brien, had exhausted every source of information within the reach of industry in developing the resources and capacities of the country.  The committee of the Association counted within its members one hundred lawyers who preferred the fortunes of Ireland to professional or political advancement.  Many of these and others who were not of the party brought to the popular tribune rare endowments, the most generous passions, and the noblest eloquence.  Poetry, fresh, vigorous and full of heart, shed her harmonising and ennobling influence upon the whole, and imparted to patriotism the last pre-requisite of success.  Amidst this grand movement stood Mr. O’Connell, erect, alone, its centre and its heart.  He was not its guide, but its god, until he slept within a prison, and came forth less than man.

During this period two events occurred deserving particular notice—­the only facts upon which Mr. O’Connell’s supremacy was questioned, or his advice audibly condemned.  These were, first, his refusal of French contributions and French sympathy, of which M. Ledru Rollin, since so celebrated, was to be the bearer; and secondly, his acceptance of contributions from America under protest, against the “infamous institution” of slavery.  He rejected the first with indignant scorn, because it was the offering of “republicans,” and spoke of the latter with contempt, as “smelling of blood.”

These two acts alienated from his cause the only foreigners in the world who were willing to espouse it.  His wisdom was questioned and condemned.  It was urged upon him that he should not intermeddle with foreign institutions or with the political predilections of individuals.  Enough for Ireland, he was told, to find that Frenchmen and Americans were ready to do battle in her cause, and it ill became her to spurn their advances with indignity and a sneer.  The argument failed, his hatred of slavery and republicanism out-weighed all other considerations.