the midst of this scene of distraction, Mr. O’Connell died.  The news was a stunning blow to the nation.  A great reaction, for a short time, ensued.  Added to the other crimes of the seceders, was that of being O’Connell’s murderers.  They, on the other hand, resolved to treat O’Connell’s memory with the greatest respect.  They resolved to attend his funeral procession, in deep mourning; and they gave orders for expensive sashes, of Irish manufacture, which the members of the council were to wear.  Mr. O’Brien communicated this purpose to Mr. J. O’Connell.  The answer was too plainly a prohibition; and the Confederation reluctantly abandoned their design.  Mr. O’Connell died at Genoa, on the 15th of May, 1847, and was buried in Glasnevin, on the 5th of August.  His corpse, which was delayed some days in Liverpool, was conveyed through the streets of Dublin, during the election scene which resulted in the return of Mr. John Reynolds; being thus made subservient to the success of the man, to whom, of all his followers, he was most opposed during his life.  It was a strange end, surely.  Mr. O’Connell was buried with great pomp.  The trustees of the Glasnevin Cemetery were generous in appropriating the fund at their disposal to the purposes of the funeral; but when the sincerity of the mourners’ grief came to be tested, by the claim for a contribution to erect a suitable monument to the great champion of the age, it was found how hollow was their woe, and how lying their adulation.  Daniel O’Connell is yet without a monument, save that which his own genius has raised in the liberalised institutions of his country.

The reaction in the public mind, consequent on his death, was short-lived; and the Confederation progressed rapidly, during the closing months of the year 1847.  Although not formally acknowledged, every one saw that it was the only public body in the country deserving or enjoying anything like public confidence.

CHAPTER VI

THE SPLIT WITH MR. MITCHEL.—­HIS TRIAL, CONVICTION, SENTENCE AND SPEECH.—­THE “FELON” AND “TRIBUNE” ESTABLISHED.—­ARREST OF MESSRS.  MARTIN, O’DOHERTY, WILLIAMS AND DUFFY.—­CONVICTION OF MR. MARTIN.—­HIS SPEECH.—­CONVICTION, SENTENCE AND SPEECH OF MR. O’DOHERTY.—­DISSOLUTION OF THE CONFEDERATION.—­THE LEAGUE

At the opening of the new year, which was destined to be its last, the Confederation, though yet regarded with coldness by the Catholic Hierarchy, was in full career.  Its members had won the respect of every educated man in the land, however widely most of them may have differed from it in political faith.  Among the middle classes of the Catholics, all that were left uncorrupted fell into its ranks, and embraced its belief.  Men began to regard as possible everything which enthusiasm advanced with such unhesitating courage and devoted self-sacrifice.  Mr. Mitchel delivered some lectures on land tenure and the poor-law system,