Daniel O'Connell
Daniel O'Connell ( Irish Dónall Ó Conaill ; born August 6, 1775 in Carhen near Cahersiveen , County Kerry , Ireland ; † May 15, 1847 in Genoa ) was an Irish politician. He was nicknamed "The Liberator" (the liberator) and was the most prominent politician in Ireland in the first half of the 19th century. He was particularly committed to the equality of Catholics and the abolition of the union between Ireland and Great Britain.
Life
He was born in Carhan , near Cahersiveen , County Kerry, to an impoverished Roman Catholic lower-nobility family. His wealthy uncle Maurice O'Connell made it possible for him to study in Paris and London . In 1794 he was admitted to the Lincoln's Inn and two years later moved to the King's Inn in Dublin . In those early years he met democratic radicals. Under their influence, he developed the idea of enforcing equality and religious tolerance in the country. His uncle Maurice advised him not to take part in the military operations of that time during his studies. When a French invasion fleet with Wolfe Tone entered Bantry Bay in December 1796 , O'Connell found himself in a dilemma. In January 1797 he wrote to his uncle that all of his fellow students had signed up for the volunteer corps. Since he was young, healthy and a bachelor, he had no excuse for not reporting. In the same month he joined the Lawyer's Artillery Corps.
On May 19, 1798, he was admitted as one of Ireland's first Catholic attorneys. Four days later the United Irishmen began their uprising, which was bloodily suppressed by the British. O'Connell was against the uprising. He believed that the Irish had to get their demands through politically. So he retired to his native Kerry and practiced as a lawyer for the next decade. Even Robert Emmet's rebellion in 1803 was rejected by him.
The struggle for equality for Catholics
O'Connell returned to the political scene in the 1810s. He wanted to campaign for the repeal of anti-Catholic laws in Ireland . To this end, he founded an organization called the Catholic Board in 1811, which was soon disbanded due to disputes among themselves. The second attempt with the Catholic Association , founded in 1823, was more successful. The society financed itself through the contributions of the members. With the small contribution of a penny a month, he managed to persuade poorer sections of the population to join. The money was collected from the local clergy after the Sunday mass. He was so successful with it that a considerable amount of money was raised in a short time. The money was used to support pro-Catholic MPs in the House of Commons and poor members with food and money. In 1828 he ran a by-election in County Clare for a seat in the House of Commons. He won the election by a large margin, but was unable to exercise his mandate because, as a Catholic, he refused to take an oath on the king as head of the Anglican Church of England . The Prime Minister, the Duke of Wellington , and Home Secretary Sir Robert Peel feared that if O'Connell was denied the seat on the basis of his beliefs, there could be riots. Although they were both opponents of Catholic emancipation, they convinced George IV that it was necessary to grant all adherents of Christian faiths the right to a seat in parliament. With the help of the Liberals, they finally achieved this. On April 13, 1829, the Catholic Emancipation Bill came into effect. It brought a significant improvement in the rights of the Catholic population.
However, there were still unpopular remnants of the criminal laws against Catholics. The so-called tithe (equivalent to the German tithing) was still levied. These were payments to the Anglican Church that placed a considerable burden on the rural population in particular. A campaign against these payments in 1831 led to violent clashes, the Tithe War . Although O'Connell always opposed violence, he defended participants in the Battle of Carrickshock when they were indicted. In 1841 Daniel O'Connell became the first Catholic Lord Mayor of Dublin. When William Sharman Crawford demanded a complete abolition of the Tithes in 1838 , O'Connell spoke out against this demand. He feared a threat to the coalition of Liberals , Radicals and Irish MPs, which had existed since 1835 and which had to rely on the votes of the Irish Catholic MPs.
The struggle for the abolition of the Union
O'Connell's second major political goal was the repeal of the 1800 Act of Union. It united Great Britain and Ireland into the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. He first tried to achieve repeal through a parliamentary resolution. A first initiative for this in 1834 was rejected by an overwhelming majority. After his election as mayor, he changed his strategy. He tried to force the British government to give in through a mass movement. To organize this campaign, he founded the Repeal Association . Their goal was to create an independent, self-governing Kingdom of Ireland, with Queen Victoria as Queen of Ireland. To promote this goal, he held a series of around 40 monster meetings in Ireland in 1843 . They were so named because O'Connell managed to mobilize previously unknown crowds. The largest demonstration of its kind took place on August 15, 1843 in Tara , the old seat of the Irish high kings. According to reputable estimates, between 500,000 and 1,000,000 people were present at this gathering. These large gatherings terrified the British government. Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel decided to ban a meeting planned for October 8, 1843 on the battlefield of Clontarf - where Brian Boru had defeated the Vikings in 1014 . Since O'Connell paid attention to legality, he decided, despite appeals to the contrary from his supporters, to cancel the meeting at short notice.
However, he was arrested shortly afterwards. Despite obviously unfounded charges, he was convicted by a jury. However, the House of Lords overturned the sentence after a few months and he was released from prison. After depriving himself of his most powerful weapon, the Monster Meetings , O'Connell failed to advance his fight for the abolition of the Union. Many of his followers left him out of disappointment. Some rallied around Charles Gavan Duffy , John Mitchel , William Smith O'Brien, and Thomas Davis . This circle soon became commonly referred to as Young Ireland . Although they shared O'Connell's conservative stance on social issues, they were ready to use military means to achieve Irish independence.
Political principles and goals
O'Connell wasn't a revolutionary. He wanted to achieve his political goals exclusively by constitutional and peaceful means. His main leverage was the mobilization of the Catholic population, which he gave an awareness of their power and strength for the first time in history. He once said that Ireland's freedom is not worth a drop of blood. He has often warned the British establishment that if there were no reforms to the political system in Ireland, the Irish would eventually follow proponents of violence. He also wanted to improve the social situation of the Irish people, as he feared bloody revolts if the poor had nothing more to lose. By mobilizing the mass of Catholic peasants and clergy, he achieved some of his goals. This made it possible for elected Catholic MPs to take their seats in the British Parliament. Discriminatory wording has been removed from the oath of loyalty. In the realization of his second great goal, the abolition of the union between Great Britain and Ireland, however, he failed. Here the resistance in Great Britain was too great for mass protests and constitutional means to achieve anything. Although O'Connell himself mastered the Irish language, he urged the Irish to learn English in order to improve their chances of advancement. O'Connell also advocated full legal equality for Jews .
legacy
O'Connell died of heart disease in Genoa in 1847 at the age of 71. He was on a pilgrimage to Rome . His heart was buried in Rome. The other remains are in Glasnevin Cemetery in Dublin at the foot of a large round tower built in 1847 , which can be seen from afar.
He received his nickname The Liberator for his services to Catholic emancipation. Today there is hardly a city in the Republic of Ireland that does not have a street or a square named after him. In his honor, Sackville Street, the main street in central Dublin, was renamed O'Connell Street in 1924 . At the southern end there is a large monument of him. It was created by John Henry Foley in 1854 . His former residence, Derrynane House , near Caherdaniel , County Kerry, is now a museum and can be visited. Here you can also see the large ornate carriage that the citizens of Dublin gave him as a gift in 1844 after his release.
literature
- O'Connell, Daniel . In: Encyclopædia Britannica . 11th edition. tape 19 : Mun - Oddfellows . London 1911, p. 990 (English, full text [ Wikisource ]).
- Daniel OConnell . In: Illustrirte Zeitung . No. 6 . J. J. Weber, Leipzig August 5, 1843, p. 81-83 ( Wikisource ).
- O'Connell's trial. I. The Repeal Movement and the Prosecution . In: Illustrirte Zeitung . No. 27 . J. J. Weber, Leipzig January 1, 1844, p. 4–7 ( books.google.de ).
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | O'Connell, Daniel |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Irish freedom fighter |
| DATE OF BIRTH | August 6, 1775 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Carhen at Cahersiveen |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 15, 1847 |
| Place of death | Genoa |