Sir Colman O'Loghlen moved, and
John Loyd Fitzgerald seconded, an amendment to the effect that he be
continued as clerk of the library at half his salary, that is L50 a
year. The result would have been the same as before but that many of the
majority had withdrawn under the impression that the question was
disposed of; the number for the amendment was twenty-two, and the number
against only twenty-three. Mr. O'Connell assumed the right to give two
votes, one as member, which made the numbers equal, and a casting vote
as chairman. It was then proposed and carried that every chairman should
in future have two votes, and Sir Colman's amendment was allowed to pass
in the affirmative. Doctor Nagle continued to fill his office until his
appointment to a more lucrative one under the Whig Government.

The Eighty-Two Club which was projected in prison was finally organised
in January, 1845. The differences which manifested themselves in
Conciliation Hall imperceptibly extended to this body. The original
members constituted the committee and were self-appointed. The others
had to submit to a ballot. Some few were rejected, at which Mr.
O'Connell's friends took umbrage, and the rejected aspirants were sure
to attribute their decision to their devotion to the "Liberator." Thus
it happened that most objectionable candidates could not be resisted
without incurring the imputation of opposing and thwarting the "saviour
of his country."

[Illustration: Charles Lavan Duffy (1846)]

Mr. O'Connell himself, although he warmly approved of the club in the
commencement, soon ceased to feel an interest in its proceedings. For
the first year, its action was confined to some routine dinners, which
attracted a very fashionable attendance, and furnished an occasion for
some brilliant speaking. Yet the fame and respectability of such a body
were seductions which few of the leading men in the confederacy could
resist. The Eighty-Two Club became a standard toast at public dinners,
and its members were received as distinguished guests or visitors
wherever they appeared. Without having yet performed any distinct
service, or realised the promise involved in its establishment, the club
became a very important and imposing body.

Mr. O'Connell was its president, and Mr. O'Brien, Mr. Grattan, Sir
Colman O'Loghlen and others, vice-presidents. The first committee was
composed of the Members of Parliament, Mayors of cities, and men eminent
in the differen