He started the first great Repeal Association, which was at once
attended with marvellous success. Forty-four members of Parliament were
under its control if not in its ranks. A discussion of the merits of
Repeal was forced in the House of Commons by the intemperate zeal of the
member for Cork.[3] The motion was resisted by the whole weight and
influence of the Ministry. But in a resolution proposed as an amendment,
both Houses concurred in acknowledging that Ireland's complaint was
founded in justice, and in solemnly pledging themselves to the practical
redress of her grievances. The resolution was carried to the foot of the
throne, and there received the sanction of royalty.

But that resolution remained and remains unfulfilled. The ministry which
proposed it, redeemed their promise by an Algerine measure of coercion,
which Mr. O'Connell denounced as "base, bloody and brutal." His
opposition, and their own recreancy of principle, tended rapidly to
their overthrow. Lord Stanley, in hatred to Mr. O'Connell and his
country, abandoned the Government, which he charged with truckling to
the great demagogue's will. The country, on the other hand, withdrew its
confidence from them on the ground that they truckled to their
hereditary foes, and allowed the principles of the Tories to influence
Parliament in the name and through the agency of the Whigs. Division and
weakness followed; and the result was a break-up of the administration,
which was remodelled, with Lord Melbourne for its chief, on the
understanding that more liberal views should govern its future course.
An alliance was entered into with Mr. O'Connell, whose support the Prime
Minister openly claimed and as openly boasted of. Then was formed what
was known as the "Litchfield House Compact." This compact, if such the
understanding that existed can be called, was based upon the assurance
that the most liberal measures of justice should be extended to Ireland,
and that in the administrative department, the Government should apply
itself diligently to the reform and purifying of all public functions
and functionaries. What was the nature or extent of Mr. O'Connell's
engagement, I do not pretend to know. But whether he pledged himself to
abandon for ever the struggle for independence, or only to place it in
abeyance for a season to facilitate the action of the Government in
reference to their good intentions and favourable promises, he so far
fulfilled his engagement as