The king had, of course, to give way in the end, and Catholic
Emancipation was passed. It was passed rather ungraciously. It was
accompanied by a quite superfluous measure suppressing the Catholic
Association, which had in fact already dissolved itself, its work being
done, and invalidating the election of O'Connell. Perhaps, without these
sops to religious bigotry, an act for the emancipation of the Catholics
could not then have been carried through the Houses of Parliament.
O'Connell presented himself at the bar of the House of Commons and
claimed a right to take his seat. He was called upon to swear the old
oaths--what we may fairly call the anti-Catholic oaths. Of course he
refused. A new writ was ordered for Clare, and O'Connell was
triumphantly returned. The struggle was over.

The remainder of O'Connell's life was devoted mainly to the cause of
Repeal of the Union--in other words, the cause of Home Rule. He
organized the great system of monster meetings--vast out-of-door
gatherings, which he swayed as he pleased by the magic of his eloquence,
his humor, his passion, and the charm of his wonderful voice. No doubt
he sometimes used very strong language; no doubt some of the younger men
fully believed that he meant rebellion--that he had rebellion up his
sleeve if his demands were not conceded. The meetings were always held
on the Sunday; were indeed, regarded as, in a certain sense, religious
celebrations. The meeting of October 8, 1843, was to be held on the
historic ground of Clontarf, and it was expected to be the greatest of
all the assemblages, although some of them had drawn together a crowd of
nearly a quarter of a million of men. The Government issued a
proclamation prohibiting the meeting, and O'Connell bowed to the
prohibition. He sent messengers in every direction countermanding the
assembling of men, in order to prevent any chance of that disorder and
bloodshed which he had always shrunk from and abhorred. He and some of
his friends, Sir Charles Gavan Duffy among the rest, were put on their
trial on a charge of sedition. Most of them were found guilty and
sentenced to fine and imprisonment. They were confined in Richmond
Prison, Dublin. Their incarceration did not last long, and indeed, was
what might be called "internment" rather than actual imprisonment. A
majority of the law lords in the House of Peers, the final tribunal,
annulled the sentences on the ground that the jury had been unfairly
chosen--