ument much, in any case. On the
whole, the Whigs did not treat the family of O'Connell with gratitude.
He had more than once put them into power, and frequently, when the
certainty of their losing office without his aid occurred, he gave them
the requisite assistance. He was often--indeed, always--in some measure
their opponent; but this rather strengthened them in Great Britain,
while on great party divisions "the tail" was always to be relied upon
by the Whig cabinet. Never had a public man such opportunity of raising
himself to the most elevated offices, and securing emolument for himself
and his family--never were these temptations more faithfully resisted.
Yet O'Connell did not disdain office, and he especially valued promotion
and honours in his own profession: but these things were nothing to
him in comparison with what he regarded to be his mission. He was fully
convinced that God had raised him up for the especial purpose of serving
the Roman Catholic religion, and, in connection with that of serving his
country, he pursued this object with unswerving fidelity. If he could
have obtained high office, and thereby have inflicted no injury upon the
cause which he espoused, he would have eagerly sought a position in
the cabinet or on the bench; he would have been as much opposed to the
repeal of the union as Mr. Lucas, the editor of the _Tablet_, and other
English Roman Catholics, if he had believed that it would injure the
Roman Catholic religion. Many supposed that he was never sincere in
prosecuting repeal; while others, whose opportunities of judging were
ample, believed that he was most honest in that agitation: in fact,
both were right. As an Irishman, he had a desire that his country should
cease to be a province, and he probably believed that her resources,
moral, intellectual, and material, were sufficient to maintain the
dignity and power of a nation; it was also his conviction that the
repeal of the union would be a means of improving the government and
social condition of Ireland, but he chiefly regarded it as an instrument
for the aggrandisement of his religion. It would enable the Roman
Catholic party to suppress the distribution of Protestant tracts
and bibles, to silence Protestant controversialists, and to treat
bible-readers and circuit-preachers as vagabonds and disturbers of the
peace. O'Connell's speeches abound with expressions of opinion, that
it was the duty of the British government to do all