eatest fault was no doubt his egotism; he could not
endure a rival at his side, and would not have hesitated to annihilate
any one who did not follow him with implicit obedience." O'Connell would
have hailed with delight any accession of eloquence or personal power
to Conciliation Hall; but a particular policy had been arranged between
O'Connell and the priests--they intrusted their cause to him, and when
men started up and questioned, or attempted to modify this policy,
O'Connell regarded it as rebellion, not merely against his leadership,
but his party, and the church itself; hence, it was necessary for him to
put down the disturber; and he was backed by clergy and people in doing
so, which would not have been the case had not the understanding between
him and the Roman Catholic hierarchy of Ireland been complete. Dr.
Michelsen again says:--"It is a mistake to suppose that O'Connell
entertained an irreconcilable hatred to England; he had never ceased to
regard her as his second fatherland, as the land of his glory, of his
intellectual activity. His partiality for England was only surpassed by
his excessive love for his native home, and many apparent contradictions
in his life can only be reconciled by this double sympathy in his
character."*

* "England since the Accession of Queen Victoria," by Edward
H. Michellen, Ph.D.

It is obvious that the writer of this paragraph has neither studied
O'Connell, his country, or the party which he led. One of the grand
causes of O'Connell's failure in many things was his rancorous hatred
to England. Thomas Gaspey, Esq., in his "History of England," views this
matter correctly in writing of O'Connell's death, and the feeling in
England concerning him:--"In England his departure was regarded with
indifference. The hostility and scorn he frequently expressed for the
Saxons, and his disparaging remarks on English women, had precluded him
from gaining any of the popularity he had enjoyed in Ireland."

The hatred of O'Connell to England was threefold--that of race, of
nation, and of creed. He regarded England as the chief abettor of heresy
in the world, and therefore would have rejoiced over her downfall;
this was the common feeling of his party. So far as his animosity was
connected with race and nationality, it was not unprovoked. The English
people cherished deep prejudices against Ireland and the whole Celtic
race; and the English newspapers frequently discussed the univ