Daniel O'Connell

Daniel O'Connell (Irish Ó Conaill Dónall, born August 6 1775 in Carhen in Cahersiveen, County Kerry, Ireland, † May 15, 1847 in Genoa) was an Irish politician. He was known as " The Liberator " ( the Liberator ) and was the outstanding politician of Ireland in the first half of the 19th century. He advocated especially for the equal rights of Catholics and the repeal of the Union between Ireland and Great Britain.

Life

He was born in Carhan near Cahersiveen, County Kerry, the son of an impoverished Roman Catholic gentry family. His wealthy uncle, Maurice O'Connell enabled him to study in Paris and London. In 1794 he was admitted at Lincoln's Inn and moved two years later to King's Inn in Dublin. In these early years, he became acquainted with democratic radicals. Under their influence, the idea of ​​equality and religious tolerance in the country developed by him to enforce. His uncle Maurice advised him of himself, during his studies, to participate in the military action that time. As a French invasion fleet, with Wolfe Tone in December 1796 sailed into Bantry Bay, O'Connell was in a dilemma. In January 1797 he wrote to his uncle that all his fellow students had reported to the volunteer corps. Since he was young, healthy and a bachelor, he would have no excuse not to report. In the same month he joined the Lawyer's Artillery Corps.

On 19 May 1798 he was admitted as one of the first Catholic Lawyers of Ireland. Four days later, the United Irishmen began their uprising which was brutally crushed by the British. O'Connell was against the rebellion. He believed that the Irish would have to enforce their demands through political means. Therefore, he retired to his native Kerry and practiced the next decade as a lawyer. Even Robert Emmet's rebellion in 1803 was defeated by him.

The fight for equal rights for Catholics

O'Connell returned in the 1810s back to the political arena. He wanted to work for the repeal of the anti- Catholic laws in Ireland. To this end he founded in 1811 an organization called the Catholic Board, which was however already soon dissolved because of disputes among themselves again. The second attempt with the 1823 launched Catholic Association was successful. The company was financed by the contributions of the members. Due to the small contribution of a penny a month, he managed to move even poorer sectors of society to join. The money has been driven by the local clergy after the Sunday show. He was so successful that within a short time got together a considerable amount of money. The money was used to support pro- Catholic deputies in the lower house and the poor members with food and money. In 1828 he competed in a by-election in County Clare for a seat in the House of Commons. He won the election by a large margin, but his mandate could not perceive, since he refused, as a Catholic, to take the oath to the King as head of the Anglican Church of England. The Prime Minister, the Duke of Wellington, and the Home Secretary Sir Robert Peel feared that there could be riots when O'Connell would refuse to seat because of his faith. Although they were both opponents of Catholic Emancipation, they persuaded George IV from the fact that it was necessary to give all the fans of Christian faiths the right to a seat in parliament. With the help of the Liberals, they finally put this through as well. On April 13, 1829, the Catholic Emancipation Bill came into force. She brought a significant improvement in the rights of the Catholic population.

However, there was still unpopular remnants of the penal laws against Catholics. So still the so-called Tithe were ( equivalent to the German Tenth ) levied. These were payments to the Anglican Church, which had a very negative especially the rural population. In a campaign against these payments in 1831, there were violent clashes, the Tithe War. Although O'Connell violence always refused, he defended participants in the Battle of Carrick Hock, when they were accused. 1841 Daniel O'Connell first Catholic Lord Mayor of Dublin. When William Sharman Crawford in 1838 called for a complete abolition of tithes, O'Connell spoke out against this requirement. He feared a threat to the coalition of liberals, radical and Irish members that had existed since 1835 and was dependent on the votes of the Irish Catholic deputies.

The struggle for the abolition of the Union

However, he was arrested shortly afterwards. Despite manifestly unfounded accusation he was convicted by a jury. The House of Lords reversed the judgment but after a few months on and he was released from prison. After O'Connell had his most effective weapon, the monster meetings robbed, it is no longer allowed him to advance his fight for the abolition of the Union. From disappointment left him many of his followers. Some gathered around Charles Gavan Duffy, John Mitchel, William Smith O'Brien and Thomas Davis. This circle was soon generally known as Young Ireland. Although they shared O'Connell's conservative stance on social issues, they were prepared to use military means for Irish independence.

Political principles and objectives

O'Connell was not a revolutionary. He wanted only prevail with constitutional and peaceful means its political objectives. His main pressure medium was the mobilization of the Catholic population, the first time he was an awareness of their power and strength in history. He once said that the freedom of Ireland was not worth a single drop of blood. The British establishment was often warned by him that the Irish would eventually follow the advocates of violence, if there were no reforms of the political system in Ireland. He also wanted to improve the social situation of the Irish population, fearing bloody revolts when the poor have nothing to lose. By mobilizing the mass of the Catholic peasants and the clergy he achieved some of his goals. So it was chosen Catholic MPs possible to take their seats in the British Parliament. Discriminatory formulations were removed from the oath of allegiance. In the realization of his second great goal, the repeal of the Union between Britain and Ireland, he failed it. Here the resistors in the UK were too big, than would have been to achieve something through mass protests and constitutional means. Although O'Connell himself dominated the Irish language, he urged the Irish to learn English in order to improve their career opportunities.

Legacy

O'Connell died in 1847 at the age of 71 years in Genoa from heart disease. He was on a pilgrimage to Rome. His heart was buried in Rome. The other remains lie on the Glasnevin Cemetery in Dublin at the feet of a large round tower, which is already visible from afar.

His nickname The Liberator he received for his services to the Catholic Emancipation. Today there is hardly a city in the Republic of Ireland, which has not named a street or a place for him. In his honor, the Sackville Street, the main street in the center of Dublin, renamed in 1924 in O'Connell Street. At its south end is a large monument to him. It was created in 1854 by John Henry Foley. His former residence, Derrynane House, near the village of Caherdaniel, County Kerry, is now a museum and can be visited. Here is the great pomp coach to see which had the Dubliner citizenship in 1844 given to him after his release.