PWPBn^WV^.. ,!f ^, :w ."^5 •-,-« Return this book on or before the Latest Date stamped below. i;^ ,'.\^ University of Illinois Library NOV 1 i9J8 1 Inl lU' I" THE O'CONNELL MONUMENT. DUBLIN. i EEPOET OF THE O'CONNELL MONUMENT ( OOMMrrTEE, BY VERY KEY. JOHN CANON O'HANLON, P.P., Honorary Secretary. JAMES DUFFY AND CO., Limited, 14 AND 15 Wellington Quay. 1888. f \ PREFACE. The following Report of Proceedings in relation to the origin, prosecution, and erection of the O'Connell National Monument, in the City of Dublin, is the result of a Resolution passed by the General Committee, at one of their latest meetings, July 17th, 1883. It was then ordered, that the Treasurers and Honorary Secretaries should prepare a final Report, and they were empowered to incur any expense necessary for that purpose. The Trustees of the Fund appointed by the Master of the Rolls, July 19th, 1877, were the following gentlemen, viz.:—Alderman Denis Moylan, William Lane Joynt, D.L., Alderman John Campbell, and Edmund Dwyer Gray—the latter being also Honorary Secretary. To carry into effect the foregoing Resolu- tion, William Lane Joynt, Esq., D.L., Edmund Dwyer Gray, Esq., M.P,, and Rev. John O'Hanlon, P.P., were appointed a Sub-Committee, to arrange the details of publication; and, accordingly, they met on the 23rd of November succeeding, when after discussing and considering the best method to be adopted for the purpose, it was resolved, that the Rev. Mr. O'Hanlon be requested to undertake the preparation of the Volume, not to exceed an ordinary octavo in size, the proofe to be submitted to the Committee when ready, and he was authorised to call in any assistance that he might demand. It had been projected to issue a compendious and yet a tolerably comprehensive Life of O'Connell, in connexion with project the present Report ; but, as the completion of that should involve considerable additional delay, it is now deemed advisable to postpone it, at least for the present. Hitherto, no biography of the illustrious Irishman has appeared, except in an abridged or imperfect form, but in no sufficient manner fully setting forth the extent of his labours, sacrifices, and triumphs, or the noble traits of his character and exalted genius. With every desire to expedite the issue of this Report, yet delays were 403091 > Zi;- iv PREFACE. unavoidable, owing to a pressure of public and private business and duties on the Members of the Sub-Committee. The nature of the compilation itself, chiefly taken from the Record and Minute Books of the O'Connell Monument Committee, was necessarily complicated and intricate, requiring the greatest care and super- vision, especially to tabulate and include all the Names, Addresses, and Subscriptions as furnished to the Honorary Secretaries. Owmg to the manner in which returns of Local Collections, with omissions of partieulai's, had sometimes been sent to the Committee, individual Subscriptions could not always be inserted in a form for orderly publication. Although the sums collected in the respective localities are acknowledged in the gross, yet, thus it has happened, the names and addresses of individual Subscribers are often unnoted, because they had not been furnished as required. Notwithstanding the foregoing and several other impedi- ments, the printing of the Report had been fully completed before the lamented death of the most efficient and able Honorary Secretary, Edmund Dwyer Gray, at the comparatively early age of forty-two years, on Tuesday, March 27th, 1888. Not alone to the Committee, but to his country at large, was this patriotic gentleman an irreparable loss. The sole surviving Honorary Secretary can justly testify to that zeal and earnestness he evinced, worthily to complete the work, originated by his public spirited and distinguished father, Sir John Gray. To him, Ireland has already manifested her sense of gratitude. His son has deserved the universal respect of his countrymen, likewise, and it should be demonstrated in some visible form. Highly esteemed and admired for his integrity and excellence of character and for his splendid abilities ; at no distant date, it is to be hoped, that Ireland he loved so well and so faithfully served, shall not be unmindful to commemorate in some public manner the devotion of Edmund Dwyer Gray to her cause, and in some measure commensurate with his signal services. EEPORT ON THE O'CONNELL MONUMENT. SECTION I.—Introductory Memoir. It may seem to be a reproach on the duty, gratitude, and aflFection of the Irish people, that Ireland's illustrious son, Daniel O'Connell, had not received an immediate monumental recognition of his transcendent abilities, and of his earnestness, zeal and devotion, exercised for the best interests of our common country, when he was called away from the sphere of his labours, in the distant city of Genoa, on the 15th of May, 1847. It is true, indeed, that the tidings of his death created a profound sorrow in the hearts of all his patriotic countrymen, and in those of every genuine lover of civil and religious liberty, throughout the whole world. Nor were the demonstrations of respect and veneration for his memory wanting, in those solemn and impressive funeral rites, which accompanied the return of his mortal remains, to rest in that Island he loved so well. It is known, likewise, that when his coffin was laid in a temporary vault of that beautiful cemetery—the creation of his own genius—at Glasnevin, near Dublin, arrangements were made to raise over and around his body a memorial group, characteristically Irish, and designed by George Petrie, LL.D., to commemorate the services of Ireland's immortal Liberator. Unhappily, it was otherwise ordered by the Committee,^ having charge of the undertaking. However, although the original design has been set aside, a very stately and imposing monumental Eound Tower, with a vaidted crypt beneath, becomes conspicuous, not alone to the visitor of Glasnevin Cemetery, but, as it rises high over that elevated site on which it has been built, the object serves to remind beholders from afar, how the grave of O'Connell has not been unnoted. Still it must attract the attentionor pilgrimage of all persons, who admire and venerate the great powers of intellect and the noble faculties of soul that distinguished the living patriot. This project was as much probably as could have been undertaken at the time, in a country then divided and distracted with faction, disturbance, dissensions, disaffection, threatened famine, and civil b war. The people were disheartened, and flying from their native land in despair. Thousands were dying of starvation, and ruin seemed impending over all classes. We need scarcely recall these personal reminiscences, so sorrowfully impressed on the memory of the old, and their historic record, only known to a younger generation. But, rightly estimated, they account for much of that apparent neglect, which was a subject of deep regret to " the old guard," who were participators in the struggle for Emancipation, for Reform, and for Eepeal of the detested and disastrous so-called Union of Ireland and Great Britain. After a few spasmodic and fruitless political efforts, neutralized by faithless men, and wanting enlightened direc- tion, young and old lapsed into a state of apparent listlessness and lethargy, always an unhealthy sign of political or social life, and often but the prelude to national decay, or to those dangerous elements, which combine in secrecy to create widespread disorder. Amid all those gloomy prospects and forebodings, still were there men, who remembered the soul-stirring days of O'Connell's agitation, and his priceless services to creed and country. Those men lamented the degeneracy of petty aspirants to place and power, while feeling powerless themselves, to arrest the condition of mis-govemment and oppression, which spread suUenness and discontent among the masses. A few occasional allusions in speeches and in the public newspapers were ventured, from time to time, regarding the public apathy, which suffered years to lapse, without any effort being made to exhibit the people's gratitude in visible shape and form. By erecting a suitable monument, to stand on some desirable site within the metropolis of Ireland, it was generally admitted, that such an omission could best be remedied. In social converse, this topic of a memorial was more frequently commented on and deplored, especially as the effecting of such an object was believed to be in accord with a wide-spread popular sympathy. These circumstances connected with the initiation of this move- ment are somewhat interesting, and they may be briefly stated, before we proceed more immediately to narrate the inception and progress of the O'Connell Memorial. The people of Clare had undertaken the erection of a column, surmounted by a statue of the Liberator, on that very spot, where the Court-house formerly stood in Ennis, and from which O'Connell's triumphant return as member of Parliament for the county of Clare had been pro- claimed, in 1828. The moving and guiding spirit in this movement was an enthusiastic admirer of O'Connell, in an humble position of life, but greatly respected by his townsmen of Ennis. Then, Mr. Michael Considine was president of the united Trades, and having urged them to engage on the enterprise he meditated, this patriotic man commenced the collection of funds for a local Com- mittee he was mainly instrumental in forming. A large, but an insufficient sum was subscribed by the townspeople, and by others residing within the County of Clare. The patriotic and Venerable Dean Kenny, then F.P. of Ennis, and the Catholic Clergy of the XI diocese of Killaloe, had generously contributed their 'money ; but, as the design for the column required a height of 67 feet, and the statue to surmount it was to be 9 feet in height additional, while the work to be erected was still in jwrogress, and incomplete, the Com- mittee found their means exhausted.