Page 315 - Demo

Chapter NiNe 315
But having been refused entry to Trinity College because of his religion, Daniel was educated at Douai, in France, where during the course of his studies he witnessed and never forgot the brutality of French Republicanism and the bloodletting of the French Revolu- tion. And when the young O’Connell, a one time member of the United Irishmen who left when it became a military organization, but by then a rabid paciist, anti-revolutionist, and violence hater, returned from France to England, he became, a “loyal” man, so to speak.
Cahirciveen, the country retreat of O’Connell
But having been refused entry to Trinity College because of his religion, Daniel was educated at Douai, in France, where during the course of his studies he witnessed and never forgot the brutality of French Republicanism and the bloodletting of the French Revolu- tion. And when the young O’Connell, a one time member of the United Irishmen who left when it became a military organization, but by then a rabid paciist, anti-revolutionist, and violence hater, returned from France to England, he became, a “loyal” man, so to speak.
From the foregoing we get a limited comprehension of why Daniel O’Connell resigned from the United Irish Movement when it began to espouse revolution, and even though he was a staunch supporter of duelling for most of his life, from his resignation we can also glean an appreciation of why he became a member of a Lawyers “Loyal” Corps, set up to support the Government at the time of Robert Emmet’s rising. It also enables us to partly understand, why, throughout his future career, as he struggled for Catholic Emancipation, Repeal of the Union, and the countless other times he stood four-square against the British