Page 318 - Demo

318 Stephen Dunford: The Journey of The IrIsh
company of their seconds met at a duelling ground in county Kildare (Lord Ponsonby’s demesne, thirteen miles from Dublin) in the presence of a great throng of spectators.
As the two men fired their first shot, D’Esterre’s missed while O’Connell’s proved ac- curate and the ball struck D’Esterre in the hip. Now it was first believed that D’Esterre had been slightly wounded, but after he was carried to his house and examined by some doctors, it was discovered that the ball had entered his abdomen and caused irreparable damage. D’Esterre died two days later.
O’Connell was deeply shaken by having killed his opponent and it is told that for the remainder of his life, he would wrap his right hand in a handkerchief when entering a church, he did this, it is claimed because he did not want the hand that had killed a man to offend God! In the aftermath O’ Connell contributed to the support of D’Esterre’s family, who were, it was said at the time ‘slenderly provided for.’
The third momentous episode of 1813 occurred when Cardinal Quarantotti (acting for Pope Pius the Seventh, who was then a prisoner of Napoleon) approved of the afore- mentioned veto; there was also a widespread fear that upon release the Pope would likewise approve of the veto. As a challenge to all those outsiders ready to interfere in purely Irish political matters, O’Connell delivered his famous declaration “Our religion from Rome, but our politics from home.” Buoyed by the support of the Irish Catholics, O’Connell led a mas- sive popular clamorous protest against the rescript which the Cardinal had sent to the Irish Bishops sanctioning his approval of the veto. It is maintained that O’Connell boldly and forcibly played the leading role in the protest, threathening (non-violently ) and browbeat- ing any or all who sought to place the Irish Catholic Bishops and their Church in England’s power. As a result of O’Connell’s spirited efforts the people triumphed, the rescript was withdrawn by Quarantotti, and Daniel O’ Connell’s popularity soared to such heights in the aftermath that he was very quickly looked upon as being the greatest leader and most popular idol of the time in Ireland.
In the latter part of the eighteenth century and early years of the nineteenth century England was at war with France- a war which culminated in 1815, with Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo by the Irish-born, Duke of Wellington. During this conflict, but mostly following the passing into law of the Act of Union, Irish agricultural produce was in great demand. Prices were high, the country was growing prosperous, and there was a rapid increase in population. But when the Napoleonic wars ended, however, there was naturally a massive
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