It is true to say of this son of Clare that he was one of nature's prodigies. Had he controlled his passion for drink, he would probably have taken a foremost place in the world of letters. In the wide range of his acquirements from infancy upwards, as well as in the variety and charm of his writings, there was the true stamp of genius. A passage from a short poem written by him when he was only ten years of age, and occasioned by the death of a brother, will not be out of place here as a specimen of what he could do. even so early in life, and of what might reasonably be expected from him in his maturity, if his natural powers were carefully developed and cultivated :— "CORYDON-A MONODY. "Oh, Shannon,1 thy embroidered banks can tell Ah me! my dearest partner seeks the grave; My task is now (ungrateful task, I ween) To cull the choicest offspring of the year, With myrtles mixed, and laurels varnished bright; The poor meed, greet the gloom of night." Another and a much better known Clare poet of the last century was jovial Ned Lysaght. He was a barrister of eminence, and was regarded as one of the leading wits of a witty period. He wrote many capital songs, some of them of a patriotic character, the best known of which is "Our own little Island"-a great favourite with the Volunteers, and still widely sung. A very remarkable individual in his day was MacNamara of Moyriesk, who bore the significant appellation of “Fireball.” He was a notorious duellist, and so dexterous with the sword, as well as sure with the pistol, that no opponent could escape him. He gave the name of Fireball to his family, not one of whom now lives to carry it on. The last of them was a John 1 Poetic for Fergus. MacNamara, an attorney of so easy-going a disposition that he was called "John the Soft." He was stung into a duel with a Mr. O'Callaghan1 by his pointedly offensive remarks while professionally engaged against him. The duel was fought at Spancil Hill. It is related that on his way to the trysting ground O'Callaghan invited those whom he met to come and see him shooting the "beggarly attorney," and that he was warned in reply to take care of the "Fireball" blood. He received a fatal wound, of which he died within a few days. The then parish priest of Quin, Father MacMahon, who became afterwards Bishop of Killaloe,-uncle of the present parish priest of Quin, Father Daniel Corbett,-was hurriedly called, and administered to him the last consolations of the Catholic Church. Two others of the same name were very prominent in London life at the end of the last century. They acted as agents in both a legal and political capacity for men of the highest position in both countries; and of one of them Lord Cloncurry states in his Memoirs, that though an Irishman and a Catholic, his house near London was the rendezvous for the élite of the metropolis-the heir to the throne being a frequent guest there. Among Clare celebrities on the border-land between the last and present centuries Macready stands in the first rank. He was born in Ennis towards the end of the last century. He is justly recognised as one of the first painters of the age. There also Power (Dion Boucicault) first saw the light, but many years after. His sphere was on the stage, where, whether as actor or composer, few equalled him, fewer still surpassed him. The county which gave those men birth in troubled times should not wish to let their names lie in oblivion. 1 Called the Great O'Callaghan, grandfather of the celebrated Jesuit, Dr. O'Reilly. CHAPTER XXVI. FROM 1801 To 1828. The false Lord Clare-The Forty-Shilling Freeholders-Influence of Napoleonic Wars on Clare-O'Connell-Clare Protestants in favour of Catholic Relief-O'Connell's Duel with D'Esterre-Major MacNamara-Famine of 1822-Tom Steele-"Head Pacificator of Ireland”—The O'Gorman Mahon-Amusing Incidents-Vesey Fitzgerald-Father Murphy of Corofin-Ennis besieged-Nomination Speeches-Droll Story against O'Connell-Obstruction Tactics of the Protestant Party- Declaration of the Poll-Clare killed with one blow Protestant Ascendancy and the Catholic Association. ON the 1st of January 1801 the Irish Parliament ceased to exist. Corruption of the most shameless character began the work of its destruction, and a despairing civil war, fomented for the purpose by English craft and cruelty, completed it. The two prominent pliant tools in the hands of the English Prime Minister, Pitt, were Lords Clare and Castlereagh, and all three will go down in history to the latest times as among the most unscrupulous conspirators the world has ever produced. Of the three, Clare was the worst. It is something to have to record, that though he usurped the name of the county, he had no other connection whatsoever, either by blood or property, with it. The last who had a legitimate claim to the title, the son of the celebrated Comte de Thomond, Marshal of France, had, as already stated, died under age in 1774. John Fitzgibbon, made Earl of Clare for his treachery to his country, was of an obscure family. His father had been partly educated for the Catholic priesthood in France, but, finding little scope for his ambition in that dangerous. calling, he became Protestant, studied for the bar, became a success there, and gave to Ireland in his son one of her worst, if not her very worst, enemies. No more appropriate specimen 1 of the raven in the eagle's nest can be found in all history, than in the assumption by this man of the title of Earl of Clare. His treason to his country brought with it its own punishment. Pitt and Castlereagh had the decency to resign, as the promises of measures of relief, in the United Parliament they held out to the Catholics to wean them from active opposition to the Union, were utterly ignored by the King and his other advisers. The new Ministry cared little for Clare now that his base work was accomplished, and he had the mortification. to find himself neglected, and perhaps despised. He was bitter to the last. The Castlereagh correspondence described him as a strong advocate for the continuance of martial law in Ireland. Broken down in spirit, he died two years after the fulfilment of his treachery. In revenge for his alleged boast that "he would whip Ireland into a tame cat," the populace of Dublin flung dead cats on his coffin and into his grave. He has now no male representative. The title which he was given as a reward for the betrayal of his country did not long survive him. It is now and for many years extinct. Arising out of the dalliance with the Catholic body, the Bishops of Ireland were invited in 1801 to send to the Government statements of the condition of their several dioceses. This was the first notable move in the direction of the insidious attempt to secure the "Veto" in the selection to bishoprics in return for liberal annuities to the episcopate and Catholic clergy. Every one knows how ignominiously it failed. It is not unlikely—it is in fact certain—that some of them understood its drift, but most of them did not fully realise it. Some of the bishops gave rather elaborate descriptions.1 The Bishop of Killaloe, Dr. Michael Peter MacMahon, then in extreme old age, and having for a coadjutor Dr. O'Shaughnessy, answered curtly enough a series of questions put to him. They had reference chiefly to the discipline of the Catholic Church and the incomes of the clergy. The replies disclose nothing that is not now thoroughly well known. At that time, along with the seculars there were nine regulars in the diocese, six Franciscans and three Dominicans. 1 Memoirs of Viscount Castlereagh, vol. iv., beginning at p. 97. During the early years of the present century nothing of historic interest occurred within the borders of the county. The Napoleonic wars had a double-edged effect. They vastly improved the condition of the food-producing classes, while they bore hard on all others. Provisions ran high in what was to some extent a state of siege. Though England was supreme on the high seas, France was still able to check, and did check, the operation of commerce. There grew up under these conditions, strange to say, silently and unobserved, unfelt even by those possessed of it, a power in the county which was destined to come into conflict with the King, Lords, and Commons of Great Britain, generalled by the conqueror of Napoleon, and to come victorious out of the conflict. It had on its side, it should in fairness be added, the public opinion of the vast bulk of the people of Ireland, marshalled by another conqueror-a conqueror not on the field of battle, but in the higher field of the mind, Daniel O'Connell. His crushed condition at that Union, and his ignorance in issues involved, left him at In 1793 the Irish Parliament passed into law what was called a "Relief Bill." It widely enlarged the franchise, giving to every one having a freehold of the value of forty shillings, irrespective of religion, the right to vote for members of Parliament. No Catholic, however, could pass the threshold of either House of the Legislature without abjuring his Catholicity, so the Catholic voter had to choose between Protestant candidates solely. period, both before and after the nearly every case of the real the mercy of his landlord. He would be for or against the Union or any other measure just as his landlord dictated. He could not have a choice of his own, so he allowed the one to whom he had to look up to make the choice for him. It clearly became the policy of landlords in such a condition of things, to secure on their estates as many obedient subservient freeholders as possible. The increased value of land, owing to the exigencies of war, contributed to the development of this policy. Thus the despised Catholics gradually acquired political power, which proved when the time came for it a inine under the feet of their oppressors-dug and charged by their own hands. |