The Catholic Association
In 1824 Daniel O'Connell, realizing that the Lord-Lieutenant could not force the hand of his superiors in London, founded the Catholic Association, and it is no exaggeration to say that the people clamoured for admission to it. Every town and village throughout the country had its branch, and within twelve months it was the real authority in the land. The English Government was superseded, and O'Connell was the virtual ruler of Ireland. Wellesley, who did not approve of the aims and methods of the Association, was devoting his attention to the suppression of the secret societies, while the Cabinet in London wrote imploring him to deal effectively with O'Connell's society. But the marquis was helpless. There was no secrecy about the Catholic Association, and its objects were, academically speaking, lawful, and its methods legal. Further alarm was caused by the statement in some English papers that every Irish soldier was a member of the association. Wellesley was asked for his opinion—he repeated again and again that the only way to make the country peaceful was to grant Catholic Emancipation. Three Prime Ministers—Liverpool, Canning, and Goderich—in succession rejected the advice so disinterestedly given, and when a turn of Fortune's wheel placed the great Duke of Wellington in power, he intimated to his brother that as their views did not coincide, it would be better if the Marquis of Anglesey, an old friend of both, should replace him in the Government as Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland. Lord Wellesley resigned without demur. He was well aware that they differed widely on many important topics, and Wellington had never forgotten that if Wellesley's views on foreign policy had prevailed, there would have been no Waterloo and less glory. In the House of Lords the marquis rose to denounce the Irish policy of his brother, but they never made the blunder of carrying their quarrel into private life. Lord Wellesley had in 1825 married an American lady, Mrs. Patterson of Baltimore, the grand-daughter of one of the signatories to the document that recorded the independence of the United States of America, and she brought him a happiness he had never known before. Witty, beautiful, and rich, the American marchioness held her own in London society, and Wellesley was content for her to remain out of political affairs, save when his seat in the House of Lords enabled him to speak against the Government. Lady Wellesley, who was a devout Catholic, was always escorted by a troop of dragoons to the Roman Catholic Provincial Cathedral in Marlborough Street, Dublin, when her husband was viceroy.
In the Lower House Sir Robert Peel, now Home Secretary, was affirming his unalterable determination never to surrender to the O'Connellites, and his leader was also giving a display of the Iron Will. But even Iron Dukes can unbend when they have been tempered by experience. It was the Wellington Ministry that granted Catholic Emancipation, and it was Sir Robert Peel who sounded the note of surrender. The collapse was caused by the historic Clare election of 1828, within a few months of the appointment of Lord Anglesey.
There was, of course, considerable humour, intentional and otherwise, introduced during the agitation for and against Catholic Emancipation. Once King George IV. was heard to murmur plaintively:
'Wellington is King of England, O'Connell is King of Ireland, and I am supposed to be the Dean of Windsor.'
Lord Eldon presented to the House of Lords a petition of the tailors of Glasgow against the surrender to the Catholics.
'What?' exclaimed Lord Lyndhurst, 'do tailors bother themselves about such measures?'
'No wonder,' answered Eldon; 'you cannot suppose that tailors would like turncoats.'