successful had he been in deceiving the champions of intolerance, that
of all the great qualities displayed in that wonderful struggle, that
which was most prized was the cunning of evasion. It left behind it an
enduring and destructive influence. Dissimulation in political action
began to be regarded as a public virtue, and long afterwards, when men
sought to assert the dignity of truth, their candour was charged against
them as a heinous crime. It will be seen hereafter how fatally this fact
operated against their efforts.

The very character of Emancipation has assumed an exaggerated and false
guise. The joy of the nation was boundless--its gratitude immeasurable.
In the shout that hailed the deliverer, earlier deliverers were
forgotten. No one remembered the men whose stupendous exertions wrung
from the reluctant spirit of a far darker time the right of living, of
worship, of enjoying property, and exercising the franchise. All these,
and more, which were once, and not very remotely, denied to the
Catholics had been before this accorded to them. Yet the interest and
importance of winning access to Parliament, to the higher ranks of the
army, and, perhaps a stray seat at the Privy Council, acquired the name
of Emancipation, and Mr. O'Connell monopolised its entire renown. He was
styled the "Liberator," and his achievement designated as "striking the
fetters from the limbs of the slave, and liberating the altar." In
truth, the import of Emancipation was so exaggerated, and its history so
warped, that even now at a distance of more than twenty years, both the
act and the actors are so misunderstood that it requires no little
daring to approach a question involving the sensibilities, prejudices
and passions of an entire generation.

A truer appreciation might have given Mr. O'Connell a different and
higher destiny. Not alone the boundless exultation of the Catholic but