Mr. O'Connell in consequence of treachery which he had exhibited in
conducting a trial at Clonmel. This led to a fierce encounter in the
House of Commons--the first great trial of Mr. O'Connell's powers--in
which Doherty's friends claimed for their champion a decisive victory.
However unjust may be that judgment, Mr. O'Connell's admirers were
compelled to admit that he failed in his impeachment and principally in
consequence of a letter written by Mr. Shiel, then second to no other
Irishman. Mr. Shiel had been associated with the Attorney-General in the
prosecution at Clonmel, and his letter boldly justified the conduct
which the great popular tribune vehemently and indignantly impugned.
This was quite unexpected, and greatly affected Mr. O'Connell's cause.
But whether Mr. Doherty failed or succeeded, he was rewarded, and almost
avowedly, by the Chief Justiceship of the Common Pleas. The appointment
was a direct insult to Mr. O'Connell, and scarcely a less direct insult
to the Irish bar, and the Irish nation. Mr. Doherty was regarded as a
man of great forensic ability, but no legal attainments. He had scarcely
acquired any practice, and no distinction whatever: so that his
elevation to a post he was so inadequate to fill gave universal
dissatisfaction, and was read as evidence that the Government of Ireland
was subservient to an unscrupulous and audacious faction.

Soon after the date of this appointment the first Repeal Association
was established by Mr. O'Connell. His motives were at once bitterly
assailed. By some he was charged with being influenced by personal
mortification. By some his conduct was attributed to a love of
turbulence and money. By some it was said he only intended the agitation
as a threat, by means of which he could enforce a wiser, more liberal,
and just administration of the law and government in Ireland. Few, if
any, believed him to be in earnest and sincere. But the condition of the
country and the principles of Mr. O'Connell's early life would suggest