O'CONNELL CENTENARY CELEBRATION AT WELLINGTON.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume III, Issue 121, 20 August 1875, Page 6

O'CONNELL CENTENARY CELEBRATION AT WELLINGTON.

The centenary of Daniel O'Connell, the L'iberatoi*, was celebrated by a banquet at the Odd Fellows' Hall on Thursday evening. The hall was appropriately decorated, and a very excellent spread was provided by Messrs Grey and Light. Everything was comme il faut. The attendance was fully as la*rge as had been expected, every seat being occupied, and during the early part of the evening the guests did full justice to the viands and other delicacies provided. -In the gallery were a number of ladies, and the band of the City Eifles, who performed with great efficiency, occupied the stage. About 100 gentlemen sat down, the chair being occupied by Mr. Travers, who was supported on the right by his Excellency the Governor, and on' the left by the Hon. Mr. Bowen, Minister of Justice, and Captain Chapman, of H.M.S. Dido. There were present, in addition to many of our leading citizens, including the Mayor, W. S. Moorhouse, Esq., and the ex-Mayor, J. Drainsfield, Esq., the following members of the General Assembly : — Hon. Sir J. Eichardson, Speaker of the Legislative Council; Hon. J. Johnston, Hon. E. Hart, members of the Legislative Council ; Sir George Grey, X.C.8., M.H.E., Superintendent of Auckland ; Hon. Mr. Stafford, M.H.E. ; .Messrs Bluett, Creighton, Dignan, Hunter, W. Kelly, Mervyn, O' Conor, O'Neill, O'Eorke, Sheehan, Wakefield, Wales, Ward, and White, members of the House of Eepresentatives. Messrs Buckley and O'Shee occupied the vice-chairs. The usual loyal toasts having been proposed and duly honored, His Excellency, in response to the toast of " The Governor," said : — I thank you cordially for the manner in which you have just received the last toast. I assure you it is my anxieus desire to associate myself with the feelings and inclinations of this province, and it affords me especial gratification to be here to-night, when you are assembled to do honor to the memory of one whose recollection is retained with affection and^ veneration by all Irishmen. (Cheers.) Mr. O'Connell was undoubtedly a man who had thoroughly at heart the good and well-being of his mother country, and by his eloquence and perseverence did a great service for that country. He turned his mind to rectify the evil government which had prevailed for many years in the country, and the effects of which long survived his death ; but for the good that he did his name is revered by his own countrymen and others who benefited by the labors of his life. But it is not my business on the present occasion to discuss the merits of Daniel O'Connell ! were Ito do so, I should be trespassing on the province of my friend on my left, who will presently address you. I will rather turn to our own position, and remind you that while in this country — where there are Irishmen, Englishman, and Scotchmen, and members of other nationalities — we are all New Zealanders. (Cheers.) And it is to New Zealand that we have especially to turn our attention. It is a country which any man might be proud to own. You have advantages, being a young country, in being able to see the errors of others. You. have a Constitution which is as free and as liberal as any in the world — the model, the Constitution of England. I need say little to point out its excellencies, for the youngest'amongst us must know of the convulsions which have shaken Europe ; while in England, though the changes which have taken place within the past forty or fifty years have been greater and more radical than those of any country, yet those changes have been secured in a peaceful manner, and by constitutional means. In England we have a quiet and constitutional means of adapting the government of the country to the times in which we live, and I think this is the main reason why the Constitution of England is so superior to that of all foreign couutries. It has been for many years now the custom — and a very happy one — of the mother country to encourage the colonies to govern their own affairs; and therefore, if the colonies feel that there is a necessity for any change, they have it in themselves to make such change, and can do so without any of the evils attendant on force or revolutionary movement. (Cheers.) Iby no means think that in this country you should in any way disparage or cease to venerate the old f eelings and associations of the mother country ; on the. contrary, I think that the more you encourage these feelings the better ; but I would especially reeom mend you to leave at home those feelings and prejudices which can have no head or foundation in a young country like this — antagonistic and party feelings, which unhappily produced so many evil effects in the old country. Whatever changes you may consider desirable, work them out in a quiet and constitutional manner. You have a right to give vent to your own feelings, but let them be expressed without imputing any improper motives to others, and without casting any insinuations against those who v differ with you in opinion. Eemember that every man has a right to his own opinion. Be satisfied with the ruling of those who are best able to judge what is best for your own good, and be satisfied and contented until they see something better. (Cheers.) I must not trespass further on your time, as there are several speakers to follow, and will therefore conclude by again thanking you for the manner in which you drank my health. "THE ARMY AND NAVY." The toasts of " The Army and Navy " and " The Superintendent" were then proposed, and fully responded to, and, in rising to propose • v "the memory of o'connbll." ' The Chairman said : I have now come to the end of the formal toasts of the evening, and will therefore ask you to fill your glasses and drink a bumper to " The memory of Daniel O'Connell." It is in no degree strange that Irishmen of all classes and denominations, but perhaps more especially those who profess the Eoman Catholic faith, should be desirous of paying a tribute of respect to the memory of their great fellow-countryman; and when I say great, I assume that Daniel O'Connell must be looked upon as being as much an Englishman, Scotchman, or Welshman, as he ■wm an Irishman, for I shall be able to show you that his labors

■were as beneficial to England as they were to his Roman Catholic fellow-citizens. It has been said of O'Connell that he was-actuated by personal ambition in pursuing the great object of his life j that while he had power, which he wielded with an iron hand, he used it for the bdnefit of a class, rather than for the general amelioration of the conditions of the people. Posterity examines with a microscopic eye the characters of great men who have lived in the past, and it is a significant therefore, that all denominsations, all classes of people, have ever been and are desirous of paying tributes to the memory of O'Connell— (cheers)— a fact which should be an ample refutation of the charge that O'Connell was influenced by a narrow motives in the performance of labors' which have made him illustrious. Ido not believe that any man could have inspired the faith and confidence — almost the enthusiastic love — with which O'Connell was looked upon, if he had not been actuated by for higher motives than personal ambition. The verdict of his countrymen before and after his death goes to show that he was a great character, and that, while patriotic in the extreme, he did a great work for the world at large— by establishing that principle of perfect liberty of conscience and perfect religious freedom which makes England a refuge and a safe asylum for the persecuted of the earth. We ought to judge men by the results of their labors. O'Connell may have been guilty of errors, but we can, I think, afford to forgive errors in consideration of the large amount of good which he performed. lam not going into a long discussion on the subject, because Bishop Eedwood is shortly to deliver a lecture on "Daniel O'Connell," but I think nevertheless, it will not be without its use if I endeavor to bring before you a few of the salient events in his career. It is now very nearly 100 years since O'Connell was born, because it is within a day of it. His father was a thrifty man, but having a large family, would not in all' probability have been able to afford his son such an education as enabled him to attain to the position in life which he did. However, his uncle, having no children of his own, adopted Daniel and his brother Maurice, and took the entire charge of their education. Daniel O'Connell was sent to the College of St. Omer's, in France, and afterwards to Douai, but he was compelled to seek safety in flight, leaving, I believe, when Louis XVI. was beheaded. Shortly after ohat he entered as a student in Lincoln's Inn, and in 1*798 was admitted to the Irish Bar as a barrister. He very soon began to take part in the affairs of his country, and made his maiden speech on the proposed union of Great Britain and Ireland, and the abolition of the Irish Parliament, which he opposed most strongly. I am not going into the whole question of reform, suffice it that he took an active part in passing the measure by which it was effected. In adopting the career of a barrister O'Connell was no doubtactuated by the fair ambition which should distinguish any man entering into profession which requires a high development of intellect; but O'Connell found an obstacle in the way of his ambition. He was not the man to abandon the faith of his fathers for - the sake of ambition. He determined to effect his object in-a constitutional manner. Stopping some time at Derrynane, he af ter,wards, in 1810, took a leading part in the question of Catholic emancipation, and it may be said that he carried that measure, which gave religious liberty to thousands. He received, the aid of many, but to him was mainly due the success of those efforts which were ultimately productive of so much good. In 1829 he was elected for the County Clare, and this brought matters to a crisis. The Lord Chancellor of the day said this must bring the question of Catholic emancipation to a conclusion ; and it did, for a> little while after that the Bill receivedfthe Eoyal assent, and O'Connell took his seat in the British Parliament, which he retained for many years. O'Connell was intended for the priesthood, and would no doubt have become an Archbishop ; but for the benefit of his country he became a lawyer. (Laughter.) He (Mr. Travers) did not wish to be understood as asserting that lawyers are made for the benefit of their country ; but it was owing to that circumstance that O'Connell was enabled to take the position he did, and to bring about that great reform. Let me point out, if in doing so lam not branching off from the principles laid , down as to the conduct of the meeting, the position which the Eoman Catholi<^fo£ Great Britain occupied at that time. Every important office tois closed to them, they were precluded from becoming officers in the army or navy, and all State offices were shut against them, and they could take no part in the municipal government of the country. This did not mean merely the exclusion of these people from such offices, it meant the shutting up from useful purposes an enormous amount of the intellectual power of the country. It was time that such a state of things was put an end to, and O'Connell did it. We owe that liberty to him which is now part of the Constitution of Great Britain. And the Eoman Catholics were not alone effected. The Jews were encouraged to ask for the same liberty which was accorded to their fellow-citizens of other persuasions, and every class and denomination now enjoys the same liberty. 1 do not purpose detaining you longer in speaking of O'Connell. As a politician he held a high place in the hearts of his countrymen during his life, and his memory is universally respected. As an individual he was courteous and hospitable in the extreme, and was beloved by all who came in contact with him, either socially or politically. I ask you again to drink to the memory of Daniel O'Connell. "THE LAND' "WE LIVE IN." Sir George Grey, who was received with prolonged cheering said : To me has fallen the task of giving this toast — " The Land* we live in." His Excellency the Governor has so recently described this country and its precincts, thai I need not detain you long. But the real pith of the toast, I think, is those we live amongst — . the inhabitants of the land we live in. These are men who have • encountered many difficulties and dangers'; men who, banded together, have made this now great country what it is, from a land inhabited only by a savage race ,- men whose fathers were present with me in many scenes of danger and in many scenes of toil-—.

Borne of them here present, who can recollect the scenes of which I speak — and men -whose families are endeared to me by a thousand associations. These thoughts appear to me to be embodied in the toast, " The Land we live in." (Cheers). And from that toast I may be permitted to wander to a certain extent, to pass an euloghun upon the great man whose name we come here to celebrate — (cheers) — showing you that the consideration of that will lead us back again to the land we live in. I have seen that great man, sir j have heard him make some of his greatest speeches ; but it is difficult to estimate the greatness of a man in whose presence we stand, particularly if the figure is a colossal one ; — we require to withdraw to some distance, carefully to distinguish the proportions of such a figure. In retirement I hare thought much of that great figure, and some conceptions have presented themselves to my. mind, and which I have never seen drawn by my fellow-men. The great gift possessed by Daniel O'Connell was an estimate of the necessities of mankind — an estimate of necessities which have only recently been acknowledged by modern statesmen. He found his country in a most depressed condition. He found a race in a low grade of civilisation j he found it with but little education. But in that race he recognised every element of greatness, lying dormant — (cheers) — simply requiring to be called into life. Finding this, he felt and first acted on this great truth : that civilised man, collected into great communities, is nothing without political knowledge — (cheers) — that in truth, a political education is that which most of all developes man's intellect and renders him useful to his fellow-man. And looking upon a people so sunk as his countrymen were, and so little educated, he believed that by educating them he would fit them for great and noble occasions. (Cheers). And you will find that his efforts were for years directed to this point : by visiting every part of the country, by addressing largo masses of his fellow-subjects, to educate them in political knowledge, and in conception of the wants of their fellow-men. For years he followed this course, for- years he educated them in political knowledge, until at length, in truth, they attained to political power. We may compare them, then, to a nation shut up within the walls of a city, with the gates closed against them. In that city he held those masses quiet; in that city, by his addresses, he educated them, until those outside the walls heard from within the rnurmurings of a vast multitude and the confused mutterings of discontented millions ; until he thought it safer not to let them remain any longer beleagured there, but to open the gates and let them pass out. There were other discontented, hosts outside, who watched with wonder that the gates so long closed were opened by the power of one man. And then from out those gates issued a great of great men — admirals, generals, peers, soldiers, and 'sailors — and issued forth, led by O'Connell, to spread themselves over the whole world. (Prolonged cheering). There was no part of the earth containing even a small portion of the English-speak-ing nation, in which this countless multitude did not spread, prepared by the politicalj^knowledgei'they^had acquired, to benefit the whole human race ; and in a short time, in every country in which the English tongue was spoken, the legislatures were instructed by the eloquence of these men. There was no Executive Grovernment not rendered stronger by their wisdom, by their quickness of thought and daring in time of difficulty and danger ; there was no battle fought in which they did not perform prodigies of valor. That was the result of O'Connell's action. (Cheers). He taught us a further great trufh, and let us lay it to our hearts, for it is a truth little known or thought of — of great importance to mankind. He taught this : that a race not allowed a fair and proper share of political rights and privileges may become sunk in knowledge, Bunk in domestic scenes, sunk in everything that can give one man a pleasing aspect in the face of his fellows ; and when thus sunk, those who sank them will attribute it to a peculiar religious faith, or to some incapacity inherent in the race to raise themselves from such a state, but in which, in reality, they have been held down by thraldom. They forget that it was their own oppressive laws which placed that people in the sunken state which they choose to attribute to a peculiarity of religion or race. But that splendid host which O'Connell led forth have demonstrated that truth irrefragably to mankind, that men of whatever race can attain equally great objects and ends if given a political education and endowed with equal political rights. This brings me back to the point from which I started. That agrarian race which went forth from the beleaguered city has a detachment here also. To that detachment we are in no slight manner indebted, not only for ! the prosperity we have as a nation attained, but for the hospitality obtained here te-night. Band—" Cheer, Boys, Cheer." '^TH* LADIES." Sir John Richardson proposed, " The Ladies" in a humorous speech, in which he referred to the support given by O'Connell to the movement for the emancipation of slavery, a subject which had not been referred to by the previous speakers. Mr. Sheehan in a concise. manner responded, and said if every thing they were possessed of had as much truth in it as the ladies of New Zealand, they would have no dlfficvlty in raising loans to any extent. "THE PRESS." Mr. Buckley was called upon to give "The Press," with which he coupled the name of Mr. Creighton, and in referring to the changes in which O'Connell had taken so active a part, said he was of opinion that those advantages would not have been so soon obtained but for the mediation of the Press. Mr. Cbbighton returned thanka briefly. This concluded the ligt of toasts, and those who were so disposed remained to enjoy a little social conviviality. The celebration was an undoubted success, and that success was chiefly attributable to the indefatigable exertions of Mr. o<Shea, o whom -was entrusted the management.---' N. Z. Times/ *V " ; 't