He initiated the movement in 1840, but for some time with very little appearance of making it in any sense a national one. The people were supine, and those who should have been their leaders rested content with comparative religious equality and the friendship of the Whigs, who, when in power, were always generous of petty offices to the poor relations and dependants of those who could influence elections in their favor. But the great Liberator, though he had nearly reached that term of threescore and ten allotted as the span of man’s life, was still full of vigor and determination. He travelled through every part of Ireland, arousing the dormant, reassuring the timid, arguing with the disputatious, and hurling his anathemas against those who, from cowardice or venality, refused to join in the crusade against English influence in Ireland. His success was more than wonderful. The hierarchy unanimously declared in favor of “repeal,” the priesthood almost without exception became his warmest and most efficient supporters, and of course the mass of the people, always on the right side when properly led, greeted him everywhere with the wildest applause. Money poured in from all sides to help the national cause; not Ireland and the British Islands alone contributing their quota, but the continent of Europe and the ever‐generous people of America lavishly advanced funds for the purpose of aiding the people in obtaining self‐ government. Then came the year 1843—the year of the monster meetings at central and time‐honored localities, such as Mallow, Tara, Mullaghmast, and Clontarf, where assembled countless thousands of well‐dressed, well‐conducted, and unarmed peasantry, to listen to the voice of their champion and his co‐ laborers, and to demand in peaceful terms the restoration of their filched legislative rights.