ALS. 2pp.  London, 13th February 1832. To "My dear James".

 

"You have enclosed a cheque for £263.10 of this £258.10 are to be added to the £500 remitted you by [redacted] to take up my bill for £758.10.  The remaining five pounds you are to remit without delay to the parish priest at Killadesert, Co. Clare for the building of his chapel being money handed me for that purpose by an English Catholic.  I beg of you to take the trouble of doing this at once.  The "Extinction of Tythes" was avowed last night - Who shall now tell me that we will not repeal the . . .(?).  Nobody thinks of the Cholera. Mary is not one bit afraid of it so I consent to her remaining here with us but I will take her to Cheltenham during my . . . (?) in Ireland.  Yours very sincerely, Daniel O'Connell."

 

4to. 23 x 18.5 cms (9 x 7.5 inches). In very good condition.

 

A good Daniel O'Connell letter written at the height of his power and influence and during his involvement in the so called "Tithe War" - a period of violent protest in Ireland over the unfair laws that required Catholic Irish farmers to pay tithes to the protestant Church of England and Ireland.  Daniel O'Connell had been elected to represent Co. Clare in Parliament but had refused to take the oath of supremacy. He had campaigned and agitated for Catholic emancipation and the right of Catholics to take their seats without submitting to the oath and had eventually succeeded in forcing the government's hand.  This led King George to make the wry comment that "Wellington is the King of England, O'Connell is the King of Ireland and I am only the Dean of Windsor".  The Mary referred to in the letter is his third cousin, Mary O'Connell, who Daniel O'Connell had married in 1802. Killadesert is presumably Kildysart (formerly known as Killadysert) a parish in Co. Clare. "James" is presumably Daniel O'Connell's younger brother, James O'Connell of Killarney.