lculations. Although his aggressive propensities were
sometimes indulged to an extreme degree, he was right in the main, for,
the "whispering humbleness" of the older Catholic leaders would have
never won emancipation; and this was handsomely and honourably confessed
to Mr. P.V. Fitzpatrick by Lord Fingal, shortly before his death. Lord
Fingal having sent for Mr. Fitzpatrick, that gentleman repaired
immediately to his lordship's residence, and having been shown into the
library, where the dying nobleman was reclining in an easy chair, feeble
in body, but bright and vigorous in mind, his lordship addressed him as
follows: "Mr. Fitzpatrick, I have been for some time thinking whom I
should pitch upon, to discharge my conscience of a heavy debt, and I
have fixed upon you, as the most appropriate person, because you not
only know me and Mr. O'Connell, but you knew us all who were connected
with Catholic politics for years, and well. You know, too, that I went
forward to an extent, that caused me to be sometimes snubbed by those of
my own order in that body; but, notwithstanding, I, like them was
criminally cowardly. We never understood that we had a nation behind
us--O'Connell alone comprehended that properly, and used his knowledge
fitly. It was by him the gates of the Constitution were broken open for
us; we owe everything to his rough work, and, to effect further services
for Ireland, there must be more of it. I never understood this properly
until they made me a peer of parliament, and I feel myself bound to make
the avowal under the circumstances in which you now see me, preparatory
to my passing into another world. You will communicate this to
O'Connell, and my most earnest wish, that he will receive the avowal as
an atonement for my not having always supported him, as I now feel he
should have been supported."[265]

O'Connell, as an orator, aimed at being what he was called for many
years, "The Man of the People." In some of his earlier speeches there
are marks of care and preparation, but during three-fourths of his
career, his only preparation was to master his subject; words of the
best and most effective kind never failed him. There is little doubt,
that elaborate preparation would have marred the effect of O'Connell's
oratory. He, like all great men, had a quick, intuitive mind--one, in
fact, that could scarcely bear the tedium of careful preparation, and
the true character of which came out in cross-examining and