Ireland will be redeemed and disenthralled, not perhaps by a repeal of
the Union, but by the accomplishment of such a thorough reform in the
government and policy of Great Britain as shall render a repeal
unnecessary and impolitic.
The sentiments of O'Connell in regard to the means of effecting his
object of political reform are distinctly impressed upon all his appeals
to the people. In his letter of December, 1832, to the Dublin Trades
Union, he says: "The Repealers must not have our cause stained with
blood. Far indeed from it. We can, and ought to, carry the repeal only
in the total absence of offence against the laws of man or crime in the
sight of God. The best revolution which was ever effected could not be
worth one drop of human blood." In his speech at the public dinner given
him by--the citizens of Cork, we find a yet more earnest avowal of
pacific principles. "It may be stated," said he, "to countervail our
efforts, that this struggle will involve the destruction of life and
property; that it will overturn the framework of civil society, and give
an undue and fearful influence to one rank to the ruin of all others.
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