Any signs of political life that showed themselves in Ireland were connected with Catholic emancipation, and the visit of George IV., in 1820, held forth promises of relief which excited unbounded joy.

The king loved his Irish subjects, and would never miss an opportunity of realising the good wishes for their happiness which he had so often and so fervently expressed to his Whig friends, when he was Prince Regent.

O'Connell's agitation commenced soon after, and in nine years after the royal visit emancipation was extorted by the dread of civil war, frankly avowed by the Duke of Wellington and Sir Robert Peel.

But this boon left the masses nearly where they had been, only more conscious of their power, and more determined to use it, in the removal of their grievances.
Lord Redesdale, writing to Lord Eldon in 1821, said:--'In England the machine goes on almost of itself, and therefore a bad driver may manage it tolerably well.

It is not so in Ireland.