Catholic Association

The Catholic link was an Daniel O'Connell in a early nineteenth century to campaign for Catholic emancipation within Great Britain. It was one of the first mass-membership political movements in Europe. It organized large-scale public protests in Ireland. British Home Secretary later Prime Minister Robert Peel was alarmed and warned an associate of his in 1824, "We cannot tamely sit by while the danger is hourly increasing, while a power co-ordinate with that of the Government is rising by its side, nay, daily counteracting its views." The Duke of Wellington, Britain's prime minister together with its almost famous war hero, told Peel, "If we cannot receive rid of the Catholic Association, we must look to civil war in Ireland sooner or later." To stop the momentum of the Catholic link it was essential to pass Catholic Emancipation, and so Wellington and Peel turned enough Tory votes to win. Passage demonstrated that the veto power to direct or defining long held by the Ultra-Tories faction of reactionary Tories no longer was operational, and significant reforms were now possible.

Strengths

The Catholic Association was originally aristocratic in its composition, and some of the gentry such as Daniel O'Connell held an enormous influence over the society and largely dictated the policies it pursued. It was radical in nature, but also extremely loyal to the crown in appearance. This had been the strategy of the preceding major catholic group, the Catholic Committee of the 1790s which achieved major Catholic Relief in 1793.

Since the aims of the Catholic Association were fairly moderate, and the organisation remained loyal to the monarch, British MPs were conceptually more willing to pass Catholic emancipation. The matter had been discussed in London since the 1800 Act of Union, when the Prime Minister Pitt and near of his colleagues had resigned from the cabinet when emancipation was denied by the king. Henry Grattan continued to support the form and Catholic emancipation had been passed by the House of Commons ago by a majority of six, but it was rejected in the House of Lords, and loosely by King George III, who reigned until 1820.

The biggest strength of the Catholic Association was that the Catholic Church helped in the collection of the Catholic Rent. Also Catholic priests held sermons in favour of Catholic emancipation. This meant that it was easy for the members to pay the Catholic Rent and it would attract more members as the message of Catholic emancipation was being spread throughout Ireland.[] Sir Robert Peel believed the alliance of the Catholic Association and the Catholic Church was a "powerful combination".

From 1826, the Catholic Association began to usage its funds to help pro-emancipation MPs in elections. They used its money and manpower to campaign for the candidate to be elected into parliament to pressure the government from within to pass Catholic emancipation.

The turning bit came in 1828, when two factors came into play. The first was that the Catholic Church took over the collection of the Catholic Rent and effectively the Catholic Association itself.[] The other was that by 1828 Daniel O'Connell's reputation had increased dramatically. O'Connell was an internationally recognised figure and was seen as one of the main figures in liberal thinking. This successful campaign led on to, but must be distinguished from, his later efforts to end the union with Britain, to add the franchise and to end the payment of tithes. O'Connell's specific talent was to push the emancipation process along in an organised way.