Editing Daniel O'Connell (section)

===Tara and Clontarf 1843===
[[File:O'Connell crowned at Tara, 1843.gif|thumb|[[Punch (magazine)|Punch]], August. 26, 1843. Irish peasants pay homage to their "King" on the Hill of Tara. O'Connell enthroned upon the devil, with his foot on the British Constitution.|left]]

At the [[Hill of Tara]] (by tradition the inaugural seat of the [[High Kings of Ireland]]), on the [[Assumption of Mary|feast-day of the Assumption]], 15 August 1843, O'Connell gathered a crowd estimated, in the hostile reporting of [[The Times]], as close to one million. It took O'Connell's carriage two hours to proceed through the throng, accompanied by a harpist playing Thomas Moore's "The Harp that once through Tara's Halls".<ref name="Bardon">{{cite book |last1=Bardon |first1=Jonathan |title=A History of Ireland in 250 Episodes |date=2008 |publisher=Gill & Macmillan |location=Dublin |isbn=9780717146499 |pages=362–363}}</ref>

O'Connell planned to close the campaign on 8 October 1843 with an even larger demonstration at [[Clontarf, Dublin|Clontarf]], on the outskirts of Dublin. As the site of [[Brian Boru]]'s famous [[Battle of Clontarf|victory over the Danes]] in 1014, it resonated with O'Connell's increasingly militant rhetoric: "the time is coming", he had been telling his supporters, when "you may have the alternative to live as slaves or to die as freemen". Beckett suggests "O'Connell mistook the temper of the government", never expecting that "his defiance would be put to the test". When it was{{snd}}when troops occupied Clontarf{{snd}}O'Connell submitted at once. He cancelled the rally and sent out messengers to turn back the approaching crowds.<ref name="Foster" />{{rp|323–327}}

[[File:Triumphal Chariot Daniel O'Conell gf 120.jpg|thumb|O'Connell's "chariot", now on display in [[Derrynane House]] ]]O'Connell was applauded by the Church, his more moderate supporters and English sympathisers. But many of the movement rank and file who had been fired by his defiant rhetoric were disillusioned. His loss of prestige might have been greater had the government not prosecuted O'Connell and his son John for conspiracy. Hailed as martyr, O'Connell was imprisoned at the [[Griffith Barracks|Richmond Bridewell]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.griffith.ie/locations/dublin-main-campus/dublin-campus-history/1813-1892|title=The Richmond Bridewell 1813–1892|date=16 July 2014 |publisher=Griffith College|accessdate=16 July 2024}}</ref>

When released after three months, the charges quashed on appeal to the [[House of Lords]], O'Connell was paraded in triumph through Dublin on a gilded chariot.<ref>{{cite news |last1=O'Toole |first1=Fintan |title=A history of Ireland in 100 objects |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/art-and-design/a-history-of-ireland-in-100-objects-1.535250 |access-date=6 August 2020 |newspaper=The Irish Times |date=11 August 2012 |archive-date=2 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201202232832/https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/art-and-design/a-history-of-ireland-in-100-objects-1.535250 |url-status=live }}</ref> But, approaching seventy years of age, O'Connell never fully recovered his former stature or confidence.<ref name="Foster" />{{rp|326–327}} Having deprived himself of his most potent weapon, the monster meeting, and with his health failing, O'Connell had no plan and ranks of the Repeal Association began to divide.<ref name="Boylan1998" />