Editing Daniel O'Connell (section)

===Lack of a successor===
In leading the charge against the Young Irelanders within the Repeal Association, John O'Connell had vied for the succession. But Gavan Duffy records that the Liberator's death left no one with "acknowledged weight of character, or solidity of judgement" to lead the diminished movement out beyond the Famine. Such, he suggests, was the "inevitable penalty of the statesman or leader who prefers courtiers and lackeys to counsellors and peers".<ref>Brendan Clifford (1997) ''Spotlights on Irish History'', Aubane Historical Society, Millstreet Cork, {{ISBN|0952108151}}, p. 97</ref>

John O'Connell opposed Duffy's [[Tenant Right League]], and eventually accepted, in 1853, a [[sinecure]] position as "[[Clerk of the Crown and Hanaper]]" at [[Dublin Castle]].<ref name="Eir">[http://www.ricorso.net/rx/az-data/index.htm John O'Connell] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180725083231/http://www.ricorso.net/rx/az-data/index.htm |date=25 July 2018 }} at Ricorso</ref>