

E-text prepared by Andrew Turek and revised and annotated by Joseph E.
Loewenstein, M.D.



THE KELLYS AND THE O'KELLYS

by

ANTHONY TROLLOPE





Contents

      I.  The Trial
     II.  The Two Heiresses
    III.  Morrison's Hotel
     IV.  The Dunmore Inn
      V.  A Loving Brother
     VI.  The Escape
    VII.  Mr Barry Lynch Makes a Morning Call
   VIII.  Mr Martin Kelly Returns to Dunmore
     IX.  Mr Daly, the Attorney
      X.  Dot Blake's Advice
     XI.  The Earl of Cashel
    XII.  Fanny Wyndham
   XIII.  Father and Son
    XIV.  The Countess
     XV.  Handicap Lodge
    XVI.  Brien Boru
   XVII.  Martin Kelly's Courtship
  XVIII.  An Attorney's Office in Connaught
    XIX.  Mr Daly Visits the Dunmore Inn
     XX.  Very Liberal
    XXI.  Lord Ballindine at Home
   XXII.  The Hunt
  XXIII.  Dr Colligan
   XXIV.  Anty Lynch's Bed-Side; Scene the First
    XXV.  Anty Lynch's Bed-Side; Scene the Second
   XXVI.  Love's Ambassador
  XXVII.  Mr Lynch's Last Resource
 XXVIII.  Fanny Wyndham Rebels
   XXIX.  The Countess of Cashell in Trouble
    XXX.  Lord Kilcullen Obeys His Father
   XXXI.  The Two Friends
  XXXII.  How Lord Kilcullen Fares in His Wooing
 XXXIII.  Lord Kilcullen Makes Another Visit to the Book-Room
  XXXIV.  The Doctor Makes a Clean Breast of It
   XXXV.  Mr Lynch Bids Farewell to Dunmore
  XXXVI.  Mr Armstrong Visits Grey Abbey on a Delicate Mission
 XXXVII.  Veni; Vidi; Vici
XXXVIII.  Wait Till I Tell You
  XXXIX.  It Never Rains but It Pours
     XL.  Conclusion





I. THE TRIAL


During the first two months of the year 1844, the greatest possible
excitement existed in Dublin respecting the State Trials, in which
Mr O'Connell, [1] his son, the Editors of three different repeal
newspapers, Tom Steele, the Rev. Mr Tierney--a priest who had taken
a somewhat prominent part in the Repeal Movement--and Mr Ray, the
Secretary to the Repeal Association, were indicted for conspiracy.
Those who only read of the proceedings in papers, which gave them as
a mere portion of the news of the day, or learned what was going on
in Dublin by chance conversation, can have no idea of the absorbing
interest which the whole affair created in Ireland, but more especially
in the metropolis. Every one felt strongly, on one side or on the
other. Every one had brought the matter home to his own bosom, and
looked to the result of the trial with individual interest and
suspense.

     [FOOTNOTE 1: The historical events described here form a backdrop
                  to the novel. Daniel O'Connell (1775-1847) came from
                  a wealthy Irish Catholic family. He was educated in
                  the law, which he practiced most successfully, and
                  developed a passion for religious and political
                  liberty. In 1823, together with Lalor Sheil and
                  Thomas Wyse, he organized the Catholic Association,
                  whose major goal was Catholic emancipation. This was
                  achieved by act of parliament the following year.
                  O'Connell served in parliament in the 1830's and was
                  active in the passage of bills emancipating the Jews
                  and outlawing slavery. In 1840 he formed the Repeal
                  Association, whose goal was repeal of the 1800 Act
                  of Union which joined Ireland to Great Britain. In
                  1842, after serving a year as Lord Mayor of Dublin,
                  O'Connell challenged the British government by
                  announcing that he intended to achieve repeal within
                  a year. Though he openly opposed violence, Prime
                  Minister Peel's government considered him a threat
                  and arrested O'Connell and his associates in 1843
                  on trumped-up charges of conspiracy, sedition, and
                  unlawfule assembly. They were tried in 1844, and all
                  but one were convicted, although the conviction was
                  later overturned in the House of Lords. O'Connell did
                  serve some time in jail and was considered a martyr
                  to the cause of Irish independence.]

Even at this short interval Irishmen can now see how completely they
put judgment aside, and allowed feeling and passion to predominate in
the matter. Many of the hottest protestants, of the staunchest foes
to O'Connell, now believe that his absolute imprisonment was not to
be desired, and that whether he were acquitted or convicted, the
Government would have sufficiently shown, by instituting his trial, its
determination to put down proceedings of which they did not approve. On
the other hand, that class of men who then styled themselves Repealers
are now aware that the continued imprisonment of their leader--the
persecution, as they believed it to be, of "the Liberator" [2]--would
have been the one thing most certain to have sustained his influence,
and to have given fresh force to their agitation. Nothing ever so
strengthened the love of the Irish for, and the obedience of the Irish
to O'Connell, as his imprisonment; nothing ever so weakened his power
over them as his unexpected enfranchisement [3]. The country shouted
for joy when he was set free, and expended all its enthusiasm in the
effort.

     [FOOTNOTE 2: The Irish often referred to Daniel O'Connell as
                  "the liberator."]

     [FOOTNOTE 3: enfranchisement--being set free. This is a political
                  observation by Trollope.]

At the time, however, to which I am now referring, each party felt the
most intense interest in the struggle, and the most eager desire for
success. Every Repealer, and every Anti-Repealer in Dublin felt that
it was a contest, in which he himself was, to a certain extent,
individually engaged. All the tactics of the opposed armies, down to
the minutest legal details, were eagerly and passionately canvassed in
every circle. Ladies, who had before probably never heard of "panels"
in forensic phraseology, now spoke enthusiastically on the subject;
and those on one side expressed themselves indignant at the fraudulent
omission of certain names from the lists of jurors; while those on the
other were capable of proving the legality of choosing the jury from
the names which were given, and stated most positively that the
omissions were accidental.

"The traversers" [4] were in everybody's mouth--a term heretofore
confined to law courts, and lawyers' rooms. The Attorney-General,
the Commander-in-Chief of the Government forces, was most virulently
assailed; every legal step which he took was scrutinised and abused;
every measure which he used was base enough of itself to hand down his
name to everlasting infamy. Such were the tenets of the Repealers. And
O'Connell and his counsel, their base artifices, falsehoods, delays,
and unprofessional proceedings, were declared by the Saxon party to be
equally abominable.

     [FOOTNOTE 4: traversers--Trollope repeatedly refers to the
                  defendants as "traversers." The term probably comes
                  from the legal term "to traverse," which is to deny
                  the charges against one in a common law proceeding.
                  Thus, the traversers would have been those who pled
                  innocent.]

The whole Irish bar seemed, for the time, to have laid aside the
habitual _sang froid_ [5] and indifference of lawyers, and to have
employed their hearts as well as their heads on behalf of the different
parties by whom they were engaged. The very jurors themselves for a
time became famous or infamous, according to the opinions of those
by whom their position was discussed. Their names and additions were
published and republished; they were declared to be men who would stand
by their country and do their duty without fear or favour--so said the
Protestants. By the Roman Catholics, they were looked on as perjurors
determined to stick to the Government with blind indifference to their
oaths. Their names are now, for the most part, forgotten, though so
little time has elapsed since they appeared so frequently before the
public.

     [FOOTNOTE 5: sang froid--(French) coolness in a trying situation,
                  lack of excitability]

Every day's proceedings gave rise to new hopes and fears. The evidence
rested chiefly on the reports of certain short-hand writers, who had
been employed to attend Repeal meetings, and their examinations and
cross-examinations were read, re-read, and scanned with the minutest
care. Then, the various and long speeches of the different counsel,
who, day after day, continued to address the jury; the heat of one,
the weary legal technicalities of another, the perspicuity of a third,
and the splendid forensic eloquence of a fourth, were criticised,
depreciated and admired. It seemed as though the chief lawyers of the
day were standing an examination, and were candidates for some high
honour, which each was