“I do not forget your soldiers, orators, or poets - any of your leaders. But when I consider O'Connell's personal disinterestedness - his rare, brave fidelity to every cause his principles covered, no matter how unpopular, or how embarrassing to his main purpose, that clear far-reaching vision, and true heart, which, on most moral and political questions, set him so much ahead of his times; his eloquence, equally effective in the courts, in the senate, and before the masses; that sagacity which set at naught the malignant vigilance of the whole imperial bar, watching 30 years for a misstep; when I remember that he invented his tools, and then measure his limited means with his vast success, bearing in mind its nature; when I see the sobriety and moderation with which he used his measureless power, and lofty, generous purpose of his whole life - I am ready to affirm that he was, all things considered, the greatest man the Irish race ever produced.”- Wendell Phillips, American Historian and Abolitionist
Although statues, monuments, streets, bridges and a church are dedicated to Daniel O’Connell throughout the world, little is commonly known about the man who peacefully overcame hundreds of years of legal persecution and forged a national Irish identity during the first half of the 19th century.
There is much good reading about Daniel O'Connell. Here are but two suggestions:Anthony Esolen - "Soldier for Liberty" and Olivia O'Leary - "Greatest of All Politicians"