ABSTRACT
The national schools left some Catholics and many Protestants dissatisfied, but the national system was nevertheless superior to the school systems which had preceded it. The new association was first given the cumbersome but cautious title of the ‘National Association of Ireland for full and prompt justice or repeal’. At the beginning of 1841 the financial position of the Repeal Association was unsatisfactory and the receipts from the O’Connell tribute—one of O’Connell’s principal sources of funds—was disappointing. From the beginning of the new session, O’Connell found himself largely isolated from his former associates. The Corn Laws, the revenue and the distress in the manufacturing areas were the principal themes, and the principal concern of the Government. The Government’s policy, both he and Graham felt, should be based on a steady discountenancing of the repeal party and a clear preference for those ‘who advocate British connection in union with an impartial and liberal policy, and equal justice administered to Roman Catholics’.
