 |
| O'CONNELL'S BIRTHPLACE, CARHEN, CO. KERRY. -Our artist presents in the sketch placed before the reader the ruins of the house of Carhen or Carhan, meaning Mountain Ash, Co. Kerry, in which the immortal Daniel O'Connell was born on the 6th day of August, 1775. It is situated but a few miles from Derrynane castle, his after residence, and Cahirciveen, which was his market town. The region is one of the most strikingly romantic in Ireland, presenting a splendid variety of mountain, cliff and ocean scenery, almost without rival, even in magnificent Kerry. O'Connell's father's name was Morgan and his mother was Catherine Mullane. Their marriage occurred in 1774, and Daniel was the first born of ten children. He received his early education chiefly from the Rev. Father Harrington, of Cork, who taught Catholic pupils, in spite of the penal laws against Catholic education, at the risk of his life. At the age of fifteen, young O'Connell was sent to St. Omer's University in France, and he subsequently studied at the College of Douay with much distinction. He left Douay on Jan. 21, 1793-the day Louis XVI was beheaded in Paris. The excesses of the French Revolution shocked O'Connell, naturally averse to bloodshed, and made him a monarchist and a peace-at-any-price agitator, particularly in his later career. This, in a great measure, accounts for the ignominious failure of his Repeal of the Union movement, in 1843. |
 |  |