I love liberty as conducive to increase the portion of human happiness. A great deal of the misery of man can clearly be derived from the form of gov… - Daniel O'Connell

And now I make this declaration—that if the Repeal of the Union depended upon my change of opinion, or the suppression of my sentiments with respect to the slavery of the negro, I would neither change the one nor suppress the other. I am not bound to look to consequences in a matter of principle like this, and this, therefore, I do say, that, come what may, I shall never cease to pour out my entire heart and soul in reprobating and in calling down the curses of mankind upon that vile system.

The combination of national action—all Catholic Ireland acting as one man—must necessarily have a powerful effect on the minds of the Ministry and of the entire British nation. A people who can be thus brought to act together, and by one impulse, are too powerful to be neglected and too formidable to be long opposed.

I am most thoroughly convinced that the Repeal alone can keep secure the religion and the liberties of the Irish people.