25 Soldier for Liberty and became his good friend. Douglass looked up to O’Connell as a hero and an inspiration for his own efforts. We may get a sense of what Douglass, the novelists Thackeray and Balzac, and countless others admired so deeply by listening to O’Connell addressing his fellow Irishmen on the accession of a Whig government in London. “There is but one magic in politics, and that is to be always right. Repealers of Ireland, let us be always right; let us honestly and sincerely test the Union in the hands of a friendly administration, and, placing no impediments in their way, let us give them a clear stage and all possible favor, to work the Union machinery for the benefit of old Ireland.” He was as canny as any Machiavelli could wish, but his principle was the opposite of that put forth by the cynical Florentine. O’Connell triumphed in the right, while trimmers were caught in the tangles of their own cunning. Dear God, may we see his like again someday—even if we are not worthy of it. 222
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