MacDONNELL, Eneas. The Roman Catholic Oath illustrated by Roman Catholic Authorities and Lord John Russell’s Resolution illustrated by extracts from Speeches of its Proposer and Supporters.

London: Edward Churton, 1835. Large post octavo. pp. 16. Recent marbled wrappers. In very good condition. Old dusting and paper repair to margin of to titlepage. Exceedingly rare.
COPAC locates 6 copies only.
Eneas MacDonnell (1783-1858), barrister, pamphleteer, and agent of the Catholic Association, was born in County Mayo, fourth son of Charles MacDonnell, a merchant of Clonagh, Westport, and his wife Jane (née Miller). He was educated at the Lay College, Maynooth (opened 1802), and called to the Irish bar in 1810, whereupon he began practising on the Connacht circuit. He entered politics at Castlebar, where on 17 September 1810 he gave a lengthy address (published in the Dublin Evening Post) to a Mayo county meeting called to promote a petition for Catholic relief. Until 1815 he was editor of the Cork Mercantile Chronicle; he then set up, in the interest of the Catholic Association, the Dublin Chronicle. It was ‘a spirited but never a very influential newspaper’ (Inglis) and, as the only Dublin paper not receiving a government subsidy, lasted two years (June 1815 to August 1817). MacDonnell’s ownership of the Dublin Chronicle brought him a conviction for libel in the court of king’s bench (May 1816), which may have hastened the paper’s demise and the decline of the Catholic Association. He was also imprisoned in 1828 on an action taken by Archbishop Trench of Tuam. A prolific pamphleteer and advocate of the Catholic Association which he represented in London as parliamentary agent. Lord Norbury seeing him leave Archbishop Troy’s house said: “There’s the pious Eneas coming from the ‘sack’ of Troy.” This tract was submitted to the consideration of the Roman Catholic members of Parliament.

[L4 8B]