This work is primarily concerned with the last great campaign in Daniel O'Connell's career and its impact on British and Irish politics. The eighteen-forties were marked by a formidable agitation to have the Act of Union repealed and an independent Irish legislature restored. In attacking the Union between Great Britain and Ireland, O'Connell encountered the sustained opposition of Sir Robert Peel and a study of the conflict between the two men is an important feature of the book.
Dr. Nowlan also discusses the rise of the Young Ireland movement and the disputes between the Young Irelands and O'Connell. The political developments during the dark years of the Great Famine are examined and a close study is made of the events leading up to the Irish rebellion of 1848 and of the relations between Irish nationalists and French republicans during that year of revolutions.
The Irish problems of the eighteen-forties had a direct influence on British politics throughout the period. Using a wide range of private and official papers, Dr. Nowlan analyses the changing attitudes of the Peel and Russell ministries to the challenge of repeal and to the social and religious grievances that lay behind the repeal agitation.