%0 Book %A O'Connell, Daniel, 1775-1847 %I s.n. %D 1828 %C S.l. %G English %T Counc[il]l[or] O' Connell's grand address : to the freeholders of the Co. Clare %X Sheet refering to the Co. Clare election campaign encouraging voters to support Daniel O'Connell as a Catholic candidate. [William Vesey Fitzgerald, landowner and Conservative M.P. for Co. Clare, ran for re–election in June 1828 when he accepted a post in government. O’Connell challenged the election in opposition although, as a Catholic, he could not take his seat in parliament. The Catholic Association had previously supported Protestant candidates who were sympathetic to emancipation such as Vesey-Fitzgerald. It decided to run a Catholic candidate in 1828 because of the overwhelming support for O’Connell and for emancipation. It hoped, if O’Connell was elected, to force the government to change the law. In this speech, O’Connell appealed to the freeholders (those entitled to vote because they owned property) in Co. Clare to support him as a Catholic candidate].