SNIPPET: Daniel O'CONNELL, born in Cahersiveen, Co. Kerry in 1775, was elected in Ennis, Co. Clare, as the first Catholic member of the British Parliament. (See Derrynane House, below). Educated in France at the time when the anti-Catholic penal laws limited schooling for Irish Catholics in Ireland, O'CONNELL witnessed the carnage of the French Revolution. Upon his return to Ireland, he saw more bloodshed during the futile Rebellion of 1798. He chose law as his profession, and reluctantly killed a man who challenged him to a duel. Abhorring violence, he dedicated himself to peacefully gaining equal rights for Catholics in an Ireland dominated by a wealthy Protestant minority. He formed the Catholic Association, with a one-penny-per-month membership fee, and quickly gained a huge following, especially among the poor, with his persuasive speaking skills. Although Catholics were not allowed to hold office, he ran for election to Parliament, anyway, and won a seat in 1828. Unwilling to take the anti-Catholic Oath of Supremacy initially kept him out of Westminster, but the moral force of his victory caused the government to give in and concede Catholic emancipation the following year. Known as "the Liberator," O'CONNELL was making progress toward his next goal of repealing the Act of Union with Britain when the Potato Famine hit in 1845. He died two years later in Genoa on his way to Rome, but his ideals lived on. Derrynane House is the home of O'CONNELL, Ireland's most influential preindependence politician, whose tireless nonviolent agitation gained equality for Catholics 175 years ago. The coastal lands of the O'CONNELL estate that surround Derrynane House are now a national historic park. A visit here is a window onto a man who not only liberated Ireland from the last oppressive anti-Catholic penal laws, but who also developed the idea of a grassroots movement, organizing on a massive scale to achieve political ends without bloodshed. O'CONNELL's turbulent life makes the contents of the house most interesting. In the exhibition room downstairs is a glass case containing the pistols that were used in the famous duel. Beside them are his black gloves, one of which he always wore on his right pistol hand when he went to Mass, out of remorse for the part it played in taking a man's life. The drawing room upstairs is lined with family portraits and his ornately carved chair. On the wall in the upstairs bedroom is a copy of his most famous speech imploring the Irish not to riot when he was arrested. Out back, beside the tearoom, is an enormous grand chariot that carried O'CONNELL through throngs of joyous Dubliners after his release from prison in 1844. He added the small chapel wing to the house in gratitude to God for his prison release. The grounds of the estate are pleasant enough for a 20-minute stroll to the beach and back.