 History
The study of Irish history is complex as it takes in a layer cake of thousands
of years of change. Change over thousands of years is more likely than
continuity, yet, through it all trends emerge. These trends form a framework
that helps us on the road to approaching understanding. They are just handles,
however, and rarely point to any one direction. They might help you to get a
grip. One thing is certain. One must discard a few things if one is to hold on.
Discard to Enter Irish History
ANGLO PHOBIA- Try if you can to think of the English as neighbors. As in any
neighborhood the management of the relationship is the key, not so much the
neighbors themselves.
CULTURAL RELATIVISM- A culture is simply a solution for a group of people to the
problems they face in their environment. It might be helpful to judge a culture
and on should be able to judge one's culture fairly as it is after all just a
flawed human construct lacking perfection in all things, on the basis of
efficiency, pain and suffering and freedom. Is the culture helping survival or
holding it back? Does it create more psychological and physical pain than good
feelings, and can one enter and leave freely? All cultures are not created
equal.
FOLKLORE- Folklore is important but one must know what is fact and what is still
not proven.
GENETIC NATIONALISM- There should not be a concept of a state determined by
genetics. Culture is learned and politics is subscribed to. Practice should be
the determining factor not genetics.
RELIGIOUS INTOLERANCE- As with nationalism there is no one religion for a
people.
NETWORK NEWS- What you hear in the news is more often far from the truth.
Consult many sources...
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Evolving Chronology Chronology
A Tragedy of Many Dimensions and Many Causal Influences on all Sides:The
Irish Potato Famine
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The Battle of the Boyne and Orange Perspectives
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Some general thoughts on trends in Irish history
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Trends
in the development of politics and government
Thoughts on the Evolution
A few
important persons in Irish History
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 Some thoughts on Irish History.....
-One important factor influencing the discussion of Irish
History is the nature of Ireland as an island. To a certain extent water does
protect a people however, human life, contrary to some opinions did not evolve
in Ireland as a "garden of Eden". At some point in prehistory- as early as the
Paleolithic and certainly by the Mesolithic human beings reached Ireland.
Therefore....while more isolated than most; the inhabitants of Ireland could be
visited by and could visit other inhabitants of Europe or other lands.
-Relative isolation over a significant period of
time within the same environment will produce a population with a similar
genetic relationship and a gene pool which has been configured to some extent by
the pressures of environmental adaptation. If this is the case it is quite
possible that the inhabitants of Ireland have more in common with each other
than learned culture. Over time with greater interaction with other groups the
level of sharing will diminish. It is very important to put these relationships
into context. They may not be the most important causal dimension but, as
scholars have argued these relationships do play a role which needs to be viewed
objectively allowing them to find their own appropriate level in explanation.
-Another aspect of Irish history and culture which has
been oft discussed is the apparent survival of Celtic philosophy through time.
Scholars point out that the Irish tend to think more in terms of interpreted law
rather than codified law, the early church in Ireland- the Celtic Church
operated successfully with a decentralized administration. Roots of these trends
are seen to be in tribal organization involving Brehon law and the equal
employment of achieved and ascribed pathways to power. Scholars debating these
qualities scholars have tended to credit the absence of Roman conquest and
imposition of Roman law.
-In regard to the influence of the Roman empire and Roman
law one must recognize that many inhabitants of the island of Ireland traveled
and worked within the Roman empire. Recently it has been revealed that the
Romans did indeed have forts and settlements on the island of Ireland. Although
one must be acknowledge perhaps, that the Romans did not dominate Celtic
Ireland, it is clear that the inhabitants of the island did have access to Roman
ideas, technology and culture. The question therefore becomes that of the
choices made by the inhabitants of the island. Was local culture so dominant
that ideas and philosophies could not be adopted or did continuity prevail
through choice?
-It should be noted that in addition to Roman influences
we must also admit Scandinavian and British ideas and philosophies into the mix.
-At the end of the ancient period c. 500 A.D. the
inhabitants of Ireland participated in governments by leaders of tribes ruling
via ascribed powers, groups of elites such as the Druid classes or Christian
religious or by leaders of larger groups who had achieved their overarching
power by conquest or politics. It is not entirely clear how democratic
these governing institutions were. By the 16th century reports indicated that
Ireland was ruled by warlords who had achieved their power by the domination of
others. It is likely that the governance of the people of Ireland over a
significant period was by a diverse collection of political paradigms with local
variations.
-In regard to Political and Cultural Imperialism it is
helpful to understand that either due to isolation or cultural resistance
foreign dominating powers and institutions generally made only sporadic inroads
into Irish culture and political life. External powers with the possible
exception of Roman Christianity generally rested content with incomplete
domination. Even within the church scholars continue to argue for a strong
continuation of Celtic tendencies in the religious of Ireland. External powers
pursued a start and stop approach. Relatively quick and partially successful
inroads were often followed by significant periods of neglect. These periods saw
the resurgence of Celtic culture and at times in the case of the Norman invasion
resulted in domination of the invading group by the cultures of the inhabitants
of the island.
-Cultural and philosophical beliefs also affected the
survival of individuals. Cultural beliefs restricted the consumption of food as
well as the cooperation of groups for the achievement of common ends. Family
groups competed in fishing industries, technologies for the preservation of fish
for example were rejected and cultural preference of flavors prohibited the
diversification of crops.
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 Chronology
(This will expand as time permits....)
Overview-
.3000BC Megalithic tombs first constructed.
c.700BC Celts arrive from parts of Gaul and Britain. Ireland divided
into provinces. (This according to a contributor is reconstructed
folk history and not based on the archaeology.)
c.AD350 Christianity reaches Ireland.
432 Traditional date for the arrival of St. Patrick in Ireland.
700-800 Irish monasticism reaches its zenith.
795 Full-scale Viking invasion.
1014 Brian Boru/ defeats Vikings at Clontarf, but is murdered.
1169 Dermot MacMurrough, exiled king of Leinster, invites help
from 'Strongbow'.
1172 Pope decrees that Hery II of England is feudal lord of Ireland.
1366 Statues of Kilkenny belatedly forbid intermarriage of English and
Irish. Gaelic culture unsuccessfully suppressed.
1534-40 Failed insurrection by Lord Offaly.
1541 Herny VII proclaimed king (rather than feudal lord) of Ireland
1558-1603 Reign of Elizabeth I. Policy of Plantation begins. System of
counties adopted.
1595-1603 Failed uprising of Hugh O'Neil.
1607 Flight of the Earls; leading Ulster families go into exile.
1641 Charles I's policies cause insurrection in Ulster and Civil War in
England.
1649 Cromwell invades Ireland.
1653 Under the Act of Settlement Cromwell's opponents stripped of land.
1689-90 Deposed James II flees to Ireland; defeated at the Battle of the
Boyne.
1704 Penal Code enacted; Catholics barred from voting, education and the
military.
1775 American War of Independence forments Irish unrest.
1782 Grattan's Parliament persuades British to declare Irish
independence, but in name only.
1795 Foundation of the Orange Order.
1798 Wolfe Tone's uprising crushed.
1801 Ireland becomes part of Britain under the Act of Union.
1829 Catholic Emancipation Act passed after Daniel O'Connell elected
as MP.
1845-48 The Great Famine.
1879-82 The Land War; Parnell encourages boycott of repressive landlords.
1914 Implementation of Home Rule postponed because of outbreak of World
War I.
1916 Easter Rising. After the leaders are executed public opinion backs
independence.
1920-21 War between Britain and Ireland; Irish Free State and Northern
Ireland created.
1922 Civil war breaks out.
1932 De Valera elected.
1969 Rioting between Catholics and Protestants. British troops called in.
1971 Provisional IRA begins campaign to oust British troops from Ireland.
1972 UK and Republic of Ireland join European Community. 'Bloody Sunday'
in Derry.
1985 Anglo-Irish Agreement signed.
Detailed 19th-20th century
1800-Act Of Union-Free Trade
1807-Daniel O’Connell Emancipation 29
1845-Sept.9 Famine Begins
1867-Fenian Rising
1877-Parnell Joins Home Rule/Michael Davitt
Gladstone.
1893-Gaelic League
1899-Sinn Fein ,Griffith /Socialists Connolly
1916-REVOLUTION
1919-CIVIL WAR
1922-Anglo Irish Treaty /Devolution
1949-INDEPENDENCE
1956-TERRORISM/N.I. 1994 - IRA announces ceasefire in
September. Pro-British "Loyalist" guerrillas
follow weeks later.
1996 - IRA abandons ceasefire in
February by detonating a bomb in east
London's Docklands district,
killing two people and wounding 100.
Multi-party talks on the future
of Northern Ireland begin in Belfast in June but
Sinn Fein is excluded.
1997 - IRA announces
"unequivocal" ceasefire in July, two months after Tony
Blair's Labour Party sweeps John
Major's Conservatives from office. Six weeks later
Sinn Fein joins peace talks for
first time.
1998:
April 10 - Good Friday, a
deal is struck at talks between the British and Irish
governments and eight political
parties.
May 22 - Voters flock to polling
stations north and south of the Irish border in a
referendum which endorses the
peace deal.
Jun 25 - Elections to the new
Northern Ireland assembly take place; final results
on June 27 show supporters of
the Good Friday peace deal won 80 seats and
those opposed to it 28.
Aug 15 - A car bomb blast in
Omagh, Northern Ireland, kills 29 people in the worst
single attack in nearly 30 years
of violence. The Real IRA splinter group claims
responsibility on August 18,
then declares an immediate ceasefire a day later.
Sept 14 - Northern Ireland's new
power-sharing parliament starts work.
Dec 18 - Pro-British Loyalist
Volunteer Force becomes first paramilitary
organisation in Northern Ireland
to start to hand over its weapons for
decommissioning.
1999: July 2 - Britain and
Ireland announce a plan - but not a formal agreement -
to set up a coalition Northern
Ireland government and start aguerrilla arms
handover.
July 15 - Plan founders when
First Minister David Trimble leads his Ulster
Unionists in a boycott of the
assembly and Seamus Mallon resigns as deputy first
minister.
Sept
6 - U.S. peace mediator
George Mitchell begins review of peace process.
Nov 17 - IRA says it ready to
discuss disarmament once power-sharing government
for Northern Ireland created.
Nov 18 - Mitchell says basis
exists for disarming guerrillas and creating coalition
government for the province.
Dec 1 - Northern Ireland gets
its own government, a coalition of Protestants and
Roman Catholics, ending 27 years
of direct rule from London.
2000: Feb 11 - Britain's
Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Mandelson suspends
Northern Ireland assembly over
Protestant dissatisfaction with progress on IRA
disarmament.
Feb 15 - IRA announces it
intends to end its involvement with the commission
overseeing guerrilla
disarmament.
March 18 - U.S. President Bill
Clinton holds St Patrick's Day talks with Northern
Ireland leaders.
March 21 - Mandelson says he is
keen to restore power-sharing administration in
Belfast.
March 25 - Ulster Unionist
leader Trimble fights off a leadership challenge, but
the party adds fresh conditions
for rejoining the fledgling Belfast executive.
April 12 - Queen Elizabeth
honours the controversial Royal Ulster Constabulary
with the George Cross -
Britain's highest civilian award for gallantry.
April 18 - British Prime
Minister Blair begins fresh round of talks with his Irish
counterpart Bertie Ahern to try
to restart the Northern Ireland peace process.
April 19 - IRA in an Easter
statement says it wants to see permanent peace in
Northern Ireland but blames
British rule of the province as the root cause of the
conflict.
May 2 - Intensive talks in
London between the parties to the conflict end without a
breakthrough, but the leaders
agree to try again.
May 5 - Blair and Ahern announce
that Britain will reinstate the Belfast
power-sharing executive if
political parties and guerrilla groups embrace fresh
proposals.
May 6 - Britain pushes back a
May 22 deadline for IRA disarmament until June
2001.
May
6 - IRA in a statement
announces it is ready to put its weapons into storage
dumps and allow them to be
inspected.
May 6 - British and Irish
governments say two international statesmen, former
Finnish President Martti
Ahtisaari and former South African union leader Cyril
Ramaphosa, will lead the
inspections.
1981: Ten IRA prisoners starve to death in hunger strike
designed to secure political
prisoner status.
1982: Irish National Liberation Army (INLA)
republican guerrillas bomb Ballykelly
pub, killing 17 people. New Northern
Ireland assembly elected but boycotted by
Catholics.
1984: IRA bomb at British Conservative
party conference kills five. Prime Minister
Margaret Thatcher escapes injury.
1985: Anglo-Irish agreement gives Dublin
government consultative voice in daily
running of Northern Ireland, prompting
Protestant demonstrations.
1987: Eight IRA gunmen killed in ambush
by British Special Air Service commandos.
IRA bomb kills 11 at Enniskillen war
memorial ceremony.
1989: Eleven killed in IRA bomb at
marines music school in southern England.
1991: IRA mortar attack on 10 Downing
Street. No one injured.
1992: IRA car bomb in City of London
financial district kills three and injures 91.
1993: IRA bombs busy shopping street in
Protestant part of Belfast, killing 10.
Protestant extremists kill seven
Halloween revellers in revenge.
In peace-seeking Anglo-Irish Downing
Street Declaration in December, Britain says it
would not block an end to British rule if
a majority wanted it, and offers Sinn Fein
republicans a seat at
peace talks if IRA
violence ends.
1994: IRA announces ceasefire in
September, with pro-British ``Loyalist'' guerrillas
following suit weeks later. British
officials hold first open meeting with Sinn Fein in
more than 70 years.
1995: Britain ends 23-year ban on
ministerial talks with Sinn Fein, but within weeks
Sinn Fein breaks off discussions. In
November, British and Irish governments set
February 1996 as target date for start of
all-party talks and establishing commission to
study handover of all guerrilla weapons.
1996: Former U.S. senator George Mitchell
proposes talks alongside phased surrender
of guerrilla weapons. Major, enraging
republicans, proposes elections in Northern
Ireland to pave way for talks.
The IRA abandons its ceasefire in
February by exploding a bomb in east London's
Docklands district, killing two people
and injuring 100.
Multi-party talks on the future of
Northern Ireland begin in Belfast in June, but Sinn
Fein is excluded because of IRA violence.
IRA detonates bomb in Manchester
shopping centre, injuring 200.
1997: IRA announces ``unequivocal''
ceasefire in July, two months after Tony Blair's
Labour party sweeps John Major's
Conservatives from office. Six weeks later Sinn Fein
joins peace talks for first time.
1998: British government announces
independent judicial inquiry into Bloody Sunday
killings of 1972.
Eighteen people killed over three months
in spate of tit-for-tat violence between
Protestant and Republican splinter
guerrilla groups outside the ceasefires. Sinn Fein
and pro-British UDP political party
briefly suspended from peace talks because of
attacks allegedly involving their
guerrilla allies.
On April 10, Good Friday, a deal is
struck at talks between the British and Irish
governments and eight political parties.
Extremist
splinter groups persist with
sporadic killings and several bombs are defused
on both sides of the border in the run-up
to referendums on the accord on May 22.
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 Thoughts on the Evolution
of Political and Social Structure
In order to appreciate the threads that run through Irish history it might be
helpful to map out the structure of the major historical stages of Irish
History. Note that the chart below illustrates only general trends. Eventually
the Celtic peoples moved from a decentralized tribal/local structure to a
mixture of structures which were either more or less, centralized (via
church/invasion), mixed confederacy (Chieftain or warlord state), or local
tribal (one family with hereditary ruler.) Each structure would have its own
merits and relative selective advantages. One thing Irish structure has tended
perhaps from earliest times to be is diverse. One can not even in the earliest
times rule out any one of the popular forms.
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A Few
Important Persons in Irish History
Strongbow,
Hugh O'Neill
Daniel O’Connell
Theobald Wolfe Tone 1763-1798
To show that there is always hope-9 Famous
Irishmen
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Strongbow 1130-1176 Richard Fitzgilbert
De Clare
Bibliography:
Curtis,Edmund.,A History of Ireland., Methuen,London 1968
Orpen,Goddard.,Ireland Under the Normans.
Keating,Jeoffry.,General History of Ireland.,Trtans.Dermod O’Connor.,James Duffy
Sons and Co.,Dublin.
Chronology:
1152-Diramait MacMurchada abuts Devorgilla wife of Tigernan Ua Ruairc.
1155-Proposal for invasion of Ireland by Henry II discussed/rejected.
1156-Pope Adrian IV issues Bull Laudabiliter giving papal privilege approving
projected conquest of Ireland by Henry II.
1162-Diarmait Mac Murchada gains complete control over Dublin.
1166-Tigernan Ua Ruairc destroys castle of Diarmait Mac Murchada and Mac
Murchada is banished from Ireland to England.
1170 Richard De Clare(Strongbow)Earl of Straggle captures Waterford and Marries
Aife daughter of MacMurchada and assists in the conquest of
Ireland.1171-MacMurchada dies and is succeeded by his son in law
Strongbow(Kingdom of Leinster)and Henry II lands to claim his land.
Significance:
The history of the abduction of Devorgilla and the war prize of Aife has become
a rich source of folk tale and Irish writing. In the case of Devorgilla(she was
44-He 42)Keating writes:”she had banished the conjugal esteem of her husband and
resolved when opportunity offered to fly away from his court...””Diarmuid
received this message with all the jouy of a transported lover and immediately
prepared to accomplish an amour that had been long carried on,but by some
unfortunate accidents had been always preplexed and dissapointed.He caught her
in his arms and mounted her on hourseback...but the lady did not seem outwardly
to be concerned in this design,for when she was seized she cried out for help as
if she had been carried away by violence”In terms of politics the Norman
invaders of Ireland represent in addition to an invasion the immigration of an
old way of feudal government from the evolving centralized administration of
England(bear in mind that in 1066 the Normans had invaded England)The nature of
the feudal relationship is revealed by the necessity of Henry II to come
personally to Ireland to stake his claim to the land conquered by his
knights.The activities of the exiled MacMurchada pursuing the revenge of his
great loss abroad-to bring foreign help to his aid are an early example of a
trend which would torment Irish political history for centuries to come.This
time-perhaps the only time in Irish History(!!) the outsiders came and did
conquer.The Norman conquerors were in a way also (Celtic).They had as Curtis
points out(p.47) been born and raised in Norman occupied Wales and were the cast
off younger sons of the aristocracy.Described by Gerald of Wales Strongbow-(had
reddish hair and freckles,grey eyes,a feminine face,a weak voice and a short
neck...of a tall build...generous...easy going...what he could not accomplish by
deed he settled by the persuasiveness of his words...he stood
firm...immovable...steadfast and reliable in good fortune and had a like...lack
of self restraint but it did not make him run amok when successful)(Moody
p.1321)
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Hugh O Neill Tyrone 1550-1616
Bibliography
O’Faolain,The Great O’NeillDuell,Sloan and Pearce,New York,1942
C.p.Meehan.The Fate and Fortunes of Hugh O’Neill.
Chronology
1542-Conn O’Neill created Earl of Tyrone
1559-Sean O’Neill Succeeds Conn as the O’Neill.
1561-7 Rebellion of Sean O’Neill
1568-Hugh O’Neill recognized as the Baron of Dungannon.
1584-Hugh O’Neill made Tannist to Turlough Luineach O’Neill
1585-Hugh o’Neill Takes seat in Parliament as Earl of Tyrone
1595-Turlough Luineach dies succeeded as the O’Neill by Hugh O’Neill.
1595-1603 Rebellion of Hugh O’Neill
1601-Spanish Army arrives to assist
1603-With Defeat first sheriffs appointed for Tyrone
1607-Flight of the Earls-1616-Dies in Rome.
Significance:Irish politicians,chiefs and strong men were players of two
distinct political games. The first was that of their cultural power base in
Ireland and the second and most important was that of the court and customs of
the English monarch.For power in Irish politics the maintenance of the
obligations inherent in the office was essential.Power gained through the
English political system was that obtained by title and enforced by law.The
English court was willing to govern through its support of titled strong men who
happened also to be subject chiefs recognized through the principal of grant and
re-grant.The Irish chiefs and strong men however, failed to adequately
appreciate their obligations to compromise with the English and the realities of
the balance of power.Hugh O’Neill doomed the Earls to their flight by his
rebellion an act which violated his relationship with England.This was
compounded by the invitation of the ill fated Spanish mission to Kinsale.The
rebellion ended in the repossession of the Irish lands by the crown and to the
creation of the Ulster Plantation-an attempt to safeguard the rights of the
population while putting land and resources to use.Trained in military tactics
at the court of Elizabeth O’Neill was a calculating and courageous leader.He
loved power and did not realize that the English monarch would not tolerate his
free exercise of it.Freedom from England was made impossible by the involvement
of Spain.In 1601 Don Juan del Aguilla arrived with a Spanish force at
Kinsale.With both the Pope and the Spanish involved England was strategically
threatened.The rebellion was crushed through the use of superior forces.The
Irish demonstrated that although they had been successful in the use of
guerrilla tactics to hold off the English that they had failed to master
successful modern Spanish Military techniques as they had failed to master the
politics of the English Court.The Flight of the Earls was significantly a
voluntary one as they had been allowed to return to their lands following the
treaty of Melifont.They had been unable to accept the new order of life living
under the now watchful eye of the English who had brought significant permanent
military power to Ulster.The door was open to the extension of direct English
power and the plantation into the entire island.While well intentioned the
plantation system was poorly managed and led to the exploitation of the
peasantry.
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Theobald Wolfe Tone
1763-1798
Bibliography:
Tone,Theobald,Wolfe.,Life of Theobald Wolfe Tone.,Ed. W.T.W. Tone 2
vols,Washington D>C> ,1826.
MacDermot,Frank,Theobald Wolfe Tone:A Bibliographical Study.,Tralee,1968.
Elliott,Marianne.,Wolfe Tone Prophet of Irish Independence.,Yale,New Haven,1989.
Dunne,Tom.Theobald Wolfe Tone,Colonial Outsider:An Analysis of His Political
Philosophy.,Cork,1982.
Quotation:”The great object of my life has been the independence of my country.
Looking upon the connection with England to have been her bane I have endeavored
by every means in my power to break that connection... to create a people in
Ireland...by uniting the Catholics and the Dissenters.For a fair and open war I
was prepared,if that has degenerated into a system of assassination,massacre and
plunder I do...most sincerely lament it.”
Chronology:
1791-Thomas Paine’s Rights of Man.,published,Wolfe Tone’s argument on behalf of
the Catholics in Ireland Society of United Irishmen founded.
1792-Wolfe Tone appointed agent and assistant secretary of Catholic committee.
1795-Leaves for America
1796-Arrives in Ireland From France-fleet with Tone on board arrives in Bantry
Bay.
1798-French squadron under Admiral Bompart with Tone on board defeated outside
Lough Swilly,Captured,Convicted Suicide.
Significance:The life of Wolfe Tone illustrates more than does any other the
many swift undercurrents which run throughout Irish political history.Standing
in their vortex Tone demonstrated the essential traits of single
mindedness,inflated sense of honor,and capacity for sacrifice and personified
the romance of the democratic 18th century in his service as passionate
revolutionarly.Tone’s revolutionary career grew out of the successful yet
ploddingly slow independence of the Grattan parliament and the Irish Volunteer
movement.Frustrations with the pace of political change were ignited by the
actions and the thoughts of the French Revolution.While the track toward greater
sovereignty was laid out, the sharing of corrupt parliamentary traditions and of
the monarchy became intollerable.Volunteer corps and political clubs raised up
the organization of the United Irishmen to secure immediate reforms.Tone,a
Protestant,brought to the organization a strong belief in toleration and unity.
He also brought in his own philosophy an elitist and Protestant perception of
the Irish masses as well as a distrust of any emphasis upon Gaelic culture and
language.His was the typical 18th Century democracy-for the men of property and
classical culture.While extremely successful in enlisting Catholic support Tone
hated the pope and clergy as much as he hated the English.He saw his mission as
the uniting of all groups around a common republicanism and complete, immediate
independence. As the lynch pin of unity Tone is criticized by all parties
equally.Ulster Protestants see him as being taken over by the clergy and church
while Catholics rejected his constant attacks upon the clergy and church as
slaves of the English imperialism as well as a false prophet of the false
religion of nationalism.The military movements for which Tone won significant
French support flew rashly in the face of the realities of the balance of power
and British insular invasion paranoia.While the Bantry Bay expedition had great
potential Tone’s second and fatal adventure was ill timed and had little chance
of success.As with his sentence to hang as a traitor rather than to die as a
military officer of France Tone’s military and political activities in service
of Republicanism earned Ireland the predictable English backlash as well as
continued support for their concerns about Ireland being a potential cradle of
invasion.In retrospect Tone’s significance lies in his violent Republicanism
which gave inspiration to the actions of 1916 and the violence of the late 20th
century.While the positive potential of incorporation of Ireland within the
ill-fated Napoleonic Empire is written in the histories of those nations who
gained their identity and independence through its very dissolution the people
and culture of Gaelic Ireland would have found in Tone’s Republicanism a process
of cultural sterilization and economic and political dominance by the mercantile
elite.Despite being uplifted by the speeches of Pearse,Tone could never have
shared the same hall or perhaps even the same country with James Connolly.
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Daniel O’Connell
1775-1847
Bibliography:
Macdonagh,Oliver,The Emancipist.,St.Martin’s Press,N.Y.1989
MacIntyre,A.,The Liberator.,London 1965.
Trench,C.C. The Great Dan.,.,London,1938.
Chronology
1801-Union of Great Britain and Ireland
1823-Catholic Association Founded
1826-O’Connell successfully mobilizes Catholic electors for Villiers Stuart.
1828-O’Connell returned M.P. in by election in Clare
1829-Relief Act-Catholic Emancipation.
1834-O’Connell moves discussion of Repeal of the Union in Parliament
1840-forms National Association for Repeal
1841-Elected Lord Mayor of Dublin
1843-Year of Monster Repeal meetings.
1844-Found guilty of conspiracy(overturned by House of Lords
1846-dissagreement with Young Ireland over physical force
1847-Dies-Genoa.
Significance:
Daniel O'Connell brought a lawyer’s strategy to the solution of Irish political
issues.As a politician O’Connell began his career in an Ireland faced with
depression following a grand war boom which saw landlords pressing the peasantry
to maintain high profits.Additionally the Irish had become responsible for the
repayment of the costs of their uprisings to England as a result of joining the
Union.As early as 1817 the storm of the great famine to come was beginning to be
felt.The”uncrowned King”,the “Great Dan” arrived on the scene when the
Protestant ascendancy spirit prevailed in the ruling classes and the monarchy
had neglected all issues relating to Ireland.O’Connell finding that the Catholic
Association had neglected the majority of the people as a result of its high
membership dues, founded the Catholic Association of Ireland which collected the
poor rent of only one penny a month and supported progress toward Catholic
emancipation.In this way the Peasantry was transformed into an electorate.While
even under O’Connell’s plan emancipation was limited to the extension of
membership in the army,parliament,the professions and government to Catholics
and dissenters of upper and middle class status, the peasantry also found a
limited liberation.The Catholic Association set up tribunals which the people
respected more than they did the state courts.O’Connell-a Catholic and speaker
of Gaelic was a leader the people could accept and pursued the nationalistic
compromise of loyalty to the crown and the use of legal means to obtain
concession.In this way he secured election for himself to Parliament . Catholics
could not take seats in Parliament but they could run for office.O’Connell’s
skillful arguments forced parliament to change the rules,a credit to the
system,but, again,not for all as there remained a property test. O’Connell
mobilized the liberated Catholics to fill the political void created by the
inaction or corruption of Protestant aristocrat,Catholic Peer and bishop alike.
With the Catholic party holding the balance between Whig and Torry in Parliament
and Lord Mulgrave as Viceroy progress for Ireland inched forward down the
non-violent constitutional and legal path.Orange bigotry was on the decline and
real improvement in Catholic rights occurred. O’Connell next turned to the
repeal of the Union and the quest for national independence while preserving
links with England. O’Connell hoped that progress would come through
demonstrating the widespread support for this concepts through peaceful monster
meetings,however, while concessions of the minor order continued major change
was not forthcomming.O’Connel’s failure to overturn landlordism and end
political dominance of the landed left the way open for those who advocated
direct use of physical force:the Young Ireland movement. The significance of
O’Connell’s political career lies in his successful incorporation of the
Catholic Majority and the Peasantry into the political scene.He believed
however, that the Gaelic Language was s stumbling block which should be removed
and it is significant that interest in politics did not rise from the ranks of
the peasantry but that it was brought to them by the mobilizing priests.The
movement brought to the peasantry abstenance and the spirit of Cultural and
political uniformity.The legalistic political solution was far from a cultural
one or an”Irish”one. While the movement saw to it that all who played,played
legally according to the rules and did their jobs ethically the people as a
culture were being transformed into a homogeneous political action group which
could be focused by the crafty politician upon solutions designed for the
advancement of utopian goals at the expense of the preservation of cultural
cohesion and equity.
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Nine Famous Irishmen
In the Young Irish disorders in Ireland in 1848 the following nine men were
captured,tried and convicted of treason against Her Majesty, the Queen and were
sentenced to death: John Mitchell,Morris Lyene,Pat Donahue, Thomas McGee,
Charles Duffy, Thomas Meagher, Richard O’Gorman, Terrence McManus, Michael
Ireland.
Before passing sentence the judge asked if there was anything that anyone wished
to say. Meagher, speaking for all, said:”My lord, this is our first offense but
not our last. If you will be easy with us this once, we promise, on our word as
gentlemen to try to do better next time. And next time-sure we won’t be fools to
get caught.”Thereupon the indignant judge sentenced them all to be hanged by the
neck until dead and drawn and quartered. Passionate protest from all the world
forced Queen Victoria to commute the sentence to transportation for life to far
wild Australia. In 1874 word reached the astounded Queen Victoria that the Sir
Charles Duffy who had been elected Prime Minister of Australia was the same
Charles Duffy who had been transported 25 years before. On the Queen’s demand
the records of the rest of the transported men were revealed and this is what
was uncovered: Thomas F. Meagher:Governor of Montana,Terrence McManus,Patrick
Donahue:Brigadier General,United States Army,Richard O’Gorman:Governor General
of Newfoundland,Morris Lyene:Attorney General of Australia,Thomas D.MCgee:Member
of Parliament:Canada,John Mitchell:New
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