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Nationality and local politics in late nineteenth-century Ireland: the case of County Westmeath
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 July 2016
Extract
The work of K. Theodore Hoppen has forced historians of nineteenthcentury Ireland to question the role and significance of nationalism in politics, particularly local politics. Parochialism is for Hoppen the predominant political sentiment in Irish life. In the words of one reviewer, Charles Townshend, 'his general image is of an anarchic society pursuing its particular concerns in defiance of governments and revolutionaries alike’ Yet, as Townshend points out, this image cannot adequately explain the political mobilisation which followed from the Land War, apparently for national ends. Nor can it encompass the dual nature of this, and earlier, temporary mobilisations, 'movements that were simultaneously national and local, modern and traditional - in which nationalist rhetoric reinforced local claims, and the release of local energy could be tapped to sustain the nationalist claim.
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References
1 Theodore Hoppen, K., Elections, politics and society in Ireland, 1832–1885 (Oxford, 1984).Google Scholar See also Theodore Hoppen, K. ‘National politics and local realities in mid nineteenth-century Ireland’ in Art Cosgrove and Donai McCartney (eds), Studies in Irish history presented to R. Dudley Edwards (Dublin, 1979), pp 190–227 Google Scholar
2 History, lxxi (1986), p. 177
3 Ibid, p. 178.
4 Westmeath Examiner, 20 Sept. 1884.
5 Ibid., 10 Jan. 1885.
6 Progress report on Irish National League, Jan.-June 1885 (S.P.O., Irish National League papers).
7 For a detailed report on the convention, including Harrington’s letter of resignation, see Westmeath Examiner, 17 Oct. 1885.
8 Westmeath Examiner, 29 Sept. 1883.
9 They are mentioned in the local newspapers. The most widely read pamphlet was Back to the land, an essay on land reform, first published in serial form in the Freeman’s Journal in May 1881. The ideas it expressed pre-figured those put forward by Henry George, who himself wrote in 1887 that ‘what is sometimes spoken of as “Georgian” could with as much propriety be styled “Nultyism’” For this and other writers’ comments on the essay, see the introductory matter in the Australian edition published in 1939 by the Triumph Press, Melbourne.
l0 Westmeath Examiner, 7 Aug. 1886.
11 Ibid., 18 Dec. 1886.
12 Ibid., 25 Dec. 1886.
13 Ibid.
14 The priests used the columns of the only other local newspaper, the Westmeath Guardian, a protestant, conservative weekly, to publicise the speeches made at these meetings. The circulation of the staid Guardian soared as the battle raged.
l5 Westmeath Examiner, 15 Oct. 1887
l6 United Ireland, 28 Oct. 1887
17 Dublin Weekly News, 3 Nov 1887
18 Westmeath Examiner, 21 Jan. 1888.
19 Westmeath Guardian, 13 Apr 1888.
20 Hayden kept a journal during his three months in prison, now in the possession of the present bishop of Meath and deposited in the Meath diocesan archives, Mullingar, Co. Westmeath. The journal may have been written with a view to publication, for there are many expressions of his sincere devotion to the catholic church combined with remarkably cautious criticism of the Bishop Nulty and his priests.
21 Report of District Inspector William Jacques, 3 Aug. 1882 (S.P.O., Crime Branch Special (hereafter C.B.S.), Midland Division, 1887–94).
22 Taken from a report of a sub-committee of the Moate branch of the Irish National League appointed to investigate the condition of agricultural labourers, published in Westmeath Examiner, 28 June 1890.
23 Ibid., 22, 29 Nov 1890.
24 Westmeath Guardian, 5 Dec. 1890.
25 Ibid., 26 Dec. 1890.
26 Ibid., 20 Mar. 1890.
27 Report of District Inspector Alan Bell, 3 May 1891 (S.P.O., C.B.S., Midland Division, 1887–94).
28 Report of divisional commissioner for May 1891 (S.P.O., C.B.S., Midland Division, 1887–94).
29 Westmeath Nationalist, 14 May 1891.
30 Report of District Inspector Alan Bell, 4 July 1891 (S.P.O., C.B.S., Midland Division, 1887–94).
31 Ibid., 4 Sept. 1891.
32 Report of divisional commissioner for Jan. 1891 (ibid.).
33 Ibid., May 1891.
34 Ibid., Apr 1891: ‘The number of evicted farms taken during the month (57) was the largest in any one month since records of such retaking have been compiled’
35 Westmeath Nationalist, 15 Oct. 1891.
36 Westmeath Examiner, 28 Nov 1891.
37 Ibid., 30 Jan. 1892.
38 Ibid., 26 Feb. 1892.
39 Report of divisional commissioner for Apr. 1892, Monthly police reports, Midland Division, Jan.-Oct. 1892 (P.R.O., CO. 904/60).
40 Ibid.
41 Westmeath Nationalist, 19 May 1892.
42 Ibid., 12 May 1892.
43 Quoted in report of District Inspector R.D. Morrison, 11 July 1892 (S.P.O , C.B.S., Midland Division, 1887–94).
44 Report of divisional commissioner for July 1892 (P.R.O., CO. 904/60).
45 Westmeath Examiner, 16 July 1892: details of election results.
46 Ibid. In the two County Meath constitutencies, election petitions were filed disputing the validity of the election results — nominees of Bishop Nulty had won both seats — on the grounds of clerical intimidation. The petitions were heard in the autumn of 1892 and, to the great chagrin of the bishop, they were upheld and the elections declared void. See Woods, C.J ‘The general election of 1892: the catholic clergy and the defeat of the Parnellites’ in Lyons, F.S.L. and Hawkins, R.A.J. (eds), Ireland under the union essays in honour of T.W Moody (Oxford, 1980), pp 297–302.Google Scholar
47 Report of county inspector for Dec. 1892 (P.R.O., CO. 904/61).
48 Westmeath Examiner, 11 June 1892.
49 Westmeath Nationalist, 28 Apr. 1892.
50 Larkin, Emmet, The Roman Catholic Church in Ireland and the fall of Parnell, 1888–1891 (Liverpool, 1979), p. 291 Google Scholar