MODERN IRISH NATIONALISM:  FENIANISM & PHYSICAL FORCE

INTRODUCTION – NATIONALIST STRATEGIES.  The 3 strategies:  1)  AGRARIAN AGITATION:  James Fintan Lalor (1807-1849) of Tinnakill, Co. Laois.  Michael Doheny (1805-1863) of Co. Tipperary.  Rent strike; 2)  PHYSICAL FORCE.  Thomas Francis Meagher (1823-1867) of Waterford city; Irish Brigade in the Army of the Potomac; "Meagher of the Sword"; Antietam, Gettysburg, Montana; 3) PARLIAMENTARY POLITICS:  Irish Party & Home Rule.

I.  GENESIS AND CHARACTER OF FENIANISM.

A.  GENESIS.  Irish Republican Brotherhood, est. Dublin, 17 Mar. 1858 by James Stephens (1825-1901) of Kilkenny; William Smith O'Brien (1803-1864).  Fenian Brotherhood, est. New York by John O'Mahony (1816-1877) of Kilbenehy, Co., Limerick.  IRB = "The Society," "The Organisation," or "The Brotherhood"; watchword: "Soon or Never."

B.  CHARACTER.  1.  Physical Force.  2.  Independence.  3.  Social Basis.  4.  American Ties.  5.  Gaelicism.  6.  Church.  7.  Longevity.

C.  THE MANCHESTER MARTYRS.  Manchester rescue (18 Sept. 1867); Sergeant Charles Brett.  Edward O'Meagher Condon (1835-1915); Allen Larkin, and O'Brien, executed 23 Nov. 1857; "God Save Ireland".  Rising of '67; Royal Irish Constabulary.

II.  FENIANISM AND IRISH SOCIETY.  John O'Leary (1830-1907) of Co. Tipperary

A.  FENIANISM AND THE CHURCH.  Dr. Keane, (R.C) bishop of Cloyne.  Pope Pius IX (r. 1846-1878).  Vatican decree vs. Fenianism (1869/70).  Charles Joseph Kickham (1828-1882) of Mullinahone, Co. Tipperary: "we believe it is our duty to tell the people that bishops and priests may be bad politicians and worse Irishmen" (16 Sept. 1865).  Dean O'Brien of Limerick.

B.  FENIANISM AND MARTYRDOM.  The Fenian oath.  Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa (1831-1915), of Rosscarbery, Co. Cork; T. Desmond Williams.  Thomas James ("Tom") Clarke (1857-1916); Terence MacSwiney (1879-1920), lord mayor of Cork; Tomás MacCurtain (1884-1920), lord mayor of Cork.  Patrick Henry Pearse (1879-1916):  "The fools, the fools the fools!--they have left us our Fenian dead, and while Ireland holds these graves, Ireland unfree shall never be at peace."

C.  FENIANISM AND THE "OTHER IRELAND."  Irish Brigade (28^th Mass., 63^rd N.Y., 69^th N.Y., 88^th N.Y., 116^th Pa.), est. by Thomas Francis Meagher ("Meagher of the Sword).  Fenian invasion of Canada (summer 1866).  Clan na Gael; John Devoy (1842-1928) of Kill, Co. Kildare; "New Departure" (1880s); escape from Freemantle, Australia, on the whaler Catalpa.

Chorus to "God Save Ireland," words by Timothy Daniel Sullivan [1827-1914] for the Manchester Martyrs (1867): "God save Ireland!" said the heroes; / "God save Ireland!" said they all. / "Whether on the scaffold high / Or the battlefield we die, O, what matter when for Ireland dear we fall!"