THE IRISH DIASPORA
IMMIGRANTS and EXILES
A Short Discussion of Irish Immigration into the United States
From Colonial Times to the Famine of 1845
Irish Immigration before the American Revolution
Irish immigration has always been part of the American historical continuum. Irish nationalists, American national politics and foreign policy have only been intertwined since the American Revolution after the advent of the new nation gave rise to political parties. The most important change in Irish nationalist activity took place when the failure of the Young Ireland rising of 1848 galvanized the famine Irish diaspora nationalists into action in a quest to free Ireland from British rule. However, Irish immigrants have been arriving to the shores of America since the landing of the Mayflower at Plymouth Rock.[1]
Research into the history of Irish-American nationalism has tended to overlook colonial Irish immigration – generally for want of historical research. Michael J. O’Brien wrote two seminal books on Irish immigration into the colonies: A Hidden Phase of American History and Pioneer Irish in New England.[2] O’Brien’s works, virtually ignored, have been characterized as not analytical enough to be considered scholarly research.
Added to flawed analysis is the fact that O’Brien was a man on a mission and tended to jump to conclusions in his anxiety to prove a point.[3] Modern readers who are willing to trudge through his soliloquies against those who ignored colonial Irish immigration and slip past his wishful judgments on wispy possibilities, will find sufficient source material to snuff out the theory, prevalent in O’Brien’s day, that Irish-Americans played no role in the formation of the Thirteen Colonies nor took any part in the American Revolution.[4] With all those caveats in mind, let us look at some of the facts O’Brien uncovered.
In the Virginia Colony, Governor Francis Wyatt in 1622 reported to the London Company that he had “great hope if the Irish plantation [in “Nuport-Newes”] prosper that from Ireland great multitudes of people will be like to come hither.” To maintain the labor force Virginia promulgated a law in 1653 whereby non-indentured Irish servants entering the Colony would be indentured six years if they were above sixteen years old or until they were 24 years old if they were under 16. This law was repealed in 1659 when it was found the long indenture times were retarding the influx of Irish immigrants.
British Parliamentary documents show that in 1653 agents of New England were given permission to collect money for the transport to British America of “divers poor children driven out of Ireland” by Cromwell plantation. These children, most orphaned, were destined to be brought to the New World and sold as indentured servants.
O’Brien cites John P. Prendergast for a description of how agents collected men, women and children to be sold in the Colonies as indentured servants from 1650 to 1654:
Captain John Vernon was employed by the Commissioners for Ireland into England, and contracted in their behalf with Mr. Sellick and Mr. Leader, under his hand, bearing the date of 14th of September, 1653, to supply them with two hundred and fifty women of the Irish nation above twelve years, and under the age of forty-five, also three hundred men above twelve years of age and under fifty, to be found in the country within twenty miles of Cork, Youghal, and Kinsale, Waterford and Wexford, to transport them into New England….” [Sellick and Leader’s contact in Ireland, Lord Broghill] …suggested the required number of men and women might be had from among the wanderers and persons who had no means to get their livelihood in the county of Cork alone. Accordingly on the 23rd of October, 1653, he was empowered to search for them and arrest them, and to deliver them to Messrs. Sellick and Leader, who were to be at all the charge of conducting them to the water side, and maintaining them from the time they received them; and no person, being once apprehended was to be released but by special order in writing under the hand of Lord Broghill. [5]
The process outlined above guaranteed abuse and stories of poor families being robbed of sons and daughters are recounted by immigrants in colonial documents. The people collected by Sellick were then transported on the ship Goodfellow to be sold in the Colonies as indentured servants. Colonial sources show the arrival of Sellick’s ship during January 1654 into Marblehead, and later to Boston, Massachusetts and that Irish servants were brought ashore.[6]
Massachusetts became concerned that an excessive number of Irishmen were being relocated to their Colony. On October 29, 1654 a penalty of £50 was levied by the General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony on each Irishman entering the colony “on account of their hostility to the English nation.” It was not mentioned whether the £50 was paid or not by Captain Dell of the Goodfellow, but, based on the shortage of labor and continuous Irish immigration into the Colony, O’Brien doubts this law was ever enforced. [7] O’Brien cites instances of runaway Irish servants, who upon being caught and taken to court, told of being hauled out of their beds in the middle of the night and shipped to America. It is certainly reasonable to assume that such men once they completed their indenture and entered the community as farmers would support anti-British agitation when given an opportunity.
It has been suggested by some British observers that the American Revolution of 1776 “was really an ‘Irish’ or ‘Scots-Irish’ uprising.” Such a theory is a gross over-simplification of a very complex event.[8] According Nicholas Canny in The Oxford History of the British Empire the Irish only made up about 8% of those who emigrated from 1600 to 1699, amounting to some 30,000 Irish immigrants; and from 1700 to the American Revolution, the Irish made up 43% of those who emigrated amounting to 115,000 Irish immigrants.[9] These numbers are about half those used to show the Irish component in colonial population by historian R.F. Foster, as we shall see below. The difference is that Canny used emigration numbers and Foster is relying on calculations of “Irish stock” or immigrants and their descendants.
That an Irish 10% of the population convinced an unwilling English 90% of the population to revolt against the crown can be discounted out of hand. But it is reasonable to surmise that anti-British sentiment of Irish colonists reinforced anti-British sentiment of English colonists and both groups acted in concert as they took to the battlefield to address grievances against the British Crown. Irish immigrants could speak with authority of what the result would be if British America came to be ruled in a like manner to British Ireland – the very thing King George III was attempting to accomplish in Massachusetts. The exact weight to give any cross-pollination of Irish and English anti-British feelings is not known; but what is known is that, once the Revolution began, men of Irish origin fought together with men of English origin, united in their desire to end British rule in the Colonies.
The Irish, like all men, and perhaps more than most, are what the ancient philosopher called political creatures. As early as 1769 in New York an incident is related where the ephemeral Irish vote was found in play. During an election campaign speech a candidate’s spokesman stated:
…that the Irish were poor beggars and that they had come over here upon a bunch of straws. The whole body of Irishmen immediately joined and appeared with straws in their hats.
Responding to what may be the first example of a political straw poll, a broadside refuting the statement was printed and circulated by the candidate’s election committee.[10] These Irishmen had grasped the power of a voting block. As Irish immigration to America increased, this power increased commensurately.
R.F. Foster tells us that up to 350,000 Irishmen immigrated to America during the colonial period, with about 250,000 of these being “Scots-Irish” from Ulster.[11] By 1770, we may reasonably assume that Irish descendants combined with immigrant arrivals totaled 350,000 persons of Irish origin.[12] Men and women of Irish stock, therefore, composed about 10-12% of the colonial population at the time of the Revolution. O’Brien estimates that 3000 Irishmen, immigrants or descendants, fought in the Continental Army.[13] When the figure of 3000 Irish militiamen is compared to the generally accepted figure of 30,000 militiamen who made up the Continental Army, O’Brien and Foster both arrived at approximately the same Irish component in both the population and the army.
Not statistically significant but fitting our theme, history notes that one of the six persons killed by British troops during the Boston Massacre was an Irish immigrant leather-worker named Patrick Carr. On his death-bed, Carr told the doctor of his surprise at the reluctance of the British troops in Massachusetts to open fire in the face of mob provocation and compared it to the quick trigger fingers of British troops quelling riots he had seen first hand in Ireland.[14]
Beginning in 1778 nationalist urges in Scots-Irish Presbyterian communities in Ireland, especially in Ulster, began to find cause with the ever-present discontent of Ireland’s Roman Catholics suffering under British Penal laws that restricted Catholics from voting or owning land. Influenced by the French revolution, these nationalists, who called themselves “United Irishmen,” rose up against British rule in 1798. The revolt was short lived and ended in a defeat of the rebel forces at Wexford. Another result of the defeat was, in 1800, in the dissolution of the Irish Parliament and the passage of an Act of Union that united England and Ireland under one United Kingdom. These events drove more nationalists to America, thereby injecting fresh enthusiasm onto the side of American politicians who supported an anti-British foreign policy.[15]
Negotiating Irish Nationalism with the Natives
How adept had the Irish diaspora nationalists had become at navigating between maintaining their position as stalwart loyal citizens of their adopted land and while remaining advocates of a revolution in Ireland to drive out the British? Below is a newspaper article describing a St Patrick’s Day dinner celebrated in 1850 in the city of Utica in New York State. We see how national politics is interwoven with Irish nationalism with every man’s eye on the American politics and on the Irish vote. One cannot really say it is total integration into the community – note the toast of hope that the Irish will fit in and do their part.
From: The Utica Daily Observer March 22, 1850
St Patrick’s Day
This great festive day of the sons of Erin was as usual observed in Utica on the 15?th inst. A public supper was prepared at the Central Hotel, under the direction of the excellent proprietor, Capt. White, and a committee of arrangements, to which a large and highly respectable company of citizens sat down. Other engagements denied us the pleasure of being present on the this interesting occasion but we are assured by those who were more fortunate than ourselves in this respect, that the bounteous display of creature comforts, the good taste in which they were served up, and the general perfection to which the committee carried out all their arrangements, contributed to make up “a feast of reason and a flow of soul,” highly satisfactory and entertaining to those present.
Francis Kernan, Esq., presided on the occasion, assisted by Alderman McQuade, as Vice President. We give the regular and volunteer toasts, as they have been furnished us. Each of the regular toasts was prefaced by the capable president with appropriate introductory remarks, which, of course, heightened their diversion in no small degree, and were received with great enthusiasm.
Regular Toasts[16]
1. The day we celebrate: The anniversary of the nation’s emancipation from ignorance and idolatry. – Air, “St Patrick’s day in the morning.”
2. The Hierarchy of Ireland: They have nobly perpetuated the labors of their illustrious founder, St Patrick. – Air “Hark! The vesper hymn is Stealing.”
3. The patriots of ’98: Pioneers in the cause of Irish freedom. – Air “Gary Owen.”
4. The memory of Daniel O’Connell: His patriotism like his genius, was universal. – “Dirge.”
5. The exiled Patriots of ’48, O’Brien, Mitchell (sic),[17] Meagher and others: Their heroism and sufferings have added another page of glory to Ireland’s annals. – Air, “The Exile of Erin.”
6. The escaped “Felons,” O’Gorman, Dillon, O’Mahony, Doheny and other: In foreign lands they happily enjoy a respite from English Tyranny. – Air, Marseilles Hymn.”
7. The Irish Regulars and Volunteers of the American Army in Mexico: -- Native Americanism could not impugn their bravery or deny their right of citizenship. – Air, “Sprig of Shillea.”[18]
8. The United States of America: In political, social, and intellectual resources, “the child is the father to the man.” – Air, “Hail Columbia.”
9. The President and Vice Persident of the United States. – Air, “Yankee Doodle.”
10. The Army and Navy of the United States. – Air, “Star Spangled Banner.”
11. The Governor and Lieutenant Governor of the Empire state. – Air, “Governor’s March.”
12. The memory of Thomas Davis: His harp was tuned only to the glory and misfortune of his native land. – Air, “Widow Machrea.”
Volunteer Toasts
· By Roscoe Conkling. The Shamrock, may it long remain as St. Patrick made it, the emblem of Trinity in religion, and may it become the emblem of unity in Kingdoms.[19]
· H. B. Ostrom. The Martyr and Hero of Ireland and the defender of Irish Heroes and Martyrs in American, Wm. Smith O’Brien and Wm H. Seward.
· M. Larkan. Charles Gavan Duffy of the Dublin Nation.
· Peter Gaffney. Rev. P. Carraber of West Utica. Eloquent, patriotic and firm. He is endeared to all who know him, and honored by hundreds whom he never knew.
· L. A. Warrick. Ireland. May the time soon come when she will claim and maintain her position with eh republican nations of the earth.
· ______ -_____. The memory of John C. Devereux: The name is a talisman of Irish patriotism, hospitality and beneficence.
· John Bryan. The City of Syracuse: Although publishing to the world the fact that it supports a market, its inhabitants judging from their representation here, object to supporting anything else.[20]
· James McQuade. Wm H Seward: the position recently assumed by this distinguished son of New York in the Senate of the United States, adds another to the already numerous noble acts which render him so eminently worthy to be called the “pride of the Empire State.”
· E. R. Pendergast. To our American friends who have honored us with their presence this evening.
· M. McQuade. Roscoe Conklin, Esq.: His recent escape from Auburn is a source of congratulation to the citizens of Utica.[21]
· Eugene Maldoon. The United States of America: The asylum of the oppressed of all nations – may her adopted children prove by their devotion to her institutions that they are worthy of her hospitality.[22]
· Theo. C. Grammis. Thomas R. Walker: The honorable head of our municipality.
· William McIncrow. Case, Clay and Webster: A noble trio. Southern hot-heads and Northern fanatics my brawl as much as they please; while they remain firm the Union is safe.
· Jas. McDonough. Thurlow Weed: Eminent as a journalist but more eminent as philanthropist.
· M. Jordan. The people, the true source of all legitimate power.
· John Cantwell. John Mitchell (sic): Ireland’s truest patriot, his return to his native land will be the surest harbinger of hope for that forlorn and oppressed land.
· John Donohoe. William Smith O’Brien: A pure and unflinching patriot. May he soon return to his native land a freeman to enjoy the blessings of a republican government.
· E. R. Pendergast. Francis Kernan: A gentleman honorable and esteemed in his social relations, eminent in his profession, and though not an Irishman by birth yet proving on every suitable occasion his respect for, and devotion to, the land of his forefathers.
· Thomas McCormick. Old Erin: The land of our birth, and America the land of our adoption. May we live to see the one as free from British bondage as the other is at present, and governed by good men as ---? Taylor, William H Seward and Henry Clay.
· J. McQuade. Jos. Arnois: May the tone of his feelings never be less harmonious, nor the key of his expectations less highly priced.
· Francis Manahan. The Constitution of the United States, Grand and enlightened in its policy, may it never need able defenders to preserve its unity.
· Joseph Arnois. Our worthy host, Capt. White: Though we must knock under to his culinary skill, yet the way in which we have demolished his marine stores shows that he is no match for us on the water.
· M. Jordan. The Irish Alliance: What now seems to be the only hope of Ireland. – Success to it.
· M McQuade Jr. The memory of Orr, Tone, Napper Tandy, Shears, Fitzgerald and the Heroes of ’98, if we ever forget such men, may we be forgotten by all mankind.
· Charles Hutchinson. The Irishmen of the city of Utica: A noble brotherhood of men distinguished for their social virtues, as well as by a steadfast adherence to the cause of right. The warmest of friends and the best of citizens. They will always find a ready sympathy in the hearts of all true Americans.
· M. McQuade. Ireland my native land. Though the clouds of tyranny now lower on thy horizon, yet the remembrance of thy former glory cheers thy sons in this free land, and will encourage them to labor with sword and purse for thy deliverance from tyrants, more bloody and inexorable that of a Nero or a Diocletian.
· J. Melver. Our Vice President, Alderman McQuaade: His popularity is not built on the accident of partisan majority, but in the warm and enduring regard of his personal friends.
· Francis B. Mooney. Native and adopted citizens: “United we stand, divided we fall.” Let the infatuated who seek to create distractions, opposed and unknown to the Constitution, be branded as enemies to the cause of liberty.[23]
· P. Devereux. The three military Presidents of the United States, Washington, Jackson and Taylor: May the latter manifest as much devotion for his country as the two former.
· Francis Kernan. Ireland: The victim of too close an (sic) Union with England and too little Union among her sons.
Toasts complimentary to many of our citizens, by Messers H Seymour, N Devereux, O. O’Neil, J.B. Miller and others were given, and received with applause.
The excellent music of the Utica Brass Band filled an important part in the festivities and contributed much to the hilarity of the occasion. The Quartette Club composed of Messrs. James and Thomas McQuade and Charles and John O’Neil are also mentioned as having added much to the entertainment, by their excellent vocal performances, and many appropriate, soul stirring songs were sung by John Cantwell, H.B. Ostrom, T. McCormick, E.K.Pendergast, Wm. Henry and others. At a late hour, or rather an early hour, the company broke up in the greatest good humor, well pleased with the cheerful, gratifying manner, in which another celebration of the anniversary of their Patron Saint had passed off.
Exiles
Two key events sent nationalist leaders into exile in the United States in the 19th Century. For the British Empire the unexpected result of these two events was the birth and growth of Irish diaspora nationalism.[24] The first event was the failed rising of 1848 called Young Ireland. The result was that many participants fled to America to avoid arrest. Later they were joined by men who were incarcerated and subsequently released or those who escaped their confinement. Among the Young Ireland exiles living in the United States were Michael Doheny, Joseph Denieffe, and John O’Mahony. These and the other Young Ireland exiles constituted the core element of several Irish nationalist organizations in America including the Irish Republican Union (IRU), the Emmet Monument Association (EMA), the Emigrant Aid Society, and, later, founded in 1858, the Fenian Brotherhood along with a sister organization in Ireland known as the Irish Revolutionary Brotherhood (IRB). These organizations in the United States recruited their members from the Irish diaspora community.
The second event was the suspension of habeas corpus in Ireland in 1865 followed by the arrests of IRB leaders. Arrests of IRB members continued through the failed IRB rising of 1867. The pressure applied by the British resulted in many Irishmen immigrating to America. One of these men was Jerome Collins who fled to America in 1866. In New York City in 1867, Collins founded a small club that later evolved into the Clan-na-Gael.
The British Authorities amnestied the majority of the IRB (Fenian) prisoners held in prisons in England and Ireland in 1870. [25] Upon their arrival these men were recruited into the hierarchy of the existing Irish nationalist organizations. Their presence injected new life into diaspora nationalism. They were released from prison on the condition that they live in exile, that is, not on British or Irish soil until their original sentence expired.[26] Many chose to settle in New York. A few chose European locations and arrived in America at a later date. These Exiles were prominent among the leaders of Irish-nationalism up through the 1880s.
In general most “famine Irish” immigrants thought of themselves as ‘exiled’ from their native land, forced to leave by British government misrule. To differentiate between voluntary Irish immigrants and men of 1848 fleeing arrest and the amnestied IRB prisoners exiled by the British government, the Irish-American press capitalized, or put in quotes, the word “Exiles.” These men were in the hierarchy of the IRB or military leaders in the rising of 1867. Upon arrival in America, they resumed their quest for an independent Ireland. [27] The majority arrived in New York in January of 1871 on two ships chartered by the British. These Exiles are listed below, and where known, under the ships which brought them. In addition James J. O’Kelly, an IRB military man who was never imprisoned, was called an Exile when he came to America in 1871. Most of these men became members of the Clan-na-Gael.
Irish Exiles to America
The Cunard ship Cuba arrived January 19, 1871
Jeremiah O’Donovan Rossa, 20 years.
John McClure, 20 years.
Charles Underwood O’Connell, 4 years.
John Devoy, 11 years.
Harry Shaw Mulleda, 4 years.
The Cunard ship Russia arrived January 26, 1871
Thomas Francis Bourke, 20 years.
Edward Power, 11 years.
Edward (Pilsworth) St Clair, 6 years.
Patrick Lennon , 12 years.
William Francis Roantree, 5 years.
Patrick Walsh, 11 years.
Peter Maughan, 7 years.
Denis Dowling Mulcahy, 5 years.
George Browne, 6 years.
The Cunard ship Siberia to Boston February 20, 1871
William G. Halpine, 11 years
The Cunard ship Parthia to Boston February 26, 1871
Michael Sheehy, 16 years
William Mackey (Lomasney) 9 years
Ship Name Not Yet Found
Mortimer Shea (Moriarty), 6 years.
John McCafferty, released June 7, 1871, 20 years.Ricard O’Sullivan Burke, released in 1871 to custody of his brother returned to America in 1873;[28]
John O’Leary, first went to Belgium then to Paris then to America arriving July 19, 1871, 14 years;[29]
Thomas Clarke Luby, first went to Belgium and then came to
America in May of 1871, 14 years.
These exiled nationalist leaders naturally sought to live in one of the Irish-American diaspora communities. In familiar cultural surroundings they might hope to use their nationalist credentials to find employment and assume the role of leaders once again. In these communities they could use the knowledge of colonial immigrants and their descendants who came before them to learn to operate within the American social-political environment. Irish nationalists put this expertise to use during the 1860s and 1870s and embroiled the United States government into tacit collusion with their schemes to free Ireland of British rule.[30]
“By the 1850s, Irish-Americans began to engage in significant efforts to drive a wedge into the British-American alliance and to challenge Anglo-American hegemony,[31] an effort further emboldened by the sympathy that the textile-manufacturing British elite showed for the cotton growers of the secessionist South during the Civil War.”
– Yossi Shain in Marketing The American Creed Abroad.
From out of a rather large assortment of Irish nationalist clubs founded in New York and other large cities in the 1850s came two large physical-force Irish nationalist organizations. The most famous was the Fenian Brotherhood founded in 1858 which peaked in power in 1866 and attacked Canada three separate times in an attempt to embroil the US in a war with Britain. The other was the secretive, oath-bound Clan Na Gael founded in 1867 which rose to prominence after its biggest success, the rescue of the Fenian prisoners from Australia in 1876. The Clan-na-Gael suffered a major setback during a split into two factions in the mid 1880s when one group began carry out bombings in England during the so-called Dynamite War. Another negative publicity disaster occurred when Dr. Patrick Cronin was murdered in 1889 by a Clan-na-Gael Camp in Chicago who had falsely accused him of being a British spy nearly finished off the Clan-na-Gael. The Clan-na-Gael reunited again in 1900 and went on to provide major funding to Sinn Fein and the IRA during the 1916 Easter Rising.
[1] Pioneer Irish in New England by Michael J O’Brien, PJ Kennedy&Sons (New York 1937) p. 27
[2] Of these two books, Pioneer Irish in New England is the best coverage of Irish immigration from the founding of the Colonies. A Hidden Phase of American History is the best for genealogical research into pre-revolutionary Irish immigration.
[3] The American Historical Review, A book review of O’Brien’s A Hidden Phase of American History by J. F. Jameson: Vol. 26, No. 4 (Jul., 1921), pp. 797-799; The New York Irish, editors Meagher and Bayor, Johns Hopkins University Press, (Baltimore, 1997) p. xv.
[4] The seventeen year interval between “A Hidden Phase of American History” (1920) and “Pioneer Irish in New England” (1937) served O’Brien well. The latter book presents a much better case with significantly less personal diatribe against fellow historians.
[5] The Cromwellian Settlement of Ireland by John P. Prendergast, P.M. Haverty (New York 1868) Appendix VI, pp. 244-246, quoted by O’Brien in Pioneer Irish in New England on pp. 33-34. An Irish historian on his own mission, John Prendergast “…published worthy history and salvaged and edited documentary compilations that enabled future research…,” according to Nicholas Cranny (“Writing Early Modern History: Ireland, Britain, and the Wider World” by Nicholas Canny in Cambridge Historical Journal, 46, 3 (2003), pp. 723–747.
[6] It is important to note that in England men and women were collected and sold as indentured servants in America in a like manner to Prendergast’s description of Ireland above.
[7] Pioneer Irish in New England, by Michael J. O’Brien, P.J. Kennedy (New York, 1937), p. 32-48; O’Brien wrote this book to refute of claims made by historians of his era that only Englishmen came to the colonies in the 17th and 18th Centuries – it is a fascinating read as O’Brien traces what happened to the Goodfellow passengers and their descendants using colonial documents.
[8] Irish Immigrants in the Land of Cannan edited by Miller, Schrier, Boling & Doyle, Oxford University Press (New York, 2003) p. 8, the editors did not subscribe to the Irish rising thesis but do point out that the Irish were an important component of the revolution.
[9] Oxford History of the British Empire Volume I, by Nicholas Canny, Oxford Press (London, 1988) p.31.
[10] The New York Irish, Editors: Ronald Bayor and Timothy Meagher, John Hopkins Press (Baltimore, 1996) p.45.
[11] Modern Ireland 1600-1972, by Robert Foster, Penguin Books (US/UK, 1989), p.216; the term Scots-Irish did not exist at the time; the Scots-Irish were descendants of the Scottish migration into Ireland.
[12] Modern Ireland 1600-1972, Foster cites D N Doyle: Ireland, Irishmen and Revolutionary America 1760-1820 (Dublin, 1981) p. 73, Doyle estimated that ten years later in the census year of 1790 447,000 Irish and Irish descendants were in America with 300,000 of these being Ulster Scots-Irish stock.
[13] Pioneer Irish in New England, p.281.
[14] In A Defiant Stance by John Phillip Reid, Pennsylvania State Press, (University Park, 1977) p.44; Reid compares British law and its implementation in Massachusetts versus the same law and its implementation in Ireland. British moderation in the Colonies, Reid theorizes, resulted in almost no violent reprisals against loyalists during or after the Revolution.
[15] United Irishmen, United States by David A Wilson, Cornell University Press (Ithaca, 1998); this book is a study of Irish-American influence in American politics prior to 1845.
[16] Apparently the “Regular Toasts” are set up by the committee and pronounced by the master of ceremonies. The “Volunteer Toasts” seem to be proposed by anyone who wishes.
[17] Unlike the commons spelling John Mitchel was spelled with one ‘l’.
[18] This may be a reference to those who fought on the American side versus a battalion of Irishmen known as the St Patrick’s Battalion that fought for Mexico in 1848.
[19] Sounds Irish, but “unity of Kingdoms” sounds a lot like hoping for Home Rule instead of a Republic.
[20] This fellow seems like he wants to stick to St Patrick and forget the political stuff.
[21] Probable play on words: Auburn was the home of a large prison and Roscoe’s father was from there. Roscoe Conklin went on to the Senate as a Radical Republican.
[22] The interpretation of this remark depends on whether the man who stated it was Irish or American. “Maldoon” sounds Irish and if it is the remark is positive. If it was a Know-Nothing leaning man then it could be interpreted as a warning.
[23] This might be a reference to abolitionists.
[24] Diaspora nationalism: for reading on this concept see The Frontier of Loyalty by Yossi Shain, Wesleyan University Press (Hanover, NH, 1989).
[25] Return of the Names and Sentences of the Fenian Convicts not proposed to be released… a pamphlet compiled on March 19, 1869 and published by the House of Commons 6 April 1869. This list consisted of twenty-three persons “Convicted in Ireland,” nine Persons “Confined in Australia,” and sixteen persons “Convicted in England,” and presumably included all those released in the amnesty of 1870. All of those on the Cuba and the Russia were “Convicted in Ireland” except for Peter Maughan [listed as ‘Peter Mohan] and Harry Shaw Mulleda who are categorized as “Convicted in England.”
[26] The Phoenix Flame by Desmond Ryan, Arthur Barker Limited (London, 1937) page 207, although the time of exile is given in most accounts as “for the life of their terms,” Ryan indicates the prisoners had “conditions of their release” given by the British authorities for exile periods for lesser times than their sentences: Rossa and McClure, 20 years; Devoy, 4 years; and O’Connell, 5 years. In the case of John Devoy the 4 year exile time given by Ryan is not substantiated. In the Gaelic American, August 4, 1906, John Devoy wrote, that he was still liable to re-imprisonment if caught in Ireland before his full eleven years were up i.e., in 1882; Another document, Conditional Pardons granted to Persons convicted of Treason-Felony, and other Offences of Political Character, 1865-80, Session: 1881, House of Commons Papers; Paper Number: (208), Volume/page: LXXVI.381, CH Microfiche Number: 87.669-670, pp 1-8, confirms that Devoy’s Conditional Pardon was for 11 years of exile.
[27] Alicja Iwanska calls this group “core members” as quoted in The Frontier of Loyalty by Yossi Shain, Wesleyan University Press (Hanover, NH, 1989) p. 52; Shain wants to call them “political exiles” – it is this core group that are the igniters of diaspora nationalist activity. Shain’s work is relevant and highly recommended.
[28] O’Sullivan Burke: Fenian by Mary C Lynch and Seamus O’Donoghue, (Cork, 1999) pp208-219.
[29] A Study in Irish Separatism by Marcus Bourke, University of Georgia Press (Athens, 1967) p.130.
[30] It is true, of course, that a quid pro quo existed and that both the US Government and Irish nationalists manipulated each another; but, without a large community acting in seeming concert, Irish nationalists would not have been able to exert the kind of political leverage required to arm themselves for an attack on the Britain while claiming to be law-abiding United States citizens.
[31] As the nation began to assimilate immigrants from Europe and Ireland the cultural ties to England began to diminish in importance.