John Mitchel

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John Mitchel (Irish: Seán Uí Mistéil; b.November 3, 1815 – d. March 20, 1875) was an Irish nationalist activist, solicitor and political journalist. Born in Dungiven, County Londonderry, Ireland he became a leading Member of both Young Ireland and the Irish Confederation. He also became a public voice for the Southern American viewpoint in the United States in the 1850s and 1860s before ending up elected to the British House of Commons, only to be disqualified because he was a convicted felon. His Jail Journal ^[1] is one of Irish nationalism's most famous texts.

Contents 1 Family 2 Early life 3 Marriage and Family 4 Early Politics 5 The Nation 6 The United Irishman 7 Trial and Sentence 8 Deportation and the Jail Journal 9 The United States 10 Elected an MP 11 Miscellaneous 12 Quotes 13 Books By John Mitchel 14 Books By Young Irelanders (Irish Confederation) 15 Biographies 16 Additional reading 17 References

[edit] Family

John Mitchel’s father also John, was educated mainly at the University of Glasgow, he entered the ministry early as a Presbyterian clergyman. ^[2] William Dillon, Mitchel’s biographer tells that “about the year 1810, he was put in charge of the church at or near Dungiven, in the county of Derry.” It was here that he met and married a Miss Mary Haslett.^[2] In 1819, the Rev. Mitchel was called to Derry, were he remained for some four years, when he received the “call” from both Newry and Armagh. He accepted the call to Newry, and remained there, respected by all classes, until his death in 1840.^[2] After her husband’s death Miss Mitchel travelled a good deal. In 1853, when her son escaped from his exile in Van Diemen’s Land, and went to the United States, she, with her other son and two of her daughters, went there to receive him. She lived in America several years then recrossed the Atlantic, and went to live in London. Thence she removed to Newry, where she remained till her death, which occurred in 1865.^[2]

[edit] Early life

At the age of four, John Mitchel was sent to a classical school, run by an old minister named Moor, nicknamed “Gospel Moor” by the students. He read books from a very early age. ^[2] When a little over five years old, he was introduced into the Latin grammar by his teacher and made very quick progress for a child of his age.^[2]

When he was seven, the family had moved to Newry, where he attended a school run by Mr. McNeil. Mitchel did not get on with McNeil, who considered the topics that Mitchel was reading (Caesar) too advanced for him. ^[2] John was discouraged by this and began to pay less attention in class, where McNeil pronounced him stupid. He was taken out of the school, and sent to a classical school, kept by a Dr. Henderson. The encouragement and support of Dr. Henderson laid the foundations of his classical scholarship which was to play such a major part in his later life. ^[2] Mitchel also met his life-long friend, John Martin, at the school, who was to experience and share in much of his later career. In 1830 John was entered at Trinity College, Dublin. He was not then yet fifteen years old, and some friends thought it a mistake to send him to college so young. But his master, Dr. Henderson, was eager that he should go as soon as possible. ^[2]He took his degree in 1834, at the age of nineteen. Having obtained his degree, his preparation for the ministry began, his fathers wish being that he would join him in profession. John surprised them all, when he changed his mind, and would not become a minister.^[2] Mrs Mitchel’s brother, Mr. William Haslett, was at this time the director of a bank in Derry, and it was decided to send John there as a bank clerk. When this arrangement did not work out, law was ultimately selected, and towards the end of 1835 or the beginning of 1836, John Mitchel entered the office of a Newry solicitor, a Mr. John Quinn, who was a friend of his fathers. ^[2]

[edit] Marriage and Family

In the spring of 1836, that he first meet with Miss Jane Verner, the only daughter of Captain James Verner. Thought both families we opposed to the relationship, they became engaged in the autumn of the same year. They were then married on the 3rd of February 1837, by the Rev. David Babington, in the parish church of Drumcree. ^[2] Their first child, John was born on 24th January, 1838, and their second son, James, was born in February, 1840.

At this time Mitchel was a member of a literary society, and contributed essays from time to time. He also contributed a series of letters to the Times newspaper on Canadian politics, which were published. Also around this period, a project was started, to hold a public dinner for Daniel O’Connell, the leader of the Repeal Association. John Mitchel took an active part in the preparation, and though violence was anticipated, Newry then being a stronghold of the Orange Order, while creating much excitement, it went of peacefully. ^[3]

Around 1839, Mitchel suffered his first attack of asthma, which was to trouble him for the rest of his life. In 1840 Mitchel completed his apprenticeship, and was sworn in as an attorney. He then formed a partnership with a Mr Fraser, a successful attorney in Newry. They decided to expand the practice, and established an office in Banbridge, which Mitchel would take charge of. John Mitchel and his family were to spend the next five years living in Banbridge, and the domestic life was says his biographer William Dillon, both “peaceful and happy.” During this period two more of his children were born, Henrietta in the month of October, 1842, and William in the May of 1844. ^[3] Also during this period (1843), John Mitchel made the acquaintance of Thomas Davis. It was under Davis’s encouragement, that Mitchel wrote his first book, “Life of Hugh O’Neill.” ^[3]

[edit] Early Politics

According to his biographer William Dillon, Banbridge at this time was in an Orange constituency, and the Orangemen liked to “walk” to their assemblies, to commemorate important historical anniversaries. On their return homeward in the evenings some of them would often insist on walking through some Catholic neighbourhood, and stop at the doors of Catholic homes to play party tunes. This would lead to confrontation, and would often end in the wrecking of houses, beatings or even killings, on both sides.^[3] John Mitchel was often employed by the Catholics in the legal proceedings arising out of these affrays. He had ample opportunity then of observing how these cases were dealt with by a bench of magistrates, many of whom were Orangemen themselves. Dillon suggests that it was this experience which was to instil in him a “hatred of injustice,” and this at a time when he was taking a keen interest in politics.^[3]

[edit] The Nation

In 1845 he abandoned law to join the staff of the nationalist newspaper The Nation. Mitchel's radicalism was too extreme for the newspaper and led to the prosecution of the paper's editor, Charles Gavan Duffy, for seditious libel, of which the paper was cleared.^[4]

[edit] The United Irishman

In 1848 Mitchel set up his own newspaper, the United Irishman, where he called for resistance against British rule in Ireland, through the non-payment of rents, and preventing the export of food from the country and was the most vocal in highlighting how the British, in his opinion, deliberately exasperated and mismanaged the Irish Potato Famine to reduce the population (which the British Government considered to have a surplus) to more manageable levels. ^[5]

[edit] Trial and Sentence

Mitchel's calls led to a charge of sedition, but this charged was later dropped. He was convicted under a new law purposefully enacted of Treason Felony Act and sentenced to 14 years transportation.

[edit] Deportation and the Jail Journal

He was transported to the prison of Ireland Island, Bermuda, and then to the penal colony of Van Diemen's Land. It was during this journey he wrote his Jail Journal, in which he expressed his hatred of British policy in Ireland and advocated a more radical brand of nationalism.

[edit] The United States

Mitchel escaped from the colony in 1853 and settled in America where he edited the collections of the poetry of Mangan and Davis,^[6] He established the radical Irish nationalist newspaper The Citizen in New York, as an expression of radical Irish-American anti-British opinion.^{[citation needed]} The paper however became controversial for its defence of slavery by highlighting the hypocrisy of the abolitionists in the debate. Mitchel, a critic of international capitalism, which he blamed for both the pending Civil war and the Great Hunger.^{[citation needed]} Mitchel resigned from the paper and toured as a spokesman for the south, founding a new paper, the Southern Citizen as a spokesperson for the cause in the south, and was the first to point out that slavery and abolition were not the cause of the conflict but simply used as a pretence . He lost two of his sons to the war, with another badly wounded. Mitchel fell out with Jefferson Davis, who he regarded as too moderate. Mitchel ended up back in prison after the civil war for a short time, but was released with the assistance of the Fenians in 1865.

With the ending of the war and the victory for the Union side in the American Civil War, Mitchel returned his focus to the issue of Ireland. He founded his third American newspaper, the Irish Citizen but the paper failed to attract readers and folded in 1872. Mitchel worked for a time in Paris as financial agent for the Fenians before again returning to the States.

[edit] Elected an MP

Mitchel returned to Ireland where in 1875 he was elected in a by-election to be an MP in the British parliament representing the Tipperary constituency. However his election was invalidated on the grounds that he was a convicted felon. He contested the seat again in the resulting by-election, again being elected, this time with an increased vote. However his sudden death avoided a constitutional crisis, with his opponent being returned unopposed in the third by-election.

[edit] Miscellaneous

Mitchell County, Iowa, is named in his honor. A number of Gaelic Athletic Association Clubs Gaelic Athletic Association including Newry Mitchel's GFC in his home town are also named in his honor. A statue to Mitchel was also errected by the people of Newry, Co Down and is located at John Mitchel Place, an extension of Newry's main street, Hill Street.

Mitchel remains an important figure in Irish history for his involvement in radical nationalism, and in particular for writings such as 'Jail Journal, "The Last Conquest Of Ireland (Perhaps)," "The History of Ireland," "An Apology for the British Government in Ireland," and the less well known "The Life of Hugh O'Neill.

He was described by Charles Gavin Duffy as "a trumpet to awake the slothful to the call of duty; and the Irish people".^[7]

[edit] Quotes

"Anything Butt" - Mitchel's putdown of Isaac Butt in 1874.

[edit] Books By John Mitchel

• An Apology for the British Government in Ireland, John Mitchel, O Donoghue & Company. 1905
• Jail Journal, John Mitchel, M.H. Gill & Sons, LTD 1914
• Jail Journal: with continuation in New York & Paris, John Mitchel, M.H. Gill & Son, Ltd
• The Crusade of the Period, John Mitchel, Lynch, Cole & Meehan 1873
• Last Conquest Of Ireland (Perhaps), John Mitchel, Lynch, Cole & Meehan 1873
• History of Ireland, from the Treaty of Limerick to the Present Time, John Mitchel, Cameron & Ferguson
• History of Ireland, from the Treaty of Limerick to the Present Time (2 Vol),John Mitchel,James Duffy 1869
• Life of Hugh O'Neil John Mitchel P.M. Haverty 1868
• The Last Conquest of Ireland (Perhaps), John Mitchell, (Glasgow, 1876 - reprinted University College Dublin Press, 2005) ISBN I-905558-36-4

[edit] Books By Young Irelanders (Irish Confederation)

• The Felon's Track, By Micheal Doheny, M.H. Gill &Sons, LTD 1951 (Text at Project Gutenberg)
• The Volunteers of 1782,By Thomas Mac Nevin, James Duffy & Sons. Centenary Edition
• Thomas Davis, Sir Charles Gavan Duffy, Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co., Ltd 1890
• My Life In Two Hemispheres (2Vol), Sir Charles Gavan Duffy, T.Fisher Unwin. 1898
• Young Ireland, Sir Charles Gavan Duffy, Cassell, Petter, Galpin & Co. 1880
• Four Years of Irish History 1845-1849, Sir Charles Gavan Duffy, Cassell, Petter, Galpin & Co. 1888
• A Popular History of Ireland: from the Earliest Period to the Emancipation of the Catholics,Thomas D'Arcy McGee, Cameron & Ferguson (Text at Project Gutenberg)
• The Patriot Parliment of 1689, Thomas Davis, (Third Edition), T. Fisher Unwin, MDCCCXCIII
• Charles Gavan Duffy: Conversations With Carlyle (1892)

[edit] Biographies

• The life of John Mitchel,William Dillon, (London, 1888) 2 Vols.
• Life of John Mitchel, P. A. Sillard, James Duffy and Co., Ltd 1908
• John Mitchel, P. S. O'Hegarty, Maunsel & Company, Ltd 1917
• Irish Mitchel, Seamus MacCall, Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd 1938
• John Mitchel First Felon for Ireland, Edited By Brian O'Higgins, Brian O'Higgins 1947
• John Mitchel Noted Irish Lives, Louis J. Walsh, The Talbot Press Ltd 1934
• John Mitchel, A Cause Too Many, Aidan Hegarty, Camlane Press

[edit] Additional reading

• Life of John Martin, P. A. Sillard, James Duffy & Co., Ltd 1901.
• The Politics of Irish Literature: from Thomas Davis to W.B. Yeats, Malcolm Brown, Allen & Unwin, 1973.
• Thomas Davis, The Thinker and Teacher, Arthur Griffith, M.H. Gill & Son 1922.
• Brigadier-General Thomas Francis Meagher His Political and Military Career,Capt. W. F. Lyons, Burns Oates & Washbourne Limited 1869
• Young Ireland and 1848, Dennis Gwynn, Cork University Press 1949.
• Daniel O'Connell The Irish Liberator, Dennis Gwynn, Hutchinson & Co, Ltd.
• O'Connell Davis and the Collages Bill, Dennis Gwynn, Cork University Press 1948.
• Smith O’Brien And The “Secession”, Dennis Gwynn, Cork University Press
• Meagher of The Sword, Edited By Arthur Griffith, M. H. Gill & Son, Ltd. 1916.
• Young Irelander Abroad The Diary of Charles Hart, Edited by Brendan O'Cathaoir, University Press.
• Rossa's Recollections 1838 to 1898, Intro by Sean O'Luing, The Lyons Press 2004.
• Labour in Ireland, James Connolly, Fleet Street 1910.
• The Re-Conquest of Ireland, James Connolly, Fleet Street 1915.
• Thomas Davis: Essays and Poems, Centenary Memoir, M. H Gill, M.H. Gill & Son, Ltd MCMXLV.
• The Fenians in Context Irish Politics & Society 1848-82, R. V. Comerford, Wolfhound Press 1998
• William Smith O'Brien and the Young Ireland Rebellion of 1848, Robert Sloan, Four Courts Press 2000
• Ireland Her Own, T. A. Jackson, Lawrence & Wishart Ltd 1976.
• Life and Times of Daniel O'Connell, T. C. Luby, Cameron & Ferguson.
• Young Ireland, T. F. O'Sullivan, The Kerryman Ltd. 1945.
• Irish Rebel John Devoy and America's Fight for Irish Freedom, Terry Golway, St. Martin's Griffin 1998.
• Paddy's Lament Ireland 1846-1847 Prelude to Hatred, Thomas Gallagher, Poolbeg 1994.
• The Great Shame, Thomas Keneally, Anchor Books 1999.
• James Fintan Lalor, Thomas, P. O'Neill, Golden Publications 2003.
• Charles Gavan Duffy: Conversations With Carlyle (1892),with Introduction, Stray Thoughts On Young Ireland, by Brendan Clifford, Athol Books, Belfast, ISBN 0 85034 1140. (Pg. 32 Titled, Foster’s account Of Young Ireland.)
• Envoi, Taking Leave Of Roy Foster, by Brendan Clifford and Julianne Herlihy, Aubane Historical Society, Cork.
• The Falcon Family, or, Young Ireland, by M. W. Savage, London, 1845. (An Gorta Mor)Quinnipiac University
• James F. Donnelly Jr, 'The Great Famine: Its interpreters old and new', History Ireland 1, No.3. (Autumn 1993)
• Eugene Genovese, The World the Slaveholders Made (New York, 1969)
• W.J. McCormack (ed) The Blackwell Companion to Modern Irish Culture (Blackwell) ISBN 0-631-22817-9

[edit] References

1. ^ Jail Journal was first serialised in his first New York City newspaper, The Citizen, from 14 January 1854 to 19 August 1854
2. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l} William Dillon, The life of John Mitchel (London, 1888) 2 Vols.Ch I-II
3. ^ ^{a b c d e} William Dillon, The life of John Mitchel (London, 1888) 2 Vols.Ch III
4. ^ Young Ireland and 1848, Dennis Gwynn,Cork University Press,1949 Pg 57-58.
5. ^ William Dillon, The life of John Mitchel (London, 1888) 2 Vols p177.
6. ^ The Last Conquest of Ireland (Perhaps), 1860
7. ^ P.A. Sillard's The Life of John Mitchel Pg.ix introduction