Irish Statesman
Encyclopedia
The Irish Statesman was a weekly journal promoting the views of the Irish Dominion League
. It ran from 27 June 1919 to June 1920, edited by Warre B. Wells and with contributions from W. B. Yeats, George Bernard Shaw
, and George William Russell
. The League's manifesto was first published in the journal's first issue.
The title was revived in 1922, after the League was defunct, and it was merged with the Irish Homestead
. George Russell was appointed editor, and he was supplied with a good staff and contributors.
In 1927 Maighréad Ni Annagáin and Seamus Clandillon, authors of a song collection called Londubh an Chairn, sued the Irish Statesman Publishing Company Ltd. and a reviewer, for libel. They claimed that the defendants published an article, in the course of which it was stated that in the collection, which consisted of seventy-five airs, there was no note stating the source of airs or words. They also claimed that there were allegations of slovenliness and ignorance on the part of the authors, and that they had taken up a disproportionate amount of space broadcasting their own merits and platform successes. They sought £2,000.
The new series ran until 1930. It ceased publishing due to financial difficulties, incurred as the result of a libel case brought against it a few years previously.
The Irish Times wrote, on the demise of the Irish Statesman: "Russell, and the Statesman, was often accused by the more bigoted and ultramontane sections of the population of being pagan and anti-Irish, but what they really meant was that he stood for intellectual liberty at a time when almost everyone else was clamouring for some restrictions everywhere."
Irish Dominion League
The Irish Dominion League was an Irish political party in 1919–21 which advocated Dominion status for Ireland within the British Empire, and opposed partition of Ireland into separate southern and northern jurisdictions...
. It ran from 27 June 1919 to June 1920, edited by Warre B. Wells and with contributions from W. B. Yeats, George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60...
, and George William Russell
George William Russell
George William Russell who wrote under the pseudonym Æ , was an Irish nationalist, writer, editor, critic, poet, and painter. He was also a mystical writer, and centre of a group of followers of theosophy in Dublin, for many years.-Organisor:Russell was born in Lurgan, County Armagh...
. The League's manifesto was first published in the journal's first issue.
The title was revived in 1922, after the League was defunct, and it was merged with the Irish Homestead
Irish Homestead
The Irish Homestead was the weekly publication of the Irish Agricultural Organisation Society . It was founded in 1895 by Horace Plunkett....
. George Russell was appointed editor, and he was supplied with a good staff and contributors.
In 1927 Maighréad Ni Annagáin and Seamus Clandillon, authors of a song collection called Londubh an Chairn, sued the Irish Statesman Publishing Company Ltd. and a reviewer, for libel. They claimed that the defendants published an article, in the course of which it was stated that in the collection, which consisted of seventy-five airs, there was no note stating the source of airs or words. They also claimed that there were allegations of slovenliness and ignorance on the part of the authors, and that they had taken up a disproportionate amount of space broadcasting their own merits and platform successes. They sought £2,000.
The new series ran until 1930. It ceased publishing due to financial difficulties, incurred as the result of a libel case brought against it a few years previously.
The Irish Times wrote, on the demise of the Irish Statesman: "Russell, and the Statesman, was often accused by the more bigoted and ultramontane sections of the population of being pagan and anti-Irish, but what they really meant was that he stood for intellectual liberty at a time when almost everyone else was clamouring for some restrictions everywhere."
Sources
- Barbara Hayley and Enda McKay (ed.), Three Hundred Years of Irish Periodicals, Dublin : Lilliput Press, 1987