New Departure (Ireland)
Encyclopedia
The term New Departure has been used to describe several initiatives in the late 19th century where Irish republicans
, who were committed to independence from Britain through use of physical force
, attempted to find a common ground for cooperation with groups committed to Irish Home Rule through constitutional means. The term refers to the fact that Fenians were to some extent departing from their orthodox doctrine of non-involvement with constitutional politics, especially the British parliament. It was coined by John Devoy
in an anonymous article in the New York Herald
on 27 October 1878 in which he laid out a framework for a new policy.
(hereafter IRB) member John O'Connor Power forged links with Mayo
MP George Henry Moore
in what has been described as an early 'New Departure'. However Moore died in April 1870 and O'Connor Power successfully shifted his efforts to win Fenian support for Isaac Butt
. Although O'Connor Power later claimed to have pioneered cooperation between revolutionary and constitutional activists, with Moore to have been the leader, his effective switch from the revolutionary to the constitutional camp makes his actual motives problematic.
Michael MacDonagh writes in "The Home Rule Movement":
The strategy was a course of parallel action, the revolutionary and constitutional wings to run in tandem.
's efforts led to what T. W. Moody has described as the first 'New Departure', when Fenians supported the forming of the Home Rule League
in November 1873. The IRB's attitude was that while it waited for the right moment for war with England, it would support movements that could advance the cause of Irish independence "consistently with the preservation of its own integrity". The IRB became disillusioned with the lack of results achieved by Home Rulers and on 20 August 1876 dissolved the partnership and gave its members six months to withdraw from active cooperation with the Home Rule movement. The IRB supreme council enforced its resolution in March 1877 and John Barry and Patrick Egan
resigned from the council. John O'Connor Power
and Joseph Biggar
refused to resign and were expelled.
member John O'Leary
and Supreme Council secretary John O'Connor
met secretly in London with MPs Charles Stewart Parnell
, Frank Hugh O'Donnell
, William Henry O'Sullivan and eventual MP James Joseph O'Kelly
. The meeting was "sought" by Parnell (according to Ranelagh ) or by William Carroll of Clan na Gael
(according to Moody) to consider cooperation between the IRB and Parnell. O'Leary stated his perhaps self-contradictory doctrine to them as follows:
Parnell apparently merely listened and did not commit himself.
In late 1878 Michael Davitt
of the IRB made a fund-raising political lecture tour of the United States
, promoted by William Carroll and John Devoy
of Clan na Gael
. On October 13 in Brooklyn
, New York Davitt first presented, in a lecture titled "Ireland in parliament from a nationalist's point of view", a doctrine that Irish republicans could not prevent Irishmen voting or being elected to the British parliament, but they could influence who was sent to that parliament. He stated that the Home Rule League
, especially Isaac Butt
and John O'Connor Power
were failing to prevent Ireland from being 'imperialised' or 'West Britainised'. Davitt however believed that Charles Stewart Parnell
and Joseph Biggar
were acceptable Irish MPs, and Irish republicans should ensure that more such strong nationalists were voted in. John Devoy followed and pointed out that if Irish republicans were to gain the support of Britain's potential enemies, such as Russia
, they needed to provide far stronger opposition to Britain both inside and outside parliament. He pointed out that Russia had not yet seen the Irish as providing any such meaningful opposition - in fact to Russia they appeared loyal to Britain. Hence it was necessary to replace representatives in all Irish public bodies with suitable committed nationalists. Both Davitt and Devoy at this meeting stressed that resolution of the Irish land question by transfer of ownership to the farmers themselves was integral to Irish demands on Britain.
On 27 October 1878 Devoy, without first consulting Davitt, summarised these ideas in what he termed a 'new departure' in the New York Herald
, and it was reported in Ireland on 11 November. He also stated that Irish participation in the British parliament was to be temporary, and that at a suitable time Irish nationalist MPs would withdraw to Dublin and form an independent Irish legislature. Davitt was at first worried that perceived connections to the Fenians would threaten Parnell in parliament, but Devoy convinced him that Parnell would not be affected. IRB leaders John O'Leary
and Charles Kickham
rejected the overture to constitutionalists and Parnell gave no comment. He did however adopt the militant rhetoric of land ownership to be transferred to the Irish farmers themselves in various public speeches in Ireland. Hence the stage was set for the successful collaboration in 1879 over the Land War
.
of the American Clan na Gael
on his visit to Paris
and Ireland in 1879. The visit was sanctioned by Clan na Gael to discuss planning for a revolutionary war against Britain, and hence the "new departure" discussions can be considered Devoy's personal initiative and separate from his official mission. While the IRB
leadership refused to officially support his call to cooperate with Parnell and his radical wing of the Home Rule League
, the IRB's Michael Davitt
supported it as a personal initiative. The high personal standing of both Davitt and Devoy with local Fenians allowed them to build a highly successful, albeit short-lived, "unofficial" partnership between moderate Fenians and Parnell's radical Home Rulers, agreed verbally in Dublin on 1 June 1879.
This led to the escalation of the Land War
(a national protest against landlords), creation of the Irish National Land League
and a crisis for the British Government.
The following disparate groups cooperated in the common cause of small tenant farmers :-
Irish Republicanism
Irish republicanism is an ideology based on the belief that all of Ireland should be an independent republic.In 1801, under the Act of Union, the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland merged to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland...
, who were committed to independence from Britain through use of physical force
Physical force Irish republicanism
Physical force Irish republicanism, is a term used to describe the recurring appearance of non-parliamentary violent insurrection in Ireland between 1798 and the present...
, attempted to find a common ground for cooperation with groups committed to Irish Home Rule through constitutional means. The term refers to the fact that Fenians were to some extent departing from their orthodox doctrine of non-involvement with constitutional politics, especially the British parliament. It was coined by John Devoy
John Devoy
John Devoy was an Irish rebel leader and exile.-Early life:Devoy was born near Kill, County Kildare. In 1861 he travelled to France with an introduction from T. D. Sullivan to John Mitchel...
in an anonymous article in the New York Herald
New York Herald
The New York Herald was a large distribution newspaper based in New York City that existed between May 6, 1835, and 1924.-History:The first issue of the paper was published by James Gordon Bennett, Sr., on May 6, 1835. By 1845 it was the most popular and profitable daily newspaper in the UnitedStates...
on 27 October 1878 in which he laid out a framework for a new policy.
1868-1869
In 1868-69, Irish Republican BrotherhoodIrish Republican Brotherhood
The Irish Republican Brotherhood was a secret oath-bound fraternal organisation dedicated to the establishment of an "independent democratic republic" in Ireland during the second half of the 19th century and the start of the 20th century...
(hereafter IRB) member John O'Connor Power forged links with Mayo
Mayo (UK Parliament constituency)
Mayo was a parliamentary constituency in Ireland, which returned two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1885.-History :...
MP George Henry Moore
George Henry Moore
George Henry Moore was an Irish politician who served as Member of Parliament for Mayo in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. He was one of the founders of the Catholic Defence Association and a leader of the Independent Irish Party. He was also father of the writer George A. Moore and the...
in what has been described as an early 'New Departure'. However Moore died in April 1870 and O'Connor Power successfully shifted his efforts to win Fenian support for Isaac Butt
Isaac Butt
Isaac Butt Q.C. M.P. was an Irish barrister, politician, Member of Parliament , and the founder and first leader of a number of Irish nationalist parties and organisations, including the Irish Metropolitan Conservative Society in 1836, the Home Government Association in 1870 and in 1873 the Home...
. Although O'Connor Power later claimed to have pioneered cooperation between revolutionary and constitutional activists, with Moore to have been the leader, his effective switch from the revolutionary to the constitutional camp makes his actual motives problematic.
Michael MacDonagh writes in "The Home Rule Movement":
"He [John O'Connor Power] more than any other man, had induced the Fenians to give the Home Rule movement a chance. It was he who originated the idea of a nationalist movement with two wings, the one carrying out extreme action in Parliament, and the second pursuing revolutionary methods in Ireland, each acting independently of the other in its separate field, but both working towards one common end - the realisation of the completest measure of self-government that was possible, as circumstances changed from time to time."
The strategy was a course of parallel action, the revolutionary and constitutional wings to run in tandem.
1873-1876
O'Connor Power and Patrick EganPatrick Egan (land reformer and diplomat)
Patrick Egan was an Irish and American political leader.Egan was born in Ballymahon, Co. Longford, Ireland. His family later moved to Dublin and at the age of fourteen he entered the office of an extensive grain and milling firm, the North City Milling Company, in Dublin, and before he was twenty...
's efforts led to what T. W. Moody has described as the first 'New Departure', when Fenians supported the forming of the Home Rule League
Home Rule League
The Home Rule League, sometimes called the Home Rule Party, was a political party which campaigned for home rule for the country of Ireland from 1873 to 1882, when it was replaced by the Irish Parliamentary Party.-Origins:...
in November 1873. The IRB's attitude was that while it waited for the right moment for war with England, it would support movements that could advance the cause of Irish independence "consistently with the preservation of its own integrity". The IRB became disillusioned with the lack of results achieved by Home Rulers and on 20 August 1876 dissolved the partnership and gave its members six months to withdraw from active cooperation with the Home Rule movement. The IRB supreme council enforced its resolution in March 1877 and John Barry and Patrick Egan
Patrick Egan (land reformer and diplomat)
Patrick Egan was an Irish and American political leader.Egan was born in Ballymahon, Co. Longford, Ireland. His family later moved to Dublin and at the age of fourteen he entered the office of an extensive grain and milling firm, the North City Milling Company, in Dublin, and before he was twenty...
resigned from the council. John O'Connor Power
John O'Connor Power
John O'Connor Power was an Irish Fenian and a Home Rule League and Irish Parliamentary Party politician and as MP in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland represented Mayo from June 1874 to 1885...
and Joseph Biggar
Joseph Biggar
Joseph Gillis Biggar , commonly known as Joe Biggar or J. G. Biggar, was an Irish nationalist politician from Belfast...
refused to resign and were expelled.
1878
Revolutionary and constitutional nationalists remained in contact. In March 1878 the exiled senior IRBIrish Republican Brotherhood
The Irish Republican Brotherhood was a secret oath-bound fraternal organisation dedicated to the establishment of an "independent democratic republic" in Ireland during the second half of the 19th century and the start of the 20th century...
member John O'Leary
John O'Leary (poet)
John O'Leary was an Irish separatist and a leading Fenian. He studied both law and medicine but did not take a degree and for his involvement in the Irish Republican Brotherhood he was imprisoned in England during the nineteenth century.-Early life:Born in the town of Tipperary, County Tipperary,...
and Supreme Council secretary John O'Connor
John O'Connor (MP, KC)
John O'Connor was an Irish nationalist revolutionary-turned Parnellite parliamentarian MP in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and as member of the Irish Parliamentary Party represented Tipperary in 1885, and South Tipperary from 1885 to 1892, and North...
met secretly in London with MPs Charles Stewart Parnell
Charles Stewart Parnell
Charles Stewart Parnell was an Irish landowner, nationalist political leader, land reform agitator, and the founder and leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party...
, Frank Hugh O'Donnell
Frank Hugh O'Donnell
Frank Hugh O'Donnell , born Francis Hugh MacDonald was an Irish writer, journalist and nationalist politician.-Early life:...
, William Henry O'Sullivan and eventual MP James Joseph O'Kelly
James Joseph O'Kelly
James Joseph O'Kelly was an Irish nationalist journalist, politician and Member of Parliament in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and as member of the Irish Parliamentary Party represented the Roscommon constituency between 1880 and 1916.-Background:His...
. The meeting was "sought" by Parnell (according to Ranelagh ) or by William Carroll of Clan na Gael
Clan na Gael
The Clan na Gael was an Irish republican organization in the United States in the late 19th and 20th centuries, successor to the Fenian Brotherhood and a sister organization to the Irish Republican Brotherhood...
(according to Moody) to consider cooperation between the IRB and Parnell. O'Leary stated his perhaps self-contradictory doctrine to them as follows:
"Nine out of ten Irishmen entering the British Parliament with honest intentions are corrupted soon ... when once they get drawn into the whirlpool of British corruption in Dublin, with the West British society, the jobbery, the servility, very soon all the manliness goes out of them. If Irishmen are to save their honour, they must keep aloof from everything English... I am not saying that good members would not be better than bad ones, if they could keep right. George Henry MooreGeorge Henry MooreGeorge Henry Moore was an Irish politician who served as Member of Parliament for Mayo in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. He was one of the founders of the Catholic Defence Association and a leader of the Independent Irish Party. He was also father of the writer George A. Moore and the...
meant well".
Parnell apparently merely listened and did not commit himself.
In late 1878 Michael Davitt
Michael Davitt
Michael Davitt was an Irish republican and nationalist agrarian agitator, a social campaigner, labour leader, journalist, Home Rule constitutional politician and Member of Parliament , who founded the Irish National Land League.- Early years :Michael Davitt was born in Straide, County Mayo,...
of the IRB made a fund-raising political lecture tour of the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, promoted by William Carroll and John Devoy
John Devoy
John Devoy was an Irish rebel leader and exile.-Early life:Devoy was born near Kill, County Kildare. In 1861 he travelled to France with an introduction from T. D. Sullivan to John Mitchel...
of Clan na Gael
Clan na Gael
The Clan na Gael was an Irish republican organization in the United States in the late 19th and 20th centuries, successor to the Fenian Brotherhood and a sister organization to the Irish Republican Brotherhood...
. On October 13 in Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
, New York Davitt first presented, in a lecture titled "Ireland in parliament from a nationalist's point of view", a doctrine that Irish republicans could not prevent Irishmen voting or being elected to the British parliament, but they could influence who was sent to that parliament. He stated that the Home Rule League
Home Rule League
The Home Rule League, sometimes called the Home Rule Party, was a political party which campaigned for home rule for the country of Ireland from 1873 to 1882, when it was replaced by the Irish Parliamentary Party.-Origins:...
, especially Isaac Butt
Isaac Butt
Isaac Butt Q.C. M.P. was an Irish barrister, politician, Member of Parliament , and the founder and first leader of a number of Irish nationalist parties and organisations, including the Irish Metropolitan Conservative Society in 1836, the Home Government Association in 1870 and in 1873 the Home...
and John O'Connor Power
John O'Connor Power
John O'Connor Power was an Irish Fenian and a Home Rule League and Irish Parliamentary Party politician and as MP in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland represented Mayo from June 1874 to 1885...
were failing to prevent Ireland from being 'imperialised' or 'West Britainised'. Davitt however believed that Charles Stewart Parnell
Charles Stewart Parnell
Charles Stewart Parnell was an Irish landowner, nationalist political leader, land reform agitator, and the founder and leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party...
and Joseph Biggar
Joseph Biggar
Joseph Gillis Biggar , commonly known as Joe Biggar or J. G. Biggar, was an Irish nationalist politician from Belfast...
were acceptable Irish MPs, and Irish republicans should ensure that more such strong nationalists were voted in. John Devoy followed and pointed out that if Irish republicans were to gain the support of Britain's potential enemies, such as Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, they needed to provide far stronger opposition to Britain both inside and outside parliament. He pointed out that Russia had not yet seen the Irish as providing any such meaningful opposition - in fact to Russia they appeared loyal to Britain. Hence it was necessary to replace representatives in all Irish public bodies with suitable committed nationalists. Both Davitt and Devoy at this meeting stressed that resolution of the Irish land question by transfer of ownership to the farmers themselves was integral to Irish demands on Britain.
On 27 October 1878 Devoy, without first consulting Davitt, summarised these ideas in what he termed a 'new departure' in the New York Herald
New York Herald
The New York Herald was a large distribution newspaper based in New York City that existed between May 6, 1835, and 1924.-History:The first issue of the paper was published by James Gordon Bennett, Sr., on May 6, 1835. By 1845 it was the most popular and profitable daily newspaper in the UnitedStates...
, and it was reported in Ireland on 11 November. He also stated that Irish participation in the British parliament was to be temporary, and that at a suitable time Irish nationalist MPs would withdraw to Dublin and form an independent Irish legislature. Davitt was at first worried that perceived connections to the Fenians would threaten Parnell in parliament, but Devoy convinced him that Parnell would not be affected. IRB leaders John O'Leary
John O'Leary (poet)
John O'Leary was an Irish separatist and a leading Fenian. He studied both law and medicine but did not take a degree and for his involvement in the Irish Republican Brotherhood he was imprisoned in England during the nineteenth century.-Early life:Born in the town of Tipperary, County Tipperary,...
and Charles Kickham
Charles Kickham
Charles Joseph Kickham was an Irish revolutionary, novelist, poet, journalist and one of the most prominent members of the Irish Republican Brotherhood.-Early life:...
rejected the overture to constitutionalists and Parnell gave no comment. He did however adopt the militant rhetoric of land ownership to be transferred to the Irish farmers themselves in various public speeches in Ireland. Hence the stage was set for the successful collaboration in 1879 over the Land War
Land War
The Land War in Irish history was a period of agrarian agitation in rural Ireland in the 1870s, 1880s and 1890s. The agitation was led by the Irish National Land League and was dedicated to bettering the position of tenant farmers and ultimately to a redistribution of land to tenants from...
.
1879
A "New Departure" initiative was forged by John DevoyJohn Devoy
John Devoy was an Irish rebel leader and exile.-Early life:Devoy was born near Kill, County Kildare. In 1861 he travelled to France with an introduction from T. D. Sullivan to John Mitchel...
of the American Clan na Gael
Clan na Gael
The Clan na Gael was an Irish republican organization in the United States in the late 19th and 20th centuries, successor to the Fenian Brotherhood and a sister organization to the Irish Republican Brotherhood...
on his visit to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
and Ireland in 1879. The visit was sanctioned by Clan na Gael to discuss planning for a revolutionary war against Britain, and hence the "new departure" discussions can be considered Devoy's personal initiative and separate from his official mission. While the IRB
Irish Republican Brotherhood
The Irish Republican Brotherhood was a secret oath-bound fraternal organisation dedicated to the establishment of an "independent democratic republic" in Ireland during the second half of the 19th century and the start of the 20th century...
leadership refused to officially support his call to cooperate with Parnell and his radical wing of the Home Rule League
Home Rule League
The Home Rule League, sometimes called the Home Rule Party, was a political party which campaigned for home rule for the country of Ireland from 1873 to 1882, when it was replaced by the Irish Parliamentary Party.-Origins:...
, the IRB's Michael Davitt
Michael Davitt
Michael Davitt was an Irish republican and nationalist agrarian agitator, a social campaigner, labour leader, journalist, Home Rule constitutional politician and Member of Parliament , who founded the Irish National Land League.- Early years :Michael Davitt was born in Straide, County Mayo,...
supported it as a personal initiative. The high personal standing of both Davitt and Devoy with local Fenians allowed them to build a highly successful, albeit short-lived, "unofficial" partnership between moderate Fenians and Parnell's radical Home Rulers, agreed verbally in Dublin on 1 June 1879.
This led to the escalation of the Land War
Land War
The Land War in Irish history was a period of agrarian agitation in rural Ireland in the 1870s, 1880s and 1890s. The agitation was led by the Irish National Land League and was dedicated to bettering the position of tenant farmers and ultimately to a redistribution of land to tenants from...
(a national protest against landlords), creation of the Irish National Land League
Irish National Land League
The Irish Land League was an Irish political organization of the late 19th century which sought to help poor tenant farmers. Its primary aim was to abolish landlordism in Ireland and enable tenant farmers to own the land they worked on...
and a crisis for the British Government.
The following disparate groups cooperated in the common cause of small tenant farmers :-
- Revolutionary nationalists such as Matt Harris and Thomas BrennanThomas Brennan (Irish Land League)Thomas Brennan , born in Beauparc, County Meath, was a founder and joint first secretary of the Irish National Land League....
; - Conservative nationalists such as James DalyJames Daly (Irish Land League)"James Daly, a forgotten founder of the irish land league"James Daly was an Irish nationalist activist best known for his work in support of tenant farmers' rights and the formation of the Irish National Land League.-Beginnings:Daly was a conservative Catholic from a...
; - Catholic leaders such as the influential Archbishop of Cashel and Emly, Thomas CrokeThomas CrokeThomas William Croke D.D. was the second Catholic Bishop of Auckland, New Zealand and later Archbishop of Cashel and Emly in Ireland...
(who is quoted as telling Devoy "that he had no objection to physical force in principle, but strongly opposed it because it had no chance of success" and that he had "more respect for the Fenians than for any [other] men in Ireland" ) and TuamTuamTuam is a town in County Galway, Ireland. The name is pronounced choo-um . It is situated west of the midlands of Ireland, and north of Galway city.-History:...
's Catholic clergy (with the notable exception of Archbishop John MacHaleJohn MacHaleJohn MacHale was the Irish Roman Catholic Archbishop of Tuam, and Irish Nationalist.He laboured and wrote to secure Catholic Emancipation, legislative independence, justice for tenants and the poor, and vigorously assailed the proselytizers and the anti-Catholic anti-national system of public...
); - Constitutionalists such as ParnellCharles Stewart ParnellCharles Stewart Parnell was an Irish landowner, nationalist political leader, land reform agitator, and the founder and leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party...
and Joseph BiggarJoseph BiggarJoseph Gillis Biggar , commonly known as Joe Biggar or J. G. Biggar, was an Irish nationalist politician from Belfast...
; - Pragmatic Fenians as epitomised by Davitt.
Sources
- Home Rule. An Irish History 1800-2000, Alvin Jackson, London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2003, ISBN 13 9780195220483.
- That Irishman: The Life and Times of John O'Connor Power, Jane Stanford, The History Press Ireland, 2011, ISBN 9781845886981.
- Davitt and Irish Revolution 1846-82, T. W. Moody, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1981, ISBN 13 9780198200697
- The Revolution in Ireland, 1879-1923, ed. D. G. Boyce, London: Macmillan, 1988, ISBN 0333403894
- "The Home Rule Movement", Michael MacDonagh, Fisher Unwin, Dublin and London, 1920.
- "The Life of Charles Stewart Parnell, 1846-1891", R. Barry O'Brien, London and New York, 1910.