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‘A moral insurrection’: faction fighters, public demonstrations and the O’Connellite campaign, 1828

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2016

Gary Owens
Gary Owens*
Affiliation:
Department of History, Huron College, University of Western Ontario
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Extract

During a twelve-week period in the late summer of 1828 upwards of a quarter of a million people participated in at least sixty mass demonstrations in the south-west of Ireland. Appearing to erupt spontaneously in response to Daniel O’Connell’s historic victory in the County Clare election in early July, these gatherings grew in size and complexity over the succeeding weeks; by late September jubilant but well-ordered assemblies of twenty and thirty thousand people — many marching in identical green uniforms and with military precision behind bands and colourful banners — were taking place simultaneously in several County Tipperary towns to support O’Connell’s crusade for Catholic emancipation.

Political demonstrations on this scale were virtually unprecedented outside the province of Ulster. While processions and large rallies had sometimes been used to honour important politicians during parliamentary elections, and while they had long been part of civic, military and religious pageantry, they had never before been staged in such a co-ordinated and prolonged fashion. What made these spectacles particularly remarkable, however, was that their participants were mainly drawn from the very lowest ranks of rural society and represented groups which had hitherto been excluded from the political process. The novelty of such people marching so often with uniforms and other military regalia caused widespread bewilderment and alarm. Journalists and magistrates liberally sprinkled their descriptions of the meetings with phrases such as ‘novel’, ‘portentous’, ‘unprecedented’, ‘frightful’, and ‘the strangest scene ever witnessed’. One of them observed that had such displays taken place even a few years earlier, they ‘would not only have been deemed factious but treasonable’. As the meetings swelled, many observers thought them to be the harbingers of a mass uprising.

Type
Research Article
Information
Irish Historical Studies , Volume 30 , Issue 120 , November 1997 , pp. 513 - 541
Copyright
Copyright © Irish Historical Studies Publications Ltd 1997

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References

1 Clonmel Advertiser, 17 Sept. 1828.

2 The Times, 29 Sept. 1828.

3 The three most recent studies of the Catholic emancipation movement do not treat the meetings in extensive detail: O’Ferrall, Fergus, Catholic emancipation: Daniel O’Connell and the birth of Irish democracy (Dublin, 1985)Google Scholar; Jenkins, Brian, The era of emancipation: British government of Ireland, 1812–1830 (Kingston & Montreal, 1988)Google Scholar; Hinde, Wendy, Catholic emancipation: a shake to men’s minds (Oxford, 1992)Google Scholar. Oliver MacDonagh’s monumental biography of O’Connell, , The hereditary bondsman: Daniel O’Connell, 1775–1829 (London, 1988)Google Scholar does not mention the gatherings.

4 Owens, Gary, ‘Constructing the repeal spectacle: monster meetings and people power in pre-Famine Ireland’ in O’Connell, Maurice R. (ed.), People power: proceedings of the third annual Daniel O’Connell workshop (Dublin, 1993), pp 80–93 Google Scholar; idem, ‘Nationalism without words: symbolism and ritual behaviour in the repeal “monster meetings” of 1843–5’ in J. S. Donnelly, jr, and Kerby Miller (eds), Irish popular culture, 1650–1850 (Dublin, 1998). For a stimulating analysis of the forms of popular political action in the British Isles, including mass gatherings, see Tilly, Charles, Popular contention in Great Britain, 1758–1834 (Cambridge, Mass., 1995).Google Scholar

5 However, McGrath, Thomas G. provides a good analysis of the demonstrations in one county in his ‘Interdenominational relations in pre-Famine Tipperary’ in Nolan, William and McGrath, Thomas G. (eds), Tipperary: history and society (Dublin, 1985), pp 256–87 Google Scholar. For a descriptive account of the demonstrations in Tipperary see Murphy, Donal A., ‘Emancipation and the Tipperary marches, 1828’ in Nenagh Guardian, 24 Mar.-30 June 1990 (9 pts)Google Scholar.

6 Dublin Evening Post, 12 July, 5 Aug. 1828 (henceforth D.E.P.).

7 Limerick Evening Post and Clare Sentinel, 11 July 1828 (henceforth L.E.P.IC.S.), reprint of a report in Cork Southern Reporter.

8 T. P. Vokes to Francis Leveson-Gower, 4 Sept. 1828 (N.A.I., Chief Secretary’s Office, Registered Papers, 1828, V-10 (henceforth C.S.O., R.P.)); George Drought to William Gregory, 8 Sept. 1828 (ibid., D-28); Maj. Samson Carter to William Gregory, 12 July 1828 (ibid., C-32).

9 Abstract of reports of outrages, Aug. 1828 (P.R.O., HO 100/222/312); deposition of Constable Patrick Carroll, 27 Aug. 1828 (N.A.I., C.S.O., R.P. 1828.T-24); Tipperary Free Press, 3 Sept. 1828 (henceforth T.F.P.); Freeman‘s Journal, 4, 6 Sept. 1828 (henceforth El); Waterford Mirror, 6 Sept. 1828.

10 Of 38 meetings known to have taken place in August and September, 24 occurred in County Tipperary.

11 Report of Richard Lalor Sheil to the Catholic Association (D.E. P., 2 Sept. 1828).

12 The Times, 29 Aug. 1828. The reporter mistakenly transposed the names Borrisoleigh and Thurles. See also Richard Lalor Sheil’s report to the Catholic Association of his experiences at the Borrisoleigh meeting (D.E.P., 2 Sept. 1828).

13 T.F.P., 3 Sept. 1828; F.J. 4 Sept. 1828; Waterford Mir ror, 6 Sept. 1828.

14 Long to Leveson-Gower, 29 Aug. 1828 (N.A.I., C.S.O., R.P. 1828, L-16).

15 The Times, 27 Sept., 7 Oct. 1828.

16 See especially Maj. A. Lane to the earl of Wiltshire, 25 Sept. 1828 (N.A.I., State of the Country papers, 2883/21 (henceforth S.O.C.)); deposition of G. Fitzgerald, 27 Sept. 1828 (N.A.I., C.S.O., R.P. 1828, F-16); Clonmel Advertiser, 24 Sept. 1828.

17 Ludwig, Hermann, Fürst von Pückler-Muskau, Tour in England, Ireland and France in the years 1828 & 1829 (London, 1832), ii, 8 Google Scholar.

18 Lord Lismore to Lt-Col. Gosset, 29 Sept. 1828 (B.L., Add. MS 40336, f. 7).

19 Anglesey to Peel, 18, 20 Sept. 1828 (B.L., Add. MS 40326, ff 36–43, 107).

20 Correspondence between government officials about the demonstrations and the steps they took to deal with them can be found in B.L., Add. MSS 40326 and 40335. See also Palmer, Stanley H., Police and protest in England and Ireland, 1780–1850 (Cambridge, 1988), pp 275–6 Google Scholar.

21 See, for example, MacDonagh, Michael, Daniel O’Connell and the story of Catholic emancipation (Dublin & Cork, 1929), p. 172 Google Scholar; Reynolds, James A., The Catholic emancipation crisis in Ireland, 1823–1829 (New Haven & London, 1954), pp 149-50Google Scholar; Broeker, Galen, Rural disorder and police reform in Ireland, 1812–36 (London & Toronto, 1970), pp 181-4Google Scholar; O’Ferrall, Catholic emancipation, pp 227–8.

22 Connolly, S.J., ‘Mass politics and sectarian conflict, 1823–30’ in Vaughan, W. E. (ed.), A new history of Ireland, v: Ireland under the union, I:1801-70 (Oxford, 1990), p. 104 Google Scholar; Hinde, Catholic emancipation, p. 100.

23 O’Ferrall, Catholic emancipation, p. 67; Whelan, Kevin, ‘The regional impact of Irish Catholicism, 1700–1850’ in Smyth, William J. and Whelan, Kevin (eds), The common ground: essays on the historical geography of Ireland (Cork, 1988), pp 264–6 Google Scholar.

24 On the prevalence of factions in this region and their activities see Roberts, Paul E. W, ‘Caravats and Shanavests: Whiteboyism and faction fighting in east Munster, 1802–11’ in Clark, Samuel and Donnelly, James S. jr, (eds), Irish peasants: violence and political unrest, 1780–1914 (Manchester, 1983), pp 64–101 Google Scholar; Donnelly, James S jr, ‘Factions in pre-Famine Ireland’ in Eyler, Audrey S. and Garratt, Robert F. (eds), The uses of the past: essays on Irish culture (Newark & London, 1988), pp 113-27Google Scholar; O’Donnell, Patrick, The Irish faction fighters of the 19th century (Dublin, 1975)Google Scholar, passim; O’Connor, Patrick J., ‘The maturation of town and village life in County Limerick, 1700–1900’ in Smyth, & Whelan, (eds), Common ground, pp 153-5Google Scholar; Danachair, Caoimhín Ó, ‘Faction fighting in County Limerick’ in N. Munster Antiq. Jn., x, no. 1 (1966), pp 47–54 Google Scholar.

25 Testimonies of Maj.-Gen Richard Bourke and Rev. John Kelly, House of Commons, Select committee on the state of Ireland: report and evidence, pp 325, 397, H.C. 1825 (129) viii; Maj. Thomas Powell to William Lamb, 26 Oct. 1827 (N.A.I., S.O.C., 2834/47); Lord Portarlington to Sir William Gosset, 15 Feb. 1833 (N.A.I., C.S.O., R.R 1833/244).

26 George Bennett to Charles Bennett, 15 July 1828 (N.A.I., C.S.O., R.R 1828, V-9).

27 Testimony of Francis Blackburne, Minutes of evidence taken before the select committee appointed to inquire into the disturbances in Ireland. .. 13 May-18 June 1824, pp 18–19, H.C. 1825 (20), vii.

28 Summary statements of persons charged with criminal offences, committed to the different gaols in Ireland, for trial at the assizes and sessions, during the last seven years... 1822–1828, p. 7, H.C. 1829 (256), xxii, 433.

29 D.E.P., 12 July 1828; L.E.P./C.S., 30 Sept. 1828.

30 Tipperary Vindicator, 18 Jan. 1845. See also the recollections of a long-time Tipperary resident, William Lundon, M.P., as reported in Kerryman, 5 Feb. 1910.The State of the Country and Outrage papers in the National Archives reflect an unmistakable quickening of factional activity from 1824 onwards.

31 Wyse, Thomas, Historical sketch of the late Catholic Association (London, 1829), i, 409 (my italics)Google Scholar.

32 Ibid., pp 408–18; McGrath, ‘Interdenominational relations’ p. 262; also Annual Reg., 1828, pp 134–8.

33 D.E.P., 26 June 1828.

34 Ibid., 1 July 1828.

35 L.E.P./ C.S., 11 July 1828; O’Donnell, Irish faction fighters, pp 67–77.

36 D.E.P., 12 July, 5 Aug. 1828.

37 A week later the two factions and their supporters repeated their ritual meeting, this time returning to Dromin for a final celebration: L.E.P/C.S., 15 July 1828; William Smith to Maj. W. Miller, 21 July 1828 (P.R.O., HO 100/222/481); H. Woodburn to T. P. Vokes, 21 July 1828 (N.A.I., C.S.O., R.P. 1828, V-9); Chief Constable Doolan to Vokes, 18 July 1828 (ibid.); Doolan to Maj. W. Miller, 20 July 1828 (P.R.O., HO 100/222/479); Clonmel Herald, 19 July 1828.

38 Fanu, W.R.Le, Seventy years of Irish life (London, 1893), pp 34–5 Google Scholar.

39 The Times, 29 Aug. 1828.

40 Clonmel Herald, 2 Aug. 1828. See also Morning Herald, 30 Sept. 1828, and the poem ‘Pacification’ which lampooned the ending of the feuds, Waterford Mail, 30 July 1828.

41 Maj. W. Miller to William Gregory, 23 July 1828 (N.A.I., C.S.O., R.P. 1828, M-59). See also Maj. Samson Carter to Gregory, 12 July 1828 (ibid., C-32).

42 The Times, 31 July 1828.

43 L.E.P./C.S., 15 July 1828.

44 O’Connell’s victory’, translated by Hyde, Douglas, Songs ascribed to Raftery (Shannon, 1973), p. 271 Google Scholar.

45 A statement of the nature and extent of the disturbances which have lately prevailed in Ireland..., p. 13, H.C. 1816 (479), ix, 581.

46 Blackburne testimony, Minutes of evidence taken before the select committee pp 18–19, H.C. 1825 (20), vii. See also Beames, Michael, Peasants and power: the Whiteboy movements and their control in pre-Famine Ireland (New York, 1983), p. 71 Google Scholar.

47 Testimony of Maj. Richard Willcocks, Minutes of evidence taken before the select committee . .., p. 113, H.C. 1825 (20), vii.

48 Morning Herald, 30 Sept. 1828. See also William Smith to Maj. W. Miller, 21 July 1828 (P.R.O., HO 100/222/481). For evidence of this pattern at the time of the 1798 rebellion see Whelan, Kevin ‘The republic in the village: the United Irishmen, the Enlightenment and popular culture’ in his The Tree of Liberty: radicalism, Catholicism and the construction of Irish identity, 1760–1830 (Cork, 1996), pp 90–92 Google Scholar.

49 Donnelly, James S. jr, ‘Pastorini and Captain Rock: millenarianism and sectarianism in the Rockite movement of 1821–4’ in Clark, and Donnelly, (eds), Irish peasants, pp 102-39Google Scholar.

50 Walter Hussey to Maj. Thomas Vokes, 17 July 1828 (P.R.O., H.O., 100/221/98); Pückler-Muskau, Tour, ii, 8;William Sadlier to William Gregory, 31 July 1828 (N.A.I., C.S.O., R.P. 1828, T-20). The colour white was also symbolic of justice.

51 Amhráin Thomáis Ruaidh .i. the songs of Tomás Ruadh O’Sullivan, ed. Fenton, James (Dublin, 1922), pp 78–9 Google Scholar. I am grateful to Kevin Whelan for this translation. See also Ogáin, Ríonach Uí, Immortal Dan: Daniel O’Connell in Irish folk tradition (Dublin, 1995), p. 89 Google Scholar.

52 Wyse, Catholic association, i, 413–14.

53 D.E.P., 28 Aug. l828.

54 Monthly report of Maj. Samson Carter, 2 Oct. 1828 (N.A.I., C.S.O., R.P. 1828, C-A9).

55 Maj. A. Lane to the earl of Wiltshire, 25 Sept. 1828 (N.A.I., S.O.C., 2883/21).

56 Tipperary Vindicator, 18 Jan. 1845; C. Darby to Leveson-Gower, 18 Sept. 1828 (B.L., Add. MS 40335, ff 109–10); W. Chaytor to Leveson-Gower, 22 Sept. 1828 (N.A.I., C.S.O., R.P. 1828, T-28); W. Nash to Maj. Samson Carter, 22 Sept. 1828 (ibid.); deposition of G. Fitzgerald, 27 Sept. 1828 (ibid., F-16); Ptickler-Muskau, Tour, ii, 7–8. See also earl of Donoughmore to Maj. Gosset, 22 Sept. 1828 (B.L., Add. MS 40326, ff 67–70); anonymous note, Birr, 24 Sept. 1828 (N.A.I., C.S.O., R.P. 1828, P-16); L.E.P./C.S., 3 Oct. 1828; The Times, 7 Oct. 1828; Wyse, Catholic association, i, 413.

57 T.F.P., 24 Sept. 1828; Clonmel Herald, 24 Sept. 1828.

58 John Cooke to Leveson-Gower, 22 Sept. 1828 (N.A.I., C.S.O., R.P. 1828, T-28); affidavit of John Middleton, 27 Sept. 1828 (ibid.).

59 Clonmel Herald, 1 Oct. 1828.

60 D.E.P, 4, 8 July 1826, 26 July 1828. See also Snoddy, Oliver, ‘The Order of Liberators’ in N. Munster Antiq. Jn., x, no. 1 (1966), pp 34-6Google Scholar.

61 Oliver MacDonagh, Hereditary bondsman, pp 176–7; O’Ferrall, Fergus, ‘Daniel O’Connell, the “Liberator,” 1775–1847: changing images’ in Kennedy, Brian P. and Gillespie, Raymond (eds), Ireland: art into history (Dublin, 1994), pp 94–5 Google Scholar; F.J., 11 Jan. 1845.

62 D.E.P., 3 July 1828.

63 Liberator medals can be seen in contemporary cartoons and drawings relating to the election. See ‘The humble candidate’, repr. in O’Ferrall, ‘The “Liberator” ‘, p. 96, and Daniel Maclise’s portrait of O’Gorman Mahon in Kelly, James, ‘That damn’d thing called honour’: duelling in Ireland, 1570–1860 (Cork, 1995), p. 254 Google Scholar. There is one in the collection of the National Museum of Ireland.

64 L.E.P./C.S., 12 Aug. 1828. See also ibid., 25 July, 5 Aug. 1828; D.E.P., 14, 23 Aug. 1828; Clonmel Advertiser, 23 Aug. 1828. An antecedent to this ceremony had taken place two years earlier in Waterford, where the first branch of the Order of Liberators was founded: see Waterford Chronicle, 2, 19 Sept. 1826; D.E.P., 4, 8 July, 8 Aug. 1826.

65 D.E.P, 12 July, 9 Sept. 1828; Waterford Mirror, 6 Sept. 1828; T.F.P., 13, 17 Sept. 1828.

66 See speech of O’Gorman Mahon to the Catholic Association (D.E.P., 26 Aug. 1828); Richard Lalor Sheil’s speech to the association (ibid., 2 Sept. 1828); Thomas Wyse’s assessment (Catholic association, i, 411–12). For a negative interpretation of O’Connell’s appeal to the factions see Cox, Walter, The cuckoo calendar: anecdotes of the Liberator (Dublin, 1833), p. 22 Google Scholar.

67 D.E.P., 2 Sept. 1828.

68 Ibid., 27 Sept. 1828. See also Morning Register, 3 Oct. 1828.

69 D.E.P., 9 Sept. 1828; L.E.P./C.S., 24 Oct. 1828.

70 D.E.P., 21 Sept. 1828.

71 Ibid., 2, 27 Sept. l828.

72 Pückler-Muskau, Tour, i, 257.

73 Clonmel Herald, 24 Sept. 1828.

74 Richard Falkiner to Anglesey, 30 Sept. 1828 (N.A.I., C.S.O., R.P. 1828, F-15).

75 [Thomas Lalor Cooke], ‘Reminiscences of the Green Boys of 1828 — from a correspondent in Roscrea’ in Tipperary Vindicator, 18 Jan. 1845 (repr. in Cooke, ’s The early history of the town of Birr or Parsonstown (Dublin, 1875 Google Scholar; repr. Tullamore, 1990), pp 191–208); William Nash to Maj. Samson Carter, 22 Sept. 1828 (N.A.I., C.S.O., R.P. 1828, T-28).

76 Cooke, ‘Reminiscences’. On similar efforts by other local people see Lord Oxmantown to Leveson-Gower, 25 Sept. 1828 (B.L., Add. MS 40335, f. 165); Leveson-Gower to Oxmantown, 26 Sept. 1828 (ibid., f. 166); Oxmantown to Leveson-Gower, 29 Sept. 1828 (N.A.I., C.S.O., R.P. 1828, P-16).

77 It also dispatched O’Gorman Mahon and Steele to Tipperary to persuade people to halt the meetings (T.F.P., 4 Oct. 1828).

78 Adding to the atmosphere of crisis were the deaths on 23 September of two Catholics at the hands of Orangemen in Ballybay, County Monaghan. On the appeals of the Catholic Association and O’Connell see D.E.P., 27 Sept. 1828; ‘Address to the honest & worthy people of the County Tipperary’, 30 Sept. 1828 (Dublin Diocesan Archives, Murray papers, section 60/1, file ii, no. 7 (printed in part in T.F.P., 11 Oct. 1828)). On the background to the issuance of the royal proclamation and its aftermath see B.L., Add. MSS 40335–6, passim; Maj. William Miller to Leveson-Gower, 7 Nov. 1828 (N.A.I., C.S.O., R.P. 1828, D-86).

79 Bartlett, Thomas, The fall and rise of the Irish nation: the Catholic question, 1690–1830 (Dublin, 1992), pp 311–26 Google Scholar.

80 L.E.P./C.S., 15 July 1828; William Smith to Maj. William Miller, 21 July 1828 (P.R.O., HO 100/222/481); Thomas Doolan to Miller, 20 Sept. 1828 (ibid., HO 100/222/479); The Times, 29 Aug. 1828; T.F.P. 17 Sept. 1828; F.J., 6 Sept. 1828. On rites de passage see especially van Gennep, Arnold, The rites of passage (London, 1960)Google Scholar; Turner, Victor W., The ritual process (London, 1969)Google Scholar. For similarities with pacification rituals in other cultures see Black-Michaud, Jacob, Cohesive force: feud in the Mediterranean and Middle East (Oxford, 1975), pp 91–2 Google Scholar.

81 Edward Wilson to Leveson-Gower, 2 Sept. 1828 (P.R.O., HO 100/222/317-18); deposition of James McDonagh, 25 Sept. 1828 (N.A.I., C.S.O., R.P. 1828, T-28); William Nash to Maj. Samson Carter, 22 Sept. 1828 (ibid.); deposition of Edward Hurt, 4 Oct. 1828 (ibid., F-16).

82 Maj. Abraham Lane to the earl of Wiltshire, 25 Sept. 1828 (N.A.I., S.O.C., 2883/21); James Ryan to Sir William Gregory, 24 Sept. 1828 (N. A.I., C.S.O., R.P. 1828, R-7); Richard Falkiner to Anglesey, 30 Sept. 1828 (ibid., F-15); The Times, 27 Sept. 1828; earl of Donoughmore to Lt-Col. Gosset, 22 Sept. 1828 (B.L., Add. MS 40326, ff 67–70); T.F.P., 24 Sept. 1828, on the involvement of Richard Grubb, a wealthy corn merchant.

83 Whelan, Kevin, ‘An underground gentry?: Catholic middlemen in eighteenth-century Ireland’ in his The Tree of Liberty, p. 54 Google Scholar.

84 Bartlett, Fall & rise, p. 322.

85 Lord Oxmantown to Leveson-Gower, 29 Sept. 1828 (N.A.I., C.S.O., R.P. 1828, P-16).

86 Bartlett, Fall & rise, p. 326.

87 Thompson, E.P., ‘The patricians and the plebs’ in his Customs in common (London, 1993), p. 57 Google Scholar and passim. See also Babcock, Barbara (ed.), The reversible world: symbolic inversion in art and society (Ithaca, 1978).Google Scholar

88 Clonmel Advertiser, 4 Oct. 1828; L.E.P./C.S., 3 Oct. 1828; Maj. Samson Carter to William Gregory, 7 Sept. 1828 (N.A.I., C.S.O., R.P. 1828, C-47); W. Chaytor to Leveson-Gower, 22 Sept. 1828 (ibid., T-28); deposition of William Pearce, 27 Sept. 1828 (ibid.); Lord Mount Cashel to Anglesey, 29 Sept. 1828 (B.L., Add. MS 40335, ff 218–19); Saunders’ Newsletter, 24 Sept. 1828.

89 Vernon, James, Politics and the people: a study in English political culture, c. 1815–1867 (Cambridge, 1993), p. 111 Google Scholar.

90 See, for example, Clonmel Advertiser, 24 Sept. 1828.

91 L.E.P./C.S., 3 Oct. 1828.

92 Deposition of Gerald Fitzgerald, 27 Sept. 1828 (N.A.I., C.S.O., R.P. 1828, F-16).

93 The Times, 6 Oct. 1828.

94 Evening Mail, 6 Oct. 1828.

95 Earl of Clare to Leveson-Gower, 10 Sept. 1828 (P.R.O., HO 100/222/346-7); Joseph Crampton to T. P. Vokes, 15 Sept. 1828 (N.A.I., C.S.O., R.P. 1828, V-12); Clonmel Herald, 20 Sept. 1828.

96 O‘Neill, James W.|, ‘Popular culture and peasant rebellion in pre-Famine Ireland’ (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of Minnesota, 1984), p. 154 Google Scholar; Donnelly, ‘Factions’, pp 125–7; Minutes of evidence taken before the select committee of the House of Lords appointed to inquire into the state of Ireland since the year 1835, in respect of crime and outrage ..., pp 1084–91, H.L. 1839 (486—III), xi.

97 See, for example, T.F.P., 18 July, 1 Aug. 1829. Although press and constabulary reports from 1829 onwards suggest a diminution of factional activity and a virtual end of references to the factions which made peace in 1828, the extent to which this was so must await systematic research.

98 The relationship between these movements suggests the Tillys’ well-known model of changes in collective violence, Tilly, Charles, Tilly, Louise and Tilly, Richard, The rebellious century, 1830–1930 (Cambridge, Mass., 1975)CrossRefGoogle Scholar. See also Connolly, S.J., ‘Violence and order in the eighteenth century’ in O’Flanagan, Patrick et al. (eds), Rural Ireland, 1600–1900: modernisation and change (Cork, 1987), pp 42–61 Google Scholar.

99 Gibbons, Luke, ‘Identity without a centre: allegory, history and Irish nationalism’ in his Transformations in Irish culture (Cork, 1996), pp 134–47 Google Scholar; Lloyd, David, ‘Violence and the constitution of the novel’ in his Anomalous states: Irish writing and the post-colonial moment (Dublin, 1993), pp 125–55 Google Scholar.

100 Gibbons, ‘Identity’, p. 142; Lloyd, ‘Violence’, pp 146–9. See also Guha, Ranajit, ‘The prose of counter-insurgency’ in Guha, Ranajit and Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty (eds), Selected subaltern studies (New York & Oxford, 1988), pp 45–86 Google Scholar.

101 This article is a revised and expanded version of a paper read at the joint meeting of the American Conference for Irish Studies and the Canadian Association of Irish Studies at Queen’s University, Belfast, in July 1995. I benefited at that time from the helpful comments of Sam Clark, Dermot McCarthy and Tom McGrath. I am particularly grateful to Kevin Whelan, who read a later version of the paper and offered many useful suggestions.