1 McGill, Alexander, The independence of Iceland: a parallel for Ireland (Glasgow, 1921), p. 3.Google Scholar

2 Private communication from Christine Dickson, McGill’s daughter. See also Sigurdsson, David Logi, ‘Samferda í sókn til sjálfstædis. Alexander McGill (1891-1973) og skrif hans um íslenska, írska og skoska thjóderniskennd’ in Andvari, cxxv (2000), pp 128–14.Google Scholar

3 McGill begins his pamphlet with these words: ‘No Irishman, who seeks to understand the new and vigorous policy which has made his nation a living reality again, can properly understand that policy unless he has read and carefully studied Griffith’s “The Resurrection of Hungary.” That book has taught men the lesson that the sword of the spirit is stronger than even that of Gideon, that, even in its most profound suffering and degradation, a nation is yet victorious while its spirit remains indomitable’ (Independence of Iceland, p. 2).

4 McGill to Jónsson, 29 Jan. 1921. (This and all subsequent references to McGil's correspondence with Jónsson are taken from the Jónsson papers, held in the National and University Library of Iceland (Landsbókasafn-Háskólabókasafn).)

5 Ibid.

6 Kjartansson, Helgi Skúli, ‘Vangaveltur um fullveldi Íslands 1918’ in Andvari, cxvi (1991), p. 105.Google Scholar

7 McGill contributed frequently to magazines such as the Scottish Educational Journal, Columba, the Northern Review, The Nation and Liberty; some of which were very short-lived.

8 McGill was a friend of MacDiarmid as well as other literary figures of this time. After the publication of his book Glasgow: its rise and history in 1935 he mostly devoted himself, however, to his family and to his teaching. For a discussion of the Scottish renaissance movement see Harvie, Christopher, Scotland and nationalism: Scottish society and politics, 1707-1977 (London, 1977), pp 147–59CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

9 McGill to Jónsson, 16 Dec. 1923.

10 The Scottish Educational Journal published a number of papers by McGill, and in 1925 he won the Robert Locke Bremner Memorial Prize, awarded by Glasgow University for studies in Scandinavian history, for his paper on trade relations between Iceland and Britain in the middle ages.

11 Hálfdanarson, Gudmundur, ‘Iceland: a peaceful secession’ in Scandinavian Journal of History, xxv (2000), p. 88.Google Scholar

12 The most recent survey of Icelandic history in English is Karlsson, Gunnar, The history of Iceland (Minneapolis, 2000)).Google ScholarPubMed

13 See, for instance, Jakobsson, Sverrir, ‘Jón Sigurdsson forseti’ in Af blödum Jons forseta (Reykjavik, 1994), pp 9–71.Google Scholar

14 Hálfdanarson, ‘Peaceful secession’, pp 90-91.

15 These ideas obviously influenced nationalist politicians everywhere: see the introduction to Hutchinson, John and Smith, A. D. (eds), Nationalism (Oxford, 1994), p. 4.Google Scholar

16 McGill to Jónsson, 11 Mar. 1921. According to documents in the Glasgow University archives, McGill had studied moral philosophy and constitutional history there in 1916-17, but without completing a degree.

17 McGill to Jónsson, 24 Mar. 1921.

18 Liberty was published in Glasgow in the years 1919-21.

19 McGill, Alexander, ‘The resurrection of Iceland’ in Liberty, May 1921, p. 67.Google Scholar

20 Ibid.

21 It has been argued that attempts of the Danish government to extend liberal reforms to Iceland were not looked upon favourably by the ruling classes in Iceland; ironically, therefore, the attempts of the Danes to further the freedom of the individual proved instrumental in creating and fostering an opposition to their rule in Iceland and, thus, a struggle for independence. See Hálfdanarson, Gudmundur, Íslenska thjódríkid: uppruni og endimörk (Reykjavik, 2001), pp 72–6Google Scholar. One of its opponents has called the revisionist history ‘nostalgica danica’ in a recent article: see Gíslason, Ingvar, ‘Nostalgica danica’ in Lesbók Morgunbladsins, 21 Sept. 1996.Google Scholar

22 He expressed this opinion strongly in an article in an Icelandic periodical on the Scottish renaissance movement of the 1920s and 1930s: ‘Bókmentavakningin skozka’ in Eimreidin, xxxii (1926), p. 22.Google Scholar

23 McGill, Independence of Iceland, pp 14-15.

24 Ibid., p. 14. It was never actually the intention of the Danish government to move all inhabitants of Iceland to Denmark. It did, however, what it could to save the Icelandic nation in its calamity. The possibility of transporting people from the country was considered, especially homeless children and those who were least able to fend for themselves. Only one document survives in which the proposal of moving 10-20,000 people from the country is discussed. See Kristjánsson, Adalgeir, ‘Álitsgerd Skúla Magnússonar 1784 um brottflutning Islendinga vegna Móduhardindanna’ in Saga, xv (1977), pp 29–40.Google Scholar

25 McGill, Independence of Iceland, p. 16.

26 Ibid.

27 Ibid., p. 8.

28 Ibid., p. 9.

29 Hálfdanarson, ‘Peaceful secession’, p. 90.

30 McGill, , ‘Iceland and Ireland’ in Liberty, Apr. 1921, p. 51.Google Scholar

31 The Times commented on this comparison on 21 Oct. 1886, and Gladstone, alluded to it again in his Special aspects of the Irish question: a series of reflections in and since 1885 (London, 1892), p. 366Google Scholar. On this material I am indebted to the research of Sigrún Pálsdóttir: see her article ‘Bresk stjórnmál í ljósi íslenskrar menningar. Sjálfstaedisbarátta Islendinga og umrædan um heimastjórn á Irlandi á sídari hluta 19. aldar’ in Saga, xl (2002) pp 89–90.Google Scholar

32 McGill, Independence of Iceland, p. 3.

33 See Lyons, F. S. L., Ireland since the Famine (2nd ed., London, 1973), pp 248–52.Google Scholar

34 McGill, ‘Resurrection of Iceland’, p. 68; idem, Independence of Iceland, p. 19. McGill made the Icelandic leaders look rather more heroic than they probably were. Jón Sigurdsson was at times criticised for living in Copenhagen and being in the pay of the Danish government.

35 McGill, Independence of Iceland, p. 32.

36 McGill, Alexander, ‘The independence of Iceland’ in Liberty, June 1921, p. 86.Google Scholar

37 Ibid. McGill quoted Snæbjörn Jónsson on this point, but was told by Jónsson that the Icelanders and Danes had never enjoyed a better relationship than that obtaining since their separation.

38 Winston Churchill was quoted as saying that no British government in modern times had ever appeared to make so sudden and complete reversal of policy. See Pakenham, Frank [Lord Longford], Peace by ordeal: an account, from first-hand sources, of the negotiation and signature of the Anglo-Irish treaty, 1921 (London, 1972) ed.), p. 64.Google Scholar

39 Lee, J. J., Ireland 1912-1985: politics and society (Cambridge, 1989), p. 47Google Scholar.

40 Pakenham, Peace by ordeal, pp 75-80.

41 Ibid., pp 76-7.

42 This anonymous correspondent was probably Professor R. P. Cowl, a scholar of Shakespearean literature at Bristol University. Cowl was a friend of Snæbjörn Jónsson. See Sigurdsson, David Logi, ‘Sambandslagasamningur Islands og Danmerkur: fyrirmynd fullveldis á Írlandi’ in Skírnir, clxxv (2001), pp 155–6.Google Scholar

43 The Times, 9 Sept. 1921.

44 Visir, 7 Oct. 1921. Author’s translation.

45 Ibid.

46 Irish Times, 10 Sept. 1921.

47 The Observer, 11 Sept. 1921.

48 Glasgow Herald, 10 Sept. 1921.

49 Hálfdanarson, ‘Peaceful secession’, p. 99.

50 The Glasgow Herald is the only newspaper that took cognisance of McGill’s pamphlet.

51 Glasgow Herald, 17 Sept. 1921.

52 McGill to Jónsson, 19 Sept. 1921.

53 Birmingham Post, 12 Sept. 1921.

54 McGill to Jónsson, 19 Sept. 1921. McGill claimed that the Northern Ireland government was only of symbolic importance, for it could not even control its own capital city, Belfast: ‘I know that to the so-called loyalists of Ulster the British connection is a fetish only.’

55 Some Icelandic scholars have argued that it is absurd to compare Icelandic nationalism to the violent nationalism of Northern Ireland or the Balkans. See Bergmann, árni, ‘Til hvers er thjódernisumrædan?’ in Skírnir, clxxi (1997), p. 149Google Scholar. Gudmundur Hálfdanarson has argued, however, that Icelandic nationalism had the same propensity for violence as any other ethnic nationalism, ‘because its ultimate goal was not negotiable and as its inflated rhetoric on the character of the Icelandic nation invited a sense of racial superiority’ (Hálfdanarson, ‘Peaceful secession’, p. 99).

56 See Sigurdsson, David Logi, ‘The badge of nationality: a comparison between the role of language in Irish and Icelandic national identity’ (M.A. thesis, Queen’s University, Belfast, 1997), pp 10–16Google Scholar; idem, ‘Er íslensk thjóderniskennd frá Oz? Um ímyndud tengsl thjódar og tungu’ in Skírnir, clxxii (1998), pp 190-208.

57 Hálfdanarson, ‘Peaceful secession’, pp 97-8.

58 R. F. Foster has demonstrated eloquently the awkward position of people like Yeats after they had effectively been defined out of the Irish nation, despite the contribution they had made to the cause: see Foster, R. F., ‘Writing a life of W. B. Yeats’ in Irish Review, no. 21 (1997), pp 92–3Google Scholar; idem, W. B. Yeats: a life, i: The apprentice mage, 1865-1914 (Oxford, 1997)).

59 McGill to Jónsson, 12 July 1922. McGill continued: ‘The republicans came into this town last week and fortified the best house in the town and lived on the people, but they were all good boys and I enjoyed their company. Do not believe what you may read in English papers about the people groaning under the tyranny of the gunmen. I never wish for better companions than these same gunmen. At the weekend they had to leave to reinforce a republican garrison nearby which was closely [sic] invaded by the national troops and now they are all in prison.’

60 McGill went to County Donegal again in the summer of 1923, his eleventh visit to Ireland. ‘Every time Donegal speaks anew to me although this summer there will be no civil war to amuse me,’ he told Jónsson on 17 June 1923. In a later letter he commented: ‘The country is extraordinarily peaceful as the revolt of the Republicans is over and 13000 of them in prison. I was in Donegal listening to the President speaking at one election meeting on the day de Valera was arrested. The latter is become a tragic figure, but only a figure, the man who missed his opportunity.’ (McGill to Jónsson, 17 June, 6 Sept. 1923)

61 John McGarry is emphatic on this point, although in relation to the more recent ‘Troubles’ in Northern Ireland: see the introduction to McGarry, John (ed.), Northern Ireland and the divided world: the Northern Ireland conflict and the Good Friday Agreement in comparative perspective (Oxford, 2001), pp 3–13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar