Detailed Record

Nation, The;

vol 1 no 1, 15 Oct 1842 - 11 Jul 1891; 23 Jun 1896 - vol 51 no 23, 05 Jun 1897

then: Weekly Nation. vol 1 no 1, 12 Jun 1897 - vol 4 no 13, 01 Sep 1900

Dublin,Dublin

Editor:

Barry (Father)
J.B. Callan (Mrs. c.1848)
Thomas Davis
Robert Donovan (1891)
Charles Gavan Duffy
John Cashel Hoey (1851)
Maggin (Bishop)
Thomas D'Arcy McGee (1848)
Lady Wilde (c.1848)
Robert Arthur Wilson (sub-editor)

Proprietor:

Thomas Davis (1842 - d. Sep 1845)
John Blake Dillon
Charles Gavan Duffy (1842 - 1855)
Healy
John Cashel Hoey (1851)
William Martin Murphy (1897+)
A.M. Sullivan (1855 - 1867+)
T.D. Sullivan (1842)

Publisher:

William Francis Dennehy (1897)
James Doyle (1854 - 1858)
Charles Gavan Duffy (1844 - 1853)
Patrick Joseph Fogarty (1876)
J.J. Lalor (1890, 1896)
George McAuley (1877)
Nation Office
Alexander M. Sullivan (1859 - 1875)
T.D. Sullivan (1878 - 1889)

Printer:

William Francis Dennehy (1897)
James Doyle (1854 - 1858)
Patrick Joseph Fogarty (1876)
J.J. Lalor (1890, 1896)
George McAuley (1877)
Alexander M. Sullivan (1859 - 1875)
T.D. Sullivan (1878 - 1889)

Contributors:

Michael J. Barry
Mrs. Beazley (pseudo. Nannie H.H.)
Canon Ulik J. Bourke
J.J. Callanan
William Carleton
John Cashel Hoey (1851)
John Coen
Daniel Crilly
Thomas Davis (1842-1843)
Michael Doheny
Richard Dowling (pseud. "Marcus Fall")
William Drennan
Charles Gavan Duffy
Stephen Nolan Elrington
Samuel Ferguson (trans.)
John Frazer
Hugh Harkin
Hugh Heinrick
Michael Hogan (pseudo The Bard of Thomond)
Douglas Hyde (1890s)
John Kells Ingram
John Keegan
Mary Anne Kelly (pseudo Eva)
John Kenyon
Charles Kickham
James Fintan Lalor (1847)
Denis Florence MacCarthy
Michael MacDonagh
Thomas MacNevin
Richard Robert Madden (pseud. Ierne)
James Clarence Mangan
William Martin Murphy
Michael Joseph McCann
Thomas D'Arcy McGee (1848)
James Niall McKane (pseudo "J.N. McK")
Thomas F. Meagher
Alexander S. Meehan (pseudo. A.S.M, Astroea)
Charles Patrick Meehan (Rev.)
Thomas Mills (Rev.) verse)
John Mitchel
John Cornelius O'Callaghan (1842 - 1843)
Ellen O'Leary (poetry)
John O'Leary
Olivia Knight (pseudo Thomasine)
Ellen Mary Patrick Downing (pseudo Mary)
John Edward Pigot
Thomas Devin Reilly
George Sigerson (Dr.)1855)
A.R. Stritch
Edward Walsh
Jane Francesca Wilde (pseudo Speranza)
Richard D'Alton Williams
Elizabeth Willoughby Treacy (pseudo Finola)

Names:

Ellen Mary Patrick Downing
Jane Francesca Elgee [later Wilde]
Tim Healy (parliamentary correspondent)
Olivia Knight
Thomas Moore (possible contributor)
The Repeal Association
Elizabeth Willoughby Treacy

Size:

47cm (1842, 1897); 45cm (1891); 63cm; 16pp (1842-1880)

Price:

6d (1842-1856); 4 ½d, 4d st (1859); 3 ½d, 4d st (1864-1866); 4d, 5d st (1868); 2d, 3d st (1870); 2d (1875-1880); 3d (1888); 1d (07 Feb 1891, 1897)

Circulation:

3,724/no (1850); 3,238/no (1855); stamps issued in 1850: 193,650; 13,000 weekly

Frequency:

weekly (Sat)

Illustration:

b/w, ports (1880); sketches (ads, 1890);

Departments:

local, national and international news, b/m/d, political record, letters to the editor, farmers' columns, occasional notes, literary criticism, art & science notes, advertising, ladies' column, poetry, political and social comment, notices, archaeology, history, economics, statistics, foreign countries, ballads, transactions of learned societies, book reviews, education, arms and weapons sales, food, famine help/news/relief, correspondence

Orientation:

Catholic, nationalist

Merges:

absorbed The Irishman (1842); merged temporarily with Irish Catholic (11 Jul 1891 - 13 Jun 1896); merged with Irish Weekly Independent (01 Sep 1890)

Sources:

COPAC; Mitchell's Newspaper Directory (1846), p.279.; NLI; Partridge, Language and Society.; Sutherland, John. The Longman Companion to Victorian Fiction. Longman, 1988.; Tally, Growth of the Dublin Weekly Press, Diss. U Wisconsin, 2003.; Thuente, The Harp Re-strung.; Tilley, "Madden." DNCJ, p.390.; Townend, "'Academies of Nationality'." Reading Irish Histories. pp.19-39.

Histories:

Benatti, "Duffy, Charles Gavan." DNCJ, 184.; Benson, Charles. "The Dublin Book Trade." Oxford History of the Irish Book. vol 4. 25-46.; Brillman, "Loyalty and Repeal".; Brown, Malcolm. "The Nation's First Year." The Politics of Irish Literature, 1973. pp. 58-72.; Buckley, "John Mitchel, Ulster and Irish Nationality (1842-1848)." Studies 65: 257 (1976): 30-44; Campbell, "Poetry in English, 1830-1890".; Chuto, Jacques. "James Clarence Mangan." Oxford History of the Irish Book. vol 4. 432-441.; Clyde, Irish Literary Magazines.; English, History of Nationalism.; Corrain, "Great Famine, 1845-9," p.71.; Corrain, "Nationality, nation, nationalism," p.228.; Escott, T. H. S. Masters of English Journalism: a Study of Personal Forces. London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1911.; Fitzpatrick, "William Carleton," p.242.; Harmon, Study of Anglo-Irish Literature, p.142.; Hayley, Voice of Nineteenth-Century Ireland.; Higgins, Roisin. "The Nation Reading Rooms." Oxford History of the Irish Book. vol 4, 2011. pp.263-273.; Huggins, "Nation (1842-1900)." DNCJ, p.437.; IBL 5:10 (1914), p.174.; Kelleher, "Prose writing and drama in English".; Kelly, "Irish Nationalist Opinion," pp.135-137.; Kenny, Literary Dublin, p.107.; Killen, The Famine Decade.; Kinealy, Repeal and Revolution.; Law, Anglo-Irish Literature, p.204, 212.; Levitas, "Reading and the Irish Revival".; Lynch, Niamh. "Defining Irish Nationalist Anti-Imperialism: Thomas Davis and John Mitchel." Eire-Ireland vol 42 (2007):82-107.; MacManus, ed. Thomas Davis and Young Ireland 1845-1945.; McHugh and Harmon, Anglo-Irish Literature.; McKenna, Irish Literature, 1800-1875.; McMahon, Global Dimensions of Irish Identity.; McNicholas, Politics, Religion and the Press.; Molony, John. A Soul Came into Ireland: Thomas Davis, 1814-1845, A Biography. Dublin: Geography Publications, 1995.; Murphy, "British Association meeting of 1857".; Murphy, Ireland: a social, cultural and literary history.; NLI; [IBL?] 31:5 (1951), pp. 98-100.; Newsinger, Fenianism, p.16.; Nic Congail, Riona. "Young Ireland and the Nation." Éire-Ireland. 46:3&4 (2011), pp. 37-62.; Norman, Catholic Church and Ireland.; Novak, Rose. "Reviving 'Eva' of The Nation?: Eva O’Doherty’s Young Ireland Newspaper Poetry." VPR. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 45:4, Winter 2012, pp.436-465.; Nowlan, "Duffy and the Repeal Movement"; O'Broin, Leon, Charles Gavan Duffy: Patriot and Statesman, 1967.; O'Donoghue. Poets of Ireland, 1902, pp.40, 161.; Ó Súilleabháin. Longford Authors. p.105.; O'Toole, "The Women Writers of 'The Nation'." Thomas Davis and Young Ireland. pp.119-122; Newspaper Book.; Penet, "Heart of the Nation".; Penet, "Nation and the Irish Language".; Platt, Len. Joyce and the Anglo-Irish, 1998. pp.68-69.; Rafter, Irish Journalism Before Independence.; Ryan, Irish Literary Revival.; Ryder, "Davis, Thomas." DNCJ, p.162.; Ryder, "Young Ireland." DNCJ, p.695.; "The Nation." Wikipedia.; Tilley, "Periodicals in Ireland" p.210.; Tilley, "Wilde, Jane." DNCJ, p.676.; "Tim Healy (politician)." Wikipedia.; Yeates, "Life and Career of William Martin Murphy".

Comments:

Motto: "To create and foster public opinion in Ireland and make it racy of the soil - Chief Baron Woulfe."
The Nation was the organ of the Young Ireland movement and it became a principal periodical in Ireland. It was founded by three young men: Thomas Davis, John Blake Dillon and Charles Gavan Duffy. It remains one of the most influential Irish periodicals ever published. It asserted extreme political influence and it was a key figure in social affairs of the time. It influenced its readers in the middle of the nineteenth-century, and it continued to be an example for the later century's principal writers like William Butler Yeats.
Prospectus: "The projectors of the NATION have been told that there is no room in Ireland for another Liberal Journal; but they think differently. They believe that since the success of the long and gallant struggle which our fathers maintained against sectarian ascendancy, a NEW MIND has grown up amongst us, which longs to redress other wrongs and achieve other victories; and that this mind has found no adequate expression in the press. The Liberal Journals of Ireland were perhaps never more ably conducted than at this moment; but their tone and spirit are not of the present but the past;—their energies are shackled by old habits, old prejudices, and old divisions; and they do not and cannot keep in the van of the advancing people. The necessities of the country seem to demand a Journal able to aid and organise the new movements going on amongst us—to make their growth deeper, and their fruit 'more racy of the soil'— and, above all, to direct the popular mind and the sympathies of educated men of all parties to the great end of nationality. Such a Journal should be free from the quarrels, the interests, the wrongs, and even the gratitude of the past. It should be free to apply its strength where it deems best— free to praise—free to censure; unshackled by sect or party; able, Irish, and independent. Holding these views, the projectors of the Nation cannot think that a Journal, prepared to undertake this work, will be deemed superfluous; and as they labour, not for themselves but for their country, they are prepared, if they do not find a way open, to try if they cannot make one."
The paper is "seen as being the inspiration for the cultural nationalism which featured so largely in the movements of the second half of the nineteenth century and early twentieth century" (McNicholas 186).
The periodical "functioned as the in-house journal for the established nationalist elite, acting as the forum for a party that did not quite exist. Focusing the energies of...leading activists, it sometimes initiated and always promoted their many false starts and short-term initiatives" (Kelly 136).
Duffy himself said that it "was not a journal designed to chronicle the small beer of current politics, but to teach opinions...of men to whom the elevation of Ireland was a creed and a passion"(reproduced in Brillman 36).
Corrain: "Thomas Davis and The Nation created a new Irish national identity in English, and this identity was elaborated in the balladry of the nineteenth-century" (228).
For a brief video summary of The Nation, see the following video: YouTube.
Despite being nationalist, the Nation was "hostile" to Fenianism (English 187).
Its "reviews of Irish books and periodicals, and its commissioning of poetry, firmly linked emerging literature to the Irish political scene" (Kelleher 454).
The Nation was inspired by a Parisian newspaper and drew on this concept to form its contents (Nowlan 4).
Brillman also calls it "the organ of the Repeal Association" and it supported the Repeal movement between 1843 and 1848 (37). He outlines that in its opening declaration, "its means for raising national consciousness were threefold... First, it was necessary to jettison religious bigotry... Second, the new publication declared that nationhood could only be attained through education... [the third] came through poetry, balladry, history, and to a lesser extent language" (37-38). In its early years, it was Daniel O'Connell's "principal political ally" although this became "untenable because it was not prepared to postpone Repeal in the interests of a Whig alliance" (Brillman 45).
Murphy mentions that the Nation's circulation may have reached its peak at 250,000 (88).
Kinealy: "The Nation was an important tool in forging a new spirit of cooperation amongst the different religious denominations" including Catholics and Protestants (35). Kinealy also explains that the Nation "not only provided a vehicle for the most gifted Irish writers of the 1840s, but it also laid the foundations for a cultural and literary revival later in the century" (262).
"[Charles] Gavan Duffy was the 'father' of this immensely influential newspaper at the age of twenty-six." It sold 10000 copies despite the high cost. Most readers would have to borrow it from news vendors for a penny an hour. Thomas Davis and Duffy's wife both died in 1845. According to Oram, the newspaper never regained its form. It was successful, but it no longer sold as many copies as it had. Duffy brought on Thomas D'Arcy McGee, and the paper survived. However, eventually Duffy sold his share in the company and moved to Australia (Oram 59).
Thomas Davis was a more moderate nationalist whose strategies were sometimes adopted by Sinn Fein. After his death, however, "some within the group came increasingly to favour more aggressive, violent approaches to the national struggle" (English 143). The results were not as favourable.
Kelly explains that the Nation's politics did not condone violence necessarily, but it did approve of "'striking a blow for Ireland'" when the opportunity arose (136). He also mentions that it was conscious of its O'Connellite lineage and influences, as well as its Catholic roots (137).
Penet examines how "the paper's highly political aims did not stop its main contributor, Thomas Davis, from taking full advantage of this new outlet to give vent to his cultural definition of the Irish nation. Of course such a definition of the nation implied, to Davis, a necessary rehabilitation of the Irish language" (433).
"Day after day the lessons [of the Nation] were driven home. It is doubtles true that the writings of The Nation rarely reach a high point in literature: it is also true that in no comparable body of writings is there the same variety of interest, inflexibly directed towards a single and splendid goal" (Law 203).
Benson calls this "the most successful newspaper of the century." It was financially successful as well, bringing in 2000 pounds annually. Staff members were paid between 50 and 500 pounds annually (38).
"When Duffy founded The Nation in 1842, he and his collaborator, Thomas Davis, enlisted the help of young poets in order to remind the dispirited nation of the greatness of its past. From a literary aspect, this was a misguided aim of the Young Irelanders, since the primary motive was political, therefore journalistic" (Partridge 137).
The Nation was integral to the Young Ireland movement because it helped to promote cultural nationalism, which was as important as political nationalism . As such, the Nation was concerned that the reading rooms available to those who could not afford to purchase books were "'ill-managed, have few or no books, and are mere gossiping rooms'"(Higgins 262; 264). The Nation pushed for more books and put pressure on the Repeal Association to deliver, but the Association was could not afford to provide any more titles.
As Penet explains, the editors saw poetry and historians as a way to foster cultural identity and to promote nationalism because they could "transfix a nation's ever-changing identity" ("Heart of the Nation" p.30).
In the early stages of the Young Ireland movement, "the Nation Office in Dublin, was the only literary centre which Ireland possessed; and it was by no means unworthy of its traditions. It had previously been the training-ground of Thomas Sexton, Richard Dowling, John Francis O'Donnell, and others. The thoughts of many young writers turned to it with hope" (Ryan 9).
Although William Carleton, a prominent Irish writer, contributed to the Nation, his "concept of nationality was broad and avoided the traditional associations of race and creed" (Fitzpatrick 242). So he was not as radical or nationalistic as many other who were involved with this publication.
"After the failure of the Young Ireland rising in 1848, the Nation's contributors split into various factions, each with its own organ; a fairly moderate group (including Gavan Duffy, Lady Wilde and A.M. Sullivan) began the second series of the Nation, which continued in fits and starts until the end of the century, although after 1852 it was but a shadow of its former self with greatly reduced sales and impact" (Clyde 108).
When Duffy and company restarted the Nation in 1849 (after Duffy's acquittal), it was more moderate. It wanted a return to constitutionalism. It was not as focused on Irish independence and "the language used was more temperate" (Kinealy 226). Many of its writers were imprisoned or exiled. John Mitchel, for one, disliked the new direction, "particularly Duffy's rejection of physical force" (26).
Mitchel ceased his relationship with the Nation and the events were largely discussed and criticized. Richard O'Gorman said that "'Duffy and Mitchel have quarreled about the prolific source of disagreement-our future policy and Mitchel's connection to the Nation is at an end...This has produced a restraint amongst us all from which I fear very bad results...I see or I think I see symptoms of intended dictatorship on the part of Duffy and McGee-and I for one won't stand'" (qtd. in Nowlan 19).
The shift in tone created a change among most Irish publications. Duffy's Nation no longer focused so much on repeal and independence. It advocated for tenant right and wanted to gain "some measure of land reform from the United Kingdom parliament" (Nowlan 21-22). Many people followed suit with Duffy rather than Mitchel.
"Martin MacDermott makes the singular statement that the last well-defined period of the Nation's life terminated in 1855. The fact is that the Nation saw some of its best days after that date" (Ryan 131).
In an 1883 letter to John T. Kelly, Sullivan wrote that the Southwark Literary Club was "'rapidly winning distinction in the field of Irish literature...the Club is well represented in the little volume entitled 'Emerald Gems' just issued from this office...I am very proud of the volume, as somehow I regard those young poets of the Nation, Weekly News and Young Ireland, as 'My own boys'" (Ryan 18).
"Newspapers such as the Nation, the Freeman's Journal, and the Pilot were all read aloud in reading rooms and this added to their authority" (Higgins 268).
"Circulates throughout Cork, Limerick, Belfast, Waterford and the principal cities and towns of Ireland. The Nation has also an extensive circulation in Liverpool, Manchester, and London. It is the organ of the Repealers, and from its pages the chief materials for the late prosecution of the Repeal leaders were taken. Advocates the union of the Irishmen in all religions; a considerable portion of its space is devoted to literature, poetry, antiquities, and criticism."
It was to be started on 08 Oct 1842, but did not appear until a week later. A prospectus may have appeared on 07 Oct 1842. During the imprisonment of C.G. Duffy in 1848, Mrs. Callan (the wife of J.B. Callan) and Lady Wilde [the mother of Oscar -- ed.] edited the paper. "Duffy was tried for seditious conspiracy in 1844, and for seditious libel in 1846, being discharged or acquitted both times... Arrested on 8 July 1848, he was forced to suspend publication of the Nation when its office was seized on 28 July 1848. Duffy was tried for treason-felony five times, but was ultimately discharged in 1849." (Benatti 184).
McHugh and Harmon explain the impact of the Nation. They argue that "sale of The Nation throughout the country was phenomenal," and they assert that the publication "was definitely committed to the policy of the Young Ireland movement, to repeal the Union and to reform the landholding system, two of the primary issues in Irish politics. 'Educate that you may be free' was the burden of Davis's spirited prose...he and his colleagues wrote for the Irish people as a whole, not for any particular creed or class, and sought also to interest the Irish abroad" (108).
The paper continued to be controversial even after its main players had left the publication. McNicholas discusses how A.M. Sullivan was "jailed for seditious libel" in 1868 for his coverage of the execution of three Irishmen who were accused of killing Segeant Brett, an English officer (147).
There is a reference issue of 1860 that uses the term "Home Rule"; this may mark one of this earliest usages, according to the O.E.D. Sullivan also published a "war sheet" called The Daily Summary (c.1870) to report on the Franco-Prussian War.
There is a long list of other writings by those involved with The Nation including: poems and other articles reprinted from the Nation by T. D'Arcy McGee (1852-1854) Dublin; The Spirit of the Nation; ballads and songs by the writers of The Nation with original and ancient music, arranged for the voice & pianoforte (Dublin 1858); The New Spirit of the Nation... containing songs and ballads published since 1845, edited by M. MacDermott (1893, 1894); A Voice From the Prison, or, Voice of the Nation (Dublin 1844). Penny Readings For the Irish People, "conducted by the editors of the Nation" was published in 1879.
Some additional volume numbers and dates are: volume 1 [2s] (01 Sep 1849) and vol 21 [2s] (1876). National Library of Ireland catalogue: "Publication suspended, July 22, 1848-Sept. 1, 1849." [This was due to suppression of the paper during the Young Ireland Rebellion -- ed.] Published a pictorial supplement, "Irish Volunteers," on 07 Feb 1891. On 09 May 1891, the subtitle "the organ of the Irish people" was appended to the journal.
Dowling wrote under the pseudonym of Marcus Fall and contributed to most of the leading magazines of the period.
"Hyde's popular dual-language volume The Love Songs of Connacht had first appeared publicly in the Nation in 1890" (Levitas 62).
James Clarence Mangan's contributions were largely unrecognized by the paper early on. As each subsequent edition of The Spirit of the Nation was published, less of Mangan's poetry was included. Mangan, who Chuto writes is possibly the Nation's most famous poet, was so overlooked that his friend, C.P. Meehan, added an appendix with some of Mangan's poems. This edition was reissued several times (Chuto 434).
The proprietors "worked at creating a new Irish mode, founded on the traditions of early Irish poetry and often supposedly translated or adapted from it; in many ways the single-mindedness of this work gave it an admirable immediacy and vigour. There were several flaws however; first the profligate weekly output (Davis contributed over 200 articles between 1842 and his death in 1845); secondly, the attempt to create a new literature as a manifestation of race was too precipitate-it is hard to build a literature on political demand." At one point, the paper circulated over 13,000 copies weekly. "Davis's nationalism has been criticized as prejudiced and racialist, propagating a hatred of the English and of the landlord class...[even though] it was trying to encourage a positive love of country, not a negative chauvinism. Overall the effect of the Nation was damaging in that it reversed the outward-looking and self-expressive tendency in Irish literature and periodicals, and turned Ireland inward again" (Hayley 40-41).
Daniel O'Connell was opposed to Young Ireland and, by extension, the Nation. He prohibited "his followers from purchasing the Nation, in an attempt to destroy the financial base of Young Ireland." The opposite happened, with sales increasing in many regions (Kinealy 76).
The Nation covered the effects of the Famine from several different angles including poetry, home rule, government reports, anger and frustration, first-hand accounts from other papers (see Killen).
Tim Healy was a parliamentary correspondent for the paper, and Wikipedia notes that he was the nephew of the paper's proprietor.
William Martin Murphy started his remarkable career contributing part-time to nationalist periodicals like the Nation (Yeates 17).
Norman explains that the Nation "declared that the press in England had shown itself utterly ignorant of Irish realities" (66). While this statement refers to the Church, it speaks more widely to Anglo-Irish relations in the nineteenth-century.
Platt notes that in 1891, the Catholic Church "infamously.... took over ownership of The Nation which became The Irish Catholic and Nation."
The editorial address in 1:1 begins: "With all the nicknames that serve to delude and divide us – with all their Orangemen and Ribbonmen, Torymen and Whigmen, Ultras and moderates and heaven knows what rubbish besides, there are in truth but two parties in Ireland, those who suffer from her national degradation, and those who profit by it. To a country like ours, all other distinctions are unimportant. This is the first article of our political creed... the object of the writers of this journal is to organise the greater and better of those parties, and to strive, with all out soul and with all our strength, for the diffusion and establishment of its principles. This will be the beginning, middle and end of our labours" (8). At its beginning it calls itself, "the largest paper ever published in Ireland."
Pagination was continuous across issues in 1842.

Location:

LO/N38 A vol 1:1-6:303, 7:1-49:28 [2s], 50:1-51:23, 1:1-4:13 [3s] (15 Oct 1842-22 Jul 1848, 01 Sep 1849-11 Jul 1891, 13 Jun 1896-01 Sep 1900); DB/N-1 (843-1888, except 1885); BL/S-7 (03 Jan, 11 Jul 1891); DB/U-1 (15 Oct 1842-29 Jul 1848, 18 Jul 1868-Dec 1870); Roscommon Libs (1842-1897 mic); see COPAC for more; full text available at INA (1842-1897 imp) and at Roscommon County Libraries for library members