“The Shan Van Voght (1848)”

Description

We'll defeat the Tories in this year of 1848. Pitt and Castlereagh "stole our Parliament away." The French drove out the royalists. Smith O'Brien and John O'Connell will do that here. The French are on the sea "to be here the 10th of May"

Notes

Among the European revolutions of 1848 was the French revolt driving Louis Philippe from Paris in February. Once again the United Irishmen looked to France as their model. The Irish famine persisted. When the government suspended Habeus Corpus in July the leaders of Young Ireland -- William Smith O'Brien, John Blake Dillon and Francis Meagher -- planned an uprising that failed. (source: _The 1848 Uprising_ by Donagh MacDonagh at the Waterford Ciry History site, copyright Waterford City History).

The reference "Billy Pitt and Castlereagh ... They stole our Parliament away ... The people's curse, I give my oath, caused Castelreagh to cut his throat" is to the 1801 "Act of Union" --supported by Pitt and Robert Stewart (Lord Castlereagh) -- that formed the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland" and abolished the Dublin Parliament. [For the brief life of Grattan's Parliament, see the notes to "Ireland's Glory."]

Castlereagh committed suicide in 1822 by cutting his throat. (sources: _Britain and Ireland_ by Marjie Bloy on the Victorian Web site; _Robert Stewart, Lord Castlereagh_ on the Dukes of Buckingham and Chandos site). [The fault may have been genetic; his nephew Robert Fitzroy, one-time captain of the _Beagle_ who would oppose evolution tooth and nail, would commit suicide in 1845; see Arthur Herman, _To Rule the Waves_, p. 437. - RBW]

John O'Connell is Daniel O'Connell's son and led the Repeal Association which differed in tactics but not objective from William Smith O'Brien's Young Ireland but both groups supported Irish independence. "Smith O'Brien led a delegation to Paris. Though rebuffed by Lamartine's new government, the delegates were intoxicated by the revolutionary atmosphere in France. On their return caution was thrown to the winds." O'Brien was one of the organizers of the 1848 uprising. (source:_Young Ireland_ by Richard Davis on the Ohio University site) - BS

As so often, of course, when Ireland looked to other nations for help, they found none. 1848 -- "The Year of Revolution" -- did overthrow kings, but not nations. The Habsburg monarchy replaced the feeble-minded Ferdinand I (reigned 1835-1848) with the less addled by hardly more effective Franz Joseph. France got rid of Louis Philippe and eventually replaced him with Louis Napoleon (Napoleon III) -- a man who liked independence movements but didn't like democracy at all. And so it went.

The revolution in France (February 24, 1848) did inspire the Young Ireland leaders, but they could do very little. Young Ireland leaders such as Thomas Francis Meagher (for whom see "The Escape of Meagher") and John Mitchel (for whom see the song by that name) urged revolt, and eventually brought in the more peaceful William Smith O'Brien (1803-1864). (See Terry Golway, _For the Cause of Liberty_, pp. 115-116).

According to Robert Kee (_The Most Distressful country_, being volume I of _The Green Flag_, p. 276), even the beginning of the rebellion was an accident. On July 23, 1848, Smith O'Brien was visiting a friend in Wexford, when Meagher and John Blake Dillon arrived with word that habeas corpus had been suspended; there may also have been a warrant for Smith O'Brien's arrest. He had little choice but to scrape up what strength he could and fight to survive. But there was no organization and no plan; truly Smith O'Brien had been forced into violence. The "rebellion" followed.

Or, rather, collapsed. There was no help from France (presumably the reference is a hangover from one of the earlier Shan Van Voght songs). A few half-armed bands wandered around Ireland, and a few leaders tried to scrape up troops, but no one actually set out to fight the British. Smith O'Brien gave a lot of speeches, but was so cautious that he ended up visiting the same places several times rather than seek new recruits (Kee, p. 280). As Peter and Fiona Somerset Fry put it, "in July 1848 the 'revolt' collapsed in an inglorious scuffle in a widow's back garden patch at Ballingarry. O'Brien, Meagher and others surrendered, and mercifully were not put to death but transported to join Mitchel in Australia" (_A History of Ireland_, p. 238).

According to Golway, p. 121, "The Battle of Widow McCormack's Cabbage Patch" resulted in two people being killed, though they may not have been rebels. And that was it for armed conflict.

To give you an idea of how trivial the whole rising was, R. F. Foster's _Modern Ireland_ mentions the Battle of Ballingary -- the site of the siege on Widow McCormack?s house -- only in its chronology, not in its text. Even its leader Smith O'Brien said that it was an "escapade" and that it "does not deserve the name of insurrection" (Kee, p. 286). The _Oxford Companion to Irish History_ doesn't even give it an entry, or mention it in its article on Smith O'Brien, though it does include a brief description in the article regarding the Revolution of 1848. Still, it's clear that the whole thing is remembered mostly because Young Ireland was first and foremost a literary movement. Odds are there were more Irishmen writing about the revolt in 1848 than actually participated.

Smith O'Brien's erratic behavior continued at his trial. He was, naturally, found guilty of rebellion, which meant that he was subject to the death penalty. The jury strongly urged mercy -- but Smith O'Brien refused to petition for clemency; it took a special act of parliament to allow him to be transported (Kee, p. 287). Even in Tasmania, he long refused to apply for a ticket-of-leave (parole). He was fully pardoned in 1854, and returned to Ireland in 1856. He generally stayed out of politics after that; people seemed to understand that he was a gifted speaker who somehow couldn't come up with much to say. - RBW

Historical references

• 1848 - The Young Ireland uprising fails

Cross references

• cf. "John Mitchel" and references there for the 1848 Irish uprising
• cf. "Lament of John O Mahony" and references there for the 1848 Irish uprising
• cf. "Skibbereen" and references there for the 1848 Irish uprising
• cf. "The Wee Duck" and references there for the 1848 Irish uprising
• cf. "The Shan Van Voght" (1828) for Shan Van Voght song on another subject.
• cf. "The Battle of Ballycohy" (1828) for Shan Van Voght song on another subject.
• cf. "The Shan Van Voght" and references there, including Shan Van Voght broadsides on other subjects.
• cf. "The Game of Cards" (II) for references to the "stealing" of Grattan's Parliament
• cf. "The Wheels of the World" for Pitt and Castlereigh

References

1. Zimmermann 7C, "A New Song Called the Shan Van Vocht" (1 text, 1 tune)
2. BI, Zimm07C