Thomas Francis Meagher - Young Ireland

Young Ireland

Meagher returned to Ireland in 1843, with undecided plans for a career in the Austrian army, a tradition among a number of Irish families. In 1844 he traveled to Dublin with the intention of studying for the bar. He became involved in the Repeal Association, which worked for repeal of the Act of Union between Great Britain and Ireland. Meagher was influenced by writers of the The Nation newspaper and fellow workers in the Repeal movement. The movement was nationwide. At a Repeal meeting held in Waterford on December 13, at which his father presided, Meagher acted as one of the Secretaries. He soon became popular on Burgh Quay, his eloquence at meetings making him a celebrated figure in the capital. Any announcement of Meagher's speaking would ensure a crowded hall.

In June 1846, the administration of Sir Robert Peel’s Tory Ministry fell, and the Liberals under Lord John Russell came to power. Daniel O’Connell tried to lead the Repeal movement to support both the Russell administration and English Liberalism. Repeal agitation was damped down in return for a distribution of generous patronage through Conciliation Hall. On June 15, 1846, Meagher denounced English Liberalism in Ireland, as he suspected the national cause of Repeal would be sacrificed to the Whig government. He thought the people striving for freedom would be “purchased back into factious vassalage.” Meagher and the other “Young Irelanders” (the epithet used by O’Connell to describe the young men of The Nation) vehemently denounced any movement toward English political parties, so long as Repeal was denied.

The promise of patronage and influence divided the Repeal Movement. Those who hoped to gain by government positions, also called The “Tail”, and described as the “corrupt gang of politicians who fawned on O’Connell” wanted to drive the Young Irelanders from the Repeal Association. Such opponents portrayed the Young Irelanders as revolutionaries, factionists, infidels and secret enemies of the Catholic Church. On July 13, O'Connell's followers introduced resolutions to declare that under no circumstances was a nation justified in asserting its liberties by force of arms.

In fact, the Young Irelanders had not, until then, advocated the use of physical force to advance the cause of repeal and opposed any such policy. The “Peace Resolutions” declared that physical force was immoral under any circumstances to obtain national rights. Although Meagher agreed that only moral and peaceful means should be adopted by the Association, he also said that if Repeal could not be carried by those means, he would adopt the more perilous risky but no less honorable choice of arms. When the Peace resolutions were proposed again on July 28, Meagher responded with his famous "Sword Speech".

Meagher held the Peace Resolutions were unnecessary. He believed that under existing circumstances, any provocation to arms would be senseless and wicked. He dissented from the Resolutions because of not wanting to pledge to the unqualified repudiation of physical force “in all countries, at all times, and in every circumstance.” He knew there were times when arms would suffice, and when political amelioration called for “a drop of blood, and many thousand drops of blood.” He “eloquently defended physical force as an agency in securing national freedom.” As Meagher carried the audience to his side, O'Connell's supporters believed they were at risk in not being able to drive out the Young Irelanders. O’Connell’s son John interrupted Meagher to declare that one of them had to leave the hall. William Smith O’Brien protested against John O’Connell’s attempt to suppress a legitimate expression of opinion, and left the meeting with other prominent Young Irelanders in defiance, never to return.