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he origins of the Before his elevation in 1839 he rep- Australian people resented City from 1820, and cannot simply be Cambridge from 1832, serving in vari- explained in terms of Sir Stephen Rice had become Chief ous Whig administrations as Under- abstract economic Baron of the lrish Exchequer in 1687, Secretary of State for Home Affairs, forces propelling the while two years later Askeaton was Treasury Secretary, Secretary of State surplus population represented in the 'Patriot Parliament' for War and the Colonies, and Chancel- of the British isles towards the vacant by Edward Rice.c3)Three of the 1st Lord lor of the Exchequer. As we shall show, spaces of the New World. Such forces Monteagle's sons became senior civil his familiarity with the workings of may help us understand migration in servants, while his grandson, Sir Cecil Westminster and Whitehall was to general, without explaining the deci- Arthur Spring Rice, was Britain's con- serve him well when he set about sion of a few hundred thousand lrish troversial ambassador in Washington removing his surplus peasantry to emigrants to choose Australia. The during the First World War. Australia. Study of his political life may lrish origins of nineteenth-century Thomas, alone of his line in modern also illuminate the broader social Australians were highly localised, time, achieved political distinction. preoccupations that prompted him to depending upon the enterprise of scat- tered organisers and pioneers who menaged to persuade neighbours and kinsfolk that the greater risks associated with transplantation to Australia were worth taking. Aus- tralia's peopling had no unifying theme, and its nairation requires study of disparate local initiatives with limited relevance to other periods or places. One thread in Australia's story is the migration from north Limerick of several hundred settlers through the ingenuity of Thomas Spring Rice, 1st Baron Monteagle of Brandon.

The Spring Rices of Mount Trenchard, on the south bank of the Shannon estuary near Foynes, were moderate lanclowners with an immoderate sense of public duty. In the 1870s the 2nd Baron Monteagle was returned as the seventh greatest landlord in Co. Limerick, with an estate valued at E5046 per annum and covering 6,445 acres. Though he owned additional property in Kerry, Monteagle was not among the 305 landowners with lrish estate of 10,000 acres or more.[') The Spring Rices were a family of sub- Stance rather than magnificence, whose public prominence was achieved by effort rather than birth- tight. As observed, they were 'by no means the traditional hardtiding, fox-hunting, convivial Country gentry, whose sons have con- stantly distinguished themselves in war and not seldom in administration. The Spring Rices were methodical People, diligent officials, with a high Se-nSa of public duty; and their tastes were for the more cultivated plea- SUres.'(P) Bust of Thomas Spring Rice, 1st Lord Monteagle of Brandon, by Thomas Kirk. become an organiser as well as advo- cate of systematic In politics Spring Rice was a Whig reformer with liberal but not radical inclinations, whose support for the Union and for lrish reform was equally strong. He fir~tachieved fame as a crusader against the malpractices of the Limerick corporation, being pic- tured by a local admirer in 1820, wand in hand, as trampling with his top boots upon the hydra of corruption.(5)He cen- sured abuses of the grand jury system, deplored proselytism with its tendency 'to embitter the religious animosities and *internal discord of ', and berated Lord Liverpool in 1827 for fail- ing to grant Catholic Emancipation: 'The refusal is that of ; the demand being that of the lrish nation.'c6) Yet when charged with opposing O'Connell's demand for repeal of the Union in April, 1834, Spring Rice spoke glowingly of Ire- land's economic and social advance since its release from the old lrish parli- ament, which 'of all Parliaments that ever existed, ... was the most corrupt and the most subservient.' His enthusiasm bubbled over into a phrase for which he was never forgiven, that 'I should prefer the name of West Britain to that of Ireland'.(7)Though his inten- tion was to emphasise that Ireland was no more 'a province of Great Britain' thara England, Scotland or , his adversaries in the debate made adroit use of Spring Rice's fauxpas. Dominick Ronayne (Clonmel) likened him to Castlereagh, as 'an Irishman or West Briton -as he chooses to call himself - who is the first to propose that the Union with England shall be main- tained inviolable?. O'Connell expres- sed his indignation with characteristi- cally feline malice: 'l admit, as a proof of the prosperity of Limerick, there is a new square there - it has a statue in the centre, too, but, then, I believe there is not a single house in Rice's Square. Upon the pedestal of that statue the people ought to write "the wonderful West Briton". What a fortune he - Monument to Thomas Spring Rice, M.P. for the City of Limerick, 1820-1832, People's Park, Limerick. would make if he could get that statue, and bring it to every fair in Ireland, as a show for a shilling.' Spring Rice won the vote, but lost much of his peasantry capable of improvement, through our land but a century and a nationalist following.(*) and grateful for every benevolent half back - insurrections in 1798 and The lreland of his dreams would assistance, look up to the landlord as to 1803-partial outbreaks at later times have contained a contented people a protector and friend. He may not only -tithes collected at the bayonet point guided by benevolent mentors such as assist their distresses, but may enable - penal laws continued till '1829, and himself, backed up by reforming gov- them to assist themselves.@) then reluctantly repealed - these ernments dissociated from past mis- Yet all too often, Ireland's social har- things have destroyed our country - rule. In 1815, when still in his twenties, mony was disturbed by renewed acts have degraded our people, and you, he wrote of 'the elevated duties of the of misgovernment, such as the obtuse English, now shrink from your res- lrish country gentleman; ... It is a measures of famine relief introduced ponsibilites; you keep gabbling sphere of personal privation, and of by Lord John Russell's administration about the incompetency of the Celtic personal exertion. But, when a mind is in late 1846. It was a raging lrishman race and the injustice of lrish land- awake to that first of all delights, the rather than a cringing West Briton who lords; ... remember a Wilberforce , .power of becoming extensively and berated CharlesTrevelyan of their- said that England owes us a debt for permanently useful, all privations are ury as follows: the wrongs of centuries; endeavour forgotten, all labour is well repaid. A The sword of conquest passed to repay it, not by pauperking us, but Mount Trenchard, home of the Spring Rice family.

by raising us above our present con- those of my class; and in trying to fol- voked unrest on his own estate by dition. (TO) low them in a spirit of loyal attachment refusing abatement of rent for the The politician was appalled at the to the Queen and the empire at large, majority of his tenants, whose burden thought of separation, but the lrish the two classes from whom I receive had remained unchanged over the pre- gentleman was often more appalled by most opposition are the violent English ceding decade of prosperity. His the consequences of Union. In his politicians, and the violent Irish. The response to agricultural crisis, which ambivalence and extravagance of meaner of the former sort deliberately he confidently predicted would never response, Thomas Spring Rice was a shut their eyes to the misgovernment again generate 'such a national disas- characteristic 'Anglo-Irishman'. of centuries. ... In fact, we may say of ter as the potato famine', was to stimu- The 1st Lord's quirky paternalism them, that they visit the sins of their late employment by initiating works of and eruptive lrishness were as much fathers upon our children.'(12) improvement.(l5) family as personal traits. His eldest son Stephen's eldest son, Thomas, who Any one of these three Spring Rices Stephen expressed his moral earnest- became 2nd Baron Monteagle, shared might have served as the model lrish ness not only in Wordsworthian son- the vision of his forbears. He prayed gentleman depicted in Noblesse nets and conversations with his fellow- that an enlightened upper class might Oblige by Horace Plunkett, with whom Apostles from Cambridge, but also in collaborate in local administration with the younger Thomas worked closely as organising and administering Famine a carefully nurtured middle class, so a founder and president of the lrish relief. As indignant as his father at averting social revolution. In 1883 he Agricultural Organisation Society.(l6J English vilification of his class, he defined that 'upper class' as 'a resident With his sister Alice and daughter asked rhetorically: 'What was the life gentry, bound by ties of common Mary, the 2nd Lord created an amazing led by an lrish squire at that time? You interest, perso%al knowledge, and array of cooperative ventures at might have seen him leaving home mutual good feeling, to those around Foynes and Mount Trenchard, includ- before daylight, that sunrise may find them, and at the same time enabled by ing industry, poultry and credit him within his relief district, into the their position to command a wider societies, sawmill, wheat-growing destitution of which he has to inquire. range of vision, and to place at the ser- cooperative, wholesaling depot, lib- ... But he does not go home to rest. His vice of the public an intelligence rary, workmen's club and branch of the whole night, and far intothe next morn- trained by higher cultivation and attain- United Irishwomen. His colleague ing, is occupied in reducing into an ments and by a deeper hold upon prin- Robert Anderson recalled that 'perhaps available form the rough memoranda ciples - trusted stewards of public he was not a man of outstanding abil- of each case which he has collected in interests in local affairs.'(I3J Like so ity, but he was a man of fine education, the daytime.'(") In 1863 he upbraided many resident gentry, Monteagle of stainless integrity and honour, brave the proprietor of the Saturday Review advocated peasant proprietorship but alway~gentle and conciliatory. ... for asserting that lrish society was rather than 'dual ownership', involving He used to remind me of a benevolent ruled by secret combinations rather progressive rent reductions which eagle. He was very tall and slight.'(17)By than by law. Stephen Spring Rice iden- implied that landlords had 'universally_ -_--"contrast, his grandfather was remem- tifkd'himself as 'a resident lrish coun- and systematically rack-rented their Bered as 'a nobleman of high intellec- try gentleman. My occupations are tenants'.(14)In 1879 Montedgle had pro- tual attainments' who was also 'short in stature'to the point of inviting carica- Roman Catholic Church in middle ture.118) Short or tall, brilliant or merely life, as were Edwin Wyndham-Quin worthy, the Spring Rices laboured ear- (3rd Earl of Dunraven) and his brother- nestly to make Limerick and Ireland in-law William Monsell (1st Lord more prosperous and more harmoni- Emly).(24)Stephen Spring Rice rejected ous. the 'formality' of the Newmanites and resisted conversion, but remained an engrossed Anglo-Catholic, glven to composition of sonnets with sbch titles as 'Edification (On the Baptisry,of an Infant in St. Peter's)'.(25)Issue,drnf doc- The patrician mentality should be inter- trine and church organisation pro- preted in its social as well as lineal set- voked earnest but friendly disputation ting. Not surprisingly, the Spring Rice among the Limerick literati: excited by family intermarried with other north common questions, they had wit Limerick gentry of similar social, intel- enough to arrive at various answers. lectual and moral outlook. The accom- The same applied in politics. Mon- panying chart illustrates the most per- teagle's brother-in-law, Sir Aubrey sistent of these entwinements, with the Hunt, who stood unsuccessfully for Curraghchase Hunts (ienamed de Vere Limerick County in 1820, identified in 1832) and the O'Briens of Cahir- Between 1881 and 1883, Charlotte Grace OWien himself not as a Whig but as 'a Liberal conducted a licensed lodging house in Tory, or a Canningite', who neverthe- moyle. Both seats were fairly close to 3,006 Mount Trenchard, being 11 miles east Queenstown (Cobh) through which intend- less supported Catholic Emancipation ing emigrantspassedin its first year of operation. and 8 miles south-east in turn. Neither and moderate parliamentary reform.(26) family matched the Spring Rices as William Smith O'Brien, who rep- landowners, though the de Veres The composition of the Spring Rice resented Ennis between l828 and 1831 possessed 4,163 acres valued at f2,108, set was not the product of shared ori- as well as Limerick County between while the O'Briens owned 4,990 acres gins, religion or party affiliation. The 1835 and 1849, was successively a worth £3,630 per annum.(lg) As the Rices were early Tudor settlers in Kerry Tory, Whig, Repealer and Confederate, chart shows, Thomas's sister Mary who acquired property in Limerick as a progression which alienated most of married Sir Aubrey Hunt, his firstwife's Elizabethan 'undertakers'; the O'Briens his kinsfolk, including his wife Lucy cousin; while his grand-daughter Mary proudly traced their genealogy to Brian and son Edward.Iz7)Thelast member of was first wife to Edward O'Brien, who Boru; whereas the founder of the lrish the circle to represent the county in par- retained control of the Cahirmoyle Hunts was a Cromwellian officer des- liament was Stephen de Vere between estate even after his father William cended in a female line from the de 1854 and 1859, when he satwith hisfel- Smith O'Brien had returned home fol- Veres (Earls of Oxford). Fine distinct- low-Liberal and fellow-corlvert, Wil- lowing penal servitude in Van ions between Cromwellian, Old liam Monsell. Yet their successors Diemen's Land.cZ0)These three families English and Gaelic origins counted for remained politically active outside the were further enmeshed by two little in the social fabric of the House of Commons at both local and alliances between de Veres and enlightened Limerick gentry. These national level. The Spring Rice set O'Briens, one of whose branches even- families shared a common fascination worked hard at the turn of the century, tually acquired both the surname de with religion rather than a common when 'conciliation' of the classes Vere and the Curraghchase estate. orthodoxy, and were highly responsive seemed for a moment possible, to pro- These three families of resident gen- to the debates and questionings mote industrial regeneration and prove try provided the core of a social set associated with Newman's drift their patriotism by practical effort. within which hospitality, good turns towards Rome. Two sons of Sir Aubrey While the 4th Earl of Dunraven prom- and earnest talk were constantly de Vere and a daughter of William oted land purchase and devolution, exchanged. The 1st Lord Monteagle's Smith O'Brien were converted to the and the 2nd Lord Emly championed the portrait was hung at Curraghchase, where 'in advanced life' as in youth its subject was accustomed to play Mozart's flute sonatas to his sister's acc~mpaniment.(~l)At various times Foynes and its island provided homes for members of all three families, so that when the young Douglas Hyde toured the district in 1891 he paid suc- cessive calls on Charlotte Grace O'Brien at Ard-an-oir, the Monteagles at Mount Trenchard, and Stephen de Vere on Foynes Island where Hyde 'kil- led a white rabbit at forty yards, and a row'.(^^) Naturally, the Spring Rices' set was not restricted to de Veres and O'Briens, extending to other hospitable and cultivated Limerick families such as the Quins of Adare and the Monsells of Ter~oe.'~~)Few regions of Ireland could have boasted of so dense a con- centration of liberal-minded and edu- -r-- 'cated patrician families, so unlike the Curraghchase, home of the de Veres, descr/bed%- Samuel Lewis in 1837 as 'the elegant residence of Sir common run of philistine Irish rentiers. Aubrey de Vere, Baronet, in the centre of a wide, fertile, and undulating demesne', ill at all and looks and is most useful', and as 'so splendid - such a help, such a good sailor, so brave and unshrink- ing'. Mary had a jolly voyage, would have been 'horribly disappointed' if the Arms Proclamation had been rescin- ded, and, after landing the weapons, capped her adventure with a sociabje luncheon, and tea at the United &ts

/ r Mid-way between the landings ,& Howth and Kilcoole, Hugh Vere O'Brien was supervising the landing of 150 rifles smuggled to Foynes by the Limerick and Claremen of New York. He was among the first gentlemen to join the lrish Volunteers, and, having two residences at Ballyalla (Ennis) and Monare (Foynes), he helped drill the Volunteers of both counties.(31)Nine days before the gun-running Hugh's mother had expressed disquiet about his activities: 'He had asked me if I should mind the Volunteers coming over to drill on the Island- adding as an inducement that Monteagle had lent them the Memorial Hall in Foynes. It goes against my inclination to refuse Hugh anything but I did not likethe idea at all.'(32)Though Hugh protested that the Volunteers to which he and his cousin Conor belonged were 'not polit- ical', involvement in the movement was often a prelude to broader entang- lements. Conor O'Brien was to become an Inspector of Fisheries for the 2nd Dail; while Mary Spring Rice lent a boat to the West Limerick Brigade of the I.R.A., carried its messages to , and was rewarded at her funeral in 1924 by a guard of honour representing Labour, the I.R.A. and the Gaelic Leag~e.1~~) The political melodrama which excited that generation of Limerick gentry had its roots in the romantic and backward-looking nationalism which Portrait of Aubrey Thomas de Vere, hung in his study at Curraghchase. had so engrossed their nineteenth-cen- tury predecessors. Sir Aubrey de Vere composed an admirable if intermina- Labour cause in Limerick City, Edward crows or white rabbits. Mary Spring ble 'Lamentations of Ireland', which his O'Brien and his son Dermod worked Rice concocted the first plan for illegal son Aubrey mntched in his epic 'Inis- with Monteagle and Plunkett to foster importation of arms from Germany, fail' and other works treated with cooperative agriculture in the using an old trading smack based at respect by Auden as well as ye at^.'^^) county.(28) Foynes, though, after inspecting the As the genealogical chart demonstrat- As social and political conflict inten- vessel, her friep-d Erskine Childers es, a remarkable number of Spring sified inthe early twentieth century, the decided to use his own yacht, the Rices, de Veres and O'Briens wrote questioning spirit of the Spring Rice cir- Asgard. The load was shared by the verse which was eventually published. cle generated unexpected and radical Kelpie, sailed by Mary's cousin Conor Much of that writing had no political or responses to that challenge. William O'Brien (whom she considered 'use- lrish reference, while the best-known Smith O'Brien's daughter Charlotte less at a crisis') with his sister Kitty and work of Sir Cecil Spring Rice was that became a Parnellite as well as a Roman two sailors from Foynes. Mary, Conor sententious hymn written on the eve of Catholic in the 1880s, while her niece and his close kinsman Hugh Vere his departure from Washington in Nellie O'Brien supported Sinn Fein, O'Brien all subscribed towards the 1918, '1 vow to thee, my country - all founded the lrish College at Carrigaholt purchase of the arms landed at Howth earthly things above'.'35) Even so, in Co. Clare, and represented the Gaelic and Kilcoole, while Mary herself cre- amidst the confusion and inconsis- League on the lrish Guild of the Church wed for Childers on the Asgard. Kitty tency expected within a broad circle of of Ireland.(*g) Common interests in O'Brien was 'as good as a man', thinking people, one may detect a yachting as well as militant nationalism perhaps the highest compliment that rough development of outlook which brought members of all three families her fellow-sailor Diarmid Coffey could had literary, political and social impli- togethgr in the summer of 1914, when bestow upon a woman; while Mary -6ati~ns. The confident paternalism of runiEing guns for the lrish Volunteers Spring Rice was variously described by the pre-famine gentry gradually gave Provided better sport than Hyde's her crew as 'a wonder' who 'was hardly place to gritty attempts to pre-empt social revolution through constructive 'Tell Uncle Monteagle that I have a new ated by his exploits as a gentleman in action, until at last the inexorable point for him to fight on in the need to the steerage was an unsuccessful cam- approach of that convulsion drew have the law paign by William Monsell to secure him many sons and daughters of the gentry The de Veres responded likewise to the modest post of Lieutenant-Gover- towards militant and sometimes illicit the emigration issue. Aubrey Thomas nor of M~ntserrat.'~~' pursuit of nationality. Even the Earl of de Vere regarded the provision of state Pre-eminent among Limerick's patri- Dunraven, deaf and, in his eightieth as well as landlord assistance to emig- cian advocates of state-assisted emig-. year, announced at dinner with Lord rants as 'a debt of honour on the part of ration was Thomas Spring Rice himr French and other Dublin Castle the State', arguing that 'a chronic pov- self. After participating in Wilmot Hop- administrators at the height of the erty weighed down a vast population ton's parliamentary select committees, . 'Troubles' that 'he would declare him- wholly out of proportion to the means on emigration in 1826-7, Spring Ricer self a Republican if he wasn't afraid of subsistence; a "heroic" measure of chaired a series of major committees t0'.(~6)Three-quarters of a century ear- State-aided emigration could alone which urged state assistance as a par- lier Thomas Spring Rice had adopted a have met that evil, ... but the strong tial but vital remedy for lrish poverty. similar ton? of alientation and defiance head and the strong hand needed for His committee on the State of the Poor in his claim to Trevelyan that mis-gov- such a work were not found.'(40' His in lreland reported in 1830 that removal ernment had 'degraded our people, brother Stephen contributed heavily to of Ireland's 'excess of population' to and you, English, now shrinkfrom your the reform of passenger legislation as a the North American colonies 'would responsibilities'. They, Irish, did not do result of his own steerage passage to add to their wealth and power', and so. Quebec in 1847. De Vere paid for the might be funded through state loans passages of 150 labourers and others repayable by the colonists.(47)Spring from Curraghchase, supervised the first Rice's tenure as Colonial Secretary in batch himself and personally nursed summer 1834 (in succession to Edward them upon arrival in fever-ridden Stanley, another landlord with Quebec. His chilling accounts of condi- Limerick tenants whom he had once It was a commonplace among the tions on shipboard and on arrival at sought state assistance to remove) was enlightened gentry that properly con- Grosse Isle had a devastating public too brief to enable him to translate pre- trolled emigration was essential for the impact, skilfully fanned by the elder cept into practice. But he strongly regeneration of Ireland; though, as Uncle Monteagle. As the secretary to backed the innovatory programme of Monteagle stressed in 1848, they 'con- the Emigration commissioners ob- Governor Bourke in Sydney, 'one of his templated no system of emigration served, de Vere had 'made the dumb to oldest and most valued friends', who that would not be advantageous to the speak'.(411 De Vere hoped not only to introduced the 'bounty' system of emigrant, acceptable to the colonies, improve the conditions of passage, but emigration ih 1835and sought to trans- and beneficial to the mother coun- also to prompt 'a great effort by the form the colony from a penal settle- try.'(37) Although north Limerick was state, the counties, the landlords, and ment to a free and open ~0mmunity.c~~) not amon+g Ireland's most 'congested' the people, in combination, to locate regions, the menace of poverty even elsewhere the hands that cannot here It was the famine emergency that before the famine persuaded the gave more urgency to Monteagle's - - . -. - - - - - be paid fortheir labour, andthe mouths Spring Rices and their circle that effi- that cannot otherwise be fed.'(421 longstanding advocacy of state-funded cient management of estates required emigration, as he struggled to expl- humane removal of 'surplus' popula- Support for state-funded colonisa- oit his remaining influencew with Lord tion. In his Confederate days William tion among the gentry of north John Russell's Liberal ministry to apply Smith O'Brien reiterated his unpopular Limerick is confirmed by the list of sig- the lessons of his own harrowing ex- view that 'to lay the foundations of an natories giving 'general Approval' to perience as an lrish landlord. In Oct- lrish colony in another hemisphere is John Godley's elaborate plan for reset- ober, 1846, he sent the Colonial Sec- surely no ignoble task, even for an lrish tlement of 1,500,000 lrish Catholics in retary a memorandum on emigration patriot'. In January, 1847, he proposed Canada at the cost to the state of by his son Stephen, 'who has been that up to 50,000 families should be f9,000,000 within four years. Among working very hard with me in these sent annually to the colonies, at the the signatories in March, 1847, were Sir most calamitous times'. This modest joint expense of the state, the colonists Vere De Vere (brother of Aubrey and scheme proposed that emigration and the regions of origi~(38,In 1842 and Stephen) and Monteagle's son should be facilitated by raising wages 1847 his brother Sir Lucius and sister Stephen Spring Rice; supported by payable on relief works, so making 'the Grace provided loans and outfit for their friends or kinsmen the 2nd Earl of paymasters at once Emigration agents emigrants from the Dromoland estate; Limerick, Viscount Adare (later 3rd Earl and Savings Bank Managers'. Earl Grey while his daughter Charlotte Grace of Dunraven), William Monsell and offered only lukewarm support, warn- conducted a celebrated campaign dur- Richard Bourke of Th0rnfie1d.c~~) ing against 'the mischievous effect of ing the Land War forthe better supervi- Bourke had assisted several of his dis- keeping up what I believe to be the sion and moral protection of female placed tenants from Limerick to entirely unfounded notion that lreland emigrants leaving Queenstowrl. Australia after his retirement in 1838 as is over peopled' and objecting to any Though 'utterly opposed to the English Governor of New South Wales, and outlay of public money. Despite policy of state-aided emigration', she was'sure they are much better off there slightly greater interest on the part of set about facilitating voluntary move- than they were in After the Trevelyan and Russell, the proposal ment by opening and running an emig- famine, Stephen de Vere continued to lap~ed.(~~1A few months later both rant hostel at Queenstown, prompting deplore the state's failure to shape and Thomas and Stephen helped raise sup- an official inquiry into the vulnerability control the flow of popplation from Ire- port for Godley's plan, and Monteagle to male intrusion of sleeping female land to the New World, and to praise annotated Lord John Russell's view of passengers, touring America to the private services of philanthropists 'any effort of emigration as a merely organise reception facilities for lrish such as Caroline Chisholm of Sydney subsidiary measure' by exclaiming: girls, and exploiting social and family ('one of the most remarkable women of 'but an indispensable one'.@0) conitacts to seek legislative reform. modern timesf).(45'But political interest The aovernment's immobilitv Dromw- After a steerage journey from Liverpool in state assistance waned as voluntary-3 ted I\jionteagle in June, 1847; to move to Oueenstown, she enlisted her emigration waxed; and de Vere's prin- the creation of a select committee on brother's children g& intermediaries: cipal reward for the'great noise'gener- colonization from Ireland in the House The Chairing of Thomas Spring Rice, M. P., 1820, oilpainting by William Turner of Oxford (by permission of the Limerick Chamber of CommerceII

of Lords. He declared that 'emigration In that month Monteagle's acrimoni- tion Commissioners in ).(55) was now absolutely demanded by the ous altercation with Grey was resumed Clarendon pointedly replied 'that present distressed state of the lrish when the Colonial Secretary intro- although as an lrish Proprietor you population; and the question was sim- duced a brief debate on Australian would have no difficulty in advocating ply, whether that stream of emigration emigration, without offering any prom- the Project you might hesitate to prop- ought to be directed to the shores of ise of further state funding. Monteagle ose it if you were still Chancellor of the this country, or towards our colonial zestfully lampooned Grey's 'small and Exchequer.'(56) possessions?' After reminding Grey of miserable scheme', voicing the outlook At first it seemed that Russell, upon his past advocacy of state funding, of a Whig patrician rather than a mod- Clarendon's urging, might implement Monteagle rehearsed the benefits of ern Liberal by declaring that 'the laissez some such scheme. Yet by January, colonization to both the colonies and faire system of his noble Friend was an 1849, Treasury opposition had aborted Ireland, which as all lrish landlords and absurdity'.(54) Thereafter Monteagle that hope, whereupon Russell sent gentlemen agreed 'ought to be held directed much of his fire upon the Lord Monteagle some fatuous words of bound to furnish a reasonable portion Lieutenant, the Earl of Clarendon, commiseration: 'Do not despair of Irish of the cost of that benefit'. Monteagle reminding him that the recent assisted Emigration - Every plan is difficult, but spoke mainly of British North America, emigration from the Crown estate at no plan is the most difficult of all. Yrs. but added that 'the Australian colonies Ballykilcline, Co. Roscommon, had truly J. Russell.' Clarendon was 'much presented an almost unlimited field for 'transformed into c6nsumers of British dispirited' at Russell's capitulation, not- colonisation, and an encouraging manufactures abroad men, who would ing that Grey's rival 'Canadian plan' example of successful enterprise', only have been White Boys and Molly had also been ditched in response to - despite recent financial crisis.c5') Grey Maguires without either principles or colonial opposition.(57)The miniscule replied discouragingly that emigration breeches at home'. In a long memoran- scale of state funding through the poor could only be 'subsidiary to other mea- dum Monteagle advocated incentive rates and colonial land fundscontinued sures now in progress' as a palliative subventions rather than full state fund- to disgust Monteagle, but his reiter- for lrish poverty, while schemes like ing, so limiting the cost to an annual ated protests met with ever cooler Godley's should be let 'slumber upon charge of £180,000 on lrish land. He responses from Clarend~n.(~~)The dusty shelves'. Colonisation might complained of discrimination against moment for the 'heroic' solution for benefit the colonies, but could not 'at Ireland in provision for emigration to lrish poverty had passed. once seriously diminish the pressure of Australia, since the expensive voyage destitution in Ireland'.'52)Nevertheless, to Plymouth was unsubsidised, and 38. flonteagte'e Eluetralian Grey did not oppose formation of Mon- proposed the appointment of an lrish teagle's select committee, which sub- emigration agent to act on behalf 'of Cmigrante -9 mitted fbur reports of which the last those excellent public servants Mur- Though the political influence of Mon- was dated August, 1848.(53) doch and his colleagues' (the Emigra- teagle and his circle proved insufficient U to sway state policy, it was-adeptly for his passage if your ladyship cant exercised to direct much of the scarce get him out at the usual sum 2E- his official funding actually provided Sister and Cousin would dread going towards the 'surplus'. population of without him -he says their Relations north Limerick. It seems that about 600 in Australia have purchased 75-100 emigrants from the Spring Rice estate acres of land - and want to get them were despatched to AusMalia between all there - as they can spare the money to send Sydney is the place 1837 and 1857, of whom a third appear - ,' in the voluminous correspondence they want to go.@') preserved in their benefactor's archive. Through delicate handling of tenant 1 These testimonials deserve more sys- susceptibilities and civil service /. tematic reproduction and analysis than punctilio, the Monteagles managed to .'/' is attempted here.(59)Monteagle's man- prevent the Limerick estate from ner of assisting his emigrants was becoming a 'wretched pauper warren', unusual in thaP he provided only mod- without incurring the cry of 'inhuman- est subsidies or loans to supplement ity' as they consolidated farms.'62' As Betw Patrick O'Farrell remarks, 'he was prop- em& the free passage that he arranged with was the Emigration Commissioners. By the erly believed a benevolent landlord, such early 1850s his second wife was super- but his motivation was not entirely emia altruistic'.(63) His aim, which he evi- The I vising allocations of these subsidies, clers corresponding constantly with the dently accomplished, was to reor- chan Emigration Commissioners about par- ganise and improve his estate while V~H Portrait of Thomas Spring Rice while member for ticular candidates, and holding mwn- retaining the devotion and gratitude of Limerick /1820-321, in studious pose. This paint- those who left it. the ing levees to prepare the emigrants for ing by Sir Martin Archer Shee was commissioned their adventure.@O) The Monteagles The evidence of laudatory letters fur by the Limerick Chamber of Commerce for BOO, from emigrants, preserved and some- the had themselves become, in effect, the and hung in December, 1822. Irish emigration agency which Thomas - times printed for circulation by a politi- In had called for in 1848. cian eager to document the popular de Funding Monteagle's emigrants was As Lady Monteagle's housekeeper demand for emigration to Australia, ba a highly personal process of coopera- reported in about 1853: requires careful interpretation. Dis- m tion involving civil servants, landlord, Cornelius [Sullivan] is most anxious satisfied emigrants doubtless held n6 prospective emigrants and their about getting out says they have 10f their peace, while those who wrote to of kinsfolk in both Limerick and Australia. lately sent- that he could pay 5 or 6f the Monteagles may have exaggerated TI bi tP necessarily impugn his sincerity'; but £13 to hki 'poor remaining parent'.(66' , O'Farrell's reader is left It The generosity of the successful emig- would indeed be surprising to detect rants was illustrated by a letter from unblemished altruism and self-denial Wollongong (which was soon to be fol- in either landlord or tenant at any lowed by £5 towards the passage of the period, especially amidst the 'roars of writer's brother) which Monteagle anger and cries of suffering' which showed to Nassau Senior in 1852: . Stephen Spring Rice associated with The comfort l can afford you is bread, the famine in F0yr1es.c~~)Less censori- butter and tea, honey, beef, pork an ously, one might marvel at the cabbage, potatoes and milk; a hor 9e , ingenuity with which the Monteagles and cart to ride to Mass, or a hors$' manipulated a flawed system, and with bridle and saddle, which you please. which their beneficiariesforged a liveli- If you come to me yourself and your hood in Australia and coaxed out their son, we shall never see a poor day kinsfolk to form family networks in again. !@7) Between 1832 and 1836, state assistence for female unfamiliar surroundings. Cornelius Sullivan's sisters in Gee- emigrants to NeFv South Wales and Van biemerl 'S land In March', 1848, Patrick Danaher, the long sent home £10 without laying was supewised by voluntary emi ration committees, such as the Cork committee whic! issued this call for correspondent whose sincerity O'Far- down conditions as to the recipients, emigrants in 1836 (co y in state Pap& Office, Dublin). retl has called into question, reported merely expecting 'one of the boys or The committee incldd catholic as well as Protestant that Monteagle's female emigrants two of them if they can come' and clergymen, landowners, land agents, and Cork mer- perhapsa girl: chents of many politicalgroupings(some with reformist were 'all in respectable places' in Mel- views akin to S~rinaRice'sl. bourne, earning 25 or 26 shillings Der brothers let nothing prevent ye to weekly, while the men had found jobs come out to thiss colony where you their success in order to encourage in bricklaying or public works at 416 per would think no more of five pounds further emigration and exaggerated diem. Those longer established in Port than you would of one penny at their gratitude in order to curry favour. Phillip had done still better by marrying home ... We feel very lonesome to be In his commentary on the correspon- an hotel-keeper, saving enough 'as without a brother here in a foreign dence, O'Farrell has emphasised the exempts him from personal labour', land Adieu farewell but not I hope for base motives of Monteagle's infor- keeping a grocery or 'living indepen- ever. mants with their 'naked greed, selfish- dently in the Country'. Five years later, Like many of the correspondents, they ness and the desire to restrict the spoils Danaher referred to several Monteagle bestowed blessings upon the Mon- of immigration to close relatives only'. emigrants who had done moderately teagles 'for sending us out to such a fer- The fact that one emigrant 'expressed well in the diggings, underlining his tile Contrary all with gold by far better back to Monteagle a landlord's view of own success by momentarily conceal- than farming or any other trade in the the benefits of emigrations ... does not ing his 'naked greed' in order to remit Their loneliness and munifi-

S the) did not like: Sir Francis Burden's radicalism,that was once too much for the High Whigs, hasevaporated with age. He took offence at the alliance of thewhuipistry with O'Conndl, and is here representedas Don Quixote. cometo literate the Ministers from their enslavement to the Irish agitator. But Burden's attempt was not as successful as the Don's. Behind O'~on&llmarch Melbourne, Russell and Spring Rice: the fourth in order of the capitives is Sir John Cam Hobhouse, another old-time Radical, formerly Byron's friend and now President of the Board of Control [India]. He was created Baron Houghton in 1851. He is said to have A genealogical chart of the Spring Rice, de Vere andsmith O'Brien families.

cence were echoed by Ellen Kenny, Bridget Barrett, whose sister had sent tic colonisation. The same spirit of who sent £5 towards the passage of her six pounds towards passages for her- paternalism suffused other aspects of parents or else of Benjamin Kenny, a self and two brothers, most humbly their estate management and local carpenter in Shanagolden: 'My Lady I petitioned Lord Monteagle that he enterprise, and remained detectable in wish to let you know that I have not one might 'be humanely pleased to exer- the support given in later generations belonging to me in this Country which I cise your Lordship's powerful interest to cooperative activity and even feel very lonely but I hop I will not be on their behalf with the Emigration militant nationalism. It would be long when I will have my Parent with Commissioners to grant them a pas- absurd to infer that the Spring Rices your assistance.'(69) sage.'(71) James Raleigh received no and their set were characteristic of the The effusive gratitude prevading the less than £60 from his brother-in-law in resident gentry of Ireland, let alone of correspondence should not be attri- Melbourne, with which he asked Mon- the agents for absent landlords who buted to the cunning of selfish peasants teagle to 'procure me a free pas- determined policy on emigration and wheedling cash from their secretly ~age'.(7~'Likewise, John Culhane was 'improvement' for most of the great resented ex-masters and mistresses. seeking mediation rather than money estates. It would be equally absurd to Most of the later letters enclosed rather when he asked for his married daugh- dismiss Monteagle's benevolence as than requested money, and sought the ter and her husband in London to veiled exploitation, or to deny his deli- good offices of those 'trusted stewards' accompany the residue of his family to cacy in minimising the fracturing of the Monteagles in putting their remit- Australia, at his own expense: 'Do you social and familial networks caused by tances to good use and securing state most respected Lady Mount Eagle lend estate reorganisation. At times Mon- assistance. Patrick Kelly and his wife in your knoble hand and hart to the good teagle despaired of his task, as in the Melbourne would 'ever pray for the cause and I presume to say that my midst of Famine when he ruefully Lady and your Lordship, for sending us famieley which consists of six in remarked to Aubrey de Vere that 'l once from a starved Country to where we number will live and die together in knew a gentleman who was popular in can have good earnings and enough to Melbourne'.(73) this country - his name was Thomas Eat. My Lord, I hope you will send out The story of Thomas Spring Rice and Spring Rice.'(74'Yet it would be difficult both my Brothers in laws for this order emigration to Australia offers hearten- to concoct a less appropriate epitaph of Twelve pounds 8f for the two ing evidence that benevolence, self- for him than O'Connell's 'wonderful Michael and Richard Hartnett' and 4f interest and communal benefit were West Briton', unless perhaps that prop- for my cousins in law Mary Forein and not incompatible, even under the osed in an earlier issue of this journal Johanna Forein'. The Hartnetts' stress of famine. Spring Rice, in com- by Finbarr Crowe: widowed mother also besought Mon- mon with many of north Limerick's Isee, but keep mystony silence, . teagle 'to interfair with the Commis- resident gentry, responded hu-y Who would heedme if I spoke?- sioners to get the necessary papers for and creatively to crisis, despite the fair - 'Spring Rice, haughty LordMonteagle

the remaininad. . part of my family.'(70' lure of the state to undertake systema- What can he know ofIrish f01k?q~~) Monteagle spoke a great deal, was to 1871, created Lord Emly in 1873) was Anna tively from Limerickto Canada in 1851: see Pap- widely if insufficiently heeded, and Wyndham-Quin, daughter of the 2nd Earl of ersrelativeto Emigration, HC 1852, xxxii (1474). knew much about lrish folk. In passing, Dunraven. The Rev. Charles Monsell married 45. Stephen de Vere, lecture on emigration to he also made a distinctive contribution Harriet O'Brien, sister of Robert O'Brien (whose LimerickCatholicYoung Men's Society, TCD, MS to the formation of an Australian folk. connections with the Spring Rices and the de 5074. Veres are specified in the chart). 46. Letter to Stephen de Vere, 21st November 1853, 24. Wilfrid Ward, Aubrey de Vere: a Memoir (Lon- in TCD, MS5053125. don, 19041, pp 183,198; Gwynn (1909), p. 103; 47. Report ofSelect Committee on the State of tfe (4th) Earl of Dunraven, Past Times and Pas- Poorinlreland, HC 1830, vii (667), p. 49. . times (London, 19221, i. passim; The Catholic 48. Third Report from the Select ~ommitteelon 1. Thom'sMfcialDirectory(Dublin,1883), pp724- Who's Who (London, 1911), pp 119-120 (Lord Emigration from the UnitedKingdom, HC 183?, ,. ' 50, giving annual valuation as in 1873 but Emly). v (5501, evidence q. 4395-6 (Stanley); Hansah excluding land leased to others. 25. Ward (1904), pp 54,176; Aubrey de Vere, Antar (3rd Series), ci, col. 30; article by Hazel King on 2. Stephen Gwynn (ed.), the Letters and andZara ... and other Poems (London, l877), p. Bourke in Australian Dictionary ofBiography, i, Friendships of Sir Cecil Spring Rice (London, 275 (one of several sonnets by Stephen Spring pp 128-33; C.M.H. Clark, A History ofAustralia, ii 19301, i, p. 4. Rice there published). (Melbourne, 19681, p. 254. 3. Maurice Aenihan, Limerick; its History and 26. De Vere (1897), pp 10,212. 49. Monteagle to Grey, 9th October 1846 and Grey Antiquities (Dublin, 1866), pp 115,238. 27. See note 20. to Monteagle, 14th October, in NLI, MS 1340011. 4. See article by John Andrew Hamilton in Dictio- 28. Dunraven (1922), ii, passim; Lord Emly's 50. Annotated memorial by Lord John Russell on naryofNationalBiography,xviii, pp 535-7. address to Land and Labour Association, Her- Godley scheme, NLI, MS 13400. 5, Lenihan (1866), pp 444-8. bertstown, 2nd July, 1899, in State Paper Office, 51. Hansard(3rd Series), xciii, cols. 99,106-7. 6. Thomas Rice, An Inquiry into the Effects of the CSB, 1953s; Anderson (19351, pp 275-6. 52. Hansard(3rd Series), xciii, cols. 108-9,117. lrish Grand Jury Laws (London, 1815); (T.S.R.), 29. Gwynn (1909), p. 49; Michael Hurley (ed.),lrish 53. The reports subsequent to that cited at note 43 Catholic Emancipation, considered on Protes- Anglicanism 1869-1969 (Dublin, 1970), pp 106, may be found in HC 1847-8, xvii (415 and 593); tantfrinciples (London, 1827), pp i, 8. 117. HC 1849, xi (86). 7. Thomas Spring Rice, Speech ... on the Repealof 30. F.X. Martin (ed.), The Howth Gun-running and 54. Hansard(3rd Series), ci, cols. 20,36. the Union with lreland (London, 1834). the Kilcoole Gun-runniflg 1914 (Dublin, 1964), 55. Monteagle to Clarendon, 21st October, 1848, in 8. Hansard(3rdSeries), xxiii, cols. 176,283-4; Leni- pp xiv-xv, 13-4,35-7, 718, 67, 106, 68-97 (Mary NLI, MS 1340012. han (18661, pp 487-8. Spring Rice's diary of the voyage). 56. Clarendon to Monteagle, 30th October, 1848, in 9. Rice (18151, pp 23-4. 31. Clare Champion, 8th August, 1914; Saturday NLI, MS1340012. 10, (Board of Works, Ireland), Correspondencewith Record, 8th August, 1914; Monthly Confidential 57. Russell to Monteagle, 27th January, 1849, and LordMonteagle and Hon. Stephen Spring Rice Reports of County Inspectors, RIC, for Limerick Clarendon to Monteagle, 28th January, 1849, in (Dublin, 1846), p. 12 (l October 1846). (July, 1914) and Clare (June, 1914), in Public NLI, MS 1339912,6. 11. Recollections ofAubreyde Vere (London, 18971, Record Office (London), CO 904194. 58. Clarendon to Monteagle, 26th October and 13th p. 246. 32. Florence Vere O'Brien to her sister Frances, 20th November, 1849, in NLI, MS 1339916. 12. Stephen Spring Rice,/rishCrime.ALeftertoAle- July 1914, infrinity College Dublin, Mss 5004-6. 59. S.C. O'Mahony, 'Monteagle Emigrant Letters', xanderBeresfordHope, Esq. (Dublin, 18631, p. 4. 33. Martin (1964), pp 68, 108; Cuimhnionn Muim- paper to conference on Australia and Ireland, 13. Lord Monteagle, 'Address', JnL oftheStatistica1 neach (Casg, 1966), pp 7-8. TCD, 22nd April, 1987. Relevant documentation andSociallnquiry Society ofIreland, viii (1883), 34. Allan Wade (ed.), TheLettersofKB. Yeats(Lon- is available at the Mid-west Archives, Limerick, pp 380-1. don, 19541, p. 232. Works by all three de Veres, in addition to the Monteagle Papers in the 14. Monteagle (1883), p. 395. William Smith and Charlotte Grace O'Brien were National Library. 15. Monteagle, To my Tenants in the County of culled by Mrs. Elizabeth Murrin for her Ouota- 60. Nassau William Senior, Journals, Conversa. Limerick (nap.,1879). tions in Poetry and Prose (Baltimore, 1912), a tions and Essays relating to lreland (London, 16. Horace Plunkett, Noblesse Oblige: an lrish useful compendium of lrish clich6s. 1868), i, p. 303. Rendering (Dublin, 1908); Patrick Bolger, The 35. Cecil Arthur Spring Rice, Poems(London, l920), 61. Jane Headley to Lady Monteagle, 5thApriL1853 Irish Co-operative Movement (Dublin, 1977), pp p. 176. (?),in NLI, MS1340014. 67,71,78,89-90. 36. Diary of Mark Sturgis, ii, p. 113 (3rd November, 62. Cf. Monteagle to Earl Grey, 9th October, 1846, in 17. Bolger (19771, pp 284, 286-7; R.A. Anderson, 19201, in PRO (London), PRO 3015912. NLI, MS 1340011. With Horace Plunkett in lreland (London, 1935), 37. Hansard(3rd Series), ci, col. 37. 63. Patrick O'Farrell, The lrish in Australia (Sydney, p. 9. 38. William Smith O'Brien, Reproductive Employ- l986), p. 69. 18. Lenihan (18661, p. 760; DNB, xviii, p. 837. ment; a Series of Letters to the Landed Plop. 64. O'Farrell(1986), pp 88,56. 19. The chart shows extracts from the genealogies rietors of lreland (Dublin, 1847), pp 49-50; cf. 65. De Vere (18971, p. 247. of the three families, drawn from the standard William Smith O'Brien, Emigration (London, 66. Patrick Danaher to Monteagle, 20th March, 1848 peerages and baronetages. The parity of sons is 1840). , (printed text) and 2nd February 1853 (discussed indicated by the numbers l.,and that of 39. Devon Commission, HC 1845, xx (Cd. 616), evi- by O'Farrell), in NLI, MS 1340011. daughters by (11, etc. For size of properties see dence 586136; Oliver MacDonagh, 'lrish Emigra- 67. D. Downey to his brother, 2nd February, 1852, note 1. tion during the meat Famine 1845-52' (M.A. quoted in Senior (1868), i, p. 304. 20. Stephen Gwynn (ed.), Charlotte Grace O'Brien: Thesis, NUI, 19461, p. 194; Gwynn (19091, pp 79, 68. Ellen and Mary O'Sullivan to parents and Selections from her Writings and Correspon- 72 et passim. brothers, 7th October, 1852, in NLI, MS1340013. dence with a Memoir (Dublin, 1909), pp 28,33; 40. De Vere (1897), pp 9,58. 69. Ellen Kenny to Lady Monteagle,27th November, Blanche M. Touhill, William Smith O'Brien and 41. De Vere (1897), pp 252-4; correspondence of 1852, in NLI, MS1340013. his Revolutionary Companions in Penal Exile Stephen de Vere in de Vere Papers, TCD, Mss 70. Patrick Kelly to Lord Monteagle, 9 June 1853, (Columbia, Missouri, 1981), pp 228-9. 505314, 5075, 5075a; Monteagle Papers, and undated petition from Widow Hartnet and 21. De Vere (1897), p. 22. National Library of Ireland, MS 1340012. family, in NLI, MS 1340013. 22. Dominic Daly, The YoungDouglasHyde(Dublin, 42. De Vere to Monteagle, 13th March 1847, in TCD, 71. Petition of Bridget Barrett to Lord Monteagle, 19741, pp 145-6. Daly misconstrues these diary MS505314. 13th October, 1853, in NLI, MS1340013. entries as evidence of a 'contrast between Hyde 43. MacDonagh (1946), p. 68; Report of the Select 72. James Raleigh to Lord Monteagle, 18th October, the crusader for all things Gaelic and Hyde the Committee of the House ofLords on Coloniza- 1853, in NLL MS 1340013. Anglo-Irish country gentleman': in fact, most of tion from Ireland, HC 1847, vi (737), evidence q. 73. John Culhane to Lady 'Mount Eagle', 8th Sep- his hosts in Foynes shared his Gaelic 1627; (737-II), appendix 25. tember, 1856, in NLI, MS1340013. enthusiasms. 44. Devon Commission, HC 1845. xx (Cd. 6161. evi- 74. Ward (19041. D. 126. 23. Jhefirst wife of William Monsell (Gladstone's dence 614/44,48-9. The Earl of Dunravenandthe - -34: hbar~rowe; 'Spring Rice', in OldLimerickJnl., Under-Secretaryof State for Coloniesfrom 1868 Earl of Limerick sent 11 and 5 emigrants respec- 12 (19821, p. 33