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John Devoy: Feniánusok És Ír-Amerikaiak Az Ír Függetlenségért

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John Devoy: Feniánusok És Ír-Amerikaiak Az Ír Függetlenségért Eötvös Loránd Tudományegyetem Bölcsészettudományi Kar DOKTORI DISSZERTÁCIÓ Szedmina Lívia John Devoy: Feniánusok és ír-amerikaiak az ír függetlenségért Irodalomtudományi Doktori Iskola Dr. Kállay Géza PhD, a Doktori Iskola vezetője Amerikanisztika doktori program Dr. Frank Tibor CMHAS, a program vezetője A bizottság tagjai: Dr. Bollobás Enikő DSc, egyetemi tanár Dr. Szabó Éva Eszter PhD, egyetemi adjunktus Dr. Lévai Csaba PhD, egyetemi docens Dr. Benczik Vera PhD, egyetemi adjunktus Dr. Pintér Károly PhD, egyetemi docens Dr. Federmayer Éva PhD Témavezető: Dr. Frank Tibor CMHAS Budapest 2014 Eötvös Loránd University Faculty of Humanities DOCTORAL DISSERTATION Lívia Szedmina John Devoy: Fenians and Irish-Americans for Irish Independence Doctoral School of Literary Studies Dr. Géza Kállay PhD, Head of the Doctoral School American Studies Doctoral Program Professor Tibor Frank, Head of the Doctoral Program Members of the Committee: Dr. Enikő Bollobás DSc, Professor Dr. Éva Eszter Szabó PhD, Assistant professor Dr. Csaba Lévai PhD, Associate professor Dr. Vera Benczik PhD, Assistant professor Dr. Károly Pintér PhD, Associate professor Dr. Éva Federmayer PhD Supervisor: Professor Tibor Frank Budapest 2014 Acknowledgements This work could not have been written without the invaluable support of my supervisor, Professor Tibor Frank, for which I am extremely grateful. Also, I am thankful to Subotica Tech – College of Applied Sciences for allowing me to pursue my postgraduate studies, and to my colleagues at the regular meetings in office 109 for the shared experience. None of this would have been possible without the eternal encouragement and support of Dr. Márta Takács, to whom I owe much gratitude. Professor Terry Golway, Director of Kean University Center for History, Politics and Policy is the author of the most encompassing biography on John Devoy and has selflessly helped me with data, references, and other minutiae regarding this Fenian, for which I am deeply grateful. Thank you to Dr. Carla King, St. Patrick’s College, Dublin City University, for offering to read and comment some of the chapters of this work, and to Dr. Shane Kenna for providing an opportunity to share my work with other Irish historians at the conference entitled The Irish National Invincibles and Their Times: Perspectives on Late Victorian Irish Nationalism, held in Dublin, in May 2013. The team of dedicated local historians in Naas and Kildare, primarily Seamus Curran, Mario Corrigan, James Durney, and Brian McCabe have offered their expertise on John Devoy and Naas local history and given historical tour of the Devoy-related locations, as well as provided some photos which were of great addition to this research. I would especially like to thank historian Ormonde D. P. Waters for providing invaluable insight into the Catalpa mission and readily sharing historical memorabilia relating to John Devoy and the Catalpa. I am also grateful to the sculptors Charles and Joan Walsh-Smith of Perth, Australia for kindly allowing me to use some of their Catalpa-related art work. This topic has led me to a host of experts who have gladly shared material, offered to read my chapters and provided useful suggestions. Among them I owe special thanks to the Dublin-based independent radio producer Paul Wright for commenting on the first draft and putting me in touch with Devoy-experts. James Leavey has vetted and commented this work, and Sanja Maravić Čisar has helped with the formatting, for which I am thankful. All of this support is much appreciated and acknowledged. Last, but not least, thank you to my family and friends for the understanding and patience shown while working on this thesis. Contents Preface .............................................................................................................................. 1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 3 Chapter 1 – The life and work of John Devoy: a literature review .......................... 12 Primary sources .................................................................................................................... 13 Biographies .......................................................................................................................... 15 John Devoy presented in other forms of media .................................................................... 19 Current literature .................................................................................................................. 21 Chapter 2 - Nationalism ............................................................................................... 36 Chapter 3 – Related issues of Irish and Irish-American history: ............................. 41 an overview .................................................................................................................... 41 Irish emigration to the United States .................................................................................... 42 Emigration in light of The Great Famine ............................................................................. 43 Social distribution of Irish immigrants in the U.S. .............................................................. 52 Occupational distribution of Irish immigrants ..................................................................... 54 Chapter 4 - John Devoy – a transatlantic life ............................................................. 60 Early life ............................................................................................................................... 60 Early Fenian years ................................................................................................................ 63 Irish-American Fenianism .................................................................................................... 69 Mission impossible: the Catalpa rescue .............................................................................. 71 Stepping out into the mainstream: The New Departure ....................................................... 75 Nationality: Irish vs. Irish-American ................................................................................... 81 Dangerous times – the Triangle ........................................................................................... 83 International affairs .............................................................................................................. 87 Irish-German cooperation .................................................................................................... 92 The aftermath of the Rising................................................................................................ 101 Ireland represented at the Paris Peace Conference ............................................................. 103 Devoy’s trip to Ireland ....................................................................................................... 108 Chapter 5 - Revolutionary or parliamentarian? ...................................................... 113 Rossa’s Skirmishing Fund ................................................................................................. 114 New political alliances ....................................................................................................... 118 The use of physical force ................................................................................................... 126 Financing a Fenian submarine ........................................................................................... 130 I Lívia Szedmina • John Devoy: Fenians and Irish-Americans for Irish Independence Return to violence .............................................................................................................. 132 The Clan – split .................................................................................................................. 134 Reunification of the Clan ................................................................................................... 136 The road to war and Irish independence ............................................................................ 137 Devoy’s reactions to the 1916 Easter Rising ..................................................................... 142 Friends of Irish Freedom .................................................................................................... 144 No more neutrality: the United States enters the Great War .............................................. 146 The Irish-American delegation’s journey to Europe .......................................................... 150 Battling de Valera .............................................................................................................. 156 Finances – who has the reins? ............................................................................................ 158 Devoy’s reaction to the Anglo-Irish Treaty ....................................................................... 161 Chapter 6 – John Devoy, public persona .................................................................. 163 John Devoy’s public image in The Irish Times .................................................................. 164 John Devoy’s public image in The New York Times .......................................................... 190 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................
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