The ''Irish Statesman'' was a weekly journal promoting the views of the

Irish Dominion League The Irish Dominion League was an Irish political party and movement in Britain and Ireland which advocated Dominion status for Ireland within the British Empire, and opposed partition of Ireland into separate southern and northern jurisdictions ...

. It ran from 27 June 1919 to June 1930, edited by Warre B. Wells, assisted by James Winder Good, and with contributions from

W. B. Yeats William Butler Yeats (13 June 186528 January 1939) was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival and became a pillar of the Irish liter ...

George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from ...

, and George Russell ('AE'). The League's manifesto was first published in the journal's first issue. The title was revived in 1922, after the League was defunct, and it was merged with the ''

Irish Homestead The ''Irish Homestead'' was the weekly publication of the Irish Agricultural Organisation Society (IAOS). It was founded in 1895 by Horace Plunkett. History The aim of the paper was to publicise and propagate the objectives of the IAOS, which set ...

''. George Russell was appointed editor, and he was supplied with good staff and contributors. A major contributor was Russell's friend and confidante,

Susan L. Mitchell Susan Langstaff Mitchell (5 December 1866 – 4 March 1926) was an Ireland, Irish writer and poet, known for her satirical verse. Biography Susan Langstaff Mitchell was born in Carrick-on-Shannon, County Leitrim, the fifth of seven childre ...

, who died in 1926. In 1927 Maighréad Ní Annagáin and her husband,

Seamus Clandillon Seamus Clandillon (6 June 1878 – 21 April 1944) was an Irish musician, civil servant, and first director of radio broadcasting at 2RN. Early life and education Seamus Clandillon was born near Gort, County Galway on 6 June 1878. His father was ...

, authors of a song collection called ''Londubh an Chairn'', sued the Irish Statesman Publishing Company Ltd. and a reviewer, for libel. They claimed that the defendants published an article on the 19th of November 1927, in the course of which it was stated that in the collection, which consisted of seventy-five airs, there was no note stating the source of airs or words. They also claimed that there were allegations of slovenliness and ignorance on the part of the authors and that they had taken up a disproportionate amount of space broadcasting their own merits and platform successes in the following issues of the magazine. They sought £2,000. The ''Irish Statesman'' lost the case. This ultimately led to its ceasing publishing due to financial difficulties in 1930. On the demise of the ''Irish Statesman'', the ''Irish Times'' wrote: "Russell, and the Statesman, was often accused by the more bigoted and

ultramontane Ultramontanism is a clerical political conception within the Catholic Church that places strong emphasis on the prerogatives and powers of the Pope. It contrasts with Gallicanism, the belief that popular civil authority—often represented by th ...

sections of the population of being pagan and anti-Irish, but what they really meant was that he stood for intellectual liberty at a time when almost everyone else was clamouring for some restrictions everywhere."''Irish Times'', 18 July 1935. p. 8

References and sources

Notes

Sources

* *Barbara Hayley and Enda McKay (ed.), ''Three Hundred Years of Irish Periodicals'', Dublin : Lilliput Press, 1987 {{DEFAULTSORT:Irish Statesman Defunct magazines published in Ireland Defunct political magazines News magazines published in Europe Irish Dominion League Political magazines published in Ireland Weekly magazines published in Ireland Magazines established in 1919 Magazines disestablished in 1930 Mass media in Dublin (city)