The Irish Tribune was a short-lived nationalist newspaper printed weekly in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

in 1848. Five issues were published until its suppression by the British Government.

History

It was founded during the atmosphere of the

revolutions of 1848 The Revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the Springtime of the Peoples or the Springtime of Nations, were a series of political upheavals throughout Europe starting in 1848. It remains the most widespread revolutionary wave in Europea ...

.''

The Nation ''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper t ...

'' was a nationalist newspaper supportive of

Daniel O'Connell Daniel O'Connell (I) ( ga, Dónall Ó Conaill; 6 August 1775 – 15 May 1847), hailed in his time as The Liberator, was the acknowledged political leader of Ireland's Roman Catholic majority in the first half of the 19th century. His mobilizat ...

Repeal Association The Repeal Association was an Irish mass membership political movement set up by Daniel O'Connell in 1830 to campaign for a repeal of the Acts of Union of 1800 between Great Britain and Ireland. The Association's aim was to revert Ireland to th ...

. One of its writers,

John Mitchel John Mitchel ( ga, Seán Mistéal; 3 November 1815 – 20 March 1875) was an Irish nationalist activist, author, and political journalist. In the Famine years of the 1840s he was a leading writer for ''The Nation'' newspaper produced by the ...

, resigned in 1847, wanting to engage in a more "vigorous policy against the English government". In February 1848, he published the ''

United Irishman ''The United Irishman'' was an Irish nationalist newspaper co-founded by Arthur Griffith and William Rooney.Arthur Griffith ...

'', promoting sedition. He was eventually charged with

treason felony The Treason Felony Act 1848 (11 & 12 Vict. c. 12) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Parts of the Act are still in force. It is a law which protects the King and the Crown. The offences in the Act w ...

, a new amendment to the crime of

high treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...

. On 21 May, he was sentenced to be transported to

Van Diemen's Land Van Diemen's Land was the colonial name of the island of Tasmania used by the British during the European exploration of Australia in the 19th century. A British settlement was established in Van Diemen's Land in 1803 before it became a sep ...

for fourteen years. Other

Young Ireland Young Ireland ( ga, Éire Óg, ) was a political and cultural movement in the 1840s committed to an all-Ireland struggle for independence and democratic reform. Grouped around the Dublin weekly ''The Nation'', it took issue with the compromise ...

ers conspired to fill the gap left by Mitchel. For ''The Irish Tribune'', the proprietors were scientist and physician, Thomas Antisell, who had a clinic, a lectureship in botany and was an assistant to the chemist Professor Robert Kane, and two medical students, Kevin O'Doherty and Richard Williams. It was published at 11 Trinity Street, Dublin, and printed by Denis Hoban. The first issue came out on 10 June 1848. Antisell helped with the funding (there were shareholders) and contributed articles. Williams' poetry had been published in ''The Nation'' and another contributor published in ''The Nation'', John Savage, penned poems for the ''Tribune''. The paper included a full-page memoir of John Mitchel, a

republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

manifesto, articles reporting on chartism the revolutionary fervour across Europe, and an advertisement for John Martin's imminent "successor" to ''The United Irishman'', '' The Irish Felon''. The ''Tribune'' itself was considered by many to be that successor, but in the second issue editors clarified this was not intended (orders for the ''Tribune'' had been sent to ''The United Irishmans office at 12 Trinity Street). The fifth issue was the last to be published, on 8 July 1848. Members of the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

and the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminste ...

remained exercised by threats from

Irish Confederates Confederate Ireland, also referred to as the Irish Catholic Confederation, was a period of Irish Catholic self-government between 1642 and 1649, during the Eleven Years' War. Formed by Catholic aristocrats, landed gentry, clergy and military ...

and events associated with the

famine A famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including war, natural disasters, crop failure, population imbalance, widespread poverty, an economic catastrophe or government policies. This phenomenon is usually accompani ...

. The Government took the type and proofs of the sixth issue and suppressed future publication. O'Doherty and Williams were arrested on 10 July, along with Martin. 'The Nation'' was suppressed and had its type removed on 28 July After two failed trials, O'Doherty was convicted of the same crime as Mitchel on 30 October and sentenced to transportation to Van Diemen's Land for ten years, as was Martin. Williams was acquitted on 1 September. Antisell was sentenced to exile and imprisonment, but escaped arrest as a friend helped to secure a post as a surgeon on a US-bound ship; he and others, including Savage, arrived there in November.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Irish Tribune Defunct newspapers published in Ireland Newspapers established in 1848 Defunct weekly newspapers Young Ireland 1848 disestablishments in Ireland