The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1875-04-08
JOHN mitchell,


TO see himself twice in succession elected
to represent Tpperary in the British
Parliament, many years after the BRUSH
Government had undertaken by Grim
inal prosecution and sentence to exclude
him from all participation i'll the public
affairs of his native country. 1t is now,
and it will always remain an open ques--
ton whether he could have done Ireland
any essential service within the walls OF
st. Stephens. But there can never be
any doubt as to the eaTnestness. the IN
tensity, and the sincerity OF the love
which he bore to Ireland, and of the ti-
delity with which through good and
evil report he had clung to her cause,
John Mitchell was devoted champion.
ofIrish liberty and Irish independence.
But he was scarcely an lrishman. 1t is,
curious circumstance enough that the.
most intensely French Frenchman of the
French Revolution should have been a
Dutchman by the name of Anacharsis
Clootz, and the most intensely Irish Irish
man of the latest Irish opposition to Brit
ish authority should have been manot
Protestant opinions in religion, and of
British blood, by the name of John
Mitchell.
John Mitchell was born at Dungiven,
Ia the county of Derry, in Ireland, on
tahe Sd of November, 1915. His fathers
man of Scottish origin, oiiiciated in Dun
given as the minister of small Unitari-
an congregation and chapel in that town.
The son was graduated at Trinity College,
in Dublin, in 1887, and after studying
law was admitted to the bar and prac-
ticed in his profession for six years at
Banbridge, and at Newry, in County
Down, the latter beings place which takes
its name, according to tradition, from a
yew tree originally planted there by no
less person than st, Patrick himself
Those were the stormy days of the great
agitation for the repeal of the Union be-
tween Ireland and Great Britain, when
the reform ministry and the wings cf
England were driven to their wits end
by the complications ofthe Irish question
the days of the Irish coercion bill, OF
the great run for gold' on the Irish
banks, of martial law in Kilkenny, OF
Lord John RusselPs early attempts at
Irish church reform, of the tithe bill, and
of the monster meetings of UConnel =
John Mitchell took an active and vehe-
ment part in the connections of the time,
which reached their greatest height in
1884 with the arrest, trial, conviction
and sentence of the "Liberator." The
British Government availed itself IN the
autumn of 1913 of an unguarded appeal
to the people to assemble at Clontarf lin
military order, the horsemen among them
forming in troops" and the Lord Lieu
tenant, Earl de Grey, issued proclama-
ton charging the authors of the appeal
with words and acts tending to over
throw the Constitution of the British En-
pire as by law established" The Duke
of Wellington never believed that OCon-
mel himself had thus exposed the IRISH
movement to attack, but he earnestly
urged the government to seize the oppor-
tunity afforded to itand to take stringent
measures. 0'Connel was arrested, tried
aud sentenced October, 1874, to De
imprisoned for twelve months, to pay
fine of $4,000 pounds sterling, and to en-
ter into securities to keep the peace Tor
seven years-himselffor G5 ,000 and two
sureties in G2,500 each. The Judge who
pronounced this sentence, Judge Barton,
was SO affected that he burst into tears
and O'Connel was received in the Court
with vociferous cheers by the audience
'Npd with general clapping of hands by
:. .e Junior members of the bar, So that
on the whole the judicial triumph OF the
Government did it no great political good
On the contrary it made political
martyr of O'Connell, and taught the
young Mitchell among others to regard
prosecution by the British authorities as
simply sort of persecution strongly re-
sembling both in its motives and in its
results those assaults upon the early
Christians which only ended in establish
ing their religion throughout the civilized
world.
In l845, the year after OConnells trial
And conviction, Mr.. Mitchell was drawn
GNrisively into politics by an invitation
to take the place of Thomas Davis, the
colleague of Gavan Duffy in the editorial
charge fthe Dublin Nation. He welded
his pen from the first like sword, and
in the spirit of revolutionist rather than
ola reformer, challenging attack from
the authorities with each successive is
sue of the journal. In lS46 the challenge
was accepted upon the appearance OF an
article showing how tle people could sue
cessfully contend with the troops, and
advising the use of vitriol against the sol
diery in case of street conflict. The
Nation was prosecuted for this article;
and az Mr.. Duffy afterwards subjected
the articles of his fiery associate to asys-
TEN of pruning which Mr.. Mitchell did |
not approve, Mr.. N itchel towards the |
end of the year 1S47 seeded from the
NqtG0n, and shortly afterwards founded |
the United HiShmGn as the organ of the
young Ireland or physical force party, |
in opposition to the Repealers and O'Con-
nell, A great meeting of young Ire
landers" was held in Dublin, April 4,
184S, to support the demonstration made |
at the same time in Paris by Smith, O'Bri-
en-, Meagher, 0'Gorman and others ofthe
party who had been sent as deputation |
to the Provisional Government of the |
French Republic, then in the glory and
glow ofits first enthusiastic days. On the |
18th of May, in the same year, year, John
Mitchell was arrested, tried in the Irish |
Court of Queens Bench and sentenced
on the 9th of May to fourteen years
transportation. He was conveyed in
irons to the convict depot at Spike Island,
in Cork harbor, where government Or
der was received to treat him las per-
fon Of education and a gentleman" He |
was soon conveyed thence on the sloop-
of-War Scourge to Bermuda, and after |
ten months passed there, re-transported
to Australia. In Australia he encoun-
tered his associates, Smith O'Brien, ,0'Don-
oghue, Meagherand others who had been
arrested in July lS4S, sentenced in Octo-
Der of the same year at Clenmel, and
sent out to the antipodes in July, l849.
Mr.. Mitchell remained six years in Aus
traha. In July, 1854, he resigned his pa
role and effected his escape, reaching
New York at the end of November He
was welcomed by thousands of his coun-
trvmen with enthusiasm and soon found-