Nationalist Constructions of the 1798 Rebellion: The Political Illustrations of J.D. Reigh

NATIONALIST CONSTRUCTIONS OF THE 1798 REBELLION: THE POLITICAL ILLUSTRATIONS OF J.D. REIGH LAWRENCE W. MCBRIDE in the years surrounding the centenary commemoration of the rebellion of 1798 the leading Irish nationalist illustrators of the day— J.F. O’Hea, Walter C. Mills, Thomas Fitzpatrick, Phil Blake, and J.D. Reigh—applied their talents to interpreting the story of the rising.1 They had already honed their skills by depicting hundreds of stirring episodes from Irish history for a large audience of nationalist enthusiasts hungry for their work.2 Beginning in the 1870s such satirical publications as Zoz, Zozimus, and the Tomahawk carried black-and-white or monochrome illustrations as gratis supplements. The major nationalist weeklies followed suit during the early 1880s, and thanks to improvements in lithography and printing, they were able to feature multicolor, chromo-lithographic prints.3 These papers, along with publications such as Young Ireland: An Illustrated Magazine of Entertainment and Instruction, the Irish Fireside, the Emerald, and the Shamrock: A National Weekly Journal of Irish History, Literature, Science, and Arts, produced literally thousands of these illustrations in the three decades prior to the Great War.4 Typically measuring 20 x 16 inches, the drawings were THE POLITICAL ILLUSTRATIONS OF J.D. REIGH 117 1 Lawrence W. McBride, “Visualizing ’98: Irish Nationalist Cartoons Recollect the Revolution,” Eighteenth-Century Life 22 (Nov. 1998), 103–17. 2 Lawrence W. McBride, “Historical Imagery in Irish Political Illustrations, 1880–1910,” New Hibernia Review 2 (Spring 1998), 9–25. 3 For an overview of the history of Irish political cartoons, see Roy Douglas, Liam Harte, and Jim O’Hara, Drawing Conclusions: A Cartoon History of Anglo-Irish Relations, 1798–1998 (Belfast: Blackstaff Press, 1998). 4 Newspaper-circulation figures provide a rough guide to the number of illustrations produced. In 1898, for example, the circulation of the Weekly Freeman and National Press (usually referred to simply as the Weekly Freeman) was reported at approximately 36,000 copies; the Weekly Independent at 18,000; the Weekly Nation at 17,000; and United Ireland at 2,000. See National Archives, Ireland: State Paper Office, Royal Irish Constabulary’s Crime Branch purposefully designed to be removed and displayed in locations where a number of people could view them. The content of the illustrations, whether commenting upon current events or recalling historical incidents, combined with the new production techniques to make them highly appealing. It is not difficult to imagine readers turning straight to the illustrations as they opened their weekly newspapers and periodicals. I The graphic representations of the rebellion of 1798 included images that reinforced competing nationalist interpretations of the event. These interpretations differed mainly in the emphasis that respective proponents placed upon physical force as a means to end the union with Britain. Other interpretative controversies centered upon the character of the United Irishmen and the shifting relationships between Catholics, members of the Church of Ireland, and Presbyterians during the rebellion. Kevin Whelan has analyzed the struggle for control of the historical record concerning 1798, beginning with the Whig and Tory interpretations that developed during and immediately after the rebellion, and running through the interpretations that appealed to nationalists during the second half of the nineteenth century.5 The constitutional nationalists’ reconstruction of the story of 1798 was derived mainly from the interpretations of prominent statesmen such as Henry Grattan and Daniel O’Connell. They distanced themselves from the violent aspects of ’98 and emphasized instead Dublin Castle’s misgovernment as the principal cause of the outbreak.6 R.R. Madden’s The United Irishmen, Their Lives and Times (1842–6) presented a competing interpretation . Madden did not shrink from recounting the violent aspects of the rebellion, but he carefully balanced the contributions that Catholics and Protestants made to the United Irish movement, thereby constructing it as an example of sectarian cooperation.7 This interpretation became especially important to Protestant and Catholic nationalists in Ulster, THE POLITICAL ILLUSTRATIONS OF J.D. REIGH 118 Special Report #16258/S, 1898, “Circulation of Dublin Newspapers.” The Crime Branch Special unit compiled another estimate of newspaper circulation on 12 December 1900 (CBS, 1900, #23422/5). The CBS department placed circulation figures for the Freeman’s Journal at...