The Eternal Paddy: Irish Identity and the British Press, 1798–1882

Conclusion

Conclusion THIS STUDY HAS HIGHLIGHTED NUMEROUS disagreements over Irish policy between individual newspapers or groups of newspapers, especially those with a pronounced political identification. On some issues, such as the disestablishment of the Irish church, there was a clear divide between Liberal and Conservative newspapers. On many others the boundaries were not so easily drawn.While we can identify a general "Liberal" or "Conservative" line in Irish policy, we must also recognize that on many issues a consensus was reached that did not necessarily harmonize with either approach. While disunity and inconsistencies often marked reporting on Ireland, there were a number of dominant trends, opinions, and beliefs that crossed or blurred party lines and collectively informed a "British" view of Ireland and the Irish people. The history of party politics and the personal motivations of political leaders are important to our understanding ofAnglo-Irish relations , but they cannot stand alone.This study has sought to reveal the key elements ofthe public discussions that formed the wider context in which these critical political decisions were taken. The central component ofthis context was the hierarchical relationship of Irish and British identity.Although these identities were never static, they were consistently positioned in a manner that stressed Irish inferiority and British superiority. Ireland was the minor, the disobedient child, the sick patient, and the helpless lunatic. In all instances Ireland was in need of assistance, guidance, and discipline from its elder sister Britannia. Conceptions of the Irish and Irishness were constructed from multiple elements, most importantly ethnicity, class, and religion . Paddy's negative qualities were inherent, almost unavoidable, and produced by his Celtic inheritance, religion, and peasant status. For 268 Conclusion instance, the Irish love ofviolence and disorder was seen as the result of an inborn fiery temperament and the brutality of Irish peasant society . Because of his servile status and idolatrous religion Paddy also proved an easymark for demagogues, both native and foreign. The Irish were disloyal bynature, and furthermore, as Catholics they could never offer the state their fidelity. Paddy's laziness, moral inversion, ingratitude , unreasonableness, and other negative attributes were similarly explained. Collectively; these traits formed the core of Irish identity as seen from Britain. Theywere also the exact opposite ofthose that formed the core of British identity. The absence of British values and British traits among the Irish constituted the kernel of the Irish question as it was understood by Britons. It was also instrumental in Victorians' conceptions of their Britishness. I agree with Linda Colley that Britons were encouraged to "look through the Catholic glass darkly" in order to see themselves more clearly; but this glass was crafted in Cork, Mayo, and Skibbereen as well as in Normandy and Gascony. This is not to saythat the Irish were the sole group against whom the British compared themselves in the nineteenth century. However, there was a degree of Otherness , both in terms ofhow far removed the group was from the British and its importance to British self-conceptions. The British frequently compared themselves to other Europeans, especiallythe French. In contrast to the European Others (with the exception of Catholic Italy), the Irish and the other subject peoples of the empire in Africa and India were commonly described as childlike, emotional, impulsive, superstitious , and generally unstable. These descriptions were used to justify British political and economic control. John Bull, it was argued, was merely a guardian who had his wards' best interest at heart. Comparisons between Britain and other Europeans, however, had to explain British commercial ascendancy, not political domination. Hence, the French were portrayed not as dehumanized monsters but as undisciplined fops who cared more for exotic foods and frivolous fashions than for the hard realities of the mill and the shop floor. On the scale of civilization the European Others stood at the top (below the British). Beneath them were the Irish and below them the Indians and then the Africans. Although the Irish shared many of the negative qualities of the other imperial subjects, there were crucial distinctions . British and Irish intermarriage was always acceptable and not regarded as miscegenation. Among the subjects ofthe empire, the Irish alone were capable ofbeing anglicized and the Irish alone were permitted to send their elected representatives to the "imperial" parliament at Conclusion Westminster. Thus, when British newspapers sought to denigrate the Irish peasantry; they described them as "Thuggee" or "Hottentots." Similarly , the press ridiculed the Chartists and other...