Intertexts

IntcrtextSy Vol. 5, No. 2, 2001 Women, Rebellion, and Republicanism: The United Irish Risings of 1798 and 1803 Abbie L. Cory UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DiEGO In turn-of-the-nineteenth-century Britain and Ireland, emergent conwere asubject of great debate. cepts regarding women’s role in public life Conduct books, medical texts, sermons, theories of education all these and otherliterarygenresdiscussedthepositionofwomeninsociety.Themajority ofthesetextsseemtohaveexpressedtheviewthatwomenshouldbecon¬ cerned only with the private or domestic arena, while men were responsible foraffairsinthepublicsphere.Thisdivisionoflaborespeciallyheldtruefor involvementinpolitics;womenwerestronglydiscouragedfromanyparticipa¬ tion in this area. In fact, late-eighteenth-century republicanism was specifi¬ callygenderedmale.Forexample,ThomasPainewritesinTheRightsofMan (1790) that [IjiketheNationitself,[therepresentativesystemofgovernment]possessesa perpetualstamina,aswellofbodyasofmind,andpresentsitselfontheopen theatreoftheworldinafairandmanlymanner.WhateverareitsexceUencies ordefects,theyarevisibletoall.Itexistsnotbyfraudandmystery;itdeals not in cant and sophistry. (244) Republicanismhereisnotonlyovertly“manly,”italsoparticipatesina dualistic system where (like proper men) it has “stamina” and is part of the public world, whereas non-republican types of government (like women) are associated with “mystery” and unreason.’ NancyCurtinassertsthatIrishrepublicanismattheturnofthenine¬ teenthcenturywasa“manlycalling”that“deniedwomentheindividualhap^ piness and self-realisation which resulted from active political participation (137,143).Curtinfurthernotesthatwomeninvolvedinthe1798Irishrebel¬ lionwere“limitedbyagender-baseddivisionoflabour”tofunctioningas “activists[i.e.,fundraisers,messengers,andproviderstothoseinprison],...as symbolsofanoppressednation,andasmodelsofrepublicanprobity”(133). Yetmyownresearchintothisandthe1803Irishrisingshasrevealedthat oftenconfoundedtheapparentlygendereddivisionoflaborandcar¬ ried out not only the roles mentioned above, but also those of communica¬ tions coordinator, weapons-carrier and coordinator, food purveyor, intelli¬ gencegatherer,healthcaregiver,anddiplomaticnegotiatorandafewwomen even participated in actual battles. How can current scholarship account for this,giventhepredominantattitudestowardwomenandthegenderednature of republican rhetoric? In this essay Iargue that turn-of-the-century Irish women rejected the ideological separation of the public and the domestic in order to participate in political practices such as persuading their male loved w o m e n 9 5 9 6 I N T E R T E X T S ones to take part in rebellious activities and passing information obtained from loyalists to rebels. Furthermore, the class and religious positions of many women enabled them to function in the gap between ideology and practice, carrying out such duties as coordinating the distribution of weapons and negotiating for the release of prisoners. These practices were often facili¬ tated by the circulation of literary representations of politicized women and of -verbal signifying practices, both of which encouraged women to step into the realm of political activity despite the presence of an ideology that rep¬ resented this realm as an improper sphere for women. Therefore, the dichotomy of the “male public” and the “female private” is an inadequate concept for use in the discussion of turn-of-the-nineteenthcentury Irish rebellions against British rule. Oppositional models discussed by 1 suchscholarsasJurgenHabermasandNancyArmstrongarelimitedbecause of their over-reliance on an apparently concrete public/private split.^ Iwill presentinsteadamorefluidschemeconsistingofaseriesofspheres,some“of¬ ficial and some “unofficial” depending upon the degree of economic and po- | htical power that is held by those within each sphere. Each of these realms ^ contains aspects of both the “public” and the “private.” Unlike dichotomous models, the scheme that Iwill present allows for contact and movement be¬ tween the spheres. This formulation accounts more easily for the fact of women’s participation in these rebellions. We can thereby better understand thecomplexitiesofthehistoryoftheUnitedIrishinsurrectionsaswellasthe intricacies of women’s lives during this time. In order to fully comprehend women sinvolvement in these uprisings, Iwill begin with abrief historical sketch of the United Irish n o n m o v e m e n t . I eighteenth century, Ireland suffered under strict colonial con- ^yGreat^Britain. Ruled by asmall group of Anglo-Irish, the “Protestant F^^1^ governing bodies were subject to decisions made in ngand.Membersofmostreligiousgroups(includingthemajoritypopulalon , the Catholics) could not vote. Catholics and those belonging to other ’*.*^"*■*^8 '■^figions could not bear arms, keep schools, or gui s. Britain controlled much of Irish trade and received most of the exportegoodsfromIreland .Inthe1790stheeconomyslowedandapopulalonoomdroverentsupandledtolandhungerandasenseofeconomicun ¬ easiness.tthesametime,apoliticalradicalismsprangupinmanyIrishcom¬ munities, especially Belfast, as aresult of the American and French Revolutions. Againstthisbackground,theUnitedIrishSocietywasfoundedin1791 yasma group of mostly Presbyterian tradesmen; the original goal was parlamentaryreformandCatholicemancipation .Progresstowardthesegoalsby slow, however, and the Society gradually moved in amore raicaldirectionwhileatthesametimethegovernmentpassedanumberof acts with the intent of containing the voices of dissent. This increasing gov¬ ernmental oppression finally pushed the Society over the edge, and in May of 1798 rebellion broke out. Initially successful, the insurgents held several towns in the southeast and intheNorthforseveralweeks,buttheywereunabletocaptureeitherDublin -Belfast, and the panicking government quickly sent in reinforcements...