Clan na Gael: Difference between revisions

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| name = Clan na Gael

The '''Clan na Gael (CnG)''' (in modern [[Irish orthography]]: ''{{lang|-ga|Clann na nGael}}'', {{IPA-ga|ˈklˠan̪ˠˈklˠaːn̪ˠ n̪ˠə ˈŋeːlʲˈŋeːlˠ|IPApron}},; ''"family of the [[Gaels]]''") wasis an [[Irish republicanism|Irish republican]] organization, founded in the United States in the late 19th and 20th &nbsp;centuries, successor to the [[Fenian Brotherhood]] and a sister organization to the [[Irish Republican Brotherhood]].<ref>Buescher, John. "[http://teachinghistory.org/history-content/ask-a-historian/19821 What Happened to the Fenians After 1866?] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121216050153/http://teachinghistory.org/history-content/ask-a-historian/19821 |date=16 December 2012 }}" [http://www.teachinghistory.org Teachinghistory.org] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171128145619/http://teachinghistory.org/history-content/ask-a-historian/24411 |date=28 November 2017 }}, accessed 8 October 2011</ref> It has shrunk to a small fraction of its former size in the 21st century.

As [[Irish immigration]] to the United States of America began to increase in the 18th century many Irish organizations were formed. One of the earliest was formed under the name of the [[Irish Charitable Society]] and was founded in [[Boston]], Massachusetts]] in 1737. These new organizations went by varying names, most notably the [[Ancient and Most Benevolent Order of the Friendly Brothers of Saint Patrick]], founded in [[New York, New York|New York]] in 1767, the [[Friendly Sons of St. Patrick|Society of the Friendly Sons of Saint Patrick for the Relief of Emigrants]] in [[Philadelphia, Pennsylvania|Philadelphia]] in 1771, and the [[Friendly Sons of St. Patrick|Friendly Sons of Saint Patrick]] also formed in New York in 1784.

The Irish were still seen as a foreign people within the borders of the American state by anti-Catholic Americans such as members of the [[Know-Nothing Party]]; their existence within America was seen primarily as temporary camps of immigrants who planned to stay in America only as long as the British stayed in Ireland. Upon the British withdrawal from Irish soil, it was believed, the Irish immigrants would return to their native land. The Fenian Raids were seen as an astonishing example of [[immigrant]] activity in US history and Irish nationalism has itself become something of an exception among the American melting pot. Very few US immigrants concerned themselves with their mother country as did the Irish; in March 1868, 100,000 Fenian supporters held an anti-British demonstration in New York.{{cncitation needed|date=June 2020}}

== Creation of Clan na Gael==

After 1867, the Irish Republican Brotherhood headquarters in [[Manchester]] chose to support neither of the existing feuding factions, but instead promoted a renewed Irish republican organization in America, to be named Clan na Gael. According to [[John Devoy]] in 1924, [[Jerome J. Collins]] founded what was then called the Napper Tandy Club in New York on 20&nbsp;June 1867&nbsp;– [[Wolfe Tone]]'s birthday.<ref>{{cite book |last=Golway |first=Terry |author-link= |date=1998 |title=Irish Rebel: John Devoy and America's Fight for Ireland's Freedpm |url= |location= |publisher=St. Martins Press |page=72 |isbn=0312181183}}</ref> This club expanded into others and at one point at a picnic in 1870 was named the Clan na Gael by Sam Cavanagh. This was the same Cavanagh who killed the informer George Clark, who had exposed a Fenian pike-making operation in Dublin to the police.<ref>''Gaelic American,'' 7 January 1905</ref>

After arriving in America in 1871 John Devoy indicated he joined the Clan na Gael early on and attempted several times at Clan conventions to get the Clan to adopt a plan to free the military prisoners held by the British in [[Fremantle]] Australia. In 1874 John Devoy, with some oratorical help from Thomas Francis Bourke, was elected Chairmanchairman of the Executiveexecutive Boardboard of the Clan and was also chosen to execute the rescue of the prisoners. Bourke warned Devoy that there would be "kickers" and he would have to have a heavy hand to control the Clan na Gael and succeed in the project.<ref>Proceedings of the United Brotherhood Convention, Cleveland Ohio September 1874 held at the Fenian archives at the Catholic University of America.</ref> John Devoy devoted all his time to this project and oversaw the purchase of the bark ''Catalpa'' and the outfitting of this ship as a whaler. The Clan hired American George S. Anthony as its ship captain along with a [[New Bedford, Massachusetts|New Bedford]]-based whaling crew. John received considerable help in running the Clan from Dr. William Carroll who was elected Executive Board Chairman in 1875 and between them they controlled Clan activity until 1882. Carroll was of Ulster Protestant stock and brought in others to the Clan from the upper middle class such as Simon Barclay Conover, Senator from [[Florida]]. Devoy's nemesis during the fund raising for the enterprise was John Goff, an aspiring Clan member who later became a New York Supreme Court Judge and who, perhaps, resented the influence of Bourke and Devoy in the Clan. Devoy did in fact take a strong hand and began tossing out Clan members for malfeasance in office and violation of Clan rules as is shown in "General Circular No. 2" dated 15 January 1875.<ref>NLI MS. 18,015(1): John Devoy Papers. For more on the Catalpa rescue see Sean O'Lung "Fremantle Mission", Philip Fennell and Marie King (Eds.) "John Devoy's Catalpa Expedition", a transcription of John Devoy's Catalpa Story in the ''Gaelic American'', and ZW Pease's "The Catalpa Expedition" the latter published by George Anthony the Captain aboard the ship.</ref> The success of the rescue in 1876 resulted in the Clan na Gael replacing for all practical purposes the Fenian Brotherhood as the spokesman of Irish-American nationalism.

By 1880, more aggressive men within the Clan na Gael were chafing at the slow pace of Devoy and Carroll and these men were able to take control of the organization in 1882 when two "action men", Alexander Sullivan and Michael Boland took over the reins and ran the clan as a dictatorship along with an inactive Mr. Feeley. The new leadership ignored the Revolutionary Council set up by Carroll to coordinate between the IRB and the Clan and began to operate in total secrecy from even the membership of the Clan. These three men called themselves the "Triangle" and began making bombing runs into England in what was called the "[[Fenian dynamite campaign|Dynamite War]]". This infuriated the IRB in Ireland which cut ties with the Irish-Americans. Michael Boland was later pointed out as a British spy which might have explained why the majority of the bombers were caught and jailed before they could strike.<ref>McGee, Owen. ''The IRB''. Four Courts Press, Dublin. 2006 pp 105-8</ref><ref>Devoy, "Story of the Clan na Gael," ''Gaelic American'' 29 November 1924</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Whelehan|first=Niall|title=The Dynamiters: Irish Nationalism and Political Violence in the Wider World|year=2012|location=Cambridge}}</ref>

In Ireland the Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP) achieved electoral success in the 1880s, and was supported by the British Prime Minister [[William Ewart Gladstone|William Gladstone]] who introduced the unsuccessful [[Government of Ireland Bill 1886]]. Gladstone's party then divided over home rule, and the IPP also divided for a decade over Parnell's marriage to [[Katharine O'Shea|Mrs. O'Shea]].

In 1891, a moderate offshoot of the Clan na Gael broke away and formed an organization under the name of [[Irish National Federation of America]] with T. Emmet as president. The federation supported the [[National Party (Ireland, 1924)|National Party]] in Ireland, a splinter group of Parnell's [[Irish Parliamentary Party|Home Rule Party]]. Rising to prominence within the Clan from the 1890s were [[Daniel F. Cohalan|Daniel Cohalan]] (later to be a Judge of the [[New York Supreme Court]]) and [[Joseph McGarrity]].

The objective of Clan na Gael was to secure an independent Ireland and to assist the Irish Republican Brotherhood in achieving this aim. To this end, the Clan was prepared to enter into alliances with any nation allied against the British; with the outbreak of the [[First World War]] in 1914, the Clan found its greatest ally in [[Imperial Germany]]. A delegation led by Devoy met with the German Ambassador in the US Count [[Johann Heinrich von Bernstorff]] and his aide [[Franz von Papen]] in 1914. This was followed by an emissary [[John Kenny (Clan-na-Gael)|John Kenny]], sent on a [httphttps://johnkennyclannagael.angelfire.com/ mission to Berlin] to discuss how the German war effort and Irish Nationalism could cooperate. A controversial pro-German and Irish lecture was given in December 1914 to Clan na Gael on Long Island by the [[Celtic studies|Celtologist]] [[Kuno Meyer]]. Devoy, along with [[Roger Casement]] and [[Joseph McGarrity]], was able to bring together both Irish-American and German support in the years prior to the [[Easter Rising]]. However the German munitions never reached Ireland as the ship ''[[SS Libau|Aud]]'' carrying them was scuttled after being intercepted by the [[Royal Navy]].

Clan na Gael became the largest single financier of both the Easter Rising and the [[Irish War of Independence]]. Imperial Germany aided Clan na Gael by selling those guns and munitions to be used in the uprising of 1916. Germany had hoped that by distracting Britain with an Irish uprising they would be able to garner the upper hand in the war and affecteffect a German victory on the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]]. However, they failed to follow through with more support. Clan na Gael was also involved via McGarrity and Casement in the abortive attempt to raise an "[[Irish Brigade (WWI)|Irish Brigade]]" to fight against the British.

Some [[Sikh]]s held talks with Clan Na Gael, which led to authorities in Great Britain and [[British Raj|India]] fearing [[Irish-American]]s and [[Sikh]]s uniting against the [[British Empire]].<ref name="Mount1993">{{cite book|last=Mount|first=Graeme Stewart|title=Canada's enemies: spies and spying in the peaceable kingdom|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6vZi0OD6B-sC&pg=PA27|accessdateaccess-date=24 December 2010|year=1993|publisher=Dundurn Press Ltd.|isbn=978-1-55002-190-5|pages=27–|archive-date=26 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170226053056/https://books.google.com/books?id=6vZi0OD6B-sC&pg=PA27|url-status=live}}</ref> Clan Na Gael supported the primarily Sikh [[Ghadar Party]], and played a supportive role in the [[Hindu German Conspiracy]] in the United States during [[World War I]],<ref>Plowman, Matthew Erin. "Irish Republicans and the Indo-German Conspiracy of World War I," ''New Hibernia Review'' 7.3 (2003) 81-105</ref> which led to the [[Hindu German Conspiracy Trial]] in [[San Francisco]] in 1917–18.

Clan Na Gael largely controlled the [[Irish Race Conventions]] from 1916, and its affiliated group the [[Friends of Irish Freedom]]. The [[Irish War of Independence]] led to a split in Clan na Gael which was precipitated in June 1920 by [[Éamon de Valera]], who as President of the Irish Republic became involved in a dispute with Devoy and [[Daniel F. Cohalan|Judge Cohalan]] over lobbying US Presidentialpresidential candidates on the issue of American recognition for the [[Irish Republic]]. To punish [[Woodrow Wilson]] for his apparent lack of support, the Clan backed Harding in the [[1920 United States presidential election]]. In October, 1920, [[Harry Boland]] stated that the [[Irish Republican Brotherhood|IRB]] in Ireland had terminated connections between the Clan and the parent body in Ireland until the will of [[Dáil Éireann]] was mirrored in Clan na Gael. Devoy and Cohalan refused to accept this but McGarrity disagreed, believing that without IRB support, the Clan was not legitimate, which led to a split. McGarrity, whose faction went by the name Reorganized Clan na Gael, supported the Anti-Treaty forces during the Civil War while Devoy and Cohalan supported the Free State. After 1924, when the IRB and the Devoy-Cohalan Clan na Gael both voted to disband, McGarrity's faction became the sole Clan na Gael. In 1926, the Clan na Gael formally associated with the reorganized Irish Republican Army in the same fashion as it had with the IRB.

McGarrity continued to provide support and aid to the [[Irish Republican Army|IRA]] after it was outlawed in Ireland by de Valera in 1936 but became less active in the 1940s and 1950s following McGarrity's death in 1940. However theThe organization grew in the 1970s. The organizationand played a key part in [[NORAID]], andwhich was a prominent source of finance and weapons for the [[Provisional IRAIrish Republican Army]] (PIRA) during "[[Thethe Troubles]]" in [[Northern Ireland]] in 1969–1998. However, it provided only a tiny portion of the PIRA's total income and dried up because of the steep decline of sympathy among Irish Americans due to PIRA atrocities, and the investigation and prosecution by U.S. authorities of IRA supporters of gunrunning.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c9qW8LPiY38C&pg=PA147|title=Crime-Terror Alliances and the State: Ethnonationalist and Islamist Challenges to Regional Security|last1=Mincheva|first1=Lyubov|last2=Robert|first2=Ted|date=3 January 2013 |page=147|publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]]|isbn=9-7811-3513-2101}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QpVVPtzu1LUC&pg=PA128|title=The Cost of Counterterrorism: Power, Politics, and Liberty|author=Laura K. Donohue|date=April 14, 2008|page=128|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|isbn=9-7811-3946-9579}}</ref>

The Clan na Gael still exists today, much changed from the days of the ''Catalpa'' rescue and as recently as 1997 another internal split occurred as a result of the IRA shift away from using physical force as a result of the 1998 [[Belfast Agreement|Good Friday peace accords]], and before that over the abandonment of the policy of abstentionism in 1987. The two factions are known to insiders as Provisional Clan na Gael (allied to Provisional Sinn Féin/IRA) and Republican Clan na Gael (associated with both Republican Sinn Féin/Continuity IRA and 32 County Sovereignty Movement/Real IRA, though primarily the former).<ref>Ed Moloney, [http://www.nuzhound.com/articles/mal10-41.htm Clan na Gael split a worry for Sinn Féin] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927023413/http://www.nuzhound.com/articles/mal10-41.htm |date=27 September 2007 }} Published 9 May 2006. Accessed 17 March 2008.</ref> These have been listed as [[List of designated terrorist organizations|terrorist organizations]] at various times by the UK Government.

From its founding in 1869, although heavily influenced by founder John Devoy over the years, the organization was nominally under the control of an executive committee headed by a national Executive Board Chairman. This executive committee was elected at yearly, later ever other year, conventions. At the convention held in Chicago during 1881, the committee was reduced to five members making it easier to control. The committee then came under the domination of [[Michael Boland (Irish republican)|Michael Boland]], [[D. S. Freely]] and national executive chairman [[Alexander Sullivan]] who together were known as "the Triangle".

From 1875 until he resigned in 1879, John Devoy's trusted friend and ardent nationalist Dr. William Carroll of Philadelphia was Executive Board Chairman. James Reynolds of Connecticut temporarily held the post from Carroll's resignation until 1881 (there was no convention in 1880) when the Triangle of Sullivan, Feeley and Boland assumed command. Although Devoy supporters Reynolds and Treacy remained on the Executiveexecutive Boardboard, they were left out of the decision-making process by the Triangle. The Triangle's bombing campaign split the organization into two factions in the mid-1880s. After the murder of Cronin, the Clan na Gael united once again under John Devoy in 1900. [[John Kenny (Clan-na-Gael)|John Kenny]] served as president of the Napper Tandy branch in 1883 and again in 1914.

{{Reflist|2reflist}}

== Further reading ==

* {{cite book |last1last =Janis Janis|first1first =Ely E. M.|date = 2015|title = A Greater Ireland: The Land League and Transatlantic Nationalism in Gilded Age America |datepublisher =2015 |publisher=[[University of Wisconsin Press]] |locationisbn =Madison |isbn=9780299301248 |language=en}}