Samuel Neilson, the Belfast Jacobin and the subject of a recent biography, has long been overlooked in the history of Irish republicanism. This later obscurity would have surprised his contemporaries. Neilson was a founding United Irishman, the editor of an influential radical newspaper, and a key conspirator in the 1798 rebellion. The book begins with a brief chapter outlining Neilson's early life, focusing on Belfast's civic politics in the 1780s. It then dives straight into the politics of the 1790s and the creation of the United Irishmen, which is probably the least original section. This is followed by a description of Neilson's management of the Northern Star, including an intriguing analysis of his political thought through a close study of his editorials.
What follows is a brilliant account of Belfast's radical underworld, including a description of the town's subsequent dragooning by General Lake in 1797. Dawson then provides an effective re-evaluation of Neilson's role in the planning of the 1798 rebellion, emphasising his role in the organisation of Dublin and Leinster by radicals. Following his imprisonment on the eve of the rising, Neilson was integral to negotiating the Kilmainham treaty, an agreement with government which spared the lives of United Irish leaders in return for a confession of their activities. It is these passages concerning Neilson's imprisonment that are the most touching, including correspondence with his wife and children. Following his release from prison in 1802, Neilson sailed for New York, dying of yellow fever in Poughkeepsie the next year. He died alone, as none of his family had yet joined him.
Unlike other republican martyrs, Neilson did not die in battle or on the scaffold. Unlike other United Irishmen who emigrated to the new world, he never had time to pen his recollections or provide his version of events. As a result, Neilson's reputation has been subjected to aspersions by contemporaries and later historians alike, which is what makes the current biography so pertinent. Earlier accounts depicted Neilson as over-eager to cooperate with the authorities after his capture, an idea Dawson effectively debunks. Similarly, the author questions portrayals of Neilson as a shambolic drunk, an image put forward by authors as diverse as Thomas Moore and Thomas Pakenham.
Instead the picture that emerges here is of a dynamic and thoughtful man, who, if flawed, never succumbed to his worst attributes. Any biographer of Neilson faces the challenge of finding sources, as Neilson did not leave behind a diary or extensive personal letters. Nonetheless, Dawson has produced an engaging study, which compensates for a lack of personal correspondence by focusing on the social circles and political movements in which Neilson moved. One criticism of the book is that the author is at times too cautious, particularly in the short postscript. While the later Neilson family history is certainly interesting, what is absent is an account the later memory of Samuel (or lack thereof) in his home town. Given the work by Guy Beiner on the social forgetting of 1798 in Ulster, some commentary by Dawson would have been welcome. However, this is a minor criticism, of a book which draws from an impressive range of archival sources and is written in a polished academic style.
The influence of the French republican tradition on Ireland is also the focus of a new collection of essays edited by Pierre Joannon and Kevin Whelan, the product of a set of 2016 conferences. The editors have a larger than normal presence in the text. As well as writing a short joint introduction, both Joannon and Whelan have separate survey chapters, giving accounts of the Irish in Paris which span from the sixteenth century up to Joyce's Parisian exile. While the advent of modernism does feature in this collection, its main focus is proclaimed by its subtitle: France, Ireland and the republic, 1798–1916. The collection begins with Sylvie Kleinman's account of Wolfe Tone's activities in Paris, placing him within the different social contexts of Paris during the Directory. Thomas Bartlett provides an entertaining study of Napoleon in Irish popular memory. There are stand-out chapters by Laurent Collantonio on the reception of O'Connell and Young Ireland among French intellectuals, as well as Janick Julienne's work on Irish nationalists in Paris in the second half of the nineteenth century. Another highlight is Pierre Ranger's account of Sinn Féin's diplomatic initiatives at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919–21, which usefully demonstrates how Sinn Féin tapped into earlier Irish networks in the city.
Somewhat more problematic is Anne Magny's chapter on Maud Gonne. While well-researched, it shies away from the more unseemly aspects of Gonne's Parisian career. Gonne's lover, Lucien Millevoye, was a Boulangist and anti-Dreyfusard. Magny hints at Gonne's flirtation with the ‘irrational’ and the allure of violent populism but refrains from a deeper investigation. Notably, the collection as a whole does not acknowledge (even by way of rebuttal) W. J. McCormack's argument concerning right-wing and anti-liberal French influences within Irish nationalism. While McCormack's work has itself been criticised, it is surprising that it is not at least referenced here. Magny's chapter is followed by a piece by Justin Stover contrasting war damage in Paris and Dublin, as well as an amusing chapter by Barry McCrea comparing Proust and Joyce's take on the modernist novel. The collection then ends with a joint ‘postscript’ by the editors responding to Brexit. It is a postscript that is likely to date quickly, containing a rather complacent statement about Ireland's relations with the E.U.
In truth, this is a somewhat uneven collection, although one that nonetheless presents material that is both useful and stimulating. One of the great strengths of the book is that it presents the research of French scholars who have rarely published in English. Praise also needs to be given to Mathew Stout's maps, as well as the several useful charts outlining the chronology of the various Irish circles in Paris.
