As Domer48 changed their arguement to be on about republicanism originating from the Volunteers the following quotes are relevant to the discussion (both are from an academic Irish history encyclopedia):
Quote and source
Comment
Tone, Theobald Wolfe...An Arguement on Behalf of the Catholics of Ireland (1791), insisting upon the common political interests uniting Protestants and Catholics, attracted much attention and led to an invitation to take part in the establishment later that year of the United Irishmen...Tone is widely regarded as the founder of modern Irish republicanism. - Oxford Companion to Irish History, page 575. (2007) ISBN 978-0-19-923483-7
A well known and widely accepted fact that modern Irish republicanism is traced back to him. Theobald Wolfe Tone as far as can be ascertained through sources was never a member of the Volunteers, and if he was, was he a leading member that influenced the organisation to think like he did?
republicanism, used in relation to the 17th and 18th centuries, refers to a body of political thought, looking back to Machiavelli and beyond him to classical Rome, that emphasized civic virtue and resistance to tyranny. Concerned with citizenship rather than forms of government, republicanism in this sense was compatible with constitutional monarchy, and would include at least some Irish patriot writing, as well as that of the 'real Whigs' or commonwealthmen. The original programme of the United Irishmen likewise accepted a constitutonal monarch. Their later commitment to an independent republic was no doubt influenced by the new understandings of republicanism, as a principled rejection of monarchy and aristocracy, propagated by the American and French revolutions. - Oxford Companion to Irish History, page 508. (2007) ISBN 978-0-19-923483-7
Makes no mention of the Volunteers at all and makes it clear that republicanism in the 17th and 18th century doesn't equate to the republicanism of today. It would thus be synthesis to say that modern Irish republicanism is the same as that that existed before the United Irishmen became anti-monarchy republicans. For the record the Volunteers ceased to exist in 1793, whereas the United Irishmen where founded in 1791.
The above two sources should put into context that there are twokinds of republicanism - pre-modern that permits a constitutional monarchy and modern anti-monarchy. To suggest a pre-modern republican thinker is the same as a modern republican thinker is synthesis and a post hoc ergo propter hoc assumption.
This section lists one of Domer48's sources that helps contradict the assertion they are implying with some of the later quotes they use that because the republican United Irishmen were created from the remains of the Volunteers, that they too must be a republican organisation (a post hoc ergo propter hoc assumption). The above quote on republicanism also shows quite clearly that at the founding of the United Irishmen, they weren't modern Irish republicans but that at a later time they became so.
One of Domer48's souces
Quote and source
Valid?
"The Republicans and Reformers joined under the common name of Volunteers without at first perceiving that their designs and objects were identical. The French Revolution filled the Whigs with alarm; they seceded from the Volunteers, some opposed the projects of reform, and in this way broke up the party. The Republican section in Ulster sought a reconciliation with the Catholics of the South, with the view of obtaining equal rights on equal terms with the Catholics". Page 64
Clearly states that the Volunteers is an organisation thats membership held more than one ideaology. Doesn't state what objects of either faction were identical and in the sense that republicanism then allowed for constitutional monarchy (see here), it can't be equated to modern anti-monarchy republicanism.
My sources which contain statements made by the Volunteers at Dungannon Convention of February 1782
Quote and source
"We know our duty to our Sovereign, and are loyal" - Bardon, Jonathan (2005). A History of Ulster. p. 215-222. ISBN 085640764-X. Duffy, Sean (2005). A Concise History of Ireland. p. 133-134. ISBN 0717138100
The Volunteers declared at a convention their own loyalty to their sovereign. Modern Irish republicanism is anti-monarchy.
"Resolved unanimously, That a claim of any body of men, other than the King, Lords and Commons of Ireland, to make laws to bind this kingdom, is unconstitutional, illegal, and a Grievance." Bardon, Jonathan (2005). A History of Ulster. p. 215-222. ISBN 085640764-X
Would modern Irish republicans say that the king can legally make laws for Ireland? This assumption is original research however is a valid point.
The following sources do make mention of the Volunteers.
Quote and source
Valid?
"A paramilitary tradition in Irish politics was launched by the Volunteers of 1782 and that tradition, whether nationalist of unionist, loyalist or republican, has continued to shape and delimit the contours of Irish political activity. The force of argument had been trumped by the argument of force". Ireland: A History, Thomas Bartlett, Cambridge University Press, 2010, 9780521197205, page 190
Not entirely - doesn't state that the Volunteers where republicans, only that Irish paramilitarism of all shades can be ultimately be traced to them.
"After the publication of another philippic against Government, a meeting of the United Irish of Dublin was dismissed by the sheriff, as persons holding seditious and republican views. Thus, in 1794, terminated the legal existence of the last of the Volunteers of 1782; convened, under their new name, two years and a half previously." The Croppy: A Tale of the Irish Rebellion of l798, John Banim, James Duffy, 1865, Page. 5
No - The United Irishmen are an organisation that arose around a decade after the formation of the Volunteers, that included some of its members. Can be regarded as a Post hoc ergo propter hoc arguement.
"If Irish nationalism dates from Strongbow, or even the Danes, Irish republicanism was an offspring of the Volunteers of 1782 and owes much to the external influences of the American and French revolutions." Fenians and Fenianism, Maurice Harmon, Scepter Publishers Limited, 1968, Page 65. Originally appearing in the Winter edition of the University Review, 1967.
No - Does not equate to the Volunteers as being a republican organisation. Just because an ideal may have evolved from ideals of an older organisation, doesn't equate to them also being the same.
"This republican temper of a large portion of the Protestant population of Ireland was the germ, first, of a growing parliamentary opposition to the measures of the English Government, and ultimately of the Volunteer Association and the revolution of 1782". Page 21
No - a republican temper amongst the populace can't be interpreted as meaning that they were republicans in ideology.
"The first Society of United Irishmen grew out of the ashes of the Volunteers and the disappointed hopes of the legislative revolution of 1782; the Volunteers grew out of the parliamentary and popular opposition to British government which had shown itself at intervals almost from the beginning of the century, and had gone on steadily widening and deepening from the accession of George III to the American war".
No - Synthesis and OR to suggest that the Volunteers had the same idealogy as a later organisation that included some of its members.
"This movement [United Irishmen] meant to build upon the reforms that had been won by Grattan and the Volunteers a decade earlier, but it was critical of the nationalists' reluctance to carry their ideas through to what seemed a logical end." The Longest War: Northern Ireland and the IRA, Kevin Kelly, page. 9
"The grievances which arose during the eighteenth century between Protestant Ireland and Protestant England, and which gradually created the spirit of Anglo- Irish nationality, effected a legal revolution in 1782, and attempted a military one in 1798". Page 8-9
No - Synthesis and original research to interpolate the Volunteers into this statement. Also doesn't make mention of republicanism, rather it eludes to nationalism which is not exactly the same.
"When the Parisian massacres occurred in 1792, moderate Republicans in Ireland feared to accept freedom accompanied with such terms. The Catholic clergy in a body separated from the Reformers, and denounced the atheism of France from their altars…During this crisis the whole body of the Irish priests were most awkwardly situated. The hatred of French infidelity and atheistic republicanism converted them into zealous Royalists, and yet they had the mortification of hearing themselves denounced as apostles of sedition". Page 65
No - What relevance has this to the issue at all in anyway?
"And yet, when on April 23 the Military Council decided on the Rising, the seven men were acting within a tradition and to a large extent as an organization which could trace its antecedents back into the eighteenth century. It was in the eighteenth century that Republicanism had been linked to the long-standing Irish Revolutionary tradition." The Secret Army: The IRA, J. Bowyer Bell, page. 7
No - Synthesis and OR to interpret this as regarding the Volunteers. It could be easily interpreted as referring to the United Irishmen, an organisation regarded as the founders of Irish republicanism and its Irish Revolutionary tradition.
"It was not until three years later, when the guerrilla war against the British forces [War of Independence] was well advanced, that the name Irish Republican Army was used to unite the disparate groups that made up the rebel forces...These men and women saw themselves as part of a tradition that stretched back to the sixteenth century when the first nobles rose against English rule in Ireland. Some parts of rebel history seemed to be more relevant than others. In particular, those who supported the use of physical force saw themselves as descendants of the United Irishmen who rebelled in 1798." The Provisional IRA, Patrick Bishop & Eamonn Mallie, page. 17
No - Proves a connection to the United Irishmen, but not the Volunteers.
"By the Act of Union of 1800, Britain and Ireland were bound together 'forever' under the 'supreme authority' of Westminster. Throughout that period, right back to the Act of Union and even earlier, an Irish republican physical force tradition existed to 'break the connection' with Britain." The Long War: The IRA & Sinn Féin from Armed Struggle to Peace Talks, Brendan O'Brien, page. 10
No - Synthesis and OR as no mention is made of the Volunteers. Can be easily assumed to refer again to the United Irishmen.
