Editing John Mitchel (section)

==Final campaign: Tipperary elections==
[[File:John Mitchel last portrait 1875.JPG|thumb|upright| left|John Mitchel, last portrait 1875]]
In July 1874 Mitchel received an enthusiastic reception in Ireland (a procession of ten thousand people escorted him to his hotel in Cork). The ''Freeman’s Journal'' opined that: "After the lapse of a quarter of a century – after the loss of two of his sons … John Mitchel again treads his native land, a prematurely aged, enfeebled man. Whatever the opinions as to the wisdom of his course … none can deny the respect due to honest of purpose and fearlessness of heart".<ref>''Freeman’s Journal''. 27 July 1874.</ref>

Back in New York City on 8 December 1874, Mitchel lectured on "Ireland Revisited" at the [[Cooper Institute]], an event organised by the [[Clan-na-Gael]] and attended by among other prominent nationalists [[Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa]]. While his visit to Ireland was ostensibly private, Mitchel revealed that he had been pressed to stand for [[Parliament of the United Kingdom|British Parliament]] and that it was his intention, if any vacancy should occur, to offer himself as a candidate so that he might "get the Irish members to put in operation the plan suggested by O’Connell at one time, of declining to attend in Parliament altogether, that is, to try to discredit and explode the fraudulent pretence of representation in the Parliament of Britain". In the same speech, Mitchel dismissed the [[Irish Home Rule movement]]: "the fact that this Home Rule League [his friend John Martin among them] goes to Parliament and sets it hope therein, puts me in indignation against the [[Home Rule League]] … they are not Home Rulers but Foreign Rulers. Now it is painful for me to say even so much in disparagement of so excellent a body of men as they are … after a little while they will be bought".<ref>''The Irishman'', 2 January 1875</ref><ref name="Patrick Mitchel">{{cite web |last1=Mitchel |first1=Patrick |title=John Mitchel's Return to Ireland 1874-75 |url=https://faithinireland.wordpress.com/category/ireland/john-mitchel/ |website=FaithinIreland |date=19 May 2020 |access-date=27 December 2020 |archive-date=9 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210609164221/https://faithinireland.wordpress.com/category/ireland/john-mitchel/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
 
The call from Ireland came sooner than expected. In January 1875 a [[bye-election]] was called for a [[Tipperary (UK Parliament constituency)|parliamentary seat in Tipperary]]. Stung by his remarks in New York, the [[Irish Parliamentary Party]] was reluctant to endorse Mitchel's nomination. although they may have been confused as to his position. Before re-embarking for Ireland, Mitchel issued an election address in which he declared for [[Home Rule for Ireland|"Home Rule"]]—but, straddling positions, defining this as "sovereign independence for Ireland"—together with free education, universal tenant rights, and the freeing of Fenian prisoners.<ref>Our Own Correspondent, "Mr. John Mitchell." ''Times'', London, England, 6 February 1875</ref><ref>Russell (2015), p. 193.</ref> As it was, on 17 February, while still approaching the Irish shore, Mitchel was [[February 1875 Tipperary by-election|elected unopposed]]. As had been the case for O'Donovan Rossa who had been returned for very same constituency in 1869, his election was unavailing. On the motion of [[Benjamin Disraeli]], the [[House of Commons]] by a large majority declared Mitchel, as a felon, ineligible. Mitchel ran again as an Independent Nationalist in the resulting [[March 1875 Tipperary by-election|March by-election]], and in a contest took 80 percent of the vote.<ref name="Sullivan">{{cite web |last1=Sullivan |first1=A. M. |title=John Mitchel, the Story of Ireland, A. M. Sullivan (c 1900), Chapter XCL (continued) |url=https://www.libraryireland.com/Atlas/XCI-John-Mitchel.php |publisher=Library Ireland |access-date=21 December 2020 |archive-date=25 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200925205826/https://www.libraryireland.com/Atlas/XCI-John-Mitchel.php |url-status=live }}</ref>