Editing Daniel O'Connell (section)

===Peace Resolutions===
After Thomas Davis's death in 1845, Gavan Duffy offered the post of assistant editor on [[The Nation (Irish newspaper)|''The Nation'']] to John Mitchel. Mitchel brought a more militant tone. When the conservative ''[[Evening Standard|Standard]]'' observed that the new Irish railways could be used to transport troops to quickly curb agrarian unrest, Mitchel replied combatively that railway tracks could be turned into [[Pike (weapon)|pikes]] and that trains could be easily ambushed. O'Connell publicly distanced himself from ''The Nation'' setting Duffy up as editor for the prosecution that followed.<ref>{{cite web |last1=McCullagh |first1=John |title=Irish Confederation formed |work=Newry Journal |date=8 November 2010 |url=https://www.newryjournal.co.uk/history/1800-1900/irish-confederation-formed/ |access-date=27 August 2020 |archive-date=25 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200925090507/https://www.newryjournal.co.uk/history/1800-1900/irish-confederation-formed/ |url-status=live }}</ref> When the courts absolved him, O'Connell pressed the issue.

In 1847 the Repeal Association tabled resolutions declaring that under no circumstances was a nation justified in asserting its liberties by force of arms. The Young Irelanders had not advocated physical force,<ref>Doheny, Michael (1951). ''The Felon's Track''. Dublin: M. H. Gill & Son. p. 105</ref> but in response to the "Peace Resolutions"  Meagher argued that if Repeal could not be carried by moral persuasion and peaceful means, a resort to arms would be a no less honourable course.<ref>O'Sullivan, T. F. (1945). ''Young Ireland''. The Kerryman Ltd. pp. 195–196</ref> [[John O'Connell (MP)|O'Connell's son John]] forced the decision: the resolution was carried on the threat of the O'Connells themselves quitting the Association.<ref>Clarke, Randall. (1942). "The relations between O'Connell and the Young Irelanders", ''Irish Historical Studies'', Vol. 3, No. 9, p. 30</ref>

Meagher, Davis and other prominent dissidents, among them [[Charles Gavan Duffy (Australian politician)|Gavan Duffy]]; [[Jane Wilde]]; [[Margaret Callan (writer)|Margaret Callan]]; [[William Smith O'Brien]]; and [[John Blake Dillon]], withdrew and formed themselves as the [[Irish Confederation]].

In the desperate circumstances of the Famine and in the face of martial-law measures that a number of Repeal Association MPs had approved in Westminster, Meagher and some Confederates did take what he had described as the "honourable" course. Their rural rising broke up after a single skirmish, the [[Young Irelander Rebellion of 1848|Battle of Ballingarry]].

Some of the "Men of 1848" carried the commitment to physical force forward into the [[Irish Republican Brotherhood]] (IRB){{snd}}[[Fenian]]ism. Others followed Gavan Duffy in focussing on what they believed was a basis for a non-sectarian national movement, the struggle for [[Tenant-right|tenant right]].

In what Duffy hailed as a "[[Tenant Right League|League of North and South]]" in 1852 tenant protection societies helped return 50 MPs.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The League of North and South |last=Duffy |first=Charles Gavan |publisher=Chapman & Hall |year=1886 |location=London}}</ref> The seeming triumph over "O'Connellism", however, was short-lived. In the South Archbishop Cullen approved the Catholic MPs breaking their pledge of independent opposition and accepting government positions.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Irish Catholic Diaspora in America |last=McCaffrey |first=Lawrence |publisher=The Catholic University of America Press |year=1976 |location=Washington, DC |pages=145 |isbn=9780813208961 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_dPNCR4-4LIC&pg=PA145 |access-date=22 August 2020 |archive-date=2 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210402163050/https://books.google.com/books?id=_dPNCR4-4LIC&pg=PA145 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>See also {{cite book |last=Whyte |first=John Henry |title=The Independent Irish Party 1850-9|url=https://archive.org/details/independentirish0000whyt |url-access=registration |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |date=1958 |page=[https://archive.org/details/independentirish0000whyt/page/139 139]}}</ref> In the North [[William Sharman Crawford]] and other League candidates had their meetings broken up by [[Orange Order|Orange]] "bludgeon men".<ref>{{Cite book|title=Ireland: The Politics of Enmity 1789–2006|last=Bew|first=Paul|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2007|location=Oxford|pages=238–239|isbn=9780198205555|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MSQSDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA238|access-date=22 August 2020|archive-date=2 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210402172307/https://books.google.com/books?id=MSQSDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA238|url-status=live}}</ref>