Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 38.djvu/65

 ambition and a lofty purpose’ (ib. i. 70). In the following year Mitchel joined the Repeal Association, and in the autumn of 1845 abandoned his profession and accepted a place on the staff of the ‘Nation’ under Charles Gavan Duffy. In June 1846 Duffy was prosecuted for publishing in the ‘Nation’ for 22 Nov. 1845 Mitchel's ‘Railway Article.’ which was described as a seditious libel. Mitchel acted as Duffy's attorney, and the jury was ultimately discharged without coming to an agreement. Mitchel took a leading part in the discussions on the ‘moral force’ resolutions in Conciliation Hall, Dublin, and seceded from the Repeal Association with the rest of the Young Ireland party on 28 July 1846. Under the influence of [q. v.], Mitchel's political views became still more advanced; and at length, finding himself unable any longer to agree with Duffy's more cautious policy; he retired from the ‘Nation’ in December 1847. As the Irish Confederation failed to concur with his views, Mitchel shortly afterwards withdrew from any active part in its proceedings, and after the Limerick riot resigned his membership.

On 12 Feb. 1848 Mitchel issued the first number of the ‘United Irishman,’ a weekly newspaper published in Dublin, in which he wrote his well-known letters to Lord Clarendon, and openly incited his fellow countrymen to rebellion. On 20 March following he was called upon to give bail to stand his trial in the queen's bench for sedition. The charge, however, was never proceeded with, as the juries could not be relied on to convict, and on 13 May Mitchel was arrested under the new Treason Felony Act, which had received the royal assent in the previous month. He was tried at the commission court in Green Street, Dublin, before Baron Lefroy and Justice Moore, on 25 and 26 May 1848, and was sentenced on the following day to transportation for fourteen years. The sixteenth and last number of the ‘United Irishman’ appeared on 27 May 1848. In June Mitchel was conveyed in the Scourge to Bermuda, where he was confined to the hulks. In consequence of the bad state of his health he was subsequently removed in the Neptune to the Cape of Good Hope. Owing to the refusal of the colonists to permit the convicts to land, the Neptune remained at anchor in Simon's Bay from 19 Sept. 1849 to 19 Feb. 1850. In the following April Mitchel was landed in Van Diemen's Land, where he was allowed to reside in one of the police districts on a ticket of leave. Here he lived with his old friend John Martin, and in June 1851 was joined by his wife and family. In the summer of 1853 Mitchel, having previously resigned his ticket of leave, escaped from Van Diemen's Land with the aid of P. J. Smyth, and in October landed at San Francisco, where he met with an enthusiastic welcome. On 7 Jan. 1854 he started a newspaper at New York called ‘The Citizen,’ which was mainly distinguished while under his editorship for its strenuous opposition to the abolition movement. With the close of the year Mitchel ended his connection with the ‘Citizen,’ and took to farming and lecturing. From October 1857 to August 1859 he conducted the ‘Southern Citizen,’ a weekly journal in the interests of the slaveholders, which was first published at Knoxville, and subsequently at Washington. In August 1859 Mitchel visited Paris, where he went to reside in the following year. He returned to New York in September 1862, and managed after much difficulty to get through the Federal lines to Richmond. Finding that he was disqualified for military service by reason of his eyesight, he accepted the editorship of the ‘Enquirer,’ the semi-official organ of President Davis. Owing to the divergence of their views Mitchel subsequently resigned this post, and wrote the leading articles for the ‘Examiner.’ On the conclusion of the war Mitchel went to New York, where he became editor of the ‘Daily News.’ In consequence of his articles in defence of the southern cause Mitchel was arrested by the military authorities on 14 June 1865, and confined in Fortress Monroe for nearly five months. Shortly after his release Mitchel went to Paris as the financial agent of the Fenian Brotherhood in that city, but resigning that office in the following year he returned to America in October 1866. In February 1867 he refused the post of chief executive officer of the Fenian Brotherhood in America, and on 19 Oct. following published at New York the first number of the ‘Irish Citizen.’ In this paper, which was strongly democratic in American politics, he managed to offend both the Fenians and the home rulers, and owing to his health giving way it was discontinued on 27 July 1872. In the summer of 1872 Mitchel paid a short visit to Ireland, but was unmolested by the government. At the general election in February 1874 he was nominated as a candidate for the representation of Tipperary, while in America, but was unsuccessful. He was, however, elected unopposed for that constituency on 16 Feb. 1875, and landed at Queenstown on the following day. On 18 Feb. Disraeli's motion declaring Mitchel ‘incapable of being elected or returned as a member’ on the ground of his being a convicted felon was carried, and a new writ ordered (Parl. Debates, 3rd ser. ccxxii. 493-539). Mitchel