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The major controversy between the most powerful Catholic prelate in America, the Archbishop of New York John Hughes, and convicted felon and Ulster Protestant John Mitchel during the late summer and autumn of 1854 attracted much interest among the Irish community in America.
Archbishop Hughes was an authoritarian figure famed for his uncompromising paternal role in defending the interests of his Irish Catholic flock against all who dared pose a threat. John Mitchel was an Irish republican hero who challenged the might of the British Empire and suffered the consequences. He became a leader among the Irish in America and became a spokesman in defence of their interests. Two intellectual powerhouses, both resolute sons of Ulster born less than 50 miles apart in Ireland, found themselves locked in gladiatorial journalistic combat in the new world.
One of the central tenets around which the row between Mitchel and Hughes erupted was with regard to the temporal power of the pope in Rome. John Mitchel espoused a belief that the powers of the pontiff should be limited to a spiritual domain only and he further criticised the pope and questioned his role as prince or priest.
Furthermore, Mitchel’s opposition to the ethnic Catholicism preached by Archbishop Hughes among Irish Catholics in America stemmed from his belief that it prevented the immigrant Irish from fully integrating into what was an already challenging nativist-dominated environment.
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Mitchel elaborated, “as to the Irish in America, the more division and distraction the better that is the more fully they are absorbed into existing American parties, always excepting the Know Nothings, and lost among American citizens the better.”
The arena in which the controversy played out was in the pages of the Citizen, Mitchel’s first newspaper in America. The first edition was published on January 7th, 1854, in New York and it had a weekly readership of 50,000.
John Mitchel was no stranger to controversy as editor of the Citizen and his strident uncompromising style proved to be detrimental to the success of the paper among the Irish community.
Regarding Mitchel’s indefensible stance on slavery, his infamous comments regarding the virtues of ownership of a slave plantation in Alabama emanate from the pages of the Citizen. Archbishop Hughes sought to use his stance on slavery to discredit him, citing his infamous reference.
Mitchel was quick to respond, accusing Hughes “of throwing vitriol upon me and also copying the abolition press to cast an Alabama plantation in my teeth”.
John Mitchel’s stance against Archbishop Hughes was not motivated by sectarian divisions or any animosity on Mitchel’s part against the Catholic religion. In a letter in response to criticism by Archbishop Hughes, Mitchel articulates his position clearly. “We have never spoken or written one word against your church, against any Catholic doctrine or point of Catholic discipline.” He ventured even further, writing in response to the accusation from Archbishop Hughes of favouring a Protestant republican agenda. “There is nothing in Catholicism so far as a heretic can understand what Catholicism is to prevent your Grace from being as zealous a republican propagandist as any of us.”
Mitchel is careful here not to denounce his republican ideological stance while protesting that Catholicism and republicanism are not mutually exclusive.
The anti-sectarian nature of Mitchel’s role in the debate was not replicated by his adversary John Hughes. In criticising Mitchel as an Ulster Protestant, Hughes labelled him an Orangeman to stir hostility against his countryman.
Mitchel’s retort was direct and to the point. “Your Grace has far more of the Orangeman in you than I have, that is a narrow ferocious sectarian spirit.”
The prospectus of the Citizen stated that the paper’s conductors “are aspirants to the privileges of American citizenship”. It was John Mitchel’s belief that the Irish were prevented from adopting such a position owing to the divisive influence of Archbishop Hughes in accentuating a distinctly ethnic form of Catholicism among his flock.
The prelate looked upon Catholicism as binding the Irish, thus affording them a distinct group identity.
Mitchel’s journalistic pen became his sword when he asked rhetorically, “Is it any wonder that our poor Irish who form the principle portion of your subjects here should have fallen under a cloud from the very shadow of your Mitre?”
Mitchel’s journalistic duel with Archbishop Hughes was the most damaging of all the controversies surrounding the Citizen. It ultimately caused the demise of the newspaper with Mitchel as editor, owing to the fervent loyalty of Irish Catholics towards Archbishop Hughes.
It is ironic that both Mitchel and Hughes shared much in common in terms of their desire to elevate the status of the Irish in America. Tellingly they differed significantly regarding their ideological positions on how to achieve their shared goal.