A chara,—Cora Crampton (‘Remember Mullaghmast’, HI 34.3, May/June 2026) states: ‘The Nation’s brand of chauvinistic nationalism often alienated Protestants’. This is a remarkable statement given that Protestants were among the founders and writers of The Nation, most notably Thomas Davis. It was certainly a nationalist paper but I dispute any claim that it was chauvinist. The first issue of The Nation appeared on 15 October 1842. Thomas Davis set out its non-sectarian basis in its ‘Prospectus’:
‘A nationality which may embrace Protestant, Catholic and Dissenter—Milesian and Cromwellian—the Irishman of a hundred generations, and the stranger who is within our gates. Not a nationality which would prelude civil war but which would establish internal union and external independence; a nationality which would be recognised by the world, and sanctified by wisdom, virtue and prudence.’
This statement is as relevant today as it was in 1842. And it is about as far from chauvinism as you could get.—Yours etc.,
MÍCHEÁL MAC DONNCHA