'The Hive of Liberty': Joseph Cowen and radical politics on Tyneside, 1829-1900

该提案是发表第一本关于著名激进分子小约瑟夫·考恩的综合研究报告。英国国会议员（1829 - 1900），在国内和国际事务中发挥了显著的影响。他以革命性的共和主义、对爱尔兰民族主义和地方自治毫不妥协的捍卫以及对格莱斯顿帝国政策的有争议的反对而闻名。他是一位魅力超凡的领袖，对泰恩赛德选民的忠诚和感情有着强大的控制力；即使在他被当地政党罢免之后，他们也压倒性地支持他以独立议员的身份重返议会。在国际舞台上，他积极参与美国内战、意大利统一以及波兰和匈牙利的解放。这些运动通过他与加里波第、马志尼、科苏斯和其他杰出的共和党人的亲密友谊而个人化。他的新闻帝国特别巩固了他的权力基础。他的报纸在全球发行，这巩固了他在当地的霸权地位，并提高了他在美国和欧洲的形象。对考恩的生活和政治生涯的研究，将有助于我们更广泛地了解那些信奉激进信仰的人，以及他们与自由党其他成员的工作关系。尽管已经产生了许多关于19世纪自由主义政治的研究，但我们的知识仍然存在重大差距，特别是在区域政治领域。同样，英国的激进主义也吸引了大量的学术兴趣，尤其是在过去十年左右，一些重要的新研究开始进行。他的一些作品是传记式的，但更倾向于关注宪章运动一代的激进分子。而对于像考恩这样的活动家，我们所知甚少，他们的政治思想受到晚期宪章运动的影响，但他们在格莱斯顿时代发挥了最大的影响。在19世纪具有可比性的激进派中，唯独考恩在史学上没有实质性的存在。他生前写的两部传记都是英雄事迹，缺乏必要的客观性。最近的一本传记也存在同样的情感主观性，尽管作者对我们了解地方激进主义做出了宝贵的贡献，但他对自由党政治的处理缺乏深度和严谨性。拟写的传记采取了一种更为批判的立场，将揭露他性格中的许多弱点和模糊之处，尤其是他的恐俄症和后来滑向帝国主义的行为。约瑟夫·考恩留下了大量19世纪的信件和文件，提供了对19世纪国内外流行政治的罕见见解。结合其他重要的英国政治收藏品和国际档案馆的相关文件进行研究，可以更完美地评估格莱斯顿自由党内部各派系之间错综复杂的关系。此外，考恩自己的报纸收藏将与其他地区和国家期刊一起进行详尽的审查，以有助于更广泛地了解新闻界在中介和维持19世纪政治关系方面的作用。考恩的政治将与其他激进活动中心、当代政治家和其他省级报纸的所有者进行比较分析。1884年之后，独立的爱尔兰民族主义报刊在纽卡斯尔出版，并在全国范围内发行，代表了一个未开发的资源，用于审查在19世纪70年代和80年代激励考恩的地方自治运动，后来分裂了自由党。1886年考恩退休后，泰恩赛德激进主义的相对消亡可以用爱尔兰少数民族的新独立来解释，他们对自由党的政治支持从此成为可协商的，而不是自动的。

The proposal is to publish the first comprehensive study of the renowned radical Joseph Cowen Jnr. MP (1829 1900), who exerted a remarkable influence over national and international affairs. He was renowned for his revolutionary republicanism, his uncompromising defense of Irish nationalism and Home Rule, and his controversial opposition to Gladstone's imperial policies. He was a charismatic leader who wielded a powerful hold over the loyalties and affections of the Tyneside electorate; even after he was deselected by his local party they overwhelmingly supported his return to parliament as an independent member. On the international stage he was actively engaged in the American Civil War, Italian unification, and Polish and Hungarian liberation. These campaigns were personalised through his close friendship with Garibaldi, Mazzini, Kossuth and other prominent republicans. His powerbase was uniquely strengthened by his press empire. His newspapers attained a global distribution which served to anchor his local hegemony and enhance his profile in the United States and Europe.A study of Cowen's life and political career will advance the wider understanding of those who espoused radical beliefs and their working relationship 'other members of the Liberal Party. Although many studies of nineteenth century Liberal politics have been produced, significant gaps in our k, knowledge remain, particularly in the realm of regional politics. Equally, British radicalism has attracted a good deal of scholarly interest, particularly in the last decade or so when important new research was undertaken. Some of this work was biographical but has tended to focus upon the Chartist generation of radicals. Rather less is known about those activists, such as Cowen, whose political ideas were informed by late Chartism but who exerted their greatest influence during the Gladstonian era. Alone among comparable nineteenth century radicals Cowen has no substantial Presence in the historiography. The two biographies that were written in his lifetime were heroic accounts that lacked the requisite objectivity. A more recent biography suffers from the same emotional subjectivity and, while the author makes a valuable contribution to our knowledge of local radicalism, his treatment of Liberal party politics lacks depth and rigour. The proposed biography adopts an altogether more critical stance which will expose the many weaknesses and ambiguities in his character, particularly his Russophobia and later slide into imperialism.Joseph Cowen left behind a formidable collection of nineteenth century letters and documents which provide rare insights into the world of nineteenth century popular politics at home and abroad. Studied in conjunction with other important British political collections and relevant papers held in international archives, the intricate relationship between the various factions within the Gladstonian Liberal Party can be more perfectly evaluated. In addition, collections of Cowen's own newspapers will be exhaustively scrutinized alongside other regional and national journals to contribute to the wider understanding of the role of the press in brokering and sustaining nineteenth century political affiliations. Cowen's politics will be analysed comparatively with reference to other centres of radical activity, contemporary politicians and other proprietors of provincial newspapers. The emergence of an independent Irish nationalist press after 1884, published in Newcastle and circulated nationally, represents an untapped source for scrutinizing the Home Rule campaign which galvanlsed Cowen during the 1870s and 1880s, and later divided the Liberal party. The relative demise of radicalism on Tyneside after Cowen's retirement after 1886 will be explained in terms of the newfound independence of the large Irish minority whose political support for the Liberal Party thereafter became negotiable rather than automatic.