The printed press in Ireland has always been, from its inception at least until the demise of the Irish Press two decades ago, and still today in Northern Ireland, closely involved in the political battles that have shaped, and continue to shape, modern Ireland, not only as an observer, but as an active participant. In this context, the failure of the Irish uprisings of 1848 and 1867 had two significant effects. One was to push militaristic Irish nationalism underground, via the Irish Republican Brotherhood; the other was the growth of a aggressive constitutionalism under Parnell and the increasingly powerful Irish Parliamentary Party at Westminster. Also relevant was the sea-change in the ownership and editorial direction of Irish regional newspapers: by 1880, about a third of the provincial newspapers had declared themselves nationalist, even though this exposed them to intermittent official disfavour and even overt censorship.