Work in Progress. Last updated: 15 June 2019
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De Valera made his first public appearance since escaping from Lincoln Prison and was present for the second session of Dail Eireann. 52 of the elected deputies attended the private meeting in the Mansion House Oak Room, with the first item of business, the election of de Valera as Priomh-Aire ( President ) of the Council of Ministers. His first act as Priomh-Aire was to select his cabinet:
Home Affairs: Arthur Griffith
Defence: Cathal Brugha
Industry: Eoin MacNeill
Finance: Michael Collins
Agriculture: Robert Barton
Propaganda: Lawrence Ginnell.
Chief of Staff -Irish Republican Army: Richard Mulcahy.
Foreign Affairs: Count Plunkett
Labour: Countess Markievicz (first woman government member)
Local Government: William Cosgrave
Ceann Comhairle/Speaker of the Dail: Sean T. O'Kelly.
Trade & Commerce: Ernest Blythe
Parliamentary rules were also changed. It’s quorum was reduced to half of the members in Ireland and free to attend, with a minimum of 20 deputies signing the roll. The constitution was also amended to allow for a Priomh-Aire and Minister substitutes. With preparations complete for whatever eventuality, the Dail broke for ‘some political activity’
The British Government continued to control Irish revenue and taxation and did not recognise Dail Eireann.
It was now necessary to raise a public loan for the purposes of Government and for the campaign for international recognition. Michael Collins was directed to raise a “National Loan” of £250,000 through ‘Republican Bonds’ in sums of £1 to £1,000 and plans made for Sinn Fein courts & county councils to take over the administration of justice and local government from the British. Dr. McCartan was appointed to the Irish “Embassy” in Washington DC and Sean T.O’Kelly to the Irish “Embassy” in Paris. All newspapers carrying the adverts for the Bonds were immediately repressed.
De Valera further downgraded the Democratic Programme priority of achieving socialist aims by saying “..while the enemy was within the gates, the immediate question was to get possession of their country”
Longford & O’Neill. “Eamon De Valera “ Hutchinson, London 1970. p92.
The main difficulty would lie in being recognised internationally as a legitimate government. Britain refused to recognise any appointments made by the First Dail. The only possible hope of success lay with backing by the United States. The Friends of Irish Freedom were prepared to pressure the US Government but suffered from an image problem. The FOIF was dominated since its formation in 1916 by the two stalwarts of Clan na Gael, John Devoy and Judge Daniel Cohalan. Cohalan, in support of Irish Independence was perceived as being Pro-German and “viruently Anti-British”, both treasonable offences in the eyes of the President, Woodrow Wilson. Perhaps more so was their isolationist policy manifesting itself in an anti-League of nations stance. Britain’s refusal to recognise the Irish Republic had ramifications for the Paris Peace talks, in that based on British objections, both America and France could not recognise an Irish presence at the conference.
Countess Markievicz was the first female minister and as Kathleen Clarke recalls ‘she came rushing home to tell me. I asked her how she had managed it, as I had noticed that the present leaders were not over eager to put women into places of honour or power, even though they had earned the right to both as well as the men had, having responded to very call made upon them throughout the struggle for freedom. She told me she had to bully them; she claimed she earned the right to be a minister as well as any of the men, and was equally as well fitted for it, educationally and every other way, and if she was not made a minister she would go over to the Labour Party. With all the sacrifices women have made for freedom in this country, only one woman other than Madame Marckievica has been selected for honours by the Government. That was Mrs James MacNeill, who had been a member of Cumman na mBan.’
Kathleen Clarke. ‘Revolutionary Woman’ O’Brien Press 1991. P170
De Valera made his first public appearance since escaping from Lincoln Prison and was present for the second session of Dail Eireann. 52 of the elected deputies attended the private meeting in the Mansion House Oak Room, with the first item of business, the election of de Valera as Priomh-Aire ( President ) of the Council of Ministers. His first act as Priomh-Aire was to select his cabinet:
Home Affairs: Arthur Griffith
Defence: Cathal Brugha
Industry: Eoin MacNeill
Finance: Michael Collins
Agriculture: Robert Barton
Propaganda: Lawrence Ginnell.
Chief of Staff -Irish Republican Army: Richard Mulcahy.
Foreign Affairs: Count Plunkett
Labour: Countess Markievicz (first woman government member)
Local Government: William Cosgrave
Ceann Comhairle/Speaker of the Dail: Sean T. O'Kelly.
Trade & Commerce: Ernest Blythe
Parliamentary rules were also changed. It’s quorum was reduced to half of the members in Ireland and free to attend, with a minimum of 20 deputies signing the roll. The constitution was also amended to allow for a Priomh-Aire and Minister substitutes. With preparations complete for whatever eventuality, the Dail broke for ‘some political activity’
The British Government continued to control Irish revenue and taxation and did not recognise Dail Eireann.
It was now necessary to raise a public loan for the purposes of Government and for the campaign for international recognition. Michael Collins was directed to raise a “National Loan” of £250,000 through ‘Republican Bonds’ in sums of £1 to £1,000 and plans made for Sinn Fein courts & county councils to take over the administration of justice and local government from the British. Dr. McCartan was appointed to the Irish “Embassy” in Washington DC and Sean T.O’Kelly to the Irish “Embassy” in Paris. All newspapers carrying the adverts for the Bonds were immediately repressed.
De Valera further downgraded the Democratic Programme priority of achieving socialist aims by saying “..while the enemy was within the gates, the immediate question was to get possession of their country”
Longford & O’Neill. “Eamon De Valera “ Hutchinson, London 1970. p92.
The main difficulty would lie in being recognised internationally as a legitimate government. Britain refused to recognise any appointments made by the First Dail. The only possible hope of success lay with backing by the United States. The Friends of Irish Freedom were prepared to pressure the US Government but suffered from an image problem. The FOIF was dominated since its formation in 1916 by the two stalwarts of Clan na Gael, John Devoy and Judge Daniel Cohalan. Cohalan, in support of Irish Independence was perceived as being Pro-German and “viruently Anti-British”, both treasonable offences in the eyes of the President, Woodrow Wilson. Perhaps more so was their isolationist policy manifesting itself in an anti-League of nations stance. Britain’s refusal to recognise the Irish Republic had ramifications for the Paris Peace talks, in that based on British objections, both America and France could not recognise an Irish presence at the conference.
Countess Markievicz was the first female minister and as Kathleen Clarke recalls ‘she came rushing home to tell me. I asked her how she had managed it, as I had noticed that the present leaders were not over eager to put women into places of honour or power, even though they had earned the right to both as well as the men had, having responded to very call made upon them throughout the struggle for freedom. She told me she had to bully them; she claimed she earned the right to be a minister as well as any of the men, and was equally as well fitted for it, educationally and every other way, and if she was not made a minister she would go over to the Labour Party. With all the sacrifices women have made for freedom in this country, only one woman other than Madame Marckievica has been selected for honours by the Government. That was Mrs James MacNeill, who had been a member of Cumman na mBan.’
Kathleen Clarke. ‘Revolutionary Woman’ O’Brien Press 1991. P170
Dublin: Sinéad Mason became personal secretary to Michael Collins from this date until his death in August 1922. This position allowed her to come into contact with many of the leading figures of the War of Independence and her autograph book which was never too far away contains many of their signatures and personal messages. Including a note in Irish and signature by Michael Collins, signature of Eamon de Valera, an almost complete set of Anglo Irish Treaty plenipotentiary signatures signed at the time of the Treaty negotiations, including Arthur Griffth, Eamon Duggan, Robert Barton, Erskine Childers.
Below: Michael Collin's message dated 16 October 1919 and Sinead on holiday on with friends (on the right.)
Below: Michael Collin's message dated 16 October 1919 and Sinead on holiday on with friends (on the right.)
W.B. Yeats and Lennox Robinson addressed a crowded audience in Dublin on the subject of the ‘The Abbey Theatre – Past and Future’. The gathering at the Abbey allowed for public discussion and audience participation. One member of that audience said that he could not for the life of him see why popular Compton Comedy Plays could not be produced at the Abbey rather than the work of Norwegian playwright, Henrik Ibsen.
Mr Yeats was not impressed. While he said he did not suggest that Ibsen should provide the only source of drama, he believed Compton Comedy plays too ‘superficial’ and only suitable for an evening’s entertainment. Yeats said his ambition for the Abbey was that it function as the ‘centre of Irish truth’.
Reacting to Mr Yeats’ comments, the Irish Times has argued that, notwithstanding his ‘genius’, it did not consider Mr Yeats to be a ‘sound judge of the Irish public’s taste in drama’. The editorial stressed that the principle interest of all theatre audiences – even the Abbey’s – was ‘an evening’s entertainment’. For the Abbey to succeed, the Irish Times insisted, it needed to ‘put its pride in its pocket’ and compromise on its ‘austere ideals’ to open up the theatre to others. Too often it was producing plays to please producers and managers rather than play-goers.
Lennox Robinson, who also spoke, heralded the Abbey for its achievements heretofore. It had, he claimed, created ‘Irish folk drama, a school of drama, and an appreciative audience’.
Dublin: The pay and working conditions for Irish nurses needs improvement. That was the message from the President of the Irish Nurses’ Association, Alice Reeves, at a meeting the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin. Reeves drew particular attention to the question of the hours that nurses, both qualified and in training, were required to work. She also highlighted the inadequate conditions and salaries. According to Alice Reeves, trained nurses worked 60 to 70 hours per week for an average income of £50 to £60 per year. She urged the abolition of an entrance fee to nursing courses, and further advised that a certificate be granted to qualified nurses. Addressing the challenge of how best the nurses’ interests might be advanced, Sir Arthur Chance, a doctor present at the meeting, remarked that while he did not believe that it was the conscious decision of any hospital governor to treat nurses unjustly, the fact remained that they were. His recommendation was for nurses to deal with the governors collectively.
To that end, a motion was passed that the women engaged in hospital work were to elect a committee to represent the whole nursing profession in considering the position of Irish nurses.
[A century later, how little has changed. Ed.]
Mr Yeats was not impressed. While he said he did not suggest that Ibsen should provide the only source of drama, he believed Compton Comedy plays too ‘superficial’ and only suitable for an evening’s entertainment. Yeats said his ambition for the Abbey was that it function as the ‘centre of Irish truth’.
Reacting to Mr Yeats’ comments, the Irish Times has argued that, notwithstanding his ‘genius’, it did not consider Mr Yeats to be a ‘sound judge of the Irish public’s taste in drama’. The editorial stressed that the principle interest of all theatre audiences – even the Abbey’s – was ‘an evening’s entertainment’. For the Abbey to succeed, the Irish Times insisted, it needed to ‘put its pride in its pocket’ and compromise on its ‘austere ideals’ to open up the theatre to others. Too often it was producing plays to please producers and managers rather than play-goers.
Lennox Robinson, who also spoke, heralded the Abbey for its achievements heretofore. It had, he claimed, created ‘Irish folk drama, a school of drama, and an appreciative audience’.
Dublin: The pay and working conditions for Irish nurses needs improvement. That was the message from the President of the Irish Nurses’ Association, Alice Reeves, at a meeting the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin. Reeves drew particular attention to the question of the hours that nurses, both qualified and in training, were required to work. She also highlighted the inadequate conditions and salaries. According to Alice Reeves, trained nurses worked 60 to 70 hours per week for an average income of £50 to £60 per year. She urged the abolition of an entrance fee to nursing courses, and further advised that a certificate be granted to qualified nurses. Addressing the challenge of how best the nurses’ interests might be advanced, Sir Arthur Chance, a doctor present at the meeting, remarked that while he did not believe that it was the conscious decision of any hospital governor to treat nurses unjustly, the fact remained that they were. His recommendation was for nurses to deal with the governors collectively.
To that end, a motion was passed that the women engaged in hospital work were to elect a committee to represent the whole nursing profession in considering the position of Irish nurses.
[A century later, how little has changed. Ed.]
2
The 4th meeting of Dail Eireann was held again in the Oak Room. No details of those attending was kept. Another meeting was held on the 4th, and also with details kept of those attending.
During April 1919-March 1920, Michael Lynch ‘occupied the position of Munster Representative on the Supreme Council I.R.B.’ and ‘in the spring of 1919, Michael Collins ordered me to ‘stay aloof’ from open IRA activities and assigned me to intelligence work’ with services rendered in ‘Cork, Dublin and Clonmel’ reporting to Michael Collins and Florence O’Donoghue, Adjutant, Cork Brigade IRA.
Statement by Michael Lynch – part of application for Military Service Pension Certificate, December 1935. Lynch Archives.
Florence O’Donoghue by this time had effectively built up an inteligence system similar to Collins’ in Dublin. Various sources in various locations reported developments on a regular basis to his office in Cork. Siobhan Lankford worked in the Mallow Post Office and became Liam Lynch’s chief inteligence source supplying information on troop movements and intercepting police and military correspondence. O’Donoghue was also in touch with Josephine Marchmont, a typist working with the British Army 6th Division HQ and became an IRA agent. The daughter of an RIC officer, she was widowed in 1917 and lost custody of her youngest son, Reggie, to paternal grandparents in Wales. She became a prime information source for the IRA during the war of independence.
The 4th meeting of Dail Eireann was held again in the Oak Room. No details of those attending was kept. Another meeting was held on the 4th, and also with details kept of those attending.
During April 1919-March 1920, Michael Lynch ‘occupied the position of Munster Representative on the Supreme Council I.R.B.’ and ‘in the spring of 1919, Michael Collins ordered me to ‘stay aloof’ from open IRA activities and assigned me to intelligence work’ with services rendered in ‘Cork, Dublin and Clonmel’ reporting to Michael Collins and Florence O’Donoghue, Adjutant, Cork Brigade IRA.
Statement by Michael Lynch – part of application for Military Service Pension Certificate, December 1935. Lynch Archives.
Florence O’Donoghue by this time had effectively built up an inteligence system similar to Collins’ in Dublin. Various sources in various locations reported developments on a regular basis to his office in Cork. Siobhan Lankford worked in the Mallow Post Office and became Liam Lynch’s chief inteligence source supplying information on troop movements and intercepting police and military correspondence. O’Donoghue was also in touch with Josephine Marchmont, a typist working with the British Army 6th Division HQ and became an IRA agent. The daughter of an RIC officer, she was widowed in 1917 and lost custody of her youngest son, Reggie, to paternal grandparents in Wales. She became a prime information source for the IRA during the war of independence.
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4
Versailles: Allies and Germany sign an agreement on Danzig, which is to become a Free City (1920-39).
Westminster: The leader of the opposition Liberal Party in the British parliament, Donald Maclean, said that ‘something must be done’ about the present ‘tragic’ situation in Ireland. Maclean stated that there were 46,000 troops currently in Ireland and that this was an unsustainable number. He further claimed that he could not discern a government policy on Ireland. And while he did not think that the Irish could settle it themselves, he believed that Britain needed to follow the policy adopted towards her overseas dominions. More criticism of the government came from T.P. O’Connor, an Irish Party MP, who accused it of indecision and disengagement from Ireland. ‘My complaint’, Mr O’Connor remarked, ‘is that we have no government. The government is a government that is apparently unable to make up its mind; it is disposed to let things drift towards the abyss of chaos till we have in Ireland, in a mild way and in a different shape, some of the disturbances that have brought ruin to the countries of Europe. We have on the one side widespread disturbances – on the other, severe and militarist repression… There is running [in Ireland] a stronger anti-English feeling than I have known in my life. There is running in the United States of America today a stronger anti-English feeling than I have known in my life.’
Maclean and O’Connor’s contributions left unionist MPs unmoved. Sir Edward Carson couldn’t see the point of the debate. He argued that Canada and Australia enjoyed ‘real independence’ to the extent that were held solely by affection for the ‘mother country, and no one would dream of using force’. The Ulster-born unionist MP for Canterbury, Ronald McNeill, expressed his dismay at Irish republican efforts to court American opinion and dismissed the analogies they sought to draw between themselves and the oppressed smaller nationalities of Europe.
Then, turning to the question of possible partition, Mr McNeill stated that though the ‘Ulster Party had never sought partition, if they were to have partition they would dislike partition from Great Britain far more than from the South of Ireland.’ To cheers in the House of Commons, he added: ‘When it came to a settlement, as come to a settlement it must, it was on the principle of ‘self-determination’ for all the parties concerned that they would find a solution of the question.’
Versailles: Allies and Germany sign an agreement on Danzig, which is to become a Free City (1920-39).
Westminster: The leader of the opposition Liberal Party in the British parliament, Donald Maclean, said that ‘something must be done’ about the present ‘tragic’ situation in Ireland. Maclean stated that there were 46,000 troops currently in Ireland and that this was an unsustainable number. He further claimed that he could not discern a government policy on Ireland. And while he did not think that the Irish could settle it themselves, he believed that Britain needed to follow the policy adopted towards her overseas dominions. More criticism of the government came from T.P. O’Connor, an Irish Party MP, who accused it of indecision and disengagement from Ireland. ‘My complaint’, Mr O’Connor remarked, ‘is that we have no government. The government is a government that is apparently unable to make up its mind; it is disposed to let things drift towards the abyss of chaos till we have in Ireland, in a mild way and in a different shape, some of the disturbances that have brought ruin to the countries of Europe. We have on the one side widespread disturbances – on the other, severe and militarist repression… There is running [in Ireland] a stronger anti-English feeling than I have known in my life. There is running in the United States of America today a stronger anti-English feeling than I have known in my life.’
Maclean and O’Connor’s contributions left unionist MPs unmoved. Sir Edward Carson couldn’t see the point of the debate. He argued that Canada and Australia enjoyed ‘real independence’ to the extent that were held solely by affection for the ‘mother country, and no one would dream of using force’. The Ulster-born unionist MP for Canterbury, Ronald McNeill, expressed his dismay at Irish republican efforts to court American opinion and dismissed the analogies they sought to draw between themselves and the oppressed smaller nationalities of Europe.
Then, turning to the question of possible partition, Mr McNeill stated that though the ‘Ulster Party had never sought partition, if they were to have partition they would dislike partition from Great Britain far more than from the South of Ireland.’ To cheers in the House of Commons, he added: ‘When it came to a settlement, as come to a settlement it must, it was on the principle of ‘self-determination’ for all the parties concerned that they would find a solution of the question.’
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Connemara: A public appeal was issued on behalf of islanders of Gorumna and Lettermullen, Connemara, who were enduring great distress as a result of an outbreak of influenza. The public appeal has been issued by Mrs O’Nolan, Pádraic Ó Máille, William Cosgrave TD, Frank Fahy TD, and the Lord Mayor of Dublin.
The influenza outbreak affected entire families and in some cases where both parents succumbed, it left behind completely helpless children and in a number of cases, single parents being left to take care of eight or nine children. Survivors, while slowly regaining their health, were not yet able to work and were in need of food and fuel. For the previous three years some members of the Gaelic League had contributed to a fund to provide lunch for the children attending the school and though this work continues, the amount raised is insufficient to extend this scheme beyond the schools. Six years previously in 1913, an outbreak of typhus occurred in the same area which was cited as a clear indication of government neglect of rural areas in Ireland.
Connemara: A public appeal was issued on behalf of islanders of Gorumna and Lettermullen, Connemara, who were enduring great distress as a result of an outbreak of influenza. The public appeal has been issued by Mrs O’Nolan, Pádraic Ó Máille, William Cosgrave TD, Frank Fahy TD, and the Lord Mayor of Dublin.
The influenza outbreak affected entire families and in some cases where both parents succumbed, it left behind completely helpless children and in a number of cases, single parents being left to take care of eight or nine children. Survivors, while slowly regaining their health, were not yet able to work and were in need of food and fuel. For the previous three years some members of the Gaelic League had contributed to a fund to provide lunch for the children attending the school and though this work continues, the amount raised is insufficient to extend this scheme beyond the schools. Six years previously in 1913, an outbreak of typhus occurred in the same area which was cited as a clear indication of government neglect of rural areas in Ireland.
Attention! The German Viper is Taken. It is Now Necessary to Pull Out the Poisonous Teeth! This c. April 1919 poster, printed and distributed in Italy shows a hand strangling a snake decorated with the German Iron Cross. The text reads: “Attention! The German viper is taken! It is now necessary to pull out the poisonous teeth!” While Italy and Germany were allies during World War II, they were on opposing sides during World War I. Italy entered the war on the side of Britain and France on May 23, 1915, by declaring war on Austria-Hungary. Under the terms of a secret treaty concluded in London the previous month, Italy was to gain territory, including Trieste and South Tyrol, in exchange for siding with the Allied nations. Italy declared war on Germany on August 27, 1916, and took part as a victor in the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, with Prime Minister Vittorio Orlando joining President Wilson, Prime Minister David Lloyd George & Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau of France as one of the “Big Four.” However the Italians were dissatisfied with the territorial gains they were accorded at the conference and the Italian delegation walked out on April 24, 1919, although they later returned to sign the Treaty of Versailles. By the 1930s, Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany had become allies, united in their hostility to the democratic powers and their desire to overturn the results of the treaty |
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Embassies of the Republic of Ireland were set up in Paris and Washington under Sean T O'Kelly and Dr Pat McCartan. A Republican prisoner, Adjutant of Limerick’s 2nd Battalion IRA, Robert Byrne, held in a Limerick Workhouse Infirmary on hunger strike protesting for political status, was rescued by a party of Irish Volunteers led by Michael ‘Batty’ Stack. However in the fight, Constable Martin O’Brien was seriously wounded along with two other R.I.C men. Byrne died shortly afterwards from wounds received in the attack. Public opinion, already running high in Limerick with rumours of maltreatment of prisoners now appeared to be correct with news of Byrne’s death. It was widely believed that Byrne had been shot by his guards rather than allow his escape. Thousands turned out to march behind his tricolour draped coffin as it was moved to the family home. Croke Park, Dublin: De Valera made his first public appearance since escaping from Jail. Attending a Gaelic football match between Wexford and Tipperary held to raise funds for prisoner’s dependants. While his appearance was not surprising to RIC intelligence, his refusal to address the 30,000 crowd was recorded as ‘puzzling’. |
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Dublin: 20 Sinn Féin prisoners, among them the Cork MPs J.J. Walsh and Piaras Béaslaí, escaped from Mountjoy Prison.
This daring escape occurred mid-afternoon while the prisoners were exercising in the yard. Initial reports indicate that a number of them turned on their warders and held them down while their comrades arranged for a rope ladder to be placed over a 30-foot wall. Eyewitness accounts tell of men sliding down a rope from the top of the jail wall to the canal bank outside Mountjoy. The breakout lasted about 10 minutes and was brought to an end when the military guard arrived to assist the warders. The cheers of those prisoners still detained could be heard outside the prison. The escaped prisoners dashed in various directions and were gone before the police arrived on the scene. Some of the men disappeared into a crowd who had come to help them, some went in the direction of the North Circular Road, others crossed the canal to Whitworth Road. While some made off on bicycles and others on foot, it is stated that one of them asked onlookers: ‘Who will lend me my tram fare?’ The escapees had an estimated 20 minutes head-start on the police, quite a number of whom had been on duty at the Phoenix Park races.
Belfast Jail
In a letter published in the Irish Independent, Harry Boland MP, drew attention to the Sinn Féiners still incarcerated, in particular those in Belfast Jail. He describes the conditions there as ‘simply appalling’. Prisoners are condemned to cells without bed or board, knife, fork or spoon to eat their ‘miserable fare’. They are not allowed out of their cells except to go to the lavatory and last week three men were placed in handcuffs for ringing their bells for that purpose. Mr Boland added that if the men tried to speak to each other while on the way to the lavatory they were set upon by the police, who are present to reinforce the warders.
Dublin: Eamon 'Ned' Broy (1887-1972) worked as a clerk in G Division, the intelligence branch of the DMP. While there, he frequently copied sensitive files for IRA leader Michael Collins and passed many of these files on to Collins through Thomas Gay, the librarian at Capel Street Library. On the evening of 7 April, 1919, Broy smuggled Collins and Sean Nunan into G Division's archives in Great Brunswick Street (now Pearse Street) overnight, enabling them to identify the DMP "G-Men", six of whom would be assassinated by the IRA.
Click images for biographies.
Dublin: 20 Sinn Féin prisoners, among them the Cork MPs J.J. Walsh and Piaras Béaslaí, escaped from Mountjoy Prison.
This daring escape occurred mid-afternoon while the prisoners were exercising in the yard. Initial reports indicate that a number of them turned on their warders and held them down while their comrades arranged for a rope ladder to be placed over a 30-foot wall. Eyewitness accounts tell of men sliding down a rope from the top of the jail wall to the canal bank outside Mountjoy. The breakout lasted about 10 minutes and was brought to an end when the military guard arrived to assist the warders. The cheers of those prisoners still detained could be heard outside the prison. The escaped prisoners dashed in various directions and were gone before the police arrived on the scene. Some of the men disappeared into a crowd who had come to help them, some went in the direction of the North Circular Road, others crossed the canal to Whitworth Road. While some made off on bicycles and others on foot, it is stated that one of them asked onlookers: ‘Who will lend me my tram fare?’ The escapees had an estimated 20 minutes head-start on the police, quite a number of whom had been on duty at the Phoenix Park races.
Belfast Jail
In a letter published in the Irish Independent, Harry Boland MP, drew attention to the Sinn Féiners still incarcerated, in particular those in Belfast Jail. He describes the conditions there as ‘simply appalling’. Prisoners are condemned to cells without bed or board, knife, fork or spoon to eat their ‘miserable fare’. They are not allowed out of their cells except to go to the lavatory and last week three men were placed in handcuffs for ringing their bells for that purpose. Mr Boland added that if the men tried to speak to each other while on the way to the lavatory they were set upon by the police, who are present to reinforce the warders.
Dublin: Eamon 'Ned' Broy (1887-1972) worked as a clerk in G Division, the intelligence branch of the DMP. While there, he frequently copied sensitive files for IRA leader Michael Collins and passed many of these files on to Collins through Thomas Gay, the librarian at Capel Street Library. On the evening of 7 April, 1919, Broy smuggled Collins and Sean Nunan into G Division's archives in Great Brunswick Street (now Pearse Street) overnight, enabling them to identify the DMP "G-Men", six of whom would be assassinated by the IRA.
Click images for biographies.
8
A public Ard-Fheis of Sinn Fein was held in Dublin with De Valera was elected President. There was much discussion on the proposed system of Proportional Representation which was to be introduced by the British Government. This was designed to operate against the interests of Sinn Fein except in parts of Ulster where Unionists were in the majority. Delegates in turn supported the concept of Proportional Representation and de Valera recorded his opposition to violence against the RIC.
The Ard Fheis also elected a new executive. Credence was lent to the general belief that the meeting ‘was packed with I.R.B and I.R.A members who had been instructed to vote against those members of the executive who supported puerly political measures to attain self-Government.’
Arthur Mitchell. ‘Revolutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22. P.36
Darrell Figgis was defeated by Harry Boland in re-election bid as joint-secreatary and almost immediately clashed publicly with Collins on the planned reception for de Valera, accusing Collins and others as abusing rank and priviledge.
Robert Brennan said of Figgis: ‘ Despite untiring efforts to turn on charm, he made enemies more easily than any man I knew. His assertive manner and unbounded egotism had a lot to do with this, but he had in addition, a trait which, in Ireland would damn a much greater man. His meanness in money matters was so pronounced and so obvious that it became almost proverbial’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P81
Versailles: Peace Conference decides to site the headquarters of the League of Nations at Geneva, Switzerland.
Shane Leslie in a letter to Joe Tumulty, Wilson's Private Secretary, commented:
"Since I saw you last I have been close enough to the Irish to realize the depth of their unfortunate resentment to the President. In spite of their many utterances of open hostility I think they do not relish being made the instrument of Republican vengeance. The President is still their only potential friend. I do not believe they have broken yet with all that the President stands for. . . . Certainly they realise what poor company they are joining in adding to the President's enemies. I feel more strongly than ever that the President did as much as the Irish had the right to ask of him but that his good will and generous hints were disregarded and he has been unjustly left open to criticism. Allied diplomacy like the Republican Party seems to favour a collision between the President and the Irish in view of the next election. In private protest to all this I am anxious to become an American citizen and be done with it all. For three years I have done my utmost to retain Irish confidence in the President but English policy gives me no choice between Sinn Fein and becoming an American. Could you enable me to enlist in the American forces now engaged in Russia or Siberia?"
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.322
Munich: A Bavarian Soviet Republic was proclaimed in Munich and a new Proletariat Government formed to put an end to the capitalist and militarist system. With the old parliament dissolved, the people of Munich were informed by placards on the streets that the reign of the bourgeoisie was over and that a red army was to be formed to secure the new regime against a counter-revolution. The new government in Bavaria announced it's intention to enter into friendly relations with Hungary and Russia.
Since the Bolshevik revolution in Hungary, the country has been transitioning to a Soviet-style government. That government has already declared war against Serbia and surrounding countries and has opened its border with Russia. It has also issued a decree socialising banking institutions and imposing monthly withdrawal limits.
Developments in Bavaria came in the aftermath of weeks of industrial and political unrest that had consumed many German cities including Berlin, Frankfurt and Stuttgart; strikes and food shortages led to considerable distress and widespread social disorder. In Frankfurt fighting broke out when 700 men went to the food distribution office and demanded food. When patrols were sent out to deal with the situation, the crowd stormed the police headquarters and the food stocks. Similar Bolshevik stirrings are also anticipated in Poland and Austria.
Speaking in the French Chamber of Deputies, Stéphen Jean-Marie Pichon, the French foreign minister, denounced Bolshevism as a ‘scourge of mankind’ and warned that anarchy was spreading across large parts of Europe. Unless the allies acted now, he added, it was likely that would find themselves maintaining armies to police practically the whole continent. Pichon described the invitation to the Bolsheviks to send delegates to a Peace Conference at Prinkipo as ill-advised. While he denied that the invitation involved the conferral of any recognition upon the Bolsheviks, he admitted that it strengthened their position in Russia.
A public Ard-Fheis of Sinn Fein was held in Dublin with De Valera was elected President. There was much discussion on the proposed system of Proportional Representation which was to be introduced by the British Government. This was designed to operate against the interests of Sinn Fein except in parts of Ulster where Unionists were in the majority. Delegates in turn supported the concept of Proportional Representation and de Valera recorded his opposition to violence against the RIC.
The Ard Fheis also elected a new executive. Credence was lent to the general belief that the meeting ‘was packed with I.R.B and I.R.A members who had been instructed to vote against those members of the executive who supported puerly political measures to attain self-Government.’
Arthur Mitchell. ‘Revolutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22. P.36
Darrell Figgis was defeated by Harry Boland in re-election bid as joint-secreatary and almost immediately clashed publicly with Collins on the planned reception for de Valera, accusing Collins and others as abusing rank and priviledge.
Robert Brennan said of Figgis: ‘ Despite untiring efforts to turn on charm, he made enemies more easily than any man I knew. His assertive manner and unbounded egotism had a lot to do with this, but he had in addition, a trait which, in Ireland would damn a much greater man. His meanness in money matters was so pronounced and so obvious that it became almost proverbial’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P81
Versailles: Peace Conference decides to site the headquarters of the League of Nations at Geneva, Switzerland.
Shane Leslie in a letter to Joe Tumulty, Wilson's Private Secretary, commented:
"Since I saw you last I have been close enough to the Irish to realize the depth of their unfortunate resentment to the President. In spite of their many utterances of open hostility I think they do not relish being made the instrument of Republican vengeance. The President is still their only potential friend. I do not believe they have broken yet with all that the President stands for. . . . Certainly they realise what poor company they are joining in adding to the President's enemies. I feel more strongly than ever that the President did as much as the Irish had the right to ask of him but that his good will and generous hints were disregarded and he has been unjustly left open to criticism. Allied diplomacy like the Republican Party seems to favour a collision between the President and the Irish in view of the next election. In private protest to all this I am anxious to become an American citizen and be done with it all. For three years I have done my utmost to retain Irish confidence in the President but English policy gives me no choice between Sinn Fein and becoming an American. Could you enable me to enlist in the American forces now engaged in Russia or Siberia?"
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.322
Munich: A Bavarian Soviet Republic was proclaimed in Munich and a new Proletariat Government formed to put an end to the capitalist and militarist system. With the old parliament dissolved, the people of Munich were informed by placards on the streets that the reign of the bourgeoisie was over and that a red army was to be formed to secure the new regime against a counter-revolution. The new government in Bavaria announced it's intention to enter into friendly relations with Hungary and Russia.
Since the Bolshevik revolution in Hungary, the country has been transitioning to a Soviet-style government. That government has already declared war against Serbia and surrounding countries and has opened its border with Russia. It has also issued a decree socialising banking institutions and imposing monthly withdrawal limits.
Developments in Bavaria came in the aftermath of weeks of industrial and political unrest that had consumed many German cities including Berlin, Frankfurt and Stuttgart; strikes and food shortages led to considerable distress and widespread social disorder. In Frankfurt fighting broke out when 700 men went to the food distribution office and demanded food. When patrols were sent out to deal with the situation, the crowd stormed the police headquarters and the food stocks. Similar Bolshevik stirrings are also anticipated in Poland and Austria.
Speaking in the French Chamber of Deputies, Stéphen Jean-Marie Pichon, the French foreign minister, denounced Bolshevism as a ‘scourge of mankind’ and warned that anarchy was spreading across large parts of Europe. Unless the allies acted now, he added, it was likely that would find themselves maintaining armies to police practically the whole continent. Pichon described the invitation to the Bolsheviks to send delegates to a Peace Conference at Prinkipo as ill-advised. While he denied that the invitation involved the conferral of any recognition upon the Bolsheviks, he admitted that it strengthened their position in Russia.
9
Limerick: Anticipating trouble at the funeral of Robert Byrne the next day, the new military authority in Ireland General Griffin, declared Limerick a special military area and troops in armoured cars and tanks patrolled the streets with entry by military permit only. Those crossing bridges over the Shannon were required to produce letters of identification issued by the RIC sergeant in their district and local ratepayers were threatened with a levy to pay for 50% of the costs of extra policing. Both working and middle classes were affected by the decisions as movement was dramatically curtailed and business affected.
The IRA issued warnings to selected 'G' men (members of the G division of the DMP) after Collins sees the files held on the IRA (on the night of the 7th April) by the G division in the Brunswick St Police Station.l
Limerick: Anticipating trouble at the funeral of Robert Byrne the next day, the new military authority in Ireland General Griffin, declared Limerick a special military area and troops in armoured cars and tanks patrolled the streets with entry by military permit only. Those crossing bridges over the Shannon were required to produce letters of identification issued by the RIC sergeant in their district and local ratepayers were threatened with a levy to pay for 50% of the costs of extra policing. Both working and middle classes were affected by the decisions as movement was dramatically curtailed and business affected.
The IRA issued warnings to selected 'G' men (members of the G division of the DMP) after Collins sees the files held on the IRA (on the night of the 7th April) by the G division in the Brunswick St Police Station.l
10
An open session of Dail Eireann was held.
52 TDs attended (Gallagher says 60) - De Valera elected President of Council of Ministers or Prime Minister and appoints cabinet. Constance Markievicz is appointed Minister for Labour, becoming the first Irish female Cabinet Minister (the only one for sixty years) and the first in Western Europe.There De Valera declared the policy of the elected Republican Government and its reaction to the British Administration and military presence in Ireland in that the lawful authority ‘is the elected Government of the Irish Republic.’ And as to how the people should react to the British:
‘..towards the persons of those who hold dominion among us by military force, we shall conduct ourselves with all needful forbearance. We shall observe the rules that have laid upon us so long as those rules do not violate our personal liberty, nor our consciences, nor our duty to our country..’
De Valera explained that the Irish Government would appoint Ambassadors and Consuls to other countries and that the Ministers appointed would be responsible for all work associated with those departments.
The Royal Irish Constabulary were becoming more forceful as unrest spread through the country and in the open session of Dail Eireann, De Valera proposed that “ ..members of the police forces acting in this country as part of the forces of the British occupation and as agents of the British Government be ostracised socially by the people” Eoin McNeill seconded it with “ The police in Ireland are a force of traitors and the police in Ireland are a force of perjurers” It was carried unanimously.
Minutes of proceedings, Dail Eireann, 10 April 1919.
Within a week, the countrywide boycott and ostracisation of the RIC was virtually complete and it was only a matter of time before violence against constabulary became the norm.
Counties Cork, Kerry, Limerick, Roscommon and Tipperary proclaimed as being in a state of disturbance.
Robert Byrne’s funeral was attended by large crowds as well as patrolled by British troops, armoured cars and a military aircraft
.
An open session of Dail Eireann was held.
52 TDs attended (Gallagher says 60) - De Valera elected President of Council of Ministers or Prime Minister and appoints cabinet. Constance Markievicz is appointed Minister for Labour, becoming the first Irish female Cabinet Minister (the only one for sixty years) and the first in Western Europe.There De Valera declared the policy of the elected Republican Government and its reaction to the British Administration and military presence in Ireland in that the lawful authority ‘is the elected Government of the Irish Republic.’ And as to how the people should react to the British:
‘..towards the persons of those who hold dominion among us by military force, we shall conduct ourselves with all needful forbearance. We shall observe the rules that have laid upon us so long as those rules do not violate our personal liberty, nor our consciences, nor our duty to our country..’
De Valera explained that the Irish Government would appoint Ambassadors and Consuls to other countries and that the Ministers appointed would be responsible for all work associated with those departments.
The Royal Irish Constabulary were becoming more forceful as unrest spread through the country and in the open session of Dail Eireann, De Valera proposed that “ ..members of the police forces acting in this country as part of the forces of the British occupation and as agents of the British Government be ostracised socially by the people” Eoin McNeill seconded it with “ The police in Ireland are a force of traitors and the police in Ireland are a force of perjurers” It was carried unanimously.
Minutes of proceedings, Dail Eireann, 10 April 1919.
Within a week, the countrywide boycott and ostracisation of the RIC was virtually complete and it was only a matter of time before violence against constabulary became the norm.
Counties Cork, Kerry, Limerick, Roscommon and Tipperary proclaimed as being in a state of disturbance.
Robert Byrne’s funeral was attended by large crowds as well as patrolled by British troops, armoured cars and a military aircraft
.
Click to names below to view biographies
11
Dublin: Dail Eireann’s 7th and final meeting of the 2nd session was held publicly in the Mansion House Round Room. discussed the League of Nations with De Valera expressing concern that the League may be taking a form that ‘perpetuate power to those who have it and to keep for ever in slavery those who had been kept in slavery, by international rules which were simple the rules of thieves for regulating conduct amongst themselves’
The issue of international recognition was a prime directive of the new government and so the Dail approved a motion that Ireland was “..eager and ready to join a World League of Nations based on the equality of rights, in which the guarantees exchanged neither recognise nor imply a difference between big nations and small, between those that are powerful and those that are weak. We are willing to accept all the duties, responsibilities and burdens which inclusion in such a league implies.” However this was in direct breach of the League of Nations Article 10 which recognised “territorial integrity” and as far as Britain was concerned, Ireland was very much part of the United Kingdom.
The minutes of this meeting of Dail Eireann do not survive as these were destroyed 'by enemy action' and the only record of the debates is from the Irish Independent reports on proceedings. See below for further details. The next meeting of the Dáil would be a public meeting in the Mansion House on 9 May.
Woodrow Wilson needed British support, particularly for the success of his creation, The League of Nations. “ ..here, however ( Wilson’s ) policy clashed head on with that of the majority of Irish Americans of Catholic and nationalist origin. They were strongly isolationist and suspicious of the League, which they saw as being a creature of WASP ( White Anglo Saxon Protestant ) imperialists liable to involve America in foreign wars. To them, the Treaty of Versailles fell between two stools, neither creating a new world order nor restoring the old”
Tim Pat Coogan “De Valera, Long Fellow, Long Shadow” Hutchinson, London. 1993. p141
The RIC appeared not to be unduly concerned about the meeting of Dail Eireann – ‘the Inspector General reported that the session ‘did not attract much attention in the provinces’ Moreover he believed that, despite the ‘unabated energy’ of Sinn Fein and the Irish Volunteers, the party did not seem to be making progress and attendance at meetings was ‘often discouraging’
Arthur Mitchell. ‘Revolutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22 p.37
Progress may have been slow, but there was certainly good reason for it. ‘There were some 60 former MP’s and thousands of supporters of the old Irish Party waiting for the first good opportunity to lead a cavalcade of ridicule.’
The Three delegates from the Friends of Irish Freedom, Walsh, Dunne and Ryan accompanied by their secretary, Patrick Lee, arrive in Paris to help obtain a hearing for Ireland at the Paris Peace Conference.
"They were immediately contacted by Sean T. O'Kelly and George Gavan Duffy, Dáil envoys to France and Lincoln Steffens, an American journalist. Through Steffens, Walsh met Ray Stannard Baker, then the director of the press bureau for the American Commission to Negotiate Peace and the person who received all official correspondence for President Wilson. Baker was cordial and offered to place their correspondence before the President and assist them in arranging an interview with Wilson at such time as they might desire. Walsh also met William C. Bullitt, from the Current Intelligence Department of the commission, who was fully informed about the Irish Race Convention and the unsatisfactory interview between Wilson and the Irish-Americans in New York. Bullitt offered to contact Lloyd George's confidential secretary, Philip Kerr, and to talk with him about Walsh and his mission'
Francis M Carroll “American Opinion & the Irish Question 1910-1923.” Gill & McMillan 1978.p.132/133
They requested a meeting with President Wilson and to obtain from the British Government safe passage guarantees for the elected representatives of the Irish Republic, De Valera, Grifith and Count Plunkett to allow them attend the Peace Talks in Paris.
(The FOIF accounts show that the ocean liner tickets for the American Commission to Paris cost the organisation $501.98 with an additional $6,000 issued to Ryan for expenses ($94,500 in 2018 value equivalent - see the FOIF accounts entry image in entry dated 31 December 1919. The FOIF also paid for Patrick Lee's wife to join him in Paris expending $760 on April 10, 1919)
The delegates also requested a meeting with Lloyd George to request permission to visit Ireland on a fact finding visit. Finding that they were unable to make an appointment with Lloyd George, they visited Colonel House, the personal advisor and close friend of President Wilson. He met with Lloyd George and received permission for them to visit Ireland in May.
In a symbolic gesture, the delegation were also issued with Irish Passports by Sean T. O’Kelly in Paris.
Dublin: Dail Eireann’s 7th and final meeting of the 2nd session was held publicly in the Mansion House Round Room. discussed the League of Nations with De Valera expressing concern that the League may be taking a form that ‘perpetuate power to those who have it and to keep for ever in slavery those who had been kept in slavery, by international rules which were simple the rules of thieves for regulating conduct amongst themselves’
The issue of international recognition was a prime directive of the new government and so the Dail approved a motion that Ireland was “..eager and ready to join a World League of Nations based on the equality of rights, in which the guarantees exchanged neither recognise nor imply a difference between big nations and small, between those that are powerful and those that are weak. We are willing to accept all the duties, responsibilities and burdens which inclusion in such a league implies.” However this was in direct breach of the League of Nations Article 10 which recognised “territorial integrity” and as far as Britain was concerned, Ireland was very much part of the United Kingdom.
The minutes of this meeting of Dail Eireann do not survive as these were destroyed 'by enemy action' and the only record of the debates is from the Irish Independent reports on proceedings. See below for further details. The next meeting of the Dáil would be a public meeting in the Mansion House on 9 May.
Woodrow Wilson needed British support, particularly for the success of his creation, The League of Nations. “ ..here, however ( Wilson’s ) policy clashed head on with that of the majority of Irish Americans of Catholic and nationalist origin. They were strongly isolationist and suspicious of the League, which they saw as being a creature of WASP ( White Anglo Saxon Protestant ) imperialists liable to involve America in foreign wars. To them, the Treaty of Versailles fell between two stools, neither creating a new world order nor restoring the old”
Tim Pat Coogan “De Valera, Long Fellow, Long Shadow” Hutchinson, London. 1993. p141
The RIC appeared not to be unduly concerned about the meeting of Dail Eireann – ‘the Inspector General reported that the session ‘did not attract much attention in the provinces’ Moreover he believed that, despite the ‘unabated energy’ of Sinn Fein and the Irish Volunteers, the party did not seem to be making progress and attendance at meetings was ‘often discouraging’
Arthur Mitchell. ‘Revolutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22 p.37
Progress may have been slow, but there was certainly good reason for it. ‘There were some 60 former MP’s and thousands of supporters of the old Irish Party waiting for the first good opportunity to lead a cavalcade of ridicule.’
The Three delegates from the Friends of Irish Freedom, Walsh, Dunne and Ryan accompanied by their secretary, Patrick Lee, arrive in Paris to help obtain a hearing for Ireland at the Paris Peace Conference.
"They were immediately contacted by Sean T. O'Kelly and George Gavan Duffy, Dáil envoys to France and Lincoln Steffens, an American journalist. Through Steffens, Walsh met Ray Stannard Baker, then the director of the press bureau for the American Commission to Negotiate Peace and the person who received all official correspondence for President Wilson. Baker was cordial and offered to place their correspondence before the President and assist them in arranging an interview with Wilson at such time as they might desire. Walsh also met William C. Bullitt, from the Current Intelligence Department of the commission, who was fully informed about the Irish Race Convention and the unsatisfactory interview between Wilson and the Irish-Americans in New York. Bullitt offered to contact Lloyd George's confidential secretary, Philip Kerr, and to talk with him about Walsh and his mission'
Francis M Carroll “American Opinion & the Irish Question 1910-1923.” Gill & McMillan 1978.p.132/133
They requested a meeting with President Wilson and to obtain from the British Government safe passage guarantees for the elected representatives of the Irish Republic, De Valera, Grifith and Count Plunkett to allow them attend the Peace Talks in Paris.
(The FOIF accounts show that the ocean liner tickets for the American Commission to Paris cost the organisation $501.98 with an additional $6,000 issued to Ryan for expenses ($94,500 in 2018 value equivalent - see the FOIF accounts entry image in entry dated 31 December 1919. The FOIF also paid for Patrick Lee's wife to join him in Paris expending $760 on April 10, 1919)
The delegates also requested a meeting with Lloyd George to request permission to visit Ireland on a fact finding visit. Finding that they were unable to make an appointment with Lloyd George, they visited Colonel House, the personal advisor and close friend of President Wilson. He met with Lloyd George and received permission for them to visit Ireland in May.
In a symbolic gesture, the delegation were also issued with Irish Passports by Sean T. O’Kelly in Paris.
12
The Irish Weekly reports that Louis J Walsh (from Ballycastle) had told the Sinn Féin Ard Fheis that attention should be given to Ulster as the “organisation had not sufficiently grappled with that question”.
Louis Walsh was born in Maghera, County Derry. He was a solicitor in Ballycastle, County Antrim, and in County Derry and later a District Justice in Letterkenny, County Donegal,being the first appointed by the Free State; In 1967 extracts from his unpublished autobiography appeared in the Irish Times. Among his other works are Yarns of a Country Attorney; The Next Time; Memoirs of Men, Places etc.; The Life of John Mitchel and a number of plays, including Twilight Reveries and The Pope at Killybuck, which was first performed in Ballycastle, County Antrim by the Dalriada Players in 1915.
CorK: The levels of social and political unrest across Ireland were growing, and as a result seven areas were now proclaimed as being ‘in a state of disturbance’ and are in need of ‘an additional establishment of police’. The areas covered by the proclamations: Cork City, Cork County (east and west), Roscommon, Tipperary (north and south), Limerick City, Limerick County, Kerry and the Westport urban district, which encompasses the adjoining districts of Westport Rural and Kilmeena.
In one of the proclaimed areas, Co. Cork, three policemen were shot with pellets in the Eyeries district while patrolling at night. The policemen – one sergeant and two constables – were walking along the Castletownbere Road, when the shots were fired from a distance. While the shots struck the men, none of their injuries are thought to be serious. In Dublin, which is not covered by the proclamations, the homes of two Dublin Metropolitan Police detectives were raided by armed men. One of the homes attacked was that of Sergeant Halley on Norfolk Road. He was not present when the masked men arrived but came home while the raid was in progress. He was met by a man standing in front of his door holding a revolver, shouting ‘Hands up’. The sergeant removed his own revolver from his pocket, a shot was fired and the intruder set off down the street followed by a number of men who emerged from the house, which had been ransacked. Nobody was injured. Around a half an hour later, in nearby Glengarriff Park, Detective Officer O’Brien, was bound and searched by assailants and left lying on the road. His property was not attacked. No arrests had been made in relation to either attack, which have caused a local sensation in the Phibsboro area, where police numbers have since been increased.
Clare
In Co. Clare, shots were exchanged with the police, when a party of 40 to 50 young men marched in military formation following mass at Knockarra, about four miles from Kilrush. Constables McDermott and Hanlon of the RIC, both armed with rifles, observed the marchers from the roadside, with Sergeant Donoghue positioned further up the road. The marching party turned on the two constables and took their rifles. A shot was fired at Sergeant Donoghue, who returned fire at the crowd using his revolver. It is understood that nine or 10 shots were fired in all. The rifles were later retrieved and a number of men were arrested, among them Arthur O’Donnell, commandant of the local Volunteers.
Below - the Friends of Irish Freedom were also frequent contributors to and organisers of various fund raising campaigns. In this case, the purchase of Patrick Pearse's St. Enda's*, The Hermitage, Rathfarnham to which the organisation collected some $16,000 by 1920 (equivalent of $200.8k in 2018) as well as donating funds to Mrs. Pearse.
"A letter dated April, 1919, addressed to the Trustees of the St. Enda Fund in America, signed by Mrs. Pearse, Count Plunkett and P.P.McGinley (Cu Uladh)** read in part "This memorial to take the form of the purchase of the title deeds of The Hermitage, Rathfarnham, and the establishment there with whatever endowments we may be able to provide of St. Enda's College to be held forever by National Trustees for the Irish Nation"
The Irish Weekly reports that Louis J Walsh (from Ballycastle) had told the Sinn Féin Ard Fheis that attention should be given to Ulster as the “organisation had not sufficiently grappled with that question”.
Louis Walsh was born in Maghera, County Derry. He was a solicitor in Ballycastle, County Antrim, and in County Derry and later a District Justice in Letterkenny, County Donegal,being the first appointed by the Free State; In 1967 extracts from his unpublished autobiography appeared in the Irish Times. Among his other works are Yarns of a Country Attorney; The Next Time; Memoirs of Men, Places etc.; The Life of John Mitchel and a number of plays, including Twilight Reveries and The Pope at Killybuck, which was first performed in Ballycastle, County Antrim by the Dalriada Players in 1915.
CorK: The levels of social and political unrest across Ireland were growing, and as a result seven areas were now proclaimed as being ‘in a state of disturbance’ and are in need of ‘an additional establishment of police’. The areas covered by the proclamations: Cork City, Cork County (east and west), Roscommon, Tipperary (north and south), Limerick City, Limerick County, Kerry and the Westport urban district, which encompasses the adjoining districts of Westport Rural and Kilmeena.
In one of the proclaimed areas, Co. Cork, three policemen were shot with pellets in the Eyeries district while patrolling at night. The policemen – one sergeant and two constables – were walking along the Castletownbere Road, when the shots were fired from a distance. While the shots struck the men, none of their injuries are thought to be serious. In Dublin, which is not covered by the proclamations, the homes of two Dublin Metropolitan Police detectives were raided by armed men. One of the homes attacked was that of Sergeant Halley on Norfolk Road. He was not present when the masked men arrived but came home while the raid was in progress. He was met by a man standing in front of his door holding a revolver, shouting ‘Hands up’. The sergeant removed his own revolver from his pocket, a shot was fired and the intruder set off down the street followed by a number of men who emerged from the house, which had been ransacked. Nobody was injured. Around a half an hour later, in nearby Glengarriff Park, Detective Officer O’Brien, was bound and searched by assailants and left lying on the road. His property was not attacked. No arrests had been made in relation to either attack, which have caused a local sensation in the Phibsboro area, where police numbers have since been increased.
Clare
In Co. Clare, shots were exchanged with the police, when a party of 40 to 50 young men marched in military formation following mass at Knockarra, about four miles from Kilrush. Constables McDermott and Hanlon of the RIC, both armed with rifles, observed the marchers from the roadside, with Sergeant Donoghue positioned further up the road. The marching party turned on the two constables and took their rifles. A shot was fired at Sergeant Donoghue, who returned fire at the crowd using his revolver. It is understood that nine or 10 shots were fired in all. The rifles were later retrieved and a number of men were arrested, among them Arthur O’Donnell, commandant of the local Volunteers.
Below - the Friends of Irish Freedom were also frequent contributors to and organisers of various fund raising campaigns. In this case, the purchase of Patrick Pearse's St. Enda's*, The Hermitage, Rathfarnham to which the organisation collected some $16,000 by 1920 (equivalent of $200.8k in 2018) as well as donating funds to Mrs. Pearse.
"A letter dated April, 1919, addressed to the Trustees of the St. Enda Fund in America, signed by Mrs. Pearse, Count Plunkett and P.P.McGinley (Cu Uladh)** read in part "This memorial to take the form of the purchase of the title deeds of The Hermitage, Rathfarnham, and the establishment there with whatever endowments we may be able to provide of St. Enda's College to be held forever by National Trustees for the Irish Nation"
** St. Enda's closed after the 1916 Rising. However, with the help of well-wishers, ex-pupils and teachers, it re-opened later that year in Cullenswood House, Ranelagh. Joseph MacDonagh, a brother of Thomas, was appointed headmaster. St Enda’s eventually moved back to the Hermitage in 1919 and was purchased on Mrs Pearse’s behalf in 1920 with money raised largely in the US by the Save St Enda’s Fund. But St Enda’s did not thrive. Without Patrick Pearse it lacked the dynamism and vision which had made it so unique and inspiring. Neither Mrs. Pearse nor her daughter Margaret possessed the qualifications or ability to run the school successfully. Academic standards declined, as did pupil numbers. In mid 1924, Mrs. Pearse toured the USA to raise funds for St Enda’s and Sinn Féin. This tour of cities such as Boston, New York, Concorde, Lexington, and Detroit was arduous for a 67-year-old woman but was a testament to her desperation to keep the doors of St Enda’s open. The trip raised $10,000. However, the school finally closed in 1935.
Today it is the Pearse Museum and managed by The OPW.
** Peadar Toner Mac Fhionnlaoich (known as Cu Uladh 'The Hound of Ulster' was a Donegal born Irish language writer during the Gaelic Revival. He wrote stories based on Irish folklore, some of the first Irish language plays, and regularly wrote articles in most of the Irish language newspapers such as An Claidheamh Soluis. Employed by the British Civil Service as an Inland revenue Officer. Cú Uladh spoke Irish from an early age and kept an interest in the language throughout his life, In 1895 while living in Belfast that he became involved in the Gaelic Movement. Cú Uladh was a member of Seanad Éireann from 1938–1942 when he was nominated by the de Valera.
Paris: William C. Bullitt of the Current Inteligence Department of the American Commission to Negoiate Peace reported back to Walsh that Lloyd George's confidential secretary, Kerr had advised that the British Prime Minister would probably give the Irish Delegation of de Valera, Griffith and Count Plunkett, passports to come to France, although he would never allow them to appear before the Peace Commission. The same afternoon, Walsh met with E.M.House, one of the five members of the American Peace Commission, who was friendly with Sir Horace Plunkett and familar with the Irish situation, and made arrangements to meet again in a few days.
Today it is the Pearse Museum and managed by The OPW.
** Peadar Toner Mac Fhionnlaoich (known as Cu Uladh 'The Hound of Ulster' was a Donegal born Irish language writer during the Gaelic Revival. He wrote stories based on Irish folklore, some of the first Irish language plays, and regularly wrote articles in most of the Irish language newspapers such as An Claidheamh Soluis. Employed by the British Civil Service as an Inland revenue Officer. Cú Uladh spoke Irish from an early age and kept an interest in the language throughout his life, In 1895 while living in Belfast that he became involved in the Gaelic Movement. Cú Uladh was a member of Seanad Éireann from 1938–1942 when he was nominated by the de Valera.
Paris: William C. Bullitt of the Current Inteligence Department of the American Commission to Negoiate Peace reported back to Walsh that Lloyd George's confidential secretary, Kerr had advised that the British Prime Minister would probably give the Irish Delegation of de Valera, Griffith and Count Plunkett, passports to come to France, although he would never allow them to appear before the Peace Commission. The same afternoon, Walsh met with E.M.House, one of the five members of the American Peace Commission, who was friendly with Sir Horace Plunkett and familar with the Irish situation, and made arrangements to meet again in a few days.
13
The British Ambassador in Washington, Spring Rice in a letter to Lord Robert Cecil described Wilson as
“by descent an Orangeman and by education a Presbyterian”
Spring Rice “Letters and Friendships of Sir Cecil Spring-Rice. London 1929. Vol. 11. p392/393
Charles Hathaway, the US Consul in Dublin informed the US State Department that ‘the dominant faction in the Sinn Fein organisation headed by Mr. De Valera is committed to passive metholds and will probably control the situation even though the Peace Conference should break up without having done anything to give them hope’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P71
The Tipperary Brigade of the Irish Volunteers posted a proclamation that every person found in the South Riding of Tipperary after a certain date as an ‘upholder of the foreign Government, would be held to have forfeited his life.’ The Volunteer Executive swiftly stepped in and prevented this threat from being carried out.
Limerick: The Limerick Trades Council met and called for a general strike from the following day and to continue until martial law was lifted. Within hours, a strike proclamation was pasted thoughout the city on walls and billboards. A committee was formed along with sub-committees to take charge of propaganda, finance, food and vigilance. The RIC rapidly called for reinforcements of 300 constables from Dublin but were advised extra men could not be sent due to ongoing strikes elsewhere and that 50 would be sent on the first train.
India: In the Northern Indian city of Amritsar, holy city of the Sikhs, Brigadier-General Dyer (1864-1927) and his troops opened fire on what was termed an “unlawful demonstration” killing 1,600 and wounding 1,500. The Jallianwala Bagh massacre, also known as the Amritsar massacre marked the beginning of 20th century Indian nationalism. Sir Michael Francis O'Dwyer GCIE KCSI who was Lieutenant Governor of the Punjab in India from 1912 until 1919 endorsed General Reginald Dyer's action regarding the Amritsar massacre and termed it a "correct action". Born near Soloheadbeg, Co. Tipperary in 1864, he was subsequently assassinated In 1940 by an Indian Nationalist in London.
13
The British Ambassador in Washington, Spring Rice in a letter to Lord Robert Cecil described Wilson as
“by descent an Orangeman and by education a Presbyterian”
Spring Rice “Letters and Friendships of Sir Cecil Spring-Rice. London 1929. Vol. 11. p392/393
Charles Hathaway, the US Consul in Dublin informed the US State Department that ‘the dominant faction in the Sinn Fein organisation headed by Mr. De Valera is committed to passive metholds and will probably control the situation even though the Peace Conference should break up without having done anything to give them hope’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P71
The Tipperary Brigade of the Irish Volunteers posted a proclamation that every person found in the South Riding of Tipperary after a certain date as an ‘upholder of the foreign Government, would be held to have forfeited his life.’ The Volunteer Executive swiftly stepped in and prevented this threat from being carried out.
Limerick: The Limerick Trades Council met and called for a general strike from the following day and to continue until martial law was lifted. Within hours, a strike proclamation was pasted thoughout the city on walls and billboards. A committee was formed along with sub-committees to take charge of propaganda, finance, food and vigilance. The RIC rapidly called for reinforcements of 300 constables from Dublin but were advised extra men could not be sent due to ongoing strikes elsewhere and that 50 would be sent on the first train.
India: In the Northern Indian city of Amritsar, holy city of the Sikhs, Brigadier-General Dyer (1864-1927) and his troops opened fire on what was termed an “unlawful demonstration” killing 1,600 and wounding 1,500. The Jallianwala Bagh massacre, also known as the Amritsar massacre marked the beginning of 20th century Indian nationalism. Sir Michael Francis O'Dwyer GCIE KCSI who was Lieutenant Governor of the Punjab in India from 1912 until 1919 endorsed General Reginald Dyer's action regarding the Amritsar massacre and termed it a "correct action". Born near Soloheadbeg, Co. Tipperary in 1864, he was subsequently assassinated In 1940 by an Indian Nationalist in London.
14
Paris: Under the Treaty of Versailles, Germany’s war reparations were set at a provisional figure of £5,400 Million.
The Limerick Soviet
In Limerick, more than 14,000 workers went on strike against martial law in the city. Strongly supported by small shopkeepers, the local Catholic hierarchy and even the Chamber of Commerce condemned the permit system. The trades council became the strike committee, organising food distribution, publicity and skeleton staffs to maintain minimal services for gas, electricity and water. To meet the shortage of ready cash, the committee printed it’s own currency. A strike committee member recalled ‘it was generally admitted that the city was never guarded or policed so well previously. The people, for once, were doing their own work and doing it properly. There was no looting, and not a single case came up for hearing at the Petty Sessions’
Liz Curtis ‘The Cause of Ireland – from the United Irishmen to Partition’. Beyond the Pale, Belfast 1994. p310
Hearing of the strike, Dublin members of the Transport Union came out strongly in support and refused to move goods to Limerick. However, both the Irish and British Labour movements refused strike pay to those involved on the grounds the strike was political and refused to call a national general strike. The strike continued through April.
The first problem the committees in Limerick had was to ensure not only law and order, but also that Limerick’s population of 38,000 would be fed. There was panic buying of food throughout the city, which wasn’t helped by a press release from Dublin Castle advising ‘If owing to the wanton action of ill-disposed persons, the inhabitants suffer through lack of the necessities of life, the Government are in no way responsible, and cannot do anything to ameliorate the consequences of such action’
Conor Kostick ‘Revolution in Ireland - popular militancy 1917-1923’ Pluto Press, London 1996 p73
The Strike Committee, already referred to as a Soviet now ordered all bakers to resume work with bread supplies made available. Shops were allowed sell food between two and five but at prices fixed by the Committee, details of which were publicly displayed throughout the city. 7,000 tons of Canadian grain was impounded at the docks and four depots set up to receive foodstuffs from outside the city. Food and goods were smuggled in past military cordons on workers, in barges and even funeral hearses. The impact of the strike on local farmers led to clashes. Trade could only be done with the soviet but resented the low prices that workers insisted on paying. Within a week, the food crisis had passed and the scare had reinforced the authority of the soviet over the city. Small farmers and Limerick’s middle-classes were soon co-operating with the soviet. All transport was centralised and no vehicles were allowed travel without a permit.
Money was soon to be a problem – many workers, though promised strike pay, was slow to come through while members of the National Union of Railwaymen were refused strike pay. The soviet now issued it’s own currency in denominations of 1/, 5/ and 10/ and a list of merchants and shopkeepers that would accept the new currency was quickly circulated. While the worker’s soviet had not only maintained law and order, but had collected and distributed foodstuffs and retained control of transport and currency, the issues of fuel and of conflict with the British Authorities were now looming larger.
Paris: Under the Treaty of Versailles, Germany’s war reparations were set at a provisional figure of £5,400 Million.
The Limerick Soviet
In Limerick, more than 14,000 workers went on strike against martial law in the city. Strongly supported by small shopkeepers, the local Catholic hierarchy and even the Chamber of Commerce condemned the permit system. The trades council became the strike committee, organising food distribution, publicity and skeleton staffs to maintain minimal services for gas, electricity and water. To meet the shortage of ready cash, the committee printed it’s own currency. A strike committee member recalled ‘it was generally admitted that the city was never guarded or policed so well previously. The people, for once, were doing their own work and doing it properly. There was no looting, and not a single case came up for hearing at the Petty Sessions’
Liz Curtis ‘The Cause of Ireland – from the United Irishmen to Partition’. Beyond the Pale, Belfast 1994. p310
Hearing of the strike, Dublin members of the Transport Union came out strongly in support and refused to move goods to Limerick. However, both the Irish and British Labour movements refused strike pay to those involved on the grounds the strike was political and refused to call a national general strike. The strike continued through April.
The first problem the committees in Limerick had was to ensure not only law and order, but also that Limerick’s population of 38,000 would be fed. There was panic buying of food throughout the city, which wasn’t helped by a press release from Dublin Castle advising ‘If owing to the wanton action of ill-disposed persons, the inhabitants suffer through lack of the necessities of life, the Government are in no way responsible, and cannot do anything to ameliorate the consequences of such action’
Conor Kostick ‘Revolution in Ireland - popular militancy 1917-1923’ Pluto Press, London 1996 p73
The Strike Committee, already referred to as a Soviet now ordered all bakers to resume work with bread supplies made available. Shops were allowed sell food between two and five but at prices fixed by the Committee, details of which were publicly displayed throughout the city. 7,000 tons of Canadian grain was impounded at the docks and four depots set up to receive foodstuffs from outside the city. Food and goods were smuggled in past military cordons on workers, in barges and even funeral hearses. The impact of the strike on local farmers led to clashes. Trade could only be done with the soviet but resented the low prices that workers insisted on paying. Within a week, the food crisis had passed and the scare had reinforced the authority of the soviet over the city. Small farmers and Limerick’s middle-classes were soon co-operating with the soviet. All transport was centralised and no vehicles were allowed travel without a permit.
Money was soon to be a problem – many workers, though promised strike pay, was slow to come through while members of the National Union of Railwaymen were refused strike pay. The soviet now issued it’s own currency in denominations of 1/, 5/ and 10/ and a list of merchants and shopkeepers that would accept the new currency was quickly circulated. While the worker’s soviet had not only maintained law and order, but had collected and distributed foodstuffs and retained control of transport and currency, the issues of fuel and of conflict with the British Authorities were now looming larger.
New York: Dr. Maloney commenting on Judge Cohalan, wrote:
‘...he was ‘the chosen leader of the race’ according to his henchmen. His domestic virtues and piety became legendary. A cult of Cohalan worship was founded. To doubt the wisdom of the leader was decreed profane. He took no counsel except to distribute responsibility....he felt no longer fallible, for his position at the head of the Irish movement in America gave him absolute faith in his own leadership. He had already forgotten the failure of his plans and the destruction of his faction in the war. He ran at the head of the new movement which the Irish Heroism had created, and he fancied he had made it. His record was known to us...and had watched him soar in a few months from the depths of the valley of humiliation to the pinnacle of popular and honourable cause...it was natural that his head should be turned. Perhaps a little patience would see his balance restored....’
In addition Dr. Maloney viewed John Devoy’s ‘ mordant action of years spent in the making and marring of Irish factions, had tended to warp his generous spirit, to render his mind suspicious, his vocabulary vituperative, and his habit destructive.’
Quoted in press Statement by William J Maloney – July 1921 Diarmuid Lynch papers – Lynch Family Archives. Folder 6/2
The major gripe against the Cohalan/Devoy faction from the McCartan & Maloney was the apparent lack of recognition by the Friends of Irish Freedom of the Irish Republic and the attempt to derail the League of Nations
New York: The Friends of Irish Freedom National Council met and approved the aims of the Irish Victory Fund (from a draft set out for the New York City and State Collection Card:
To educate public opinion:
(a) To urge that the objects for which America entered the war may be fully attained.
(b) To urge and insist upon the recognition of the Republican form of government established in Ireland.
(c) To urge that America shall not enter into any League of Nations which does not safeguard American Rights.
(d) To maintain and preserve the American ideals of government and to oppose and offset the British propaganda which is falsifying and misrepresenting the facts of American history.
The National Council next agreed that a circular be issued to all Friends of Irish Freedom member societies and associates outlining 'the work to be done in connection with the Irish Victory Fund..."
Friends of Irish Freedom archives, AIHS New York.
Friends of Irish Freedom archives, AIHS New York.
15
The Save the Children Fund is created in the UK, to raise money for the relief of German and Austrian children.
The Save the Children Fund is created in the UK, to raise money for the relief of German and Austrian children.
16
Paris: Following meetings with prominent American members of the Peace commission, Frank P. Walsh, Edward F. Dunne and Michael J. Ryan of The American Commission for Irish Independence delegation in Paris sent wrote to President Wilson asking for a hearing at the Peace Conference of the case of Ireland to be presented by De Valera, Griffith, and Count Plunkett:
"If these gentlemen were furnished safe conduct to Paris so that they might present their case, we feel that our mission would be, in the main, if not entirely, accomplished. May we, therefore, ask you to obtain from Mr. Lloyd George, or whomsoever may be entrusted with the specific details of such matter by the English Government, safe conduct for Messrs. De Valera, Griffith and Plunkett from Dublin to Paris."
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.313
The appeal also requested the President to prevail upon Lloyd George and they assured him that in doing so he would win the approval of millions of Americans.
Paris: Following meetings with prominent American members of the Peace commission, Frank P. Walsh, Edward F. Dunne and Michael J. Ryan of The American Commission for Irish Independence delegation in Paris sent wrote to President Wilson asking for a hearing at the Peace Conference of the case of Ireland to be presented by De Valera, Griffith, and Count Plunkett:
"If these gentlemen were furnished safe conduct to Paris so that they might present their case, we feel that our mission would be, in the main, if not entirely, accomplished. May we, therefore, ask you to obtain from Mr. Lloyd George, or whomsoever may be entrusted with the specific details of such matter by the English Government, safe conduct for Messrs. De Valera, Griffith and Plunkett from Dublin to Paris."
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.313
The appeal also requested the President to prevail upon Lloyd George and they assured him that in doing so he would win the approval of millions of Americans.
1919 fashions
17
Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, Charlie Chaplin and D.W.Griffith teamed up to form their own film distribution company, United Artists.
Paris: According to Walsh’s diary, Wilson sent word to the Irish-American delegation that they would be seen that afternoon. During a brief meeting between the delegation and Wilson, he was informed that the President had ‘reminded Lloyd George of the importance of a speedy resolution of the Irish question, pointing out his problems with the sizeable and influential Irish-American lobby within his own Democratic Party. Moreover, the President told Lloyd George ‘that there was nothing which would be so influential in strengthening the prejudices against the League as the failure to settle the Irish question’.
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p167
No doubt Walsh, Dunne and Ryan would have preferred Wilson to have given a more specific commitment but the assurance that the issue would be raised in the near future.
Meanwhile House had talked with Lloyd George and was shortly able to reinforce Bullitt's opinion that the delegates from Ireland would probably be allowed come to Paris, although they could not appear before the conference. Arrangements were made for the delegation to meet with the British Prime Minister, possibly for the purpose of planning an agenda for de Valera, Griffith and Count Plunkett. However, the business of planning the Peace Conference caused Lloyd George to cancel two meetings with Walsh, Dunne and Ryan.
In view of such delays, it was suggested to the Irish-American delegation (by whom is a matter of some disagreement) that they should make a quick fact finding trip to Ireland which would allow for a first hand picture of the real situation there.
Francis Carroll points out that Judge Cohalan had advised the Irish American delegation to visit Ireland, so as on their return that they could 'enlighten American opinion. However the State Department had anticipated some dangers in precisely that situation and had therefore restricted the passports for travel exclusively in France."
Francis M Carroll “American Opinion & the Irish Question 1910-1923.” Gill & McMillan 1978.p.133
So, official approval by Britain to allow a visit by the Irish American delegation to Ireland was the first requirement. Finding it impossible to secure an audience with Lloyd George, the delegation met with Colonel House and complained that the British Prime Minister had not only failed to make an appointment to see them this week, as promised, but in their opinion he had no notion of seeing them at all and so requested permission to travel to Ireland with the understanding that on their return, a meeting with Lloyd George would be possible.
Finally Colonel House prevailed upon Lloyd George to allow the Irish-American delegation diplomatic visas to Ireland, which were quickly granted.
18
Paris: In a letter to Judge Cohalan, Sean T.O’Kelly wrote:’…I am taking advantage of the opportunity to send you a few lines to let you know…how grateful we are to you for the tremendous work you have already accomplished for Ireland, and for the important results which have already accured from your glorious efforts..’
Diarmuid Lynch Friends of Irish Freedom manuscript notes. Lnch Family Archives Folder 8 - 00009
Dublin: 1,000 delegates from all over Ireland attend the Sinn Féin Ard-Fheis in Dublin. Éamon de Valera is elected President of the organisation.
Sinn Féin proposes an Executive Council of the Irish National Alliance to challenge the right of any foreign parliament to make laws for Ireland.
Paris: In a letter to Judge Cohalan, Sean T.O’Kelly wrote:’…I am taking advantage of the opportunity to send you a few lines to let you know…how grateful we are to you for the tremendous work you have already accomplished for Ireland, and for the important results which have already accured from your glorious efforts..’
Diarmuid Lynch Friends of Irish Freedom manuscript notes. Lnch Family Archives Folder 8 - 00009
Dublin: 1,000 delegates from all over Ireland attend the Sinn Féin Ard-Fheis in Dublin. Éamon de Valera is elected President of the organisation.
Sinn Féin proposes an Executive Council of the Irish National Alliance to challenge the right of any foreign parliament to make laws for Ireland.
19
Egypt: Rising Nationalist sentiment in Egypt results in further British troops being sent to curb spreading unrest.
Limerick: the city was declared a 'proclaimed district' by British forces.
Egypt: Rising Nationalist sentiment in Egypt results in further British troops being sent to curb spreading unrest.
Limerick: the city was declared a 'proclaimed district' by British forces.
20
Cork: The R.I.C barracks at Araglen, Fermoy in Co. Cork was raided by Volunteers and all arms and ammunition were taken.
On Easter Sunday, April 20, 1919, Michael Fitzgerald (1881-1920) leading a small group of IRA volunteers and captured Araglin, Co. Cork Royal Irish Constabulary Baracks located on the border with Tipperary north of Fermoy before making off with rifles, revolvers and ammunition. He was subsequently arrested and sentenced to three months imprisonment at Cork Jail. Fitzgerald was released from prison in August 1919 and immediately returned to active IRA duty. He was involved in the holding up of a party of British Army troops at the Wesleyan Church in Fermoy. The troops were disarmed although one of them was killed.
Kathleen Clarke recalls meeting de Valera outside the GPO…’he seemed pleased to meet me, and was for him rather gushing. He said…he was thinking of going to France to seek aid for Ireland and what did I think of the idea? I said France had no interest in Ireland now and that the place to go for help was the USA, where so many of our people were.’
Kathleen Clarke. ‘Revolutionary Woman’ O’Brien Press 1991. P167
Cork: The R.I.C barracks at Araglen, Fermoy in Co. Cork was raided by Volunteers and all arms and ammunition were taken.
On Easter Sunday, April 20, 1919, Michael Fitzgerald (1881-1920) leading a small group of IRA volunteers and captured Araglin, Co. Cork Royal Irish Constabulary Baracks located on the border with Tipperary north of Fermoy before making off with rifles, revolvers and ammunition. He was subsequently arrested and sentenced to three months imprisonment at Cork Jail. Fitzgerald was released from prison in August 1919 and immediately returned to active IRA duty. He was involved in the holding up of a party of British Army troops at the Wesleyan Church in Fermoy. The troops were disarmed although one of them was killed.
Kathleen Clarke recalls meeting de Valera outside the GPO…’he seemed pleased to meet me, and was for him rather gushing. He said…he was thinking of going to France to seek aid for Ireland and what did I think of the idea? I said France had no interest in Ireland now and that the place to go for help was the USA, where so many of our people were.’
Kathleen Clarke. ‘Revolutionary Woman’ O’Brien Press 1991. P167
24
A circular letter was sent by Dail Eireann advisign that the RIC should be treated as ‘persons who, having been adjudged guilty of treason to their country, are regarded as unworthy to enjoy any of the privledges or comforts which arise from cordial relations with the public.’ The Sinn Fein Cumman were instructed ‘avoid all social intercourse, no salutations, no social contact. If they attend, you leave. Avoid places where police are known to visit, particularly public houses which they frequent’
A circular letter was sent by Dail Eireann advisign that the RIC should be treated as ‘persons who, having been adjudged guilty of treason to their country, are regarded as unworthy to enjoy any of the privledges or comforts which arise from cordial relations with the public.’ The Sinn Fein Cumman were instructed ‘avoid all social intercourse, no salutations, no social contact. If they attend, you leave. Avoid places where police are known to visit, particularly public houses which they frequent’
25
The Bauhaus architectural and design movement is founded in Weimar, Germany.
ANZAC Day is observed for the first time in Australia.
Harry Boland sent to the US to prepare for a future visit by De Valera. Bringing with him, secreted in his boots were copies of declarations adopted by Dail Eireann on January 21st.
Diarmuid Lynch was appointed to organise all aspects of the de Valera visit to the US.
In Longford, three civilians were shot dead by the R.I.C.
In Amsterdam, International Labour demanded that Ireland be heard at the Paris Peace Conference.
G.K.Chesteron writing in the New Witness ‘You cannot govern a nation which decides to ignore you.’
Limerick: the ongoing strike continued to be strongly supported by trade unions around the country who sent food and supplies to the strikers. Some hoped that there would be a number of sympathetic strikes across Ireland that would challenge British rule. But opposition was growing in the form of local businessmen, middle class residents and the Catholic Church.
Business opposed the soviet, the middle class mistrusted it and the Church was concerned with it's radicalism. The leadership of Irish trade unions was also worried. They feared it was perhaps too much too soon and that they would over extend themselves. Under the combined pressure of the Sinn Fein mayor and Bishop of the city, they worked to wind down the strike.
On the first anniversary of Diarmuid and Kit's Dundalk Jail wedding, the Chattanooga News in Tennessee carried the story 'Love Laughs at Jailer'.
26
27
Limerick: The Limerick soviet declared that all workers would return to work and apply for military permits. The committee, chaired by John Cronin, added its thanks to ‘every class of the community for the help tendered during the period of the strike’, noting that for the past fortnight the ‘workers of Limerick‘ had been engaged in an ‘emphatic and dignified protest against military tyranny’ and had loyally obeyed the instructions.
The strike had commenced on 14 April as a protest against the imposition of military law in Limerick. The decision to end the strike came after representatives of the striking workers received a joint communique from the Bishop of Limerick and the mayor. Addressing a midday mass on Sunday at St Michael’s church, Rev. W. Dwane, remarked that he had consulted with Bishop Hallinan and clarified that neither he, nor the bishop, nor any of his clergy, had been consulted prior to the strike and both opposed its continuation. He added that his sympathies were with the working classes and the he hoped that the honest working men of Limerick would in future be guided only by leaders upon whom they could rely and not allow themselves be ‘fooled or deceived’. He commended the workers for carrying out their protests peacefully.
In the course of the strike, the Manchester Guardian reported that the strikers had set up a ‘provisional government’ in Limerick much as Sir Edward Carson and his unionist colleagues had conspired to do in Ulster. The strike committee’s own news sheet, The Workers’ Bulletin, confirmed this theory, noting that various ministers had been appointed. It is the only publication at present being issued in Limerick.
The news that the strike is to be ended has been met with mixed reaction. Some workers are relieved to be returning to work, while others view the decision as an admission of defeat. Although they had held out hope of a national strike, they were willing to continue the strike even without it. Labour leader, Thomas Johnson, defended the ending of the strike saying that, taking everything into account, they had adopted the best approach for the moment. Mr Johnson added that the workers of Limerick had taken up the fight on behalf of the people of Ireland as a whole and and a representative gathering of all trade unions would be called to determine how to continue it.
Within a week, all military permit requirements were dropped. Socialism was quickly eclipsed by Nationalism as the predominant force in Limerick and most of the island.
Limerick: The Limerick soviet declared that all workers would return to work and apply for military permits. The committee, chaired by John Cronin, added its thanks to ‘every class of the community for the help tendered during the period of the strike’, noting that for the past fortnight the ‘workers of Limerick‘ had been engaged in an ‘emphatic and dignified protest against military tyranny’ and had loyally obeyed the instructions.
The strike had commenced on 14 April as a protest against the imposition of military law in Limerick. The decision to end the strike came after representatives of the striking workers received a joint communique from the Bishop of Limerick and the mayor. Addressing a midday mass on Sunday at St Michael’s church, Rev. W. Dwane, remarked that he had consulted with Bishop Hallinan and clarified that neither he, nor the bishop, nor any of his clergy, had been consulted prior to the strike and both opposed its continuation. He added that his sympathies were with the working classes and the he hoped that the honest working men of Limerick would in future be guided only by leaders upon whom they could rely and not allow themselves be ‘fooled or deceived’. He commended the workers for carrying out their protests peacefully.
In the course of the strike, the Manchester Guardian reported that the strikers had set up a ‘provisional government’ in Limerick much as Sir Edward Carson and his unionist colleagues had conspired to do in Ulster. The strike committee’s own news sheet, The Workers’ Bulletin, confirmed this theory, noting that various ministers had been appointed. It is the only publication at present being issued in Limerick.
The news that the strike is to be ended has been met with mixed reaction. Some workers are relieved to be returning to work, while others view the decision as an admission of defeat. Although they had held out hope of a national strike, they were willing to continue the strike even without it. Labour leader, Thomas Johnson, defended the ending of the strike saying that, taking everything into account, they had adopted the best approach for the moment. Mr Johnson added that the workers of Limerick had taken up the fight on behalf of the people of Ireland as a whole and and a representative gathering of all trade unions would be called to determine how to continue it.
Within a week, all military permit requirements were dropped. Socialism was quickly eclipsed by Nationalism as the predominant force in Limerick and most of the island.
28
Dungloe, Donegal: The Irish people are not placing all their hopes on the Paris Peace Conference, a commemoration in honour of the 1916 rebellion was told in Donegal. Frank O’Donnell said that if turned down at Paris, there was another important conference which recognised Ireland as an independent nation – the socialist Berne Conference, and if all other countries failed Ireland, he added, Ireland could rely on Russia to stand by her to the bitter end.
Mr O’Donnell was speaking at demonstration in Dungloe, Co. Donegal, where over 1,000 men marched in military formation, with some American soldiers among them and supported by bands from Dungloe, Meenacross and Rampart. These remarks in many ways echoed those of Constance Markievicz in Bray, where she observed that there were two paths open to press Ireland’s case for independence.
The first was through President Wilson and the support of the United States. The other, was through the Bolsheviks in Russia.
Markievicz told her audience that she knew Russia well and that the people who had taken control there were the rank and file just like those listening to her – people working and striving to earn a living and build up their country.
The Freeman’s Journal has poured scorn on the idea, suggesting that the ‘spectacle of Lenin and Trotsky as the saviours of Ireland would be too much for anyone except apparently some Sinn Féin leaders’. ‘We wonder’, the paper added, ‘if the people who profess Bolshevism as a panacea for all political ills have the faintest idea of what Bolshevism actually means. Sinn Féin professes to be democratic, but Bolshevism repudiates democracy with even more scorn than it does aristocracy.’
The anniversary of the Rising was also marked in Paris with a Mass at the Church of Notre Dame Victoires where prayers were offered up for the repose of the souls of the Irish republicans who lost their lives. The attendance included Sean T. O’Kelly and George Gavan Duffy, as well as a number of American soldiers and members of the Knights of Columbanus.
Dungloe, Donegal: The Irish people are not placing all their hopes on the Paris Peace Conference, a commemoration in honour of the 1916 rebellion was told in Donegal. Frank O’Donnell said that if turned down at Paris, there was another important conference which recognised Ireland as an independent nation – the socialist Berne Conference, and if all other countries failed Ireland, he added, Ireland could rely on Russia to stand by her to the bitter end.
Mr O’Donnell was speaking at demonstration in Dungloe, Co. Donegal, where over 1,000 men marched in military formation, with some American soldiers among them and supported by bands from Dungloe, Meenacross and Rampart. These remarks in many ways echoed those of Constance Markievicz in Bray, where she observed that there were two paths open to press Ireland’s case for independence.
The first was through President Wilson and the support of the United States. The other, was through the Bolsheviks in Russia.
Markievicz told her audience that she knew Russia well and that the people who had taken control there were the rank and file just like those listening to her – people working and striving to earn a living and build up their country.
The Freeman’s Journal has poured scorn on the idea, suggesting that the ‘spectacle of Lenin and Trotsky as the saviours of Ireland would be too much for anyone except apparently some Sinn Féin leaders’. ‘We wonder’, the paper added, ‘if the people who profess Bolshevism as a panacea for all political ills have the faintest idea of what Bolshevism actually means. Sinn Féin professes to be democratic, but Bolshevism repudiates democracy with even more scorn than it does aristocracy.’
The anniversary of the Rising was also marked in Paris with a Mass at the Church of Notre Dame Victoires where prayers were offered up for the repose of the souls of the Irish republicans who lost their lives. The attendance included Sean T. O’Kelly and George Gavan Duffy, as well as a number of American soldiers and members of the Knights of Columbanus.
29
“In a letter to Diarmuid Lynch, Dr. McCartan and Liam Mellows, De Valera spoke of floating a loan in the United States through the sale of registered certificates.”
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.348
Diarmuid comments on this years later: ‘Under date of April 29, 1919, a letter on the stationery of Dail Eireann – to which the name of Eamon de Valera, President, was affixed together with the signature of Michael Collins, Minister of Finance, was delivered to me in New York. It was addressed to Diarmuid Lynch, Dr Patrick McCartan and Liam Mellows, and referred to the accompanying draft prospectus for the External Loan of the Irish Republic to be raised in the United States. The following authorisation was appended:
‘You are hereby authorised to issue the forgoing prospectus in America, to receive applications
for the Certificate described above therein, to receive payment in respect of such applications and
generally to act as agents of the Irish Republican Government in all matters appertaining to this loan.’
Preliminary steps in this matter ‘undertaken at the insistence of the Cabinet of the First Dail Eireann’ were temporarily suspended by a further letter from Dail Eireann instructing us to await the return from Paris of Messrs Frank P Walsh and Edward F Dunne of the American Commission on Irish Independence. Later, said authorisation was, in effect superseeded by the arrival in the United States of President de Valera under whose personal direction the prospectus was issued eventually. Even so, I rendered considerable and continuous assistance in the raising of said loan.’
Application for Military Service Pension Certificate ( Diarmuid Lynch) - Department of Defence Files. Lynch Archives. Sept.28 1935
In Cork, A Company, 3rd Battalion who had a room on the ground floor of a boot repair shop in Grattan street, officers were working with 28lbs of gunpowder when it exploded. One was killed and 4 seriously injured. Terence McSwiney ordered the removal from hospital to safe houses of the two senior officers.
Several bombs are intercepted in the first wave of the 1919 United States anarchist postal bombings.
30
"A letter dated April, 1919, addressed to the Trustees of the St. Enda Fund in America, signed by Mrs. Pearse, Count Plunkett, and P.T.McGinley (Cu Uladh) read in part: "This memorial to take the form of the purchase of the title deeds of the Hermitage, Rathfarnham, and the establishment there with whatever endowments we may be able to provide of St. Enda's College to be held forever by National Trustees for the Irish Nation"
In late April 1919, approximately 36 booby trap bombs were mailed to prominent politicians, including the Attorney General of the United States, judges, businessmen (including John D. Rockefeller), and a Bureau of Investigation field agent, R.W. Finch, who happened to be investigating the Galleanist organization. The bombs were mailed in identical packages and were timed to arrive on May Day, the day of celebration of organised labour and the working class. A few of the packages went undelivered because they lacked sufficient postage. One bomb intended for Seattle Mayor Ole Hanson, who had opposed the Seattle General Strike, arrived early and failed to explode as intended. Seattle police in turn notified the Post Office and other police agencies. On April 29, a package sent to U.S. Senator Thomas W. Hardwick of Georgia, a sponsor of the Anarchist Exclusion Act, exploded injuring his wife and housekeeper. On April 30, a post office employee in New York City recognized 16 packages by their wrapping and interrupted their delivery. Another twelve bombs were recovered before reaching their targets. More details on the 1919-1920 'Red Scare' here.
USS Tennessee (BB-43), the lead ship of her class of battleship, was the third ship of the United States Navy named in honour of the 16th US state. During World War II in the Pacific Theater, she was damaged during the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941 but was repaired and modernized. She participated in shore bombardments at the Aleutian Islands, Tarawa, the Marshall Islands, the Marianas, the Philippines, Iwo Jima, Okinawa among others. She was also involved in the Battle of Surigao Strait, the final battleship vs. battleship conflict in world naval history. After the end of World War II, Tennessee was placed on reserve in the mothball fleet for nearly 15 years before finally being scrapped in 1959. More details here. |
Die Befahr des Bolschevsismus.
(The Danger of Bolshevism). Germany 1919 Following the Bolshevik takeover of Russia in November 1917, it was widely thought that other European countries might fall to the communists. Seeking to capitalize on widespread economic misery in the aftermath of the German defeat in World War I, the Communist Party of Germany attempted several unsuccessful takeovers of the country in 1919–21. This 1919 poster warns Germans about the danger of a communist coup. It shows a skeleton wrapped in a black cloak with a bloody knife held in its teeth. In the background is a hill covered in crosses; at the top of the hill is a gallows. In Russia, the ruling communists had unleashed what became known as the Red Terror against their political opponents, and this campaign of mass killings, torture, and oppression lent credibility to images such as the one on this poster. Widespread fear of communism was also one of the factors that led to the rise of the Nazi party in the 1920s and early 1930s. This poster is by Rudi Feld (1897–1994), a Berlin-born artist and set designer who worked for the major German film studio, Universum Film AG (Ufa). Feld, who was Jewish, immigrated to the United States in 1937, where he had a long career in the U.S. film and television industry. |
Below: "The Night" is a 1919 oil on canvas by German artist Max Beckmann. It is an icon of the post-World War I movement, Neue Sachlichkeit, or New Objectivity. Housed at the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf, Germany.
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The newly established Worker’s Holiday for May Day was celebrated throughout Ireland with the exception of Belfast.
The Irish-American delegation left Paris for Dublin and an Irish fact finding mission.
Riots break out in Cleveland, Ohio; 2 people are killed, 40 injured, and 116 arrested.
A Friends of Irish Freedom 4 page circular letter setting out the objects of the Irish Victory Fund over the signatures of the National President Rev. Peter Magennis O.C.C. and National Secretary, Diarmuid Lynch was mailed to 23,000 members nationwide. The purposes of the Irish Victory Fund were plainly stated:
To educate public opinion:
a) To urge that the objects for which America entered the war may be fully attained.
b) To urge and insist upon the recognition of the Republican form of Government established in Ireland.
c) To urge that America shall not enter into any League of Nations which does not safeguard all American rights.
d) To maintain and preserve the American ideals of government and to oppose and offset the British propaganda which is falsifying and misrepresenting the facts of American history.
e) To maintain for the forgoing purposes a widespread and professional publicity campaign.
f) To defray the expenses of the Irish American delegation to the Peace Conference.
(The last two were drafted by Diarmuid Lynch, the balance by Richard Dalton )
Diarmuid Lynch ‘"The I.R.B. and the 1916 Rising" Mercier Press. 1957. p208
‘Diarmuid Lynch's work in the raising of the Irish Victory Fund was of the greatest importance. Headquarters was moved...and his staff much enlarged.’
Florence O’Donoghue commenting in "The I.R.B. and the 1916 Rising" Diarmuid Lynch . Mercier Press. 1957. p208
Pete Seeger, folk singer and musician born (died 2014)
The newly established Worker’s Holiday for May Day was celebrated throughout Ireland with the exception of Belfast.
The Irish-American delegation left Paris for Dublin and an Irish fact finding mission.
Riots break out in Cleveland, Ohio; 2 people are killed, 40 injured, and 116 arrested.
A Friends of Irish Freedom 4 page circular letter setting out the objects of the Irish Victory Fund over the signatures of the National President Rev. Peter Magennis O.C.C. and National Secretary, Diarmuid Lynch was mailed to 23,000 members nationwide. The purposes of the Irish Victory Fund were plainly stated:
To educate public opinion:
a) To urge that the objects for which America entered the war may be fully attained.
b) To urge and insist upon the recognition of the Republican form of Government established in Ireland.
c) To urge that America shall not enter into any League of Nations which does not safeguard all American rights.
d) To maintain and preserve the American ideals of government and to oppose and offset the British propaganda which is falsifying and misrepresenting the facts of American history.
e) To maintain for the forgoing purposes a widespread and professional publicity campaign.
f) To defray the expenses of the Irish American delegation to the Peace Conference.
(The last two were drafted by Diarmuid Lynch, the balance by Richard Dalton )
Diarmuid Lynch ‘"The I.R.B. and the 1916 Rising" Mercier Press. 1957. p208
‘Diarmuid Lynch's work in the raising of the Irish Victory Fund was of the greatest importance. Headquarters was moved...and his staff much enlarged.’
Florence O’Donoghue commenting in "The I.R.B. and the 1916 Rising" Diarmuid Lynch . Mercier Press. 1957. p208
Pete Seeger, folk singer and musician born (died 2014)
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The Three US Delegates from the Friends of Irish Freedom, Labour lawyer Frank Walsh, Philadelphia lawyer Michael J. Ryan and
Former Governor of Illinois, Edward F. Dunne, arrived in Ireland on a fact finding visit. They were met at Dun-Laoghaire by representatives of the Dail including W.T. Cosgrave, Richard Mulcahy and began a tour that took in most of the country. Spending several days meeting with Northern nationalist leaders, they also visited RIC barracks, and while visits to jails were refused by the authorities, an exception was made for Mountjoy.
De Valera met with the delegation and discussed the ‘possibility of raising a loan in the United States and they had emphasised the difficulties of such an attempt’
Macardle. ‘The Irish Republic’ Irish Press 1957. p298
A visit to Mayo for a holiday? You would have been unable to go this month as it was in a proscribed area.
Dublin: The head of a big Irish distilling firm has said that the whiskey for which Ireland is famed may no longer be available as a result of the new budgetary changes announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Austen Chamberlain the previous week. When introducing his budget to the Westminster parliament Chamberlain outlined plans for the government to raise revenues for the coming year to over £1,201 million, an increase of £41.45 million on last year. Even with this, however, a deficit of almost £234 million is expected. From the perspective of the Irish vintners and the brewing industry, the problem was not the proposed increased revenues, but how they were to be raised. With no increases in income tax, the increased revenues were to be delivered mainly from new taxes on beer and spirits. The latter will be taxed at a rate of 50 shillings per gallon, up 20 shillings, while the tax per barrel of beer rises by a similar amount, up from 50 shillings to 70 shillings. The impact of these changes was understood to vary across the sector. One licensed trader admitted to the Irish Independent that the licensed trade could easily meet the new taxation from the ‘gigantic profits’ generated in recent years. The general view is that the additional burden will be borne by the brewer and the retailer rather than by the consumer.
Weimar Republic troops and the Freikorps occupy Munich, and crush the Bavarian Soviet Republic.
The head of the English Catholics, Cardinal Bourne, stated that ‘ the real object of Sinn Fein is to set up a republic of a communistic and godless type, and Sinn Feiners are using the Catholic prelates as pawns’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revolotionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-1922’. P176
The Three US Delegates from the Friends of Irish Freedom, Labour lawyer Frank Walsh, Philadelphia lawyer Michael J. Ryan and
Former Governor of Illinois, Edward F. Dunne, arrived in Ireland on a fact finding visit. They were met at Dun-Laoghaire by representatives of the Dail including W.T. Cosgrave, Richard Mulcahy and began a tour that took in most of the country. Spending several days meeting with Northern nationalist leaders, they also visited RIC barracks, and while visits to jails were refused by the authorities, an exception was made for Mountjoy.
De Valera met with the delegation and discussed the ‘possibility of raising a loan in the United States and they had emphasised the difficulties of such an attempt’
Macardle. ‘The Irish Republic’ Irish Press 1957. p298
A visit to Mayo for a holiday? You would have been unable to go this month as it was in a proscribed area.
Dublin: The head of a big Irish distilling firm has said that the whiskey for which Ireland is famed may no longer be available as a result of the new budgetary changes announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Austen Chamberlain the previous week. When introducing his budget to the Westminster parliament Chamberlain outlined plans for the government to raise revenues for the coming year to over £1,201 million, an increase of £41.45 million on last year. Even with this, however, a deficit of almost £234 million is expected. From the perspective of the Irish vintners and the brewing industry, the problem was not the proposed increased revenues, but how they were to be raised. With no increases in income tax, the increased revenues were to be delivered mainly from new taxes on beer and spirits. The latter will be taxed at a rate of 50 shillings per gallon, up 20 shillings, while the tax per barrel of beer rises by a similar amount, up from 50 shillings to 70 shillings. The impact of these changes was understood to vary across the sector. One licensed trader admitted to the Irish Independent that the licensed trade could easily meet the new taxation from the ‘gigantic profits’ generated in recent years. The general view is that the additional burden will be borne by the brewer and the retailer rather than by the consumer.
Weimar Republic troops and the Freikorps occupy Munich, and crush the Bavarian Soviet Republic.
The head of the English Catholics, Cardinal Bourne, stated that ‘ the real object of Sinn Fein is to set up a republic of a communistic and godless type, and Sinn Feiners are using the Catholic prelates as pawns’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revolotionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-1922’. P176
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Liverpool - the Cunard liner 'Royal George' left Liverpool for New York. Working his passage in the hold of the vessel as a stoker was Harry Boland. The acting Chairman of the IRB could only travel to the United States using a false identity and then the only job available was to manually stoke the liner's boilers in twelve hour shifts.
David Fitzpatrick writes that the IRB Supreme Council had decided to send him as it's envoy to Clan na Gael. "His task was to reassert home control over Devoy's organisation and to settle the conflicts which were already tearing apart the Clan and it's front organisation, The Friends of Irish Freedom. Harry's appointment was suggested by Collins (as treasurer of the Supreme Council)...Collins supplied him with a scrap of typescript stating that 'the bearer Mr Énri Ó Beolláin has full authority to act in every capacity on behalf of the [Supreme} COUNCIL. He has been acting Chairman of that body since the general round up in May last. He is visiting you in his official capacity' De Valera, using the Dail letterhead declared that 'the bearer...is a special envoy of the Elected Government of the Irish Republic to the United States of America. His acts may be regarded as official. His formal credentials follow'
David Fitzpatrick. 'Harry Boland's Irish Revolution'. Cork University Press. 2003. p120
Liverpool - the Cunard liner 'Royal George' left Liverpool for New York. Working his passage in the hold of the vessel as a stoker was Harry Boland. The acting Chairman of the IRB could only travel to the United States using a false identity and then the only job available was to manually stoke the liner's boilers in twelve hour shifts.
David Fitzpatrick writes that the IRB Supreme Council had decided to send him as it's envoy to Clan na Gael. "His task was to reassert home control over Devoy's organisation and to settle the conflicts which were already tearing apart the Clan and it's front organisation, The Friends of Irish Freedom. Harry's appointment was suggested by Collins (as treasurer of the Supreme Council)...Collins supplied him with a scrap of typescript stating that 'the bearer Mr Énri Ó Beolláin has full authority to act in every capacity on behalf of the [Supreme} COUNCIL. He has been acting Chairman of that body since the general round up in May last. He is visiting you in his official capacity' De Valera, using the Dail letterhead declared that 'the bearer...is a special envoy of the Elected Government of the Irish Republic to the United States of America. His acts may be regarded as official. His formal credentials follow'
David Fitzpatrick. 'Harry Boland's Irish Revolution'. Cork University Press. 2003. p120
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Cork: A bomb-making factory was discovered in Cork city after an explosion a few days previously in a three storey tenement house on Grattan Street left a number of people requiring treatment for burns and shock. As the debris was being cleared from the house, a cache of bombs was discovered in the clay beneath the kitchen floor. 262 bombs of gelignite in various stages of completion were found: 79 ‘live’ bombs and a further 64 in the process of preparation; in another trunk 25 bombs were found and in another part of the kitchen a keg was discovered carrying 75 bombs, capped and ready for use. Revolver cartridges, sticks of gelignite, detonators and bottles of acid were also unearthed. Among the injured were Mrs McMahon, a tenant of the Grattan Street house, who experienced shock, scalp wounds and an injury to her knee; Cissie Moore from Anne Street, who suffered burns to her hands and face; Michael Tobin of 28 Sheares Street who suffered extensive burns to his hands, face and legs. Also wounded were Jeremiah Downey of 21 Henry Street and Timothy Hegarty of Grattan Street, both of whom experienced burns to their hands and face. Ms Moore, as well as Mr Tobin and Mr Downey were taken to Mercy Hospital where they were detained and treated. On arrival at the infirmary, the two men gave their names in Irish. Another man, Timothy Hegarty, was taken to North Infirmary. Police were reported to be anxious to speak with the shoemaker, Andrew Ahern, about the explosion.
The London Times commenting on the US Delegates visit to Ireland: ‘There is a general impression, however fantastic it may be, that the three Irish-Americans have come to Ireland with the approval of President Wilson and with Lloyd George’s consent as an agent of the Irish Republican policy and that when they return to Paris, the Prime Minister will consider their demand for international recognition of the Irish Republic at the Peace Conference. In other words, the country is being asked to believe that the Republican movement had descended from the region of idealism into that of practical politics’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p34
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The full Dail Executive met and agreed to form co-operative societies ‘in every district of Ireland, having as their purpose the development for the benefit of all people of the district of all latent natural resources…and for the more efficient development of such resources as are at present only imperfectly developed.’ This was to have some immediate effect throughout the country.
Eoin MacNeill in an interview with a Scottish paper said ‘ as to the shooting of policemen, in all cases, as far as I know, these acts were committed in resistance to policemen engaged on puerly repressive activities’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P75
The Irish-American delegation arrived in Dublin where they were greeted by a large crowd and a parade which took them through the city. Their tour through Ireland continued, meeting many Sinn Fein leaders, receiving the Freedom of the City of Limerick, attending civic functions, addressing the Dail and making several speeches in which they made clear their views on Irish self-government and the widespread American support for the Irish cause. Not surprisingly, these statements caused an explosive reaction in Westminster.
L. Frank Baum, author, poet, playwright, actor and independent filmmaker (The Wizard of Oz) (b. 1856) died.
Paris: The peace treaty between the Allied powers and the defeated Germans should not be signed, according to Marshal Ferdinand Foch, who spearheaded the military campaign that ended the First World War. Foch, at a private plenary session at the Paris Peace Conference declared that the terms of the proposed treaty provided France with insufficient military security for the future. He also maintained that France should hold the Rhine bridgeheads. This was the most recent of a series of difficulties that have dogged the Peace Conference. The previous week, Italian premier, Vittorio Emanuele Orlando, and his delegates withdrew from the conference. Addressing the Italian Senate, Orlando provided information on the background to that withdrawal and his communications with President Wilson on the matter. Essentially, it came down to the denial of Italy's rights and interests in the Adriatic Sea - specifically in Fiume, Istria and Dalmatia. ‘I told Mr Wilson that it was absolutely impossible for me to agree to peace on the conditions indicated, which gave us satisfaction on none of those three essential points.’
After much deliberation between the various powers, Italy was invited back to the Peace Conference with a view to them being present alongside the United States, France and Britain when the terms of the proposed treaty are handed to the Germans. Meanwhile, the total amount to be paid by Germany through reparations was set to reach £5 billion, a figure much lower than some early estimates. Of this, France would receive £2.5 billion, Britain £1.5 billion, while £360 million due to go to Belgium, with the balance being divided between Italy and Serbia. The Germans would have a 30 year period to raise the money with the exception of the first payment of £1 billion, which will be required to be paid prior to May 1921. Speaking to a representative from Berliner Tageblatt, Johannes Giesberts, one of the German plenipotentiaries at Versailles, declared that Germany ‘would only sign such peace terms as would enable her to build up her economic life’.
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Versailles: German delegates are presented with the Peace Treaty terms between the 27 Allies and associated powers.
Versailles: German delegates are presented with the Peace Treaty terms between the 27 Allies and associated powers.
United States: Among the Friends of Irish Freedom, a difference of opinion between two influential groupings was becoming apparent. The initial differences were as to the claim that should be made for Ireland, whether recognition of the established Irish Republic or the ‘right of self determination’.
One grouping, including the Clan na Gael founder John Devoy, Judge Cohalan and Diarmuid Lynch were proposing to continue the fight against the British as the American branch of the organisation, seeking self-determination for Ireland, developing influential contacts within the US Administration to help force concessions from Britain and funding being used locally in America to counter British Propaganda.
Others, including Joe McGarrity, wanted the fight to be brought directly to Ireland, funding to be sent there and recognition of the Republic. Serious contention between both groups was becoming evident by early 1919.
At a meeting of the National Executive of the Friends of Irish Freedom, Joe McGarrity attended and promptly set a motion that $50,000 be sent to Ireland to defray expenses of the Irish delegation in Paris.
According to Diarmuid Lynch who recorded the event: “ Joe McGarritty in early May 1919, was insistent that $50,000 be sent to Ireland at once, but at the time, little cash was on hand and the main commitments were to the financing of the American Commission on Irish Independence and the Irish Delegation to Paris. The National Executive of the Friends of Irish Freedom opted to proceed in an orderly fashion and as quickly as circumstances permitted.”
Lynch Family Archives & recorded in Diarmuid Lynch ‘"The I.R.B. and the 1916 Rising" Mercier Press. 1957. p208
Diarmuid’s original version records:
‘ Mr McGarrity’s attitude …when there was very little cash on hand over and above which there were pressing commitments – included the financing of the American Commission of Irish Independence and the Irish Delegation at Paris – was not, to say the least, helpful. He was insistent that $50,000 should be sent to Ireland immediately. Such impetuosity did not appeal to the National Executive (of which I was a member); it decided to proceed orderly and as quickly as circumstances permitted, a decision which, as time went on, was misinterpreted and misrepresented’
Diarmuid Lynch to the Irish Press. November 1946. Lynch Family Archives Folder 46 – 00013
Funds available at that time in the Friends of Irish Freedom treasury included $5,000 that had been collected, and treasury included $12,000 of which $2,000 was payable, leaving $15,000. Judge Cohalan objected to the motion on the $50,000 but a compromise package proposal by P.A. Moynihan of $10,000 was agreed to be sent to the Irish-American delegation to Paris where they could pass the funds to the Irish delegation. The McGarrity motion was defeated.
‘McGarrity did not take his defeat gracefully, and the word was soon spread in Philadelphia that Judge Cohalan had been opposed to sending any of the Irish Victory Fund to Ireland. This statement was a plain untruth…it was not long before a vigorous campaign of misrepresentation was waged against Cohalan, Devoy and other prominent members of the Friends of Irish Freedom’
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.346
As it turned out, the $10,000 sent was assumed by the American Delegation to defray their own expenses. However, they did advance $3,800 to the Irish representatives for current needs.
Later that evening, Diarmuid was guest of honour at the Maynooth Alumni Association Dinner in the Hotel Astor New York. According to a newspaper, ‘The Irish World...Catholic news, Catholic opinion’ this was the first time in the history of the Alumni Association that a layman received the honour of an invitation to the gathering:
‘the National secretary of the Friends of Irish Freedom was hailed as a true champion of the vindication of America’s honour and the representative of the nation of the Gael..’
Lynch Family Archives
The Speaker was Fr. Peter Donoghue (whose main claim to fame was he baptised Count John McCormack and so first heard his ‘singing voice’!) and in his address said:
“ ...the place of honour at the speakers table goes to Diarmuid Lynch, a confessor of the Irish republic...we might have said a confessor martyr for he heard the sentence of death from the lips of England for he chose to take his stand by his mother in her darkest hour, the hour before Easter dawn..”
Lynch Family Archives
Below: The Menace Newspaper from Missouri continued it's long standing apathy towards 'hyphenated Americans', Sinn Fein, Roman Catholicism and Bolshevism but not necessarily in that order:
Cork: Members of the Irish-American Commission visited Cork as part of their ongoing trip through Ireland. Mr Walsh has since been called on to return to London, but Dunne and Ryan will be afforded a warm and hearty welcome when they reach Cork, according to the Cork Examiner. They will have an opportunity to learn of the true causes of Irish unrest and discontent, a consequence of rule by force and inequitable taxation. Dunne and Ryan have already visited Belfast where they met with a mixed reception. While they met with the catholic Bishop for Down and Connor, Joseph MacRory, they were effectively snubbed by unionist political and business leaders. The Mayor of Belfast, John Campbell White refused to meet the visitors, as did Sir George Clarke, managing director of the Workman and Clark shipbuilders, and Hugh MacDowell Pollock, chairman of the Belfast harbour commissioners and ex-President of the Chamber of Commerce. The visit by the American delegation to Belfast was arranged by Denis McCullough and they were accompanied by Sinn Féin TDs, W.T. Cosgrave and Richard Mulcahy.
At a luncheon held in the Metropole Hotel they were joined by other notables including members of the clergy and Winifred Carney. After lunch the diners raised a toast to ‘The Irish Republic’.
At a luncheon held in the Metropole Hotel they were joined by other notables including members of the clergy and Winifred Carney. After lunch the diners raised a toast to ‘The Irish Republic’.
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The Irish-American visit was proving to be more than a headache for Chief Secretary Macpherson in a letter to Lloyd George :
‘The presence of the Irish delegation from America embarrassed us. We did not and do not know how to act. French and I, if I may say so, had both confidence in yourself and we recognised there might be something behind it all and we did not take the action which the conduct of these men deserved…the visit has given Sinn Fein an importance which it never hoped to have and has undone the work which I set myself to do here at great personal risk – viz, restore the spirit of confidence in law abiding citizens.’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p34
Lloyd George in turn blamed the United States Presidential Advisor, Colonel House for misleading him as to the purpose and character of the delegations visit. Historian Michael Hopkinson asseses this as ‘Lloyd George not only played into the hands of Sinn Fein publicity but also was responsible for straining Anglo-American relations’
The Friends of Irish Freedom wired an additional sum of $10,000 for the American Commission on Irish Independence while visiting Ireland. (see FOIF accounts 31 December 1919. Equivalent to $145,000 in 2018)
United States Navy Curtiss flying boat NC-4, commanded by Albert Cushing Read, starts the first transatlantic flight, from Naval Air Station Rockaway to Lisbon via Trepassey, Newfoundland (departs May 16) and the Azores (arrives May 17). (On May 30–31 it flies on to Plymouth in England.)
Aware that the Senate would convene on May 19 and that the Irish Question would come up before the new Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Judge Cohalan believed it was important for him to keep in close touch with the friends of Ireland on that committee. One such Senator was Borah. Cohalan wrote to Senator Borah and invited him to visit New York City for the purpose of meeting the more important Irish-American leaders. Borah wrote back immediately that he was "exceedingly anxious" to arrange for such an interview because there were "some matters which I feel I ought to talk over with you and other friends."
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.327
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The three US Delegates were presented at a special Fourth session of Dail Eireann attended by 50 TD’s in the Mansion House Round Room and Frank Walsh addressed the gathering - ‘This is a great moment as no foreigner had addressed an Irish Parliament since Benjamin Franklin was received in the old Irish House on College Green’ wrote Marie Commerford. However in a private meeting later with de Valera, the delegates were most pessimistic of the chances for success in Paris.
The eight meeting of the Dail was to be followed by a reception but was delayed as the building was searched by British Troops with warrants for the arrest of Michael Collins and Robert Barton. The raid was ‘sheer folly’ as Tim Healy wrote.
An American reporter for the Chicago Daily News, Ruth Russell commented on the raid during her testimony to the Third Hearings on Conditions in Ireland, Washington DC, December 15, 1920:
“At the time I was at Madame Gonne MacBride’s house on Stephens Green. Her young son, who has since been arrested…came rushing over to the house and told us the Mansion House was being raided; that the police were searching fro Michael Collins and Robert Barton. Miss Barton, Robert Barton’s sister, was in the house at the time. We dashed across Stephen’s Green and we found a double line of police and constables drawn up across Dawson Street…the soldiers were there with their fixed bayonets. Just beyond the line there was a whippet tank and beyond that were motor lorries for the soldiers taking part in it….the car with Frank Walsh and President De Valera approached the line of the military. The military lowered their bayonets…Frank Walsh…went up to Lieutenant-Colonel Johnson of the Dublin Military Police and he inquired ‘Whats the row’? The casualness of the question must have disarmed the Lieutenant Colonel, because he started to laugh and after a long conference finally permitted the American car to go through. After the order was given, the lorries containing the soldiers were taken out through the crowd, amid the booing of the people, and the car flying the American and Sinn Fein flags entered…and the reception was held in the Mansion House…. They were not successful in finding either Michael Collins or Robert Barton. However, both of them turned up at the reception later.’
Deploring the incident, the Archbishop of Dublin Dr Walsh publicly stated that they had had an experience of ``the kind of government under which we are living in Ireland''.
Meanwhile, Lloyd George now wrote to Colonel House in Paris regarding the delegation 'complaining that he had permitted them to go to Ireland on the understanding that they were responsible men who genuinely wanted to investigate the conditions there; but he expressed hsi subsequent dismay, listing the indiscretions of the Irish-Americans in Ireland, and said that the British Government could nto permit such activities. House refused to take any responsibility for the delegation and said that had not asked to go to Ireland but had simply wanted Lloyd George to receive de Valera, Griffith and Plunkett in Paris. The Prime Minister replied that he had been given an altogether different understanding from both Sir William Wiseman and House and that he proposed to cancel the scheduled interview with the Irish-Americans...he also said that in view of the present situation he would inform the Viceroy in Ireland to take whatever steps 'necessary in the interests of peace and order', thus when Walsh applied to the military to visit Westport [as a proscribed area], he found his travel had been restricted.'
Francis M Carroll “American Opinion & the Irish Question 1910-1923.” Gill & McMillan 1978.p 133/134 & 255
The next meeting of the Dáil was to be a private meeting held in Flemmings Hotel, Dublin on 17 June.
A Unionist delegation addressed the House of Commons and warned that the Irish Labour leadership not only advocated complete independence but also ‘ the overthrow of British civilisation through the establishment of a Bolshevist state in Ireland.’
Belgium: a new electoral law introduces universal manhood suffrage, and gives the franchise to certain classes of women.
The three US Delegates were presented at a special Fourth session of Dail Eireann attended by 50 TD’s in the Mansion House Round Room and Frank Walsh addressed the gathering - ‘This is a great moment as no foreigner had addressed an Irish Parliament since Benjamin Franklin was received in the old Irish House on College Green’ wrote Marie Commerford. However in a private meeting later with de Valera, the delegates were most pessimistic of the chances for success in Paris.
The eight meeting of the Dail was to be followed by a reception but was delayed as the building was searched by British Troops with warrants for the arrest of Michael Collins and Robert Barton. The raid was ‘sheer folly’ as Tim Healy wrote.
An American reporter for the Chicago Daily News, Ruth Russell commented on the raid during her testimony to the Third Hearings on Conditions in Ireland, Washington DC, December 15, 1920:
“At the time I was at Madame Gonne MacBride’s house on Stephens Green. Her young son, who has since been arrested…came rushing over to the house and told us the Mansion House was being raided; that the police were searching fro Michael Collins and Robert Barton. Miss Barton, Robert Barton’s sister, was in the house at the time. We dashed across Stephen’s Green and we found a double line of police and constables drawn up across Dawson Street…the soldiers were there with their fixed bayonets. Just beyond the line there was a whippet tank and beyond that were motor lorries for the soldiers taking part in it….the car with Frank Walsh and President De Valera approached the line of the military. The military lowered their bayonets…Frank Walsh…went up to Lieutenant-Colonel Johnson of the Dublin Military Police and he inquired ‘Whats the row’? The casualness of the question must have disarmed the Lieutenant Colonel, because he started to laugh and after a long conference finally permitted the American car to go through. After the order was given, the lorries containing the soldiers were taken out through the crowd, amid the booing of the people, and the car flying the American and Sinn Fein flags entered…and the reception was held in the Mansion House…. They were not successful in finding either Michael Collins or Robert Barton. However, both of them turned up at the reception later.’
Deploring the incident, the Archbishop of Dublin Dr Walsh publicly stated that they had had an experience of ``the kind of government under which we are living in Ireland''.
Meanwhile, Lloyd George now wrote to Colonel House in Paris regarding the delegation 'complaining that he had permitted them to go to Ireland on the understanding that they were responsible men who genuinely wanted to investigate the conditions there; but he expressed hsi subsequent dismay, listing the indiscretions of the Irish-Americans in Ireland, and said that the British Government could nto permit such activities. House refused to take any responsibility for the delegation and said that had not asked to go to Ireland but had simply wanted Lloyd George to receive de Valera, Griffith and Plunkett in Paris. The Prime Minister replied that he had been given an altogether different understanding from both Sir William Wiseman and House and that he proposed to cancel the scheduled interview with the Irish-Americans...he also said that in view of the present situation he would inform the Viceroy in Ireland to take whatever steps 'necessary in the interests of peace and order', thus when Walsh applied to the military to visit Westport [as a proscribed area], he found his travel had been restricted.'
Francis M Carroll “American Opinion & the Irish Question 1910-1923.” Gill & McMillan 1978.p 133/134 & 255
The next meeting of the Dáil was to be a private meeting held in Flemmings Hotel, Dublin on 17 June.
A Unionist delegation addressed the House of Commons and warned that the Irish Labour leadership not only advocated complete independence but also ‘ the overthrow of British civilisation through the establishment of a Bolshevist state in Ireland.’
Belgium: a new electoral law introduces universal manhood suffrage, and gives the franchise to certain classes of women.
10
The Irish Times commenting on the last days of the US delegation ‘ three weeks ago none save fools and fanatics believed in the possibility of an Irish Republic’ and acknowledged that many now believed a Republic was imminent. The RIC Inspector General Byrne commented that the visit ‘gave fresh impetus to republican aspirations’ & that ‘the whole community is restless and apprehensive’. Rumours grew that if the Paris Conference did not hear the Irish case, a widespread revolution could develop.
This photograph, taken around 1919, shows a party of three R.I.C. constables and their escort of six soldiers from the Essex Regiment outside the barracks at Clonakilty, Co. Cork, preparing to leave on a cycle patrol. I.R.A. attacks in subsequent months necessitated the introduction of armoured vehicles in the form of Lancia and Crossley tenders, each capable of carrying around ten men.
"The Campaign to raise in Philadelphia $150,000 for the Friends of Irish Freedom to defray the expenses of bringing before the Peace Conference Ireland's plea for recognition of her independence and to inform the world and especially America of the justice of Irelands cause, is assuming proportions, much to the gratification of those back of the undertaking, considerably in excess of their expectations"
from an un-named news article.
from an un-named news article.
11
Harry Boland arrived in New York from Ireland.
‘His mission was part an I.R.B. one, but he brought from the Dail Ministry, credentials authorising Dr. McCartan to act as envoy of the Irish Republic. McCartan had hitherto acted on credentials from the I.R.B. Supreme Council, which apparently relinquished it's Governmental authority on the setting up of a popularly elected parliament with a ministry responsible to it. Boland had also the mission of preparing the ground for De Valera’s visit.
On arrival in New York, he went straight to Diarmuid Lynch. They were old friends. In a long discussion, Diarmuid gave him an account of the position in America, including the differences of opinion which had arisen between a few of the leaders on some matters of policy. On the self-determination issue, Boland characterised the fuss which had been raised as a ‘tempest in a teapot’ which had better cease. Diarmuid proposed to him that he should call a conference of Devoy, McCartan, Cohalan, Dalton and five or six other men prominent in the movement and repeat to them what he had just said to Diarmuid. Boland agreed, went to Philadelphia and the conference was not held. But from that time, the attacks which had been made on the self-determination policy, ceased.’
Florence O'Donoghue on Diarmuid Lynch "The I.R.B. and the 1916 Rising" Mercier Press. 1957. p209
O'Donoghue omits some interesting information - Harry Boland smuggled a copy of 'Ireland's Address to the Free Nations of the World' otherwise known as as Ireland’s Claim to Independence, which had been proclaimed at the First Dáil and published by Fergus O’Connor. Due to its nature, the publication had been suppressed by the British Government, and so had to be well concealed on the journey from Ireland to the United States.
Harry had had a pair of stoker’s boot specially made with a hidden compartment in the soles in which he hid the document. When he reached New York he went directly to the home of Diarmuid Lynch. There, he ripped open the soles and delivered the document to Lynch, from where it was duplicated and widely distributed to the nationwide Irish-American community.
Boland left the boots with Lynch who later donated them and their story to the National Museum of Ireland during the 1930s.
credit: https://thecricketbatthatdiedforireland.com/2013/04/07/harry-bolands-boots-smuggling-seditious-documents-1919/
Harry had had a pair of stoker’s boot specially made with a hidden compartment in the soles in which he hid the document. When he reached New York he went directly to the home of Diarmuid Lynch. There, he ripped open the soles and delivered the document to Lynch, from where it was duplicated and widely distributed to the nationwide Irish-American community.
Boland left the boots with Lynch who later donated them and their story to the National Museum of Ireland during the 1930s.
credit: https://thecricketbatthatdiedforireland.com/2013/04/07/harry-bolands-boots-smuggling-seditious-documents-1919/
12
Sean Hogan (Tipperary 3rd Brigade), one of the Soloheadbeg volunteers who fired the first shots of the war of independence was arrested in Meaghers of Annfield, charged and held overnight in Thurles. A plan was put into operation by the Tipperary Volunteers to rescue Hogan. The usual RIC procedure was to move prisoners to Cork for further questioning and so it was planned to hold up the train.
An IRA raid on Ballyedmund Castle in Co. Down took place overnight. It was a well planned raid but failed to get any arms.
In the US, rumours were growing in Irish American circles that Judge Cohalan, Clan na Gael and the Friends of Irish Freedom were not in favour of sending any of the Irish Victory fund to Ireland. The source of these rumours was traced back to Joe McGarrity, as Charles Tansill reveals on the results of the May 7th meeting:
‘Joe McGarrity did not take his defeat gracefully, and the word was soon spread in Philadelphia that Judge Cohalan had been opposed to sending any of the Irish Victory Fund to Ireland...it was not long before a vigorous campaign of misrepresentation was waged against Cohalan, Devoy and other prominent members of the Friends of Irish Freedom.’
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.346
Sean Hogan (Tipperary 3rd Brigade), one of the Soloheadbeg volunteers who fired the first shots of the war of independence was arrested in Meaghers of Annfield, charged and held overnight in Thurles. A plan was put into operation by the Tipperary Volunteers to rescue Hogan. The usual RIC procedure was to move prisoners to Cork for further questioning and so it was planned to hold up the train.
An IRA raid on Ballyedmund Castle in Co. Down took place overnight. It was a well planned raid but failed to get any arms.
In the US, rumours were growing in Irish American circles that Judge Cohalan, Clan na Gael and the Friends of Irish Freedom were not in favour of sending any of the Irish Victory fund to Ireland. The source of these rumours was traced back to Joe McGarrity, as Charles Tansill reveals on the results of the May 7th meeting:
‘Joe McGarrity did not take his defeat gracefully, and the word was soon spread in Philadelphia that Judge Cohalan had been opposed to sending any of the Irish Victory Fund to Ireland...it was not long before a vigorous campaign of misrepresentation was waged against Cohalan, Devoy and other prominent members of the Friends of Irish Freedom.’
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.346
13
Sean Hogan, was taken by train by four armed policemen from Thurles to Cork for questioning and trial. At 8.10pm, the train halted at Knocklong Station where a party of IRA volunteers led by Sean Treacy entered at 8.13pm.
Making their way to the carriage where Hogan was held, they surprised the four RIC constables. Constable Michael Enright was shot dead while Sergeant Wallace managed to knock the gun from Treacy. Hogan disabled Constable Ring while O’Brien wrestled with Constable Reilly. The remaining Volunteers rushed in, knocking Reilly out and throwing Ring from the carraige window. Sergeant Peter Wallace managed to shoot Treacy in the throat before he was shot. Constable Reilly in the meantime had recovered, managed to take Constable Ring’s rifle and crawled out to the platform where he opened fire on the IRA party, wounding O’Brien and Scanlon. In the shooting, Dan Breen was wounded and the firing continued as Hogan and the volunteers left the station. Hogan’s handcuffs were removed in a local butcher’s shop and the party dispersed with Breen being treated locally. Sergeant Wallace died of his wounds the following day. Six men were later charged with the killings and tried in March 1920.
This signalled a wave of RIC killings, eighteen officers between now and the end of the year despite attempts made by Dail Eireann and Irish Volunteers leadership to rein in action by Volunteer units. The I.R.A banned all attacks on police stations without it’s prior approval. This directive within months grew to advising that all Irish Volunteers actions must be carried out to avoid any RIC casualties. This policy was adopted to ensure that ‘ no military action could be traced to it’s [the Government ] authority or to the I.R.A.
The Irish Volunteers executive were in fact not reducing the developing guerrilla warfare against the British Authorities, but were beginning to take selective and high profile action. Arthur Griffith, while at any rate the dove amongst many hawks, promoted the concept of no violence unless or until the British Government proscribed the Dail. This was taken up and generally agreed to by both the Dail executive and Irish Volunteers leadership, reducing attacks as long as Dail Eireann ‘was there for propaganda purposes’. By early autumn, the entire situation had changed.
Prior to their departure from Ireland to return to Paris, the Irish-American delegation issued this statement to the press:
"We are deeply appreciative of the universally generous welcome accorded to us as the accredited representatives of the Irish Race in America. The passion of the Irish people for freedom burns with its age-old intensity, but we find, in addition to this, under the most dis-interested and able leadership in Europe today, they are putting their ideal into practical form in a manner which must challenge the admiration of the world and secure the favor and support of all right- thinking peoples."
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.314
14
Westminster: The actions of the Irish-American delegation in Ireland was discussed at the weekly War Cabinet meeting. The Irish Chief Secretary, Ian Macpherson said 'that the Irish Americans had very much aggravated a delicate situation by their inflamatory speeches and their careless use of their passports, and he saw a direct increase in unrest in Ireland as a result of their visit; Bona Law decided to announce in Parliament that Lloyd George would not meet the Irish-Americans back in Paris. This view was later supported (28 May) by the American Ambassador to Britain, John W. Davis.
Francis M Carroll “American Opinion & the Irish Question 1910-1923.” Gill & McMillan 1978.p.254
The New York Times reported that the British authorities were 'incensed' at the Irish-American delegation and that House would no longer serve as an intermediary between them and the British.
Lord Hugh Cecil said in the House of Commons: ‘If the Southern Provinces of Ireland, after a long period of demand, insist on Independence, I do not see how it can be refused….we will gain nothing by not facing facts.’
Newsletter of the Irish National Bureau, Washington D.C.. Issue No.2 July 18, 1919. Lynch Family Archives.
The Friends of Irish Freedom offices moved to the Sun Building, 280 Broadway, New York.
In the English Daily News, High Martin as part of his series ‘Government by Tanks’ wrote:
‘..in the end we shall have to give up either the hypocrisy of pretending to concern about freedom in Czechoslovakia or the infamy of stamping on freedom in Ireland. The issue may be delayed but it is not in doubt’
Below: Punch Magazine has another poke at Ireland:
The Friends of Irish Freedom files on the purchase of St, Endas's, Rathfarnham continues with a letter dated May 14, 1919 when the Secretrary of the Trustees in Ireland ( A. O Monacháin) wrote: "It was determined to purchase the property for the Nation (Mr.Pearse consenting) and to re-establish the school on a larger and better scale with full equipment.
15
Nationalist MP Joe Devlin writes to his party leader, Dillon saying that “… nothing will come of the Peace Conference. The position must inevitably come to … a fierce conflict between the government and Sinn Fein, and I am afraid the country is in for a bad time.”
Frank Polk, the State Department Counsellor suggested to the American Ambassador in Britain that 'the exact situation [as regards the Irish-American delegations recent Irish visit] should be described to the press so that it was understood that 'the British have brought all this trouble on themselves by visaing their passports for England and Ireland'
Francis M Carroll “American Opinion & the Irish Question 1910-1923.” Gill & McMillan 1978.p.254
Nationalist MP Joe Devlin writes to his party leader, Dillon saying that “… nothing will come of the Peace Conference. The position must inevitably come to … a fierce conflict between the government and Sinn Fein, and I am afraid the country is in for a bad time.”
Frank Polk, the State Department Counsellor suggested to the American Ambassador in Britain that 'the exact situation [as regards the Irish-American delegations recent Irish visit] should be described to the press so that it was understood that 'the British have brought all this trouble on themselves by visaing their passports for England and Ireland'
Francis M Carroll “American Opinion & the Irish Question 1910-1923.” Gill & McMillan 1978.p.254
16
Liberace, pianist born. (died 1987)
Liberace, pianist born. (died 1987)
17
The Irish delegation to the Peace Conference (De Valera, Arthur Griffith and Count Plunkett ) issued a communiqué from the Mansion House addressed to the French Premier, Clemenceau on the Irish Question:
‘We must ask you to call the immediate attention of the Peace Conference to the warning which is our duty to communicate, that the people of Ireland...has repudiated and does now repudiate, the claim of the British Government to speak or act on behalf of Ireland, and consequently that no Treaty or agreement entered into by the representatives of the British Government...is or can be binding on the people of Ireland...”
In Paris, Frank Walsh, Chairman of the Irish-American delegation wrote to the United States Secretary of State, Lansing, asking that safe conduct be extended to the Irish Republic representatives to allow them attend the Paris Peace Conference.
First Republican law court is set up, at Ballinrobe, County Mayo.
Michael Collins speaking to Austin Stack on the lack of progress in militant leadership ‘we have too many of the barganing types alread…it seems to me that official Sinn Fein is included to be ever less militant and ever more political theoretical’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p41
Large mass meeting of Irish-Americans addressed by Judge Cohalan in Buffalo, New York.
19
Washington D.C. The 66th Congress opens and with divergent positions on the proposed Versailles Treaty & League of Nations:
- Strong Internationalists (Wilson, 27 Democrats.)
- Limited Internationalists (Butler, Taft, 8 Republicans.)
- Mild Reservationists (Hitchcock, 20 Republicans and 20 Democrats.)
- Strong Reservationists (Lodge, 7 Republicans.)
- Irreconcilables (Borah, Johnson, 14 Republicans. and 2 Democrats.)
Tansill sumarised the various anti-League of Nations factions in the 1919 Congress:
"Borah soon became the leader of the Republican "irreconcilables" in the Senate. There was a lot of fire, fury, and brains in this little group of "bitter-enders." Frank B. Brandegee, of Connecticut, had a sharp wit that infuriated his Democratic opponents, and they often winced as he lashed them on the League issue. Albert B. Fall, of New Mexico, was not an intellectual giant, but he was a steadfast opponent of the League and his vote could always be counted upon by his colleagues. Medill McCormick, of Illinois, former publisher of the isolationist Chicago Tribune, disliked the League with a bitterness that bordered on hysteria. There was never any doubt about his vote. Hiram W. Johnson, of California, able politician who had long dominated the scene in his native state, and an astute forecaster of political weather, was one of the most vehement opponents of the League and his influence was strong and far-reaching. George H. Moses, of New Hampshire, small town newspaper editor, was a political manipulator of undoubted genius which often helped Senate "irreconcilables" to wreck the best-laid plans of Democratic senators in favour of the League. The intellectual peer of all the irreconcilables was Philander C. Knox, of Pennsylvania, who before entering upon a Senate career had already won distinction as an Attorney General under Theodore Roosevelt and as Secretary of State under Taft. His speeches were models of clarity of expression and keenness of thought.
Along with these 'bitter-enders' was a formidable group of "strong reservationists" and a respectable number of "mild reservationists." The leader of the "strong reservationists" was Henry Cabot Lodge, who was Chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. In 1919 Lodge was an outspoken opponent of the Wilson League of Nations. But he was fearful of a "blank negative to any League." It was possible for him to conceive "of a League that could do great good if properly guarded and in exact accord with our feelings'. Ex-senator Beveridge did not approve this cautious policy recommended by Senator Lodge. To him it looked like "hedging" on an issue of momentous importance. This was also the viewpoint of Senator Borah, who frankly expressed his feelings to Beveridge: "We seem to be afraid to take a stand upon a great vital problem, and therefore we apologize and compromise upon a question which involves the very existence of our government"
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.325-326
The pressure of these "irreconcilables" was so strong and persistent that Lodge as Chair of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations had to acquiesce. Adding to this pressure from the Senate, Judge Cohalan and other prominent members of the Friends of Irish Freedom held a series of large mass meetings which adopted resolutions in favour of Irish self-determination and the establishment of an "Irish Republic". Other resolutions denounced Article X of the League of Nations as a danger to the eventual independence of Ireland.
Turkey: Mustafa Kemal Atatürk lands at Samsun on the Anatolian Black Sea coast, marking the start of the Turkish War of Independence.
20
Michael Tobin, 1st Battalion, Cork No. 1 Brigade, IRA is killed in a shootout with British forces.
The Irish-American delegation in Paris wrote to President Wilson requesting a meeting with him. They intended to present suggestions which De Valera, Griffith and Count Plunkett had presented to them. A letter was also sent to Colonel House advising of the letter sent on the 17th to the French Premier.
Colonel House’s diary records that ‘the President and Lansing were in favour of giving them a brusque refusal to their request...I suggested that they be politely told that the British Government had already intimated to us that they would not grant such a request, and largely because the Irish-American delegation had made incendiary speeches in Ireland while they were there...’
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.315-316
21
Colonel House met with Frank Walsh and discovered that a letter had already been sent to President Wilson. The Colonel was reportedly unimpressed.
"Colonel House informed Mr. Walsh that he very much regretted that he had made public his letter to the President before showing it to him as it contained a remark attributed to himself that was not in accordance with his recollection. He did not say that Mr. Lloyd George was ready to give safe-conducts to the three Irish Delegates, but that he thought that Mr. Lloyd George might give safe-conducts. He said that under the circumstances he had been obliged to publish a denial. Mr. Walsh made a very incoherent explanation in which he stated that he had called early in the day to see Colonel House, but not finding him at home, he had given the letter which had been sent to the President the night before. Mr. Walsh remarked that he felt his responsibility as a representative, and, as such, the necessity of acquainting his followers in the United States of what had actually taken place."
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.316
RIC Inspector-General Byrne was now viewed as a security risk within the Irish Administration with many blaming him for much of the RIC’s growing difficulties. Lord French argued that pay, conditions and resources were not the problem but rather internal matters within the force, and accused Byrne of running down the intelligence system.
Sir Walter Long writing to Lloyd George commented on this growing dissatisfaction within the Irish Administration against the Catholic RIC Inspector General: ‘I have satisfied myself from the information I have received from several reliable quarters that the Head of the Police, Colonel Byrne, has lost his nerve.’ And the sectarian belief that having a Catholic as head of the RIC had simply caused ‘a leakage in high quarters which has led to the defeat of justice’
Lord French was even more direct: ‘In my opinion he has been one of the greatest impediments we have had in Ireland to the cause of law and order’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p32
Paris: Allied war general, Ferdinand Foch, said that the Allied armies are ready to mobilise at a moment’s notice. Despite Marshal Foch expressing his personal confidence that no such mobilisation will be required, the talk of war comes amidst uncertainty as to whether the Germans will sign the proposed Peace Treaty, the terms of which they find objectionable.
Germany had taken particular issue with the charge that it bears sole responsibility and guilt, for causing the war. The German government has called for the establishment of a full, open, independent inquiry to consider the matter. The German government reflected popular sentiment in Germany; protests against the severity of the peace terms have been reported from various parts of the country. But whether German outrage would translate into a rejection of the Treaty terms was not certain. According to the Press Association’s reporter in Berlin, there was great concern at how rejection would impact on the existing food crisis.
Ebert, President of the German Republic, in an interview with the Press Association, denounced the peace terms and directed very pointed criticism at the President of the United States, Woodrow Wilson. He said that the ‘world’s youngest republic had weighed its overseas big brother in the balance and found him wanting’. Germany, he added, had unfurled a new banner on which were inscribed President Wilson’s Fourteen Points, which the the U.S. President had apparently deserted. Ebert said that he feared an outbreak of ‘psychic furor Teutonicus’ (German rage) within days and that the wrath of the German people knew no bounds when it reached boiling point. Echoing the concerns of his president, the chairman of the German Armistice Commission, Erzberger, said that the treaty would have the effect of condemning Germany to death. ‘Not to sign would mean the same, most likely, but if we are to go under let us go quick at least.’
Erzberger, as well as highlighting the impossible financial burden already being placed upon Germany, stated that the ‘worst conditions’ imposed on Germany were those intended to ‘wrest parts of Germany away from her – Silesia, Posen, western Prussia. In that way 2,500,000 Germans will be separated from their native land.’
22
Lord Birkenhead, formerly F.E.Smith, told the House of Lords: ‘There is no use in closing our eyes to the fact that a great majority of Irishmen today are in open rebellion against the people of this country. Murder is not only common, but it is commonly approved. It excites no reprobation among an overwhelming number of the suporters of the Sinn Feiners’
Liz Curtis ‘The Cause of Ireland – from the United Irishmen to Partition’. Beyond the Pale, Belfast 1994. p311
23
Two days later the members of the Irish-American delegation called on Colonel House to express their regrets for the misunderstanding that had occurred:
"He [Mr. Walsh] added that they had no desire to start a controversy. Colonel House interposed that nothing would suit the British better than a row between himself and the Irish delegation, or between himself and Mr. Lloyd George. He said he was sorry that the journalists had not correctly reproduced his exact words. In any case he felt that Mr. Walsh had come closer to the truth than Mr. Lloyd George. The latter had recently submitted to him a letter for publication, but as it contained many inaccuracies he had been obliged to tell Mr. Lloyd George that, if the letter were published, he would be obliged to give out a denial. Under these circumstances Mr. Lloyd George desisted from his intention. Mr. Lloyd George, Colonel House said, claimed that he had approved of the trip of the three Irish-American delegates to Great Britain and Ireland on the strength of Colonel House's recommendation. Colonel House said that he had not given such recommendation but had merely introduced them to Mr, Lloyd George as gentlemen and distinguished Americans.
Mr. Walsh replied that he had done nothing ungentlemanly unless it were ungentlemanly to tell the exact truth about what was going on in Ireland. Mr. Walsh then handed Colonel House a statement which he said represented the position of himself and his colleagues. Colonel House after reading it said that he could not subscribe to one paragraph: he had not said to the Irish members of the Delegation that he would ask Mr. Lloyd George to give them safe-conducts. What he had said was: Sir William Wiseman thought Mr. Lloyd George might give them safe-conducts. Colonel House asked Mr. Walsh whether he had received a reply from the President, to which Mr. Walsh stated that Mr. Close had written him a letter informing him that his communication to the President would be answered by Mr. Lansing, but up to the present he had received nothing from Mr. Lansing."
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.316/317
Colonel House remarked before the end of the interview that he would do all he possibly could for Ireland.
Two days later the members of the Irish-American delegation called on Colonel House to express their regrets for the misunderstanding that had occurred:
"He [Mr. Walsh] added that they had no desire to start a controversy. Colonel House interposed that nothing would suit the British better than a row between himself and the Irish delegation, or between himself and Mr. Lloyd George. He said he was sorry that the journalists had not correctly reproduced his exact words. In any case he felt that Mr. Walsh had come closer to the truth than Mr. Lloyd George. The latter had recently submitted to him a letter for publication, but as it contained many inaccuracies he had been obliged to tell Mr. Lloyd George that, if the letter were published, he would be obliged to give out a denial. Under these circumstances Mr. Lloyd George desisted from his intention. Mr. Lloyd George, Colonel House said, claimed that he had approved of the trip of the three Irish-American delegates to Great Britain and Ireland on the strength of Colonel House's recommendation. Colonel House said that he had not given such recommendation but had merely introduced them to Mr, Lloyd George as gentlemen and distinguished Americans.
Mr. Walsh replied that he had done nothing ungentlemanly unless it were ungentlemanly to tell the exact truth about what was going on in Ireland. Mr. Walsh then handed Colonel House a statement which he said represented the position of himself and his colleagues. Colonel House after reading it said that he could not subscribe to one paragraph: he had not said to the Irish members of the Delegation that he would ask Mr. Lloyd George to give them safe-conducts. What he had said was: Sir William Wiseman thought Mr. Lloyd George might give them safe-conducts. Colonel House asked Mr. Walsh whether he had received a reply from the President, to which Mr. Walsh stated that Mr. Close had written him a letter informing him that his communication to the President would be answered by Mr. Lansing, but up to the present he had received nothing from Mr. Lansing."
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.316/317
Colonel House remarked before the end of the interview that he would do all he possibly could for Ireland.
24
Sean T. O'Kelly wrote to de Valera ‘ As things have turned out here, it looks as if the fight will have to be vigorously pushed in the States…American friends are satisfied the fight must be trasnferred to the US…we are of the opinion that you should go to the States as soon as we have been definitely turned down here’
Secretary of State Lansing replied to the letter from Frank Walsh in Paris. In it he criticised the Irish-American delegation for making remarks ‘that gave the deepest offence’ to the British Government and as a result ‘ I regret to inform you that the American representatives feel that any further efforts on their part connected with this matter would be futile and therefore unwise’
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.317
Tansill also comments that Michael j Ryan, one of the members of the American delegation became so disgusted with the evasive tactics of President Wilson that he decided it was time for him (Ryan) to return to the United States.
An exchange of letters between Dr. Patrick McCartan and Ludwig Martens, the Russian Representative ‘show the emergence of a close relationship. The letters were published and were used to demonstrate that the Irish revoloutionaries were falling into the clutches of the communists. It was also around this time…that a story went around that the Soviets had contributed 250-500 million roubles to Sinn Fein. This was denied by both McCartan and Harry Boland, but similar stories abour Russian gold being sent to Ireland floated about from time to time. In fact there was no Russian gold involved – only jewels.’
Arthur Mitchell. “Revolutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-1922.” Gill & Mcmillan 1995. P190
An editorial in the Philadelphia Irish Press announced ‘Defeat of the League of Nations will not free Ireland’.
25
Atlantic: British airmen Hawker and Grieve are rescued 850 miles off the coast of Ireland when their attempt to fly non-stop across the Atlantic failed.
Below; Letter to Judge Cohalan from Richard Dalton (President & former attorney & treasurer of the 'Architectural Terra-Cotta Co' New York (1919-28), the only major producer of terra cotta in NY State) on public information advertising booked in various NY and eastern seaboard Newspapers regarding Ireland and contributions made by the Irish in the United States. This coincided with the recent agreement as to the Friends of Irish Freedom aims as part of the Irish Victory Fund drive.
Atlantic: British airmen Hawker and Grieve are rescued 850 miles off the coast of Ireland when their attempt to fly non-stop across the Atlantic failed.
Below; Letter to Judge Cohalan from Richard Dalton (President & former attorney & treasurer of the 'Architectural Terra-Cotta Co' New York (1919-28), the only major producer of terra cotta in NY State) on public information advertising booked in various NY and eastern seaboard Newspapers regarding Ireland and contributions made by the Irish in the United States. This coincided with the recent agreement as to the Friends of Irish Freedom aims as part of the Irish Victory Fund drive.
Below: The Irish Press, Philadelphia reported on the arrest and imprisonment in New York of Rev. Thomas Rahilly, Superior general of the Presentation Order based in Cork. The charges? Criticism of the British Government while aboard a British liner en-route to New York via Canada.
26
De Valera, Griffith and Count Plunkett signed a letter to the Prime Minister of France and President of the Paris Peace Conference, Clemenceau, protesting against ‘the form in which the Covenant is now drawn up’ because it ‘threatens to confirm Ireland in the slavery against which she has persistently struggled since the English first invaded her shores’ and formally asking that Ireland be recognised as an independent state.
“ De Valera was fairly certain that the request would be turned down and equally certain that he would not be in Ireland when Clemenceau’s reply was received. He was merely writing for the record. He had made up his mind to go to America to appeal to the American public “ over the head of President Wilson...the trip was de Valera’s idea...his official biography says..” ..he had returned to Ireland so as to be available to present the Irish cause to the Peace Conference. If the statesmen in Paris refused to receive him another Irish representatives, it would be clear to the world that all their altruistic professions were no more than a wartime ruse to delude their own people...President De Valera decided to revert to his original plan of going to America and appealing to the American people over the head of President Wilson”.
Longford & O’Neill. “Eamon De Valera “ Hutchinson, London 1970. p83.
The Peace Conference Credentials re-appeared some 12 years later...
“ The peace credentials taken to Paris by Sean T O’Kelly seem to have had a curiously un-peaceful existence. After the failure at Versailles, the vanished from sight until on June 10, 1931, in a raid on an IRA arms dump near...the Hell Fire Club (in the Dublin mountains), they were discovered nestling among diverse assorted bombs and machine guns”
T.P.Coogan. “Ireland since the Rising” Pall Mall 1966. P.25
London: A protest by discharged British soldiers and sailors ended in a riot outside the Houses of Parliament. The large group had hoped to march from Hyde Park to parliament buildings with bands and banners to register their opposition to what they considered to be the inaction of the government in dealing with the problem of unemployment amongst those recently discharged from military service. However, the progress of the ex-servicemen was halted by police, who would not allow them beyond Westminster Abbey. Disorder and rioting followed as some protestors broke through the cordon. Missiles of various sorts were flung at the ranks of mounted police. The police subsequently baton-charged the protestors but many bystanders were caught in the affray and a number of people were injured. The behaviour of the police was defended in the House of Commons by Edward Shortt, the Home Secretary who served, briefly, as the Chief Secretary for Ireland until January.
Mr Shortt claimed that the cause of the trouble was not the lack of employment, but the fact that the men had come under the unfortunate control of ‘wild spirits among them, instead of their own proper leaders’. Meanwhile, a deputation from the National Federation of Discharged Sailors and Soldiers petitioned George Wardle, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Labour, to urge that the government engage in a programme of works of public utility in order to employ as many of the ex-servicemen as possible. In response to the scenes in London, the Irish Times drew a clear line between the experiences of the discharged soldiers in Britain and in Ireland. Quoting figures set out in the House of Commons by Sir Robert Horne, the Minister of Labour, which stated that 81% of those demobilised since the armistice have found employment, the newspaper claims that the process of re-employment has been ‘surprisingly rapid’.
However, in Ireland the problem of re-employment was ‘far more delicate and complicated than in Great Britain. It is a deplorable fact that, outside North-East Ulster, the discharged Irish soldier returns usually to a definitely hostile atmosphere.’ In such circumstances, the government, it says, has a particular duty of care to the discharged soldier. ‘If his neighbours and former friends refuse to help him, and grudge him what is often his dearest wish – a holding on the land for whose freedom he risked everything – the government and all patriotic Irishmen must rally to his aid.’
Kilkenny: Kilkenny Corporation conferred the Freedom of the City upon William T. Cosgrave, the Sinn Féin MP for North Kilkenny. Several thousand people turned out for the ceremony in the new market prior to a procession through the streets of the city. Accepting the honour, Mr Cosgrave told the gathering that if democracy was to rule the world in the future, the world would not stand in the way of the Irish nation, which did not have a free constitution. ‘Ireland’, Cosgrave argued, was ‘knocking at the gate of the Peace Conference, and, with the help of God, she would be heard there through her own representatives.’
The Mayor of Kilkenny, when presenting the certificate of freedom to Mr Cosgrave, mentioned the city’s pride in having such patriots as John Daly, Constance Markievicz, Count Plunkett and now Mr Cosgrave on their roll of honour. One of Cosgrave’s fellow recipients of the certificate, Constance Markievicz was in attendance and delivered the opening speech. Fr Michael O’Flanagan, Vice-President of Sinn Féin, then spoke and assured the gathering that his party was on the right track. ‘We have planted our feet on the right road at last’, he told them. ‘We have got the correct home policy and we have also got the correct international policy.’ Other prominent members of the party in attendance included Seán Milroy and Dr Vincent White from Waterford. Following the day’s public events, a banquet was held in the City Hall by the Sinn Féin Executive of North Kilkenny
De Valera, Griffith and Count Plunkett signed a letter to the Prime Minister of France and President of the Paris Peace Conference, Clemenceau, protesting against ‘the form in which the Covenant is now drawn up’ because it ‘threatens to confirm Ireland in the slavery against which she has persistently struggled since the English first invaded her shores’ and formally asking that Ireland be recognised as an independent state.
“ De Valera was fairly certain that the request would be turned down and equally certain that he would not be in Ireland when Clemenceau’s reply was received. He was merely writing for the record. He had made up his mind to go to America to appeal to the American public “ over the head of President Wilson...the trip was de Valera’s idea...his official biography says..” ..he had returned to Ireland so as to be available to present the Irish cause to the Peace Conference. If the statesmen in Paris refused to receive him another Irish representatives, it would be clear to the world that all their altruistic professions were no more than a wartime ruse to delude their own people...President De Valera decided to revert to his original plan of going to America and appealing to the American people over the head of President Wilson”.
Longford & O’Neill. “Eamon De Valera “ Hutchinson, London 1970. p83.
The Peace Conference Credentials re-appeared some 12 years later...
“ The peace credentials taken to Paris by Sean T O’Kelly seem to have had a curiously un-peaceful existence. After the failure at Versailles, the vanished from sight until on June 10, 1931, in a raid on an IRA arms dump near...the Hell Fire Club (in the Dublin mountains), they were discovered nestling among diverse assorted bombs and machine guns”
T.P.Coogan. “Ireland since the Rising” Pall Mall 1966. P.25
London: A protest by discharged British soldiers and sailors ended in a riot outside the Houses of Parliament. The large group had hoped to march from Hyde Park to parliament buildings with bands and banners to register their opposition to what they considered to be the inaction of the government in dealing with the problem of unemployment amongst those recently discharged from military service. However, the progress of the ex-servicemen was halted by police, who would not allow them beyond Westminster Abbey. Disorder and rioting followed as some protestors broke through the cordon. Missiles of various sorts were flung at the ranks of mounted police. The police subsequently baton-charged the protestors but many bystanders were caught in the affray and a number of people were injured. The behaviour of the police was defended in the House of Commons by Edward Shortt, the Home Secretary who served, briefly, as the Chief Secretary for Ireland until January.
Mr Shortt claimed that the cause of the trouble was not the lack of employment, but the fact that the men had come under the unfortunate control of ‘wild spirits among them, instead of their own proper leaders’. Meanwhile, a deputation from the National Federation of Discharged Sailors and Soldiers petitioned George Wardle, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Labour, to urge that the government engage in a programme of works of public utility in order to employ as many of the ex-servicemen as possible. In response to the scenes in London, the Irish Times drew a clear line between the experiences of the discharged soldiers in Britain and in Ireland. Quoting figures set out in the House of Commons by Sir Robert Horne, the Minister of Labour, which stated that 81% of those demobilised since the armistice have found employment, the newspaper claims that the process of re-employment has been ‘surprisingly rapid’.
However, in Ireland the problem of re-employment was ‘far more delicate and complicated than in Great Britain. It is a deplorable fact that, outside North-East Ulster, the discharged Irish soldier returns usually to a definitely hostile atmosphere.’ In such circumstances, the government, it says, has a particular duty of care to the discharged soldier. ‘If his neighbours and former friends refuse to help him, and grudge him what is often his dearest wish – a holding on the land for whose freedom he risked everything – the government and all patriotic Irishmen must rally to his aid.’
Kilkenny: Kilkenny Corporation conferred the Freedom of the City upon William T. Cosgrave, the Sinn Féin MP for North Kilkenny. Several thousand people turned out for the ceremony in the new market prior to a procession through the streets of the city. Accepting the honour, Mr Cosgrave told the gathering that if democracy was to rule the world in the future, the world would not stand in the way of the Irish nation, which did not have a free constitution. ‘Ireland’, Cosgrave argued, was ‘knocking at the gate of the Peace Conference, and, with the help of God, she would be heard there through her own representatives.’
The Mayor of Kilkenny, when presenting the certificate of freedom to Mr Cosgrave, mentioned the city’s pride in having such patriots as John Daly, Constance Markievicz, Count Plunkett and now Mr Cosgrave on their roll of honour. One of Cosgrave’s fellow recipients of the certificate, Constance Markievicz was in attendance and delivered the opening speech. Fr Michael O’Flanagan, Vice-President of Sinn Féin, then spoke and assured the gathering that his party was on the right track. ‘We have planted our feet on the right road at last’, he told them. ‘We have got the correct home policy and we have also got the correct international policy.’ Other prominent members of the party in attendance included Seán Milroy and Dr Vincent White from Waterford. Following the day’s public events, a banquet was held in the City Hall by the Sinn Féin Executive of North Kilkenny
27
The possibility of transatlantic flight by aircraft became a possibility after the First World War, following tremendous advances in aircraft technological capabilities. A large prize for the first Atlantic crossing in an aircraft from the US or Canada to Britain in '72 continuous hours' had been unclaimed since April 1913 when the London Daily Mail newspaper offered £10,000 (£966,531 in 2018).
Between 8 and 31 May 1919, the Curtiss seaplane NC-4 made the first crossing of the Atlantic flying from the U.S. to Newfoundland, then to the Azores, and on to mainland Portugal and finally the UK. The whole journey took 23 days, with six stops along the way and a total of 44 hours flying time. A trail of 53 "station ships" across the Atlantic gave the aircraft points to navigate by. This flight was not eligible for the Daily Mail prize since it took more than 72 consecutive hours and also as more than one aircraft was used in the attempt but the Atlantic had been crossed by air for the first time.
The possibility of transatlantic flight by aircraft became a possibility after the First World War, following tremendous advances in aircraft technological capabilities. A large prize for the first Atlantic crossing in an aircraft from the US or Canada to Britain in '72 continuous hours' had been unclaimed since April 1913 when the London Daily Mail newspaper offered £10,000 (£966,531 in 2018).
Between 8 and 31 May 1919, the Curtiss seaplane NC-4 made the first crossing of the Atlantic flying from the U.S. to Newfoundland, then to the Azores, and on to mainland Portugal and finally the UK. The whole journey took 23 days, with six stops along the way and a total of 44 hours flying time. A trail of 53 "station ships" across the Atlantic gave the aircraft points to navigate by. This flight was not eligible for the Daily Mail prize since it took more than 72 consecutive hours and also as more than one aircraft was used in the attempt but the Atlantic had been crossed by air for the first time.
With the war over, there were four teams now competing to be the first non-stop across the Atlantic and the first to claim the Daily Mail reward. These were Australian pilot Harry Hawker with observer Kenneth Mackenzie-Grieve in a single engine Sopwith Atlantic; Frederick Raynham and C. W. F. Morgan in a Martinsyde; the Handley Page Group, led by Mark Kerr; and the Vickers entry John Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown. Each group had to ship its aircraft to Newfoundland and make a rough field for the daily testing flights before attempting to fly the Atlantic.
Washington DC: Congressman William E Mason proposed a bill in the House of Representatives seeking the appropriation of funds ($14,000) for the “salaries of a minister and consuls to the Republic of Ireland.” This was a method of side-stepping the White House and current administration and securing recognition of Irish independence.
Washington DC: Congressman William E Mason proposed a bill in the House of Representatives seeking the appropriation of funds ($14,000) for the “salaries of a minister and consuls to the Republic of Ireland.” This was a method of side-stepping the White House and current administration and securing recognition of Irish independence.
New York
Judge Daniel Cohalan launches the New York Irish Victory Fund Campaign with a target of $150,000* within two weeks.
"New York, May 27. To raise $150,000 in this city to promote Irish interests and the Irish Republic, a two weeks campaign starts today. The drive will be directed by the Friends of Irish Freedom and associated societies. Justice Daniel Cohalan chairman of the Campaign Committee said last night:
" The $150,000 which we expect to raise in New York is the quota assigned to this city by the delegates who met in the Irish Race convention in Philadelphia. Many cities already have oversubscribed their quotas.
California's quota was $50,000 and San Francisco alone has raised $150,000. Montana was assessed for $10,000 and Butte has contributed more than this amount. We know that New York will do more than it's share.
The money will be used to safe-guard and promote Irish interests and ideals and to support the Irish Republic. We will also use it in trying to show that the proposed League of Nations is inimical to the interests of the Irish people."
(Equivalent of $1.9 million in 2018 values).
Judge Daniel Cohalan launches the New York Irish Victory Fund Campaign with a target of $150,000* within two weeks.
"New York, May 27. To raise $150,000 in this city to promote Irish interests and the Irish Republic, a two weeks campaign starts today. The drive will be directed by the Friends of Irish Freedom and associated societies. Justice Daniel Cohalan chairman of the Campaign Committee said last night:
" The $150,000 which we expect to raise in New York is the quota assigned to this city by the delegates who met in the Irish Race convention in Philadelphia. Many cities already have oversubscribed their quotas.
California's quota was $50,000 and San Francisco alone has raised $150,000. Montana was assessed for $10,000 and Butte has contributed more than this amount. We know that New York will do more than it's share.
The money will be used to safe-guard and promote Irish interests and ideals and to support the Irish Republic. We will also use it in trying to show that the proposed League of Nations is inimical to the interests of the Irish people."
(Equivalent of $1.9 million in 2018 values).
28
The US Ambassador in London, John W Davis, reported to Washington on the visit of the Irish-American delegation:
“ Michael J Ryan was on all occasion violent, and once or twice advocated action similar to that adopted in Easter Week 1916. Messrs Walsh and Dunne, I understand, although they did not advocate armed rebellion, missed no opportunity of stating that they represented 20 million of American people, all ready to help in their utmost in assisting Ireland achieve its objective - i.e. an Irish Republic.”
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.314
The Irish-American delegation in Paris sent a letter to President Wilson and the American Delegation, in which they included the many cables they had received from throughout the United States insisting that Ireland’s case be presented in Paris and protesting against Article X of the Covenant of the League of Nations. The American representatives at the Peace Conference recommended a negative response which was delivered on May 31st.
At this stage, De Valera was planning to visit the United States:
Tim Pat Coogan’s opinion on De Valera’s visit to the US is that he “..was driven to America by a combination of ego and insecurity...because of his background, de Valera needed the American dimension. Collins, on the other hand resisted efforts for him to be sent to the USA “Our propaganda can never be stronger than our actions at home”...De Valera both determinedly sought the international arena and equally determinedly tried to prevent people from realising that he sought it.”
Tim Pat Coogan “De Valera, Long Fellow, Long Shadow” Hutchinson, London. 1993. p147
George Dangerfield’s summary of De Valera's trip to the US was that he had “ Hoped to influence the two great American parties in favour if Irish self-determination, to persuade the American government to recognise the Irish Republic and to raise money to support the fighting at home. For ore than a year he struggled with the mysterious passions of the Irish-American leadership, which not only feuded with itself, the government and Mr de Valera, but was as usual more interested in hurting the British than in freeing the Irish. In American politics he was a neophyte ( beginner - new convert ) and remained one. Only as a fund raiser and a favourite with the rank and file of Irish - America was he a success: but here his success was spectacular.”
George Dangerfield “ The Damnable Question - a study in Anglo-Irish relations” Constable, London. 1977. p312-313.
However, many were later to comment that de Valera was spirited to the US for safety during the Black and Tan campaigns through Ireland. This was leveled at him during a Dail Debate on the Public Safety Act in 1931.
29
Michael Collins wrote to Steve Lannigan in Liverpool “ I am writing to you on a most important matter, and one that may be very urgent. We have decided here that the time is just about ripe for Dev. to get away to America, and we are therefore putting the arrangements in your hands”
Frank O’Connor “The Big Fellow” Corgi, London 1969. p70.
Countess Markievicz remained in Dublin during this period, staying with a neighbour of Mrs Clarke’s, Miss Skinnider. ‘While there she endeavoured to disguise herself, but she was not so easily disguised, she was so tall and big in every way….she was quite happy, though, believing that her knowledge of theatrical makeup enabled her to make a perfect disguise. One day, however, she forgot she was acting the part of a decreipt old lady, and in a hurry to catch a tram picked up her long skirt and ran for it. She was horrified when she arrived on the tram and remembered her role’
Kathleen Clarke. ‘Revoloutionary Woman’ O’Brien Press 1991. P167
By the end of May, Cork, Limerick, Roscommon and Tipperary were under direct military control. Throughout the country, the R.I.C and Army were increasing their raids, arrests and supressions in an attempt to contain the spiralling situation which was rapidly approaching a state of war.
Einstein's theory of general relativity is tested by Arthur Eddington's observation of the "bending of light" during a total solar eclipse in Príncipe, and by Andrew Crommelin in Sobral, Ceará, Brazil (confirmed November 19).
Washington DC: As a result of increased pressure from the Irish-American electorate, Senator Borah hurriedly prepared a resolution which he introduced in the Senate on May 29, which urged the American Peace Commission in Paris to "secure a hearing for the representatives of the Irish Republic." In a letter to Judge Cohalan, Borah expressed the fear that if his resolution was defeated, such action "would hurt us over there and here too'
30
By agreement with the United Kingdom, later confirmed by the League of Nations, Belgium is given the mandate over part of German East Africa (Rwanda-Urundi).
Cork: The United States held a day of tribute to its fallen soldiers. During ‘Decoration Day’ the graves of American soldiers killed in the recent war were honoured all over the world. In May 1919, the remains of 31 American soldiers were at rest in Irish soil, with a further 2,500 buried in Britain. Interred in Dublin at Phoenix Park’s military cemetery are Sergeant J.A. Rose and Privates Manly Morrice, C.W. Tennant and C.J. Sussman. Wreaths were laid on the graves of the deceased soldiers following a memorial mass for them was celebrated in St Teresa’s on Clarendon Street. The American dead were also honoured in Belfast, among them the 21 soldiers who were killed in the Otranto shipping disaster. Many relatives and friends of the American soldiers were present. Mrs White, the Lord Mayor’s wife, and May Adelaide Suydam, wife of the American consul, Hunter Sharp, decorated the graves. At Queenstown, Co. Cork, there were floral tributes placed on the final resting places of many of the American victims of the Lusitania disaster. Wreaths were laid by, amongst others, the Cunard Company and the American Red Cross. The attendance included several young widows of American naval men, all of them women from Queenstown.
By agreement with the United Kingdom, later confirmed by the League of Nations, Belgium is given the mandate over part of German East Africa (Rwanda-Urundi).
Cork: The United States held a day of tribute to its fallen soldiers. During ‘Decoration Day’ the graves of American soldiers killed in the recent war were honoured all over the world. In May 1919, the remains of 31 American soldiers were at rest in Irish soil, with a further 2,500 buried in Britain. Interred in Dublin at Phoenix Park’s military cemetery are Sergeant J.A. Rose and Privates Manly Morrice, C.W. Tennant and C.J. Sussman. Wreaths were laid on the graves of the deceased soldiers following a memorial mass for them was celebrated in St Teresa’s on Clarendon Street. The American dead were also honoured in Belfast, among them the 21 soldiers who were killed in the Otranto shipping disaster. Many relatives and friends of the American soldiers were present. Mrs White, the Lord Mayor’s wife, and May Adelaide Suydam, wife of the American consul, Hunter Sharp, decorated the graves. At Queenstown, Co. Cork, there were floral tributes placed on the final resting places of many of the American victims of the Lusitania disaster. Wreaths were laid by, amongst others, the Cunard Company and the American Red Cross. The attendance included several young widows of American naval men, all of them women from Queenstown.
31
Paris: Pressure was building on Germany to sign the Peace Treaty, the terms of which they implacably opposed. The message from the British Prime Minister, David Lloyd George, to the Germans was clear-cut: ‘You must sign. If you don’t do so in Versailles you shall in Berlin.’
Lloyd George made his blunt remarks when addressing Welsh troops in Amiens. Adding weight to his words and echoing previous threats of renewed military action, he said if the four leaders of the allied powers had to go to Berlin, they would not go alone. ‘If we four go we must have the army behind us. We are not going to give way… So you had better get your firing party out now.’
US President, Woodrow Wilson, who celebrated ‘Decoration Day’ in Paris, said that America’s soldiers had come to Europe not merely to defeat Germany, but to defeat the things for which Germany stood and to see that these things would never gain sway again. President Wilson warned, however, there was ‘an attempt to insert into the counsel of statesmen the old reckonings of selfishness and bargaining and national advantage’.
Germany’s objections to the proposed peace treaty had been set out in documents comprising 238 pages which were presented to the French Prime Minister, Georges Clemenceau during the week. These pages contained a set of counter-proposals that were grounded in the German negotiators’ belief that the peace was to be concluded on the basis of President Wilson’s Fourteen Points. A ‘dictated peace’ would be a breach of a given promise, the Germans maintain. One section of the German counter-proposals seeks to hold the Allied powers to their repeatedly stated assertions that ‘a new kind of peace would follow this unprecedented war, a peace of right, and not a peace of violence...A new spirit was to issue from this peace and embody itself in a League of Nations, of which Germany should also be a member. Germany’s position among nations was not to be destroyed, and the right of self-determination for all nations was to be recognised.’
Irish American delegation
When the Irish-American delegation letter citing American public support for Ireland's case to be presented at the Peace Conference was turned over to the official representatives of the American Government at the Peace Conference, they sent their answer to the President in the form of a joint negative response: "We are of the opinion that the request of Mr. Walsh should not be granted for the reason that it is not within the province of the American delegation to request the Peace Conference to receive a delegation composed of citizens of a country other than our own."
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.318
Joseph Grew, on behalf of the American delegation, sent a formal note to Walsh and Dunne which repeated this comment.
New York: By the end of May, Diarmuid Lynch and his team had issued almost 500,000 pamphlets, including copies of official documents to Friends of Irish Freedom branches, libraries, newspapers and publicity agents. A press campaign first entrusted to a publicity firm, did not prove satisfactory, and was taken over by Diarmuid and Ms I.T.Martin of Detroit.
"The Gilded Cage" by Evelyn De Morgan with apparent stylistic influences of spatial representation from Surrealist modes of thought. It was her final work and completed before her death in 1919. Housed in the De Morgan Centre, Wandsworth, London.
By May 1919, as it became clear that the newly established Republic's attempts to obtain recognition from the Paris Peace Conference would not succeed, de Valera decided to visit the United States.
|
De Valera’s journey to the US was not uneventful:
“ Collins had arranged that [de Valera] should cross to England on the Holyhead [mail] boat from Dun Laoghaire, to be smuggled aboard the SS Lapland in Liverpool. His cover story was that he was going to visit Austin Stack in Manchester Jail. But on leaving Dun Laoghiare, he was recognised by the prison chaplain that attended him in Kilmainham Jail, Fr. McCarthy. The priest wanted him to come to his stateroom to meet his travelling companion, another old Blackrock man, Sir James MacMahon, the Under-Secretary for Ireland. For McCarthy thought Sir James would be delighted to help his fellow alumnus...gain access to Manchester Jail...he declined Fr. McCarthy’s kind offer... when he and Dick O’Neill (Steve Lannigan’s messenger from Liverpool) arrived in Chester, they found detectives shadowing them.
They took the Great Western Line as if heading for Birkenhead, but on arriving, still found themselves under surveillance. Then they doubled back across the Mersey to Liverpool, took a taxi unobserved to the home of Collins’ head man in Liverpool, Steve Lannigan. But Lannigan was not there! He had gone to where de Valera had been supposed to arrive, Edghill Station. It was 3am before he got home to find the missing Priomh Aire waiting for him.... at 6am, de Valera was aboard a workmen’s tram heading for the Lapland where another Collins man, Barney Downes, the ship’s bosun (ships officer in charge of crew and sails) was waiting to slip him aboard as one of his newly signed on seamen.
O’Neill made de Valera carry his bag going through the docks “He was dressed up like a sailor, with a dark muffler around his neck. He looked very haggard and looked the part of a rather rough looking character. No sooner was he aboard than the ship was raided by detectives - not as it turned out, looking for him, but for a soldier who had killed his sweetheart. But by the time this had been discovered, de Valera had been hidden “in the bottom of the ship, rat infested - but free from detectives”. He had to stay there from 7am until midnight. By the time he was brought up on deck, the rats had eaten through his jacket to get at a cheese sandwich. For the rest of the voyage, he was placed in the lamplighter’s cabin where amidst the lamps, wicks, ropes...a special bunk had been s et up for him.
The Lamplighter was a tough character, ['Frisco' Kennedy] nicknamed “The Arab”...with a hatred of policemen. Downes played on this hatred by telling him that De Valera was his cousin, fleeing to America because he had killed two policemen. "The Arab” took to de Valera immediately...
However De Valera suffered badly from seasickness “ ..it began to appear that to save his life, his cover would have to be blown and the Ship’s Doctor informed... de Valera suggested that some brandy might save him..” The Bosun managed to steal some and sent “The Arab” to collect it “..he liked liquor as much as he hated policemen, was delighted to oblige. He returned smiling with a case of 24 bottles...he took a great liking to the Chief...never tired of asking for details of how he shot the two cops...
Though de Valera recovered, his trip almost proved fatal to an old sailor who had taken to hanging out his laundry close to the hiding place. De Valera began to suspect him and the Arab offered to toss the old sailor overboard. His offer was on the point of being taken up when the bosun thought of another way of solving the problem “We moved his clothes out of there and he never came back..”
De Valera’s cabin was locked from the outside. His state of mind throughout the trip may be gauged from his reaction to the Bosun discovering one day that he had brought the wrong key to his cabin. He whispered this information through the keyhole and then went back to get the right key. But de Valera had misheard him... he picked the lock, disconnected the light and disappeared to another hiding place, thinking that something was wrong....”
Tim Pat Coogan “De Valera, Long Fellow, Long Shadow” Hutchinson, London. 1993. p136/137. Background from Longford & O’Neill. “Eamon De Valera “ Hutchinson, London 1970. p83. and The de Valera Papers, Franciscan Archives, Killiney (now housed in UCD)
Michael Collins, as Director of Intelligence and Organisation in the I.R.A., began to co-ordinate a counter movement against Dublin Castle’s method and intricate system of espionage. The Castle’s resources were many, ranging from the Government Division in the Metropolitan Police who observed , identified and reported on Republican activity, to the small village R.I.C constable who reported activities, particularly those of Reopublican suspects. Into all the Republican organisations were sent spies and informers. Michael Collins methods were simple but effective. He infiltrated Dublin Castle, the Police, Civil Service, Army and Local Government. He had contacts in all areas of employment and at all levels, usually I.R.B. members.
He later explained his counter-espionage policy to the Gaelic American Newspaper in 1922:
‘..England could always reinforce her army...replace every soldier lost. But there were others indispensable for her purposes which were not so easily replaced. To paralyse the British machine it was necessary to strike at individuals. Without her spies, England was helpless. It was only by means of their accumulated and accumulating knowledge that the British machine could operate. Without their police throughout the country, how could they find the man they ‘wanted’?...spies are not so ready to step into the shoes of their departed confederates as are soldiers to fill up the front line in honourable battle. And, even when the new spy stepped into the shoes of the old one, he could not step into the old man’s knowledge....we struck at individuals, and by doing we cut their lines of communication, and we shook their morale. And we conducted the conflict, difficult as it was, with the unequal terms imposed by the enemy, as far as possible, according to the rules of war. Only the armed forces and the spies and criminal agents of the British Government were attacked. Prisoners of war were treated honourably and considerately, and were released after they had been disarmed..’
The eventual development was a guerrilla war against the British, the ‘War of the Flea’...where the guerrilla fights the war of the flea and the military enemy suffers the dog’s disadvantages; too much to defend and too small, ubiquitous and agile an enemy to come to grips with. The resulting attempts to control the cities and countryside resulted in heavily armed troops patrolling the streets of Dublin, the docks piled high with war material and every delivery of arms and military supplies moving over roads with an escort of tenders and troops.
With de Valera departure, Arthur Griffith became the acting President. His views had changed little over the previous few years, he believed civil disobedience and political action were more effective means to achieve an Irish Republic than violence. However his beliefs conflicted strongly with those of the ‘physical-force approach’
The US Consul in Dublin wrote of Griffith:
‘ he is a man of the Irish lower middle-class and has a good deal of the Irish air of mysticism. He is badly groomed, almost ungroomed – sour, sullen, unenthusiastic – a man with bitterness seemingly engendered by brooding over disapointments, defeats and wrongs.’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P51
During Griffith’s period as the Priomh-Aire, the term Saorstat Eireann came into use as the name of the state rather than Phoblacht na hEireann which had been in use since 1916. ‘Griffith supported the use of Saorstat as a way to bridge the gap between the Irish desire for complete independence and the British insistence that a constitutional link be maintained. To the Irish it would mean Republic, to the English, free state.
1
In order to assure the passage of the Borah resolution in the Senate, more Irish-American mass meetings were held.
One was scheduled to take place in Portland, Oregon, on June 1, and Andrew C. Smith requested Borah to send a message to the meeting. Borah responded with this sharp attack upon the League of Nations:
"The right of self-determination which we were assured was involved in this war is wholly excluded from the League Covenant. In this instrument the people have no voice, no opportunity to be heard.
There is no method, no means by which a subject people struggling for their liberties can ever be heard. The denial of a hearing to the representatives of Ireland discloses in an unmistakable way that the principle of self-determination has been rejected by the framers of this league. The league created an autocracy based upon the combined military power of five great nations. Under Article X this military force is to be used to hold intact the territorial boundaries of the members of the autocracy. This not only means the subjection of all small nations to the dictation of the autocracy but it means the use of the man power of the United States to settle the territorial disputes and dynastic quarrels of Europe."
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.328
The widespread American public opinion in favour of the Borah resolution made a profound impression upon the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, which soon turned in a favourable report on the right of the representatives of Ireland to receive a hearing at the Paris Peace Conference. While Cohalan congratulated Borah upon securing this action, he believed it was most advisable to have the Borah resolution voted upon at the earliest opportunity.
In order to assure the passage of the Borah resolution in the Senate, more Irish-American mass meetings were held.
One was scheduled to take place in Portland, Oregon, on June 1, and Andrew C. Smith requested Borah to send a message to the meeting. Borah responded with this sharp attack upon the League of Nations:
"The right of self-determination which we were assured was involved in this war is wholly excluded from the League Covenant. In this instrument the people have no voice, no opportunity to be heard.
There is no method, no means by which a subject people struggling for their liberties can ever be heard. The denial of a hearing to the representatives of Ireland discloses in an unmistakable way that the principle of self-determination has been rejected by the framers of this league. The league created an autocracy based upon the combined military power of five great nations. Under Article X this military force is to be used to hold intact the territorial boundaries of the members of the autocracy. This not only means the subjection of all small nations to the dictation of the autocracy but it means the use of the man power of the United States to settle the territorial disputes and dynastic quarrels of Europe."
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.328
The widespread American public opinion in favour of the Borah resolution made a profound impression upon the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, which soon turned in a favourable report on the right of the representatives of Ireland to receive a hearing at the Paris Peace Conference. While Cohalan congratulated Borah upon securing this action, he believed it was most advisable to have the Borah resolution voted upon at the earliest opportunity.
An occasional historical aside
Katherine Hughes (1876-1925) Katherine Hughes, the Canadian journalist and writer was a driving force behind the Irish National Bureau in Washington DC and the Friends of Irish Freedom publicity drives of 1919-1920. But this involvement with Irish-America was only a small part of her remarkable life. Who was Katherine Hughes and why has she been mostly forgotten over the last century? |
Hughes, Katherine (Catherine) Angelina (Caitlín Ní Aodha)
12 November 1876 Canada - 26 April 1925 New York City Teacher, journalist, public servant, archivist, author and an Irish international political organiser & activist Katherine Angelina Hughes was born on 20 November 1876 in County Line (Emerald Junction) Prince Edward Island, Canada. In a family of nine she was the second youngest of a Catholic lower middle class Irish family. Her parents were John Wellington Hughes, a merchant and Annie Laurie O’Brien. Educated in Charlottestown at Notre Dame Convent and at Prince of Wales College from where Hughes graduated in 1892 with a first-class teacher’s license For number of years she was involved in mission work for the “uplift” of natives in eastern and central Canada including a period as teacher at the Mohawk reserve of Saint-Régis (Akwesasne). In 1900, Hughes launched, with ecclesiastical support, the Catholic Indian Association, which sought to find employment outside reserves for graduates of Indian schools and, reflecting contemporary attitudes to native peoples, assimilate them into Canadian society. By the time Hughes left Saint-Régis and the teaching profession to undertake “literary work” in 1902, she had already established a modest reputation as a writer. |
In stories published by the Catholic World (New York) and the Prince Edward Island Magazine (Charlottetown), she drew on her experiences amongst the natives, whom she presented in a sympathetic light. Employed by the Montreal Daily Star from 1903 to 1906, Hughes was a founding member of the Canadian Women’s Press Club, and unlike many of her colleagues in that organization, she did not graduate eventually to the social reform movement.
Hughes published her first book, a hagiographic study of her uncle, the Bishop of Halifax in 1906, Hughes moved on to Edmonton as a journalist on the Edmonton Bulletin, where she reported on sessions of the Alberta legislature. Appointed as the first provincial archivist of Alberta in May 1908, she set about developing the Bureau of Archives. Recognising her organisational talents, Hughes was quickly seconded in 1909 to the State Premier’s office, she served as private secretary to Alexander Cameron Rutherford and to his successor, Arthur Lewis Watkins Sifton.
In order to assist newly arrived Catholic immigrants, especially those from eastern Europe, she established the Catholic Women’s League of Edmonton in November 1912. A successful political insider in the era before women’s suffrage – which incidentally she is on record as opposing in 1913 – Hughes gave no inkling of the major change that was about to occur in the course of her career when, in September 1913, she was promoted to London to take up a position as assistant and secretary in the office of the Agent General for Alberta. Although she had displayed no interest in Irish affairs previously, there she made the acquaintance in London of prominent figures in the Irish cultural revival and political separatist movement including Padraic O'Conaire.
In the summer of 1914 she travelled to Ireland and, in her official capacity, met with Lord Aberdeen [Hamilton-Gordon], Lord lieutenant of Ireland, and Lady Aberdeen [Marjoribanks]. However, in a private capacity she journeyed to Killarney to attend the annual week-long cultural festival of the Gaelic League. Back in London, she began learning the Irish language, probably under the direction of Ó Conaire, with whom she later co-authored "The Cherry Bird", a play in English. Studying Irish history and literature, Hughes commenced an in-depth examination of the economic advantages to Ireland of its political independence. Katherine Hughes, or Caitlín Ní Aodha, as she styled herself occasionally afterwards, became a committed supporter of Irish cultural renewal and of Irish separation from Britain.
Hughes was highly regarded by the Canadian railway tycoon Sir William Cornelius Van Horne. When he died in September 1915, Hughes was commissioned by his son, Richard Benedict Van Horne to write his father’s biography. Resigning her government position in London, she returned to Canada and, based in Montreal, spent much of the next few years travelling and collecting material for the biography and preparing a draft copy. In her trips around North America, she made contact with supporters of the Irish separatist movement. The Easter rising against British rule in 1916, and the subsequent execution of its leaders by the British authorities, caused her to increase her involvement in organized efforts for Irish independence. Frequently citing the sacrifice of Canadian soldiers on the battlefields of Europe on behalf of the liberation and rights of small nations, Hughes presented a carefully reasoned case for Irish self-determination in her 1917 monograph "Ireland". However wartime Canada viewed her support of Irish independence as little more than treason towards the British empire.
On completing the initial draft of the Van Horne biography in August 1918, Hughes moved to Washington, D.C., where she established on behalf of the Irish Progressive League an organization to disseminate information and lobby politicians in support of Irish self-determination. With her immense experience as an administrator and valuable knowledge of the political process, she played an important role within the Friends of Irish Freedom, the umbrella organization for pro-Irish groups, in creating the blueprint with the Irish National Bureau which gradually transformed amateurish propaganda efforts into a professional publicity campaign.
"Hughes was an adept organizer. She clearly grasped the significance of expanding the FOIF beyond its bases in New York City and Washington. By establishing local branches throughout the United States, the movement would benefit from a strong, unified, network of Irish American nationalists. "
"Contested Nationalism:The “Irish Question” in St. John’s, Newfoundland, and Halifax, Nova Scotia, 1919-1923" by Patrick Mannion. 2015
Hughes spent late 1919 and early 1920 touring the southern states, preparing for the arrival of Eamon de Valera, president of the unilaterally declared Irish Republic. A strong supporter of de Valera, Hughes avoided much of the controversy that would arise between him and the Irish American leaders as she resigned from the Irish National Bureau in Washington on 8 May 1920 and returned to Canada at his apparent request to mobilize Irish Canadian opinion.
In conjunction with Robert Lindsay Crawford, an Irish-born journalist and former Orangeman, and under the watchful eye of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police – which reported to Arthur Sifton, now federal secretary of state – Hughes made preparations to launch the Self-Determination for Ireland League of Canada and Newfoundland. In choosing this neutral title for the new organization, and in avoiding the use of the loaded terms “Freedom” or “Republic,” the leaders sought to build a broad coalition of Irish Canadians, other ethnic groups, and social reformers.
In early July 1920 Hughes began a tour which took her from the Atlantic to the Pacific coast, back to Atlantic Canada, and on to the Dominion of Newfoundland. She established branches of the Self-Determination for Ireland League in most major urban centres, ensuring before she moved from one location to the next that she had left a strong committee, made up of respectable local business people and professional figures, to continue the work.
"She speaks as a Canadian , first, last and all the time"? This quote is taken from The Winnipeg Sentinel after Katherine’s address to the Winnipeg Irish resulted in 500 new members joining the Irish patriotic movement in Canada. This took place at a time when Katherine’s allegiance to Canada as opposed to Ireland was being staunchly questioned by the national press especially those not supportive of the Irish independence movement and it's movement into Canada. Hughes loyalties were later called into question by The Sentinel who termed her as: ‘one of the greatest troublemakers of the west’.
In an atmosphere of hostility from the Canadian establishment and threats of violence, delegates representing the estimated 25,000 Canadian League members, and representatives of other bodies including the Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste, assembled in Ottawa for the league’s first national convention on 16–17 Oct. 1920. Hughes was introduced “as the woman who had done more than any other for the cause of Ireland in Canada.” However, by the time that the convention concluded, with Crawford elected as president of the league, Hughes knew that she had no further role to play in Canada. At de Valera’s urging, she agreed to travel to Australia and New Zealand to set up sister organizations.
Hughes’s commitment to travel to Australia coincided with publication of the biography of Van Horne. Though Walter Vaughan was credited as sole author, he admitted in the preface to The life and work of Sir William Van Horne (New York, 1920), “Much of this volume . . . is frankly based on Miss Hughes’s material, and wherever it has been possible I have used and adapted her rough narrative.”
Bitter and angry at the Van Horne actions, firmly convinced that she was being punished by the Canadian establishment for her support of Irish independence, but lacking resources to mount a legal challenge, Hughes moved to Australia. In February 1921 the Melbourne Catholic paper, the Advocate, reported her presence. In the following months Hughes, using the Canadian model, made contact with local activists, united disparate Irish groups, and successfully launched self-determination leagues in Australia and New Zealand.
After the Australian campaign, Hughes travelled to Paris in September 1921 at de Valera’s request to coordinate the Irish World Race Congress to which representatives of the Irish diaspora were invited. Scheduled for January 1922 and heralded as a major publicity event for the “Irish Republic,” the congress was rapidly overtaken by political developments.
Following the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921, Hughes oddly saw much of her work crumble into fragments of dissension amongst Irish people across the world. She had once been a respected journalist, and was later left battling publishing and plagiarism issues. Once, she had worked as a political insider, but now had become a political outcast at the cost of a cause that abandoned her. Hughes returned to North America in April 1922 to find that the pro-Irish networks, reflecting splits within Ireland, had fragmented. Marked as an agitator for whom Canada offered no future, she described herself in 1924 as “a once-upon-a-time Canadian.” Now based in New York, she was dogged by ill-health and did not have steady employment. Politically, she remained loyal to the ideal of a fully independent Irish republic.
In late 1924 she was diagnosed with cancer, dying in April 1925 aged 48. By then, Hughes was a lonely, marginalized figure, seeking solace in fanciful dreams of recreating the unity of purpose which had existed amongst Irish nationalists in the years after 1916 and before 'the split'. Katherine Hughes was buried in an unmarked grave at St Raymond’s cemetery in the Bronx.
A dynamic, highly talented, and intelligent person who left little surviving documentation to help explain her motivation and the apparent contradictions in her character and in her career, Hughes showed an amazing ability to transcend social, political, and cultural barriers, to accommodate herself to her new surroundings – whether on an Indian reserve, in the west, or amongst Irish activists in the United States, Canada and Australia – and to thrive. Yet, while her circumstances changed dramatically and transformed the political insider into a political outcast, a strong belief in causes remained the cornerstones in her life.
As to why Katherine Hughes was largely forgotten? The historian Pádraig Ó Saidhail argues that Hughes has been ignored by historians of Irish immigration in Canada because of her Irish nationalist, anti-imperialist politics in the last decade of her life:
"That part of her story doesn't fit with the usual pattern of Irish immigrants assimilating into the pro-empire anglophone majority...Hughes was ignored by feminist scholars and historians of the women's movement because her anti-suffragette opinions put her at odds with the story of women's struggle to gain the vote...The templates that they (feminist scholars) have are for white, English-speaking, Anglo-Saxon Protestants on one side and on the other side French-speaking, Catholic women in Quebec. Somebody like Katherine Hughes doesn't fit into either group,"
Another reality is that most Canadian Irish in the early years of the 20th century were not ardent nationalists. The Canadian Freeman newspaper of Kingston, Ontario characterized the Irish republican movement in 1920 as "cranks and socialists and maniacs,"
Katherine Hughes work was forgotten, or perhaps ignored, for many years after her death, though in recent years her contributions to Canadian journalism and Irish independence have been re-discovered and are once again being acknowledged. From teacher to journalist to biographer to political activist to world traveller to political exile, Katherine Hughes lived quite a life, and has left a legacy worth acknowledging, despite its notes of controversy.
Thanks to Pádraig O'Siadhail, Associate Professor and Chair, Department of Irish Studies, St Mary’s University, Halifax, Nova Scotia. Canada, Journalist Keltie McKenzie and Martina Gannon.
Hughes published her first book, a hagiographic study of her uncle, the Bishop of Halifax in 1906, Hughes moved on to Edmonton as a journalist on the Edmonton Bulletin, where she reported on sessions of the Alberta legislature. Appointed as the first provincial archivist of Alberta in May 1908, she set about developing the Bureau of Archives. Recognising her organisational talents, Hughes was quickly seconded in 1909 to the State Premier’s office, she served as private secretary to Alexander Cameron Rutherford and to his successor, Arthur Lewis Watkins Sifton.
In order to assist newly arrived Catholic immigrants, especially those from eastern Europe, she established the Catholic Women’s League of Edmonton in November 1912. A successful political insider in the era before women’s suffrage – which incidentally she is on record as opposing in 1913 – Hughes gave no inkling of the major change that was about to occur in the course of her career when, in September 1913, she was promoted to London to take up a position as assistant and secretary in the office of the Agent General for Alberta. Although she had displayed no interest in Irish affairs previously, there she made the acquaintance in London of prominent figures in the Irish cultural revival and political separatist movement including Padraic O'Conaire.
In the summer of 1914 she travelled to Ireland and, in her official capacity, met with Lord Aberdeen [Hamilton-Gordon], Lord lieutenant of Ireland, and Lady Aberdeen [Marjoribanks]. However, in a private capacity she journeyed to Killarney to attend the annual week-long cultural festival of the Gaelic League. Back in London, she began learning the Irish language, probably under the direction of Ó Conaire, with whom she later co-authored "The Cherry Bird", a play in English. Studying Irish history and literature, Hughes commenced an in-depth examination of the economic advantages to Ireland of its political independence. Katherine Hughes, or Caitlín Ní Aodha, as she styled herself occasionally afterwards, became a committed supporter of Irish cultural renewal and of Irish separation from Britain.
Hughes was highly regarded by the Canadian railway tycoon Sir William Cornelius Van Horne. When he died in September 1915, Hughes was commissioned by his son, Richard Benedict Van Horne to write his father’s biography. Resigning her government position in London, she returned to Canada and, based in Montreal, spent much of the next few years travelling and collecting material for the biography and preparing a draft copy. In her trips around North America, she made contact with supporters of the Irish separatist movement. The Easter rising against British rule in 1916, and the subsequent execution of its leaders by the British authorities, caused her to increase her involvement in organized efforts for Irish independence. Frequently citing the sacrifice of Canadian soldiers on the battlefields of Europe on behalf of the liberation and rights of small nations, Hughes presented a carefully reasoned case for Irish self-determination in her 1917 monograph "Ireland". However wartime Canada viewed her support of Irish independence as little more than treason towards the British empire.
On completing the initial draft of the Van Horne biography in August 1918, Hughes moved to Washington, D.C., where she established on behalf of the Irish Progressive League an organization to disseminate information and lobby politicians in support of Irish self-determination. With her immense experience as an administrator and valuable knowledge of the political process, she played an important role within the Friends of Irish Freedom, the umbrella organization for pro-Irish groups, in creating the blueprint with the Irish National Bureau which gradually transformed amateurish propaganda efforts into a professional publicity campaign.
"Hughes was an adept organizer. She clearly grasped the significance of expanding the FOIF beyond its bases in New York City and Washington. By establishing local branches throughout the United States, the movement would benefit from a strong, unified, network of Irish American nationalists. "
"Contested Nationalism:The “Irish Question” in St. John’s, Newfoundland, and Halifax, Nova Scotia, 1919-1923" by Patrick Mannion. 2015
Hughes spent late 1919 and early 1920 touring the southern states, preparing for the arrival of Eamon de Valera, president of the unilaterally declared Irish Republic. A strong supporter of de Valera, Hughes avoided much of the controversy that would arise between him and the Irish American leaders as she resigned from the Irish National Bureau in Washington on 8 May 1920 and returned to Canada at his apparent request to mobilize Irish Canadian opinion.
In conjunction with Robert Lindsay Crawford, an Irish-born journalist and former Orangeman, and under the watchful eye of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police – which reported to Arthur Sifton, now federal secretary of state – Hughes made preparations to launch the Self-Determination for Ireland League of Canada and Newfoundland. In choosing this neutral title for the new organization, and in avoiding the use of the loaded terms “Freedom” or “Republic,” the leaders sought to build a broad coalition of Irish Canadians, other ethnic groups, and social reformers.
In early July 1920 Hughes began a tour which took her from the Atlantic to the Pacific coast, back to Atlantic Canada, and on to the Dominion of Newfoundland. She established branches of the Self-Determination for Ireland League in most major urban centres, ensuring before she moved from one location to the next that she had left a strong committee, made up of respectable local business people and professional figures, to continue the work.
"She speaks as a Canadian , first, last and all the time"? This quote is taken from The Winnipeg Sentinel after Katherine’s address to the Winnipeg Irish resulted in 500 new members joining the Irish patriotic movement in Canada. This took place at a time when Katherine’s allegiance to Canada as opposed to Ireland was being staunchly questioned by the national press especially those not supportive of the Irish independence movement and it's movement into Canada. Hughes loyalties were later called into question by The Sentinel who termed her as: ‘one of the greatest troublemakers of the west’.
In an atmosphere of hostility from the Canadian establishment and threats of violence, delegates representing the estimated 25,000 Canadian League members, and representatives of other bodies including the Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste, assembled in Ottawa for the league’s first national convention on 16–17 Oct. 1920. Hughes was introduced “as the woman who had done more than any other for the cause of Ireland in Canada.” However, by the time that the convention concluded, with Crawford elected as president of the league, Hughes knew that she had no further role to play in Canada. At de Valera’s urging, she agreed to travel to Australia and New Zealand to set up sister organizations.
Hughes’s commitment to travel to Australia coincided with publication of the biography of Van Horne. Though Walter Vaughan was credited as sole author, he admitted in the preface to The life and work of Sir William Van Horne (New York, 1920), “Much of this volume . . . is frankly based on Miss Hughes’s material, and wherever it has been possible I have used and adapted her rough narrative.”
Bitter and angry at the Van Horne actions, firmly convinced that she was being punished by the Canadian establishment for her support of Irish independence, but lacking resources to mount a legal challenge, Hughes moved to Australia. In February 1921 the Melbourne Catholic paper, the Advocate, reported her presence. In the following months Hughes, using the Canadian model, made contact with local activists, united disparate Irish groups, and successfully launched self-determination leagues in Australia and New Zealand.
After the Australian campaign, Hughes travelled to Paris in September 1921 at de Valera’s request to coordinate the Irish World Race Congress to which representatives of the Irish diaspora were invited. Scheduled for January 1922 and heralded as a major publicity event for the “Irish Republic,” the congress was rapidly overtaken by political developments.
Following the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921, Hughes oddly saw much of her work crumble into fragments of dissension amongst Irish people across the world. She had once been a respected journalist, and was later left battling publishing and plagiarism issues. Once, she had worked as a political insider, but now had become a political outcast at the cost of a cause that abandoned her. Hughes returned to North America in April 1922 to find that the pro-Irish networks, reflecting splits within Ireland, had fragmented. Marked as an agitator for whom Canada offered no future, she described herself in 1924 as “a once-upon-a-time Canadian.” Now based in New York, she was dogged by ill-health and did not have steady employment. Politically, she remained loyal to the ideal of a fully independent Irish republic.
In late 1924 she was diagnosed with cancer, dying in April 1925 aged 48. By then, Hughes was a lonely, marginalized figure, seeking solace in fanciful dreams of recreating the unity of purpose which had existed amongst Irish nationalists in the years after 1916 and before 'the split'. Katherine Hughes was buried in an unmarked grave at St Raymond’s cemetery in the Bronx.
A dynamic, highly talented, and intelligent person who left little surviving documentation to help explain her motivation and the apparent contradictions in her character and in her career, Hughes showed an amazing ability to transcend social, political, and cultural barriers, to accommodate herself to her new surroundings – whether on an Indian reserve, in the west, or amongst Irish activists in the United States, Canada and Australia – and to thrive. Yet, while her circumstances changed dramatically and transformed the political insider into a political outcast, a strong belief in causes remained the cornerstones in her life.
As to why Katherine Hughes was largely forgotten? The historian Pádraig Ó Saidhail argues that Hughes has been ignored by historians of Irish immigration in Canada because of her Irish nationalist, anti-imperialist politics in the last decade of her life:
"That part of her story doesn't fit with the usual pattern of Irish immigrants assimilating into the pro-empire anglophone majority...Hughes was ignored by feminist scholars and historians of the women's movement because her anti-suffragette opinions put her at odds with the story of women's struggle to gain the vote...The templates that they (feminist scholars) have are for white, English-speaking, Anglo-Saxon Protestants on one side and on the other side French-speaking, Catholic women in Quebec. Somebody like Katherine Hughes doesn't fit into either group,"
Another reality is that most Canadian Irish in the early years of the 20th century were not ardent nationalists. The Canadian Freeman newspaper of Kingston, Ontario characterized the Irish republican movement in 1920 as "cranks and socialists and maniacs,"
Katherine Hughes work was forgotten, or perhaps ignored, for many years after her death, though in recent years her contributions to Canadian journalism and Irish independence have been re-discovered and are once again being acknowledged. From teacher to journalist to biographer to political activist to world traveller to political exile, Katherine Hughes lived quite a life, and has left a legacy worth acknowledging, despite its notes of controversy.
Thanks to Pádraig O'Siadhail, Associate Professor and Chair, Department of Irish Studies, St Mary’s University, Halifax, Nova Scotia. Canada, Journalist Keltie McKenzie and Martina Gannon.
Dublin: There was a large attendance at the Abbey Theatre to raise money for St Ultan’s Children’s Hospital, Charlemont Street, Dublin, which opened its doors earlier in the week. Before the performance began, Dr Kathleen Lynn, one of the hospital’s founders delivered a short address with a stark message on the work carried out there. Highlighting the worrying infant mortality rate at the time in Dublin – 164 out of every 1,000 – Dr Lynn made the point that many of these babies would have survived and thrived had they been properly fed and attended to. Infant mortality, she said, is directly associated with parental means – the more money parents have, the less likely their babies are to die. Because of that, Dr Lynn told the audience that it was the duty of every man and woman who had sufficient money for the simple necessities of life and had something left over to use that surplus to assist children who would otherwise die.
Dr Lynn said that St Ultan’s hoped to provide all their babies with goat milk, which was very suitable for them, and the provision of goats and grazing accommodation would be a great help to the hospital. She added that groceries and furniture, as well as assistance for the linen guild, would likewise be welcome. An American priest, Fr O’Shea of Philadelphia, also addressed the audience. He spoke of his visit to St Ultan’s and paid tribute ‘heroic work’ undertaken there by Dr Lynn. He also said he was heartened by the fact that the infants at the hospital were spoken to in Irish. After Dr Lynn’s address, the audience was treated to a performance of The Singer, the last play of the late Patrick Pearse. There were also musical performances by Douglas ffrench-Mullen, J. Schofield, Mary Maguire and Annie O’Higgins
Dr Lynn said that St Ultan’s hoped to provide all their babies with goat milk, which was very suitable for them, and the provision of goats and grazing accommodation would be a great help to the hospital. She added that groceries and furniture, as well as assistance for the linen guild, would likewise be welcome. An American priest, Fr O’Shea of Philadelphia, also addressed the audience. He spoke of his visit to St Ultan’s and paid tribute ‘heroic work’ undertaken there by Dr Lynn. He also said he was heartened by the fact that the infants at the hospital were spoken to in Irish. After Dr Lynn’s address, the audience was treated to a performance of The Singer, the last play of the late Patrick Pearse. There were also musical performances by Douglas ffrench-Mullen, J. Schofield, Mary Maguire and Annie O’Higgins
2
London: Herbert Asquith commenting on Ireland: ‘Lord French is at present Viceroy of Ireland, which is the darkest of the dark spots on the map, not of Great Britain, but of the world’
English Atrocities in Ireland – Katherine Hughes. Friends of Irish Freedom phamphlet. Lynch Family Archives. P5
Paris: When the the Irish-American delegation were denied presenting Ireland's case at the Peace Conference on May 31, they countered with a request to Joseph Grew for permission to appear before the American Delegation to the Peace Conference for the purpose of presenting the resolution adopted by the Irish Race Convention on February 23, 1919, "with a brief argument in support thereof." This time there was no response forthcoming and the request was ignored.
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.318
London: Herbert Asquith commenting on Ireland: ‘Lord French is at present Viceroy of Ireland, which is the darkest of the dark spots on the map, not of Great Britain, but of the world’
English Atrocities in Ireland – Katherine Hughes. Friends of Irish Freedom phamphlet. Lynch Family Archives. P5
Paris: When the the Irish-American delegation were denied presenting Ireland's case at the Peace Conference on May 31, they countered with a request to Joseph Grew for permission to appear before the American Delegation to the Peace Conference for the purpose of presenting the resolution adopted by the Irish Race Convention on February 23, 1919, "with a brief argument in support thereof." This time there was no response forthcoming and the request was ignored.
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.318
Dublin: The work of rebuilding Dublin in the aftermath of the 1916 Rising continued. Of the 190 buildings which were destroyed or damaged, 58 by June 2, 1919 had been completely rebuilt. A further 68 were now under construction, while 64 had not yet begun. It was envisaged that the new O’Connell Street would be more impressive than it was before the Rising, the result largely of a uniformity in height and a harmony in design being the key to its improvement.
According to Horace O’Rourke, an assistant city architect, the rebuilt O’Connell Street would have a regular and co-ordinated scheme of frontages, which had necessitated expenditure on the part of the business owners themselves, aided by Dublin Corporation. For the most part, the facades of the new buildings were to be constructed from stone, with ornate cornices with small turrets adorning the premises on street corners. It was envisaged that the new premises proposed for Clery and Co., for which a contract valued at £87,867 had been agreed, will serve as a particular centre-piece to the new-look street. The Hibernian and Munster and Leinster Bank also acquiring "handsome new premises".
Buildings that were currently nearing completion included Eason & Co and Mansfield’s on the corner with Prince’s Street, and Elvery’s at the corner with Middle Abbey Street.
According to Horace O’Rourke, an assistant city architect, the rebuilt O’Connell Street would have a regular and co-ordinated scheme of frontages, which had necessitated expenditure on the part of the business owners themselves, aided by Dublin Corporation. For the most part, the facades of the new buildings were to be constructed from stone, with ornate cornices with small turrets adorning the premises on street corners. It was envisaged that the new premises proposed for Clery and Co., for which a contract valued at £87,867 had been agreed, will serve as a particular centre-piece to the new-look street. The Hibernian and Munster and Leinster Bank also acquiring "handsome new premises".
Buildings that were currently nearing completion included Eason & Co and Mansfield’s on the corner with Prince’s Street, and Elvery’s at the corner with Middle Abbey Street.
3
United States: A wave of anarchist bombings on the homes of seven US Department of Justice officials results in widespread arrests.
The Three US Delegates lobbying for Ireland’s inclusion in the Peace Talks returned to Paris from their visit to Ireland and presented their report on conditions in the country to the Peace Conference. The recommendations included the appointment of a commission to investigate the conditions in Ireland ‘under the British Military regime.’
Two deputies were elected to the cabinet: Sean Etchingham became Minister for Fisheries and J.J. O’Kelly as Minister for the National Language. The Dail approved the establishment of a commission to examine the country’s resources together with plans for a land bank, an afforesttation scheme, fishing and an Irish Language project. A system of arbitration courts were approved and a consular system established.
Official Memorandum in support of Ireland’s demand for recognition as a sovereign independent state. Presented to Georges Clemenceau and the members of the Paris Peace Conference by Sean T. O’Ceallaigh and George Gavan Duffy, Paris, June 1919
Ireland’s Case For Independence
IRELAND IS A NATION, not merely for the reason which, in the case of other countries, has been taken as pre-sufficient, that she has claimed at all times, and still claims to be, a nation, but also because, even though no claim were put forward on her behalf, history shows her to be a distinct nation from remotely ancient times.
For over a thousand years Ireland possessed, and fully exercised, Sovereign Independence, and was recognised through Europe as a distinct Sovereign State.
The usurpation of the foreigner has always been disputed and resisted by the mass of the Irish people.
At various times since the coming of the English the Irish nation has exercised its sovereign rights as opportunity offered.
The hope of recovering its full and permanent sovereignty has always been in the breasts of the Irish people, and has been the inspiration and the mainspring of their political activities, abroad as well as at home.
English statescraft has long and persistently striven in vain to force the Irish people to abandon hope. The English policy of repression, spiritual and material, has never been at rest from the first intrusion of English power until the present day.
English policy has always aimed at keeping every new accretion of population from without separate from the rest of the nation, and a cause of distraction and weakness in its midst.
Nevertheless, the Irish nation has remained one, with a vigorous consciousness of its nationality, and has always succeeded sooner or later in assimilating to its unity every new element of the population.
The Irish people has never been intolerant towards its minorities, and has never harboured the spirit of persecution. Such barbarities as punishment by torture, witch-burning, capital punishment for minor offences, etc., so frequent in the judicial system of other countries, found no recognition in Irish law or custom. Twice in the seventeenth century — in 1642-8 and in 1689 — when, after periods of terrible persecution and deprivation of lands and liberty [handwritten insertion] the Irish people recovered for a time a dominant political power, they worked out in laws and treaties a policy of full religious equality for all dwellers in the island. On each occasion the English policy, becoming again dominant, subjected the Irish people to further large confiscations of property, restrictions of liberty, and religious persecutions. And when, notwithstanding the English policy of maintaining as complete a severance as possible, Irish Protestants became attracted to the support of the National cause, the Catholics of Ireland accorded political leadership to a succession of Protestant Leaders.
The Irish have long been a thoroughly democratic people. Through their chosen leaders, from O’Connell to Parnell, they have provided the world with a model of democratic organisation in opposition to the domination of privileged classes.
If Ireland, on the grounds of National rights, is entitled to recover her Sovereign Independence — and that is her demand — the recognition of her right is due from other nations for the following reasons :-
Because England’s claim to withhold independence from Ireland is based on a principle which is a negation of national liberty and subversive of international peace and order. England resists Ireland’s demand on the ground that the independence of Ireland would be, as alleged, incompatible with the security of England, or of Great Britain, or of the British Empire. Whether this contention is well or ill-founded, if it is admitted, then any State is justified in suppressing the independence of any nation whose liberty that State declares to be incompatible with its own security. An endless prospect of future wars is the natural consequence.
Because England’s government of Ireland has been at all times, and is conspicuously at the present time, an outrage to the conscience of mankind. Such a government, especially in its modern quasi-democratic form, is essentially vicious. Its character at the best is sufficiently described by a noted English writer, John Stuart Mill :-
‘The Government of a people by itself has a meaning and a reality; but such a thing as government of one people by another does not and cannot exist. One people may keep another as a warren or preserve for its own use, a place to make money in, a human cattle farm, to be worked for the profit of its own inhabitants. But if the good of the governed is the proper business of a government, it is utterly impossible that a people should directly attend to it.’ (Representative Government (1861), ch xviii).
Consequently, the people of England devolve the power which they hold over Ireland upon a succession of satraps, military and civil, who represent no interest of the Irish people; and recent events show that the essential vices of this government are as active now as in former times.
Because the English temper towards the cause of Irish national liberty produces atrocious and intolerable results in Ireland. Among the results are: a depopulation unexampled in any other country, howsoever badly governed; wholesale destruction of industries and commerce; over-taxation on an enormous scale; diversion of rents, savings, and surplus incomes from Ireland to England; opposition to the utilisation by the Irish people of the economic resources of their country, and to economic development and social improvement; exploitation of Ireland for the benefit of English capitalists; formentation of religious animosities; repression of the national culture; maintenance of a monstrous system of police rule, by which, in the words of an English Minister, all Ireland is kept ‘under the microscope’; perversion of justice, by making political service and political subservience almost the sole qualification for judicial positions, by an elaborate corruption of the jury system, by the organisation of police espionage and perjury, and the encouragement of agents provocateurs, and recently and at present, by using for the purpose of political oppression in Ireland the exceptional powers created for the purposes of the European war. Under these powers military government is established, some areas being treated as hostile territory occupied in ordinary warfare; a war censorship is maintained over the press and over publications generally; printing offices are invaded and dismantled; the police and military are empowered to confiscate the property of vendors of literature without any legal process; persons are imprisoned without trial and deported from Ireland; Irish regiments in the English army are removed from Ireland, and a large military force, larger than at any previous time with full equipment for modern warfare, has been maintained in Ireland; civilians are daily arrested and tried by court-martial, and sentenced to long terms of imprisonment.
What are England’s objections to Ireland’s independence?
The one objection in which English statesman are sincere is that which has been already mentioned — that the domination of Ireland by England is necessary for the security of England. Ireland, according to the English Navy League, is ‘the Heligoland of the Atlantic,’ a naval outpost, to be governed for the sole benefit of its foreign masters. This claim, if it is valid, justifies not only the suppression of national liberty, but also the weakening of Ireland by depopulation, repression of industry and commerce and culture, maintenance of internal discord, etc. It can also be held to justify the subjugation of any small nation by a neighbouring great power.
The proximity of Ireland to England furnishes another plea. But Ireland is not as near to England as Belgium, Holland Denmark, etc., are to Germany, Norway to Sweden, Portugal to Spain. In fact, it is this very proximity that makes independence necessary for Ireland, as the only condition of security against the sacrifice of Irish rights to English interests.
Another plea is that, England being a maritime power, her safety depending on her navy, and her prosperity depending on maritime commerce, the domination of Ireland is for her a practical necessity. This may explain why Ireland’s harbours, the best in Europe, are empty of mercantile shipping, except for such shipping as carries on the restricted trade between Great Britain and Ireland.
Once more, Ireland protests that the interests of one country, be they what they may, cannot be allowed to annul the natural rights of another country. If that claim be admitted, then there is an end to national rights, and all the world must prepare to submit to armed interests or to make war against them. We in Ireland are determined not to submit.
We may expect to find the plea insinuated, in some specious form, if not definitely and clearly made, that the English rule in Ireland has been and is favourable to the peace, progress, and civilisation of Ireland. We answer that, on the contrary, English rule has never been for the benefit of Ireland, and has never been intended for the benefit of Ireland; that it has isolated Ireland from Europe, prevented her development, and done everything in its power to deprive her of a national civilisation. So far as Ireland at present is lacking in internal peace, is behind other countries in education and material progress, is unable to contribute notably to the common civilisation of mankind, these defects are the visible consequences of English intrusion and domination.
The Irish people have never believed in the sincerity of the public declarations of English statesmen in regard to their ‘war aims,’ except in so far as those declarations avowed England’s part in the war to have been undertaken for England’s particular and Imperial interests. They have never believed that England went to war for the sake of France or Belgium or Serbia, or for the protection or liberation of small nationalities, or to make right prevail against armed might. If English statesmen wish to be regarded as sincere, they can prove it to the world by abandoning, not in words, but in act, the claim to subordinate Ireland’s liberty to England’s security.
Ireland’s complete liberation must follow upon the application [of] President Wilson’s principles. It has not resulted from the verbal acceptance of those principles; and their rejection is implied in the refusal to recognise for Ireland the right of self-determination. Among the principles declared by President Wilson, before and since America entered the war, and accepted by the spokesmen of the chief Allied powers, we cite the following:-
‘No peace can rest securely on political or economic restrictions, meant to benefit some nations and cripple or embarrass others. Peace should rest upon the rights of peoples, not on the rights of governments — the rights of peoples, great and small, weak or powerful; their equal right to freedom and security and self-government, and to participation, upon fair terms, in the economic opportunities of the world.
What we demand in this war is nothing peculiar to ourselves. It is that the world be made fit and safe to live in, and particularly that it be made safe for every peace-loving nation, which, like our own, wishes to live its own life, determine its own institutions, be assured of justice and fair dealing by other people of the world, as against force and selfish aggression.
An evident principle runs through the whole of the programme I have outlined. It is the principle of justice to all peoples and nationalities, and their right to live on equal terms of liberty and safety with one another, whether they be strong or weak. Unless this principle be made its foundation, no part of the structure of international justice can stand.’
Speaking on behalf of the American people at New York, on the 27th September, 1918, President Wilson said;-
‘We accepted the issues of the war as facts, not as any group of men either here or elsewhere had defined them, and we can accept no outcome which does not squarely meet and settle them. These issues are these: Shall the military power of any nation or group of nations be suffered to determine the fortunes of peoples over whom they have no right to rule, except the right of force. Shall strong nations be free to wrong weak nations, and make them subject to their purposes and interest? Shall peoples be ruled and dominated, even in their own internal affairs, by arbitrary and irresponsible force or by their own will and choice? Shall there be a common standard of right and privilege for all peoples and nations, or shall the strong do as they will, and the weak suffer without redress? Shall the assertion of right be haphazard and by casual alliance, or shall there be a common concert to oblige the observance of common rights?
No men, no group of men, chose these to be the issues of the struggle. They are the issues of it, and they must be settled by no arrangement or compromise or adjustment of interests, but definitely and once for all, and with a full and unequivocal acceptance of the principle that the interest of the weakest is as safe as the interest of the strongest. . . . The impartial justice meted out must involve no discrimination between those to whom we wish to be just and those to whom we do not wish to be just. It must be justice that plays no favourites and knows no standards but the equal rights of the several peoples concerned.’
If England objects to the application of those principles to the settlement of the ancient quarrel between herself and Ireland, she thereby testifies:-
That her international policy is entirely based on her own selfish interest, not on the recognition of rights in others, notwithstanding any professions to the contrary.
That in her future dealings with other nations she may be expected, when the opportunity arises, to use her power in order to make her own interest prevail over their rights.
That her particular object in keeping possession of Ireland is to secure naval and mercantile domination over the seas, and in particular over the North Atlantic and the nations which have legitimate maritime interests therein; ruling Ireland at the same time on a plan of thoroughgoing exploitation for her own sole profit, to the great material detriment of Ireland, and preventing the establishment of beneficial intercourse, through commerce and otherwise, between Ireland and other countries.
It is evident that, while Ireland is denied the right to choose freely and establish that form of government which the Irish people desires, no international order can
be founded on the basis of national right and international justice; the claim of the stronger to dominate the weaker will once more be successfully asserted; and there will be no true peace.
It must be recognised that Ireland has already clearly demonstrated her will. At the recent general election, out of 104 constituencies (Trinity College, Dublin, having the power to elect two representatives), 73 returned Republican Candidates, and 6 returned representatives who, though not Republicans, will not oppose the free exercise of self-determination by the Irish people. Nor is there the slightest likelihood that this right will at any time be relinquished.
Here it may be necessary to anticipate special pleas that may be put forward to the effect that Irish independence may properly be conceded gradually or that a ‘breathing space,’ as it is called, ought to intervene. The Irish people will regard any proposal of this character as deceptive and dangerous. They are thoroughly capable of taking immediate charge of their national and international affairs, not less capable than any of the new states which have been recognised since the beginning of the war, or which are about to be recognised.
The effect on the world of the restoration of Ireland to the society of free nations cannot fail to be beneficial. On the part of the nations in general, this fact will be a guarantee of the new international order, and a reassurance to all the smaller nations. On the part of England, if justice to Ireland be not ‘denied or sold or delayed,’ the fact will be an earnest to other peoples, especially to those whose commerce is borne upon the Atlantic Ocean, that England’s naval power is not hostile to the rights and legitimate interests of other countries.
Ireland’s voice in the councils of the nations will be wholly in favour of peace and justice. Ireland will have no possessions and no territorial claims outside her own well-defined geographical bounds. Her liberty cannot infringe on that of any other people. She will not make any war of aggression or favour any. The prosperity to which, in remembrance of her unexampled progress during a brief period of legislative, but not executive independence (1782-1798), she looks forward confidently, will contribute to the prosperity of all countries in commercial relation with her.
The longest agony suffered by any people in history will be ended, the oldest standing enmity between two people will be removed. England will be relieved of the disgrace she bears in the eyes of all peoples, a disgrace not less evident to the remote Armenian than to her nearest continental neighbours. In proportion as England gives earnest of disinterestedness and good-will, in like proportion shall Ireland show her readiness to join in with England in allowing the past to pass into history. The international ambition of Ireland will be to recreate in some new way that period of her ancient independence of which she is proudest, when she gave freely of her greatest treasures to every nation within her reach, and entertained no thought of recompense or of selfish advantage.
No. 13 NAI DFA ES Paris 1919
4
Harry Boland wrote to De Valera, (unaware that he was en-route to New York) describing the lobbying required by both himself and FOIF figures like Joseph McGarrity, that Ireland should be the main recipient of the FOIF Irish Victory Fund. It was eventually decided that $250,000 should be sent to Ireland only after what Harry Boland called “ …a very, very stiff fight to get any money for home…an ambiguous resolution was passed at the Philadelphia Convention pledging the delegates to collect two million dollars. One of the delegates asked as to how the money should be expended. The Chairman, Judge C., answered ‘for educational propaganda in America’ and it was passed at that.”
Longford & O’Neill. “Eamon de Valera “ Hutchinson, London.1970. p97.
Both Devoy and Cohalan saw this sum as being enough. “ One of the three Americans...Michael J Ryan had reported to the FOIF that he did not see the Dail would need more than $50,000 for its capital requirements. He thought the new assembly a piece of make believe, whereas its founders saw it as a genuine alternative government.'
Tim Pat Coogan “De Valera, Long Fellow, Long Shadow” Hutchinson, London. 1993. p156-157.
Michael J Ryan ‘like many of the Irish American leaders, did not understand the magnitude of the programme of Dail Eireann; or that it was seriously intended to establish a Government with active departments taking over work up till then administered by the British’
Longford & O’Neill. “Eamon de Valera “ Hutchinson, London.1970. p97.
Meanwhile of the 1,822 Sinn Fein Cumann that had existed in November 1918, only 60% remained affiliated of these only 4% had paid membership fees. Some radical action was needed to kick-start the organisation at grass-root level. This was taken in August with the party executive appointing 18 sub-organisers to assist the 4 provincial organisers.
Washington: Women's rights: The United States Congress approves the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which would guarantee suffrage to women, and sends it to the states for ratification.
The Soviet Foreign Minister announced that Moscow would provide special protection to Irishmen, Egyptians ‘ and any other nationality oppressed by the Allies’
Arthur Mitchell. “Revolutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-1922.” Gill & Mcmillan 1995. P180
6
When their last request was ignored, the Irish-American delegation filed with Secretary Lansing a report on "Conditions in Ireland with a Demand for the Investigation of this Situation by the Peace Conference." In this report there was a sharp condemnation of the Mountjoy Prison in Dublin. Political prisoners were locked in steel cages that had been built in the yards of the prison.
"These cages are exact duplicates of those used for wild animals in the larger zoological gardens such as Lincoln Park and the Bronx, . . . The political prisoners in the jail, without exception, were men of the highest standing: journalists, lawyers, business men, skilled tradesmen and labourers. Many of them confined for months have not been informed of the charges against them. All of them are denied the right of trial by jury. . . . We took statements covering hundreds of cases of outrage and violence committed by the officers and representatives of the English government in Ireland."
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.318/319
Washington DC: The Borah Resolution was passed by the Senate 60 to 1, requesting that the De Valera, Griffith and Count Plunkett be admitted to the Paris Conference:
“That the Senate of the United States earnestly request the American Plenipotentiary Commissioners at Versailles to endeavour to secure for Eamon de Valera,Arthur Griffith and Count George Noble Plunkett a hearing before said Peace Conference in order that they may present the cause of Ireland; and resolved further, that the United States expresses its sympathy with the aspirations of the Irish people for a Government of it's own choice”.
While initially a considerable victory of Cohalan, it amounted to very little in the end.
Rumours were rife in Ireland that de Valera was making his way to the Paris Peace Conference.
A Dublin concert was ‘proclaimed’ but as insufficient notice had been given, hundreds turned up to attend but were dispersed with live shots, wounding two men and a young woman.
When their last request was ignored, the Irish-American delegation filed with Secretary Lansing a report on "Conditions in Ireland with a Demand for the Investigation of this Situation by the Peace Conference." In this report there was a sharp condemnation of the Mountjoy Prison in Dublin. Political prisoners were locked in steel cages that had been built in the yards of the prison.
"These cages are exact duplicates of those used for wild animals in the larger zoological gardens such as Lincoln Park and the Bronx, . . . The political prisoners in the jail, without exception, were men of the highest standing: journalists, lawyers, business men, skilled tradesmen and labourers. Many of them confined for months have not been informed of the charges against them. All of them are denied the right of trial by jury. . . . We took statements covering hundreds of cases of outrage and violence committed by the officers and representatives of the English government in Ireland."
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.318/319
Washington DC: The Borah Resolution was passed by the Senate 60 to 1, requesting that the De Valera, Griffith and Count Plunkett be admitted to the Paris Conference:
“That the Senate of the United States earnestly request the American Plenipotentiary Commissioners at Versailles to endeavour to secure for Eamon de Valera,Arthur Griffith and Count George Noble Plunkett a hearing before said Peace Conference in order that they may present the cause of Ireland; and resolved further, that the United States expresses its sympathy with the aspirations of the Irish people for a Government of it's own choice”.
While initially a considerable victory of Cohalan, it amounted to very little in the end.
Rumours were rife in Ireland that de Valera was making his way to the Paris Peace Conference.
A Dublin concert was ‘proclaimed’ but as insufficient notice had been given, hundreds turned up to attend but were dispersed with live shots, wounding two men and a young woman.
7
Lord Bryce, former British Ambassador to the US said in the House of Lords:’ Are we content to go to the Peace Conference…and have all those questions raised of discontented nationalities and be obliged to confess that we have a nationality which is still discontented because the promises that have been made to it have not been fulfilled? Would it not be a great deal better to set our own house in order at home before coming to a Peace Conference where all these questions must arise?’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – No. 32, February 6, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The members of the American Commission at the Peace Conference were furnished with copies of the Borah resolution, but they made no attempt to bring it before the Big Four.
9
Dublin, 9 June 1919 - What was intended to be a concert in honour of James Connolly, one of the executed leaders of the rebellion of Easter week in 1916, ended with gunfire on one of Dublin’s principal streets in broad daylight and with five people being treated for injuries at St Vincent’s Hospital.
The Connolly Memorial concert, to commemorate his birthday, 5 June, was scheduled to be held at the Mansion House, but the authorities had indicated to the organisers that it would not be permitted to proceed. This message appears to have been communicated to the concert goers as the turnout was not as great as expected. Those who did attend found the entrance to the Round Room of the Mansion House blocked. Outside the front of the building, police locked the gates to bar any further entry of a small crowd that included prominent public figures such as Maud Gonne MacBride and Millie Figgis.
Soon after, the crowd moved in the direction of St Stephen’s Green, where bystanders had assembled, drawn out of curiosity. The police continued to urge the people to ‘move on’. According to reports, three or four young men emerged to face the police with revolvers in their hands shots were fired at the officers from close range. A Sergeant Fitzpatrick and three constables, Thomas Nolan, John O'Neill and John Kearns were shot, though their injuries were not fatal. Several constables then wrestled with the armed men, retrieving one of their revolvers, but leading to a further round of shots, which resulted in a woman, Maggie Hayes of St. Augustine Street wounded near the St Stephen’s Club.
In an editorial published earlier that week in the Irish Times, the actions of the assailants were condemned as both reprehensible and all too common. ‘Its audacity is hardly less remarkable than the impunity with which it was committed. The police seem to have struggled manfully with their assailants, but these contrived to get away from the crowd. We are all familiar with similar incidents – too many of them tragic incidents – in lonely parts of Ireland. Now lawlessness has progressed so far that wearers of the King’s uniform are targets for sedition in a main thoroughfare of the Irish capital’.
Washington D.C. Borah publishes a copy of the Versailles Treaty
The Friends of Irish Freedom gave $15,000 to Sean Nunan, Clerk of Dail Eireann as a payment 'To Ireland' and noted in an accounts statement. (Equivalent of $218,000 in 2018. See December 31, 1919 entry)
Dublin, 9 June 1919 - What was intended to be a concert in honour of James Connolly, one of the executed leaders of the rebellion of Easter week in 1916, ended with gunfire on one of Dublin’s principal streets in broad daylight and with five people being treated for injuries at St Vincent’s Hospital.
The Connolly Memorial concert, to commemorate his birthday, 5 June, was scheduled to be held at the Mansion House, but the authorities had indicated to the organisers that it would not be permitted to proceed. This message appears to have been communicated to the concert goers as the turnout was not as great as expected. Those who did attend found the entrance to the Round Room of the Mansion House blocked. Outside the front of the building, police locked the gates to bar any further entry of a small crowd that included prominent public figures such as Maud Gonne MacBride and Millie Figgis.
Soon after, the crowd moved in the direction of St Stephen’s Green, where bystanders had assembled, drawn out of curiosity. The police continued to urge the people to ‘move on’. According to reports, three or four young men emerged to face the police with revolvers in their hands shots were fired at the officers from close range. A Sergeant Fitzpatrick and three constables, Thomas Nolan, John O'Neill and John Kearns were shot, though their injuries were not fatal. Several constables then wrestled with the armed men, retrieving one of their revolvers, but leading to a further round of shots, which resulted in a woman, Maggie Hayes of St. Augustine Street wounded near the St Stephen’s Club.
In an editorial published earlier that week in the Irish Times, the actions of the assailants were condemned as both reprehensible and all too common. ‘Its audacity is hardly less remarkable than the impunity with which it was committed. The police seem to have struggled manfully with their assailants, but these contrived to get away from the crowd. We are all familiar with similar incidents – too many of them tragic incidents – in lonely parts of Ireland. Now lawlessness has progressed so far that wearers of the King’s uniform are targets for sedition in a main thoroughfare of the Irish capital’.
Washington D.C. Borah publishes a copy of the Versailles Treaty
The Friends of Irish Freedom gave $15,000 to Sean Nunan, Clerk of Dail Eireann as a payment 'To Ireland' and noted in an accounts statement. (Equivalent of $218,000 in 2018. See December 31, 1919 entry)
10
The Freemans Journal reported that the Dublin Quays were ‘jammed with tanks, armoured cars, guns, motor lorries and thousands of troops, as if the port was a base of a formidable expeditionary force’
The Dublin Correspondent of the Times wrote that the Irish nationalist press was telling the country ‘that the whole American people stands behind the Irish claim for self-determination and will not rest until it has been conceded. Undoutedly this belief, ill founded though it probably is, will stimulate agitation in Ireland and will magnify the difficulties of the Irish..’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p168
Washington D.C: Knox introduces a resolution to separate the United States from the Versailles Treaty, but is defeated in Senate as squabbles continued.
Below: Details of the Irish Victory Fund advertising in four Buffalo, New York newspapers (Evening Times, Evening News, Enquirer and Commercial) with the Friends of Irish Freedom 'Declaration of Independence' advert:
"To present Ireland's Cause truthfully to American public opinion, to promote and advance the recognition of the Irish Republic, to safeguard American interests, institutions and ideals - a Victory Fund pledged at Philadelphia is being raised throughout the United States"
11
New York: The Friends of Irish Freedom National Council met on the evening of June 11 and agreed that 25% of the Irish Victory Funds raised would be sent to Ireland:
New York: The Friends of Irish Freedom National Council met on the evening of June 11 and agreed that 25% of the Irish Victory Funds raised would be sent to Ireland:
Resolved that 25 per cent of the fund at the disposal of the National Council be sent to our friends in Ireland to carry out the necessary work of sustaining the Irish Cause and defending it against English attacks, that as soon as, in the judgement of the National Council, the conditions of the fund will justify an increase, a larger proportion, to be determined by the National Council, may be sent; that a first instalment of $50,000 in addition to the $10,000 already transmitted, be forwarded as soon as possible and that this action of the National Council be not published in the daily or weekly press, or made known to anyone not an officer of the organisation."
Perhaps as a result of receiving reports on the Irish situation from George Creel* and Sir Horace Plunkett combined with the persistence of the Irish-American delegation, President Wilson finally met with the Irish-American representatives aware of the Senate Resolution passed on June 6th.
‘The President informed Walsh that there was an agreement among the Committee of Four that no small nation should appear before it without the unanimous consent of the whole committee...Walsh reminded the President of his own declaration that every nation has the right to self-determination - words which ‘voiced the aspirations of countless millions of people’. The President replied: ‘...when I gave utterance to those words I said them without the knowledge that nationalities existed which are coming to us day after day. Of course, Ireland’s case, from the point of view of population, from the point of view of the struggle it has made, from the point of interest it has excited in the world, end especially among our own people, whom I am anxious to serve, is the outstanding case of a small nationality. You do not know and cannot appreciate the anxieties I have experienced as the result of these many millions of people having their hopes raised by what I have said...’
Macardle. ‘The Irish Republic’ Irish Press 1957. p297
* George Creel (1876-1953) Former head of the War Information Bureau.
Wilson continued...
“..if it is your intention to go back to America and try to put me in bad, I’m going to say when I go back that we were well on the way to getting Mr De Valera and his associates over here, we were well on the way, when you made it so difficult by your speeches in Ireland that we could not do it; that it was you gentlemen who kicked over the apple cart.”
Francis M Carroll “American Opinion & the Irish Question 1910-1923.” Gill & McMillan 1978.p.135/136
Near the close of this interview, and under repeated questions of Frank P. Walsh, President Wilson made the following statement that indicated his embarrassment over the question of Irish self-determination or for that matter, any liberation movements within victor nations:
"You have touched on the great metaphysical tragedy of today. When I gave utterance to those words I said them without the knowledge that nationalities existed which are coming to us day after day. Of course, Ireland's case, from the point of view of population, from the point of view of the struggle it has made, from the point of interest it has excited in the world, and especially among our own people, whom I am anxious to serve, is the outstanding case of a small nationality. You do not know and cannot appreciate the anxieties I have experienced as the result of these many millions of peoples having their hopes raised by what I have said."
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.319
With this interview, all hopes of an Irish hearing at the Paris Peace Conference came to an end.
De Valera's arrival in New York
On arrival in New York aboard the White Star liner, SS Lapland. de Valera wrote a brief note and had it sent via O'Neill and Downes to Harry Boland, the Special Envoy of the Irish Republic. This visit was so secret that not even Boland was aware that 'The Chief' was coming.
"Rather unexpected this! Will tell you idea when we meet. Am anxious to travel to Rochester* tonight - hope it can be arranged. Want to see you before I meet anybody. I learnt a number of things since you left dealing with the matter you came to investigate. if you are watched, better not come to see me but travel to Rochester tomorrow or as soon as you can. I hope your experience did as little harm as mine has done to me. Till we meet. E de V."
David Fitzpatrick. Harry Boland's Irish Revolution. Cork University Press, 2001. p124
* Rochester, New York - the residence of his mother, Catherine.
The Republic's Envoy was located, the message passed over and at 11.30pm that evening, de Valera walked down the gangplank and was taken to a backroom in Phelan's Bar on 10th Avenue where McGarrity and Boland were waiting. From there, all three went to Liam Mellows apartment on 39th Street (close to where de Valera was born in the Nursery & Child's Hospital in 1882). After a few days rest and tailoring with new suits, he went on to McGarrity's home in Chestnut Street, Philadelphia.
“Joseph McGarrity, described by Padraic Colum as “a Donegal gallowglass ready to swing a battle-axe with his long arms” was de Valera’s best ally in the USA...a classic American success story, arriving in the US aged 16, he made fortunes in liquor and real estate businesses and went broke on at least 2 occasions...politically, he was a lifelong revolutionary whose devotion to physical force as the means of bringing about an Irish Republic caused the IRA to issue their statements over the pseudonym “Joe McGarrity” for years after his death. His devotion to the Priomh Aire was such that he christened one of his sons De Valera McGarrity.”
Tim Pat Coogan “De Valera, Long Fellow, Long Shadow” Hutchinson, London. 1993. p138. Quote from Sean Cronin “The McGarrity Papers “ Anvil, Tralee. 1972.
Tim Pat Coogan continues with some background information on McGarrity, Cohalan and Devoy, plus a tale told to him about Brendan Behan:
“Prior to de Valera’s arrival he [McGarrity] and McCartan had been having a certain amount of difference with the Cohalan -Devoy faction, allegedly over the latters tendency to agitate within the American system for self-determination for Ireland rather than trumpet the Republic as they did in McGarrity’s Irish Press, which McCartan edited. How much of this was a power struggle between McGarrity and Cohalan, a man who shared something of de Valera’s sense of infallibility, and how much it represented the tendency of Irish political, and particularly republican, movements to split is a moot point. As a race, the Irish are quicker to recognise an insult than love”
Tim Pat Coogan recounts the story told to him by Dan Stephenson, Chairman of the Committee to refurbish Kilmainham Jail for the 1966 50th Anniversary of the 1916 Rising:
“A voluntary group had agreed unanimously to adjourn for a drink to seal a bargain to forget all past differences in the cause of refurbishing Kilmainham Jail as a national monument...as part of the commemoration ceremonies for the fiftieth anniversary of the 1916 Rising. Behan startled them by raising an objection...”Be Jasus yiz fucking won’t” he interjected. “Yiz are meant to be Republicans and here yiz are agreeing to paint, to plaster, to do everythin’ in fucking harmony. Now yiz are all agreeing to go for a drink. we’re meant to be Republicans: we’ll have to have a split..”
Devoy might well be described as a “difficult man” but he could not be regarded as nay less of a republican than De Valera. He had built up the Clan in the United States of America, following his release from prison in 1871. Amongst his exploits were the rescue of Fenian prisoners from Western Australia aboard the whaler Catalpa, and the promotion of the New Departure, which placed the Clan behind Parnell and Michael Davitt in the struggle that ultimately defeated lanlordism. In 1900 he managed to unite the clan behind a demand for an Irish republic after a long running internal feud over the dynamiting campaign in England that put Tom Clarke in jail. And it was he and Cohalan who had helped to bring about the 1916 Rising. But by the time de Valera arrived in America, he was getting old and relied increasingly on Cohalan’s advice.”
Tim Pat Coogan “De Valera, Long Fellow, Long Shadow” Hutchinson, London. 1993. p138-139.
Prof. FSL Lyons described the Irish-American organisation as:
“ that organisation, after the fashion of Irish organisation whether in America or Ireland, was already deeply divided...both on the theoretical question of whether it should endorse an Irish Republic, or simply Irish self-determination, and on the more practical issue of whether the “Victory Fund” then being raised in aid of the Irish cause should be sent to Ireland or retained for use in America for forwarding causes - such as opposition to the League of Nations - which might, indeed, be linked with Ireland’s destiny but looked suspiciously like a further round of Judge Cohalan’s feud with President Wilson”
Prof FSL Lyons “ Ireland since the Famine” Fontana Press, London. 1985. P.421.
Michael Collins sent a letter to Diarmuid Lynch, using their pre-arranged code, somewhat simplistic but effective:
‘In the course of our general expenditure, we have been in heavy jobs lately and spent a lot on them. Recent takings in England have cost us over £1500. we have established a foundry and in various other ways we have spent a lot of funds, but we have gained much. We are now pretty low and want immediate, and we will have to embark on other costly jobs and for general funds we want a liberal sum and soon’
His references to ‘heavy jobs’, ‘takings in England’, the establishment of a foundry, ‘other costly jobs’ ( as apart from the questions of general funds) I took to mean the purchase of arms, the manufacture of ammunition, etc.
…the funds which the Friends of Irish Freedom made available for despatch to Ireland just about the time this letter was received (early in June 1919 ) were then at the disposal of the Irish Mission’
Application for Military Service Pension Certificate ( Diarmuid Lynch) - Department of Defence Files. Lynch Archives. December 28, 1944.
To further clarify the situation regarding distribution of the Irish Victory Fund, Devoy moved a resolution at a meeting of the Friends of Irish Freedom, (and seconded by Judge Cohalan) that:
‘25% of the fund at the disposal of the National Council be sent to our friends in Ireland to carry out the necessary work of sustaining the Irish cause and defending it against English attacks...a first instalment of $50,000, in addition to the $10,000 already transmitted be forwarded as soon as possible and that this action of the National Council be not published in the daily or weekly press, or made known to anyone not an officer of the organisation’. 2 members present, Fr. Hurton and Joseph O’Neill...proposed an amendment to this resolution allocating 75% of the money raised to be sent to Ireland. This amendment received no support and was withdrawn..’
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.346 & Diarmuid Lynch ‘"The I.R.B. and the 1916 Rising" Mercier Press. 1957. p208
‘The President informed Walsh that there was an agreement among the Committee of Four that no small nation should appear before it without the unanimous consent of the whole committee...Walsh reminded the President of his own declaration that every nation has the right to self-determination - words which ‘voiced the aspirations of countless millions of people’. The President replied: ‘...when I gave utterance to those words I said them without the knowledge that nationalities existed which are coming to us day after day. Of course, Ireland’s case, from the point of view of population, from the point of view of the struggle it has made, from the point of interest it has excited in the world, end especially among our own people, whom I am anxious to serve, is the outstanding case of a small nationality. You do not know and cannot appreciate the anxieties I have experienced as the result of these many millions of people having their hopes raised by what I have said...’
Macardle. ‘The Irish Republic’ Irish Press 1957. p297
* George Creel (1876-1953) Former head of the War Information Bureau.
Wilson continued...
“..if it is your intention to go back to America and try to put me in bad, I’m going to say when I go back that we were well on the way to getting Mr De Valera and his associates over here, we were well on the way, when you made it so difficult by your speeches in Ireland that we could not do it; that it was you gentlemen who kicked over the apple cart.”
Francis M Carroll “American Opinion & the Irish Question 1910-1923.” Gill & McMillan 1978.p.135/136
Near the close of this interview, and under repeated questions of Frank P. Walsh, President Wilson made the following statement that indicated his embarrassment over the question of Irish self-determination or for that matter, any liberation movements within victor nations:
"You have touched on the great metaphysical tragedy of today. When I gave utterance to those words I said them without the knowledge that nationalities existed which are coming to us day after day. Of course, Ireland's case, from the point of view of population, from the point of view of the struggle it has made, from the point of interest it has excited in the world, and especially among our own people, whom I am anxious to serve, is the outstanding case of a small nationality. You do not know and cannot appreciate the anxieties I have experienced as the result of these many millions of peoples having their hopes raised by what I have said."
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.319
With this interview, all hopes of an Irish hearing at the Paris Peace Conference came to an end.
De Valera's arrival in New York
On arrival in New York aboard the White Star liner, SS Lapland. de Valera wrote a brief note and had it sent via O'Neill and Downes to Harry Boland, the Special Envoy of the Irish Republic. This visit was so secret that not even Boland was aware that 'The Chief' was coming.
"Rather unexpected this! Will tell you idea when we meet. Am anxious to travel to Rochester* tonight - hope it can be arranged. Want to see you before I meet anybody. I learnt a number of things since you left dealing with the matter you came to investigate. if you are watched, better not come to see me but travel to Rochester tomorrow or as soon as you can. I hope your experience did as little harm as mine has done to me. Till we meet. E de V."
David Fitzpatrick. Harry Boland's Irish Revolution. Cork University Press, 2001. p124
* Rochester, New York - the residence of his mother, Catherine.
The Republic's Envoy was located, the message passed over and at 11.30pm that evening, de Valera walked down the gangplank and was taken to a backroom in Phelan's Bar on 10th Avenue where McGarrity and Boland were waiting. From there, all three went to Liam Mellows apartment on 39th Street (close to where de Valera was born in the Nursery & Child's Hospital in 1882). After a few days rest and tailoring with new suits, he went on to McGarrity's home in Chestnut Street, Philadelphia.
“Joseph McGarrity, described by Padraic Colum as “a Donegal gallowglass ready to swing a battle-axe with his long arms” was de Valera’s best ally in the USA...a classic American success story, arriving in the US aged 16, he made fortunes in liquor and real estate businesses and went broke on at least 2 occasions...politically, he was a lifelong revolutionary whose devotion to physical force as the means of bringing about an Irish Republic caused the IRA to issue their statements over the pseudonym “Joe McGarrity” for years after his death. His devotion to the Priomh Aire was such that he christened one of his sons De Valera McGarrity.”
Tim Pat Coogan “De Valera, Long Fellow, Long Shadow” Hutchinson, London. 1993. p138. Quote from Sean Cronin “The McGarrity Papers “ Anvil, Tralee. 1972.
Tim Pat Coogan continues with some background information on McGarrity, Cohalan and Devoy, plus a tale told to him about Brendan Behan:
“Prior to de Valera’s arrival he [McGarrity] and McCartan had been having a certain amount of difference with the Cohalan -Devoy faction, allegedly over the latters tendency to agitate within the American system for self-determination for Ireland rather than trumpet the Republic as they did in McGarrity’s Irish Press, which McCartan edited. How much of this was a power struggle between McGarrity and Cohalan, a man who shared something of de Valera’s sense of infallibility, and how much it represented the tendency of Irish political, and particularly republican, movements to split is a moot point. As a race, the Irish are quicker to recognise an insult than love”
Tim Pat Coogan recounts the story told to him by Dan Stephenson, Chairman of the Committee to refurbish Kilmainham Jail for the 1966 50th Anniversary of the 1916 Rising:
“A voluntary group had agreed unanimously to adjourn for a drink to seal a bargain to forget all past differences in the cause of refurbishing Kilmainham Jail as a national monument...as part of the commemoration ceremonies for the fiftieth anniversary of the 1916 Rising. Behan startled them by raising an objection...”Be Jasus yiz fucking won’t” he interjected. “Yiz are meant to be Republicans and here yiz are agreeing to paint, to plaster, to do everythin’ in fucking harmony. Now yiz are all agreeing to go for a drink. we’re meant to be Republicans: we’ll have to have a split..”
Devoy might well be described as a “difficult man” but he could not be regarded as nay less of a republican than De Valera. He had built up the Clan in the United States of America, following his release from prison in 1871. Amongst his exploits were the rescue of Fenian prisoners from Western Australia aboard the whaler Catalpa, and the promotion of the New Departure, which placed the Clan behind Parnell and Michael Davitt in the struggle that ultimately defeated lanlordism. In 1900 he managed to unite the clan behind a demand for an Irish republic after a long running internal feud over the dynamiting campaign in England that put Tom Clarke in jail. And it was he and Cohalan who had helped to bring about the 1916 Rising. But by the time de Valera arrived in America, he was getting old and relied increasingly on Cohalan’s advice.”
Tim Pat Coogan “De Valera, Long Fellow, Long Shadow” Hutchinson, London. 1993. p138-139.
Prof. FSL Lyons described the Irish-American organisation as:
“ that organisation, after the fashion of Irish organisation whether in America or Ireland, was already deeply divided...both on the theoretical question of whether it should endorse an Irish Republic, or simply Irish self-determination, and on the more practical issue of whether the “Victory Fund” then being raised in aid of the Irish cause should be sent to Ireland or retained for use in America for forwarding causes - such as opposition to the League of Nations - which might, indeed, be linked with Ireland’s destiny but looked suspiciously like a further round of Judge Cohalan’s feud with President Wilson”
Prof FSL Lyons “ Ireland since the Famine” Fontana Press, London. 1985. P.421.
Michael Collins sent a letter to Diarmuid Lynch, using their pre-arranged code, somewhat simplistic but effective:
‘In the course of our general expenditure, we have been in heavy jobs lately and spent a lot on them. Recent takings in England have cost us over £1500. we have established a foundry and in various other ways we have spent a lot of funds, but we have gained much. We are now pretty low and want immediate, and we will have to embark on other costly jobs and for general funds we want a liberal sum and soon’
His references to ‘heavy jobs’, ‘takings in England’, the establishment of a foundry, ‘other costly jobs’ ( as apart from the questions of general funds) I took to mean the purchase of arms, the manufacture of ammunition, etc.
…the funds which the Friends of Irish Freedom made available for despatch to Ireland just about the time this letter was received (early in June 1919 ) were then at the disposal of the Irish Mission’
Application for Military Service Pension Certificate ( Diarmuid Lynch) - Department of Defence Files. Lynch Archives. December 28, 1944.
To further clarify the situation regarding distribution of the Irish Victory Fund, Devoy moved a resolution at a meeting of the Friends of Irish Freedom, (and seconded by Judge Cohalan) that:
‘25% of the fund at the disposal of the National Council be sent to our friends in Ireland to carry out the necessary work of sustaining the Irish cause and defending it against English attacks...a first instalment of $50,000, in addition to the $10,000 already transmitted be forwarded as soon as possible and that this action of the National Council be not published in the daily or weekly press, or made known to anyone not an officer of the organisation’. 2 members present, Fr. Hurton and Joseph O’Neill...proposed an amendment to this resolution allocating 75% of the money raised to be sent to Ireland. This amendment received no support and was withdrawn..’
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.346 & Diarmuid Lynch ‘"The I.R.B. and the 1916 Rising" Mercier Press. 1957. p208
12
Carson anounced in Co. Down, that if any attempt was made to revive Home Rule, he would summon the Provisional Government of Ulster, move to repeal the Home Rule Bill and call out the Ulster Volunteers.
George Gavan Duffy reported to the Dail on the US delegation’s meeting with Wilson: “Wilson will do nothing
( and apparently never intended to do anything ) beyond polietely persuading [Lloyd] George that he should do somehting, no matter what, to drown the pestilential clamour of the pestilential Irish and so give Wilson a respite’
Shortly after his arrival in New York, de Valera met with Judge Cohalan, Lynch and Devoy.
"Ominously for their future relationship, one account of Devoy's first meeting with de Valera paints them both sitting in complete silence, each refusing to make the first move. Another account has Devoy impressed with de Valera's performance in arrival but not pleased that upon setting foot in New York, de Valera was holed up with McGarrity rather than pay his respects to the elder statesman'
Dave Hannigan. 'De Valera in America. The rebel President and the making of Irish Independence'. Palgrave McMillan. New York 2013. p13-14
13
De Valera’s mission to the US implied an over-estimation of the role the US could play in the Irish Question. As it was, he was relatively uninformed of Irish-American developments prior to his arrival. De Valera described the Cohalan isolationist stance as a “very good policy” unaware of the McGarrity and McCartan’s self-determination views.
Diarmuid Lynch had already been working on the proposed De Valera tour through the US:
“ De Valera did not attend to the organisation himself, but he had no hesitation in telling Diarmuid Lynch, who did (at least until he quarrelled with de Valera later in his American sojourn) just exactly what he wanted.. ...Every effort should be made to secure aeroplane or airship service. The advantages of the air are beyond question. The railway can be taken as supplementary...please let me know the steps you have taken so that I may know the state of progress reached. As you are aware the success of this tour depends mainly upon your organisation. It is a case of full steam up.”
McCartan Papers, National Library of Ireland MSS17/680
De Valera had drawn up an organisational plan which included the following:
(1) Meeting in at least one town in every state.
(2) Great care to be taken that correspondence should not become mixed up because there are several names the same in different states.
(3) Towns should be arranged in blocks so that they can be covered in a week or at most, a fortnight.
(4) Railway experts should be called in to help drawing up schedules.
(5) Efforts to be made to get invitations from Municpal State Authorities and State Legislatures making use of the Friends of Irish Freedom.
(6) Trips between towns to be arranged in the evenings with an advance agent working in with Boland ahead of his arrival.
(7) Publicity material of all sorts to be prepared to go “hand in hand” with (6).
Whether Lynch, who as National Secretary of the Friends of Irish Freedom, as well as being a leading figure in the I.R.B, with years of American experience, really needed to be warned about identical patronymics amongst the Irish in the States is a moot point.
Tim Pat Coogan “De Valera, Long Fellow, Long Shadow” Hutchinson, London. 1993. p152
De Valera began appointing his staff:
“ One of the first appointments he made was that of Kathleen O’Connell as his private secretary. It was rumoured that they had an affair, but all that can be said about their relationship with certainty is that O’Connell, then as a young immigrant from Kerry, was to remain his secretary until she died, thirty six years later in 1956”
Tim Pat Coogan “De Valera, Long Fellow, Long Shadow” Hutchinson, London. 1993. p150
14
De Valera who was still incommunicado as regards the US & world’s press, met with Judge Daniel Cohalan.
“Cohalan was an old style Irish American politician of the “bossism” Tammany Hall school. He and the ageing John Devoy, a legendary figure in the history of Irish revolutionary secret societies, ran the Clan na Gael in New York, which, coupled with the fact that Devoy controlled the powerful Gaelic American newspaper, meant that their influence carried great weight in the organisation throughout the country. Cohalan gave a party for the newly arrived Priomh Aire at which he was introduced to the leading figures of the Clan. He showed them his “Little testament of the Republic”. It consisted of a pamphlet put out by Sinn Fein describing the proceedings of the first Dail into which he had pasted the 1916 proclamation, the Constitution of Sinn Fein and the party’s 1918 election manifesto. “he had also brought with him, some reported, Machiavelli’s “The Prince”.”
Tim Pat Coogan “De Valera, Long Fellow, Long Shadow” Hutchinson, London. 1993. p133-134. Quotes from Mary C Bromage “ De Valera and the march of a Nation”. Hutchinson, London. 1956. p.91.
Diarmuid Lynch later recorded his opinions on the meeting between De Valera and the prominent members of the Irish-American leadership in the US when De Valera refused to discuss the issue of the League of Nations with Judge Cohalan:
‘..the situation thus created was passed over in silence out of deference to the office held by De Valera. This silence was a great mistake. Men present on that occasion had a right to demand a full explanation of the unwarrantable attitude; had they grappled with the situation then and there, the machinations of the few disturbing elements would in all probability have been exposed and the whole position clarified at the outset of President De Valera ‘s campaign in America..”
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.341 quoting the statement made by Diarmuid Lynch ‘National Secretary of the Friends of Irish Freedom and one of the heroes of the Easter Rebellion of 1916’ in the Cohalan Private Papers.
The ‘few disturbing elements’ in Diarmuid Lynch’s statement referred to the activities of Dr. William Maloney and Patrick McCartan:
‘They were determined to become the intimate advisors of de Valera and plan his program in America. Judge Cohalan and John Devoy would be very small items in this program’
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.341
In addition, we see some of the Devoy, Cohalan and de Valera personality as described by Prof. Lyons:
“ Both Cohalan & Devoy had been so long dominant in Irish-American affairs that they were not prepared to yield authority even to the “President of the Irish Republic” if he sought to intervene in what they regarded as their own preserve. It was a collision of two stiff necked, strong minded individuals with another stiff necked, strong minded individual and it is not surprising that deadlock resulted.”
Prof FSL Lyons “ Ireland since the Famine” Fontana Press, London. 1985. P.421-422.
It was arranged that De Valera would “ burst upon an amazed world via a press conference at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel....the Clan & Harry Boland cranked up the publicity machinery...Boland had told reporters that de Valera would be at the Waldorf...on the 23rd at “five-thirty on the dot” - and rather unwisely dared them to find him in the meantime.”
Tim Pat Coogan “De Valera, Long Fellow, Long Shadow” Hutchinson, London. 1993. p140
The Waldorf-Astoria was demolished in 1929 and it’s place was built a design by William Lamb and part-financed by Jacob Raskob – the Empire State Building.
Meanwhile, in Ireland the official strength of the R.I.C was placed at 9,682 and all were armed and maintained in fortified barracks in every village, town and city.
“Cohalan was an old style Irish American politician of the “bossism” Tammany Hall school. He and the ageing John Devoy, a legendary figure in the history of Irish revolutionary secret societies, ran the Clan na Gael in New York, which, coupled with the fact that Devoy controlled the powerful Gaelic American newspaper, meant that their influence carried great weight in the organisation throughout the country. Cohalan gave a party for the newly arrived Priomh Aire at which he was introduced to the leading figures of the Clan. He showed them his “Little testament of the Republic”. It consisted of a pamphlet put out by Sinn Fein describing the proceedings of the first Dail into which he had pasted the 1916 proclamation, the Constitution of Sinn Fein and the party’s 1918 election manifesto. “he had also brought with him, some reported, Machiavelli’s “The Prince”.”
Tim Pat Coogan “De Valera, Long Fellow, Long Shadow” Hutchinson, London. 1993. p133-134. Quotes from Mary C Bromage “ De Valera and the march of a Nation”. Hutchinson, London. 1956. p.91.
Diarmuid Lynch later recorded his opinions on the meeting between De Valera and the prominent members of the Irish-American leadership in the US when De Valera refused to discuss the issue of the League of Nations with Judge Cohalan:
‘..the situation thus created was passed over in silence out of deference to the office held by De Valera. This silence was a great mistake. Men present on that occasion had a right to demand a full explanation of the unwarrantable attitude; had they grappled with the situation then and there, the machinations of the few disturbing elements would in all probability have been exposed and the whole position clarified at the outset of President De Valera ‘s campaign in America..”
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.341 quoting the statement made by Diarmuid Lynch ‘National Secretary of the Friends of Irish Freedom and one of the heroes of the Easter Rebellion of 1916’ in the Cohalan Private Papers.
The ‘few disturbing elements’ in Diarmuid Lynch’s statement referred to the activities of Dr. William Maloney and Patrick McCartan:
‘They were determined to become the intimate advisors of de Valera and plan his program in America. Judge Cohalan and John Devoy would be very small items in this program’
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.341
In addition, we see some of the Devoy, Cohalan and de Valera personality as described by Prof. Lyons:
“ Both Cohalan & Devoy had been so long dominant in Irish-American affairs that they were not prepared to yield authority even to the “President of the Irish Republic” if he sought to intervene in what they regarded as their own preserve. It was a collision of two stiff necked, strong minded individuals with another stiff necked, strong minded individual and it is not surprising that deadlock resulted.”
Prof FSL Lyons “ Ireland since the Famine” Fontana Press, London. 1985. P.421-422.
It was arranged that De Valera would “ burst upon an amazed world via a press conference at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel....the Clan & Harry Boland cranked up the publicity machinery...Boland had told reporters that de Valera would be at the Waldorf...on the 23rd at “five-thirty on the dot” - and rather unwisely dared them to find him in the meantime.”
Tim Pat Coogan “De Valera, Long Fellow, Long Shadow” Hutchinson, London. 1993. p140
The Waldorf-Astoria was demolished in 1929 and it’s place was built a design by William Lamb and part-financed by Jacob Raskob – the Empire State Building.
Meanwhile, in Ireland the official strength of the R.I.C was placed at 9,682 and all were armed and maintained in fortified barracks in every village, town and city.
15
The first non-stop flight of the Atlantic was completed by Alcock and Brown in a Vickers Vimy biplane completing the 1,900 miles in 15 hours, 57 minutes and landing near Clifden, Co. Galway.
CAPTAIN ALCOCK'S GREAT ACHIEVEMENT
Battle with Fog, Clouds and Hail Showers
1,900 Miles in Sixteen Hours
Successful Landing in County Galway
The Pilots description of the Journey.
The Atlantic has been successfully crossed in a non-stop flight. Yesterday morning Captain Alcock, R.A.F. and his navigator Lieutenant A. W. Brown, who left St. John's Newfoundland, on Saturday afternoon arrived at Clifden, Country Galway, and landed near the Marconi Wireless Station. They saw little of either the sky or the sea on their journey. For the greater part of their time they had to contend with fogs and heavy clouds with occasional showers of hail and sleet. The journey of 1,900 miles was accomplished in sixteen hours, at an average rate of 120 miles an hour.
The landing was made in a fog, and the machine was so damaged that Captain Alcock was unable to continue the flight to London. The aviators escaped injury, and they suffered no ill-effects from the long period of their flight through the cold air. They will leave Galway by train this afternoon for London. During the day the King sent a telegram congratulating the airmen on the great achievement and another was sent by Lord French and Mr. Ian Macpherson, in the name of the Irish Government, welcoming them to Ireland.
Our Galway Correspondent telegraphed last night:
Captain Alcock and Lieutenant A.W. Browne R.A.F. flying a double engined Vickers-Vimy aeroplane, succeeded in crossing the Atlantic from St. John's Newfoundland, to the Marconi Station, near Clifden, Co. Galway, a distance of 1,900 miles in 15 hours and 57 seconds. The feat was accomplished in unfavourable weather, at an average speed of 120 miles per hour and the airmen landed in Derrygorta fog, behind the Marconi's condenser house at 8.40 am. Greenwich meantime. An Australian soldier on his honeymoon gazing through the window of an hotel in the sleepy town of Clifden, and a farmer's boy tending kine near by were probably the first to witness the mysterious visitors coming across the sea through the morning mist.
The plane circled over the town, and a few minutes later spotting the aerials, dropped to earth at the Marconi station. The operators on morning duty who witnessed the landing had no idea that the great feat had been accomplished. Indeed, after the failure of the Hawker and in the weather that prevailed, it was thought to be impossible. But it was quickly learned that the apparently impossible had been made possible, and as the airmen stepped out of the plane Browne cheerily remarked "This is the way to fly the Atlantic". Stuck by the image of the moment, a Marconi operator improvised an autograph album and although Captain Alcock was still in his flying togs, he cheerily complied with the request to sign. "Now", he remarked, "if we had a shave and a bath we should be all right."
Irish Times – June 16th, 1919.
Pancho Villa attacks Ciudad Juarez on the Mexico/United States border. When the bullets begin to fly to the U.S. side of the border, 2 units of the U.S. 7th Cavalry Regiment invade and repulse Villa's forces.
CAPTAIN ALCOCK'S GREAT ACHIEVEMENT
Battle with Fog, Clouds and Hail Showers
1,900 Miles in Sixteen Hours
Successful Landing in County Galway
The Pilots description of the Journey.
The Atlantic has been successfully crossed in a non-stop flight. Yesterday morning Captain Alcock, R.A.F. and his navigator Lieutenant A. W. Brown, who left St. John's Newfoundland, on Saturday afternoon arrived at Clifden, Country Galway, and landed near the Marconi Wireless Station. They saw little of either the sky or the sea on their journey. For the greater part of their time they had to contend with fogs and heavy clouds with occasional showers of hail and sleet. The journey of 1,900 miles was accomplished in sixteen hours, at an average rate of 120 miles an hour.
The landing was made in a fog, and the machine was so damaged that Captain Alcock was unable to continue the flight to London. The aviators escaped injury, and they suffered no ill-effects from the long period of their flight through the cold air. They will leave Galway by train this afternoon for London. During the day the King sent a telegram congratulating the airmen on the great achievement and another was sent by Lord French and Mr. Ian Macpherson, in the name of the Irish Government, welcoming them to Ireland.
Our Galway Correspondent telegraphed last night:
Captain Alcock and Lieutenant A.W. Browne R.A.F. flying a double engined Vickers-Vimy aeroplane, succeeded in crossing the Atlantic from St. John's Newfoundland, to the Marconi Station, near Clifden, Co. Galway, a distance of 1,900 miles in 15 hours and 57 seconds. The feat was accomplished in unfavourable weather, at an average speed of 120 miles per hour and the airmen landed in Derrygorta fog, behind the Marconi's condenser house at 8.40 am. Greenwich meantime. An Australian soldier on his honeymoon gazing through the window of an hotel in the sleepy town of Clifden, and a farmer's boy tending kine near by were probably the first to witness the mysterious visitors coming across the sea through the morning mist.
The plane circled over the town, and a few minutes later spotting the aerials, dropped to earth at the Marconi station. The operators on morning duty who witnessed the landing had no idea that the great feat had been accomplished. Indeed, after the failure of the Hawker and in the weather that prevailed, it was thought to be impossible. But it was quickly learned that the apparently impossible had been made possible, and as the airmen stepped out of the plane Browne cheerily remarked "This is the way to fly the Atlantic". Stuck by the image of the moment, a Marconi operator improvised an autograph album and although Captain Alcock was still in his flying togs, he cheerily complied with the request to sign. "Now", he remarked, "if we had a shave and a bath we should be all right."
Irish Times – June 16th, 1919.
Pancho Villa attacks Ciudad Juarez on the Mexico/United States border. When the bullets begin to fly to the U.S. side of the border, 2 units of the U.S. 7th Cavalry Regiment invade and repulse Villa's forces.
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16
The League of Nations issue was another matter that Irish American leaders could not agree on. Cohalan, Devoy and Lynch took the view that the League proposals as originally drafted and if the US became a member, would effectively prevent recognition of the Irish Republic.
On this date, the Friends of Irish Freedom National Executive appointed an Advertising Committee (Judge Cohalan, Diarmuid Lynch and Richard Dalton) to conduct an anti-league publicity campaign with a budget of $50,000. This fight was ‘conducted with great vigour and thoroughness’. The opposition which it had to contend with can be judged by the statement by Lord Northcliffe in 1917, that he had left a fund of $150 million and 10,000 agents to complete the work.
Kilmallock, Co Limerick: The annual Language Movement Festival was proclaimed by British authorities as British forces patrolled the streets. Crowds gathering in the streets that evening were beaten with several wounded.
Ambush by Kilbrittain company IRA on joint RIC-British Army patrol at Rathclarin. One IRA man and one British Army soldier wounded and IRA get away with five rifles, one revolver and 200 rounds of ammunition.
Alcock and Brown were feted on arrival in Dublin before travelling on to London. Below: At the Automobile Club in Dawson Street, Alcock and Brown pose wit their lucky black cat mascots, Alcock had 'Lucky Jim' and Brown had 'Twinkletoes'. Alcock died in a flying accident in France just a few months later on December 18.
17
Dublin: The 9th meeting of Dail Eireann was held privately in Fleming’s Hotel owned by Sean O’Mahony TD in Gardiner Place, Dublin. 40 TD’s attended with Arthur Griffith as acting President. He announced that:
"The President has, by and with the advice of the Ministry, gone on a mission abroad, particulars of which will be communicated to the Dáil before the conclusion of the Session. In his absence we should, and it is his desire that we should, proceed with as much speed as possible with our constructive programme. Accordingly we shall ask the Dáil to deal with and advise on the questions of construction that will arise on the reports of the various Ministers. After the reports have been discussed the ministerial proposals will be proceeded with, and motions of which private members have given notice will then be taken up."
At this both Sean McEntee and Joseph McDonagh asked for an explanation ‘no member of the Dail had been consulted…it was neither right nor fair to them that they should be unable to say whether the President had gone away and where he was’
While the British Government refused to recognise the Dail, and prevented the carrying out of any Regulations or Act passed by the body, Dail Eireann decreed the establishment in every county of National Arbitration Courts, the establishment of a Consular service, a fund to aid in the provision of land to those currently deprived of it, the allocation of funds for forestry and fisheries, the appointment of a National Commission of Inquiry into the Industrial resources of Ireland, and for the appointment of inspectors for all these areas.
Paris: After the surprising interview with the President, Walsh was encouraged to send him a letter protesting against the brutalities that were an everyday occurrence in Ireland under English administration. It was also hoped that the President would place these facts before the Peace Conference and request an investigation by an "impartial tribunal."
There was to be no impartial tribunal to investigate Irish allegations.
Dublin: The Report of the American Commission on Irish Independence was finally released for Irish audiences, a week after its core details were published in the British press. The delay in publication in Ireland was down to the actions of the censor to whom the report was submitted on 8 June. Copies were also delivered to David Lloyd George, Woodrow Wilson and Robert Lansing, the U.S. Secretary of State. The report was prepared by Frank Walsh, Edward F. Dunne and Michael J. Ryan, Irish-American delegates, appointed by the Irish Race Convention. It offered a damning indictment of the British administration in Ireland. In the cover letter to President Wilson, the authors urged that, in light of the ‘serious and critical situation’ exposed in the report, the President not only gives its content ‘careful consideration’, but presents it to the five great powers at the Peace Conference.
The report detailed the extent to which Ireland had become militarised. It stated that the ‘army of occupation’ numbered considerably more than 100,000 soldiers and continued to grow. These troops, it is stated, were equipped with lorries, armoured cars, tanks, machine guns, bombing planes, light and heavy artillery and they are supplemented by 15,000 members of the Royal Irish Constabulary who also armed with rifles, as well as small firearms.
On the advice of Éamon de Valera, the commission delegates also visited Mountjoy Prison in Dublin which held a large number of political prisoners. The cells in which the prisoners – ‘men of the highest position’ – were held were described as ‘cages’ similar to those used for ‘wild animals in the larger zoological gardens, such as Lincoln Park and the Bronx in the U.S.’ Even so, conditions were ‘not as bad’ as the brutality experienced in many of the other Irish jails, they said.
Spotted during the delegation’s visit was journalist Piaras Béaslaí and one of the political prisoners. Béaslaí was being bundled through a doorway by a prison guard when he saw the delegates and let out a shout: ‘I want to call your attention to the fact that this brute who has me in charge is about to punish me for saying ‘Long live the Republic’.’ As well as documenting conditions, the commissioners make specific allegations, the most serious of which related to the death of civilians at the hands of soldiers and the police.
The report stated that ‘within the past few months at least 10 citizens have been killed by soldiers and constables under circumstances in which, in the majority of cases, coroners’ juries found to be wilful murder under the laws of England, the last man having been murdered in this way less than one month ago, the perpetrators going unpunished; hundreds of men and women have been confined for months in the vilest prisons without any charges being preferred against them. At least five men have died as a result of atrocities perpetrated upon them while in prison, the post mortem examinations in some of the cases disclosing marks of violence upon the bodies of the victims.’
More generally, the commission declared that the ‘right of privacy no longer exists in Ireland. The houses of the people are constantly being invaded by armed men, and the occupants, including women and young children, cruelly beaten and otherwise maltreated. The children of suspected republicans, many of tender years, are kidnapped and their parents kept in ignorance of their whereabouts for weeks.’
Despite the seriousness of the charges contained within the report and the stated wishes of the Irish-American delegates, President Wilson had already made clear that the U.S. representatives at the Peace Conference would not take up the case of Ireland at the Paris talks. President Wilson did, however, state that he and others could assist unofficially to support the interests of Ireland.
The report on Irish conditions was quickly refuted by the Chief Secretary and denounced by the Irish Times as being ‘so fantastic as to require no refutation; the majority are sheer falsehoods; they all bear the mark of bigoted fanaticism. No sane Irishman could believe the grotesque tale of atrocities and horrors which the Americans’ statement unfolds. We are certain that no sane American will be deceived by it.’
Moreover, the Irish Times has described the report as a deliberate attempt to sow discord between the British and U.S. administrations and its circulation in America, where its authors are believed to enjoy a ‘reputation for integrity and uprightness’, is condemned.
Click image below for full text of the Report on Conditions in Ireland (Thanks to Villanova University - Falvey Memorial Library)
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Dail Eireann’s meeting continued in Fleming’s Hotel, Dublin. Dáil establishes the National Arbitration Courts and sets up a committee to devise a scheme of organisation. To expedite problems with land agitation, local ‘Sinn Fein’ courts also set up. In addition, Commission of Inquiry into the Resources and Industries of Ireland set up by Dáil.
Letter to Joe McGarrity from Charles Wheeler, American Commission on Irish Independence outlining issues with the Friends of Irish Freedom and Lynch in particular. (copies and transcription below)
Dear McGarrity.
It will be necessary to hurry up the bond drive organisation so that we can get out the literature and publicity stuff on out own hook, as Mr. Lynch is not disposed to co-operate with the bond drive organisation until he is satisfied it is not another organisation intended to supercede and injure the F.O.I.F. organisation.
I had the notion we might avail ourselves of the office organisation of the F.O.I.F. temporarily until we could get the prospectus literature out, as Mr. Lynch has a well organised mailing force. But since the editorial suggestion that there might be some ulterior motive behind Frank Walsh's organisation, Mr. Lynch informs me that he will not proceed further with us until he is wholly satisfied that the bond drive organisation is temporary and not intended to do injury to the big organisation he has built up after so much hard work.
Of course, if there is any ulterior motive behind the Walsh organisation for the bond drive I know nothing of it, and I am sorry such suggestions should be entertained. Least of all should such suggestions be given publicity, for we would be playing into the hands of those who would like to see Ireland's cause injured.
If there is any ill feeling between the leaders I sincerely hope it will be kept strictly within office confines and not be displayed before the public. It seems to me, too, that you all probably could get together for a harmonious drive, as the differences may, after all, be merely temperamental and easy of adjustment if everyone will give and take a little.
It may be that Mr. Lynch’s coolness may be due to my coming into the office, since I am a new comer and sort of an interloper, as it were. I think I can appreciate his mental attitude and understand it, for he has been giving his life to the cause, has suffered for it and has earned his wounds honourably. To have an entirely new man break into the organisation, one who but recently has been in any way prominent in the work, and particularly a Protestant and one not of Celtic blood, might cause some even unconscious resentment. I don’t blame him for that for it is human nature to feel such things. But that can be easily remedied, as I can easily return to my newspaper work. As Judge Cohalan once said, the cause is greater than any one man.
But it does seem that you men at the top ought to insist on complete harmony all the way down the line. I think you are going to win with the bond drive no matter what happens, and are going to win big, and I also believe that Ireland’s Independence is not so very far away. The cause is so just that it will ultimately triumph, no matter what mistakes are made.
I am not writing this to you, my boss, in any spirit of anger or resentment, but I think you ought to know that there is, or seems to be, at least a feeling of antagonism to the bond drive organisation. I don’t think it is very serious or irremediable, but it is there. But until it is removed you will have to depend for the most part on your own organisation for publicity channels. My notion is that you should iron out the little kinks as quickly as possible, for you will have the fight more than half won if the F.O.I.F. organisation will swing into line and put the punch into the bond drive.
It seems to me that all the Irish societies in the United States could forget everything else for a couple of months and swing in behind the bond drive to the last man and woman. If that could be done you would get to €10,000,000 but nearer to €50,000,000.
I am merely offering a few suggestions which may not make any noise with you or your associates, but for what they are worth you are entitle to them.
Respectfully yours,
Charles N Wheeler
https://digital.library.villanova.edu/Item/vudl:137495 McGarrity Papers, Villanova University
Charles N. Wheeler was an established journalist, described as ‘an experienced man, having accompanied different Presidents of the United States in their campaigns’ and was to later plan de Valera’s cavalcade tour of the United States. He was also President of the Protestant Friends of Ireland.
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During the final meeting of the Dail Eireann session, trustees were appointed for the Dail Eireann National Loan and the float of the National Loan was approved for £250,000 at 5% registered certificates in denominations of £1, £5, £10, £20, £50 and £100.
It also states that the loan will become the first charge on the Revenue of the Irish Republic after the English have evacuated Ireland.
Separate Irish courts in much of Ireland began to set up, rules. Scales of fines, costs and fees settled. As a result, litigation of the district was gradually transferred form the British courts to these Sinn Fein courts.
‘Liam deRoiste held the Dail had to contend with two sets of critics ‘those who said it can do nothing, and those who expected it do wonders’.
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P50
The Industrial Resources Commission was voted a £5,000 budget and Arthur Griffith followed up with invitations to over sixty businessmen, scientists and industrialists asking if they would serve as unpaid members. 49 persons accepted and Griffith selected Darrell Figgis as secretary.
Richard Mulcahy ordered the Army to set up a Republican Police Force.
Prominent Protestant Sinn Féin member in Belfast, Sam Heron, arrested for making a seditious speech in Castlewellan. At his trial on the 13th August, he refuses to recognise the court and goes on hunger strike. He is soon released.
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In Washington, the Irish Bureau Chief, Daniel O’Connell made a counter-statement to a speech by Senator Thomas Walsh as it was ‘likely to win support from those of Irish blood who did not understand the real workings of the scheme…’ and was then visited by Dr. McCartan who warned him about any negative statements on the League of Nations that could affect Ireland’s opportunities to join as an independent member. Dr McCartan later left a written message saying: ‘The President asked me to tell you to be careful with your statements on such things as Senator Walsh’s resolution, as he might be forced to repudiate you, and that would harm the whole movement’
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.342
O’Connell told him ‘politely to mind his own business’.
Judge Cohalan, as requested by the Friends of Irish Freedom, had appointed John A. Murphy, of Buffalo, as a supplementary member of the American Commission for Irish Independence. Murphy sailed from New York for Paris on June 20. (Murphy was a prominent business man of Buffalo, New York, who had long been an active member of the Friends of Irish Freedom. He had been instrumental in holding large meetings of the Friends in Buffalo, and had induced Bishop William Turner to take an active part in these meetings.)
Below: evidence that De Valera's arrival in the United States was a badly kept secret - a job application letter from an unknown person in the Friends of Irish Freedo archives, New York:
The Stratford Times. Stratford, Connecticut.
June 20, 1919. Hon Daniel F Cohalan New York City Dear Sir. I am present connected with this paper which is conducted by one of the best Irish men in this locality. It is a struggling sheet and the revenue to be derived from it is not great which prompts me to write you and ask if there was a possibility of enlisting myself in the service of Professor de Valera, President of the Irish Republic as a bodyguard, or in any other capacity during his proposed tour of the country and as long after as my services might be useful. This does not mean that I have an ambition to travel as one of the party, as my policy would be to stay in the background and get the 'dope' from those not directly interested as well as keeping my eyes open for any move that might be made by the opposition. Page 2 of letter not available The Stratford Times opened in 1912. |
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German sailors scuttled all 70 of the former Imperial German Navy vessels held at Scappa Flow.
De Valera’s mother, Mrs Charles Wheelwright in Rochester New York ‘declared she not believe her son had landed in America’ when shown an Associated Press despatch.
Lynch Family Archives. Folder 5/10
Another delegate of the Friends of Irish Freedom, John Archdeacon Murphy of Buffalo sailed to France.
Above: The Friends of Irish Freedom accounts show that the society paid the ocean liner tickets for J.A.Murphy and L.S.Trigg, dated 21 June 1919 for $356 and an additional $1,000 for expenses. ($19,681 in 2018 values. See December 31, 1919 entry for details here )
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A New York newspaper carried details of de Valera’s arrival in the US writing that Harry Boland said:
‘…he will be in town Monday and may remain for several days’.
The Waldorf management assigned Boland to the State Suite, and he and Lee went into conference. They decided to notify the newspapers. When newspaper men plied pell-mell into the hotel an hour later they found Boland and Lee ‘holding the fort’ in the State apartment.
Boland said he preceeded de Valera by five weeks. He aided the latters escape from Lincoln Prison. Of his own escape, Boland said ‘I knocked about the docks of a certain English city two months ago until I had an opportunity to jump in as a stoker on a ship bound for America. My task in getting here was easier than Professor de Valera.’
Mr Boland did not consider seriously the possibility of action by the American authorities because of his and de Valera ‘informal’ entry into the country. He said the Hearst papers – valiant fighters for the cause of Ireland – are not permitted to be circulated in Ireland, adding: ‘We recognise Mr Hearst a powerful champrion of our cause, President de Valera as he expressed in his message to Mr Hearst, is deeply grateful for the unremitting fight Mr Hearst has waged on our behalf’
Mr Boland made it plain that Professor de Valera would fight the League of Nations plan. He said : ‘Our chief objection is to Article 10, which guarantees the integrity of the British Empire and condemns Ireland to continued slavery. Under this provision we shall continue to be the only white race in the world held in slavery! If it is not too late, Prof.de Valera will got o Paris to present Ireland’s cause. Otherwise he will visit the leading American cities’. Mr Boland said conditions in Ireland were never worse.
After Valera’s escape from prison, Boland said he returned with him to Dublin. The Lord Mayor gave Valera a reception and the latter then went into hiding before the British could capture him. Boland said he was the man who blindfolded an American correspondent a few weeks later when de Valera granted him an interview.’
Lynch Family Archives. Folder 5/10
That night, de Valera stayed at the Carmelite priory on 29th Street, New York.
"Unremarkable from the outside, the priory was an institution that, for generations, had offered shelter and succor to Irish rebels passing through New York, served as a temporary arsenal for weapons destined for boats to Ireland and would eventually be described by de Valera himself as 'the cradle of Irish independence'...Armagh born Fr. Peter Magennis was rector of the parish, national president of the Friends of Irish Freedom and a vigorous campaigner for all things related to his homeland."
Dave Hannigan. 'De Valera in America. The rebel President and the making of Irish Independence'. Palgrave McMillan. New York 2013. p22
The Carmelites were brought to New York from Ireland in 1889 after a brutal public schism in which one of the city’s most popular priests, the Rev. Dr. Edward McGlynn, rector of St. Stephen’s Church, was excommunicated. He had publicly supported Henry George, a Socialist candidate for New York mayor. Fearing spreading socialism, the archbishop sent for the trusty Carmelites, in large measure to calm the Irish immigrants who were devoted to McGlynn. His old parish, St. Stephen’s, was eventually incorporated into Our Lady of the Scapular, run by the Carmelites. The order continued their ministry at the priory until it's closure and building sale in 2007.
Also in the Carmelite priory that evening was the newly arrived and future diplomat Sean Nunan, Clerk of Dail Eireann (in New York at the request of de Valera to take up the position as personal secretary).
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Dublin: First Collins “authorised” execution took place. Detective Inspector Hunt (45) of the R.I.C was shot in the Market Square in Thurles by Jim Stapleton. As one witness reported ‘the crowd jeered and there were cries of ‘Up the Republic’. There was not the least sympathy for the unfortunate man. Public bodies did not pass a resoloution and there was scarcely a blind drawn on the day of the funeral’ It was believed that Hunt had information on the Knocklong killings on 13th May.
Addressing his congregation at mass in Thurles Cathedral, the Archbishop of Cashel Dr John Harty, denounced the murder of the District Inspector Hunt and offered his sympathies to the local people on account of the ‘unmerited stain which has been placed on our quiet and God-fearing town’. The murder was, the archbishop told his parishioners, ‘a grave violation of the law of God… and a flagrant violation of the fifth commandment’, which declares ‘Thou shalt not kill’.
In condemning the murder, Dr Harty also aimed his ire at the government of Ireland and its ‘ugly record of provocation...‘Military force has supplanted government by consent of the people’, Dr Harty claimed, referencing what he described as the imprisonment of men for the slightest of causes and the kidnapping of children from their homes.
An English journalist, Hugh Martin reported that ‘the peoples acute hatred of the police was due to the fact that the police have been turned by the Irish administration into a band of political spies and tale bearers’ Lord French, the Lord Lieutenant, took most seriously this campaign to destroy the RIC. He told an English audience that the Dail was a ‘so called, self constituted, illegal, insane Government’ which possesed a ‘secret army, which they call the Irish Volunteers’ The army contained ‘a body of assasins..the result is a complete system of intimidation throughout the whole population’ while police efforts to track down the assasins are ‘rendered absoloutley abortive’.
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P71
The 51st annual congress of the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO) opened in Dublin. Representing some 14,000 Irish teachers, it's president, Robert Judge, asserted that education in Ireland had been starved by a combination of government and the apathy of the people themselves. This indifference was manifest, he added, in the wretched condition of the national school buildings, which were badly equipped and without adequate provision for heating and cleaning. They were, he said, a national disgrace. Mr Judge’s message was directed at both the government and the wider society. To the former, he expressed the hope that the experience of the war will have convinced the statesmen of the world that it was in the primary schools that the nation was made and if the nation was to be maintained into the future then pre-war education policies were required to be scrapped in favour of drastic reforms. But even if the government were to do right by Irish education, Mr Judge believed that it would have little effect unless the general public awoke to its importance and understood that, ‘even from a material point of view it pays to keep children at school, educating them, training them, until their characters are formed’.
London: the US Ambassador cabled to the Department of State asking about De Valera:
‘ press reports indicate Valera now in the United States. How did he get there? Is the Department likely to give him a passport to return here?’
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.340.
The cost of British occupation of Ireland was estimated for 1919 as £10,800,000.
New York: De Valera met with the leaders of the Friends of Irish Freedom and prominent Irish-American figures. He returned to the Waldorf Astoria (his headquarters for the next eighteen months and soon to be dubbed 'The Irish White House' by the press) on crowded 23rd Street with Harry Boland and was met by the New York deputation led by Judge Cohalan carrying the Tricolour and John Devoy, the Stars and Stripes.
In the Gold Room at the Waldorf, an unofficial reception was held before his first American press conference. Typed copies of his speech has been distributed in advance to the press in advance, as the new York Times reported 'so that British propagandists cannot misinterpret what I said'. Presented by Judge Cohalan, de Valera was announced with "For the first time in Irish history, we have the President of the Irish Republic on American soil. He is here as representative of the Irish people. He represents no party nor creed. He is the chosen leader of the people of Ireland - President de Valera"
De Valera gave his first press conference in America with:
“ I am in America as the official head of the Republic established by the will of the Irish People in accordance with the principle of self-determination.... we shall fight for a real democratic League of Nations, not the present un-holy alliance which does not fulfil the purposes for which democracies of the world went to war. I am going to ask the American people to give us a real League of Nations, one that will include Ireland.
I well recognise President Wilson’s difficulties in Paris. I am sure that he is sincere, nothing will please him more than being pushed from behind by the people for this will show him that the people of America want the United States Government to recognise the Republic of Ireland.
That is the reason I am eager to spread propaganda in official circles in America. My appeal is to the people. I know that if they can be aroused, government action will follow. That is why I intend visiting your large cities and talking directly to the people..”
With journalists scribbling, questions were taken from the press. When asked about his nationality, de Valera remarked "I ceased to be an American when I became a soldier of the Irish Republic'
A photocall in the Waldorf's roof garden followed.
De Valera gave his first press conference in America with:
“ I am in America as the official head of the Republic established by the will of the Irish People in accordance with the principle of self-determination.... we shall fight for a real democratic League of Nations, not the present un-holy alliance which does not fulfil the purposes for which democracies of the world went to war. I am going to ask the American people to give us a real League of Nations, one that will include Ireland.
I well recognise President Wilson’s difficulties in Paris. I am sure that he is sincere, nothing will please him more than being pushed from behind by the people for this will show him that the people of America want the United States Government to recognise the Republic of Ireland.
That is the reason I am eager to spread propaganda in official circles in America. My appeal is to the people. I know that if they can be aroused, government action will follow. That is why I intend visiting your large cities and talking directly to the people..”
With journalists scribbling, questions were taken from the press. When asked about his nationality, de Valera remarked "I ceased to be an American when I became a soldier of the Irish Republic'
A photocall in the Waldorf's roof garden followed.
"...The sepia photograph is of a group of men, full of purpose, united by a common cause that spans the generations and the ocean..."
Dave Hannigan. 'De Valera in America. The rebel President and the making of Irish Independence'. Palgrave McMillan. New York 2013. p13
Dave Hannigan. 'De Valera in America. The rebel President and the making of Irish Independence'. Palgrave McMillan. New York 2013. p13
Standing, left to right ) Harry Boland, Liam Mellows, Eamon De Valera, Dr. Patrick McCartan, Diarmuid Lynch Seated: John Devoy.
“..Photograph taken on the roof of the old Waldorf Astoria Hotel, New York, June 23, 1919 on the occasion of a reception for De Valera by Irish American workers in the National Movement”
Diarmuid Lynch in a letter to the Irish Press, May 10, 1938. National Library of Ireland MS 31-405(1)
“..Photograph taken on the roof of the old Waldorf Astoria Hotel, New York, June 23, 1919 on the occasion of a reception for De Valera by Irish American workers in the National Movement”
Diarmuid Lynch in a letter to the Irish Press, May 10, 1938. National Library of Ireland MS 31-405(1)
Below - the United States Irish-American Representatives with de Valera. (from left: Lynch, Judge Hendricks, Judge Goff, Judge Cohalan, de Valera, John Devoy and Judge Gavigan.)
The reception was attended by some 1500 guests with Judge Cohalan presididing. De Valera thanked the assembled for the assistance America had given to Ireland and this was followed by Judge Cohalan requesting that the guests line up to file past and shake hands with the ‘President of the Irish Republic’.
‘McCartan records that it was an ordeal for de Valera, who said as they drove away, rubbing the back of his head and laughing ‘I wonder what Griffith will say when he reads that I came out in the press as the President of the Republic’
Desmond Ryan. ‘Unique Dictator’. Arthur Barker-London. 1936. p96
Tim Pat Coogan in his biography of de Valera, identified the combination of factors that was to become the problems that dogged De Valera’s American Tour of 1919; a lack of understanding of America and the political system, the lack of goal setting by himself and Dublin, unqualified commentary on the League of Nations and greater support of Irish self-determination:
“He wanted to be thought more sophisticated in his approach than Irish American leaders like Devoy and Cohalan, but in fact he did not understand the American political scene as they did. He told Griffith “The political situation here is obscure for the moment, Am trying to give Wilson to know that if he goes for his 14 points as they were had a true League of Nations, Irishmen and men and women of Irish blood will be behind him. So Democrats and Republicans are bidding for our support - Democrats by amending the Covenant and Republicans by destroying it”
Tim Pat Coogan “De Valera, Long Fellow, Long Shadow” Hutchinson, London. 1993. p145
The Irish-American group’s policy was quickly at odds with de Valera’s:
“ ..for Devoy, and more especially for Coholan, the great fact of the future, as they believed, was that sooner or later Anglo-American trade rivalry would provoke a war between the two countries. Welcoming this prospect, Cohalan saw the League of Nations as a hindrance to America’s freedom of manoeuvre and part of the insidious design to entangle the United States in the web of European, more specifically, British diplomacy. President de Valera on the other hand had no objection to the League of Nations, provided Ireland was a member, and he saw no reason to look forward to perpetual discord with England.”
Prof FSL Lyons “ Ireland since the Famine” Fontana Press, London. 1985. P.422
Shortly after arrival in the US, De Valera announced that one of the main purposes of his visit was to raise funds for Ireland. He hoped to float a loan of $5 million through ‘Irish Bonds’
‘Mr McGarrity has evidently convinced Mr De Valera that it was quite feasible to float such ‘bonds’ and that the banks throughout the United States would sell them just as they sold Bonds issued by governments of internationally recogised states.’
Diarmuid Lynch to the Irish Press. November 1946. Lynch Family Archives Folder 46 - 00013
De Valera was quickly advised by Judge Cohalan, Michael J Ryan, Richard Dalton and Judge Goff of existing US legislation banning the sale of bonds of a Republic that had no legal recognition. These ‘Blue Sky’ laws were in force in many states as a protection to investors and had a wide scope. Ryan and Cohalan were not opposed to the raising of an Irish loan, but the methold to do so could be interpreted as being illegal.
‘…the offering of such Bonds for sale in the United States would be in contravention of US statutes known as ‘The Blue Sky Laws’ and that no bank in American would handle them if issued. This latter view was supported by several other judges and lawyers present; they deemed the proposal not merley ‘impracticable’ but utterly beyond legal bounds..’
Diarmuid Lynch to the Irish Press. November 1946. Lynch Family Archives Folder 46 - 00013
“When de Valera proposed to float a bond loan of several million dollars. The “Cohalanites” saw the proposal as an unnecessary infringement on their turf. which might interfere with their own Victory Fund”
Tim Pat Coogan “De Valera, Long Fellow, Long Shadow” Hutchinson, London. 1993. p157
While Joe McGarrity strongly supported de Valera on the Bonds issue, the counsel of Cohalan was followed and a committee consisting of the Judge, Thomas Hughes Kelly, Bourke Cochran, Richard Dalton and John Moore was appointed to investigate the matter more thoroughly and report back.
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Irish bishops meeting in Maynooth describe British rule as the “rule of the sword, utterly unsuited to a civilized nation”
New York. An early morning press conference with de Valera took place in the Waldorf Astoria's Presidential Suite.
"Upon entering in early morning, reporters found [de Valera] in his shirtsleeves - unlikely garb for a statesman about to conduct his first raft of interviews. De Valera apologised for his informality (the New York Times interpreted the lack of a jacket as a sign of his democratic nature!) by explaining he'd been attempting to negotiate a mountain of correspondence since first light. After the euphoric welcome and festive mood of his opening night...there was now much less glamorous work to be done behind the scenes.'
Dave Hannigan. 'De Valera in America. The rebel President and the making of Irish Independence'. Palgrave McMillan. New York 2013. p18
Press reports from the time state that de Valera denied reports of rumoured Russian or German funding to assist Sinn Fein and handed out copies of the May 17 letter to Clemenceau asserting that Ireland could not be committed to any international agreements by Britain. The issue of raising a loan for the emerging Irish Republic was announced with a target figure of $5 million. Questions as to the purposes for such a loan were quickly raised - would these funds be used for the Sinn Fein party or perhaps to fund arms? De Valera commented: "The money is not be used for any party but for the development of the Irish commonwealth...we will have to equip consulates and embassies in the various countries, France and Switzerland. The money will not be used as former money in America was used - for political fights between parties. It will be used for purely national purposes"
The New York Times reported that the British Government intended to ensure De Valera never returned to Ireland.
De Valera held a meeting with the Irish-American leaders in New York, as Dr. McCartan described it in 1932:
“ Cohalan promised large sums from the Irish Victory Fund, a second Victory Fund could be inaugurated; anything and everything was promised if De Valera would only agree to abandon the idea of floating a loan...President de Valera was coaxed, bullied and finally informed that “if he did not do as the people in that room advised, he could no nothing in the United States”. Buttressed by McGarrity, President de Valera remained firm, and concluded by saying that his instructions were from the Dail, and that he had to carry them out...so earnest was he, and so well did he state his case, that Judge Goff withdrew his opposition; told de Valera his enthusiasm was contagious, and promised wholehearted co-operation”
Patrick McCartan. “With de Valera in America” Bretano, New York. 1932. P.141-142.
Diarmuid Lynch recalled the event also in the 1930's:
“ Considerable funds were now reaching the Friends of Irish Freedom headquarters and the National Council earmarked 25% of this Irish Victory Fund for the immediate issue to Ireland. This represented $50,000 and was completed. McGarrity then maintained that the bulk of the fund was specifically intended for expenditure in Ireland. He had little support at first but the anti-Cohalan campaign escalated. “Send the Money to Ireland” became the slogan. The Friends of Irish Freedom ignored the campaign and continued with the program and issue of $50,000 to Ireland….Opposition then maintained that Cohalan and Devoy were against Article X of the League of Nations Covenant, which in effect would commit the United States of America to support Britain in holding Ireland in subjection against the will of her people. The Friends of Irish Freedom saw this as their duty to either have the article redrafted, removed or to oppose US entry into the league. The expenses incurred ( in this ) amounted to a small fraction of the Victory Fund. McGarrity’s contention regarded the disposition of these moneys that became a court issue later.”
Diarmuid Lynch to the Irish Press. November 1946. Lynch Family Archives Folder 46 – 00013
Preparations were made for the Bond Loan:
“ The expenses of launching the bond drive were met by a loan of $100,000 from the $250,000 earmarked for Ireland from the FOIF Victory Fund which had already given de Valera $26,000 to help fund his American activities.”
Tim Pat Coogan “De Valera, Long Fellow, Long Shadow” Hutchinson, London. 1993. p157
Diarmuid recalled 21 years later that ‘By the middle of June 1919, a considerable sum of money was made available by the Friends of Irish Freedom for transmission to Ireland – the time and method being at the discretion of President de Valera and his colleagues. Yet, it is a fact that many months elapsed before these specially earmarked funds were drawn on, and the balance not until January 1920. The amount first drawn was transmitted to the Dail Minister for Finance, Michael Collins, (through drafts secured by me, payable to a third party who was coming to Ireland on a visit ); the balance was, I understood, held in America for the purchase of arms. The point I wish to emphasis in this connection is that without those moneys raised by the Friends of Irish Freedom, no arms could have been purchased even then, as prior to January 1920, no other funds were available. And the fact that arms were not purchased earlier, further illustrates the exisiting conditions.’
Application for Military Service Pension Certificate ( Diarmuid Lynch) - Department of Defence Files. Lynch Archives. March 9, 1938.
Meanwhile, the Irish situation was beginning to get more widespread coverage, as in this report in the Manchester Guardian:
‘ It cannot be denied that women and men have been arrested and detained for long periods without trial, that the imprisonment fatally broke the health of a few of them and destroyed the reason of others, that scores of the political prisoners sentenced by court-martial have been in conflict with the prison authorities, that police truncheons, foremen’s hoses, handcuffing behind backs for several days ( including days of solitary confinement in punishment cells 0 have been used to reduce them to subjection, that the conflict still goes on and the end is not in sight...the exact statistics of these incidents are not very vital to a judgement of the situation’
Macardle. ‘The Irish Republic’ Irish Press. 1951. p295-296.
The Irish Bishops meeting at Maynooth issued a statement in which the British Military occupation as
‘the rule of the sword, utterly unsuited to a civilised nation, and extremely provocative of disorder and chronic rebellion...the acts of violence which we have to deplore- and they are few - spring from this cause and this cause alone.’
25
New York: Invitations flooded in from cities and towns throughout the United States requesting de Valera to visit and speak at various municipal and private group meetings. A specific invitation to speak at Boston's Fenway Park at month's end was quickly accepted.
"Over those crucial first few days, de Valera was constantly on message, reiterating again and again for the American press the extent of the legal and moral authority he claimed to possess. Such diligent repetition was necessary because, for all the boisterous cheerleading of an Irish-American community agog at his arrival, there was no shortage of those willing to question his position and deny his right to represent anybody"
Dave Hannigan. 'De Valera in America. The rebel President and the making of Irish Independence'. Palgrave McMillan. New York 2013. p20-21
An additional sum of $10,000 was sent from the Friends of Irish Freedom Victory Fund directly to Sean T. O'Kelly & the Irish Delegation at the Paris Peace Conference when it was learned the original sum sent was assumed to be for the expenses of the American Delegation. (see FOIF accounts statement in entry 31 December 1919 here)
Countess Markievicz was arrested in Cork and jailed
William Martin Murphy, founder of Independent Newspapers and leader of the Employer’s Federation during the lockout of 1913-14, died aged 75.
Below: Punch issue of June 25, 1919 has it's take on events in Paris and the United States:
New York: Invitations flooded in from cities and towns throughout the United States requesting de Valera to visit and speak at various municipal and private group meetings. A specific invitation to speak at Boston's Fenway Park at month's end was quickly accepted.
"Over those crucial first few days, de Valera was constantly on message, reiterating again and again for the American press the extent of the legal and moral authority he claimed to possess. Such diligent repetition was necessary because, for all the boisterous cheerleading of an Irish-American community agog at his arrival, there was no shortage of those willing to question his position and deny his right to represent anybody"
Dave Hannigan. 'De Valera in America. The rebel President and the making of Irish Independence'. Palgrave McMillan. New York 2013. p20-21
An additional sum of $10,000 was sent from the Friends of Irish Freedom Victory Fund directly to Sean T. O'Kelly & the Irish Delegation at the Paris Peace Conference when it was learned the original sum sent was assumed to be for the expenses of the American Delegation. (see FOIF accounts statement in entry 31 December 1919 here)
Countess Markievicz was arrested in Cork and jailed
William Martin Murphy, founder of Independent Newspapers and leader of the Employer’s Federation during the lockout of 1913-14, died aged 75.
Below: Punch issue of June 25, 1919 has it's take on events in Paris and the United States:
John "Jammie" Reynolds (born c.1890 - ?) was an American daredevil. Little is known about early life, what became of him once he stopped performing or even his real name. An acrobat and juggler, he was known by many names - Daredevil Johnny, Daredevil Jack, the Climbing Wonder, The Lizard, the Human Spider, and the Human Fly. A newspaper article from 1922 claims he began performing at the age six in Buffalo, balancing on one foot from a flagpole 140 feet in the air.
His first major stunt came at age 12 when he climbed up the side of the Old South Building in Boston, balancing atop four chairs and five tables on a plank projected over the side of the building. He gave similar performances in New York on its iconic Flatiron building, and at home in Philadelphia. Reynolds was arrested several times after his performances accused of "unlawful assembly". A stunt performer, often referred to as a stuntman, or daredevil, is someone who performs dangerous stunts, often as a career |
26
Irish-Americans in the Senate, like Senator Phelan, were greatly worried about the impact of the rising tide of adverse public opinion concerning the League. On June 26, in the Senate, he made a speech which he hoped would partially stem this adverse tide. He assured Irish-Americans that the League would really blaze a trail for Irish self-determination. If the League were widely adopted by the nations of the world, England would not have to fear that Ireland, if independent, could be used as a base of hostile operations against English ports:
"Ireland fears the guarantee of territorial integrity will prevent her from securing outside help for which she has vainly looked for centuries and which England has without a league been able to repel.... On the other hand, if Ireland wins independence by the moral pressure of the world and her own steadfast purpose to be free, the League will ensure her in her freedom. Once established, the principles of the League . . . become an accusing arraignment against England until she accords self-determination to the best qualified of her dependencies..."
Senator Phelan's comments in the Senate that adoption of the League of Nations principles by America would only help and not hinder Ireland’s drive for self-determination led to a growing level of unease among Irish American circles.
Woodrow Wilson's private secretary, Joseph Tumulty cabled the President in Paris with a number of NY press reports and a note: "Frankly, this represents the opinion of the average man in America, without regard to race or religion. The arrival of de Valera in America is going to intensify the feeling and the Republicans will take full advantage of it. Now that the League of Nations is on it's feet, we should take the lead in this matter"
Dave Hannigan. 'De Valera in America. The rebel President and the making of Irish Independence'. Palgrave McMillan. New York 2013. p22-23
Irish-Americans in the Senate, like Senator Phelan, were greatly worried about the impact of the rising tide of adverse public opinion concerning the League. On June 26, in the Senate, he made a speech which he hoped would partially stem this adverse tide. He assured Irish-Americans that the League would really blaze a trail for Irish self-determination. If the League were widely adopted by the nations of the world, England would not have to fear that Ireland, if independent, could be used as a base of hostile operations against English ports:
"Ireland fears the guarantee of territorial integrity will prevent her from securing outside help for which she has vainly looked for centuries and which England has without a league been able to repel.... On the other hand, if Ireland wins independence by the moral pressure of the world and her own steadfast purpose to be free, the League will ensure her in her freedom. Once established, the principles of the League . . . become an accusing arraignment against England until she accords self-determination to the best qualified of her dependencies..."
Senator Phelan's comments in the Senate that adoption of the League of Nations principles by America would only help and not hinder Ireland’s drive for self-determination led to a growing level of unease among Irish American circles.
Woodrow Wilson's private secretary, Joseph Tumulty cabled the President in Paris with a number of NY press reports and a note: "Frankly, this represents the opinion of the average man in America, without regard to race or religion. The arrival of de Valera in America is going to intensify the feeling and the Republicans will take full advantage of it. Now that the League of Nations is on it's feet, we should take the lead in this matter"
Dave Hannigan. 'De Valera in America. The rebel President and the making of Irish Independence'. Palgrave McMillan. New York 2013. p22-23
Sir Charles Carrick Allom (1865-1947), a renowned British architect and aircraft manufacturer resident in the Ritz Carlton Hotel, New York took exception to de Valera's visit and wrote a scathing letter to the New York Times. His letter (below) was published in the morning edition of the NY Times on 26 June.
Later, Sir Charles arrived for lunch in the St. Regis Hotel and some may say that fate now intervened.
On arrival in the lobby, Sir Charles took 'strong exception' to a small stand set up in the lobby collecting funds for the FOIF Irish Victory Fund and the two teenage girls there (Sheila O'Malley and her friend Margaret Clapton). What happened next was news gold for many of the city newspapers and an entertaining aside a century on:
On arrival in the lobby, Sir Charles took 'strong exception' to a small stand set up in the lobby collecting funds for the FOIF Irish Victory Fund and the two teenage girls there (Sheila O'Malley and her friend Margaret Clapton). What happened next was news gold for many of the city newspapers and an entertaining aside a century on:
27
The Irish Dominion League founded by Sir Horacer Plunkett with Henry Harrison as secretary. The League sought self-Government for Ireland within the British Empire, an end to representation at Westminster and the regulation of fiscal relations by a treaty. The proposals had no appeal to either Nationalist or Unionist. Dail Eireann had met for the first time six months earlier and declared an Irish Republic and the War of Independence was already underway. The League quickly disapeared.
In the US, the Friends of Irish Freedom through it’s weekly Irish National Bureau newsletter commented on the League’s founding as a ‘panic stricken effort on the part of the Tory element in England to fend off an Irish Republic. It is what England would have offered to Washington in 1776 – if her statesmen could have foreseen the outcome of the American struggle. It is something that President de Valera and 80 per cent of the Irish Nation behind him refuses…Sir Horace Plunkett, who leads this Dominion League in Ireland, last January sponsored the same idea in the short-lived Centre Party. Col. Lynch, his collaborator, recently admitted the Centre Party had a centre but no circumference – so it died. The Dominion Party has a centre also – in London – but it too will die for it had neither diameter nor radius.’
Newsletter of the Irish National Bureau, Washington Dublin Castle. Issue No.2 July 18, 1919. Lynch Family Archives.
By this date in Paris, the American Commission on Irish Independence had completed its task and Sean T. O'Kelly, the Irish representative at Versailles, wrote to Judge Cohalan a warm testimonial on the work completed:
"I think it would not be amiss if I wrote you a few lines to let you and the members of the Committee of the Philadelphia Convention know how highly I appreciate their work, and of the indescribably valuable service they have rendered to the Irish Cause since they came here. The organization of the Philadelphia Convention was a big idea, and the success which attended it has marked it as the turning point in the tide of the new movement for Irish Independence so far as the United States is concerned. . . .
To my mind, however, the conception of the American Commission on Irish independence, and the sending of that Commission to Paris was even a greater achievement. ...
I personally ascribe the greater part of our success in the last few months to the work of the Commission that the Philadelphia Convention Committee formed and sent here. The success of this Commission has, to my mind, been so great that I believe when the history of these times is being written, a truthful historian must surely say that the American Commission on Irish Independence has by its achievements written one of the brightest pages of this bright era of Ireland's history.
The visit of the Commission to Ireland I judge as one of the happiest inspirations; and as far as one can judge from here the effect of that visit on the spirit of the people at home has been such that I believe there will never again be a doubt in the minds of the people of Ireland as to what the nature of their political demand should be."
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.320/321
However, as Tansill pointed out, O'Kelly was a little too enthusiastic about the work of the American Commission for Irish Independence. It had really accomplished very little. No hearings on the Irish Question had been permitted at Versailles and there was no investigation on allegations of British brutality in Ireland. President Wilson had been deeply concerned about the plight of Africans under German administration, and he had pressed for a transfer of the German colonies to British control. The misfortunes of oppressed minorities in Europe had also greatly disturbed him.
Wilson had consented to an audience with the members of the Irish Commission for Irish Independence who had paid a visit to Paris to plead the cause of Ireland, but he had privately confessed to a friend that "his first impulse was to tell them 'to go to Hell"
Thomas A. Bailey, Woodrow Wilson and the Great Betrayal (New York, 1945), p. 27.
Below, de Valera comments on Dominion Rule and has something to say about the previous day's contretemps in the St, Regis.
28
Versailles Treaty
The signing of the Versailles Peace Treaty was set for June 28th, exactly five years to the day when the Archduke Franz Ferdinand had been assinated in Sarajevo. The spot chosen was the Palace of Versailles, where France had been humiliated 40 years earlier following the Franco-Prussian War. Germany had refused to sign for over two months on the basis the terms had been imposed on them, virtually without negotiation. The Treaty, 200 pages, 75,000 words and 440 clauses was drafted over five months. France wanted Germany partitioned but was refused by the US and UK. Lloyd George stated that the terms of the Treaty were so harsh that ‘we shall have to fight another war all over again in 25 years at three times the cost’. He was only five years out.
The question of responsibility for the war was clearly answered. Germany was guilty. She would bear the costs of the war, a debt which could never be repaid. Immediately a provisional compensation payment of 20 Billion Gold Marks was due, the industrialised left bank of the Rhine was to be occupied by Allied forces until 1934, her army reduced to the size of a police force and the loss of all her colonies. The German delegation signed only after the threat of complete military occupation.
As the German delegates were led in to sign the Treaty, the British Diplomatic advisor, Harold Nicholson was there: ‘Into the Hall of Mirrors, through the door, isolated and pitiable came the two German delegates. The silence is terrifying. They keep their eyes fixed away fromt hose 2,000 staring eyes. It’s almost painful as they sign’
The Allies were taking revenge on a German state that no longer existed. The Kaiser was gone, so were Hindenburg and Ludenberg. All that was left behind in 1919 was a political war zone where rival groups struggled for power. The brutality of the trenches had been brought home to the streets of Germany, turning cities into battlegrounds between left and right. A people in anarchy were now obliged to pay for the sins of their former leaders.
“The way in which Versailles was conducted was disastrous, in that it didn’t provide anything that could be claled worth the sacrifice of even a fraction of those who had died in the war. So the idea of why, what for and so on has no answer and for many it becomes a peculiar irony, an odd nightmare, a continuation of the nightmare of the war rather than a breaking of a new dawn.”
To German soldiers, the humiliation of the Peace Treaty was hard to bear. A German Corporal recovering in hospital from wounds received on the front, wrote: “When the old gentlemen began to tell us that we were throwing ourselves on the mercy of the victors, I could stand it no longer. Everything went black before my eyes, I tottered and groped my way back to the dormitory, threw myself on my bunk and dug my burning head into my blanker and pillow. And so it had all been in vain. In vain all the sacrifices and privations, in vain the hunger and thirst of months which were often endless, In vain, the 2 million who died, would not the grave sof all the hundreds and thousands open, the graves of those who with faith in the Fatherland had marched forth never to return. Would they not open and send the silent mud and blood covered heroes back as spirits of vengeance to the homeland that cheated them with such mockery.’
The young corporal was Adolf Hitler. He determined to take revenge for the shame inflicted upon his country – whatever the cost.
“ Was this the meaning of the sacrifice which the German Mother made to the fatherland, when with sore heart she left her best loved boys march off, never to see them again. Hatred grew in me, hatred for those responsible for this deed. In the days that followed my own fate became known to me. I decided to go into politics.”
The signing of the Versailles Peace Treaty was set for June 28th, exactly five years to the day when the Archduke Franz Ferdinand had been assinated in Sarajevo. The spot chosen was the Palace of Versailles, where France had been humiliated 40 years earlier following the Franco-Prussian War. Germany had refused to sign for over two months on the basis the terms had been imposed on them, virtually without negotiation. The Treaty, 200 pages, 75,000 words and 440 clauses was drafted over five months. France wanted Germany partitioned but was refused by the US and UK. Lloyd George stated that the terms of the Treaty were so harsh that ‘we shall have to fight another war all over again in 25 years at three times the cost’. He was only five years out.
The question of responsibility for the war was clearly answered. Germany was guilty. She would bear the costs of the war, a debt which could never be repaid. Immediately a provisional compensation payment of 20 Billion Gold Marks was due, the industrialised left bank of the Rhine was to be occupied by Allied forces until 1934, her army reduced to the size of a police force and the loss of all her colonies. The German delegation signed only after the threat of complete military occupation.
As the German delegates were led in to sign the Treaty, the British Diplomatic advisor, Harold Nicholson was there: ‘Into the Hall of Mirrors, through the door, isolated and pitiable came the two German delegates. The silence is terrifying. They keep their eyes fixed away fromt hose 2,000 staring eyes. It’s almost painful as they sign’
The Allies were taking revenge on a German state that no longer existed. The Kaiser was gone, so were Hindenburg and Ludenberg. All that was left behind in 1919 was a political war zone where rival groups struggled for power. The brutality of the trenches had been brought home to the streets of Germany, turning cities into battlegrounds between left and right. A people in anarchy were now obliged to pay for the sins of their former leaders.
“The way in which Versailles was conducted was disastrous, in that it didn’t provide anything that could be claled worth the sacrifice of even a fraction of those who had died in the war. So the idea of why, what for and so on has no answer and for many it becomes a peculiar irony, an odd nightmare, a continuation of the nightmare of the war rather than a breaking of a new dawn.”
To German soldiers, the humiliation of the Peace Treaty was hard to bear. A German Corporal recovering in hospital from wounds received on the front, wrote: “When the old gentlemen began to tell us that we were throwing ourselves on the mercy of the victors, I could stand it no longer. Everything went black before my eyes, I tottered and groped my way back to the dormitory, threw myself on my bunk and dug my burning head into my blanker and pillow. And so it had all been in vain. In vain all the sacrifices and privations, in vain the hunger and thirst of months which were often endless, In vain, the 2 million who died, would not the grave sof all the hundreds and thousands open, the graves of those who with faith in the Fatherland had marched forth never to return. Would they not open and send the silent mud and blood covered heroes back as spirits of vengeance to the homeland that cheated them with such mockery.’
The young corporal was Adolf Hitler. He determined to take revenge for the shame inflicted upon his country – whatever the cost.
“ Was this the meaning of the sacrifice which the German Mother made to the fatherland, when with sore heart she left her best loved boys march off, never to see them again. Hatred grew in me, hatred for those responsible for this deed. In the days that followed my own fate became known to me. I decided to go into politics.”
Dr McCartan published an editorial in Boston’s Irish Press which was quite different from that of May 24th and in fact sounded more like the warnings Judge Cohalan was trumpeting:
‘If the United States accepts the League of Nations she will declare herself an open and avowed enemy of Irish Independence under any shape or form. The League of Nations is nothing more or less than a perpetual declaration of war on Irish liberty, and the sooner the friends of Ireland realise this, the better’
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.343
Both Republican’s and Democrats gradually came to the realisation that Women’s Votes were about to become a reality.
‘If the United States accepts the League of Nations she will declare herself an open and avowed enemy of Irish Independence under any shape or form. The League of Nations is nothing more or less than a perpetual declaration of war on Irish liberty, and the sooner the friends of Ireland realise this, the better’
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.343
Both Republican’s and Democrats gradually came to the realisation that Women’s Votes were about to become a reality.
29
The De Valera Coast to Coast America tour of speaking engagements kicked off with a speaking engagement at Fenway Park, the home of the Red Sox Baseball Team; Fenway Park, Boston.
The guest speaker had left New York the previous day on the 1pm to Boston out of Grand Central station with his entourage of Harry Boland, Sean Nunan, Joseph F. O'Connell (a former Democratic congressman for Boston and official envoy from the Fenway Park organising committee) and Fr. Thomas J Wheelwright - de Valera's half brother. The train had made slow progress through the towns and cities of New England. Routine stops were thronged with sightseers and well wishers, the New London Connecticut stop saw over a thousand Friends of Irish Freedom members besiege the train demand an impromptu speech from de Valera.
Word of de Valera's journey had spread, with crowds at Providence, Rhode Island being three times as large as New London and with a large contingent of Bostonian dignitaries, politicians and clergy determined to accompany the famous guest to the city. By the time the train reached Boston's South Station, both the train carriages and surrounding areas were packed to capacity. Others had descended on the Copley-Plaza Hotel or had managed to wrangle a seat at that night's banquet in de Valera's honour.
The Fenway Park meeting, organised at short notice had optimistically hoped for an attendance of 25,000 that Sunday afternoon. It quickly began to surpass such an estimate. As de Valera left the Copley-Plaza Hotel, just over a mile across town at Fenway Park, the scene was bordering on mayhem:
"An hour before the scheduled start, the police closed the gates at Fenway Park. More than 50,000 had already been shoehorned inside, safety was becoming an issue, and the hordes still thronging Lansdowne, Van Ness and Jersey Streets would just have to eavesdrop the action from outside. An attendance more than three times the number that witnessed Babe Ruth’s Boston Red Sox in the 1918 World Series just nine months earlier, the first full house in the ground’s young life. Across the green sward of the outfield, men, women and children defiantly held aloft placards. “We demand England withdraw from Ireland,” said one, “England is disqualified and unfit to rule Ireland,” went another. Serious-looking men in uniform milled around beneath banners advertising themselves as stalwarts of outfits like Charlestown’s John Boyle O’Reilly Guards and Lowell’s Wolfe Tone, Sheridan and Meagher Guards.
In different pockets, rival bands from various corners of New England bashed out a cacophony of traditional Irish tunes, firing up a stadium rendered almost technicolour by the profusion of tricolours billowing in the summer breeze alongside so many stars and stripes. Shortly after 3pm, three mounted policemen finally started to clear a path through the canyon of people so Eamon de Valera, the headline act, could make his way to a temporary stage erected over home plate.
The crowd surged forward, some just wanting a glimpse, more apparently desperate to touch the hem of his garment. A few women fainted at the first sight of the tall, angular figure striding past, the president of the rebel Irish Republic, the one the papers dubbed “The Irish Lincoln”. "
Dave Hannigan. https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/america-at-large-fenway-park-steeped-in-ireland-s-own-troubled-past-1.2354111
The next speaker, Senator David I. Walsh effectively stole de Valera's limelight. The first Irish Catholic from Massachussets to reach the Senate and later Governor's speech was sumarised by journalist A.J.Philpott in the following day's Boston Globe:
" with all due respect to President De Valera and his associate, this great, new dignified spirit of Irish solidarity and nationality was perhaps expressed more clearly to the American mind by United States Senator David I. Walsh than by any other speakers. He touched the sensitive chord that binds the Irishman or America to the motherland. He spoke with the dignity and passion which a great cause that is before the bar of the world demands. And never before did “Dave” Walsh rise to such heights of genuine eloquence. He said the things which Irish-Americans feel."
(Historian David O'Toole wrote that Walsh's speech generated tremendous applause but it also raised the former Governor's profile with the British secret service who opened a file on his activities which was maintained for years. This in turn, it is believed, led to the loss of Walsh's senate seat in 1946 when he was exposed as an habitué of a Brooklyn gay brothel in 1942.)
Following the introduction by Senator Walsh, De Valera's speech failed to match the earlier performances.
The next day's press reaction was predicatable; The Boston Herald commented on de Valera:
‘His passionate sincerity and utmost simplicity burn their way into the conciousness of everyone who sees and hears him’
Arthur Mitchell. ‘Revolutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ p.114
The Boston Globe man on the spot was A.J.Philpott who wrote the following copy published the next day:
"Eamon De Valera, President of the Irish republic, got a reception from at least 50,000 people at Fenway Park yesterday afternoon such as no other Irish patriot ever received in Boston -- such a reception as only the head of a National is accorded -- and it is certain that only one who had the love, respect and confidence of the Irish people could get any such reception.
To say that it was thrilling is putting it mildly -- it was electric. The heart and head of the people of Irish blood were in it. In Eamon De Valera was personified the fulfilment of their hopes, and the very mystery which attaches to this man, who was comparatively unheard of until recently, somehow fulfilled the dreams of the race -- that some great figure would arise at the crucial moment and lead Ireland to freedom.
In the thoughtful, militant, clean-cut face and gaunt personality of De Valera there is somehow also personified that new spirit which has come to Irishmen everywhere in which the demand has superseded the appeal for justice to Ireland. In that vast audience you sensed this new dignity that has sunk into their consciousness, born of the knowledge that millions of men of Irish blood have been fighting the past four years for democracy as against autocracy and for the self-determination of Nations in the world.
It was an inspiring assemblage -- one in which the spirit of the Irish people rose above the spirit of faction, of group or party, and with all due respect to President De Valera and his associate, this great, new dignified spirit of Irish solidarity and nationality was perhaps expressed more clearly to the American mind by United States Senator David I. Walsh than by any other speakers. He touched the sensitive chord that binds the Irishman or America to the motherland. He spoke with the dignity and passion which a great cause that is before the bar of the world demands. And never before did “Dave” Walsh rise to such heights of genuine eloquence. He said the things which Irish-Americans feel.
This great audience differed from most of the audiences before whom the Irish question has been discussed in the past. The American horn men and women of Irish blood dominated in this great audience. They have been aroused as never before. They are in the fight with De Valera, and they appreciated the eloquent prayer with which Rev Fr. Philip O’Donnell opened the meeting -- a prayer so thrilling in its appeal that it was frequently applauded.
Another thing that “caught” that audience was the speech of Henry J. Boland, secretary to De Valera - another of the young men or the Ireland of today who is full of the new dignity which Ireland has taken on and speaks with rare force and a biting incisiveness. He, like De Valera and all these men, know American history well and they use the “deadly parallel” between the Irish Revolution and revolutionists and the America Revolution and revolutionists with tremendous effect.
Another who thrilled the people was Maj Eugene F. Kinkead of Jersey City. He, like United States Senator Walsh, struck a note that found quick response. He spoke from the Irish-American point of view and he drove his points home with the inexorable logic of what has come to be termed the “new democracy.” He knows the economics as well as the politics and history of the entire question -- and he bares it to the inspection of the world. He aroused great enthusiasm.
The there was Daniel H. Coakley, who had the arduous job of speaking the first words to the crowd and introducing the chairman, Thomas H. Mahoney. But in the few words which Mr. Coakley spoke he said a great deal. He sensed that audience and knew what brought them together. Although “Joe” O’Connell only read the resolutions, he read them in a way that made them seem almost like his own personal utterance and conviction. When Chairman Mahoney put those resolutions there a unanimous “Aye” that could be heard over in Dorchester, and the silence that followed when he called for the “noes” caused a shout of laughter. And Mayor Peters got a great reception. His welcome to President De Valera was hearty and the audience appreciated it.
It is doubtful if a more perfect day could have been selected -- clear, sunny and not too warm. It was an ideal day for a great outdoor meeting and the location could not have been much improved, although at times it looked rather serious and as if there would be a panic around the platform that had been erected for the speakers and guests at the “home plate.”
A large audience was expected -- perhaps 25,000 people -- but 50,000 poured into the grounds. They filled the grandstand first, then the wings on the right and left, then they poured into the field and filled the space between the platform and grandstand -- jammed it -- then flowed around and backward in all directions, and there were thousands on the streets outside.
The jam became so great between the platform and grandstand that several women fainted and had to be carried on the speakers’ platform, where they were attended by Dr. James F. Gallagher. The crowd surged around the reporters’ tables that were on the ground in front of the speakers’ platform, and one of these tables was crumpled up, but fortunately nobody was injured.
There was considerable confusion while the crowd poured into the grandstands and the grounds, for many societies which paraded to the grounds came with bands of music. They came in through different entrances and were cheered as they marched along, but the societies and bands were swallowed up in the crowd before they got very far.
Finally the bands were massed at one corner of the grandstand and played Irish patriotic tunes for an hour or more before the speaking began. Some of the societies were in uniform, such as the John Boyle O’Reilly Guards of Charlestown, and some of them carried the American flag and the flag of the Irish republic. The speakers’ platform was decorated with both colours. One the platform a soldier also held aloft one of the tattered American flags carried by the 101st in the Argonne, and at another corner of the stand a guard held aloft a flag of the Irish republic."
This was just the beginning of a marathon tour through the United States:
“The next three weeks were gruelling in the extreme. He made 17 major public speeches and a myriad of shorter addresses, received enormous coverage in the leading newspapers of Boston, Chicago, New York and San Francisco. 30,000 people turned out to hear him in Manchester, New Hampshire; perhaps as many as 50,000 at Cub’s Baseball Park, Chicago; and his audience at Madison Square Gardens broke all records for the period, partly because the Irish-dominated New York police force allowed the fire regulations to be disregarded."
Tim Pat Coogan “De Valera, Long Fellow, Long Shadow” Hutchinson, London. 1993. p148-149
His first cross-continental tour was followed by several other forays into cities, state legislatures, universities and other circle where influence was formed. He was received with honour by cardinals, archbishops, state governors, presidents of universities, and the mayors of some of America’s biggest cities. But within the world of Irish Americana his fixation with the League of Nations and his attempt to signal to Wilson that he was really a supporter of the fourteen points took some of the gilt off the publicity bonanza.
30
An RIC report on the development of the co-operative movement advised that it’s head, Fr. O’Flanagan was ‘getting the cold shoulder from Sinn Fein extremists’. Arthur Mitchell considers this to be because ‘both the supporters of political action and physical force feared that the independence movement would be diverted from the task of destroying and supplanting the British administration to the pursuit of social and economic causes’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revolutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P48
The Friends of Irish Freedom accounts note that the Society issued a sum of $10,046.61 to E.J. Hearty. ($145.8k 2018 values. See December 31, 1919 entry for details here) Hearty was the Secretary of the Irish Republican Defence Mission, based at 8 East 41st Street, New York.
The peace treaty signed
Monday, June 30, 1919
NO MENTAL RESERVATIONS
REJOICING IN ALLIED COUNTRIES
Mr. Lloyd George's Great Reception
The King's Message to his People
The Secretary of State for the Home Department has received the following message from His Majesty the King for publication. The signing of the Treaty of Peace will be received with deep thankfulness throughout the British Empire.
This formal act bring to its concluding stages the terrible war which has devastated Europe, and distracted the world. It manifests the victory of the ideals of freedom and liberty for which we have made untold sacrifices.
I share my People's joy and thanksgiving, and earnestly pray that the coming years of Peace may bring to them ever increasing happiness and prosperity
GEORGE R.I.
28th June, 1919
Mr Lloyd George to the King
The Press Association is officially informed that a special messenger arrived in London by aeroplane from Paris on Saturday evening, with a letter for the King, from the Prime Minister, as follows:
Galerie des Glaces de Chateau de Versailles: Mr. Lloyd George, with his humble duty to Your Majesty, has the honour to announce that the long and terrible was in which the British Empire has been engaged with the German Empire for more than four years, and which has caused much suffering to mankind, has been brought to an end this afternoon by the Treaty of Peace, just signed, in this Hall.
He desires, on behalf of all the plenipotentairies to Your Majesty's Empire, to tender their heartfelt congratulations to Your Majesty on the signature of a Treaty that marks the victorious end of the terrible struggle which has lasted so long, and in which Your Majesty's subjects, from all parts of the Empire, has played so glorious a part.
D.LLOYD GEORGE
The information was conveyed to Buckingham Palace that the foregoing message was written by Mr. Lloyd George at the actual Peace Conference table, and was immediately despatched to London by aeroplane. The Press Association's Paris correspondent in a message dated Saturday says:
It was five minutes past three when M. Clemenceau opened the sitting. For an hour before the room had been filling in the centre with delegates and their numerous secretaries and assistants, and at the respective ends with members of the Press and invited guests.
M. Clemenceau's speech was notable for a curious interruption from the German table, When M. Clemenceau spoke of the Delegation of the German Republic, a cry that was almost a shout was hurled at him across the room of "Reich, reich" and M Clemenceau corrected himself and repeated the words "Reich allmand".
M. Clemenceau Opening Speech M. Clemenceau, in opening the proceedings said - The Allied and Associated Governments have come to an agreement on the conditions of peace. The text has been written, and the President of the Conference has stated, in writing, that this text which is now to be signed, is identical with the text of the two hundred copies that had been distributed to the German Delegation. The signatures will be affixed now. They signify a solemn undertaking to abide loyally and faithfully by the conditions of peace. I now call upon the German Plenipotentiaries to sign the Treaty.
The Germans immediately rose and walked to the table on which the Treaty was laid and signed it. They made no speech.
Irish Times
On the evening of June 30th de Valera came to Lawrence and addressed a vast crowd of Irish Lawrencians in front of the Lawrence Irish Victory Fund Headquarter:.” Although word was received but one-half hour before his arrival, the news of his impending visit spread like wildfire throughout the city. When he arrived a tremendous gathering was on hand eager to see, meet and shake hands with the man who was doing so much in the fight to make Ireland free. The President was given a wonderful reception by the gathering and cheer after cheer, Greeting President de Valera at the front of the Lawrence Irish Victory Fund Headquarters were the Officers of Divisions 1, 8, 13, 15 AOH and the Officers of the Ladies Auxilliary. The Hibernians of Lawrence were instrumental in the outstanding success of the Irish Victory Fund drive and many committee meetings were held in the Hibernian Home at the corner of White and Oak Streets.President de Valera gave a short address in which he stated that: "Lawrence, Massachusetts was the first city in the United States to take official action and recognize the New Republic of Ireland" He expressed the hope that, "Soon other cities throughout the United States would follow Lawrence's lead and take similiar action until the United States government itself would recognize the Republic….When this happened Ireland as a nation would be a reality…Ireland's cause is a simple one. Ireland deserves her freedom and demands it."
Ailbhe O Monacháin, Secretary of the St. Enda's Trustees wrote to the Friends of Irish Freedom on June 30, 1919 that the committee "has not taken the work in hand as a beneficiary project for Mrs. Pearse, and do not prejudice any action the Irish Nation or Race may think necessary in reference to the maintenance of Mrs. Pearse or her daughter."
Map of Europe Showing Countries as Established by the Peace Conference at Paris
This map, published by National Geographic in 1920, shows the territorial changes in Europe brought about by World War I and agreed at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919. As indicated in the key on the lower left of the map, different colored lines are used to show new political boundaries as definitely decided, new political boundaries as yet undecided, territories subject to plebiscite, international territories, and the boundaries of countries as they existed before the war. The war and the subsequent peacemaking process resulted in the return to France of the provinces of Alsace and Lorraine (lost to Germany in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71); the transfer of small amounts of territory from Germany to Belgium and Denmark; the establishment of an independent Polish state out of territories previously part of the German, Russian, and Austro-Hungarian empires; the breakup of Austria-Hungary and the establishment of the independent states of Austria, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia; and the establishment of a South Slav state (Yugoslavia) that united the Kingdom of Serbia and territories formerly part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Other changes included the establishment of the free city of Danzig (present-day Gdansk, Poland), and the transfer of the Trentino region from Austria to Italy. As shown on the map, the situation in Eastern Europe was still highly unsettled. The newly established states of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia are indicated, but their borders and those of Poland with Russia (soon to become the Soviet Union) are shown as still undecided. Some of these political and territorial changes persist to the present day. Others proved to be unstable and were undone in the 1930s or in World War II, or as recently as the 1990s, which saw the breakup the Czechoslovakia, the Soviet Union, and Yugoslavia. An inset map shows the Dardanelles in detail. Scale is indicated in kilometers and miles. The map is part of the collection made by General Tasker Howard Bliss (1853–1930) during his service with the United States Army in World War I and at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919.
This map, published by National Geographic in 1920, shows the territorial changes in Europe brought about by World War I and agreed at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919. As indicated in the key on the lower left of the map, different colored lines are used to show new political boundaries as definitely decided, new political boundaries as yet undecided, territories subject to plebiscite, international territories, and the boundaries of countries as they existed before the war. The war and the subsequent peacemaking process resulted in the return to France of the provinces of Alsace and Lorraine (lost to Germany in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71); the transfer of small amounts of territory from Germany to Belgium and Denmark; the establishment of an independent Polish state out of territories previously part of the German, Russian, and Austro-Hungarian empires; the breakup of Austria-Hungary and the establishment of the independent states of Austria, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia; and the establishment of a South Slav state (Yugoslavia) that united the Kingdom of Serbia and territories formerly part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Other changes included the establishment of the free city of Danzig (present-day Gdansk, Poland), and the transfer of the Trentino region from Austria to Italy. As shown on the map, the situation in Eastern Europe was still highly unsettled. The newly established states of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia are indicated, but their borders and those of Poland with Russia (soon to become the Soviet Union) are shown as still undecided. Some of these political and territorial changes persist to the present day. Others proved to be unstable and were undone in the 1930s or in World War II, or as recently as the 1990s, which saw the breakup the Czechoslovakia, the Soviet Union, and Yugoslavia. An inset map shows the Dardanelles in detail. Scale is indicated in kilometers and miles. The map is part of the collection made by General Tasker Howard Bliss (1853–1930) during his service with the United States Army in World War I and at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919.
Below: "Cut with the Dada Kitchen Knife through the Last Weimar Beer-Belly Cultural Epoch in Germany" by Hannah Höch (1889-1978). A collage of pasted paper completed in 1919. Located in Museum/Gallery Nationalgalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Germany.