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January 1919 events thanks to the Irish Revolution Channel.
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Ireland - A Television History. Part 9 of 13. 'Terror 1919-1921)
Part of the 1980 series by Robert Kee. Full series and other Irish documentaries available on this website here |
"Following the end of the war, President Woodrow Wilson was determined that the question of Irish self-determination would not intrude at the Paris Peace Conference. He did not want to antagonise Britain, as he needed its support for his cherished project, the League of Nations. As 1919 progressed, Devoy and Cohalan mounted an intensive publicity campaign against this League. The long-standing animosity between Woodrow Wilson and Cohalan, the recognised spokesman for the Irish-American lobby, worsened as the clamorous campaign of the FOIF against the League of Nations escalated."
Eileen McGough. 'Diarmuid Lynch - A Forgotten Irish Patriot' Mercier Press, 2013. P101
Eileen McGough. 'Diarmuid Lynch - A Forgotten Irish Patriot' Mercier Press, 2013. P101
1
The Moderate wing of Irish Society now attempted to organise itself. An ‘Anti-Partition League of Southern Unionists’ was founded with Lord Middleton (1856-1942) as chairman and The ‘Irish Centre Party’ under Captain Gwynn.
HMY Iolaire sinks off the coast of Scotland; 201 die.
Dr Patrick McCartan appeared dis-satisfied with the response of the December 30th meeting of Irish-American leaders. He organised with Dr. William Maloney a proclamation to Irish citizens resident in Canada and the US.
Meetings were held throughout Ireland to demand the release of Sinn Fein prisoners held in Britain since the ‘German Plot’.
The Belfast Newsletter commented that over 30 Republican prisoners had escaped from various Irish prisons during 1918. This was to become 41 within three months.
Four new Royal Mail steamers were ordered for the Kingstown-Holyhead route to replace ships requesitioned or sunk during the war. These were to be named Anglia, Scotia, Hibernia and Cambria.
The Catholic Bulletin commenting on the previous week’s Sinn Fein electoral win, wrote ‘ Ireland has just signalised the passing of the historic year just closed by deliberately turning her back for ever on London of the cocaine and the drugs, nursery of hypocrisy and infamy and of corruption that knows no end’
The Daily News argued that Sinn Fein would not go so far as to set up a provisional Government ‘reflection havign shown the grave risks of such a movement ending in impotence and ridicule owing to its lack of force and funds’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P5.
The Republican Government worked from the Sinn Fein offices at 6 Harcourt Street described as ‘extraordinarily shabby and mean looking headquarters’. These were to remain the HQ until July 1919.
Collins had by this stage built up a network of agents and spies, many remarkably close to the centre of British administration in Ireland. These included Ned Broy, a confidential clerk within the DMP headquarters in Baggott Street. In Dublin Castle, Joe Kavanagh supplied information from 1916 until his death from natural causes in 1919 and his place was taken by Jim McNamara. In the British Secret Service was David Nelligan, a typist in the British Command HQ in Dublin Castle was Lily Merrin. A cousin of Collins, Nancy O’Brien also worked within the Castle and passed information frequently along with various contacts within the RIC and DMP, post offices and railways in Dublin and other parts of the country.
‘The Inteligence System, as in all twentieth century colonial struggles, provided the essential precondition for the development of guerilla warfare’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p70
J. D. Salinger, author notable for the novel Catcher in the Rye born. (1919-2010)
The Moderate wing of Irish Society now attempted to organise itself. An ‘Anti-Partition League of Southern Unionists’ was founded with Lord Middleton (1856-1942) as chairman and The ‘Irish Centre Party’ under Captain Gwynn.
HMY Iolaire sinks off the coast of Scotland; 201 die.
Dr Patrick McCartan appeared dis-satisfied with the response of the December 30th meeting of Irish-American leaders. He organised with Dr. William Maloney a proclamation to Irish citizens resident in Canada and the US.
Meetings were held throughout Ireland to demand the release of Sinn Fein prisoners held in Britain since the ‘German Plot’.
The Belfast Newsletter commented that over 30 Republican prisoners had escaped from various Irish prisons during 1918. This was to become 41 within three months.
Four new Royal Mail steamers were ordered for the Kingstown-Holyhead route to replace ships requesitioned or sunk during the war. These were to be named Anglia, Scotia, Hibernia and Cambria.
The Catholic Bulletin commenting on the previous week’s Sinn Fein electoral win, wrote ‘ Ireland has just signalised the passing of the historic year just closed by deliberately turning her back for ever on London of the cocaine and the drugs, nursery of hypocrisy and infamy and of corruption that knows no end’
The Daily News argued that Sinn Fein would not go so far as to set up a provisional Government ‘reflection havign shown the grave risks of such a movement ending in impotence and ridicule owing to its lack of force and funds’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P5.
The Republican Government worked from the Sinn Fein offices at 6 Harcourt Street described as ‘extraordinarily shabby and mean looking headquarters’. These were to remain the HQ until July 1919.
Collins had by this stage built up a network of agents and spies, many remarkably close to the centre of British administration in Ireland. These included Ned Broy, a confidential clerk within the DMP headquarters in Baggott Street. In Dublin Castle, Joe Kavanagh supplied information from 1916 until his death from natural causes in 1919 and his place was taken by Jim McNamara. In the British Secret Service was David Nelligan, a typist in the British Command HQ in Dublin Castle was Lily Merrin. A cousin of Collins, Nancy O’Brien also worked within the Castle and passed information frequently along with various contacts within the RIC and DMP, post offices and railways in Dublin and other parts of the country.
‘The Inteligence System, as in all twentieth century colonial struggles, provided the essential precondition for the development of guerilla warfare’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p70
J. D. Salinger, author notable for the novel Catcher in the Rye born. (1919-2010)
The Kentucky Irish American was an ethnic weekly newspaper in Louisville, Kentucky, which catered to Louisville's Irish community. First published on July 4, 1898, founded by William M. Higgins as a four-page weekly. After World War I and the creation of the Irish Free State in 1922, the paper turned to local affairs, specializing in supporting the Democratic Party. During the 1920s it regularly defended its community from attacks by the second incarnation of the Ku Klux Klan. Other groups that the paper saw as enemies were Great Britain and the Republican Party. It also railed against women's suffrage, Prohibition, and the League of Nations. During the 1930’s & 40’s the paper saw wide distribution outside Louisville. Roosevelt and Harry Truman both subscribed to the paper, and the sportscaster Red Smith said that the Kentucky Irish American was "all the excuse a man needs for learning to read". Sales of the newspaper waned during the 1960s with the final issue published on November 30, 1968.
2
Reports from Turkey allege 1.5 million Christian Armenians massacred by Turks.
Dubin: Invitations were issued to all successful candidates of the 1918 elections to attend a preliminary meeting on January 7 at the Mansion House, Dublin.
2
Reports from Turkey allege 1.5 million Christian Armenians massacred by Turks.
Dubin: Invitations were issued to all successful candidates of the 1918 elections to attend a preliminary meeting on January 7 at the Mansion House, Dublin.
Turkey: Over 1.5 million Armenians alleged to have been massacred by Turks.
3
Manchester: Atoms were split by artificial means for the first time by Prof. Ernest Rutherford of the University of Manchester.
Dublin: Freedom of the city of Dublin was conferred on President Wilson by Dublin Corporation.
Cathal Brugha, who was elected as the MP for Waterford County in December 1918, was arrested at Thurles railway station for giving his name in Irish when questioned by a police officer. Mr Brugha was about to board a train bound for Dublin when Constable S. Barrett asked for his name. On hearing the name Cathal, the policeman asked if it was Irish. When Mr Brugha responded that it was indeed in Irish, the constable is reported to have said to him: ‘Unless you give me your name in plain English I must detain you.’ Brugha, who laughed in response, was subsequently arrested and taken to the local police barracks where he was searched. On his person was a receipt for a £150 election deposit. Mr Brugha is the first Sinn Féin MP to be arrested since the election.
To the Revoloutionary Government in Ireland, the Sinn Fein victory ‘was so impressive that no one could seriously challenge their party’s right to speak for the country’ and an appeal to the Allied Powers Victory Conference should be guaranteed.
Washington: Dr Patrick McCartan sent a message to the US Secretary of State and to all diplomatic representatives in Washington, signed as Envoy of the Provisional Government in Ireland, saying that:
‘The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland is at an end. The Republic of Ireland denies the right of any foreign Government henceforth to enter into negotiations or arrangements concerning the Irish people with the Government of His Britannic Majesty’
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.294
McCartan signed the message as 'Envoy of the Provisional Government of Ireland'
The growing level of criticism of Clan na Gael and the Friends of Irish Freedom from some quarters in Irish America began:
“...John Devoy could not be persuaded to endorse Dr McCartan’s action. Judge Cohalan, Devoy’s close friends and adviser in all that concerned the Friends of Irish Freedom organisation, preferred to evade the issue which the result of the General election had created. Even after Dail Eireann was established and the Declaration of Independence had been made, they failed, in their speeches and in their paper, The Gaelic American, to recognise the Republic as having been established by the will of the Irish People; they failed even to make the full Republican demand. Another obstacle to the usefulness of the Friends of Irish Freedom organisation at this time was the fact that Judge Cohalan had incurred the bitter hostility of President Wilson and had thrown the energies of the organisation against the League of Nations, which was the President’s most cherished object.’
Macardle. ‘The Irish Republic’. Irish Press 1957. p278-279
Historian Charles Callan Tansill argued that:
"Judge Cohalan was deeply interested in the establishment of an Irish Republic and had worked most zealously for more than two decades to further that objective. He was fearful that recent Irish visitors like McCartan and Maloney might endanger the success of his efforts. To indicate to Irish voters the support of a large majority of Irish Americans with reference to self-determination for Ireland, Judge Cohalan arranged for the Clan-na-Gael to hold a meeting on the evening of January 5 in the Central Opera House."
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.294
Manchester: Atoms were split by artificial means for the first time by Prof. Ernest Rutherford of the University of Manchester.
Dublin: Freedom of the city of Dublin was conferred on President Wilson by Dublin Corporation.
Cathal Brugha, who was elected as the MP for Waterford County in December 1918, was arrested at Thurles railway station for giving his name in Irish when questioned by a police officer. Mr Brugha was about to board a train bound for Dublin when Constable S. Barrett asked for his name. On hearing the name Cathal, the policeman asked if it was Irish. When Mr Brugha responded that it was indeed in Irish, the constable is reported to have said to him: ‘Unless you give me your name in plain English I must detain you.’ Brugha, who laughed in response, was subsequently arrested and taken to the local police barracks where he was searched. On his person was a receipt for a £150 election deposit. Mr Brugha is the first Sinn Féin MP to be arrested since the election.
To the Revoloutionary Government in Ireland, the Sinn Fein victory ‘was so impressive that no one could seriously challenge their party’s right to speak for the country’ and an appeal to the Allied Powers Victory Conference should be guaranteed.
Washington: Dr Patrick McCartan sent a message to the US Secretary of State and to all diplomatic representatives in Washington, signed as Envoy of the Provisional Government in Ireland, saying that:
‘The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland is at an end. The Republic of Ireland denies the right of any foreign Government henceforth to enter into negotiations or arrangements concerning the Irish people with the Government of His Britannic Majesty’
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.294
McCartan signed the message as 'Envoy of the Provisional Government of Ireland'
The growing level of criticism of Clan na Gael and the Friends of Irish Freedom from some quarters in Irish America began:
“...John Devoy could not be persuaded to endorse Dr McCartan’s action. Judge Cohalan, Devoy’s close friends and adviser in all that concerned the Friends of Irish Freedom organisation, preferred to evade the issue which the result of the General election had created. Even after Dail Eireann was established and the Declaration of Independence had been made, they failed, in their speeches and in their paper, The Gaelic American, to recognise the Republic as having been established by the will of the Irish People; they failed even to make the full Republican demand. Another obstacle to the usefulness of the Friends of Irish Freedom organisation at this time was the fact that Judge Cohalan had incurred the bitter hostility of President Wilson and had thrown the energies of the organisation against the League of Nations, which was the President’s most cherished object.’
Macardle. ‘The Irish Republic’. Irish Press 1957. p278-279
Historian Charles Callan Tansill argued that:
"Judge Cohalan was deeply interested in the establishment of an Irish Republic and had worked most zealously for more than two decades to further that objective. He was fearful that recent Irish visitors like McCartan and Maloney might endanger the success of his efforts. To indicate to Irish voters the support of a large majority of Irish Americans with reference to self-determination for Ireland, Judge Cohalan arranged for the Clan-na-Gael to hold a meeting on the evening of January 5 in the Central Opera House."
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.294
4
Italy: Woodrow Wilson became the first American President to set foot in Vatican City when he visited Pope Benedict XV. The President
was met on his arrival at the Vatican by a platoon of Swiss Guards and by a band of gendarmes playing the American national anthem. The private audience with the pope lasted 20 minutes during which time the pontiff quizzed Mr Wilson about conditions in the different countries he has recently visited. The pope also presented Mr Wilson with a mosaic reproduction of Guido Breni’s painting of the crucifixion of St Peter. On departing the Vatican the American president immediately headed for the American Episcopal Church in Rome where he received delegations from Protestant denominations. During the visit, president also met with the King of Italy, Victor Emmanuel.
Italy: Woodrow Wilson became the first American President to set foot in Vatican City when he visited Pope Benedict XV. The President
was met on his arrival at the Vatican by a platoon of Swiss Guards and by a band of gendarmes playing the American national anthem. The private audience with the pope lasted 20 minutes during which time the pontiff quizzed Mr Wilson about conditions in the different countries he has recently visited. The pope also presented Mr Wilson with a mosaic reproduction of Guido Breni’s painting of the crucifixion of St Peter. On departing the Vatican the American president immediately headed for the American Episcopal Church in Rome where he received delegations from Protestant denominations. During the visit, president also met with the King of Italy, Victor Emmanuel.
5
New York: Clan na Gael held a meeting in the Central Opera House, New York with the purpose made clear during Judge Cohalan’s opening address:
‘...we meet tonight for the purpose of congratulating the people of Ireland upon the fact that they have self-determined themselves and decided that they will live under no Government except that chosen by themselves..’
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.294
At this same meeting Liam Mellows struck the same key note. Irish independence was still an aspiration that had to be achieved: "They [the Irish people] have exercised so far as lay within then- power, the right of Self-Determination, and they have determined that Ireland shall and must be free and independent. . . . Ireland has won a victory, but not the great victory that we want, that we hope for, and believe in. The road to that victory that has to be travelled is hard and thorny still."
The meeting provided a platform for Dr. McCartan to 'announce that the Irish Republic had separated itself from Great Britain. McCartan also pointed out that the Polish-Americans had sent $8,000,000 to Poland, and he asked the Irish-Americans to do the same or better for Ireland. Judge Cohalan avoided mention of an 'Irish Republic' and confined his remarks at the meeting to Irish self-determination..."
Francis M Carroll “American Opinion & the Irish Question 1910-1923.” Gill & McMillan 1978.p.127
Devoy wrote at the time:
‘It is not a time for wild words or reckless action, but for the disciplined courage and restraint of self-contained men who know their own minds, the strength and the weakness of their own position as well as the strength and weakness of the enemy, and who have made their plans in accordance with that knowledge’
Diarmuid Lynch ‘The I.R.B. and the 1916 Rising’ Edited by Florence O'Donoghue. Mercier Press 1957. p199
The meeting approved that Irish-Americans should wait on the first Dail Eireann and take direction from the Irish elected representatives as to what Irish-America and its representative bodies were to do to secure independence for Ireland.
To swing Irish American opinion behind the objective of securing a hearing at the Paris Peace Conference, the Friends of Irish Freedom opted to hold the Third Irish Race Convention in Philadelphia on 22/23rd February 1919. It was decided to extend the invitation to other Irish American organisations, such as the Ancient Order of Hibernians, the National Foresters etc. to make the Convention ‘truly representative of Irish America. All who were prepared to subscribe to it’s main purpose were invited: The Irish people in Ireland have overwhelmingly self-determined in favour of the complete national Independence of their country. One of the most important items on the programme of the Convention will be the consideration of the means whereby Ireland’s Sovereign status and the untrammelled exercise of that sovereignty shall be recognised by the International Peace Conference.’
Diarmuid Lynch Friends of Irish Freedom manuscript notes. Lynch Family Archives – Folder 8 – 00005 – replies from James Reidy.
Below: Invitation card for the Irish Race Convention, Philadelphia on February 22 & 23rd from the Friends of Irish Freedom & signed by the National Secretary, Diarmuid Lynch.
Note: This card was a misprint as showing "February 23 and 23 1919" rather than February 22 & 23, 1919 and not issued.
New York: Clan na Gael held a meeting in the Central Opera House, New York with the purpose made clear during Judge Cohalan’s opening address:
‘...we meet tonight for the purpose of congratulating the people of Ireland upon the fact that they have self-determined themselves and decided that they will live under no Government except that chosen by themselves..’
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.294
At this same meeting Liam Mellows struck the same key note. Irish independence was still an aspiration that had to be achieved: "They [the Irish people] have exercised so far as lay within then- power, the right of Self-Determination, and they have determined that Ireland shall and must be free and independent. . . . Ireland has won a victory, but not the great victory that we want, that we hope for, and believe in. The road to that victory that has to be travelled is hard and thorny still."
The meeting provided a platform for Dr. McCartan to 'announce that the Irish Republic had separated itself from Great Britain. McCartan also pointed out that the Polish-Americans had sent $8,000,000 to Poland, and he asked the Irish-Americans to do the same or better for Ireland. Judge Cohalan avoided mention of an 'Irish Republic' and confined his remarks at the meeting to Irish self-determination..."
Francis M Carroll “American Opinion & the Irish Question 1910-1923.” Gill & McMillan 1978.p.127
Devoy wrote at the time:
‘It is not a time for wild words or reckless action, but for the disciplined courage and restraint of self-contained men who know their own minds, the strength and the weakness of their own position as well as the strength and weakness of the enemy, and who have made their plans in accordance with that knowledge’
Diarmuid Lynch ‘The I.R.B. and the 1916 Rising’ Edited by Florence O'Donoghue. Mercier Press 1957. p199
The meeting approved that Irish-Americans should wait on the first Dail Eireann and take direction from the Irish elected representatives as to what Irish-America and its representative bodies were to do to secure independence for Ireland.
To swing Irish American opinion behind the objective of securing a hearing at the Paris Peace Conference, the Friends of Irish Freedom opted to hold the Third Irish Race Convention in Philadelphia on 22/23rd February 1919. It was decided to extend the invitation to other Irish American organisations, such as the Ancient Order of Hibernians, the National Foresters etc. to make the Convention ‘truly representative of Irish America. All who were prepared to subscribe to it’s main purpose were invited: The Irish people in Ireland have overwhelmingly self-determined in favour of the complete national Independence of their country. One of the most important items on the programme of the Convention will be the consideration of the means whereby Ireland’s Sovereign status and the untrammelled exercise of that sovereignty shall be recognised by the International Peace Conference.’
Diarmuid Lynch Friends of Irish Freedom manuscript notes. Lynch Family Archives – Folder 8 – 00005 – replies from James Reidy.
Below: Invitation card for the Irish Race Convention, Philadelphia on February 22 & 23rd from the Friends of Irish Freedom & signed by the National Secretary, Diarmuid Lynch.
Note: This card was a misprint as showing "February 23 and 23 1919" rather than February 22 & 23, 1919 and not issued.
In an attempt to limit the future scope of Sinn Fein, the British Administration changed the election methods in local Government from the traditional ‘first past the post’ system to that of proportional representation. This was first applied in the Sligo municipal election. In this, Sinn Fein did not win the majority expected and so prompted revised elections for borough and urban district councils set for January 1920.
Sinn Féin hold a large number of meetings around the country focusing on their demand for the release of all political prisoners.
On Dublin’s O’Connell Street, the attendance was reported to have run into the thousands, with crowds marching to their meeting place behind a band and huge banner bearing the words: ‘In jail for you, get them out.’ Similar scenes were repeated across the country, including at Strokestown, Co. Roscommon, where Count Plunkett MP delivered a speech in which he said his comrades in Birmingham Prison had told him that there was work to be done outside and that they, the prisoners, would ‘endure anything that England inflicted if it was for the good of Ireland’.
Following an earlier decision to break the large Cork Brigade of the Irish Volunteers (which covered all of Co Cork) into three brigades, on this date the (West) Cork No. 3 Brigade was formed at a meeting at Kilnadur, Dunmanway presided over by Michael Collins.
Germany: Socialist demonstrations in Berlin, Germany turn into an attempted communist revolution.Meanwhile, the German Workers' Party (Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, DAP), is formed by the merger of Anton Drexler's Committee of Independent Workmen with journalist Karl Harrer's Political Workers' Circle. The DAP becomes the predecessor of the Nazi Party.
The Irish Press, Philadelphia (owned and managed by McGarrity) reported on the meeting in the Central Opera House:
The Irish Press coverage of the meetingcontinued in the January 18 edition, featuring the speech delivered by Lynch:
6
"Irish republicans prisoners must be released – immediately" was the message from the Sinn Féin party, which, since its landslide election victory last month, had been highlighting the cause of its members imprisoned in British prisons. The official Sinn Féin newspaper, Nationality stated: ‘The first thing the people of Ireland have to do is to see that their interned leaders are released...Almost half of the elected representatives of the Irish people are in British jails today. British tyranny in Ireland must cease. Definitely and defiantly we must tell the British Government that it cannot go on doing as it likes in Ireland. ‘Britishism’ must follow ‘Prussianism’.’
De Valera supported change in the electoral process, which prompted the London Daily News to comment
‘ That Sinn Fein, instead of opposing a change declaredly designed to cripple its power, should willingly help in its development is more than remarkable’
Joe Devlin, the Nationalist MP for the Falls in Belfast, wrote of his strong inclination against attending Westminster. However, eventually, he and other five Irish Party (Nationalist) MPs do attend.
A general meeting of the Cork North and North-East brigades was held in Mourne Abbey. Cork Number 1 Brigade now controlled an area from Youghal to the Kerry border, including the city, a strip 70 miles long and no more than 20 miles wide. The 7 battalions it contained developed into ten:
1 & 2 : Cork City, 3: Ballincollig & Ovens, 4: Cobh & Middleton, 5: Whitechurch-Carrignavar, 6: Blarney – Firmount-Donoughmore, 7: Macroom, 8: Kilnamartyra-Ballyvourney, 9: Rochestown, Carrigaline-Crosshaven & 10: Youghal.
IRB membership at the time was limited to the majority of officers.
Commandant: Tomas MacCurtain. Not a member of the IRB as discontinued membership following the Rising (as did De Valera and Cathal Brugha arguing that open organisations both political and military provided best scope for all with any future directions and control coming from responsible heads of these bodies until such stage as a Government was able to function )
Vice-Commandant: Sean O’Hegarty. ( Member of the IRB and senior IRB officer in Cork )
Sean O’Hegarty was described as ‘an abrasive, puritanical character…intolerant of political interference…fiercely proud Cork city man…determined to produce a more efficient fighting force and a sober one as he demonstrated by his vigourous campaign against poteen in his Cork First Brigade. [Sean] Moylan describes him as wearing home spun trousers and a bowler hat ‘he looked like an old time music hall artist’ but ‘was a serious man of keen intellect. If he had a sense of humour, it was of that sardonic and devastating type peculiar to Cork’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p105
The Belfast Newsletter warned the British government to take a strong line with Sinn Féin, whose demand for independence, they insist, can never be conceded. They warn that there ‘is no room for more fooling’ and that the only way for bloodshed to be avoided in Ireland is for a ‘resolute display of government, and by no parlaying with treason’.
New York
Former President Theodore Roosevelt (President 1901-1909) died aged 60.
A rival meeting to the Friends of Irish Freedom organised by McCartan and Maloney under the auspices of the Irish Progressive League went ahead at the Central Opera House, New York, with Mellows as chief speaker expressing ‘the determination of the Irish in America to uphold the new Irish Republic and to insist that it be permitted to work out its own destiny without Britain interference.’ A congratulatory telegram was moved and sent to De Valera addressing him as President. The meeting was presided over by Fr Magennis, who was also President of the Friends of Irish Freedom.
"This meeting significantly drew to the platform several American liberals, the Rev. Norman Thomas and Dr. Lovejoy Elliot among them, who had not previously been associated with the Irish Movement.'
Francis M Carroll “American Opinion & the Irish Question 1910-1923.” Gill & McMillan 1978.p.127
Irish Victory Fund
The first meeting of the year of the National Council and National Executive, Friends of Irish Freedom took place in New York.
With an Irish Race Convention planned for February 22 & 23 in Philadelphia, the main topic was how such a convention could have a definite influence upon American policy at the Peace Conference at Versailles. It was also believed that this convention would also give encouragement to the movement in Ireland for self-determination.
At the meeting, it was decided to begin fundraising (proposed by John Hearn and seconded by Joe McGarrity) amongst all FOIF branches under the title of the 'Irish Victory Fund' beginning with a mailed appeal from the National Treasurer dated January 14.
This was to become a vastly successful fund raising campaign throughout the United States with contributions initially earmarked ""To carry on the regular work of the Friends of Irish Freedom organisation, to overcome the enemies of the Irish Cause, and to meet other phases of the situation"
However, over the duration of 1919, the enormous success of the Fund and the planned disbursement of contributions was to become a source of contention and division within Irish America.
6
"Irish republicans prisoners must be released – immediately" was the message from the Sinn Féin party, which, since its landslide election victory last month, had been highlighting the cause of its members imprisoned in British prisons. The official Sinn Féin newspaper, Nationality stated: ‘The first thing the people of Ireland have to do is to see that their interned leaders are released...Almost half of the elected representatives of the Irish people are in British jails today. British tyranny in Ireland must cease. Definitely and defiantly we must tell the British Government that it cannot go on doing as it likes in Ireland. ‘Britishism’ must follow ‘Prussianism’.’
De Valera supported change in the electoral process, which prompted the London Daily News to comment
‘ That Sinn Fein, instead of opposing a change declaredly designed to cripple its power, should willingly help in its development is more than remarkable’
Joe Devlin, the Nationalist MP for the Falls in Belfast, wrote of his strong inclination against attending Westminster. However, eventually, he and other five Irish Party (Nationalist) MPs do attend.
A general meeting of the Cork North and North-East brigades was held in Mourne Abbey. Cork Number 1 Brigade now controlled an area from Youghal to the Kerry border, including the city, a strip 70 miles long and no more than 20 miles wide. The 7 battalions it contained developed into ten:
1 & 2 : Cork City, 3: Ballincollig & Ovens, 4: Cobh & Middleton, 5: Whitechurch-Carrignavar, 6: Blarney – Firmount-Donoughmore, 7: Macroom, 8: Kilnamartyra-Ballyvourney, 9: Rochestown, Carrigaline-Crosshaven & 10: Youghal.
IRB membership at the time was limited to the majority of officers.
Commandant: Tomas MacCurtain. Not a member of the IRB as discontinued membership following the Rising (as did De Valera and Cathal Brugha arguing that open organisations both political and military provided best scope for all with any future directions and control coming from responsible heads of these bodies until such stage as a Government was able to function )
Vice-Commandant: Sean O’Hegarty. ( Member of the IRB and senior IRB officer in Cork )
Sean O’Hegarty was described as ‘an abrasive, puritanical character…intolerant of political interference…fiercely proud Cork city man…determined to produce a more efficient fighting force and a sober one as he demonstrated by his vigourous campaign against poteen in his Cork First Brigade. [Sean] Moylan describes him as wearing home spun trousers and a bowler hat ‘he looked like an old time music hall artist’ but ‘was a serious man of keen intellect. If he had a sense of humour, it was of that sardonic and devastating type peculiar to Cork’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p105
The Belfast Newsletter warned the British government to take a strong line with Sinn Féin, whose demand for independence, they insist, can never be conceded. They warn that there ‘is no room for more fooling’ and that the only way for bloodshed to be avoided in Ireland is for a ‘resolute display of government, and by no parlaying with treason’.
New York
Former President Theodore Roosevelt (President 1901-1909) died aged 60.
A rival meeting to the Friends of Irish Freedom organised by McCartan and Maloney under the auspices of the Irish Progressive League went ahead at the Central Opera House, New York, with Mellows as chief speaker expressing ‘the determination of the Irish in America to uphold the new Irish Republic and to insist that it be permitted to work out its own destiny without Britain interference.’ A congratulatory telegram was moved and sent to De Valera addressing him as President. The meeting was presided over by Fr Magennis, who was also President of the Friends of Irish Freedom.
"This meeting significantly drew to the platform several American liberals, the Rev. Norman Thomas and Dr. Lovejoy Elliot among them, who had not previously been associated with the Irish Movement.'
Francis M Carroll “American Opinion & the Irish Question 1910-1923.” Gill & McMillan 1978.p.127
Irish Victory Fund
The first meeting of the year of the National Council and National Executive, Friends of Irish Freedom took place in New York.
With an Irish Race Convention planned for February 22 & 23 in Philadelphia, the main topic was how such a convention could have a definite influence upon American policy at the Peace Conference at Versailles. It was also believed that this convention would also give encouragement to the movement in Ireland for self-determination.
At the meeting, it was decided to begin fundraising (proposed by John Hearn and seconded by Joe McGarrity) amongst all FOIF branches under the title of the 'Irish Victory Fund' beginning with a mailed appeal from the National Treasurer dated January 14.
This was to become a vastly successful fund raising campaign throughout the United States with contributions initially earmarked ""To carry on the regular work of the Friends of Irish Freedom organisation, to overcome the enemies of the Irish Cause, and to meet other phases of the situation"
However, over the duration of 1919, the enormous success of the Fund and the planned disbursement of contributions was to become a source of contention and division within Irish America.
7
26 elected Republican representatives met in the Mansion House to make arrangements to convene an Assembly of Ireland or Dail Eireann as in independent Constituent Assembly of the Irish Nation. Among the committee members appointed to prepare for the public opening of the Dail and to draft a provisional constitution were Sean T O’Kelly, George Gavan Duffy and Piaras Beaslai. An invitation was sent to every representative elected, irrespective of political background. It was generally accepted that the English Government would ban the assembly and were due to vote on January 20th.
The meeting registered a protest at the continued incarceration of some 37 of its elected members. It also discussed the issue of the constitution of Dáil Éireann (Irish Parliament) - the constituent assembly it pledged to establish in its recent election manifesto. The meeting took the decision to invite the elected members of all Irish constituencies to Dáil Éireann, the opening date of which is to be announced at a later time. Amongst those present were Count Plunkett MP, who chaired the meeting; Seán T. O’Kelly, MP for College Green; J.J. Walsh and Liam De Róiste, MPs for Cork City, Michael Collins, MP for South Cork; Eoin MacNeill, MP for Derry City; and Kevin O’Higgins, MP for Queen’s County. Absent from the meeting were Diarmuid Lynch, MP for South East Cork; Dr Patrick McCartan, MP for King’s County and Liam Mellows, MP for North Meath and East Galway. All three men are currently in the United States - deported from Ireland.
Around this time, the IRB began to reform it’s constitution to allow for recognition of the Dail along with allegiance to the body on the proviso that it adhered faithfully to the tenets of republicanism. The IRB was to form an elite within the expanding volunteers and ‘caused tensions and divided loyalties. The IRA GHQ consisted almost enitrely of IRB men…’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p18
Patrick Fleming, an Irish Volunteer who had been jailed in Maryborough Prison, was transferred to Mountjoy. ‘With just a handful of prisoners in C& D wings, Fleming virtually brought the prison to it's knees with ‘open and concerted misconduct’ each night they smashed their cell furniture, broke up floorboards, shouted political slogans, sang rebel songs and banged on door. During the day they slept in order to be well rested for another night of disturbance. They were periodically kept in handcuffs but, once released, merely picked up where they had left off…’
Tim Carey. ‘Mountjoy – The Story of a Prison’ The Collins Press, Dublin 2000.p184
This continued until March.
Dr. McCartan's presence in the United States and resulting press coverage resulted in the British Embassy Chargé d'affaires, Colville Barclay protesting to the State Department.
26 elected Republican representatives met in the Mansion House to make arrangements to convene an Assembly of Ireland or Dail Eireann as in independent Constituent Assembly of the Irish Nation. Among the committee members appointed to prepare for the public opening of the Dail and to draft a provisional constitution were Sean T O’Kelly, George Gavan Duffy and Piaras Beaslai. An invitation was sent to every representative elected, irrespective of political background. It was generally accepted that the English Government would ban the assembly and were due to vote on January 20th.
The meeting registered a protest at the continued incarceration of some 37 of its elected members. It also discussed the issue of the constitution of Dáil Éireann (Irish Parliament) - the constituent assembly it pledged to establish in its recent election manifesto. The meeting took the decision to invite the elected members of all Irish constituencies to Dáil Éireann, the opening date of which is to be announced at a later time. Amongst those present were Count Plunkett MP, who chaired the meeting; Seán T. O’Kelly, MP for College Green; J.J. Walsh and Liam De Róiste, MPs for Cork City, Michael Collins, MP for South Cork; Eoin MacNeill, MP for Derry City; and Kevin O’Higgins, MP for Queen’s County. Absent from the meeting were Diarmuid Lynch, MP for South East Cork; Dr Patrick McCartan, MP for King’s County and Liam Mellows, MP for North Meath and East Galway. All three men are currently in the United States - deported from Ireland.
Around this time, the IRB began to reform it’s constitution to allow for recognition of the Dail along with allegiance to the body on the proviso that it adhered faithfully to the tenets of republicanism. The IRB was to form an elite within the expanding volunteers and ‘caused tensions and divided loyalties. The IRA GHQ consisted almost enitrely of IRB men…’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p18
Patrick Fleming, an Irish Volunteer who had been jailed in Maryborough Prison, was transferred to Mountjoy. ‘With just a handful of prisoners in C& D wings, Fleming virtually brought the prison to it's knees with ‘open and concerted misconduct’ each night they smashed their cell furniture, broke up floorboards, shouted political slogans, sang rebel songs and banged on door. During the day they slept in order to be well rested for another night of disturbance. They were periodically kept in handcuffs but, once released, merely picked up where they had left off…’
Tim Carey. ‘Mountjoy – The Story of a Prison’ The Collins Press, Dublin 2000.p184
This continued until March.
Dr. McCartan's presence in the United States and resulting press coverage resulted in the British Embassy Chargé d'affaires, Colville Barclay protesting to the State Department.
8
The words “Dáil Éireann” first appear in newsprint as nationalist newspapers publish the Sinn Féin statement declaring the newly elected MPs’ intention to mount a breakaway assembly later that month in the Mansion House.
The words “Dáil Éireann” first appear in newsprint as nationalist newspapers publish the Sinn Féin statement declaring the newly elected MPs’ intention to mount a breakaway assembly later that month in the Mansion House.
10
In Lincoln Prison there was still no response to the Christmas Eve letter to Fr. Kavanagh, and John O’Mahony wrote once more. This time a little piece of Latin in the middle of the letter.
The new British Cabinet met. Lloyd George as Prime Minister completed a tactical reshuffle within the coalition government with most of the top posts going to Tories due to ther increase in the polls. Walter Long, First Lord of the Admiralty. Winston Churchill, Secretary of State for War, Baron Birkenhead, Lord Chancellor and Bonar Law, Leader of the House of Commons and Lord Privy Seal. Chief Secretary of Ireland was Ian McPherson replacing Edward Shortt (who was promoted to Home Secretary), Lord French remained as Lord Lieutenant indicating that military rule would continue to be a British policy.
Mr Shortt had never held a government portfolio prior to his appointment to the Irish Chief Secretaryship in the middle of 1918 and his tenure there was nothing other than controversial. Still, the firmness of his dealing with Sinn Féin’s alleged ‘German plot’ will no doubt have endeared him to those who prize firmness above all other qualities in their politicians.
Leader of the House (without portfolio) – Andrew Bonar Law
Chancellor – Austen Chamberlain
Home Secretary – Edward Shortt
Foreign Affairs – Arthur Balfour
Colonies – Lord Milner
India – Edwin S. Montagu
War – Winston Churchill
First Lord Admiralty – Walter Long
Minister of Transport – Sir Eric Geddes
Board of Trade – Sir Albert Stanley
President L.G.B. – Christopher Addison
Reconstruction – Sir Auckland Geddes
Chief Secretary – Ian Macpherson
Secretary, Scotland – Robert Munro
11
London: Churchill appointed Secretary of State for War.
New York: In an editorial, the Gaelic American newspaper commented on the two meetings organised by McCartan and Moloney representing some segments of Irish-American opinion:
‘it is not the business of the Irish in America to dictate plans, but it is their duty and their privilege to follow those made in Dublin made by the elected representatives of the people of Ireland. Those plans will be formulated by a National Assembly in Dublin.
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.295
A circular letter produced and signed by Diarmuid Lynch as the National Secretary of the Friends of Irish Freedom was finalised and provided effective means of lobbying support which had not been done previously:
‘Let every branch of this organisation and every Irish American society in this great Republic give the citizens in their respective localities an opportunity of congratulating the Irish people on their magnificent success in declaring to the world that they stand for the complete independence of their small nation.
Let the resolutions passed at your meetings call for the recognition of the Irish Republic and secure all possible publicity for them.
Send copy to the President, to the Foreign Relations Committee of the Senate, the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives, to Congress, to your local Congressman and Senators, and to the Governor of your State.
Furthermore in addition to your resolutions during our Foreign Affairs Committee of the house to report without further delay the Gallagher resolution now before it, it is most important that individual citizens should write to the individual members of that Committee, and to the Congressman from your State demanding favourable action on it in the House.
Let this occasion be availed of in making up a definite list of all prominent men and women of the Irish Race in your city - with the exact address of each. Send this list to me at once so that our National Council may be in a position to issue invitations to such individuals for the Convention, in addition to duly appointed delegates from your organisation.”
Diarmuid Lynch ‘The I.R.B. and the 1916 Rising’ Edited by Florence O'Donoghue. Mercier Press 1957. p197.
This circular letter was to be mailed on January 14.
Dr. Maloney met with and ‘remonstrated with Judge Cohalan for the attempt he made to forestall and destroy the American meeting of January 6th. At first he was truculent ‘ There could be only one leader here. What our people needed was a Pope. A divided leadership would ruin the movement’. He had not been consulted and he was not going to allow any meeting about which he was not consulted..’
Quoted in press Statement by William J Maloney – July 1921 Diarmuid Lynch papers – Lynch Family Archives. Folder 6/2
John Devoy’s opinion of Dr. Maloney was recorded in de Valera’s official biography as ‘ a fanatical distrust…today there is no doubt about the sincerity of Maloney’s work for Ireland in America, but Devoy for some extraordinary reason considered him a British agent and had no hesitation in saying so. He claimed that Maloney was responsible for dissension among Irish Americans and that he was influencing the President through MacCartan and Joe McGarrity’
Longford & O’Neill. “Eamon de Valera “ Hutchinson, London.1970. p105
In Dublin, the Sinn Fein Headquarters was raided by police and documents, including a draft constitution for Dail Eireann, were seized. While documents were seized and removed, none of the Sinn Fein executive present were arrested. The belief is that as the newly appointed Chief Secretary for Ireland, Ian MacPherson, had not assumed his position, any further action could attract unfavourable attention. However the blanket ban on public meetings without police clearance, still stood.
General Macready in a letter to Ian MacPheason on his appointment as Chief Secretary: ‘I cannot say I envy you for I loathe the country you are going to and its people with a depth deeper than the sea and more violent that that which I feel against the Boche’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 4
London: Churchill appointed Secretary of State for War.
New York: In an editorial, the Gaelic American newspaper commented on the two meetings organised by McCartan and Moloney representing some segments of Irish-American opinion:
‘it is not the business of the Irish in America to dictate plans, but it is their duty and their privilege to follow those made in Dublin made by the elected representatives of the people of Ireland. Those plans will be formulated by a National Assembly in Dublin.
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.295
A circular letter produced and signed by Diarmuid Lynch as the National Secretary of the Friends of Irish Freedom was finalised and provided effective means of lobbying support which had not been done previously:
‘Let every branch of this organisation and every Irish American society in this great Republic give the citizens in their respective localities an opportunity of congratulating the Irish people on their magnificent success in declaring to the world that they stand for the complete independence of their small nation.
Let the resolutions passed at your meetings call for the recognition of the Irish Republic and secure all possible publicity for them.
Send copy to the President, to the Foreign Relations Committee of the Senate, the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives, to Congress, to your local Congressman and Senators, and to the Governor of your State.
Furthermore in addition to your resolutions during our Foreign Affairs Committee of the house to report without further delay the Gallagher resolution now before it, it is most important that individual citizens should write to the individual members of that Committee, and to the Congressman from your State demanding favourable action on it in the House.
Let this occasion be availed of in making up a definite list of all prominent men and women of the Irish Race in your city - with the exact address of each. Send this list to me at once so that our National Council may be in a position to issue invitations to such individuals for the Convention, in addition to duly appointed delegates from your organisation.”
Diarmuid Lynch ‘The I.R.B. and the 1916 Rising’ Edited by Florence O'Donoghue. Mercier Press 1957. p197.
This circular letter was to be mailed on January 14.
Dr. Maloney met with and ‘remonstrated with Judge Cohalan for the attempt he made to forestall and destroy the American meeting of January 6th. At first he was truculent ‘ There could be only one leader here. What our people needed was a Pope. A divided leadership would ruin the movement’. He had not been consulted and he was not going to allow any meeting about which he was not consulted..’
Quoted in press Statement by William J Maloney – July 1921 Diarmuid Lynch papers – Lynch Family Archives. Folder 6/2
John Devoy’s opinion of Dr. Maloney was recorded in de Valera’s official biography as ‘ a fanatical distrust…today there is no doubt about the sincerity of Maloney’s work for Ireland in America, but Devoy for some extraordinary reason considered him a British agent and had no hesitation in saying so. He claimed that Maloney was responsible for dissension among Irish Americans and that he was influencing the President through MacCartan and Joe McGarrity’
Longford & O’Neill. “Eamon de Valera “ Hutchinson, London.1970. p105
In Dublin, the Sinn Fein Headquarters was raided by police and documents, including a draft constitution for Dail Eireann, were seized. While documents were seized and removed, none of the Sinn Fein executive present were arrested. The belief is that as the newly appointed Chief Secretary for Ireland, Ian MacPherson, had not assumed his position, any further action could attract unfavourable attention. However the blanket ban on public meetings without police clearance, still stood.
General Macready in a letter to Ian MacPheason on his appointment as Chief Secretary: ‘I cannot say I envy you for I loathe the country you are going to and its people with a depth deeper than the sea and more violent that that which I feel against the Boche’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 4
12
Lincoln: The third letter to Ireland from Lincoln Prison was received and a key made by Gerry Boland * and the cake containing the key was brought to the prison by Fintan Murphy. Going through the channels, the visit was approved by the Govenor until finally it was inspected by the Chief Warder, who prodded it suspiciously with a knife, finding nothing. Delivered to John O’Mahony but the key was found to be deffective. A second request was made. A number of postcards were sent by the prisoners to friends in Dublin – all bearing a Celtic design with the words Eochar na Saoirse ( Key of Freedom ) underneath.
* Gerry Boland (1885-1973 ) brother of Harry. Fought during 1916 and later against the Provisional Government. Founder member of Fianna Fail. Later Minister for P&T (1933-36 ), Lands ( 1936-39 ) and Justice (1939-48) and was heavily criticised for his measures implemented against the IRA. Minister for Justice again in 1951-54. Active in Fianna Fail up to age 85 in 1970 when he resigned in sympathy with the resignation of his son, Kevin Boland following the sacking of Neil Blaney and Charlie Haughey by the Jack Lynch Fianna Fail Government.
Berlin: Socialist uprising in Berlin crushed.
The Spartacist uprising (Spartakusaufstand), also known as the January uprising (Januaraufstand) ended with the Freikorps taking over the city. The uprising was a general strike (and armed battles accompanying it) in Germany from 5 to 12 January 1919. Germany was in the middle of a post-war revolution, and two of the perceived paths forward were either social democracy or a council republic similar to the one which had been established by the Bolsheviks in Russia. The uprising was primarily a power struggle between the moderate Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) led by Friedrich Ebert, and the radical communists of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD), led by Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg, who had previously founded and led the Spartacist League (Spartakusbund). This power struggle was the result of the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II and the resignation of Chancellor Max von Baden, who had passed power to Ebert, as the leader of the largest party in the German parliament.[1] Similar uprisings occurred and were suppressed in Bremen, the Ruhr, Rhineland, Saxony, Hamburg, Thuringia and Bavaria, and another round of even bloodier street battles occurred in Berlin in March, which led to popular disillusionment with the Weimar Government.
13
James Ian Macpherson formally appointed as Chief Secretary.
Robert Byrne, adjutant of the 2nd Battalion Limerick IRA was arrested by the RIC for possession of arms.
14
Berlin: Germany released all Allied Prisoners of War. The Allies released only the ill German Prisoners of War.
Paris: Preparations were underway for the commencement of the Paris peace talks. The Prime Ministers of Great Britain, Australia, Canada, South Africa and Newfoundland depart London for the French capital where they would begin preliminary conversations with the leaders of the Allies and associated states. According to a telegram from Paris, the delegations to the Conference would be organised as follows: the United States, Britain, France, Italy and Japan will be entitled to 5 delegates each; Belgium, Greece, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, China and Brazil will be accorded 3 delegates each, while the Czecho-Slovak Republic and Poland will be represented by 2 delegates each. In addition, those states which broke off relations with the defeated German Empire but took no effective part in the war will be entitled to a single delegate each. The conference primarily will address the issue of the renewal of the armistice with Germany, and is also certain to discuss the creation of a League of Nations which could constitute a practical basis for the maintenance of peace in the coming years.
Belfast: Workers voted on proposals for a strike for a 44 hour week with a huge spontaneous ‘down tools’ rally of 20,000 shipyard workers at City Hall. The result was a massive vote for strike action.
Dublin: Former Chief Secretary (1905) Walter Long told Lord Lieutenant French that the new Chief Secretary, Mcpherson would be ‘amenable to advice and a certain amount of direction. I was with him at the War Office and formed a very high opinion of his capabilities. I think he had also a very charming personality! It will be a wonderful change.’
French commenting on the 73 abstentionist Sinn Fein TD’s: ’…perhaps I am sanguine, but I believe the end of it will be that these seventy three devils will very soon go bag and baggage over to Westminster’.
Long agreed ‘I think when they find that they cannot draw their salaries, that they cannot do anything in Ireland, they will probably come over’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p30
Berlin: Germany released all Allied Prisoners of War. The Allies released only the ill German Prisoners of War.
Paris: Preparations were underway for the commencement of the Paris peace talks. The Prime Ministers of Great Britain, Australia, Canada, South Africa and Newfoundland depart London for the French capital where they would begin preliminary conversations with the leaders of the Allies and associated states. According to a telegram from Paris, the delegations to the Conference would be organised as follows: the United States, Britain, France, Italy and Japan will be entitled to 5 delegates each; Belgium, Greece, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, China and Brazil will be accorded 3 delegates each, while the Czecho-Slovak Republic and Poland will be represented by 2 delegates each. In addition, those states which broke off relations with the defeated German Empire but took no effective part in the war will be entitled to a single delegate each. The conference primarily will address the issue of the renewal of the armistice with Germany, and is also certain to discuss the creation of a League of Nations which could constitute a practical basis for the maintenance of peace in the coming years.
Belfast: Workers voted on proposals for a strike for a 44 hour week with a huge spontaneous ‘down tools’ rally of 20,000 shipyard workers at City Hall. The result was a massive vote for strike action.
Dublin: Former Chief Secretary (1905) Walter Long told Lord Lieutenant French that the new Chief Secretary, Mcpherson would be ‘amenable to advice and a certain amount of direction. I was with him at the War Office and formed a very high opinion of his capabilities. I think he had also a very charming personality! It will be a wonderful change.’
French commenting on the 73 abstentionist Sinn Fein TD’s: ’…perhaps I am sanguine, but I believe the end of it will be that these seventy three devils will very soon go bag and baggage over to Westminster’.
Long agreed ‘I think when they find that they cannot draw their salaries, that they cannot do anything in Ireland, they will probably come over’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p30
As Sinn Fein planned to announce the first meeting of Dail Eireann and the 18th Amendment was made law, Diarmuid Lynch mailed some 14,500 copies of his Friends of Irish Freedom circular to all branches of the FOIF 'to members of all Irish organisations in the United States and to a large number of Catholic clergy with Irish names'.
With it went both requests and invitation for delegates to attend the Third Irish Race Convention in February.
In addition, an appeal was included for the creation of an Irish Victory Fund, signed by M.B.McGreal, National Treasurer of the Friends. The appeal stated that funds were urgently needed to carry on the work of the organisation and to meet other phases of the situation:
‘The National Council requests all regular and associate Branches and the Irish American organisations generally, to co-operate in the raising of an Irish Victory fund in their respective localities. A local Finance Committee should appoint and authorise Collectors and apportion a definite territory to each so that the work may be done effectively and promptly’
Diarmuid Lynch ‘The I.R.B. and the 1916 Rising’ Edited by Florence O'Donoghue. Mercier Press 1957. p197.
For the period January 1, 1919, to December 31, 1920, a partial list of disbursements gives an interesting picture of the activities of the Friends of Irish Freedom. (2018 Dollar & Euro values in brackets currently being updated)
Books, pamphlets, news bulletins, office equipment and supplies $113,303.00
Postage and express mail $22,605.56
Salaries headquarters staff $27,431.16
Organizers' salaries $35,644.42
Advertising, publicity, and public meetings $96,641.45
Bureau of Information, F.O.I.F $124,466.05
Protestant Friends of Ireland $77,486.27
Traveling expenses, President de Valera $26,748.26
To Ireland, per Representatives of Dail Eireann $115,046.61 ($1.75 million - €1.54 million)
Subscription to Irish Bond-Certificates $25,000.00
The total disbursements from the Irish Victory Fund from January 1, 1919, to December 31, 1920, was $887,284.74.
(2018: $13.5 million - €11.9 million)
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.347
With it went both requests and invitation for delegates to attend the Third Irish Race Convention in February.
In addition, an appeal was included for the creation of an Irish Victory Fund, signed by M.B.McGreal, National Treasurer of the Friends. The appeal stated that funds were urgently needed to carry on the work of the organisation and to meet other phases of the situation:
‘The National Council requests all regular and associate Branches and the Irish American organisations generally, to co-operate in the raising of an Irish Victory fund in their respective localities. A local Finance Committee should appoint and authorise Collectors and apportion a definite territory to each so that the work may be done effectively and promptly’
Diarmuid Lynch ‘The I.R.B. and the 1916 Rising’ Edited by Florence O'Donoghue. Mercier Press 1957. p197.
For the period January 1, 1919, to December 31, 1920, a partial list of disbursements gives an interesting picture of the activities of the Friends of Irish Freedom. (2018 Dollar & Euro values in brackets currently being updated)
Books, pamphlets, news bulletins, office equipment and supplies $113,303.00
Postage and express mail $22,605.56
Salaries headquarters staff $27,431.16
Organizers' salaries $35,644.42
Advertising, publicity, and public meetings $96,641.45
Bureau of Information, F.O.I.F $124,466.05
Protestant Friends of Ireland $77,486.27
Traveling expenses, President de Valera $26,748.26
To Ireland, per Representatives of Dail Eireann $115,046.61 ($1.75 million - €1.54 million)
Subscription to Irish Bond-Certificates $25,000.00
The total disbursements from the Irish Victory Fund from January 1, 1919, to December 31, 1920, was $887,284.74.
(2018: $13.5 million - €11.9 million)
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.347
As of 14 January, there were only eighteen Regular Branches of the Friends of Irish Freedom affiliated for 1919. Thirteen others had been affiliated during 1918 but had not yet signed on for the new year pending Branch meetings. By the Third Irish Race Convention held in Philadelphia weeks later on February 22, the number of affiliated branches had increased by seventy, giving a total of eight eight Branches and regular membership had jumped from 1,001 to 6,069.
The Friends also had 'Associate Branches' composed mostly of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, the Ladies Auxiliary of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, Clan Na Gael and various Irish County Associations throughout the United States. These had grown from fifty five Branches in late 1918 to two hundred and five Branches by the Convention date.
Lynch wrote in c.1929 on what the membership numbers within the FOIF realistically were and how the 'Irish Victory Fund' would have been successful simply based on contributions from the organisation memberships alone. (In fact, just over $4,000 was received in contributions to the Fund prior to the Convention - about $60k in 2018 values)
The Friends also had 'Associate Branches' composed mostly of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, the Ladies Auxiliary of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, Clan Na Gael and various Irish County Associations throughout the United States. These had grown from fifty five Branches in late 1918 to two hundred and five Branches by the Convention date.
Lynch wrote in c.1929 on what the membership numbers within the FOIF realistically were and how the 'Irish Victory Fund' would have been successful simply based on contributions from the organisation memberships alone. (In fact, just over $4,000 was received in contributions to the Fund prior to the Convention - about $60k in 2018 values)
15
The Dublin correspondent of the London Times considered that ‘Irish public sentiment currently was with Sinn Fein …but he predicted that in six months ‘ all the material interests of the country will be hostile to it’ moreover he believed than an attempt to create a parliament would result in ‘a hopeless fiasco’ The Spectator considering the absence of an Irish contigent in Parliament as ‘may indeed be regarded as a blessing’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P7
Proportional Representation ( the single transferable vote ) used for the first time in Ireland with the Sligo Municipal elections.
Berlin: The leaders of the Spartacist uprising, Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht were murdered and bodies flung into a city canal.'Their blood is on the hands of the new government' was one Socialist newspaper headline.
Boston: Great Molasses Flood: A wave of molasses released from an exploding storage tank sweeps through Boston, Massachusetts, killing 21 and injuring 150.
The Dublin correspondent of the London Times considered that ‘Irish public sentiment currently was with Sinn Fein …but he predicted that in six months ‘ all the material interests of the country will be hostile to it’ moreover he believed than an attempt to create a parliament would result in ‘a hopeless fiasco’ The Spectator considering the absence of an Irish contigent in Parliament as ‘may indeed be regarded as a blessing’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P7
Proportional Representation ( the single transferable vote ) used for the first time in Ireland with the Sligo Municipal elections.
Berlin: The leaders of the Spartacist uprising, Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht were murdered and bodies flung into a city canal.'Their blood is on the hands of the new government' was one Socialist newspaper headline.
Boston: Great Molasses Flood: A wave of molasses released from an exploding storage tank sweeps through Boston, Massachusetts, killing 21 and injuring 150.
16
The Sinn Fein executive announced that the first public meeting of Dail Eireann would be held on January 21st at the Mansion House, Dublin.
Liam O’Flaherty wrote of the public discussion on what role and model the new Irish Parliament would follow: ‘In their enthuasiasm the Irish writers of phamhlets and propaganda sheets talked of a wonderful paradise in Ireland when the Peace Conference in Paris should take away the superimposed British Empire and allow the Irish to rule themselves in peace. There was wild talk of a Gaelic Communist society. There would be no more poverty, no more social conflict, no more hatred, no more ugliness’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P43
Robert Byrne, jailed for possession of arms led republican prisoners on a campaign of disobedience and recognition as political prisoners in Limerick Jail
With post-war demobilisation, labour threats in Britain and manpower demands of colonial areas resulted in a drop in troop numbers in Ireland. French told the Chief Secretary of ‘the dangerously rapid withdrawal of troops from Ireland’.
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p51
Pianist Ignacy Jan Paderewski becomes the second Prime Minister of Poland.
Prohibition
Later the same day in the US Congress, the Eighteenth Amendment, banning the ‘manufacture, sale or transportation of intoxicating liquors’ was ratified as part of the Constitution and became law in the US following the approval by a 36th State, Nebraska. By this stage, nearly 50% of the US population already lived in ‘dry’ states. The Amendment terms allowed the nation one year to 'go dry' and Prohibition, the great social experiment took effect on January 17, 1920.
16
The Sinn Fein executive announced that the first public meeting of Dail Eireann would be held on January 21st at the Mansion House, Dublin.
Liam O’Flaherty wrote of the public discussion on what role and model the new Irish Parliament would follow: ‘In their enthuasiasm the Irish writers of phamhlets and propaganda sheets talked of a wonderful paradise in Ireland when the Peace Conference in Paris should take away the superimposed British Empire and allow the Irish to rule themselves in peace. There was wild talk of a Gaelic Communist society. There would be no more poverty, no more social conflict, no more hatred, no more ugliness’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P43
Robert Byrne, jailed for possession of arms led republican prisoners on a campaign of disobedience and recognition as political prisoners in Limerick Jail
With post-war demobilisation, labour threats in Britain and manpower demands of colonial areas resulted in a drop in troop numbers in Ireland. French told the Chief Secretary of ‘the dangerously rapid withdrawal of troops from Ireland’.
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p51
Pianist Ignacy Jan Paderewski becomes the second Prime Minister of Poland.
Prohibition
Later the same day in the US Congress, the Eighteenth Amendment, banning the ‘manufacture, sale or transportation of intoxicating liquors’ was ratified as part of the Constitution and became law in the US following the approval by a 36th State, Nebraska. By this stage, nearly 50% of the US population already lived in ‘dry’ states. The Amendment terms allowed the nation one year to 'go dry' and Prohibition, the great social experiment took effect on January 17, 1920.
The Prohibition Era (1920 to 1933) was instituted with ratification of the 18th Amendment and enacted by the Volstead Act. During the Prohibition Era the manufacture and sale of alcohol was banned. This was viewed as the solution to the nation's poverty, crime, violence, abuse towards women and children and other problems. After fourteen years, Prohibition was repealed by the 21st Amendment because the 'Noble Experiment' simply did not work. Prohibition not only failed to prevent the consumption of alcohol, but led to the development of organised crime, increased violence, unregulated and untaxed alcohol and massive political corruption.
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Promises made during the war to recognise national aspirations were about to be cashed in at the Paris Peace Conference.
‘The Peace Negotiatons in Paris were like a grand bazaar, where all kinds of merchants came to spread their ways, of what they had to offer, what they want to buy and what they feel is theirs by right’
As Allied diplomats gathered to talk of peace, their navies continued to wage war against Germany and her allies by naval blockade. After the Armistice, hunger remained a weapon.
Below: BBC4 & National Film Board of Canada documentaries on the Treaty of Versailles
Promises made during the war to recognise national aspirations were about to be cashed in at the Paris Peace Conference.
‘The Peace Negotiatons in Paris were like a grand bazaar, where all kinds of merchants came to spread their ways, of what they had to offer, what they want to buy and what they feel is theirs by right’
As Allied diplomats gathered to talk of peace, their navies continued to wage war against Germany and her allies by naval blockade. After the Armistice, hunger remained a weapon.
Below: BBC4 & National Film Board of Canada documentaries on the Treaty of Versailles
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Paris Peace Conference opens
The first formal session of the Paris Peace Conference opened with French Premier, Clemenceau elected chairman. The diplomats assembled from the victorious nations were dealing with a world they no longer understood. A world that Lenin’s revoloution had changed forever. The victors had no real answers. Wilson initially attempted to persuade his European allies to forget the past and build a new future that was free of war.
Within weeks, Wilson’s high rhetoric was gone, he had truly joined ‘the old world game’ of dictating boundaries to the defeated nation.
“The door opened. A heavily tapestried room with windows that opened upon the garden, and the sound of water sprinkling from the fountain. Clemenencau, Lloyd George and Wilson had pulled up armchairs and crouched low over the map. It is appaling that these ignorant and irresponsible men should be cutting Asia-Minor to bits as if they were dividing a cake. During the afternoon, there was the final revision of the frontiers of Austria. Hungary is partioned, indolently, irresponsibly partioned. Then the Yougoslav frontier, then tea with macaroons.”
Harold Nicolhson, British Diplomatic advisor at Versailles.
Instead of a new world order, the victors produced a compromise package, a peace without foundation and a peace that effectively contained the seeds of the next world war.
Paris Peace Conference opens
The first formal session of the Paris Peace Conference opened with French Premier, Clemenceau elected chairman. The diplomats assembled from the victorious nations were dealing with a world they no longer understood. A world that Lenin’s revoloution had changed forever. The victors had no real answers. Wilson initially attempted to persuade his European allies to forget the past and build a new future that was free of war.
Within weeks, Wilson’s high rhetoric was gone, he had truly joined ‘the old world game’ of dictating boundaries to the defeated nation.
“The door opened. A heavily tapestried room with windows that opened upon the garden, and the sound of water sprinkling from the fountain. Clemenencau, Lloyd George and Wilson had pulled up armchairs and crouched low over the map. It is appaling that these ignorant and irresponsible men should be cutting Asia-Minor to bits as if they were dividing a cake. During the afternoon, there was the final revision of the frontiers of Austria. Hungary is partioned, indolently, irresponsibly partioned. Then the Yougoslav frontier, then tea with macaroons.”
Harold Nicolhson, British Diplomatic advisor at Versailles.
Instead of a new world order, the victors produced a compromise package, a peace without foundation and a peace that effectively contained the seeds of the next world war.
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The Irish Privy Council approved by one vote, to remove the requirements that organisers of public meetings must apply and receive police clearance and permits.
‘Thus for the moment at least, the UK executive in Ireland had decided not to disrupt Sinn Fein’s efforts to replace it as the political authority in the country’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P5.
Collins now appeared in the Dublin Castle publication ‘Hue and Cry’ as the most wanted man in Ireland.
The first of what was to be hundreds of self-termed ‘Soviets’* were the staff of the Monaghan asylum. The dispute centered around a four shilling payrise which had been won in striking during March 1918, but had been withheld and was organised by Peadar O’Donnell. Formerly a teacher, he had three months taken up the position of a full-time organiser with the Transport Union. The workers were encouraged to seize the asylum, lock out the govenor and barricade all entrances. O’Donnell was elected as the new govenor and a red flag flown over the building. The hundred employees barricaded in were quickly matched by armed RIC who surrounded the buildings. The stand off was to last for 12 days before management conceeded, offering 6/3 to men and lesser values for women. The workers refused and demanded an equal rise for women which was agreed.
* In early 1919, the term "Soviet" was used to describe a workers council or a situation where a business workers ran the business as a co-operative or worker's management. It was only later the word was associated with the Soviet Union.
Sir Horace Plunkett was now in the United States advocating Dominion Home Rule. Judge Cohalan met with him on an unknown date at the home of Laurence Godkin.
On the eve of the first Dail Eireann meeting, the Irish Independent repored: “With regard to the Dail Eireann, the preparations have been proceeding steadily. A limited number of tickets will be available for the public in the galleries of the Round Room on application to Sinn Fein Headquarters. … Formal invitations were also sent to the MPs interned, or in prison on specific charges, but no one expects that any of these will be set free to attend.”
On the 100th anniversary of the first meeting of Dáil Éireann, Myles Dungan and his panel of experts - Dr Darragh Gannon, Dr Brian Hanley and Dr Catherine Scuffil assess the significance of the occasion, as well as the Soloheadbeg Ambush on the same day in Tipperary, often cited as the opening shots of the Irish War of Independence. The show also features material from the RTÉ Archives and a report from Colette Kinsella from the Mansion House, which hosted the first public session of the First Dáil, with contributions from Donal Fallon.
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24 of the 27 elected members that attended the first Dail sitting, January 21, 1919.
1: J. Doherty (North Donegal) 7: P. O'Malley (Galway) 13: D. Buckley (North Kildare) 19: R. Sweetman (North Wexford)
2: John Hayes (West Cork) 8: J.J.Walsh (Cork) 14: E. Duggan (South Meath) 20: D. Mulcahy (Clontarf)
3: J.J.O'Kelly (Louth) 9: Thomas Kelly (Stephens Green) 15: Piaras Beasalí (East Kerry) 21: Con Collins (West Limerick)
4: Count Plunkett (Roscommon) 10: J.J.O'Swiney (Donegal) 16: Dr. J.Ryan (South Wexford) 22: P. Shanahan (Harbour)
5: Cathal Brugha (Waterford) 11: Kevin O'Higgins (Queens Co.) 17: J. Ward (South Donegal) 23: Dr. J. Crowley (North Mayo)
6: Sean T O'Kelly (College Green) 12: Richard Barton (West Wicklow) 18: P.J.Moloney (South Tipperary) 24: S.A. Bourke (Mid Tipperary)
Missing from the photograph are: George Gavan Duffy, Eoin MacNeill & Michael Staines.
1: J. Doherty (North Donegal) 7: P. O'Malley (Galway) 13: D. Buckley (North Kildare) 19: R. Sweetman (North Wexford)
2: John Hayes (West Cork) 8: J.J.Walsh (Cork) 14: E. Duggan (South Meath) 20: D. Mulcahy (Clontarf)
3: J.J.O'Kelly (Louth) 9: Thomas Kelly (Stephens Green) 15: Piaras Beasalí (East Kerry) 21: Con Collins (West Limerick)
4: Count Plunkett (Roscommon) 10: J.J.O'Swiney (Donegal) 16: Dr. J.Ryan (South Wexford) 22: P. Shanahan (Harbour)
5: Cathal Brugha (Waterford) 11: Kevin O'Higgins (Queens Co.) 17: J. Ward (South Donegal) 23: Dr. J. Crowley (North Mayo)
6: Sean T O'Kelly (College Green) 12: Richard Barton (West Wicklow) 18: P.J.Moloney (South Tipperary) 24: S.A. Bourke (Mid Tipperary)
Missing from the photograph are: George Gavan Duffy, Eoin MacNeill & Michael Staines.
From early morning, the queues gathered outside the Mansion House waiting to gain entry to the first session of the Assembly of Ireland, Dail Eireann. ‘There was an air of expectancy in every look, every movement of the vast outside gathering’ wrote one onlooker. In the building now housing La Stampa Restaurant opposite the Mansion House, the Chief Commisioner of the Dublin Metroplolitan Police, Colonel Wedgeworth-Johnstone, and the Inspector-General of the RIC, Sir James Byrne, observed the scene. As an earlier reception for a group of Dublin Fusiliers who were POW’s in Germany left at 2.30 p.m., the public witnessing the first assembly of Dail Eireann filed in. ‘The old order going out, the new coming in’ . The first Dail Eireann met in The Round Room and the only symbolic décor present was a Tricolour over the lectern.
‘Promptly at 3.30 p.m., the centre doors of the Round Room were opened and a small band of 24 deputies of the new assembly filed in. There were ‘no robes, no mace, no velveted sergeant-at-arms, not even wigged Clerks of the House. The Deputies came through the great audience at the Mansion House richly clothed only in their associations’ Apart from translations of some of the documents presented and caution from Count Plunkett that there was to be no cheering, all the proceedings were in Irish. To begin the session, Fr. Flanagan read a prayer. The constitution of Dail Eireann and the apointment of a delegation to the Paris Peace Conference were presented in Irish only, while the Declaration of Independence and the appeal for international support were translated into French and English. The Democratic Programme ‘hastily prepared’ as Piarias Beaslai noted in presenting it, was given only in Irish and English. The almost exclusive use of the Irish language was music to the ears of one witness ‘Never before did we so acutely feel the oneness of the Irish language and Ireland.’…adding that this experience was ‘worth a thousand propaganda books’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P17.
This first assembly of the Dail lasted less than 2 hours and was without incident. Amongst those in the audience was George Moore, acting as the Lord Lieutenant’s observer and who later commented that the Dail represented ‘the general feeling in the country’. Few observers disagreed ‘ The meeting was dull, but for us, the believers, it was electric, the fruition of many years of hard work’ and ‘it is difficult to convey the intensity of feeling which pervaded the Round Room, the feeling that great things were happening, even greater things impending, and that in looking around the room, he saw a glimpse of Ireland of the future…the profound emotion of the spectators, that for many of them sitting absolutely quiet …a day that they had never expected to see, but whose coming moved them profoundly’
The Dáil elected Cathal Brugha as its Ceann Comhairle (chairman). A number of short documents were then adopted.
- Dáil Constitution – a brief, provisional constitution.
- Declaration of Independence
- Message to the Free Nations of the World – asking nations to recognise Ireland as a separate nation, free from British rule.
- Democratic Programme – a tract espousing certain principles of socialism. This was viewed as a gesture to the Labour Party for their non-participation in the 1918 election.
The Declaration of Independence asserted that the Dáil was the parliament of a sovereign state called the "Irish Republic", and so the Dáil established a cabinet called the Ministry or "Aireacht", and an elected prime minister known both as the "Príomh Aire" and the "President of Dáil Éireann". The first, temporary president was Cathal Brugha. He was succeeded, in April, by Éamon de Valera.
The membership of the Dáil was drawn from the Irish MPs elected to sit at the Westminster parliament, 105 in total, of which 27 (one of whom represented two constituencies) were listed as being present (i láthair) for the first meeting. Of the remainder 34 (two of whom represented two constituencies) were described as being "imprisoned by the foreigners" (fé ghlas ag Gallaibh) and three (one of whom represented two constituencies) as being "deported by the foreigners" (ar díbirt ag Gallaibh).
Diarmuid Lynch as TD for Cork South East was noted as one of the three deported: 'ar díbirt ag Gallaibh'
Five Sinn Féin members were described as being 'as láthair' (absent). These included Michael Collins and Harry Boland who had left that morning for Lincoln Prison, arranging the escape of De Valera, Sean Milroy and Sean McGarry.
The remaining 32 members who were invited but not present were six members of the Irish Parliamentary Party and 26 unionists, mainly from the northern six counties that would later form Northern Ireland. These included all MPs elected to sit for Belfast city, Counties Down, Antrim, Armagh, and Londonderry/Derry (as opposed to Londonderry/Derry City), two out of three MPs for County Tyrone and one out of two MPs for County Fermanagh. For the portion of the country that would later become the Irish Free State, MPs did not sit for Waterford city or the Dublin University constituency.
Frank Gallagher recalled that Sir Edward Carson’s name was also called out to the packed Mansion House. ‘for a moment the audience laughed and then it was realised that Dail Eireann was the assembly of Ireland, embracing all whom the people chose, and that Unionists had the same right to be there as Republicans, and the laugh died out and was not repeated.’
Liz Curtis ‘The Cause of Ireland – from the United Irishmen to Partition’. Beyond the Pale, Belfast 1994. p306-7
De Valera was also appointed, in absentia, as a delegate to the Paris Peace Conference along with Arthur Griffith and Count Plunkett. All three were later to be denied safe conduct pasees by the British. At the meeting was read and approved an Irish Constitution, a Declaration of Independence, a Message to the Free Nations of the World and the Democratic Programme of Dail Eireann. This first meeting inaugurated an independent Irish Government, and all the beaureacratic processes necessary, modelling itself on the Westminster Parliamentary procedure.
According to the Democratic Programme, it committed the Dail to the principle that the 'ownership of Ireland' rested with 'the people of Ireland, affirming that "the right to private property must be subordinated to public right and welfare". Essentially, the country would be run on the principles of Liberty, Equality and Justice as based on the Easter Week proclamation. It was intended by the Labour leaders, William O’Brien and Thomas Johnson to be a great deal more democratic than it proved to be.
Tim Pat Coogan in “Ireland since the Rising” commented:
“Their draft contained two paragraphs which aroused the strong opposition of Michael Collins:
All good synicalist socialism. But Collins and the I.R.B would have none of it, and pressed that the programme should not be put to the Dail at all. Sinn Fein’s executive protested against this. The national front was showing signs of cracking. As a compromise, Sean T. O’Kelly redrafted it, leaving out the two most socialistic paragraphs, this done, the programme was passed. But the effect was to reduce the standing of Connolly and exalt that of Pearse in the Valhalla of Irish nationalism.”
T.P.Coogan. “Ireland since the Rising” Pall Mall 1966. P.25
Cathal Brugha stated on the adoption of the Declaration of Independence: ‘Deputies, you understand from what is asserted in this Declaration that we are now done with England. Let the world know it and those who are concerned bear it in mind.’
Conor O’Clery ‘Ireland in Quotes’ The O’Brien Press Dublin 1999 p.46
Shortly after the end of the first meeting, the British Government press censor banned the publication of the Declaration of Independence and the Democratic Programme. The Lord Lieutenant, Lord French described the Dail’s first meeting as ‘a ludicrious farce’. Ernest Blythe, a founding member of the Dail and a future senior minister in the Free State Government later described the public first meeting of the Dail as ‘the beginning of a presistent campaign of make believe and self-deception which has continued to do harm right down to the present day…’ considering instead that if De Valera, Griffith and Cosgrave had been able to attend, a wiser strategy would have been adopted. This declaration of a Republic was to make it difficult for any future compromise with the British Government. However, despite Blythe’s misgivings, the declaration was effective in furthering revolution and the existence of the Dail ‘meant the British had an institution with which to negotiate, thus enabling the political side of the movement to assert its own importance’
Michael Hayes, another of the first TD’s wrote that the Dail was ‘a source of authority, a symbol of resistance, rather than a legislative assembly’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p39
Diarmuid Lynch recalled that the Declaration of Independence was some time in arriving to key members of Irish America:
‘What with the extraordinary developments in Ireland and the ever-increasing agitation in the United States, British war time vigilance of ships and passengers and the censorship of mails continued unabated. Not until the end of April 1919, did a correct version of the Declaration of Independence adopted by Dail Eireann on January 21st reach us in America (via Paris ) – dependent as transmission of even documents, was on those few trusted messengers whose ocean trips were irregular and whose persons and effects were subject to search. Copies of other declarations adopted on the same occasion arrived in May 1919 – secreted in the soles of Harry Boland’s boots (now on exhibit in the National Museum).’
Application for Military Service Pension Certificate ( Diarmuid Lynch) - Department of Defence Files. Lynch Archives. March 9, 1938.
The remaining 32 members who were invited but not present were six members of the Irish Parliamentary Party and 26 unionists, mainly from the northern six counties that would later form Northern Ireland. These included all MPs elected to sit for Belfast city, Counties Down, Antrim, Armagh, and Londonderry/Derry (as opposed to Londonderry/Derry City), two out of three MPs for County Tyrone and one out of two MPs for County Fermanagh. For the portion of the country that would later become the Irish Free State, MPs did not sit for Waterford city or the Dublin University constituency.
Frank Gallagher recalled that Sir Edward Carson’s name was also called out to the packed Mansion House. ‘for a moment the audience laughed and then it was realised that Dail Eireann was the assembly of Ireland, embracing all whom the people chose, and that Unionists had the same right to be there as Republicans, and the laugh died out and was not repeated.’
Liz Curtis ‘The Cause of Ireland – from the United Irishmen to Partition’. Beyond the Pale, Belfast 1994. p306-7
De Valera was also appointed, in absentia, as a delegate to the Paris Peace Conference along with Arthur Griffith and Count Plunkett. All three were later to be denied safe conduct pasees by the British. At the meeting was read and approved an Irish Constitution, a Declaration of Independence, a Message to the Free Nations of the World and the Democratic Programme of Dail Eireann. This first meeting inaugurated an independent Irish Government, and all the beaureacratic processes necessary, modelling itself on the Westminster Parliamentary procedure.
According to the Democratic Programme, it committed the Dail to the principle that the 'ownership of Ireland' rested with 'the people of Ireland, affirming that "the right to private property must be subordinated to public right and welfare". Essentially, the country would be run on the principles of Liberty, Equality and Justice as based on the Easter Week proclamation. It was intended by the Labour leaders, William O’Brien and Thomas Johnson to be a great deal more democratic than it proved to be.
Tim Pat Coogan in “Ireland since the Rising” commented:
“Their draft contained two paragraphs which aroused the strong opposition of Michael Collins:
- The Republic will aim at the elimination of the class in society which lives upon the wealth produced by the workers of the nation but gives no useful service in return, and in the process of accomplishment will bring freedom to all who have hitherto been caught in the toils of economic servitude.
- It shall be the purpose of the Government to encourage the organisation of the people into trade unions and Co-Operative societies with a view to control and administration of the industries by the workers engaged in the industries.
All good synicalist socialism. But Collins and the I.R.B would have none of it, and pressed that the programme should not be put to the Dail at all. Sinn Fein’s executive protested against this. The national front was showing signs of cracking. As a compromise, Sean T. O’Kelly redrafted it, leaving out the two most socialistic paragraphs, this done, the programme was passed. But the effect was to reduce the standing of Connolly and exalt that of Pearse in the Valhalla of Irish nationalism.”
T.P.Coogan. “Ireland since the Rising” Pall Mall 1966. P.25
Cathal Brugha stated on the adoption of the Declaration of Independence: ‘Deputies, you understand from what is asserted in this Declaration that we are now done with England. Let the world know it and those who are concerned bear it in mind.’
Conor O’Clery ‘Ireland in Quotes’ The O’Brien Press Dublin 1999 p.46
Shortly after the end of the first meeting, the British Government press censor banned the publication of the Declaration of Independence and the Democratic Programme. The Lord Lieutenant, Lord French described the Dail’s first meeting as ‘a ludicrious farce’. Ernest Blythe, a founding member of the Dail and a future senior minister in the Free State Government later described the public first meeting of the Dail as ‘the beginning of a presistent campaign of make believe and self-deception which has continued to do harm right down to the present day…’ considering instead that if De Valera, Griffith and Cosgrave had been able to attend, a wiser strategy would have been adopted. This declaration of a Republic was to make it difficult for any future compromise with the British Government. However, despite Blythe’s misgivings, the declaration was effective in furthering revolution and the existence of the Dail ‘meant the British had an institution with which to negotiate, thus enabling the political side of the movement to assert its own importance’
Michael Hayes, another of the first TD’s wrote that the Dail was ‘a source of authority, a symbol of resistance, rather than a legislative assembly’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p39
Diarmuid Lynch recalled that the Declaration of Independence was some time in arriving to key members of Irish America:
‘What with the extraordinary developments in Ireland and the ever-increasing agitation in the United States, British war time vigilance of ships and passengers and the censorship of mails continued unabated. Not until the end of April 1919, did a correct version of the Declaration of Independence adopted by Dail Eireann on January 21st reach us in America (via Paris ) – dependent as transmission of even documents, was on those few trusted messengers whose ocean trips were irregular and whose persons and effects were subject to search. Copies of other declarations adopted on the same occasion arrived in May 1919 – secreted in the soles of Harry Boland’s boots (now on exhibit in the National Museum).’
Application for Military Service Pension Certificate ( Diarmuid Lynch) - Department of Defence Files. Lynch Archives. March 9, 1938.
First Sitting of the first Dail Eireann. Tuesday, 21 January 1919 Location: Mansion House Round Room. Public meeting. The First Dáil produced a report of each of its 21 sessions. Publishing this account was a touchstone of the existence of an Irish parliament. This official report was seen as documentary evidence that something of significance was happening. Click logo opposite to read. |
One of Dublin’s three afternoon newspapers of the day, the Evening Herald, published a detailed report on its front page attempting to describe how the session would unfold. It, like other papers, reported that the members of the new assembly would be called FDEs (Feisire Dáil Éireann) and wondered how much Irish language they would use. “The Dail Eireann will open with the election of a Speaker,” it said. “The word Speaker, however, will not be used, but the Irish equivalent, a committee having been appointed to arrange Irish titles for the different officers afterwards.” Like other Irish papers of the time, it publishes highlights from the main London papers, such as The Daily Telegraph’s speculation: “Unless Sinn Feiners kick up a row, there will be peace in Dublin on Tuesday. Whether Dail Eireann will enter upon its full programme at its first sitting is not certain. If it does, it will be seen Sinn Fein is going the whole hog.”
Dublin’s three late newspapers – the Evening Telegraph, Evening Mail and Evening Herald – were first with written accounts on their front pages. “Historic Assembly in the Mansion House, INDEPENDENCE DECLARED,” blared the Evening Herald. It described how two senior police commanders watched from a window opposite the Mansion House as thousands queued in “an air of anxious expectancy.”
An accompanying sketch described the scene inside the Mansion House: “At three o’clock the doors were thrown open and in surged the populace. The order was simply a revelation. The first signs of a rush were quickly suppressed by the stewards, and from that on the visitors took their seats and places with commendable precision. The smoothness … was really most wonderful.”
An accompanying sketch described the scene inside the Mansion House: “At three o’clock the doors were thrown open and in surged the populace. The order was simply a revelation. The first signs of a rush were quickly suppressed by the stewards, and from that on the visitors took their seats and places with commendable precision. The smoothness … was really most wonderful.”
16 January 2019: The Central Bank of Ireland issued two commorative Euro coins to mark the centenary of the First Dail. Featuring the words ‘An Chéad Dáil’ – The First Dáil – surrounded by images of the first TDs who attended the landmark meeting in 1919, the general circulation €2 and special mint €100 coins were designed by Emmet Mullins.
It’s only the second time the Irish Central Bank has issued a special circulating euro coin. In 2016, it issued 4.5 million special €2 coins to commemorate the centenary of the 1916 Easter Rising. |
As the Dail was meeting, the opening shots were fired in what was to become the Irish War of Independence. At Soloheadbeg, near Tipperary town, two Royal Irish Constabulary constables accompanying a cart of gellignite were ambushed and shot dead. The first police casualties in Ireland since the Rising.
"God help poor Ireland if she follows this deed of blood!"
Monsignor Ryan, St. Michael's Church, Tipperary.
Soloheadbeg, Co Tipperary prior to January 1919 was better known as the birthplace of Sir Michael Francis O’Dwyer, the son of local farmers who had risen to be Lieutenant Governor of the Punjab. (Later to retire blamed in part for the mass killing of unarmed Indian protestors at Amritsar.)
Soloheadbeg was not the first attempt by volunteers to obtain arms and/or explosives with arms, nor was it the first time shots had been exchanged with police. The level of politically related crime had been steadily rising in most parts of Ireland for the previous two years as the republican movement and the British administration ‘squared up’ to each other. By early 1919 an increasing tendency was becoming evident among volunteers in many areas to carry, display and use firearms.
Some controversy remains a century on. The issue is whether the Volunteers were justified in killing both RIC policemen as no authorisation for the action was sought or received from Volunteer HQ in Dublin and Dáil Éireann had not yet approved the opening of hostilities against British Forces.It was felt amongst some that the Volunteers were becoming too closely associated with the Sinn Féin party whose republican credentials, at this time, were unclear—the party was still a coalition of dual-monarchists, republicans and home rulers.
"God help poor Ireland if she follows this deed of blood!"
Monsignor Ryan, St. Michael's Church, Tipperary.
Soloheadbeg, Co Tipperary prior to January 1919 was better known as the birthplace of Sir Michael Francis O’Dwyer, the son of local farmers who had risen to be Lieutenant Governor of the Punjab. (Later to retire blamed in part for the mass killing of unarmed Indian protestors at Amritsar.)
Soloheadbeg was not the first attempt by volunteers to obtain arms and/or explosives with arms, nor was it the first time shots had been exchanged with police. The level of politically related crime had been steadily rising in most parts of Ireland for the previous two years as the republican movement and the British administration ‘squared up’ to each other. By early 1919 an increasing tendency was becoming evident among volunteers in many areas to carry, display and use firearms.
Some controversy remains a century on. The issue is whether the Volunteers were justified in killing both RIC policemen as no authorisation for the action was sought or received from Volunteer HQ in Dublin and Dáil Éireann had not yet approved the opening of hostilities against British Forces.It was felt amongst some that the Volunteers were becoming too closely associated with the Sinn Féin party whose republican credentials, at this time, were unclear—the party was still a coalition of dual-monarchists, republicans and home rulers.
Shortly before Christmas 1918, Seamus Robinson, Séan Treacy, Dan Breen and other members of ‘C’ and ‘E’ companies of the Third Tipperary Brigade received intelligence reports that a large quantity of gelignite was due to be delivered to Tipperary Town and then to be moved to Soloheadbeg quarry for stone blasting.
(Robinson had participated in the 1916 Rising. Treacy had been a member of the IRB since 1911. Breen and the others had been involved at least since the setting up on the Irish Volunteers in Tipperary in late 1913. Treacy had already been jailed twice for republican activities, on one occasion for taking part in an illegal guard of honour for de Valera, when the ‘Chief’ addressed a Volunteer gathering at Dobbyns Hotel, Tipperary Town. Prior to his release he had been on hunger strike in Mountjoy Jail, and subsequently was active in organising the Volunteers in Tipperary and other areas.)
The date of the shipment of the gelignite was uncertain. The quarry was not far from the homes of Treacy (Solohead) and Breen (Grange/Donohill) so Lar Breen, Dan’s brother, also a Volunteer, was sent to work there to keep a close watch. Plans for the seizure were made weeks before. Seamus Robinson later recalled extensive discussions with Treacy, and the consideration which they gave to rumours that the police guard might vary from two to six, or may even be as large as twelve. Their plans allowed for various contingencies. One was based on the possibility that the guard would be a small one, and that they could overpower the RIC men without firing a shot. Tadgh Crowe, one of the Volunteers, had been earmarked to march the RIC men down the road after the seizure and to keep them covered while his colleagues escaped; then, after a time, to withdraw himself.
On January 21, Paddy Dwyer from Hollyford, who was posted as an observer in Tipperary Town spotted the explosives—160 pounds of gelignite—being loaded on a cart outside the military barracks and noted the size of the escort. Only two policemen, McDonnell and O’Connell and two council employees, Patrick Flynn & James Godfrey were detailed to accompany the cart to the quarry.
(Both policemen were widely acknowledged to have been quiet, inoffensive men who were known and well regarded in Tipperary Town. Constable James MacDonnell (57) was a widower with a large family. He had been stationed in Tipperary for thirty years and had come from County Mayo. Constable Patrick O’Connell (36) unmarried, was a native of Coachford, County Cork, who during a recent influenza epidemic had nursed colleagues back to health. Neither man had strong political views, both were Catholic and were in the force for bread and butter reasons)
Dwyer now cycled ahead and watched the party reach the cross-roads at the foot of Kingswell Hill outside the town. Dwyer needed to know which of the two routes to the quarry the cart would take: the longer one by Bohertrime or the shorter by Kingswell Hill. He pretended to be repairing the slipped chain on his bike until they passed him, taking the Bohertrime route. Dwyer himself took the shorter route and informed Robinson and Treacy—who were in command of the operation—that the cart was on its way. The ambushers got into position behind the whitethorn hedge of Cranitch’s field near the quarry and waited.
The cart took the best part of an hour to approach. The horse was led by Godfrey, one of the workmen, and the two policemen, Constables MacDonnell and O’Connell, walked behind with their heavy rifles slung on their shoulders. The ambushers’ plan was to stop the cart as it passed the gate of Cranitch’s field. They were to jump out and command the policemen to surrender their weapons, then they were to seize the cart.
12:30pm The affray when it happened lasted a matter of minutes. The cart came abreast of the gate and a challenge was shouted. This is believed to have been ‘hands up’ and is said to have been shouted twice. The RIC men were taken aback and initially thought that those behind the hedge were playing a practical joke. On seeing the masked men they moved to un-sling their rifles. At least three ambushers were visible to the police. Constable O’Connell stooped for cover behind the cart and Constable MacDonnell fumbled with his weapon. Sean Treacy opened fire with an automatic rifle and Robinson and Breen fired their revolvers. Paddy O’Dwyer jumped onto the road and caught the horse’s head. He was followed by Breen and Robinson. The two policemen now lay dead on the roadway and the two workmen looked on, stupefied.
The big question is whether the policemen attempted to fire their rifles. The fact is that neither of their weapons discharged. Even if their rifles were in fact levelled on the ambushers (and there is no reason to disbelieve the contention that they were) the policemen were still likely to have been at a disadvantage: the element of surprise was against them. There is little doubt that it was Treacy who fired the first shot. Dan Breen’s later comment on Soloheadbeg that ‘six dead peelers would have made a better impression than two’ was most likely post-war bluster. He showed in subsequent actions that he was never so trigger-happy as to shoot without cause.
"However, not all historians agree with Breen's statement: ‘Breen and Treacy had decided in advance to shoot the police escort if necessary, in order to escalate the military side of the struggle, which they felt was being allowed to atrophy at the expense of political activity.’
Liz Curtis ‘The Cause of Ireland – from the United Irishmen to Partition’. Beyond the Pale, Belfast 1994. p308
After loading up the constables' rifles and ammunition, Hogan drove the cart with Treacy, Breen and the explosives away in the direction of the quarry while the others headed towards Coffey's forge. Witnesses later saw the cart been driven furiously towards Dundrum, County Tipperary, by two masked men with a third in the back. The horse and cart minus the explosives were later found abandoned at Allen Creamery near Dundrum, by District Inspector Poer O'Shee of Clonmel and Sergeant Horgan of Tipperary. The explosives were distributed to various Volunteer units in the Tipperary area but would not be used until 18 January 1920.
From this moment onwards until the Truce in July 1921, the struggle against the British forces intensified. The Irish Volunteers became the army of the state and often took action without sanction from Dail Eireann, against the primary targets of the R.I.C. and British forces. Serious shortages of arms and ammunition would be a major difficulty and would remain so right up to the Truce.
Meanwhile in Dublin, unaware of developments in Tipperary, the rebel Government held a reception and dinner for the visiting journalists ‘ thus began what was to be one of the most effective activities – the cultivation of foreign pressmen’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P17.
(Robinson had participated in the 1916 Rising. Treacy had been a member of the IRB since 1911. Breen and the others had been involved at least since the setting up on the Irish Volunteers in Tipperary in late 1913. Treacy had already been jailed twice for republican activities, on one occasion for taking part in an illegal guard of honour for de Valera, when the ‘Chief’ addressed a Volunteer gathering at Dobbyns Hotel, Tipperary Town. Prior to his release he had been on hunger strike in Mountjoy Jail, and subsequently was active in organising the Volunteers in Tipperary and other areas.)
The date of the shipment of the gelignite was uncertain. The quarry was not far from the homes of Treacy (Solohead) and Breen (Grange/Donohill) so Lar Breen, Dan’s brother, also a Volunteer, was sent to work there to keep a close watch. Plans for the seizure were made weeks before. Seamus Robinson later recalled extensive discussions with Treacy, and the consideration which they gave to rumours that the police guard might vary from two to six, or may even be as large as twelve. Their plans allowed for various contingencies. One was based on the possibility that the guard would be a small one, and that they could overpower the RIC men without firing a shot. Tadgh Crowe, one of the Volunteers, had been earmarked to march the RIC men down the road after the seizure and to keep them covered while his colleagues escaped; then, after a time, to withdraw himself.
On January 21, Paddy Dwyer from Hollyford, who was posted as an observer in Tipperary Town spotted the explosives—160 pounds of gelignite—being loaded on a cart outside the military barracks and noted the size of the escort. Only two policemen, McDonnell and O’Connell and two council employees, Patrick Flynn & James Godfrey were detailed to accompany the cart to the quarry.
(Both policemen were widely acknowledged to have been quiet, inoffensive men who were known and well regarded in Tipperary Town. Constable James MacDonnell (57) was a widower with a large family. He had been stationed in Tipperary for thirty years and had come from County Mayo. Constable Patrick O’Connell (36) unmarried, was a native of Coachford, County Cork, who during a recent influenza epidemic had nursed colleagues back to health. Neither man had strong political views, both were Catholic and were in the force for bread and butter reasons)
Dwyer now cycled ahead and watched the party reach the cross-roads at the foot of Kingswell Hill outside the town. Dwyer needed to know which of the two routes to the quarry the cart would take: the longer one by Bohertrime or the shorter by Kingswell Hill. He pretended to be repairing the slipped chain on his bike until they passed him, taking the Bohertrime route. Dwyer himself took the shorter route and informed Robinson and Treacy—who were in command of the operation—that the cart was on its way. The ambushers got into position behind the whitethorn hedge of Cranitch’s field near the quarry and waited.
The cart took the best part of an hour to approach. The horse was led by Godfrey, one of the workmen, and the two policemen, Constables MacDonnell and O’Connell, walked behind with their heavy rifles slung on their shoulders. The ambushers’ plan was to stop the cart as it passed the gate of Cranitch’s field. They were to jump out and command the policemen to surrender their weapons, then they were to seize the cart.
12:30pm The affray when it happened lasted a matter of minutes. The cart came abreast of the gate and a challenge was shouted. This is believed to have been ‘hands up’ and is said to have been shouted twice. The RIC men were taken aback and initially thought that those behind the hedge were playing a practical joke. On seeing the masked men they moved to un-sling their rifles. At least three ambushers were visible to the police. Constable O’Connell stooped for cover behind the cart and Constable MacDonnell fumbled with his weapon. Sean Treacy opened fire with an automatic rifle and Robinson and Breen fired their revolvers. Paddy O’Dwyer jumped onto the road and caught the horse’s head. He was followed by Breen and Robinson. The two policemen now lay dead on the roadway and the two workmen looked on, stupefied.
The big question is whether the policemen attempted to fire their rifles. The fact is that neither of their weapons discharged. Even if their rifles were in fact levelled on the ambushers (and there is no reason to disbelieve the contention that they were) the policemen were still likely to have been at a disadvantage: the element of surprise was against them. There is little doubt that it was Treacy who fired the first shot. Dan Breen’s later comment on Soloheadbeg that ‘six dead peelers would have made a better impression than two’ was most likely post-war bluster. He showed in subsequent actions that he was never so trigger-happy as to shoot without cause.
"However, not all historians agree with Breen's statement: ‘Breen and Treacy had decided in advance to shoot the police escort if necessary, in order to escalate the military side of the struggle, which they felt was being allowed to atrophy at the expense of political activity.’
Liz Curtis ‘The Cause of Ireland – from the United Irishmen to Partition’. Beyond the Pale, Belfast 1994. p308
After loading up the constables' rifles and ammunition, Hogan drove the cart with Treacy, Breen and the explosives away in the direction of the quarry while the others headed towards Coffey's forge. Witnesses later saw the cart been driven furiously towards Dundrum, County Tipperary, by two masked men with a third in the back. The horse and cart minus the explosives were later found abandoned at Allen Creamery near Dundrum, by District Inspector Poer O'Shee of Clonmel and Sergeant Horgan of Tipperary. The explosives were distributed to various Volunteer units in the Tipperary area but would not be used until 18 January 1920.
From this moment onwards until the Truce in July 1921, the struggle against the British forces intensified. The Irish Volunteers became the army of the state and often took action without sanction from Dail Eireann, against the primary targets of the R.I.C. and British forces. Serious shortages of arms and ammunition would be a major difficulty and would remain so right up to the Truce.
Meanwhile in Dublin, unaware of developments in Tipperary, the rebel Government held a reception and dinner for the visiting journalists ‘ thus began what was to be one of the most effective activities – the cultivation of foreign pressmen’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P17.
Thanks to Kevin Haddick Flynn, History Ireland : https://www.historyireland.com/20th-century-contemporary-history/soloheadbeg-what-really-happened/ and the Irish Times.
22
Press reaction in Ireland to the first Dail meeting was predictable:
The Irish Times, then the voice of the unionist status quo, saw events as both farcical and deadly dangerous. The Mansion House proceedings, it reported the following morning, were “futile and unreal,” and a 'grave warning to the Irish people'. The Dail's provisional constitution “a fantastic mixture of autocracy and artlessness,” its ceremony a procession of “cloudy performances.” and the declaration of Irish independence was an act in defiance of the British empire by young men who had ‘not the slightest notion of that Empire’s power and resources and not a particle of experience in the conduct of public affairs. These men are today the elected representatives of three-fourths of the Irish people, and the more quickly Ireland becomes convinced of the folly which elected them the sooner her sanity will return.’ The newspaper also noted the killing of two policemen the same afternoon in Tipperary and contrasted that with the Dublin Fusiliers’ welcome home ceremony, following four and a half years of captivity as prisoners of war, at the Mansion House immediately before the inaugural Dáil. “The priest who had shared their sufferings in Germany gave them this simple mandate – ‘Be true to your faith and to your country.’ It is the mandate that all Ireland needs at this time,” the Irish Times argued, “when folly walks abroad in the garb of patriotism and, in its tragic blindness, preaches the breaking up of laws.”
Press reaction in Ireland to the first Dail meeting was predictable:
The Irish Times, then the voice of the unionist status quo, saw events as both farcical and deadly dangerous. The Mansion House proceedings, it reported the following morning, were “futile and unreal,” and a 'grave warning to the Irish people'. The Dail's provisional constitution “a fantastic mixture of autocracy and artlessness,” its ceremony a procession of “cloudy performances.” and the declaration of Irish independence was an act in defiance of the British empire by young men who had ‘not the slightest notion of that Empire’s power and resources and not a particle of experience in the conduct of public affairs. These men are today the elected representatives of three-fourths of the Irish people, and the more quickly Ireland becomes convinced of the folly which elected them the sooner her sanity will return.’ The newspaper also noted the killing of two policemen the same afternoon in Tipperary and contrasted that with the Dublin Fusiliers’ welcome home ceremony, following four and a half years of captivity as prisoners of war, at the Mansion House immediately before the inaugural Dáil. “The priest who had shared their sufferings in Germany gave them this simple mandate – ‘Be true to your faith and to your country.’ It is the mandate that all Ireland needs at this time,” the Irish Times argued, “when folly walks abroad in the garb of patriotism and, in its tragic blindness, preaches the breaking up of laws.”
The Irish Independent acknowledged that the previous day's deliberations in the Mansion House constituted a ‘bold’ and ‘novel’ move on the part of the republican party, one that was guaranteed to command ‘a large share of public attention at home and abroad’.The paper praised the ‘gravity and decorum’ of the proceedings and suggests that this ‘must have been a disappointment to certain correspondents of the British press’.
The Independent however did not publish the text of the declaration of independence and stated that it could not agree with its terms because it believed that a continued association with Great Britain to be in Ireland’s best interests. Further, it considers the ‘prospect of the republicans realising their aim’ to be ‘remote’. It's Editor went on to state that it has nothing like the same faith that Sinn Féin does in the Paris peace conference and urged caution from the country’s new political leaders.
‘Now more than ever there is a necessity for the nation to keep a hold upon itself, to think well and carefully before it commits itself irrevocably to a course which it cannot see clearly to the end.’ and made suggestions as to the Dail's legislative direction ‘To draft and pass measures which it could not enforce would be to risk ridicule which would be more fatal than opposition’
The unionist Belfast Newsletter declared the goings-on in Dublin as both a ‘farce’ and ‘dangerous’. However, the newspaper believed that the Sinn Féiners are ‘aware that they might as well as ask for the moon as for independence, and yet they make multitudes of ignorant Nationalists believe that they are going to get it’. The editorial continues: ‘The Sinn Féiners, like the Germans, desire the destruction of British sea power, and of the whole British empire, and that is one reason why they demand independence.’
For the Freeman’s Journal, so long a cheerleader for the Irish Parliamentary Party, the big question that arose from the Mansion House gathering is – what next? Unless it is proposed to take steps to give practical effect to what occurred, ‘the whole proceedings were, in our opinion, humiliating in the last degree to the dignity of the national cause, and can have no other result than to make the Irish people cut a ridiculous figure in the eyes of the world....On the other hand, if the proceedings were seriously meant, and if there is any intention to attempt to carry the decisions into effect, we greatly fear that we are on the eve of one of the most tragic chapters in the history of Ireland....The question which dominates all other issues is whether the declarations bear any relation to realities, and whether it is seriously proposed to take measures to give them practical effect…if they were serious, then the country was on the eve of one of the most tragic chapters in the history of Ireland…any attempt to bring it into effect inevitable must lead to defeat, disaster and ruin of National hopes’
British newspaper coverage
‘The Republican theatricalism which has its absurd climax in the gathering of an Irish ‘Constituent Assembly’ will not be taken seriously in this country’
Manchester Guardian
‘A stage play at the Mansion House’
The Times
‘It is very easy to laugh at the Sinn Fein parliament, but it is not certain that it is wise…The Dail is a central gathering of well meaning idealists…utterly unable to control the physical force men in the provinces’
The Daily News
United States newspaper coverage
Much the same tone was carried by the US newspapers primarily as the only reporters representing the US media in the Mansion House on 21 January came from two rival American agencies: The Associated Press (AP) and the smaller United Press. Together, their reports spread through mass syndication deals to thousands of newspapers across the then 48 states. America’s evening papers, five to eight hours behind Ireland, managed to publish the news on the same day, while the morning papers carried accounts on 22 January. Although all newspapers received the same telegraphed stories, that didn’t stop each publication’s subeditors from playing it their own way. Distinct headlines and peculiar angles reflected, in some areas, the high Irish immigrant community in their readership, and in other locations, a glaring lack of affinity for matters Irish.
The New York Times proved most diligent in covering the build-up to the debut of Dáil Éireann, publishing a half-dozen AP reports leading up to its 22 January story atop the front page: “Irish Assembly Proclaims the Irish Republic.”
The Independent however did not publish the text of the declaration of independence and stated that it could not agree with its terms because it believed that a continued association with Great Britain to be in Ireland’s best interests. Further, it considers the ‘prospect of the republicans realising their aim’ to be ‘remote’. It's Editor went on to state that it has nothing like the same faith that Sinn Féin does in the Paris peace conference and urged caution from the country’s new political leaders.
‘Now more than ever there is a necessity for the nation to keep a hold upon itself, to think well and carefully before it commits itself irrevocably to a course which it cannot see clearly to the end.’ and made suggestions as to the Dail's legislative direction ‘To draft and pass measures which it could not enforce would be to risk ridicule which would be more fatal than opposition’
The unionist Belfast Newsletter declared the goings-on in Dublin as both a ‘farce’ and ‘dangerous’. However, the newspaper believed that the Sinn Féiners are ‘aware that they might as well as ask for the moon as for independence, and yet they make multitudes of ignorant Nationalists believe that they are going to get it’. The editorial continues: ‘The Sinn Féiners, like the Germans, desire the destruction of British sea power, and of the whole British empire, and that is one reason why they demand independence.’
For the Freeman’s Journal, so long a cheerleader for the Irish Parliamentary Party, the big question that arose from the Mansion House gathering is – what next? Unless it is proposed to take steps to give practical effect to what occurred, ‘the whole proceedings were, in our opinion, humiliating in the last degree to the dignity of the national cause, and can have no other result than to make the Irish people cut a ridiculous figure in the eyes of the world....On the other hand, if the proceedings were seriously meant, and if there is any intention to attempt to carry the decisions into effect, we greatly fear that we are on the eve of one of the most tragic chapters in the history of Ireland....The question which dominates all other issues is whether the declarations bear any relation to realities, and whether it is seriously proposed to take measures to give them practical effect…if they were serious, then the country was on the eve of one of the most tragic chapters in the history of Ireland…any attempt to bring it into effect inevitable must lead to defeat, disaster and ruin of National hopes’
British newspaper coverage
‘The Republican theatricalism which has its absurd climax in the gathering of an Irish ‘Constituent Assembly’ will not be taken seriously in this country’
Manchester Guardian
‘A stage play at the Mansion House’
The Times
‘It is very easy to laugh at the Sinn Fein parliament, but it is not certain that it is wise…The Dail is a central gathering of well meaning idealists…utterly unable to control the physical force men in the provinces’
The Daily News
United States newspaper coverage
Much the same tone was carried by the US newspapers primarily as the only reporters representing the US media in the Mansion House on 21 January came from two rival American agencies: The Associated Press (AP) and the smaller United Press. Together, their reports spread through mass syndication deals to thousands of newspapers across the then 48 states. America’s evening papers, five to eight hours behind Ireland, managed to publish the news on the same day, while the morning papers carried accounts on 22 January. Although all newspapers received the same telegraphed stories, that didn’t stop each publication’s subeditors from playing it their own way. Distinct headlines and peculiar angles reflected, in some areas, the high Irish immigrant community in their readership, and in other locations, a glaring lack of affinity for matters Irish.
The New York Times proved most diligent in covering the build-up to the debut of Dáil Éireann, publishing a half-dozen AP reports leading up to its 22 January story atop the front page: “Irish Assembly Proclaims the Irish Republic.”
The New York World took a paternalistic view on the previous day: ‘Sinn Fein may fly their revolutionary flags, they may conduct their proceedings in Gaelic, as far as the delegates know how…but they are assured of full protection by the British Government’
The Transcript in Boston had some strong opinions on Sinn Fein: ‘Sinn Fein has become an insidious influence on the side of Bolshevism, outside of Ireland as well as within it. It passes easily into affiliation with world wide revoloutionsim as it did into the treasonable service of the Germans’
The Oakland Tribune in California put the AP story on it's 21 January front page and pulled lines from the story for its series of headlines. “Dail Eireann, Convening Under Tacit Permission of British Government, Is Battleground of Paradoxes,” it said. “Half of Nationalists Elected to British Houses Are in Jail, but Other Half Will Participate in the Big Conclave.”
The Transcript in Boston had some strong opinions on Sinn Fein: ‘Sinn Fein has become an insidious influence on the side of Bolshevism, outside of Ireland as well as within it. It passes easily into affiliation with world wide revoloutionsim as it did into the treasonable service of the Germans’
The Oakland Tribune in California put the AP story on it's 21 January front page and pulled lines from the story for its series of headlines. “Dail Eireann, Convening Under Tacit Permission of British Government, Is Battleground of Paradoxes,” it said. “Half of Nationalists Elected to British Houses Are in Jail, but Other Half Will Participate in the Big Conclave.”
“Sons of Erin will send delegates to Paris,” was the biggest takeaway to emerge from the first Dáil sitting, according to the Jan. 22, 1919, front-page story in The Statesman of Austin, Texas.
The Boston Evening Globe, by contrast, ran AP stories on its front page on successive days, 21 and 22 January and placed Ireland’s independence call in the context of wider demands within the British Empire for dominion status. “No Disturbance, Though Veterans of Great War Are Close at Hand,” the newspaper headlined, highlighting the AP’s colour of the Dublin Fusiliers attending a welcome-home luncheon immediately before the Dáil’s inaugural sitting.
Elements of the New York press, substantially pro-British in outlook, managed to get forecasts similarly wrong. The Brooklyn Daily Eagle of 22 January wrote: “We do not know how far the plan of winking at what is said in Dublin will go. We assume, as the world is bound to assume, that no attention will be paid to the demand for a withdrawal of the British garrisons in Ireland. Probably any force exhibition by the Sinn Feiners will be put down.”
The Hot Springs New Era of Arkansas reported “Probably No Country Except Ireland Could Present an Episode as Remarkable as the Assembly of ‘Dail Eireann’,”
The Indianapolis News in Indiana took that same story and topped it with something completely different – an air of sardonic scepticism. “Dublin Winks While Rebel Parliament Sits,” its 21 January headlines begin. “Enemies Freely Admitted to the ‘Dail Eireann’. ‘Republic’ is being born.”
The Miami Daily Metropolis put the AP report on top of the 22 January front page – but apparently didn’t read it too closely. “Constitution of Republic is before Dail Eiream,” (sic) it reported.
Canadian newspaper coverage of the First Dail
Canada, like the United States, was heavily dependent on reports filed by international news agencies, particularly the Associated Press. The AP’s broadly sceptical and London-centric tone resonated with pro-British newspapers in Canada, which was not yet independent of the UK.
Typical of the time was the 22 January front-page story in the Vancouver Daily World in British Columbia. Its acid overtones – particularly over the Dáil’s use of Irish – make for lively reading today. “Declaration of Independence is Read in ‘Parliament’ in Gaelic, But Few Can Understand It. Fire of Oratory Killed by Use of Old Tongue,” read the locally written headlines of the AP story, which concedes that the members present “evidently felt themselves men playing great parts in a solemn sacrament.”
The Boston Evening Globe, by contrast, ran AP stories on its front page on successive days, 21 and 22 January and placed Ireland’s independence call in the context of wider demands within the British Empire for dominion status. “No Disturbance, Though Veterans of Great War Are Close at Hand,” the newspaper headlined, highlighting the AP’s colour of the Dublin Fusiliers attending a welcome-home luncheon immediately before the Dáil’s inaugural sitting.
Elements of the New York press, substantially pro-British in outlook, managed to get forecasts similarly wrong. The Brooklyn Daily Eagle of 22 January wrote: “We do not know how far the plan of winking at what is said in Dublin will go. We assume, as the world is bound to assume, that no attention will be paid to the demand for a withdrawal of the British garrisons in Ireland. Probably any force exhibition by the Sinn Feiners will be put down.”
The Hot Springs New Era of Arkansas reported “Probably No Country Except Ireland Could Present an Episode as Remarkable as the Assembly of ‘Dail Eireann’,”
The Indianapolis News in Indiana took that same story and topped it with something completely different – an air of sardonic scepticism. “Dublin Winks While Rebel Parliament Sits,” its 21 January headlines begin. “Enemies Freely Admitted to the ‘Dail Eireann’. ‘Republic’ is being born.”
The Miami Daily Metropolis put the AP report on top of the 22 January front page – but apparently didn’t read it too closely. “Constitution of Republic is before Dail Eiream,” (sic) it reported.
Canadian newspaper coverage of the First Dail
Canada, like the United States, was heavily dependent on reports filed by international news agencies, particularly the Associated Press. The AP’s broadly sceptical and London-centric tone resonated with pro-British newspapers in Canada, which was not yet independent of the UK.
Typical of the time was the 22 January front-page story in the Vancouver Daily World in British Columbia. Its acid overtones – particularly over the Dáil’s use of Irish – make for lively reading today. “Declaration of Independence is Read in ‘Parliament’ in Gaelic, But Few Can Understand It. Fire of Oratory Killed by Use of Old Tongue,” read the locally written headlines of the AP story, which concedes that the members present “evidently felt themselves men playing great parts in a solemn sacrament.”
Reaction to the murder of two RIC constables
Reaction to the murder of the two RIC constables was immediate. Martial Law was imposed in the county & the following communiqué was published; "In view of the murder of police constables in Tipperary yesterday, the Irish Government has determined to proclaim the district a military area immediately - Press Censor, Ireland".
The local Nationalist newspaper described the ambush as ‘a very deplorable affair’. The London Times devoted three column inches to it under the headline ‘Policemen shot dead in Tipperary—cartload of explosives captured’. Tipperary was declared a ‘special military area’ and all fairs and markets were banned. There was a huge security clamp down with a heavy military and police presence for weeks afterwards.
A reward of £1,000 was placed on the head of Dan Breen, and raised to £10,000 later that year. It was never collected.
At the inquest the coroner described the tragedy as the saddest that had ever occurred in Tipperary. The medical evidence was that Constable MacDonnell was shot in the left side of the head and through the left arm, and that his death was instantaneous; Constable O’Connell was shot through the left side, and from the track of the bullet he must have been in a stooping position. He appeared to have been shot from behind. The workmen, Flynn and Godfrey, were unable to say whether the policemen offered resistance. The evidence of both was confused. Flynn collapsed in the witness box and had to be removed to hospital with a nervous breakdown. Both policemen were widely acknowledged to have been quiet, inoffensive men who were well-liked in Tipperary Town.
That the Third Tipperary Brigade acted without authority is seen by some to be of little importance, for Dáil Éireann never formally declared the opening of hostilities in the War of Independence. It did not accept responsibility for the actions of the Volunteers/IRA until April 1921. The War of Independence developed from actions like that at Soloheadbeg and from the British response to them. While the murders were not sanctioned by the Sinn Fein Executive, it was not condoned either. In discussion with the US Diplomat Charles Hathaway, it was said that a Sinn Fein leader stated that ‘ a disavowal would be taken as a sign of weakness’.
Sinn Fein circles in Dublin believed that the South Tipperary gunmen that killed both policemen in Soloheadbeg, should now slip away to the US and make a new life there. Those responsible refused, among them Sean Treacy declared ‘Any fool can shoot a peeler and run away to America’ and took shelter in safe houses along with Breen and Robinson.
Dr Michael Fogarty, Bishop of Killaloe made a statement that was immediately interpreted as tacit Catholic hierarchical approval of armed action against British forces: ‘The fight for Irish freedom has passed into the hands of the young men of Ireland…and when the young men of Ireland hit back at their oppressors it is not for an old man like me to cry ‘foul’’
Conor O’Clery ‘Ireland in Quotes’ The O’Brien Press Dublin 1999 p.46
Attacks on RIC barracks increased...the Volunteers, now renamed the IRA needing arms and ammunition raided outlying barracks, taking the arms there and burning barracks. From this came the eventual plan to slowly force the R.I.C from rural areas back into the larger towns through a war of attrition, eventually allowing a virtual complete freedom of movement of the I.R.A. through the countryside as well as having major political significance, dramatically demonstrating the collapse of British authority. This would continue until the summer of 1920 when the use of ambushes became the preferred form of offensive and defensive warfare against British forces.
Most historians have regarded Soloheadbeg as the beginning of a new sequence of events in Ireland. It was the first time that an encounter between volunteers and the security forces ended in fatalities and also that the first Dáil met on the same day. Taken together these two incidents represent a sudden and significant escalation of the ‘Irish crisis’. There was no significant violent action by the IRA for another two months, suggesting that it was at best a false start.
In his account for the Bureau of Military History, written in 1950, Robinson is quite clear that the decision to launch an armed campaign was in keeping with the general aims of “GHQ” – the executive of the IRA – but against the known wishes of both the Sinn Féin leadership and the democratically elected Dáil: “The passive-resistance policy of old Sinn Féin and the apparent policy of the Dáil was not the policy of GHQ.”
Robinson quoted approvingly from Óglach, the bulletin of the emerging IRA: “‘Passive resistance is no resistance at all. Our active military resistance is the only thing that will tell. Any plans, theories, or doubts tending to distract the minds of the people from the policy of fierce, ruthless fighting ought to be severely discouraged.’ Inference: Ruthless fighting encouraged.” ...and another inference: the Dáil was a distraction from the real business of ruthless fighting. As Robinson explained it, the ambush was aimed at pre-empting the authority of the Dáil, creating a violent fait accompli that could not be gainsaid by “righteous indignation speeches of dyed-in-the-wood pacifist members” of the new Irish parliament.
In this sense, Soloheadbeg was as much a blow at the nonviolent wing of Sinn Féin as it was against the RIC or Britain. It was also, however, a defiance even of the authority of the IRA itself. Breen wrote that it was conceived because the IRA was “in great danger of becoming merely an adjunct to the Sinn Féin organisation"
Fintan O'Toole writing in the Irish Times on January 12, 2019 summarised from the vantage of a century's hindsight: 'Soloheadbeg gave sanction to a fatal belief that would remain in place for much longer; that anyone with a gun could claim the authority of the Irish republic."
Escape of four IRA prisoners from Usk Prison
Reaction to the murder of the two RIC constables was immediate. Martial Law was imposed in the county & the following communiqué was published; "In view of the murder of police constables in Tipperary yesterday, the Irish Government has determined to proclaim the district a military area immediately - Press Censor, Ireland".
The local Nationalist newspaper described the ambush as ‘a very deplorable affair’. The London Times devoted three column inches to it under the headline ‘Policemen shot dead in Tipperary—cartload of explosives captured’. Tipperary was declared a ‘special military area’ and all fairs and markets were banned. There was a huge security clamp down with a heavy military and police presence for weeks afterwards.
A reward of £1,000 was placed on the head of Dan Breen, and raised to £10,000 later that year. It was never collected.
At the inquest the coroner described the tragedy as the saddest that had ever occurred in Tipperary. The medical evidence was that Constable MacDonnell was shot in the left side of the head and through the left arm, and that his death was instantaneous; Constable O’Connell was shot through the left side, and from the track of the bullet he must have been in a stooping position. He appeared to have been shot from behind. The workmen, Flynn and Godfrey, were unable to say whether the policemen offered resistance. The evidence of both was confused. Flynn collapsed in the witness box and had to be removed to hospital with a nervous breakdown. Both policemen were widely acknowledged to have been quiet, inoffensive men who were well-liked in Tipperary Town.
That the Third Tipperary Brigade acted without authority is seen by some to be of little importance, for Dáil Éireann never formally declared the opening of hostilities in the War of Independence. It did not accept responsibility for the actions of the Volunteers/IRA until April 1921. The War of Independence developed from actions like that at Soloheadbeg and from the British response to them. While the murders were not sanctioned by the Sinn Fein Executive, it was not condoned either. In discussion with the US Diplomat Charles Hathaway, it was said that a Sinn Fein leader stated that ‘ a disavowal would be taken as a sign of weakness’.
Sinn Fein circles in Dublin believed that the South Tipperary gunmen that killed both policemen in Soloheadbeg, should now slip away to the US and make a new life there. Those responsible refused, among them Sean Treacy declared ‘Any fool can shoot a peeler and run away to America’ and took shelter in safe houses along with Breen and Robinson.
Dr Michael Fogarty, Bishop of Killaloe made a statement that was immediately interpreted as tacit Catholic hierarchical approval of armed action against British forces: ‘The fight for Irish freedom has passed into the hands of the young men of Ireland…and when the young men of Ireland hit back at their oppressors it is not for an old man like me to cry ‘foul’’
Conor O’Clery ‘Ireland in Quotes’ The O’Brien Press Dublin 1999 p.46
Attacks on RIC barracks increased...the Volunteers, now renamed the IRA needing arms and ammunition raided outlying barracks, taking the arms there and burning barracks. From this came the eventual plan to slowly force the R.I.C from rural areas back into the larger towns through a war of attrition, eventually allowing a virtual complete freedom of movement of the I.R.A. through the countryside as well as having major political significance, dramatically demonstrating the collapse of British authority. This would continue until the summer of 1920 when the use of ambushes became the preferred form of offensive and defensive warfare against British forces.
Most historians have regarded Soloheadbeg as the beginning of a new sequence of events in Ireland. It was the first time that an encounter between volunteers and the security forces ended in fatalities and also that the first Dáil met on the same day. Taken together these two incidents represent a sudden and significant escalation of the ‘Irish crisis’. There was no significant violent action by the IRA for another two months, suggesting that it was at best a false start.
In his account for the Bureau of Military History, written in 1950, Robinson is quite clear that the decision to launch an armed campaign was in keeping with the general aims of “GHQ” – the executive of the IRA – but against the known wishes of both the Sinn Féin leadership and the democratically elected Dáil: “The passive-resistance policy of old Sinn Féin and the apparent policy of the Dáil was not the policy of GHQ.”
Robinson quoted approvingly from Óglach, the bulletin of the emerging IRA: “‘Passive resistance is no resistance at all. Our active military resistance is the only thing that will tell. Any plans, theories, or doubts tending to distract the minds of the people from the policy of fierce, ruthless fighting ought to be severely discouraged.’ Inference: Ruthless fighting encouraged.” ...and another inference: the Dáil was a distraction from the real business of ruthless fighting. As Robinson explained it, the ambush was aimed at pre-empting the authority of the Dáil, creating a violent fait accompli that could not be gainsaid by “righteous indignation speeches of dyed-in-the-wood pacifist members” of the new Irish parliament.
In this sense, Soloheadbeg was as much a blow at the nonviolent wing of Sinn Féin as it was against the RIC or Britain. It was also, however, a defiance even of the authority of the IRA itself. Breen wrote that it was conceived because the IRA was “in great danger of becoming merely an adjunct to the Sinn Féin organisation"
Fintan O'Toole writing in the Irish Times on January 12, 2019 summarised from the vantage of a century's hindsight: 'Soloheadbeg gave sanction to a fatal belief that would remain in place for much longer; that anyone with a gun could claim the authority of the Irish republic."
Escape of four IRA prisoners from Usk Prison
‘By its provisional Constitution, the Dail had ‘full powers to legislate’ and its Ministry had full executive powers. The Priomh-Aire (First Minister) was to be chosen by the Dail. He would nominate the four other ministers and have power to dismiss them from office.’ The position of Priomh-Aire ‘ corresponded to that of the ‘President of the United States of America, in which the function of the President and active Chief Executive are combined’
Macardle. ‘The Irish Republic’. Irish Press 1957. p276.
Cathal Brugha was elected Priomh-Aire, and then he proposed and the Dail approved his ministers – Eoin Mac Neill as Finance, Collins as Home Affairs, Count Plunkett as Foreign Affairs and Richard Mulcahy as National Defence. The first parliamentary opposition came from Piarias Beaslai who objected to MacNeill’s portfolio as Finance Minister. MacNeill agreed he held no financial expertise, but was merely holding the office until the release of a more suitable minister from the British prisons.
The Cork deputy, J.J.Walsh courted controversy when he stated that the ‘Irish people are really revoloutionary …theres a new born spirit in the country towards the emancipated democracies of Russia’. Alarm rippled through the establishment a suggested relationship between Sinn Fein and Bolshevism. Indpendence today, socialism tomorrow.
The Dail also approved nominations of Sean T. O'Kelly as Envoy of the Government of the Irish Republic for the representative hearing before the Peace Conference at Versailles on Ireland’s case for independence and claim for recognition as a Republic. While there was complete agreement between Irish American leaders and the Dail Eireann Executive in Ireland on the immediate objective of gaining a hearing at the Paris Peace Conference, the combination of President Wilson’s pro-British stance, the status of Ireland as part of the United Kingdom and imprisonment of most of the probable leaders to represent Ireland, proved to be difficult to overcome.
Sean T. O'Kelly later wrote that while it was generally agreed that the Paris mission ‘was a forlorn hope, almost a concession, made by fiercer spirits among the Sinn Fein leaders to those of their comrades who urge that every possible instrument of peaceful negotiation should at least be tried’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P42
A closed second sitting of the First Dail Eireann took place in the Oak Room at the Mansion House.
‘By its provisional Constitution, the Dail had ‘full powers to legislate’ and its Ministry had full executive powers. The Priomh-Aire (First Minister) was to be chosen by the Dail. He would nominate the four other ministers and have power to dismiss them from office.’ The position of Priomh-Aire ‘ corresponded to that of the ‘President of the United States of America, in which the function of the President and active Chief Executive are combined’
Macardle. ‘The Irish Republic’. Irish Press 1957. p276.
Cathal Brugha was elected Priomh-Aire, and then he proposed and the Dail approved his ministers – Eoin Mac Neill as Finance, Collins as Home Affairs, Count Plunkett as Foreign Affairs and Richard Mulcahy as National Defence. The first parliamentary opposition came from Piarias Beaslai who objected to MacNeill’s portfolio as Finance Minister. MacNeill agreed he held no financial expertise, but was merely holding the office until the release of a more suitable minister from the British prisons.
The Cork deputy, J.J.Walsh courted controversy when he stated that the ‘Irish people are really revoloutionary …theres a new born spirit in the country towards the emancipated democracies of Russia’. Alarm rippled through the establishment a suggested relationship between Sinn Fein and Bolshevism. Indpendence today, socialism tomorrow.
The Dail also approved nominations of Sean T. O'Kelly as Envoy of the Government of the Irish Republic for the representative hearing before the Peace Conference at Versailles on Ireland’s case for independence and claim for recognition as a Republic. While there was complete agreement between Irish American leaders and the Dail Eireann Executive in Ireland on the immediate objective of gaining a hearing at the Paris Peace Conference, the combination of President Wilson’s pro-British stance, the status of Ireland as part of the United Kingdom and imprisonment of most of the probable leaders to represent Ireland, proved to be difficult to overcome.
Sean T. O'Kelly later wrote that while it was generally agreed that the Paris mission ‘was a forlorn hope, almost a concession, made by fiercer spirits among the Sinn Fein leaders to those of their comrades who urge that every possible instrument of peaceful negotiation should at least be tried’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P42
A closed second sitting of the First Dail Eireann took place in the Oak Room at the Mansion House.
23
The Bishop Of Killaloe, Dr Fogarty said:
‘The fight for Irish freedom has passed into the hands of the young men of Ireland ...and when the young men of Ireland hit back at their oppressors it is not for an old man like me to cry ‘foul !’’
Macardle. ‘The Irish Republic’ Irish Press, Dublin. 1957. p289-290
Kit writing to Mary from 2366 Grand Concourse, New York:
‘My dear Mary.
A thousand thanks for your welcome letter of Dec 14 which reached us about 2 weeks ago. Indeed I would have written you much sooner but have been laid up with bronchitis for the last fortnight. I feel much better now but it's hard to shake off the cough. Thank God Diarmuid is feeling A1 again & can take his food as well as ever. He would need all his strength now because he is working as he never worked before & that’s saying a good deal, but you know it's now or never with us both here and at home presumably nothing that’s possible will be left undone.
Well Mary I hope you all in Granig had a bright & happy Christmas & new Year, but surely it could not be otherwise with the wonderful election news etc etc. it's the regret of our lives that we’re missing all the excitement. I expect Michael will be up in Dublin for the 21st. it's certainly great but we are a bit anxious here as we don’t get very definite news.
We had quite a number of cards from Cork & Dublin & a few from some of the boys in Belfast & England. Mrs Dan Ahern also sent a nice letter. Diarmuid received Michael’s safely some time ago but has been too busy ever since to answer it. He also had a long letter from Tim Ring (Valentia) & several cables of congratulations on his unopposed result. The Cork people are certainly great.
Thank God the ‘Flue’ seems to be dying out at home, but I’m afraid we’re in for another bad time here again , ever since December the flue & pneumonia have been increasing rapidly. Reports in the papers for the last few days have been very alarming.
Did you hear from Diarmuid’s aunt in Australia for Christmas? We did not have address till you sent it to us as I was not allowed to take her letters with me which you sent to me in Dublin. I could not recall her address on them. The poor creature will be delighted at the latest developments I’m sure.
It did not seem a bit like Christmas to us here this year, thought we had a very nice time with Dick Dalton’s people-in-law, the Ryans. There's no such thing as St Stephen’s Day here. Everyone turns into work the day after Xmas just the same as any other day in the year. I thought this very strange altogether.
No Mary dear, write to us often as you can & give all the news you can from the dear old land & please God we’ll soon have the pleasure of spending another very happy Xmas in Granig again when we will all be free & happy in our own land.
With best love and wishes to you, Dan & Tim.
Yours affectionately,
Kattie.
Lynch Family Archives Folder 5/4
23
The Bishop Of Killaloe, Dr Fogarty said:
‘The fight for Irish freedom has passed into the hands of the young men of Ireland ...and when the young men of Ireland hit back at their oppressors it is not for an old man like me to cry ‘foul !’’
Macardle. ‘The Irish Republic’ Irish Press, Dublin. 1957. p289-290
Kit writing to Mary from 2366 Grand Concourse, New York:
‘My dear Mary.
A thousand thanks for your welcome letter of Dec 14 which reached us about 2 weeks ago. Indeed I would have written you much sooner but have been laid up with bronchitis for the last fortnight. I feel much better now but it's hard to shake off the cough. Thank God Diarmuid is feeling A1 again & can take his food as well as ever. He would need all his strength now because he is working as he never worked before & that’s saying a good deal, but you know it's now or never with us both here and at home presumably nothing that’s possible will be left undone.
Well Mary I hope you all in Granig had a bright & happy Christmas & new Year, but surely it could not be otherwise with the wonderful election news etc etc. it's the regret of our lives that we’re missing all the excitement. I expect Michael will be up in Dublin for the 21st. it's certainly great but we are a bit anxious here as we don’t get very definite news.
We had quite a number of cards from Cork & Dublin & a few from some of the boys in Belfast & England. Mrs Dan Ahern also sent a nice letter. Diarmuid received Michael’s safely some time ago but has been too busy ever since to answer it. He also had a long letter from Tim Ring (Valentia) & several cables of congratulations on his unopposed result. The Cork people are certainly great.
Thank God the ‘Flue’ seems to be dying out at home, but I’m afraid we’re in for another bad time here again , ever since December the flue & pneumonia have been increasing rapidly. Reports in the papers for the last few days have been very alarming.
Did you hear from Diarmuid’s aunt in Australia for Christmas? We did not have address till you sent it to us as I was not allowed to take her letters with me which you sent to me in Dublin. I could not recall her address on them. The poor creature will be delighted at the latest developments I’m sure.
It did not seem a bit like Christmas to us here this year, thought we had a very nice time with Dick Dalton’s people-in-law, the Ryans. There's no such thing as St Stephen’s Day here. Everyone turns into work the day after Xmas just the same as any other day in the year. I thought this very strange altogether.
No Mary dear, write to us often as you can & give all the news you can from the dear old land & please God we’ll soon have the pleasure of spending another very happy Xmas in Granig again when we will all be free & happy in our own land.
With best love and wishes to you, Dan & Tim.
Yours affectionately,
Kattie.
Lynch Family Archives Folder 5/4
The Chicago Daily Tribune, though relying on another AP report, on 23 January asserted on its own “the threat that a free and hostile Ireland would be to England. The principal artery of English trade runs through the Irish sea, almost within sight of the Irish coast. For this reason it is not expected that England will allow the idea of a `free Ireland’ to get much beyond the talking stage.” An accompanying map of potentially imperilled shipping lanes labelled the divided island as Ulster versus “Sinn Fein Ireland.”
The Chicago Daily Tribune, though relying on another AP report, on 23 January asserted on its own “the threat that a free and hostile Ireland would be to England. The principal artery of English trade runs through the Irish sea, almost within sight of the Irish coast. For this reason it is not expected that England will allow the idea of a `free Ireland’ to get much beyond the talking stage.” An accompanying map of potentially imperilled shipping lanes labelled the divided island as Ulster versus “Sinn Fein Ireland.”
The New York Sun editorial of January 23:
24
Diarmuid Lynch as National Secretary of the Friends of Irish Freedom began a new drive ‘ to enrol into one militant, disciplined organisation, the increasing but unattached supporters of the cause’.
Speaking at a meeting in New York on this day he said:
Diarmuid Lynch as National Secretary of the Friends of Irish Freedom began a new drive ‘ to enrol into one militant, disciplined organisation, the increasing but unattached supporters of the cause’.
Speaking at a meeting in New York on this day he said:
‘I agree with the passing of resolution and the holding of meetings, and showing ourselves and counting our heads in parades, but I tell you what is going to count is Organisation - an organisation that you can get working at the touch of a button, an organisation through which, by the sending of telegrams or one series of letters, you can line up inside a week or less, every man and woman of the blood in this country...unless we are able to do that, the politicians will sneer at us and the British propagandists who are working day and night will sneer at us also - and they will be right..”
Diarmuid Lynch ‘The I.R.B. and the 1916 Rising’ Edited by Florence O'Donoghue. Mercier Press 1957. p197.
In Lincoln Prison, a second cake arrived with a key, delivered by Frank Kelly ( who had been watching the jail for weeks and fraternising with the warders in local pub ). However this second key also did not work. It was too small and wasn’t a master key. Sean McGarry in Irish asked for a blank key and files to be smuggled in baked in another cake.
Irish Unionist Alliance splits and the Unionist Anti-Partition League formed.
Constable McDonnell, killed at the Soloheadbeg ambush was buried in St Michael’s Cemetey, Tipperary and Constable O’Connell in Coachford, Co. Cork. South Tipperary is proclaimed by British authorities, banning fairs and gatherings for the next three months.
Irish Unionist Alliance splits and the Unionist Anti-Partition League formed.
Constable McDonnell, killed at the Soloheadbeg ambush was buried in St Michael’s Cemetey, Tipperary and Constable O’Connell in Coachford, Co. Cork. South Tipperary is proclaimed by British authorities, banning fairs and gatherings for the next three months.
25
Belfast: Following the vote for strike action for a 44 hour week on the 14th, impatient electricity and gas workers walked out to get the strike underway.
Paris: The League of Nations is founded.
Belfast: Following the vote for strike action for a 44 hour week on the 14th, impatient electricity and gas workers walked out to get the strike underway.
Paris: The League of Nations is founded.
The Irish Centre Party (above) was established in January 1919 against the backdrop of the Irish War of Independence and the division of the Irish Unionist Alliance. The party was founded by Stephen Gwynn, who became chair of its provisional general committee, and was dominated by professional men and women, most of whom were from moderate, middle-class Dublin families. It gained limited prominence through its most notable member, Sir Hubert Gough, who had been closely involved in the 1914 Curragh incident.
Part of the wider Irish Home Rule movement, the Centre Party's federal programme recognised that the Irish constitutional debate had fundamentally altered since the Edwardian period. The party’s primary aim was not to redesign the Union to accommodate Ireland, but instead to reconcile Ireland’s internal divisions. The party advanced a programme advocating the creation of a self-governing Ireland within the British Empire, with a central parliament in Dublin for national affairs and four provincial assemblies to tackle local issues. This had been the basis of a scheme that the Irish Convention received from Joseph Alexander Moles, an Ulster-born businessman, which Gwynn immediately supported. The Centre Party argued that this federal system would allow the interests of both the Protestant and Roman Catholic communities to be adequately represented, while preventing the division of Ireland and recognising its place in the empire. It has since been described by Colin Reid as the "party of constitutional nationalism." The Centre Party failed to gain sufficient membership to make it a prominent force in Irish politics. The principle of a federal Ireland had limited appeal to nationalists, especially in Sinn Féin, who feared that it would undermine the political and territorial integrity of an Irish state. For unionists, the federalist solution proposed the break-up of the Union with Great Britain, which they opposed. The party's poor support level led Gwynn to enter negotiations with other moderate political movements. Encouraged by Lord Monteagle, in June 1919 the Irish Centre Party merged with Sir Horace Plunkett's dominion movement to form the Irish Dominion League, a political party which survived until 1921. |
The weekly Nationality, edited by Sinn Féin founder Arthur Griffith, observed a hope-filled generational change in the Mansion House turnout. “Standing and looking round at the sea of faces in the Round Room, one could not fail to think that here was a glimpse of the Ireland of the future...Here was the key to the puzzle which has so long baffled politicians, statesmen, historians and prophets. … It was essentially a gathering of young men and women thoroughly alert and sincere, frank and unabashed. Here and there a few grey hairs and bald heads could be seen, but the prevailing tone was young and fresh, seasoned by a well-balanced patriotism, which promises great things for the youngest democracy of the oldest of nations.”
26
The next cake arrived at Lincoln Prison with the blank keys and Alderman Loughrey of Kilkenny set to work. Again there was difficulty. The keys sent in had a slot in the centre so could not be altered to fit the prison locks. Another letter was sent out.
Belfast: 8,000 workers came to the Custom House steps to hear the strike committee declare the strike was on.
27
With reports of military and navy personnel organising mutinies in demand for demobilisation and the recent Communist rising in Berlin, there was increasing concern at the growing movement towards strike action in Ulster and Scotland along with threats of railway and underground strikes. In Belfast, all electricity production was stopped with a small feed through to hospitals. Shipyards continued as usual, using apprentices and foremen until pickets put a halt to work by breaking through shipyard gates, pulling out apprentices and stoning the offices for good measure. By the evening, the strike committee were in control of Belfast with no traffic down the Queen’s Road or electricity to be used in the city without their permission. Accusations of a Belfast ‘Soviet’ were made in the British press. The strike committee showed it’s muscle when the Belfast Telegraph newspaper attempted to suse some of the power allocated to hospitals along with a number of shops in the city centre. Large crowds gathered, bricks were put through windows and premises forced to close, the Telegraph for a week. The most widely read paper in the city over the next 7 days was the ‘Worker’s Bulletin’ which ran for 18 issues.
In Glasgow, workers struck on the same day with a rolling picket bringing out factory after factory and a monster meeting was held in George’s Square in defiance of a long standing ban. A large red flag was unfurled over one of the Glasgow’s municipal buildings which combined with escalation strike action, further alarmed Westminster.
‘The outbreak of the Belfast strike was a significant threat to their strategy of partition. If the British Government could not keep the administration of all of Ireland, they had to be confident that at least the north-east corner would remain loyal. Now even that certainty was being shaken…’
Conor Kostick ‘Revolution in Ireland - popular militancy 1917-1923’ Pluto Press, London 1996 p55
The British Government began isolating various trade demands by announced that it would concede the 8 hour day to the railway workers without a struggle.
The newly appointed Chief Secretary of Ireland, Ian Macpherson described his predecessor, Shortt as ‘the worst of all Chief Secretaries…I have never heard one man of any shade of political opinion in Ireland say a kind thing about him…the fact remains that when I went there, Ireland was in a hopeless mess.’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p30
With reports of military and navy personnel organising mutinies in demand for demobilisation and the recent Communist rising in Berlin, there was increasing concern at the growing movement towards strike action in Ulster and Scotland along with threats of railway and underground strikes. In Belfast, all electricity production was stopped with a small feed through to hospitals. Shipyards continued as usual, using apprentices and foremen until pickets put a halt to work by breaking through shipyard gates, pulling out apprentices and stoning the offices for good measure. By the evening, the strike committee were in control of Belfast with no traffic down the Queen’s Road or electricity to be used in the city without their permission. Accusations of a Belfast ‘Soviet’ were made in the British press. The strike committee showed it’s muscle when the Belfast Telegraph newspaper attempted to suse some of the power allocated to hospitals along with a number of shops in the city centre. Large crowds gathered, bricks were put through windows and premises forced to close, the Telegraph for a week. The most widely read paper in the city over the next 7 days was the ‘Worker’s Bulletin’ which ran for 18 issues.
In Glasgow, workers struck on the same day with a rolling picket bringing out factory after factory and a monster meeting was held in George’s Square in defiance of a long standing ban. A large red flag was unfurled over one of the Glasgow’s municipal buildings which combined with escalation strike action, further alarmed Westminster.
‘The outbreak of the Belfast strike was a significant threat to their strategy of partition. If the British Government could not keep the administration of all of Ireland, they had to be confident that at least the north-east corner would remain loyal. Now even that certainty was being shaken…’
Conor Kostick ‘Revolution in Ireland - popular militancy 1917-1923’ Pluto Press, London 1996 p55
The British Government began isolating various trade demands by announced that it would concede the 8 hour day to the railway workers without a struggle.
The newly appointed Chief Secretary of Ireland, Ian Macpherson described his predecessor, Shortt as ‘the worst of all Chief Secretaries…I have never heard one man of any shade of political opinion in Ireland say a kind thing about him…the fact remains that when I went there, Ireland was in a hopeless mess.’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p30
28
McGarry wrote to Collins that they would be ready on the evening arranged.
The strike consolidated with railways, engineering shops and graveyard workers joining in unoficially. Shops and entertainment venues closed in Belfast and the streets remained dark.
Hunting Ban by Sinn Féin
A Sinn Féin campaign to prevent hunting across the country was met with mixed reaction. The purpose of the campaign, the Irish Times reports, is to ‘punish the professional classes because the government has refused to release certain men from internment’.
The move resulted in stoppages to hunting in many parts of the country but drew a backlash from farmers, many of them Sinn Féin supporters, as well as from local councils. In Limerick, a hunt organised by the County Limerick Foxhounds was stopped when a crowd of people, including members of the Clouncagh Sinn Féin club, informed the Master of the Foxhounds and his company that until Irish political prisoners were released the hunt could not be permitted. After similar incidents in County Westmeath, a largely-attended meeting of farmers was held in the Greville Arms Hotel to consider the question. A motion was unanimously adopted supporting the continuance of hunting in the county. Earlier in January, the Mullingar District Council adopted a motion calling on the Irish people to take steps to stop fox-hunting and all other forms of sport, including racing, until such time as the Irish political prisoners interned in English and Irish jails had been unconditionally released.
McGarry wrote to Collins that they would be ready on the evening arranged.
The strike consolidated with railways, engineering shops and graveyard workers joining in unoficially. Shops and entertainment venues closed in Belfast and the streets remained dark.
Hunting Ban by Sinn Féin
A Sinn Féin campaign to prevent hunting across the country was met with mixed reaction. The purpose of the campaign, the Irish Times reports, is to ‘punish the professional classes because the government has refused to release certain men from internment’.
The move resulted in stoppages to hunting in many parts of the country but drew a backlash from farmers, many of them Sinn Féin supporters, as well as from local councils. In Limerick, a hunt organised by the County Limerick Foxhounds was stopped when a crowd of people, including members of the Clouncagh Sinn Féin club, informed the Master of the Foxhounds and his company that until Irish political prisoners were released the hunt could not be permitted. After similar incidents in County Westmeath, a largely-attended meeting of farmers was held in the Greville Arms Hotel to consider the question. A motion was unanimously adopted supporting the continuance of hunting in the county. Earlier in January, the Mullingar District Council adopted a motion calling on the Irish people to take steps to stop fox-hunting and all other forms of sport, including racing, until such time as the Irish political prisoners interned in English and Irish jails had been unconditionally released.
29
Lord Haldane arrived in Dublin as Lloyd George’s emissary. In informal contacts with Sinn Fein, he advised that he was prepared to recommend full dominion home rule providing that no violence occurred during the 5/6 weeks necessary to arrange such a negotiation. Haldane was advised that nothing could be done until all the political prisoners were released. A few weeks later, Haldane returned to Dublin advising that while he had encountered strong opposition to the Home Rule proposal, he remained hopeful. Nothing more was heard.
The senior US diplomat in Ireland, Charles Hathaway believed ‘that a settlement was possible, as a ‘large majority of all Irishmen – Sinn Feiners and others – would accept Dominion Home Rule with full control of customs and excise, but without an army or navy’ As a result of what he had been told by the people he had spoken to in Dublin, it was his opinion that ‘the majority of Sinn Feiners would not stand out for a republic – that in fact Sinn Fein in demanding independence is following the Irish practice of asking the most in order to get much'
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P23
The 18th Amendment was ratified resulting in the sale of all intoxicating liquors banned. It would however take up to October to finalise and pass the necessary legislation to ban alcohol throughout the US.
Lord Haldane arrived in Dublin as Lloyd George’s emissary. In informal contacts with Sinn Fein, he advised that he was prepared to recommend full dominion home rule providing that no violence occurred during the 5/6 weeks necessary to arrange such a negotiation. Haldane was advised that nothing could be done until all the political prisoners were released. A few weeks later, Haldane returned to Dublin advising that while he had encountered strong opposition to the Home Rule proposal, he remained hopeful. Nothing more was heard.
The senior US diplomat in Ireland, Charles Hathaway believed ‘that a settlement was possible, as a ‘large majority of all Irishmen – Sinn Feiners and others – would accept Dominion Home Rule with full control of customs and excise, but without an army or navy’ As a result of what he had been told by the people he had spoken to in Dublin, it was his opinion that ‘the majority of Sinn Feiners would not stand out for a republic – that in fact Sinn Fein in demanding independence is following the Irish practice of asking the most in order to get much'
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P23
The 18th Amendment was ratified resulting in the sale of all intoxicating liquors banned. It would however take up to October to finalise and pass the necessary legislation to ban alcohol throughout the US.
Here's 'The Aeroplane' of January 29 and it's more unusual take 'On the Irish Republic and Aeronautics'
30
Belfast: The strike was now developing momentum. Graveyard workers had been persuaded to return to work ‘for the good of the community’ by the strike committee and were replaced by more craft unions. A rent strike began in working class areas and one employer demanded martial law to be applied ‘if the city is to be saved from disaster’
Westminster was considering the use of troops from Dublin to restore order, but faced with probable clashes between the military and workers, a popular rising could develop throughout Scotland and the north of England.
Belfast: The strike was now developing momentum. Graveyard workers had been persuaded to return to work ‘for the good of the community’ by the strike committee and were replaced by more craft unions. A rent strike began in working class areas and one employer demanded martial law to be applied ‘if the city is to be saved from disaster’
Westminster was considering the use of troops from Dublin to restore order, but faced with probable clashes between the military and workers, a popular rising could develop throughout Scotland and the north of England.
31
In tOglach stated that Volunteers are entitled to use ‘all legitimate metholds of warfare against the soldiers and policemen of the English usurper, and to slay them if it is necessary to do so in order to overcome their resistance’
Liz Curtis ‘The Cause of Ireland – from the United Irishmen to Partition’. Beyond the Pale, Belfast 1994. p309
Scotland: A major pitched battle between strikers and police took place in Glasgow. Bricks and railings were hurled at police lines as order was enforced leaving many badly injured. With the strikers beaten from George Square, 6 tanks and 100 trucks of raw recruits were brought in to mount machine gun posts.
In tOglach stated that Volunteers are entitled to use ‘all legitimate metholds of warfare against the soldiers and policemen of the English usurper, and to slay them if it is necessary to do so in order to overcome their resistance’
Liz Curtis ‘The Cause of Ireland – from the United Irishmen to Partition’. Beyond the Pale, Belfast 1994. p309
Scotland: A major pitched battle between strikers and police took place in Glasgow. Bricks and railings were hurled at police lines as order was enforced leaving many badly injured. With the strikers beaten from George Square, 6 tanks and 100 trucks of raw recruits were brought in to mount machine gun posts.
A legacy of the world war was not only the destruction of so many lives and reshaping of the international political order, but it was also a catalyst for enormous social changes including social changes and the behaviour of women and men. While there were some strongly visible changes in European politics, society and culture there was also a degree of continuity.
The major social change was women gaining voting rights in some nations for the first time but women's full participation in political life remained limited (some states did not franchise women until later - France for example in 1944). Socially, certain demographic trends that were prevalent before the war persisted after 1918. Family sizes continued to shrink despite state anxiety about falling birth rates and an ongoing insistence on the significance of motherhood for women and their nations. Economically, returning men from armed forces displaced many women from their wartime occupations, and many households now headed by women due to the loss of male breadwinners faced new levels of hardship. Women did not gain or retain access to all professions, and they did not come close to gaining equal pay for comparable work.
Fashion changed too - rather too quickly for some commentators such as Punch Magazine above in January 1919. Certain socially acceptable norms of Western middle-class femininity all but disappeared with many women having shorter hair and wearing shorter skirts or even trousers. While immediate post-war societies were largely in mourning, there was a growing awareness for many men and women under 25 of both the futility of war and shortness of lives.
The major social change was women gaining voting rights in some nations for the first time but women's full participation in political life remained limited (some states did not franchise women until later - France for example in 1944). Socially, certain demographic trends that were prevalent before the war persisted after 1918. Family sizes continued to shrink despite state anxiety about falling birth rates and an ongoing insistence on the significance of motherhood for women and their nations. Economically, returning men from armed forces displaced many women from their wartime occupations, and many households now headed by women due to the loss of male breadwinners faced new levels of hardship. Women did not gain or retain access to all professions, and they did not come close to gaining equal pay for comparable work.
Fashion changed too - rather too quickly for some commentators such as Punch Magazine above in January 1919. Certain socially acceptable norms of Western middle-class femininity all but disappeared with many women having shorter hair and wearing shorter skirts or even trousers. While immediate post-war societies were largely in mourning, there was a growing awareness for many men and women under 25 of both the futility of war and shortness of lives.
February 1919 events thanks to the Irish Revolution Channel.
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Anti-Catholicism (and by association Hibernophobia or anti-Irish sentiment) in the United States dates back to the early colonial era, peaking in the 1850’s-60s until eventually declining and petering out by the 1950’s & 60’s.
This deep and widespread mistrust of the Irish and Catholicism existed at all levels of society throughout the United States.
This sentiment found expression through various outlets such as newspapers, employment (No Irish Need Apply), housing and politics. The "Know-Nothing" movement, an American nativist political party operated nationally in the 1850s on a policy that was primarily anti-Catholic, xenophobic and hostile to immigration. The Know Nothings promoted the belief that a "Romanist" conspiracy was afoot to subvert civil and religious liberty in the United States and sought to politically organise native-born Protestants in what they described as a defence of their traditional religious and political values. It is remembered for this theme because of fears by Protestants that Roman Catholic priests and bishops could control a large bloc of voters and influence State and Federal policy. By 1857, the party had rapidly declined but anti-Catholic bias existed in many States as can be evidenced by lynch mobs attacking Italian and Irish immigrant communities, the New York Orange riots 1871, arson attacks on churches and active discrimination in the print media.
This deep and widespread mistrust of the Irish and Catholicism existed at all levels of society throughout the United States.
This sentiment found expression through various outlets such as newspapers, employment (No Irish Need Apply), housing and politics. The "Know-Nothing" movement, an American nativist political party operated nationally in the 1850s on a policy that was primarily anti-Catholic, xenophobic and hostile to immigration. The Know Nothings promoted the belief that a "Romanist" conspiracy was afoot to subvert civil and religious liberty in the United States and sought to politically organise native-born Protestants in what they described as a defence of their traditional religious and political values. It is remembered for this theme because of fears by Protestants that Roman Catholic priests and bishops could control a large bloc of voters and influence State and Federal policy. By 1857, the party had rapidly declined but anti-Catholic bias existed in many States as can be evidenced by lynch mobs attacking Italian and Irish immigrant communities, the New York Orange riots 1871, arson attacks on churches and active discrimination in the print media.
While there were many anti-Catholic newspapers in the United States, one in particular became the largest and certainly the most strident as printed hatred became big business in the early 20th century. This was the virulently anti-Roman Catholic and anti-Irish newspaper, The Menace, published in Missouri.
Launched in 1911 in the small town of Aurora, it quickly built up nationwide sales with a ‘damn them all & blame them all’ sensationalist journalism. It’s weekly four page publication loudly warned of a Vatican based plot to take over the United States and the world and frequently declared the American Catholic Hierarchy directed politicians, public servants and citizens of the faith with this goal. The newspaper supplemented these weekly print runs with other publications, widely popular lecture tours on the dangers of Roman Catholicism and also, general printing at 'advantageous rates'.
“The cowardice of a Roman thug has no parallel in either the human or animal kingdom," the newspaper frothed in one 1914 edition, calling for "men with red blood in their veins" to defend women and children from Catholics. "If we are compelled to live in this county with Romanists, as our weak-kneed Protestant critics say we are, the Romanists will have to be taught their place in society."
By 1915, business at 'The Menace' had increased to the extent that the local railway had to build additional tracks to accomodate all the paper and printing materials rolling into and out of town. Matt Pearce of the Los Angeles Times commented: “The Aurora post office, according to one account, more than tripled its staff to handle mail to and from the publication's astonishing 1.5 million weekly subscribers — a circulation that dwarfed the largest daily newspapers in New York and Chicago.”
"It begins a kind of tidal wave, a journalistic explosion that sweeps the entire country," according to Justin Nordstrom, an associate professor of history at Penn State Hazleton who has studied the Menace. "There are people paying attention to this newspaper — urban settings, rural settings — all across the country."
On its front page banner, the Menace frequently bore the logo of skull and crossbones wearing a papal hat, as well as a drawing of a public school, which is described as "the antidote for papal poison."
There was a widespread belief that Catholics were waiting for the day the pope would put into motion a campaign to make the country Catholic, and in the meantime amassing stockpiles of weaponry that would be used when that day came.
Not everyone bought what the Menace was selling. Chicago journalist Charles A. Dwindle wrote in one broadside against the newspaper that it was certainly a menace, "a menace to decency — a menace to peace and order — a menace to tolerance — a menace to true Americanism — a menace to the spirit of fraternity...It breeds bitterness and strife between neighbors and converts life-long friends into enemies. Its columns reek with slander. Every page is a seething cesspool, in which writhe and wriggle hell-born lies."
"It begins a kind of tidal wave, a journalistic explosion that sweeps the entire country," according to Justin Nordstrom, an associate professor of history at Penn State Hazleton who has studied the Menace. "There are people paying attention to this newspaper — urban settings, rural settings — all across the country."
On its front page banner, the Menace frequently bore the logo of skull and crossbones wearing a papal hat, as well as a drawing of a public school, which is described as "the antidote for papal poison."
There was a widespread belief that Catholics were waiting for the day the pope would put into motion a campaign to make the country Catholic, and in the meantime amassing stockpiles of weaponry that would be used when that day came.
Not everyone bought what the Menace was selling. Chicago journalist Charles A. Dwindle wrote in one broadside against the newspaper that it was certainly a menace, "a menace to decency — a menace to peace and order — a menace to tolerance — a menace to true Americanism — a menace to the spirit of fraternity...It breeds bitterness and strife between neighbors and converts life-long friends into enemies. Its columns reek with slander. Every page is a seething cesspool, in which writhe and wriggle hell-born lies."
Catholic leaders quickly mobilised against the Menace, clipping out the newspaper accounts alleging lewd behaviour by priests to prompt federal prosecutors to indict the paper's editors on suspicion of mailing obscene materials, according to Nordstrom's book on the anti-Catholic press, "Danger on the Doorstep." This charge was eventually made and the Newspaper's editorial team were brought to a federal obscenity trial in Joplin, Missouri in 1916. However the Menace beat the charge and won. A local sympathiser wrote that Aurora celebrated, with "an immense crowd comprising more than half the population gathered at the depot, headed by the band, and when the defendants stepped from the train they were royally welcomed." The Menace described its home base as "The World's Headquarters for Anti-Papal Literature."
"It was a black page in Aurora's past," said Mary Strickrodt, president of Aurora's historical society. "I wish everyone had been aghast and run them out of town, but it seems to have hired a lot of people. We have postcards [showing] a huge amount of train cars being loaded with the newspaper to be shipped out."
However, this was a fleeting victory and the paper's circulation declined as the nation turned its attention to the First World War, and soon after, the newspaper's printing plant mysteriously burned down in December 1919. Arson was suspected but never proven but that only spurred the Menace on. Publishing was moved to Branson, Missouri and the newspaper's name was changed to The New Menace. It was published in Branson from 1920 to 1922. It then moved back to Aurora from 1922 to 1931 as circulation and anti-Irish sentiment fell. It was succeeded by The Monitor which was published in Aurora from 1931 until finally sputtering out in December 1942.
Anti-Catholicism lived on in the Ku Klux Klan, but after the country elected its first Roman Catholic president, John F. Kennedy, in 1960, the worst of the hatred seemed to fade.
Viewed from societal norms today, The Menace newspaper while certainly anachronistic and sectarian, provides a disturbing but also a remarkable view and opinion of the issues faced by Irish America a century ago.
"It was a black page in Aurora's past," said Mary Strickrodt, president of Aurora's historical society. "I wish everyone had been aghast and run them out of town, but it seems to have hired a lot of people. We have postcards [showing] a huge amount of train cars being loaded with the newspaper to be shipped out."
However, this was a fleeting victory and the paper's circulation declined as the nation turned its attention to the First World War, and soon after, the newspaper's printing plant mysteriously burned down in December 1919. Arson was suspected but never proven but that only spurred the Menace on. Publishing was moved to Branson, Missouri and the newspaper's name was changed to The New Menace. It was published in Branson from 1920 to 1922. It then moved back to Aurora from 1922 to 1931 as circulation and anti-Irish sentiment fell. It was succeeded by The Monitor which was published in Aurora from 1931 until finally sputtering out in December 1942.
Anti-Catholicism lived on in the Ku Klux Klan, but after the country elected its first Roman Catholic president, John F. Kennedy, in 1960, the worst of the hatred seemed to fade.
Viewed from societal norms today, The Menace newspaper while certainly anachronistic and sectarian, provides a disturbing but also a remarkable view and opinion of the issues faced by Irish America a century ago.
1
At Versailles, the US, UK, France and Italy agree on the basic principles of the League of Nations.
Charles Hathaway, the US Consul in Queenstown (Cobh) Co Cork in a letter to the State Department commented on the views of a Sinn Feiner who ‘expressed great confidence with the President [ Wilson ] and was hopeful that a League of Mations would be set up which would by its very nature make inevitable an Irish soloution sooner or later’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p166
Plans were nearing completion for the Irish Race Convention for Philadelphia on the 22nd & 23rd. Dr Maloney played an ‘intriguing role’ in the organisation of the meeting: ‘he first endeavoured to persuade Judge Cohalan not to attend the convention. He pretended to be fearful that the Judge’s health would be impaired by such attendance. When this plan failed, he begged Judge Cohalan to go at once to Paris, where his presence at the Peace Conference would be of inestimable value to the cause of Ireland.”
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.299
The Committee on Foreign Affairs produced it's findings of the December 12/13th Hearings in Washington. The report ‘made a book of 160 pages, and it included the names of 150 associations and societies throughout the country who sent telegrams, letters and petitions in support of the proposal’
Florence O'Donoghue editor of ‘The I.R.B. and the 1916 Rising’ by Diarmuid Lynch. Mercier Press. 1957. p187.
A number of Irish prisoners at Usk Prison escaped during the morning ( including Joseph McGrath, later organiser of the Irish Sweepstakes ). This threatened to complicate plans to release de Valera from Lincoln as Collins and Boland finalised plans. A relay of cars were now in place from the prison to Worksop, to Sheffield and then to Manchester where a safe house was ready. Fintan Murphy was put in charge of the relays and the wall rope ladder, made in Belfast, was tested by Collins.
M M Ryan’s letter, mailed in Boston and dated February 1, 1919, shows the cracks in the American Fenian movement:
Dear Miss Fraher,
I came on here yesterday and hope to see you before I go back to New York. I am recovering from an attack of “flu” and have just been on my feet but a few days. Yesterday I received a special delivery letter informing me of the illness of my sister Katherine [Mary Kate, known as “Kit”] so I came on. She is suffering from a nervous breakdown but is better than I expected to find her.
I am anxious to know how your brother is. Are you going to the convention? [The Irish Race Convention, held in Philadelphia on February 22-23, 1919] Yours truly has not received an invitation from the patriotic National Secretary [Diarmuid Lynch who was the National Secretary of the Friends of Irish Freedom, who ran the Race Convention]. We don’t like each other. I feel about him as Nora Connolly did. He is a narrow minded fellow—a good tool in the hands of The Judge [Judge Daniel Cohalan, an associate of Lynch ]. A fine henchman. But Liam [Mellows] is every inch a man! They can’t use him and the men and women who went home know it and carried the news home.
Mrs. S. S. [Sheehy-Skeffington], Nora, and Margaret [Skinnider] had the “ladding” [this word is unclear] lights here all measured and they won’t be able to “put it over” the men at home.
I hate [word hate is double underlined] the Judge and when everything is all over I’m going to attack him publicly.
http://irishamerica.com/2016/03/dear-julia-personal-peflections-on-1916-and-its-aftermath/ (accessed December 2017)
In February 1919, Liam Mellows " addressed the Irish Race Convention at Philadelphia and referred to the hostile propaganda campaign: ‘There has been a propaganda war carried out seditiously and vindictively, not alone among the people of Ireland but against the Irish Race the world over. That propaganda has been started for the purpose and maintained for the purpose of defeating the aspirations of the Irish people.’
Eileen McGough. 'Diarmuid Lynch - A Forgotten Irish Patriot' Mercier Press, 2013. P101
Edward Pickard in The Yerington Times of Nevada in a broadly dismissive view of the Dáil in a review of news across Europe forecast: “The British government apparently intends to ignore the Sinn Fein republic until it undertakes to enforce laws that are in conflict with those established by the British; then the trouble is likely to begin.”
At Versailles, the US, UK, France and Italy agree on the basic principles of the League of Nations.
Charles Hathaway, the US Consul in Queenstown (Cobh) Co Cork in a letter to the State Department commented on the views of a Sinn Feiner who ‘expressed great confidence with the President [ Wilson ] and was hopeful that a League of Mations would be set up which would by its very nature make inevitable an Irish soloution sooner or later’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p166
Plans were nearing completion for the Irish Race Convention for Philadelphia on the 22nd & 23rd. Dr Maloney played an ‘intriguing role’ in the organisation of the meeting: ‘he first endeavoured to persuade Judge Cohalan not to attend the convention. He pretended to be fearful that the Judge’s health would be impaired by such attendance. When this plan failed, he begged Judge Cohalan to go at once to Paris, where his presence at the Peace Conference would be of inestimable value to the cause of Ireland.”
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.299
The Committee on Foreign Affairs produced it's findings of the December 12/13th Hearings in Washington. The report ‘made a book of 160 pages, and it included the names of 150 associations and societies throughout the country who sent telegrams, letters and petitions in support of the proposal’
Florence O'Donoghue editor of ‘The I.R.B. and the 1916 Rising’ by Diarmuid Lynch. Mercier Press. 1957. p187.
A number of Irish prisoners at Usk Prison escaped during the morning ( including Joseph McGrath, later organiser of the Irish Sweepstakes ). This threatened to complicate plans to release de Valera from Lincoln as Collins and Boland finalised plans. A relay of cars were now in place from the prison to Worksop, to Sheffield and then to Manchester where a safe house was ready. Fintan Murphy was put in charge of the relays and the wall rope ladder, made in Belfast, was tested by Collins.
M M Ryan’s letter, mailed in Boston and dated February 1, 1919, shows the cracks in the American Fenian movement:
Dear Miss Fraher,
I came on here yesterday and hope to see you before I go back to New York. I am recovering from an attack of “flu” and have just been on my feet but a few days. Yesterday I received a special delivery letter informing me of the illness of my sister Katherine [Mary Kate, known as “Kit”] so I came on. She is suffering from a nervous breakdown but is better than I expected to find her.
I am anxious to know how your brother is. Are you going to the convention? [The Irish Race Convention, held in Philadelphia on February 22-23, 1919] Yours truly has not received an invitation from the patriotic National Secretary [Diarmuid Lynch who was the National Secretary of the Friends of Irish Freedom, who ran the Race Convention]. We don’t like each other. I feel about him as Nora Connolly did. He is a narrow minded fellow—a good tool in the hands of The Judge [Judge Daniel Cohalan, an associate of Lynch ]. A fine henchman. But Liam [Mellows] is every inch a man! They can’t use him and the men and women who went home know it and carried the news home.
Mrs. S. S. [Sheehy-Skeffington], Nora, and Margaret [Skinnider] had the “ladding” [this word is unclear] lights here all measured and they won’t be able to “put it over” the men at home.
I hate [word hate is double underlined] the Judge and when everything is all over I’m going to attack him publicly.
http://irishamerica.com/2016/03/dear-julia-personal-peflections-on-1916-and-its-aftermath/ (accessed December 2017)
In February 1919, Liam Mellows " addressed the Irish Race Convention at Philadelphia and referred to the hostile propaganda campaign: ‘There has been a propaganda war carried out seditiously and vindictively, not alone among the people of Ireland but against the Irish Race the world over. That propaganda has been started for the purpose and maintained for the purpose of defeating the aspirations of the Irish people.’
Eileen McGough. 'Diarmuid Lynch - A Forgotten Irish Patriot' Mercier Press, 2013. P101
Edward Pickard in The Yerington Times of Nevada in a broadly dismissive view of the Dáil in a review of news across Europe forecast: “The British government apparently intends to ignore the Sinn Fein republic until it undertakes to enforce laws that are in conflict with those established by the British; then the trouble is likely to begin.”
2
Belfast: Thousands attended a city centre rally in support of the strikers. During the rally, the funeral cortege of Harlaand & Wolff’s Managing Director came to City Hall. Some of the strike committee persuaded a contingent of the shipyard strikers to respectfully follow the funeral.
Tansill comments on the role of Dr. William J Maloney and his activities relating to the Third Irish Race Convention:
He first endeavored to persuade Judge Cohalan not to attend the convention. He pretended to be fearful that the Judge's health would be impaired by such attendance. When this plan failed, he then begged Judge Cohalan to go at once to Paris, where his presence at the Peace Conference would be of in- estimable value to the cause of Ireland. The Judge saw through these cheap stratagems and attended the convention, where he became the permanent chairman. When Maloney saw that he could not prevent Cohalan's presence at the convention, he determined to dominate it by securing a place on the Committee on Resolutions.."
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.299
Lynch was in Washington DC to speak at a Friends of Irish Freedom rally at Gonzaga Hall.
Belfast: Thousands attended a city centre rally in support of the strikers. During the rally, the funeral cortege of Harlaand & Wolff’s Managing Director came to City Hall. Some of the strike committee persuaded a contingent of the shipyard strikers to respectfully follow the funeral.
Tansill comments on the role of Dr. William J Maloney and his activities relating to the Third Irish Race Convention:
He first endeavored to persuade Judge Cohalan not to attend the convention. He pretended to be fearful that the Judge's health would be impaired by such attendance. When this plan failed, he then begged Judge Cohalan to go at once to Paris, where his presence at the Peace Conference would be of in- estimable value to the cause of Ireland. The Judge saw through these cheap stratagems and attended the convention, where he became the permanent chairman. When Maloney saw that he could not prevent Cohalan's presence at the convention, he determined to dominate it by securing a place on the Committee on Resolutions.."
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.299
Lynch was in Washington DC to speak at a Friends of Irish Freedom rally at Gonzaga Hall.
Most weekly newspapers in the United States were distributed and sold most of their copies on a Saturday (in line with the end of the working week of the time). While The Menace was castigating the usual suspects (above) in it's February 2, 1919 edition, the Kentucky Irish-American of the same date had quite a different front page story - and following the general line indicated by the Friends of Irish Freedom to counter negative press while emphasising American credentials:
3
The International Labour and Socialist Conference opened in Bern, Switzerland, admitting Ireland as a separate unit. There the Russian Representatives called for the establishment of a separate Irish ‘identity in the international labour movement..’
Arthur Mitchell. “Revolutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-1922.” Gill & Mcmillan 1995. P189
Representing Ireland in Berne were Thomas Johnson and Cathal O’Shannon.
On the evening of the 3rd, Collins and Boland arrived in Lincoln and armed, ready to fight their way into and out of jail if necessary. Frank Kelly went ahead with the rope ladder where he was met by Collins and Boland and was sent to scout for any gaps and less obtrusive exits. At the pre-appointed time, Boland took the lamp and flashed it towards the prison. In a high up jail window, the answering signal was returned, the prisoners lighting a box of matches. Collins moved to the main prison gate, turned the key it only to have it snap leaving the mechanism blocked. At the same time, de Valera, Sean McGarry and Sean Milroy arrived at the other side, the spare key was used to free the mechanism and the five men walked through the main exits and through the relays to Manchester.
de Valera, McGarry and Milroy remained in Manchester for almost three weeks while widespread drag hunts, appeals for information and press speculation brought nothing.
De Valera did find time to pass on this nugget of wisdom on a political career to Richard Mulcahy ‘study economics and read The Prince’
Conor O’Clery ‘Ireland in Quotes’ The O’Brien Press Dublin 1999 p.46
The International Labour and Socialist Conference opened in Bern, Switzerland, admitting Ireland as a separate unit. There the Russian Representatives called for the establishment of a separate Irish ‘identity in the international labour movement..’
Arthur Mitchell. “Revolutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-1922.” Gill & Mcmillan 1995. P189
Representing Ireland in Berne were Thomas Johnson and Cathal O’Shannon.
On the evening of the 3rd, Collins and Boland arrived in Lincoln and armed, ready to fight their way into and out of jail if necessary. Frank Kelly went ahead with the rope ladder where he was met by Collins and Boland and was sent to scout for any gaps and less obtrusive exits. At the pre-appointed time, Boland took the lamp and flashed it towards the prison. In a high up jail window, the answering signal was returned, the prisoners lighting a box of matches. Collins moved to the main prison gate, turned the key it only to have it snap leaving the mechanism blocked. At the same time, de Valera, Sean McGarry and Sean Milroy arrived at the other side, the spare key was used to free the mechanism and the five men walked through the main exits and through the relays to Manchester.
de Valera, McGarry and Milroy remained in Manchester for almost three weeks while widespread drag hunts, appeals for information and press speculation brought nothing.
De Valera did find time to pass on this nugget of wisdom on a political career to Richard Mulcahy ‘study economics and read The Prince’
Conor O’Clery ‘Ireland in Quotes’ The O’Brien Press Dublin 1999 p.46
In Washington, Senator Phelan had introduced a Congressional resolution calling on the US Government to consider favourably at the Paris Peace Conference, Ireland’s rights as a small nation and for self-determination. This was the first official attempt at forcing Government recognition of Ireland. Little came of it, other than surprised communication between Government officials and to President Wilson. The resolution was kept ‘occupied’ in the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.
On February 3, 1919, Frank L. Polk, Acting Secretary of State, cabled to Secretary Lansing, in Paris, and outlined the course of action he had followed relative to these Congressional resolutions:
There is pending in the Foreign Relations Committee a resolution of sympathy for Irish freedom. One proposal goes as far as requesting the President to instruct the Peace Delegates to present the matter for consideration in Paris. I have been able to delay the matter in committee for over a month, but I understand it may be forced out this week unless I can tell the Committee the President would prefer to have it held in Committee. Both sides are playing politics with the resolution in order to get the Irish vote and I hesitate to recommend that the President interfere. I however feel that I should ask you to lay the matter before him and request that you give me at earliest possible moment his views.
The Irish party here are shortly to hold a convention and intend to select delegates to go to Paris to present the Irish cause. Ex-Senator O'Gorman, Bourke Cockran and others of that caliber mentioned as delegates. I think I have been able to discourage this movement, but any prophecy in regard to any Irish meeting is dangerous. If the question of passports for the delegates does not come up now, it is reasonably certain to come up later, and I suggest that this matter should also be given consideration.
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.307
Russia: The Red Army defeated the Ukranian Whites and proceeded to force the French into retreat from Odessa.
"The Irish Republic, Why?" by Laurence Ginnell.
This 140 page phamphlet written by Laurence Ginnell while in Mounjoy Jail in 1918 was smuggled from prison and to the United States where it was published by the Friends of Irish Freedom in early 1919. Diarmuid Lynch wrote the foreword.
4
The House of Commons assembled following the December 1918 elections. The Irish benches for the first time in 119 years, were almost empty. Some concern had been expressed that the Sinn Fein MP’s would take their seats in the house and ally themselves with the British Socialists so police were briefed to arrest any wanted Sinn Fein men if they attempted to enter Parliament. When the House convened, the wonderfully named Horatio Bottomley proposed that the missing members be forced to attend using a procedural device last used in 1836: ‘The Call of the House’. While this was refused, the Government was left in a quandry. Declaring the seats vacant would demand by-elections throughout Ireland and offer Sinn Fein the opportunity to demonstrate again, it’s popular support. Attending were 26 Unionist & 7 Nationalist MPs
Belfast: Transport workers approached the strike committee requesting that they be brought out on strike action. ‘If they did come out, then the city would be at an utter standstill and all effective control over power, food distribution and the running of people’s daily needs would have fallen to the strike committee.’
Conor Kostick ‘Revolution in Ireland - popular militancy 1917-1923’ Pluto Press, London 1996 p56
This combined with newspaper stories of possible starvation in the city in event of a transport strike, discouraged the strike organisers from bringing out the transport workers.
In Russia, US troops fighting with the ‘Whites’ inflict heavy losses on Bolshevik forces.
Below - Shows on Broadway and off-Broadway, New York, February 4, 1919:
5
Tumulty sent a cablegram to the President concerning a House resolution with reference to Irish self-determination:
"Flood says passage of some kind of Irish Resolution inevitable and could not be stopped without open and active opposition on your part and then he believes it would pass. Found as drawn Resolution was joint which would require your approval or veto. Had him promise Resolution would be made concurrent, which will require action by Senate."
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.307
Tumulty sent a cablegram to the President concerning a House resolution with reference to Irish self-determination:
"Flood says passage of some kind of Irish Resolution inevitable and could not be stopped without open and active opposition on your part and then he believes it would pass. Found as drawn Resolution was joint which would require your approval or veto. Had him promise Resolution would be made concurrent, which will require action by Senate."
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.307
6
A 47 hour week had been secured from major employers and Union leaders after negotiations with the Government suspended their district committees in Belfast and Glasgow. A ballot was taken in Belfast on the issue of whether to return to work for a 47 hour week or not. As the strike had originated in demands for a 44 hour working week, many strikers believed this was a betryal. The result would be made public on February 14th.
Medicinal Alcohol
6
A 47 hour week had been secured from major employers and Union leaders after negotiations with the Government suspended their district committees in Belfast and Glasgow. A ballot was taken in Belfast on the issue of whether to return to work for a 47 hour week or not. As the strike had originated in demands for a 44 hour working week, many strikers believed this was a betryal. The result would be made public on February 14th.
Medicinal Alcohol
Opposite: Medical whiskey advert. New York Evening News, 6 February 1919.
With Prohibition due the following year, a doctor's prescription was soon to become the only legal way to to obtain alcoholic beverages. Physicians could prescribe distilled spirits - usually whiskey or brandy - on government prescription forms. The government was even willing to allow the limited production of whiskey and its distribution when stocks were low. Thousands of doctors, veterinarians, pharmacists, and dentists held permits authorising them to prescribe select quantities of rye whiskey, scotch, and gin for a bevy of conditions including cancer, anxiety, and depression. According to Daniel Okrent, author of Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition, some 15,000 doctors applied for permits during the first six months of Prohibition, which began in 1920 and lasted through 1933. Yet due to a lack of federal oversight, pharmacists and physicians easily turned what was meant as a merciful concession into a lucrative loophole. By prescribing access to pharmacies stocked like liquor stores, it allowed them to become wealthy by selling a way out of Prohibition. Medicinal alcohol wasn’t exactly affordable, meaning that the loophole was a luxury reserved for wealthier Americans. Prescriptions cost patients at least $3 —the equivalent to $40 in 2018—and another three or four dollars to fill them. Authorities curiously allowed French champagne to be imported for medicinal use, which upper-crust Americans took advantage of: Imports skyrocketed by 332 percent in 1920. Industrious Americans decided to make alcohol for themselves, too, using corn syrup to make millions of gallons of moonshine supplied to drinking clubs and speakeasies. More adventurous patrons clandestinely ducked into speakeasies, with the understood risk that the mystery booze might contain industrial alcohol used in medical supplies or even something far worse. Opposite: a liquor prescription pad c.1920 |
7
Cathal Brugha met secretly with De Valera in Manchester and conferred with him over 4 days. De Valera’s only public statement was ‘My message to the Irish people is – that I have escaped from Lincoln to do the country’s work and am doing it’.
Historian Arthur Mitchell considers that because de Valera would be unable to appear publicly in Ireland or Paris, and certainly not in Britain, the only option open to him was to move to the US where he could mobilse support among the large Irish American community.
A Dublin Castle official commented to a special correspondent that the British Government had in fact allowed de Valera to escape “ It was a subtle move; the extremists had grown restive; de Valera would be a restraining influence; so a paternal eye had relaxed it’s vigilance. The door had been not unlocked so much as the hinges oiled and the Irish left alone to plot and what else would you epxect but that the wild Irish and their milder leader would leg it. He would return to Ireland and give admirable advice to his hotheads’
Desmond Ryan. ‘Unique Dictator’. Arthur Barker-London. 1936. p95
Meanwhile in Paris, de Valera’s escape generated strong interest in the Irish situation for the first time. Sean T. O'Kelly found his difficulties with the press decreased over the following weeks and with the increased workload, George Gavan Duffy was sent to the Paris office.
Berlin: Chancellor Ebert denounces the terms of the Armistice.
Cathal Brugha met secretly with De Valera in Manchester and conferred with him over 4 days. De Valera’s only public statement was ‘My message to the Irish people is – that I have escaped from Lincoln to do the country’s work and am doing it’.
Historian Arthur Mitchell considers that because de Valera would be unable to appear publicly in Ireland or Paris, and certainly not in Britain, the only option open to him was to move to the US where he could mobilse support among the large Irish American community.
A Dublin Castle official commented to a special correspondent that the British Government had in fact allowed de Valera to escape “ It was a subtle move; the extremists had grown restive; de Valera would be a restraining influence; so a paternal eye had relaxed it’s vigilance. The door had been not unlocked so much as the hinges oiled and the Irish left alone to plot and what else would you epxect but that the wild Irish and their milder leader would leg it. He would return to Ireland and give admirable advice to his hotheads’
Desmond Ryan. ‘Unique Dictator’. Arthur Barker-London. 1936. p95
Meanwhile in Paris, de Valera’s escape generated strong interest in the Irish situation for the first time. Sean T. O'Kelly found his difficulties with the press decreased over the following weeks and with the increased workload, George Gavan Duffy was sent to the Paris office.
Berlin: Chancellor Ebert denounces the terms of the Armistice.
8
Sean T O’Kelly wrote to President Wilson, explaining his mission to Paris and offering an official invitation for the President to visit Ireland and to receive in person, his freedom of the city of Dublin. There would be no reply for two months.
Belfast: Workers met and agreed to campaign for shorter working hours on an industry by industry basis.
Mrs. Mary F. McWhorter was the National President of the Ladies Auxiliary of the Ancient Order of Hibernians of America and was a close friend and an ardent admirer of Judge Cohalan. In a letter to the Judge, remarks: "You are the guiding star and the inspiration of all that is best and truest in the ideals of our race. . . . You have never faltered in your allegiance to our dear dark Rosaleen; you have never forgot your dear Motherland. . . . You have always remained faithful to the old land and hence you are the ideal American Citizen. May our Heavenly Father reward you and may his Blessed Mother have an especial watch and guard over you and your dear ones."
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.297
Sean T O’Kelly wrote to President Wilson, explaining his mission to Paris and offering an official invitation for the President to visit Ireland and to receive in person, his freedom of the city of Dublin. There would be no reply for two months.
Belfast: Workers met and agreed to campaign for shorter working hours on an industry by industry basis.
Mrs. Mary F. McWhorter was the National President of the Ladies Auxiliary of the Ancient Order of Hibernians of America and was a close friend and an ardent admirer of Judge Cohalan. In a letter to the Judge, remarks: "You are the guiding star and the inspiration of all that is best and truest in the ideals of our race. . . . You have never faltered in your allegiance to our dear dark Rosaleen; you have never forgot your dear Motherland. . . . You have always remained faithful to the old land and hence you are the ideal American Citizen. May our Heavenly Father reward you and may his Blessed Mother have an especial watch and guard over you and your dear ones."
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.297
9
Martial law declared in Tipperary.
The Irish Labour Party and Trades Union Congress demands a 44 hour working week and a minimum weekly wage rate of 50 shillings for adults.
Norway annexed Spitzbergen. Lying so deep within the Artic Circle, no nation had been tempted to own it although it had been used a base for fishing fleets by several nations.
With the Third Irish Race Convention due to begin in Philadelphia on Saturday 22nd February, a Clann na Gael committee comprising of Judges Cohalan, Goff and Gavegan, Monsignor G.P.Coghlan and Michael Donohoe called on Cardinal Gibbons in Baltimore. This was to discuss the Cardinal’s proposed attendance at the convention and to request support for the call of Self-Determination for Ireland.
Cardinal Gibbons at the time was the most influential member of the US Catholic hierarchy and conservative. In 1916, he had expressed his disapproval of the Easter Rising to the British Ambassador in Washington: ‘…all respectable Irishmen condemned the revolt in unqualified terms, but there was a danger of ‘manufacturing martyrs’ for American use..’ but had also called for the sparing of Casement’s life. His stance on Home Rule was equally well known prior to 1916, favouring government from Dublin while emphasising the importance of a unified Ireland with guarantees and concessions for minorities and interest groups ‘Ireland cannot be sacrificied to a few counties in Ulster..these few counties cannot be sacrificed to the rest of Ireland’ and in 1917 ‘since Ireland has not received, in the crisis of the English Government, the Home Rule which she has been contending for, she has practically no hope in the future.’
F.M.Carroll ‘American Opinion and the Irish Question’ Gill & MacMillan. 1978 p.64, 77,102
Congressman Michael Donohoe, in a letter to Diarmuid Lynch and also in the Judge Cohalan archives, commented on the meeting:
‘Judge Cohalan was the spokesman of the committee with an occasional low toned, precise remark by Goff. Judge Cohalan handled the case with rare skill for the great old prelate was throughout the interview cautious and conservative and, at first, apparently opposed to going beyond the Home Rule programme. His first response to Judge C’s proposal was something like this,
Cardinal Gibbons ‘I think the plan outlined by the late Mr Redmond…’
Judge Cohalan ‘But as your Eminence knows, President Wilson has emphatically declared for self-determination for all peoples..’
The Cardinal made several attempts to moralise on the dangers of going too far, the virtues of moderation etc etc, but he never got further than a few sentences before the Judge would shoot in a quotation from Wilson or Lloyd George that left the dear old saint without a leg to stand on. At last:
Cardinal Gibbons ‘Of course, I’ll have an opportunity of studying the resolutions..’
Judge Cohalan "Oh, of course your Eminence, there will be nothing in the resolutions that you cannot approve of.’
This is a brief account of what was, to some of us, a delightful fencing match that ended most happily.”
MichaelO’Donohoe to Diarmuid Lynch Friends of Irish Freedom manuscript notes. Lnch Family Archives Folder 8 – 00009 and Charles Callan Tansill ‘ America & the fight for Irish Freedom’. Devin Adair, New York 1957. p299
Martial law declared in Tipperary.
The Irish Labour Party and Trades Union Congress demands a 44 hour working week and a minimum weekly wage rate of 50 shillings for adults.
Norway annexed Spitzbergen. Lying so deep within the Artic Circle, no nation had been tempted to own it although it had been used a base for fishing fleets by several nations.
With the Third Irish Race Convention due to begin in Philadelphia on Saturday 22nd February, a Clann na Gael committee comprising of Judges Cohalan, Goff and Gavegan, Monsignor G.P.Coghlan and Michael Donohoe called on Cardinal Gibbons in Baltimore. This was to discuss the Cardinal’s proposed attendance at the convention and to request support for the call of Self-Determination for Ireland.
Cardinal Gibbons at the time was the most influential member of the US Catholic hierarchy and conservative. In 1916, he had expressed his disapproval of the Easter Rising to the British Ambassador in Washington: ‘…all respectable Irishmen condemned the revolt in unqualified terms, but there was a danger of ‘manufacturing martyrs’ for American use..’ but had also called for the sparing of Casement’s life. His stance on Home Rule was equally well known prior to 1916, favouring government from Dublin while emphasising the importance of a unified Ireland with guarantees and concessions for minorities and interest groups ‘Ireland cannot be sacrificied to a few counties in Ulster..these few counties cannot be sacrificed to the rest of Ireland’ and in 1917 ‘since Ireland has not received, in the crisis of the English Government, the Home Rule which she has been contending for, she has practically no hope in the future.’
F.M.Carroll ‘American Opinion and the Irish Question’ Gill & MacMillan. 1978 p.64, 77,102
Congressman Michael Donohoe, in a letter to Diarmuid Lynch and also in the Judge Cohalan archives, commented on the meeting:
‘Judge Cohalan was the spokesman of the committee with an occasional low toned, precise remark by Goff. Judge Cohalan handled the case with rare skill for the great old prelate was throughout the interview cautious and conservative and, at first, apparently opposed to going beyond the Home Rule programme. His first response to Judge C’s proposal was something like this,
Cardinal Gibbons ‘I think the plan outlined by the late Mr Redmond…’
Judge Cohalan ‘But as your Eminence knows, President Wilson has emphatically declared for self-determination for all peoples..’
The Cardinal made several attempts to moralise on the dangers of going too far, the virtues of moderation etc etc, but he never got further than a few sentences before the Judge would shoot in a quotation from Wilson or Lloyd George that left the dear old saint without a leg to stand on. At last:
Cardinal Gibbons ‘Of course, I’ll have an opportunity of studying the resolutions..’
Judge Cohalan "Oh, of course your Eminence, there will be nothing in the resolutions that you cannot approve of.’
This is a brief account of what was, to some of us, a delightful fencing match that ended most happily.”
MichaelO’Donohoe to Diarmuid Lynch Friends of Irish Freedom manuscript notes. Lnch Family Archives Folder 8 – 00009 and Charles Callan Tansill ‘ America & the fight for Irish Freedom’. Devin Adair, New York 1957. p299
10
Ethnic Germans and Hungarian inhabitants of the town of Pressburg protesting against its incorporation into Czechoslovakia, but the Czechoslovak Legions open fire on the unarmed demonstrators.
Ethnic Germans and Hungarian inhabitants of the town of Pressburg protesting against its incorporation into Czechoslovakia, but the Czechoslovak Legions open fire on the unarmed demonstrators.
13
Kildare: Patrick Gavin from Curragh, Co. Kildare dies at the British Military camp on the Curragh.
New York: Richard Dalton received the following letter regarding the forthcoming convention.
My Dear Richard
I have talked with Diarmuid Lynch on this point on suggestion of JD [John Devoy]
At the Race Convention a most necessary thing will be a [illegible] representative who can meet ad handle American newspapermen on their own ground. All official communication should come through him as well as possible explanations of their viewpoint etc. In this way, the hostile scribe will not have the chance to distort or misconstrue, at least the chance will be reduced to a minimum.
I think I can handle those chaps wisely and tactfully, and it strikes me that I could be of best service in that way. Of course no compensation whatsover goes with the matter. However, J.D. [John Devoy] also told me to leave it up with you because of your business way of doing things. We will need all our business acumen and diplomacy at Philadelphia to combat successfully the hostile. Think this over.
I hope you are recuperating rapidly. If you can find the time, call me up and I will book a bite of lunch together within next few days.
Very faithfully yours,
[signature illegible]
Kildare: Patrick Gavin from Curragh, Co. Kildare dies at the British Military camp on the Curragh.
New York: Richard Dalton received the following letter regarding the forthcoming convention.
My Dear Richard
I have talked with Diarmuid Lynch on this point on suggestion of JD [John Devoy]
At the Race Convention a most necessary thing will be a [illegible] representative who can meet ad handle American newspapermen on their own ground. All official communication should come through him as well as possible explanations of their viewpoint etc. In this way, the hostile scribe will not have the chance to distort or misconstrue, at least the chance will be reduced to a minimum.
I think I can handle those chaps wisely and tactfully, and it strikes me that I could be of best service in that way. Of course no compensation whatsover goes with the matter. However, J.D. [John Devoy] also told me to leave it up with you because of your business way of doing things. We will need all our business acumen and diplomacy at Philadelphia to combat successfully the hostile. Think this over.
I hope you are recuperating rapidly. If you can find the time, call me up and I will book a bite of lunch together within next few days.
Very faithfully yours,
[signature illegible]
14
Versailles: At the Paris Peace Conference, delegates from 27 nations agreed to President Wilson’s Draft Covenant proposal for a League of Nations to prevent future wars. The Covenant becomes the first 26 articles of the Treaty of Versailles and was incorporated into the peace treaty with Germany. Division between the Allies persisted with France demanding full reparations and the United States promoting a 'just peace'.
Belfast: Ballot results announced found that of the 20,737 striking workers who voted, 57% wanted to continue the fight for a 44 hour week. Troops were called in from Dublin and were sent fuly armed to protect the gasworks, trams and electricity generating stations
Versailles: At the Paris Peace Conference, delegates from 27 nations agreed to President Wilson’s Draft Covenant proposal for a League of Nations to prevent future wars. The Covenant becomes the first 26 articles of the Treaty of Versailles and was incorporated into the peace treaty with Germany. Division between the Allies persisted with France demanding full reparations and the United States promoting a 'just peace'.
Belfast: Ballot results announced found that of the 20,737 striking workers who voted, 57% wanted to continue the fight for a 44 hour week. Troops were called in from Dublin and were sent fuly armed to protect the gasworks, trams and electricity generating stations
15
Belfast: Running battles between strikers and troops erupted in the streets as soldiers tried to escort trams through picket lines. Terrified that the situation would slip totally out of control, the strike committee withdrew their power station pickets and the threat to call out the transport workers was lifted. The strike in effect was over. Negotiations opened between the strike committee and employers and a gradual drift back to work began within a few days.
Dr McCartan claimed in his book ‘With De Valera in America’ on this date:
‘Cathal Brugha, the Minister for Defence in the Cabinet of the Dail, wrote to Diarmuid Lynch urging that Cohalan should demand nothing but recognition of the Irish Republic from the United States...’
Dr. Patrick McCartan’ With De Valera in America’ New York 1932. p92
A rebuttal of the statement is made by Charles Tansill quoting a statement made by Diarmuid Lynch in the Judge Cohalan private papers and the original letters from Cathal Brugha & Michael Collins in the Diarmuid Lynch papers and published posthumously in 1957:
‘...it happens that this letter to Lynch was signed by both Brugha and Michael Collins. In the correct text of the letter there is no mention of Judge Cohalan and there was nothing in it that would debar ‘self-determination’ as a means to an end...it is also a matter of fact that at the time this letter was written, there was no Cabinet of Dail Eireann in existence’
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.304
Florence O'Donoghue as editor of the Diarmuid Lynch papers, included the following information:
“Cathal Brugha & Michael Collins wrote a joint letter to Diarmuid Lynch, with which they enclosed a part of a letter from Arthur Griffith, who, like De Valera, was then a prisoner. The letters were taken to the United States by Very Rev. Fr. Augustine, O.F.M. Cap. The joint letter said:
‘Attached is part of a letter from Griffith. We agree with the suggestion contained therein. Mssrs. John Devoy, Diarmuid Lynch, Liam Mellows, Dr. McCartan and others in whom they have confidence and who ( word indecipherable ) to get international recognition for the Irish Republic, are authorised to take immediate steps to give effect to them. Even if our original delegates reach France, it would be essential that the substitutes from America should also be at hand; the selection of the substitutes to be left to the persons named above. We expect Irish America to defray any expenses incurred. Moreover, if there is money available in America which could be placed at the disposal of the Executive of Dail Eireann, it will be acceptable whenever forwarded.
Signed on behalf of the Executive of Dail Eireann.
Cathal Brugha, Priomh Airese
Miceal O’Coileain.
The foregoing is in a manuscript in Cathal Brugha’s hand; to it is added a note written by Michael Collins:
‘You would like to know yourself that (word blackened out in ink in original) is safely back in town, also that the other gentleman is quite secure. If we could work it, what would you people out there think of a visit from him. If you cable refer to him (word deleted in original).”
Diarmuid Lynch ‘The I.R.B. and the 1916 Rising’ Edited by Florence O'Donoghue. Mercier Press 1957. p197. Lynch Family Archives Folder 5/6
Belfast: Running battles between strikers and troops erupted in the streets as soldiers tried to escort trams through picket lines. Terrified that the situation would slip totally out of control, the strike committee withdrew their power station pickets and the threat to call out the transport workers was lifted. The strike in effect was over. Negotiations opened between the strike committee and employers and a gradual drift back to work began within a few days.
Dr McCartan claimed in his book ‘With De Valera in America’ on this date:
‘Cathal Brugha, the Minister for Defence in the Cabinet of the Dail, wrote to Diarmuid Lynch urging that Cohalan should demand nothing but recognition of the Irish Republic from the United States...’
Dr. Patrick McCartan’ With De Valera in America’ New York 1932. p92
A rebuttal of the statement is made by Charles Tansill quoting a statement made by Diarmuid Lynch in the Judge Cohalan private papers and the original letters from Cathal Brugha & Michael Collins in the Diarmuid Lynch papers and published posthumously in 1957:
‘...it happens that this letter to Lynch was signed by both Brugha and Michael Collins. In the correct text of the letter there is no mention of Judge Cohalan and there was nothing in it that would debar ‘self-determination’ as a means to an end...it is also a matter of fact that at the time this letter was written, there was no Cabinet of Dail Eireann in existence’
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.304
Florence O'Donoghue as editor of the Diarmuid Lynch papers, included the following information:
“Cathal Brugha & Michael Collins wrote a joint letter to Diarmuid Lynch, with which they enclosed a part of a letter from Arthur Griffith, who, like De Valera, was then a prisoner. The letters were taken to the United States by Very Rev. Fr. Augustine, O.F.M. Cap. The joint letter said:
‘Attached is part of a letter from Griffith. We agree with the suggestion contained therein. Mssrs. John Devoy, Diarmuid Lynch, Liam Mellows, Dr. McCartan and others in whom they have confidence and who ( word indecipherable ) to get international recognition for the Irish Republic, are authorised to take immediate steps to give effect to them. Even if our original delegates reach France, it would be essential that the substitutes from America should also be at hand; the selection of the substitutes to be left to the persons named above. We expect Irish America to defray any expenses incurred. Moreover, if there is money available in America which could be placed at the disposal of the Executive of Dail Eireann, it will be acceptable whenever forwarded.
Signed on behalf of the Executive of Dail Eireann.
Cathal Brugha, Priomh Airese
Miceal O’Coileain.
The foregoing is in a manuscript in Cathal Brugha’s hand; to it is added a note written by Michael Collins:
‘You would like to know yourself that (word blackened out in ink in original) is safely back in town, also that the other gentleman is quite secure. If we could work it, what would you people out there think of a visit from him. If you cable refer to him (word deleted in original).”
Diarmuid Lynch ‘The I.R.B. and the 1916 Rising’ Edited by Florence O'Donoghue. Mercier Press 1957. p197. Lynch Family Archives Folder 5/6
As a security measure, Diarmuid blacked out some signatures and words on receipt of the letter. As to the ‘other gentleman’ and ‘a visit from him’, this refers to De Valera who had escaped from Lincoln Jail on 3rd February.
The part letter from Griffith was in typescript, bearing no signature and read:
“ Above all concentrate on the Peace Conference. If there is no way of getting substitutes from Ireland, substitutes from the US should be appointed. This should be done in addition to substitutes from Ireland, provided men from America of high standing could be secured. The passport barrier will be worked very probably by Clemenceau for the French, and against Irishmen or non-naturalised Irish Americans. Therefore American citizens should be chosen. They should not be confined to any one Irish or American party. If Judge Goff, Cardinal O’Connell, two Senators - one a Democrat and the other a Republican - could be got together with Diarmuid Lynch and McCartan and Mellows if he is an American citizen, it would make a delegation impossible to keep from being heard at the Conference.
If two Senators, one a Democrat and one a Republican, could not be got, one Senator and one Congressman of different parties should be secured. Every effort should be made to get Cardinal O’Connell and a messenger sent anyhow to America about the Delegation. If arranged, Dail should formally ask them to proceed to the Congress ( ? Conference ) in view of the fact that the appointed delegates were prevented by imprisonment and force from doing so.”
Diarmuid Lynch ‘The I.R.B. and the 1916 Rising’ Edited by Florence O'Donoghue. Mercier Press 1957. p197-198
Lynch Family Archives Folder 5/7
It’s argued that Sinn Fein considered worker’s right and the campaign for improved working conditions as a ‘class struggle..a dangerous disruption to their manoevers in obtaining an Irish state for all classes’
Conor Kostick ‘Revolution in Ireland - popular militancy 1917-1923’ Pluto Press, London 1996 p65
Paris: President Wilson leaves the French capital and returns to the United States.
Tansill writes that the The President was deeply worried about Congressional pressure on Irish self-determination. Secretary of State Lansing sent a hurried telegram to Polk: "The President does not think it would be wise for him to intervene in the matter
discussed in your telegram but has instructed me to advise you to keep up the utmost pressure to see that the matter is not acted on at this Congress."
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.308
The part letter from Griffith was in typescript, bearing no signature and read:
“ Above all concentrate on the Peace Conference. If there is no way of getting substitutes from Ireland, substitutes from the US should be appointed. This should be done in addition to substitutes from Ireland, provided men from America of high standing could be secured. The passport barrier will be worked very probably by Clemenceau for the French, and against Irishmen or non-naturalised Irish Americans. Therefore American citizens should be chosen. They should not be confined to any one Irish or American party. If Judge Goff, Cardinal O’Connell, two Senators - one a Democrat and the other a Republican - could be got together with Diarmuid Lynch and McCartan and Mellows if he is an American citizen, it would make a delegation impossible to keep from being heard at the Conference.
If two Senators, one a Democrat and one a Republican, could not be got, one Senator and one Congressman of different parties should be secured. Every effort should be made to get Cardinal O’Connell and a messenger sent anyhow to America about the Delegation. If arranged, Dail should formally ask them to proceed to the Congress ( ? Conference ) in view of the fact that the appointed delegates were prevented by imprisonment and force from doing so.”
Diarmuid Lynch ‘The I.R.B. and the 1916 Rising’ Edited by Florence O'Donoghue. Mercier Press 1957. p197-198
Lynch Family Archives Folder 5/7
It’s argued that Sinn Fein considered worker’s right and the campaign for improved working conditions as a ‘class struggle..a dangerous disruption to their manoevers in obtaining an Irish state for all classes’
Conor Kostick ‘Revolution in Ireland - popular militancy 1917-1923’ Pluto Press, London 1996 p65
Paris: President Wilson leaves the French capital and returns to the United States.
Tansill writes that the The President was deeply worried about Congressional pressure on Irish self-determination. Secretary of State Lansing sent a hurried telegram to Polk: "The President does not think it would be wise for him to intervene in the matter
discussed in your telegram but has instructed me to advise you to keep up the utmost pressure to see that the matter is not acted on at this Congress."
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.308
17
Berlin: The German government finally signs the Armistice and gives up territory to Poland and France.
Berlin: The German government finally signs the Armistice and gives up territory to Poland and France.
18
London: Kathleen Clarke was released from Holloway Prison.
19
French Premier, Clemenceau, was shot and injured by an anarchist.
Kathleen Clarke contracted the Spanish Flu on her return to Ireland and spent the following 7 weeks in a nursing home.
French Premier, Clemenceau, was shot and injured by an anarchist.
Kathleen Clarke contracted the Spanish Flu on her return to Ireland and spent the following 7 weeks in a nursing home.
Belfast returned to normality following the conclusion of what the Belfast Newsletter has described as ‘one of the greatest and most menacing strikes in the history of the city’.
Approximately 85% of the 19,000 men employed at Harland and Wolff were present for work, as were approximately 80% of those employed at the Workman, Clark, & Co. Ltd shipyard. Also resuming work were those employed in the furnishing trades. The strike was brought to an end after employees agreed to return to work on the basis of a 47-hour working week with a new starting hour of 8.30am and a finishing time of 6pm daily – half an hour later than before – from Monday to Friday with an hour allowed for dinner during the day. On Saturdays, the working day would finish at 1pm.
The Belfast strikes, part of wider agitation across the UK for shorter working hours, lasted four weeks and ended without the achievement of a 44-hour week that the workers had sought. Nevertheless, one leading member of the Belfast Strike Committee, speaking to a reporter from the Belfast Newsletter, stated that what had been achieved represented an important stepping stone towards that ultimate end. ‘We have not won the ‘44 just yet’, the unnamed official remarked, ‘but I think the strike has brought it nearer. We have shown what we can do in the way of organisation, and the movement must exert a beneficial influence on working hours in all trades. We have sown the seed, and though we may not yet be in a position to reap the fruits, that time will come, never fear.’ The official also expressed his relief and pleasure that the strike had been conducted in a peaceable manner and without any rioting. ‘The rank and file have shown great self-control and deserve credit for that, at all events… whatever rowdyism occurred… was the work of outsiders – young hooligans. We set our faces against it right from the start.’
Approximately 85% of the 19,000 men employed at Harland and Wolff were present for work, as were approximately 80% of those employed at the Workman, Clark, & Co. Ltd shipyard. Also resuming work were those employed in the furnishing trades. The strike was brought to an end after employees agreed to return to work on the basis of a 47-hour working week with a new starting hour of 8.30am and a finishing time of 6pm daily – half an hour later than before – from Monday to Friday with an hour allowed for dinner during the day. On Saturdays, the working day would finish at 1pm.
The Belfast strikes, part of wider agitation across the UK for shorter working hours, lasted four weeks and ended without the achievement of a 44-hour week that the workers had sought. Nevertheless, one leading member of the Belfast Strike Committee, speaking to a reporter from the Belfast Newsletter, stated that what had been achieved represented an important stepping stone towards that ultimate end. ‘We have not won the ‘44 just yet’, the unnamed official remarked, ‘but I think the strike has brought it nearer. We have shown what we can do in the way of organisation, and the movement must exert a beneficial influence on working hours in all trades. We have sown the seed, and though we may not yet be in a position to reap the fruits, that time will come, never fear.’ The official also expressed his relief and pleasure that the strike had been conducted in a peaceable manner and without any rioting. ‘The rank and file have shown great self-control and deserve credit for that, at all events… whatever rowdyism occurred… was the work of outsiders – young hooligans. We set our faces against it right from the start.’
20
De Valera was smuggled back into Ireland.
The Belfast strike ends as workers accepted a 47 hour maximum working week.
21
Tyrone: 220 workers at the Fulton Mill in Caledon, Co. Tyrone go on strike led by ITGWU official Peadar O’Donnell. The strike lasts ten weeks and ends in defeat for the workers and ITGWU.
United States: Membership of the Friends of Irish Freedom had grown three times what it was 6 months earlier. Regular Membership now numbered over 50,000 and 200 Associate Branches with over 30,000 members on their rolls.
Tyrone: 220 workers at the Fulton Mill in Caledon, Co. Tyrone go on strike led by ITGWU official Peadar O’Donnell. The strike lasts ten weeks and ends in defeat for the workers and ITGWU.
United States: Membership of the Friends of Irish Freedom had grown three times what it was 6 months earlier. Regular Membership now numbered over 50,000 and 200 Associate Branches with over 30,000 members on their rolls.
Thanks to The Irish Nation Lives.
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Michael Donohoe recalls that he, Monsignor Coghlan and Hugh McCaffrey were ‘delegated to go to Baltimore on Saturday ( the first day of the Convention ) to bring Cardinal Gibbons to Philadelphia. While waiting for the train from Washington the Cardinal asked me to walk with him…after some preliminary queries, he said ‘Do you believe that Ireland would be financially able to get along without the aid of England?’. My answer was ‘You Eminence may be surprised to know that Ireland’s contribution to the British Treasury last year exceeding the total cost of running the Government of the United States for the year 1860’ ‘Well’ said he ‘that is the most surprising statement I have ever heard on the subject’
MichaelO’Donohoe to Diarmuid Lynch Friends of Irish Freedom manuscript notes. Lynch Family Archives Folder 8 – 00009
The Third Irish Race Convention opened in the Second Regiment Armoury, Philadelphia, sponsored by the Friends of Irish Freedom with 5,132 delegates attending and representing diverse Irish organisations such as The National Forresters and the Ancient Order of Hibernians. Judge Cohalan was elected the permanent chairman.
Maloney commented that ‘Judge Cohalan had himself named permanent Chairman of the Convention.’
Quoted in press Statement by William J Maloney – July 1921 Diarmuid Lynch papers – Lynch Family Archives. Folder 6/2
Maloney however had secured a place on the Committee on Resolutions. As a member of the committee he was apparently so un-cooperative that Michael J. Ryan became infuriated and remarked that "if the British had a man on the resolutions committee he would be doing exactly what Maloney was then doing."
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.300
Lynch distributed over 50,000 copies of Lawrence Ginnell's 140 page phamphlet 'The Irish Republic, Why?' during the Convention.
The main task of the Convention was to secure international recognition for the Irish Republic at the Paris Peace Conference. “They were able to evoke a massive demonstration of sympathy for the Irish cause..”
Prof FSL Lyons “ Ireland since the Famine” Fontana Press, London. 1985. P.404
The delegates also pledged to raise by August 1919, $1 Million as a ‘Victory Fund’ to help promote the Irish cause. Judge Daniel Cohalan described it as providing money for “educational propaganda in America”. This resolution, pledging the fund, omitted specific details on when, where and how the Victory Fund should be spent.
"The Irish Victory Fund first proposed by the FOIF in January was endorsed at the Convention with the stated objective of raising one million dollars for the work of the FOIF. After the bruising publicity and sustained hostility to the Irish-American agenda, the organisation had decided that tactically, their American credentials must henceforth be a prominent feature of their manifesto. The three main articles in the FOIF Constitution were revised during the Conference and now emphasised the organisation’s commitment to a strong American agenda but also with the objective of doing all in its power to achieve independence for Ireland. This emphasis on the Americanism of the FOIF also reflected the increased influence of Judge Daniel Cohalan in the formation of official policy but was seen as an abandonment of principle by the Philadelphia group led by John McGarrity."
Eileen McGough. 'Diarmuid Lynch - A Forgotten Irish Patriot' Mercier Press, 2013. P108
Cohalan had two objectives in mind : “ ..one positive, one negative. On the positive score, he wanted to promote the presidential hopes of a Republican Senator, Hiram Johnson of California, who, if elected, would have appointed the pro-Irish Senator William Borah as Secretary of State; on the negative, to defeat the League of Nations..”.
Tim Pat Coogan “De Valera, Long Fellow, Long Shadow” Hutchinson, London. 1993. p156.
The purposes of the fund raising were set forth in circulars distributed by the Friends of Irish Freedom:
“ To educate public opinion:
1) To urge that the objects for which America entered the war may be fully attained.
2) To urge and insist upon the recognition of the Republican form of Government established in Ireland.
3) To urge that America shall not enter into any League of Nations which does not safeguard American rights.
4) 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.
5) To delay the expenses of the Irish-American delegation to the Peace Conference. “
Lynch Family Archives.
Prof FSL Lyons “ Ireland since the Famine” Fontana Press, London. 1985. P.404
The delegates also pledged to raise by August 1919, $1 Million as a ‘Victory Fund’ to help promote the Irish cause. Judge Daniel Cohalan described it as providing money for “educational propaganda in America”. This resolution, pledging the fund, omitted specific details on when, where and how the Victory Fund should be spent.
"The Irish Victory Fund first proposed by the FOIF in January was endorsed at the Convention with the stated objective of raising one million dollars for the work of the FOIF. After the bruising publicity and sustained hostility to the Irish-American agenda, the organisation had decided that tactically, their American credentials must henceforth be a prominent feature of their manifesto. The three main articles in the FOIF Constitution were revised during the Conference and now emphasised the organisation’s commitment to a strong American agenda but also with the objective of doing all in its power to achieve independence for Ireland. This emphasis on the Americanism of the FOIF also reflected the increased influence of Judge Daniel Cohalan in the formation of official policy but was seen as an abandonment of principle by the Philadelphia group led by John McGarrity."
Eileen McGough. 'Diarmuid Lynch - A Forgotten Irish Patriot' Mercier Press, 2013. P108
Cohalan had two objectives in mind : “ ..one positive, one negative. On the positive score, he wanted to promote the presidential hopes of a Republican Senator, Hiram Johnson of California, who, if elected, would have appointed the pro-Irish Senator William Borah as Secretary of State; on the negative, to defeat the League of Nations..”.
Tim Pat Coogan “De Valera, Long Fellow, Long Shadow” Hutchinson, London. 1993. p156.
The purposes of the fund raising were set forth in circulars distributed by the Friends of Irish Freedom:
“ To educate public opinion:
1) To urge that the objects for which America entered the war may be fully attained.
2) To urge and insist upon the recognition of the Republican form of Government established in Ireland.
3) To urge that America shall not enter into any League of Nations which does not safeguard American rights.
4) 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.
5) To delay the expenses of the Irish-American delegation to the Peace Conference. “
Lynch Family Archives.
Diarmuid recalled that in 1919 ‘though the Friends of Irish Freedom organisation made rapid strides numerically among Irish Americans after the ‘Race Convention’ of February, 1919, several months elapsed before contributions pledged at the Convention reached National Headquarters in any large amounts’
Application for Military Service Pension Certificate ( Diarmuid Lynch) - Department of Defence Files. Lynch Archives. March 9, 1938.
Many years later Diarmuid also commented that the Irish Victory Fund had several purposes specified ‘…all tending to the one goal - the achievement of Irish Independence. That a very considerable portion of the proceeds would be sent to Ireland at the earliest moment possible was beyond aye or nay..’
Diarmuid Lynch to the Irish Press. November 1946. Lynch Family Archives Folder 46 - 00013
The Convention Committee appointed three delegates to form an "American Commission on Irish Independence" and travel to Paris to help in securing a hearing for Ireland before the Peace Conference. While not the high profile individuals Griffith had anticipated, they were highly placed men within Wilson’s Democratic party:
Application for Military Service Pension Certificate ( Diarmuid Lynch) - Department of Defence Files. Lynch Archives. March 9, 1938.
Many years later Diarmuid also commented that the Irish Victory Fund had several purposes specified ‘…all tending to the one goal - the achievement of Irish Independence. That a very considerable portion of the proceeds would be sent to Ireland at the earliest moment possible was beyond aye or nay..’
Diarmuid Lynch to the Irish Press. November 1946. Lynch Family Archives Folder 46 - 00013
The Convention Committee appointed three delegates to form an "American Commission on Irish Independence" and travel to Paris to help in securing a hearing for Ireland before the Peace Conference. While not the high profile individuals Griffith had anticipated, they were highly placed men within Wilson’s Democratic party:
Frank P. Walsh (1864-1939) was a noted American lawyer from Kansas City. Walsh was particularly noted for his advocacy of progressive causes, improved working conditions, better pay for workers, and equal employment opportunities for all, including women. He was appointed to several high-profile committees to investigate and report on working conditions.
Walsh had served as joint president of the War Labour Conference Board and member of the Industrial Relations Commission. He was considered close to President Wilson until he became active in championing independence and United States recognition for Ireland. |
Edward Fitzsimmons Dunne (1853 – 1937) was an American liberal Democrat politician who was the 24th Governor of Illinois from 1913 to 1917 and previously served as the 38th mayor of Chicago from April 5, 1905 to 1907.
Dunne was the son of an ardent Irish nationalist, Patrick William (P. W.) Dunne (1832–1921), who emigrated to America in 1849 after the failed Young Ireland revolt. Educated in Trinity College Dublin. |
A resolution drafted by John Devoy and Judge Cohalan, proposed by Cardinal Gibbons was to be presented to the Peace Conference: “To apply to Ireland the great doctrine of national self-determination and to recognise the right of the people of Ireland to select for themselves, without interference, the form of Government under which they wished to live” The eventual cost of the delegation would be $21,500.
The Convention Committee also agreed to extend into an Irish public information service and Senate Hill lobbying by assuming financial responsibility for the Irish National Bureau in Washington D.C. This had been started by the Irish Progressive League and was run by Ms Katherine Hughes*. Later in the year, the Boston lawyer and politician, Daniel T. O’Connell would be appointed director and take over as editor and begin publishing a weekly newsletter.
*Catherine Ageline Hughes. Born 14 November 1876. Kate attended the Notre Dame Convent and later the Prince of Wales College in Charlottetown where she graduated with Honour in 1892. She took her examination for a First Class Teachers License that June, prior to her 16th birthday and passed with a mark of 994, 144 points above the requirement. Kate was appointed the first Provincial Archivist for Albert in 1908 after some years as a journalist with the Montreal Star and Edmonton Bulletin. She was appointed Assistant Agent General in London, England in 1912 where she remained until her retirement in Oct. 1916 to meet a request from Sir William Van Horne to write his biography. She had earlier written the biographies of her uncle Archbishop O'Brian, Man and Churchman, 1906 and Pere Lacombe: The Blackrobe Voyageur, 1911, who had been a friend of Sir William. She wrote for many periodicals using her own name and pseudonyms of Katherine Hope and Catherine O'Driscoll. She was a founding member of the Canadian Women's Press Club in 1904 and vice president in 1909 when she made a journey through the Peace River and Athabascan Districts in Northern Alberta by frontier stage, canoe and riverboat to collect material for the Alberta Archives. Kate moved to New York in 1918 after her mother died and wrote articles, monographs and speeches in support of the Irish Republican movement. She was involved with the Irish Progressive League and then the Friends of Irish Freedom and appeared before the federal House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs in December 1918 as the spokesperson for the Irish Women 's Council of America. In 1919 she established the Irish National Bureau in Washington and became Secretary that year. She resigned in May 1920 when her associates John Devoy & Judge Daniel F. Cohalan had a falling out with her friend President Eamon de Valera. She made speaking tours in U.S., Australia and Canada in support of DeValera and the Self-Determination for Ireland League 1919-1921 and help organized branches in various cities.
In the Hotel Bellvue-Stratford in Philladelphia, McGarrity brought to McCartan and Maloney, a copy of the resolution to be proposed the following day by Cardinal Gibbons. McCartan in his book ‘With De Valera in America’ described it as‘..resolutions spread over many foolscap pages, denounced all entangling alliances with foreign nations, repudiated any League of Nations...’
Dr Maloney also stated that ‘ Judge Cohalan with one of the Cardinal’s advisors substantially wrote the resolution which the Cardinal offered to the Convention’
Quoted in press Statement by William J Maloney – July 1921 Diarmuid Lynch papers – Lynch Family Archives. Folder 6/2
Lynch commented shortly after publication of McCartan’s book in 1933 that:
‘ the resolution as approved by Cardinal Gibbons - and as proposed by him on Sunday, February 23, without any change whatsoever - contained no reference direct or indirect to ‘entangling alliances with foreign nations’ nor to ‘ any League of Nations..’
A comparison between (it) and the declaration that emanated from the Committee on Resolutions shows that Dr.McCartan confused one with the other. Such a glaring error on the part of one who at the time not alone held the postion of 'Envoy of the Irish Republic' but was in contact with the proceedings of the Convention of the Irish Race in America - except in so far as he voluntarily divorced himself from them - is in itself a striking commentary on his fitness as an ‘Envoy’ and on his criticisms of men and events’
Diarmuid Lynch ‘"The I.R.B. and the 1916 Rising" Mercier Press. 1957. p205.
In Paris, Sean T O’Kelly as head of the Irish Delegation, wrote to Clemenceau, President of the Peace Conference and to every delegate at the conference advising that he had been elected by ‘Provisional Government of the Irish Republic to be their representative in Paris’ and bringing to their notice the Irish Government claim for international recognition and requesting the Conference receive the Irish delegates and allow them, as a constituent member to: ‘establish formally and definitely before the Peace Conference and the League of Nations Commission, now assembled in Paris, Ireland’s indisputable right to international recognition of her independence and the priority of her claim to enter the League of Nations as one of its constituent members’
Clemenceau never replied.
In Germany, soldiers and workers declare Bavaria a soviet republic.
The Convention Committee also agreed to extend into an Irish public information service and Senate Hill lobbying by assuming financial responsibility for the Irish National Bureau in Washington D.C. This had been started by the Irish Progressive League and was run by Ms Katherine Hughes*. Later in the year, the Boston lawyer and politician, Daniel T. O’Connell would be appointed director and take over as editor and begin publishing a weekly newsletter.
*Catherine Ageline Hughes. Born 14 November 1876. Kate attended the Notre Dame Convent and later the Prince of Wales College in Charlottetown where she graduated with Honour in 1892. She took her examination for a First Class Teachers License that June, prior to her 16th birthday and passed with a mark of 994, 144 points above the requirement. Kate was appointed the first Provincial Archivist for Albert in 1908 after some years as a journalist with the Montreal Star and Edmonton Bulletin. She was appointed Assistant Agent General in London, England in 1912 where she remained until her retirement in Oct. 1916 to meet a request from Sir William Van Horne to write his biography. She had earlier written the biographies of her uncle Archbishop O'Brian, Man and Churchman, 1906 and Pere Lacombe: The Blackrobe Voyageur, 1911, who had been a friend of Sir William. She wrote for many periodicals using her own name and pseudonyms of Katherine Hope and Catherine O'Driscoll. She was a founding member of the Canadian Women's Press Club in 1904 and vice president in 1909 when she made a journey through the Peace River and Athabascan Districts in Northern Alberta by frontier stage, canoe and riverboat to collect material for the Alberta Archives. Kate moved to New York in 1918 after her mother died and wrote articles, monographs and speeches in support of the Irish Republican movement. She was involved with the Irish Progressive League and then the Friends of Irish Freedom and appeared before the federal House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs in December 1918 as the spokesperson for the Irish Women 's Council of America. In 1919 she established the Irish National Bureau in Washington and became Secretary that year. She resigned in May 1920 when her associates John Devoy & Judge Daniel F. Cohalan had a falling out with her friend President Eamon de Valera. She made speaking tours in U.S., Australia and Canada in support of DeValera and the Self-Determination for Ireland League 1919-1921 and help organized branches in various cities.
In the Hotel Bellvue-Stratford in Philladelphia, McGarrity brought to McCartan and Maloney, a copy of the resolution to be proposed the following day by Cardinal Gibbons. McCartan in his book ‘With De Valera in America’ described it as‘..resolutions spread over many foolscap pages, denounced all entangling alliances with foreign nations, repudiated any League of Nations...’
Dr Maloney also stated that ‘ Judge Cohalan with one of the Cardinal’s advisors substantially wrote the resolution which the Cardinal offered to the Convention’
Quoted in press Statement by William J Maloney – July 1921 Diarmuid Lynch papers – Lynch Family Archives. Folder 6/2
Lynch commented shortly after publication of McCartan’s book in 1933 that:
‘ the resolution as approved by Cardinal Gibbons - and as proposed by him on Sunday, February 23, without any change whatsoever - contained no reference direct or indirect to ‘entangling alliances with foreign nations’ nor to ‘ any League of Nations..’
A comparison between (it) and the declaration that emanated from the Committee on Resolutions shows that Dr.McCartan confused one with the other. Such a glaring error on the part of one who at the time not alone held the postion of 'Envoy of the Irish Republic' but was in contact with the proceedings of the Convention of the Irish Race in America - except in so far as he voluntarily divorced himself from them - is in itself a striking commentary on his fitness as an ‘Envoy’ and on his criticisms of men and events’
Diarmuid Lynch ‘"The I.R.B. and the 1916 Rising" Mercier Press. 1957. p205.
In Paris, Sean T O’Kelly as head of the Irish Delegation, wrote to Clemenceau, President of the Peace Conference and to every delegate at the conference advising that he had been elected by ‘Provisional Government of the Irish Republic to be their representative in Paris’ and bringing to their notice the Irish Government claim for international recognition and requesting the Conference receive the Irish delegates and allow them, as a constituent member to: ‘establish formally and definitely before the Peace Conference and the League of Nations Commission, now assembled in Paris, Ireland’s indisputable right to international recognition of her independence and the priority of her claim to enter the League of Nations as one of its constituent members’
Clemenceau never replied.
In Germany, soldiers and workers declare Bavaria a soviet republic.
(Below) copy statement by the delegates of the Irish Race Convention calling on the United States government to acknowledge the right of Irish people to "select for themselves without interference from any other people the form of government under which in future they shall live",
Reporting on the Philadelphia Convention on page 1 & 15, the Washington Times newspaper also carried a key Friends of Irish Freedom advert (below).
Odd snippets are found throughout US newspapers of a century ago.
In the Washington Times of February 22, between reports of the Philadelphia Convention, the situation in Germany and the frantic rush by citizens nationwide to stock up on liquor before Prohibition starts, there is a report on Aaron Walker, a black resident of South Carolina who was sentenced to death for attempted rape. He received two stays of execution - the first due to illness of the State executioner and the second so that repairs could be carried out on the electric chair in order that he could be executed. The repairs were made and Aaron Walker was subsequently executed on March 18, 1919. |
"Soldier Marching with Children". This Norman Rockwell painting appeared on the cover of The Saturday Evening Post published February 22, 1919. An alternate is "The Doughboy and His Admirers."
This painting was Rockwell's sixteenth overall picture out of 322 total featured on the cover of The Post. Rockwell's career with the Post spanned 47 years, from his first cover illustration, Boy With Baby Carriage in 1916 to his last, Portrait of John F. Kennedy, in 1963.
Born in New York City in 1894, Norman Rockwell always wanted to be an artist. At age 14, Rockwell enrolled in art classes at The New York School of Art (formerly The Chase School of Art). Two years later, in 1910, he left high school to study art at The National Academy of Design. He soon transferred to The Art Students League, where he studied with Thomas Fogarty and George Bridgman. Rockwell found success early. He painted his first commission of four Christmas cards before his sixteenth birthday. While still in his teens, he was hired as art director of Boys’ Life, the official publication of the Boy Scouts of America, and began a successful freelance career illustrating a variety of young people’s publications. In 1916, the 22-year-old Rockwell painted his first cover for The Saturday Evening Post, the magazine considered by Rockwell to be the “greatest show window in America.” Over the next 47 years, another 321 Rockwell covers would appear on the cover of the Post.
In 1943, inspired by President Franklin Roosevelt’s address to Congress, Rockwell painted the Four Freedoms paintings. They were reproduced in four consecutive issues of The Saturday Evening Post with essays by contemporary writers. Rockwell’s interpretations of Freedom of Speech, Freedom to Worship, Freedom from Want, and Freedom from Fear proved to be enormously popular. The works toured the United States in an exhibition that was jointly sponsored by the Post and the U.S. Treasury Department and, through the sale of war bonds, raised more than $130 million for the war effort.
23 - Sunday
Reaction to Sean T. O'Kelly’s announcement was swift. The Freemans Journal condemned his action as crude and innefectual. Darrell Figgis, imprisoned at the time ‘also believed that O’Kelly’s ‘pompous’ letter was a grave error.’That letter, I remember, was sent the week before the liberation of the prisoners and it brought dismay to some of us. For it was not certaint hat President Wislon could not meet the envoy from Ireland…a great opportunity was thus thrown away’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P27.
Officers of the South Tipperary brigade, meeting at Donnolly's, Nodstown, Cashel, draw up a proclamation (signed by Seamus Robinson as O/C) ordering all British military and police forces out of South Tipperary and, if they stayed they would be held to have "forfeited they lives". GHQ refused to sanction this proclamation or to give permission to the Tipperary men to carry out their threats. It was still posted up in Tipperary.
Harry Boland, confident in the powers of the Irish-American lobby declared ‘ Ireland will be stuffed down his neck [Wilson] from the time he arrives in Long Island till he gets back to Paris’
Day Two of the Third Irish Race Convention and the venue for the day was the Academy of Music. Phildelphia from 10:00 to 23:45hrs and with side meeting venues in the Shubert and Forrest Theatres.
The first moves towards public Irish America backing of self-determination for Ireland was with the keynote address delivered by Cardinal James Gibbons , the senior Roman Catholic prelate in the United States and widely known for his defence of labour unions.
In his address, the Cardinal emphasised the fact that "Ireland wanted freedom to breathe the air of heaven. She wants freedom to develop the riches of her soul. She wants freedom to carve out her own destiny. . . . Liberty is a necessary part of justice; it is not a favor or a privilege. Nations as well as individuals have a right to liberty. Ireland's right to liberty is as clear as sunlight. . . . Just as in the war we took the side of Belgium and France and England because it was the side of liberty and justice, so for the very same reason should we now take the side of Ireland. All Americans should stand as one man for Ireland's inalienable right of self-determination..."
The Cardinal's script largely followed FOIF lines drafted by Devoy and Cohaan as he proposed the resolution. It called upon the Paris Peace Conference to "apply to Ireland the great doctrine of national self-determination and quoting President Wilson's declaration made to Congress on 11 February 1918; ‘National Aspirations must be respected; peoples may now be dominated and governed only by their consent. “Self-Determination” is not a mere phrase.’
Cardinal Gibbons next proposed the Resolution calling on President Wilson to: ‘place before the Peace Conference and support with all his powerful influence, Ireland’s right of self-determination and secure for the elected delegates from her Constituent Assembly to the Peace Conference the same status and recognition which have been accorded to those of other small nations.’
Diarmuid Lynch ‘"The I.R.B. and the 1916 Rising" Mercier Press. 1957. p205.
This proposal was supported by the Presbyterian Minister, Rev. Norman Thomas, Rabbi Aranskop and Rev. James Grattan Mythen and then unanimously adopted by the Convention.
McGarrity, McCartan along with Mellows attempted to record motions ‘so as to call for recognition of the Republic failed however; the plea was of self-determination. Mellows fought hard for the McGarrity amendments and was looked on ‘as a wild, hot-headed, undisciplined’ fellow likely to get the movement into trouble' as he told Nora Connolly in a letter. He was also dubbed a ‘socialist and an anarchist’. Cohalan…wanted a moderate tone at the proceedings.’
Sean Cronin. ‘The McGarrity Papers’ Anvil Press 1972. P72
McGarrity, McCartan and others sharply citicised Devoy following the meeting for not including the term 'Irish Republic'
In fact there were growing differences among the Clan and the Friends of Irish Freedom leadership as well as other well placed Irish Americans over the issue as to whether a republic existed in Ireland and if so, how completely it should be supported from the United States.
Another important outcome of the Convention was that the Friends of Irish Freedom were to assume the financial responsibility of the Irish National Bureau in Washington which had been started by the IPL and was now run by Katherine Hughes.
"This Convention was regarded as the most successful gathering of the Irish-American race ever. Judge Daniel Cohalan closed the final session with the words, ‘There never was a gathering which will be most result-full for the cause of the Independence of Ireland and for the welfare and good of America.' The FOIF was at the height of its power and effectiveness."
Eileen McGough. 'Diarmuid Lynch - A Forgotten Irish Patriot' Mercier Press, 2013. P109
"This bringing together of the left and right wings of American political life was, perhaps, due less to the universal appeal of the Irish cause than to the convenience of the Irish cause as a means of striking at the compromise peace that the Versailles Treaty represented - a compromise that satisfied neither the radicals who had wanted the treaty to be agent of social change nor the conservatives who had wanted the treaty to re-establish the old world order
Reaction to Sean T. O'Kelly’s announcement was swift. The Freemans Journal condemned his action as crude and innefectual. Darrell Figgis, imprisoned at the time ‘also believed that O’Kelly’s ‘pompous’ letter was a grave error.’That letter, I remember, was sent the week before the liberation of the prisoners and it brought dismay to some of us. For it was not certaint hat President Wislon could not meet the envoy from Ireland…a great opportunity was thus thrown away’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P27.
Officers of the South Tipperary brigade, meeting at Donnolly's, Nodstown, Cashel, draw up a proclamation (signed by Seamus Robinson as O/C) ordering all British military and police forces out of South Tipperary and, if they stayed they would be held to have "forfeited they lives". GHQ refused to sanction this proclamation or to give permission to the Tipperary men to carry out their threats. It was still posted up in Tipperary.
Harry Boland, confident in the powers of the Irish-American lobby declared ‘ Ireland will be stuffed down his neck [Wilson] from the time he arrives in Long Island till he gets back to Paris’
Day Two of the Third Irish Race Convention and the venue for the day was the Academy of Music. Phildelphia from 10:00 to 23:45hrs and with side meeting venues in the Shubert and Forrest Theatres.
The first moves towards public Irish America backing of self-determination for Ireland was with the keynote address delivered by Cardinal James Gibbons , the senior Roman Catholic prelate in the United States and widely known for his defence of labour unions.
In his address, the Cardinal emphasised the fact that "Ireland wanted freedom to breathe the air of heaven. She wants freedom to develop the riches of her soul. She wants freedom to carve out her own destiny. . . . Liberty is a necessary part of justice; it is not a favor or a privilege. Nations as well as individuals have a right to liberty. Ireland's right to liberty is as clear as sunlight. . . . Just as in the war we took the side of Belgium and France and England because it was the side of liberty and justice, so for the very same reason should we now take the side of Ireland. All Americans should stand as one man for Ireland's inalienable right of self-determination..."
The Cardinal's script largely followed FOIF lines drafted by Devoy and Cohaan as he proposed the resolution. It called upon the Paris Peace Conference to "apply to Ireland the great doctrine of national self-determination and quoting President Wilson's declaration made to Congress on 11 February 1918; ‘National Aspirations must be respected; peoples may now be dominated and governed only by their consent. “Self-Determination” is not a mere phrase.’
Cardinal Gibbons next proposed the Resolution calling on President Wilson to: ‘place before the Peace Conference and support with all his powerful influence, Ireland’s right of self-determination and secure for the elected delegates from her Constituent Assembly to the Peace Conference the same status and recognition which have been accorded to those of other small nations.’
Diarmuid Lynch ‘"The I.R.B. and the 1916 Rising" Mercier Press. 1957. p205.
This proposal was supported by the Presbyterian Minister, Rev. Norman Thomas, Rabbi Aranskop and Rev. James Grattan Mythen and then unanimously adopted by the Convention.
McGarrity, McCartan along with Mellows attempted to record motions ‘so as to call for recognition of the Republic failed however; the plea was of self-determination. Mellows fought hard for the McGarrity amendments and was looked on ‘as a wild, hot-headed, undisciplined’ fellow likely to get the movement into trouble' as he told Nora Connolly in a letter. He was also dubbed a ‘socialist and an anarchist’. Cohalan…wanted a moderate tone at the proceedings.’
Sean Cronin. ‘The McGarrity Papers’ Anvil Press 1972. P72
McGarrity, McCartan and others sharply citicised Devoy following the meeting for not including the term 'Irish Republic'
In fact there were growing differences among the Clan and the Friends of Irish Freedom leadership as well as other well placed Irish Americans over the issue as to whether a republic existed in Ireland and if so, how completely it should be supported from the United States.
Another important outcome of the Convention was that the Friends of Irish Freedom were to assume the financial responsibility of the Irish National Bureau in Washington which had been started by the IPL and was now run by Katherine Hughes.
"This Convention was regarded as the most successful gathering of the Irish-American race ever. Judge Daniel Cohalan closed the final session with the words, ‘There never was a gathering which will be most result-full for the cause of the Independence of Ireland and for the welfare and good of America.' The FOIF was at the height of its power and effectiveness."
Eileen McGough. 'Diarmuid Lynch - A Forgotten Irish Patriot' Mercier Press, 2013. P109
"This bringing together of the left and right wings of American political life was, perhaps, due less to the universal appeal of the Irish cause than to the convenience of the Irish cause as a means of striking at the compromise peace that the Versailles Treaty represented - a compromise that satisfied neither the radicals who had wanted the treaty to be agent of social change nor the conservatives who had wanted the treaty to re-establish the old world order
The Constitution and Branch By-Laws of the Friends of Irish Freedom (revised by the Irish Race Convention) February 22 & 23, 1919.
A copy is available at the end of this site page in Appendix 1.
A copy is available at the end of this site page in Appendix 1.
In Ireland, influenza was beginning to return for the third time...
24
Eamon de Valera issued the following statement in Dublin:
"We challenge England to allow Ireland the principle of free Self- Determination. Let that principle be applied to this island as a trait, and if a decisive majority of the whole people declare not for a separate, independent statehood, then we shall be silent. If England accepts the principle of Self-Determination for this island it will settle the Irish question forever."
Following the adjournment of the Irish Race Meeting, it was decided to send a representative delegation led by Judge Cohalan to Washington to present the Conventions adopted resolutions to President Wilson. Three previous delegations had been refused an audience with the President, that from the First Irish Race Convention in 1916, the Second Convention in 1918 and the Mother’s Mission in December 1918.
Dr. Maloney commenting on the leadership of Judge Cohalan in the Irish Race Meeting:
‘...under his leadership, the Philadelphia Convention (a) refused to recognise the Irish Republic, (b) denounced all foreign entalgaments for America and (c) repudiated any League of Nations ...all three policies at least potentially hostile to the Irish Republic.’
Quoted in press Statement by William J Maloney – July 1921 Diarmuid Lynch papers – Lynch Family Archives. Folder 6/2
Patrick McCartan denied that there was a ‘Scheme to ram Ireland down President Wilson’s throat’. On the contrary, he claimed that the Irish people believed in Wilson’s sincerity.
Eamon de Valera issued the following statement in Dublin:
"We challenge England to allow Ireland the principle of free Self- Determination. Let that principle be applied to this island as a trait, and if a decisive majority of the whole people declare not for a separate, independent statehood, then we shall be silent. If England accepts the principle of Self-Determination for this island it will settle the Irish question forever."
Following the adjournment of the Irish Race Meeting, it was decided to send a representative delegation led by Judge Cohalan to Washington to present the Conventions adopted resolutions to President Wilson. Three previous delegations had been refused an audience with the President, that from the First Irish Race Convention in 1916, the Second Convention in 1918 and the Mother’s Mission in December 1918.
Dr. Maloney commenting on the leadership of Judge Cohalan in the Irish Race Meeting:
‘...under his leadership, the Philadelphia Convention (a) refused to recognise the Irish Republic, (b) denounced all foreign entalgaments for America and (c) repudiated any League of Nations ...all three policies at least potentially hostile to the Irish Republic.’
Quoted in press Statement by William J Maloney – July 1921 Diarmuid Lynch papers – Lynch Family Archives. Folder 6/2
Patrick McCartan denied that there was a ‘Scheme to ram Ireland down President Wilson’s throat’. On the contrary, he claimed that the Irish people believed in Wilson’s sincerity.
Boston: President Wilson delivered a stirring defence of the League of Nations in a speech before a capacity crowd of 8,000 in Boston’s Mechanics’ Hall.
The constitution of the League has been criticised by a number of American political figures, including Senator James Reed, for limiting US independence and affording Great Britain too much influence. However, Mr Wilson claimed that if the Paris Conference fails, ‘the hopes of mankind for peace would be dashed’ and that ‘all nations would be set up again in hostile camps, and the members of the Conference in Paris would go home with their heads upon their breasts’.
The US President urged the League’s critics to test American public sentiment on the matter. He also stressed that the findings of the conference with regard to small nations need to be backed by the ‘united forces of the civilised world’.
Details of the constitution of the League of Nations were published earlier in the month. These included a pledge by member states to support each other in the event of any future war or threat of war. In other words, a war against one would be a war against all. Membership of the League of Nations would be extended to the so-called five ‘great powers’ (the USA, the UK, France, Italy and Japan), and such others as may be admitted.
The constitution also provides a mechanism for the resolution of disputes involving either members, non-members or a combination.
All treaties were to be registered with the secretariat of the League which would also supervise the international trade in arms. It was certainly notable that the constitution of the League declared that the reduction of armaments would be essential to lasting world peace, with arms and military equipment lowered to the minimum level necessary.
The ultimate ambition for the League of Nations was set out in a preamble which read: ‘To promote international co-operation and secure international peace and security by the acceptance of obligations not to resort to war, by the prescription of open, just, and honourable relations between nations by the firm establishment of the understandings of international law.’
The constitution of the League has been criticised by a number of American political figures, including Senator James Reed, for limiting US independence and affording Great Britain too much influence. However, Mr Wilson claimed that if the Paris Conference fails, ‘the hopes of mankind for peace would be dashed’ and that ‘all nations would be set up again in hostile camps, and the members of the Conference in Paris would go home with their heads upon their breasts’.
The US President urged the League’s critics to test American public sentiment on the matter. He also stressed that the findings of the conference with regard to small nations need to be backed by the ‘united forces of the civilised world’.
Details of the constitution of the League of Nations were published earlier in the month. These included a pledge by member states to support each other in the event of any future war or threat of war. In other words, a war against one would be a war against all. Membership of the League of Nations would be extended to the so-called five ‘great powers’ (the USA, the UK, France, Italy and Japan), and such others as may be admitted.
The constitution also provides a mechanism for the resolution of disputes involving either members, non-members or a combination.
All treaties were to be registered with the secretariat of the League which would also supervise the international trade in arms. It was certainly notable that the constitution of the League declared that the reduction of armaments would be essential to lasting world peace, with arms and military equipment lowered to the minimum level necessary.
The ultimate ambition for the League of Nations was set out in a preamble which read: ‘To promote international co-operation and secure international peace and security by the acceptance of obligations not to resort to war, by the prescription of open, just, and honourable relations between nations by the firm establishment of the understandings of international law.’
25
Paris: France estimated that the costs of the material damage to allied countries in the recent war is a massive £48 billion. And that’s before any interest was applied.
The issue of reparations became one of the most contentious issues discussed at the Paris Peace Conference, not least because the decision needed to be made on what damage could be reasonably attributed to the war and whether the full burden should fall on Germany. It had been suggested that all interest on the loans issued by Germany for purpose of defeating the Allies be suspended and that a financial section of the League of Nations should be created to collect revenues from the German state. However, this may have involved Germany taking the next 20 years or so just paying off the interest on what is owed. The discussion on reparations follows the extension, on February 16 of the armistice which had brought an end to great war hostilities in November. The renewed terms were more severe on Germany so as to remove them as a threat to their neighbouring nations.
Details of the naval conditions was that all German submarines were required to be destroyed within 15 days and a similar fate for Germany’s submarine docks and repair docks. In addition, eight battleships were to be handed over to the allies, as well as eight cruisers, 42 destroyers, and 50 torpedo boats. It was also expected that Germany cut her army from 60 active divisions to a maximum of 30.
The issue of reparations became one of the most contentious issues discussed at the Paris Peace Conference, not least because the decision needed to be made on what damage could be reasonably attributed to the war and whether the full burden should fall on Germany. It had been suggested that all interest on the loans issued by Germany for purpose of defeating the Allies be suspended and that a financial section of the League of Nations should be created to collect revenues from the German state. However, this may have involved Germany taking the next 20 years or so just paying off the interest on what is owed. The discussion on reparations follows the extension, on February 16 of the armistice which had brought an end to great war hostilities in November. The renewed terms were more severe on Germany so as to remove them as a threat to their neighbouring nations.
Details of the naval conditions was that all German submarines were required to be destroyed within 15 days and a similar fate for Germany’s submarine docks and repair docks. In addition, eight battleships were to be handed over to the allies, as well as eight cruisers, 42 destroyers, and 50 torpedo boats. It was also expected that Germany cut her army from 60 active divisions to a maximum of 30.
26
Ireland: An t’Oglach advised in it’s February 26th edition: ‘ Any policeman, warder, judge or official must be made to realise that it is not wise for him to distinguish himself by undue zeal in the service of England.’
Robert Barton arrested.
Grand Canyon National Park: An act of the United States Congress establishes most of the Grand Canyon as a United States National Park.
Philippines: An independence mission to the U.S., funded by the Philippine legislature, sets out from Manila to present its case to Secretary of War Newton D. Baker
Washington: The Friends of Irish Freedom delegation in Washington were advised that the President would be unable to see them but they would be given a brief reception on March 4th at the Metropolitan Opera House New York after his scheduled address. Here he was to address a rally to increase support for his ‘Fourteen Points’ and to stem the growing tide of opposition within the US for his policy.
President Wilson held a dinner meeting with Congress foreign policy leaders in what afterwards became known as "Tea with the Mad Hatter"
Paris: Seán T. O’Kelly delivered a letter to the Secretary of the Peace Conference in Paris at the Quai d’Orsay which claimed the right of recognition of the Irish Republic and the admission of Ireland as a member of the League of Nations. Registered copies of the same letter, which were accompanied by the Declaration of Independence ratified at the first meeting of Dáil Éireann and the message that parliament issued to the nations of the world, were also sent to each member of the Conference asking that Irish delegates be received as soon as possible for the purpose of establishing ‘formally and definitely before the Peace Conference and League of Nations Commission Ireland’s indisputable right to the international recognition of her independence, and the propriety of her claim to enter the League of Nations as one of its constituent members’.
Mr O’Kelly also issued these documents to approximately 140 newspapers representing practically all nations
His efforts yielded little positive response in Paris, while at home they have been the object of some press ridicule. The Skibbereen Eagle has mocked the ‘utter childishness and fatuity’ of Mr O’Kelly’s mission and has suggested that he, and his ‘feather-brained colleagues’, might have taken their republican joke too far. The paper also thinks that his antics in Paris threatened to undermine the dignity of both the United States and Ireland. The Freeman’s Journal was no more generous: ‘If the object of the proceedings had been to prevent President Wilson from raising the Irish question at the Conference they could not have been better planned. These bunglers have played into the hands of Messrs Lloyd George and Co as carefully as if they had been engaged for job.’ What’s more, in doing so, the Freeman’s Journal states, their action has served to ‘throw ridicule on the whole Irish nation and make the Irish cause absurd in the eyes of the American people’.
Ireland: An t’Oglach advised in it’s February 26th edition: ‘ Any policeman, warder, judge or official must be made to realise that it is not wise for him to distinguish himself by undue zeal in the service of England.’
Robert Barton arrested.
Grand Canyon National Park: An act of the United States Congress establishes most of the Grand Canyon as a United States National Park.
Philippines: An independence mission to the U.S., funded by the Philippine legislature, sets out from Manila to present its case to Secretary of War Newton D. Baker
Washington: The Friends of Irish Freedom delegation in Washington were advised that the President would be unable to see them but they would be given a brief reception on March 4th at the Metropolitan Opera House New York after his scheduled address. Here he was to address a rally to increase support for his ‘Fourteen Points’ and to stem the growing tide of opposition within the US for his policy.
President Wilson held a dinner meeting with Congress foreign policy leaders in what afterwards became known as "Tea with the Mad Hatter"
Paris: Seán T. O’Kelly delivered a letter to the Secretary of the Peace Conference in Paris at the Quai d’Orsay which claimed the right of recognition of the Irish Republic and the admission of Ireland as a member of the League of Nations. Registered copies of the same letter, which were accompanied by the Declaration of Independence ratified at the first meeting of Dáil Éireann and the message that parliament issued to the nations of the world, were also sent to each member of the Conference asking that Irish delegates be received as soon as possible for the purpose of establishing ‘formally and definitely before the Peace Conference and League of Nations Commission Ireland’s indisputable right to the international recognition of her independence, and the propriety of her claim to enter the League of Nations as one of its constituent members’.
Mr O’Kelly also issued these documents to approximately 140 newspapers representing practically all nations
His efforts yielded little positive response in Paris, while at home they have been the object of some press ridicule. The Skibbereen Eagle has mocked the ‘utter childishness and fatuity’ of Mr O’Kelly’s mission and has suggested that he, and his ‘feather-brained colleagues’, might have taken their republican joke too far. The paper also thinks that his antics in Paris threatened to undermine the dignity of both the United States and Ireland. The Freeman’s Journal was no more generous: ‘If the object of the proceedings had been to prevent President Wilson from raising the Irish question at the Conference they could not have been better planned. These bunglers have played into the hands of Messrs Lloyd George and Co as carefully as if they had been engaged for job.’ What’s more, in doing so, the Freeman’s Journal states, their action has served to ‘throw ridicule on the whole Irish nation and make the Irish cause absurd in the eyes of the American people’.
27
‘A Reuters Agency statement ...declared that a member of the Congressional Foreign Affairs Committee had been told by President Wilson...that Ireland would have no voice in the Peace Conference at present, since the Irish question was a matter between England and Ireland. It was afterwards denied that any such statement had been made’
Macardle ‘The Irish Republic’ Irish Press. Dublin 1957. p278.
Wilson now dispatched the Head of the US War Information Bureau, George Creel, to assess the situation in Ireland and report back. There he met with the Dail leaders including Collins and Boland and advised them that the Paris Peace Conference was a meeting of the victors to impose terms on the war losers and was therefore not an assembly to assess the needs to individual nations. They were told that Wilson’s proposed League of Nations would provide the suitable forum for any presentation of demands for self-Government from Britain. Creel commented that when he had finished: ‘ the disappointment on every face was plain to be seen, but except for one or two hotheads, there was general admission of the arguments force and logic’ In his report to the President, Creel stated that if dominion status was offered to Ireland immediately, it would be accepted; if this was not done ‘sentiment in Ireland and America will harden in favour of an Irish Republic’…Creel did urge Wilson to put private pressure on Lloyd George to grant Ireland at least Home Rule’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P28-29
De Valera secretly returned to England to organise passage to New York aboard a friendly ship. There seemed little reason to remain in Ireland.
After the stresses and strains of organising the Third Irish Race Convention. Diarmuid & Kit Lynch went to Atlantic City, New Jersey. Staying at the Hotel Strand, he fell ill.
"My Dear Judge Cohalan.
The names of the National Officers & Vice Presidents are given to the press for this week. In addition to these, I [word illegible] the names of the National Council & am sending copy to Dalton.
The names of the Trustees have to be added.
I am in worse physical shape than I realised. if tomorrow brings an improvement, I will remain until Sunday - otherwise will leave here tomorrow for NY. In either event, hope to...[no copy of reverse side of letter]
‘A Reuters Agency statement ...declared that a member of the Congressional Foreign Affairs Committee had been told by President Wilson...that Ireland would have no voice in the Peace Conference at present, since the Irish question was a matter between England and Ireland. It was afterwards denied that any such statement had been made’
Macardle ‘The Irish Republic’ Irish Press. Dublin 1957. p278.
Wilson now dispatched the Head of the US War Information Bureau, George Creel, to assess the situation in Ireland and report back. There he met with the Dail leaders including Collins and Boland and advised them that the Paris Peace Conference was a meeting of the victors to impose terms on the war losers and was therefore not an assembly to assess the needs to individual nations. They were told that Wilson’s proposed League of Nations would provide the suitable forum for any presentation of demands for self-Government from Britain. Creel commented that when he had finished: ‘ the disappointment on every face was plain to be seen, but except for one or two hotheads, there was general admission of the arguments force and logic’ In his report to the President, Creel stated that if dominion status was offered to Ireland immediately, it would be accepted; if this was not done ‘sentiment in Ireland and America will harden in favour of an Irish Republic’…Creel did urge Wilson to put private pressure on Lloyd George to grant Ireland at least Home Rule’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P28-29
De Valera secretly returned to England to organise passage to New York aboard a friendly ship. There seemed little reason to remain in Ireland.
After the stresses and strains of organising the Third Irish Race Convention. Diarmuid & Kit Lynch went to Atlantic City, New Jersey. Staying at the Hotel Strand, he fell ill.
"My Dear Judge Cohalan.
The names of the National Officers & Vice Presidents are given to the press for this week. In addition to these, I [word illegible] the names of the National Council & am sending copy to Dalton.
The names of the Trustees have to be added.
I am in worse physical shape than I realised. if tomorrow brings an improvement, I will remain until Sunday - otherwise will leave here tomorrow for NY. In either event, hope to...[no copy of reverse side of letter]
28
Washington D.C. : Senator Cabot Lodge speech rejects the Wilson principle of mutual guarantee.
Jeanette Rankin, the first woman to hold federal office in America in the House of Representatives for Montana, wrote to President Wilson requesting a meeting between him and the Irish American delegation formed at the Third Irish Race Convention. Wilson's Private Secretary, Joseph Tumulty in turn commented to the President "regardless of what we may think of Cohalan and his crowd, there is a deep desire on the part of the American people to see the Irish question settled in the only way it can be settled - by the establishment of a Home Rule Parliament in Dublin"
Francis M Carroll “American Opinion & the Irish Question 1910-1923.” Gill & McMillan 1978.p.127
Washington D.C. : Senator Cabot Lodge speech rejects the Wilson principle of mutual guarantee.
Jeanette Rankin, the first woman to hold federal office in America in the House of Representatives for Montana, wrote to President Wilson requesting a meeting between him and the Irish American delegation formed at the Third Irish Race Convention. Wilson's Private Secretary, Joseph Tumulty in turn commented to the President "regardless of what we may think of Cohalan and his crowd, there is a deep desire on the part of the American people to see the Irish question settled in the only way it can be settled - by the establishment of a Home Rule Parliament in Dublin"
Francis M Carroll “American Opinion & the Irish Question 1910-1923.” Gill & McMillan 1978.p.127
Below "The Harvest of Battle" by Christopher Richard Wynne Nevinson ARA (1889 – 7 October 1946). Completed in 1919.
Nevinson was an English figure and landscape painter, etcher and lithographer, who was one of the most famous war artists of World War I. He is often referred to by his initials C. R. W. Nevinson.
At the outbreak of World War I, Nevinson joined the Friends' Ambulance Unit and was deeply disturbed by his work tending wounded French and British soldiers. For a very brief period he served as a volunteer ambulance driver before ill health forced his return to Britain. Subsequently, Nevinson volunteered for home service with the Royal Army Medical Corps. In 1917, Nevinson was appointed an official war artist, but he was no longer finding Modernist styles adequate for describing the horrors of modern war, and he increasingly painted in a more realistic manner. Nevinson's later World War One paintings, based on short visits to the Western Front, lacked the same powerful effect as those earlier works which had helped to make him one of the most famous young artists working in England.
Shortly after the end of the war, Nevinson travelled to the United States of America, where he painted a number of powerful images of New York. However, his boasting and exaggerated claims of his war experiences, together with his depressive and temperamental personality, made him many enemies in both the USA and Britain. In 1920, the critic Charles Lewis Hind wrote of Nevinson that 'It is something, at the age of thirty one, to be among the most discussed, most successful, most promising, most admired and most hated British artists.' His post-war career, however, was not so distinguished.
Nevinson was an English figure and landscape painter, etcher and lithographer, who was one of the most famous war artists of World War I. He is often referred to by his initials C. R. W. Nevinson.
At the outbreak of World War I, Nevinson joined the Friends' Ambulance Unit and was deeply disturbed by his work tending wounded French and British soldiers. For a very brief period he served as a volunteer ambulance driver before ill health forced his return to Britain. Subsequently, Nevinson volunteered for home service with the Royal Army Medical Corps. In 1917, Nevinson was appointed an official war artist, but he was no longer finding Modernist styles adequate for describing the horrors of modern war, and he increasingly painted in a more realistic manner. Nevinson's later World War One paintings, based on short visits to the Western Front, lacked the same powerful effect as those earlier works which had helped to make him one of the most famous young artists working in England.
Shortly after the end of the war, Nevinson travelled to the United States of America, where he painted a number of powerful images of New York. However, his boasting and exaggerated claims of his war experiences, together with his depressive and temperamental personality, made him many enemies in both the USA and Britain. In 1920, the critic Charles Lewis Hind wrote of Nevinson that 'It is something, at the age of thirty one, to be among the most discussed, most successful, most promising, most admired and most hated British artists.' His post-war career, however, was not so distinguished.
March 1919
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March 1919
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1
Washington: In his March 1st 1919 report to Wilson, Creel stated that the Sinn Fein victory in Ireland was extensive with the exception of four Ulster counties, Home Rule had been effectively ‘discredited’ and a Republic was demanded, although few felt it could be achieved. Creel recorded his belief that if Dominion Status was granted, it would be immediately accepted but any delay risked ‘sentiment in Ireland and America hardening in favour of an Irish Republic’. He further warned of Lloyd George’s duplicity and stressed the vital importance of a settlement in order to placate ‘the aggressive Irish American nationalists.’
Washington: In his March 1st 1919 report to Wilson, Creel stated that the Sinn Fein victory in Ireland was extensive with the exception of four Ulster counties, Home Rule had been effectively ‘discredited’ and a Republic was demanded, although few felt it could be achieved. Creel recorded his belief that if Dominion Status was granted, it would be immediately accepted but any delay risked ‘sentiment in Ireland and America hardening in favour of an Irish Republic’. He further warned of Lloyd George’s duplicity and stressed the vital importance of a settlement in order to placate ‘the aggressive Irish American nationalists.’
2
The Mansion House Committee announced that the funds collected during the 1918 anti-conscription drive were to be disposed of, ‘there was a scramble between Sinn Fein and the Catholic Church, with the church winning hands down. Most of the money was held by parish priests, who were the local trustees of the fund…according to the RIC over £164,000 was returned to subscribers or ‘applied to ecclestical charities’, £21,000 went to the Mansion House committee, £50,000 was unclaimed and £17,000 went into the party’s ‘Self-Determination Fund’.
First meeting of the brigade officers of the Cork No. 3 (West) Brigade IRA since its founding. It takes place at Ballinvard, near Rossmore, north west of Clonakilty. During the early months of 1919 the matter of communications between Brigade Headquarters and various Battalion Headquarters received much attention, as, also, did organisation of communications between all units of the Brigade. Brigade Headquarters was then in the 1st Battalion area (Bandon district); consequently all orders issued and all despatches going out to or coming from the Battalions had to be dealt with by 1st Battalion Dispatch Riders and particularly by those of the Bandon Company. All despatches going to or coming from General Headquarters, Dublin, or from other Brigades had also to be dealt with by the Dispatch Riders of 'F' Company. At the time referred to 'F' Company (Bandon Company) had only a strength of about ten men. Consequently, a the work of the orgenisation became more intense these few men of 'F' Company were practically every night on duty, as communications, when not of a very urgent nature, were always transmitted at night because the dispatch riders were all boys earning their living, who had to work by Day
The 1st Battalion Staff at this period were :-
O.C.,- Commandant Seán Hales, Ballinadee,
Vice 0.C. - Denis Lordan, Bandon,
Adjutant - Liam Deasy
Quartermaster - Flor. Begley, Bandon
Joe McGarrity and Dr, Maloney called on Judge Cohalan at his home. Dr. Maloney describes the meeting:
‘ I explained to the Judge Cohalan that his identity with Ireland’s cause obviously prejudiced the cause with President Wilson; that the Presidnet’s conduct during the last week had showed hostility to Judge Cohalan to the point of hostility to anything that Judge Cohalan advocated. And I besought him for the sake of the Irish Republic to absent himself on the following Tuesday night, to allow the Resolution Committee to go without him to President Wilson’s farewell meeting at the Metropolitan Opera House, in order to ensure that the president would at least receive the Resolution to admit Ireland’s elected delegates to the Peace Conference.
Judge Cohalan received the suggestion unfavourably. Thwacking the palm of his left hand with index and middle fingers of his right, he shouted that he was telling me for the thirteenth time that there was no Irish Republic. He would force Wilson to receive him and the resoloutions also.’
Quoted in press Statement by William J Maloney – July 1921 Diarmuid Lynch papers – Lynch Family Archives. Folder 6/2
Washington D.C. 39 Senators sign Round Robin to separate League from Treaty.
The Mansion House Committee announced that the funds collected during the 1918 anti-conscription drive were to be disposed of, ‘there was a scramble between Sinn Fein and the Catholic Church, with the church winning hands down. Most of the money was held by parish priests, who were the local trustees of the fund…according to the RIC over £164,000 was returned to subscribers or ‘applied to ecclestical charities’, £21,000 went to the Mansion House committee, £50,000 was unclaimed and £17,000 went into the party’s ‘Self-Determination Fund’.
First meeting of the brigade officers of the Cork No. 3 (West) Brigade IRA since its founding. It takes place at Ballinvard, near Rossmore, north west of Clonakilty. During the early months of 1919 the matter of communications between Brigade Headquarters and various Battalion Headquarters received much attention, as, also, did organisation of communications between all units of the Brigade. Brigade Headquarters was then in the 1st Battalion area (Bandon district); consequently all orders issued and all despatches going out to or coming from the Battalions had to be dealt with by 1st Battalion Dispatch Riders and particularly by those of the Bandon Company. All despatches going to or coming from General Headquarters, Dublin, or from other Brigades had also to be dealt with by the Dispatch Riders of 'F' Company. At the time referred to 'F' Company (Bandon Company) had only a strength of about ten men. Consequently, a the work of the orgenisation became more intense these few men of 'F' Company were practically every night on duty, as communications, when not of a very urgent nature, were always transmitted at night because the dispatch riders were all boys earning their living, who had to work by Day
The 1st Battalion Staff at this period were :-
O.C.,- Commandant Seán Hales, Ballinadee,
Vice 0.C. - Denis Lordan, Bandon,
Adjutant - Liam Deasy
Quartermaster - Flor. Begley, Bandon
Joe McGarrity and Dr, Maloney called on Judge Cohalan at his home. Dr. Maloney describes the meeting:
‘ I explained to the Judge Cohalan that his identity with Ireland’s cause obviously prejudiced the cause with President Wilson; that the Presidnet’s conduct during the last week had showed hostility to Judge Cohalan to the point of hostility to anything that Judge Cohalan advocated. And I besought him for the sake of the Irish Republic to absent himself on the following Tuesday night, to allow the Resolution Committee to go without him to President Wilson’s farewell meeting at the Metropolitan Opera House, in order to ensure that the president would at least receive the Resolution to admit Ireland’s elected delegates to the Peace Conference.
Judge Cohalan received the suggestion unfavourably. Thwacking the palm of his left hand with index and middle fingers of his right, he shouted that he was telling me for the thirteenth time that there was no Irish Republic. He would force Wilson to receive him and the resoloutions also.’
Quoted in press Statement by William J Maloney – July 1921 Diarmuid Lynch papers – Lynch Family Archives. Folder 6/2
Washington D.C. 39 Senators sign Round Robin to separate League from Treaty.
3
Sean T. O'Kelly commented to an American journalist that only one delegate had even acknowledged his memorandum and that ‘ the others faield to grant me the courtesy usually bestowed by gentlemen when receiving a letter even from beggars…it seems that the blacks and yellows, all colours and races, may be heard before the Conference, except the Irish’
Despite this, O’Kelly sent home this optomistic message:
‘I still believe Wilson means business. He can put the screw on all the gang of old-time statesmen when he pleases. He is tii heavily committed for even his courage to fail; an irate people in America is more to be feared than Clemencau, Lloyd George and Balfour. If he declared ‘off’ they will be on their knees.’
The US Administration says the Great War cost over $197,000 Million. The 65th Congress adjourns.
Although Russia was in the midst of civil war, the Bolshevik leaders established the Commintern, an official vehicle for world revolution. Also known as the Third International (1919–1943), the Comitern was an international organisation advocating world communism, "to struggle by all available means, including armed force, for the overthrow of the international bourgeoisie and the creation of an international Soviet republic as a transition stage to the complete abolition of the state". The Comintern was officially dissolved by Joseph Stalin in 1943 to avoid antagonising its allies, the United States and the United Kingdom.
Sean T. O'Kelly commented to an American journalist that only one delegate had even acknowledged his memorandum and that ‘ the others faield to grant me the courtesy usually bestowed by gentlemen when receiving a letter even from beggars…it seems that the blacks and yellows, all colours and races, may be heard before the Conference, except the Irish’
Despite this, O’Kelly sent home this optomistic message:
‘I still believe Wilson means business. He can put the screw on all the gang of old-time statesmen when he pleases. He is tii heavily committed for even his courage to fail; an irate people in America is more to be feared than Clemencau, Lloyd George and Balfour. If he declared ‘off’ they will be on their knees.’
The US Administration says the Great War cost over $197,000 Million. The 65th Congress adjourns.
Although Russia was in the midst of civil war, the Bolshevik leaders established the Commintern, an official vehicle for world revolution. Also known as the Third International (1919–1943), the Comitern was an international organisation advocating world communism, "to struggle by all available means, including armed force, for the overthrow of the international bourgeoisie and the creation of an international Soviet republic as a transition stage to the complete abolition of the state". The Comintern was officially dissolved by Joseph Stalin in 1943 to avoid antagonising its allies, the United States and the United Kingdom.
4
Dublin: Austin Stack submitted a report regarding "courts with coercive jurisdiction". However, he did not think that it was yet feasible to make them immediately operational and pointed out that the Dáil Decree, (Decree No. 8, Session 4, 1919) only provided for Arbitration Courts.The Dáil Courts replaced the Sinn Féin Arbitration Courts, authorised in June 1919. The latter, only fully operational in the west of Ireland and with limited jurisdiction in property disputes, had been coming under pressure to try criminal cases. The critical difference between the two systems was the power to adjudicate assumed by the new courts regardless of the wishes of the parties. While the Arbitration Counts could have been characterised as within the tradition of contract law, the latter assumed powers of coercion characteristic of a state. The new system of Dáil Courts established on 29 June 1920 was therefore much more ambitious and more geographically widespread than its predecessor. A proposed amendment, by Ulster deputies Joseph O'Doherty and Ernest Blythe, to remove the right of clergymen to sit as ex-officio members, was defeated.
[The first Sinn Féin/republican court ever held in Ireland was in Ballinrobe, South Mayo in May 1919. In his Witness Statement, (Bureau of Military History) William T. O'Keeffe, a Staff Officer with the South Mayo Brigade, IRA, credited men from the Claremorris Battalion, Commandant P.R. Hughes in particular (Hughes was Officer in Command of IRA Intelligence and Communications and later appointed one of the first District Justices of the Irish Free State in 1923) along with solicitor, Connor A. Maguire (later appointed as Attorney General of the Irish Free State in 1932) as being responsible for the establishment of the first Sinn Féin courts. Subsequently, Comdt. Hughes and Maguire sat as judges in the courts.]
Dublin: The Robert Emmet Commemoration Concert was announced for the 4th March 1919, to be held in the Mansion House, Dublin. Posters advertised the event with the promise of a special – but unnamed – star attraction:
AN ADDRESS WILL BE GIVEN BY
A PROMINENT REPUBLICAN LEADER.
WHO?
The concert organisers played their cards close to their chests, letting only a select few know the identity of the mystery guest. After the first part of the performance, it was announced by Diarmuid O’Hegarty that the promised oration was about to commence in the Round Room, to be presided over by Seán Ó Muirthile.
That both O’Hegarty and Ó Muirthile were high-ranking members of the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB), the secret society dedicated to freedom for Ireland, was no coincidence. This was to be more than a celebration of a long-dead patriot. Even if unaware of all this, the guests could not have failed to note the presence of the Irish Volunteers, acting as stewards for the event. Some of them had been ordered to carry revolvers, although presumably not openly, this being an event to enjoy, after all.
As the advertised ‘prominent Republican leader’ prepared to make his entrance, Volunteers took up duty by the doors. One of them, Michael Lynch of Dublin, remembered the anticipation:
"One could feel the air of expectancy in the vast audience. From the supper-room, at the rere [sic] of the round room, came the sound of a pipers’ band tuning up. After a few minutes, the doors of the supper-room were thrown open and the pipers’ band came in, making a most infernal noise."
In the middle of the band, dressed in the uniform of the Irish Volunteers, was Seán McGarry. As soon as he was recognised, the crowd broke out into a rapturous outburst of cheers, clapping and whistling loud enough to drown out the ‘infernal noise’ of the band. McGarry walked on stage “rather shyly,” according to Lynch, understandably so, given the attention being heaped on him. Sharing the platform was Ó Muirthile and the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Laurence O’Neill, bedecked in his chain of office. There the three of them stood for many minutes until the cheering had died down enough for Ó Muirthile to begin.
He introduced McGarry – rather unnecessarily by this point – and said that if the true story of his escape was told, it would shatter all the ones they had been reading in the newspapers. “At any rate,” Ó Muirthile continued, “he is here, and he has not been brought here by any of the methods that have been described in the Press for the past few days. He is here, owing in the ability, tact, and discretion of the men who are leading the Irish Republican Army.”
Then it was the turn of the Lord Mayor. He stood before them, he said, in the full adornment of his office to honour this latest fugitive from British injustice. He was there because a solemn and imperative duty demanded him to be there, first to tender a hearty welcome to his colleague, Councillor Seán McGarry, to the Mansion House. O'Neill added that he was there to show his utter contempt, a contempt which was shared in every liberty-loving man and woman the whole world over, for a Government which detained in English jails so many of his fellow countrymen without any trial, without any charge, at the expense of the fundamental principles of liberty, justice and fair play.
Dublin: Austin Stack submitted a report regarding "courts with coercive jurisdiction". However, he did not think that it was yet feasible to make them immediately operational and pointed out that the Dáil Decree, (Decree No. 8, Session 4, 1919) only provided for Arbitration Courts.The Dáil Courts replaced the Sinn Féin Arbitration Courts, authorised in June 1919. The latter, only fully operational in the west of Ireland and with limited jurisdiction in property disputes, had been coming under pressure to try criminal cases. The critical difference between the two systems was the power to adjudicate assumed by the new courts regardless of the wishes of the parties. While the Arbitration Counts could have been characterised as within the tradition of contract law, the latter assumed powers of coercion characteristic of a state. The new system of Dáil Courts established on 29 June 1920 was therefore much more ambitious and more geographically widespread than its predecessor. A proposed amendment, by Ulster deputies Joseph O'Doherty and Ernest Blythe, to remove the right of clergymen to sit as ex-officio members, was defeated.
[The first Sinn Féin/republican court ever held in Ireland was in Ballinrobe, South Mayo in May 1919. In his Witness Statement, (Bureau of Military History) William T. O'Keeffe, a Staff Officer with the South Mayo Brigade, IRA, credited men from the Claremorris Battalion, Commandant P.R. Hughes in particular (Hughes was Officer in Command of IRA Intelligence and Communications and later appointed one of the first District Justices of the Irish Free State in 1923) along with solicitor, Connor A. Maguire (later appointed as Attorney General of the Irish Free State in 1932) as being responsible for the establishment of the first Sinn Féin courts. Subsequently, Comdt. Hughes and Maguire sat as judges in the courts.]
Dublin: The Robert Emmet Commemoration Concert was announced for the 4th March 1919, to be held in the Mansion House, Dublin. Posters advertised the event with the promise of a special – but unnamed – star attraction:
AN ADDRESS WILL BE GIVEN BY
A PROMINENT REPUBLICAN LEADER.
WHO?
The concert organisers played their cards close to their chests, letting only a select few know the identity of the mystery guest. After the first part of the performance, it was announced by Diarmuid O’Hegarty that the promised oration was about to commence in the Round Room, to be presided over by Seán Ó Muirthile.
That both O’Hegarty and Ó Muirthile were high-ranking members of the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB), the secret society dedicated to freedom for Ireland, was no coincidence. This was to be more than a celebration of a long-dead patriot. Even if unaware of all this, the guests could not have failed to note the presence of the Irish Volunteers, acting as stewards for the event. Some of them had been ordered to carry revolvers, although presumably not openly, this being an event to enjoy, after all.
As the advertised ‘prominent Republican leader’ prepared to make his entrance, Volunteers took up duty by the doors. One of them, Michael Lynch of Dublin, remembered the anticipation:
"One could feel the air of expectancy in the vast audience. From the supper-room, at the rere [sic] of the round room, came the sound of a pipers’ band tuning up. After a few minutes, the doors of the supper-room were thrown open and the pipers’ band came in, making a most infernal noise."
In the middle of the band, dressed in the uniform of the Irish Volunteers, was Seán McGarry. As soon as he was recognised, the crowd broke out into a rapturous outburst of cheers, clapping and whistling loud enough to drown out the ‘infernal noise’ of the band. McGarry walked on stage “rather shyly,” according to Lynch, understandably so, given the attention being heaped on him. Sharing the platform was Ó Muirthile and the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Laurence O’Neill, bedecked in his chain of office. There the three of them stood for many minutes until the cheering had died down enough for Ó Muirthile to begin.
He introduced McGarry – rather unnecessarily by this point – and said that if the true story of his escape was told, it would shatter all the ones they had been reading in the newspapers. “At any rate,” Ó Muirthile continued, “he is here, and he has not been brought here by any of the methods that have been described in the Press for the past few days. He is here, owing in the ability, tact, and discretion of the men who are leading the Irish Republican Army.”
Then it was the turn of the Lord Mayor. He stood before them, he said, in the full adornment of his office to honour this latest fugitive from British injustice. He was there because a solemn and imperative duty demanded him to be there, first to tender a hearty welcome to his colleague, Councillor Seán McGarry, to the Mansion House. O'Neill added that he was there to show his utter contempt, a contempt which was shared in every liberty-loving man and woman the whole world over, for a Government which detained in English jails so many of his fellow countrymen without any trial, without any charge, at the expense of the fundamental principles of liberty, justice and fair play.
(O’Neill was far less amenable when he wrote about the event several years later. He had worn his chain of office in honour of Robert Emmet, not McGarry whose appearance had been sprung on him at the last second. A consummate professional, O’Neill had nonetheless carried on with the show.) Now it was finally time for McGarry to deliver his much hyped oration. What it was, Lynch could not recall, not that it mattered much. It was enough for McGarry to have appeared in public and give lie to the claims of the British Government that not one of its former prisoners had made it back to Ireland.
Whatever McGarry said, it was received with “great enthusiasm,” according to the Irish Times. The Irish Independent said even less, reporting in detail on Ó Muirthile’s and O’Neill’s words but nothing about McGarry speaking at all. For all the stir he caused, McGarry emerged from his own performance as little more than a prop for a piece of theatre.
More information on Sean McGarry here at Eireann Ascendant- an Irish History Blog.
Washington DC:
Before departing Washington for New York and returning to Paris, President Wilson met with the British Ambassador, Lord Reading. In a letter to the Foreign Office, the Ambassador commented that before meeting with the highly publicised Irish-American delegation later that evening in New York, the President assured him 'that he would not commit himself to raise the Irish question at the Peace Conference".
Reading to the Foreign Office. 4 March 1919. (PRO FO 371/4245) Quoted in Francis M Carroll “American Opinion & the Irish Question 1910-1923.” Gill & McMillan 1978.p.251 - Footnotes
Lord Reading had a long and distinguished legal career culminating with his appointment as Lord Chief Justice of England in 1913 but was tainted by the Marconi scandal later than year. As Lord Chief Justice, Reading presided over the trial of Sir Roger Casement for high treason in 1916. His attendance in court was, however, intermittent, as he was frequently called upon by the government to serve as an advisor. That did not stop him sentencing Casement to death on 29 June 1916. In 1917, Reading was in the United States as the British High Commissioner to the United States and Canada. In 1918 he was appointed British Ambassador to the United States, all the while remaining Lord Chief Justice. Returning to England for six months in 1918, he frequently attended the War Cabinet and was sent to France as Lloyd George's confidential emissary. He returned to the United States as Ambassador in 1919, relinquishing the post the same year. Later as Governor General of India (1921-25) he exercised a heavy administrative hand, had Gandhi arrested and sent the military in to quell unrest in the Punjab. More details here.
Gallagher Motion - House of Representatives
The House of Representatives passed by 216 votes to 45, a motion by Thomas Gallagher, Democrat, Illinois saying “ That it is the earnest hope of the Congress of the United States of America that the Peace Conference now sitting in Paris and passing upon the claims of various peoples will favourably consider the claims of Ireland to Self-determination”.
This resolution, became the first parliamentary move to secure a form of recognition of Ireland’s rights. It was passed early on the morning of March 4th and so did not receive Senate endorsement. Irish American pressure groups now turned their attention to the Senate where there was the guaranteed support of Senator Borah of Idaho.
Whatever McGarry said, it was received with “great enthusiasm,” according to the Irish Times. The Irish Independent said even less, reporting in detail on Ó Muirthile’s and O’Neill’s words but nothing about McGarry speaking at all. For all the stir he caused, McGarry emerged from his own performance as little more than a prop for a piece of theatre.
More information on Sean McGarry here at Eireann Ascendant- an Irish History Blog.
Washington DC:
Before departing Washington for New York and returning to Paris, President Wilson met with the British Ambassador, Lord Reading. In a letter to the Foreign Office, the Ambassador commented that before meeting with the highly publicised Irish-American delegation later that evening in New York, the President assured him 'that he would not commit himself to raise the Irish question at the Peace Conference".
Reading to the Foreign Office. 4 March 1919. (PRO FO 371/4245) Quoted in Francis M Carroll “American Opinion & the Irish Question 1910-1923.” Gill & McMillan 1978.p.251 - Footnotes
Lord Reading had a long and distinguished legal career culminating with his appointment as Lord Chief Justice of England in 1913 but was tainted by the Marconi scandal later than year. As Lord Chief Justice, Reading presided over the trial of Sir Roger Casement for high treason in 1916. His attendance in court was, however, intermittent, as he was frequently called upon by the government to serve as an advisor. That did not stop him sentencing Casement to death on 29 June 1916. In 1917, Reading was in the United States as the British High Commissioner to the United States and Canada. In 1918 he was appointed British Ambassador to the United States, all the while remaining Lord Chief Justice. Returning to England for six months in 1918, he frequently attended the War Cabinet and was sent to France as Lloyd George's confidential emissary. He returned to the United States as Ambassador in 1919, relinquishing the post the same year. Later as Governor General of India (1921-25) he exercised a heavy administrative hand, had Gandhi arrested and sent the military in to quell unrest in the Punjab. More details here.
Gallagher Motion - House of Representatives
The House of Representatives passed by 216 votes to 45, a motion by Thomas Gallagher, Democrat, Illinois saying “ That it is the earnest hope of the Congress of the United States of America that the Peace Conference now sitting in Paris and passing upon the claims of various peoples will favourably consider the claims of Ireland to Self-determination”.
This resolution, became the first parliamentary move to secure a form of recognition of Ireland’s rights. It was passed early on the morning of March 4th and so did not receive Senate endorsement. Irish American pressure groups now turned their attention to the Senate where there was the guaranteed support of Senator Borah of Idaho.
William Edgar Borah (June 29, 1865 – January 19, 1940) was an outspoken Republican United States Senator. A progressive who served from 1907 until his death in 1940, Borah is often considered an isolationist, as he led the Irreconcilables, senators who would not accept the Treaty of Versailles, Senate ratification of which would have made the U.S. part of the League of Nations.
In the Senate, Borah became one of the progressive insurgents who challenged President William Howard Taft's policies, though Borah refused to support former president Theodore Roosevelt's third-party bid against Taft in 1912. Borah reluctantly voted for war in 1917 and, once it concluded, he fought against the Versailles treaty, and the Senate did not ratify it. Borah was enthusiastic in his support of Irish self-determination, and he was equally fervid in his fight against the League of Nations. In this regard he found agreement with Judge Cohalan and a host of other Irish- Americans.
Remaining a maverick, Borah often fought with the Republican presidents in office between 1921 and 1933, though Coolidge offered to make Borah his running mate in 1924. Borah campaigned for Hoover in 1928. Deprived of his post as Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee when the Democrats took control of the Senate in 1933, Borah agreed with some of the New Deal legislation, but opposed other proposals. He ran for the Republican nomination for president in 1936, but party regulars were not inclined to allow a longtime maverick to head the ticket. In his final years, he felt he might be able to settle differences in Europe by meeting with Hitler; though he did not go, this has not enhanced his historical reputation. Borah died in 1940.
In the Senate, Borah became one of the progressive insurgents who challenged President William Howard Taft's policies, though Borah refused to support former president Theodore Roosevelt's third-party bid against Taft in 1912. Borah reluctantly voted for war in 1917 and, once it concluded, he fought against the Versailles treaty, and the Senate did not ratify it. Borah was enthusiastic in his support of Irish self-determination, and he was equally fervid in his fight against the League of Nations. In this regard he found agreement with Judge Cohalan and a host of other Irish- Americans.
Remaining a maverick, Borah often fought with the Republican presidents in office between 1921 and 1933, though Coolidge offered to make Borah his running mate in 1924. Borah campaigned for Hoover in 1928. Deprived of his post as Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee when the Democrats took control of the Senate in 1933, Borah agreed with some of the New Deal legislation, but opposed other proposals. He ran for the Republican nomination for president in 1936, but party regulars were not inclined to allow a longtime maverick to head the ticket. In his final years, he felt he might be able to settle differences in Europe by meeting with Hitler; though he did not go, this has not enhanced his historical reputation. Borah died in 1940.
Dr Maloney commented: ‘somehow on March 4, 1919, the resolution of December 12, 1918, had been changed to omit the words Freedom and Independence; and to degrade a specific request to an ‘earnest hope’...whether or not Judge Cohalan decreed the emasculation of the Gallagher Resolution in Committee is still in doubt. It occcurred during his leadership. He opposed the changes suggested by Dr. McCartan to strenghten it. It was claimed by Mr. Devoy that an attempt was made to secure Dr. McCartan’s changes, over the head of Judge Cohalan, and that the attempt was thwarted by the fortunate presence of one of Judge Cohalan’s adherents...’
Quoted in press Statement by William J Maloney – July 1921 Diarmuid Lynch papers – Lynch Family Archives. Folder 6/2
The US Congress was at this stage seeing the signs of a growing isolationist policy that would impact on America’s role in the League of Nations, Europe and Ireland up to the late 1930’s. At first, the opposition was mainly political with the Republican’s opposing President Wilson’s League of Nations. Gradually, increasing numbers of Democratic Congressmen and Senators began to oppose the concept of American involvement in foreign matters, particularly when it could mean that American troops and assets would be involved in maintaining the peace and settling disputes overseas. Outside of Capitol Hill, the general opposition to American involvement in the League of Nations, was growing. Judge Cohalan and the Friends of Irish Freedom were increasingly aware of this new development.
Press Reaction to Congress vote: the Belfast Newsletter stated that the House had committed an ‘act of impertinence’, the effect of which was to favour the ‘partition of the British Empire’. The Newsletter has said that such a partition would be ‘unthinkable’ and accused the House of Representatives of taking a side on an issue which ‘in no way concerns them, in order to gratify that section of their own population which tried to harass and thwart the American nation when it declared war on Germany’.
Quoted in press Statement by William J Maloney – July 1921 Diarmuid Lynch papers – Lynch Family Archives. Folder 6/2
The US Congress was at this stage seeing the signs of a growing isolationist policy that would impact on America’s role in the League of Nations, Europe and Ireland up to the late 1930’s. At first, the opposition was mainly political with the Republican’s opposing President Wilson’s League of Nations. Gradually, increasing numbers of Democratic Congressmen and Senators began to oppose the concept of American involvement in foreign matters, particularly when it could mean that American troops and assets would be involved in maintaining the peace and settling disputes overseas. Outside of Capitol Hill, the general opposition to American involvement in the League of Nations, was growing. Judge Cohalan and the Friends of Irish Freedom were increasingly aware of this new development.
Press Reaction to Congress vote: the Belfast Newsletter stated that the House had committed an ‘act of impertinence’, the effect of which was to favour the ‘partition of the British Empire’. The Newsletter has said that such a partition would be ‘unthinkable’ and accused the House of Representatives of taking a side on an issue which ‘in no way concerns them, in order to gratify that section of their own population which tried to harass and thwart the American nation when it declared war on Germany’.
President Wilson allows 4 changes in Covenant: no member need accept a mandate; domestic affairs excluded; Monroe Doctrine not impaired and any member may withdraw after 2 years' notice.
Metropolitan Opera House Meeting, New York.
Wilson, about to sail again to the Peace Conference in Paris, addressed an immense meeting in New York in at attempt to halt opposition to his ‘Fourteen Points’ declaring that the Covenant and the League of Nations were in-separable. Representatives from the Irish Race Convention waited on him at the Metropolitan Opera House to present the resolution adopted on February 22nd. There was quite a cross section of Irish-America present: former Governor Edward F. Dunne, Michael J. Ryan (who had some fairly trenchant pre 1917 pro-German views), Bishop Shanahan, Michael Francis Doyle (one of Roger Casement's lawyers during his trial and since then expressing a vociferous anti-British opinion) , Major Eugene F. Kinkead (who had a long standing political relationship with Wilson and was one of a number who had persuaded him to enter politics in 1909), Mayor John P. Grace, John J. Splain, Judge O'Neill Ryan, Dr. William Carroll, John E, Millholland, Rev, James Grattan Mythen and the Rev, Norman Thomas (the pacifist cleric whose socialist and anti-Wilson views had only increased since the war). Judges Cohalan and Goff, Bishop Muldoon and Frank P. Walsh would speak for the group.
Below: Cable from Eamonn De Valera to Judge Cohalan - Irish Race Deputation Metropolitan Opera House, New York:
"The Executive of Dail Eireann warmly appreciates the magnificent work for Ireland of the Irish Race in the United States of America and places the highest value on the act of co-operation of the Irish Race Convention. The Executive welcomes the forthcoming reception of the Convention Delegates of President Wilson whose clear enunciation of the true principal of international rights has kindled throughout Ireland the firmest confidence in an early restoration of her inalienable liberties"
Metropolitan Opera House Meeting, New York.
Wilson, about to sail again to the Peace Conference in Paris, addressed an immense meeting in New York in at attempt to halt opposition to his ‘Fourteen Points’ declaring that the Covenant and the League of Nations were in-separable. Representatives from the Irish Race Convention waited on him at the Metropolitan Opera House to present the resolution adopted on February 22nd. There was quite a cross section of Irish-America present: former Governor Edward F. Dunne, Michael J. Ryan (who had some fairly trenchant pre 1917 pro-German views), Bishop Shanahan, Michael Francis Doyle (one of Roger Casement's lawyers during his trial and since then expressing a vociferous anti-British opinion) , Major Eugene F. Kinkead (who had a long standing political relationship with Wilson and was one of a number who had persuaded him to enter politics in 1909), Mayor John P. Grace, John J. Splain, Judge O'Neill Ryan, Dr. William Carroll, John E, Millholland, Rev, James Grattan Mythen and the Rev, Norman Thomas (the pacifist cleric whose socialist and anti-Wilson views had only increased since the war). Judges Cohalan and Goff, Bishop Muldoon and Frank P. Walsh would speak for the group.
Below: Cable from Eamonn De Valera to Judge Cohalan - Irish Race Deputation Metropolitan Opera House, New York:
"The Executive of Dail Eireann warmly appreciates the magnificent work for Ireland of the Irish Race in the United States of America and places the highest value on the act of co-operation of the Irish Race Convention. The Executive welcomes the forthcoming reception of the Convention Delegates of President Wilson whose clear enunciation of the true principal of international rights has kindled throughout Ireland the firmest confidence in an early restoration of her inalienable liberties"
The long standing animosity between Wilson and Cohalan became apparent again. Informed that the Irish-American delegation included Judge Cohalan, those waiting were advised that the President ‘would not enter the room...if Judge Cohalan was present’. When all the members of the committee...declared that ‘they would leave sooner than have Judge Cohalan leave alone’
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.302
Ray Stannard Baker recorded Wilson’s views of the meeting: ‘He said that he refused to receive the Committee if Judge Cohalan was on it and that he told the representatives who came to him and in language so plain and loud that it could be heard by the Tammany policemen who stood about, that he regarded Judge Cohalan as a traitor…when the representatives eventually came in ‘they were so insistent’ said the President, ‘that I had hard work keeping my temper’.
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p167
The President was referring to the Judge's pre 1917 Irish-German activities which were considered in some circles as disloyal.
Judge Cohalan left the room, claiming that he did so for the sake of unity and President Wilson finally agreed to meet the delegation of Irish Americans and was prepared to accept the resolutions adopted at the Irish Race Convention on 22 February.
Tansill gives another angle for the spat, commenting that President Wilson “ had a long memory and he never forgave or forgot that Judge Daniel Cohalan had campaigned against his nomination for the Presidency at the 1912 Democratic Convention in Baltimore”
Tansill. “America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922” Devin-Adair New York 1957.p213.
“ The President was further irritated when he discovered that he was expected not merely to accept resolutions but to press Irish claims to be heard at the Peace Conference. He repeated the arguments against this course but was more disposed to further another of the Race Convention’s proposals - that a three man delegation be appointed to go from America to the Peace Conference to lobby that Ireland’s case be heard. Arrangements were made to issue the three with passports... Frank P Walsh ( a lawyer and former president of Wilson’s War Labour Conference Board ), Michael J Ryan ( lawyer from Philadelphia ) and Edward F Dunne ( Former Mayor of Chicago and Governor of Illinois ).... British reaction was not surprising “ Even the King wanted Wilson to furnish “a disavowal of the action of these American citizens”.”
Tim Pat Coogan “De Valera, Long Fellow, Long Shadow” Hutchinson, London. 1993. p142
The interview only lasted twenty-five minutes. It was the Ex-Supreme Court Justice John Goff who asked the President directly if he would lend his support: “Mr. President, representing, as we do, millions of your fellow American citizens, I ask you if you will present to the Peace Conference in Paris the right of Ireland to determine the form of government under which she shall live?” No direct answer was given.
‘The question of participation of the United States in the League of Nations would undoubtedly be a main issue in the Presidential elections of the following year. The result of those elections would be strongly affected by the Irish-American vote. The American people were still in doubt as to whether the protocol of the League would be such as to make it a genuine League of Nations for peace and justice or whether it would become a mere association of victorious powers to secure domination over the weak. The case of Ireland would provide a test.’
Macardle. ‘The Irish Republic’ Irish Press, Dublin. 1957. p280.
Ray Stanard Baker summed up the the meeting and Wilson’s opinion: ‘The Irish Question is now a domestic affair of the British Empire and that neither he nor any other foreign leader has any right to interfere or to advocate any policy. He said he did not tell them so but he believed that when the League of Nations Covenant was adopted and the League came into being, a foreign nation – America if you like – might suggest, under one of its provisions, that the Irish question might become a cause of war and that therefore it became the concern of the League – but that time had not yet arrived’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p167
Overall the results of the meeting were unfortunate. Wilson felt provoked by the Irish-American lobby group and the Irish-Americans in turn were to be disappointed with the President's apparent lack of good faith in the issue of Irish self-determination.
This conflict between Judge Cohalan and President Wilson quickly attracted nation-wide attention. The majority of the Irish supported Cohalan, particularly after the manner in which he had been treated by the President.
‘Irish organisations thundered their protests at the treatment their leader had received and published full page ads in the daily press to set forth their position. The opposition to Wilson and the League of Nations grew...’
The Gaelic American. November 23, 1946. P5. Lynch Family Archives.
Dr. Maloney writing a few years after the event commented that ‘...Judge Cohalan deliberate baiting of President Wilson destroyed whatever chance Ireland had of a hearing before the Peace Conference… when Judge Cohalan staged and received the insult he desired from President Wilson, Ireland’s policy at the Peace Conference collapsed and the policy of securing recognition by the United States alone remained..’’
Quoted in press Statement by William J Maloney – July 1921 Diarmuid Lynch papers – Lynch Family Archives. Folder 6/2
In reality, there was never any realistic hope that the Irish cause would be heard in Paris. The Conference was only concerned with territories directly affected by the War and to raise the issue publicly could have damaged Anglo-American relations. Wilson however was to remind Lloyd George privately of the importance of a speedy resolution of the Irish question on or around April 17th.
The Irish Independent expressed dismay and incomprehension as to the president’s response. ‘It cannot be because the Irish issue is a domestic question. By simply saying ‘domestic’, oppression and misgovernment ought not, in the world as represented by Mr Wilson, to be any longer cloaked or condoned.’ The Independent does, nonetheless, accept the sincerity of the American president and believes him to possess a genuine interest in seeing that justice is done to Ireland. The paper thanks the Irishmen in the United States, for their efforts in ensuring that the President was fully acquainted with the nature of the Irish question.
As an aside, historian Francis Carroll comments that not all Irish-American opinion following the Armistice was represented by the struggles of the Irish-American Nationalist leaders to win Wilson's advocacy:
"Fairly divergent views existed in various quarters about what position America should take towards Ireland. One abortive effort to mould American public opinion in favour of a moderate solution to the Irish question, along the lines proposed by Sir Horace Plunkett, was led by such people as Dr. H.N. MacCracken, president of Vassar College, J. O'Hara Cosgrave, and editor of the New York World, Lieutenant-Colonel G.P.Aherne, secretary of the Army War College, Charles McCarthy and John Quinn.
Although many of the group were of Irish descent, they were outside the conventional nationalist movements and in fact represented a financially and socially successful element in the Irish-American community which despised the Irish 'political bosses' as typified by Judge Cohalan....'
Francis M Carroll “American Opinion & the Irish Question 1910-1923.” Gill & McMillan 1978.p.129
The group found itself out of step with the popular appeal of self-determination and what was to many, the more radical trends within Ireland itself. By March 1919, they had halted their activities but continued to express mistrust of an Irish Republic while placing faith in the President to 'save the situation'
6
Spanish Flu was sweeping again through England and Ireland. Prisons did not escape the ravages. Pierse McCan imprisoned in the 1918 sweep, and elected MP for East Tipperary, died of the flu in Gloucester Jail. Faced with possibly more deaths in custody, growing public relations problems and willing to strenghten the hand of the moderates within Sinn Fein, Parliament decided to release all the Irish internees and convicted prisoners. The playing field had changed yet again and as for de Valera, waiting for passage to America in a British ‘safe house’ the assesment of the situation was that while he was an escapee and so subject to re-arrest, Dublin Castle would not do so.
"Fairly divergent views existed in various quarters about what position America should take towards Ireland. One abortive effort to mould American public opinion in favour of a moderate solution to the Irish question, along the lines proposed by Sir Horace Plunkett, was led by such people as Dr. H.N. MacCracken, president of Vassar College, J. O'Hara Cosgrave, and editor of the New York World, Lieutenant-Colonel G.P.Aherne, secretary of the Army War College, Charles McCarthy and John Quinn.
Although many of the group were of Irish descent, they were outside the conventional nationalist movements and in fact represented a financially and socially successful element in the Irish-American community which despised the Irish 'political bosses' as typified by Judge Cohalan....'
Francis M Carroll “American Opinion & the Irish Question 1910-1923.” Gill & McMillan 1978.p.129
The group found itself out of step with the popular appeal of self-determination and what was to many, the more radical trends within Ireland itself. By March 1919, they had halted their activities but continued to express mistrust of an Irish Republic while placing faith in the President to 'save the situation'
6
Spanish Flu was sweeping again through England and Ireland. Prisons did not escape the ravages. Pierse McCan imprisoned in the 1918 sweep, and elected MP for East Tipperary, died of the flu in Gloucester Jail. Faced with possibly more deaths in custody, growing public relations problems and willing to strenghten the hand of the moderates within Sinn Fein, Parliament decided to release all the Irish internees and convicted prisoners. The playing field had changed yet again and as for de Valera, waiting for passage to America in a British ‘safe house’ the assesment of the situation was that while he was an escapee and so subject to re-arrest, Dublin Castle would not do so.
McCan was born at Prospect lodge, Ballyanne Desmesne, County Wexford, the son of Francis McCan, a land agent, and Jane Power. He was nephew of Patrick Joseph Power, MP for East Waterford from 1885 to 1913. He attended Clongowes Wood College and later residing at Ballyowen House, Dualla, Cashel, County Tipperary, where he was an "extensive farmer" and a member of the Tipperary Hunt.
McCan was a founder member of Sinn Féin in 1905, joined the Gaelic League in 1909 and was a member of the Irish Volunteers from 1914 onwards. After more than 2,000 German and Austrian prisoners were imprisoned at Richmond Barracks, Templemore following the first battles of World War I in 1914, McCan plotted to engineer a mass escape but was thwarted when the prisoners were removed to Leigh, Lancashire in 1915. When the Irish Volunteers were founded in Dublin in 1914, Pierce McCann set about organising a branch in Cashel, Co. Tipperary. He set up a training camp for local members and, during this period, taught Irish with the Gaelic League in Dualla. The 1916 Rising proved to be disappointing for McCann, as he was unable to organise enough support for a rising in the Tipperary, Cork and Limerick areas. He was arrested on 3 May 1916, jailed but was released the following July. After his release, McCann continued to campaign for Irish freedom. He was arrested again in May 1918 due to the 'German Plot' mass arrests. During his imprisonment in Gloucester, he became friendly with Arthur Griffith. They both stood in absentia for Sinn Féin in the 1918 election while still prisoners. McCann was elected in East Tipperary with a majority of over 3,000 votes. During Spring 1919, an outbreak of the worldwide flu pandemic broke out in Gloucester Jail, and Pierce McCann was one of the casualties.
Dublin: Undertakers at Glasnevin cemetery were struggling to cope with the numbers of interments resulting from influenza-induced deaths. Over the course of the previous three days, they have had 200 burials. This abnormally high number has resulted in delays of a day or so in organising interments. Sir Charles Cameron, Chief Medical Officer for Dublin Corporation indicated that this week marks a high point for flu deaths. More optimistically however, he predicts that the epidemic will have run its course within three weeks. The Limerick Public Health Committee, meanwhile, decided to close all schools and places of amusement for the rest of the week to allow the authorities to arrange for the disinfecting of military personnel arriving from abroad. Similar precautionary measures have been put in place in Belfast.
Cathal Brugha and Michael Collins wrote to Diarmuid Lynch in New York. In the letter dated 6 March 1919, requesting funding and coded in parts, is marked as received in New York on June 12. The letter was smuggled from Ireland by a courier to avoid British agencies and took some three months to get to Lynch, shows the difficulties experienced by the emerging Irish government to communicate.
McCan was a founder member of Sinn Féin in 1905, joined the Gaelic League in 1909 and was a member of the Irish Volunteers from 1914 onwards. After more than 2,000 German and Austrian prisoners were imprisoned at Richmond Barracks, Templemore following the first battles of World War I in 1914, McCan plotted to engineer a mass escape but was thwarted when the prisoners were removed to Leigh, Lancashire in 1915. When the Irish Volunteers were founded in Dublin in 1914, Pierce McCann set about organising a branch in Cashel, Co. Tipperary. He set up a training camp for local members and, during this period, taught Irish with the Gaelic League in Dualla. The 1916 Rising proved to be disappointing for McCann, as he was unable to organise enough support for a rising in the Tipperary, Cork and Limerick areas. He was arrested on 3 May 1916, jailed but was released the following July. After his release, McCann continued to campaign for Irish freedom. He was arrested again in May 1918 due to the 'German Plot' mass arrests. During his imprisonment in Gloucester, he became friendly with Arthur Griffith. They both stood in absentia for Sinn Féin in the 1918 election while still prisoners. McCann was elected in East Tipperary with a majority of over 3,000 votes. During Spring 1919, an outbreak of the worldwide flu pandemic broke out in Gloucester Jail, and Pierce McCann was one of the casualties.
Dublin: Undertakers at Glasnevin cemetery were struggling to cope with the numbers of interments resulting from influenza-induced deaths. Over the course of the previous three days, they have had 200 burials. This abnormally high number has resulted in delays of a day or so in organising interments. Sir Charles Cameron, Chief Medical Officer for Dublin Corporation indicated that this week marks a high point for flu deaths. More optimistically however, he predicts that the epidemic will have run its course within three weeks. The Limerick Public Health Committee, meanwhile, decided to close all schools and places of amusement for the rest of the week to allow the authorities to arrange for the disinfecting of military personnel arriving from abroad. Similar precautionary measures have been put in place in Belfast.
Cathal Brugha and Michael Collins wrote to Diarmuid Lynch in New York. In the letter dated 6 March 1919, requesting funding and coded in parts, is marked as received in New York on June 12. The letter was smuggled from Ireland by a courier to avoid British agencies and took some three months to get to Lynch, shows the difficulties experienced by the emerging Irish government to communicate.
‘A Cara dhil,
Since we wrote you in February, the situation has developed a good deal, and the necessity for immediate funds has greatly increased.
The expenditure with regard to foreign propaganda is simply enormous – the cost of the present modest establishment in Paris running into some £100 per week up to the present. Arrangements have had to be made to extend the scope and the additional amount required will be of large proportions. To give you an idea of money values there, one small sitting room in Sean's (Sean T. O'Kelly) hotel costs 90frs per day.
In addition there are constructive scheme we want to go in for here. To make a decent start and to secure credit we must first accumulate a considerable reserve.
There are a number of statements being made here by the press that you in America have collected 1,250,000 dollars for Dail Eireann. We would like to have some sort of a general idea as to the actual amount. It would very materially affect our calculations.
With regard to a suggestion as to the appointment of Trustees – any funds which will be sent to the Dail will of course be placed in the hands of the Minister of Finance. Receipts will be furnished you by the Chairman and the Minister jointly. It is suggested for your consideration though, that you appoint Trustees for the Dail Fund in the USA. These names would be the guarantee to the subscribers out there while the Dail would in turn be responsible to them.
This letter was to deal with finance only, but two points may be mentionedWe suggest that in sending money – and we want £5,000 at once (it would interest you to know at the moment, we are working on a loan) – you cable it to [following items in code: London County Westminster Bank, Chancery Lane, Holborn Branch, to the order Erskine Childers, Thirteen Embankment Gardens, Chelsea, London SW1. Arrangements have been made with him and he is an American citizen who frequently receives large sums for various activities in America. It would be quite safe to cable £5,000 to him.
- We are now in touch with Breathnach.
- If you think well of it, you might send that man Malyet to France at once. The person whom he recommended we would send has already applied for passport.
We are making provision to send you a fortnightly bulletin on matters this end.
Slean agus bennacht leat,
Sinne,
Cathal Brugha, Primoh Aireac
Micheal O Coileann, Finance
Lynch Family Archives Folder 5/8
Lynch noted that the letter was received in the New York Friends of Irish Freedom office on June 12th 1919.
Below: letter from Joe McGarrity to Diarmuid Lynch:
Lynch noted that the letter was received in the New York Friends of Irish Freedom office on June 12th 1919.
Below: letter from Joe McGarrity to Diarmuid Lynch:
Transcript
Dear Diarmuid
We are of the opinion here that a meeting of the entire new Council and Officers should be called not later than Saturday 22nd March, in New York, to get the work under way that has been planned, and to add to the plans already in view.
It seems that it would be necessary for the [word illegible] to cover Saturday and Sunday if we want to get anything perfect to work on. I will send a copy of this letter to Dan, to the old man * and to Father Magennis, ** so that we can understand each other.
I was speaking to Ryan today and he thinks that that would be an opportune time, and that all members of the Council should get ample notice so that there will no excuse for their absence. I am enclosing a list sent me by Mrs McWhorter *** and we should go carefully over the list of delegates so as to pick out men from various states and sections not now represented even if it were necessary to make the Council 200. An additional number of names will not injure, whereas even one name left out may do great harm. we should keep this in mind and make a complete list as soon as possible. that man, O'Malley, from Des Moines - I dont know his name - is president of a bank there and seems to be all right. he should be on the Council, if not a Vice-President.
You should get a good man to get hold of things until you have a chance to get on your feet again. If you don't...is that you are in for a spell of sickness, which would be a great handicap to the work before use.
Sincerely yours,
Signed Joe McGarrity
* 'the old man' refers to John Devoy.
** Fr Magennis - President of the Friends of Irish Freedom.
** Mrs McWhorter - Mary McWhorter, from Illinois, was a prominent Irish-American campaigner for the republican cause. President of the Ladies Auxiliary of the Ancient Order of Hibernians from 1916-21. During this period the organisation had over 75,000 members. McWhorter held a meeting with American President Woodrow Wilson to make a case for Irish freedom. She presented a petition with over 600,000 signatures to President Wilson, demanding an Irish Republic following the end of the Great War.
** Fr Magennis - President of the Friends of Irish Freedom.
** Mrs McWhorter - Mary McWhorter, from Illinois, was a prominent Irish-American campaigner for the republican cause. President of the Ladies Auxiliary of the Ancient Order of Hibernians from 1916-21. During this period the organisation had over 75,000 members. McWhorter held a meeting with American President Woodrow Wilson to make a case for Irish freedom. She presented a petition with over 600,000 signatures to President Wilson, demanding an Irish Republic following the end of the Great War.
7
8
Irish Prisoners returned home to enthusiastic welcomes. De Valera was to be presented with the Keys of the City of Dublin at Mount Street Bridge but Dublin Castle prohibited all meetings and troops were drafted from the Curragh to patrol the city. De Valera advised Sinn Fein that the civic reception should be cancelled. The IRA Director of Organisation Collins, felt otherwise and stated that he was eager to impose a situation of general disorder to challenge British authority.
'The sooner fighting was forced and a general state of disorder created throughout the country the better it would be for the country’
Conor O’Clery ‘Ireland in Quotes’ The O’Brien Press Dublin 1999 p.46
Collins later commented to Austin Stack that De Valera’s cancellation decision ‘was the equivalent to Daniel O’Connell’s failure to go ahead with the Clontarf meeting in 1843’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p40
In New York, Dr McCartan sent a letter to Ben Allen in the US Food Administration enclosing a copy of a cable he had sent to the Irish representatives in Paris. On March 11th, Allen sent this cable to President Wilson private secretary, Tumulty with the comments: ‘the people who are using the Cohalan business for the purpose of playing politics are making the most of it. I am assured that the Irish Envoy (McCartan) is trying to checkmate this use of the Irish Question as a football in American politics. I know that he and his friends have a plan to put the Cohalan-Walsh-Borah combination out of business...if you are interested in getting some of the inside dope on this situation, I would like to ask Dr. Maloney down to Washington to talk it over...’
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.306 ( The Wilson Papers )
Countess Markievicz moved into Mrs. Clarke’s Richmond Aveneue home, filling four rooms of the house with her paintings and furniture.
The Rowlatt Act is passed by the Imperial Legislative Council in London, indefinitely extending the emergency provisions of the Defence of India Act 1915.
8
Irish Prisoners returned home to enthusiastic welcomes. De Valera was to be presented with the Keys of the City of Dublin at Mount Street Bridge but Dublin Castle prohibited all meetings and troops were drafted from the Curragh to patrol the city. De Valera advised Sinn Fein that the civic reception should be cancelled. The IRA Director of Organisation Collins, felt otherwise and stated that he was eager to impose a situation of general disorder to challenge British authority.
'The sooner fighting was forced and a general state of disorder created throughout the country the better it would be for the country’
Conor O’Clery ‘Ireland in Quotes’ The O’Brien Press Dublin 1999 p.46
Collins later commented to Austin Stack that De Valera’s cancellation decision ‘was the equivalent to Daniel O’Connell’s failure to go ahead with the Clontarf meeting in 1843’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p40
In New York, Dr McCartan sent a letter to Ben Allen in the US Food Administration enclosing a copy of a cable he had sent to the Irish representatives in Paris. On March 11th, Allen sent this cable to President Wilson private secretary, Tumulty with the comments: ‘the people who are using the Cohalan business for the purpose of playing politics are making the most of it. I am assured that the Irish Envoy (McCartan) is trying to checkmate this use of the Irish Question as a football in American politics. I know that he and his friends have a plan to put the Cohalan-Walsh-Borah combination out of business...if you are interested in getting some of the inside dope on this situation, I would like to ask Dr. Maloney down to Washington to talk it over...’
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.306 ( The Wilson Papers )
Countess Markievicz moved into Mrs. Clarke’s Richmond Aveneue home, filling four rooms of the house with her paintings and furniture.
The Rowlatt Act is passed by the Imperial Legislative Council in London, indefinitely extending the emergency provisions of the Defence of India Act 1915.
9
The Egyptian Revolution of 1919 breaks out.
The Egyptian Revolution of 1919 breaks out.
New York: At the Robert Emmet celebration held in Brooklyn, NY attended by Senators Borah & Phelan, Judge Cohalan and former Justice John W Goff, Charles Tansill writes:
"To Irish-Americans all over the continent, it was evident that Judge Cohalan had accomplished a Titan's task in marshaling sentiment in favor of Irish independence, and they would have repudiated with vehemence the slurs of McCartan. This devotion to Cohalan was strongly manifested ...when Cohalan's name was mentioned by former Justice John W. Goff in the course of a statement of the work of the committee appointed by the great Irish Race Convention to see President Wilson on behalf of Ireland, the audience jumped to its feet and cheered and applauded until the building almost rocked. Again, when Justice Cohalan was introduced to address the great gathering the audience rose as if one impulse moved every man and woman in the big auditorium, and gave him a welcome such as a hero returning from a victorious campaign might feel elated at receiving.
It was highly unfortunate that such an outstanding Irish-American, who had accomplished so much for the cause of Irish independence, should be brazenly sniped at by an Irish doctor [McCartan] who seemed convinced that it was his duty to shoot Cohalan in the back and then poison the American mind against any real recognition of his tremendous services. His work as a poisoner had some permanent effects, because he forsook the scalpel for the pen, and his sharp and misleading words of abuse are still read in a book that is a perfect example of scurrility in print."
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.305
"To Irish-Americans all over the continent, it was evident that Judge Cohalan had accomplished a Titan's task in marshaling sentiment in favor of Irish independence, and they would have repudiated with vehemence the slurs of McCartan. This devotion to Cohalan was strongly manifested ...when Cohalan's name was mentioned by former Justice John W. Goff in the course of a statement of the work of the committee appointed by the great Irish Race Convention to see President Wilson on behalf of Ireland, the audience jumped to its feet and cheered and applauded until the building almost rocked. Again, when Justice Cohalan was introduced to address the great gathering the audience rose as if one impulse moved every man and woman in the big auditorium, and gave him a welcome such as a hero returning from a victorious campaign might feel elated at receiving.
It was highly unfortunate that such an outstanding Irish-American, who had accomplished so much for the cause of Irish independence, should be brazenly sniped at by an Irish doctor [McCartan] who seemed convinced that it was his duty to shoot Cohalan in the back and then poison the American mind against any real recognition of his tremendous services. His work as a poisoner had some permanent effects, because he forsook the scalpel for the pen, and his sharp and misleading words of abuse are still read in a book that is a perfect example of scurrility in print."
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.305
10
The Irish Independent commented on the Gallagher Motion: ‘We do not see how President Wilson can ignore a resolution of Congress’.
The New York Times published an account of the Irish American delegation meeting with President Wilson and his refusal to see Judge Cohalan. In this, it described Judge Goff as saying that ‘Secretary Tumulty had pronounced Judge Cohalan as unacceptable to the President, when the committee first solicited an interview in Washington but that Judge Cohalan had overlooked the fact’
Quoted in press Statement by William J Maloney – July 1921 Diarmuid Lynch papers – Lynch Family Archives. Folder 6/2
The Irish Independent commented on the Gallagher Motion: ‘We do not see how President Wilson can ignore a resolution of Congress’.
The New York Times published an account of the Irish American delegation meeting with President Wilson and his refusal to see Judge Cohalan. In this, it described Judge Goff as saying that ‘Secretary Tumulty had pronounced Judge Cohalan as unacceptable to the President, when the committee first solicited an interview in Washington but that Judge Cohalan had overlooked the fact’
Quoted in press Statement by William J Maloney – July 1921 Diarmuid Lynch papers – Lynch Family Archives. Folder 6/2
The Near East Foundation was founded in 1915 in response to Ambassador Henry Morgenthau Sr.'s reports of Government atrocities against Ottoman Armenians. Former missionary and educator James L. Barton and philanthropist Cleveland Hoadley Dodge led a group of prominent New Yorkers in forming the American Committee for Armenian and Syrian Relief (ACASR). Cleveland H. Dodge personally financed the Committee's operating expenses in order to ensure that all funds went to direct relief. ACASR then embarked upon an unprecedented grassroots campaign to raise money and awareness across the United States. The campaign combined striking imagery, passionate celebrity spokespeople, and captivating stories from the field to inspire Americans from all economic backgrounds to become citizen philanthropists. The organization also briefly used the name American Committee for Relief in the Near East in 1918–1919; that name appears on many of the Committee's most iconic posters.
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11
Cardinal Logue in his Lenten Pastoral echoed both the authorities and the church’s alarm at rising socialism in stating that it was ‘inconsistant with Catholic teaching’. Church leaders warned Sinn Fein to avoid any violence and to resist any attempts by the labour movement to ‘get control as they were irreligious and socialistic’.
The United Irish League warned ‘ nowadays the watchword of Sinn Fein was the the ‘gospel of James Connolly’, and not Republican America but Bolshevist Russia was hailed as the land of hope and freedom. Did many who voted Sinn Fein support land nationalisation and secularisation of education’ Striking at the core of Irish values, land ownership and education.
Famine swept through Germany and much of Central Europe. Pre-war agricultural productivity was 95%, but due to loss of transport, coal and labour, the figure is now 45%. Infant mortality soared with some cities on a potato ration of 2lbs per person per week. France insisted that Germany work for its food but the US and Britain were more concerned of a communist revolution.
Meanwhile, the Allied Supreme council orders the German Navy to cut it's service to 15,000 men.
Cardinal Logue in his Lenten Pastoral echoed both the authorities and the church’s alarm at rising socialism in stating that it was ‘inconsistant with Catholic teaching’. Church leaders warned Sinn Fein to avoid any violence and to resist any attempts by the labour movement to ‘get control as they were irreligious and socialistic’.
The United Irish League warned ‘ nowadays the watchword of Sinn Fein was the the ‘gospel of James Connolly’, and not Republican America but Bolshevist Russia was hailed as the land of hope and freedom. Did many who voted Sinn Fein support land nationalisation and secularisation of education’ Striking at the core of Irish values, land ownership and education.
Famine swept through Germany and much of Central Europe. Pre-war agricultural productivity was 95%, but due to loss of transport, coal and labour, the figure is now 45%. Infant mortality soared with some cities on a potato ration of 2lbs per person per week. France insisted that Germany work for its food but the US and Britain were more concerned of a communist revolution.
Meanwhile, the Allied Supreme council orders the German Navy to cut it's service to 15,000 men.
An occasional historical aside The Sleeping Sickness Epidemic of 1919-28 The spectre of falling into a sleep from which one cannot awaken has haunted many literary classics from "Snow White" and "Sleeping Beauty" to Rip Van Winkle. Following the influenza epidemic of 1918-19 came a lesser known great pandemic of "sleeping sickness," or lethargic encephalitis, that swept the globe killing over five million people. |
Beginning as early as 1916, and continuing well into the 1920s, an unusual and disturbing illness devastated millions of people throughout the world. It arrived in the shadow of the 1918 Spanish Flu epidemic—which killed an estimated fifty million people worldwide—so has been largely overlooked by history despite the fact that it caused the deaths of over a million people worldwide, and left countless others frozen for decades within unresponsive bodies.
Young people, particularly women, were the most vulnerable to the disease, though it affected people of all ages. Symptoms were initially a slight fever, headache and sore throat but swiftly developed into more alarming issues such as double-vision and prostration. Within hours, most of the victims were gripped by episodes of tremors, strange bodily movements, intense muscle pains, and delayed mental response. Symptoms rapidly increased in severity, and in spite of medical attention, most patients worsened dramatically. Behavioural changes often appeared—including psychosis and hallucinations—followed by steadily increasing drowsiness and lethargy. Many became comatose and completely unresponsive. |
Medical science was baffled by the bizarre epidemic, which affected millions of people across the globe. The mysterious disease was given the name Encephalitis lethargica but it was more commonly known as “sleepy sickness.” Such a melancholy designation was appropriate, considering that hundreds of thousands of people died from the inexplicable ailment without ever regaining consciousness.
Among the survivors, victims tended to remain in a coma indefinitely, sometimes for months or years. Although full recoveries were rare, many of those stricken with the disease experienced ill effects which lingered throughout the rest of their lives, including vision issues, personality changes, and sometimes permanent psychosis.
In 1928, as suddenly as it had appeared, the encephalitis lethargica epidemic was gone. Although new cases stopped being reported, thousands of those affected were housed in institutions for decades, alive but trapped within useless bodies. In 1969, over forty years after the strange disease disappeared, some catatonic victims were treated with a newly developed antiparkinson drug, Levodopa. A number of patients improved dramatically — standing up from their wheelchairs conscious, responsive, and aware of the world around them —but it was soon evident that their miraculous recovery was tragically short-lived. Most patients slipped back into a catatonic state within days or weeks, and repeated dosages were useless.
The cause of the original 1916-1928 outbreak had never been determined in the intervening years and cases since are rare.
Among the survivors, victims tended to remain in a coma indefinitely, sometimes for months or years. Although full recoveries were rare, many of those stricken with the disease experienced ill effects which lingered throughout the rest of their lives, including vision issues, personality changes, and sometimes permanent psychosis.
In 1928, as suddenly as it had appeared, the encephalitis lethargica epidemic was gone. Although new cases stopped being reported, thousands of those affected were housed in institutions for decades, alive but trapped within useless bodies. In 1969, over forty years after the strange disease disappeared, some catatonic victims were treated with a newly developed antiparkinson drug, Levodopa. A number of patients improved dramatically — standing up from their wheelchairs conscious, responsive, and aware of the world around them —but it was soon evident that their miraculous recovery was tragically short-lived. Most patients slipped back into a catatonic state within days or weeks, and repeated dosages were useless.
The cause of the original 1916-1928 outbreak had never been determined in the intervening years and cases since are rare.
12
The first meeting of the Friends of Irish Freedom following the Race Convention was held in New York.
A new National Executive committee of 15 was elected and was later accused by Dr.McCartan that both he and his associate, Joe McGarrity as Chairman of the Organising Committee of the Convention, were not aware that it had been formed, and that ‘the supreme control of the organisation was vested in this body...in the interval between Race Conventions, all power resided in it...of the 15 the majority came from New York and it's neighbourhood and were aides of Cohalan. The Friends of Irish Freedom had become his personal machine under his complete control’
Dr. P. McCartan. ‘With De Valera in America’ 1932. p.90.
Never one to let inaccuracies slip by, Diarmuid Lynch commented some years later:
"Passages in these excerpts show, perhaps more clearly than other misstatements referred to...the extent to which Dr. McCartan permitted himself to be carried in his uncontrollable desire to distort facts to the detriment of Judge Cohalan. It is untrue to say that the National executive was elected without the knowledge of Mr. McGarrity; the election took place formally and openly at the National Council meeting...at which McGarrity was present and at which Dr. McCartan himself was also present...the National executive did not have control of the organisation in the interval between Race Conventions, it exercised such control only when the National Convention or National Council is not in session, in other words, between the monthly meetings of the Council.’
Diarmuid Lynch ‘"The I.R.B. and the 1916 Rising" Mercier Press 1957. p206
The National Council 'resolved itself into a Finance Committee to collect the fund".
The first meeting of the Friends of Irish Freedom following the Race Convention was held in New York.
A new National Executive committee of 15 was elected and was later accused by Dr.McCartan that both he and his associate, Joe McGarrity as Chairman of the Organising Committee of the Convention, were not aware that it had been formed, and that ‘the supreme control of the organisation was vested in this body...in the interval between Race Conventions, all power resided in it...of the 15 the majority came from New York and it's neighbourhood and were aides of Cohalan. The Friends of Irish Freedom had become his personal machine under his complete control’
Dr. P. McCartan. ‘With De Valera in America’ 1932. p.90.
Never one to let inaccuracies slip by, Diarmuid Lynch commented some years later:
"Passages in these excerpts show, perhaps more clearly than other misstatements referred to...the extent to which Dr. McCartan permitted himself to be carried in his uncontrollable desire to distort facts to the detriment of Judge Cohalan. It is untrue to say that the National executive was elected without the knowledge of Mr. McGarrity; the election took place formally and openly at the National Council meeting...at which McGarrity was present and at which Dr. McCartan himself was also present...the National executive did not have control of the organisation in the interval between Race Conventions, it exercised such control only when the National Convention or National Council is not in session, in other words, between the monthly meetings of the Council.’
Diarmuid Lynch ‘"The I.R.B. and the 1916 Rising" Mercier Press 1957. p206
The National Council 'resolved itself into a Finance Committee to collect the fund".
Paris: A tunnel is to be built to join England and France. The British and French Governments agreed in principle to the idea and what is required next is a consideration of the way in which the project might take shape. This was to be a task for a commission in Paris engaged in various communications challenges across the world; and also considering schemes for tunnels under the Bosphorus and the Straits of Gibraltar, which would link Europe with Asia and Africa respectively.
Welcoming the development, the Irish Times suggested that a Channel tunnel would not only bring commercial and military advantages, it would also ‘perpetuate the friendship between England and France. The terror of the Dover-Calais route will disappear, and a trip from London to Paris will no longer be looked upon as ‘going abroad’…Paris will be almost as accessible as Manchester.’ Given the prospect of transatlantic flight and the opportunities that exist for establishing Ireland as a first port of call for American aviators, the Irish Times believed that the advantages of a tunnel connecting Ireland to England would likewise be immense and would stimulate a bond between the two countries ‘much stronger than the bond of Union’
The tunnel works began finally in 1988 and opened in 1994. Further details on the history of the Channel Tunnel here.
Welcoming the development, the Irish Times suggested that a Channel tunnel would not only bring commercial and military advantages, it would also ‘perpetuate the friendship between England and France. The terror of the Dover-Calais route will disappear, and a trip from London to Paris will no longer be looked upon as ‘going abroad’…Paris will be almost as accessible as Manchester.’ Given the prospect of transatlantic flight and the opportunities that exist for establishing Ireland as a first port of call for American aviators, the Irish Times believed that the advantages of a tunnel connecting Ireland to England would likewise be immense and would stimulate a bond between the two countries ‘much stronger than the bond of Union’
The tunnel works began finally in 1988 and opened in 1994. Further details on the history of the Channel Tunnel here.
15
London: Ford is set to revolutionise the motor industry by releasing a £50 car. ‘I will take as many of these £50 Fords as I can get and sell them before I can receive them’, a London-based motor trader told a reporter from the Daily Express. In crowded cities, the spending of £50 on a car is actually claimed to be a saving: ‘No more tube overcrowding, no more fighting for tramcars, everybody saving money by buying fifty pound Fords in place of season tickets.’
The reason Ford, which has a facility in Cork, are able to offer cars at such a low price is that they planned to manufacture them in huge quantities.The new car was set to feature a two-seater body, a four-cylinder engine, with about 12 horsepower and be fitted with a electric light and a horn. It will differ from the existing Ford car in being slightly smaller and lower built but will still be capable, it is understood, of achieving speeds of 30 miles an hour with ease.
However, Henry Ford was unlikely to have the motor market to himself. Reports from Britain suggested that an English firm had also developed plans to launch a small, light car onto the market – and for less than Ford in the British market. The English model is rumoured to be made entirely of recycled waste material such as slag, clinkers, sawdust and covered with a metal solution. The low price of the waste material, a result of the war, is the key to the car’s promised cheapness.
For the 1919 production year the Ford Model T was finally given a battery and an electric starter on closed automobiles only. By mid 1919 electric starters were offered on open automobile. See the 1918 Ford Model T. Starters added over 45 pounds weight to the Model T and required a new engine block, flywheel and transmission cover. Also new on the 1919 Ford Model T was demountable rims on 30 x 3 1/2 inch tires. With the adoption of electric equipment came an instrument panel for the first time. Factory installed instrument panel consisted of ammeter, ignition and light switches. A speedometer and choke knob was also on the instrument panel. Nearly 300,000 three door five passenger Ford Model T's were produced in 1919. They sold for $525.00. Plus 50,000 two door two passenger Runabouts were produced. Touring Cars and Runabouts made up most of the 1919 Ford Model T production. All Model T in 1919 were equipped with a 22.5 horsepower water cooled engine. The 1919 two door two passenger Ford Model T Coupe body style was redesigned slightly. At $750.00 it was a great buy in 1919. 11,528 Model T Coupes were produced. In addition to Touring Cars, Runabouts and Coupes - 81,618 $975.00 Sedans over 150,000 chassis were produced. The 1919 Ford Chassis was used by others to make trucks, buses, hearse etc. All Model T's were painted black with black fenders
London: Ford is set to revolutionise the motor industry by releasing a £50 car. ‘I will take as many of these £50 Fords as I can get and sell them before I can receive them’, a London-based motor trader told a reporter from the Daily Express. In crowded cities, the spending of £50 on a car is actually claimed to be a saving: ‘No more tube overcrowding, no more fighting for tramcars, everybody saving money by buying fifty pound Fords in place of season tickets.’
The reason Ford, which has a facility in Cork, are able to offer cars at such a low price is that they planned to manufacture them in huge quantities.The new car was set to feature a two-seater body, a four-cylinder engine, with about 12 horsepower and be fitted with a electric light and a horn. It will differ from the existing Ford car in being slightly smaller and lower built but will still be capable, it is understood, of achieving speeds of 30 miles an hour with ease.
However, Henry Ford was unlikely to have the motor market to himself. Reports from Britain suggested that an English firm had also developed plans to launch a small, light car onto the market – and for less than Ford in the British market. The English model is rumoured to be made entirely of recycled waste material such as slag, clinkers, sawdust and covered with a metal solution. The low price of the waste material, a result of the war, is the key to the car’s promised cheapness.
For the 1919 production year the Ford Model T was finally given a battery and an electric starter on closed automobiles only. By mid 1919 electric starters were offered on open automobile. See the 1918 Ford Model T. Starters added over 45 pounds weight to the Model T and required a new engine block, flywheel and transmission cover. Also new on the 1919 Ford Model T was demountable rims on 30 x 3 1/2 inch tires. With the adoption of electric equipment came an instrument panel for the first time. Factory installed instrument panel consisted of ammeter, ignition and light switches. A speedometer and choke knob was also on the instrument panel. Nearly 300,000 three door five passenger Ford Model T's were produced in 1919. They sold for $525.00. Plus 50,000 two door two passenger Runabouts were produced. Touring Cars and Runabouts made up most of the 1919 Ford Model T production. All Model T in 1919 were equipped with a 22.5 horsepower water cooled engine. The 1919 two door two passenger Ford Model T Coupe body style was redesigned slightly. At $750.00 it was a great buy in 1919. 11,528 Model T Coupes were produced. In addition to Touring Cars, Runabouts and Coupes - 81,618 $975.00 Sedans over 150,000 chassis were produced. The 1919 Ford Chassis was used by others to make trucks, buses, hearse etc. All Model T's were painted black with black fenders
16
The first escape from Mountjoy Jail during the War of Independence took place when Robert Barton TD climbed over the back wall of the prison. He had been in the infirmary with fellow TD’s Piaras Beaslai, William Sear and J.J.Walsh and for three nights had continued to cut through the window bars with a hacksaw. Leaving a dummy figure in his bed, he climbed through the window early on the 16th and making his way to the outer wall of the prison, thew a piece of soap over the wall. From the other side, a rope ladder sailed over and Barton was gone. Nothing was noticed until 8am. When his cell was searched, a note addressed ‘To the Govenor’ Barton wrote ‘I am about to make an escape from your hospital. If I escape, well and good. If not, I am prepared to suffer the consequences. Ironically praising the loyalty of the warders…he finished the letter ‘I hope that we may shortly turn your prison to a useful national purpose’
Tim Carey. ‘Mountjoy – The Story of a Prison’ The Collins Press, Dublin 2000.p189
Govenor Monro and his staff were still recovering when an even more sensational escape took place on the 29th March.
Around this date, it was reported that the tone of speeches made by Seamus Burke; a recently elected Sinn Féin members of Parliament, showed increasing hostility towards the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC). One such speech was indeed given by the same Seamus Bourke, asserted that the correct way to deal with RIC officers was not to shoot them, as this was being irresponsible, “but (instead) to make their life unbearable, treat them as outcasts of society, as we cannot be in any place that some of these ‘vipers‘ are not in our midst.”
Seamus Bourke was duly prosecuted by the RIC for inflammatory remarks. His arresting officer was none other than District Inspector Michael Hunt from Thurles, who was later shot dead by first cousins Jim and Tommy Stapleton from Finnahy, Upperchurch and Jim Murphy (Latter known as “The Jennett”) from Curreeney, Kilcommon, on June 23rd 1919, as the former entered Liberty Square. The RIC County Inspector believed then that his involvement with the case against Seamus Bourke was the main reason why District Inspector Hunt had been targeted for assassination.
Berlin: In the five months since the conclusion of the war, there has been no end to the suffering of many people across the European continent. The whole of eastern and southern Europe is menaced with famine, and the first year of peace promises to be as hard for the majority of the people of Europe as any during the war. The scarcity of food was a problem that extended from Cologne to Warsaw and Hamburg to Salonika, albeit there are areas where the crisis was particularly acute. In Vienna and CzechoSlovakia, for instance, the situation was reported to be desperate and a British estimate suggests that Romania alone will require 100,000 tons of foodstuffs each month. And George Roberts, the British Food Controller has spoken of the utter necessity of re-provisioning the vanquished Germany. The interconnectedness of the food crisis in eastern and southern Europe with political developments elsewhere was well understood. A coal strike in Britain would in reality greatly damage merchant shipping throughout the world and endanger millions of lives on the European continent. Herbert Hoover, US Food Controller and Director of Relief, has stressed that the best way to combat the growing famine in Europe is the signing of a final peace deal.
The first escape from Mountjoy Jail during the War of Independence took place when Robert Barton TD climbed over the back wall of the prison. He had been in the infirmary with fellow TD’s Piaras Beaslai, William Sear and J.J.Walsh and for three nights had continued to cut through the window bars with a hacksaw. Leaving a dummy figure in his bed, he climbed through the window early on the 16th and making his way to the outer wall of the prison, thew a piece of soap over the wall. From the other side, a rope ladder sailed over and Barton was gone. Nothing was noticed until 8am. When his cell was searched, a note addressed ‘To the Govenor’ Barton wrote ‘I am about to make an escape from your hospital. If I escape, well and good. If not, I am prepared to suffer the consequences. Ironically praising the loyalty of the warders…he finished the letter ‘I hope that we may shortly turn your prison to a useful national purpose’
Tim Carey. ‘Mountjoy – The Story of a Prison’ The Collins Press, Dublin 2000.p189
Govenor Monro and his staff were still recovering when an even more sensational escape took place on the 29th March.
Around this date, it was reported that the tone of speeches made by Seamus Burke; a recently elected Sinn Féin members of Parliament, showed increasing hostility towards the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC). One such speech was indeed given by the same Seamus Bourke, asserted that the correct way to deal with RIC officers was not to shoot them, as this was being irresponsible, “but (instead) to make their life unbearable, treat them as outcasts of society, as we cannot be in any place that some of these ‘vipers‘ are not in our midst.”
Seamus Bourke was duly prosecuted by the RIC for inflammatory remarks. His arresting officer was none other than District Inspector Michael Hunt from Thurles, who was later shot dead by first cousins Jim and Tommy Stapleton from Finnahy, Upperchurch and Jim Murphy (Latter known as “The Jennett”) from Curreeney, Kilcommon, on June 23rd 1919, as the former entered Liberty Square. The RIC County Inspector believed then that his involvement with the case against Seamus Bourke was the main reason why District Inspector Hunt had been targeted for assassination.
Berlin: In the five months since the conclusion of the war, there has been no end to the suffering of many people across the European continent. The whole of eastern and southern Europe is menaced with famine, and the first year of peace promises to be as hard for the majority of the people of Europe as any during the war. The scarcity of food was a problem that extended from Cologne to Warsaw and Hamburg to Salonika, albeit there are areas where the crisis was particularly acute. In Vienna and CzechoSlovakia, for instance, the situation was reported to be desperate and a British estimate suggests that Romania alone will require 100,000 tons of foodstuffs each month. And George Roberts, the British Food Controller has spoken of the utter necessity of re-provisioning the vanquished Germany. The interconnectedness of the food crisis in eastern and southern Europe with political developments elsewhere was well understood. A coal strike in Britain would in reality greatly damage merchant shipping throughout the world and endanger millions of lives on the European continent. Herbert Hoover, US Food Controller and Director of Relief, has stressed that the best way to combat the growing famine in Europe is the signing of a final peace deal.
Opposite: Jeannette Pickering Rankin (1880–1973) was an American politician and women's rights advocate, and the first woman to hold federal office in the United States elected in 1916. Each of Rankin's Congressional terms coincided with initiation of U.S. military intervention in each of the two world wars. A lifelong pacifist and a supporter of non-interventionism, she was one of 50 House members, along with six Senators, who opposed the war declaration of 1917, and the only member of Congress to vote against declaring war on Japan after the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.
A member of the Republican Party during the Progressive Era, Rankin was also instrumental in initiating the legislation that eventually became the 19th Constitutional Amendment, granting unrestricted voting rights to women. She championed the causes of women's rights and civil rights throughout a career that spanned more than six decades. |
"Our Painful Duty' by J.H.Cassel. Evening World, New York. 16 March 1919.
The Blockade of Germany (1914-19) was a prolonged naval operation conducted by the Triple-Entente powers during and after World War I in an effort to restrict the maritime supply of goods to the Central Powers, which included Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire. It is considered one of the key elements in the eventual Allied victory in the war. The blockade was maintained for eight months after the Armistice in November 1918, into 1919 as a pressure point to ensure Germany signed the Treaty of Versailles in June 1919. The total blockade was lifted on 17 January 1919 when the Allies allowed the importation of food under their supervision. The Allies requested that the German government send German merchant ships to Allied ports to transport food supplies. However the Germans considered the armistice a temporary cessation of the war and refused, believing that should fighting break out again the ships would be confiscated. The German government notified an American representative in Berlin that the shortage of food would not become critical until late spring. Food deliveries were delayed until March 1919 when the German government agreed to the restrictions imposed by the Allies. From March food imported from America in American ships arrived in Germany and this cartoon clearly indicates that while American opinion was strongly against feeding Germany, it was viewed as their 'painful duty' to do so as part of the emerging post-war world order. The restrictions on food imports were finally lifted on 12 July 1919 after Germany signed the Treaty of Versailles. Historian C. Paul Vincent maintains that for the German people, these were the most devastating months of the blockade because "in the weeks and months following the armistice, Germany's deplorable state further deteriorated." However, Sally Marks believes that the German accounts of a hunger blockade are a "myth". She points out that although the Germans had denied Belgium and northern France food during the war, leading to starvation, the Allies made no effort to deny Germany food. According to Marks the food situation in 1919 in Belgium, northern France and Poland was worse because the Germans had confiscated the harvest. As for the number of German civilians that died, Dr. Max Rubner in an April 1919 article claimed that 100,000 German civilians had died of starvation due to the continuation blockade of Germany after the armistice In the UK a Labour Party anti-war activist Robert Smillie issued a statement in June 1919 condemning continuation of the blockade, and claiming that 100,000 German civilians had died. |
Wexford: The first anniversary of the death of John Redmond, the former leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP), was marked by 5,000 persons in Co. Wexford. Monuments dedicated to the Redmond family and to the 1798 rebellion were draped in black and white. Various public bodies were represented – the National Volunteers, the Irish National Foresters, the United Irish League, as well as the Ancient Order of Hibernians. The principal speaker was Joseph Devlin MP, who asked whether there was any ‘real advance possible for Ireland’ except on the lines which Redmond had laid down in the course of his life.
He said that Redmond had held with Parnell that no Irish leader could bind the future or limit the onward march of a nation. He added that had it not been for the war and its disastrous consequences, Mr Redmond would probably be now the Prime Minister of a free and self-governing Irish nation. Apologising for his absence due to illness, John Dillon, another former IPP leader, conveyed a message in writing which recalled his statement at Redmond’s funeral to the effect that time would vindicate his memory: ‘I now believe that vindication has already commenced.’
He said that Redmond had held with Parnell that no Irish leader could bind the future or limit the onward march of a nation. He added that had it not been for the war and its disastrous consequences, Mr Redmond would probably be now the Prime Minister of a free and self-governing Irish nation. Apologising for his absence due to illness, John Dillon, another former IPP leader, conveyed a message in writing which recalled his statement at Redmond’s funeral to the effect that time would vindicate his memory: ‘I now believe that vindication has already commenced.’
17
Ireland: St. Patrick's day was marked as usual is with religious services and sermons, many of them through the Irish language. The good weather and bright sunshine brought large crowds – many wearing shamrocks – onto the streets of towns and cities, onto promenades and into the public parks. Although the pubs were closed during the day, there were plenty of sporting and other attractions to enjoy: from race meetings during the daylight hours to the theatres, music halls and picture houses at night.
There was no escaping politics on the day and the case for Irish independence was widely promoted. Pomeroy was the setting for one of the largest nationalist demonstrations witnessed in Co. Tyrone for years. Tricolours were prominently displayed and from noon onwards contingents of Sinn Féin supporters entered the town around which a procession was subsequently held. The march, fronted by a banner bearing the message ‘Erin demands independence’, was followed by addresses from priests and local notables. Seán Milroy, who recently escaped from Lincoln Prison, was expected to speak but sent a message regretting his absence, citing doctor’s orders to rest.
In Armagh, about 2,000 people marched in procession from Lurgan to a hillside just outside the town led by the Aghagallon Shane O’Neill war pipers' band. Sinn Féin MP Darrell Figgis was the principal speaker.
De Valera’s message
In what he titled a ‘Genuine St Patrick’s Day Message to the Irish people’ the recently-escaped Éamon de Valera focused more on the cultural than the political. He suggested that the revival of the Irish language represented a more significant challenge than the achievement of independence...‘To save the national language is the especial duty of this generation’, Mr de Valera’s message read. ‘The ultimate winning back of our statehood is not in doubt. Sooner or later Ireland will recover the sovereign independence she once enjoyed: should we fail a future generation will succeed – But the language, that must be saved by us or it is lost forever… The language is dying. Tomorrow it will be too late: shall we not save it today when we may’
The Irish Independent observed that de Valera’s remarks constituted ‘probably the first time that the leader of the dominant political party in Ireland so unreservedly recognises the importance of the Irish language to the Irish nation’.
New York: St Patrick’s Day in New York held its first major Patrick’s Day Parade: ‘..Phillip Gibbs wrote in the Daily Chronicle, ‘the city of New York was held up for a parade of Irish-Americans who marched down Fifth Avenue with bands and banners. It was miles long’. He reported ‘the renaissance of a great strain of emotion among Irish-Americans on behalf of Ireland’s liberty and independence’
Macardle. ‘The Irish Republic’ Irish Press, Dublin. 1957. p280.
This ‘great strain of emotion’ was also beginning to show in Irish American leaders. Florence O'Donoghue commented in 1957: ‘ Each of the principal Irish or Irish American protagonists had given ample proof of loyalty to the cause of Irish Freedom, and they differed, not in their adherence to the ideal of an Irish Republic, but in their conceptions of steering a policy for it's recognition by the United States through the perilous seas of American politics.’
Diarmuid Lynch ‘"The I.R.B. and the 1916 Rising" Mercier Press 1957. p206
The recognised head of Irish American interests continued to be John Devoy. In 1919, aged 76, he remained vigorous in his service to the cause of an Irish Republic. From his almost 50 years of American experience, he held the ‘unshakeable conviction that the function of the Irish leaders at home was to decide policy...and the function of Irish organisation in America was to support this home policy loyally by every means in their power. With equal vehemence he held that the American organisations should be entirely free to determine the methods and activities to be adopted in their own field in support of whatever effort was being made in Ireland. Interference by Irish leaders in the internal affairs of American organisations, he resented and constantly opposed..’
Ireland: St. Patrick's day was marked as usual is with religious services and sermons, many of them through the Irish language. The good weather and bright sunshine brought large crowds – many wearing shamrocks – onto the streets of towns and cities, onto promenades and into the public parks. Although the pubs were closed during the day, there were plenty of sporting and other attractions to enjoy: from race meetings during the daylight hours to the theatres, music halls and picture houses at night.
There was no escaping politics on the day and the case for Irish independence was widely promoted. Pomeroy was the setting for one of the largest nationalist demonstrations witnessed in Co. Tyrone for years. Tricolours were prominently displayed and from noon onwards contingents of Sinn Féin supporters entered the town around which a procession was subsequently held. The march, fronted by a banner bearing the message ‘Erin demands independence’, was followed by addresses from priests and local notables. Seán Milroy, who recently escaped from Lincoln Prison, was expected to speak but sent a message regretting his absence, citing doctor’s orders to rest.
In Armagh, about 2,000 people marched in procession from Lurgan to a hillside just outside the town led by the Aghagallon Shane O’Neill war pipers' band. Sinn Féin MP Darrell Figgis was the principal speaker.
De Valera’s message
In what he titled a ‘Genuine St Patrick’s Day Message to the Irish people’ the recently-escaped Éamon de Valera focused more on the cultural than the political. He suggested that the revival of the Irish language represented a more significant challenge than the achievement of independence...‘To save the national language is the especial duty of this generation’, Mr de Valera’s message read. ‘The ultimate winning back of our statehood is not in doubt. Sooner or later Ireland will recover the sovereign independence she once enjoyed: should we fail a future generation will succeed – But the language, that must be saved by us or it is lost forever… The language is dying. Tomorrow it will be too late: shall we not save it today when we may’
The Irish Independent observed that de Valera’s remarks constituted ‘probably the first time that the leader of the dominant political party in Ireland so unreservedly recognises the importance of the Irish language to the Irish nation’.
New York: St Patrick’s Day in New York held its first major Patrick’s Day Parade: ‘..Phillip Gibbs wrote in the Daily Chronicle, ‘the city of New York was held up for a parade of Irish-Americans who marched down Fifth Avenue with bands and banners. It was miles long’. He reported ‘the renaissance of a great strain of emotion among Irish-Americans on behalf of Ireland’s liberty and independence’
Macardle. ‘The Irish Republic’ Irish Press, Dublin. 1957. p280.
This ‘great strain of emotion’ was also beginning to show in Irish American leaders. Florence O'Donoghue commented in 1957: ‘ Each of the principal Irish or Irish American protagonists had given ample proof of loyalty to the cause of Irish Freedom, and they differed, not in their adherence to the ideal of an Irish Republic, but in their conceptions of steering a policy for it's recognition by the United States through the perilous seas of American politics.’
Diarmuid Lynch ‘"The I.R.B. and the 1916 Rising" Mercier Press 1957. p206
The recognised head of Irish American interests continued to be John Devoy. In 1919, aged 76, he remained vigorous in his service to the cause of an Irish Republic. From his almost 50 years of American experience, he held the ‘unshakeable conviction that the function of the Irish leaders at home was to decide policy...and the function of Irish organisation in America was to support this home policy loyally by every means in their power. With equal vehemence he held that the American organisations should be entirely free to determine the methods and activities to be adopted in their own field in support of whatever effort was being made in Ireland. Interference by Irish leaders in the internal affairs of American organisations, he resented and constantly opposed..’
18
Deaths in England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland exceed the birth rate for the first time on record due to the Spanish Flu.
20
Volunteers of the Dublin Brigade (led by Patrick Holohan) seized 75 rifles and 4,000 rounds of ammunition from the Collinstown Aerodrome (Now Casement Air Corps Aerodrome, Baldonnel, Co Dublin) and other locations throughout the country.
Volunteers of the Dublin Brigade (led by Patrick Holohan) seized 75 rifles and 4,000 rounds of ammunition from the Collinstown Aerodrome (Now Casement Air Corps Aerodrome, Baldonnel, Co Dublin) and other locations throughout the country.
22
Dublin: Notices appear in the press (signed by Harry Boland and Tom Kelly - Hon. Secs. of Sinn Féin) that de Valera will arrive in Dublin on the 26th March and be met at the gates by the Lord Mayor who will escort him to the Mansion House. (De Valera had been in hiding since his escape from Lincoln Jail.) The Castle issues a proclamation prohibiting all meetings and processions in the city.
Sinn Fein headquarters announced that de Valera would arrive in Ireland on Wednesday evening next, 26th and ‘the executive of Dail Eireann would offer him a national welcome. It is expected that the home-coming of de Valera will be an occasion of national rejoicing and full arrangements will be made for mashalling the procession. The Lord Mayor will receive him at the gates of the city and will escort him to the Mansion House where he will deliver a message to the Irish people.’
Desmond Ryan. ‘Unique Dictator’. Arthur Barker-London. 1936. p96
The Irish Weekly reported that Sinn Féin candidate (Patrick McGilligan) in a by-election in Unionist North Derry increased his vote by 400 over the December 1918 election.
Patrick Flemming, who had organised and led the concerted misconduct against Mountjoy prison authorities though breaking cell furniture, windows, tearing up floorboards, shouting political slogans and singing rebel songs throughout the night, finally announced that he was finally calling off the campaign. However, if the prison staff ‘took any solace from this apparent victory, it was quickly shattered. He had merely dropped the campaign to put the prison staff ‘to sleep’ so he could escape.’
Tim Carey. ‘Mountjoy – The Story of a Prison’ The Collins Press, Dublin 2000.p185
Michael Collins was organising another daring Jail escape attempt by Fleming, Piaras Beaslai & J.J.Walsh for the 29th in Mountjoy Jail, Dublin.
Meanwhile, an arrest warrant was issued for Michael Collins for inciting raids for arms in Co. Longford. The bench warrant for his arrest has been granted at the Derry Assizes after his failure to appear to answer the charge.
These arms raids were becoming increasingly daring. Earlier in the week, about 30 men entered Collinstown aerodrome in the early hours of the morning and made off with approximately 75 rifles and 4,000 rounds of ammunition. The men, some masked and some carrying revolvers, went about their work with "great efficiency". They worked in small groups, carrying the firearms across the fields to waiting motor cars. The audacity and skill of the raid has drawn admiration from unlikely sources. One policeman remarked that ‘they moved about like ghosts’. There were also warnings that the authorities needed to take a stronger hand. The Belfast Newsletter stated that the government ‘policy of drift can no longer be tolerated, for if it is, anarchy will well-nigh be the result’.
Paris: Divisions opened up between America and France over the inclusion of a League of Nations covenant in the preliminary peace treaty. President Wilson demanded that the League constitution should form part of the preliminary peace terms. The French foreign minister, Stéphen Pichon considered this impossible on the grounds that, given the League is still subject to modification, the preliminary treaty needed to be signed before the League could be finalised.
The Irish Times, drew attention to the difficulty of Wilson’s predicament, both domestically and internationally. He was, the paper points out, in a ‘strange position...America wants peace; on this all Americans are unanimous. They are not unanimous in their desire for the League of Nations. By making the League an integral part of the Peace Treaty President Wilson will place his opponents in the Senate in a very awkward position. If they reject the League, the will be forced to reject the Peace Treaty. Mr Wilson is alive to the dangers of the an American refusal. Without America there can be no League, and as, in his opinion, there can be no peace without a League, it is essential that America shall fall into line.’
The Irish Times commented further that the squabbles around procedure reduces the prospects of a permanent peace and strengthens the hands of ‘Bolshevism’. The Indian Home Rule League issued a pamphlet which claimed that the Conference would have been better served ‘if all the countries, including India, Ireland and Egypt, were represented; not by official nominees, but by men who command the confidence of their compatriots’.
Dublin: Notices appear in the press (signed by Harry Boland and Tom Kelly - Hon. Secs. of Sinn Féin) that de Valera will arrive in Dublin on the 26th March and be met at the gates by the Lord Mayor who will escort him to the Mansion House. (De Valera had been in hiding since his escape from Lincoln Jail.) The Castle issues a proclamation prohibiting all meetings and processions in the city.
Sinn Fein headquarters announced that de Valera would arrive in Ireland on Wednesday evening next, 26th and ‘the executive of Dail Eireann would offer him a national welcome. It is expected that the home-coming of de Valera will be an occasion of national rejoicing and full arrangements will be made for mashalling the procession. The Lord Mayor will receive him at the gates of the city and will escort him to the Mansion House where he will deliver a message to the Irish people.’
Desmond Ryan. ‘Unique Dictator’. Arthur Barker-London. 1936. p96
The Irish Weekly reported that Sinn Féin candidate (Patrick McGilligan) in a by-election in Unionist North Derry increased his vote by 400 over the December 1918 election.
Patrick Flemming, who had organised and led the concerted misconduct against Mountjoy prison authorities though breaking cell furniture, windows, tearing up floorboards, shouting political slogans and singing rebel songs throughout the night, finally announced that he was finally calling off the campaign. However, if the prison staff ‘took any solace from this apparent victory, it was quickly shattered. He had merely dropped the campaign to put the prison staff ‘to sleep’ so he could escape.’
Tim Carey. ‘Mountjoy – The Story of a Prison’ The Collins Press, Dublin 2000.p185
Michael Collins was organising another daring Jail escape attempt by Fleming, Piaras Beaslai & J.J.Walsh for the 29th in Mountjoy Jail, Dublin.
Meanwhile, an arrest warrant was issued for Michael Collins for inciting raids for arms in Co. Longford. The bench warrant for his arrest has been granted at the Derry Assizes after his failure to appear to answer the charge.
These arms raids were becoming increasingly daring. Earlier in the week, about 30 men entered Collinstown aerodrome in the early hours of the morning and made off with approximately 75 rifles and 4,000 rounds of ammunition. The men, some masked and some carrying revolvers, went about their work with "great efficiency". They worked in small groups, carrying the firearms across the fields to waiting motor cars. The audacity and skill of the raid has drawn admiration from unlikely sources. One policeman remarked that ‘they moved about like ghosts’. There were also warnings that the authorities needed to take a stronger hand. The Belfast Newsletter stated that the government ‘policy of drift can no longer be tolerated, for if it is, anarchy will well-nigh be the result’.
Paris: Divisions opened up between America and France over the inclusion of a League of Nations covenant in the preliminary peace treaty. President Wilson demanded that the League constitution should form part of the preliminary peace terms. The French foreign minister, Stéphen Pichon considered this impossible on the grounds that, given the League is still subject to modification, the preliminary treaty needed to be signed before the League could be finalised.
The Irish Times, drew attention to the difficulty of Wilson’s predicament, both domestically and internationally. He was, the paper points out, in a ‘strange position...America wants peace; on this all Americans are unanimous. They are not unanimous in their desire for the League of Nations. By making the League an integral part of the Peace Treaty President Wilson will place his opponents in the Senate in a very awkward position. If they reject the League, the will be forced to reject the Peace Treaty. Mr Wilson is alive to the dangers of the an American refusal. Without America there can be no League, and as, in his opinion, there can be no peace without a League, it is essential that America shall fall into line.’
The Irish Times commented further that the squabbles around procedure reduces the prospects of a permanent peace and strengthens the hands of ‘Bolshevism’. The Indian Home Rule League issued a pamphlet which claimed that the Conference would have been better served ‘if all the countries, including India, Ireland and Egypt, were represented; not by official nominees, but by men who command the confidence of their compatriots’.
Above: Michael Collins (centre) pictured with other members of the Sinn Féin staff in 1918 . Credit Military Archives. Group photo taken in the back yard of 6 Harcourt St. October 1918. Back row: Sean Milroy and Michael Brennan. Second row: Diarmuid O'Hegarty, Michael Nunan, Dan McCarthy, Michael Collins, Vera McDonnell, Desmond Fitzgerald, Anna Fitzsimmons-Kelly, Brian Fagan, William Murray, unidentified. Front row: Joe Clarke, Barney Mellowes, unidentified, Sinead Mason, unidentified and Seamus Kavanagh.
Here's "The Menace" front page and leader article from March 22, 1919:
Here's "The Menace" front page and leader article from March 22, 1919:
23
New York: A large meeting was held in the Metropolitan Opera House to further the cause of Irish Independence and addressed by Judge Cohalan who said:
‘...today we are celebrating the fact that the Irish Republic has come into existence, but we pledge ourselves to carry on the fight until the existence of the Irish Republic is recognised by every country on earth, including the country against which the fight has gone on for 750 years...’
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.305
Dublin: A proposed meeting to welcome home de Valera was examined by Dublin Castle. Quickly, the British Government announced that the proposed meeting and public reception were banned by a military proclamation. The more militant within Sinn Fein were advocating that the meeting continue despite the ban, however de Valera advised Sinn Fein Headquarters that his homecoming hardly justified a civic reception and it was dropped.
The British army discover IRA arms dump in Mountjoy Sq, Dublin consisting of 6 rifles and 35 revolvers.
Charles I, the last Emperor of Austria, leaves Austria for exile in Switzerland.
Italy: Benito Mussolini, a former socialist and journalist, founded his own party, the Fasci di Combattimento. Appealing mainly to war veterans, the party’s policy was a mixture of socialism and nationalism. Mussolini’s intended to fight both liberalism and communism.
New York: A large meeting was held in the Metropolitan Opera House to further the cause of Irish Independence and addressed by Judge Cohalan who said:
‘...today we are celebrating the fact that the Irish Republic has come into existence, but we pledge ourselves to carry on the fight until the existence of the Irish Republic is recognised by every country on earth, including the country against which the fight has gone on for 750 years...’
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.305
Dublin: A proposed meeting to welcome home de Valera was examined by Dublin Castle. Quickly, the British Government announced that the proposed meeting and public reception were banned by a military proclamation. The more militant within Sinn Fein were advocating that the meeting continue despite the ban, however de Valera advised Sinn Fein Headquarters that his homecoming hardly justified a civic reception and it was dropped.
The British army discover IRA arms dump in Mountjoy Sq, Dublin consisting of 6 rifles and 35 revolvers.
Charles I, the last Emperor of Austria, leaves Austria for exile in Switzerland.
Italy: Benito Mussolini, a former socialist and journalist, founded his own party, the Fasci di Combattimento. Appealing mainly to war veterans, the party’s policy was a mixture of socialism and nationalism. Mussolini’s intended to fight both liberalism and communism.
25
Dublin: Turnstiles were removed from the Halfpenny Bridge in Dublin ( a toll bridge since 1816 )
A notice appears in the press, in de Valera's name, that the public reception planned for the following day was cancelled.
Catholic parishes across the country held protests against the treatment of political prisoners in Belfast Jail. In Dublin, over 20 parishes organised protests, the principal one outside the Pro-Cathedral, Dublin which drew a crowd that ran into the thousands. The crowd was read a letter from the Lord Mayor of Dublin in which it was pointed out that the prisoners in Belfast had been held in solitary confinement in their cells and had been unable to attend mass since 21 January.
Many of the prisoners were kept in handcuffs for periods ranging from 4 days to 4 weeks and part of that time in handcuffs was spent with their hands behind their backs. Around the country, three Australian soldiers were among the attendance at a mass meeting held in the chapel yard of St John’s Church in Tralee, where the prisoners were described as being amongst the ‘most intelligent and most respectable and most religious in the whole community’. In Thurles, a letter was read to a large crowd from Most Reverend Dr Harty, while in Ulster, meetings were held in Armagh, Strabane, Derry and Belfast where Winifred Carney was in attendance.
Westminster: Unionist MPs in the House of Commons opposed a bill that would introduce proportional representation (PR) for local government elections in Ireland on the basis that it would no longer align with Britain on such matters. The PR proposals received a generally favourable response in the Irish press and a second reading of the bill, passed comfortably by a majority of 170 votes to 27. Southern unionists and Irish nationalists supported the proposal, but not the Ulster unionists, whose position, the Irish Times has claimed, will ‘grieve and surprise all southern unionists’.
Major Hugh O’Neill, MP for Mid Antrim, moved a motion urging the House to decline to proceed with the bill on the grounds that it introduces a voting system in Ireland that is different to that in Great Britain. When Major O’Neill also confessed to the parliament that he didn’t actually understand PR, Sir Edward Carson interjected, to laughter, ‘Hear, hear. Neither do I.’ Major O’Neill then added that he objected to Ireland being ‘made the subject of an experiment’. Sir Edward Carson, who complained about the lack of consultation with Irish representatives on this bill, had his arguments thrown back at him by fellow Belfast MP, Joseph Devlin, who claimed that the logic of Mr Carson’s point ran in favour of Irish home rule.
‘Does he not know as well as we do that every action of the Government is taken without consultation with any representative authority in Ireland?...What I complain of in regard to the right honourable member for the Duncairn Division is that, while he gets up in this House and works himself into a perfect agony of indignation against the treatment of Ireland by the British Government, when it comes to the question of carrying his own arguments to their logical and legitimate conclusion, he is the most bitter and violent antagonist of the only possible means by which a situation of that sort can be met...We say, and we have said for thirty or forty years, that if you are going to deal with Irish affairs to the satisfaction of the Irish people; if you are going to accept constitutional principles in the guidance of the destinies of either this nation or of Ireland, the only way in which you can do it is by placing the sole and entire responsibility of the government of the country and its administration upon the shoulders of the people themselves.’
Mr Devlin pointed out that the purpose of PR was to provide representation to minorities. Sir Maurice Dockrell, in a similar vein, highlighted that he was the sole representative in the House of Commons for 350,000 unionists in South Dublin and that the bill proposed will have ‘the effect of giving representation where it does not now exist’.
Dublin: Turnstiles were removed from the Halfpenny Bridge in Dublin ( a toll bridge since 1816 )
A notice appears in the press, in de Valera's name, that the public reception planned for the following day was cancelled.
Catholic parishes across the country held protests against the treatment of political prisoners in Belfast Jail. In Dublin, over 20 parishes organised protests, the principal one outside the Pro-Cathedral, Dublin which drew a crowd that ran into the thousands. The crowd was read a letter from the Lord Mayor of Dublin in which it was pointed out that the prisoners in Belfast had been held in solitary confinement in their cells and had been unable to attend mass since 21 January.
Many of the prisoners were kept in handcuffs for periods ranging from 4 days to 4 weeks and part of that time in handcuffs was spent with their hands behind their backs. Around the country, three Australian soldiers were among the attendance at a mass meeting held in the chapel yard of St John’s Church in Tralee, where the prisoners were described as being amongst the ‘most intelligent and most respectable and most religious in the whole community’. In Thurles, a letter was read to a large crowd from Most Reverend Dr Harty, while in Ulster, meetings were held in Armagh, Strabane, Derry and Belfast where Winifred Carney was in attendance.
Westminster: Unionist MPs in the House of Commons opposed a bill that would introduce proportional representation (PR) for local government elections in Ireland on the basis that it would no longer align with Britain on such matters. The PR proposals received a generally favourable response in the Irish press and a second reading of the bill, passed comfortably by a majority of 170 votes to 27. Southern unionists and Irish nationalists supported the proposal, but not the Ulster unionists, whose position, the Irish Times has claimed, will ‘grieve and surprise all southern unionists’.
Major Hugh O’Neill, MP for Mid Antrim, moved a motion urging the House to decline to proceed with the bill on the grounds that it introduces a voting system in Ireland that is different to that in Great Britain. When Major O’Neill also confessed to the parliament that he didn’t actually understand PR, Sir Edward Carson interjected, to laughter, ‘Hear, hear. Neither do I.’ Major O’Neill then added that he objected to Ireland being ‘made the subject of an experiment’. Sir Edward Carson, who complained about the lack of consultation with Irish representatives on this bill, had his arguments thrown back at him by fellow Belfast MP, Joseph Devlin, who claimed that the logic of Mr Carson’s point ran in favour of Irish home rule.
‘Does he not know as well as we do that every action of the Government is taken without consultation with any representative authority in Ireland?...What I complain of in regard to the right honourable member for the Duncairn Division is that, while he gets up in this House and works himself into a perfect agony of indignation against the treatment of Ireland by the British Government, when it comes to the question of carrying his own arguments to their logical and legitimate conclusion, he is the most bitter and violent antagonist of the only possible means by which a situation of that sort can be met...We say, and we have said for thirty or forty years, that if you are going to deal with Irish affairs to the satisfaction of the Irish people; if you are going to accept constitutional principles in the guidance of the destinies of either this nation or of Ireland, the only way in which you can do it is by placing the sole and entire responsibility of the government of the country and its administration upon the shoulders of the people themselves.’
Mr Devlin pointed out that the purpose of PR was to provide representation to minorities. Sir Maurice Dockrell, in a similar vein, highlighted that he was the sole representative in the House of Commons for 350,000 unionists in South Dublin and that the bill proposed will have ‘the effect of giving representation where it does not now exist’.
26
5 Merrion Square, Dublin. Home of Dr Robert Farnan (1898-1962), a wealthy, pro Sinn Fein Dublin gynecologist. Éamon de Valera's son Terry wrote in 2006, "Perhaps of all my father’s friends and colleagues none were so close, nor had his trust as had Robert Farnan." Farnan's home was de Valera's first hideout in 1919 after his escape from Lincoln Gaol and again on his return from America in December 1920. Farnan was also an an advisor to De Valera, in 1921 warning that his "external association" alternative to the Anglo-Irish Treaty was too subtle to persuade the public. In September 1922, his house was the venue for a meeting between de Valera and Richard Mulcahy which tried in vain to halt the Civil War that the Treaty had started. The building is also mentioned in "As I was going down Sackville Street", Oliver St. John Gogarty's memoir of the time. De Valera, who received financial support from Farnan for a time in the late 1920's, made him a director of the Irish Press newspaper from its foundation in 1932. President Douglas Hyde appointed Farnan as a member of the first Council of State in 1938. In 1953 he was appointed to the Council of State by President Seán T. O'Kelly and would serve on the Council until his death. Today the building is the home of the Dublin Institute of Advanced Studies (School of Cosmic Physics) |
29
Fleming, Beaslai and Walsh were in Mountjoy’s exercise yard at Collin’s appointed time as a rope ladder sailed over and the three scrambled to freedom. The sight of a dangling rope ladder was too much for the other Republican inmates, and in all 20 escaped leaving just 7 to greet the military when they arrived. The jail escape quickly became of the greatest publicity coups of the strugggle for independence.
John Charles Milling (46) RM [Resident Magistrate] was assassinated by the IRB on the night of 29th/30th March 1919 in Westport, Co. Mayo. [The local Irish Volunteers/IRA disassociated themselves from the murder saying it was an IRB operation.] Milling was winding the clock on the mantelpiece before retiring to bed when the assassins fired a number of shots through the front window. Milling was a former and highly respected District Inspector of the Royal Irish Constabulary who served in Belfast with many honours and became the first casualty of the Irish War of Independence in County Mayo. After the shooting the area was declared a Military Area.
Fleming, Beaslai and Walsh were in Mountjoy’s exercise yard at Collin’s appointed time as a rope ladder sailed over and the three scrambled to freedom. The sight of a dangling rope ladder was too much for the other Republican inmates, and in all 20 escaped leaving just 7 to greet the military when they arrived. The jail escape quickly became of the greatest publicity coups of the strugggle for independence.
John Charles Milling (46) RM [Resident Magistrate] was assassinated by the IRB on the night of 29th/30th March 1919 in Westport, Co. Mayo. [The local Irish Volunteers/IRA disassociated themselves from the murder saying it was an IRB operation.] Milling was winding the clock on the mantelpiece before retiring to bed when the assassins fired a number of shots through the front window. Milling was a former and highly respected District Inspector of the Royal Irish Constabulary who served in Belfast with many honours and became the first casualty of the Irish War of Independence in County Mayo. After the shooting the area was declared a Military Area.
30
Manchester: the Irish Self-determination League of Great Britain was founded. A message from De Valera was read, and Harry Boland, who was present, "appealed for their moral and financial support in influencing public opinion on behalf of Ireland's claim to Self-determination."
Irish Independent, March 31, 1919.
Manchester: the Irish Self-determination League of Great Britain was founded. A message from De Valera was read, and Harry Boland, who was present, "appealed for their moral and financial support in influencing public opinion on behalf of Ireland's claim to Self-determination."
Irish Independent, March 31, 1919.
31
Sean T. O'Kelly, writing again to Clemeanceau made it clear again that Ireland was requesting admission to the Peace Conference as a constituent member. At the time, Ireland was internationally recognised as part of the United Kingdom. The Irish request was to have Ireland recognised as an independent Republic with Article X of the Draft Covenant of the League of Nations protecting and guaranteeing her position. Therefore acceptance as a separate member of the League rather than as a member of the British Commonwealth was of vital importance.
Sean T. O'Kelly pointed out that
‘in none of the small nationalities with which the Peace Conference has hitherto occupied itself is the unanimity of the people so great; in none has the national desire for freedom been asserted so unmistakable and with so much emphasis’. Should Ireland’s claim to be heard before the Peace Conference be rejected, he declared, Article X would force her to rely for her deliverance wholly on her own efforts, nations hitherto friendly to her would be forced to leave her unaided, and would be bound ‘to guarantee to Great Britain a title to the possession of Ireland and dominion over the Irish people’
Macardle. ‘The Irish Republic’ Irish Press, Dublin. 1957. p281-282
No reply was received from the French.
Resident Magistrate (and RIC District Inspector) John C Milling was shot dead by the IRA in Westport, Co Mayo.
Sean T. O'Kelly, writing again to Clemeanceau made it clear again that Ireland was requesting admission to the Peace Conference as a constituent member. At the time, Ireland was internationally recognised as part of the United Kingdom. The Irish request was to have Ireland recognised as an independent Republic with Article X of the Draft Covenant of the League of Nations protecting and guaranteeing her position. Therefore acceptance as a separate member of the League rather than as a member of the British Commonwealth was of vital importance.
Sean T. O'Kelly pointed out that
‘in none of the small nationalities with which the Peace Conference has hitherto occupied itself is the unanimity of the people so great; in none has the national desire for freedom been asserted so unmistakable and with so much emphasis’. Should Ireland’s claim to be heard before the Peace Conference be rejected, he declared, Article X would force her to rely for her deliverance wholly on her own efforts, nations hitherto friendly to her would be forced to leave her unaided, and would be bound ‘to guarantee to Great Britain a title to the possession of Ireland and dominion over the Irish people’
Macardle. ‘The Irish Republic’ Irish Press, Dublin. 1957. p281-282
No reply was received from the French.
Resident Magistrate (and RIC District Inspector) John C Milling was shot dead by the IRA in Westport, Co Mayo.
A Peace Conference at the Quai d'Orsay is an oil-on-canvas painting by Irish artist William Orpen, completed in 1919. It was one the paintings commissioned from Orpen to commemorate the Paris Peace Conference in 1919. The work is held by the Imperial War Museum in London.
Orpen was one of the first people chosen as a war artist by the British Ministry of Information in 1917. Orpen was also official painter at the peace conference, and was commissioned to paint three canvases to record the roles of the politicians, diplomats and military at the conference.
The work is a group portrait depicting preliminary discussions of the "Council of Ten", comprising two delegates each from Britain, France, the United States, Italy and Japan. Conference delegates are depicted sitting and standing around a table in the Hall of Clocks at the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the Quai d'Orsay in Paris, where the conference was formally opened on 18 January 1919. The politicians and diplomats are overshadowed by the decorated room, with chandeliers, lavish gilded cornice, and a statue of Victory above an ornate fireplace. It measures 124.4 × 101.9 centimetres (49.0 × 40.1 in)
Orpen was one of the first people chosen as a war artist by the British Ministry of Information in 1917. Orpen was also official painter at the peace conference, and was commissioned to paint three canvases to record the roles of the politicians, diplomats and military at the conference.
The work is a group portrait depicting preliminary discussions of the "Council of Ten", comprising two delegates each from Britain, France, the United States, Italy and Japan. Conference delegates are depicted sitting and standing around a table in the Hall of Clocks at the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the Quai d'Orsay in Paris, where the conference was formally opened on 18 January 1919. The politicians and diplomats are overshadowed by the decorated room, with chandeliers, lavish gilded cornice, and a statue of Victory above an ornate fireplace. It measures 124.4 × 101.9 centimetres (49.0 × 40.1 in)
Apendix 1. Constitution and Branch By-Laws of the Friends of Irish Freedom. Revised by the Irish Race Convention, February 1919. (source: De Valera Papers, Franciscan Archives. 1995)