Work in Progress. Last updated: 28 June 2020
Friends of Irish Freedom January 1920 membership drive 4 page flyer. Lynch Family Archives.
1
The Irish Volunteers Executive gave clearance to attack all legitimate British Government and RIC targets throughout the country. This was partly to increasing pressure from the local leadership and also to supress potentially more dangerous schemes. The same day, Volunteers raided the R.I.C barracks in Carrigtowhill and Kilmurray, Co. Cork, removing arms, ammunition and files. The Irish Volunteers executive however kept a tight rein on some provincial units, not receiving clearance until July 1920.
Fermoy, Co. Cork: General Lucas was in his own words the 'Competent Military Authority with Control of the Royal Irish Constabulary in the S.E. Portion of Ireland’ based in the north Cork military town of Fermoy. General Lucas was to be dramatically involved with the War of Independence in late June 1920.
Every three years, the Municipal and Urban elections were held throughout Ireland, controlling all the civic affairs (except police)and responsible to the Local Government Board in Dublin Castle. The elections were considered vital both to the British administration and also to Sinn Fein. Proportional Representation had been introduced the previous year with the intention of giving ‘increased representation to the pro-British minority...to reduce or destroy the Sinn Fein majority at the polls.’ Sinn Fein approved the introduction of P.R. and carried out instruction on voting procedures in order to minimise spoiled votes. At stake were 1,816 seats, nominees were 717 Sinn Fein, 595 Labour, 436 Unionist and 588 Indpendents. The date fixed for polling was January 15th. The run-up to the elections were filled with attacks on R.I.C barracks by the Irish Volunteers, the counties of Waterford, Wexford and Kilkenny being put under martial law, Republican & Unionist candidates harassed and a number of Sinn Fein candidates were arrested and deported.
The US Immigration Act was again broadened to bar persons belonging to any organization that advocated the destruction of private property or the assassination of public officials. Meanwhile, sweeping arrests took placed throughout the US in an attempt to neutralise the perceived 'Red Scare'.
U.S. Census night 1920.
2
Collins launched the Irish National Loan scheme to fund the work of Dail Eireann and ministries and chose the steps of St. Enda’s. A movie cameraman had been organised and the resulting film was shown around the country, in some cinemas at gunpoint.
The Red Scare continues. U.S. Attorney-General A. Mitchell Palmer with his assistant J. Edgar Hoover, orders Justice Department raids on meeting halls and homes in 30 cities nationwide to round up all suspected communists. 2,700 were arrested without being charged with any explicit crime. In all, more than 6,000 are arrested. The raids end after a May 5 government ruling that mere membership in the party was not in itself a crime. Most arrested are released; few real anarchist criminals are found. Hysterical propaganda by Palmer and others set the tone for the rest of the twenties, spurring a spate of anti-immigration laws.
$10,000 was paid to Harry Boland from the Irish Victory Fund raised by the Friends of Irish Freedom.
Diarmuid Lynch "The I.R.B. and the 1916 Rising" Mercier Press. 1957. p209
The Friends of Irish Freedom in Massachussets organised themselves according to professions and occupations. ‘The most recent acquisition is an organisation of the nurses which is being perfected, and which probably will be among the very strongest branches of the Friends of Irish Freedom in the State. The practice of organising by groups is a most commendable one and is recommended for other parts of the country.’
Irish National Bureau Newsletter – No. 27, January 2, 1920. Lynch Family Archives.
The Irish National Bureau Newsletter commented bitterly on the transfer of seven former German liners* from the US to Britain:
‘The Peace Conference proved that in the game of diplomacy, England is able to deal cards off the bottom of the pack and defaet the purposes of the United States with ease. Now that lesson has been repeated. After months of diplomatic negotiation over shipping, the United States has backed down completely and by executive order, seven great liners, once owned by Germany, but now held by the United States Shipping Board, have been turned over to English shipping interests. Meanwhile England holds tightly to twelve tank steamers claimed by the [US] Standard Oil Company.’
Irish National Bureau Newsletter – No. 27, January 2, 1920. Lynch Family Archives.
* These German Liners numbered in fact eight, and had been tied up at Hoboken, New Jersey since war broke out in 1914. With the entry of the US in the war, 35 German ships including the liners were siezed by the Government and pressed into service as troop transports and hospital ships. The pride and joy of the Hamburg-Amerika Line, the Vaterland was renamed Leviathan and converted into a troopship, made 19 round trips and carried 14,416 troops to France. As events turned out, the German Liners were retained by the US and converted back into liners under the US flag. The Leviathan continued as a liner until scrapped in 1938.
The Newsletter sounded a warning for 1920 in Ireland. ‘Grave trouble, even for a land which has been bathed in blood and swept by storms of persecution for centuries, is threatened. Ireland’s tortures of today may be nothing in the face of what is to come. The threat has been made. Ireland is to be stamped under the heel of the English oppression as never before. To crush out freedom, England will go to the limit – ‘even if we must make a desert of Ireland. The Americans have had their Sherman’s march to the sea; we shall have ours in Ireland if necessary, to destroy treason, anarchy and assasination there…’ these are the words of an un-named ‘influential Englishman”. The ‘influential englishman’ remained un-named but the person who used the phrase was later revealed as Edward Price Bell, London Correspondent of the Chicago Daily News. ‘Northcliffe, chief English propagandist esteems Bell highly….’
Irish National Bureau Newsletter Washington DC. Issue no:27 – January 2, 1920. Lynch Family Archives.
Collins launched the Irish National Loan scheme to fund the work of Dail Eireann and ministries and chose the steps of St. Enda’s. A movie cameraman had been organised and the resulting film was shown around the country, in some cinemas at gunpoint.
The Red Scare continues. U.S. Attorney-General A. Mitchell Palmer with his assistant J. Edgar Hoover, orders Justice Department raids on meeting halls and homes in 30 cities nationwide to round up all suspected communists. 2,700 were arrested without being charged with any explicit crime. In all, more than 6,000 are arrested. The raids end after a May 5 government ruling that mere membership in the party was not in itself a crime. Most arrested are released; few real anarchist criminals are found. Hysterical propaganda by Palmer and others set the tone for the rest of the twenties, spurring a spate of anti-immigration laws.
$10,000 was paid to Harry Boland from the Irish Victory Fund raised by the Friends of Irish Freedom.
Diarmuid Lynch "The I.R.B. and the 1916 Rising" Mercier Press. 1957. p209
The Friends of Irish Freedom in Massachussets organised themselves according to professions and occupations. ‘The most recent acquisition is an organisation of the nurses which is being perfected, and which probably will be among the very strongest branches of the Friends of Irish Freedom in the State. The practice of organising by groups is a most commendable one and is recommended for other parts of the country.’
Irish National Bureau Newsletter – No. 27, January 2, 1920. Lynch Family Archives.
The Irish National Bureau Newsletter commented bitterly on the transfer of seven former German liners* from the US to Britain:
‘The Peace Conference proved that in the game of diplomacy, England is able to deal cards off the bottom of the pack and defaet the purposes of the United States with ease. Now that lesson has been repeated. After months of diplomatic negotiation over shipping, the United States has backed down completely and by executive order, seven great liners, once owned by Germany, but now held by the United States Shipping Board, have been turned over to English shipping interests. Meanwhile England holds tightly to twelve tank steamers claimed by the [US] Standard Oil Company.’
Irish National Bureau Newsletter – No. 27, January 2, 1920. Lynch Family Archives.
* These German Liners numbered in fact eight, and had been tied up at Hoboken, New Jersey since war broke out in 1914. With the entry of the US in the war, 35 German ships including the liners were siezed by the Government and pressed into service as troop transports and hospital ships. The pride and joy of the Hamburg-Amerika Line, the Vaterland was renamed Leviathan and converted into a troopship, made 19 round trips and carried 14,416 troops to France. As events turned out, the German Liners were retained by the US and converted back into liners under the US flag. The Leviathan continued as a liner until scrapped in 1938.
The Newsletter sounded a warning for 1920 in Ireland. ‘Grave trouble, even for a land which has been bathed in blood and swept by storms of persecution for centuries, is threatened. Ireland’s tortures of today may be nothing in the face of what is to come. The threat has been made. Ireland is to be stamped under the heel of the English oppression as never before. To crush out freedom, England will go to the limit – ‘even if we must make a desert of Ireland. The Americans have had their Sherman’s march to the sea; we shall have ours in Ireland if necessary, to destroy treason, anarchy and assasination there…’ these are the words of an un-named ‘influential Englishman”. The ‘influential englishman’ remained un-named but the person who used the phrase was later revealed as Edward Price Bell, London Correspondent of the Chicago Daily News. ‘Northcliffe, chief English propagandist esteems Bell highly….’
Irish National Bureau Newsletter Washington DC. Issue no:27 – January 2, 1920. Lynch Family Archives.
3
The last US Troops leave France.
The British Authorities in Ireland closed the Dublin Castle yard to the public.
The London Daily News commented that the present Government of Ireland is ‘by the sword’
English Atrocities in Ireland – Katherine Hughes. Friends of Irish Freedom pamphlet. Lynch Family Archives. P6
Powers of internment introduced in Ireland. This was to remain relatively unused until November 1920.
Lord Lieutenant French writing to Lord Londonderry spoke of the Chief Secretary, echoing the sentiments of many in the administration that McPherson was getting out of touch with the situation in Ireland: ‘ McPherson is a great help and a staunch ally but he is away always in the House of Commons or electioneering. Moreover his health is not good, and this continual strain is, I fear, telling badly upon him..’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p31
Lord French in the letter to Londonderry reported that the administration’s Under-Secretary James MacMahon (1865-1954) ‘is now quite estranged from us all owing to his violently Catholic tendencies, so we have to short-circuit him and make Taylor* superintend all Castle work. He, however [Taylor] is perfectly splendid.’
* Sir John Taylor – Assistant Under-Secretary.
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p32
And adding ‘Our secret service is simply non-existent’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p54
De Valera arrived in Connecticut and ‘his journey through Connecticut was a triumphant one. At many railroad stations along the line he was greeted by large gatherings. On arriving at Hartford…the welcoming committee escorted him direct to the Govenors office’ where he was offically welcomed by Govenor Holcomb, who took advantage of the opportunity by stating ‘I don’t know what the United States would have done during the war but for the loyalty of its citizens of Irish birth’. And afterwards bestowed the Freedom of the City of Hartford on de Valera. De Valera spoke twice before ‘large audiences…during his visit he was accompanied by a Guard of Honor of soldiers and sailors in uniform.’
Irish National Bureau Newsletter – No. 29, January 16, 1920. Lynch Family Archives.
Isaac Asimov, American author born (d. 1992)
The last US Troops leave France.
The British Authorities in Ireland closed the Dublin Castle yard to the public.
The London Daily News commented that the present Government of Ireland is ‘by the sword’
English Atrocities in Ireland – Katherine Hughes. Friends of Irish Freedom pamphlet. Lynch Family Archives. P6
Powers of internment introduced in Ireland. This was to remain relatively unused until November 1920.
Lord Lieutenant French writing to Lord Londonderry spoke of the Chief Secretary, echoing the sentiments of many in the administration that McPherson was getting out of touch with the situation in Ireland: ‘ McPherson is a great help and a staunch ally but he is away always in the House of Commons or electioneering. Moreover his health is not good, and this continual strain is, I fear, telling badly upon him..’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p31
Lord French in the letter to Londonderry reported that the administration’s Under-Secretary James MacMahon (1865-1954) ‘is now quite estranged from us all owing to his violently Catholic tendencies, so we have to short-circuit him and make Taylor* superintend all Castle work. He, however [Taylor] is perfectly splendid.’
* Sir John Taylor – Assistant Under-Secretary.
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p32
And adding ‘Our secret service is simply non-existent’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p54
De Valera arrived in Connecticut and ‘his journey through Connecticut was a triumphant one. At many railroad stations along the line he was greeted by large gatherings. On arriving at Hartford…the welcoming committee escorted him direct to the Govenors office’ where he was offically welcomed by Govenor Holcomb, who took advantage of the opportunity by stating ‘I don’t know what the United States would have done during the war but for the loyalty of its citizens of Irish birth’. And afterwards bestowed the Freedom of the City of Hartford on de Valera. De Valera spoke twice before ‘large audiences…during his visit he was accompanied by a Guard of Honor of soldiers and sailors in uniform.’
Irish National Bureau Newsletter – No. 29, January 16, 1920. Lynch Family Archives.
Isaac Asimov, American author born (d. 1992)
United States Census 1920
On Saturday, January 3rd, Diarmuid and Kathleen Lynch were noted in the Fourteenth Census of the United States population (in the Bronx Assembly District 8 electoral area, New York.)
Prior to 1880, census taking in the United States was somewhat haphazard with US Marshalls responsible for enumerating residents in their districts. Beginning with the 1880 census, specially hired and trained census-takers replaced the marshals. Door-to-door census by temporary census-takers, asking specific questions then became the primary method of conducting the census until the U.S. Census Bureau began mailing questionnaires for households to complete in 1960.
The US Census in 1920 was taken for the first time on January 1. The usual date prior to this every decade was early spring, usually on April 1. This date change was requested by the Department of Agriculture as the Department believed that in January, harvests would be completed and vital agricultural information about those harvests for census returns would still be fresh in farmers' minds. Additionally, it argued that more of the nation's citizens would be at home in early January than in April.
The instructions to enumerators did not require that individuals spell out their names so many returns have family and first names spelled phonetically. Enumerators wrote down the information given to them; they were not authorised to request proof of age, date of arrival, or other information. Interestingly though, the determination of race was based on the enumerator's impressions.
The original census enumeration sheets were microfilmed by the Census Bureau in the 1940s; after which the original sheets were destroyed. (The microfilmed census is currently available in rolls from the National Archives and Records Administration, Washington DC. Several organizsations also host images of the microfilmed census online, and digital indices. "Family Search" operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is a detailed and freely available resource.)
Initial results were available by the end of 1920, reporting the United States population to be 117.8 million. This census also marked a significant population shift from rural to urban. According to the Census Bureau, "Beginning in 1910, the minimum population threshold to be categorized as an urban place was set at 2,500. "Urban" was defined as including all territory, persons, and housing units within an incorporated area that met the population threshold. The 1920 census marked the first time in which over 50 percent of the U.S. population was defined as urban."
Another first was that a state – New York – recorded a population of more than ten million.
On Saturday, January 3rd, Diarmuid and Kathleen Lynch were noted in the Fourteenth Census of the United States population (in the Bronx Assembly District 8 electoral area, New York.)
Prior to 1880, census taking in the United States was somewhat haphazard with US Marshalls responsible for enumerating residents in their districts. Beginning with the 1880 census, specially hired and trained census-takers replaced the marshals. Door-to-door census by temporary census-takers, asking specific questions then became the primary method of conducting the census until the U.S. Census Bureau began mailing questionnaires for households to complete in 1960.
The US Census in 1920 was taken for the first time on January 1. The usual date prior to this every decade was early spring, usually on April 1. This date change was requested by the Department of Agriculture as the Department believed that in January, harvests would be completed and vital agricultural information about those harvests for census returns would still be fresh in farmers' minds. Additionally, it argued that more of the nation's citizens would be at home in early January than in April.
The instructions to enumerators did not require that individuals spell out their names so many returns have family and first names spelled phonetically. Enumerators wrote down the information given to them; they were not authorised to request proof of age, date of arrival, or other information. Interestingly though, the determination of race was based on the enumerator's impressions.
The original census enumeration sheets were microfilmed by the Census Bureau in the 1940s; after which the original sheets were destroyed. (The microfilmed census is currently available in rolls from the National Archives and Records Administration, Washington DC. Several organizsations also host images of the microfilmed census online, and digital indices. "Family Search" operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is a detailed and freely available resource.)
Initial results were available by the end of 1920, reporting the United States population to be 117.8 million. This census also marked a significant population shift from rural to urban. According to the Census Bureau, "Beginning in 1910, the minimum population threshold to be categorized as an urban place was set at 2,500. "Urban" was defined as including all territory, persons, and housing units within an incorporated area that met the population threshold. The 1920 census marked the first time in which over 50 percent of the U.S. population was defined as urban."
Another first was that a state – New York – recorded a population of more than ten million.
Census information credit: "United States Census, 1920," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9RJF-B8X?cc=1488411&wc=QZJY-TGH%3A1036473601%2C1040103701%2C1040122001%2C1589335578 : 12 September 2019), New York > Bronx > Bronx Assembly District 8 > ED 425 > image 4 of 62; citing NARA microfilm publication T625 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
Further Information on the 1920 Census: Instruction booklet for the 1920 Census Enumerators here & United States Census results and statistics (1790-2010) here.
Further Information on the 1920 Census: Instruction booklet for the 1920 Census Enumerators here & United States Census results and statistics (1790-2010) here.
4
New York: The first of four Sunday night conferences for January 1920 ( 4th, 11th, 18th & 25th) was held in De Valera’s suite in the Waldorf Astoria Hotel. However these meetings did not curb the growing hostility between De Valera and Cohalan. (These meetings were held on January 4, 11, 18 & 25).
Lynch's record of the meetings (below) reads: "Between the date of the hearing on the Mason Bill and the end of January 1920, President de Valera while fulfilling engagements at Washington, Buffalo, Bridgeport, Albany etc, usually returned to New York for the week ends. At his invitation and subject to his call, Sunday conferences were held at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in which he, Cohalan, Devoy, McGarrity, Dalton, Lynch and O'Mara participated. Arrangements for the Bond-Certificate drive and other phases of the movement were discussed thereat; the distracting developments of 1919 were never mentioned..."
Friends of Irish Freedom Archive, AIHS New York
.
New York: The first of four Sunday night conferences for January 1920 ( 4th, 11th, 18th & 25th) was held in De Valera’s suite in the Waldorf Astoria Hotel. However these meetings did not curb the growing hostility between De Valera and Cohalan. (These meetings were held on January 4, 11, 18 & 25).
Lynch's record of the meetings (below) reads: "Between the date of the hearing on the Mason Bill and the end of January 1920, President de Valera while fulfilling engagements at Washington, Buffalo, Bridgeport, Albany etc, usually returned to New York for the week ends. At his invitation and subject to his call, Sunday conferences were held at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in which he, Cohalan, Devoy, McGarrity, Dalton, Lynch and O'Mara participated. Arrangements for the Bond-Certificate drive and other phases of the movement were discussed thereat; the distracting developments of 1919 were never mentioned..."
Friends of Irish Freedom Archive, AIHS New York
.
5
The Irish Times reported that ‘Officers and NCOs are disheartened beyond measure at the reception they received from their own countrymen after the war.’
Arthur Mitchell. “Revolutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-1922.” Gill & Mcmillan 1995. P206
Irish Judge O’Grady resigned his position in Cork protesting that he was unable to ‘reconcile court justice with the measures of oppression, disregard for justice and contempt for the law, pursued by the Crown authorities.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – No. 47, May 22, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Lord French in a letter to Chief Secretary MacPherson was talking tough: ‘Matters here are really getting beyond the control of the police, and a time is rapidly approaching when I shall have to tell the Government that it will be impossible for me to carry on any longer without martial law’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p48
The American Civil War veteran, General Isaac R. Sherwood, Congressman for Ohio addressed the House of Representatives in favour of the Mason Bill ‘as an American citizen with no single drop of Irish blood in my veins…let us not forget that Irish patriots bore an important part in all the struggles of the thirteen American colonies for independence’ he named scores of Irishmen who battled for American liberties…’I am for a free Ireland for the Irish, for free Poland for the Poles, for Armenia for the Armenians, for Serbia for the Serbians, and for freedom for all peoples around the world who have shown by fidelity and courage and constancy that they are entitled under God’s benign providence to live their own lives.’
Irish National Bureau Newsletter – No. 28, January 9, 1920. Lynch Family Archives.
And also in his speech he made reference to the American War of Independence when ‘the Continental Army of General Washington was in dire distress and Congress was unable to afford relief, some 23 patriotic men of Philadelphia put into operation the Bank of Pennsylvania and supplied the suffering army with provisions and clothing…[ of which were ] 21 Irishmen..’
Irish National Bureau Newsletter – No. 29, January 16, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The Fourteenth United States Census, conducted by the Census Bureau took one month from January 5, 1920, determined the resident population of the United States to be 106,021,537, an increase of 15.0 percent over the 92,228,496 persons enumerated during the 1910 Census. Despite the constitutional requirement that House seats be reapportioned to the states respective of their population every ten years according to the census, members of Congress failed to agree on a reapportionment plan following this census, and the distribution of seats from the 1910 census remained in effect until 1933. In 1929, Congress passed the Reapportionment Act of 1929 which provided for a permanent method of reapportionment and fixed the number of Representatives at 435. This was the first census in which a state – New York – recorded a population of more than ten million
Boston Red Sox star Babe Ruth sold to the New York Yankees for $125,000, the biggest trade deal in baseball up to that time.
Sun Myung Moon, Korean evangelist, founder of the Unification Church born (d. 2012)
John Maynard Smith, English biologist born (d. 2004)
The Irish Times reported that ‘Officers and NCOs are disheartened beyond measure at the reception they received from their own countrymen after the war.’
Arthur Mitchell. “Revolutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-1922.” Gill & Mcmillan 1995. P206
Irish Judge O’Grady resigned his position in Cork protesting that he was unable to ‘reconcile court justice with the measures of oppression, disregard for justice and contempt for the law, pursued by the Crown authorities.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – No. 47, May 22, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Lord French in a letter to Chief Secretary MacPherson was talking tough: ‘Matters here are really getting beyond the control of the police, and a time is rapidly approaching when I shall have to tell the Government that it will be impossible for me to carry on any longer without martial law’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p48
The American Civil War veteran, General Isaac R. Sherwood, Congressman for Ohio addressed the House of Representatives in favour of the Mason Bill ‘as an American citizen with no single drop of Irish blood in my veins…let us not forget that Irish patriots bore an important part in all the struggles of the thirteen American colonies for independence’ he named scores of Irishmen who battled for American liberties…’I am for a free Ireland for the Irish, for free Poland for the Poles, for Armenia for the Armenians, for Serbia for the Serbians, and for freedom for all peoples around the world who have shown by fidelity and courage and constancy that they are entitled under God’s benign providence to live their own lives.’
Irish National Bureau Newsletter – No. 28, January 9, 1920. Lynch Family Archives.
And also in his speech he made reference to the American War of Independence when ‘the Continental Army of General Washington was in dire distress and Congress was unable to afford relief, some 23 patriotic men of Philadelphia put into operation the Bank of Pennsylvania and supplied the suffering army with provisions and clothing…[ of which were ] 21 Irishmen..’
Irish National Bureau Newsletter – No. 29, January 16, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The Fourteenth United States Census, conducted by the Census Bureau took one month from January 5, 1920, determined the resident population of the United States to be 106,021,537, an increase of 15.0 percent over the 92,228,496 persons enumerated during the 1910 Census. Despite the constitutional requirement that House seats be reapportioned to the states respective of their population every ten years according to the census, members of Congress failed to agree on a reapportionment plan following this census, and the distribution of seats from the 1910 census remained in effect until 1933. In 1929, Congress passed the Reapportionment Act of 1929 which provided for a permanent method of reapportionment and fixed the number of Representatives at 435. This was the first census in which a state – New York – recorded a population of more than ten million
Boston Red Sox star Babe Ruth sold to the New York Yankees for $125,000, the biggest trade deal in baseball up to that time.
Sun Myung Moon, Korean evangelist, founder of the Unification Church born (d. 2012)
John Maynard Smith, English biologist born (d. 2004)
6
An attack on the RIC Barracks at Drumlish, Co Longford failed when bombs failed to detonate.
New York: Friend of Irish Freedom National Executive meeting - as part of the general business discussed, an important item regarding the incorporation of the organisation. 'The National Secretary [Lynch] read the legal opinion received stating that the funds of the F.O.I.F. would not be subject to taxation in the event of incorporation. On motion duly made and seconded the Secretary was instructed to take immediate steps towards the incorporation of the Friends of Irish Freedom'
Friends of Irish Freedom Archive, AIHS New York.
This in turn was ratified by the Friends National Council three days later and the following month the certificate of incorporation was issued by the New York Secretary of State.
An attack on the RIC Barracks at Drumlish, Co Longford failed when bombs failed to detonate.
New York: Friend of Irish Freedom National Executive meeting - as part of the general business discussed, an important item regarding the incorporation of the organisation. 'The National Secretary [Lynch] read the legal opinion received stating that the funds of the F.O.I.F. would not be subject to taxation in the event of incorporation. On motion duly made and seconded the Secretary was instructed to take immediate steps towards the incorporation of the Friends of Irish Freedom'
Friends of Irish Freedom Archive, AIHS New York.
This in turn was ratified by the Friends National Council three days later and the following month the certificate of incorporation was issued by the New York Secretary of State.
7
Sinn Fein election offices raided and closed.
While one of de Valera’s primary objectives in his American mission was to secure official recognition of the Irish Republic by the US, this was still not forthcoming for obvious political reasons. ‘ the American radical journalist, Lincoln Steffens told Art O’Brien…that ‘it would be advantageous for us ‘to establish relations with Soviet Russia ‘ as quickly as possible’.
Arthur Mitchell. “Revolutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-1922.” Gill & Mcmillan 1995. P190
De Valera on his first official visit to Washington D.C. was given a formal welcome to the Capital. ‘Five thousand persons were crowded into the auditorium. Every inch of standing space was taken, even the aisles were filled… five thousand were turned away. Some, more agile than the rest, clambered to the roof, where, until the police interfered, they enjoyed the spectacle via the skylights.’ General William E. Sherwood was the Presiding Officer and kudos awarded to the organising committee, the Friends of Irish Freedom D.C. branch.
The New York State Assembly refuses to seat five duly elected Socialist assemblymen.
Sinn Fein election offices raided and closed.
While one of de Valera’s primary objectives in his American mission was to secure official recognition of the Irish Republic by the US, this was still not forthcoming for obvious political reasons. ‘ the American radical journalist, Lincoln Steffens told Art O’Brien…that ‘it would be advantageous for us ‘to establish relations with Soviet Russia ‘ as quickly as possible’.
Arthur Mitchell. “Revolutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-1922.” Gill & Mcmillan 1995. P190
De Valera on his first official visit to Washington D.C. was given a formal welcome to the Capital. ‘Five thousand persons were crowded into the auditorium. Every inch of standing space was taken, even the aisles were filled… five thousand were turned away. Some, more agile than the rest, clambered to the roof, where, until the police interfered, they enjoyed the spectacle via the skylights.’ General William E. Sherwood was the Presiding Officer and kudos awarded to the organising committee, the Friends of Irish Freedom D.C. branch.
The New York State Assembly refuses to seat five duly elected Socialist assemblymen.
8
Wilson insists Treaty must not be re-written by Senate
On the heels of a decade of strikes, the twenties mark another period of constant, and often massive labor disruptions. A massive steel workers strike that began in late 1919 comes to an end on this date, with no concessions gained by the workers. But, two weeks later (Jan. 26), a huge garment workers strike begins in New York City. Before the decade ends practically every trade, some more than once, would strike.
Brigadier General Sir Joseph A Byrne, the Tenth Inspector General of the RIC since appointment in August 1916, was effectively removed from his position (with an indefinite leave of absence) due to, as the London Daily News of 13 January described as "the spread of Republican sympathies among the men of the RIC and the generally unsatisfactory performance of the force". Apparently both Byrne and Lord French had disagreed on the deployment of the RIC and the closure of smaller barracks. French wanted the RIC to concentrate forces in larger and fortified barracks, Byrne disagreeing arguing that the closure of smaller barracks would leave larger areas open to the IRA, leave pro-Government residents without protection and a loss of information. Another theory proposed for Byrne's removal was his refusal to 'put down' the suppressed and short lived radical Union of Police and Prison Officers. (Following his service in the RIC, Byrne joined the Colonial Service and was appointed Governor of the Seychelles followed by stints as Governor of Sierra Leone and Kenya. He retired in 1936 & died in Surrey, England in November 1942.)
Wilson insists Treaty must not be re-written by Senate
On the heels of a decade of strikes, the twenties mark another period of constant, and often massive labor disruptions. A massive steel workers strike that began in late 1919 comes to an end on this date, with no concessions gained by the workers. But, two weeks later (Jan. 26), a huge garment workers strike begins in New York City. Before the decade ends practically every trade, some more than once, would strike.
Brigadier General Sir Joseph A Byrne, the Tenth Inspector General of the RIC since appointment in August 1916, was effectively removed from his position (with an indefinite leave of absence) due to, as the London Daily News of 13 January described as "the spread of Republican sympathies among the men of the RIC and the generally unsatisfactory performance of the force". Apparently both Byrne and Lord French had disagreed on the deployment of the RIC and the closure of smaller barracks. French wanted the RIC to concentrate forces in larger and fortified barracks, Byrne disagreeing arguing that the closure of smaller barracks would leave larger areas open to the IRA, leave pro-Government residents without protection and a loss of information. Another theory proposed for Byrne's removal was his refusal to 'put down' the suppressed and short lived radical Union of Police and Prison Officers. (Following his service in the RIC, Byrne joined the Colonial Service and was appointed Governor of the Seychelles followed by stints as Governor of Sierra Leone and Kenya. He retired in 1936 & died in Surrey, England in November 1942.)
9
Throughout Ireland, the municipal election build up continued. Sinn Fein complained that not only had it’s election details not been delivered through the mail, but police were tearing down posters and harrassing candidates. The Guardian, Daily Mail and Daily News continued to lead with articles that ‘threatened the Irish people with intensified military repression if Sinn Fein carried a majority’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill& McMillan 1995. P122.
The Irish National Bureau Newsletter reported that Secretary Daniels of the US Navy wrote to the Director of the Bureau to advise that ‘the naval story written by Admiral Simms and being syndicated throughout America…is ‘not in any sense official’…Admiral Sims, challenged by the Director of the Irish National Bureau to supply authorative data supporting his outrageous charges, has remained silent…Admiral Sims gives further proof of his unfairness by his refusal to supply facts in support of his attack.’
Irish National Bureau Newsletter – No. 28, January 9, 1920. Lynch Family Archives.
The Irish National Bureau Newsletter in an article on the public school officials of Glen Cove, New York where students were ‘required to subscribe’ to a magazine where the ‘emphasis is placed upon the necessity of reading certain articles of a decidely pro-British expression.’ The students were also recommended to read a work by Ian Hay Beith who was ‘known from one end of the country to the other as a foremost British propagandist’. The hook however was the paragraph ‘if the school officials of Glen Cove desire to be 100 per cent American they will take to heart the advice of General John Stark who, in 1810, when writing to President James Madison, stated: ‘But of all the dangers I apprehend, the most serious evil to my country and our Republican Institutions, none requires a more watchful eye than our internal British Faction.’
Irish National Bureau Newsletter – No. 28, January 9, 1920. Lynch Family Archives.
Conflicts of interest, particularly among members of the US Cabinet were brought before the readers of the Newsletter. In this case, newspaper attacks on the Irish from the ‘Advance’ of Lynchburg, Virginia, owned by Secretary of the Treasury, Glass.
‘The Advance has upon several occasions of late indulged generously in attacking the Irish….it is obvious of course, that Abinet Members are too busy to read editorials and news articles prior to publication…they should know that their editors are deliberately inviting criticism.’
Irish National Bureau Newsletter – No. 28, January 9, 1920. Lynch Family Archives.
The Pro-Carsonite group visiting the US came under scrutiny from the Irish National Bureau for their printed pamphlets, aside from content, the issue was just where the printing was done. The Newsletter revealed that ‘they were not the product of American workmanship. They were printed in a Carsonite print shop in Belfast. American craftsmen or American master printers are none the richer for these pamphlets being in circulation. Herein have the Carsonites proved their selfish dollar-and-cents commercialism. They have carried clear across the Atlantic this vast supply of campaign literature rather than have the work down here and pay a few paltry dollars into the pockets of American craftsmen.’
Irish National Bureau Newsletter – No. 28, January 9, 1920. Lynch Family Archives.
The cargo steamer Treveal is wrecked in the English Channel; 35 die.
A well organised plan by the IRA to attack Castlehackett RIC barracks was foiled when RIC constables surprised the raiding party.
Following this, there was a lull in hostilities nationwide due to local elections.
New York: Friends of Irish Freedom National Council meeting.
At this meeting, a further contribution to de Valera of $6,748.86 was agreed and the issue of the $100,000 loan to de Valera to finance the forthcoming Bonds of the Republic of Ireland was discussed. (At the December 29, 1919 meeting of the National Trustees of the Friends of Irish Freedom, a request for the loan towards 'the expenses of the Bond Certificate campaign' was made by James O'Mara, chief of the 'American Commission for Independence' organised to run the Bond Drive. The Trustees unanimously agreed to granting it subject to 'a written request for same should be received from President de Valera.' This decision was conveyed to O'Mara who gave assurances that the letter would be forthcoming. Despite two written requests from the FOIF Executive to de Valera, no letter was received. )
Other pressing financial issues were also discussed - many branches of the organisation were actively with-holding funds collected from members and the public in donations to the Irish Victory Fund drive during 1919. These funds were now being withheld and not submitted to the treasurer at National FOIF HQ in New York, instead being held on deposit to purchase the Republic of Ireland Bonds when issued. For example, the Chicago leaders John McGarry and Richard Wolfe retained nearly $20,000 of funds collected for the IVF drive to finance the Bond Drive allegedly at the behest of James O'Mara. The Ladies Auxilliary of the Ancient Order of Hibernians withheld $5,000 for the same purpose. The National Council of Philadelphia were said to be sitting on $25,000. ($321k in 2020 values)
Lynch was forced to threaten various branches with lawsuits unless the funds were promptly remitted but was only partly successful. The situation regarding the Irish Victory Fund detiorated over the following months, leading to demands by O'Mara that de Valera determine it's future disbursement.
Differences within Irish-America were growing driven by political power, influences and finance. Articles criticising the FOIF began to appear more frequently in national and local newspapers in both the United States and Ireland. Perhaps the comments expressed by Bishop Fogarty of Killaloe, Co. Clare in a letter to Monsigner James Brown in New York: "One of Ireland's greatest afflictions at this moment is the behaviour of the Cohalan group in America. It is all dished up here in the daily papers"
Dr Darragh Gannon comments:
Throughout Ireland, the municipal election build up continued. Sinn Fein complained that not only had it’s election details not been delivered through the mail, but police were tearing down posters and harrassing candidates. The Guardian, Daily Mail and Daily News continued to lead with articles that ‘threatened the Irish people with intensified military repression if Sinn Fein carried a majority’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill& McMillan 1995. P122.
The Irish National Bureau Newsletter reported that Secretary Daniels of the US Navy wrote to the Director of the Bureau to advise that ‘the naval story written by Admiral Simms and being syndicated throughout America…is ‘not in any sense official’…Admiral Sims, challenged by the Director of the Irish National Bureau to supply authorative data supporting his outrageous charges, has remained silent…Admiral Sims gives further proof of his unfairness by his refusal to supply facts in support of his attack.’
Irish National Bureau Newsletter – No. 28, January 9, 1920. Lynch Family Archives.
The Irish National Bureau Newsletter in an article on the public school officials of Glen Cove, New York where students were ‘required to subscribe’ to a magazine where the ‘emphasis is placed upon the necessity of reading certain articles of a decidely pro-British expression.’ The students were also recommended to read a work by Ian Hay Beith who was ‘known from one end of the country to the other as a foremost British propagandist’. The hook however was the paragraph ‘if the school officials of Glen Cove desire to be 100 per cent American they will take to heart the advice of General John Stark who, in 1810, when writing to President James Madison, stated: ‘But of all the dangers I apprehend, the most serious evil to my country and our Republican Institutions, none requires a more watchful eye than our internal British Faction.’
Irish National Bureau Newsletter – No. 28, January 9, 1920. Lynch Family Archives.
Conflicts of interest, particularly among members of the US Cabinet were brought before the readers of the Newsletter. In this case, newspaper attacks on the Irish from the ‘Advance’ of Lynchburg, Virginia, owned by Secretary of the Treasury, Glass.
‘The Advance has upon several occasions of late indulged generously in attacking the Irish….it is obvious of course, that Abinet Members are too busy to read editorials and news articles prior to publication…they should know that their editors are deliberately inviting criticism.’
Irish National Bureau Newsletter – No. 28, January 9, 1920. Lynch Family Archives.
The Pro-Carsonite group visiting the US came under scrutiny from the Irish National Bureau for their printed pamphlets, aside from content, the issue was just where the printing was done. The Newsletter revealed that ‘they were not the product of American workmanship. They were printed in a Carsonite print shop in Belfast. American craftsmen or American master printers are none the richer for these pamphlets being in circulation. Herein have the Carsonites proved their selfish dollar-and-cents commercialism. They have carried clear across the Atlantic this vast supply of campaign literature rather than have the work down here and pay a few paltry dollars into the pockets of American craftsmen.’
Irish National Bureau Newsletter – No. 28, January 9, 1920. Lynch Family Archives.
The cargo steamer Treveal is wrecked in the English Channel; 35 die.
A well organised plan by the IRA to attack Castlehackett RIC barracks was foiled when RIC constables surprised the raiding party.
Following this, there was a lull in hostilities nationwide due to local elections.
New York: Friends of Irish Freedom National Council meeting.
At this meeting, a further contribution to de Valera of $6,748.86 was agreed and the issue of the $100,000 loan to de Valera to finance the forthcoming Bonds of the Republic of Ireland was discussed. (At the December 29, 1919 meeting of the National Trustees of the Friends of Irish Freedom, a request for the loan towards 'the expenses of the Bond Certificate campaign' was made by James O'Mara, chief of the 'American Commission for Independence' organised to run the Bond Drive. The Trustees unanimously agreed to granting it subject to 'a written request for same should be received from President de Valera.' This decision was conveyed to O'Mara who gave assurances that the letter would be forthcoming. Despite two written requests from the FOIF Executive to de Valera, no letter was received. )
Other pressing financial issues were also discussed - many branches of the organisation were actively with-holding funds collected from members and the public in donations to the Irish Victory Fund drive during 1919. These funds were now being withheld and not submitted to the treasurer at National FOIF HQ in New York, instead being held on deposit to purchase the Republic of Ireland Bonds when issued. For example, the Chicago leaders John McGarry and Richard Wolfe retained nearly $20,000 of funds collected for the IVF drive to finance the Bond Drive allegedly at the behest of James O'Mara. The Ladies Auxilliary of the Ancient Order of Hibernians withheld $5,000 for the same purpose. The National Council of Philadelphia were said to be sitting on $25,000. ($321k in 2020 values)
Lynch was forced to threaten various branches with lawsuits unless the funds were promptly remitted but was only partly successful. The situation regarding the Irish Victory Fund detiorated over the following months, leading to demands by O'Mara that de Valera determine it's future disbursement.
Differences within Irish-America were growing driven by political power, influences and finance. Articles criticising the FOIF began to appear more frequently in national and local newspapers in both the United States and Ireland. Perhaps the comments expressed by Bishop Fogarty of Killaloe, Co. Clare in a letter to Monsigner James Brown in New York: "One of Ireland's greatest afflictions at this moment is the behaviour of the Cohalan group in America. It is all dished up here in the daily papers"
Dr Darragh Gannon comments:
Between June 1919 and December 1920, New York served as Ireland’s ‘global city’. In the cosmopolitan streetscapes of Manhattan, the Irish Republic was made cause célèbre, attracting unprecedented international media, and internationalist revolutionary attention. Éamon de Valera’s US campaign, accordingly, was afforded the profile of a ‘president’. Attempts to secure American recognition of the Irish Republic, further, were significantly predicated on the constitutional, political, and financial leverage of New York Ireland. The political spaces, internal dynamics and social structure of Irish nationalism across New York integrated the Irish Republic into everyday American life, legitimising the political appeal for official recognition. De Valera’s differences with the Friends of Irish Freedom in New York, ultimately, undermined the potential to harness the power of Irish-America’s political capital. To paraphrase historian J.J. Lee: no New York, no America, no recognition of the Irish Republic.
https://www.rte.ie/centuryireland/index.php/articles/a-new-york-state-of-mind-eamon-de-valera-in-irelands-global-city
Clive Robert Benjamin Dunn born.
(9 January 1920 – 6 November 2012) was an English actor, comedian, artist, author, and singer. He played the elderly Lance Corporal Jones in the BBC sitcom Dad's Army.
"His dithery butcher, slipping a few favoured lady customers some choice cuts from under the counter and then, in his spare time, trying his ineffectual best to keep order for the officious Captain Mainwaring, became such a popular figure that his catchphrase, "Don't panic!", delivered in the agitated tones of a running chicken hanging on with difficulty to the last shreds of its dignity, was repeated with guffaws in homes throughout the land" The Guardian 7 November 2012
(9 January 1920 – 6 November 2012) was an English actor, comedian, artist, author, and singer. He played the elderly Lance Corporal Jones in the BBC sitcom Dad's Army.
"His dithery butcher, slipping a few favoured lady customers some choice cuts from under the counter and then, in his spare time, trying his ineffectual best to keep order for the officious Captain Mainwaring, became such a popular figure that his catchphrase, "Don't panic!", delivered in the agitated tones of a running chicken hanging on with difficulty to the last shreds of its dignity, was repeated with guffaws in homes throughout the land" The Guardian 7 November 2012
New York: Thousands of onlookers watch as "The Human Fly" George Polley climbs New York City's Woolworth Building. He reaches the 30th floor where a policeman arrests him for "climbing without a permit".
George Gibson Polley was an American pioneer of (the then-unnamed act of) buildering, or climbing the walls of tall buildings, earning him the nickname "the human fly". According to himself, he began his climbing career in 1910 when an owner of a clothing store promised him a suit if he would climb to the roof of the building. He succeeded. Over his career Polley climbed over 2000 buildings. In 1920 he climbed the Woolworth building but was arrested, just when he reached the 30th floor and had 27 floors to go, for climbing without official permission. He also climbed 500 ft up the Custom House Tower in Boston. He would often spice up his performance by pretending to slip and fall from a windowsill to another. George G. Polley was also a talented magician and performed in vaudeville with his wife “The Amazing Helen Stillman”. He was a good friend of Harry Houdini and learned some of his tricks from him. George Polley died at the age of 29 due to a brain tumor. |
10
11
Dublin: RIC representatives met at the RIC Depot, Phoenix Park to protest against the removal from office of Inspector general Byrne. Such actions were considered to be strictly against regulations and little resulted from the action as on the same day, the new Inspector General, Sir Thomas J. Smith began work. This signalled the end of the RIC as a police force and it's final phase as a military force, confined to fortified barracks. Smith's tenure in the position was to be short-lived, lasting only nine months and failing to reverse IRA activities, he retired from the force in December 1920.
New York: The second of four Sunday night conferences were held in de Valera’s Waldorf Astoria suite. Attending were De Valera, McGarrity, Cohalan, Devoy, Lynch and O’Meara.
During this period, Michael Lynch ‘arranged for the purchase of £200 worth of rifles and ammunition in London – which sum of money was given to me by Michael Collins for that purpose’ and those who were aware of the purchase ‘in London, those who had knowledge of that purchase of arms were Mr. Sean McGrath and a man named Twomey’
Statement by Michael Lynch – part of application for Military Service Pension Certificate, December 1935. Lynch Archives.
Dublin: RIC representatives met at the RIC Depot, Phoenix Park to protest against the removal from office of Inspector general Byrne. Such actions were considered to be strictly against regulations and little resulted from the action as on the same day, the new Inspector General, Sir Thomas J. Smith began work. This signalled the end of the RIC as a police force and it's final phase as a military force, confined to fortified barracks. Smith's tenure in the position was to be short-lived, lasting only nine months and failing to reverse IRA activities, he retired from the force in December 1920.
New York: The second of four Sunday night conferences were held in de Valera’s Waldorf Astoria suite. Attending were De Valera, McGarrity, Cohalan, Devoy, Lynch and O’Meara.
During this period, Michael Lynch ‘arranged for the purchase of £200 worth of rifles and ammunition in London – which sum of money was given to me by Michael Collins for that purpose’ and those who were aware of the purchase ‘in London, those who had knowledge of that purchase of arms were Mr. Sean McGrath and a man named Twomey’
Statement by Michael Lynch – part of application for Military Service Pension Certificate, December 1935. Lynch Archives.
12
Frederick Dumont, the US Consul in Ireland reported that the Irish Transport Union was ‘an extremely powerful syndicalistic organisation’ and the ‘only real menace to the Sinn Fein movement and Sinn Fein knows this thoroughly and acts accordingly’
Dumont also reported on progress the Irish American’s were making ‘ the movement is kept very much alive by reports of the great progress the cause of Irish freedom is making in the United States…most Irishmen take it for granted that the American people are all greatly interested in seeing Ireland obtain it’s freedom and cannot realise what a large percentage of them have no interest in or thought of Ireland.’
And in a meeting with Arthur Griffith, he was told that ‘Dublin Castle was cooking’ up a charge of moral turpitude against Griffith with an ex-soldier’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill& McMillan 1995. P179/193.
Reports of a massacre of 29,000 Jews in the Ukraine.
‘Bonds of the Irish Republic are about to be issued. Every one of them will be a messenger to us asking us to help our Motherland in the momentous crisis through which she is now passing. What answers shall we return to these messengers? Shall we turn away from them or shall we greet them with a ‘Cead Mile Failte’ and shower upon them the dollars which will aid the Irish Republic keep it’s flag afloat. The hour for action has struck. Dublin Castle fights the Irish National Loan. Let us strike back at Dublin Castle by liberally subscribing for the bonds of the Irish Republic’
Irish National Bureau Newsletter – No. 29, January 16, 1920. Lynch Family Archives.
Frederick Dumont, the US Consul in Ireland reported that the Irish Transport Union was ‘an extremely powerful syndicalistic organisation’ and the ‘only real menace to the Sinn Fein movement and Sinn Fein knows this thoroughly and acts accordingly’
Dumont also reported on progress the Irish American’s were making ‘ the movement is kept very much alive by reports of the great progress the cause of Irish freedom is making in the United States…most Irishmen take it for granted that the American people are all greatly interested in seeing Ireland obtain it’s freedom and cannot realise what a large percentage of them have no interest in or thought of Ireland.’
And in a meeting with Arthur Griffith, he was told that ‘Dublin Castle was cooking’ up a charge of moral turpitude against Griffith with an ex-soldier’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill& McMillan 1995. P179/193.
Reports of a massacre of 29,000 Jews in the Ukraine.
‘Bonds of the Irish Republic are about to be issued. Every one of them will be a messenger to us asking us to help our Motherland in the momentous crisis through which she is now passing. What answers shall we return to these messengers? Shall we turn away from them or shall we greet them with a ‘Cead Mile Failte’ and shower upon them the dollars which will aid the Irish Republic keep it’s flag afloat. The hour for action has struck. Dublin Castle fights the Irish National Loan. Let us strike back at Dublin Castle by liberally subscribing for the bonds of the Irish Republic’
Irish National Bureau Newsletter – No. 29, January 16, 1920. Lynch Family Archives.
13
The Earl of Meath in the London Times: ‘No scheme of Home Rule short of Republican independence will, at present moment, satisfy the mass of the Irish people’
English Atrocities in Ireland – Katherine Hughes. Friends of Irish Freedom pamphlet. Lynch Family Archives. P9
Lord French commented that ‘outside the city of Belfast there exists practically no special detective force’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p54
Berlin: a massive but peaceful demonstration organised by the Independents against the Works Council Bill turned to violence when sections of the crowd attempted to storm the Reichstag. The police guard opened fire killing 42.
The New York Times ridicules the American rocket scientist Robert H. Goddard. (Decades later, on July 17, 1969 as the Apollo 11 crew headed to the Moon, the newspaper would retract this editorial.)
The Earl of Meath in the London Times: ‘No scheme of Home Rule short of Republican independence will, at present moment, satisfy the mass of the Irish people’
English Atrocities in Ireland – Katherine Hughes. Friends of Irish Freedom pamphlet. Lynch Family Archives. P9
Lord French commented that ‘outside the city of Belfast there exists practically no special detective force’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p54
Berlin: a massive but peaceful demonstration organised by the Independents against the Works Council Bill turned to violence when sections of the crowd attempted to storm the Reichstag. The police guard opened fire killing 42.
The New York Times ridicules the American rocket scientist Robert H. Goddard. (Decades later, on July 17, 1969 as the Apollo 11 crew headed to the Moon, the newspaper would retract this editorial.)
14
Scuffles broke out in Cork City between supporters of Sinn Fein and those of the Unionist Lord Mayor.
With the county, urban and rural disctrict elections due the next day, de Valera sent Griffith a telegram from the US:
‘Lloyd George cannot find his Ulster boundaries. The elections must show that they are nto to eb found. Every lover of Ireland to the polls, then. Victory – Ireland’s fate – is dependent on you. The world is watching and the world will note.
(signed) de Valera’
Irish National Bureau Newsletter – No. 29, January 16, 1920. Lynch Family Archives.
Archbishop Pacelli was appointed first papal nuncio to Germany and during his tenure, negotiated concordats between the Vatican and the German states of Bavaria and Prussia in 1924 and 1929. In late 1929, he was recalled to Rome and created a cardinal and Secretary of State of the Holy See and later elected Pope as Pius X11 in 1939.
Scuffles broke out in Cork City between supporters of Sinn Fein and those of the Unionist Lord Mayor.
With the county, urban and rural disctrict elections due the next day, de Valera sent Griffith a telegram from the US:
‘Lloyd George cannot find his Ulster boundaries. The elections must show that they are nto to eb found. Every lover of Ireland to the polls, then. Victory – Ireland’s fate – is dependent on you. The world is watching and the world will note.
(signed) de Valera’
Irish National Bureau Newsletter – No. 29, January 16, 1920. Lynch Family Archives.
Archbishop Pacelli was appointed first papal nuncio to Germany and during his tenure, negotiated concordats between the Vatican and the German states of Bavaria and Prussia in 1924 and 1929. In late 1929, he was recalled to Rome and created a cardinal and Secretary of State of the Holy See and later elected Pope as Pius X11 in 1939.
15
Dublin: Polling day in the Municipal and Urban Councils saw proportional representation first used on a nationwide basis. Devised by the British Government to give ‘the minority in Ireland some say in the government of the country’ it resulted in some initial confusion compounded by the fact that Local Government Board issued no instructions on the new system. Voter turnout was higher than expected: 72% nationally and a record 78% in Connaught. Sinn Fein, other nationalists and Labour took 172 of the 206 borough and UDC seats. Rioting took place in Cork between Volunteers and ex-soldiers ‘the wonder is that life was not lost, considering the deadly weapons employed – revolvers, hand grenades, iron bars and hurling sticks’ commented the Irish Times the following day. Throughout Dublin, British soldiers with trench helmets and fixed bayonets guarded polling stations and patrolled streets.
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revolutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill& McMillan 1995. P124
London Daily Mail’s special correspondent reported ‘The Sinn Fein party has undoubtedly shown the greatest genius for organisation’
English Atrocities in Ireland – Katherine Hughes. Friends of Irish Freedom phamphlet. Lynch Family Archives. P9
New York: The Bonds Drive launched. Judge Cohalan addressed meetings in the Lexington Theatre and Central Opera House, New York. The certificates were available on a scale from $10 to $10,000. Almost immediately, the bonds drive was a success, helped in part by de Valera's publicity appearances, the administration skills of James O’Mara and Irish-American desire to ‘help the old country’.
Dublin: Polling day in the Municipal and Urban Councils saw proportional representation first used on a nationwide basis. Devised by the British Government to give ‘the minority in Ireland some say in the government of the country’ it resulted in some initial confusion compounded by the fact that Local Government Board issued no instructions on the new system. Voter turnout was higher than expected: 72% nationally and a record 78% in Connaught. Sinn Fein, other nationalists and Labour took 172 of the 206 borough and UDC seats. Rioting took place in Cork between Volunteers and ex-soldiers ‘the wonder is that life was not lost, considering the deadly weapons employed – revolvers, hand grenades, iron bars and hurling sticks’ commented the Irish Times the following day. Throughout Dublin, British soldiers with trench helmets and fixed bayonets guarded polling stations and patrolled streets.
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revolutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill& McMillan 1995. P124
London Daily Mail’s special correspondent reported ‘The Sinn Fein party has undoubtedly shown the greatest genius for organisation’
English Atrocities in Ireland – Katherine Hughes. Friends of Irish Freedom phamphlet. Lynch Family Archives. P9
New York: The Bonds Drive launched. Judge Cohalan addressed meetings in the Lexington Theatre and Central Opera House, New York. The certificates were available on a scale from $10 to $10,000. Almost immediately, the bonds drive was a success, helped in part by de Valera's publicity appearances, the administration skills of James O’Mara and Irish-American desire to ‘help the old country’.
New York: At City Hall, de Valera received the ‘freedom of the city’ and launched the opening salvo in a nine day promotional drive launching ‘Irish Loan Week’ and the sale of the Irish Republic Bond Certificates. Despite growing tensions and opposition to the bond campaign, Judge Cohalan and John Devoy were also present. De Valera launched the bond campaign by selling the first bond certificate of the Irish Republic to New York Mayor John F. Hylan. De Valera stated that ‘it will be distinctly understood by each subscriber to the loan that he is making a free gift of his money. Repayment of the amount subscribed is contingent wholly upon the recognition of the Irish Republic as an independent nation. Each member will receive a certificate of indebtedness of the republic, signed by myself, or my deputy, which certificate is non-negotiable and non-interest bearing. The certificate wil be exchangeable at par for gold bonds of the republic upon presentation at the treasury of the republic after freedom is obtained. The gold bonds will bear 5 per cent interest from the date of recognition of the republic and will be redeemable at par one year after the same date’
Governor Alfred Smith of New York unable to be present, sent a letter which was read at the launch ‘President de Valera should have the sympathy of all liberty-loving Americans in his fight for the freedom of Ireland…the right of national self-determination is the basis of our Declaration of Independence’.
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – No. 30, January 23, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The League of Nations meets in Paris.
16
The Eighteenth Amendment to the US Constitution, prohibiting the manufacture and sale of alcohol went into force. Maine was the first state to impose prohibition in 1851, churches saw drinking as sinful and wives saw saloons as a threat to the home. H.L.Mencken said of prohibition that it was effectively Puritanism which he defined as ‘..the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy’.
The Effects of Prohibition
The era inspired an extensive body of colourful literature, most of it alleging that the period was one of moral decay and social disorder precisely because of “Volsteadism”, which came to mean the intolerable searches, seizures, and shootings by police who, with their token enforcement, seemed to threaten intrusion into the private lives of law-abiding people. It also alleged that Prohibition distorted the role of alcohol in American life, causing people to drink more rather than less; that it promoted disrespect for the law; that it generated a wave of organized criminal activity, during which the bootlegger (one who sold liquor illegally), the “speakeasy” (an illegal saloon), and the gangster became popular institutions; and that the profits available to criminals from illegal alcohol corrupted almost every level of government (specifically, that the Mafia gained its first foothold in the United States through its bootlegging profits). Historians, however, believe that in the beginning of the era, and at least until the middle of the decade, most Americans respected the law, hoped that it would endure, and regarded its passage as directly responsible for the reduced incidence of public drunkenness and of alcohol-related crime, imprisonments, and injuries. Statistics show that Prohibition reduced the annual per capita consumption from 9.8 litres (2.6 gal) of absolute alcohol during the period before state laws were effective (1906-1910) to 3.7 litres (0.97 gal) after Prohibition (1934). Moreover, no striking statistical evidence of a crime wave during the 1920s exists, although the crime rate did rise.
Bipartisan Committee announced by Senator Cabot Lodge to seek compromise on the League of Nations issue in the Senate.
The League of Nations was inaugurated in the Clock Room of the French Foreign Office in Paris but in the absence of the United States whose President had fought for the new world body. The recent Congress vote against ratifying the treaty resulted in America not attending. Leon Bourgeois, the French chairman regretted America's absence and Lord Curzon stated 'a seat would be kept vacant for America'.
The Irish National Bureau announced its name change to the “Irish National Bureau Friends of Irish Freedom” Washington D.C. and generally used as ‘National Bureau of Information’. The reasons behind the name change were given as ‘there occasionally appeared a misunderstanding as to whether the Bureau was an independent organisation or whether it was merely a unit acting in harmony with the Friends of Irish Freedom , yet a distinct and separate agency. The Bureau has established its worth as a medium for safeguarding, maintaining and advancing the interests of Americans of Irish blood, and of the people of Ireland. Its permanency is assured. It seemed better therefore, to eliminate any doubt as to the direct connecting relationship of the Bureau to the Friends of Irish Freedom”
Irish National Bureau Newsletter – No. 29, January 16, 1920. Lynch Family Archives.
In Paris, the School of Modern Celtic Studies began it’s winter session with the subject ‘Irish Evolution between 1910 and 1919’ with the founder and lecturer, Monsieur M. Goblet ‘the distinguished authority, lecturing upon Ireland and the war, Ireland and self-determination as evidenced by the general elections of 1918 and the Irish situation as an international question.’
Irish National Bureau Newsletter – No. 29, January 16, 1920. Lynch Family Archives.
The Newsletter continued to warn readers of potential threats. Coming under the spotlight in issue 29 was Mrs G.E.Sevey, wife of a Chicago millionaire. She had just returned from a trip to Europe, and anxious to combat ‘what she calls the ‘new hostility to England in America’…hopes to arrange an extensive program of addresses to women’s clubs. ‘Ireland’ she says apropos of nothing ‘should not be a Republic, because it could not hold its own against invading forces.’…the National Bureau of Information proposes to keep a very close watch on Mrs Sevey’s activities and advises all lovers of liberty do likewise.’
Irish National Bureau Newsletter – No. 29, January 16, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Patience with the Carson delegation from Ulster appeared to be wearing thin in January. The Newsletter commented:
‘The Carson delegation to America does not represent Ulster. Hence, to call ti the ‘Ulster Delegation’ is to exalt it’s station and give it undue prominence. The delegates are just plain Carsonite politicians and should be called such. Don’t misrepresent the people of Ulster by calling the Carsonites an ‘Ulster Delegation’.
Later in the newsletter, the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information reprinted a letter from Ernest Blyth, ‘..Protestant, Ulsterman, Member of Dail Eireann and of the Cabinet of the Republic of Ireland’ who had the following to say about the Carsonite delegation to the US ‘…This delegation has been described as representing the Presbyterian Church Of Ulster and the Methodist Church of Ulster, with the deliberate purpose of misleading the American public. There is no Presbyterian Church of Ulster, neither is there any Methodist Church of Ulster. The delegation…hesitates to describe itself as representing the Presbyterian Church of Ireland or the Irish Methodist Church, because it might be easked when either of those churches had authorised it to speak on their behalf. The object of terminological inexactitude is to induce people to believe that the delegation has some sort of official warrant to express the views of those parts of the Presbyterian and Methodist Churches which are located in Ulster. The truth is they have no such warrant….I am sure the Carsonite delegation, if heckled on the question of its credentials, would allege that even if it did not represent these non-existent Protestant Churches of Ulster, it did, at any rate, represent the Protestants of Ulster…it is preposterous for the Scotsman, Rev. Mr Wylie Blue, and his colleagues to claim for even the Protestants of Ulster.’
Irish National Bureau Newsletter – No. 29, January 16, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The Newsletter closed with an appeal to buy the Irish Republic Bonds: ‘Every American citizen who loves liberty and whose heart goes out to those who are fighting tyranny should subscribe to the loan of the Irish Republic’
Allies lift the economic blockade of Soviet Russia.
Walter Frederick Morrison, American entrepreneur, inventor of the Frisbee born (d. 2010)
below: Punch Magazine and Prohibition in the United States.
The Eighteenth Amendment to the US Constitution, prohibiting the manufacture and sale of alcohol went into force. Maine was the first state to impose prohibition in 1851, churches saw drinking as sinful and wives saw saloons as a threat to the home. H.L.Mencken said of prohibition that it was effectively Puritanism which he defined as ‘..the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy’.
The Effects of Prohibition
The era inspired an extensive body of colourful literature, most of it alleging that the period was one of moral decay and social disorder precisely because of “Volsteadism”, which came to mean the intolerable searches, seizures, and shootings by police who, with their token enforcement, seemed to threaten intrusion into the private lives of law-abiding people. It also alleged that Prohibition distorted the role of alcohol in American life, causing people to drink more rather than less; that it promoted disrespect for the law; that it generated a wave of organized criminal activity, during which the bootlegger (one who sold liquor illegally), the “speakeasy” (an illegal saloon), and the gangster became popular institutions; and that the profits available to criminals from illegal alcohol corrupted almost every level of government (specifically, that the Mafia gained its first foothold in the United States through its bootlegging profits). Historians, however, believe that in the beginning of the era, and at least until the middle of the decade, most Americans respected the law, hoped that it would endure, and regarded its passage as directly responsible for the reduced incidence of public drunkenness and of alcohol-related crime, imprisonments, and injuries. Statistics show that Prohibition reduced the annual per capita consumption from 9.8 litres (2.6 gal) of absolute alcohol during the period before state laws were effective (1906-1910) to 3.7 litres (0.97 gal) after Prohibition (1934). Moreover, no striking statistical evidence of a crime wave during the 1920s exists, although the crime rate did rise.
Bipartisan Committee announced by Senator Cabot Lodge to seek compromise on the League of Nations issue in the Senate.
The League of Nations was inaugurated in the Clock Room of the French Foreign Office in Paris but in the absence of the United States whose President had fought for the new world body. The recent Congress vote against ratifying the treaty resulted in America not attending. Leon Bourgeois, the French chairman regretted America's absence and Lord Curzon stated 'a seat would be kept vacant for America'.
The Irish National Bureau announced its name change to the “Irish National Bureau Friends of Irish Freedom” Washington D.C. and generally used as ‘National Bureau of Information’. The reasons behind the name change were given as ‘there occasionally appeared a misunderstanding as to whether the Bureau was an independent organisation or whether it was merely a unit acting in harmony with the Friends of Irish Freedom , yet a distinct and separate agency. The Bureau has established its worth as a medium for safeguarding, maintaining and advancing the interests of Americans of Irish blood, and of the people of Ireland. Its permanency is assured. It seemed better therefore, to eliminate any doubt as to the direct connecting relationship of the Bureau to the Friends of Irish Freedom”
Irish National Bureau Newsletter – No. 29, January 16, 1920. Lynch Family Archives.
In Paris, the School of Modern Celtic Studies began it’s winter session with the subject ‘Irish Evolution between 1910 and 1919’ with the founder and lecturer, Monsieur M. Goblet ‘the distinguished authority, lecturing upon Ireland and the war, Ireland and self-determination as evidenced by the general elections of 1918 and the Irish situation as an international question.’
Irish National Bureau Newsletter – No. 29, January 16, 1920. Lynch Family Archives.
The Newsletter continued to warn readers of potential threats. Coming under the spotlight in issue 29 was Mrs G.E.Sevey, wife of a Chicago millionaire. She had just returned from a trip to Europe, and anxious to combat ‘what she calls the ‘new hostility to England in America’…hopes to arrange an extensive program of addresses to women’s clubs. ‘Ireland’ she says apropos of nothing ‘should not be a Republic, because it could not hold its own against invading forces.’…the National Bureau of Information proposes to keep a very close watch on Mrs Sevey’s activities and advises all lovers of liberty do likewise.’
Irish National Bureau Newsletter – No. 29, January 16, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Patience with the Carson delegation from Ulster appeared to be wearing thin in January. The Newsletter commented:
‘The Carson delegation to America does not represent Ulster. Hence, to call ti the ‘Ulster Delegation’ is to exalt it’s station and give it undue prominence. The delegates are just plain Carsonite politicians and should be called such. Don’t misrepresent the people of Ulster by calling the Carsonites an ‘Ulster Delegation’.
Later in the newsletter, the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information reprinted a letter from Ernest Blyth, ‘..Protestant, Ulsterman, Member of Dail Eireann and of the Cabinet of the Republic of Ireland’ who had the following to say about the Carsonite delegation to the US ‘…This delegation has been described as representing the Presbyterian Church Of Ulster and the Methodist Church of Ulster, with the deliberate purpose of misleading the American public. There is no Presbyterian Church of Ulster, neither is there any Methodist Church of Ulster. The delegation…hesitates to describe itself as representing the Presbyterian Church of Ireland or the Irish Methodist Church, because it might be easked when either of those churches had authorised it to speak on their behalf. The object of terminological inexactitude is to induce people to believe that the delegation has some sort of official warrant to express the views of those parts of the Presbyterian and Methodist Churches which are located in Ulster. The truth is they have no such warrant….I am sure the Carsonite delegation, if heckled on the question of its credentials, would allege that even if it did not represent these non-existent Protestant Churches of Ulster, it did, at any rate, represent the Protestants of Ulster…it is preposterous for the Scotsman, Rev. Mr Wylie Blue, and his colleagues to claim for even the Protestants of Ulster.’
Irish National Bureau Newsletter – No. 29, January 16, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The Newsletter closed with an appeal to buy the Irish Republic Bonds: ‘Every American citizen who loves liberty and whose heart goes out to those who are fighting tyranny should subscribe to the loan of the Irish Republic’
Allies lift the economic blockade of Soviet Russia.
Walter Frederick Morrison, American entrepreneur, inventor of the Frisbee born (d. 2010)
below: Punch Magazine and Prohibition in the United States.
17
Henry Ford in a newspaper interview said ‘I want to add to the smokestacks of Ireland. Ireland is among the foremost industrial countries’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – No. 31, January 30, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
France: Clemenceau loses office to Paul Deschanel. ‘As M(onsiur) Charles Sancerne, the noted French publicist wrote, even before the fall of Clemenceau, he ‘made an English peace’ from which even he was unable ‘to extract anything but war.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – No. 44, May 1, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Henry Ford in a newspaper interview said ‘I want to add to the smokestacks of Ireland. Ireland is among the foremost industrial countries’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – No. 31, January 30, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
France: Clemenceau loses office to Paul Deschanel. ‘As M(onsiur) Charles Sancerne, the noted French publicist wrote, even before the fall of Clemenceau, he ‘made an English peace’ from which even he was unable ‘to extract anything but war.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – No. 44, May 1, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
18
The Lexington Theatre on 51st Street was de Valera’s next meeting on the Bonds promotion drive. Presided over by Cochran and speakers included Judge Cohalan, Nancy O’Rahilly (wife of The O’Rahilly, founder of the Irish Volunteers and who died during the Easter Rising) and Rabbi David Klein. A letter from Archbishop Hayes, including a cheque for €1,000 for bonds, was read to the packed theatre:
“After a very satisfactory conference with Mr. de Valera, President of the Irish Republic, I am convinced that his program for the agricultural, industrial and commercial development of Ireland is entirely practical and constructive…If England would but approach in a large Christian spirit the dilemma the Irish problem has evolved, Erin would prove more than generous and noble as a friendly neighbour, would never allow herself to be the pawn in any foreign power, and would be foremost to maintain the highest standards of Christian civilisation. With these world facts before us, Ireland would be welcomed as one of the most conservative forces of our distressed times.’
De Valera delivered a six and a half minute speech, beginning in Irish as usual but quickly moving to English with ‘we have issued bonds, and these bonds are the bonds of the Irish people. These bonds will be profitable in the end. Those who buy them will have a personal share in the Republic of Ireland. We aren’t so much interested in the bonds as we are in the by-products of them, such as the devoted help they will inspire.’
Historian Dave Hennigan comments on the reaction in the theatre that Sunday afternoon:
The Lexington Theatre on 51st Street was de Valera’s next meeting on the Bonds promotion drive. Presided over by Cochran and speakers included Judge Cohalan, Nancy O’Rahilly (wife of The O’Rahilly, founder of the Irish Volunteers and who died during the Easter Rising) and Rabbi David Klein. A letter from Archbishop Hayes, including a cheque for €1,000 for bonds, was read to the packed theatre:
“After a very satisfactory conference with Mr. de Valera, President of the Irish Republic, I am convinced that his program for the agricultural, industrial and commercial development of Ireland is entirely practical and constructive…If England would but approach in a large Christian spirit the dilemma the Irish problem has evolved, Erin would prove more than generous and noble as a friendly neighbour, would never allow herself to be the pawn in any foreign power, and would be foremost to maintain the highest standards of Christian civilisation. With these world facts before us, Ireland would be welcomed as one of the most conservative forces of our distressed times.’
De Valera delivered a six and a half minute speech, beginning in Irish as usual but quickly moving to English with ‘we have issued bonds, and these bonds are the bonds of the Irish people. These bonds will be profitable in the end. Those who buy them will have a personal share in the Republic of Ireland. We aren’t so much interested in the bonds as we are in the by-products of them, such as the devoted help they will inspire.’
Historian Dave Hennigan comments on the reaction in the theatre that Sunday afternoon:
The discontent came from Alderman W.F.Quinn who released a statement that night protesting ‘against the financial appeal being made by the so-called ‘President’ of the mythical ‘Irish Republic’ de Valera…this is a man no doubt sincere in his dream of freedom, and as there is nothing dearer to an Irishman’s heart that the freedom of the Old Sod his appeal will have tremendous effect…the misty dream of a deluded agitator is not and never can be called security for a bond issue…it is not a subscription to a bond issue but a financial gift to the man who thinks he is going to free Ireland by travelling around the United States having his expenses paid by appealing to the sweetest sentiments of the most generous race on earth, aided and abetted by a bunch of political bronco steerers who have been fooling the Irish and the Irish descendants in this city for years…”’ (see clipping January 19, 1920)
The third of four Sunday night conferences were held in de Valera’s Waldorf Astoria suite. Attending were De Valera, McGarrity, Cohalan, Devoy, Lynch and O’Meara.
The third of four Sunday night conferences were held in de Valera’s Waldorf Astoria suite. Attending were De Valera, McGarrity, Cohalan, Devoy, Lynch and O’Meara.
19
Results of the Municipal and Urban Council elections were declared showing a substantial Sinn Fein victory.
Of the twelve cities and boroughs in the country, eleven voted in Republican candidates, the only city that remained Unionist was Belfast. Spoiled votes accounted for 2.5% of the total vote cast. Throughout the country, local Government was now in the hands of the local people and were very definitely, anti Union and anti-British. From all these councils on the January 30th handover came resolutions pledging allegiance to Dail Eireann, breaking off contact with the Local Government Board in Dublin Castle, removing previous resolutions condemning the 1916 Rising, refusing the right of the Lord Lieutenant to appoint High Sheriff’s for major cities and removing symbols of British authority. This of course, led to only one result, suppression.
In Derry, the first Catholic Lord Mayor in over 300 years was elected after a cliff-hanging poll. The city now had a nationalist corporation and a mayor who promptly declared allegiance to Dail Eireann.
The Irish Times dismissed the Sinn Fein result as it considered the ‘failure to sweep the country is, indeed, from the political point of view, the outstanding feature of the elections’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revolutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill& McMillan 1995. P124
At the Hierachical gathering of bishops in Maynooth, a statement was issued that was unequivecal in its support of Irish self-determination ‘ the only way to terminate our historic troubles and establish friendly relations between England and Ireland, to the advantage of both countries, is to allow an undivided Ireland to choose her own form of Government’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revolutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-1922’. P173
The Westminster Gazette pronounced that Admiral Sims of the US Navy was ‘strongly pro-british.’ The Newsletter commented: ‘Friends of Ireland knew that long ago. Rear Admiral Sims, because of his Anglo-maniacal tendencies, is not competent to write of Irish affairs. He has an imperialistic Tory mind.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – No. 31, January 30, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The United States Senate votes against joining the League of Nations.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is founded.
The Allies of World War I demand that the Netherlands extradite German Kaiser Wilhelm II, who fled there in 1918.
Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, Peruvian Secretary-General of the United Nations, 135th Prime Minister of Peru born.
Results of the Municipal and Urban Council elections were declared showing a substantial Sinn Fein victory.
Of the twelve cities and boroughs in the country, eleven voted in Republican candidates, the only city that remained Unionist was Belfast. Spoiled votes accounted for 2.5% of the total vote cast. Throughout the country, local Government was now in the hands of the local people and were very definitely, anti Union and anti-British. From all these councils on the January 30th handover came resolutions pledging allegiance to Dail Eireann, breaking off contact with the Local Government Board in Dublin Castle, removing previous resolutions condemning the 1916 Rising, refusing the right of the Lord Lieutenant to appoint High Sheriff’s for major cities and removing symbols of British authority. This of course, led to only one result, suppression.
In Derry, the first Catholic Lord Mayor in over 300 years was elected after a cliff-hanging poll. The city now had a nationalist corporation and a mayor who promptly declared allegiance to Dail Eireann.
The Irish Times dismissed the Sinn Fein result as it considered the ‘failure to sweep the country is, indeed, from the political point of view, the outstanding feature of the elections’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revolutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill& McMillan 1995. P124
At the Hierachical gathering of bishops in Maynooth, a statement was issued that was unequivecal in its support of Irish self-determination ‘ the only way to terminate our historic troubles and establish friendly relations between England and Ireland, to the advantage of both countries, is to allow an undivided Ireland to choose her own form of Government’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revolutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-1922’. P173
The Westminster Gazette pronounced that Admiral Sims of the US Navy was ‘strongly pro-british.’ The Newsletter commented: ‘Friends of Ireland knew that long ago. Rear Admiral Sims, because of his Anglo-maniacal tendencies, is not competent to write of Irish affairs. He has an imperialistic Tory mind.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – No. 31, January 30, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The United States Senate votes against joining the League of Nations.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is founded.
The Allies of World War I demand that the Netherlands extradite German Kaiser Wilhelm II, who fled there in 1918.
Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, Peruvian Secretary-General of the United Nations, 135th Prime Minister of Peru born.
“The near illegality of the whole bond-certificate sale carried with it some danger of government restriction”
FM Carroll. American Opinion and the Irsih Question
The New York Bonds office was now being inundated with requests from investors wishing to exchange their US Liberty Bonds (purchased to help finance the US military involvement in the recent war) for Irish Republic bonds at face value. This was facilitated by the New York office until the Secretary of the Treasury intervened with a warning that the practice was to stop.
FM Carroll. American Opinion and the Irsih Question
The New York Bonds office was now being inundated with requests from investors wishing to exchange their US Liberty Bonds (purchased to help finance the US military involvement in the recent war) for Irish Republic bonds at face value. This was facilitated by the New York office until the Secretary of the Treasury intervened with a warning that the practice was to stop.
20
‘Brann’s Iconoclast’ published in Chicago made a strong attack on the Carson delegation, that the Newsletter said ‘every lover of freedom should read’: and true to it’s title, it certainly broke the image of the Ulster delegation:
‘Five Irish traitors from Ulster spoke at the Medinah Temple, Chicago, Monday evening, January 19. They came to this country on a mission of hatred, for the British Government …think of attacking the right of ‘self-determination’ to the tune of the ‘Star Spangled Banner’. Imagine men extolling the Union Jack to the tune of ‘America…land where my fathers died’ – died fighting that self-same emblem of British despotism! Conceive if you can the unspeakable hypocrisy of people who damn patriotic Irishmen, because they demand independence and freedom for Ireland…what Ireland has suffered at the hands of Great Britain cannot be told in human speech. To find terms that would fully express the agony of Erin one would have to descend into hell and wring from the lips of fire words born of un-utterable woe – expressions fashioned in the red forge of ultimate damnation and these might do justice to British brutality, but I doubt it. Still the traitors from Ulster sing: ‘From every mountain side, let freedom ring’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – No. 34, February 20, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The London Nation newspaper stridently declared ‘The most abominable outrage of all is Lord French’s and Mr Macpherson’s outrage on human liberty’
English Atrocities in Ireland – Katherine Hughes. Friends of Irish Freedom phamphlet. Lynch Family Archives. P6
Constable Luke Finnegan (29) was shot by the IRA in Thurles, Co Tipperary and died of his wounds 2 days later. Fellow constables of Finnegan now took retiliatory action in the first of a series of 'reprisals'. The RIC proceeded to smash in windows in the homes and businesses of 12 prominent Sinn Fein members, damage the Sinn Fein hall and fired shots down the main street.
Michael D’Arcy of Cooraclare County Clare was shot dead while working in a field when fired on by R.I.C., there are several differing accounts of events and D’Arcy is recorded in some modern publications as a member of the I.R.A. D’Arcy fled when fired on and while fleeing either fell or jumped into a river, Police continued firing on the spot where he entered the river and also fired on people attempting to rescue D’Arcy.
Federico Fellini, Italian film director, screenwriter born (d. 1993) Known for his distinct style that blends fantasy and baroque images with earthiness, he is recognised as one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers of all time
DeForest Kelley born (d. 1999) Became an American actor, screenwriter, poet, and singer known for his roles in Westerns and as Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy of the USS Enterprise in the television and film series Star Trek (1966–1991)
‘Brann’s Iconoclast’ published in Chicago made a strong attack on the Carson delegation, that the Newsletter said ‘every lover of freedom should read’: and true to it’s title, it certainly broke the image of the Ulster delegation:
‘Five Irish traitors from Ulster spoke at the Medinah Temple, Chicago, Monday evening, January 19. They came to this country on a mission of hatred, for the British Government …think of attacking the right of ‘self-determination’ to the tune of the ‘Star Spangled Banner’. Imagine men extolling the Union Jack to the tune of ‘America…land where my fathers died’ – died fighting that self-same emblem of British despotism! Conceive if you can the unspeakable hypocrisy of people who damn patriotic Irishmen, because they demand independence and freedom for Ireland…what Ireland has suffered at the hands of Great Britain cannot be told in human speech. To find terms that would fully express the agony of Erin one would have to descend into hell and wring from the lips of fire words born of un-utterable woe – expressions fashioned in the red forge of ultimate damnation and these might do justice to British brutality, but I doubt it. Still the traitors from Ulster sing: ‘From every mountain side, let freedom ring’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – No. 34, February 20, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The London Nation newspaper stridently declared ‘The most abominable outrage of all is Lord French’s and Mr Macpherson’s outrage on human liberty’
English Atrocities in Ireland – Katherine Hughes. Friends of Irish Freedom phamphlet. Lynch Family Archives. P6
Constable Luke Finnegan (29) was shot by the IRA in Thurles, Co Tipperary and died of his wounds 2 days later. Fellow constables of Finnegan now took retiliatory action in the first of a series of 'reprisals'. The RIC proceeded to smash in windows in the homes and businesses of 12 prominent Sinn Fein members, damage the Sinn Fein hall and fired shots down the main street.
Michael D’Arcy of Cooraclare County Clare was shot dead while working in a field when fired on by R.I.C., there are several differing accounts of events and D’Arcy is recorded in some modern publications as a member of the I.R.A. D’Arcy fled when fired on and while fleeing either fell or jumped into a river, Police continued firing on the spot where he entered the river and also fired on people attempting to rescue D’Arcy.
Federico Fellini, Italian film director, screenwriter born (d. 1993) Known for his distinct style that blends fantasy and baroque images with earthiness, he is recognised as one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers of all time
DeForest Kelley born (d. 1999) Became an American actor, screenwriter, poet, and singer known for his roles in Westerns and as Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy of the USS Enterprise in the television and film series Star Trek (1966–1991)
21
The DMP Assistant Commissioner of Police (with responsibilities for the detective division of the DMP), William Redmond (47), was shot dead by the IRA. He was vacating his rooms at the Standard Hotel and preparing to move into Dublin Castle for protection of senior officials within the RIC and DMP. A reward was quickly posted of £10,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible.
The Dail Eireann commission on Irish Industrial Resources which had been declared illegal, met in Cork.
Final session of the Paris Peace Conference even though peace treaties with Hungary and Turkey remain to be concluded; also, the United States does not conclude its own treaty with Germany until 25 August 1921.
Helsinki: The Baltic states form a defensive alliance against Soviet Russia.
The DMP Assistant Commissioner of Police (with responsibilities for the detective division of the DMP), William Redmond (47), was shot dead by the IRA. He was vacating his rooms at the Standard Hotel and preparing to move into Dublin Castle for protection of senior officials within the RIC and DMP. A reward was quickly posted of £10,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible.
The Dail Eireann commission on Irish Industrial Resources which had been declared illegal, met in Cork.
Final session of the Paris Peace Conference even though peace treaties with Hungary and Turkey remain to be concluded; also, the United States does not conclude its own treaty with Germany until 25 August 1921.
Helsinki: The Baltic states form a defensive alliance against Soviet Russia.
22
Many newly elected councillors and aldermen were arrested throughout the country by an RIC sweep.
Lloyd George writing in the Daily Chronicle commented on the situation in Ireland, and specifically on the killing of Constable Finnegan: ‘Nobody can fail to deplore such occurrences but equally obviously nobody can wonder at them, indeed it is obvious that if these murderous clubs pursue their course much longer, we may see counter clubs springing up and the lives of prominent Sinn Feiners becoming as unsafe as prominent officials.’
Richard Abbott ‘Police Casualties in Ireland 1919-1922’ Mercier Press, Cork. 2000 p 51
In May, an English appointed Judge announced his findings on the ‘rioting’ in Thurles and found that all damage resulting from the riot was ‘unwarrantedly done by the police. He therefore assesed all damages against the crown.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – No. 47, May 22, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
John W. Davis the US Ambassador in London ruffled more than Irish American feathers with his comment published in the Chicago Tribune: ‘..it was much to be regretted in the past the two English speaking nations had no anthem in common. Now they could both sing one anthem in unison. ‘God Bless the Prince of Wales’’ The Newsletter added ‘If Ambassador Davis is correctly quoted, there should be a Congressional investigation to determine whether an American Ambassador should be permitted to advocate surrendering our national anthem – The Star Spangled Banner – and substituting therefore an English anthem calling God’s blessings down upon the son of a King.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – No. 31, January 30, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Alf Ramsey,British footballer, manager born (d. 1999)
Many newly elected councillors and aldermen were arrested throughout the country by an RIC sweep.
Lloyd George writing in the Daily Chronicle commented on the situation in Ireland, and specifically on the killing of Constable Finnegan: ‘Nobody can fail to deplore such occurrences but equally obviously nobody can wonder at them, indeed it is obvious that if these murderous clubs pursue their course much longer, we may see counter clubs springing up and the lives of prominent Sinn Feiners becoming as unsafe as prominent officials.’
Richard Abbott ‘Police Casualties in Ireland 1919-1922’ Mercier Press, Cork. 2000 p 51
In May, an English appointed Judge announced his findings on the ‘rioting’ in Thurles and found that all damage resulting from the riot was ‘unwarrantedly done by the police. He therefore assesed all damages against the crown.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – No. 47, May 22, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
John W. Davis the US Ambassador in London ruffled more than Irish American feathers with his comment published in the Chicago Tribune: ‘..it was much to be regretted in the past the two English speaking nations had no anthem in common. Now they could both sing one anthem in unison. ‘God Bless the Prince of Wales’’ The Newsletter added ‘If Ambassador Davis is correctly quoted, there should be a Congressional investigation to determine whether an American Ambassador should be permitted to advocate surrendering our national anthem – The Star Spangled Banner – and substituting therefore an English anthem calling God’s blessings down upon the son of a King.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – No. 31, January 30, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Alf Ramsey,British footballer, manager born (d. 1999)
23
The Morning Post commented ‘It is now common knowledge that the whole of the Royal Irish Constabulary in the South and West are marked down for attack and in suitable circumstances that is, when the assailant incurs no risk ) for death.’
The Dutch Government refuse an Allied request to extradite the former Kaiser Wilhelm II. He would remain there until his death in 1940.
Washington D.C: Bipartisan Committee agrees on compromise mild reservations, but opposed by Lodge and Irreconcilables
The Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom announced in it’s Issue #30, January 23 1920 front page heading: ‘CARSON LOOSES ULSTER’ detailing the losses Unionist parties suffered in the local elections on January 15th. ‘That Carson Unionism is a minority party, even in the Province of Ulster, is indicated by the latest cabled returns…the election has delivered a death blow to Unionism. Lloyd George frankly confessed his inability to fix the physical boundaries of the mytical Ulster state which he proposed to set up, in order to divide the Irish people…America had her Tories in [17]76. Ireland has her Tories today. Their name is Carsonites.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – No. 30, January 23, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The proposed Irish Education Bill originating from Westminster would see school management removed the Intermediate and National Boards which regulated Secondary and Primary education. In their place would stand a commission comprising of the Irish Chief Secretary, Macpherson, the President of the Board of Agriculture and one other to be nominated by the Lord-Lieutenant, Lord French. The Newsletter commented that aside from the Irish people loosing regulation of their schools, the Board of Agriculture President was ‘a Carsonite’ but that the ‘whole control under the new measure would revert to Dublin Castle. Teachers will be liable to direct dismissal, no longer being protected by the School Manager.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – No. 30, January 23, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Increasing support for Irish independence in Britain was commented on in the Newsletter…’ recently in Liverpool, Arthur Griffith , Vice President of the Irish Republic, addressed one one day three great mass-meetings, at which resolutions reiterating the steadfast allegiance of the assembly to the cause of Irish independence were adopted. In the same week there was a great demonstration in Manchester, at which the leaders of organised labor pledged themselves to the cause of Irish freedom…from end to end of Great Britain Self-Determination Leagues have been organised and the work for Irish Freedom is going on.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – No. 30, January 23, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The Admiral Sims contoversey continued. The Newsletter commenting that United States naval circles had titled Sims: ‘The best British Admiral in the American Navy’. The Washington correspondent of the Washington Star, David Lawrence took the matter further by pointing out in an article that the Admiral’s recent attack on Secretary of the Navy, Daniels and comments in his articles on the US Navy’s war conduct was a ‘serious breach of diplomacy and international courtesy.’
The Newsletter corrected news reports that Alexander Sullivan (Member of the Irish Bar and counsel who defended Roger Casement during his 1916 trial for treason) had been attacked by Irish Republican Supporters because of his letters to the press when he called on the leaders of the Republican party to discourage and repudiate political crime.
‘It now develops from a personal explanation made by Mr. Sullivan that the attack on him was made by a group of men in no way identified with the Republican Party, also, that he was rescued and saved from severe injury by Republican supporters.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – No. 30, January 23, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The Newsletter cited that among the ‘prominent Pittsburg, PA, supporters of the cause of freedom and independence for Ireland are Mr and Mrs Alexander Moore. Mrs Moore will be remembered by the theatre goers of America as the gifted and beautiful Lillian Russel*. The assistance rendered by Mr and Mrs Moore has been of very considerable value to the movement. Mrs Moore has aroused among her friends throughout the country a most lively and effective interest and a new sense of their responsibilities as Americas to see that the fundamentals of Americanism are applied in the case of Ireland.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – No. 30, January 23, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
* Lillian Russel (1861-1922) an American singer and actress in light comdeies who represented the feminine ideal of her generation, as famous for her personal life as stage abilites. Married four times, in later years wrote a newspaper column on health, beauty and love which was syndicated throughout the US.
Commenting on the recent dismissal of the RIC Inspector General, Sir Joseph Byrne citing his objection to the recruitment of a special military constabulary in England, the Newsletter wrote ‘Ireland's protest against being policed by the military constabulary has reached a stage where the English Foreign Office is now recruiting the military constable from Scotland and England…’ and went on to give the methods used by the British in the Carribbean: ‘take for instance the islands of Trinidad and Barbados, the population of both islands being almost wholly composed of the coloured race. No native of Trindad can be a member of the Trinidadian police force; the entire force is recruited from the Barbados. And the police force of the Barbados is recruited exclusively from Trinidad. The Trinidadian population and the Barbadian police men are always antagonistic to each other, and the natives of the Barbados and the Trindadian policemen who govern them also manifest hostility toward each other. British has found it in her interest to ecnourage such hostility. It si to be assumed that the English Ministry would believe the policing of Ireland perfect were all its constabulary either Scotch or English.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – No. 30, January 23, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The Newsletter was correct. The Black and Tans would arrive in Ireland during March 1920.
Later in the year, the Newsletter carried another reason for Byrne’s dismissal. He had submitted a report to the British Government asking the authorities to ‘relieve them of the character of an armed military force. ‘If we had no rifles, we should be quite safe…we do not need rifles for the discharge of our ordinary duties.’ It was…as a result of his frank action he was relieved from duty in Ireland.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol. 11, No.1 July 3, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
In issue 30, it revealed the organiser of the new special police force in Ireland would be Mr. Norris Goddard. ‘a former solicitor to the Irish Landowners Convention who is know in Irish affairs as the gentleman who organised a body of Tories to aid Captain Boycott in his fight with the Land League’ says the London Catholic Herald.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – No. 30, January 23, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The terms ‘Sinn Fein’ and ‘Dail Eireann’ seemed to cause either confusion or apoplexy amongst some segments of American society and the Irish National Bureau of Information Newsletter drew parallels to help it’s readers explain to others that Sinn Fein was the equivalent of the phrase ‘America First’. ‘Sinn Fein is merely a symbol if Irish self-reliance and not of hard hearted self-interest…there are many in America who fail to appreciate it, and there are others who are ever ready to take opportunity to misinterpret the Gaelic words to the detriment of the supporters of the Irish Republic…if the use of Gaelic terms causes apprehension, it might, perhaps, be better to stick to their English equivalents. It might be advisable to speak of the Irish Republican Party instead of the Sinn Fein Party and of the Parliament of Ireland instead of Dail Eireann’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – No. 30, January 23, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Below: Listing of pamphlets published during 1919-1920 by the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information in Washington D.C.:
The Morning Post commented ‘It is now common knowledge that the whole of the Royal Irish Constabulary in the South and West are marked down for attack and in suitable circumstances that is, when the assailant incurs no risk ) for death.’
The Dutch Government refuse an Allied request to extradite the former Kaiser Wilhelm II. He would remain there until his death in 1940.
Washington D.C: Bipartisan Committee agrees on compromise mild reservations, but opposed by Lodge and Irreconcilables
The Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom announced in it’s Issue #30, January 23 1920 front page heading: ‘CARSON LOOSES ULSTER’ detailing the losses Unionist parties suffered in the local elections on January 15th. ‘That Carson Unionism is a minority party, even in the Province of Ulster, is indicated by the latest cabled returns…the election has delivered a death blow to Unionism. Lloyd George frankly confessed his inability to fix the physical boundaries of the mytical Ulster state which he proposed to set up, in order to divide the Irish people…America had her Tories in [17]76. Ireland has her Tories today. Their name is Carsonites.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – No. 30, January 23, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The proposed Irish Education Bill originating from Westminster would see school management removed the Intermediate and National Boards which regulated Secondary and Primary education. In their place would stand a commission comprising of the Irish Chief Secretary, Macpherson, the President of the Board of Agriculture and one other to be nominated by the Lord-Lieutenant, Lord French. The Newsletter commented that aside from the Irish people loosing regulation of their schools, the Board of Agriculture President was ‘a Carsonite’ but that the ‘whole control under the new measure would revert to Dublin Castle. Teachers will be liable to direct dismissal, no longer being protected by the School Manager.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – No. 30, January 23, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Increasing support for Irish independence in Britain was commented on in the Newsletter…’ recently in Liverpool, Arthur Griffith , Vice President of the Irish Republic, addressed one one day three great mass-meetings, at which resolutions reiterating the steadfast allegiance of the assembly to the cause of Irish independence were adopted. In the same week there was a great demonstration in Manchester, at which the leaders of organised labor pledged themselves to the cause of Irish freedom…from end to end of Great Britain Self-Determination Leagues have been organised and the work for Irish Freedom is going on.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – No. 30, January 23, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The Admiral Sims contoversey continued. The Newsletter commenting that United States naval circles had titled Sims: ‘The best British Admiral in the American Navy’. The Washington correspondent of the Washington Star, David Lawrence took the matter further by pointing out in an article that the Admiral’s recent attack on Secretary of the Navy, Daniels and comments in his articles on the US Navy’s war conduct was a ‘serious breach of diplomacy and international courtesy.’
The Newsletter corrected news reports that Alexander Sullivan (Member of the Irish Bar and counsel who defended Roger Casement during his 1916 trial for treason) had been attacked by Irish Republican Supporters because of his letters to the press when he called on the leaders of the Republican party to discourage and repudiate political crime.
‘It now develops from a personal explanation made by Mr. Sullivan that the attack on him was made by a group of men in no way identified with the Republican Party, also, that he was rescued and saved from severe injury by Republican supporters.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – No. 30, January 23, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The Newsletter cited that among the ‘prominent Pittsburg, PA, supporters of the cause of freedom and independence for Ireland are Mr and Mrs Alexander Moore. Mrs Moore will be remembered by the theatre goers of America as the gifted and beautiful Lillian Russel*. The assistance rendered by Mr and Mrs Moore has been of very considerable value to the movement. Mrs Moore has aroused among her friends throughout the country a most lively and effective interest and a new sense of their responsibilities as Americas to see that the fundamentals of Americanism are applied in the case of Ireland.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – No. 30, January 23, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
* Lillian Russel (1861-1922) an American singer and actress in light comdeies who represented the feminine ideal of her generation, as famous for her personal life as stage abilites. Married four times, in later years wrote a newspaper column on health, beauty and love which was syndicated throughout the US.
Commenting on the recent dismissal of the RIC Inspector General, Sir Joseph Byrne citing his objection to the recruitment of a special military constabulary in England, the Newsletter wrote ‘Ireland's protest against being policed by the military constabulary has reached a stage where the English Foreign Office is now recruiting the military constable from Scotland and England…’ and went on to give the methods used by the British in the Carribbean: ‘take for instance the islands of Trinidad and Barbados, the population of both islands being almost wholly composed of the coloured race. No native of Trindad can be a member of the Trinidadian police force; the entire force is recruited from the Barbados. And the police force of the Barbados is recruited exclusively from Trinidad. The Trinidadian population and the Barbadian police men are always antagonistic to each other, and the natives of the Barbados and the Trindadian policemen who govern them also manifest hostility toward each other. British has found it in her interest to ecnourage such hostility. It si to be assumed that the English Ministry would believe the policing of Ireland perfect were all its constabulary either Scotch or English.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – No. 30, January 23, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The Newsletter was correct. The Black and Tans would arrive in Ireland during March 1920.
Later in the year, the Newsletter carried another reason for Byrne’s dismissal. He had submitted a report to the British Government asking the authorities to ‘relieve them of the character of an armed military force. ‘If we had no rifles, we should be quite safe…we do not need rifles for the discharge of our ordinary duties.’ It was…as a result of his frank action he was relieved from duty in Ireland.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol. 11, No.1 July 3, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
In issue 30, it revealed the organiser of the new special police force in Ireland would be Mr. Norris Goddard. ‘a former solicitor to the Irish Landowners Convention who is know in Irish affairs as the gentleman who organised a body of Tories to aid Captain Boycott in his fight with the Land League’ says the London Catholic Herald.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – No. 30, January 23, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The terms ‘Sinn Fein’ and ‘Dail Eireann’ seemed to cause either confusion or apoplexy amongst some segments of American society and the Irish National Bureau of Information Newsletter drew parallels to help it’s readers explain to others that Sinn Fein was the equivalent of the phrase ‘America First’. ‘Sinn Fein is merely a symbol if Irish self-reliance and not of hard hearted self-interest…there are many in America who fail to appreciate it, and there are others who are ever ready to take opportunity to misinterpret the Gaelic words to the detriment of the supporters of the Irish Republic…if the use of Gaelic terms causes apprehension, it might, perhaps, be better to stick to their English equivalents. It might be advisable to speak of the Irish Republican Party instead of the Sinn Fein Party and of the Parliament of Ireland instead of Dail Eireann’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – No. 30, January 23, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Below: Listing of pamphlets published during 1919-1920 by the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information in Washington D.C.:
24
The U.S. Expeditionary forces return from Europe.
Constable James Malynn was killed by the IRA at the doorway of his barracks in Baltinglass, Co. Wicklow.
Percy French, civil engineer, songwriter, entertainer and artist died (born 1854).
Keith Douglas, poet, born (killed in action 1944)
The U.S. Expeditionary forces return from Europe.
Constable James Malynn was killed by the IRA at the doorway of his barracks in Baltinglass, Co. Wicklow.
Percy French, civil engineer, songwriter, entertainer and artist died (born 1854).
Keith Douglas, poet, born (killed in action 1944)
25
The British administration in Ireland offered a reward of £10,000 for evidence to convict the killers of Redmond or the other RIC & DMP officers killed. A separate offer of £1,000 was made for information about Collins and £10,000 for his body, dead or alive.
IRA tactics against RIC barracks continued to evolve, moving from hit and run to deploying larger forces that would hold the town or village while a smaller, more experienced group would use explosives to penetrate the barrack’s defences while keeping the occupants under constant fire. Over the following months, smaller barracks in outlying districts throughout Ireland would be evacuated.
The fourth and final Sunday night conferences were held in de Valera’s Waldorf Astoria suite. Attending were De Valera, McGarrity, Cohalan, Devoy, Lynch and O’Meara.
The Cumberland, Md. Friends of Irish Freedom formed.
‘Whatever we decide to give to Ireland, we must give it, it is now worse than useless to promise it. I will say here, once and for all, the hardest thing than an Englishman has to say of his impressions of another great European people: that over all those hills and valleys, our word is wind and our bond is waste paper.’ From ‘First Impressions’ by G.K.Chesterton.
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – No. 32, February 6, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The British administration in Ireland offered a reward of £10,000 for evidence to convict the killers of Redmond or the other RIC & DMP officers killed. A separate offer of £1,000 was made for information about Collins and £10,000 for his body, dead or alive.
IRA tactics against RIC barracks continued to evolve, moving from hit and run to deploying larger forces that would hold the town or village while a smaller, more experienced group would use explosives to penetrate the barrack’s defences while keeping the occupants under constant fire. Over the following months, smaller barracks in outlying districts throughout Ireland would be evacuated.
The fourth and final Sunday night conferences were held in de Valera’s Waldorf Astoria suite. Attending were De Valera, McGarrity, Cohalan, Devoy, Lynch and O’Meara.
The Cumberland, Md. Friends of Irish Freedom formed.
‘Whatever we decide to give to Ireland, we must give it, it is now worse than useless to promise it. I will say here, once and for all, the hardest thing than an Englishman has to say of his impressions of another great European people: that over all those hills and valleys, our word is wind and our bond is waste paper.’ From ‘First Impressions’ by G.K.Chesterton.
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – No. 32, February 6, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
26
27
In an effort to seize money subscribed to the Dial National Loan, British troops raided the Sinn Fein HQ – discovering only £1,000 as the majority of funds had been quickly deposited in various banks under various names.
Speaking on the ‘Irish problem’, Wendell Phillips said the only solution is ‘the sepration of the two islands and giving Ireland to the Irish.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – No. 34, February 20, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Washington D.C: Democrats in Bipartisan Committee offer Hitchcock reservation to Article 10 but rejected by Republicans
HITCHCOCK RESERVATION: The United States assumes no obligation to employ its military or naval forces or the economic boycott to preserve the territorial integrity or political independence of any other country member under the provisions of Article X or to employ the military or naval forces of the United States under any article of the treaty for any purpose unless in any particular case the Congress which under the Constitution has the sole power to declare war or authorize the employment of the military or naval forces of the United States shall by Act or joint resolution provide. . Nothing herein shall be deemed to impair the obligation in Article 16 concerning the economic boycott
In an effort to seize money subscribed to the Dial National Loan, British troops raided the Sinn Fein HQ – discovering only £1,000 as the majority of funds had been quickly deposited in various banks under various names.
Speaking on the ‘Irish problem’, Wendell Phillips said the only solution is ‘the sepration of the two islands and giving Ireland to the Irish.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – No. 34, February 20, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Washington D.C: Democrats in Bipartisan Committee offer Hitchcock reservation to Article 10 but rejected by Republicans
HITCHCOCK RESERVATION: The United States assumes no obligation to employ its military or naval forces or the economic boycott to preserve the territorial integrity or political independence of any other country member under the provisions of Article X or to employ the military or naval forces of the United States under any article of the treaty for any purpose unless in any particular case the Congress which under the Constitution has the sole power to declare war or authorize the employment of the military or naval forces of the United States shall by Act or joint resolution provide. . Nothing herein shall be deemed to impair the obligation in Article 16 concerning the economic boycott
28
Dr Andrew Trimble, in an address to the Belfast Rotary Club on ‘Tuberculosis as a Commerical Problem’ stated that in propostion to the population, there were more deaths every year in Ireland than in Britain and more in Belfast than the rest of Ireland. Post mortems showed that over 90% of the population had some form of the disease.
Dr Andrew Trimble, in an address to the Belfast Rotary Club on ‘Tuberculosis as a Commerical Problem’ stated that in propostion to the population, there were more deaths every year in Ireland than in Britain and more in Belfast than the rest of Ireland. Post mortems showed that over 90% of the population had some form of the disease.
29
Washington D.C. - Democrats agree to support Taft reservation to Article 10 but rejected by Lodge
TAFT RESERVATION: The United States declines to assume any legal or binding obligations to preserve the territorial integrity or political independence of any other country under the provisions of Article X or to employ the military or naval forces of the United States under any article of the treaty for any purpose; but Congress which under the Constitution has sole power in the premises, will consider and decide what moral obligation if any under the circumstances of any particular case, when it arises, should move the United States in the interest of world peace and parties, to take action therein and will provide accordingly
Washington D.C. - Democrats agree to support Taft reservation to Article 10 but rejected by Lodge
TAFT RESERVATION: The United States declines to assume any legal or binding obligations to preserve the territorial integrity or political independence of any other country under the provisions of Article X or to employ the military or naval forces of the United States under any article of the treaty for any purpose; but Congress which under the Constitution has sole power in the premises, will consider and decide what moral obligation if any under the circumstances of any particular case, when it arises, should move the United States in the interest of world peace and parties, to take action therein and will provide accordingly
30
On installation, Cork and Limerick Corporations swiftly pledged allegiance to the Dail, other held back pending future developments, the County Council elections in June and also from an economic basis, as any separation from Dublin Castle would result in loss of funding. Dublin Corporation however ‘provided plenty of oratorical fireworks. When the council clerk refused to accept Mrs Wyse Power’s signature in Irish, he was suspended, the Tricolour was voted to fly from the top of City Hall, dismissed a knighted Home Ruler from the war pensions committee and voted to remove the municipal mace, symbol of a rejected imperialism.’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill& McMillan 1995. P125
35 year old Tomas MacCurtain was elected as Lord Mayor of Cork.
The Newsletter made comment on the apparent double standards practised by US Naval Secretary, Daniels. Speaking at a Jackson Day dinner in Washington, he said ‘The Irish as a people came to America to be Americans. No matter how deep their sympathies may be for their kin back in Ireland, or how deep their hostility to any other people or Government, they are full-fledged, red-blooded, 100 per cent Americans. Their devotion to liberty, their courage in war, and their inbred and genuine hatred of injustice have justified this tribute to the full rounded Americanism of the bulk of this patriotic people’
However, the Editor of Daniel’s newspaper, The News and Observer of Raleigh, North Carolina appeared to be out of step with his employer, publishing the Savoyard series of letters. On December 28th 1919, the following was published:
‘And here come before a Committee of the American Congress a lot of professional Irishmen who sympathised with Germany, rejoicing in her victories and mourning in her defects in that awful conflict’.
The Newsletter commented: ’The Secretary will continue to be misunderstood by thousands who prefer to be his friends.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – No. 31, January 30, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Reference was frequently made by the Newsletter to early Irish American patriots, again quoting from General Issac R. Sherwood’s speech before Congress earlier in January:
‘The first general officer killed in the war of the Revolution was Major-General Richard Montgomery, born in Donegal, Ireland. The first commander of the American Navy was John Barry, born in Co. Wexford, let us not forget it was Maurice O’Brien, born in Cork…whose five sons, hearing of the Battle of Lexington, struck the first blow on water for independence – May 11 1775 – by capturing a British armed schooner. John Hancock, first signer of the Declaration of Independence and twice President of the Continental Congress was the descendant of an Irish emigrant from Ulster….John Nixon, whose father was born in C. Wexford…first read the Declaration of Independence in public from the steps of the State House in Philadelphia, July 8 1776…. It was General Sullivan’s Brigade of Irishmen who manned the guns on Dorchester Heights, Boston [on] March 17, 1776 – when the British army under Lord Howe, evacuated Boston.’’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – No. 31, January 30, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Promoting commerce between Ireland and the US was taken up frequently by the Newsletter. ‘The Irish people as a whole are animated by feelings of friendliness and affection for the people of America. After the tricolour of the Republic, the Stars and Stripes is the flag most loved and displayed all over Ireland. There is scarcely a family in Ireland but has given hostages to the United States…Irish consumers and Irish traders desire to enter into business arrangements with American producers and American shippers. After Irish made commodities, American goods are given preference over those imported from other foreign countries…it is in the promotion of this great and useful work that the services of a United States Minister and Consuls working in harmony with the responsible ministers and officers of the Irish Republic, would work to the financial benefit and lasting gain of the whole people of America.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – No. 31, January 30, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Former Prime Minister Asquith commenting in Paisley, Scotland that Ireland was experiencing ‘An oppressive and exasperating system of military rule’
English Atrocities in Ireland – Katherine Hughes. Friends of Irish Freedom pamphlet. Lynch Family Archives. P6
On installation, Cork and Limerick Corporations swiftly pledged allegiance to the Dail, other held back pending future developments, the County Council elections in June and also from an economic basis, as any separation from Dublin Castle would result in loss of funding. Dublin Corporation however ‘provided plenty of oratorical fireworks. When the council clerk refused to accept Mrs Wyse Power’s signature in Irish, he was suspended, the Tricolour was voted to fly from the top of City Hall, dismissed a knighted Home Ruler from the war pensions committee and voted to remove the municipal mace, symbol of a rejected imperialism.’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill& McMillan 1995. P125
35 year old Tomas MacCurtain was elected as Lord Mayor of Cork.
The Newsletter made comment on the apparent double standards practised by US Naval Secretary, Daniels. Speaking at a Jackson Day dinner in Washington, he said ‘The Irish as a people came to America to be Americans. No matter how deep their sympathies may be for their kin back in Ireland, or how deep their hostility to any other people or Government, they are full-fledged, red-blooded, 100 per cent Americans. Their devotion to liberty, their courage in war, and their inbred and genuine hatred of injustice have justified this tribute to the full rounded Americanism of the bulk of this patriotic people’
However, the Editor of Daniel’s newspaper, The News and Observer of Raleigh, North Carolina appeared to be out of step with his employer, publishing the Savoyard series of letters. On December 28th 1919, the following was published:
‘And here come before a Committee of the American Congress a lot of professional Irishmen who sympathised with Germany, rejoicing in her victories and mourning in her defects in that awful conflict’.
The Newsletter commented: ’The Secretary will continue to be misunderstood by thousands who prefer to be his friends.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – No. 31, January 30, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Reference was frequently made by the Newsletter to early Irish American patriots, again quoting from General Issac R. Sherwood’s speech before Congress earlier in January:
‘The first general officer killed in the war of the Revolution was Major-General Richard Montgomery, born in Donegal, Ireland. The first commander of the American Navy was John Barry, born in Co. Wexford, let us not forget it was Maurice O’Brien, born in Cork…whose five sons, hearing of the Battle of Lexington, struck the first blow on water for independence – May 11 1775 – by capturing a British armed schooner. John Hancock, first signer of the Declaration of Independence and twice President of the Continental Congress was the descendant of an Irish emigrant from Ulster….John Nixon, whose father was born in C. Wexford…first read the Declaration of Independence in public from the steps of the State House in Philadelphia, July 8 1776…. It was General Sullivan’s Brigade of Irishmen who manned the guns on Dorchester Heights, Boston [on] March 17, 1776 – when the British army under Lord Howe, evacuated Boston.’’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – No. 31, January 30, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Promoting commerce between Ireland and the US was taken up frequently by the Newsletter. ‘The Irish people as a whole are animated by feelings of friendliness and affection for the people of America. After the tricolour of the Republic, the Stars and Stripes is the flag most loved and displayed all over Ireland. There is scarcely a family in Ireland but has given hostages to the United States…Irish consumers and Irish traders desire to enter into business arrangements with American producers and American shippers. After Irish made commodities, American goods are given preference over those imported from other foreign countries…it is in the promotion of this great and useful work that the services of a United States Minister and Consuls working in harmony with the responsible ministers and officers of the Irish Republic, would work to the financial benefit and lasting gain of the whole people of America.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – No. 31, January 30, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Former Prime Minister Asquith commenting in Paisley, Scotland that Ireland was experiencing ‘An oppressive and exasperating system of military rule’
English Atrocities in Ireland – Katherine Hughes. Friends of Irish Freedom pamphlet. Lynch Family Archives. P6
31
The Irish Times commenting on the handover of municipal and borough councils to elected members:
‘Yesterday Sinn Fein entered into possession of most of the Boroughs and Urban Councils in Ireland…in other words, the local administration of the South and West of Ireland is now in the hands of a party which publicly repudiates British Government alike in political and in municipal affairs’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill& McMillan 1995. P124
A policeman and a civilian was shot dead in Limerick following a scuffle between soldiers and locals.
During January, over 1,000 raids by British forces and 220 arrests were reported in the press. The conflict was beginning to enter a serious and intensive phase. The economic life of the country had been effectively halted by the suppression of fairs and markets in areas under military law and attempts were made to freeze Sinn Fein and Dail Eireann funds... as Dorothy Macardle wrote: ‘ this attack on the economic life of Ireland was a logical part of the British attempt to destroy the Republic. The European war...had brought a measure of comparative prosperity to the Irish countryside. The depopulation of Ireland had abated during the past five years...a condition of affairs which from the British point of view was not normal. This Lord French explained to an interviewer for a Paris paper*: ‘the principal cause of the trouble...is that for five years emigration has practically stopped. In this country there are from 100,000 to 200,000 young men from 18 to 25 years of age who in normal times would have emigrated.’
Macardle. ‘The Irish Republic’ Irish Press. Dublin 1957. p333.
* The Parisian paper was ‘Le Journal’ and the Journalist was M. Marsillac.
The Freeman’s Journal made comment on Lord French’s confides to a French Journalist: ‘..his scheme for the immediate compulsory immigration of 180,000 more. Cromwell sent the young Irish to the Barbados. The military Government of today wants to revive Cromwellianism on a larger scale.’
English Atrocities in Ireland – Katherine Hughes. Friends of Irish Freedom phamphlet. Lynch Family Archives. P7
A major RIC sweep raided over 1,000 homes, arresting 86 persons (including 6 Dail Eireann deputies).
The Irish Independent apparently seemed decidely un-impressed by the RIC action ’the net was flung wide, but the meshes were too big. It may have been seen coming, and the result is that once more the prestige of the Government has had a fall, while everyone is speaking of the ability of the Sinn Fein inteligence staff’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill& McMillan 1995. P127.
Despite various supressive measures, the RIC was beginning to crumble from within.
Throughout Connaught, the Traders Boycott of Belfast products and services continued, spreading throughout the province.
An example of British press reaction to the Irish Republic Bonds Sale in the US was that provided by S.K. Ratcliffe in the Nation (20th March) “Posters in the shop windows along the New York avenues invite you to purchase the bonds of the Irish Republic. Catholic priests announce from the pulpit that they are on sale at the close of the service. One day in January when I was in New York, the steps of the Public Library in Fifth Avenue were occupied by a bevy of girls in the dress of colleens, singing and dancing for the loan, while an Irish policeman, in the employ of New York City, offered bonds for sale – a service in which, I was informed, the police of other cities are engaged – while in stores and offices, in churches and private homes, the financial business of the Irish Republic is systematically pressed.’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill& McMillan 1995. P194
De Valera attended a lunch to debate with Sir Horace Plunkett ‘The merits of Dominion Home Rule as compared with a Republic’. When de Valera noted the tricolour was not present amongst the other nation’s, he refused to continue. Eventual compromise was reached when all the flags except the Stars and Stripes were removed. In the debate, Plunkett spoke only of agricultural co-operatives. An un-listed speaker, Sir John Ervine also spoke saying that de Valera’s views did not represent Irish opinion, to which the President ‘much to the astonishment and disapproval of the audience, called him a liar and said he would prove it’
Longford & O’Neill. “Eamon de Valera “ Hutchinson, London.1970. p102
Rev. Richard Roberts of the Church of the Pilgrims, Brooklyn, in an article appearing in the Nation, New York wrote of the Carsonite delegation’s visit to the US:
‘In Ireland is the awakening of a race and its struggle to be free to recover and to develop its own characteristic and rich racial culture. The Ulster deputation is flogging a dead horse, and the net effect of its propaganda is to perpetuate a harsh and irreligious imperialism.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – No. 32, February 6, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The Irish Times commenting on the handover of municipal and borough councils to elected members:
‘Yesterday Sinn Fein entered into possession of most of the Boroughs and Urban Councils in Ireland…in other words, the local administration of the South and West of Ireland is now in the hands of a party which publicly repudiates British Government alike in political and in municipal affairs’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill& McMillan 1995. P124
A policeman and a civilian was shot dead in Limerick following a scuffle between soldiers and locals.
During January, over 1,000 raids by British forces and 220 arrests were reported in the press. The conflict was beginning to enter a serious and intensive phase. The economic life of the country had been effectively halted by the suppression of fairs and markets in areas under military law and attempts were made to freeze Sinn Fein and Dail Eireann funds... as Dorothy Macardle wrote: ‘ this attack on the economic life of Ireland was a logical part of the British attempt to destroy the Republic. The European war...had brought a measure of comparative prosperity to the Irish countryside. The depopulation of Ireland had abated during the past five years...a condition of affairs which from the British point of view was not normal. This Lord French explained to an interviewer for a Paris paper*: ‘the principal cause of the trouble...is that for five years emigration has practically stopped. In this country there are from 100,000 to 200,000 young men from 18 to 25 years of age who in normal times would have emigrated.’
Macardle. ‘The Irish Republic’ Irish Press. Dublin 1957. p333.
* The Parisian paper was ‘Le Journal’ and the Journalist was M. Marsillac.
The Freeman’s Journal made comment on Lord French’s confides to a French Journalist: ‘..his scheme for the immediate compulsory immigration of 180,000 more. Cromwell sent the young Irish to the Barbados. The military Government of today wants to revive Cromwellianism on a larger scale.’
English Atrocities in Ireland – Katherine Hughes. Friends of Irish Freedom phamphlet. Lynch Family Archives. P7
A major RIC sweep raided over 1,000 homes, arresting 86 persons (including 6 Dail Eireann deputies).
The Irish Independent apparently seemed decidely un-impressed by the RIC action ’the net was flung wide, but the meshes were too big. It may have been seen coming, and the result is that once more the prestige of the Government has had a fall, while everyone is speaking of the ability of the Sinn Fein inteligence staff’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill& McMillan 1995. P127.
Despite various supressive measures, the RIC was beginning to crumble from within.
Throughout Connaught, the Traders Boycott of Belfast products and services continued, spreading throughout the province.
An example of British press reaction to the Irish Republic Bonds Sale in the US was that provided by S.K. Ratcliffe in the Nation (20th March) “Posters in the shop windows along the New York avenues invite you to purchase the bonds of the Irish Republic. Catholic priests announce from the pulpit that they are on sale at the close of the service. One day in January when I was in New York, the steps of the Public Library in Fifth Avenue were occupied by a bevy of girls in the dress of colleens, singing and dancing for the loan, while an Irish policeman, in the employ of New York City, offered bonds for sale – a service in which, I was informed, the police of other cities are engaged – while in stores and offices, in churches and private homes, the financial business of the Irish Republic is systematically pressed.’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill& McMillan 1995. P194
De Valera attended a lunch to debate with Sir Horace Plunkett ‘The merits of Dominion Home Rule as compared with a Republic’. When de Valera noted the tricolour was not present amongst the other nation’s, he refused to continue. Eventual compromise was reached when all the flags except the Stars and Stripes were removed. In the debate, Plunkett spoke only of agricultural co-operatives. An un-listed speaker, Sir John Ervine also spoke saying that de Valera’s views did not represent Irish opinion, to which the President ‘much to the astonishment and disapproval of the audience, called him a liar and said he would prove it’
Longford & O’Neill. “Eamon de Valera “ Hutchinson, London.1970. p102
Rev. Richard Roberts of the Church of the Pilgrims, Brooklyn, in an article appearing in the Nation, New York wrote of the Carsonite delegation’s visit to the US:
‘In Ireland is the awakening of a race and its struggle to be free to recover and to develop its own characteristic and rich racial culture. The Ulster deputation is flogging a dead horse, and the net effect of its propaganda is to perpetuate a harsh and irreligious imperialism.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – No. 32, February 6, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
De Valera's 'Second Tour' locations 1920
Mention "Ouija Board" today and among the terms that you'll hear are "the occult", "portal to evil", "black magic" or "Nope!"
Yet, just a century ago, this iconic object that strikes a degree of fear and curiosity today was wildly popular throughout American and British society, regarded as harmless fun, entertaining and a social after-dinner pass-time for all ages. So popular and mainstream was this 'talking board' that even the Saturday Evening Post featured it. Norman Rockwell, the illustrator of blissfully wholesome 20th century domesticity depicted a young rosy cheeked couple, Ouija board on their knees, innocently communing with the great beyond for the cover of the May 1, 1920 edition (and not a pentagram in sight.)
Yet, just a century ago, this iconic object that strikes a degree of fear and curiosity today was wildly popular throughout American and British society, regarded as harmless fun, entertaining and a social after-dinner pass-time for all ages. So popular and mainstream was this 'talking board' that even the Saturday Evening Post featured it. Norman Rockwell, the illustrator of blissfully wholesome 20th century domesticity depicted a young rosy cheeked couple, Ouija board on their knees, innocently communing with the great beyond for the cover of the May 1, 1920 edition (and not a pentagram in sight.)
With almost daily light hearted references to the Ouija Board in mainstream press through late 1919 and 1920, a little research was necessary to understand the seeming mass appeal of this fad which today, is regarded with a degree of caution. What changed over the century?
The appeal of the Ouija board during the 1920's had started some thirty years earlier. Press adverts were increasingly common from the early 1890's, touting “Ouija, the Wonderful Talking Board,” and claiming the novelty $1.50 toy answered questions “about the past, present and future with marvellous accuracy” and promised “never-failing amusement and recreation for all the classes,” and what's more, a link “between the known and unknown, the material and immaterial.” It’s origins were in the mid-19th century obsession with Spiritualism - the belief that the dead are able to communicate with the living. Considering that the average life span in this era was a mere 48-50 years and death ever present with high mortality rates due to disease, epidemics, and illness, Spiritualism appeared to offer some solace and even hope in loss. Séances and related gatherings were a peculiarly well heeled interest as the usual method of communicating with the dead through spiritualism meant frustratingly long waiting times or expensive mediums employed as a 'go-between' to get any sort of message back from the afterlife. In 1886, the Associated Press reported on a new phenomenon taking over spiritualists’ gatherings in Ohio, a ‘talking board’ with letters, numbers and a planchette-like device to point to them. The article went far as well as wide, but it was Charles Kennard of Baltimore, Maryland who cashed in on it. After a few years of small but popular productions of his 'talking board', in 1890 he pulled together a group of four investors—including Elijah Bond, a local attorney, and Col. Washington Bowie, a surveyor—to start the Kennard Novelty Company and to exclusively make and market these new talking boards. None of the men were spiritualists but they were all keen businessmen. “Communicating with the dead was common, it wasn’t seen as bizarre or weird,” explains historian Robert Murch. “It’s hard to imagine that now, we look at that and think, ‘Why are you opening the gates of hell?’ But opening the gates of hell wasn’t on anyone’s mind when the Kennard Novelty Company in 1890 began producing the first Ouija board; in fact, they were mostly looking to open Americans’ wallets. But they didn’t have the Ouija board yet—the Kennard talking board lacked a name. Contrary to popular belief, “Ouija” is not a combination of the French for “yes,” oui, and the German Ja. It was Elijah Bond’s sister-in-law, Helen Peters who supplied the now instantly recognisable name. Sitting around the table, they asked the board what they should call it; the name “Ouija” came through and, when they asked what that meant, the board replied, “Good luck.” Eerie and cryptic maybe? A patent for the board followed in 1891 and it became an instant money maker. By 1893, the company had seven American factories churning out boards and had gone international with another factory in London. It was widely marketed as a “mystical oracle and family entertainment, fun with an element of other-worldly excitement.” More telling perhaps is that the Ouija Board would become most popular in uncertain times. Late 1919 & early 1920 saw the boom in Ouija board sales as the craze took off in the United States and Britain - partly reflecting the social changes and trends following the widespread devastation & losses of the World War and Spanish Flu. The 'Roaring Twenties' had begun. “Strange Ouija tales also made occasional appearances in American newspapers. In 1920, would-be crime solvers were turning to their Ouija boards for clues in the mysterious murder of a New York City gambler, Joseph Burton Elwell, much to the frustration of the police. In 1921, The New York Times reported that a Chicago woman being sent to a psychiatric hospital tried to explain to doctors that she wasn’t suffering from mania, but that Ouija spirits had told her to leave her mother’s dead body in the living room for 15 days before burying her in the backyard. In 1930, newspaper readers thrilled to accounts of two women in Buffalo, New York, who’d murdered another woman, supposedly on the encouragement of Ouija board messages. In 1941, a 23-year-old gas station attendant from New Jersey told The New York Times that he joined the Army because the Ouija board told him to. In 1958, a Connecticut court decided not to honour the “Ouija board will” of Mrs. Helen Dow Peck, who left only $1,000 to two former servants and an insane $152,000 to Mr. John Gale Forbes—a lucky, but bodiless spirit who’d contacted her via the Ouija board.” There were some dissenting voices however. Take the Irish Standard (Minneapolis, MN) front page warnings taken from the N.C.W.C, News Services item of 28 April 1920: |
The Roman Catholic Church weighed in against all aspects of Spiritualism following the War warning that “the board should not be tolerated in any Christian household or placed within the reach of the young.”
Despite such warnings, sales continued to grow. During the Great Depression, the patent holding company Fuld, opened new factories to meet demand for the boards; over five months in 1944, a single New York department store sold 50,000 of them. In 1967, the year after Parker Brothers bought the game from the Fuld Company, 2 million boards were sold, outselling Monopoly; that same year saw more American troops in Vietnam, the counter-culture Summer of Love in San Francisco, and race riots in Newark, Detroit, Minneapolis and Milwaukee.
Ouija existed on the periphery of American culture, perennially popular, mysterious, interesting and aside from an occasional Church instruction, usually non-threatening. That is, until 1973.
Despite such warnings, sales continued to grow. During the Great Depression, the patent holding company Fuld, opened new factories to meet demand for the boards; over five months in 1944, a single New York department store sold 50,000 of them. In 1967, the year after Parker Brothers bought the game from the Fuld Company, 2 million boards were sold, outselling Monopoly; that same year saw more American troops in Vietnam, the counter-culture Summer of Love in San Francisco, and race riots in Newark, Detroit, Minneapolis and Milwaukee.
Ouija existed on the periphery of American culture, perennially popular, mysterious, interesting and aside from an occasional Church instruction, usually non-threatening. That is, until 1973.
The release of the movie “The Exorcist” changed everything.
In 1973, the Exorcist movie scared the living bejesus out of viewers with all that demonic possession, ancient Babylonian, projectile vomiting, head-spinning and graphic exorcism. More so, as it was supposedly based on a true story of a child becoming possessed following the use of a board, the Ouija association & resulting reputation for evil became firmly cemented in popular imagination. The Ouija board had, virtually overnight, become both a tool of the devil and tool of choice of film makers and horror writers. Almost as good as a direct line to Satan. "The Exorcist has become a permanent fixture in pop culture, with its many iconic visuals (the poster image of a priest standing under a streetlight and ready to combat evil alone has been evoked countless times), memorable lines of dialogue, and even the ethereal eeriness of Mike Oldfield’s composition Tubular Bells, part of which became as famous as the film’s theme music. Regularly dubbed the scariest movie ever made, The Exorcist casts a substantial shadow over cinema history, but perhaps most significantly of all, it posits a world in which God is most definitely alive and well…if not always there to immediately save the innocent from torment." Dr. Arnold T. Blumberg |
In our rational, scientific age, we're reasonably aware that Ouija boards aren’t powered by demonic intent or long dead relatives anxious for a chat. Ouija boards, of course, are powered by the user but specifically the user’s unconscious mind through the long recognised ‘Ideomotor Effect’.
First identified in 1852 during the middle of the spiritualist boom by Dr. William Benjamin Carpenter. Carpenter, who later published a report for the Royal Institution of Great Britain, examined these automatic muscular movements that take place without the conscious will or volition of the individual (think of tearing up in reaction to a sad film, for example). Almost immediately, other researchers saw applications of the Ideomotor effect in the popular spiritualist pastimes. In 1853, chemist and physicist Michael Faraday, intrigued by table-turning, conducted a series of experiments that proved to him (though not to most spiritualists) that the table’s motion was due to the Ideometer actions of the participants.
Over the years, research has determined that the ideomotor effect is closely tied to subconscious awareness — and that its effect is maximised when the subject believes they have no control of their movements. Paradoxically, the less control you think you have, the more control your subconscious mind is actually exerting.
But the interesting thing about a Ouija board isn’t what a planchette might read or a psychic might claim the spirits are saying through it from the other side. In reality, the true wonder of the Ouija board is what lies within our own subconscious.
“The Ouija board is a telephone to whatever you’re speaking with—to the other side, to your subconscious or your friend having fun and pushing on the planchette, so the board has to maintain that reputation, or people won’t buy it.”
Robert Murch
But people do buy and use Ouija boards today and, chances are, they’ll continue to do so. While nobody wants to end up like poor little Regan MacNeil in "The Exorcist", the ominous allure of that board, even with all it's warnings, is just too much fun to resist. Then again, perhaps future generations may view an innocent 'Magic 8 Ball' in the same way as Ouija board today.
First identified in 1852 during the middle of the spiritualist boom by Dr. William Benjamin Carpenter. Carpenter, who later published a report for the Royal Institution of Great Britain, examined these automatic muscular movements that take place without the conscious will or volition of the individual (think of tearing up in reaction to a sad film, for example). Almost immediately, other researchers saw applications of the Ideomotor effect in the popular spiritualist pastimes. In 1853, chemist and physicist Michael Faraday, intrigued by table-turning, conducted a series of experiments that proved to him (though not to most spiritualists) that the table’s motion was due to the Ideometer actions of the participants.
Over the years, research has determined that the ideomotor effect is closely tied to subconscious awareness — and that its effect is maximised when the subject believes they have no control of their movements. Paradoxically, the less control you think you have, the more control your subconscious mind is actually exerting.
But the interesting thing about a Ouija board isn’t what a planchette might read or a psychic might claim the spirits are saying through it from the other side. In reality, the true wonder of the Ouija board is what lies within our own subconscious.
“The Ouija board is a telephone to whatever you’re speaking with—to the other side, to your subconscious or your friend having fun and pushing on the planchette, so the board has to maintain that reputation, or people won’t buy it.”
Robert Murch
But people do buy and use Ouija boards today and, chances are, they’ll continue to do so. While nobody wants to end up like poor little Regan MacNeil in "The Exorcist", the ominous allure of that board, even with all it's warnings, is just too much fun to resist. Then again, perhaps future generations may view an innocent 'Magic 8 Ball' in the same way as Ouija board today.
1
England & France declare they would accept United States Senate reservations on the League of Nations.
England & France declare they would accept United States Senate reservations on the League of Nations.
2
The Irish Independent claimed that Sir Henry Wilson was operating ‘a sinister dictatorship in Irish military affairs’ and that the British Military Commander in Ireland ‘is responsible not to the Irish executive but to the Carsonite Field Marshal’ According to the London Daily News ‘prominent members of the Irish Executive were in total ignorance of what was happening’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill& McMillan 1995. P127
Patrick Thornton, an ex-Connaught Ranger,was shot and seriously injured when held up by a party of armed men. He died February 8th.
De Valera was received by Governor Edwards of New Jersey in Trenton and in a special session of the State Assembly with de Valera as guest of honour, resolutions were passed calling on President Wilson and the US Government to acknowledge the independence of the Irish Republic.
Judge Cohalan in a letter to Senator Boarah reported on the Irish American views:
‘..reports from all over the country are entirely satisfactory as to the rising state of popular opposition to the whole British scheme [League of Nations ]…one thing that may save the situation is the stubborn vanity of the President, and his friends, knowing this, are trying by flattery to urge him to accept as a triumph what will be, of course, an absolute defeat for him.’
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.371
France occupies Memel.
The Irish Independent claimed that Sir Henry Wilson was operating ‘a sinister dictatorship in Irish military affairs’ and that the British Military Commander in Ireland ‘is responsible not to the Irish executive but to the Carsonite Field Marshal’ According to the London Daily News ‘prominent members of the Irish Executive were in total ignorance of what was happening’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill& McMillan 1995. P127
Patrick Thornton, an ex-Connaught Ranger,was shot and seriously injured when held up by a party of armed men. He died February 8th.
De Valera was received by Governor Edwards of New Jersey in Trenton and in a special session of the State Assembly with de Valera as guest of honour, resolutions were passed calling on President Wilson and the US Government to acknowledge the independence of the Irish Republic.
Judge Cohalan in a letter to Senator Boarah reported on the Irish American views:
‘..reports from all over the country are entirely satisfactory as to the rising state of popular opposition to the whole British scheme [League of Nations ]…one thing that may save the situation is the stubborn vanity of the President, and his friends, knowing this, are trying by flattery to urge him to accept as a triumph what will be, of course, an absolute defeat for him.’
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.371
France occupies Memel.
3
A large military presence appeared on the streets of Dublin and Limerick. The Irish Independent characterised this ‘extraordinary and inexplicable military display’ as ‘a needless, irritating and stupid proceeding, but it is just what we might expect from rulers animated by spleen and not guided by reason and commonsense’ and as for the widespread arrests of civilians and elected representatives, this repression ‘will be inevitably regarded as an attempt to reverse the results of the elections’ and drawing on history ‘What did his attempt to arrest the five members profit Charles the First?…the immediate result of Charles’s action was to precipate civil war’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill& McMillan 1995. P127
The Allies ask Germany to hand over 890 political and military leaders for trial as war criminals.
A correspondent writing to the Nation Newspaper in London, wrote:
‘Without a divine right, Disraeli said, Governments sink into police. The Irish Government is now a police and nothing but a police. Its repressive regime is reaching its futile maximum. Freedom of speech, of meeting, of the press, is gone; the ordinary civil courts are superseded, in large areas a farmer may not drive his pig nor a hen-wife carry her eggs to market; a man may not buy nor own nor drive a motor car except by special permit; three people may not gather to study Irish; girls are imprisoned for selling flags in the street to aid its study. When raids, arrests, proclamations, suppressions, deportations and courts-martial in this connection amount to ninety-one in a week, it is little wonder than Mr. Macpherson cannot afford to give particulars of them to Parliament. This activity is aroused by and directed principally against the Loan floated by Dail Eireann. Every newspaper which publisjed its prospectus was suppressed. To attempt a meeting to advance it ensures arrest.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – No. 32, February 6, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
As First Lord of the Admiralty, Sir Walter Long in a report to the British Cabinet commented on the composition of Ulster: ‘The people in the inner circle hold the view that the new province should consist of the Six Counties, the idea being that the inclusion of Donegal, Cavan and Monaghan would provide such an access of strength to the Roman Catholic party that the supremacy of the Unionists would be seriously threatened.’
Conor O’Clery ‘Ireland in Quotes’ The O’Brien Press Dublin 1999 p.47
Long’s committee however still stuck the view that the entire province of Ulster should be included in the proposed Northern Parliament.
Eugene O'Neill's "Beyond the Horizon" premieres on Broadway; would later win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The prolific O'Neill also premieres "The Emperor Jones" in 1920, and would go on to be the dominant dramatic playwright in New York in the '20s.
Henry Heimlich, American physician, medical researcher and pioneer of the 'Heimlich maneuver' born. (d. 2016)
A large military presence appeared on the streets of Dublin and Limerick. The Irish Independent characterised this ‘extraordinary and inexplicable military display’ as ‘a needless, irritating and stupid proceeding, but it is just what we might expect from rulers animated by spleen and not guided by reason and commonsense’ and as for the widespread arrests of civilians and elected representatives, this repression ‘will be inevitably regarded as an attempt to reverse the results of the elections’ and drawing on history ‘What did his attempt to arrest the five members profit Charles the First?…the immediate result of Charles’s action was to precipate civil war’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill& McMillan 1995. P127
The Allies ask Germany to hand over 890 political and military leaders for trial as war criminals.
A correspondent writing to the Nation Newspaper in London, wrote:
‘Without a divine right, Disraeli said, Governments sink into police. The Irish Government is now a police and nothing but a police. Its repressive regime is reaching its futile maximum. Freedom of speech, of meeting, of the press, is gone; the ordinary civil courts are superseded, in large areas a farmer may not drive his pig nor a hen-wife carry her eggs to market; a man may not buy nor own nor drive a motor car except by special permit; three people may not gather to study Irish; girls are imprisoned for selling flags in the street to aid its study. When raids, arrests, proclamations, suppressions, deportations and courts-martial in this connection amount to ninety-one in a week, it is little wonder than Mr. Macpherson cannot afford to give particulars of them to Parliament. This activity is aroused by and directed principally against the Loan floated by Dail Eireann. Every newspaper which publisjed its prospectus was suppressed. To attempt a meeting to advance it ensures arrest.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – No. 32, February 6, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
As First Lord of the Admiralty, Sir Walter Long in a report to the British Cabinet commented on the composition of Ulster: ‘The people in the inner circle hold the view that the new province should consist of the Six Counties, the idea being that the inclusion of Donegal, Cavan and Monaghan would provide such an access of strength to the Roman Catholic party that the supremacy of the Unionists would be seriously threatened.’
Conor O’Clery ‘Ireland in Quotes’ The O’Brien Press Dublin 1999 p.47
Long’s committee however still stuck the view that the entire province of Ulster should be included in the proposed Northern Parliament.
Eugene O'Neill's "Beyond the Horizon" premieres on Broadway; would later win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The prolific O'Neill also premieres "The Emperor Jones" in 1920, and would go on to be the dominant dramatic playwright in New York in the '20s.
Henry Heimlich, American physician, medical researcher and pioneer of the 'Heimlich maneuver' born. (d. 2016)
4
The Wall Street Journal of February 4 rather sniffly dismissed the Irish fundraising:
“More than one inquiry has been directed to this paper as to the status of the so-called ‘bonds’ of the equally so called ‘Irish Republic’. Are these being sold to Irish domestic servants, and others of a like of lower standard of intelligence, as a legitimate investment for money in the savings banks? Legally everything hangs on the terms on which the money was taken by the seller of these mere receipts. Sold as bonds, the de Valera issue is nothing more or less than a swindle. Truthfully described as a fund for Irish propaganda, with every contribution received and recorded as a gift, the proposition has another and better status although it is still open to severe criticism.”
The RIC, concerned at the growing number of attacks on it’s members made while en-route to or from barracks warned that all off-duty men take greater precautions for their safety. ‘In disturbed localities they should not go out singly; they should carry revolvers and should return to Barracks before dusk. When returning from Barracks to their lodgings at night they should be accompanied by armed me, the escort keeping a little apart. In places which are not disturbed, it is desirable that men should go out alone as seldom as possible and never after dusk where there is any possibility of danger.’
Richard Abbott ‘Police Casualties in Ireland 1919-1922’ Mercier Press, Cork. 2000 p59
The Wall Street Journal of February 4 rather sniffly dismissed the Irish fundraising:
“More than one inquiry has been directed to this paper as to the status of the so-called ‘bonds’ of the equally so called ‘Irish Republic’. Are these being sold to Irish domestic servants, and others of a like of lower standard of intelligence, as a legitimate investment for money in the savings banks? Legally everything hangs on the terms on which the money was taken by the seller of these mere receipts. Sold as bonds, the de Valera issue is nothing more or less than a swindle. Truthfully described as a fund for Irish propaganda, with every contribution received and recorded as a gift, the proposition has another and better status although it is still open to severe criticism.”
The RIC, concerned at the growing number of attacks on it’s members made while en-route to or from barracks warned that all off-duty men take greater precautions for their safety. ‘In disturbed localities they should not go out singly; they should carry revolvers and should return to Barracks before dusk. When returning from Barracks to their lodgings at night they should be accompanied by armed me, the escort keeping a little apart. In places which are not disturbed, it is desirable that men should go out alone as seldom as possible and never after dusk where there is any possibility of danger.’
Richard Abbott ‘Police Casualties in Ireland 1919-1922’ Mercier Press, Cork. 2000 p59
Will B. Johnstone (1881–1944) was an American writer, cartoonist, and lyricist. His writing credits include the Marx Brothers's Broadway revue I'll Say She Is and, with S.J. Perelman, their first two Hollywood films, Monkey Business and Horse Feathers. He also wrote several popular songs, including a version of How Dry I Am. A regular contributor to various US newspapers, below is a tongue in cheek forecast from the New York Evening World of February 4 1920 which was a surprisingly accurate account of mobile phone technology:
5
Berlin refuses to hand over 890 alleged war criminals.
Dublin: the first curfew of the period was placed in Dublin from midnight to 5am.
In New York, the Irish World newspaper owner/editor, Robert Ford died with ownership and resulting editorial policy taken over by his brother, Austin. An immediate anti-Devoy/Cohalan and Clan na Gael bias emerged, becoming openly hostile to this Irish American segment. This eventually led to a libel action by Devoy against Ford and the Irish World in 1923, where Devoy was awarded $25,000 damages.
De Valera openly endorsed the use of physcial force: ‘can we, struggling for our freedom, afford to fling away any weapon by which nations in the past achieved their freedom? We in Ireland hold today that we may not’
Westminster Gazette Interview
De Valera now made one of his few, but major errors. In an interview with journalist, W.J.Hernan of the Westminster Gazette, he made reference to the United States & Cuba issue, intimating that Britain could do as America had done with Cuba in 1901 and conclude a treaty with Ireland where the Irish would guarantee that the country would not be used as a base for foreign attacks, particularly upon Britain. The analogy being that Irish independence would be no more of a threat to Britain than Cuba was to America.
As De Valera put it:
“ ..The United States by the Monroe Doctrine made provision for its security without depriving the Latin Republics of the South of their independence and their life. The United States safeguarded itself from possible use of the island of Cuba as a base for an attack by a foreign power by stipulating “ That the Government of Cuba shall never enter into any treaty or other compact with any foreign power or powers which shall impair or tend to impair the independence of Cuba, nor in any manner authorise or permit any foreign power or powers to obtain, by colonisation, or for military or naval purposes or otherwise, lodgement in or control over any portion of said island.” Why doesn't Britain make a stipulation like this to safeguard herself against a foreign attack as the United States did with Cuba? Why doesn’t Britain declare a Monroe Doctrine for the two neighbouring islands? The people far from objecting would co-operate with their whole soul.”
Content aside, de Valera apparently held no consultations with his advisors before giving the interview. Whether he realised it or not, it was about to further split Irish-America and certainly give the British Cabinet a sense that the Irish position had changed and could be politically exploited.
De Valera wrote to Arthur Griffith later the same day commenting on his relationship with Judge Cohalan:
“ I labour under no misapprehension as to the relations between us, They are unfortunately only too well defined by the judge’s attitude from the beginning. So clear were they from the first, that I actually considered the question of whether it would not be better for our cause that I should return, or go elsewhere. Separate as one would imagine our personal interests necessarily were - separate, too, as parts we would naturally have to play, even in closest co-operation here, I realised early that nevertheless, and big as the country is, it was not big enough to hold the judge and myself.”
Quoted by Tim Pat Coogan “De Valera, Long Fellow, Long Shadow” Hutchinson, London. 1993. p161-162.
Frank Muir, British actor, comedy writer and raconteur born (d. 1998)
Berlin refuses to hand over 890 alleged war criminals.
Dublin: the first curfew of the period was placed in Dublin from midnight to 5am.
In New York, the Irish World newspaper owner/editor, Robert Ford died with ownership and resulting editorial policy taken over by his brother, Austin. An immediate anti-Devoy/Cohalan and Clan na Gael bias emerged, becoming openly hostile to this Irish American segment. This eventually led to a libel action by Devoy against Ford and the Irish World in 1923, where Devoy was awarded $25,000 damages.
De Valera openly endorsed the use of physcial force: ‘can we, struggling for our freedom, afford to fling away any weapon by which nations in the past achieved their freedom? We in Ireland hold today that we may not’
Westminster Gazette Interview
De Valera now made one of his few, but major errors. In an interview with journalist, W.J.Hernan of the Westminster Gazette, he made reference to the United States & Cuba issue, intimating that Britain could do as America had done with Cuba in 1901 and conclude a treaty with Ireland where the Irish would guarantee that the country would not be used as a base for foreign attacks, particularly upon Britain. The analogy being that Irish independence would be no more of a threat to Britain than Cuba was to America.
As De Valera put it:
“ ..The United States by the Monroe Doctrine made provision for its security without depriving the Latin Republics of the South of their independence and their life. The United States safeguarded itself from possible use of the island of Cuba as a base for an attack by a foreign power by stipulating “ That the Government of Cuba shall never enter into any treaty or other compact with any foreign power or powers which shall impair or tend to impair the independence of Cuba, nor in any manner authorise or permit any foreign power or powers to obtain, by colonisation, or for military or naval purposes or otherwise, lodgement in or control over any portion of said island.” Why doesn't Britain make a stipulation like this to safeguard herself against a foreign attack as the United States did with Cuba? Why doesn’t Britain declare a Monroe Doctrine for the two neighbouring islands? The people far from objecting would co-operate with their whole soul.”
Content aside, de Valera apparently held no consultations with his advisors before giving the interview. Whether he realised it or not, it was about to further split Irish-America and certainly give the British Cabinet a sense that the Irish position had changed and could be politically exploited.
De Valera wrote to Arthur Griffith later the same day commenting on his relationship with Judge Cohalan:
“ I labour under no misapprehension as to the relations between us, They are unfortunately only too well defined by the judge’s attitude from the beginning. So clear were they from the first, that I actually considered the question of whether it would not be better for our cause that I should return, or go elsewhere. Separate as one would imagine our personal interests necessarily were - separate, too, as parts we would naturally have to play, even in closest co-operation here, I realised early that nevertheless, and big as the country is, it was not big enough to hold the judge and myself.”
Quoted by Tim Pat Coogan “De Valera, Long Fellow, Long Shadow” Hutchinson, London. 1993. p161-162.
Frank Muir, British actor, comedy writer and raconteur born (d. 1998)
6
The De Valera interview with the Westminster Gazette was unexpectedly shared with the New York Globe.
The Globe broke the news with what was both an exclusive and a political bombshell to Irish American forces:
“ a long headline which included both “Compromise suggested by Irish” and “De Valera opens the door”. Commenting editorially the paper said...” this statement introduces a new principle. It is a withdrawal by the official head of the Irish Republic of the demand that Ireland be set free to decide her own international relations.”. De Valera had consulted neither friend nor foe before giving the interview. McCartan records “it came as a thunderbolt to us”. The Devoy -Cohalan faction were enraged “ and an almighty row broke out during which even McGarrity, nettled at the lack of consultation, was driven to remark “The row may do good. It may teach him to put his feet under the table”
Tim Pat Coogan “De Valera, Long Fellow, Long Shadow” Hutchinson, London. 1993. P161
As de Valera had not consulted with his advisors prior to the Westminster Gazette interview, they were left with little alternative but to publicly support him while privately agreeing with the now public reaction of the Devoy-Cohalan group that de Valera was ‘an impulsive, headstrong individual who had rejected the mature, experienced guidance of their group’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revolutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill& McMillan 1995. P195
In his official biography, de Valera explains the reporting by the New York Globe as ‘a complete travesty. De Valera simply meant that Ireland would give a guarantee not to enter into a treaty with any power which might impair the independence of Ireland or allow the country to be used as a base for an attack on Britain. Britain would equally guarantee that Ireland’s independence was preserved…a denial by the President that he had intended to suggest that he would accept the other clauses of the Platt Amendment was rejected vociferously by his opponents.
Longford & O’Neill. “Eamon de Valera “ Hutchinson, London.1970. p102
Kathleen Clarke recalled the event in her autobiography: ‘When I read this statement, I could scarcely believe it. Suerly de Valera must have known very little about the Cuban question to make such a statement. I was living in New York during the cuban war and knew many who took part in it. When it was over, many Americans cried shame on their Government for its attitude towards Cuba…my opinion of that interview in the Westminster Gazette was that it was the first sign of weakness the British had seen since the Rising, and they seized upon it; here was a man ready for compromise. The Truce followed’
Kathleen Clarke. ‘Revoloutionary Woman’ O’Brien Press 1991. P187-188
The Newsletter made no comment on the de Valera interview.
The Newsletter was concerned with the visit of Suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst to the US, more for her anti-Irish Republic comments than rights for women. On a speaking tour, Ms Pankhurst was ‘telling her audiences that Ireland is both free and progressive and that independence and complete severance from England would prove disastrous.’ The Editor warned ‘…it might be well for Mrs Pankhurst to realise and tell her audiences that when Ireland was free and independent and England had no voice in Irish affairs, the women of Ireland enjoyed full and unlimited suffrage and participated in the elections and in councils of the Government …the opposite was true in England. ‘
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – No. 32, February 6, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The US National Census enumerators were advised that they were to ‘pay no attention to the Gaelic language, because ‘it isnt spoken now’.
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – No. 32, February 6, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The Freeman’s Journal in Dublin commented on a preference of some, an Ireland without Irishmen ’…with armed forces at his disposal…the Viceroy has shwon that he is wholly unable to maintain order in the political sense, though tanks and motor lorries are now the commonest sight on country roads…while soldiers and police are rounding up representative citizens as political offenders, footpads can rob and harry with impunity, and every cross-Channel burgular and crook dreams of Ireland as miners dream of a new Klondyke. Lord French has pronounced the final condemnation of his own record in Ireland. Until that country, so he told a French journalist, has been depleted of 100,000 to 200,000 of its young men, there is no hope for the policy which he was selected to enforce at the point of a bayonet. This has always been the favourite specific of English rulers for Irish discontents, but few of them, since Cromwell, have admitted it as bluntly as Lord French. Their ideal is an Ireland wihtout Irishmen, and when Irishmen have the temerity to object, their opposition is held to be conclusive proof of their criminality’
English Atrocities in Ireland – Katherine Hughes. Friends of Irish Freedom pamphlet. Lynch Family Archives. P7
J.H.Thomas MP during a visit to Dublin reported ‘Militarism is simply triumphant here’
English Atrocities in Ireland – Katherine Hughes. Friends of Irish Freedom phamphlet. Lynch Family Archives. P6
The New York Times carried the following commentary on the Bond Sales:
The De Valera interview with the Westminster Gazette was unexpectedly shared with the New York Globe.
The Globe broke the news with what was both an exclusive and a political bombshell to Irish American forces:
“ a long headline which included both “Compromise suggested by Irish” and “De Valera opens the door”. Commenting editorially the paper said...” this statement introduces a new principle. It is a withdrawal by the official head of the Irish Republic of the demand that Ireland be set free to decide her own international relations.”. De Valera had consulted neither friend nor foe before giving the interview. McCartan records “it came as a thunderbolt to us”. The Devoy -Cohalan faction were enraged “ and an almighty row broke out during which even McGarrity, nettled at the lack of consultation, was driven to remark “The row may do good. It may teach him to put his feet under the table”
Tim Pat Coogan “De Valera, Long Fellow, Long Shadow” Hutchinson, London. 1993. P161
As de Valera had not consulted with his advisors prior to the Westminster Gazette interview, they were left with little alternative but to publicly support him while privately agreeing with the now public reaction of the Devoy-Cohalan group that de Valera was ‘an impulsive, headstrong individual who had rejected the mature, experienced guidance of their group’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revolutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill& McMillan 1995. P195
In his official biography, de Valera explains the reporting by the New York Globe as ‘a complete travesty. De Valera simply meant that Ireland would give a guarantee not to enter into a treaty with any power which might impair the independence of Ireland or allow the country to be used as a base for an attack on Britain. Britain would equally guarantee that Ireland’s independence was preserved…a denial by the President that he had intended to suggest that he would accept the other clauses of the Platt Amendment was rejected vociferously by his opponents.
Longford & O’Neill. “Eamon de Valera “ Hutchinson, London.1970. p102
Kathleen Clarke recalled the event in her autobiography: ‘When I read this statement, I could scarcely believe it. Suerly de Valera must have known very little about the Cuban question to make such a statement. I was living in New York during the cuban war and knew many who took part in it. When it was over, many Americans cried shame on their Government for its attitude towards Cuba…my opinion of that interview in the Westminster Gazette was that it was the first sign of weakness the British had seen since the Rising, and they seized upon it; here was a man ready for compromise. The Truce followed’
Kathleen Clarke. ‘Revoloutionary Woman’ O’Brien Press 1991. P187-188
The Newsletter made no comment on the de Valera interview.
The Newsletter was concerned with the visit of Suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst to the US, more for her anti-Irish Republic comments than rights for women. On a speaking tour, Ms Pankhurst was ‘telling her audiences that Ireland is both free and progressive and that independence and complete severance from England would prove disastrous.’ The Editor warned ‘…it might be well for Mrs Pankhurst to realise and tell her audiences that when Ireland was free and independent and England had no voice in Irish affairs, the women of Ireland enjoyed full and unlimited suffrage and participated in the elections and in councils of the Government …the opposite was true in England. ‘
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – No. 32, February 6, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The US National Census enumerators were advised that they were to ‘pay no attention to the Gaelic language, because ‘it isnt spoken now’.
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – No. 32, February 6, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The Freeman’s Journal in Dublin commented on a preference of some, an Ireland without Irishmen ’…with armed forces at his disposal…the Viceroy has shwon that he is wholly unable to maintain order in the political sense, though tanks and motor lorries are now the commonest sight on country roads…while soldiers and police are rounding up representative citizens as political offenders, footpads can rob and harry with impunity, and every cross-Channel burgular and crook dreams of Ireland as miners dream of a new Klondyke. Lord French has pronounced the final condemnation of his own record in Ireland. Until that country, so he told a French journalist, has been depleted of 100,000 to 200,000 of its young men, there is no hope for the policy which he was selected to enforce at the point of a bayonet. This has always been the favourite specific of English rulers for Irish discontents, but few of them, since Cromwell, have admitted it as bluntly as Lord French. Their ideal is an Ireland wihtout Irishmen, and when Irishmen have the temerity to object, their opposition is held to be conclusive proof of their criminality’
English Atrocities in Ireland – Katherine Hughes. Friends of Irish Freedom pamphlet. Lynch Family Archives. P7
J.H.Thomas MP during a visit to Dublin reported ‘Militarism is simply triumphant here’
English Atrocities in Ireland – Katherine Hughes. Friends of Irish Freedom phamphlet. Lynch Family Archives. P6
The New York Times carried the following commentary on the Bond Sales:
Dave Hannigan writes: “305,578 individuals eventually bought into the idea of the Irish bond-certificate and raised $5,123,640. The vast majority of those people purchased denominations of $5, $10 and $25, a point underlined by the statistic that the greater New York contribution of $1m stemmed from roughly 100,000 different men and women. The relatively small amounts signify that they were ordinary working folk, probably stretching to invest what they could in the Irish dream.”
Marketing and selling of the bonds was one aspect of the fund raising in the United States and just the start of an elaborate and complex process in getting the funds back to Ireland. These funds were laundered through three different banks and then either sent as legitimate drafts to individuals in Ireland. $200,000 was one such transaction ‘processed’ in this manner – after laundering, a bank draft for this amount was paid for by Fr. Denis O’Connor, Pastor of the Carmelite Priory on 28th Street and sent as a ecumenical ‘gift’ to the Bishop of Killaloe, Co. Clare, Bishop Michael Fogarty. The Bishop was also, coincidentally of course, one of the trustees of the First Dail.
Marketing and selling of the bonds was one aspect of the fund raising in the United States and just the start of an elaborate and complex process in getting the funds back to Ireland. These funds were laundered through three different banks and then either sent as legitimate drafts to individuals in Ireland. $200,000 was one such transaction ‘processed’ in this manner – after laundering, a bank draft for this amount was paid for by Fr. Denis O’Connor, Pastor of the Carmelite Priory on 28th Street and sent as a ecumenical ‘gift’ to the Bishop of Killaloe, Co. Clare, Bishop Michael Fogarty. The Bishop was also, coincidentally of course, one of the trustees of the First Dail.
De Valera's interview with the Westminster Gazette in February 1920 not only proved to be highly controversial but effectively split Irish America.
A reporter had asked for an interview; pressed for time, de Valera gave him some handwritten notes he planned to use for a speech instead. This ‘interview’ was then reprinted in the Westminster Gazette but appeared first in the New York Globe on February 6th as part of a reciprocal printing arrangement.
The Westminster Gazette was a small circulation but influential evening Liberal newspaper based in London. "The stature of a journal was measured by the gratitude it received from those whom it praised, the resentment it incurred from those whom it censured, and 'above all' – according to it's editor at the time of the de Valera interview; J. A. Spender – "by the number of lesser journals that duplicated its contents." The Westminster Gazette developed a reputation in some circles as "the most powerful paper in Britain" and essential reading for politicians on both sides of the House. It was printed daily until merging with it's rival 'Daily News' in 1928.
In the published notes, De Valera was attempting to rebut British claims that Irish independence would present a security threat to Britain, by outlining various ways in which this could be prevented. These included: a treaty obligation not to allow Irish territory to be used as a base of attack against Britain (similar to an article of the Platt Amendment relating to Cuba); a ban on foreign powers intervening in Ireland, similar to the ‘Monroe Doctrine’; an international treaty safeguarding Irish neutrality, similar to Belgium; or a guarantee by the League of Nations an international guarantee of Irish neutrality.
Specifically de Valera commented that “an independent Ireland would see its own independence in jeopardy the moment it saw the independence of Britain seriously threatened...mutual self-interest would make the people in these two islands, if both were independent, the closest possible allies in a moment of real danger to both,”
The following day the Westminster Gazette, reporting on the Globe interview, noted that it represented a ''withdrawal by the official head of the Irish Republic of the demand that Ireland be set free to decide her own international relations.''
Although these proposals suggested neutrality rather than subservience, de Valera’s critics viewed them as a betrayal of the fundamentalist principles of the Irish Republic, effectively hauling down the Republican flag and negating centuries of a struggle for independence from Britain. Mention of Cuba in particular did him a great deal of damage among Americans, well aware of how the United States dominated that island as a virtual colony just off it's coast.
Patrick MacCartan, who edited McGarrity’s US paper the Irish Press, believed the interview was “clearly an intimation that the President of the Republic was prepared to accept much less than complete sovereignty for Ireland. . . And the choice of the Westminster Gazette seemed appropriate to inform Lloyd George that Ireland’s President was willing to degrade her claim to the level of a domestic issue of England."
The interview also caused great unease in Dublin, to the extent that the Irish Republic's envoy to the United States, Dr Patrick McCartan was forced to return to Ireland and explain de Valera's position to the Dail. Within the proscribed Dail, there were major disagreements but crucially, both Arthur Griffith and Michael Collins backed de Valera. Kathleen Clarke later commented that the interview “was the first sign of weakness the British had seen since the Rising, and they seized upon it; here was a man ready for compromise.”
Most of the Irish American leadership including Judge Cohalan, Friends of Irish Freedom and in particular John Devoy strongly objected to de Valera's statements. The President of the Irish Republic's notes to the press eventually led to the complete break between the Friends and de Valera with his supporters, the eventual formation of the alternative American Association for the Recognition of the Irish Republic. This signalled the end of the Friends of Irish Freedom organisation's influence within Irish American politics.
A reporter had asked for an interview; pressed for time, de Valera gave him some handwritten notes he planned to use for a speech instead. This ‘interview’ was then reprinted in the Westminster Gazette but appeared first in the New York Globe on February 6th as part of a reciprocal printing arrangement.
The Westminster Gazette was a small circulation but influential evening Liberal newspaper based in London. "The stature of a journal was measured by the gratitude it received from those whom it praised, the resentment it incurred from those whom it censured, and 'above all' – according to it's editor at the time of the de Valera interview; J. A. Spender – "by the number of lesser journals that duplicated its contents." The Westminster Gazette developed a reputation in some circles as "the most powerful paper in Britain" and essential reading for politicians on both sides of the House. It was printed daily until merging with it's rival 'Daily News' in 1928.
In the published notes, De Valera was attempting to rebut British claims that Irish independence would present a security threat to Britain, by outlining various ways in which this could be prevented. These included: a treaty obligation not to allow Irish territory to be used as a base of attack against Britain (similar to an article of the Platt Amendment relating to Cuba); a ban on foreign powers intervening in Ireland, similar to the ‘Monroe Doctrine’; an international treaty safeguarding Irish neutrality, similar to Belgium; or a guarantee by the League of Nations an international guarantee of Irish neutrality.
Specifically de Valera commented that “an independent Ireland would see its own independence in jeopardy the moment it saw the independence of Britain seriously threatened...mutual self-interest would make the people in these two islands, if both were independent, the closest possible allies in a moment of real danger to both,”
The following day the Westminster Gazette, reporting on the Globe interview, noted that it represented a ''withdrawal by the official head of the Irish Republic of the demand that Ireland be set free to decide her own international relations.''
Although these proposals suggested neutrality rather than subservience, de Valera’s critics viewed them as a betrayal of the fundamentalist principles of the Irish Republic, effectively hauling down the Republican flag and negating centuries of a struggle for independence from Britain. Mention of Cuba in particular did him a great deal of damage among Americans, well aware of how the United States dominated that island as a virtual colony just off it's coast.
Patrick MacCartan, who edited McGarrity’s US paper the Irish Press, believed the interview was “clearly an intimation that the President of the Republic was prepared to accept much less than complete sovereignty for Ireland. . . And the choice of the Westminster Gazette seemed appropriate to inform Lloyd George that Ireland’s President was willing to degrade her claim to the level of a domestic issue of England."
The interview also caused great unease in Dublin, to the extent that the Irish Republic's envoy to the United States, Dr Patrick McCartan was forced to return to Ireland and explain de Valera's position to the Dail. Within the proscribed Dail, there were major disagreements but crucially, both Arthur Griffith and Michael Collins backed de Valera. Kathleen Clarke later commented that the interview “was the first sign of weakness the British had seen since the Rising, and they seized upon it; here was a man ready for compromise.”
Most of the Irish American leadership including Judge Cohalan, Friends of Irish Freedom and in particular John Devoy strongly objected to de Valera's statements. The President of the Irish Republic's notes to the press eventually led to the complete break between the Friends and de Valera with his supporters, the eventual formation of the alternative American Association for the Recognition of the Irish Republic. This signalled the end of the Friends of Irish Freedom organisation's influence within Irish American politics.
7
TD for Longford & substitute Director/Minister for Trade & Commerce in the first Dail, Joe McGuinness
(1875-1922) (also a friend of Lynch's from the New York Philo Celtic Society twenty years earlier) wrote to Lynch from The Central Wholesale Manufacturer’s Agency at 56 Lower O’Connell Street, Dublin:
‘A Diarmuid a chara.
Your letter of Jan 24th to hand on yesterday. I was glad to hear you were sick & that Kathy was well. If you hadn't got that turn I suppose I would hardly have such a long letter from you. Several times I have been going to write to you but you never, in any of your former notes, gave me as much news as I could decently hang a letter on.
However, as they say in the agony columns of the newspapers, come back or write, and all will be forgiven. By the way when are ye coming back? I'm dying to have some strange place to go for tea, or to sleep in when on the run.
I have several songs to sing at the two of you that all my other friends here have forbidden me to ever sing again in their presence. Besides a beautiful brown beard (notice the three b’s) worth travelling 3,000 miles to look at. Then is this is not enough to bring you back, we have ‘raydes’ twice nightly, ‘risings’ once a week, explosions and alarms every day, and a thousand other engagements that you Yanks cannot touch no how.
So much about myself & my surroundings, now how are you able to stick it so long over there at the pace I know you are going. It must be taking a good deal out of you, for I know how you work & worry even when there’s little cause for worry, but I know also that you must often plenty of cause,our people as a rule take things so easy. We are delighted here with how things are moving over there, and it has often been mentioned how your work was the great factor in the wonderful change. Only the few though fully realise it. I was glad to hear the B.C’s [ Bond Certificates ]were likely to be such a success. The result here too has be wonderful and would of course be much better only for the conditions prevailing.
I heard from Whelan since he saw you. What do you think of him? He had tried to do everything in his power to put business my way but if the rate of exchange keeps going the way it is at present, the result will not be very profitable. However, it had it's bright side and we much not be too selfish or grasping. Things will yet come right and the prospects for the future are very bright, I believe.
Indeed I often wish you were free to settle down to business again as there are opportunities now that may not offer later on both on this side and on yours. This country was never more prosperous that is if paper money is prosperity. It's as easily to live here now as it is on your side. I think a suit of clothes costs £10 to £12, boots £2 to £3, shirts 10/6 to £1, socks 3/6 to 7/6, the ‘creamy pint’ 8d, whiskey ( tons of it here) 9d a small one. By the way it reminds me that it must be ‘prohibitions’ the matter with you (is it Kathy? ). Wages of course has advanced but not in proportion, as everything one eats costs enormous prices, butter 3/2 lb, bacon 2/6 (specially killed NCR not to be had at any price )* sugar 8½d, beef 2/9 etc etc. I give you these prices to warn you not to think of coming back with a ‘mere million dollars’ if you want to move in society. If you had the million you could hardly get a home to live in at present, such is the scarcity.
I enclose signature of the St Enda’s trustees which I should have sent you a month ago, but I had not your private address until this week when Denis got it to me. Himself & Alice are very well. I sometimes go to see them when the weather is bad. I see Kathy’s sister fairly often and always in the best of humour.
I saw Michael too, before Xmas. He was then looking in great form. I was down Cork on my travels last week & did very well there. I called to Maylor Street in the city but they were away at the time. I also called to see Mrs Fitzgerald who was ill at the time & Jack was away. I saw Nell Fitz who was enquiring for you and Bill Canavan’s brother in the Arcade also. He told me Bill was coming home this summer, do you ever see him there?
Any account of Doyle at all? His mother died a few weeks ago. [word illegible] is married about a year or so, do you remember the night she came in and caught us not at the rosary? (Make him explain this Kathy.)
I see Peter Doyle sometimes in town here, he told me last time that Mike was in New Haven or some place up that direction.
How is Miss McKelvey, John Thornton [word illegible] John Terry [ Word illegible ] and all my old friends there? I believe Mrs Lee (Shula) is in Ireland but I have not seen her yet.
Business is on the boom in Cork owing to the Ford Factory & the future it opens up. The [ word illegible ] of American cargo bouts there, as well as Dublin & Belfast, is also a big step forward in bringing the trade relations of the two countries more in touch. Your country is very popular with the people here at present & most everything points to future good relations.
J.O.M – I cannot see for a few days as you know he had been locked up for the past 4 months. I will give him your message.
Find out privately what sort of a firm W.Reed Williams Inc, 160 Broadway are. It's for them I am working at present. [word illegible] wrote me last week that he had left them & gone to the [word illegible] International 43,45 W.34th St and that he was sailing for Europe for them about Feb 1st. I am wondering why he left [word illegible] Williams.
By the way he wrote me about a fertiliser some time ago and I got a purchase for 1,000 tons and possibly 4,000 more later if he could supply it at £9-10-0 or £10-00 port on free in Cork. I cabled him this but got no reply from him & fear he may have sailed before it reached him. Do you still give any attention to such mundane matters as manure? I suppose not. High finance and low politics are much more in your line now. The quality required was 35% super phosphate (I hope I spelled that right) so if ever you descend to earthy matters again you might let me know at once if you can get in touch with any people in this line. I sell everything from as silk stocking to a railway bridge & from that back to rubber heels. So send along your commission to ‘Up McGuinness’ branches everywhere.
I am sure you are all delighted with result of recent elections. That man that leaves this country –‘well, he don’t know much about fine countries to live in’. however, you didn’t leave it, you were ‘took’ so I forgive you and ill bet she’s sorry now. Are you Kathy?
I’ll give your message to Frank. He’s 20 stone weight now, twice as big as me & yet not half as big ‘That’s a quare one’. I’ll go now all my dry jokes are run out. Katie is fine now and sends you both her best love. Put me down for whatever she says.
Joe.
Lynch Family Archives . Folder 5/27
TD for Longford & substitute Director/Minister for Trade & Commerce in the first Dail, Joe McGuinness
(1875-1922) (also a friend of Lynch's from the New York Philo Celtic Society twenty years earlier) wrote to Lynch from The Central Wholesale Manufacturer’s Agency at 56 Lower O’Connell Street, Dublin:
‘A Diarmuid a chara.
Your letter of Jan 24th to hand on yesterday. I was glad to hear you were sick & that Kathy was well. If you hadn't got that turn I suppose I would hardly have such a long letter from you. Several times I have been going to write to you but you never, in any of your former notes, gave me as much news as I could decently hang a letter on.
However, as they say in the agony columns of the newspapers, come back or write, and all will be forgiven. By the way when are ye coming back? I'm dying to have some strange place to go for tea, or to sleep in when on the run.
I have several songs to sing at the two of you that all my other friends here have forbidden me to ever sing again in their presence. Besides a beautiful brown beard (notice the three b’s) worth travelling 3,000 miles to look at. Then is this is not enough to bring you back, we have ‘raydes’ twice nightly, ‘risings’ once a week, explosions and alarms every day, and a thousand other engagements that you Yanks cannot touch no how.
So much about myself & my surroundings, now how are you able to stick it so long over there at the pace I know you are going. It must be taking a good deal out of you, for I know how you work & worry even when there’s little cause for worry, but I know also that you must often plenty of cause,our people as a rule take things so easy. We are delighted here with how things are moving over there, and it has often been mentioned how your work was the great factor in the wonderful change. Only the few though fully realise it. I was glad to hear the B.C’s [ Bond Certificates ]were likely to be such a success. The result here too has be wonderful and would of course be much better only for the conditions prevailing.
I heard from Whelan since he saw you. What do you think of him? He had tried to do everything in his power to put business my way but if the rate of exchange keeps going the way it is at present, the result will not be very profitable. However, it had it's bright side and we much not be too selfish or grasping. Things will yet come right and the prospects for the future are very bright, I believe.
Indeed I often wish you were free to settle down to business again as there are opportunities now that may not offer later on both on this side and on yours. This country was never more prosperous that is if paper money is prosperity. It's as easily to live here now as it is on your side. I think a suit of clothes costs £10 to £12, boots £2 to £3, shirts 10/6 to £1, socks 3/6 to 7/6, the ‘creamy pint’ 8d, whiskey ( tons of it here) 9d a small one. By the way it reminds me that it must be ‘prohibitions’ the matter with you (is it Kathy? ). Wages of course has advanced but not in proportion, as everything one eats costs enormous prices, butter 3/2 lb, bacon 2/6 (specially killed NCR not to be had at any price )* sugar 8½d, beef 2/9 etc etc. I give you these prices to warn you not to think of coming back with a ‘mere million dollars’ if you want to move in society. If you had the million you could hardly get a home to live in at present, such is the scarcity.
I enclose signature of the St Enda’s trustees which I should have sent you a month ago, but I had not your private address until this week when Denis got it to me. Himself & Alice are very well. I sometimes go to see them when the weather is bad. I see Kathy’s sister fairly often and always in the best of humour.
I saw Michael too, before Xmas. He was then looking in great form. I was down Cork on my travels last week & did very well there. I called to Maylor Street in the city but they were away at the time. I also called to see Mrs Fitzgerald who was ill at the time & Jack was away. I saw Nell Fitz who was enquiring for you and Bill Canavan’s brother in the Arcade also. He told me Bill was coming home this summer, do you ever see him there?
Any account of Doyle at all? His mother died a few weeks ago. [word illegible] is married about a year or so, do you remember the night she came in and caught us not at the rosary? (Make him explain this Kathy.)
I see Peter Doyle sometimes in town here, he told me last time that Mike was in New Haven or some place up that direction.
How is Miss McKelvey, John Thornton [word illegible] John Terry [ Word illegible ] and all my old friends there? I believe Mrs Lee (Shula) is in Ireland but I have not seen her yet.
Business is on the boom in Cork owing to the Ford Factory & the future it opens up. The [ word illegible ] of American cargo bouts there, as well as Dublin & Belfast, is also a big step forward in bringing the trade relations of the two countries more in touch. Your country is very popular with the people here at present & most everything points to future good relations.
J.O.M – I cannot see for a few days as you know he had been locked up for the past 4 months. I will give him your message.
Find out privately what sort of a firm W.Reed Williams Inc, 160 Broadway are. It's for them I am working at present. [word illegible] wrote me last week that he had left them & gone to the [word illegible] International 43,45 W.34th St and that he was sailing for Europe for them about Feb 1st. I am wondering why he left [word illegible] Williams.
By the way he wrote me about a fertiliser some time ago and I got a purchase for 1,000 tons and possibly 4,000 more later if he could supply it at £9-10-0 or £10-00 port on free in Cork. I cabled him this but got no reply from him & fear he may have sailed before it reached him. Do you still give any attention to such mundane matters as manure? I suppose not. High finance and low politics are much more in your line now. The quality required was 35% super phosphate (I hope I spelled that right) so if ever you descend to earthy matters again you might let me know at once if you can get in touch with any people in this line. I sell everything from as silk stocking to a railway bridge & from that back to rubber heels. So send along your commission to ‘Up McGuinness’ branches everywhere.
I am sure you are all delighted with result of recent elections. That man that leaves this country –‘well, he don’t know much about fine countries to live in’. however, you didn’t leave it, you were ‘took’ so I forgive you and ill bet she’s sorry now. Are you Kathy?
I’ll give your message to Frank. He’s 20 stone weight now, twice as big as me & yet not half as big ‘That’s a quare one’. I’ll go now all my dry jokes are run out. Katie is fine now and sends you both her best love. Put me down for whatever she says.
Joe.
Lynch Family Archives . Folder 5/27
Thurles: Constable Edward J Mulholland was accidentally shot dead by Constable Danagher at Moyne Barracks Thurles County Tipperary,
8
W.B.Yeats in an interview to the Boston Post commented ‘One country is being governed against its will be another. In such a situation the Government attempting the rule must either surrender or be drive to autocracy.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – No. 35, February 27, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
George Creel, Wilson’s head of the War Information Bureau was no stranger to the Friends of Irish Freedom and in particular, Judge Cohalan. Their direct contact extended back to 1916, following the seizure of documents in the German Consul in New York, Wolf Von Igel’s office, Creel had circulated statements that Cohalan was at best unpatriotic and at worst, guilty of treason. Two newspapers, the New York Mail and New York Express carried the story which led to Cohalan suing for libel. In December 1918, both papers printed a retraction and paid his legal fees and costs.
By January 1919, Creel had become Wilson’s roving trouble shooter and was sent to Ireland to investigate the political situation where he spoke to a number of leaders, including Collins and Boland. In his March 1st 1919 report to Wilson, Creel stated that the Sinn Fein victory in Ireland was extensive, Home Rule had been discredited and a republic was being demanded, although he wrote, few felt it could be achieved. He believed that Dominion Status if granted, would be 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.’
While a strong supporter of Woodrow Wilson and the League of Nations , George Creel was also a supporter of Irish Freedom, though dismissive of the Irish American leadership in general and such organisations as the Friends of Irish Freedom and Clan na Gael. His book, a collection of nationalist articles ‘Ireland’s fight for freedom – setting forth the highlights of Irish history’ began serialisation in the New York Sunday American and immediately won him the confirmed enmity of both the Gaelic American and Leslie’s Weekly. Some considered Creel’s book quite important to the Irish movement and the ‘inability of Clan Leaders to recognise the importance of Creel’s book…was of some despair to Frank P. Walsh.’
American Opinion and the Irish Question 1910-23’ Francis M Carroll. Gill & McMillan 1978. P260n.
What ever about the Friends of Irish Freedom and Clan na Gael, Creel was popular enough to be guest speaker at a number of meetings of the Irish Progressive League throughout the US.
However on this date, to a ‘non-Irish forum’ in Boston, Creel delivered a ‘vicious attack…on Justice Daniel F. Cohalan…and given wide circulation in the daily press’which was, the Newsletter suspected ‘additional conclusve evidence that a definitely planned scheme is being worked out with the object of undermining, if possible, the great leadership of Justice Cohalan.’
The Newsletter reported that Creel was forced by the audience ‘to withdraw his definisition of Justice Cohalan as a ‘traitor’ to America…Creel has sought by writing a book, to establish himself as a friend of Ireland. On the strenght of the book he has essayed time and again to attack those who have been Ireland’s best friends in America….Justice Cohalan stands true to the cause. A thousand Creels cannot swerve him. Justice Cohalan follows in the footsteps of Washington, and, as with Washington, the day will soon dawn when Justice Cohalan’s enemies will also ‘pay him honour’.
Again, the Newsletter invokes Revolutionary America and Washington quoting the first President’s advice to the ‘Patriots of Ireland’ written from Mount Vernon in 1788:
‘Patriots of Ireland! Champions of liberty in all lands! Be strong in Hope! Your cause is identical with mine. You are caluminated in your day, I was misrepresented by the loyalists of my day. Had I failed, the scaffold would be my doom. But now my enemies pay me honor. Had I failed I would have deserved the same honor. I stood true to the cause, even when victory had fled. In that I merited success. You must act likewise.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – No. 34, February 20, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
W.B.Yeats in an interview to the Boston Post commented ‘One country is being governed against its will be another. In such a situation the Government attempting the rule must either surrender or be drive to autocracy.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – No. 35, February 27, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
George Creel, Wilson’s head of the War Information Bureau was no stranger to the Friends of Irish Freedom and in particular, Judge Cohalan. Their direct contact extended back to 1916, following the seizure of documents in the German Consul in New York, Wolf Von Igel’s office, Creel had circulated statements that Cohalan was at best unpatriotic and at worst, guilty of treason. Two newspapers, the New York Mail and New York Express carried the story which led to Cohalan suing for libel. In December 1918, both papers printed a retraction and paid his legal fees and costs.
By January 1919, Creel had become Wilson’s roving trouble shooter and was sent to Ireland to investigate the political situation where he spoke to a number of leaders, including Collins and Boland. In his March 1st 1919 report to Wilson, Creel stated that the Sinn Fein victory in Ireland was extensive, Home Rule had been discredited and a republic was being demanded, although he wrote, few felt it could be achieved. He believed that Dominion Status if granted, would be 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.’
While a strong supporter of Woodrow Wilson and the League of Nations , George Creel was also a supporter of Irish Freedom, though dismissive of the Irish American leadership in general and such organisations as the Friends of Irish Freedom and Clan na Gael. His book, a collection of nationalist articles ‘Ireland’s fight for freedom – setting forth the highlights of Irish history’ began serialisation in the New York Sunday American and immediately won him the confirmed enmity of both the Gaelic American and Leslie’s Weekly. Some considered Creel’s book quite important to the Irish movement and the ‘inability of Clan Leaders to recognise the importance of Creel’s book…was of some despair to Frank P. Walsh.’
American Opinion and the Irish Question 1910-23’ Francis M Carroll. Gill & McMillan 1978. P260n.
What ever about the Friends of Irish Freedom and Clan na Gael, Creel was popular enough to be guest speaker at a number of meetings of the Irish Progressive League throughout the US.
However on this date, to a ‘non-Irish forum’ in Boston, Creel delivered a ‘vicious attack…on Justice Daniel F. Cohalan…and given wide circulation in the daily press’which was, the Newsletter suspected ‘additional conclusve evidence that a definitely planned scheme is being worked out with the object of undermining, if possible, the great leadership of Justice Cohalan.’
The Newsletter reported that Creel was forced by the audience ‘to withdraw his definisition of Justice Cohalan as a ‘traitor’ to America…Creel has sought by writing a book, to establish himself as a friend of Ireland. On the strenght of the book he has essayed time and again to attack those who have been Ireland’s best friends in America….Justice Cohalan stands true to the cause. A thousand Creels cannot swerve him. Justice Cohalan follows in the footsteps of Washington, and, as with Washington, the day will soon dawn when Justice Cohalan’s enemies will also ‘pay him honour’.
Again, the Newsletter invokes Revolutionary America and Washington quoting the first President’s advice to the ‘Patriots of Ireland’ written from Mount Vernon in 1788:
‘Patriots of Ireland! Champions of liberty in all lands! Be strong in Hope! Your cause is identical with mine. You are caluminated in your day, I was misrepresented by the loyalists of my day. Had I failed, the scaffold would be my doom. But now my enemies pay me honor. Had I failed I would have deserved the same honor. I stood true to the cause, even when victory had fled. In that I merited success. You must act likewise.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – No. 34, February 20, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
9
The Irish Times commenting that de Valera’s Westminster Gazette interview was ‘indicative of nothing but the instability that afflicts the suppositious Republic’s master-mind, and his evident desire to recede from a psotion regarded as hoplessly fantastic by every sane American.’
Collins wrote to de Valera that ‘ the necessity for the money is now beginning to press’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill& McMillan 1995. P195
The Daily Herald’s special correspondent in Ireland, Mr W. N. Ewer wrote ‘…it is no mere surmise, but a known fact, based on authentic evidence, that there has been for some time past a group of officials which strongly advocates the provocation and bloody supression of an armed rising.’
English Atrocities in Ireland – Katherine Hughes. Friends of Irish Freedom phamphlet. Lynch Family Archives. P6
Washington D.C.: Senate votes to reconsider Treaty and refers it to Committee.
The Irish Times commenting that de Valera’s Westminster Gazette interview was ‘indicative of nothing but the instability that afflicts the suppositious Republic’s master-mind, and his evident desire to recede from a psotion regarded as hoplessly fantastic by every sane American.’
Collins wrote to de Valera that ‘ the necessity for the money is now beginning to press’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill& McMillan 1995. P195
The Daily Herald’s special correspondent in Ireland, Mr W. N. Ewer wrote ‘…it is no mere surmise, but a known fact, based on authentic evidence, that there has been for some time past a group of officials which strongly advocates the provocation and bloody supression of an armed rising.’
English Atrocities in Ireland – Katherine Hughes. Friends of Irish Freedom phamphlet. Lynch Family Archives. P6
Washington D.C.: Senate votes to reconsider Treaty and refers it to Committee.
Transcription:
10
Winston Churchill in a letter to his cousin, Shane Leslie commented:
"My dear Shane, You asked me what advice I would give to the Sinn Feiners, and I replied, "Quit murdering and start arguing." This is in no sense an offer of negotiation and could not be represented as such; but I am quite sure that the moment the murders cease the Irish question will enter upon a new phase, and I shall not be behindhand in doing my utmost to secure a good settlement. As long as the murder conspiracy goes on things will go from bad to worse: the military power of the British Government in Ireland will continually increase, and the whole prosperity of the country is sure to be affected by the continuance of these troubles."
University of Maryland – Internet Archives. Box: 3 Fold: 11 – June 1997
The former German Crown Prince Wilhelm offers himself for trial on behalf of the 890 German War Criminals on the Allied wanted lists.
Washington D.C: The Treaty of Versailles came before the Senate once again and battle joined. By this stage, Democrats representing areas of Irish American influence had felt the pressure exerted by such groups as the AOH and Friends of Irish Freedom and had attempted to convince their electorate that Wilson and the Covenant of the League of Nations were in no wat opposed to the principle of self-determination as applied to Ireland. However, the feeling running in Irish American circles was very much against the Treaty and League of Nations specifically.
Most were now very aware that there would be little opportunity for compromise that would be acceptable to Wilson. The Committee initially approved of the Treaty but with Lodge reservations.
Winston Churchill in a letter to his cousin, Shane Leslie commented:
"My dear Shane, You asked me what advice I would give to the Sinn Feiners, and I replied, "Quit murdering and start arguing." This is in no sense an offer of negotiation and could not be represented as such; but I am quite sure that the moment the murders cease the Irish question will enter upon a new phase, and I shall not be behindhand in doing my utmost to secure a good settlement. As long as the murder conspiracy goes on things will go from bad to worse: the military power of the British Government in Ireland will continually increase, and the whole prosperity of the country is sure to be affected by the continuance of these troubles."
University of Maryland – Internet Archives. Box: 3 Fold: 11 – June 1997
The former German Crown Prince Wilhelm offers himself for trial on behalf of the 890 German War Criminals on the Allied wanted lists.
Washington D.C: The Treaty of Versailles came before the Senate once again and battle joined. By this stage, Democrats representing areas of Irish American influence had felt the pressure exerted by such groups as the AOH and Friends of Irish Freedom and had attempted to convince their electorate that Wilson and the Covenant of the League of Nations were in no wat opposed to the principle of self-determination as applied to Ireland. However, the feeling running in Irish American circles was very much against the Treaty and League of Nations specifically.
Most were now very aware that there would be little opportunity for compromise that would be acceptable to Wilson. The Committee initially approved of the Treaty but with Lodge reservations.
11
The League of Nations got down to business in St. James’s Palace, London with an agreement to set up an International Court of Justice.
The Irish Self-Determination League held a meeting in Albert Hall attended by more than 10,000.
The League of Nations got down to business in St. James’s Palace, London with an agreement to set up an International Court of Justice.
The Irish Self-Determination League held a meeting in Albert Hall attended by more than 10,000.
12
Constable Michael Neenan (32), seriously wounded when the IRA blew up the Allihies Barracks in West Cork, died of injuries. He was later posthmously awarded the Constabulary Medal.
The US Senate failed to compromise over membership of the League of Nations.
12–24 February – Conference of London: Leaders of the United Kingdom, France and Italy meet to discuss the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire.
Constable Michael Neenan (32), seriously wounded when the IRA blew up the Allihies Barracks in West Cork, died of injuries. He was later posthmously awarded the Constabulary Medal.
The US Senate failed to compromise over membership of the League of Nations.
12–24 February – Conference of London: Leaders of the United Kingdom, France and Italy meet to discuss the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire.
13
Winston Churchill, speaking in the House of Commons, commented that the number of British troops now deployed in Ireland has climbed to 41,000, at a weekly cost of £186,000. Prior to the war, the number stood at approximately 25,000.
The Friends of Irish Freedom National Council voted that the present loan advanced to De Valera be applied towards the purchase of bond certificates in equal amount:
“ Diarmuid Lynch wrote to O’Mara on behalf of the Friends of Irish Freedom , telling him that the National Council had voted a little earlier, on the 13th, that this “present” loan be “applied towards the purchase of Bond Certificates in equal amount” and advising O’Mara that he should consider this letter as a bond certificate application. Lynch’s letter, or the decision that gave rise to it, might be seen as giving the public support of the powerful Friends of Irish Freedom to de Valera's project and ending a long running dispute both about converting the loan into bonds and about the disposition of the moneys which Friends of Irish Freedom branches all over the country had been holding back from the Victory Fund because of the bond drive.”
Tim Pat Coogan “De Valera, Long Fellow, Long Shadow” Hutchinson, London. 1993. p159. quoting Patricia Lavell “ James O’Mara, a staunch Sinn Feiner “ Clonmore & Reynolds, Dublin. 1961. p.150.
Diarmuid described John Devoy’s personality in his history of the Friends of Irish Freedom:
‘John Devoy never minced words when attacking any man whose words or policy or acts were, in his opinion, either flagrantly unjust or wilfully injurious to the Irish cause...he was content to let the chips fall where they may’
Diarmuid Lynch Papers. Accession #2267. MS 32.597
The Newsletter commented that ‘in certain hostile quarters there is always a great deal of talk about illiteracy in Ireland.’ Such quarters made use of the 1911 Irish census which showed a national illetracy rate of 9.2%. Leinster showing the lowest rates of illeteracy in the four provinces with 6.8%, the highest in Connaught with 15.2%. The Newsletter then made comparison with some US illiteracy rates among ‘NATIVE BORN WHITE POPULATION OF NATIVE PARENTAGE’ [ Irish National Bureau of Information Newsletter emphasis ] ‘ Alabama, 10.1%, Arkansas, 7.1%, Georgia, 8.0%, Kentucky, 10.7%, Louisiana, 15.0%, North Carolina, 12.3%..’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – No. 33, February 13, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Rev. Dr Owen R. Lovejoy, National secretary of the Child Labor Bureau, Minister of the Congregational Church was on a speaking tour of the Southern States sponsored by the Protestant Friends of Ireland and the Friends of Irish Freedom. As to what he spoke about, the Newsletter commented:
‘At every meeting, Dr. Lovejoy emphasised the fact that the cause of a free Ireland is not a religious cause. ‘It is not a Roman Catholic movement’ he said. ‘If it were, I, with my inheritance of the heritage of Luther and his followers, would not lift a finger to further the interests of that church. England has always tried to use the Vatican to attain its ends. When Parnell, a Protestant was about to be give a testimonial for his work for Ireland, and the English Government made public a request from the Pope asking that no contributions be given by Catholics to the fund, the Catholics replied that they took their religion from the Pope, but not their politics…we declared when the war began that we were inf avour of the freedom of small nations. President Wilson also said it and I am one of those Americans who believe that he meant what he said. But even if he did not mean it, millions of Americans thought he did, and that is why we are demanding today not that a republic be born in Ireland, but the one already functioning there be allowed to live.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – No. 33, February 13, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The Newsletter made reference to a rumour that Sir William Tyrell was a candidate most favoured to suceed Sir Edward Grey as British Ambassador to the United States.
The British playwright, St. John Ervine (1883-1971) formerly associated with the Abbey Theatre, sailed into the sights of the Irish National Bureau of Information Newsletter and more specifically one of his lectures titled ‘Solving the Irish Problem’. The Editor considered that if Ervine ‘had been born and reared on a South Sea isle, had never read a newspaper, book or pamphlet, and had been tutored by Fijians instead of by Londoners, he could not come further from the mark ‘in solving the Irish Problem’ than he does at present. His lectures on this subject prove beyond a doubt that he is unqualified to discuss it…if one seeks misinformation about the Irish situation, we can strongly recommend St. John Ervine.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – No. 33, February 13, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
“Every man...should periodically be compelled to listen to opinions which are infuriating to him. To hear nothing but what is pleasing to one is to make a pillow of the mind.” Sir John Ervine.
Switzerland rejoins the League of Nations.
Winston Churchill, speaking in the House of Commons, commented that the number of British troops now deployed in Ireland has climbed to 41,000, at a weekly cost of £186,000. Prior to the war, the number stood at approximately 25,000.
The Friends of Irish Freedom National Council voted that the present loan advanced to De Valera be applied towards the purchase of bond certificates in equal amount:
“ Diarmuid Lynch wrote to O’Mara on behalf of the Friends of Irish Freedom , telling him that the National Council had voted a little earlier, on the 13th, that this “present” loan be “applied towards the purchase of Bond Certificates in equal amount” and advising O’Mara that he should consider this letter as a bond certificate application. Lynch’s letter, or the decision that gave rise to it, might be seen as giving the public support of the powerful Friends of Irish Freedom to de Valera's project and ending a long running dispute both about converting the loan into bonds and about the disposition of the moneys which Friends of Irish Freedom branches all over the country had been holding back from the Victory Fund because of the bond drive.”
Tim Pat Coogan “De Valera, Long Fellow, Long Shadow” Hutchinson, London. 1993. p159. quoting Patricia Lavell “ James O’Mara, a staunch Sinn Feiner “ Clonmore & Reynolds, Dublin. 1961. p.150.
Diarmuid described John Devoy’s personality in his history of the Friends of Irish Freedom:
‘John Devoy never minced words when attacking any man whose words or policy or acts were, in his opinion, either flagrantly unjust or wilfully injurious to the Irish cause...he was content to let the chips fall where they may’
Diarmuid Lynch Papers. Accession #2267. MS 32.597
The Newsletter commented that ‘in certain hostile quarters there is always a great deal of talk about illiteracy in Ireland.’ Such quarters made use of the 1911 Irish census which showed a national illetracy rate of 9.2%. Leinster showing the lowest rates of illeteracy in the four provinces with 6.8%, the highest in Connaught with 15.2%. The Newsletter then made comparison with some US illiteracy rates among ‘NATIVE BORN WHITE POPULATION OF NATIVE PARENTAGE’ [ Irish National Bureau of Information Newsletter emphasis ] ‘ Alabama, 10.1%, Arkansas, 7.1%, Georgia, 8.0%, Kentucky, 10.7%, Louisiana, 15.0%, North Carolina, 12.3%..’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – No. 33, February 13, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Rev. Dr Owen R. Lovejoy, National secretary of the Child Labor Bureau, Minister of the Congregational Church was on a speaking tour of the Southern States sponsored by the Protestant Friends of Ireland and the Friends of Irish Freedom. As to what he spoke about, the Newsletter commented:
‘At every meeting, Dr. Lovejoy emphasised the fact that the cause of a free Ireland is not a religious cause. ‘It is not a Roman Catholic movement’ he said. ‘If it were, I, with my inheritance of the heritage of Luther and his followers, would not lift a finger to further the interests of that church. England has always tried to use the Vatican to attain its ends. When Parnell, a Protestant was about to be give a testimonial for his work for Ireland, and the English Government made public a request from the Pope asking that no contributions be given by Catholics to the fund, the Catholics replied that they took their religion from the Pope, but not their politics…we declared when the war began that we were inf avour of the freedom of small nations. President Wilson also said it and I am one of those Americans who believe that he meant what he said. But even if he did not mean it, millions of Americans thought he did, and that is why we are demanding today not that a republic be born in Ireland, but the one already functioning there be allowed to live.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – No. 33, February 13, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The Newsletter made reference to a rumour that Sir William Tyrell was a candidate most favoured to suceed Sir Edward Grey as British Ambassador to the United States.
The British playwright, St. John Ervine (1883-1971) formerly associated with the Abbey Theatre, sailed into the sights of the Irish National Bureau of Information Newsletter and more specifically one of his lectures titled ‘Solving the Irish Problem’. The Editor considered that if Ervine ‘had been born and reared on a South Sea isle, had never read a newspaper, book or pamphlet, and had been tutored by Fijians instead of by Londoners, he could not come further from the mark ‘in solving the Irish Problem’ than he does at present. His lectures on this subject prove beyond a doubt that he is unqualified to discuss it…if one seeks misinformation about the Irish situation, we can strongly recommend St. John Ervine.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – No. 33, February 13, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
“Every man...should periodically be compelled to listen to opinions which are infuriating to him. To hear nothing but what is pleasing to one is to make a pillow of the mind.” Sir John Ervine.
Switzerland rejoins the League of Nations.
14
Enniscorthy: Ellen Morris (61) was shot dead during a raid for arms on her home at the Ballagh, near Gorey, Co. Wexford.
Mrs Morris was mother of 15 children, one of whom serves as a Staff Sergeant in the Royal Army Service Corps. She resisted the raiders and attempted to protect her home when she was shot at point blank range in the presence of her husband and some other relatives. The men then proceeded to search the house and refused to allow a priest to be called. Rev. John Maher, priest in Oulart, read a letter from the Archbishop of Ferns, William Codd, in which he acknowledged he was ‘grieved and shocked beyond measure on learning of the event’, which he claimed was perpetrated by men ‘devoid of all sense of manhood and Christian feeling’. There were currently 14 people on remand in Mountjoy in connection with the crime. They include Peter Dwyer (engine driver), Laurence Doran (farmer), Patrick Breen (farmer’s son), William Murray, Michael Doyle, Thomas Leary, James Lacey, Thomas Devereaux, James Derby and Michael Rossiter (all labourers). Most of them were arrested around Oulart and Enniscorthy
The man who had shot her, Pat Leacy turned informer and blamed Peter Dwyer who had not been present that night but had been supposed to lead the botched raid. Later that year, Inspector Percival Lea-Wilson who had stripped and humilitated Tom Clarke after the Easter Rising was shot dead by the IRA in Gorey, partly because he was in charge of the case against Dwyer.
Peter O'Dwyer (1888-1950) an Irish Volunteer, A Company (Enniscorthy Company), 1st Battalion, Wexford Brigade, Irish Volunteers. Born on the 7th of June 1888 died on the 30th of June 1950, aged 27 years old at the time of the Rising. He was arrested after the surrender and deported to Frongoch. During the War of Independence he served as Company Lieutenant and Company Commanding Officer. Between February and December 1920 he was imprisoned for complicity in the murder of a Mrs. Morris of the Ballagh, Enniscorthy, County Wexford shot during an IRA arms raid, he claimed that he only arrived on the scene after the woman had been shot and that the IRA unit, of which he was supposed to be in charge, had not waited for his arrival to carry out the raid. In May 1922 he joined the Civic Guard and during the Civil War he served with an armed unit at Newbridge Barracks, County Kildare, Ship Street Barracks, Dublin, and Dublin Castle he took part in the defence of a Civic Guard station at Wolfhill, County Laois during an armed attack in December 1922. He was dismissed from the Gárda Síochána in 1923, there is no record of why he was dismissed.
Michael Ensko from Ennis County Clare died when struck by a British Army lorry.
New York: Following de Valera’s Westminster Gazette interview, John Devoy ‘felt the time had come to show the president of the Irish Republic was a man whose tongue often outran his judgement’ by reprinting the Gazette interview with critical comments on how de Valera’s interview would be viewed, including “It opens the way for the discussion of a compromise” and “It amounts to a proposal for a self-governing Ireland under an English protectorate.”
Sources: Gaelic American & Friends of Irish Freedom -Lynch Family Archives
Privately, Devoy commented ‘If the present movement should be metamorphosed into a demand for a free Ireland under an English protectorate, there would be a sudden waning, if not complete collapse, of the present enthuasism in America.’
Conor O’Clery ‘Ireland in Quotes’ The O’Brien Press Dublin 1999 p.47
Tim Pat Coogan argues: “De Valera issued clarifications showing that he had only quoted the first Article of the Platt Amendment, on which his Cuban analogy was based; and that not only did he not subscribe to subsequent articles which gave America rights in Cuba, including rights to bases, but that he had specifically indicated he was not in favour of British bases in Ireland. To this Devoy retorted that one could not quote part of a document and disregard the rest “ When a part of a document is offered in court or in negotiations, the whole document becomes subject for consideration”
McCartan said of the McGarrity factions reaction to the Gaelic American attack “apart from its malice, there was little Devoy said which we could in our hearts disagree. Had he said in private what he spread over the pages of the Gaelic American, we might have tried to moderate his tone, but not to refute his argument”
McCartan’s personal view of the Cuban interview was that it ‘clearly an intimation that the President of the Republic of Ireland was prepared to accept much less than complete sovereignty for Ireland... and the choice of the Westminster Gazette seemed appropriate to inform Lloyd George that Ireland's President was willing to degrade her claim to the level of a domestic issue with England.
Tim Pat Coogan “De Valera, Long Fellow, Long Shadow” Hutchinson, London. 1993. P161 & 165.
Irrespective of his later recorded thoughts (published 1932), McCartan with his false papers left on board the liner, SS New York for Ireland to pass de Valera's explanations to the Cabinet in Dublin.
The I.R.A issued a proclamation warning prospective recruits that ‘they join the RIC at their own peril. All nations are agreed as to the fate of traitors’ a few weeks later it extended it’s threats to anyone who did business with a supplier of the RIC’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill& McMillan 1995. P147.
An IRA one hundred man unit of four different companies led by Ernie O’Malley with Owen O'Duffy (later the fist commissioner of the Gardai) captured the RIC barracks at Shantonagh, Ballytrain in Co. Monaghan. No casualties on either side.
This was the first RIC barracks taken in Ulster by the IRA. Meanwhile in the south, an IRA unit attacked the RIC barracks at Castlemartyr, Co. Cork and after a gun battle lasting a few hours, took the barracks & removed the firearms and ammunition. An attack on a farmhouse in Enniscorthy to capture weapons resulted in the death of the owner's wife.
The League of Women Voters is founded in Chicago.
John Francis Dodge, automobile manufacturer died (1864-1920)
Robert Peary, Arctic explorer died (1856-1920)
Friends of Irish Freedom branches throughout the United States were telegraphed "urging that branches combine and hold large public meetings during the week beginning Washington's Birthday [February 22 - a Federal holiday in the United States] for the purpose of vehemently protesting against the ratification of the League of Nations Covenant in it's entirety. It was further urged that the co-operation of labour and all other organisations opposed to the Covenant should be secured..."
Friends of Irish Freedom Archive, AIHS New York.
Jerry Lynch of Canada (1868-1920)
Jerry Lynch died from the Spanish Flu in Toronto, Canada aged 52. Born in County Cork, Ireland to Timothy Lynch (1824-1895) and Kate Deasy (1826-1897), Jerry was 11 when his family immigrated to Toronto via London in 1879. They lived in the original Cabbage town neighbourhoods, amongst Toronto's established Irish community. The traditional home of Jerry's Lynch family was at Granig Farm, Tracton Parish about 16 km south of Cork City. His mother's family was from nearby Riverstick, County Cork.
Jerry married Catharine "Kate" Quinn in 1890 and they lived in Toronto's Leslieville neighbourhood where they raised three daughters. Jerry was a hard-working, successful businessman, first as a teamster, later running a sand and gravel business.
Catherine ‘Kate’ Quinn was born in Toronto, Ontario to Thomas Quinn (1828-1903) and Bridget Talty (1835-1898), Catharine was the third youngest of nine children. Kate grew up on Vine Street in Corktown, Toronto's Irish community, just north of Front St. E, three streets west of the Don River. Vine Street no longer exists. Kate's Quinn and Talty families were originally from west County Clare, Ireland in the townlands east of Miltown Malbay. Her Talty grandparents, Michael Talty and Brid Doherty, came to Canada in 1847, whereas her father Thomas immigrated in 1850. A year after her husband Jerry succumbed to the Spanish flu, Kate suffered a stroke and passed away at her home on Queen St. E.
Enniscorthy: Ellen Morris (61) was shot dead during a raid for arms on her home at the Ballagh, near Gorey, Co. Wexford.
Mrs Morris was mother of 15 children, one of whom serves as a Staff Sergeant in the Royal Army Service Corps. She resisted the raiders and attempted to protect her home when she was shot at point blank range in the presence of her husband and some other relatives. The men then proceeded to search the house and refused to allow a priest to be called. Rev. John Maher, priest in Oulart, read a letter from the Archbishop of Ferns, William Codd, in which he acknowledged he was ‘grieved and shocked beyond measure on learning of the event’, which he claimed was perpetrated by men ‘devoid of all sense of manhood and Christian feeling’. There were currently 14 people on remand in Mountjoy in connection with the crime. They include Peter Dwyer (engine driver), Laurence Doran (farmer), Patrick Breen (farmer’s son), William Murray, Michael Doyle, Thomas Leary, James Lacey, Thomas Devereaux, James Derby and Michael Rossiter (all labourers). Most of them were arrested around Oulart and Enniscorthy
The man who had shot her, Pat Leacy turned informer and blamed Peter Dwyer who had not been present that night but had been supposed to lead the botched raid. Later that year, Inspector Percival Lea-Wilson who had stripped and humilitated Tom Clarke after the Easter Rising was shot dead by the IRA in Gorey, partly because he was in charge of the case against Dwyer.
Peter O'Dwyer (1888-1950) an Irish Volunteer, A Company (Enniscorthy Company), 1st Battalion, Wexford Brigade, Irish Volunteers. Born on the 7th of June 1888 died on the 30th of June 1950, aged 27 years old at the time of the Rising. He was arrested after the surrender and deported to Frongoch. During the War of Independence he served as Company Lieutenant and Company Commanding Officer. Between February and December 1920 he was imprisoned for complicity in the murder of a Mrs. Morris of the Ballagh, Enniscorthy, County Wexford shot during an IRA arms raid, he claimed that he only arrived on the scene after the woman had been shot and that the IRA unit, of which he was supposed to be in charge, had not waited for his arrival to carry out the raid. In May 1922 he joined the Civic Guard and during the Civil War he served with an armed unit at Newbridge Barracks, County Kildare, Ship Street Barracks, Dublin, and Dublin Castle he took part in the defence of a Civic Guard station at Wolfhill, County Laois during an armed attack in December 1922. He was dismissed from the Gárda Síochána in 1923, there is no record of why he was dismissed.
Michael Ensko from Ennis County Clare died when struck by a British Army lorry.
New York: Following de Valera’s Westminster Gazette interview, John Devoy ‘felt the time had come to show the president of the Irish Republic was a man whose tongue often outran his judgement’ by reprinting the Gazette interview with critical comments on how de Valera’s interview would be viewed, including “It opens the way for the discussion of a compromise” and “It amounts to a proposal for a self-governing Ireland under an English protectorate.”
Sources: Gaelic American & Friends of Irish Freedom -Lynch Family Archives
Privately, Devoy commented ‘If the present movement should be metamorphosed into a demand for a free Ireland under an English protectorate, there would be a sudden waning, if not complete collapse, of the present enthuasism in America.’
Conor O’Clery ‘Ireland in Quotes’ The O’Brien Press Dublin 1999 p.47
Tim Pat Coogan argues: “De Valera issued clarifications showing that he had only quoted the first Article of the Platt Amendment, on which his Cuban analogy was based; and that not only did he not subscribe to subsequent articles which gave America rights in Cuba, including rights to bases, but that he had specifically indicated he was not in favour of British bases in Ireland. To this Devoy retorted that one could not quote part of a document and disregard the rest “ When a part of a document is offered in court or in negotiations, the whole document becomes subject for consideration”
McCartan said of the McGarrity factions reaction to the Gaelic American attack “apart from its malice, there was little Devoy said which we could in our hearts disagree. Had he said in private what he spread over the pages of the Gaelic American, we might have tried to moderate his tone, but not to refute his argument”
McCartan’s personal view of the Cuban interview was that it ‘clearly an intimation that the President of the Republic of Ireland was prepared to accept much less than complete sovereignty for Ireland... and the choice of the Westminster Gazette seemed appropriate to inform Lloyd George that Ireland's President was willing to degrade her claim to the level of a domestic issue with England.
Tim Pat Coogan “De Valera, Long Fellow, Long Shadow” Hutchinson, London. 1993. P161 & 165.
Irrespective of his later recorded thoughts (published 1932), McCartan with his false papers left on board the liner, SS New York for Ireland to pass de Valera's explanations to the Cabinet in Dublin.
The I.R.A issued a proclamation warning prospective recruits that ‘they join the RIC at their own peril. All nations are agreed as to the fate of traitors’ a few weeks later it extended it’s threats to anyone who did business with a supplier of the RIC’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill& McMillan 1995. P147.
An IRA one hundred man unit of four different companies led by Ernie O’Malley with Owen O'Duffy (later the fist commissioner of the Gardai) captured the RIC barracks at Shantonagh, Ballytrain in Co. Monaghan. No casualties on either side.
This was the first RIC barracks taken in Ulster by the IRA. Meanwhile in the south, an IRA unit attacked the RIC barracks at Castlemartyr, Co. Cork and after a gun battle lasting a few hours, took the barracks & removed the firearms and ammunition. An attack on a farmhouse in Enniscorthy to capture weapons resulted in the death of the owner's wife.
The League of Women Voters is founded in Chicago.
John Francis Dodge, automobile manufacturer died (1864-1920)
Robert Peary, Arctic explorer died (1856-1920)
Friends of Irish Freedom branches throughout the United States were telegraphed "urging that branches combine and hold large public meetings during the week beginning Washington's Birthday [February 22 - a Federal holiday in the United States] for the purpose of vehemently protesting against the ratification of the League of Nations Covenant in it's entirety. It was further urged that the co-operation of labour and all other organisations opposed to the Covenant should be secured..."
Friends of Irish Freedom Archive, AIHS New York.
Jerry Lynch of Canada (1868-1920)
Jerry Lynch died from the Spanish Flu in Toronto, Canada aged 52. Born in County Cork, Ireland to Timothy Lynch (1824-1895) and Kate Deasy (1826-1897), Jerry was 11 when his family immigrated to Toronto via London in 1879. They lived in the original Cabbage town neighbourhoods, amongst Toronto's established Irish community. The traditional home of Jerry's Lynch family was at Granig Farm, Tracton Parish about 16 km south of Cork City. His mother's family was from nearby Riverstick, County Cork.
Jerry married Catharine "Kate" Quinn in 1890 and they lived in Toronto's Leslieville neighbourhood where they raised three daughters. Jerry was a hard-working, successful businessman, first as a teamster, later running a sand and gravel business.
Catherine ‘Kate’ Quinn was born in Toronto, Ontario to Thomas Quinn (1828-1903) and Bridget Talty (1835-1898), Catharine was the third youngest of nine children. Kate grew up on Vine Street in Corktown, Toronto's Irish community, just north of Front St. E, three streets west of the Don River. Vine Street no longer exists. Kate's Quinn and Talty families were originally from west County Clare, Ireland in the townlands east of Miltown Malbay. Her Talty grandparents, Michael Talty and Brid Doherty, came to Canada in 1847, whereas her father Thomas immigrated in 1850. A year after her husband Jerry succumbed to the Spanish flu, Kate suffered a stroke and passed away at her home on Queen St. E.
15
Lenten Pastorals
In Lenten Pastorals read from the pulpit in every Catholic church in Ireland, Bishops protested strongly against the ‘wrongs and outrages heaped in the name of law and order on an ardent and courageous people’
Dublin: Cardinal Michael Logue, Archbishop of Armagh, spoke out strongly against the British military regime in Ireland:
‘Not within living memory can we find in Ireland such calamitious conditions as exist at present – drastic repression on one side and retaliation on the other, a military regime rivaling in severity even that of countries under the most pitiless autocratic government, vindictive sentences out of all proportion to alleged transgressions, letters cachet or arbitary arrests more frequent than in pre-revolutionary France, deportations such as raised a wild cry of repobation against Germany when it was in military occupation of Belgium. These and similar act of power cannot fail to create exasperation, recklessness, despair and general disorder.’
Quoted in the Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – No. 34, February 20, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The Cardinal’s remarks were echoed by his fellow members of the catholic hierarchy in Lenten pastorals published across Ireland:
Charles McHugh, the Bishop of Derry, said that uncontrolled ‘military despotism’ had taken the place of freedom of speech and action; Thomas O’Doherty, the Bishop of Clonfert, referred to a ‘regime of militarism’ which has seen men taken away from their homes and families and deported to England without any charges being levelled against them.
‘Children have been taken from their parents to be, in effect, terrified and tortured in a confession of their supposed knowledge of crime. Houses have been raided at all hours for concealed arms or papers, generally with no result whatever. Fairs and markets have become illegal assemblies even in places where, as in Portumna, there was no crime. Savage sentences have been inflicted for trivial offences – for the singing of a song, to take one example, which has been heard on concert platforms these fifty years and more.’
In Raphoe in Co. Donegal, the Bishop Patrick O’Donnell, whose pastoral was published in Irish and English, remarked that the ‘atmosphere of war and blood, coupled with resentment, and the indignities of military rule, was in some danger of engendering wrong notions in regard to human life’. He added: ‘The jails are full, liberty of speech and of the press is smothered, deportations are the order of the day and native feeling counts for nothing.’
Dr Robert Browne as Bishop of Cloyne said ‘The [law and order] policy of the British Government seems to be to make use of every means and every opportunity to exasperate the people and drive them to acts of desperation.’
Conor O’Clery ‘Ireland in Quotes’ The O’Brien Press Dublin 1999 p.47
Lenten Pastorals
In Lenten Pastorals read from the pulpit in every Catholic church in Ireland, Bishops protested strongly against the ‘wrongs and outrages heaped in the name of law and order on an ardent and courageous people’
Dublin: Cardinal Michael Logue, Archbishop of Armagh, spoke out strongly against the British military regime in Ireland:
‘Not within living memory can we find in Ireland such calamitious conditions as exist at present – drastic repression on one side and retaliation on the other, a military regime rivaling in severity even that of countries under the most pitiless autocratic government, vindictive sentences out of all proportion to alleged transgressions, letters cachet or arbitary arrests more frequent than in pre-revolutionary France, deportations such as raised a wild cry of repobation against Germany when it was in military occupation of Belgium. These and similar act of power cannot fail to create exasperation, recklessness, despair and general disorder.’
Quoted in the Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – No. 34, February 20, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The Cardinal’s remarks were echoed by his fellow members of the catholic hierarchy in Lenten pastorals published across Ireland:
Charles McHugh, the Bishop of Derry, said that uncontrolled ‘military despotism’ had taken the place of freedom of speech and action; Thomas O’Doherty, the Bishop of Clonfert, referred to a ‘regime of militarism’ which has seen men taken away from their homes and families and deported to England without any charges being levelled against them.
‘Children have been taken from their parents to be, in effect, terrified and tortured in a confession of their supposed knowledge of crime. Houses have been raided at all hours for concealed arms or papers, generally with no result whatever. Fairs and markets have become illegal assemblies even in places where, as in Portumna, there was no crime. Savage sentences have been inflicted for trivial offences – for the singing of a song, to take one example, which has been heard on concert platforms these fifty years and more.’
In Raphoe in Co. Donegal, the Bishop Patrick O’Donnell, whose pastoral was published in Irish and English, remarked that the ‘atmosphere of war and blood, coupled with resentment, and the indignities of military rule, was in some danger of engendering wrong notions in regard to human life’. He added: ‘The jails are full, liberty of speech and of the press is smothered, deportations are the order of the day and native feeling counts for nothing.’
Dr Robert Browne as Bishop of Cloyne said ‘The [law and order] policy of the British Government seems to be to make use of every means and every opportunity to exasperate the people and drive them to acts of desperation.’
Conor O’Clery ‘Ireland in Quotes’ The O’Brien Press Dublin 1999 p.47
16
The Friends of Irish Freedom advised all Branches in the United States on 'vehemently protesting' during the American Liberty Week drive against the League of Nations Covenant in it's entirety.
The Friends of Irish Freedom advised all Branches in the United States on 'vehemently protesting' during the American Liberty Week drive against the League of Nations Covenant in it's entirety.
17
New York - de Valera writes to Griffith on the situation in America
De Valera writing to Griffith (in a letter sent by envoy) keeping his Dublin Cabinet colleagues informed & described the differences of opinion between the Irish-Americans, Friends of Irish Freedom and himself as
“the trouble is purely one of personalities” and the following: “ It is time for plain speaking now. A deadly attempt to ruin our chances for the bonds and for everything we came here to accomplish is being made. If I am asked for the ulterior motives I can only guess that they are:
1. To drive me home - jealousy, envy, resentment of a rival - some devilish cause I do not know what prompts.
2. To compel me to be a rubber stamp for somebody.
The position I have held ( I was rapidly driven to assert it or surrender ) is the following:
It is not, however, from fundamentals like this the trouble arises. The trouble is purely one of personalities. I cannot feel confidence enough in a certain man to let him have implicit control of tactics here, without consultation and agreement from me.
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.352
In addition he advised he would put no more in writing, because:
‘if captured and published, such a letter might blow our work here sky-high’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill& McMillan 1995. P195
De Valera biography contains further information on this letter to Griffith and his views of Irish Americans
‘ Fundamentally Irish American differ from us in this – they being American’s first would sacrifice Irish interests, if need be, to American interests. We, Irish first, would do the reverse’
Longford & O’Neill. “Eamon de Valera “ Hutchinson, London.1970. p106
De Valera also wrote to Collins regarding Lynch and the Friends of Irish Freedom:
"I am sorry to say that Diarmuid supports the Judge's stand with the results that we cannot secure from the FOIF proper co-operation as Lynch is the Executive Secretary and he refuses absolutely to do anything with which the Judge may disagree'
Eileen McGough 'Diarmuid Lynch A Forgotten Irish Patriot' Mercier Press 2013. p124 De Valera Papers UCDA P150/1125
In London, police are informed that their horses will shortly be replaced by cars.
Berlin: A woman named Anna Anderson tries to commit suicide but is rescued and taken to a mental hospital, where she claims she is Grand Duchess Anastasia of Russia
New York - de Valera writes to Griffith on the situation in America
De Valera writing to Griffith (in a letter sent by envoy) keeping his Dublin Cabinet colleagues informed & described the differences of opinion between the Irish-Americans, Friends of Irish Freedom and himself as
“the trouble is purely one of personalities” and the following: “ It is time for plain speaking now. A deadly attempt to ruin our chances for the bonds and for everything we came here to accomplish is being made. If I am asked for the ulterior motives I can only guess that they are:
1. To drive me home - jealousy, envy, resentment of a rival - some devilish cause I do not know what prompts.
2. To compel me to be a rubber stamp for somebody.
The position I have held ( I was rapidly driven to assert it or surrender ) is the following:
- No American has the right to dictate policy to the Irish people.
- We are here with a definite objective. Americans, banded under the trade name ( the word will not be misunderstood ) Friends of Irish Freedom, ought to help us obtain the objective, if they are truly what the name implies.
It is not, however, from fundamentals like this the trouble arises. The trouble is purely one of personalities. I cannot feel confidence enough in a certain man to let him have implicit control of tactics here, without consultation and agreement from me.
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.352
In addition he advised he would put no more in writing, because:
‘if captured and published, such a letter might blow our work here sky-high’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill& McMillan 1995. P195
De Valera biography contains further information on this letter to Griffith and his views of Irish Americans
‘ Fundamentally Irish American differ from us in this – they being American’s first would sacrifice Irish interests, if need be, to American interests. We, Irish first, would do the reverse’
Longford & O’Neill. “Eamon de Valera “ Hutchinson, London.1970. p106
De Valera also wrote to Collins regarding Lynch and the Friends of Irish Freedom:
"I am sorry to say that Diarmuid supports the Judge's stand with the results that we cannot secure from the FOIF proper co-operation as Lynch is the Executive Secretary and he refuses absolutely to do anything with which the Judge may disagree'
Eileen McGough 'Diarmuid Lynch A Forgotten Irish Patriot' Mercier Press 2013. p124 De Valera Papers UCDA P150/1125
In London, police are informed that their horses will shortly be replaced by cars.
Berlin: A woman named Anna Anderson tries to commit suicide but is rescued and taken to a mental hospital, where she claims she is Grand Duchess Anastasia of Russia
18
Washington: Robert Lansing tendered his resignation to President Woodrow Wilson as United States Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. The resignation came before the Secretary of State’s anticipated dismissal. In his letter of resignation, Lansing stated that since January 1919 the president had not been disposed to welcoming his advice. He also denied attempting to usurp the president’s authority – this is a reference to actions taken by the Lansing during Wilson’s illness where he called the heads of the executive departments together in conference, an action he was not entitled to take by law. Mr Lansing insisted that he never thought of acting unconstitutionally and he assured the president of his loyalty.
Wilson, responding to the resignation, stated that while he was in Paris last year he had developed a feeling, which has only intensified since, that Mr Lansing accepted instructions ‘only with increasing reluctance’ and he has noticed a number of occasions when Lansing ‘apparently tried to forestall my judgement by formulating action, merely asking my approval when it was impossible for me to form an independent judgement, because I had not the opportunity to examine the circumstances with any degree of independence.’
Never before in US history, the Irish Times has observed, has a Secretary of State ‘been relieved of his office in so summary a manner’.
Lansing was the first cabinet member to suggest that Vice President Thomas R. Marshall assume the powers of the presidency. Displeased by Lansing's independence, the President's wife, Edith Wilson, acting 'on behalf of the President' requested Lansing's resignation. After leaving office, Lansing resumed practicing law. He died in New York City on October 30, 1928, and was buried at Brookside Cemetery in Watertown, New York
The disruption in American politics came amid growing concerns that the United States might withdraw the Treaty of Versailles from the Senate and renounce its European relief work. These most recent fears were the result of Allied attempts to resolve the situation that has developed over the future of territories along the Adriatic coast in such a way as would undermine the principles of self-determination that he has championed over the last few years.
President Wilson was known to be strongly opposed to the views of Britain, France and Italy in relation to the Adriatic settlement, and the prospect of his leading an American withdrawal from European affairs would, the Irish Times has suggested, ‘be a world calamity. We believe that the whole future of civilisation depends on the intimate co-operation of the greatest Empire and the greatest Republic, with their double bond of common ideals and a common language.’
The Cork Examiner has wondered why, given the interest now expressed by Wilson on the situation in the Adriatic, he is ‘silent regarding Ireland’? The newspaper states that the president is opening himself up to taunts at home should he reappear on the European stage as the champion of the Jugo-Slavs when he ‘has no word to say for the little nation which helped to make the American Republic what it is today.’
Mrs. Wilson's role in the White House was somewhat controversial and it is believed that in effect, she was the first woman President & un-elected President of the United States between Wilson's incapacitating stroke in 1919 and completion of his term in 1921:
Edith Wilson and others in the President's inner circle hid the true extent of the President's illness and disability from the American public. Edith also took over a number of routine duties and details of the Executive branch of the government from the onset of Wilson's illness until he left office almost a year and a half later. From October 1919 to the end of Wilson's term on March 4, 1921, Edith, acting in the role of First Lady and shadow steward, decided who and which communications and matters of state were important enough to bring to the bedridden president. Edith Wilson later wrote: "I studied every paper sent from the different Secretaries or Senators and tried to digest and present in tabloid form the things that, despite my vigilance, had to go to the President. I, myself, never made a single decision regarding the disposition of public affairs. The only decision that was mine was what was important and what was not, and the very important decision of when to present matters to my husband." Edith became the sole communication link between the President and his Cabinet. She required they send her all pressing matters, memos, correspondence, questions, and requests.
Edith took her role very seriously, even successfully pushing for the removal of Secretary of State Robert Lansing after he conducted a series of Cabinet meetings without the President (or Edith herself) present. She also refused to allow the U.S. to accept the credentials of a foreign representative unless he would dismiss an aide who was known to have made demeaning comments about her. She assisted President Wilson in filling out paperwork, and would often add new notes or suggestions. She was made privy to classified information, and was entrusted with the responsibility of encoding and decoding encrypted messages. Additionally, Edith Wilson became the first First Lady to travel to Europe during her term. Wilson's presence alongside other royal women and women of power in Europe propelled the position of First Lady to an equivalent standing in international politics.
Dr. Howard Markel, a medical historian, has taken issue with Edith Wilson's claim of a benign "stewardship". Markel has opined that Edith Wilson "was, essentially, the nation's chief executive until her husband's second term concluded in March of 1921". While a widow of moderate education for her time, she nevertheless attempted to protect her husband and his legacy, if not the presidency, even if it meant exceeding her role as First Lady.
Washington: Robert Lansing tendered his resignation to President Woodrow Wilson as United States Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. The resignation came before the Secretary of State’s anticipated dismissal. In his letter of resignation, Lansing stated that since January 1919 the president had not been disposed to welcoming his advice. He also denied attempting to usurp the president’s authority – this is a reference to actions taken by the Lansing during Wilson’s illness where he called the heads of the executive departments together in conference, an action he was not entitled to take by law. Mr Lansing insisted that he never thought of acting unconstitutionally and he assured the president of his loyalty.
Wilson, responding to the resignation, stated that while he was in Paris last year he had developed a feeling, which has only intensified since, that Mr Lansing accepted instructions ‘only with increasing reluctance’ and he has noticed a number of occasions when Lansing ‘apparently tried to forestall my judgement by formulating action, merely asking my approval when it was impossible for me to form an independent judgement, because I had not the opportunity to examine the circumstances with any degree of independence.’
Never before in US history, the Irish Times has observed, has a Secretary of State ‘been relieved of his office in so summary a manner’.
Lansing was the first cabinet member to suggest that Vice President Thomas R. Marshall assume the powers of the presidency. Displeased by Lansing's independence, the President's wife, Edith Wilson, acting 'on behalf of the President' requested Lansing's resignation. After leaving office, Lansing resumed practicing law. He died in New York City on October 30, 1928, and was buried at Brookside Cemetery in Watertown, New York
The disruption in American politics came amid growing concerns that the United States might withdraw the Treaty of Versailles from the Senate and renounce its European relief work. These most recent fears were the result of Allied attempts to resolve the situation that has developed over the future of territories along the Adriatic coast in such a way as would undermine the principles of self-determination that he has championed over the last few years.
President Wilson was known to be strongly opposed to the views of Britain, France and Italy in relation to the Adriatic settlement, and the prospect of his leading an American withdrawal from European affairs would, the Irish Times has suggested, ‘be a world calamity. We believe that the whole future of civilisation depends on the intimate co-operation of the greatest Empire and the greatest Republic, with their double bond of common ideals and a common language.’
The Cork Examiner has wondered why, given the interest now expressed by Wilson on the situation in the Adriatic, he is ‘silent regarding Ireland’? The newspaper states that the president is opening himself up to taunts at home should he reappear on the European stage as the champion of the Jugo-Slavs when he ‘has no word to say for the little nation which helped to make the American Republic what it is today.’
Mrs. Wilson's role in the White House was somewhat controversial and it is believed that in effect, she was the first woman President & un-elected President of the United States between Wilson's incapacitating stroke in 1919 and completion of his term in 1921:
Edith Wilson and others in the President's inner circle hid the true extent of the President's illness and disability from the American public. Edith also took over a number of routine duties and details of the Executive branch of the government from the onset of Wilson's illness until he left office almost a year and a half later. From October 1919 to the end of Wilson's term on March 4, 1921, Edith, acting in the role of First Lady and shadow steward, decided who and which communications and matters of state were important enough to bring to the bedridden president. Edith Wilson later wrote: "I studied every paper sent from the different Secretaries or Senators and tried to digest and present in tabloid form the things that, despite my vigilance, had to go to the President. I, myself, never made a single decision regarding the disposition of public affairs. The only decision that was mine was what was important and what was not, and the very important decision of when to present matters to my husband." Edith became the sole communication link between the President and his Cabinet. She required they send her all pressing matters, memos, correspondence, questions, and requests.
Edith took her role very seriously, even successfully pushing for the removal of Secretary of State Robert Lansing after he conducted a series of Cabinet meetings without the President (or Edith herself) present. She also refused to allow the U.S. to accept the credentials of a foreign representative unless he would dismiss an aide who was known to have made demeaning comments about her. She assisted President Wilson in filling out paperwork, and would often add new notes or suggestions. She was made privy to classified information, and was entrusted with the responsibility of encoding and decoding encrypted messages. Additionally, Edith Wilson became the first First Lady to travel to Europe during her term. Wilson's presence alongside other royal women and women of power in Europe propelled the position of First Lady to an equivalent standing in international politics.
Dr. Howard Markel, a medical historian, has taken issue with Edith Wilson's claim of a benign "stewardship". Markel has opined that Edith Wilson "was, essentially, the nation's chief executive until her husband's second term concluded in March of 1921". While a widow of moderate education for her time, she nevertheless attempted to protect her husband and his legacy, if not the presidency, even if it meant exceeding her role as First Lady.
19
London: Conservative leader A.J.Balfour warned that including the three Ulster counties that held nationalist majorities would ‘reproduce on a small scale all the troubles we have had at Westminster during the forty years between the advent of Parnell on the political stage in 1878 and the blessed refusal of the Sinn Feiners to take the oath of allegiance in 1918..’
Liz Curtis ‘The Cause of Ireland – from the United Irishmen to Partition’. Beyond the Pale, Belfast 1994. p319
London: Conservative leader A.J.Balfour warned that including the three Ulster counties that held nationalist majorities would ‘reproduce on a small scale all the troubles we have had at Westminster during the forty years between the advent of Parnell on the political stage in 1878 and the blessed refusal of the Sinn Feiners to take the oath of allegiance in 1918..’
Liz Curtis ‘The Cause of Ireland – from the United Irishmen to Partition’. Beyond the Pale, Belfast 1994. p319
20
New York: With battle lines drawn, de Valera's line of defence was not against the Gaelic American but in an attack on Cohalan in a letter personally delivered by Harry Boland. As Tim Pat Coogan put it:
“..the de Valera - Cohalan exchange also shows how de Valera had arrogated to himself the divine right of kings where decision taking was concerned in all matters Irish, and how, per contra, Irish Americans saw their role. ..( by writing to Cohalan he made it clear that he expected the Judge and the policy of the Gaelic American to be subordinate to his wishes.) .. he wrote:
“ Dear Judge Cohalan.
After mature consideration, I have decided that to continue to ignore the articles in the Gaelic American would result in injury to the cause that I have been sent here to promote. The articles themselves are, of course, the least matter. It is the evident purpose behind them, and the general attitude of mind they reveal, that is the menace.
I am answerable to the Irish people for the proper execution of the trust which I have been charged. I am definitely responsible to them, and I alone am responsible. It is my obvious duty to select such instruments as may be available for the task set me. It is my duty to superintend every important step in the execution of that task. I may not blindly delegate those duties to anyone whomsoever I cannot divest myself of these responsibilities.
I see added force being applied, day by day, to the power end of the great lever of the American public, with which I hope to accomplish my purpose. I must satisfy myself as to the temper of the other end of the lever.
The articles in the Gaelic American and certain incidents that have resulted from them, give me grounds for the fear that, in a moment of stress, the point of the lever would fail me. I am led to understand that these articles in the Gaelic American have your consent and approval. Is this so?
The Friends of Irish Freedom Organisation is an association of American citizens, founded to assist the Irish people in securing the freedom the Irish people desire. By its name, and by its constitution, it is pledged to aid in securing recognition for the established Republic. I am convinced it is ready to co-operate to the full with the responsible head of the Republic, who has been sent here specially for that recognition.
You are the officer of the Friends of Irish Freedom, who, de facto, wields unchallenged the executive power of that organisation. You are the officer through whom its several resources are in the main applied. You are the officer who has accepted its most important commission, and spoken, note merely in its name, but in the name of the whole Irish race in America. It is vital that I know exactly how you stand in the matter.
The whole question is urgent, and I expect you will find it possible to let me have a reply by Monday. To avoid any chance of miscarriage, I am having this delivered by Mr. Boland, personally.
I remain, very sincerely yours,
Eamon de Valera. “
No matter how sincerely he remained, Coahalan decided that de Valera was not going to be allowed to turn an exercise in damage limitation over the Cuban gaffe into an onslaught on him, and he sent back a devastating reply (of 1001 words) which de Valera made no reply to (delivered the same day, 20 February 1919):
“Dear President de Valera,
Your communication dated February 20th, was handed to me by Mr. Boland on Saturday afternoon.
I was amazed at its contents. In spite of its tone, and because of the position which you occupy, I am responding to it.
The Gaelic American is edited, as you know, by Mr John Devoy, for whose opinions and convictions I entertain the highest respect. I control neither him nor them.
That he has the right to comment upon, or discuss your public utterances, or those of any man who speaks for a cause of a people, I assume you will grant. In any event, it is recognised by all Americans as one of our fundamental liberties. We have no law of lese-majeste here, nor as far as I can judge, is there talk of having one in the democratic and free Ireland in which we believe.
Into any controversy you may have with Mr. Devoy, or others I refuse to be drawn. may I venture to suggest that you evidently labour under a serious misapprehension as to the relations which exist between you and me. I know no reason why you take the trouble to tell me that you can share your responsibility to the Irish people with no one.
I would not let you share it with me, if you sought to do so. That is a matter between them and you.
What I have done for the cause of independence of the Irish people, recently and for many years past, I have done as an American, whose only allegiance is to America, and as one to whom the interest and security of my country are ever to be preferred to those of any and all other lands. What the extent and effect of that work may be will be decided by the members of the Race and by general public opinion.
I have no appointment from you or any other spokesman for another country, nor would I under any circumstances accept one. So long, and just so long as I can continue to work thus, I shall exercise such influence and talent as I may have in the same way and for the same ideals as in the past. The people of Ireland have placed themselves unequivocally upon record as favouring complete independence for their country, and, unless and until they by vote reverse that decision, I shall regard it as final, no matter what any man or set of men may say to the contrary.
With their demand for independence I am confident all Americans will finally agree, and it is not alone just, but in line with
the ideals and best interests of our country, and is essential to the permanent peace of the world, that all nations and peoples should be free.
If Ireland were to change her position, and to seek a measure of self- government that would align her in the future with England, every loyal American will without hesitation take a position unreservedly upon the side of America.
A British Monroe Doctrine, that would make Ireland an ally of England, and this buttress the falling British Empire, so as to further oppress India and Egypt and other subject lands would be so immoral, and so utterly at variance with the ideals and traditions of the people, as to be indefensible to them as it would be intolerable to the liberty-loving peoples of the world.
I believe the people of Ireland were in deadly earnest in declaring for absolute independence, and no voice but that of the people themselves can convince me that they intend to take a position which will put them
in hostility to America.
Should they, however, take such a step - as a free people undoubtedly have the right to do so - I know the millions of Americans of Irish blood, who have created this great movement in favour of Ireland's independence, which you found here on your arrival, will once again show with practical unanimity that we are for America as against the world.
Are you not in great danger of making a grave mistake when you talk in your communication of selecting ‘instruments’ in this country and of ‘levers’ and ‘power end’ and ‘other end of lever’ through which you hope to accomplish your purpose here?
Do you really think for a moment that American public opinion will permit any citizen of another country to interfere, as you suggest, in American affairs?
Do you think that any self-respecting American will permit himself to be used in such a manner by you? If so, may I assure you that you are woefully out of touch with the spirit of the country in which you are sojourning.
You point out that I have on occasion been called upon to speak, not merely in the name of the Friends of Irish Freedom but in the name of the whole Irish race in America. May I call your attention to the fact that it was always as an American, and for my countrymen, that I spoke?
You might have added that at those times, as at others, I have said nothing that took from the self-respect
or dignity of those whom I represented, or that left any doubt upon my hearers that I believed many millions of American sympathised with tat demand of the people of Ireland for absolute independence, which you came here to voice.
I respectfully suggest in closing, that you would be well advised if you hesitate before you jeopardise
or imperil that solidarity of opinion, and unity of action, among millions of American citizens, which you found here amongst us when you cam, which have been the despair of England’s friends, and have already accomplished so much for America and Ireland.
Those millions do not desire to see a return of the conditions which, under the late Mr.. Redmond, made political activities in Ireland a football in English party politics.
Yours very truly,
Daniel F Cohalan.
After receiving Cohalan’s reply, de Valera ordered McCartan back to Dublin to explain his position to the Cabinet. He also sent Griffith a copy of Cohalan’s letter, complaining that it was ‘wilful misrepresentation of my attitude’ the work of a ‘tricky police court lawyer’ to whom he could not send the reply that the letter merited because it might harm relationships between them to a point where they could not work together.
Tim Pat Coogan “De Valera, Long Fellow, Long Shadow” Hutchinson, London. 1993. p161-165.
De Valera in his 1970 official biography only allocates 20 of his original 428 word missive to Cohalan.
‘I am led to understand that these articles in the Gaelic American have your consent and approval. Is this so?..’
and that he soon realised ‘he was unwise to have written this letter as it gave Cohalan an opportunity to reply. Cohalan, in a stinging letter, avoided the question which was put to him’
In his letter of explanation to the Cabinet taken to Ireland by McCartan , de Valera wrote ‘ Our first clash came about the bonds. He pooh-poohed the idea of bonds in any shape…then I wanted to be let into the political steps which he was going to take…he didn’t want me to go near the political end at all – anyhow the rift was developing. I did my best to stop it…’ and as to the possibility that de Valera would be seen as a puppet ‘pulled into line by the great Irish American leader: ‘The moment that the Judge can make it appear, or anyone else can make it appear that I am definitely under their thumb, then good bye to any effective work we can do’
Longford & O’Neill. “Eamon de Valera “ Hutchinson, London.1970. p107
In Dublin, DMP Constable John Walsh (37) was shot dead at the corner of Suffolk and Grafton Street. The was followed by seven arrests and a curfew order for the hours of Midnight and 5am to take effect from 23rd February. These curfews were imposed in many cities and towns, and allowed for night raiding of suspected and known Republicans.
The Newsletter had a bone to pick with the paper of the Texas State Teachers Association which had placed ‘the false religious issue into a discussion of the Irish situation’ and invited members of the Association to write for ‘an unbiased study of Ireland’s case for independence’.
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – No. 34, February 20, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Movies proved a new medium for many, but the Newsletter commented on what took place in the Sun Theatre, San Francisco when it attempted to show ‘Kathleen Mavourneen’. ‘Nothwithstanding the fat that a protest had been registered prior to the performance, no change was made in the film. Several young men in the audience took a hand in the matter and put the operating machines out of business. The usual stage trick of showing farm animals ‘in the parlour’ was depicted’.
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – No. 34, February 20, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
New York: With battle lines drawn, de Valera's line of defence was not against the Gaelic American but in an attack on Cohalan in a letter personally delivered by Harry Boland. As Tim Pat Coogan put it:
“..the de Valera - Cohalan exchange also shows how de Valera had arrogated to himself the divine right of kings where decision taking was concerned in all matters Irish, and how, per contra, Irish Americans saw their role. ..( by writing to Cohalan he made it clear that he expected the Judge and the policy of the Gaelic American to be subordinate to his wishes.) .. he wrote:
“ Dear Judge Cohalan.
After mature consideration, I have decided that to continue to ignore the articles in the Gaelic American would result in injury to the cause that I have been sent here to promote. The articles themselves are, of course, the least matter. It is the evident purpose behind them, and the general attitude of mind they reveal, that is the menace.
I am answerable to the Irish people for the proper execution of the trust which I have been charged. I am definitely responsible to them, and I alone am responsible. It is my obvious duty to select such instruments as may be available for the task set me. It is my duty to superintend every important step in the execution of that task. I may not blindly delegate those duties to anyone whomsoever I cannot divest myself of these responsibilities.
I see added force being applied, day by day, to the power end of the great lever of the American public, with which I hope to accomplish my purpose. I must satisfy myself as to the temper of the other end of the lever.
The articles in the Gaelic American and certain incidents that have resulted from them, give me grounds for the fear that, in a moment of stress, the point of the lever would fail me. I am led to understand that these articles in the Gaelic American have your consent and approval. Is this so?
The Friends of Irish Freedom Organisation is an association of American citizens, founded to assist the Irish people in securing the freedom the Irish people desire. By its name, and by its constitution, it is pledged to aid in securing recognition for the established Republic. I am convinced it is ready to co-operate to the full with the responsible head of the Republic, who has been sent here specially for that recognition.
You are the officer of the Friends of Irish Freedom, who, de facto, wields unchallenged the executive power of that organisation. You are the officer through whom its several resources are in the main applied. You are the officer who has accepted its most important commission, and spoken, note merely in its name, but in the name of the whole Irish race in America. It is vital that I know exactly how you stand in the matter.
The whole question is urgent, and I expect you will find it possible to let me have a reply by Monday. To avoid any chance of miscarriage, I am having this delivered by Mr. Boland, personally.
I remain, very sincerely yours,
Eamon de Valera. “
No matter how sincerely he remained, Coahalan decided that de Valera was not going to be allowed to turn an exercise in damage limitation over the Cuban gaffe into an onslaught on him, and he sent back a devastating reply (of 1001 words) which de Valera made no reply to (delivered the same day, 20 February 1919):
“Dear President de Valera,
Your communication dated February 20th, was handed to me by Mr. Boland on Saturday afternoon.
I was amazed at its contents. In spite of its tone, and because of the position which you occupy, I am responding to it.
The Gaelic American is edited, as you know, by Mr John Devoy, for whose opinions and convictions I entertain the highest respect. I control neither him nor them.
That he has the right to comment upon, or discuss your public utterances, or those of any man who speaks for a cause of a people, I assume you will grant. In any event, it is recognised by all Americans as one of our fundamental liberties. We have no law of lese-majeste here, nor as far as I can judge, is there talk of having one in the democratic and free Ireland in which we believe.
Into any controversy you may have with Mr. Devoy, or others I refuse to be drawn. may I venture to suggest that you evidently labour under a serious misapprehension as to the relations which exist between you and me. I know no reason why you take the trouble to tell me that you can share your responsibility to the Irish people with no one.
I would not let you share it with me, if you sought to do so. That is a matter between them and you.
What I have done for the cause of independence of the Irish people, recently and for many years past, I have done as an American, whose only allegiance is to America, and as one to whom the interest and security of my country are ever to be preferred to those of any and all other lands. What the extent and effect of that work may be will be decided by the members of the Race and by general public opinion.
I have no appointment from you or any other spokesman for another country, nor would I under any circumstances accept one. So long, and just so long as I can continue to work thus, I shall exercise such influence and talent as I may have in the same way and for the same ideals as in the past. The people of Ireland have placed themselves unequivocally upon record as favouring complete independence for their country, and, unless and until they by vote reverse that decision, I shall regard it as final, no matter what any man or set of men may say to the contrary.
With their demand for independence I am confident all Americans will finally agree, and it is not alone just, but in line with
the ideals and best interests of our country, and is essential to the permanent peace of the world, that all nations and peoples should be free.
If Ireland were to change her position, and to seek a measure of self- government that would align her in the future with England, every loyal American will without hesitation take a position unreservedly upon the side of America.
A British Monroe Doctrine, that would make Ireland an ally of England, and this buttress the falling British Empire, so as to further oppress India and Egypt and other subject lands would be so immoral, and so utterly at variance with the ideals and traditions of the people, as to be indefensible to them as it would be intolerable to the liberty-loving peoples of the world.
I believe the people of Ireland were in deadly earnest in declaring for absolute independence, and no voice but that of the people themselves can convince me that they intend to take a position which will put them
in hostility to America.
Should they, however, take such a step - as a free people undoubtedly have the right to do so - I know the millions of Americans of Irish blood, who have created this great movement in favour of Ireland's independence, which you found here on your arrival, will once again show with practical unanimity that we are for America as against the world.
Are you not in great danger of making a grave mistake when you talk in your communication of selecting ‘instruments’ in this country and of ‘levers’ and ‘power end’ and ‘other end of lever’ through which you hope to accomplish your purpose here?
Do you really think for a moment that American public opinion will permit any citizen of another country to interfere, as you suggest, in American affairs?
Do you think that any self-respecting American will permit himself to be used in such a manner by you? If so, may I assure you that you are woefully out of touch with the spirit of the country in which you are sojourning.
You point out that I have on occasion been called upon to speak, not merely in the name of the Friends of Irish Freedom but in the name of the whole Irish race in America. May I call your attention to the fact that it was always as an American, and for my countrymen, that I spoke?
You might have added that at those times, as at others, I have said nothing that took from the self-respect
or dignity of those whom I represented, or that left any doubt upon my hearers that I believed many millions of American sympathised with tat demand of the people of Ireland for absolute independence, which you came here to voice.
I respectfully suggest in closing, that you would be well advised if you hesitate before you jeopardise
or imperil that solidarity of opinion, and unity of action, among millions of American citizens, which you found here amongst us when you cam, which have been the despair of England’s friends, and have already accomplished so much for America and Ireland.
Those millions do not desire to see a return of the conditions which, under the late Mr.. Redmond, made political activities in Ireland a football in English party politics.
Yours very truly,
Daniel F Cohalan.
After receiving Cohalan’s reply, de Valera ordered McCartan back to Dublin to explain his position to the Cabinet. He also sent Griffith a copy of Cohalan’s letter, complaining that it was ‘wilful misrepresentation of my attitude’ the work of a ‘tricky police court lawyer’ to whom he could not send the reply that the letter merited because it might harm relationships between them to a point where they could not work together.
Tim Pat Coogan “De Valera, Long Fellow, Long Shadow” Hutchinson, London. 1993. p161-165.
De Valera in his 1970 official biography only allocates 20 of his original 428 word missive to Cohalan.
‘I am led to understand that these articles in the Gaelic American have your consent and approval. Is this so?..’
and that he soon realised ‘he was unwise to have written this letter as it gave Cohalan an opportunity to reply. Cohalan, in a stinging letter, avoided the question which was put to him’
In his letter of explanation to the Cabinet taken to Ireland by McCartan , de Valera wrote ‘ Our first clash came about the bonds. He pooh-poohed the idea of bonds in any shape…then I wanted to be let into the political steps which he was going to take…he didn’t want me to go near the political end at all – anyhow the rift was developing. I did my best to stop it…’ and as to the possibility that de Valera would be seen as a puppet ‘pulled into line by the great Irish American leader: ‘The moment that the Judge can make it appear, or anyone else can make it appear that I am definitely under their thumb, then good bye to any effective work we can do’
Longford & O’Neill. “Eamon de Valera “ Hutchinson, London.1970. p107
In Dublin, DMP Constable John Walsh (37) was shot dead at the corner of Suffolk and Grafton Street. The was followed by seven arrests and a curfew order for the hours of Midnight and 5am to take effect from 23rd February. These curfews were imposed in many cities and towns, and allowed for night raiding of suspected and known Republicans.
The Newsletter had a bone to pick with the paper of the Texas State Teachers Association which had placed ‘the false religious issue into a discussion of the Irish situation’ and invited members of the Association to write for ‘an unbiased study of Ireland’s case for independence’.
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – No. 34, February 20, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Movies proved a new medium for many, but the Newsletter commented on what took place in the Sun Theatre, San Francisco when it attempted to show ‘Kathleen Mavourneen’. ‘Nothwithstanding the fat that a protest had been registered prior to the performance, no change was made in the film. Several young men in the audience took a hand in the matter and put the operating machines out of business. The usual stage trick of showing farm animals ‘in the parlour’ was depicted’.
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – No. 34, February 20, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
21
John Devoy and the Gaelic American now swung in for a broadside on the De Valera interview with the Westminster Gazette. Though printing de Valera’s statement, Devoy citing the 1906 incident where the US army was sent to Cuba to restore order under the authority of the Platt Amendment, commented:
‘study of the facts will hardly recommend the Platt Amendment as a model on which to readjust the relations between England and Ireland. The spirit of justice and fair dealing which animates the American people has never characterised the English...such powers in the hands of the British Government would certainly be abused...I am told I attacked President De Valera. I did not do any such thing. What I said was mild, fair and friendly criticism of a public proposition involving the vital interests of the Irish National Cause, on which every Irishman has a right to express an opinion..’
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.362
And further quoted in de Valera’s biography ‘ You canot cite the Platt Amendment without bringing in the whole text of it, which gives the United States rights in Cuba which it would be suicidal to give to England in Ireland … when a part of a document is offered in evidence in court, or in negotiations, the whole document becomes a subject for consideration’.
On this somewhat specious argument, de Valera commented that acceptance of the first of the ‘Thirty Nine Articles’ did not make him a Protestant.
Longford & O’Neill. “Eamon de Valera “ Hutchinson, London.1970. p105
Tansill commented that ‘de Valera realised he was in a tight spot. Without consulting anyone, he had stated in a public interview that Ireland would be willing to have the British Government settle the Irish Question by an arrangement closely modeled upon the Platt Amendment…then to draw a red herring across this hot trail, he immediately made a bitter attack upon Judge Cohalan.’
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.363
Deputy RIC Inspector General Walsh issued a circular on the subject of RIC members supplying misleading information:
‘It has been said and suggested in the House of Commons that some Police reports are not true and are intended to mislead. The Chief Secretary regards this as incredible but he desires to make it clear that if any policemen, no matter what his rank, makes any report intended to mislead his authorities, he will be dismissed from the Force and lose all pension and other rights.’
R.I.C. circular, ‘Alleged false police reports’, 21 Feb. 1921 (T.N.A., HO 184/126).
John Devoy and the Gaelic American now swung in for a broadside on the De Valera interview with the Westminster Gazette. Though printing de Valera’s statement, Devoy citing the 1906 incident where the US army was sent to Cuba to restore order under the authority of the Platt Amendment, commented:
‘study of the facts will hardly recommend the Platt Amendment as a model on which to readjust the relations between England and Ireland. The spirit of justice and fair dealing which animates the American people has never characterised the English...such powers in the hands of the British Government would certainly be abused...I am told I attacked President De Valera. I did not do any such thing. What I said was mild, fair and friendly criticism of a public proposition involving the vital interests of the Irish National Cause, on which every Irishman has a right to express an opinion..’
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.362
And further quoted in de Valera’s biography ‘ You canot cite the Platt Amendment without bringing in the whole text of it, which gives the United States rights in Cuba which it would be suicidal to give to England in Ireland … when a part of a document is offered in evidence in court, or in negotiations, the whole document becomes a subject for consideration’.
On this somewhat specious argument, de Valera commented that acceptance of the first of the ‘Thirty Nine Articles’ did not make him a Protestant.
Longford & O’Neill. “Eamon de Valera “ Hutchinson, London.1970. p105
Tansill commented that ‘de Valera realised he was in a tight spot. Without consulting anyone, he had stated in a public interview that Ireland would be willing to have the British Government settle the Irish Question by an arrangement closely modeled upon the Platt Amendment…then to draw a red herring across this hot trail, he immediately made a bitter attack upon Judge Cohalan.’
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.363
Deputy RIC Inspector General Walsh issued a circular on the subject of RIC members supplying misleading information:
‘It has been said and suggested in the House of Commons that some Police reports are not true and are intended to mislead. The Chief Secretary regards this as incredible but he desires to make it clear that if any policemen, no matter what his rank, makes any report intended to mislead his authorities, he will be dismissed from the Force and lose all pension and other rights.’
R.I.C. circular, ‘Alleged false police reports’, 21 Feb. 1921 (T.N.A., HO 184/126).
22
In Emeryville, California, the first dog racing track to employ an imitation rabbit opens.
War Secretary Winston Churchill announces that conscripts will be replaced by a volunteer army of 220,000 men.
In Emeryville, California, the first dog racing track to employ an imitation rabbit opens.
War Secretary Winston Churchill announces that conscripts will be replaced by a volunteer army of 220,000 men.
23
24
London: The Cabinet finally committed itself to the six country Northern Ireland Government plan. Meanwhile, Churchill, speaking in the House of Commons stated that to maintain order in Ireland, over 45,000 troops would need to be retained in Ireland.
The Supreme Council of the Allies met in London and the first item on the agenda was Russia. The council, of which British Prime Minister, David Lloyd George, was the principal figure, agreed that in view of past experiences, the Allies were not in a position to open up diplomatic relations until such time as the ‘Bolshevist horrors’ ended and the government in Moscow is ‘ready to conform its efforts and diplomatic conduct to those of all civilised governments.’
The British and Swiss governments had already expelled the representatives of the Soviet government from their respective countries. Furthermore, the Allies stated that they would be prepared to provide support to independent countries bordering Soviet Russia in the event that their belligerent Bolshevik neighbour were to attack them inside their legitimate frontiers. Despite this, the council insisted that commerce between Russia and the rest of Europe, vital to the economic interests of the whole world, will be encouraged ‘to the utmost degree possible’.
The Irish Times discouraged by the Allies’ willingness to form diplomatic links under any circumstances, arguing that Bolshevism is less a form of government than a disease. The paper further suggested that the council's policy has reduced political morality to a low ebb.
‘Once a murderer, always a murderer; and if Lenin and Trotsky were to put an end to their orgy of blood, they would not be one whit less guilty than they are today. Do the Allies intend to throw their vaunted ‘principles’ to the winds, and embrace the blood-stained forms of the Moscow terrorists?’
The statement, the paper continued amounts to ‘a declaration that Bolshevism has justified its existence – that its propagators must not be molested because they are in a position to supply the Allies with cargoes of corn.’
New York: John Devoy wrote to Judge Cohalan a brief note dealing with Harry Boland.
‘ The News this morning has another screed, evidently given out by Harry. He tries to cover his tracks by saying he has nothing to say - after saying it...Cunningham will give you the Philadelphia record with McCartan inspired editorial commending De Valera for getting rid of you and me. I wonder what political job do I hold? I would like to get the salary.’
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.365
In Munich, ‘an extremist political group calling itself the National Socialist German Worker’s Party’ published a programme for creating a Third German Reich and campaigning against the Versailles agreement as well as Jewish and Capitalist influences on German Society. A 31 year old spokesman of the party addressed the 2,000 members at the Hofbrauhaus in Munich announcing the 25 point program. The spokesman was a former German Army Corporal, named Adolf Hitler. ‘He is said to be practising public speaking’.
London: The Cabinet finally committed itself to the six country Northern Ireland Government plan. Meanwhile, Churchill, speaking in the House of Commons stated that to maintain order in Ireland, over 45,000 troops would need to be retained in Ireland.
The Supreme Council of the Allies met in London and the first item on the agenda was Russia. The council, of which British Prime Minister, David Lloyd George, was the principal figure, agreed that in view of past experiences, the Allies were not in a position to open up diplomatic relations until such time as the ‘Bolshevist horrors’ ended and the government in Moscow is ‘ready to conform its efforts and diplomatic conduct to those of all civilised governments.’
The British and Swiss governments had already expelled the representatives of the Soviet government from their respective countries. Furthermore, the Allies stated that they would be prepared to provide support to independent countries bordering Soviet Russia in the event that their belligerent Bolshevik neighbour were to attack them inside their legitimate frontiers. Despite this, the council insisted that commerce between Russia and the rest of Europe, vital to the economic interests of the whole world, will be encouraged ‘to the utmost degree possible’.
The Irish Times discouraged by the Allies’ willingness to form diplomatic links under any circumstances, arguing that Bolshevism is less a form of government than a disease. The paper further suggested that the council's policy has reduced political morality to a low ebb.
‘Once a murderer, always a murderer; and if Lenin and Trotsky were to put an end to their orgy of blood, they would not be one whit less guilty than they are today. Do the Allies intend to throw their vaunted ‘principles’ to the winds, and embrace the blood-stained forms of the Moscow terrorists?’
The statement, the paper continued amounts to ‘a declaration that Bolshevism has justified its existence – that its propagators must not be molested because they are in a position to supply the Allies with cargoes of corn.’
New York: John Devoy wrote to Judge Cohalan a brief note dealing with Harry Boland.
‘ The News this morning has another screed, evidently given out by Harry. He tries to cover his tracks by saying he has nothing to say - after saying it...Cunningham will give you the Philadelphia record with McCartan inspired editorial commending De Valera for getting rid of you and me. I wonder what political job do I hold? I would like to get the salary.’
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.365
In Munich, ‘an extremist political group calling itself the National Socialist German Worker’s Party’ published a programme for creating a Third German Reich and campaigning against the Versailles agreement as well as Jewish and Capitalist influences on German Society. A 31 year old spokesman of the party addressed the 2,000 members at the Hofbrauhaus in Munich announcing the 25 point program. The spokesman was a former German Army Corporal, named Adolf Hitler. ‘He is said to be practising public speaking’.
Timothy 'Henry' Quinlisk (above newsclipping) was born in Wexford in 1895 and lived there until his family moved to Waterford, where he joined the Royal Irish Regiment in 1911. Captured by German troops in October 1914, he became a prisoner of war in Limburg and was recruited to join Casement’s Irish Brigade, a brigade consisting of Irish prisoners of war training to fight against Britain, in Germany in December of the same year. With the failure of the Rising, Quinlisk remained a POW and returned to Ireland after the end of the War in 1918 and joined Sinn Fein. Because of his membership in the Irish Brigade, he was denied back pay for the time of his imprisonment in Germany which was made to other prisoners. Some historians believe Michael Collins helped him financially but Quinlisk was somewhat profligate, gambling funds given by Collins.
After one too many losses, Collins refused to finance him any longer and so Quinnlisk decided to inform on Collins shortly after Dublin Castle declared the first Dail illegal and posted a reward of £10,000 for the capture of Collins ‘dead or alive’.
Below: Quinlisk's letter of 11 November 1919 to the Under Secretary in Dublin Castle offering to betray Collins to British forces in late 1919. (Thanks to Adams, Dublin)
After one too many losses, Collins refused to finance him any longer and so Quinnlisk decided to inform on Collins shortly after Dublin Castle declared the first Dail illegal and posted a reward of £10,000 for the capture of Collins ‘dead or alive’.
Below: Quinlisk's letter of 11 November 1919 to the Under Secretary in Dublin Castle offering to betray Collins to British forces in late 1919. (Thanks to Adams, Dublin)
“Sir, I have been forced by circumstances to write to you.
I would have come personally but if I were seen entering the castle my life would perhaps afterward be in danger. I was the man who assisted Casement in Germany, and in coming home I have been connected with Sinn Fein. I have decided to tell all I know of that organization and my information would be of use to the authorities. The scoundrel Michael Collins has treated me scurvily and I now am going to wash my hands of the whole business. If you accept my offer, please send a man, one who can be trusted, to the above address tomorrow evening at four o’clock. I am living there under the name of Quin.
I am yours faithfully.
H. Quinlisk
late Cpl Royal Irish Regiment.”
(Quinlisk’s letter up until 2013 had been only briefly referred to in two historical accounts (Piaras Béaslaí published a full facsimile photograph of the one-page letter in his 1926 biography of Collins) but the location of the original was unknown. The letter resurfaced in 2012 after it turned up in the private papers of woman with connections to Cumman na mBan, the women’s organisation that participated in the Easter Rising, the Irish War for Independence, and fought with the anti-Treaty Republican forces during the Irish Civil War. The letter was sold at auction in 2013.)
Quinlisk's letter of betrayal was intercepted & copied at Dublin Castle by Collins' contact, Ned Broy.
Shortly afterwards, the letter was delivered and Quinnlisk was brought to G Division headquarters of the Dublin Metropolitan Police (DMP) to make a statement.
Quinlisk took the precaution of telling Collins that he had gone to DMP merely to get a passport so he could emigrate to the US and that the police had put pressure on him to inform on Collins, offering money and promising to make arrangements for him to receive his wartime back pay. Wary, Collins now monitored the activities of Quinlisk and subsequently watched the DMP raid 44 Mountjoy St, where he frequently stayed. Thereafter, he kept well away from any contact with Quinlisk, who was told that Dublin had become so hot for the Big Fellow and that he had moved to Cork.
Collins’ Squad now tried to use Quinlisk as bait to assassinate DMP Detective Superintendent Owen Brien, then based in Dublin Castle and who seldom moved outside the safety of the Castle grounds. Seán Ó Muirthile was assigned to keep Quinlisk busy, while one of the squad telephoned the Castle to say their contact had vital information and would meet Brien at a specific time at the Evening Mail building, just outside the Castle. Brien turned up but something spooked him before the squad could get close enough, and he darted back into the cover of Dublin Castle. (Collins learned afterwards that Brien suspected he was being set up by Quinlisk, who explained that he had been detained all night by Ó Muirthile.)
Quinlisk should have had the good sense to quit at that point, but he persisted in trying to meet Collins. The end was to come in February, 1920 when it was decided to finally establish if the former Irish Brigade member was an informer. Quinnlisk was told Collins would meet him at Mrs Wren’s Hotel in Cork City. Liam Archer, Collins’ spy in the telegraph headquarters in Dublin, intercepted a lengthy telegram from the inspector general of the RIC to the county inspector in Cork.
“Tonight at midnight surround Wren’s Hotel, Winthrop St, Cork,” the coded message read. “Collins and others will be there. Expect shooting as he is a dangerous man and heavily armed.” The telegram added that Collins should be taken dead or alive.
This was what sealed Quinlisk’s fate. A member of the Cork No 1 Brigade of the IRA met Quinlisk in Cork on the night of February 18, 1920, promising to take him to Collins. These were to be his execution party from the Second Battalion consisted of Michael Murphy (O/C), Frank Mahony (Intelligence Officer), and Jimmy Walsh (Company Captain).
They took Quinlisk out to Tory Top Lane in Ballyphehane and put 11 bullets in him — six to the head and five to the body.
Murphy coldly recalled of the not-quite-dead Quinlisk, ‘I then turned him over on the flat of his back and put a bullet through his forehead.’
The body was found by a local herdsman early the next morning, who notified the police; they in turn informed military officials. Soldiers then recovered the body and took it to the city morgue. Hundreds of people went to view the body while it lay for identification purposes at the Cork city morgue for ‘at least three days’ under the guard of an RIC man.
Murphy later cited some of the damning evidence against Quinlisk in his BMH witness statement: ‘I might here state that on the same evening [that Quinlisk was executed], following a raid on the mails by some of our lads, one of the letters written by “Quinn” [as he called himself] in [Volunteer Albert] de Courcey’s house (presumably) and addressed to the County Inspector, R.I.C., was found. In that letter Quinlisk stated that he had got in touch with a prominent I.R.A. officer (meaning me, I suppose), who told him that Mick Collins was in Clonakilty, and this Volunteer officer was to introduce Collins to Quinlisk when he (Collins) arrived back in Cork....On the morning following the execution of Quinlisk, I took all the letters and papers we had taken from him to Florrie O’Donoghue, brigade adjutant. One of these letters was addressed to the R.I.C. authorities, saying that he (Quinlisk) now had information about Michael Collins and would report again in a few days when the capture of Collins seemed imminent. . . The Cork No. 1 Brigade Commandant Seán Hegarty got in touch with G.H.Q., Dublin, immediately following the identification of “Quinn” as Quinlisk, and word was received back from Mick Collins that Quinlisk was definitely a spy in the pay of the British, as he (Collins) had received within the past few days certain papers from a source connected with the British authorities in Dublin Castle, which included Quinlisk’s application for service as a secret agent of the Castle and his acceptance as such by the Castle authorities.’
The death certificate was issued for an unidentified male whose body had been found at Ballyphehane with laceration of the brain and right lung resulting from bullet wounds. He was then taken from the morgue by police and military and buried in the burial ground for paupers at the top of Carr’s Hill, Cork.
“The medical evidence was that they could not have been self-inflicted” the Cork Examiner wryly concluded.
According to a newspaper report, Quinlisk’s father Denis Joseph Quinlisk of 5 Rose Lane, Waterford, applied to the master of Cork union workhouse for the exhumation of his son’s body, buried on 21 February 1920 at Lapland (better known as ‘Carr’s Hole’) in Cork city, so that the remains could be re-interred in Wexford, his native county. At the time of the 1911 census the victim’s father Denis had been an ‘acting sergeant’ in the RIC residing at 10 Cathedral Square in Waterford city.
Quinlisk's letter of betrayal was intercepted & copied at Dublin Castle by Collins' contact, Ned Broy.
Shortly afterwards, the letter was delivered and Quinnlisk was brought to G Division headquarters of the Dublin Metropolitan Police (DMP) to make a statement.
Quinlisk took the precaution of telling Collins that he had gone to DMP merely to get a passport so he could emigrate to the US and that the police had put pressure on him to inform on Collins, offering money and promising to make arrangements for him to receive his wartime back pay. Wary, Collins now monitored the activities of Quinlisk and subsequently watched the DMP raid 44 Mountjoy St, where he frequently stayed. Thereafter, he kept well away from any contact with Quinlisk, who was told that Dublin had become so hot for the Big Fellow and that he had moved to Cork.
Collins’ Squad now tried to use Quinlisk as bait to assassinate DMP Detective Superintendent Owen Brien, then based in Dublin Castle and who seldom moved outside the safety of the Castle grounds. Seán Ó Muirthile was assigned to keep Quinlisk busy, while one of the squad telephoned the Castle to say their contact had vital information and would meet Brien at a specific time at the Evening Mail building, just outside the Castle. Brien turned up but something spooked him before the squad could get close enough, and he darted back into the cover of Dublin Castle. (Collins learned afterwards that Brien suspected he was being set up by Quinlisk, who explained that he had been detained all night by Ó Muirthile.)
Quinlisk should have had the good sense to quit at that point, but he persisted in trying to meet Collins. The end was to come in February, 1920 when it was decided to finally establish if the former Irish Brigade member was an informer. Quinnlisk was told Collins would meet him at Mrs Wren’s Hotel in Cork City. Liam Archer, Collins’ spy in the telegraph headquarters in Dublin, intercepted a lengthy telegram from the inspector general of the RIC to the county inspector in Cork.
“Tonight at midnight surround Wren’s Hotel, Winthrop St, Cork,” the coded message read. “Collins and others will be there. Expect shooting as he is a dangerous man and heavily armed.” The telegram added that Collins should be taken dead or alive.
This was what sealed Quinlisk’s fate. A member of the Cork No 1 Brigade of the IRA met Quinlisk in Cork on the night of February 18, 1920, promising to take him to Collins. These were to be his execution party from the Second Battalion consisted of Michael Murphy (O/C), Frank Mahony (Intelligence Officer), and Jimmy Walsh (Company Captain).
They took Quinlisk out to Tory Top Lane in Ballyphehane and put 11 bullets in him — six to the head and five to the body.
Murphy coldly recalled of the not-quite-dead Quinlisk, ‘I then turned him over on the flat of his back and put a bullet through his forehead.’
The body was found by a local herdsman early the next morning, who notified the police; they in turn informed military officials. Soldiers then recovered the body and took it to the city morgue. Hundreds of people went to view the body while it lay for identification purposes at the Cork city morgue for ‘at least three days’ under the guard of an RIC man.
Murphy later cited some of the damning evidence against Quinlisk in his BMH witness statement: ‘I might here state that on the same evening [that Quinlisk was executed], following a raid on the mails by some of our lads, one of the letters written by “Quinn” [as he called himself] in [Volunteer Albert] de Courcey’s house (presumably) and addressed to the County Inspector, R.I.C., was found. In that letter Quinlisk stated that he had got in touch with a prominent I.R.A. officer (meaning me, I suppose), who told him that Mick Collins was in Clonakilty, and this Volunteer officer was to introduce Collins to Quinlisk when he (Collins) arrived back in Cork....On the morning following the execution of Quinlisk, I took all the letters and papers we had taken from him to Florrie O’Donoghue, brigade adjutant. One of these letters was addressed to the R.I.C. authorities, saying that he (Quinlisk) now had information about Michael Collins and would report again in a few days when the capture of Collins seemed imminent. . . The Cork No. 1 Brigade Commandant Seán Hegarty got in touch with G.H.Q., Dublin, immediately following the identification of “Quinn” as Quinlisk, and word was received back from Mick Collins that Quinlisk was definitely a spy in the pay of the British, as he (Collins) had received within the past few days certain papers from a source connected with the British authorities in Dublin Castle, which included Quinlisk’s application for service as a secret agent of the Castle and his acceptance as such by the Castle authorities.’
The death certificate was issued for an unidentified male whose body had been found at Ballyphehane with laceration of the brain and right lung resulting from bullet wounds. He was then taken from the morgue by police and military and buried in the burial ground for paupers at the top of Carr’s Hill, Cork.
“The medical evidence was that they could not have been self-inflicted” the Cork Examiner wryly concluded.
According to a newspaper report, Quinlisk’s father Denis Joseph Quinlisk of 5 Rose Lane, Waterford, applied to the master of Cork union workhouse for the exhumation of his son’s body, buried on 21 February 1920 at Lapland (better known as ‘Carr’s Hole’) in Cork city, so that the remains could be re-interred in Wexford, his native county. At the time of the 1911 census the victim’s father Denis had been an ‘acting sergeant’ in the RIC residing at 10 Cathedral Square in Waterford city.
Timothy Quinlisk, the first civilian executed as a suspected spy by the Cork No. 1 Brigade of the IRA (on 18 February 1920), had been recruited by Roger Casement as a member of ‘The Irish Brigade’, composed of former British prisoners-of-war in Germany who were to have aided in the Easter Rising of 1916. Quinlisk appears here in this postcard photo of the non-commissioned officers of Casement’s brigade. Quinlisk is on the far right.
Courtesy of Joseph McGarrity Collection, Digital Library@Villanova University
More details on Quinlisk's military service and history here
Courtesy of Joseph McGarrity Collection, Digital Library@Villanova University
More details on Quinlisk's military service and history here
25
London: The Government of Ireland Bill formally introduced in the Commons.
Dublin: The introduction of a ‘curfew’ order in recent days had given rise to growing resentment across Dublin City. The order, which was dated 20 February and came into effect on the 23rd, impacted upon an area that covered an expanse of 36 square miles from Chapelizod to Ballybrack and from Glasnevin to Terenure. It stated that every person within this district must remain indoors between the hours of midnight and 5 am unless they have a permit to be out. In order to receive a permit, an application must be sent to Dublin Castle.
The order is being vigorously enforced by military and police who are stopping every person found out on the streets after midnight and subjecting them to severe cross-examination. Persons found out and about in the city are required, when challenged by a police officer or soldier, to ‘immediately halt and obey the orders given to him, and, if they fail to do so, it will be at their own peril.’ For this reason, some of those with permits are disinclined to use them.
The impact of the order has been widely felt, particularly by thousands of night workers including journalists and other newspaper employees, postal sorters, telegraphists, bakers, confectioners and dairy workers. William Paul, Chairman of the Markets Committee of Dublin, raised concerns about the closure of the Cattle Market until 6am and the damage this will inflict on the shipping of animals cross channel. In a letter to the Irish Independent, Mr Paul said that the operation of ‘military law against the normal trade of our cattle markets’ has destroyed the ‘ordinary healthy competition for supplies.’
Another effect of the order is that much of this area falls into complete darkness each night. This is due to the response of Dublin Corporation which has instructed its employees not to seek permits to operate during the hours of curfew. It further specified that municipal work was to cease from 11.30pm and 8am, and the city lights were to be extinguished at 11.20pm.
Travel has also been severely affected. Passengers arriving in Dublin by the night mail trains are no longer able to avail of any transport at the main terminuses. At Broadstone yesterday, some women and children who arrived by the 12.30 am train and had to carry their luggage through the streets seeking lodgings in inky darkness.
Maternity hospitals have highlighted the risks to pregnant women owing to the inability of medical staff to attend to cases. The matron of the Coombe Hospital noted that nurses responding to calls up to midnight had been strongly advised not to return from their patients’ houses until after 5 am. She added that they frequently received up to 10 calls during this time.
The Dublin Trades Council has urged night workers to refuse to apply for permits, and the Transport Workers’ Union has advised its members not to work during the curfew.
The Irish Times defended the curfew against charges that it constitutes a form of military law. The order, it has stated, was imposed ‘with the sole object of making Dublin safe for Dublin’s democracy...It is ‘impedimental only to the midnight murderer, the burglar, and the footpad. Every honest citizen can get a permit for his lawful occasions.’ The Irish Times has accused the city council of ‘political fanaticism’ in its opposition to the curfew and has argued that there was ‘absolutely no reason… why every one of its servants should not have a permit to be abroad at night, or why the business of the cattle market should be upset’.
Washington DC: Passage of the Oil and Coal Land Leasing Act lays the foundation for the biggest Washington scandal of the decade, the Teapot Dome affair uncovered in 1923. The act opens up mineral deposits on public lands to private mining interests, a system that would later become rife with bribery and corruption.
Punch Magazine comments on de Valera's 'Cubanisation of Ireland' - below:
London: The Government of Ireland Bill formally introduced in the Commons.
Dublin: The introduction of a ‘curfew’ order in recent days had given rise to growing resentment across Dublin City. The order, which was dated 20 February and came into effect on the 23rd, impacted upon an area that covered an expanse of 36 square miles from Chapelizod to Ballybrack and from Glasnevin to Terenure. It stated that every person within this district must remain indoors between the hours of midnight and 5 am unless they have a permit to be out. In order to receive a permit, an application must be sent to Dublin Castle.
The order is being vigorously enforced by military and police who are stopping every person found out on the streets after midnight and subjecting them to severe cross-examination. Persons found out and about in the city are required, when challenged by a police officer or soldier, to ‘immediately halt and obey the orders given to him, and, if they fail to do so, it will be at their own peril.’ For this reason, some of those with permits are disinclined to use them.
The impact of the order has been widely felt, particularly by thousands of night workers including journalists and other newspaper employees, postal sorters, telegraphists, bakers, confectioners and dairy workers. William Paul, Chairman of the Markets Committee of Dublin, raised concerns about the closure of the Cattle Market until 6am and the damage this will inflict on the shipping of animals cross channel. In a letter to the Irish Independent, Mr Paul said that the operation of ‘military law against the normal trade of our cattle markets’ has destroyed the ‘ordinary healthy competition for supplies.’
Another effect of the order is that much of this area falls into complete darkness each night. This is due to the response of Dublin Corporation which has instructed its employees not to seek permits to operate during the hours of curfew. It further specified that municipal work was to cease from 11.30pm and 8am, and the city lights were to be extinguished at 11.20pm.
Travel has also been severely affected. Passengers arriving in Dublin by the night mail trains are no longer able to avail of any transport at the main terminuses. At Broadstone yesterday, some women and children who arrived by the 12.30 am train and had to carry their luggage through the streets seeking lodgings in inky darkness.
Maternity hospitals have highlighted the risks to pregnant women owing to the inability of medical staff to attend to cases. The matron of the Coombe Hospital noted that nurses responding to calls up to midnight had been strongly advised not to return from their patients’ houses until after 5 am. She added that they frequently received up to 10 calls during this time.
The Dublin Trades Council has urged night workers to refuse to apply for permits, and the Transport Workers’ Union has advised its members not to work during the curfew.
The Irish Times defended the curfew against charges that it constitutes a form of military law. The order, it has stated, was imposed ‘with the sole object of making Dublin safe for Dublin’s democracy...It is ‘impedimental only to the midnight murderer, the burglar, and the footpad. Every honest citizen can get a permit for his lawful occasions.’ The Irish Times has accused the city council of ‘political fanaticism’ in its opposition to the curfew and has argued that there was ‘absolutely no reason… why every one of its servants should not have a permit to be abroad at night, or why the business of the cattle market should be upset’.
Washington DC: Passage of the Oil and Coal Land Leasing Act lays the foundation for the biggest Washington scandal of the decade, the Teapot Dome affair uncovered in 1923. The act opens up mineral deposits on public lands to private mining interests, a system that would later become rife with bribery and corruption.
Punch Magazine comments on de Valera's 'Cubanisation of Ireland' - below:
26
Paisley, Scotland: The former British Prime Minister and leader of the Liberal Party, Herbert Asquith, was returned to the House of Commons in a by-election in the Scottish constituency of Paisley. Asquith hailed his victory as ‘magnificent’; he secured 14,736 votes, a majority of nearly 3,000 over the Labour candidate, with the coalition-backed unionist candidate receiving only 3,750 votes. The message from Paisley, Mr Asquith said, was to give new impetus and inspiration to the forces of Liberalism.
Asquith lost his Westminster seat at the December 1918 election when the Liberals suffered losses to Lloyd George’s coalition.
The strength of the former Prime Minisster's performance caused some surprise and was interpreted as a bad blow for the Labour Party. The defeated unionist candidate, James Dunlop MacKean attributed his poor polling to the desire of voters in Paisley to prevent Labour from taking the seat.
New York: $15,000 was paid to Harry Boland from the Irish Victory Fund raised by the Friends of Irish Freedom.
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.347
Devoy's letter to John McGarry
On hindsight, it is clear that neither Judge Cohalan nor John Devoy wanted to have an open quarrel with De Valera in order to maintain the outward appearance of cohesion and solidarity. Privately, however, it was another matter.
In a letter to John McGarry (below) that was to have major repercussions in days, John Devoy discussed the tactics of De Valera and his followers:
Paisley, Scotland: The former British Prime Minister and leader of the Liberal Party, Herbert Asquith, was returned to the House of Commons in a by-election in the Scottish constituency of Paisley. Asquith hailed his victory as ‘magnificent’; he secured 14,736 votes, a majority of nearly 3,000 over the Labour candidate, with the coalition-backed unionist candidate receiving only 3,750 votes. The message from Paisley, Mr Asquith said, was to give new impetus and inspiration to the forces of Liberalism.
Asquith lost his Westminster seat at the December 1918 election when the Liberals suffered losses to Lloyd George’s coalition.
The strength of the former Prime Minisster's performance caused some surprise and was interpreted as a bad blow for the Labour Party. The defeated unionist candidate, James Dunlop MacKean attributed his poor polling to the desire of voters in Paisley to prevent Labour from taking the seat.
New York: $15,000 was paid to Harry Boland from the Irish Victory Fund raised by the Friends of Irish Freedom.
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.347
Devoy's letter to John McGarry
On hindsight, it is clear that neither Judge Cohalan nor John Devoy wanted to have an open quarrel with De Valera in order to maintain the outward appearance of cohesion and solidarity. Privately, however, it was another matter.
In a letter to John McGarry (below) that was to have major repercussions in days, John Devoy discussed the tactics of De Valera and his followers:
"I have read two of your letters to the Judge, also Doherty's, and it seems to me you go too far in your anxiety to avoid a break with de Valera. I want no fight if we can avoid it but I would not sacrifice the fundamental principle of the movement even to avoid a fight with him because we would be worse off in the end than if we fought it out now.
Besides, I am convinced that if we yield an inch on the principle now he will force a fight on us later with greater advantage to himself. All of the advantages, except the scandal of a fight (which I admit would be very bad) are on our side now, while the disadvantages of having made a back down is on his.
I am also convinced that he meant to fight us all along and only waited for a good opportunity. He selected the wrong time and the wrong issue, because his judgement is very poor, but he is filled with the idea (although he says differently) that the great ovations he got here were for him personally and practically gave him a mandate to do as he pleases. His head is turned to a greater extent than that of any man I have met in more than half a century. Every move he has made or that has been made in his name, in my judgement, shows a deliberate intention to attempt to side-track both the Clan and the Friends and to substitute for both an organisation subject to his orders. That circular, calling for a new organisation which was withdrawn after I attacked it, and which was confirmed by Shannon's speech in Kansas City, was in full accord with what D.V. said to us at the Waldorf that Sunday when we went to see him after a meeting. When I asked him after getting him to repeat it, whether he means a separate organisation or local committees for the bonds alone, he said, rather hesitatingly 'Local committees for the bonds only'. I was satisfied then that he meant to get a separate organisation is he could, so that it might do the fighting and relieve him of the responsibility while giving him the excuse for doing things which we do not want. He is not a frank man, nor really a strong one. His strength is cardboard, which cracks on pressure.
His persistent attempts to get us to stop the Victory Fund Drive to make way for the Bonds and Joe’s [Joseph McGarrity] fight to get most of the money sent over, was to my mind then, as much as it is today, for the purpose of depleting our resources for work here, where the real battle is being fought now, and to cripple us. I was not quite sure that he was the originator of it, but he adopted it and pressed it insistently months before he was ready to start the Bond Drive. The attempt to get Lynch to resign as Secretary and go on the President's personal staff where he'd be under orders. I characterised at the time as a crooked game. It would take an invaluable and very staunch man away from us when we could get no fit men to take his place, which is the most important one in the movement just now. The sending around the country of such men as Elder of Louisville, ostensibly to talk bonds, but actually to attack Cohalan and all of us and to defend Wilson and the League of Nations, was in my mind in the same line. The headquarters is filled with enemies of ours who make no concealment of their hostility and they represent nothing.
Harry's constant talk of other 'groups' and 'elements' that must be recognised by the President, no matter where they stood last year or a few months ago, followed by putting them in control, showed a very deliberate purpose. Then his ignoring of my complaints about McCartan, which I started the night he landed, showed that he approved McC's venomous attacks on the Judge and wanted the Judge undermined. The circulation free by Headquarters (using the money received from the Victory Fund) of Creel's book and Maloney's pamphlet (with a preface by J.C. Walsh saying that Maloney's articles in America were the real start of the Irish Republican movement in America) is another indication of his intentions.
The springing of the Lexington Theatre meeting by Joe [McGarrity], McCartan and Maloney, without saying a word to one of us, and with the whole headquarters staff working on the job, was a tentative effort to break the organisation here and initiate the 'organisation subject to orders'. I felt that at that time and that is why I made such a vigorous protest. If we had let it go it would have been followed up.
Here is a series of incidents, all pointing unerringly in the one direction, and all logically part of the same plan, which to my mind shows conclusively an intention to push us out of his way so that D.V. might be free to do something which he knew we would not stand for. I would like to be as charitable as possible with a man who has fought and suffered for Ireland but i cannot resist the conclusion that all the things i have cited were the deliberate preparation for the change of front which he sprang on us in the Westminster Gazette interview. Then the circumstances of its publication clearly pointed to a determination to get it out without letting us know until it was too late for private objection. The 'Advisory Committee' which had been meeting at the Waldorf on Sundays to talk about matters of little relevance which were dropped just before publication.
Lenin promises to create a democratic Parliament and pay off 60% of Russia’s debts.
Tony Randall, American actor born (d. 2004)
Below: in the Friends of Irish Freedom Archives is this letter from Harry Boland to Charles T. Rice of 270 Whitlock Avenue, Bronx, New York tersely stating that the only group that de Valera would be answerable to is 'to the Irish Congress, and to the Irish people. He will render an account to them, and to no others'
Charles T. Rice (1894-1988) who emigrated from Ireland in 1908, was a graduate of Fordham Prep, Fordham College and Fordham University Law School. For many years, he was an ardent spokesman for groups advocating an undivided Ireland. He served as president general of the American Irish Historical Society from 1964 to 1970.
27
Plans for future government of Ireland published - Two Home Rule Parliaments
London: The British government published its long-anticipated plans for the future government of Ireland.
The plan was closely modelled on that outlined by Prime Minister Lloyd George on 22 December 1919. It is to divide the island of Ireland into two jurisdictions, each with its own home rule parliament.
The northern parliament area would be made up of the six counties of Antrim, Armagh, Down, Fermanagh, Derry and Tyrone, with a separate parliament representing the rest of the island. It is proposed that the northern parliament will comprise 52 members, with 128 sitting in the southern chamber, while the two parliaments will be linked by a 40-member Council of Ireland. Both parliaments will return representatives to Westminster, 12 from the north and 30 from the south.
The new bill, if passed, would repeal the 1914 Government of Ireland Act.
Sir Edward Carson was reluctant to comment extensively on the proposals until he had seen the detail. What he did say, however, is that ‘it is obvious that we have before us in Ulster a choice of the utmost gravity. It is the severest crisis we have had to face’.
Less reluctant to react to the bill was the Irish Party’s Joseph Devlin, who, when questioned by the London Evening News, described it as ‘one of the most insulting proposals ever submitted’, in that it allowed for the permanent division of Ireland. Judging by the initial press response in Ireland, Devlin’s opposition is shared widely across the political spectrum.
The unionist Belfast Newsletter has cited its adherence to the Union in registering its opposition to the plan. ‘We object to partition because we object to being divorced from full parliamentary representation in the Imperial Parliament, not for ourselves in the North alone, but for our country.’ The Newsletter objects to the choice between this partition bill and a Sinn Féin republic: ‘In short, we are up against a choice of evils, since the maintenance of the Union is not a feasible alternative to the government bill. We are back to the situation of 1916, when Sir Edward Carson, entirely against his will, and under the dire compulsion of that situation, advised us to accept a scheme of settlement by partition of the six counties, and when such a scheme was agreed to by the nationalist leaders, only for them to resign from it later at the dictation of the Irish hierarchy’.
The nationalist press is equally aghast at the proposals. The Freeman’s Journal has called it a ‘poisonous plan’ and ‘the worst proposal ever made for the settlement of the secular quarrel between Great Britain and Ireland... The partition, too, is to be a sectarian cut.’
The Irish Independent has also criticised the new proposals. ‘We have had government by bayonets, machine-guns and tanks, and now the Prime Minister adding the carving knife to the armoury, hacks the country in the very first clause by proposing to create a Parliament for ‘Southern Ireland’ and another for ‘Northern Ireland’… Ireland is by every test a nation, one and indivisible, but the government, acting on a deliberate and set plan, ignoring the majority and pandering to a small minority, propose to shatter that unity. Then they ironically suggest certain devices by which the ‘Irish union’ may be re-established. An ornamental body with no legislative functions, called ‘the Council of Ireland’ is to be set up.’
In addition to the partition plan, the Irish Independent denounced the financial provisions of the bill as ‘simply a swindle upon Ireland’. Ireland, north and south, would contribute £18m for what are called imperial services and neither Irish parliament would have control over customs and excise and income tax, etc. What the Irish parliaments would have the power to do is impose surcharges or ‘any new taxes that ingenuity can devise.’ The Independent’s editorial concluded that this plan was the fourth iteration of a government of Ireland bill, and was ‘also the worst’.
Later in Parliament, a proposal to extend the vote to women from the age of 21 years was discussed in the House of Commons. The private members’ bill to amend the Representation of the People Act was read for a second time after it was moved by Thomas Walter Grundy, Labour Party MP for Rother Valley.
As well lowering the voting age for women, the bill aims to remove the occupational or marital qualifications for women to vote in local and general elections. Only about one in 15 of the industrial working women of the UK are on the register, it was claimed, and the proposal is intended to place women on the same electoral footing as men on the basis that they were equal in intelligence and could be trusted to make the same rational decisions as men.
Gideon Oliphant-Murray, Conservative MP for St Rollox, opposing the proposal, said the 1918 Act went far enough for the present and further extension was not desired by the country. He claimed that women of 21 were more ‘emotional’ than men of the same age and added that 25 was the age at which he believed both men and women should be enfranchised. Speaking for the government, Christopher Addison stated that the lowering of the voting age for women would add five million people to the electorate and create a situation where there were about half a million more women than men entitled to vote.
Lady Astor, the only current sitting female MP, told the House of Commons: ‘It is not for the sake of the women that I want this bill; it is for the sake of the country.’ Women, she argued, brought to public life a ‘private sort of moral courage’ that men need.
Dismissing concerns about the maturity levels of young women, Lady Astor said that ‘we all know that women at the age of 18 are far older and wiser in many many ways than the man at 25...The country never in its life needed women's courage more than it does now… The people who do not want women in public life are too late, and it is really madness. There are certain reforms we women want, and we are going to get them. It is for your sakes and their sakes. I am so fond of men, and that is why I want more women to have the vote. It is really our love for them that makes us want to help men in public life as well as in private life… There is a soul and spirit in the women of England, a spirit to help which they are going to give you, and we are grateful to honourable members for giving us a chance of asserting our views.’
Dublin: Constable John Walsh DMP shot dead on Grafton Street Dublin.
Reacting to the increasing violence, Arthur Griffith publicly placed the blame squarely on the repressive actions of the RIC and British forces. In an interview with a French journalist he said ‘it is only natural that Sinn Feiners should defend themselves against all the provocations and outrages to which they have been subjected’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P75
By the end of February, there was a widespread retreat of RIC from barracks and police huts throughout the country. This would total 500 barracks between January and March 1920. Inteligence reports to Dublin Castle advised that the I.R.A were planning a ‘special effort’ to mark the 4th anniversary of the Easter Rising.
‘ The American ambassador, John W Davis was one who believed this. He informed his State Department that the Volunteers had available a force of between 110,000 and 200,000 armed men. Ian Macpherson estimated the number at 200,000’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill& McMillan 1995. P128
Virtually overnight, barbed wire and soldiers in full battledress appeared throughout Dublin. Sinn Fein spokesmen commented that it appeared as if Dublin Castle was deliberately attempting to provoke a reaction. The Daily Herald claimed that ‘there are prople in high places who want a massacre…’to get Sinn Fein into the streets’, that is their pleasant phrase, and when Sinn Fein has been got into the streets, the tanks and machine guns and reliable old soldiers will get their chance’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill& McMillan 1995. P128.
The Newsletter commented on a new book release…’ it has the lurid title, ‘Red Terror and Green: The Sinn Fein-Bolshevist Movement’. The obligiing publishers call this book with the melodramatic name, ‘An inquiry into the nature of that Irish ‘Nationalism’ that spurns Home Rule, takes its orders from Berlin and Petrograd, and draws its funds in marks and roubles’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – No. 35, February 27, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Reviewing the book later, it received front page comment with ‘ It is meant to be an indictment of Irish Republicanism. In effect, however, it will be helpful to it. No fair minded American can travel its rivers of venom, its valleys of buse and its hills of ludicrious inference without becoming thoroughly disgusted with the book and with the man who wrote it….it is a monument of gossip and a mausoleum of fact; a mas of rubbish to clutter the library shelf..’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – No. 40, April 2, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The Christian Science Monitor, hardly an advocate of Irish Independence, reported that the activities of the Australasian Irish Race Convention were ‘frankly seditious and treasonable’.
The Ford Tractor plant in Cork now offered agricultural students in UCC, training ‘in the mechanism, management and repair of tractors; and special provisions have been made for like training of as many men as the purcahsers of tractors may indicate.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – No. 35, February 27, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The New Republic newspaper commenting on Home Rule said ‘The greatest principle developed by the world war was this: that no state could withimpunity apply the rule of force to an inoffensive neighbour, once the neighbor had established self-determination…what Lloyd George has done to meet this state of affairs is to approach Ireland with a municipal proposal, supported by troops and guns…his proposals treats a problem of self-determination in a spirit contrary to the spirit professed by the Allies in the war…it is..a measure ludicriously inapplicable to the present situation in Ireland.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – No. 35, February 27, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The New York Times ‘proponent of dead-and gone Imperalism’ was complaining strongly according to the Newsletter that some Americans remembered ‘ancient grudges, forgotten by sensible men’
The London Daily News published an explanation as to why Sir Joseph Byrne was removed as head of the RIC. The force was ‘beginning to have strong republican sympathies, and, in consequence, ‘does not shoot as readily as it should.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – No. 35, February 27, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The Philadelphia Record published a sharp attack on the British Government and it’s Irish policy. On the revent arrests of newly elected municipal council members, the Record suggested that ‘election to office in Ireland then seems to make one eligible simply for admission to Mountjoy Prison.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – No. 37, March 12, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Plans for future government of Ireland published - Two Home Rule Parliaments
London: The British government published its long-anticipated plans for the future government of Ireland.
The plan was closely modelled on that outlined by Prime Minister Lloyd George on 22 December 1919. It is to divide the island of Ireland into two jurisdictions, each with its own home rule parliament.
The northern parliament area would be made up of the six counties of Antrim, Armagh, Down, Fermanagh, Derry and Tyrone, with a separate parliament representing the rest of the island. It is proposed that the northern parliament will comprise 52 members, with 128 sitting in the southern chamber, while the two parliaments will be linked by a 40-member Council of Ireland. Both parliaments will return representatives to Westminster, 12 from the north and 30 from the south.
The new bill, if passed, would repeal the 1914 Government of Ireland Act.
Sir Edward Carson was reluctant to comment extensively on the proposals until he had seen the detail. What he did say, however, is that ‘it is obvious that we have before us in Ulster a choice of the utmost gravity. It is the severest crisis we have had to face’.
Less reluctant to react to the bill was the Irish Party’s Joseph Devlin, who, when questioned by the London Evening News, described it as ‘one of the most insulting proposals ever submitted’, in that it allowed for the permanent division of Ireland. Judging by the initial press response in Ireland, Devlin’s opposition is shared widely across the political spectrum.
The unionist Belfast Newsletter has cited its adherence to the Union in registering its opposition to the plan. ‘We object to partition because we object to being divorced from full parliamentary representation in the Imperial Parliament, not for ourselves in the North alone, but for our country.’ The Newsletter objects to the choice between this partition bill and a Sinn Féin republic: ‘In short, we are up against a choice of evils, since the maintenance of the Union is not a feasible alternative to the government bill. We are back to the situation of 1916, when Sir Edward Carson, entirely against his will, and under the dire compulsion of that situation, advised us to accept a scheme of settlement by partition of the six counties, and when such a scheme was agreed to by the nationalist leaders, only for them to resign from it later at the dictation of the Irish hierarchy’.
The nationalist press is equally aghast at the proposals. The Freeman’s Journal has called it a ‘poisonous plan’ and ‘the worst proposal ever made for the settlement of the secular quarrel between Great Britain and Ireland... The partition, too, is to be a sectarian cut.’
The Irish Independent has also criticised the new proposals. ‘We have had government by bayonets, machine-guns and tanks, and now the Prime Minister adding the carving knife to the armoury, hacks the country in the very first clause by proposing to create a Parliament for ‘Southern Ireland’ and another for ‘Northern Ireland’… Ireland is by every test a nation, one and indivisible, but the government, acting on a deliberate and set plan, ignoring the majority and pandering to a small minority, propose to shatter that unity. Then they ironically suggest certain devices by which the ‘Irish union’ may be re-established. An ornamental body with no legislative functions, called ‘the Council of Ireland’ is to be set up.’
In addition to the partition plan, the Irish Independent denounced the financial provisions of the bill as ‘simply a swindle upon Ireland’. Ireland, north and south, would contribute £18m for what are called imperial services and neither Irish parliament would have control over customs and excise and income tax, etc. What the Irish parliaments would have the power to do is impose surcharges or ‘any new taxes that ingenuity can devise.’ The Independent’s editorial concluded that this plan was the fourth iteration of a government of Ireland bill, and was ‘also the worst’.
Later in Parliament, a proposal to extend the vote to women from the age of 21 years was discussed in the House of Commons. The private members’ bill to amend the Representation of the People Act was read for a second time after it was moved by Thomas Walter Grundy, Labour Party MP for Rother Valley.
As well lowering the voting age for women, the bill aims to remove the occupational or marital qualifications for women to vote in local and general elections. Only about one in 15 of the industrial working women of the UK are on the register, it was claimed, and the proposal is intended to place women on the same electoral footing as men on the basis that they were equal in intelligence and could be trusted to make the same rational decisions as men.
Gideon Oliphant-Murray, Conservative MP for St Rollox, opposing the proposal, said the 1918 Act went far enough for the present and further extension was not desired by the country. He claimed that women of 21 were more ‘emotional’ than men of the same age and added that 25 was the age at which he believed both men and women should be enfranchised. Speaking for the government, Christopher Addison stated that the lowering of the voting age for women would add five million people to the electorate and create a situation where there were about half a million more women than men entitled to vote.
Lady Astor, the only current sitting female MP, told the House of Commons: ‘It is not for the sake of the women that I want this bill; it is for the sake of the country.’ Women, she argued, brought to public life a ‘private sort of moral courage’ that men need.
Dismissing concerns about the maturity levels of young women, Lady Astor said that ‘we all know that women at the age of 18 are far older and wiser in many many ways than the man at 25...The country never in its life needed women's courage more than it does now… The people who do not want women in public life are too late, and it is really madness. There are certain reforms we women want, and we are going to get them. It is for your sakes and their sakes. I am so fond of men, and that is why I want more women to have the vote. It is really our love for them that makes us want to help men in public life as well as in private life… There is a soul and spirit in the women of England, a spirit to help which they are going to give you, and we are grateful to honourable members for giving us a chance of asserting our views.’
Dublin: Constable John Walsh DMP shot dead on Grafton Street Dublin.
Reacting to the increasing violence, Arthur Griffith publicly placed the blame squarely on the repressive actions of the RIC and British forces. In an interview with a French journalist he said ‘it is only natural that Sinn Feiners should defend themselves against all the provocations and outrages to which they have been subjected’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P75
By the end of February, there was a widespread retreat of RIC from barracks and police huts throughout the country. This would total 500 barracks between January and March 1920. Inteligence reports to Dublin Castle advised that the I.R.A were planning a ‘special effort’ to mark the 4th anniversary of the Easter Rising.
‘ The American ambassador, John W Davis was one who believed this. He informed his State Department that the Volunteers had available a force of between 110,000 and 200,000 armed men. Ian Macpherson estimated the number at 200,000’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill& McMillan 1995. P128
Virtually overnight, barbed wire and soldiers in full battledress appeared throughout Dublin. Sinn Fein spokesmen commented that it appeared as if Dublin Castle was deliberately attempting to provoke a reaction. The Daily Herald claimed that ‘there are prople in high places who want a massacre…’to get Sinn Fein into the streets’, that is their pleasant phrase, and when Sinn Fein has been got into the streets, the tanks and machine guns and reliable old soldiers will get their chance’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill& McMillan 1995. P128.
The Newsletter commented on a new book release…’ it has the lurid title, ‘Red Terror and Green: The Sinn Fein-Bolshevist Movement’. The obligiing publishers call this book with the melodramatic name, ‘An inquiry into the nature of that Irish ‘Nationalism’ that spurns Home Rule, takes its orders from Berlin and Petrograd, and draws its funds in marks and roubles’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – No. 35, February 27, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Reviewing the book later, it received front page comment with ‘ It is meant to be an indictment of Irish Republicanism. In effect, however, it will be helpful to it. No fair minded American can travel its rivers of venom, its valleys of buse and its hills of ludicrious inference without becoming thoroughly disgusted with the book and with the man who wrote it….it is a monument of gossip and a mausoleum of fact; a mas of rubbish to clutter the library shelf..’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – No. 40, April 2, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The Christian Science Monitor, hardly an advocate of Irish Independence, reported that the activities of the Australasian Irish Race Convention were ‘frankly seditious and treasonable’.
The Ford Tractor plant in Cork now offered agricultural students in UCC, training ‘in the mechanism, management and repair of tractors; and special provisions have been made for like training of as many men as the purcahsers of tractors may indicate.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – No. 35, February 27, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The New Republic newspaper commenting on Home Rule said ‘The greatest principle developed by the world war was this: that no state could withimpunity apply the rule of force to an inoffensive neighbour, once the neighbor had established self-determination…what Lloyd George has done to meet this state of affairs is to approach Ireland with a municipal proposal, supported by troops and guns…his proposals treats a problem of self-determination in a spirit contrary to the spirit professed by the Allies in the war…it is..a measure ludicriously inapplicable to the present situation in Ireland.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – No. 35, February 27, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The New York Times ‘proponent of dead-and gone Imperalism’ was complaining strongly according to the Newsletter that some Americans remembered ‘ancient grudges, forgotten by sensible men’
The London Daily News published an explanation as to why Sir Joseph Byrne was removed as head of the RIC. The force was ‘beginning to have strong republican sympathies, and, in consequence, ‘does not shoot as readily as it should.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – No. 35, February 27, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The Philadelphia Record published a sharp attack on the British Government and it’s Irish policy. On the revent arrests of newly elected municipal council members, the Record suggested that ‘election to office in Ireland then seems to make one eligible simply for admission to Mountjoy Prison.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – No. 37, March 12, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
28
Ten political prisoners were deported from Ireland – eight from Cork and two from Dublin – to unknown locations in England.
On the same day, possibly in reprisal for the Cork deportations, a party of five soldiers were fired upon by a large group of masked men armed with revolvers who subsequently relieved the soldiers of their weapons. In the wake of this incident, Private William Newman, a member of the Nottingham and Derby Regiment, was taken to hospital where he later died of his injuries.
Ten political prisoners were deported from Ireland – eight from Cork and two from Dublin – to unknown locations in England.
On the same day, possibly in reprisal for the Cork deportations, a party of five soldiers were fired upon by a large group of masked men armed with revolvers who subsequently relieved the soldiers of their weapons. In the wake of this incident, Private William Newman, a member of the Nottingham and Derby Regiment, was taken to hospital where he later died of his injuries.
29
Judge Cohalan spoke at three meetings, the first in Boston where following a talk on the freedom of the seas, Cardinal O’Connell said ‘We feel that Ireland as a nation woon will stand where she belongs by the right of a nation, free and independent. When that day comes, to no one of this generation will that wonderful boon be more due than to the gentleman who today has given us the pleasure and the privilge of hearing him once more on the Irish question.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – No. 36, March 5, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
That evening in Providence, Rhode Island, he spoke at the Schubert Theatre and The Elks auditorium accompanied by Major Eugene Kinkhead of New Jersey and Professor Arthur Upham Pope. The meetings marked the opening of the Bond Certificate drive in the State. The Providence News the following day commented ‘The meetings must have convinced the dullest who attended that Woodrow Wilson in his plea for the freedom of mankind, has awakened in the American people anew the spirit that was typified in the days of Patrick Henry, Benjamin Franklin and James Madison. The people of all nations want to see Ireland free…it is true as the sky above us that any policy in the world today that insists upon the subjection of a free people by the use of armed force cannot survive.’ The Providence Evening Tribune wrote ‘It is safe to say that never in the history of the city have the people turned out in such large numbers to attend a demondatration of any kind’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – No. 37, March 12, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
In Canada, Dr. Joseph Foran addressing an audience of some 2,000 ‘including practically all the senators and MP’s who had come for the opening of the Parliament session’. Dr. Foran ‘took occasion to tear to shreds the arguments of the Carson delegation which visited Canada during the course of it’s American pereginations. Grand Master Kicken of the Orange Lodges in Canada was in the audience and, following the meeting, frankly confessed to Dr. Foran that the latter’s address had almost convinced him that he was on the wrong track.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – No. 37, March 12, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Below: an example of 'Agrarian and Other Offences' report compiled by the RIC - February 1920.
Judge Cohalan spoke at three meetings, the first in Boston where following a talk on the freedom of the seas, Cardinal O’Connell said ‘We feel that Ireland as a nation woon will stand where she belongs by the right of a nation, free and independent. When that day comes, to no one of this generation will that wonderful boon be more due than to the gentleman who today has given us the pleasure and the privilge of hearing him once more on the Irish question.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – No. 36, March 5, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
That evening in Providence, Rhode Island, he spoke at the Schubert Theatre and The Elks auditorium accompanied by Major Eugene Kinkhead of New Jersey and Professor Arthur Upham Pope. The meetings marked the opening of the Bond Certificate drive in the State. The Providence News the following day commented ‘The meetings must have convinced the dullest who attended that Woodrow Wilson in his plea for the freedom of mankind, has awakened in the American people anew the spirit that was typified in the days of Patrick Henry, Benjamin Franklin and James Madison. The people of all nations want to see Ireland free…it is true as the sky above us that any policy in the world today that insists upon the subjection of a free people by the use of armed force cannot survive.’ The Providence Evening Tribune wrote ‘It is safe to say that never in the history of the city have the people turned out in such large numbers to attend a demondatration of any kind’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – No. 37, March 12, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
In Canada, Dr. Joseph Foran addressing an audience of some 2,000 ‘including practically all the senators and MP’s who had come for the opening of the Parliament session’. Dr. Foran ‘took occasion to tear to shreds the arguments of the Carson delegation which visited Canada during the course of it’s American pereginations. Grand Master Kicken of the Orange Lodges in Canada was in the audience and, following the meeting, frankly confessed to Dr. Foran that the latter’s address had almost convinced him that he was on the wrong track.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – No. 37, March 12, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Below: an example of 'Agrarian and Other Offences' report compiled by the RIC - February 1920.