Work in Progress. Last updated: 28 June 2020.
1
Dublin: The alternative state was now beginning to feel the effects of it’s rapid expansion of services.
‘If the Dail programmes continued their growth, the funds collected in Ireland would soon be exhausted, this would make the counter state totally dependant on the money raised in America (and reliance) on external funding. What if the UK Government found an efective means to cut this off at source? What if the US Government impounded the funds? There was a huge amount of money within tantalising reach. £15 million in Irish Income tax went into the British exchequer annually. In addition, ther were several millions pounds paid in Land Annuities. There was also a few million paid in various fees’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revolotionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-1922’. P164
Belfast: Belfast Corporation expressed its gratitude for the sacrifices of Ulster men at the Battle of the Somme in July 1916. At its monthly meeting, the city’s Lord Mayor, William Frederick Coates put forward a motion that read:
'...we, the Lord Mayor, aldermen, and citizens of the city of Belfast, on this, the fourth anniversary of the Battle of the Somme, desire again to record our feelings of gratitude to the brave men of the 36th (Ulster) Division who by their glorious conduct on that day made an imperishable name for themselves and the province they belonged to which will never be forgotten so long as the British Empire lasts.’
Seconding the motion, Councillor Sir James Johnston, stated that it was right that they should convey, year after year, their appreciation of the work that was done in the war by the gallant Ulster men and he hoped that 1 July would be a permanent day of remembrance for those who fell in the service of their king and country.
An attempt to lodge an amendment to the Lord Mayor’s resolution was ruled out of order. Councillor James Baird’s amendment would have added to the resolution the regret of the corporation that the government and all public bodies had neglected their duty to the survivors of the war and the widows of the fallen, which meant that many were now on the verge of destitution. Responding to Baird, Councillor E.J. Elliott pointed out that the people of Ulster had already raised a sum of £100,000 for a fund to benefit soldiers and their dependents. The Lord Mayor’s motion was passed and the members of the council stood as a mark of respect.
Carrigaholt, Co. Clare: The Irish College in Carrigaholt about to open it’s doors for the summer, when British troops stationed in Kilkee occupied it’s buildings preventing any summer training.
Paris: La Voix Nationale newspaper carried an article by Charles Sancerne where he ‘foretells the doom of the British Empire and declares that ‘in order to maintain the peace of Europe, French patriots must look to the future without England…in future we must interest ourselves in Ireland, Egypt and India – especially Ireland, that martyred nation, to whom we have only to hold out our hand to give her new life – she who has often shown her sympathy for us in the past…the United States are not loved by England. They are rivals today, they will be antagonists tomorrow. The struggle between them has already commenced. America will triumph. Disintegration of the British Empire is at hand.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol. 11, No.2 July 10, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
London: G.K.Chesterton in a newspaper interview warned the British Government that ‘its days of domination in Ireland are at an end. ‘England will govern Ireland never again. Let us British hold to this reality in the whirlpool of petulant anger! Ireland is lost to us; but it is still possible that she may become a friend.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol. 11, No.2 July 10, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
British estimates put the number of IRA volunteers ‘on active service’ at around 2,000 with some 4,500 imprisoned.
San Franscisco: De Valera and Walsh organised a rally to gather some support for the plank. At a meeting of some 300 people called to debate the Irish question, the atmosphere became so heated that the police were called to restore order.
New York Times ( also Quoted in Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.381)
Washington: President Wilson was advised that the Democratic Convention committee ‘is in the hands of friends’
Dublin: The alternative state was now beginning to feel the effects of it’s rapid expansion of services.
‘If the Dail programmes continued their growth, the funds collected in Ireland would soon be exhausted, this would make the counter state totally dependant on the money raised in America (and reliance) on external funding. What if the UK Government found an efective means to cut this off at source? What if the US Government impounded the funds? There was a huge amount of money within tantalising reach. £15 million in Irish Income tax went into the British exchequer annually. In addition, ther were several millions pounds paid in Land Annuities. There was also a few million paid in various fees’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revolotionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-1922’. P164
Belfast: Belfast Corporation expressed its gratitude for the sacrifices of Ulster men at the Battle of the Somme in July 1916. At its monthly meeting, the city’s Lord Mayor, William Frederick Coates put forward a motion that read:
'...we, the Lord Mayor, aldermen, and citizens of the city of Belfast, on this, the fourth anniversary of the Battle of the Somme, desire again to record our feelings of gratitude to the brave men of the 36th (Ulster) Division who by their glorious conduct on that day made an imperishable name for themselves and the province they belonged to which will never be forgotten so long as the British Empire lasts.’
Seconding the motion, Councillor Sir James Johnston, stated that it was right that they should convey, year after year, their appreciation of the work that was done in the war by the gallant Ulster men and he hoped that 1 July would be a permanent day of remembrance for those who fell in the service of their king and country.
An attempt to lodge an amendment to the Lord Mayor’s resolution was ruled out of order. Councillor James Baird’s amendment would have added to the resolution the regret of the corporation that the government and all public bodies had neglected their duty to the survivors of the war and the widows of the fallen, which meant that many were now on the verge of destitution. Responding to Baird, Councillor E.J. Elliott pointed out that the people of Ulster had already raised a sum of £100,000 for a fund to benefit soldiers and their dependents. The Lord Mayor’s motion was passed and the members of the council stood as a mark of respect.
Carrigaholt, Co. Clare: The Irish College in Carrigaholt about to open it’s doors for the summer, when British troops stationed in Kilkee occupied it’s buildings preventing any summer training.
Paris: La Voix Nationale newspaper carried an article by Charles Sancerne where he ‘foretells the doom of the British Empire and declares that ‘in order to maintain the peace of Europe, French patriots must look to the future without England…in future we must interest ourselves in Ireland, Egypt and India – especially Ireland, that martyred nation, to whom we have only to hold out our hand to give her new life – she who has often shown her sympathy for us in the past…the United States are not loved by England. They are rivals today, they will be antagonists tomorrow. The struggle between them has already commenced. America will triumph. Disintegration of the British Empire is at hand.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol. 11, No.2 July 10, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
London: G.K.Chesterton in a newspaper interview warned the British Government that ‘its days of domination in Ireland are at an end. ‘England will govern Ireland never again. Let us British hold to this reality in the whirlpool of petulant anger! Ireland is lost to us; but it is still possible that she may become a friend.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol. 11, No.2 July 10, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
British estimates put the number of IRA volunteers ‘on active service’ at around 2,000 with some 4,500 imprisoned.
San Franscisco: De Valera and Walsh organised a rally to gather some support for the plank. At a meeting of some 300 people called to debate the Irish question, the atmosphere became so heated that the police were called to restore order.
New York Times ( also Quoted in Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.381)
Washington: President Wilson was advised that the Democratic Convention committee ‘is in the hands of friends’
An example of a 1920 film is the drama The Inferior Sex directed by Joseph Henabery and written by Keene Thompson and Waldemar Young. Based on the 1910 play of the same name by Frank Slayton, the film starred the teenage wife of Charlie Chaplin, Mildred Harris Chaplin, Milton Sills, Mary Alden, John Steppling, Bertram Grassby and James O. Barrows. The film was released on March 8, 1920, by First National Exhibitors' Circuit. The advert here is from the New York Evening World newspaper of July 1.
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Charlie Chaplin’s first wife was the sixteen year old Mildred Harris (1901-1944). They married in 1918 after Mildred believed she was pregnant - but it was a false alarm. Unsurprisingly, the marriage only lasted two years and though Harris eventually gave birth to their first child later in their relationship, the baby, Norman Spencer died only three days later in July 1919. Their marriage initially proved fruitful for Harris, who increasingly received movie offers; however Chaplin was largely unsupportive and questioned her talent because of her young age ad publically stated she was not his intellectual equal.
Chaplin moved to the Los Angeles Athletic Club. Harris tried to keep up appearances, believing a happy marriage was possible but, in 1920, she filed for divorce based on mental cruelty. Chaplin countered with an accusation of infidelity, and though he would not name her lover publicly, actress Alla Nazimova was suspected. The divorce was granted in November 1920, with Harris receiving $100,000 (US$1,250,664 in 2018 values) in settlement and some property.
During the 1920s, Harris transitioned from child actress to leading lady roles opposite leading men such as Conrad Nagel, Charley Chase, Milton Sills, Lionel Barrymore, Rod La Rocque and the Moore brothers, Owen and Tom. She appeared in Frank Capra's 1928 silent drama The Power of the Press with Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. and Jobyna Ralston and the same year, starred in Universal Pictures first sound film Melody of Love opposite Walter Pidgeon. Like many in Hollywood, she found the transition to the "talkies" difficult and her career slowed dramatically. She performed in vaudeville and burlesque and, at one point, toured with comedian Phil Silvers. She was critically praised for her performance in the 1930 film adaptation of the Broadway musical No, No Nanette. In the 1936 Three Stooges comedy Movie Maniacs, she portrayed a temperamental and demanding film starlet who, while receiving a pedicure, is startled by stooge Curly Howard striking a match on the sole of her foot.
Harris continued to work in film in the early 1940s, largely through the kindness of her former director, Cecil B. DeMille, who cast her in bit parts in 1942's Reap the Wild Wind (starring Paulette Goddard, who, like Harris, was once married to Charlie Chaplin), and 1944's The Story of Dr. Wassell. She died in 1944 from pneumonia. Her last film appearance was in the posthumously-released 1945 film Having A Wonderful Crime.
Chaplin moved to the Los Angeles Athletic Club. Harris tried to keep up appearances, believing a happy marriage was possible but, in 1920, she filed for divorce based on mental cruelty. Chaplin countered with an accusation of infidelity, and though he would not name her lover publicly, actress Alla Nazimova was suspected. The divorce was granted in November 1920, with Harris receiving $100,000 (US$1,250,664 in 2018 values) in settlement and some property.
During the 1920s, Harris transitioned from child actress to leading lady roles opposite leading men such as Conrad Nagel, Charley Chase, Milton Sills, Lionel Barrymore, Rod La Rocque and the Moore brothers, Owen and Tom. She appeared in Frank Capra's 1928 silent drama The Power of the Press with Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. and Jobyna Ralston and the same year, starred in Universal Pictures first sound film Melody of Love opposite Walter Pidgeon. Like many in Hollywood, she found the transition to the "talkies" difficult and her career slowed dramatically. She performed in vaudeville and burlesque and, at one point, toured with comedian Phil Silvers. She was critically praised for her performance in the 1930 film adaptation of the Broadway musical No, No Nanette. In the 1936 Three Stooges comedy Movie Maniacs, she portrayed a temperamental and demanding film starlet who, while receiving a pedicure, is startled by stooge Curly Howard striking a match on the sole of her foot.
Harris continued to work in film in the early 1940s, largely through the kindness of her former director, Cecil B. DeMille, who cast her in bit parts in 1942's Reap the Wild Wind (starring Paulette Goddard, who, like Harris, was once married to Charlie Chaplin), and 1944's The Story of Dr. Wassell. She died in 1944 from pneumonia. Her last film appearance was in the posthumously-released 1945 film Having A Wonderful Crime.
2
London: The Attorney General for Ireland, Denis Henry, told the House of Commons that 39 members of the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) and the Dublin Metropolitan Police (DMP) were murdered in the first six months of 1920 with a further 70 injured. 34 of the policemen killed belonged to the RIC, and the remaining five were members of the DMP.
The Attorney General’s announcement in Westminster coincided with the Dublin Castle authorities’ publication of their weekly official report of what they term ‘outrages’. The report made reference to incidents across the island that included the burning of courthouses, the raiding of post offices and the seizure of postal correspondence, the stealing of petrol and attacks on police and police barracks, including the RIC King Street barracks in Cork City.
Southampton, England: William Barry, working as a fireman on the SS New York but acting as a courier for De Valera carrying messages to the Dublin government was arrested in Southampton. There he was found to be carrying two revolvers, hundreds of rounds of ammunition and five letters from code-named persons. Barry was prosecuted under the Defence of the Realm Act These letters were later published in the Philadelphia Public Ledger & New York Times on July 13th.
San Francisco: A revised plank, leaving out mention of the recognition of the Irish Republic was placed before the Democratic Party Convention by Edward Doheny*. Immediately, ‘the most vociferous opposition was at once manifested’ from the delegates resulting in a defeat 665 to 402 an hour later. The end result was the insertion in the platform of a plank expressing sympathy with Irish aspirations.
* Doheny later became President of the American Association for the Recognition of the Irish Republic AARIR, fell from grace within 18 months and jailed for his role in the Teapot Dome scandal
The Friends of Irish Freedom Newsletter reported that while the voting on the Irish resolution began, the band ‘the best ever heard at a national convention’… boomed forth with ‘St Patrick’s Day’….Of course there was an encore…there was a distinctly Celtic athmosphere throughout the deliberations and it was refreshing to find a band and a band-master willing to draw liberally on the rich stores of Irish instrumental lyrics.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.5 July 31, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
De Valera in a statement release after the defeat, said ‘rejection of the plank pledging the Democratic Paty to the recognition of the Republic of Ireland merly indicates that it had not yet realised how great is the volume of public sentiment in this country behind the demand for justice in Ireland. ‘
Longford & O’Neill. “Eamon de Valera “ Hutchinson, London.1970. p111
He also said: ‘Ireland has learned how to face defeat, the lesson of refusal…is that the American public need to be more systematically educated in the noble principles of Sinn Fein’ and announced his plan to spend incredible sums in an attempt to capture the intellect of America.’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p172
Critics thought otherwise. The de Valera leadership of one section of Irish America had proven to be a tragic failure with many wasted opportunities.
The Friends of Irish Freedom reacted to reports that Walsh and de Valera did not approve of the withdrawal of the ‘recognition’ section. The Irish National Bureau of Information Director, Daniel T. O’Connell wrote from San Francisco on July 5th that :‘Mr Walsh was in continuous attendance and in consultation with the party leaders and delegates who were fighting for him, and President de Valera was in a hotel almost across the street from the Convention. They had plenty of time, for hours before the vote was taken, to express disapproval or repudiation. Neither course was followed and the delegates voted, under the direction of a ‘steering ‘committee of fifty organised by Mr. Walsh acting in harmony with his wishes and with Mr. Walsh present.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol. 11, No 2 July 10, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The political fall-out would continue for many months as would questions raised by some voting patterns. The Newsletter revealed that the Phillipine delegates to the Convention voted against the resolution on behalf of Ireland. ‘No explanation of the conduct and vote of the Phillipine delegates has yet been offered. Representatives of the Phillipine movement to secure independence have time and time again successfully pleased for assistance from Americans of Irish blood, particularly US Senators and Representatives. Why, at the first opportunity, did Phillipine representatives refuse aid to Ireland?’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.5 July 31, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Events in Ireland were continuing to grow more ominous, guerrilla warfare, military activity from the Black & Tans, Auxiliaries, regular troops, the IRA and atrocities in Ulster were causing many deaths..
“one of the charges made at the time was that the feuding gave the British a free hand to perpetrate atrocities in Ireland. McCartan, who was himself of that opinion, quoted Bishop Gallagher “ If President de Valera had remained away from Chicago and allowed Americans to run their own affairs...the fear of American public opinion would have stayed the murderous hand of England from commencing such murderous atrocities as Ireland has lately endured.” Press and public opinion had forced the British to the concept of a ‘police war’ because a conventional military campaign in Ireland would not be tolerated. “
Tim Pat Coogan “De Valera, Long Fellow, Long Shadow” Hutchinson, London. 1993. p183
Wexford: The Coronor of Newtownbarry. Co. Wexford, Dr. W.C.Lawlor reisgned his position as magistrate in a letter to the Lord Chancelor: ‘ I hereby resign my position as Magistrate for Co. Wexford as a protest against the present administration of the country. Until the British Government recognises the demands of 80% of the Irish people and gives them a full measure of self-government, it is unreasonable to expect magistrates, who are in full agreement with these demands, to administer laws that are repugnant to the feelings of a vast majority of the Irish people. The British Government has had many opportunities of settling this vexed question, but it only juggled and dissimulated and now it's administration is drifting into chaos. Ireland is awake and British administration is becoming an impossibility.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.3 July 17, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Lawlor was followed quickly by the Crown Solicitor for Wexford, M.J.O’Connell. Resigning his post after 30 years service, he said that he ‘had continued at his place of duty as long as he had found it possible to assist in the maintenance of law and order, but that under the present British policy in Ireland, this was impossible’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.3 July 17, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The Newsletter gave brief mention to a key development within Irish Trade-Unionism history : ‘The complete unity of opinion in Ireland between all classes and all factions is further exemplified by the decision of a conference of delegates representing the various trade unions in Ireland to unite in a purely Irish federation which, severing it’s connections with similar British federations will be able to present a united front in opposition to British domination in Ireland.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.3 July 17, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Australian correspondents in Ireland commented that their reports were being routinely and consistently suppressed by the British military authorities. Meanwhile the Irish-Ireland League of Victoria issued a manifesto to all ‘lovers of Ireland…the time has come for a united effort to secure the independence which is the national birthright of Ireland. Pressure should eb brought to bear through the Federal Parliament of Australia on the British Government, compelling it by reason of expediency to grant what it refuses on the ground of justice.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.3 July 17, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
In Cork, the Republican Court continued to sit in the City Hall, dealing with cases withdrawn from the British courts.
Some concern at British attempts to promote a greater Anglo-American co-operation alarmed some sections of America – specific attempts were now made by some American Legion branches to raise the issue. The Lawrence J. Flaherty Post raised a resoloution protesting against the substitution of ’America’ set to the melody of ‘God Save the King’ for the ‘Star Bangled Banner’ as the American National Anthem.
In France, the first delegation representing the Irish Republic, joined the French commemoration of General Lazare Hoche at Versailles and laid a bronze palm entwined with French and Irish tricolours with the inscription ‘From a grateful Ireland, 1796-1920’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.5 July 31, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Sergeant Robert Tobin (45) was killed in an ambush at Ballinure, Co Tipperary.
London: The Attorney General for Ireland, Denis Henry, told the House of Commons that 39 members of the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) and the Dublin Metropolitan Police (DMP) were murdered in the first six months of 1920 with a further 70 injured. 34 of the policemen killed belonged to the RIC, and the remaining five were members of the DMP.
The Attorney General’s announcement in Westminster coincided with the Dublin Castle authorities’ publication of their weekly official report of what they term ‘outrages’. The report made reference to incidents across the island that included the burning of courthouses, the raiding of post offices and the seizure of postal correspondence, the stealing of petrol and attacks on police and police barracks, including the RIC King Street barracks in Cork City.
Southampton, England: William Barry, working as a fireman on the SS New York but acting as a courier for De Valera carrying messages to the Dublin government was arrested in Southampton. There he was found to be carrying two revolvers, hundreds of rounds of ammunition and five letters from code-named persons. Barry was prosecuted under the Defence of the Realm Act These letters were later published in the Philadelphia Public Ledger & New York Times on July 13th.
San Francisco: A revised plank, leaving out mention of the recognition of the Irish Republic was placed before the Democratic Party Convention by Edward Doheny*. Immediately, ‘the most vociferous opposition was at once manifested’ from the delegates resulting in a defeat 665 to 402 an hour later. The end result was the insertion in the platform of a plank expressing sympathy with Irish aspirations.
* Doheny later became President of the American Association for the Recognition of the Irish Republic AARIR, fell from grace within 18 months and jailed for his role in the Teapot Dome scandal
The Friends of Irish Freedom Newsletter reported that while the voting on the Irish resolution began, the band ‘the best ever heard at a national convention’… boomed forth with ‘St Patrick’s Day’….Of course there was an encore…there was a distinctly Celtic athmosphere throughout the deliberations and it was refreshing to find a band and a band-master willing to draw liberally on the rich stores of Irish instrumental lyrics.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.5 July 31, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
De Valera in a statement release after the defeat, said ‘rejection of the plank pledging the Democratic Paty to the recognition of the Republic of Ireland merly indicates that it had not yet realised how great is the volume of public sentiment in this country behind the demand for justice in Ireland. ‘
Longford & O’Neill. “Eamon de Valera “ Hutchinson, London.1970. p111
He also said: ‘Ireland has learned how to face defeat, the lesson of refusal…is that the American public need to be more systematically educated in the noble principles of Sinn Fein’ and announced his plan to spend incredible sums in an attempt to capture the intellect of America.’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p172
Critics thought otherwise. The de Valera leadership of one section of Irish America had proven to be a tragic failure with many wasted opportunities.
The Friends of Irish Freedom reacted to reports that Walsh and de Valera did not approve of the withdrawal of the ‘recognition’ section. The Irish National Bureau of Information Director, Daniel T. O’Connell wrote from San Francisco on July 5th that :‘Mr Walsh was in continuous attendance and in consultation with the party leaders and delegates who were fighting for him, and President de Valera was in a hotel almost across the street from the Convention. They had plenty of time, for hours before the vote was taken, to express disapproval or repudiation. Neither course was followed and the delegates voted, under the direction of a ‘steering ‘committee of fifty organised by Mr. Walsh acting in harmony with his wishes and with Mr. Walsh present.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol. 11, No 2 July 10, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The political fall-out would continue for many months as would questions raised by some voting patterns. The Newsletter revealed that the Phillipine delegates to the Convention voted against the resolution on behalf of Ireland. ‘No explanation of the conduct and vote of the Phillipine delegates has yet been offered. Representatives of the Phillipine movement to secure independence have time and time again successfully pleased for assistance from Americans of Irish blood, particularly US Senators and Representatives. Why, at the first opportunity, did Phillipine representatives refuse aid to Ireland?’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.5 July 31, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Events in Ireland were continuing to grow more ominous, guerrilla warfare, military activity from the Black & Tans, Auxiliaries, regular troops, the IRA and atrocities in Ulster were causing many deaths..
“one of the charges made at the time was that the feuding gave the British a free hand to perpetrate atrocities in Ireland. McCartan, who was himself of that opinion, quoted Bishop Gallagher “ If President de Valera had remained away from Chicago and allowed Americans to run their own affairs...the fear of American public opinion would have stayed the murderous hand of England from commencing such murderous atrocities as Ireland has lately endured.” Press and public opinion had forced the British to the concept of a ‘police war’ because a conventional military campaign in Ireland would not be tolerated. “
Tim Pat Coogan “De Valera, Long Fellow, Long Shadow” Hutchinson, London. 1993. p183
Wexford: The Coronor of Newtownbarry. Co. Wexford, Dr. W.C.Lawlor reisgned his position as magistrate in a letter to the Lord Chancelor: ‘ I hereby resign my position as Magistrate for Co. Wexford as a protest against the present administration of the country. Until the British Government recognises the demands of 80% of the Irish people and gives them a full measure of self-government, it is unreasonable to expect magistrates, who are in full agreement with these demands, to administer laws that are repugnant to the feelings of a vast majority of the Irish people. The British Government has had many opportunities of settling this vexed question, but it only juggled and dissimulated and now it's administration is drifting into chaos. Ireland is awake and British administration is becoming an impossibility.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.3 July 17, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Lawlor was followed quickly by the Crown Solicitor for Wexford, M.J.O’Connell. Resigning his post after 30 years service, he said that he ‘had continued at his place of duty as long as he had found it possible to assist in the maintenance of law and order, but that under the present British policy in Ireland, this was impossible’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.3 July 17, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The Newsletter gave brief mention to a key development within Irish Trade-Unionism history : ‘The complete unity of opinion in Ireland between all classes and all factions is further exemplified by the decision of a conference of delegates representing the various trade unions in Ireland to unite in a purely Irish federation which, severing it’s connections with similar British federations will be able to present a united front in opposition to British domination in Ireland.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.3 July 17, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Australian correspondents in Ireland commented that their reports were being routinely and consistently suppressed by the British military authorities. Meanwhile the Irish-Ireland League of Victoria issued a manifesto to all ‘lovers of Ireland…the time has come for a united effort to secure the independence which is the national birthright of Ireland. Pressure should eb brought to bear through the Federal Parliament of Australia on the British Government, compelling it by reason of expediency to grant what it refuses on the ground of justice.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.3 July 17, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
In Cork, the Republican Court continued to sit in the City Hall, dealing with cases withdrawn from the British courts.
Some concern at British attempts to promote a greater Anglo-American co-operation alarmed some sections of America – specific attempts were now made by some American Legion branches to raise the issue. The Lawrence J. Flaherty Post raised a resoloution protesting against the substitution of ’America’ set to the melody of ‘God Save the King’ for the ‘Star Bangled Banner’ as the American National Anthem.
In France, the first delegation representing the Irish Republic, joined the French commemoration of General Lazare Hoche at Versailles and laid a bronze palm entwined with French and Irish tricolours with the inscription ‘From a grateful Ireland, 1796-1920’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.5 July 31, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Sergeant Robert Tobin (45) was killed in an ambush at Ballinure, Co Tipperary.
3
Washington: With the de Valera San Francisco Democratic Party Convention plank defeat complete, the Friends of Irish Freedom Newsletter started the first issue of it’s second year with a commentary on the Convention and incorporated a major policy statement on the National Council’s intent:
’The National Council of the Friends of Irish Freedom…set a wise example to those who, swept from firm ground by campaign excitement, have permitted Ireland’s struggle for freedom to be drawn into the dangerous political quicksands of American partisan politics.’ Following the National Council ‘being brought into question’ in Chicago, ‘the calm judicial, and ever self-sacrificing mind and spirit of Justice Cohalan…decided to offer surther sacrifice that Ireland’s friends should present a united front’ by leaving de Valera and supporters a ‘clear field’ for a vote at the Democratic Convention, and by doing so, steering well clear of any potential fall-out which they reasonably expected to result.
Dealing with American politics was something best left to Irish Americans, as there were ‘dangerous weapons to handle, unless those handling them are Americans, know American political methods, and can steer a clear course through the rocky shoals and hidden dangers of the campaign and the selfishness which political partisanship always produces.’ And in case any of these facts could be disputed, the Newsletter continued with ‘Ireland has made extraordinary progress in American because of the statesmanlike leadership of experienced men’ and advised that ‘the best friends of Ireland will be those who exercise patience, and give to the National Council and it’s accredited spokesmen the encouragement so richly earned. Their authority springs from the great race convention held at Philadelphia. They created the present world wide movement; they have sustained the movement, making possible America’s wonderful welcome to president de Valera and the raising of millions of dollars subscribed to Ireland.’
Readers were reminded that Judge Cohalan stepped aside not once but twice ‘for harmony’s sake’ when questioned as to his authority to speak on behalf of Irish Americans by President Wilson, but warns ‘It will be better , however, if these sacrifices are not too often asked. Bad advisers have injured many great causes’.
And should de Valera be plotting a split within Irish America, Cohalan and the National Council were ‘determined that there will be no division and no break in the ranks of the millions praying and striving to win recognition for Ireland’s independence, and John Devoy …stands squarely with Judge Cohalan and the National Council.’
The article closed with this warning: ‘Extreme methods and the fervid enthuasiasm of those who believe a short cut to recognition of independence can be made by plunging into American national conventions and campaigns, will discover there are embarrassments fraught with serious dangers.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol. 11, No.1 July 3, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Washington: With the de Valera San Francisco Democratic Party Convention plank defeat complete, the Friends of Irish Freedom Newsletter started the first issue of it’s second year with a commentary on the Convention and incorporated a major policy statement on the National Council’s intent:
’The National Council of the Friends of Irish Freedom…set a wise example to those who, swept from firm ground by campaign excitement, have permitted Ireland’s struggle for freedom to be drawn into the dangerous political quicksands of American partisan politics.’ Following the National Council ‘being brought into question’ in Chicago, ‘the calm judicial, and ever self-sacrificing mind and spirit of Justice Cohalan…decided to offer surther sacrifice that Ireland’s friends should present a united front’ by leaving de Valera and supporters a ‘clear field’ for a vote at the Democratic Convention, and by doing so, steering well clear of any potential fall-out which they reasonably expected to result.
Dealing with American politics was something best left to Irish Americans, as there were ‘dangerous weapons to handle, unless those handling them are Americans, know American political methods, and can steer a clear course through the rocky shoals and hidden dangers of the campaign and the selfishness which political partisanship always produces.’ And in case any of these facts could be disputed, the Newsletter continued with ‘Ireland has made extraordinary progress in American because of the statesmanlike leadership of experienced men’ and advised that ‘the best friends of Ireland will be those who exercise patience, and give to the National Council and it’s accredited spokesmen the encouragement so richly earned. Their authority springs from the great race convention held at Philadelphia. They created the present world wide movement; they have sustained the movement, making possible America’s wonderful welcome to president de Valera and the raising of millions of dollars subscribed to Ireland.’
Readers were reminded that Judge Cohalan stepped aside not once but twice ‘for harmony’s sake’ when questioned as to his authority to speak on behalf of Irish Americans by President Wilson, but warns ‘It will be better , however, if these sacrifices are not too often asked. Bad advisers have injured many great causes’.
And should de Valera be plotting a split within Irish America, Cohalan and the National Council were ‘determined that there will be no division and no break in the ranks of the millions praying and striving to win recognition for Ireland’s independence, and John Devoy …stands squarely with Judge Cohalan and the National Council.’
The article closed with this warning: ‘Extreme methods and the fervid enthuasiasm of those who believe a short cut to recognition of independence can be made by plunging into American national conventions and campaigns, will discover there are embarrassments fraught with serious dangers.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol. 11, No.1 July 3, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Text of the Friends of Irish Freedom Newsletter (July 3, 1920):
SAN FRANCISCO
The National Council of the Friends of Irish Freedom, influenced by the splendid leadership of Justice Cohalan, set a wise example to those who, swept from firm ground by campaign excitement, have permitted Ireland's struggle for freedom to be drawn into the dangerous political quicksand's of American partisan politics. The rightful authority of the National Council to speak in behalf of the American citizens of Irish blood being brought into question at Chicago, and a duplication of events being possible at San Francisco if the National Council insisted upon its right, by reason of delegated authority, to speak with the voice of the American Irish, the calm judicial, and ever self-sacrificing mind and spirit of Justice Cohalan rose to the momentous occasion. It was decided to offer further sacrifice that Ireland's friends should present a united front. The statement made to the press of the world from San Francisco by Daniel T. O’Connell, Director of the National Bureau of the Friends of Irish Freedom, speaking in behalf of the National Council, made clear that President de Valera's position of recognition or nothing should have a clear field for a vote by the Democratic Convention. It was Justice Cohalan and the group of sound leaders working with him who made this sacrifice, and all praise should be accorded them for the courageous spirit which inspired them in behalf of a united people to preserve harmony. Director O’Connell withheld the plank which, the National Council believed, contained a declaration of principles upholding all that Ireland seeks. These principles spelled freedom, recognition of independence, and progress toward winning to Ireland's side all classes of liberty loving Americans, thousands of whom have difficulty in convincing themselves America must aid the oppressed people of Ireland. Extreme measures are always doubtful. No two men in the whole world have done more for Ireland than Justice Cohalan and John Devoy, editor of the Gaelic American. For more than sixty years Devoy has struggled to bring freedom to Ireland, and Justice Cohalan has since his earliest youth, sacrificed more than any loving American-born friend of Ireland. It is possible for those who are swayed by campaign excitement and political methods to inflict on Ireland an injury they do not intend. American presidential campaigns and national elections are dangerous weapons to handle, unless those handling them are Americans, know American political methods, and can steer a clear course through the rocky shoals and hidden dangers of the campaign and the selfish ness which political partisanship always produces. Ireland has made extra ordinary progress in America because of the statesmanlike leadership of experienced men. English diplomacy has been baffled as never before. All Americans of Irish blood seek freedom and independence for Ireland. It will come in due time. It took America seven years to win it for herself, seven years of bloodshed. Ireland has been knocking at America’s door for recognition only since January 21, 1919, less than a year and a half. The best friends of Ireland will be those who exercise patience, and give to the National Council and its accredited spokesmen the encouragement so richly earned. Their authority springs from the great race convention held at Philadelphia. They created the present world-wide movement; they have sustained the movement, making possible America’s wonderful welcome to President de Valera, and the raising of millions of dollars subscribed for Ireland. Justice Cohalan sacrificed himself when the American Chief Executive questioned his authority to speak for the American Irish people; it made Justice Cohalan the best loved American of Irish blood living under the Stars and Stripes. Ireland’s Chief Executive questioned, at Chicago, the right of Justice Cohalan to speak for the American Irish. Again Justice Cohalan stepped aside, for harmony's sake. History will repeat itself. It will be better, however, if these sacrifices are not too often asked. Bad advisers have injured many great causes. Justice Cohalan and & the National Council are determined there will be no division and no break in the ranks of the millions praying and striving to win recognition for Ireland’s independence, and John Devoy, as noble a champion of freedom as any op pressed, down-trodden people ever had, stands squarely with Justice Cohalan, and the National Council. Extreme methods and the fervid enthusiasm of those who believe a short cut to recognition of independence can be made by plunging into American national conventions and campaigns, will discover there are embarrassments fraught with serious dangers.
SAN FRANCISCO
The National Council of the Friends of Irish Freedom, influenced by the splendid leadership of Justice Cohalan, set a wise example to those who, swept from firm ground by campaign excitement, have permitted Ireland's struggle for freedom to be drawn into the dangerous political quicksand's of American partisan politics. The rightful authority of the National Council to speak in behalf of the American citizens of Irish blood being brought into question at Chicago, and a duplication of events being possible at San Francisco if the National Council insisted upon its right, by reason of delegated authority, to speak with the voice of the American Irish, the calm judicial, and ever self-sacrificing mind and spirit of Justice Cohalan rose to the momentous occasion. It was decided to offer further sacrifice that Ireland's friends should present a united front. The statement made to the press of the world from San Francisco by Daniel T. O’Connell, Director of the National Bureau of the Friends of Irish Freedom, speaking in behalf of the National Council, made clear that President de Valera's position of recognition or nothing should have a clear field for a vote by the Democratic Convention. It was Justice Cohalan and the group of sound leaders working with him who made this sacrifice, and all praise should be accorded them for the courageous spirit which inspired them in behalf of a united people to preserve harmony. Director O’Connell withheld the plank which, the National Council believed, contained a declaration of principles upholding all that Ireland seeks. These principles spelled freedom, recognition of independence, and progress toward winning to Ireland's side all classes of liberty loving Americans, thousands of whom have difficulty in convincing themselves America must aid the oppressed people of Ireland. Extreme measures are always doubtful. No two men in the whole world have done more for Ireland than Justice Cohalan and John Devoy, editor of the Gaelic American. For more than sixty years Devoy has struggled to bring freedom to Ireland, and Justice Cohalan has since his earliest youth, sacrificed more than any loving American-born friend of Ireland. It is possible for those who are swayed by campaign excitement and political methods to inflict on Ireland an injury they do not intend. American presidential campaigns and national elections are dangerous weapons to handle, unless those handling them are Americans, know American political methods, and can steer a clear course through the rocky shoals and hidden dangers of the campaign and the selfish ness which political partisanship always produces. Ireland has made extra ordinary progress in America because of the statesmanlike leadership of experienced men. English diplomacy has been baffled as never before. All Americans of Irish blood seek freedom and independence for Ireland. It will come in due time. It took America seven years to win it for herself, seven years of bloodshed. Ireland has been knocking at America’s door for recognition only since January 21, 1919, less than a year and a half. The best friends of Ireland will be those who exercise patience, and give to the National Council and its accredited spokesmen the encouragement so richly earned. Their authority springs from the great race convention held at Philadelphia. They created the present world-wide movement; they have sustained the movement, making possible America’s wonderful welcome to President de Valera, and the raising of millions of dollars subscribed for Ireland. Justice Cohalan sacrificed himself when the American Chief Executive questioned his authority to speak for the American Irish people; it made Justice Cohalan the best loved American of Irish blood living under the Stars and Stripes. Ireland’s Chief Executive questioned, at Chicago, the right of Justice Cohalan to speak for the American Irish. Again Justice Cohalan stepped aside, for harmony's sake. History will repeat itself. It will be better, however, if these sacrifices are not too often asked. Bad advisers have injured many great causes. Justice Cohalan and & the National Council are determined there will be no division and no break in the ranks of the millions praying and striving to win recognition for Ireland’s independence, and John Devoy, as noble a champion of freedom as any op pressed, down-trodden people ever had, stands squarely with Justice Cohalan, and the National Council. Extreme methods and the fervid enthusiasm of those who believe a short cut to recognition of independence can be made by plunging into American national conventions and campaigns, will discover there are embarrassments fraught with serious dangers.
The Irish World carried an editorial quoted a letter from J.J.O'Leary criticising 'the highly paid official of the Friends of Irish Freedom who denounced the splendid women who picketed the British Embassy in Washington'
Eileen McGough.'Diarmuid Lynch: A Forgotten Irish Patriot'. Mercier Press 2013. p142
This referred to the Progressive League, an Associate Branch of the FOIF that supported both de Valera and the McGarrity centric Philadelphia Group. They had supported the British Embassy protest in Washington D.C. by sixty Irish-American women. For this, the branch was expelled from the Friends.
Ian Macpherson’s departure from the Vice-Regal Lodge in the Phoenix Park was celebrated in popular songs and parodies, among them was ‘An Elegy written in Phoenix Park’:
‘The curfew tolls the knell of Ian Mac.
The armoured car run thunderous trhought the street,
The tank displays its grim metallic back
And non civilians plod their weary beat’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.1 July 3, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Defections & resignations from the RIC and judiciary continued. The Newsletter carried this report:
‘A recent dispatch from Dublin contains the information that during the past four weeks besides the resignation of nine British magistrates, six police officers of high rank, ten long service police seargeants and more than twenty other constables have refused longer to serve in the Royal Irish Constabulary.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.1 July 3, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
On a lighter note, the Newsletter carried an article on a recent incident ‘on the southwestern coast’ of Ireland, 2 men were sentenced by a Republican Court to three week’s banishment on an uninhabited island for damaging a neighbours fence and were placed there with enough food for the period by Republican police. ‘Some days later when members of the Royal Irish Constabulary attempted to rescue the prisoners, the police were met with a fusilade of stones and when the sergeant in charge shouted to the men on the island ‘We have come to rescue you’ , the prisoners responded: ‘We are citizens of the Irish Republic and we don’t want your help.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.1 July 3, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
"Rev. G. S. Lackland, D. D., Rector of the Grace Methodist Episcopal Church, Denver, Colorado, is continuing his excellent work in his won and nearby states in awakening public sentiment to the just merits of Ireland’s demand for independence. Dr. Lackland spoke recently before a large audience at Davenport, Iowa, on “A Protestant View of the Irish Question”. He came to that city at the invitation of the Bishop of Davenport and of eight Catholic priests."
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.1 July 3, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Colonel Ashley, speaking in the House of Commons said of the Irish postal employees: ‘85% of the employees of the post office are Sinn Feiners. Officials of the British Government are prisoners in their own houses’.
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.3 July 17, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
4
Commenting on the claim by Lloyd George that the wholesale transportation of munitions and arms to Ireland was necessary in order to suppress civil crime, the Nation newspaper in London said ‘It is no answer to say that there are horrible murders in Ireland. There were murders in Belgium, there were horrible murders in Austria-Hungary which reached their climax at Sarajevo. What moral did we draw? We are not, as the Prime Minister suggests, sending troops to Ireland to hunt down murdered. Tanks are not employed against men like Toplis [an English criminal]. In other words these munitions are sent to Ireland because the Government are resolved to refuse Ireland her freedom. They are essentially the weapons that are used against a community. It is our humiliation that the Government has reduced Ireland to such a plight that we have left her no liberty of which a victorious Germany could have deprived her.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol. 11, No.2 July 10, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
John Devoy writing to Judge Cohalan gave his viewpoint on de Valera and both Conventions:
‘it is quite evident to me now that his [De Valera ] action at Chicago was a manoeuvre to recover the ground he lost by the Cuban proposition - to make it appear that we are not really for the Irish Republic and he is...where he will get his leadership when he has us all kicked out I don't know. There is not a man among them who is fit to lead a corporal’s guard. His utter defeat in San Francisco has hurt him very badly, but there is already a campaign started to show that the fact that over 400 delegates voted for his resolution is hopeful for the future.’ McCartan did not escape Devoy either: ‘McCartan..is evidently flabbergasted. He puts his memory of occurrences against documentary evidence and goes into silly details about who was in certain hotel rooms and how easy it would have been to confer if conference was wanted.’
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.382-383
Protests were now being voiced against the Friends of Irish Freedom Executive and in favour of de Valera which McGarrity's Irish press reported with increasing frequency:
"The Michael Mallon Branch issued a statement...about the 'malicious and groundless attacks made upon the honesty and integrity of Eamon de Valera, President of the Irish Republic'
Eileen McGough.'Diarmuid Lynch: A Forgotten Irish Patriot'. Mercier Press 2013. p138
Commenting on the claim by Lloyd George that the wholesale transportation of munitions and arms to Ireland was necessary in order to suppress civil crime, the Nation newspaper in London said ‘It is no answer to say that there are horrible murders in Ireland. There were murders in Belgium, there were horrible murders in Austria-Hungary which reached their climax at Sarajevo. What moral did we draw? We are not, as the Prime Minister suggests, sending troops to Ireland to hunt down murdered. Tanks are not employed against men like Toplis [an English criminal]. In other words these munitions are sent to Ireland because the Government are resolved to refuse Ireland her freedom. They are essentially the weapons that are used against a community. It is our humiliation that the Government has reduced Ireland to such a plight that we have left her no liberty of which a victorious Germany could have deprived her.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol. 11, No.2 July 10, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
John Devoy writing to Judge Cohalan gave his viewpoint on de Valera and both Conventions:
‘it is quite evident to me now that his [De Valera ] action at Chicago was a manoeuvre to recover the ground he lost by the Cuban proposition - to make it appear that we are not really for the Irish Republic and he is...where he will get his leadership when he has us all kicked out I don't know. There is not a man among them who is fit to lead a corporal’s guard. His utter defeat in San Francisco has hurt him very badly, but there is already a campaign started to show that the fact that over 400 delegates voted for his resolution is hopeful for the future.’ McCartan did not escape Devoy either: ‘McCartan..is evidently flabbergasted. He puts his memory of occurrences against documentary evidence and goes into silly details about who was in certain hotel rooms and how easy it would have been to confer if conference was wanted.’
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.382-383
Protests were now being voiced against the Friends of Irish Freedom Executive and in favour of de Valera which McGarrity's Irish press reported with increasing frequency:
"The Michael Mallon Branch issued a statement...about the 'malicious and groundless attacks made upon the honesty and integrity of Eamon de Valera, President of the Irish Republic'
Eileen McGough.'Diarmuid Lynch: A Forgotten Irish Patriot'. Mercier Press 2013. p138
5
Lord Monteagle writing in the Irish Times, commented:
‘The Sinn Fein courts are steadily extending their jurisdiction and dispensing justice even handed between man and man, Catholic and Protestant, farmer and shopkeeper, grazier and cattle driver, landlord and tenant. The Sinn Fein police are arresting burglars, punishing cattle drivers, patrolling the streets, controlling drink traffic, apparently in some places with the acquiescence of the local military authorities, who thus show themselves wiser than either the Castle officials or the British Government...it also shows the growing and remarkable capacity of the Irish people for self-government.’
Hugh Martin, writing in the Daily News on the popularity of the Sinn Fein courts: ‘Ireland is taking pleasure in law and order for the first time within the memory of man.’
Conor O’Clery ‘Ireland in Quotes’ The O’Brien Press Dublin 1999 p.48
Robert Lynn, in the Daily News also commented ‘So far as the mass of the people are concerned, the policy of the day is not an active, but a passive policy. Their purpose is not to attack the Government but to ignore it, and to build up a new Government quietly by its side’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p42
As if Lord Monteagle’s fears were justified, the following report appeared in the Gaelic American:
‘The other day a mounted military ‘officer’ ( according to his uniform ) accompanied by an orderly called at the temporary G.P.O. for the Dublin Castle mails. His horse was restive and two policemen assisted the orderly in keeping the animal in order until the ‘officer’ returned. That gentleman then rode away with the mail bag. Five minutes later another military officer called for the Castle Mails and was detained as an imposter, presumably a Sinn Feiner. But he was the real officer while the man who got away with the letters was the Sinn Feiner.’
Gaelic American. July 24, 1920. National Library of Ireland.
By now, not only were many postal and telecomunication workers in close contact with Michael Collins’ network, but the mails were being used to send Sinn Fein communications.
Writing from San Francisco, Daniel T. O’Connell, Director of the Irish National Bureau of Information commented on the previous few days in the Friends of Irish Freedom Newsletter:
‘The eleventh hour withdrawal at the Democratic National Convention of the third and all important section of the resolution drafted by President de Valera and Honourable Frank P. Walsh justifies completely the position taken by Justice Cohalan of New York.’
This front page article, somewhat along the lines of a ‘I told you so’ marked open hostility between the Friends of Irish Freedom and de Valera with ‘it is always unwise for those who do not understand American politics to attempt playing with National Conventions. Results prove the force of that statement’.
De Valera was reminded that at the Chicago Convention where he demanded a recognition plank must be adopted or ‘nothing less accepted’ that Irish Americans led by Judge Cohalan advised that an ‘out and out recognition plank could not prevail and defeat was certain.’. The Judge favouring a diplomatic approach with a plank ‘declaring for ‘recognition of the principle that the people of Ireland have a right to determine freely, without dictation from outside, their own governmental institutions and their international relations with other States and peoples’ and as was reasonably expected it would have been adopted, the US would have effectively recognised the Irish Republic.
Following the de Valera plank failure and when his ‘supporters…denounced the other [Cohalan’s proposition] and advised it’s defeat…the result was disheartening. It was not beneficial to Ireland to have one of the two great parties adopt a platform without reference to Ireland.’ The ‘Recognition or nothing’ plank which had failed in Chicago was now taken to San Francisco where ‘de Valera personally took direction of the forces of Ireland’s friends. Demonstrations and much publicity were utilised to force the Democrats to accept the ‘recognition’ plank. Sound advice was ignored…the accredited representatives of the Friends of Irish Freedom concluded to allow President de Valera and Mr. Walsh a clear field; the second resolution offered at Chicago was withheld [Cohalan’s diplomatic approach] and Mr Walsh had all the strength of the Friends of Irish Freedom to refer to in argument.'
'The Democratic leaders listened and the Resolutions Committee gave Mr. Walsh and Senator Phelan a full hearing. The plank was voted down 31 to 17…though earnest and determined effort was made by the sponsors of the plank to have it offered as a minority report, they were unable to secure even one member of the Committee to go that far. Those who had voted in its favour said it was too extreme and, that to offer it to the Convention was to invite additional injury to Ireland’s cause. Then came the yielding and compromising that Mr. Walsh, speaking for President de Valera, had said repeatedly, would never be permitted…the compromise was defeated by a vote of 676 to 402.’
As to O’Connell’s post mortem on Irish attempts for recognition at the San Francisco Convention:
‘The facts as recited are beyond contradiction, the withdrawal of their recognition plank was equiavent to an acknowledgement that Justice Coahalan was right when viewing the two Conventions with experienced, far seeing vision, he foresaw defeat for such an extreme course. Those who attempt to represent Justice Cohalan’s position as seeking sympathy and not recognition do him grave injustice. No man has fought harder for recognition and he has acted as would a leader who leads bravely but wisely….it should be stated that the withdrawal of the original Mason Bill was upon the initiative of President de Valera…that substitute was also withdrawn by President de Valera’s authority when its defeat was certain and a new substitute offered, as dictated by him to Justice Cohalan, in the presence of three members of Congress and the Director of the National Bureau….even while President de Valera was at Chicago, taking the position of saying that nothing short of a recognition plank was acceptable, the Director of the National Bureau was in Washington battling to secure passage of the substitute Mason Resolution wherein, as at San Francisco, the ‘recognition’ language was withdrawn.’
O’Connell closed with ‘Chicago and San Francisco are now events of the past. The progress of a great cause cannot be permanently retarded. There is work aplenty for every friend of Ireland. The National Council of the Friends of Irish Freedom built up the American movement; the American brains guiding its activities are of the best, and American policies and activities guided by them will avoid mistakes such as witnessed at Chicago and San Francisco.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol. 11, No.1 July 3, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Full text of the Newsletter article is below.
New York: Éamon de Valera responded to criticisms directed at him in the Gaelic American, and denied that a rift has opened up between Sinn Féin and influential Irish-Americans.
In a lengthy statement, Mr de Valera dismissed a charge that he had been guilty of misuse of funds as ‘malicious and without foundation’. He said that the money that had been subscribed for Irish Issue Bonds was the property of the Irish nation and he was entitled to use it for all legitimate governmental purposes. And, he stressed, there was no purpose so urgent as the securing of recognition. De Valera withdrew from these funds to take a group of ‘influential friends of our cause’ to attend the Republican convention in Chicago and he only did so when it became clear that this necessary task was not going to be undertaken by the committee of the Friends of Irish Freedom (FOIF), who had been expected to do so.
De Valera said that he felt aggrieved at having to use Dáil Éireann funds when there were funds available, subscribed by sympathisers to the Irish cause, for such purposes. ‘I had always believed that the greatest effort that our friends would make in America would be made at these conventions. It was at these conventions that the steps by which our nation could obtain redress could be initiated.’
He went on to state that he was always conscious of the risks associated with his US fundraising drive, that the ‘power of the purse’ would leave him ‘subservient to the wishes of others than the Irish people.’ For that reason, he had written to his own government and secured, together with a co-trustee, discretionary powers to use the funds within specified limits, so that he might be free to ‘work untrammelled in Ireland’s interest.’ De Valera added that throughout his time in America he has met with people all across the country and has not had the ‘slightest difficulty in working in greatest harmony and closest cooperation with all, except one or two individuals.’
Judge Daniel Cohalan, also tried to dampen talk of dissension, telling the New York Journal that there was ‘no division in the ranks on any question of principle’. Cohalan said that he was engaged with Irish issues as an ‘American, whose first and only loyalty is to my own country, and... I shall continue to work as I have done in the past with all who strive to bring absolute independence to Ireland.’
San Francisco: the Democratic Party nominated James M Cox as presidential candidate with the 38 year old, Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Franklin Delano Roosevelt as his running-mate.
Lord Monteagle writing in the Irish Times, commented:
‘The Sinn Fein courts are steadily extending their jurisdiction and dispensing justice even handed between man and man, Catholic and Protestant, farmer and shopkeeper, grazier and cattle driver, landlord and tenant. The Sinn Fein police are arresting burglars, punishing cattle drivers, patrolling the streets, controlling drink traffic, apparently in some places with the acquiescence of the local military authorities, who thus show themselves wiser than either the Castle officials or the British Government...it also shows the growing and remarkable capacity of the Irish people for self-government.’
Hugh Martin, writing in the Daily News on the popularity of the Sinn Fein courts: ‘Ireland is taking pleasure in law and order for the first time within the memory of man.’
Conor O’Clery ‘Ireland in Quotes’ The O’Brien Press Dublin 1999 p.48
Robert Lynn, in the Daily News also commented ‘So far as the mass of the people are concerned, the policy of the day is not an active, but a passive policy. Their purpose is not to attack the Government but to ignore it, and to build up a new Government quietly by its side’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p42
As if Lord Monteagle’s fears were justified, the following report appeared in the Gaelic American:
‘The other day a mounted military ‘officer’ ( according to his uniform ) accompanied by an orderly called at the temporary G.P.O. for the Dublin Castle mails. His horse was restive and two policemen assisted the orderly in keeping the animal in order until the ‘officer’ returned. That gentleman then rode away with the mail bag. Five minutes later another military officer called for the Castle Mails and was detained as an imposter, presumably a Sinn Feiner. But he was the real officer while the man who got away with the letters was the Sinn Feiner.’
Gaelic American. July 24, 1920. National Library of Ireland.
By now, not only were many postal and telecomunication workers in close contact with Michael Collins’ network, but the mails were being used to send Sinn Fein communications.
Writing from San Francisco, Daniel T. O’Connell, Director of the Irish National Bureau of Information commented on the previous few days in the Friends of Irish Freedom Newsletter:
‘The eleventh hour withdrawal at the Democratic National Convention of the third and all important section of the resolution drafted by President de Valera and Honourable Frank P. Walsh justifies completely the position taken by Justice Cohalan of New York.’
This front page article, somewhat along the lines of a ‘I told you so’ marked open hostility between the Friends of Irish Freedom and de Valera with ‘it is always unwise for those who do not understand American politics to attempt playing with National Conventions. Results prove the force of that statement’.
De Valera was reminded that at the Chicago Convention where he demanded a recognition plank must be adopted or ‘nothing less accepted’ that Irish Americans led by Judge Cohalan advised that an ‘out and out recognition plank could not prevail and defeat was certain.’. The Judge favouring a diplomatic approach with a plank ‘declaring for ‘recognition of the principle that the people of Ireland have a right to determine freely, without dictation from outside, their own governmental institutions and their international relations with other States and peoples’ and as was reasonably expected it would have been adopted, the US would have effectively recognised the Irish Republic.
Following the de Valera plank failure and when his ‘supporters…denounced the other [Cohalan’s proposition] and advised it’s defeat…the result was disheartening. It was not beneficial to Ireland to have one of the two great parties adopt a platform without reference to Ireland.’ The ‘Recognition or nothing’ plank which had failed in Chicago was now taken to San Francisco where ‘de Valera personally took direction of the forces of Ireland’s friends. Demonstrations and much publicity were utilised to force the Democrats to accept the ‘recognition’ plank. Sound advice was ignored…the accredited representatives of the Friends of Irish Freedom concluded to allow President de Valera and Mr. Walsh a clear field; the second resolution offered at Chicago was withheld [Cohalan’s diplomatic approach] and Mr Walsh had all the strength of the Friends of Irish Freedom to refer to in argument.'
'The Democratic leaders listened and the Resolutions Committee gave Mr. Walsh and Senator Phelan a full hearing. The plank was voted down 31 to 17…though earnest and determined effort was made by the sponsors of the plank to have it offered as a minority report, they were unable to secure even one member of the Committee to go that far. Those who had voted in its favour said it was too extreme and, that to offer it to the Convention was to invite additional injury to Ireland’s cause. Then came the yielding and compromising that Mr. Walsh, speaking for President de Valera, had said repeatedly, would never be permitted…the compromise was defeated by a vote of 676 to 402.’
As to O’Connell’s post mortem on Irish attempts for recognition at the San Francisco Convention:
‘The facts as recited are beyond contradiction, the withdrawal of their recognition plank was equiavent to an acknowledgement that Justice Coahalan was right when viewing the two Conventions with experienced, far seeing vision, he foresaw defeat for such an extreme course. Those who attempt to represent Justice Cohalan’s position as seeking sympathy and not recognition do him grave injustice. No man has fought harder for recognition and he has acted as would a leader who leads bravely but wisely….it should be stated that the withdrawal of the original Mason Bill was upon the initiative of President de Valera…that substitute was also withdrawn by President de Valera’s authority when its defeat was certain and a new substitute offered, as dictated by him to Justice Cohalan, in the presence of three members of Congress and the Director of the National Bureau….even while President de Valera was at Chicago, taking the position of saying that nothing short of a recognition plank was acceptable, the Director of the National Bureau was in Washington battling to secure passage of the substitute Mason Resolution wherein, as at San Francisco, the ‘recognition’ language was withdrawn.’
O’Connell closed with ‘Chicago and San Francisco are now events of the past. The progress of a great cause cannot be permanently retarded. There is work aplenty for every friend of Ireland. The National Council of the Friends of Irish Freedom built up the American movement; the American brains guiding its activities are of the best, and American policies and activities guided by them will avoid mistakes such as witnessed at Chicago and San Francisco.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol. 11, No.1 July 3, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Full text of the Newsletter article is below.
New York: Éamon de Valera responded to criticisms directed at him in the Gaelic American, and denied that a rift has opened up between Sinn Féin and influential Irish-Americans.
In a lengthy statement, Mr de Valera dismissed a charge that he had been guilty of misuse of funds as ‘malicious and without foundation’. He said that the money that had been subscribed for Irish Issue Bonds was the property of the Irish nation and he was entitled to use it for all legitimate governmental purposes. And, he stressed, there was no purpose so urgent as the securing of recognition. De Valera withdrew from these funds to take a group of ‘influential friends of our cause’ to attend the Republican convention in Chicago and he only did so when it became clear that this necessary task was not going to be undertaken by the committee of the Friends of Irish Freedom (FOIF), who had been expected to do so.
De Valera said that he felt aggrieved at having to use Dáil Éireann funds when there were funds available, subscribed by sympathisers to the Irish cause, for such purposes. ‘I had always believed that the greatest effort that our friends would make in America would be made at these conventions. It was at these conventions that the steps by which our nation could obtain redress could be initiated.’
He went on to state that he was always conscious of the risks associated with his US fundraising drive, that the ‘power of the purse’ would leave him ‘subservient to the wishes of others than the Irish people.’ For that reason, he had written to his own government and secured, together with a co-trustee, discretionary powers to use the funds within specified limits, so that he might be free to ‘work untrammelled in Ireland’s interest.’ De Valera added that throughout his time in America he has met with people all across the country and has not had the ‘slightest difficulty in working in greatest harmony and closest cooperation with all, except one or two individuals.’
Judge Daniel Cohalan, also tried to dampen talk of dissension, telling the New York Journal that there was ‘no division in the ranks on any question of principle’. Cohalan said that he was engaged with Irish issues as an ‘American, whose first and only loyalty is to my own country, and... I shall continue to work as I have done in the past with all who strive to bring absolute independence to Ireland.’
San Francisco: the Democratic Party nominated James M Cox as presidential candidate with the 38 year old, Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Franklin Delano Roosevelt as his running-mate.
Full text of O'Connell article from the Friends of Irish Freedom Newsletter, July 10, 1920:
THE SAN FRANCISCO RESOLUTION
San Francisco, July 5:.
The eleventh hour withdrawal at the Democratic National Convention of the third and all important section of the resolution drafted by President de Valera and Honorable Frank P. Walsh ! justifies completely the position originally taken by Justice Cohalan of New York. The withdrawal should be understood by all friends of Ireland, for around it turns a major portion of the misunderstandings and conflict of opinion that crystalized at the Republican National Convention at Chicago, and prevailed at San Francisco. The section as withdrawn at the last hour reads as follows:
“Therefore, we pledge our party to the policy of according to the elected Government of the Republic of Ireland full formal and official recognition by the Government of the United States, thus vindicating the principles for which our soldiers offered up their lives.”
It was pointed out in the News Letter of last week that it is always unwise for those who do not understand American politics to attempt playing with National Conventions. Results prove the force of that statement. Facts are facts; specious reasoning, prejudiced views, and excited explanations cannot overcome the cold, bare truth which actual, plain, matter of fact results disclose. When President de Valera went to Chicago to take the position that a "recognition” plank must be adopted or “nothing less” accepted, it was pointed out by those who regarded the leadership of Justice Cohalan as sound and for the best interests of the American movement to aid Ireland, that an out and out “recognition” plank could not prevail and defeat was certain. Justice Cohalan sought a plank declaring for “recognition of the principle that the people of Ireland have the right to determine freely, without dictation from outside, their own governmental institutions and their international relations with other States and peoples.” Adoption and application of these principles would mean “recognition”. President de Valera's plank, as put forward by Mr. Walsh, was rejected by the Republicans. The plank subsequently submitted by those acting with Justice Cohalan was first accepted by the Sub-Committee and then voted down by the full Committee, when the supporters of President de Valera's plank denounced the other and advised its defeat. The result was disheartening. It was not beneficial to Ireland to have one of the two great parties adopt a platform without reference to Ireland.
To San Francisco went the same plank Mr. Walsh offered at Chicago. President de Valera personally took direction of the forces of Ireland’s friends. Demonstrations and much publicity were utilized to force the Democrats to accept the “recognition” plank. Sound advice was ignored when it was urged that defeat was certain if the announced program to insist upon ‘‘recognition or nothing” was adhered to. The accredited representatives of the Friends of Irish Freedom concluded to allow President de Valera and Mr. Walsh a clear field; the second resolution offered at Chicago was withheld and Mr. Walsh had all the strength of the Friends of Irish Freedom to refer to in argument. The Democratic leaders listened and the Resolutions Committee gave Mr. Walsh and Senator Phelan a full hearing. The plank was voted down thirty-one (31) to seventeen (17). Mr. Walsh had said “the plank as a whole or nothing”. Though earnest, determined effort was made by the sponsors of the plank to have it offered as a minority report, they were unable to secure even one mem ber of the Committee to go that far. Those who had voted in its favor said it was too extreme and, that to offer it to the Convention was to invite additional injury to Ireland’s cause. Then came the yielding and compromising that Mr. Walsh, speaking for President de Valera, had said repeatedly, would never be permitted. All of the third section, as previously quoted, was withdrawn, and seven Committeemen signed the balance as a minority report, but opportunity for success had passed. Friendly delegates pledged to aid Ireland and strain ing at the leash to do something that would spell success, rallied to the com promise, but the hour was too late. The compromise was defeated by a vote of 676 to 402
It is now intimated that Mr. Walsh and President de Valera did not approve of the withdrawal of the “recognition” section. Mr. Walsh was in continuous attendance and in consultation with the party leaders and delegates who were fighting for him, and President de Valera was in a hotel almost across the street from the Convention. They had plenty of time, for hours before the vote was taken, to express disapproval or repudiation. Neither course was followed and the delegates voted, under the direction of a “steering” committee of fifty organized by Mr. Walsh, acting in harmony with his wishes and with Mr. Walsh present.
The facts as recited are beyond contradiction, the withdrawal of their recognition plank was equivalent to an acknowledgement that Justice Cohalan was right when viewing the two Conventions with experienced, far-seeing vision, he foresaw defeat for such an extreme course. Those who attempt to represent Justice Cohalan’s position as seeking sympathy and not recognition, do him grave injustice. No man has fought harder for recognition and he has acted as would a leader who leads bravely but wisely. Events at Chicago and San Francisco prove this to be the case in connection with the big political con ventions. It should be stated also that the withdrawal of the original Mason Bill was upon the initiative of President de Valera. The substitute was drafted and submitted by him to Mr. Mason, who filed in Congress the original as given to him by President de Valera. It can be found in the archives. That sub stitute was also withdrawn by President de Valera's authority when its defeat was certain, and a new substitute offered, as dictated by him to Justice Cohalan, in the presence of three members of Congress and the Director of the National Bureau. Amendments of this final substitute were approved by Major Eugene F. Kinkead, of New Jersey, who came to Washington personally to represent President de Valera during the few days when the Committee was acting finally. Major Kinkead kept President de Valera fully informed by telephone of all that transpired. All of this was but ten days before the Chicago Convention convened. Even while President de Valera was at Chicago, taking the position of saying that nothing short of a recognition plank was acceptable, the Director of the National Bureau was in Washington battling to secure passage of the substitute Mason Resolution wherein, as at San Francisco, the “recognition” language was withdrawn. It is disagreeable to recite these facts. In every cause truthful facts should be presented fairly that justice be done to all and injustice to none. Chicago and San Francisco are now events of the past. The progress of a great cause cannot be permanently retarded. There is work in plenty for every friend of Ireland. The National Council of the Friends of Irish Freedom built up the American movement; the American brains guiding its activities are of the best, and American policies and activities guided by them will avoid mistakes such as were witnessed at Chicago and San Francisco.
DANIEL T. O'CONNELL, Director. Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information.
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.2 July 10, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
6
Dublin Castle ordered that local police should arrest the leaders of any group attempting to take over the duties and functions of the R.I.C. Troops were instructed to assist the police in carrying out this order.
Later in the month, Churchill spoke to a conference in Downing Street, of ‘raising a force of 30,000 men in Ulster and sending seven battalions of them into the south - a lethal suggestion, fortunately not acted upon..’
George Dangerfield “ The Damnable Question - a study in Anglo-Irish relations” Constable, London. 1977. p314
Robert Lynn in the Daily News wrote of the Republican Courts: ‘..nothing so marvellous has grown up out of the ground since the coming of the Normans’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p42
Numerous public bodies throughout Ireland had by now pledged their allegiance to the Republican Government, county councils were formed, each refusing to collect taxes for the British Internal Revenue. Others went even further. The Kingstown Urban District Council in Co. Dublin voted to change the name of the town back to that it was almost 100 years before – Dun Laoghaire. It’s name was changed following the visit by King George in 1821 when apparently there was such a level of sycophancy that Lord Byron was moved to write ‘The Irish Avatar’ in which while tribute was paid to ‘the glory of Grattan and genius of Moore’, Lords Fingal and Castlereagh were unsparingly sacrificed, while the King himself, landing with a legion of slaves and cooks is pilloried as ‘The Fourth of the fools and oppressors called George.’
Certain roads were also change, Queen’s Road became ‘Marine Parade’ and the Royal Victoria Baths to Dun Laoghaire baths. The UDC also moved that that all official stationery be printed bilingually with English and Irish while all paying orders and cheques would be in Irish only.
Dublin Castle ordered that local police should arrest the leaders of any group attempting to take over the duties and functions of the R.I.C. Troops were instructed to assist the police in carrying out this order.
Later in the month, Churchill spoke to a conference in Downing Street, of ‘raising a force of 30,000 men in Ulster and sending seven battalions of them into the south - a lethal suggestion, fortunately not acted upon..’
George Dangerfield “ The Damnable Question - a study in Anglo-Irish relations” Constable, London. 1977. p314
Robert Lynn in the Daily News wrote of the Republican Courts: ‘..nothing so marvellous has grown up out of the ground since the coming of the Normans’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p42
Numerous public bodies throughout Ireland had by now pledged their allegiance to the Republican Government, county councils were formed, each refusing to collect taxes for the British Internal Revenue. Others went even further. The Kingstown Urban District Council in Co. Dublin voted to change the name of the town back to that it was almost 100 years before – Dun Laoghaire. It’s name was changed following the visit by King George in 1821 when apparently there was such a level of sycophancy that Lord Byron was moved to write ‘The Irish Avatar’ in which while tribute was paid to ‘the glory of Grattan and genius of Moore’, Lords Fingal and Castlereagh were unsparingly sacrificed, while the King himself, landing with a legion of slaves and cooks is pilloried as ‘The Fourth of the fools and oppressors called George.’
Certain roads were also change, Queen’s Road became ‘Marine Parade’ and the Royal Victoria Baths to Dun Laoghaire baths. The UDC also moved that that all official stationery be printed bilingually with English and Irish while all paying orders and cheques would be in Irish only.
7
Sir Henry Wilson recorded in his diary that Lloyd George had ‘an amazing theory that Tudor, or someone, was murdering 2 SFs to every Loyalist the S.F. murded’ and holding that counter-murder was the best response to IRA outrages.
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p82
Belfast: The writer Alice Milligan expressed the hope that a new generation of great writers would rise up out of the current ranks of the Gaelic speakers and students. There was, she said, never a better climate for fresh talent to come to the fore. However, Milligan’s optimism was tempered by concern at the amount of time being devoted to the teaching of Irish ‘to those who don’t know it, and will never be able to use it as a literary medium...The spirit of the nation is expectant, and favourable. The dramatic and tragic happenings of our times are inspiring; but the ardent Gaelic youth need books and encouragement to publish their early efforts’.
Milligan was, however, wary of belittling the efforts of those involved in Irish language revival but, recalling her own Irish teacher, Conán Maol and his work in teaching people in Belfast and London to speak Irish at the dinner table, she says that she couldn’t help thinking that, given his talent as a storyteller, his time might have been better devoted to making story books for native Irish readers. Writing in the Freeman’s Journal, Milligan went on to suggest that, in order to lay the foundations for a genuine native literature, young Irish people should be exposed to translations of the Icelandic sagas and the Greek tragedies. ‘The simple, vivid and frequently humorous style of the old saga writers, might in fact afford a model to would be writers of historical novels and dramas in Gaelic.’
Sir Henry Wilson recorded in his diary that Lloyd George had ‘an amazing theory that Tudor, or someone, was murdering 2 SFs to every Loyalist the S.F. murded’ and holding that counter-murder was the best response to IRA outrages.
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p82
Belfast: The writer Alice Milligan expressed the hope that a new generation of great writers would rise up out of the current ranks of the Gaelic speakers and students. There was, she said, never a better climate for fresh talent to come to the fore. However, Milligan’s optimism was tempered by concern at the amount of time being devoted to the teaching of Irish ‘to those who don’t know it, and will never be able to use it as a literary medium...The spirit of the nation is expectant, and favourable. The dramatic and tragic happenings of our times are inspiring; but the ardent Gaelic youth need books and encouragement to publish their early efforts’.
Milligan was, however, wary of belittling the efforts of those involved in Irish language revival but, recalling her own Irish teacher, Conán Maol and his work in teaching people in Belfast and London to speak Irish at the dinner table, she says that she couldn’t help thinking that, given his talent as a storyteller, his time might have been better devoted to making story books for native Irish readers. Writing in the Freeman’s Journal, Milligan went on to suggest that, in order to lay the foundations for a genuine native literature, young Irish people should be exposed to translations of the Icelandic sagas and the Greek tragedies. ‘The simple, vivid and frequently humorous style of the old saga writers, might in fact afford a model to would be writers of historical novels and dramas in Gaelic.’
William Wedgwood Benn, 1st Viscount Stansgate, DSO, DFC, PC (1877–1960) was a British Liberal politician who later joined the Labour Party. A decorated Royal Air Force officer, he was Secretary of State for India between 1929 and 1931 and Secretary of State for Air between 1945 and 1946. He was the father of Tony Benn and the paternal grandfather of Hilary Benn.
The cartoon opposite relates to a Parliamentary debate on June 28, 1920 as described by Punch in it's 'Essence of Parliament' July 7 1920: "Having heard the latest feat of the Sinn Feiners in kidnapping a British General, the House evidently considered that it had better hurry up with the Government of Ireland Bill. Clauses 51 to 69 were run through in double-quick time. Only on Clause 70, providing for the repeal of the Home Rule Act of 1914, did any prolonged debate arise. Captain Wedgwood Benn pleasantly described this as the only clause in the Bill that was not nonsense, and therefore moved its omission. He was answered by the Prime Minister, who declared that no Irishman would now be content with the Act of 1914, and defended the present Bill on the curious ground that it gave Ireland as much self-government as Scotland had ever asked for. Sir Edward Carson's plea that it was a case of "this Bill or an Irish Republic" was probably more convincing. In a series of divisions the "Wee Frees" never mustered more than seventeen votes. The author of the Act of 1914, Mr. Asquith, was not present at the obsequies." For further details of one of Wedgwood Benn's key debates on Ireland: Hansard - 29 March 1920 |
Westminster: British army general, Reginald Dyer, defended his actions in Amritsar, India in April 1919 when he ordered British soldiers to open fire on an unarmed crowd, killing at least 379 people. Dyer stated that the criticisms made by the army council were founded entirely upon the report of the Hunter Commission. ‘I came and gave my evidence entirely unrepresented and undefended and in no sense expecting to find myself an accused person. It is clear that this procedure was not in accordance with the course of justice normally observed at the hearing of complaints or charges against individuals.’
Dyer claims that he had the support of his superiors in the aftermath of the events and that his actions in Amritsar were in keeping with the principle laid down by the Secretary of State for India, Edwin Montague, that an officer in suppressing civil disturbance must use the minimum amount of force necessary for the purpose. ‘I say with all sincerity that I acted upon this principle in firing upon the assembly at Amritsar on April 13th.’
General Dyer also outlined the military considerations that informed his actions on the day and the responsibility that rested upon him and the ‘possible consequence to the whole fabric of government in the Punjab had I failed in energy and determination. I claim to be entitled to the full countenance and support which was promised by the government of India, when faced with the outbreak, to all officers enraged in the onerous duty of suppressing it.’
Despite his protests, the general’s actions were criticised in the House of Commons by Edwin Montague, who said that whatever about the gallant military service record of General Dyer, there was no justification for his action and if his motive was to ‘teach a moral lesson to the whole of the Punjab... that is the doctrine of terrorism.’
The general nevertheless found support among the Ulster unionist politicians and press. Sir Edward Carson challenged the treatment of Dyer and subscribed £20 to a fund opened up by the Morning Post to support the officer. Carson has claimed that it is the duty of every man who loves his country to support the action taken by General Dyer who was, in his own words, only doing his ‘horrible dirty duty’. The Belfast Newsletter was particularly critical of Mr Montague and claims that General Dyer had been charged with ‘undue severity and frightfulness.’ In its editorial page, the newspaper claims that General Dyer has been denied justice:
‘A British officer in a high and responsible position, who discharges his duty in an extremely difficult position with success, is entitled to justice, even if he has been guilty of an error of judgement, and the general belief is that he has not got it. It is alleged that he continued firing on the mob longer than was necessary, and his statement that he wanted to produce a moral effect on the whole of the Punjab has been used against him.’
Drawing parallels between the situation in India and Ireland, the Newsletter asserts that while the majority of the Indian population are loyal there is a minority that are ‘engaged in criminal and dangerous conspiracy, and if it is a policy of terrorism to put the fear of the government into their hearts, it is the only right policy, and it would be well if there were more of it in Ireland as well as India.’
8
Links between the emergent republic and that of the Communists worried the Irish representative at the Paris Peace Conference, George Gavan Duffy, who wrote from Paris to Dail Eireann warning that if a diplomatic mission were sent to Russia:
‘we may as well at once give up all further political effort on the Continent’ adding that ‘the real gain from the move is problematical and the loss certain’. Sean T. O'Kelly reported that a French wire service report about the Dail resoloution ‘proved we are allied with the Bolshies; I cannot exaggerate the harm donw by this kind of thing which is believed’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revolutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill& McMillan 1995. P191.
While there may have been some well founded concerns on associating with the emergent USSR, Collins nevertheless instructed Art O’Briain to get in contact with the Russian representatives in London.
During this period, de Valera was anxious for McCartan to travel to Russia, but McCartan ‘now sought plenary powers to conclude a treaty, arguing that ‘an Irish Commission in Moscow without plenary powers would be a mere Russian Shuttlecock’ and that ‘if the mission is suspended in Moscow, the enemy press of the world will say we are innocent tools, or victims of the Bolsheviki’ If a treaty was conculded, he would ask the Russians to ship 50,000 rifles to Ireland. De Valera refused to grant this power and…the mission languished’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill& McMillan 1995. P191.
The official list of ‘Outrages attributed to Sinn Fein’ citing attacks on lighthouses and coast-guard stations was used as the reason for shipping 2,000 British Marines to Ireland. The Daily Herald in London made the comment ‘Readers will remember the explanation of the attacks on light houses and coast guard stations is that they are being used by the British army of occupation for the storing of quantities of explosives far in excess of the requirements for rocket work and fog signals, and that these explosives are destined for use in the Irish war.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol. 11, No.3 July 17, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The Miners Federation of Great Britain held it’s annual conference in Leamington. There a resolution was adopted calling for a general strike of all English trade unions of the Government does not withdraw it’s troops from Ireland and dis-continue sending war materials to Poland. The resolution was also for presentation at the special Trades Union Congress being held later in London.
Labour lawyer Sir Charles Russell stated that he had been approached by Lloyd George to contact Sinn Fein ‘to see if anything could be done in the way of a settlement’ Lloyd George indicated to Russell that he would enable Cabinet Ministers to meet with representatives of the Dail but insisted that the latter would not include Collins and Gallagher ( evidently meaning Brugha.)
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p179
An RIC ‘Revolt’ was reported from Co. Kerry where members of the constabularly announced their decision to ‘take no further part in political raids, searching of private houses and the terrorisation of civillians’
Meanwhile back in Mexico, Pancho Villa, the veteran revolutionary himself, called it a day, packed it in and took up a Government offer of retirement and pension.
Links between the emergent republic and that of the Communists worried the Irish representative at the Paris Peace Conference, George Gavan Duffy, who wrote from Paris to Dail Eireann warning that if a diplomatic mission were sent to Russia:
‘we may as well at once give up all further political effort on the Continent’ adding that ‘the real gain from the move is problematical and the loss certain’. Sean T. O'Kelly reported that a French wire service report about the Dail resoloution ‘proved we are allied with the Bolshies; I cannot exaggerate the harm donw by this kind of thing which is believed’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revolutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill& McMillan 1995. P191.
While there may have been some well founded concerns on associating with the emergent USSR, Collins nevertheless instructed Art O’Briain to get in contact with the Russian representatives in London.
During this period, de Valera was anxious for McCartan to travel to Russia, but McCartan ‘now sought plenary powers to conclude a treaty, arguing that ‘an Irish Commission in Moscow without plenary powers would be a mere Russian Shuttlecock’ and that ‘if the mission is suspended in Moscow, the enemy press of the world will say we are innocent tools, or victims of the Bolsheviki’ If a treaty was conculded, he would ask the Russians to ship 50,000 rifles to Ireland. De Valera refused to grant this power and…the mission languished’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill& McMillan 1995. P191.
The official list of ‘Outrages attributed to Sinn Fein’ citing attacks on lighthouses and coast-guard stations was used as the reason for shipping 2,000 British Marines to Ireland. The Daily Herald in London made the comment ‘Readers will remember the explanation of the attacks on light houses and coast guard stations is that they are being used by the British army of occupation for the storing of quantities of explosives far in excess of the requirements for rocket work and fog signals, and that these explosives are destined for use in the Irish war.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol. 11, No.3 July 17, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The Miners Federation of Great Britain held it’s annual conference in Leamington. There a resolution was adopted calling for a general strike of all English trade unions of the Government does not withdraw it’s troops from Ireland and dis-continue sending war materials to Poland. The resolution was also for presentation at the special Trades Union Congress being held later in London.
Labour lawyer Sir Charles Russell stated that he had been approached by Lloyd George to contact Sinn Fein ‘to see if anything could be done in the way of a settlement’ Lloyd George indicated to Russell that he would enable Cabinet Ministers to meet with representatives of the Dail but insisted that the latter would not include Collins and Gallagher ( evidently meaning Brugha.)
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p179
An RIC ‘Revolt’ was reported from Co. Kerry where members of the constabularly announced their decision to ‘take no further part in political raids, searching of private houses and the terrorisation of civillians’
Meanwhile back in Mexico, Pancho Villa, the veteran revolutionary himself, called it a day, packed it in and took up a Government offer of retirement and pension.
9
The Newsletter carried a report on Lloyd George’s reaction to the Irish Railwaymen’s call for withdrawal of British forces from Ireland. The London Daily Herald declared ‘The Premiers reply…was a declaration that armed force would be used to its utmost limits. He declared that the government was prepared to face a million casualties and a five years war in Ireland. Our peace army has a strength of only 525,000 and we have to maintain large garrisons abroad, therefore only one conclusion is possible. We are to be faced with conscription for a civil war.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.3 July 17, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The London Daily News commenting on Lloyd George’s declared policy of ‘adamantine’ resistance to Irish claims for national independence said ‘No desire to uphold the forces of Government against chaos and anarchy can be allowed to obscure the fundamental facts that it is the present Government’s policy in regard to Ireland that is directly responsible for the state of Ireland today. There is a nearer approach to settled order in districts where the writ of Sinn Fein courts runs than anywhere else in Ireland.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol. 11, No.3 July 17, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
In the House of Commons, MP Captain Eliot reminded the Government that ‘Spanish nationalism destroyed Napoleon; take care than Irish Nationalism does not destroy the British Empire’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol. 11, No.3 July 17, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Seven Irish Justices of the Peace in Cavan jointly tendered their resignations to the Lord Chancellor in protest against continuing British misrule: ‘We no longer wish to be associated with an executive whose actions are subversive of justice and equity and repugnant to the feelings of a vast majority of our fellow countrymen.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol. 11, No.3 July 17, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Irish Labour leader, J.H.Thomas in a published interview stated ‘Even if the streets of Dublin, or of Ireland generally, were running with blood tomorrow, there would still be left the Irish problem to solve.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.3 July 17, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The Carrick-On-Shannon County Council publicly burned in the council chambers, records and instructions of the British Inland Revenue and adopted a resolution acknowledging full authority of Dail Eireann. The members signed their acceptances of office in Irish.
Allied concern that Germany had not yet abided by the terms of the Versailles Treaty resulted in German ministers signing a protocol agreeing to all disarmament clauses.
The Newsletter carried a report on Lloyd George’s reaction to the Irish Railwaymen’s call for withdrawal of British forces from Ireland. The London Daily Herald declared ‘The Premiers reply…was a declaration that armed force would be used to its utmost limits. He declared that the government was prepared to face a million casualties and a five years war in Ireland. Our peace army has a strength of only 525,000 and we have to maintain large garrisons abroad, therefore only one conclusion is possible. We are to be faced with conscription for a civil war.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.3 July 17, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The London Daily News commenting on Lloyd George’s declared policy of ‘adamantine’ resistance to Irish claims for national independence said ‘No desire to uphold the forces of Government against chaos and anarchy can be allowed to obscure the fundamental facts that it is the present Government’s policy in regard to Ireland that is directly responsible for the state of Ireland today. There is a nearer approach to settled order in districts where the writ of Sinn Fein courts runs than anywhere else in Ireland.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol. 11, No.3 July 17, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
In the House of Commons, MP Captain Eliot reminded the Government that ‘Spanish nationalism destroyed Napoleon; take care than Irish Nationalism does not destroy the British Empire’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol. 11, No.3 July 17, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Seven Irish Justices of the Peace in Cavan jointly tendered their resignations to the Lord Chancellor in protest against continuing British misrule: ‘We no longer wish to be associated with an executive whose actions are subversive of justice and equity and repugnant to the feelings of a vast majority of our fellow countrymen.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol. 11, No.3 July 17, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Irish Labour leader, J.H.Thomas in a published interview stated ‘Even if the streets of Dublin, or of Ireland generally, were running with blood tomorrow, there would still be left the Irish problem to solve.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.3 July 17, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The Carrick-On-Shannon County Council publicly burned in the council chambers, records and instructions of the British Inland Revenue and adopted a resolution acknowledging full authority of Dail Eireann. The members signed their acceptances of office in Irish.
Allied concern that Germany had not yet abided by the terms of the Versailles Treaty resulted in German ministers signing a protocol agreeing to all disarmament clauses.
10
Sir Edward Carson, in a letter made public in the UK and the US ‘...again defied the British Government and threatened to set up a rule of his own in Ulster. The sphere of his influence there is rapidly shrinking. He is playing at petty tyrant while he can. Soon there will be none to give him a moment’s serious interest.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol. 11, No.2 July 10, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The Freeman’s Journal carried ‘a sensational account of a speech said to have been delivered to the RIC in Listowel by Col. Smyth, Divisional Commisioner for Munster – this account distorted Smyth’s words which were those of a Commanding Office intended to buck up his men, into an incitement to the RIC to reprisals on a brutal scale against the ‘peaceful’ population and as a direct result there broke out in Ireland a whole crop of Sinn Fein outrages’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p11-12
Sir Edward Carson, in a letter made public in the UK and the US ‘...again defied the British Government and threatened to set up a rule of his own in Ulster. The sphere of his influence there is rapidly shrinking. He is playing at petty tyrant while he can. Soon there will be none to give him a moment’s serious interest.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol. 11, No.2 July 10, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The Freeman’s Journal carried ‘a sensational account of a speech said to have been delivered to the RIC in Listowel by Col. Smyth, Divisional Commisioner for Munster – this account distorted Smyth’s words which were those of a Commanding Office intended to buck up his men, into an incitement to the RIC to reprisals on a brutal scale against the ‘peaceful’ population and as a direct result there broke out in Ireland a whole crop of Sinn Fein outrages’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p11-12
The British broadsheets questioned the veracity of events in Listowel, however, Robert Lynd, the special correspondent of the Daily News, asserted that the speech by Mr Smyth to the police in Listowel was a ‘direct incitement to a policy of Dyerism’.
Mr Lynd wrote that he did not think the reports could be ignored and the behaviour it encouraged was consistent with stories of looting and ill-discipline elsewhere, such as has been seen in Thurles, Fermoy and Bantry. None of these incidents, he argued, could have occurred without encouragement and acquiescence from above. ‘The vast bulk of the men in the RIC are brave men who have no sympathy with the policy of ‘frightfulness’ against their own people; but it seems to me fairly clear that there are men in high places in the force who take the view that nothing but pogroms and Amritsars can finally settle the Irish question.’
Washington D.C.: The Friends of Irish Freedom Newsletter wrote on the capture of General Lucas:
‘If the Sinn Feiners had taken revenge for every one of their leaders captured by the British, as British soldiers revenged themselves for the capture of General Lucas on the civilian population of Fermoy, more than 30,000 English towns would have been wrecked in the last four years.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.4 July 24, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The Newsletter some months later commented on General Lucas: ‘The English Government could be trusted to provide an amusing sequel to the capture of one of the generals if it’s Army of Occupation in Ireland and his subsequent release on parole, it is rumoured, to the Republican Army. …the English press carried inconspicious notices reporting that the Court of Inquiry, which had investigated the circumstances of General Lucas’s capture by the Irish Republican Army, had ‘absolved him from blame in the matter’. It is further reported that ‘for military reasons, General Lucas will not return to his brigade at Fermoy. He is to be given a command of equal importance elsewhere.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 11 September 11, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Dail Eireann announced that 223 public bodies in Ireland had now pledged allegiance to the Irish Republic and refused to deal with any segment of the British Government. Taxes went uncollected.
The New York Times commenting on Lucas’ capture, professed itself to be disturbed because the British army ‘does not take the state of war in Ireland seriously.’
The Newsletter reminded the Times that on that score, it ‘need have no fear. The daily press dispatches to this country contain indubitable evidence that the British army of occupation in Ireland is executing its campaign of brutal oppression and whole hearted terrorism with thoroughness and zeal.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol. 11, No.2 July 10, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Lord Monteagle in an interview with the Chicago Tribune gave as his opinion that Sinn Fein would never succeed in establishing the complete independence of Ireland, yet admits that ‘Militarism is powerless to restore [ British ] authority. Law and order in Ireland can be restored only by the Irish people themselves.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol. 11, No.3 July 17, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Devoy writing to Judge Cohalan on de Valera’s tactics in Chicago:
‘we now see his reason for preventing action at Chicago. That despatch says he wanted to prevent us from ‘selling the Irish vote to any candidate’ meaning he wanted to kill Johnson.’
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.383
The Boston School Board was reported to have voted to discontinue the use of the Century Dictionary in public schools under it’s direction due to extensive anti-Irish and anti-American contents. Amongst examples given for the word ‘Brutal’ was ‘The Brutal Irishman’.
Rumours in the US that a compromise was on the cards between Great Britain and the Irish Republic were scotched by the Newsletter, who reminded readers of the official statements given by the Dail that the Republic would ‘enter into no negotiation with the British Government on any other basis than that of complete independence was unequivocal.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol. 11, No.2 July 10, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The Auxiliary Division of the RIC advertised in London as a 'corps d elite' by which only men who had held commissions in the British armed services would be accepted. Media reported that Tudor, Commander of the Police in Ireland, recommended the scheme in order to co-ordinate the activities of the military and police in stamping out the Sinn Fein campaign.
‘Men wishing to apply for appointment were interviewed at Scotland Yard and, if accepted, were given a first class single ticket to Ireland…within the first fortnight over 1,000 applications were received. The qualifications required that the applicants had to be ex-officers with the highest military and personal standards, physically fit and able to give names of persons who would supply references for the candidate. Prospective recruits were informed that they would first of all be put through a short training course before being posted throughout the RIC to take up their duties of instructing the rank and file in the best tactics to adopt against the surprise methods of the IRA and to act as advisers in matters of defence of Police Barracks. They were informed their rank would be of Temporary Cadet but graded as RIC Sergeant for the purpose of discipline… guaranteed employment for at least twelve months…paid at £1 per day with certain other allowances in addition…’
Richard Abbott ‘Police Casualties in Ireland 1919-1922’ Mercier Press, Cork. 2000 p.107
A 1920 version of the "Some of my best friends are Black" defence came from Herbert Bailey, an English reporter who sprang to prominence as a war correspondent, attempted in a series of articles to settle once and for all the matter of Ango American relations:
“Strangely enough,” he says, “I made many fine friends among the Irish Americans in the American Army, and the Irish-American regiment that presented a guard of honor to de Valera sometime ago in New York, sent for me especially one St. Patrick’s day to celebrate the evening with them. One can afford to smile at their enthusiasm for Sinn Fein”.
The Newsletter commented in response that "Mr. Bailey is very much mistaken if he believes he can dismiss the sturdy sympathies of the old 69th thus lightly. His reflection on this brave regiment is a gratuitous insult to their integrity."
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.2 July 10, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
In a recent account of the functioning of the Irish Courts to maintain the common law in Ireland, the Manchester Guardian (England) made these observations:
“Indeed the ordinary law seems to be the code that is being enforced with more than the effectiveness of the professional (English) police, and in cases where the police have wholly failed, the moral of the district seems to be that however queer the functioning of the popular conscience where conflict with English political authority deflects the working, the conscience is sound in all that respects the non-political common law.”
Commenting on Dublin Castle’s daily list of atrocities which it attributed to Sinn Fein, the London Daily Herald commented: “Threatening letters addressed by Castle supporters to Sinn Fein priests are included, and burglaries which the police hear of ten days after they have occurred, as well as the arrest of evildoers by the republican police are duly put into the list to swell the volume of alleged disorder in Ireland. The petty, spiteful minds of petty officials are apparent in the compiling of the list.”
An announcement that the Sinn Fein leaders in Ireland have completed plans for the establishment of a supreme court was carried by the National Catholic Welfare Council News Service:
“The court will review cases from subordinate tribunals in the country. The British testify to the effectiveness of the present local courts in dealing with civil and criminal matters. Barristers have been unwilling to recognize the Sinn Fein courts, for fear of the effect on their standing before the British judges of other courts but their clients will doubtless force them to try cases in the Sinn Fein tribunals.”
The Newsletter pointed out that "It is significant that none of the daily news agencies, which are constantly disseminating stories about crimes and disorders in Ireland, carried this very interesting note, which illustrates the manner in which Sinn Fein is going ahead in the peaceful pursuit of its legislative and judiciary functions."
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.2 July 10, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Mr Lynd wrote that he did not think the reports could be ignored and the behaviour it encouraged was consistent with stories of looting and ill-discipline elsewhere, such as has been seen in Thurles, Fermoy and Bantry. None of these incidents, he argued, could have occurred without encouragement and acquiescence from above. ‘The vast bulk of the men in the RIC are brave men who have no sympathy with the policy of ‘frightfulness’ against their own people; but it seems to me fairly clear that there are men in high places in the force who take the view that nothing but pogroms and Amritsars can finally settle the Irish question.’
Washington D.C.: The Friends of Irish Freedom Newsletter wrote on the capture of General Lucas:
‘If the Sinn Feiners had taken revenge for every one of their leaders captured by the British, as British soldiers revenged themselves for the capture of General Lucas on the civilian population of Fermoy, more than 30,000 English towns would have been wrecked in the last four years.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.4 July 24, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The Newsletter some months later commented on General Lucas: ‘The English Government could be trusted to provide an amusing sequel to the capture of one of the generals if it’s Army of Occupation in Ireland and his subsequent release on parole, it is rumoured, to the Republican Army. …the English press carried inconspicious notices reporting that the Court of Inquiry, which had investigated the circumstances of General Lucas’s capture by the Irish Republican Army, had ‘absolved him from blame in the matter’. It is further reported that ‘for military reasons, General Lucas will not return to his brigade at Fermoy. He is to be given a command of equal importance elsewhere.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 11 September 11, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Dail Eireann announced that 223 public bodies in Ireland had now pledged allegiance to the Irish Republic and refused to deal with any segment of the British Government. Taxes went uncollected.
The New York Times commenting on Lucas’ capture, professed itself to be disturbed because the British army ‘does not take the state of war in Ireland seriously.’
The Newsletter reminded the Times that on that score, it ‘need have no fear. The daily press dispatches to this country contain indubitable evidence that the British army of occupation in Ireland is executing its campaign of brutal oppression and whole hearted terrorism with thoroughness and zeal.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol. 11, No.2 July 10, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Lord Monteagle in an interview with the Chicago Tribune gave as his opinion that Sinn Fein would never succeed in establishing the complete independence of Ireland, yet admits that ‘Militarism is powerless to restore [ British ] authority. Law and order in Ireland can be restored only by the Irish people themselves.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol. 11, No.3 July 17, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Devoy writing to Judge Cohalan on de Valera’s tactics in Chicago:
‘we now see his reason for preventing action at Chicago. That despatch says he wanted to prevent us from ‘selling the Irish vote to any candidate’ meaning he wanted to kill Johnson.’
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.383
The Boston School Board was reported to have voted to discontinue the use of the Century Dictionary in public schools under it’s direction due to extensive anti-Irish and anti-American contents. Amongst examples given for the word ‘Brutal’ was ‘The Brutal Irishman’.
Rumours in the US that a compromise was on the cards between Great Britain and the Irish Republic were scotched by the Newsletter, who reminded readers of the official statements given by the Dail that the Republic would ‘enter into no negotiation with the British Government on any other basis than that of complete independence was unequivocal.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol. 11, No.2 July 10, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The Auxiliary Division of the RIC advertised in London as a 'corps d elite' by which only men who had held commissions in the British armed services would be accepted. Media reported that Tudor, Commander of the Police in Ireland, recommended the scheme in order to co-ordinate the activities of the military and police in stamping out the Sinn Fein campaign.
‘Men wishing to apply for appointment were interviewed at Scotland Yard and, if accepted, were given a first class single ticket to Ireland…within the first fortnight over 1,000 applications were received. The qualifications required that the applicants had to be ex-officers with the highest military and personal standards, physically fit and able to give names of persons who would supply references for the candidate. Prospective recruits were informed that they would first of all be put through a short training course before being posted throughout the RIC to take up their duties of instructing the rank and file in the best tactics to adopt against the surprise methods of the IRA and to act as advisers in matters of defence of Police Barracks. They were informed their rank would be of Temporary Cadet but graded as RIC Sergeant for the purpose of discipline… guaranteed employment for at least twelve months…paid at £1 per day with certain other allowances in addition…’
Richard Abbott ‘Police Casualties in Ireland 1919-1922’ Mercier Press, Cork. 2000 p.107
A 1920 version of the "Some of my best friends are Black" defence came from Herbert Bailey, an English reporter who sprang to prominence as a war correspondent, attempted in a series of articles to settle once and for all the matter of Ango American relations:
“Strangely enough,” he says, “I made many fine friends among the Irish Americans in the American Army, and the Irish-American regiment that presented a guard of honor to de Valera sometime ago in New York, sent for me especially one St. Patrick’s day to celebrate the evening with them. One can afford to smile at their enthusiasm for Sinn Fein”.
The Newsletter commented in response that "Mr. Bailey is very much mistaken if he believes he can dismiss the sturdy sympathies of the old 69th thus lightly. His reflection on this brave regiment is a gratuitous insult to their integrity."
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.2 July 10, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
In a recent account of the functioning of the Irish Courts to maintain the common law in Ireland, the Manchester Guardian (England) made these observations:
“Indeed the ordinary law seems to be the code that is being enforced with more than the effectiveness of the professional (English) police, and in cases where the police have wholly failed, the moral of the district seems to be that however queer the functioning of the popular conscience where conflict with English political authority deflects the working, the conscience is sound in all that respects the non-political common law.”
Commenting on Dublin Castle’s daily list of atrocities which it attributed to Sinn Fein, the London Daily Herald commented: “Threatening letters addressed by Castle supporters to Sinn Fein priests are included, and burglaries which the police hear of ten days after they have occurred, as well as the arrest of evildoers by the republican police are duly put into the list to swell the volume of alleged disorder in Ireland. The petty, spiteful minds of petty officials are apparent in the compiling of the list.”
An announcement that the Sinn Fein leaders in Ireland have completed plans for the establishment of a supreme court was carried by the National Catholic Welfare Council News Service:
“The court will review cases from subordinate tribunals in the country. The British testify to the effectiveness of the present local courts in dealing with civil and criminal matters. Barristers have been unwilling to recognize the Sinn Fein courts, for fear of the effect on their standing before the British judges of other courts but their clients will doubtless force them to try cases in the Sinn Fein tribunals.”
The Newsletter pointed out that "It is significant that none of the daily news agencies, which are constantly disseminating stories about crimes and disorders in Ireland, carried this very interesting note, which illustrates the manner in which Sinn Fein is going ahead in the peaceful pursuit of its legislative and judiciary functions."
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.2 July 10, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
11
Two incidents were reported following a visit by Archbishop Hanna of San Francisco and Bishop Cantwell of Los Angeles.
At a speech in Fethard, Co Waterford, both expressed hopes that the Irish people would soon achieve the freedom for which they were striving. The remarks incensed the local troops that on their departure, decorations and plaques hung in their honour were torn down. Later during their visit to Clonmel, it was reported that two British aircraft patrolled the skies over the town. Un-deterred, both come out strongly in favour of Irish freedom.
Constable Alexander Will (24) was killed during the defence of the Rathmore RIC barracks in Kerry. In the attack, the IRA used an obsolete cannon from Ross Castle which had been placed on a railway truck to move it to the firing position. Constable Will was the first fatality of British recruits an an effort to bolster the RIC strength and the first ‘Black and Tan’ casualty.
Two incidents were reported following a visit by Archbishop Hanna of San Francisco and Bishop Cantwell of Los Angeles.
At a speech in Fethard, Co Waterford, both expressed hopes that the Irish people would soon achieve the freedom for which they were striving. The remarks incensed the local troops that on their departure, decorations and plaques hung in their honour were torn down. Later during their visit to Clonmel, it was reported that two British aircraft patrolled the skies over the town. Un-deterred, both come out strongly in favour of Irish freedom.
Constable Alexander Will (24) was killed during the defence of the Rathmore RIC barracks in Kerry. In the attack, the IRA used an obsolete cannon from Ross Castle which had been placed on a railway truck to move it to the firing position. Constable Will was the first fatality of British recruits an an effort to bolster the RIC strength and the first ‘Black and Tan’ casualty.
12
Belfast: Sir Edward Carson delivered a stark threat to the British government that if they did nothing to protect Ulster from the machinations of Sinn Féin, then unionists would take matters into their own hands. The MP for Belfast Duncairn said that he would reorganise the Ulster Volunteers (UVF) no matter what the consequence, adding pointedly: ‘I hope you have got that pretty clear. I hate words without action.’
Mr Carson was speaking at an Orange demonstration in Finaghy, four miles from Belfast city centre, to mark the anniversary of the Battle of the Boyne. Drizzly weather did not deter large crowds from turning up with marshals estimating that a crowd of 20,000 took part in a procession from Belfast to Finaghy. The procession included the usual Twelfth of July trappings of drums, bands, banners and Orange regalia. When Carson’s turn came to address the large crowd, he denounced not only the British government, but Sinn Féin, the Catholic Church and the county councils which had chosen to give their allegiance to the Irish republic.
The tenor of Carson’s comments found an echo in other speeches delivered across the province of Ulster on the Twelfth.
William Coote, MP for south Tyrone, addressing a crowd in Fivemiletown, advised unionists not to ‘await the sending of troops or police to Ulster, but to organise secretly to protect themselves.’ He complained that the British government was directing too much attention to other parts of Ireland and that, in the circumstances, Orangemen must use the means they had at their disposal to defend themselves. ‘If the assassin was to strike at peaceful citizens, they, as Orangemen, would hold the priests responsible in the parishes where such crimes occurred.’
James Rolston Lonsdale, MP for mid-Armagh, told a gathering of Orangemen in that county ‘that they were meeting in practically the same circumstances as 230 years before, surrounded by enemies and their country in a state of turmoil. In the south and west, a rebel government had established courts – under judges and authorities not appointed by the British government – but with the help of the Orange institution, Ulster would remain clear of that sort of thing.’
While the Twelfth of July demonstrations traditionally served as occasions for underlining loyalist unity, on this occasion these exposed divisions over Carson’s support for a partition plan that leaves unionists in three Ulster counties at the mercy of a possible Sinn Féin government. Speaking in Clones, Michael Elliott Knight, Grand Master of the Orange Order in Monaghan, expressed his disgust at the prospect of separating Monaghan, Donegal and Cavan from the rest of Ulster and the desertion of loyalists there by those who they should be able to call friends. The Ulster Unionist Council had, Reverend J.C. Taylor told a gathering at Maguiresbridge, Co. Fermanagh, "thrown the loyal men of Monaghan, Cavan and Donegal to the wolves to try and save their own skin"
Dublin: Lord French publicly suggested that the more or less independent constituents of the British Empire ally themselves with England against any attempts at Irish Freedom. This coincided with a letter published in London from General Gough commenting that Ireland should no longer be subject to a foreign rule and advocating the establishment of an Irish Republic. This volte-face from the man who led the Ulster mutiny in 1914, taking up arms to keep Ireland within the Empire was noted widely with the Friends of Irish Freedom newsletter announcing that it had ‘a limited supply of General Gough’s letter in bulletin form and copies may be had upon request.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.4 July 24, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
However by September, Lord French had mellowed his opinions somewhat, preferring instead to promote a differing form of independence, that of Dominion Home Rule within the British Empire.
The London Morning Post commented that the ‘dawdling’ over the Irish Home Rule Bill was a ‘calculated device’ born of Lloyd George’s ‘disposition for believing that if only he could put off a decision long enough, something will turn up to permit him to wriggle out of even the most awkward situation’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.4 July 24, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Churchill in an interview said that Ireland ‘no longer counted in the world and that under no conditions could she be a menace to the British Empire’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.4 July 24, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Equally, some long term results of the Anglo-Irish conflict were being reported in the press. Take this report from the Teheran correspondent of the Times: ‘Our influence in the Middle-East is at a crisis. If it turns it's back on Nationalist sentiment, nothing can prevenet the Democratic wave from the north from submerging it. The daily stream of Irish outrages which pours from the telegraph offices and is disseminated through the Teheran press has produced, here as elsewhere, incaclualable effect’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.4 July 24, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
However the Newsletter never shied from an exaggeration to drive home a point. With the growing levels of dismissal of Irish railways employees who refused to operate trains carrying the military or military supplies, the Newsletter announced that ‘another English-bred famine in Ireland is not a remote contingency…the Irish railways are suffering from a creeping paralysis which is affecting the arteries of transportation’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.4 July 24, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The RIC now adopted obstructionist tactics of their own. Squads of police were stationed at numerous railway platforms throughout the country, and as trains arrived in, would board and await a drivers refusal to move the engine. He would then be summarily dismissed while they would wait for the next train and to repeat the process.
Sergeant John Stokes (21) was killed during the defence of Rearcross RIC barracks in Tipperary. 50 IRA members attacked the barracks over an eight hour period but stubborn resistance forced the volunteers to withdraw.
The Nation newspaper, London: ‘The people of Britain are being pushed into a war with the people of Ireland. Of this there can be no longer any doubt. The results of the recent election show conclusively that The Times is right when it declares that Sinn Fein is synonmous with Ireland. The Sinn Feiners secured 525 seats out of 699, leaving to the Unionist party 86 seats or 12%. Even in the six county Ulster, two counties Tyrone and Fermanagh, have ceased to be Unionist. It is against this overwhelming body of opinion that we are to make war.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.5 July 31, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
A letter to the Daily Express was published from a soldier in Ireland returning to London: ‘Three nights ago I had sent six men and a corporal –complete with tin hats, rifles, bayonets and a lorry – to see two policemen safely home. A few weeks before than, I had seen the race course of Tipperary cleared and the whole of the traffic regulated not by such men as this London bobbie, but by a squad of Sinn Fein police sporting their white arm bands. And they managed it well too.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.5 July 31, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Col Smyth, the RIC Divisional Commander for Munster met with the Chief Secretary James MacMahon* in London ‘at which Col Smyth explained himself, and which resulted in a denial in the House of Commons of the accuracy of the Freeman’s account by the Chief Secretary’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p12
*James MacMahon (1865-1954). Born in Belfast. The last person to hold the position of Under Secretary for Ireland and in 1922 helped oversee the withdrawal of the British Administration from Southern Ireland.
After the failure of the Republican and Democratic conventions, de Valera was invited to speak at a third, the Labour Party in Chicago. ‘Here at last was a party which was ready to pledge itself to recognition of the Irish Republic, although there was no hope whatever that they would win the presidential election’
McCartan wrote to McGarrity proposing a conference of loyal Irish Republicans in America to put an end to the feuding. Sean Cronin points out that McCartan was against having DeValera and Boland there as: ‘ My experience of him and Harry is that they come to a conference not knowing what they want. Have an unconcious contempt or seem to have such of opinions of others. The Chief presidees and does all the talking. Has a habit of getting on to side issues and shutting off people who wish to speak and this makes a bad impression if not sometimes enemies. Tends to force his own opinions without hearing from the other fellows and tis thinks he has co-operation when he only gets silent aquisence. If we had an agenda before him perhaps he would be different….at present we have no programme. The one indicated by O’Mara if you remember, only wants 100 men and the Chief wants to organise the 20,000,000. Here are the two extremes and neither seems to know where they are going or what they want…’
Sean Cronin. ‘The McGarrity Papers.’ Anvil, Kerry 1972. P83
In the US, Charles Stephens, a barber, attempted to go over Niagara falls in a barrel. Not surprisingly, he did not survive and all that was found of him was his left arm tied to the barrel. (Having an anvil tied around his feet for ballast didn’t help matters much either)
Widespread rioting in Derry resulted in deaths of some 13 people.
Belfast: Sir Edward Carson delivered a stark threat to the British government that if they did nothing to protect Ulster from the machinations of Sinn Féin, then unionists would take matters into their own hands. The MP for Belfast Duncairn said that he would reorganise the Ulster Volunteers (UVF) no matter what the consequence, adding pointedly: ‘I hope you have got that pretty clear. I hate words without action.’
Mr Carson was speaking at an Orange demonstration in Finaghy, four miles from Belfast city centre, to mark the anniversary of the Battle of the Boyne. Drizzly weather did not deter large crowds from turning up with marshals estimating that a crowd of 20,000 took part in a procession from Belfast to Finaghy. The procession included the usual Twelfth of July trappings of drums, bands, banners and Orange regalia. When Carson’s turn came to address the large crowd, he denounced not only the British government, but Sinn Féin, the Catholic Church and the county councils which had chosen to give their allegiance to the Irish republic.
The tenor of Carson’s comments found an echo in other speeches delivered across the province of Ulster on the Twelfth.
William Coote, MP for south Tyrone, addressing a crowd in Fivemiletown, advised unionists not to ‘await the sending of troops or police to Ulster, but to organise secretly to protect themselves.’ He complained that the British government was directing too much attention to other parts of Ireland and that, in the circumstances, Orangemen must use the means they had at their disposal to defend themselves. ‘If the assassin was to strike at peaceful citizens, they, as Orangemen, would hold the priests responsible in the parishes where such crimes occurred.’
James Rolston Lonsdale, MP for mid-Armagh, told a gathering of Orangemen in that county ‘that they were meeting in practically the same circumstances as 230 years before, surrounded by enemies and their country in a state of turmoil. In the south and west, a rebel government had established courts – under judges and authorities not appointed by the British government – but with the help of the Orange institution, Ulster would remain clear of that sort of thing.’
While the Twelfth of July demonstrations traditionally served as occasions for underlining loyalist unity, on this occasion these exposed divisions over Carson’s support for a partition plan that leaves unionists in three Ulster counties at the mercy of a possible Sinn Féin government. Speaking in Clones, Michael Elliott Knight, Grand Master of the Orange Order in Monaghan, expressed his disgust at the prospect of separating Monaghan, Donegal and Cavan from the rest of Ulster and the desertion of loyalists there by those who they should be able to call friends. The Ulster Unionist Council had, Reverend J.C. Taylor told a gathering at Maguiresbridge, Co. Fermanagh, "thrown the loyal men of Monaghan, Cavan and Donegal to the wolves to try and save their own skin"
Dublin: Lord French publicly suggested that the more or less independent constituents of the British Empire ally themselves with England against any attempts at Irish Freedom. This coincided with a letter published in London from General Gough commenting that Ireland should no longer be subject to a foreign rule and advocating the establishment of an Irish Republic. This volte-face from the man who led the Ulster mutiny in 1914, taking up arms to keep Ireland within the Empire was noted widely with the Friends of Irish Freedom newsletter announcing that it had ‘a limited supply of General Gough’s letter in bulletin form and copies may be had upon request.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.4 July 24, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
However by September, Lord French had mellowed his opinions somewhat, preferring instead to promote a differing form of independence, that of Dominion Home Rule within the British Empire.
The London Morning Post commented that the ‘dawdling’ over the Irish Home Rule Bill was a ‘calculated device’ born of Lloyd George’s ‘disposition for believing that if only he could put off a decision long enough, something will turn up to permit him to wriggle out of even the most awkward situation’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.4 July 24, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Churchill in an interview said that Ireland ‘no longer counted in the world and that under no conditions could she be a menace to the British Empire’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.4 July 24, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Equally, some long term results of the Anglo-Irish conflict were being reported in the press. Take this report from the Teheran correspondent of the Times: ‘Our influence in the Middle-East is at a crisis. If it turns it's back on Nationalist sentiment, nothing can prevenet the Democratic wave from the north from submerging it. The daily stream of Irish outrages which pours from the telegraph offices and is disseminated through the Teheran press has produced, here as elsewhere, incaclualable effect’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.4 July 24, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
However the Newsletter never shied from an exaggeration to drive home a point. With the growing levels of dismissal of Irish railways employees who refused to operate trains carrying the military or military supplies, the Newsletter announced that ‘another English-bred famine in Ireland is not a remote contingency…the Irish railways are suffering from a creeping paralysis which is affecting the arteries of transportation’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.4 July 24, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The RIC now adopted obstructionist tactics of their own. Squads of police were stationed at numerous railway platforms throughout the country, and as trains arrived in, would board and await a drivers refusal to move the engine. He would then be summarily dismissed while they would wait for the next train and to repeat the process.
Sergeant John Stokes (21) was killed during the defence of Rearcross RIC barracks in Tipperary. 50 IRA members attacked the barracks over an eight hour period but stubborn resistance forced the volunteers to withdraw.
The Nation newspaper, London: ‘The people of Britain are being pushed into a war with the people of Ireland. Of this there can be no longer any doubt. The results of the recent election show conclusively that The Times is right when it declares that Sinn Fein is synonmous with Ireland. The Sinn Feiners secured 525 seats out of 699, leaving to the Unionist party 86 seats or 12%. Even in the six county Ulster, two counties Tyrone and Fermanagh, have ceased to be Unionist. It is against this overwhelming body of opinion that we are to make war.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.5 July 31, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
A letter to the Daily Express was published from a soldier in Ireland returning to London: ‘Three nights ago I had sent six men and a corporal –complete with tin hats, rifles, bayonets and a lorry – to see two policemen safely home. A few weeks before than, I had seen the race course of Tipperary cleared and the whole of the traffic regulated not by such men as this London bobbie, but by a squad of Sinn Fein police sporting their white arm bands. And they managed it well too.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.5 July 31, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Col Smyth, the RIC Divisional Commander for Munster met with the Chief Secretary James MacMahon* in London ‘at which Col Smyth explained himself, and which resulted in a denial in the House of Commons of the accuracy of the Freeman’s account by the Chief Secretary’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p12
*James MacMahon (1865-1954). Born in Belfast. The last person to hold the position of Under Secretary for Ireland and in 1922 helped oversee the withdrawal of the British Administration from Southern Ireland.
After the failure of the Republican and Democratic conventions, de Valera was invited to speak at a third, the Labour Party in Chicago. ‘Here at last was a party which was ready to pledge itself to recognition of the Irish Republic, although there was no hope whatever that they would win the presidential election’
McCartan wrote to McGarrity proposing a conference of loyal Irish Republicans in America to put an end to the feuding. Sean Cronin points out that McCartan was against having DeValera and Boland there as: ‘ My experience of him and Harry is that they come to a conference not knowing what they want. Have an unconcious contempt or seem to have such of opinions of others. The Chief presidees and does all the talking. Has a habit of getting on to side issues and shutting off people who wish to speak and this makes a bad impression if not sometimes enemies. Tends to force his own opinions without hearing from the other fellows and tis thinks he has co-operation when he only gets silent aquisence. If we had an agenda before him perhaps he would be different….at present we have no programme. The one indicated by O’Mara if you remember, only wants 100 men and the Chief wants to organise the 20,000,000. Here are the two extremes and neither seems to know where they are going or what they want…’
Sean Cronin. ‘The McGarrity Papers.’ Anvil, Kerry 1972. P83
In the US, Charles Stephens, a barber, attempted to go over Niagara falls in a barrel. Not surprisingly, he did not survive and all that was found of him was his left arm tied to the barrel. (Having an anvil tied around his feet for ballast didn’t help matters much either)
Widespread rioting in Derry resulted in deaths of some 13 people.
13
The first concerted drive against the Dail Courts began when the RIC & troops were ordered to attend all popular courts to see if they exceeded the powers of the arbitration tribunals and with explicit instructions that if they were denied entry or if the courts authority was exceeded, to break them up. Five courts were dispersed in July but the measure was virtually ineffective with over 80 Dail Courts being held in 27 counties. A move to control the Republican Police was also instigated, but the Irish correspondent of the London Times commented that this latest order ‘ will serve no useful purpose unless the Executive give definite proof of it’s ability to fulfill the functions which these Sinn Fein volunteers are beginning to usurp’
Arthur Mitchell. “Revolutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-1922.” Gill & Mcmillan 1995. P206
However, when County Court Judge Wakely attempted to open the Quarter Sessions at Strokestown, Co. Roscommon, he found neither plaintiffs nor defendants to submit cases. ‘An Irish correspondent of the Morning Post (London) says that all cases in the district had been disposed of by the Republican Court during its session of the previous week and quotes Judge Wakely as suggesting to the solicitors who presented themselves at the opening of the British court that stone breaking would be a more profitable profession.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol. 11, No.3 July 17, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
William Barry, the Irish born fireman working on the SS New York arrested in Southampton on June 2, went on trial in London for possession of revolvers and ammunition. The contents of the five letters he was also carrying for Members of Dail Eireann were now forwarded to the Philadelphia Ledger by it's London correspondent.
"The publication of these letters blew any restraint on both sides in the Irish-American power struggle to pieces"
Eileen McGough.'Diarmuid Lynch: A Forgotten Irish Patriot'. Mercier Press 2013. p129
The Five Letters
“ London, July 12th. - I obtained today photographic copies of five secret letters sent by Sinn Fein leaders in the United States to officials of the Irish Republic by their confidential messenger, William Barrie... carried in additon to these letters three automatic revolvers and several hundred rounds of ammunition. These letters... reveal the inside story of the fight in America between De Valera and Justice Cohalan, relate efforts made by the Irish leaders to incorporate a plank in the Republican platform and tell of a secret council meeting of the Friends of Irish Freedom where a discussion arose between the New York members as to whether they should put their Irish or their American sympathies first. These letters reveal for the first time in the American Sinn Feiners, the unrest within the ranks of Irish leaders in the United States.."
The first concerted drive against the Dail Courts began when the RIC & troops were ordered to attend all popular courts to see if they exceeded the powers of the arbitration tribunals and with explicit instructions that if they were denied entry or if the courts authority was exceeded, to break them up. Five courts were dispersed in July but the measure was virtually ineffective with over 80 Dail Courts being held in 27 counties. A move to control the Republican Police was also instigated, but the Irish correspondent of the London Times commented that this latest order ‘ will serve no useful purpose unless the Executive give definite proof of it’s ability to fulfill the functions which these Sinn Fein volunteers are beginning to usurp’
Arthur Mitchell. “Revolutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-1922.” Gill & Mcmillan 1995. P206
However, when County Court Judge Wakely attempted to open the Quarter Sessions at Strokestown, Co. Roscommon, he found neither plaintiffs nor defendants to submit cases. ‘An Irish correspondent of the Morning Post (London) says that all cases in the district had been disposed of by the Republican Court during its session of the previous week and quotes Judge Wakely as suggesting to the solicitors who presented themselves at the opening of the British court that stone breaking would be a more profitable profession.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol. 11, No.3 July 17, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
William Barry, the Irish born fireman working on the SS New York arrested in Southampton on June 2, went on trial in London for possession of revolvers and ammunition. The contents of the five letters he was also carrying for Members of Dail Eireann were now forwarded to the Philadelphia Ledger by it's London correspondent.
"The publication of these letters blew any restraint on both sides in the Irish-American power struggle to pieces"
Eileen McGough.'Diarmuid Lynch: A Forgotten Irish Patriot'. Mercier Press 2013. p129
The Five Letters
“ London, July 12th. - I obtained today photographic copies of five secret letters sent by Sinn Fein leaders in the United States to officials of the Irish Republic by their confidential messenger, William Barrie... carried in additon to these letters three automatic revolvers and several hundred rounds of ammunition. These letters... reveal the inside story of the fight in America between De Valera and Justice Cohalan, relate efforts made by the Irish leaders to incorporate a plank in the Republican platform and tell of a secret council meeting of the Friends of Irish Freedom where a discussion arose between the New York members as to whether they should put their Irish or their American sympathies first. These letters reveal for the first time in the American Sinn Feiners, the unrest within the ranks of Irish leaders in the United States.."
Letter No. 1
Dated New York, June 10, written to Michael Collins and signed John (Sean) Nunan, the Sinn Fein MP for Cork, then working with De Valera in the US:
Dated New York, June 10, written to Michael Collins and signed John (Sean) Nunan, the Sinn Fein MP for Cork, then working with De Valera in the US:
My dear Michael’
I am sending by this delivery two vials, one containing 400 rounds, 900 rounds, two automatic revolvers, 48 rounds for same, two spare magazines in a leather case. I will send you more on Wednesday....
This is a sample of the utterances of many of the leaders of the Clan and it is time, in my opinion, for a definite understanding to be reached regarding the exact status of the Clan. I do not think this attitude is common to the majority of the rank and file, who would, I believe put Ireland first. But many of them are being misled. There was a reunion of the clan in New York yesterday when the President’s actions were criticised by Cohalan and Chairman Lawrence Rice...said that he hoped the members would all agree with the policy of Cohalan and Co, and that they would very sorry to loose any members, meaning, of course, that those who would not follow Cohalan could leave the organisation.
The man who told me of the proceedings said that both Cohalan and Devoy received the poorest receptions he had seen them receive for many years, and about 30% of those present were for De Valera as against Cohalan. This is very promising since we have been here and for years before, they have blindly followed his lead and the Clan has simply become a political machine. I hope that Harry (Boland) will be back soon, as he is the very and possibly the only man to deal with them from the organisation point of view, since they have a wholesome respect for him.
I am doing very well in the hardware line and have enough on hand to keep the messenger well stocked for some time to come.
A man named Thomas Fogarty, a Tipperary man, left here on the Celtic Saturday. He is going to Cork, Kerry and Dublin and then to England...he has letters of introduction from Diarmuid Lynch. To whom, I do not know, as he said they were to be kept secret. He told me he was going over for the Friends of Irish Freedom to report on conditions at home as owing to so many different reports reaching them they were unable to tell exactly how things were. This strikes me as being a very peculiar sort of move as one would think that the Chief or O’Mara would be in a position to speak officially on the situation at home. So I mention the matter to you so that you may warn any of our people to be careful of what they say to this man.
Now Michael, something should be done about Diarmuid. It is absolutely outrageous that he, a member of the Dail Eireann, should be supporting those who are opposing in every way the endeavours of the President. I think that it should be put up to him to resign either his seat in the Dail Eireann or his secretaryship of the Friends of Irish Freedom. I can't make out what has come over him. I suggest that you give the matter consideration, as it cannot be anything but a source of weakness and danger to have a member of the Dail Eireann acting in full accordance with those who contend that the President [De Valera] should not be here and who doing their utmost to drive him out of the country.
I am very tired now, so will close. Oh, by the way, I met Charley Lynch of the Rooney’s in Chicago, and he was asking very particularly to be remembered to you. Best wishes to all the boys.
Your everlasting friend,
John
Diarmuid Lynch Papers. The Gaelic American. 24 July 1920. National Library of Ireland MS 31-408
Letter No. 2
To Michael Collins and written by John Nunan reads:
Dear Michael
Enclosed please find the following:
One: Letter to A.G.* from myself (this is a report of occurrences at the Republican Convention that the Chief entrusted me to write)
Two: Letter to A.G. from J.O.M**
Three: Letter to T.McSweeney from his brother Peter
Four: Letter for yourself from S.N.H.; letter for A.G. from J.O.M.
The conduct of the Cohalan group has reached the climax and I think I am safe in saying that the fight is now on. As you will see from the contents of letter one, they are determined to go ahead without consulting the Chief and he is determined that he will not be dictated to on Irish matters by any American, no matter who he may be.
From the manner in which events have shaped since the Chicago Convention, I believe that the great majority of the people will rally to De Valera. The politicians of course, will stand by Cohalan. He has probably given you a good insight into the state of affairs here.
It is now 2 a.m. and the man is waiting so I will finish. Another man will be going to London on Wednesday and I will send more news then.
John.
* A.G. = Arthur Griffith
** J.O.M. = James O’Mara
Diarmuid Lynch Papers. The Gaelic American. 24 July 1920. National Library of Ireland MS 31-408.
Letter No. 3
To Arthur Griffith from John Nunan:
New York, June 21.
The President [De Valera] has instructed me to write an account of the incidents that occurred prior to, during and since the Republican Convention in Chicago. He was unable to so himself by this mail, owing to the fact that he has gone to San Francisco to attend the Democratic Convention, which is to be held next week.
Many accounts have probably been cabled to the English press, but in order that you may be in a position to understand the position fully, I submit the following: this account written very hurriedly as a messenger is leaving tonight:
At a meeting of the Executive Committee of the Friends of Irish Freedom, held in May, a resolution was adopted instructing the committee in charge of the political side of the organisation which is headed by Judge Cohalan, to endeavour to secure the insertion of a plank in the platform of the Republican and Democratic parties, urging recognition of the Republic of Ireland. The President was informed that every effort would be used to attain this end. As the Republican Convention was approaching, and the President could see no sign of any action on the part of the Friends of Irish Freedom, who had not consulted him on the matter or informed him of what steps to they had take, he decided to take the matter into his own hands, and accordingly, Liam Mellows T.D. and I were sent to Chicago to make arrangements for the holding of a meeting and to generally create an Irish atmosphere and impress upon the Republican delegates the urgency and the importance of the Irish Question.
We arrived in Chicago on May 21 and called at the headquarters of the American Commission for Irish Independence in order to ascertain the whereabouts of the Friends of Irish Freedom in Chicago. In order to secure their co-operation in the work, we were informed that John McGarry and Richard Wolfe, the two men for whom we were looking, were in New York having received a sudden call to go there. We ascertained later that they had gone to New York with W.H.Thompson, Mayor of Chicago, who was a leader of the Republican delegation at Chicago, to confer with Senators Johnson and Borah. I suspect Cohalan was also there.
In the meantime, all the State Chairmen of our Bond Drive had been wired to and were requested to go to Chicago to assist as also were our organisers, the idea being that they should canvass the delegates from their own states and sound them out on the Irish Question. Messrs. McGarry and Wolfe returned on Tuesday and Liam Mellows and I met them in Wolfe’s office. Mellows mentioned a few matters to them and we agreed to meet again on Wednesday together with a few more of their friends.
Mellows put before them then, the President ideas. The suggestion that a public meeting be held was objected to very strongly. It was said that a successful meeting could not be arranged on such short notice, and that if the meeting was not a success, it would be injurious to the cause...McGarry then suggested that Archbishop Mundelein of Chicago be consulted on the matter. That was done on the following day and the Archbishop said that as the President would arrive that evening, the matter should be left in his hands... immediately upon the arrival of the President, he went to Hugh O’Neill’s office, where the leading Irishmen in Chicago were to meet him. The men who had charge of the arrangements of the Presidents previous visit to Chicago, viz., Hugh O’Neill, John McGarry, R. Wolfe, Judge Crowe, Dr. Murphy, ex-Congressman Gorman and one or two others were there and the whole matter was discussed. The objections to the meeting were put forward again, but as the President decided to have the meeting, they all agreed to do all in their power to make it a success. It was suggested by Gorman that the proper course to adopt was to endeavour to secure the insertion of a plank favouring recognition in the party platforms.
This was agreed by all present and a committee consisting of McGarry, Wolfe, Gorman, O’Neill and Crowe was appointed to call on Will Hays, the National Secretary of the Republican Party, to arrange the day and date for the presentation of the plank to the Resolutions Committee. The committee went away to do this and promised to report the result to the President. They never did, and from that day onward they deserted the President altogether.
Judge Cohalan arrived in Chicago Saturday, which doubtless accounts for the desertion. From the time of his arrival here, he was boycotted in so far as the leaders of the Friends of Irish Freedom were concerned. Seeing this and knowing that nothing was being done, P.Walsh was asked to remain in Chicago and head another committee to present his plank before the Resolutions Committee. Although Walsh had an important engagement in New York, he consented to stay to do whatever the President asked and the greatest credit is due to him for his very unselfish action.
The second committee immediately waited on Will Hays, who fixed a hearing for Wednesday. The committee consisted of Walsh, Congressman Mason, Foley of St. Paul, O’Malley of Kansas City and one or two others, and presented a resolution to the Sub-Committee on Resolutions. To the great surprise of all our party, we learned that that the Committee appointed by Cohalan had waited on the same Sub-Committee and presented the resolution which appears in The Gaelic American enclosed herewith.
The President was not consulted on this matter and was not even informed of the intention to present the resolution and was greatly surprised to learn that Cohalan had taken such action. The President said he had previously expressed his wish to Cohalan and an appointment was made for Tuesday at the Chicago Athletic Club. The President went, accompanied by Walsh and O’Halley, but Cohalan did not attend, sending instead a committee headed by John P. Grace, Mayor of Charleston, S.C., which committee urged the President not to go ahead with his resolutions. He of course, refused to entertain the suggestion, as he considered the time had arrive for a declaration on the Irish Question by each political party.
As a result of the division this made public between the President and Cohalan, both resolutions were defeated, the President resolution calling for Recognition by 12 votes to 1, the one being cast by Senator Borah of Idaho and Cohalan’s was dropped consequently upon a tie vote. The Chairman of the Resolutions Committee, Senator Watson of Indiana, cast his vote in favour of Cohalan’s resolution, but withdrew it on the following day on the grounds that as the resolution would not be satisfactory to the representatives of the Irish people, it was useless to pass it in.
It is my opinion that Cohalan has pledged the Irish vote in America to Senator Johnson and considered that the President resolution would be embarrassing to him and would make his selection as a Republican candidate more difficult. This was very evident from the fact that several of Cohalan’s friends made appeals to the President not to insist on his resolution and pointed out that the right thing to do was to secure the election of a man who was a friend to Ireland and who would do the right thing when elected. It was the old tale of ‘trust Asquith’ that they were endeavouring to get the President to swallow.
On Friday, a meeting of the National Council Friends of Irish Freedom was held at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, where Cohalan presented his report of his action in Chicago. He stated his resolution would have been inserted in the Republican platform but for the President’s action in forcing his. He contended that the question is an American one and not an Irish Question and as such should be left to Americans to deal with, and that the President had no business in Chicago. All the leaders spoke in the same strain, and the motion to receive and approve Cohalan’s report was adopted in the meeting by a vote of 60 to 15. Dalton then proposed the committee be authorised to present the same resolution at the Democratic Convention at San Franscisco. There were amendments offered to the effect that the Friends of Irish Freedom should confer with the President and endeavour to draft a resolution that would be acceptable to both sides. This was vigorously objected to by Dalton. His resolution was carried.
This means of course that the same situation will be obtained at San Franscisco as obtained at Chicago as the President will not compromise on the question and intends to press forward with his plan for recognition. I am enclosing a copy of the Gaelic American from which you will see the vicious line of attack the Cohalan party has taken. On Tuesday, June 8, Bishop Gallagher of Detroit, called on the President and in the course of his conversation stated that Cohalan’s committee had decided to request the President leave America, and had requested Bishop Turner of Buffalo to convey this, which Bishop Turner refused to do. Bishop Gallagher was then asked to do the job and he refused but mentioned the matter to the President. There is quite a lot of publicity on the whole trouble in the New York papers and I enclose a few cuttings bearing on the same, also a copy of the statement issued by the President.
This ends the report that the President instructed me to make to you.
One matter I take the liberty of suggesting myself and that is that Lynch, who as you know is Secretary of the Friends of Irish Freedom should be requested to explain his actions in connection with this plot against the President. It is inexplicable to me how he can hold his position and represent the people of Cork. His action in retaining the former position and carrying out the instructions of Cohalan makes him in my opinion and in the opinion of other members of the party, unworthy to represent any Irish constituency and a grave menace to our cause. In venturing these remarks, I am not voicing the expressed opinion of the President as he has not spoken to me on the matter, but I do know he feels very keenly about Diarmuid’s actions this week. For instance, very large quantities of The Gaelic American containing an attack on the President, are being sent from Diarmuid’s office to members of the Friends of Irish Freedom. Yesterday he was present on the platform at the re-union of Clan na Gael at which Cohalan made the same attack on the President as appears in the Gaelic American and entered no protest.
The President will probably write a report in San Francisco which will be forwards as soon as received by me. In the meantime I trust this will be of assistance to you and the Cabinet.
With very best wishes to all.
John Nunan.
Diarmuid Lynch Papers. The Gaelic American. 24 July 1920. National Library of Ireland MS 31-408.
Letter No. 4
From James O’Mara to Arthur Griffith:
Dear Friend.
I have to report that owing to lack of co-operation from the Friends of Irish Freedom, President De Valera instructed me to use the Bond Organisation in an effort to place the question of the Recognition of the Republic before the Convention of the Republican party at Chicago. The President himself supervised matters in Chicago and shortly the result was this:
A resolution calling for full and formal recognition was submitted to the Sub-Committee of the Resolution Committee by Walsh and Senator Mason. This stood a fair chance of acceptance, but the ground was undermined by the Cohalan group, both beforehand and immediately afterwards, by the introduction of a resolution of mere sympathy. The result was that there is now no Irish plank in the Republican Party platform.
This unfortunately, is not the first time that this group of Irish sympathisers have defeated the effort of the President. The group includes Daniel Cohalan, John Devoy, Diarmuid Lynch and Richard Dalton.
I have the honour to be,
Yours very truly
James O’Mara.
Diarmuid Lynch Papers. The Gaelic American. 24 July 1920. National Library of Ireland MS 31-408.
Letter No. 5
Letter from Peter McSweeney to Terence McSweeney, Lord Mayor of Cork and Commandant of the Cork Brigade of the Irish Republican Army.
Letter from Peter McSweeney to Terence McSweeney, Lord Mayor of Cork and Commandant of the Cork Brigade of the Irish Republican Army.
My Dear Terry.
You will probably have seen John by now. Things here have become more serious since John Devoy has openly charged De Valera with spending $50,000 of the money subscribed for Bonds in the last few weeks. He charges the Chief with preventing action on Ireland at the Republican Convention. The facts are, President De Valera was welcomed from one end of this country to the other - North, South, East, West - and people demonstrated over and over again their sympathy and belief in the justice of the Irish demand.
De Valera went to the Republican Convention to ask that the candidate selected would pledge himself to recognise the Irish Republic or have the Convention put such a plank in their platform. He did not want sympathy but action. Justice Cohalan, representing the Friends of Irish Freedom, wanted a vote of sympathy, saying it would lead up to recognition later. Cohalan and Devoy want De Valera to take his instructions from them and not from the Dail Eireann. De Valera refuses to be the puppet of any clique. Devoy’s attack on the President in last week’s issue was mean and spiteful. In his old age, he is loosing many of his best friends.
Cohalan and Devoy control the Clan and are surrounded by a group of their admirers, whose loyalty to the organisation comes first and to Ireland, last. The leaders of the Clan claim they are American’s first and Irishmen next. De Valera is not an American. He is the leader of the Irish people and should take his instructions from them alone.
It is hoped that the Split which has taken place here will not affect Ireland. To help straighten matters here, a unanimous vote of confidence should be passed to De Valera by the Dail Eireann. He has accomplished more for Ireland in the twelve months he has been here than those who are opposed to him have in thirty years. I am enclosing his statement on the situation. More later.
Best Love,
Peter.
P.S. - I forgot to mention about the man who may call to see you. He is not known very well here and is considered not trustworthy. He is the only Irishman I know who refused to buy Bonds. He claims to know Diarmuid Lynch very well, but any message he may bring from Lynch to Ireland has not the sanction of the President. Lynch is the National Secretary of the Friends of Irish Freedom, the officials who are not working in co-operation with De Valera and members from Ireland.
Lynch is the only one who is on the side of Devoy, and why he should continue is a mystery to me. It would be very advisable if his constituents in South East Cork got together at once and passed a vote of confidence in De Valera and his associates from Ireland. Every effort should be made to uphold the Chief and save the movement in this country from being rent asunder. The name of the man mentioned above is Fogarty. More news soon. Peter.”
Diarmuid Lynch Papers. The Gaelic American. 24 July 1920. National Library of Ireland MS 31-408.
With the publication in the Philadelphia Ledger of the letters, Lynch wrote to Judge Cohalan who was holidaying at his summer residence in Westport, New York, enclosing the newspaper clippings of the five defamatory letters and outlining his intentions:
My Dear Judge.
I enclose Phila [delphia] Ledger clipping. Their representative had me on the phone today - told him where you could be reached. J.D. [John Devoy], Dalton and myself think it very advisable that you should come down at once to talk over the situation. If you cannot do this, J.D. and myself will leave here Thursday early for Westport but it is much preferable that you should come, as others thereby can have a chance to confer.
I am writing out my resignation as TD and giving my reasons for not having done so before now, that my actions would have been misconstrued by the enemies of the I.R. [Irish Republic]. Now that the question has been referred to in the press, I feel free to act/
Please wire me tomorrow as to whether you will come down and when.
The O'Leary (1) /Progressive/ (2) et al gang sough[t] to capture the Thomas Clarke Branch (3) & break up the meeting Sunday night. Half a dozen of the boys threw them out physically - incidentally giving them something which they will not speedily forget.
I tried to get you on phone Monday but connection with Westport (4) [be]came impossible.
Sincerely D.L.
PS Dalton wishes that Bishop G (5) should make a public statement without further delay.
I enclose Phila [delphia] Ledger clipping. Their representative had me on the phone today - told him where you could be reached. J.D. [John Devoy], Dalton and myself think it very advisable that you should come down at once to talk over the situation. If you cannot do this, J.D. and myself will leave here Thursday early for Westport but it is much preferable that you should come, as others thereby can have a chance to confer.
I am writing out my resignation as TD and giving my reasons for not having done so before now, that my actions would have been misconstrued by the enemies of the I.R. [Irish Republic]. Now that the question has been referred to in the press, I feel free to act/
Please wire me tomorrow as to whether you will come down and when.
The O'Leary (1) /Progressive/ (2) et al gang sough[t] to capture the Thomas Clarke Branch (3) & break up the meeting Sunday night. Half a dozen of the boys threw them out physically - incidentally giving them something which they will not speedily forget.
I tried to get you on phone Monday but connection with Westport (4) [be]came impossible.
Sincerely D.L.
PS Dalton wishes that Bishop G (5) should make a public statement without further delay.
1 - Jeremiah O'Leary
2 - Irish Progressive League
3 - Either the New Bedford, Massachusetts or New Jersey branch of the Friends of Irish Freedom named 'The Thomas Clarke Branch'.
4 - Judge Cohalan's holiday home, Westport, north New York State. (276 miles from Manhattan)
5. Bishop Gallagher of Detroit. Later to become National President of the FOIF.
2 - Irish Progressive League
3 - Either the New Bedford, Massachusetts or New Jersey branch of the Friends of Irish Freedom named 'The Thomas Clarke Branch'.
4 - Judge Cohalan's holiday home, Westport, north New York State. (276 miles from Manhattan)
5. Bishop Gallagher of Detroit. Later to become National President of the FOIF.
On the day of publication of the captured letters, Lynch sent a telegram to Terence McSwiney, Lord Mayor of Cork.
This was in relation to the reference to Thomas Fogarty in 'Letter No.1' made public earlier that day.
"A man named Thomas Fogarty, a Tipperary man, left here on the Celtic Saturday. He is going to Cork, Kerry and Dublin and then to England...he has letters of introduction from Diarmuid Lynch. To whom, I do not know, as he said they were to be kept secret. He told me he was going over for the Friends of Irish Freedom to report on conditions at home as owing to so many different reports reaching them they were unable to tell exactly how things were. This strikes me as being a very peculiar sort of move as one would think that the Chief or O’Mara would be in a position to speak officially on the situation at home. So I mention the matter to you so that you may warn any of our people to be careful of what they say to this man."
Lynch's telegram read:
“Fogarty got no commission whatever from and was not authorised to act or speak for myself or Friends. Advise Dublin”
Diarmuid Lynch Papers. The Gaelic American. 24 July 1920. National Library of Ireland MS 31-408.
Some years later in the 1920's (possibly in a letter to Piaras Beaslai but unverified) Lynch writes of the events of July 1920 in a letter from the FOIF Archives in the AIHS New York (below):
This was in relation to the reference to Thomas Fogarty in 'Letter No.1' made public earlier that day.
"A man named Thomas Fogarty, a Tipperary man, left here on the Celtic Saturday. He is going to Cork, Kerry and Dublin and then to England...he has letters of introduction from Diarmuid Lynch. To whom, I do not know, as he said they were to be kept secret. He told me he was going over for the Friends of Irish Freedom to report on conditions at home as owing to so many different reports reaching them they were unable to tell exactly how things were. This strikes me as being a very peculiar sort of move as one would think that the Chief or O’Mara would be in a position to speak officially on the situation at home. So I mention the matter to you so that you may warn any of our people to be careful of what they say to this man."
Lynch's telegram read:
“Fogarty got no commission whatever from and was not authorised to act or speak for myself or Friends. Advise Dublin”
Diarmuid Lynch Papers. The Gaelic American. 24 July 1920. National Library of Ireland MS 31-408.
Some years later in the 1920's (possibly in a letter to Piaras Beaslai but unverified) Lynch writes of the events of July 1920 in a letter from the FOIF Archives in the AIHS New York (below):
Lynch also wrote to Sean Hales, TD for Cork West:
Ireland: Constables Michael Lenihan (34) and George Roche (32) were killed in an ambush near Dingle, Co Kerry by the Kerry One flying column. Lenihan was buried in Limerick but provision of a hearse was refused, so the coffin was carried in relays by RIC members.
Constable Patrick Fahey (25) was killed in an ambush near Foynes, Co Limerick. It was reported later that Fahey was planning to resign from the RIC.
14
Dublin: The Irish Office announced ‘British troops are now stationed in Ireland in greater strength than is usual in time of peace, for the sole purpose of assisting the civil power in maintaining law and order and in defence of Ireland and the Irish.’
In Parliament, T.P. O’Connor raised the Listowel incident. Sir Hamar Greenwood, chief secretary for Ireland replied:
‘The recent events presumably refer to the resignation of five constables in Listowel, County Kerry. On 19 June last the District Commissioner, Colonel Smyth, made a speech to the members of the force, eighteen in number, stationed at Listowel. I have seen the report in the press, which, on the face of it, appears to have been supplied by the five constables already mentioned. I have myself seen Colonel Smyth, who repudiates the accuracy of the statements contained in that report. He informed me that the instructions given by him to the police in Listowel and throughout the division were those mentioned in a debate in this House on 22 June last by the attorney general for Ireland, and he did not exceed these instructions. The reason for the resignation of the five constables was their refusal to take up duty in barracks in certain disturbed parts of Kerry. They had taken up this attitude before the visit of the divisional commissioner. I am satisfied that the newspaper report is a distortion and a wholly misleading account of what took place.’
Hansard record of Parliamentary debate here.
O’Connor’s subsequent request for an adjournment to discuss the incident and Smyth’s remarks, which he saw as being an incitement for bloodshed, was refused. The Secretary of State had spoken and that was the end of the matter. Unfortunately that was not to be the case. Whether Smyth said all that he was accused of saying, whether it was his manner, or his inability to win round the disillusioned RIC constables, or whether this ‘shoot first’ policy was what was being advocated by those in power, one can never be absolutely sure about. The incident at Listowel led to the IRA taking on board the ‘shoot first’ policy as their own and Colonel Smyth suffered the consequences of his mishandling of the Listowel meeting.
New York - a further hint of issues with the purchase of Pearse's Irish school St. Endas in Rathfarnham, Co. Dublin can be found in this letter issued to each of the Trustees by Lynch:
Dublin: The Irish Office announced ‘British troops are now stationed in Ireland in greater strength than is usual in time of peace, for the sole purpose of assisting the civil power in maintaining law and order and in defence of Ireland and the Irish.’
In Parliament, T.P. O’Connor raised the Listowel incident. Sir Hamar Greenwood, chief secretary for Ireland replied:
‘The recent events presumably refer to the resignation of five constables in Listowel, County Kerry. On 19 June last the District Commissioner, Colonel Smyth, made a speech to the members of the force, eighteen in number, stationed at Listowel. I have seen the report in the press, which, on the face of it, appears to have been supplied by the five constables already mentioned. I have myself seen Colonel Smyth, who repudiates the accuracy of the statements contained in that report. He informed me that the instructions given by him to the police in Listowel and throughout the division were those mentioned in a debate in this House on 22 June last by the attorney general for Ireland, and he did not exceed these instructions. The reason for the resignation of the five constables was their refusal to take up duty in barracks in certain disturbed parts of Kerry. They had taken up this attitude before the visit of the divisional commissioner. I am satisfied that the newspaper report is a distortion and a wholly misleading account of what took place.’
Hansard record of Parliamentary debate here.
O’Connor’s subsequent request for an adjournment to discuss the incident and Smyth’s remarks, which he saw as being an incitement for bloodshed, was refused. The Secretary of State had spoken and that was the end of the matter. Unfortunately that was not to be the case. Whether Smyth said all that he was accused of saying, whether it was his manner, or his inability to win round the disillusioned RIC constables, or whether this ‘shoot first’ policy was what was being advocated by those in power, one can never be absolutely sure about. The incident at Listowel led to the IRA taking on board the ‘shoot first’ policy as their own and Colonel Smyth suffered the consequences of his mishandling of the Listowel meeting.
New York - a further hint of issues with the purchase of Pearse's Irish school St. Endas in Rathfarnham, Co. Dublin can be found in this letter issued to each of the Trustees by Lynch:
15
De Valera spoke with reporters from The Brooklyn Eagle on the revelations in the captured letters:
“Chicago, July 15 - Disclaiming any personal knowledge of or familiarity with the contents of the letters from John Nunan reported to have been seized by the British Government from William Barry and giving an outline of the differences between President De Valera and certain Irish leaders in America relative to political action here, Mr De Valera today explained how the letters have been written and their purpose.
He utterly repudiated the published version of the happenings at Chicago in connection with his efforts to secure the adoption of an Irish plank in the Republican platform. He said he had asked Nunan to make a memorandum of what transpired here, adding: ‘Whether Mr. Nunan in fact made this memorandum or not, I do not know, as I have not seen him since I gave the verbal instructions to make it before I left for San Franscisco. It is not impossible that he sent a memorandum in the form of a letter with his personal comments to Ireland.
Hugh O’Neill said: ‘There is a certain element in this country that would like to see a big Split among the Irish, particularly at this time, and there are many highly paid English agents now in America working along this line to bring about a split in Irish ranks. I emphatically deny that any meetings were ever held in my office which Mayor Thompson attended. There isn’t a chance for these paid agents of the English Government to bring about a factional fight among the Irish leaders in this country’
Diarmuid Lynch Papers. The Gaelic American. 24 July 1920. National Library of Ireland MS 31-408.
A meeting of the Irish Situation Committee reported that ‘the loyalist population in the South and west felt the time had come when they must know whether the Government intended to master the country or they would be forced to make terms with Sinn Fein’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P203/204
The Dublin Castle Under-Secretary, Sir John Anderson wrote to his Chief Secretary ‘ to say that he was of the same mind - nothing but Dominion Home Rule would do’
Meanwhile a meeting was held in Dublin Castle whether to prosecute the Freeman’s Journal for publishing the article on the RIC revolt in Kerry. The general consensus was that ‘the Irish lawyers are dead against it as they say a conviction is doubtful for many reasons even before a Court Martial. I am against it on the general grounds that newspapers love being prosecuted. No final decision’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p12
Mark Sturgis next met with General Macready at the Royal Hospital Kilmainham. Sturgis described the GOC of British forces in Ireland as living in a ‘terribly reactionary ‘blood and at ’em’ athmosphere…he told us he had just got information that General Lucas’ prison is Mount Mellary monastery, Cappoquin…doubts if he is really there still, if he ever was.’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p12
John Devoy writing to Judge Cohalan
‘ Harry [Boland] is back here and there is a rumour he is going to ‘reorganise’ the Clan or start a rival organisation...they mean war to the knife. It is an awful revelation...’
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.385
De Valera spoke with reporters from The Brooklyn Eagle on the revelations in the captured letters:
“Chicago, July 15 - Disclaiming any personal knowledge of or familiarity with the contents of the letters from John Nunan reported to have been seized by the British Government from William Barry and giving an outline of the differences between President De Valera and certain Irish leaders in America relative to political action here, Mr De Valera today explained how the letters have been written and their purpose.
He utterly repudiated the published version of the happenings at Chicago in connection with his efforts to secure the adoption of an Irish plank in the Republican platform. He said he had asked Nunan to make a memorandum of what transpired here, adding: ‘Whether Mr. Nunan in fact made this memorandum or not, I do not know, as I have not seen him since I gave the verbal instructions to make it before I left for San Franscisco. It is not impossible that he sent a memorandum in the form of a letter with his personal comments to Ireland.
Hugh O’Neill said: ‘There is a certain element in this country that would like to see a big Split among the Irish, particularly at this time, and there are many highly paid English agents now in America working along this line to bring about a split in Irish ranks. I emphatically deny that any meetings were ever held in my office which Mayor Thompson attended. There isn’t a chance for these paid agents of the English Government to bring about a factional fight among the Irish leaders in this country’
Diarmuid Lynch Papers. The Gaelic American. 24 July 1920. National Library of Ireland MS 31-408.
A meeting of the Irish Situation Committee reported that ‘the loyalist population in the South and west felt the time had come when they must know whether the Government intended to master the country or they would be forced to make terms with Sinn Fein’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P203/204
The Dublin Castle Under-Secretary, Sir John Anderson wrote to his Chief Secretary ‘ to say that he was of the same mind - nothing but Dominion Home Rule would do’
Meanwhile a meeting was held in Dublin Castle whether to prosecute the Freeman’s Journal for publishing the article on the RIC revolt in Kerry. The general consensus was that ‘the Irish lawyers are dead against it as they say a conviction is doubtful for many reasons even before a Court Martial. I am against it on the general grounds that newspapers love being prosecuted. No final decision’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p12
Mark Sturgis next met with General Macready at the Royal Hospital Kilmainham. Sturgis described the GOC of British forces in Ireland as living in a ‘terribly reactionary ‘blood and at ’em’ athmosphere…he told us he had just got information that General Lucas’ prison is Mount Mellary monastery, Cappoquin…doubts if he is really there still, if he ever was.’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p12
John Devoy writing to Judge Cohalan
‘ Harry [Boland] is back here and there is a rumour he is going to ‘reorganise’ the Clan or start a rival organisation...they mean war to the knife. It is an awful revelation...’
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.385
16
In Dublin, the US Consul, Dumont in a dispatch to Secretary of State Lansing wrote:
‘the situation grows worse day by day...at the present time there is very little Government in the constructive sense. Things are drifting to a dangerous point...the ‘Intelligentsia’ at the head of Sinn Fein would command any mans respect, especially if he is born a citizen of the Republic. The pureness of the ideals and motives of these leaders cannot be gainsaid... Sinn Fein found it difficult to believe that the Democratic Convention at San Francisco had refused the plank prepared by her leader, and was disgusted with the plank incorporated in the platform as to Ireland ‘
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.405
Dumont also commented on the general reaction from the population to the British troops ‘The Irish public dislikes them and shows its dislike openly…both the Government and Sinn Fein act with vindictiveness (and that the latter) take delight in acts that tantalize the Government. Dumont took a somewhat dim view of the army displays of power ‘the driving of armoured tanks through the streets of Dublin after any except great outrages in order to awe a peaceful population seems childish…the marching of troops in steel trench helmets, fully armed, seems equally foolish and needlessly exasperating to the Irish people…. During the past five weeks, both the Government and Sinn Fein have been raiding on a wholesale scale and it has been nip and tuck between them to see who would get the arms first. Sinn Fein usually anticipating the Government’
Arthur Mitchell. “Revolutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-1922.” Gill & Mcmillan 1995. P206
Meanwhile in Dublin, over 50 Irish Volunteers raided the G.P.O. and ‘carried off all letters directed to Dublin Castle, the Viceregal Lodge, the Chief Secretary and the Under Secretary of the Irish Administration..’
Diarmuid Lynch Papers. The Gaelic American. 24 July 1920. National Library of Ireland MS 31-408.
Commenting on the raid, the Pall Mall Gazette reported ‘it would really save time if official correspondence were forwarded directly to Sinn Fein’ while the Irish Times commented ‘We seem to be approaching the day when British Authority in Ireland will be shaken to its base by the laughter of two hemispheres’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P197
The unity of feeling between Catholic and Protestant in Ireland was reinforced strongly during the summer as British forces continued their action. At the Diocesan Synod in Waterford, the Rt Rev Dr. Miller said ‘In this country today, we live amid conditions which may well cause the most profound alarm to every Christian no matter to what denomination he belongs. We have no desire to mix in political matters but we cannot refrain from asking the Government is this is the time to dismember this small country in two parts and to force a form of Government upon people unwilling to have it.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.4 July 24, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Military coercion throughout the country also extended to those involved with the Irish language. From November 1919 to June 1920, 11 prominent language ‘revialists’ and 17 teachers were arrested and 38 classes and language festivals dispersed by armed force. Meanwhile in the US, the Notre Dame University Summer School opened it’s third and largest Irish language and history session, attracting ‘students and prospective teachers from both continents of American and even from the distant Phillipine Islands.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.4 July 24, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Questions in the House of Commons revealed that 298 residents in Derry officially held firearms with British permits to carry them. Equally questions were raised as to why Ulster’s flax crop continued to be ‘confiscated by the British by virtue of war regulation enforced 19 months after the war has ceased.’
The Freeman’s Journal (Dublin) published a comparison between the tactics of British armies of occupation in Germany and Ireland. ‘A town councillor, Hugh Hacklander, of Wermelskirchen, near Cologne, in whose house English military police found concealed 200 rifles and 2 machine guns, has been sentenced by a British court-martial to a years imprisonment and been ordered to pay a heavy fine.’. Meanwhile the British military HQ in Dublin reported the case of ‘Joseph Tracey, civilian of Bunavie, Co. Limerick, was tried by court-martial at Cork on 23rd June on charges of having a revolver and ammunition without a permit. He was found guilty and sentenced to 18 months imprisonment with hard labour.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.5 July 31, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Answering questions in the House of Commons, Sir Hamar Greenwood advised that 250 men and officers had resigned from the RIC between June 1 and July 15 inclusive.
New York: James K. McGuire resigned from the Friends of Irish Freedom citing 'the inner strife' as the cause.
Eileen McGough.'Diarmuid Lynch: A Forgotten Irish Patriot'. Mercier Press 2013. p141
In Dublin, the US Consul, Dumont in a dispatch to Secretary of State Lansing wrote:
‘the situation grows worse day by day...at the present time there is very little Government in the constructive sense. Things are drifting to a dangerous point...the ‘Intelligentsia’ at the head of Sinn Fein would command any mans respect, especially if he is born a citizen of the Republic. The pureness of the ideals and motives of these leaders cannot be gainsaid... Sinn Fein found it difficult to believe that the Democratic Convention at San Francisco had refused the plank prepared by her leader, and was disgusted with the plank incorporated in the platform as to Ireland ‘
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.405
Dumont also commented on the general reaction from the population to the British troops ‘The Irish public dislikes them and shows its dislike openly…both the Government and Sinn Fein act with vindictiveness (and that the latter) take delight in acts that tantalize the Government. Dumont took a somewhat dim view of the army displays of power ‘the driving of armoured tanks through the streets of Dublin after any except great outrages in order to awe a peaceful population seems childish…the marching of troops in steel trench helmets, fully armed, seems equally foolish and needlessly exasperating to the Irish people…. During the past five weeks, both the Government and Sinn Fein have been raiding on a wholesale scale and it has been nip and tuck between them to see who would get the arms first. Sinn Fein usually anticipating the Government’
Arthur Mitchell. “Revolutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-1922.” Gill & Mcmillan 1995. P206
Meanwhile in Dublin, over 50 Irish Volunteers raided the G.P.O. and ‘carried off all letters directed to Dublin Castle, the Viceregal Lodge, the Chief Secretary and the Under Secretary of the Irish Administration..’
Diarmuid Lynch Papers. The Gaelic American. 24 July 1920. National Library of Ireland MS 31-408.
Commenting on the raid, the Pall Mall Gazette reported ‘it would really save time if official correspondence were forwarded directly to Sinn Fein’ while the Irish Times commented ‘We seem to be approaching the day when British Authority in Ireland will be shaken to its base by the laughter of two hemispheres’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P197
The unity of feeling between Catholic and Protestant in Ireland was reinforced strongly during the summer as British forces continued their action. At the Diocesan Synod in Waterford, the Rt Rev Dr. Miller said ‘In this country today, we live amid conditions which may well cause the most profound alarm to every Christian no matter to what denomination he belongs. We have no desire to mix in political matters but we cannot refrain from asking the Government is this is the time to dismember this small country in two parts and to force a form of Government upon people unwilling to have it.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.4 July 24, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Military coercion throughout the country also extended to those involved with the Irish language. From November 1919 to June 1920, 11 prominent language ‘revialists’ and 17 teachers were arrested and 38 classes and language festivals dispersed by armed force. Meanwhile in the US, the Notre Dame University Summer School opened it’s third and largest Irish language and history session, attracting ‘students and prospective teachers from both continents of American and even from the distant Phillipine Islands.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.4 July 24, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Questions in the House of Commons revealed that 298 residents in Derry officially held firearms with British permits to carry them. Equally questions were raised as to why Ulster’s flax crop continued to be ‘confiscated by the British by virtue of war regulation enforced 19 months after the war has ceased.’
The Freeman’s Journal (Dublin) published a comparison between the tactics of British armies of occupation in Germany and Ireland. ‘A town councillor, Hugh Hacklander, of Wermelskirchen, near Cologne, in whose house English military police found concealed 200 rifles and 2 machine guns, has been sentenced by a British court-martial to a years imprisonment and been ordered to pay a heavy fine.’. Meanwhile the British military HQ in Dublin reported the case of ‘Joseph Tracey, civilian of Bunavie, Co. Limerick, was tried by court-martial at Cork on 23rd June on charges of having a revolver and ammunition without a permit. He was found guilty and sentenced to 18 months imprisonment with hard labour.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.5 July 31, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Answering questions in the House of Commons, Sir Hamar Greenwood advised that 250 men and officers had resigned from the RIC between June 1 and July 15 inclusive.
New York: James K. McGuire resigned from the Friends of Irish Freedom citing 'the inner strife' as the cause.
Eileen McGough.'Diarmuid Lynch: A Forgotten Irish Patriot'. Mercier Press 2013. p141
17
John Devoy writing to Judge Cohalan on July 17th that:
‘Harry [Boland] admitted he was instructed to cut the connection that had lasted for sixty years. That is how he put it, but it ought to be forty-six. This shows they will stop at nothing and are determined to smash everything that stands in their way...they are great men to have the fate of a country in their hands...’
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.385
Devoy also advised Cohalan that Fr Peter Magennis 'is out for good' from the Friends organisation.
The smear campaign was now instigated against all prominent Friends of Irish Freedom and Clan na Gael leaders and National Council Members. ‘Part of the campaign against Judge Cohalan and John Devoy took the form of vicious smears that circulated rapidly through Irish-American ranks. Diarmuid Lynch, National Secretary of the Friends of Irish Freedom was also attacked without restraint. Smarting under this unjust assault, Lynch, on July 20, 1920, resigned his seat in Dail Eireann ...’
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.385-386
Dissent continued to grow among branches of the Friends of Irish Freedom. The Padraig Pearse Branch in Rochester, New York publically pledged 'loyal support to Eamon de Valera, President of the Republic of Ireland...resented and repudiated any movement which will undermine his influence or hamper his usefulness'
Eileen McGough.'Diarmuid Lynch: A Forgotten Irish Patriot'. Mercier Press 2013. p138-139
GOC General Macready to Long commented that British Government policy and administration ‘had been allowed to drift into such an impasse that no amount of coercion can possibly remedy it’ and felt that the British public would not support martial law for any length of time and concluded that having tried the coercion policy in one form or another for so long, it would be a good thing to go right to the other extreme.
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p61
Constable James Masterson (35) was killed while traveling home on leave near Newcastle, Co Limerick.
Assassination of Colonel Smyth
Smyth's 'shoot first' speech resulted in his targeting for assassination. He subsequently returned to Cork and took lodgings at the Cork & County Club, an Anglo-Irish social club at 80, South Mall.
Smyth was summoned to England in the second week of July and attended the Irish Office where he was questioned on newspaper reports of his speeches made in Listowel and Killarney. On his return to Ireland he went to Kerry on business connected with the holding of the Assizes, and returned to Cork on Friiday, 16 July in connection with the same duty at the Cork City Assizes the following Monday.
Sean O’Hegarty, Acting Commander Cork No.1 Brigade planned to have Smyth killed but needed information on his movements. Many senior Army officers used the exclusive Country Club but with the staff viewed as loyal, no inside information was available… that is until a waiter, Ned Fitzgerald supplied information as to Smyth's wherabouts.
On the night of Saturday, 17 July 1920, at least six IRA volunteers led by Dan 'Sandow' O'Doovan entered the County Club, Cork, where on the first floor smoke room Commissioner Smyth was sipping a glass with County Inspector George Craig (of Co. Kildare). Three volunteers guarded the entrance, while three others went upstairs. They entered the room where Smyth and Craig were chatting together. Two others were also in the room, Mr. Barker, Secretary of the Club, and another member. The three volunteers walked into the room and one, who obviously knew the target, pointed out Smyth. The volunteers were not masked and one walking over to Smyth, asked: ‘Were not your orders to shoot at sight? Well, you are in sight now, so prepare.’ The Commissioner jumped up and reached for his gun. Two bullets struck Smyth in the head killing him instantly. He was also hit in the body. Several more bullets missed, one hitting Inspector Craig in the leg. Without even a glance to the other occupants of the room, who were stunned at what they witnessed, the volunteers pocketed their weapons, rejoined their companions downstairs and the whole party mingled with the crowd that was leaving a neighbouring picture palace. The total time spent in the building by the IRA team was less than three minutes.
A hurried examination of the Divisional Commissioner showed that Smyth was dead. Inspector Craig was wounded in the leg, though not seriously. The police and military were quickly on the scene and a doctor was summoned. Craig was administered to by the Rev. Father Nunan, of the South Presbytery, and Dr. Dalton. An ambulance brought Smyth’s body to the Cork Central Military Hospital, where an inquest was to be held the following day.
Later that night soldiers and Black and Tans ran amok in Cork City, firing in all directions as they went. An IRA volunteer, James Bourke, who was an ex-British soldier, was shot dead, and over twenty other local citizens were injured.
Eighteen jurors were called to the Colonel Smyth inquest the next day, but only nine appeared. After several hours delay and unable to swear in a jury the inquest was abandoned by the Coroner.
The Gaelic American newspaper reported: ‘a dozen armed men raided the smoking room of the County Club, killing Divisional Commisoner of Constabulary Smith and wounding Inspector Craig. The raiders escaped. Commissioner Smith recently made a speech at Listowel, Co. Kerry, in which he urged police to shoot down on sight any one suspected of being a Republican volunteer...’
Diarmuid Lynch Papers. The Gaelic American. 24 July 1920. National Library of Ireland MS 31-408.
Smyth's remains were brought by train to Dublin and then on to Belfast and conveyed to the residence of a relative at Clonaslee, Banbridge before a funeral on 21 July.
Smyths killing in the County Club, South Mall was also mentioned in Mark Sturgis’ diaries ‘This is a ghastly busines and may stiffen the Martial Law party. It seems to make a prosecution of the Freeman easier. The Freeman killed Smyth’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p13
Further information on Smyth's assassination here
Smyth's brother, George Osbert Smyth was at this time stationed in Egypt with the Royal Field Artillery. Within days he had transferred to Ireland, allegedly to avenge his brother's death and became a member of the Dublin District Special Branch, nicknamed the Cairo Gang, an elite group of British intelligence officers in Dublin sent specially to spy on, evaluate and assassinate leading IRA figures. Osbert Smyth was fatally shot in October 1920 while trying to arrest IRA members Dan Breen and Seán Treacy at a house in Drumcondra. Several other Cairo Gang members were also to be shot dead early in the morning of "Bloody Sunday", 21 November 1920, on the orders of Michael Collins. Further details on George Osbert Smyth here.
The Irish National Loan closes
The Irish National Loan officially closed in Ireland although final collecting went on into September. The final figure was £371,849 and one shilling. Over 150,000 people had subscribed representing only 15% of the approximate 1 million households in the country. Meanwhile Collins call to establish a gold reserve to underwrite future international exchanges had produced some £25,000 – all hidden in various Dail Eireann offices around the city.
The Chilean National Labour Conference in Santiago cabled a resolution declaring it’s ‘complete sympathy with Ireland’s struggle for national indpendence.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.3 July 17, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The British Trades Union Congress issued an ultimatum to the Government that a General Strike would shortly begin unless British military activity in Ireland ceased. This would have inevitably forced a partial re-deployment of troops from Ireland back to Britain. Speaking before the Congress, Robert Smillie said ‘The Trade Union movement of the Continent is carrying on a boycott of Hungary because of the White Terror. There is a White Terror nearer home – in Ireland. I am amazed to find the enormous number of outrages committed against the Irish people during the last few years. When a policeman or civilian is shot, it is always believed that it is done by Sinn Feiners, there is outcry in the newspapers ….there have been a large number of murders in Ireland which the newspapers have not published. Hundreds of outrages, men imprisoned without trial, women assaulted, peaceful people fired upon, until the total which can be vouched for goes up into thousands and thousands…’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.6 August 7, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The London Daily Herald wrote: ‘The British Army of Occupation must be withdrawn. It is engaged on a task as futile as it is degrading. The British reconquest has signally failed to conquer anything at all. The British rule has utterly collapsed. It's taxes are not collected and it's court houses are empty. The Irish, relying on themselves alone, are creating their own law and order and creating it with extraordinary success under most diffiuclt conditions. Every one in Ireland knows that Sinn Fein courts are fair courts and that even the crustiest Unionists go to them for justice, becase they are unprejudiced in decision and efficient in execution. The British administration in Ireland is morally bankrupt. It can do nothing but blunder and sit tight.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.6 August 7, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The Newsletter of the FOIF commented on Lloyd George's recent remarks regarding the secession of the Southern states from the Union which precipated the Civil War:
"Lloyd George, who is fond of drawing comparisons between England and the United States, has thought fit in an interview recently given to the press to draw about his own shoulders the mantle of Lincoln, and it is not surprising that this startling analogy should evoke the resentment of all true lovers of liberty. Arthur Griffith, acting President of the Irish Republic, in a statement recently published in England and Ireland, has made the following answer to the impious assumption of the British Premier, “The attempt of the Prime Minister of England to draw an analogy between the case of the Southern States and Ire land shows how desperately necessary England feels it to be to stand well with the opinion of America. There is no analogy. The Southern States formed an integral part of one nation and had never enjoyed a separate political existence. Ireland and England are different nations and Ireland enjoyed for fourteen hundred years a separate political existence. That existence England has for generations attempted to crush by force of arms. England holds Ire land as Russia held Poland—not as the United States held its constituent elements. The analogue of Ireland is not the Southern States but Poland. The analogue of England’s Prime Minister is not Abraham Lincoln, but the Russian Czar.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.3 July 17, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The Transvaal Irish National Association in South Africa, adopted a unanimous resolution affirming the right of the Irish people “to choose their own form of government without interference from any other nation”. The Transvaal Association pledged its support to the established government of the Irish Republic and to its President, Eamon de Valera.
The Morning Post (London) newspaper, long associated with bitter opposition to granting Ireland any form of national independence, printed under the heading “Irish Terrorism” a long article including this from the first paragraph:
“It was only natural that with the failure of the government to maintain law and order in the West the mushroom growth of the Sinn Fein should usurp to itself those functions which the Government had laid down. To celebrate the release of the Mountjoy hunger strikers, the Irish Volunteers organised parades in every city in the West. They had a double purpose, to impress the populace with their organisation and to obtain volunteers. At Ballina, County Mayo, a battallion 800 strong, marched through the streets, and, as a result of the parade, 150 recruits were received into the organisation. In the same town the local cinema proprietor had the temerity to open his theatre on the second day of the strike. Before the show had proceeded for half an hour, a squad of volunteers filed into the hall, turned the people out into the street and drew them up in ranks. The entrance fees were repaid, and after a little homily had been given, telling the people that they should not be enjoying themselves whilst the patriots were dying in Mountjoy, they were dismissed to their homes.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.3 July 17, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
"Nothing could be more refreshing than the openness of mind with which the author of “Sinn Fein and the Land Question” in the issue of the Maryland Suffrage News for July 17, 1920, has approached the subject. The author of the article is to be congratulated upon the keenness with which one of the great fundamental disadvantages which the Irish have suffered under foreign rule has been realized. A brief summary is given of the work which the Republic has already done to rectify the evils of land privilege inaugurated in Ireland by the English, and the article concludes with this wish: “If, with the establish ment of political democracy, the Irish people apply this means of procuring and retaining economic freedom, they will show the world an example of a nation enjoying true liberty. May that day come soon!”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.11 Sep 11, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
In his latest analysis of the British imperial mindset, George Bernard Shaw touched some essential qualities.
“Chronically, like all empires, she (England) wants the earth; that goes without saying. The immediately practical point is what instalment of the earth is she after at this moment?. Well, she has convinced Russia that she wants the Crimea. Failing that, she wants Sebastopol. It would be a Gibraltar to her eastern connections; and besides all good Englishmen believe that Sebastopol was won for England by the charge of the Light Brigade at Balaclava and belongs as naturally to Great Britain as Jerusalem to the Church of England.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.3 July 17, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
"If the Manchester Guardian is not quite clear as to the unsavory part played by the British Army of Occupation in Ireland in the recent disturbances in Londonderry, it is nevertheless frank enough to place a great part of the blame on Sir Edward Carson. The Guardian admits that the whole “bad business” has undoubtedly “lost nothing in the telling” in the English press, and, in an editorial comment, goes on to lay the blame on “the wholehearted lawlessness which Sir Edward Carson and others saw fit to approve and advise in 1914. We do not know exactly what breaches of law besides riot have occurred in Derry but we remember Sir Edward Carson’s promise after something had dis pleased him in the House of Commons to “break every law that was possible” in Ireland, and the Derry rioting can scarcely have gone beyond that syllabus of crime. When loyal people objected that the law breaking of the kind that he proposed was treason, Sir Edward Carson had the reply “I do not care a two pence whether it is treason or not.” We do not know whether the same phrase is being used now by the various slayers of the King’s subjects in Derry, but the spirit is Sir Edward Carson’s to perfection.” The moral which the Manchester Guardian does not seem willing to draw is obvious. As long as the British Government can find Orangemen whom it is possible to incite to factional disturbances, just so long will rioting continue to appear in Ulster. Just as in 1886, the Orangemen of Belfast were brought into the streets to shoot down “Morley's murderers” so as to make a demonstration against Gladstone, today the Orangemen of Derry have been stirred up to fury to clinch the case for partition."
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.3 July 17, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The Belfast Chamber of Commerce recently issued a report on the Home Rule Bill before the English House of Commons, which, according to the comment of Erskine Childers, contains a full admission of the economic unity of Ireland. Mr. Childers said: “There is no word or hint to suggest that the Northeast is proportionately either wealthier than the rest of Ireland or a heavier contributor of taxes or in need of any more or less expendi ture on government (except in the initial cost of new government buildings) or in any way disassociated in economic or fiscal interest from other provinces. On the contrary, the signatories claim that both revenue and expenditure should be apportioned between North and South strictly according to population. So perishes in the light of hard facts an old propagandist myth.” '.
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.3 July 17, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
"A typical and to Americans, unusually painful example of the methods of neighborhood terrorization to which the British-controlled Royal Irish Constabulary are incited, is given by an Associated Press dispatch from Londonderry. The Associated Press correspondent gives as the explanation of a recent attack by Irishmen on a party of police, a story of a brutal attack made by a police sergeant on three young American citizens visiting in Donegal. The dispatch says that because he coughed “in a jocular mood” at a passing police sergeant, Michael O’Donnell was assaulted by the police and suffered a fractured jaw. In retaliation against this unwarranted piece of brutality, the Associated Press story says, a group of Irish civilians had an encounter with the police."
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.3 July 17, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
18
In Cork, following the assassination of Commissioner Smith, ‘squads of soldiers shot indiscriminately into crowds of civilians...a civilian passing near North Gate Bridge was bayoneted and died instantly...two military lorries loaded with soldiers which passed through the streets at 3 a.m...were attacked by civilians with bombs. Between 60 & 70 soldiers were injured...two men were killed and some forty wounded in the gun fighting on the streets of Cork...frightened women and children hurried into side streets and doorways and knocked frantically at numerous houses for admission...the total casualties well over the hundred mark’
Diarmuid Lynch Papers. The Gaelic American. 24 July 1920. National Library of Ireland MS 31-408.
New York: Archbishop Mannix of Melbourne on his trans-continental US tour was welcomed to the city by Irish-American leaders. In a meeting held that night in Madison Square Gardens, he said ‘Having travelled through a great part of America and having seen more of it than a great many Americans, I think I have some ground for saying that if a plebescite were taken in America as to whether or not America should give recognition to the Irish Republic, my own personal belief is that, by an overwhelming majority, the people of America would vote for formal recognition by America of the Irish Republic.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.4 July 24, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The Manchester Guardian was under no delusions as to the ultimate goal that British military policy in Ireland was attempting to achieve. In an editorial, warned: ‘The revelation of our failure in Ireland drifts on day by day, from one mortifyig chapter to another, when all the special organisations designed to maintain civil order has failed, we bring in officers and men designed and trained for something entirely different. It is as if when the best physicians have failed the sick man, we were to clal in the vetinary. Of course we only add failure to failure…a bad form of Government will often survive a violent rebellion, but for the Government of any country to have made it possible that it should successfully be treated as if the governed people were a party of castaways refounding human society, on a clearing in a desert island, and as if the existing machinery of Government were of no more use of interest ot the cataways than the animals in the surrounding wooods – this would be a demonstration of political failure so complete and grotesque that the ridicule of the world if nothing else would soon compel it’s liquidation…to have one’s aparatus for repression habitually assaulted is provoking enough, but to have one’s attempts at well-doing simple dispensed with denotes a state of bankruptcy even more galling’.
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.4 July 24, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The Newsletter brought the unrest in Ulster to the attention of it’s readers, writing that the British forces were ‘attempting to prolong the factional unrest in Derry’ through the ‘systematic eviction campaign…instituted against Catholic residents in the sections of the city in which Unionist landholders predominate. According to the Derry Journal, families have been ordered out of their homes on a few minutes notice and it is feared that these hours have subsequently been raided and property stolen…it has been noted that in almost every case that the British military assisted in the eviction proceedings.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.4 July 24, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
In Cork, following the assassination of Commissioner Smith, ‘squads of soldiers shot indiscriminately into crowds of civilians...a civilian passing near North Gate Bridge was bayoneted and died instantly...two military lorries loaded with soldiers which passed through the streets at 3 a.m...were attacked by civilians with bombs. Between 60 & 70 soldiers were injured...two men were killed and some forty wounded in the gun fighting on the streets of Cork...frightened women and children hurried into side streets and doorways and knocked frantically at numerous houses for admission...the total casualties well over the hundred mark’
Diarmuid Lynch Papers. The Gaelic American. 24 July 1920. National Library of Ireland MS 31-408.
New York: Archbishop Mannix of Melbourne on his trans-continental US tour was welcomed to the city by Irish-American leaders. In a meeting held that night in Madison Square Gardens, he said ‘Having travelled through a great part of America and having seen more of it than a great many Americans, I think I have some ground for saying that if a plebescite were taken in America as to whether or not America should give recognition to the Irish Republic, my own personal belief is that, by an overwhelming majority, the people of America would vote for formal recognition by America of the Irish Republic.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.4 July 24, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The Manchester Guardian was under no delusions as to the ultimate goal that British military policy in Ireland was attempting to achieve. In an editorial, warned: ‘The revelation of our failure in Ireland drifts on day by day, from one mortifyig chapter to another, when all the special organisations designed to maintain civil order has failed, we bring in officers and men designed and trained for something entirely different. It is as if when the best physicians have failed the sick man, we were to clal in the vetinary. Of course we only add failure to failure…a bad form of Government will often survive a violent rebellion, but for the Government of any country to have made it possible that it should successfully be treated as if the governed people were a party of castaways refounding human society, on a clearing in a desert island, and as if the existing machinery of Government were of no more use of interest ot the cataways than the animals in the surrounding wooods – this would be a demonstration of political failure so complete and grotesque that the ridicule of the world if nothing else would soon compel it’s liquidation…to have one’s aparatus for repression habitually assaulted is provoking enough, but to have one’s attempts at well-doing simple dispensed with denotes a state of bankruptcy even more galling’.
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.4 July 24, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The Newsletter brought the unrest in Ulster to the attention of it’s readers, writing that the British forces were ‘attempting to prolong the factional unrest in Derry’ through the ‘systematic eviction campaign…instituted against Catholic residents in the sections of the city in which Unionist landholders predominate. According to the Derry Journal, families have been ordered out of their homes on a few minutes notice and it is feared that these hours have subsequently been raided and property stolen…it has been noted that in almost every case that the British military assisted in the eviction proceedings.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.4 July 24, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
19
New York: Lynch resigns as a member of Dail Eireann.
"In 1925 he explained to Piaras Beaslai 'My resignation was written out on 19 July. Boland had returned from Ireland the day before and had stated to parties in New York that he had a letter in his pocket demanding my resignation from the Dáil'
Eileen McGough.'Diarmuid Lynch: A Forgotten Irish Patriot'. Mercier Press 2013. p131
New York: Lynch resigns as a member of Dail Eireann.
"In 1925 he explained to Piaras Beaslai 'My resignation was written out on 19 July. Boland had returned from Ireland the day before and had stated to parties in New York that he had a letter in his pocket demanding my resignation from the Dáil'
Eileen McGough.'Diarmuid Lynch: A Forgotten Irish Patriot'. Mercier Press 2013. p131
LYNCH RESIGNS AS MEMBER OF DAIL EIREANN
National Secretary, Friends of Irish Freedom, attacked in seized correspondence for not surrendering his mature judgement on American affairs to men who are ignorant of this country, writes dignified letter to his constituents in South East Cork placing his resignation in their hands - wishes to avoid possibility of transferring friction from America to his native district - in full agreement with Irish-American leaders as to course followed here.
New York, July 19, 1920
“ To the people of South East Cork
A Chairde - the honour which you conferred on me in my absence from Ireland by electing me, opposed, as your representative to Dail Eireann at the General Election, December, 1918, is one which I shall ever gratefully remember. In being thus honoured by the citizens of my native district without solicitation or desire for office on my part, I have reason to feel a pardonable pride.
While fully appreciating the confidence which you have reposed in me, I realised at the time of my election that, the English Government having deported me from Ireland through the exercise of its naval and military power, it would prevent my return thereto until such time as the Irish Republic secured its due recognition.
In full knowledge of how important it was that the Representative for South East Cork should be on the spot in Ireland to attend to the affairs of the Constituency and of the Nation, I seriously considered resigning at the time the position of Teachtaire but concluded that my resignation then would have been an embarrassment inasmuch as the Dail had not yet perfected laws governing such elections.
Differences have arisen since July 1919, between President De Valera and members of Dail Eireann now in the United States on one hand, and the recognised leaders of the movement here on the other, as to the proper conduct of the campaign in America for the recognition of the Irish Republic. My judgement in this matter, based as it has been upon an intimate knowledge of conditions in America, was generally in agreement with the American leaders. The circumstances has governed my actions as National Secretary of the Friends of Irish Freedom , and has further my determination to immediately tender my resignation as a member in Dail Eireann. The only consideration which deterred me from giving effect to that determination was that my action might have been misconstrued by the enemies of the Irish Republic and heralded as a break in that splendid unity which has marked the progress of the Republican Government in Ireland.
Now, however, it has become evident from letters apparently written by officials of the Irish Republican Government at present in America, captured by the English Government on the person of a man named Barry and published in the Boston, Philadelphia and Chicago newspapers, that my resignation may at this time be properly offered without adding to the risk of such mis-construction.
I decline to permit my actions here or the actions of those men who have consistently worked for a generation in America for the establishment in Ireland of a form of government similar to that which prevails in these United States, from being made the subject of controversy and possible dissension in my Constituency. Without acquaintance with conditions in America, you, my friends, can’t possibly understand the American attitude, nor, in particular, the position of those who through the years have borne the brunt of the fight here. It would not be fair to ask you to express an opinion on the merits of this controversy which now diverts the attention of the supporters of the Irish Republic in this country, and it would be unwise to inject it into South East Cork.
The foregoing reasons impel me to hereby resign my position as Teachtaire Dail Eireann representing the Constituency of South East Cork. I am forwarding a duplicate of this resignation to the Speaker of An Dail Eireann.
In thus definitely severing my official connection with you I desire to once more tender to all my old constituents my sincere thanks for the very great honour conferred on me in my election as your representative to the first Congress of the Irish Republic, and beg to assure you of my continued interest in your welfare and in the Cause of, the entire Irish nation.
No matter what vicissitudes the future may have in store for me, I shall always cherish with pride the part I had the honour to fulfil in the councils of these who made “Easter Week” possible and solidified the foundations of the Irish Republic. It is permissible for me now to speak with a certain amount of freedom in these matters and so it may interest you to learn that during those eventful years prior to “Easter Week”, I was one of the selected few in whose hands lay the destiny of the Irish Republic, that my unalterable belief in the necessity of re-baptising the ideals of Emmet, Tone and Mitchell in the blood of men strong in the faith of Irish Republicanism in order to preserve the National Soul of Ireland guided me to the right course of action, that my voice and influence were invariably in favour of the Irish Nation reasserting itself in arms before the existing favourable opportunity had passed. Results have justified my judgement and I am happy in this knowledge.
I pray God to preserve the unity and magnificent courage of those who in Ireland are battling against the brutal militarism of England, may he give light to those citizens of the Irish Republic who are as yet unresponsive to the proclamation of “Easter Week” that the “ Republic guarantees religious and civil liberty, equal rights and equal opportunity to all its citizens and declares its resolve to pursue the happiness and prosperity of the whole nation and of all its parts, cherishing all the children of the nation equally, and oblivious of the differences carefully fostered by an alien government which have divided a minority from the majority in the past”
With renewed assurance of my esteem and my interest in your welfare, and a special word of grateful remembrance to those splendid comrades in South East Cork who in less enlightened days stood unflinchingly to the principle of Irish Republicanism.
Is mise, le meas more,
Diarmuid Lynch.
Gaelic American. July 24, 1920. Lynch Family Archives.
However his statement was greeted with derision and he was subjected to many further attacks. Through John Devoy Gaelic American, these accusations were ‘warmly answered, but they became so numerous it was impossible to reply to all of them. Some of them came from lieutenants of De Valera who grossly abused American hospitality...’
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.386
Lynch also wrote to de Valera at the Waldorf Astoria informing him formally of his intention to resign. He added:
'Speaking to you personally permit me to say that, in my opinion the present situation in America, if continued, can only lead to disaster for the cause of Ireland'
Eileen McGough.'Diarmuid Lynch: A Forgotten Irish Patriot'. Mercier Press 2013. p135
Some fifteen years later, while Lynch was writing a draft history of the Friends of Irish Freedom:
'..he admitted (writing in the third person): 'By the extreme step which his resignation connoted, Lynch hoped to rouse the Dail to a realisation of the deplorable situation so largely developed here by procedure which it [the Dail] on 30 June expressed 'complete satisfaction' with and that it might, even at this late day, endeavour to prevent the dissension in America from running it's full course'
Eileen McGough.'Diarmuid Lynch: A Forgotten Irish Patriot'. Mercier Press 2013. p136
The Friends of Irish Freedom Newsletter commented on Lynch's resignation:
‘..the letter of resignation is too lengthy to permit of reprinting in full…but we wish to call attention to the lofty, patriotic tone wherein Mr. Lynch explains why he deemed it wise to sacrifice himself at this time, in order that unity may be preserved. It bespeaks the statsemanship and broad-mindedness of the man. Mr Lynch, a soldier of Easter Week was sentenced to be shot and reprieve came only an hour before the firing squad was scheduled to add his name to the list of those who died that the young nation might live. He was deported to America, and as National Secretary of the Friends of Irish Freedom, the services of the soldier-patriot have contributed largely to the extraordinary success the American movement has attained. Time and again his health was broken under the strain, yet his unflinching spirit has never wavered in the determination to win from the United States recognition of the independence of the Irish Republic. Ireland owes more to Diarmuid Lynch than can ever be repaid him as an individual. His great work will be continued as heretofore, with unselfish fervour, guided by the ideals which the Republic of Ireland embodies in it’s character of liberties.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.5 July 31, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
In Ireland, Sir Horace Plunkett wrote to Colonel House saying ‘the situation in Ireland is galloping to disaster’
Belfast: a massive anti-Catholic progrom began lasting for four days and nights, removing virtually all Catholic and incidentally any Protestants with socialist views from workplaces throughout the province. These expulsions were followed by bloody riots in which Catholics were burned out of their homes and neighbourhoods. The reverse was the case in Derry due to demographics and where Protestants were driven from their homes. 19 were killed and over 50 wounded in 4 days of violence in Derry and 7 Catholics & 6 Protestants killed in Belfast.
Constables James Burke (28) and Patrick Carey (29) were killed in an ambush near Tuam, Co. Galway.
Sir Hamar Greenwood admitted in the House of Commons that in Ireland during the twelve months previous “21 newspapers were suppressed of which 12 were only suspended temporarily.”
An Occasional Historical Aside
What might have been: Diarmuid Lynch, the “Crown Steward and Bailiff of the Three Chiltern Hundreds of Stoke, Desborough and Burnham” or perhaps the “Crown Steward and Bailiff of the Manor of Northstead”. How Lynch avoided a Royal sinecure following his 1920 resignation by simply not formally advising the House of Commons. |
When Diarmuid Lynch resigned as Teachta Dala (TD) for Cork South East in the First Dail Eireann, he did so formally and in writing to the Dail in Dublin.
However, Lynch had also been elected as MP for Cork South East to the British Parliament at Westminster in 1918, and had followed the Sinn Fein directive on abstentionism by not attending or recognising Westminster. Therefore, he also did not formally resign his seat as a Member for Parliament in writing to the House of Commons.
As a result, while no longer a TD for Cork South East, Lynch technically remained on record in Westminster as an abstentionist Sinn Fein MP for the constituency for a further two years and three months.
Just prior to the November 1922 British General Election, all ‘Southern Irish’ constituencies in the British Parliament, were quietly abolished following the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921. Ironically, by effectively ignoring the British Parliament and not formally resigning from the House of Commons, Lynch also avoided the automatic awarding of a Royal sinecure.
(Briefly, abstentionism is standing for election to a deliberative assembly while refusing to take up any seats won or otherwise participate in the assembly's business. Abstentionism differs from an election boycott in that abstentionists participate in the election itself. Abstentionism has been used by Irish republican political movements in the United Kingdom and Ireland since the early 19th century. (It was first used by Hungarian and Czech nationalists in the Austrian Imperial Council in the 1860). The first abstentionist MP elected was Count George Noble Plunkett after the North Roscommon by-election of 1917. Plunkett did not categorically state his abstentionism until after his victory. Plunkett's Liberty League, Griffith's monarchist Sinn Féin, and the northern Irish Nation League merged later that year into a reconstituted Sinn Féin, agreeing after contentious disputation that abstentionism was a principle rather than merely a tactic. Sinn Féin MPs (including Lynch) elected to Westminster in November 1918 refused to take their seats there and instead constituted themselves in Dublin in January 1919 as the TDs (Teachtaí Dála) of the first Dáil, which was claimed to be the legitimate parliament of the Irish Republic. The Irish Labour Party stood aside in 1918 in favour of Sinn Féin, having at first proposed to be abstentionist until emergency laws were lifted.)
Searching through the British Parliamentary record for 1918-21, Hansard, Lynch is on record as holding the Cork South East seat in Parliament from 1918 to interestingly, the date of his resignation from Dail Eireann in 1920. However, there is no record of either Lynch or the First Dail of the Irish Republic formally writing to the British Parliament to resign the Irish seat. Lynch was the only Irish TD resign during the 1918-21 First Dail session and the only Irish MP to do so during the 1918-22 British Parliamentary session and with Sinn Fein’s clear abstentionist policy, any written communication, even to resign as an elected MP could have perhaps been inferred as a recognition of Westminster's right to govern Ireland.
But what if Lynch had formally resigned? What if he had written to Parliament notifying the House of Commons of his resignation as MP for Cork South-East?
Procedurally, if Lynch had formally resigned his seat, a by-election for the constituency by late 1920 may have been necessary (although considering the political unrest at the time in the area, a by-election was highly improbable). In addition, as ongoing research has highlighted, under an arcane law dating back to the 17th Century, on receipt of his written resignation, Lynch would have automatically been appointed to one of two sinecures as either the “Crown Steward and Bailiff of the Three Chiltern Hundreds of Stoke, Desborough and Burnham” or if that position had been previously appointed, as “Crown Steward and Bailiff of the Manor of Northstead” irrespective of whether he wished it or not. Previous holders of the office of the Manor of Northstead included the then British Ambassador to the United States, Sir Auckland Geddes, various colonial governors and former government ministers.
No records of any communication between Lynch, Sinn Fein or the First Dail Eireann with Westminster have been discovered to date nor is Lynch listed among the holders of the Crown Stewardships of the “Three Chiltern Hundreds” or “The Manor of Northstead”.
What is the Crown Steward & Bailiff of The Chiltern Hundreds and the Manor of Northstead?
Under a procedural device dating back to 1623 and remaining in British parliamentary law today, members of Parliament are technically not permitted to resign their seat. To resign from the House of Commons, a member must first be appointed to a Royal sinecure position of "Crown Steward & Bailiff" of either The Three Chiltern Hundreds or The Manor of Northstead in order to allow a resignation to take effect.
Why is a Royal appointment necessary?
In the early 17th century, serving in parliament was often regarded as an unpaid, highly difficult obligation rather than an honour or a privilege, and it was considered necessary to dissuade MPs resigning from Westminster. Originally, the disqualification of office holders from Parliament came about as part of the long struggle to ensure that Parliament would remain free from undue influence on the part of the reigning monarch. Members of Parliament were expected to remain independent of the Crown at all times. If any Member of Parliament received a salary, stipend or benefits from the Crown, that member could not be considered to be truly independent and as a result the House of Commons passed a resolution in December 1680 stating that an MP who "shall accept any Office, or Place of Profit, from the Crown, without the Leave of this House ... shall be expelled [from] this House." The prohibition was strengthened over the following decades to bar MPs from simultaneously holding certain offices. However, MPs were able to hold crown stewardships until 1740, when Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn became Steward of the Lordship and Manor of Bromfield and Yale and was then duly deemed to have vacated his Commons seat.
After the Williams-Wynn precedent of 1740, it became possible, as part of a Parliamentary procedure, for MPs to voluntarily step down by being appointed to a Crown Stewardship. The procedure was cleverly invented by John Pitt, who wished to vacate his seat for Wareham in order to stand for the more lucrative constituency of Dorchester, as he could not be a candidate while he was still an MP. Moreover, it quickly became apparent that if ministers of the Crown were to be meaningfully responsible to Parliament, they needed to be able to sit in the House of Commons. For this reason, someone appointed to an office of profit was only disqualified from continuing to sit in the House of Commons; it was possible for someone already in office to be (re-)elected to Parliament without relinquishing the office.
Pitt wrote to Prime Minister Henry Pelham in May 1750, reporting he had been invited to stand in Dorchester, and asking for "a new mark of his Majesty's favour [to] enable me to do him these further services". Pelham wrote to William Pitt (the elder) indicating that he would intervene with King George II to help. On 17 January 1751, Pitt was appointed to the office of Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds, and was then elected unopposed for Dorchester. The Manor of Northstead was first used for resignation on 6 April 1842 by Patrick Chalmers, Member for the Montrose District of Burghs.
These offices - within the “gift of the Chancellor of the Exchequer” - exist as a purely nominal device, a legal fiction for this purpose. For over three centuries, these two offices remained and continue to remain in use as a sinecure in that the stewardships provide no payment, no benefits and carry no responsibilities. The offices have been used alternately, making it possible for two members to resign at the same time. When more than two MPs resign at a time—for example, when 15 Ulster Unionist MPs who resigned in protest at the Anglo-Irish Agreement on 17 December 1985—the resignations are, in theory, not simultaneous but spread throughout the day, enabling each member to hold one of the offices for a short time.
The Chancellor then as now, can deny an application. The last time this happened was to Viscount Chelsea in 1842. Nor is the position a voluntary appointment. After Edwin James was appointed to the Chiltern Hundreds upon fleeing to the United States with a £100,000 debt (£9 Million in 2019 values) in 1861, his action was deemed as a resignation from the House and the customary letter of appointment was revised to omit the mention of the position as one of honour. When Charles Bradlaugh took the Chiltern Hundreds in 1884 to seek a vote of confidence from his constituents, Lord Randolph Churchill and the Conservative press were highly critical of the Gladstone government for allowing Bradlaugh a new opportunity to demonstrate his popularity with the electors of Northampton. This resulted in legislation that any future MP that wished to quit after 1884 was required to apply and be appointed to an ‘Office of profit under the Crown’ which would then automatically disqualify them from holding a seat in the House of Commons and continuing as an MP.
All of the Sinn Fein candidates elected as MPS in 1918 followed the practice of abstentionism and never attended the Westminster Parliament. However, Lynch was the first and only resignation where the Irish MP did not formally relinquish the seat. That is until ninety-one years later when in 2011, another Sinn Fein abstentionist MP did formally resign.
On 20 January 2011, Sinn Féin abstentionist MP Gerry Adams submitted a letter of resignation to the Speaker of the House of Commons (in order to stand as a candidate for Dail Eireann), but did not apply for a Crown office, which naturally enough would have been politically unacceptable for a Sinn Féin politician in 2011 as in 1920. On 26 January, 2011 a Treasury spokesperson said "Consistent with long-standing precedent, the Chancellor has taken [the letter from Adams] as a request to be appointed the Steward and Bailiff of the Manor of Northstead and granted the office." Although David Cameron confirmed during a Prime Minister's Questions later that Adams had "accepted an office for profit under the Crown", Adams immediately denied this, and continued to simply reject the title, albeit not its effect of removal from office. Downing Street quickly apologised for this error and Adams commented: "I have had no truck whatsoever with these antiquated and quite bizarre aspects of the British parliamentary system"
In January 2013, Sinn Féin MP, Martin McGuinness, also resigned and was formally appointed as Steward and Bailiff of the Manor of Northstead leading to the 2013 Mid Ulster by-election. McGuinness also said that he had rejected the title.
As for the Cork South East seat, two elections in Ireland took place in 1921, as a result of the Government of Ireland Act 1920 to establish the House of Commons of Northern Ireland and the House of Commons of Southern Ireland. Sinn Féin was unsure whether to boycott these elections to the House of Commons of Northern Ireland and House of Commons of Southern Ireland. It decided to contest the Northern election for tactical reasons and the Southern one for consistency, with its returned MPs becoming the TDs of the Second Dáil. Where contested, the elections used single transferable vote. No actual polling took place in what was then termed Southern Ireland as all 128 candidates were returned unopposed. Of these, 124 were won by Sinn Féin and four by independent Unionists representing the University of Dublin (Trinity College).
Lynch’s former seat of Cork South East was amalgamated along with Cork Mid, North, South, and West into an eight seat parliamentary constituency known as “Cork Mid, North, South, South East and West” under the British Government of Ireland Act 1920, for the 1921 general election to the House of Commons of Southern Ireland.
In "Southern" Ireland, there were fresh elections in 1922 as a result of the Anglo-Irish Treaty. These took place on 16 June 1922, under the provisions of the 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty to elect a constituent assembly paving the way for the formal establishment of the Irish Free State. In Irish political history, this served as the election to the Third Dáil; under the provisions of the treaty it was a provisional parliament replacing the parliament of Southern Ireland. From 6 December 1922, it formed as the Dáil Éireann of the Irish Free State.
Either through accident or design, as Lynch did not formally resign his Westminster seat, he technically remained an MP until the seat was removed in 1922 but avoided the awarding of a Royal sinecure and became the first and only elected Irish MP to both decline to sit in Westminster and to resign their seat up until Gerry Adam's resignation in 2011.
More information:
The Chiltern Hundreds The Manor of Northstead
January 2020: The current holder of the title of Crown Steward and Bailiff of the Manor of Northstead is the former speaker of the house, John Bercow.
Sources: UK Parliament Press office, UK Parliament information: https://www.parliament.uk/about/how/guides/factsheets/procedure/p11/
However, Lynch had also been elected as MP for Cork South East to the British Parliament at Westminster in 1918, and had followed the Sinn Fein directive on abstentionism by not attending or recognising Westminster. Therefore, he also did not formally resign his seat as a Member for Parliament in writing to the House of Commons.
As a result, while no longer a TD for Cork South East, Lynch technically remained on record in Westminster as an abstentionist Sinn Fein MP for the constituency for a further two years and three months.
Just prior to the November 1922 British General Election, all ‘Southern Irish’ constituencies in the British Parliament, were quietly abolished following the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921. Ironically, by effectively ignoring the British Parliament and not formally resigning from the House of Commons, Lynch also avoided the automatic awarding of a Royal sinecure.
(Briefly, abstentionism is standing for election to a deliberative assembly while refusing to take up any seats won or otherwise participate in the assembly's business. Abstentionism differs from an election boycott in that abstentionists participate in the election itself. Abstentionism has been used by Irish republican political movements in the United Kingdom and Ireland since the early 19th century. (It was first used by Hungarian and Czech nationalists in the Austrian Imperial Council in the 1860). The first abstentionist MP elected was Count George Noble Plunkett after the North Roscommon by-election of 1917. Plunkett did not categorically state his abstentionism until after his victory. Plunkett's Liberty League, Griffith's monarchist Sinn Féin, and the northern Irish Nation League merged later that year into a reconstituted Sinn Féin, agreeing after contentious disputation that abstentionism was a principle rather than merely a tactic. Sinn Féin MPs (including Lynch) elected to Westminster in November 1918 refused to take their seats there and instead constituted themselves in Dublin in January 1919 as the TDs (Teachtaí Dála) of the first Dáil, which was claimed to be the legitimate parliament of the Irish Republic. The Irish Labour Party stood aside in 1918 in favour of Sinn Féin, having at first proposed to be abstentionist until emergency laws were lifted.)
Searching through the British Parliamentary record for 1918-21, Hansard, Lynch is on record as holding the Cork South East seat in Parliament from 1918 to interestingly, the date of his resignation from Dail Eireann in 1920. However, there is no record of either Lynch or the First Dail of the Irish Republic formally writing to the British Parliament to resign the Irish seat. Lynch was the only Irish TD resign during the 1918-21 First Dail session and the only Irish MP to do so during the 1918-22 British Parliamentary session and with Sinn Fein’s clear abstentionist policy, any written communication, even to resign as an elected MP could have perhaps been inferred as a recognition of Westminster's right to govern Ireland.
But what if Lynch had formally resigned? What if he had written to Parliament notifying the House of Commons of his resignation as MP for Cork South-East?
Procedurally, if Lynch had formally resigned his seat, a by-election for the constituency by late 1920 may have been necessary (although considering the political unrest at the time in the area, a by-election was highly improbable). In addition, as ongoing research has highlighted, under an arcane law dating back to the 17th Century, on receipt of his written resignation, Lynch would have automatically been appointed to one of two sinecures as either the “Crown Steward and Bailiff of the Three Chiltern Hundreds of Stoke, Desborough and Burnham” or if that position had been previously appointed, as “Crown Steward and Bailiff of the Manor of Northstead” irrespective of whether he wished it or not. Previous holders of the office of the Manor of Northstead included the then British Ambassador to the United States, Sir Auckland Geddes, various colonial governors and former government ministers.
No records of any communication between Lynch, Sinn Fein or the First Dail Eireann with Westminster have been discovered to date nor is Lynch listed among the holders of the Crown Stewardships of the “Three Chiltern Hundreds” or “The Manor of Northstead”.
What is the Crown Steward & Bailiff of The Chiltern Hundreds and the Manor of Northstead?
Under a procedural device dating back to 1623 and remaining in British parliamentary law today, members of Parliament are technically not permitted to resign their seat. To resign from the House of Commons, a member must first be appointed to a Royal sinecure position of "Crown Steward & Bailiff" of either The Three Chiltern Hundreds or The Manor of Northstead in order to allow a resignation to take effect.
Why is a Royal appointment necessary?
In the early 17th century, serving in parliament was often regarded as an unpaid, highly difficult obligation rather than an honour or a privilege, and it was considered necessary to dissuade MPs resigning from Westminster. Originally, the disqualification of office holders from Parliament came about as part of the long struggle to ensure that Parliament would remain free from undue influence on the part of the reigning monarch. Members of Parliament were expected to remain independent of the Crown at all times. If any Member of Parliament received a salary, stipend or benefits from the Crown, that member could not be considered to be truly independent and as a result the House of Commons passed a resolution in December 1680 stating that an MP who "shall accept any Office, or Place of Profit, from the Crown, without the Leave of this House ... shall be expelled [from] this House." The prohibition was strengthened over the following decades to bar MPs from simultaneously holding certain offices. However, MPs were able to hold crown stewardships until 1740, when Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn became Steward of the Lordship and Manor of Bromfield and Yale and was then duly deemed to have vacated his Commons seat.
After the Williams-Wynn precedent of 1740, it became possible, as part of a Parliamentary procedure, for MPs to voluntarily step down by being appointed to a Crown Stewardship. The procedure was cleverly invented by John Pitt, who wished to vacate his seat for Wareham in order to stand for the more lucrative constituency of Dorchester, as he could not be a candidate while he was still an MP. Moreover, it quickly became apparent that if ministers of the Crown were to be meaningfully responsible to Parliament, they needed to be able to sit in the House of Commons. For this reason, someone appointed to an office of profit was only disqualified from continuing to sit in the House of Commons; it was possible for someone already in office to be (re-)elected to Parliament without relinquishing the office.
Pitt wrote to Prime Minister Henry Pelham in May 1750, reporting he had been invited to stand in Dorchester, and asking for "a new mark of his Majesty's favour [to] enable me to do him these further services". Pelham wrote to William Pitt (the elder) indicating that he would intervene with King George II to help. On 17 January 1751, Pitt was appointed to the office of Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds, and was then elected unopposed for Dorchester. The Manor of Northstead was first used for resignation on 6 April 1842 by Patrick Chalmers, Member for the Montrose District of Burghs.
These offices - within the “gift of the Chancellor of the Exchequer” - exist as a purely nominal device, a legal fiction for this purpose. For over three centuries, these two offices remained and continue to remain in use as a sinecure in that the stewardships provide no payment, no benefits and carry no responsibilities. The offices have been used alternately, making it possible for two members to resign at the same time. When more than two MPs resign at a time—for example, when 15 Ulster Unionist MPs who resigned in protest at the Anglo-Irish Agreement on 17 December 1985—the resignations are, in theory, not simultaneous but spread throughout the day, enabling each member to hold one of the offices for a short time.
The Chancellor then as now, can deny an application. The last time this happened was to Viscount Chelsea in 1842. Nor is the position a voluntary appointment. After Edwin James was appointed to the Chiltern Hundreds upon fleeing to the United States with a £100,000 debt (£9 Million in 2019 values) in 1861, his action was deemed as a resignation from the House and the customary letter of appointment was revised to omit the mention of the position as one of honour. When Charles Bradlaugh took the Chiltern Hundreds in 1884 to seek a vote of confidence from his constituents, Lord Randolph Churchill and the Conservative press were highly critical of the Gladstone government for allowing Bradlaugh a new opportunity to demonstrate his popularity with the electors of Northampton. This resulted in legislation that any future MP that wished to quit after 1884 was required to apply and be appointed to an ‘Office of profit under the Crown’ which would then automatically disqualify them from holding a seat in the House of Commons and continuing as an MP.
All of the Sinn Fein candidates elected as MPS in 1918 followed the practice of abstentionism and never attended the Westminster Parliament. However, Lynch was the first and only resignation where the Irish MP did not formally relinquish the seat. That is until ninety-one years later when in 2011, another Sinn Fein abstentionist MP did formally resign.
On 20 January 2011, Sinn Féin abstentionist MP Gerry Adams submitted a letter of resignation to the Speaker of the House of Commons (in order to stand as a candidate for Dail Eireann), but did not apply for a Crown office, which naturally enough would have been politically unacceptable for a Sinn Féin politician in 2011 as in 1920. On 26 January, 2011 a Treasury spokesperson said "Consistent with long-standing precedent, the Chancellor has taken [the letter from Adams] as a request to be appointed the Steward and Bailiff of the Manor of Northstead and granted the office." Although David Cameron confirmed during a Prime Minister's Questions later that Adams had "accepted an office for profit under the Crown", Adams immediately denied this, and continued to simply reject the title, albeit not its effect of removal from office. Downing Street quickly apologised for this error and Adams commented: "I have had no truck whatsoever with these antiquated and quite bizarre aspects of the British parliamentary system"
In January 2013, Sinn Féin MP, Martin McGuinness, also resigned and was formally appointed as Steward and Bailiff of the Manor of Northstead leading to the 2013 Mid Ulster by-election. McGuinness also said that he had rejected the title.
As for the Cork South East seat, two elections in Ireland took place in 1921, as a result of the Government of Ireland Act 1920 to establish the House of Commons of Northern Ireland and the House of Commons of Southern Ireland. Sinn Féin was unsure whether to boycott these elections to the House of Commons of Northern Ireland and House of Commons of Southern Ireland. It decided to contest the Northern election for tactical reasons and the Southern one for consistency, with its returned MPs becoming the TDs of the Second Dáil. Where contested, the elections used single transferable vote. No actual polling took place in what was then termed Southern Ireland as all 128 candidates were returned unopposed. Of these, 124 were won by Sinn Féin and four by independent Unionists representing the University of Dublin (Trinity College).
Lynch’s former seat of Cork South East was amalgamated along with Cork Mid, North, South, and West into an eight seat parliamentary constituency known as “Cork Mid, North, South, South East and West” under the British Government of Ireland Act 1920, for the 1921 general election to the House of Commons of Southern Ireland.
In "Southern" Ireland, there were fresh elections in 1922 as a result of the Anglo-Irish Treaty. These took place on 16 June 1922, under the provisions of the 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty to elect a constituent assembly paving the way for the formal establishment of the Irish Free State. In Irish political history, this served as the election to the Third Dáil; under the provisions of the treaty it was a provisional parliament replacing the parliament of Southern Ireland. From 6 December 1922, it formed as the Dáil Éireann of the Irish Free State.
Either through accident or design, as Lynch did not formally resign his Westminster seat, he technically remained an MP until the seat was removed in 1922 but avoided the awarding of a Royal sinecure and became the first and only elected Irish MP to both decline to sit in Westminster and to resign their seat up until Gerry Adam's resignation in 2011.
More information:
The Chiltern Hundreds The Manor of Northstead
January 2020: The current holder of the title of Crown Steward and Bailiff of the Manor of Northstead is the former speaker of the house, John Bercow.
Sources: UK Parliament Press office, UK Parliament information: https://www.parliament.uk/about/how/guides/factsheets/procedure/p11/
20
Rioting in Belfast spread to the shipyards: “The massive decision to expel nationalist workmen from the Queen’s Island shipyard followed on a dinner hour meeting of Unionist workers”
Manchester Guardian
The Ulter Progrom was led by “Special Constables” recruited from among unemployed Orangemen. Rioting spreads to Lisburn and Banbridge. In Belfast, 9000 Catholics lost their jobs, 30,000 made destitute. At riots end, 62 were dead. ‘ no serious effort was made to employ the military to do more than stop the rioting. Nothing was done to restore the thousands of Catholics to their homes and jobs’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revolotionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-1922’. P168
The Westminster Gazette commented: ‘..it is common knowledge in Belfast, and has frequently been admitted by individual Unionists, that plans were matured at least two months ago to drive all Home Rule workers in the shipyards out of their employment. The police were well aware of the scheme, and the questions discussed by them was not would the attack come but when it would do so.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.6 August 7, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Lloyd George called for a meeting of the Irish Situation committee and summoned ‘Macready, Tudor, Cope, MacMahon and Wylie – at I believe, Lady Greenwood’s suggestion’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p13
Sir John Anderson in a letter to Chief Secretary Greenwood: ‘The morning I arrived in Dublin, the Inspector-General of the RIC stated in my presence that he was in daily fear of whoselsale resignations from the force or his men running amok’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p48
Later commenting ‘the military forces in the country were quite insufficient in numbers and so far as rank and file are concerned, quite raw and for the immediate purpose of giving support to the civil authority in the ordinary task of maintaining law and order throughout the country, almost useless.’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p53
Anderson was shortly to prove, to all intents and purposes, the head of the British Government in Ireland. His later career was to be Head of the Home Office, Govenor of Bengal and Home Secretary/Chancellor of the Exchequer 1940-45.
The Irish Volunteers executive gave provincial I.R.A units clearance to attack British military facillites on one proviso – that there were no casualties on either side. Enthusiasm and revolutionary zeal saw that particular proviso was short lived.
Liam Lynch, Commandant of the 2nd Cork Brigade Irish Volunteers had a differing viewpoint to that of the Executive and most of Dail Eireann ‘ The army has to hew the way to freedom for politics to follow’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P75
Following the shooting of two RIC men in Tuam the previous day, local members of the RIC marched into the town, smashed up public houses ‘and it is alleged, looted their contents, dragged young men out of bed and threatened to shoot them, set fire to some of the most valuable property in the town.’ Damage was estimated at £100,000. The military was castigated as they had arrived on the scene were quickly recalled to barracks.
Irish Independent – July 21, 1920.
W.F.P. Stockley of Tivoli, Cork wrote to the Editor of the Daily Herald:
“Sir—People in Cork are so disturbed by shootings at sight, according to official advice, that they hardly bother to note if a house is raided. Here is an example of what is so commonly done by your English Trade Union soldiers as to pass unheeded.
At 3 a. m. last Sunday morning soldiers break in my gate rouse up the ladies alone in the house. The officer enters, revolver in hand, posts a sentry with drawn bayonet in hall, and with searchlight rummages in papers, and goes through the ladies’ bedrooms, as well as other rooms, apologizing on the way, of course, as if that made up for the abominable outrage— of daily occurrence in Ireland. Could an Englishman accept a German raiding officer's apology? What is the mildest thing he could say to the invaders? Go away, and the disturbance of which you are the cause, and which you cannot settle, will cease.
W. F. P. Stockley. Woodside, Tivoli, Cork. July 20.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.8 Aug 21, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
William Frederick Paul Stockley (1859-1943. b. Templeogue, Co. Dublin; taught English in Canada up to 1905; appointed lecturer in English and History at Queen’s College, Cork, and and appointed Professor of English at UUC, 1909-31; joined Sinn Féin; elected alderman of Cork, 1920-25; elected TD for NUI, 1923-23; he opposed the Treaty and supported de Valera; wrote on Shakespeare and Newman; also issued an anthology; he is the object of a caricature, deemed unfair, in Sean O’Faolain’s Vive Moi. Stockley, as Robert Kee in 'The Green Flag: A History of Irish Nationalism' (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson 1972), writes of an assassination attempt directed at Professor Stockley by police agents in Cork, March 1920: ‘Superficially it looked like a standard attempt by one of the Volunteer assassination squads: women in civillian clothes came up to the Professor and fired at him with revolvers at close range. But the curious thing was that Stockley was a Sinn Fein supporter. Amazingly the bullets passed through his coat leaving him unharmed, and the next day at a meeting appropriated of the Public Health Committee of the Cork Corporation, he was congratulated on his marvellous escape.’ (p.669.) Further: ‘Professor Stockley ... had noticed one significant thing about his would-be assassins. They had talked, he said, “like strangers”.’ (Cork Examiner, 19 March 1920; Kee, 670).
Rioting in Belfast spread to the shipyards: “The massive decision to expel nationalist workmen from the Queen’s Island shipyard followed on a dinner hour meeting of Unionist workers”
Manchester Guardian
The Ulter Progrom was led by “Special Constables” recruited from among unemployed Orangemen. Rioting spreads to Lisburn and Banbridge. In Belfast, 9000 Catholics lost their jobs, 30,000 made destitute. At riots end, 62 were dead. ‘ no serious effort was made to employ the military to do more than stop the rioting. Nothing was done to restore the thousands of Catholics to their homes and jobs’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revolotionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-1922’. P168
The Westminster Gazette commented: ‘..it is common knowledge in Belfast, and has frequently been admitted by individual Unionists, that plans were matured at least two months ago to drive all Home Rule workers in the shipyards out of their employment. The police were well aware of the scheme, and the questions discussed by them was not would the attack come but when it would do so.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.6 August 7, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Lloyd George called for a meeting of the Irish Situation committee and summoned ‘Macready, Tudor, Cope, MacMahon and Wylie – at I believe, Lady Greenwood’s suggestion’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p13
Sir John Anderson in a letter to Chief Secretary Greenwood: ‘The morning I arrived in Dublin, the Inspector-General of the RIC stated in my presence that he was in daily fear of whoselsale resignations from the force or his men running amok’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p48
Later commenting ‘the military forces in the country were quite insufficient in numbers and so far as rank and file are concerned, quite raw and for the immediate purpose of giving support to the civil authority in the ordinary task of maintaining law and order throughout the country, almost useless.’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p53
Anderson was shortly to prove, to all intents and purposes, the head of the British Government in Ireland. His later career was to be Head of the Home Office, Govenor of Bengal and Home Secretary/Chancellor of the Exchequer 1940-45.
The Irish Volunteers executive gave provincial I.R.A units clearance to attack British military facillites on one proviso – that there were no casualties on either side. Enthusiasm and revolutionary zeal saw that particular proviso was short lived.
Liam Lynch, Commandant of the 2nd Cork Brigade Irish Volunteers had a differing viewpoint to that of the Executive and most of Dail Eireann ‘ The army has to hew the way to freedom for politics to follow’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P75
Following the shooting of two RIC men in Tuam the previous day, local members of the RIC marched into the town, smashed up public houses ‘and it is alleged, looted their contents, dragged young men out of bed and threatened to shoot them, set fire to some of the most valuable property in the town.’ Damage was estimated at £100,000. The military was castigated as they had arrived on the scene were quickly recalled to barracks.
Irish Independent – July 21, 1920.
W.F.P. Stockley of Tivoli, Cork wrote to the Editor of the Daily Herald:
“Sir—People in Cork are so disturbed by shootings at sight, according to official advice, that they hardly bother to note if a house is raided. Here is an example of what is so commonly done by your English Trade Union soldiers as to pass unheeded.
At 3 a. m. last Sunday morning soldiers break in my gate rouse up the ladies alone in the house. The officer enters, revolver in hand, posts a sentry with drawn bayonet in hall, and with searchlight rummages in papers, and goes through the ladies’ bedrooms, as well as other rooms, apologizing on the way, of course, as if that made up for the abominable outrage— of daily occurrence in Ireland. Could an Englishman accept a German raiding officer's apology? What is the mildest thing he could say to the invaders? Go away, and the disturbance of which you are the cause, and which you cannot settle, will cease.
W. F. P. Stockley. Woodside, Tivoli, Cork. July 20.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.8 Aug 21, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
William Frederick Paul Stockley (1859-1943. b. Templeogue, Co. Dublin; taught English in Canada up to 1905; appointed lecturer in English and History at Queen’s College, Cork, and and appointed Professor of English at UUC, 1909-31; joined Sinn Féin; elected alderman of Cork, 1920-25; elected TD for NUI, 1923-23; he opposed the Treaty and supported de Valera; wrote on Shakespeare and Newman; also issued an anthology; he is the object of a caricature, deemed unfair, in Sean O’Faolain’s Vive Moi. Stockley, as Robert Kee in 'The Green Flag: A History of Irish Nationalism' (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson 1972), writes of an assassination attempt directed at Professor Stockley by police agents in Cork, March 1920: ‘Superficially it looked like a standard attempt by one of the Volunteer assassination squads: women in civillian clothes came up to the Professor and fired at him with revolvers at close range. But the curious thing was that Stockley was a Sinn Fein supporter. Amazingly the bullets passed through his coat leaving him unharmed, and the next day at a meeting appropriated of the Public Health Committee of the Cork Corporation, he was congratulated on his marvellous escape.’ (p.669.) Further: ‘Professor Stockley ... had noticed one significant thing about his would-be assassins. They had talked, he said, “like strangers”.’ (Cork Examiner, 19 March 1920; Kee, 670).
21
The Irish Times described events in the Harland & Wolff shipyards: ‘Serious disturbances broke out in the Belfast shipyards this afternoon….during the shipyard dinner hour today an informal meeting of Unionist workers…was held, and was, attended by over 5,000 workers. Resolutions were adopted calling upon the workers to boycott all Sinn Feiners and refuse to work with them. Later a large body of workers went to the new East Yard of Messrs Harland & Wolff, and advised a number of men there to leave at once. Instead of doing so, it is stated, these men became aggressive, and indulged in Sinn Fein cries. Blows were exchanged, and a number of men were injured….they were badly mauled during the disturbance. Subsequently the same crowd went to Messrs Harland & Wolff’s joiners shop, where a similar warning was given. One man produced a revolver and shouted ‘Up the Rebels’.He was immediately knocked down and the weapon taken from him. He was beaten and had to be taken to hospital….during the afternoon, small parties of men searched the works endeavouring to find Sinn Feiners….’
Fintan O’Toole ‘The Irish Times Book of the Century’. Gill & Macmillan, Dublin 1999. p54
Lt. Colonel Smyth's, (assassinated in Cork on 17 July) funeral too place in Banbridge, Co. Down and "was of a most impressive character", with the Union Jack draped coffin conveyed on a gun carriage, preceded by a military firing party. A detachment of 100 men of the Norfolk Regiment, with band, and over 100 police, with their band, took part. Later that evening loyalists attacked a nationalist owned premise and proceeded to the local linen factories where they demanded the expulsion of Sinn Féin workers, stating that they would not work with them. Rioting also erupted in Belfast which resulted in the deaths of seven civilians with nearly 100 wounded.
Sergeant Thomas Armstrong (56) was killed outside the RIC barracks in Ballina, Co Mayo.
General Macready reported to Cabinet that County Inspector Marrian said ‘that half of the [RIC] force were acting as Sinn Fein informers and the other half prepared owing to strain to become assassins’ and that he feared a break up of all the Southern units’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p48
The Irish Times described events in the Harland & Wolff shipyards: ‘Serious disturbances broke out in the Belfast shipyards this afternoon….during the shipyard dinner hour today an informal meeting of Unionist workers…was held, and was, attended by over 5,000 workers. Resolutions were adopted calling upon the workers to boycott all Sinn Feiners and refuse to work with them. Later a large body of workers went to the new East Yard of Messrs Harland & Wolff, and advised a number of men there to leave at once. Instead of doing so, it is stated, these men became aggressive, and indulged in Sinn Fein cries. Blows were exchanged, and a number of men were injured….they were badly mauled during the disturbance. Subsequently the same crowd went to Messrs Harland & Wolff’s joiners shop, where a similar warning was given. One man produced a revolver and shouted ‘Up the Rebels’.He was immediately knocked down and the weapon taken from him. He was beaten and had to be taken to hospital….during the afternoon, small parties of men searched the works endeavouring to find Sinn Feiners….’
Fintan O’Toole ‘The Irish Times Book of the Century’. Gill & Macmillan, Dublin 1999. p54
Lt. Colonel Smyth's, (assassinated in Cork on 17 July) funeral too place in Banbridge, Co. Down and "was of a most impressive character", with the Union Jack draped coffin conveyed on a gun carriage, preceded by a military firing party. A detachment of 100 men of the Norfolk Regiment, with band, and over 100 police, with their band, took part. Later that evening loyalists attacked a nationalist owned premise and proceeded to the local linen factories where they demanded the expulsion of Sinn Féin workers, stating that they would not work with them. Rioting also erupted in Belfast which resulted in the deaths of seven civilians with nearly 100 wounded.
Sergeant Thomas Armstrong (56) was killed outside the RIC barracks in Ballina, Co Mayo.
General Macready reported to Cabinet that County Inspector Marrian said ‘that half of the [RIC] force were acting as Sinn Fein informers and the other half prepared owing to strain to become assassins’ and that he feared a break up of all the Southern units’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p48
22
Rioting continued in Belfast.
The magistrates of Cork city and county met, passed a resolution that ‘having regard to the unalterable opinion of the vast majority of our fellow-countrymen...that Ireland is entitled, like other oppressed nationalities, to that form of Government chosen by the people...we consider it our duty to surrender our commissions sanctioned by British law’ and resigned en-masse.
A second meeting of the British Cabinet with Irish Government officials and Ulster Unionists (represented by Craig) was described by H.A.L.Fisher as ‘the first wide ranging review of Irish policy since the war. Never were the policy options and divisions to be so clearly expressed’.
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p64
The Irish Situation Committee was informed by the Dublin Castle law advisor, W.E.Wylie, that ‘within two months the Irish police force as a police force would cease to exist’…and that in regard to the courts ‘the entire administration of the imperial Government had ceased.’ Local Government bodies were defying instructions from the Castle; and as for the campagn of violence sanctioned by Sinn Fein ‘things had become worse that they had ever been before…. After seeing the mavelous organisation which Sinn Fein had built up, he was of the opinion that the Irish were capable of governing themselves’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P204.
Wylie also advised that in his opinion, Sinn Fein would agree to a county option for Ulster and to the retention of British defence interests in Ireland.
Time had now become a factor. General Tudor offered a note of despair ‘ the Government was up against a well organised body, and to restore order would be a very lengthy business, which he ventured to think could not be done in the time at their disposal’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P197
Tudor continued by arguing for drastic metholds ‘to crush the present campaign of outrage’ recommending courts martial for all crimes, the use of I.D. cards, the insistence on passports to enter Ireland, widespread internment outside Ireland and the use of flogging for various offences. Tudor concluded ‘the whole country was intimidated and would thank God for strong measures’. To no one’s surprise, Long, Birkenhead and Balfour supported Tudor’s recommendations and Churchill went even further in advocating the use of a Northern Special Constabulary in the South. Curzon stated ‘the arming of Ulster was a most fatal suggestion’. Churchill stressed that he was not opposed to further amendment of the Government of Ireland Bill but was completely opposed to any surrender to violence.’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p64-65
Sturgis, Macready, Fisher and Anderson met. ‘They all seemed convinced that the Government must come out for Dominion Home Rule. No coercion can succeed alone and an offer of DHR might win to our side respectable elements of all parties. Macready’s soldiers are not enough in quantity or quality to impose successful martial law…to be any good at all it must be drastic – would nto be tolerated in England for a fortnight…I don’t believe that you can force a country to have what’s good for it if it is wrongheadley and obstinately against it. It the great majority of South Irishmen insist on ‘Self Government’ sooner or later they must have it.’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p13
Wylie privately recommended a change of policy similar to Dominion Status to Lloyd George. ‘Wylie told the Prime Minister that Sinn Fein would welcome such a settlement and Lloyd George replied ‘that he personally would agree but the Government was a coalition and I would have to convince Bonar Law.’ Bonar Law and Sir Edward Carson…were called in with the latter proving surprisingly sympathetic to Wylie’s views. Lloyd George concluded matters by saying ‘I will not break the Coalition for Ireland’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p64
Sir Hamar Greenwood denied in the House of Commons that press reports were true on the June 19th address by Divisional Commander Smyth to the Listowel RIC.
Fraternisation with ‘the English enemy became an offence and many local communities policed such problems by taking action themselves. A young woman had her hair shorn off in Newport, Co. Tipperary for ‘ keeping company with a policeman’ and two other women in Co. Longford received similar treatment for talking with British soldiers.
The London newspaper, Nation, reported on the work of the Republican Volunteers in Ireland: ‘They are carrying out these duties with strict impartiality for Catholic and Protestant, Unionist and Sinn Feiner, not even Dublin Castle attempts to deny. They are acting indeed not as guardians of security for a faction but an entire nation. In the last few days, they have been primarily responsible for restororing order in Derry, Bantry, Fermoy and half a dozen scenes of lesser trouble. Their prestige is going up as that of the RIC is going down, as an incident which happened in the Terenure suburb of Dublin a few days ago will illustrate. A member of this force having had a new lawn-mower stolen from his garden plot besought the British organisation for ‘law and order’ to get it back. The lawn mower remained on the list of missing and the constable finally appealed to his next door neighbour, a member of the volunteers. The matter was taken up by the local Sinn Fein Club and, in a few days, the implement was restored to it's owner. Not only that but the man who had purloined it was hailed by the Volunteers before the nearest Republican court and fined for his offence.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.6 August 7, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The London Daily Hearald printed this letter from W.F.P. Stockley, Woodside, Tivoli, Cork.
‘People in Cork are so disturbed by shootings at sight, according to official advice, that they hardly bother to note if a house is raided. Here is an example of what is so commonly done by your English Trade Union soldiers as to pass unheeded. At 3am last Sunday morning, soldiers break in my gate, rouse up the ladies alone in the house. The officer enters, revolver in hand, posts a sentry with a drawn bayonet in the hall, and with searchlight rummages in papers, and goes through the ladies’ bedrooms as well as other rooms, aplogizing on the way, of course, as if that made up for the abominable outrage of daily occurrence in Ireland. Could an Englishman accept a German raiding officer’s apology? What is the midlest thing he could say to the invaders? Go away, and the disturbance of which you are the cause, and which you cannot settle, will cease.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.8 August 21, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Disturbances in Belfast - The Irish Times 22 July 1920
"Our Belfast Correspondent, telegraphing last night, says: - Serious disturbances broke out in the Belfast shipyards this afternoon, as the result of which a number of men were injured. Ten of these were treated in hospital. Most of them are alleged to be Sinn Féiners. The origin of the disturbances is difficult to trace, but for some time there has been a considerable amount of ill-feeling developing in the shipyards amongst Unionist workers against Sinn Féiners being employed in the yards, on account of the atrocities that are being perpetrated in other parts of Ireland. This ill-feeling has on more than one occasion before the 12th of July holidays almost led to disturbances.
Unionist Workers' Resolution - During the shipyard dinner-hour today an informal meeting of Unionist workers in the yards of both Messrs Harland and Wolff, and Messr Workman, Clarke, and Co. was held, and was attended by over five thousand workers. Resolutions were adopted calling upon the workers to boycott all Sinn Féiners and refuse to work with them.
Later a large body of workers went to the new East Yard of Messrs Harland and Wolff, and advised a number of men there to leave at once. Instead of doing so, it is stated, these men became aggressive, and indulged in Sinn Féin cries. Blows were exchanged, and a number of men were injured. Seven or eight men ran away, and either jumped or were pushed into the Musgrave channel, and had to swim to the other side. Here they were met by a large crowd and compelled to turn back. They were badly mauled during the disturbance.
Subsequently the same crowd went to Messrs Harland and Wolff's joiners' shop, where a similar warning was given. One man produced a revolver and shouted: 'Up the rebels!' He was immediately knocked down and the weapon taken from him. He was beaten, and had to be taken to hospital. Other men also received minor injuries. Some of them were taken away in the ambulance, while others escaped on tramcars. During the afternoon, small parties of men searched the works endeavouring to find Sinn Féiners.
A number of the parties were headed by Union Jacks. The SS Cedric, which is lying at the Thompson Wharf, was also searched, and a number of men were advised to leave. Owing to the excitement prevailing, work ceased at both yards, but was subsequently resumed ...
Sinn Féin Provocation The principal trouble took place in the new East Yard of Messrs Harland and Wolff Ltd., where a number of men, stated to be Sinn Féiners, were engaged in navvying and general labouring work. Some of these men, it is alleged, have been displaying partisan feelings recently, and indulging in provocative talk in regard to events in other parts of Ireland. One worker stated that these men have been more than once advised about their conduct and the possible consequences, but, he added, they paid no attention. Before 5 o'clock this afternoon all was reported quiet in the East Yard, admission to which was strictly refused except to all on business, for which they could produce the recognised authority. A gate into a joiner's shop at the new extension was smashed with heavy sledge hammers ...
Military Fire Over Crowd Telegraphing at an early hour this morning, our Belfast Correspondent says: - The neighbourhood of the Falls Road was, at a late hour last night, the scene of very serious rioting. The trouble arose through an attempt by Sinn Féiners to attack a number of Unionist workers who were engaged late at a mill. Incensed by the attack on the Sinn Féiners at the shipyards, they repeatedly expressed their determination to 'get their own back,' and when the workers attempted to leave the mill they were beaten. Police were rushed to the place, and the crowd immediately turned their attention on them. The police were assaulted with stones, bolts, rivets, and other missiles. It became necessary to call on the military, and they arrived, fully armed and equipped with machine guns. Revolver shots were fired at them by the mob. So menacing did the crowd become that an order was given to the soldiers to fire over their heads. A volley was discharged. This and a baton charge by the police had the effect of compelling the crowds to withdraw.
Meanwhile, the people in the district leading from the Shankill to the Falls Road had attacked a number of spirit groceries supposed to be tenanted by Nationalists. The contents of the shops were looted, quantities of the drink being consumed. Everything that would burn was thrown into the street, where barrels, beds, shop fittings, and furniture were set on fire. The Fire Brigade were called on to quell several outbreaks of fire ...
Rioting continued in Belfast.
The magistrates of Cork city and county met, passed a resolution that ‘having regard to the unalterable opinion of the vast majority of our fellow-countrymen...that Ireland is entitled, like other oppressed nationalities, to that form of Government chosen by the people...we consider it our duty to surrender our commissions sanctioned by British law’ and resigned en-masse.
A second meeting of the British Cabinet with Irish Government officials and Ulster Unionists (represented by Craig) was described by H.A.L.Fisher as ‘the first wide ranging review of Irish policy since the war. Never were the policy options and divisions to be so clearly expressed’.
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p64
The Irish Situation Committee was informed by the Dublin Castle law advisor, W.E.Wylie, that ‘within two months the Irish police force as a police force would cease to exist’…and that in regard to the courts ‘the entire administration of the imperial Government had ceased.’ Local Government bodies were defying instructions from the Castle; and as for the campagn of violence sanctioned by Sinn Fein ‘things had become worse that they had ever been before…. After seeing the mavelous organisation which Sinn Fein had built up, he was of the opinion that the Irish were capable of governing themselves’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P204.
Wylie also advised that in his opinion, Sinn Fein would agree to a county option for Ulster and to the retention of British defence interests in Ireland.
Time had now become a factor. General Tudor offered a note of despair ‘ the Government was up against a well organised body, and to restore order would be a very lengthy business, which he ventured to think could not be done in the time at their disposal’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P197
Tudor continued by arguing for drastic metholds ‘to crush the present campaign of outrage’ recommending courts martial for all crimes, the use of I.D. cards, the insistence on passports to enter Ireland, widespread internment outside Ireland and the use of flogging for various offences. Tudor concluded ‘the whole country was intimidated and would thank God for strong measures’. To no one’s surprise, Long, Birkenhead and Balfour supported Tudor’s recommendations and Churchill went even further in advocating the use of a Northern Special Constabulary in the South. Curzon stated ‘the arming of Ulster was a most fatal suggestion’. Churchill stressed that he was not opposed to further amendment of the Government of Ireland Bill but was completely opposed to any surrender to violence.’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p64-65
Sturgis, Macready, Fisher and Anderson met. ‘They all seemed convinced that the Government must come out for Dominion Home Rule. No coercion can succeed alone and an offer of DHR might win to our side respectable elements of all parties. Macready’s soldiers are not enough in quantity or quality to impose successful martial law…to be any good at all it must be drastic – would nto be tolerated in England for a fortnight…I don’t believe that you can force a country to have what’s good for it if it is wrongheadley and obstinately against it. It the great majority of South Irishmen insist on ‘Self Government’ sooner or later they must have it.’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p13
Wylie privately recommended a change of policy similar to Dominion Status to Lloyd George. ‘Wylie told the Prime Minister that Sinn Fein would welcome such a settlement and Lloyd George replied ‘that he personally would agree but the Government was a coalition and I would have to convince Bonar Law.’ Bonar Law and Sir Edward Carson…were called in with the latter proving surprisingly sympathetic to Wylie’s views. Lloyd George concluded matters by saying ‘I will not break the Coalition for Ireland’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p64
Sir Hamar Greenwood denied in the House of Commons that press reports were true on the June 19th address by Divisional Commander Smyth to the Listowel RIC.
Fraternisation with ‘the English enemy became an offence and many local communities policed such problems by taking action themselves. A young woman had her hair shorn off in Newport, Co. Tipperary for ‘ keeping company with a policeman’ and two other women in Co. Longford received similar treatment for talking with British soldiers.
The London newspaper, Nation, reported on the work of the Republican Volunteers in Ireland: ‘They are carrying out these duties with strict impartiality for Catholic and Protestant, Unionist and Sinn Feiner, not even Dublin Castle attempts to deny. They are acting indeed not as guardians of security for a faction but an entire nation. In the last few days, they have been primarily responsible for restororing order in Derry, Bantry, Fermoy and half a dozen scenes of lesser trouble. Their prestige is going up as that of the RIC is going down, as an incident which happened in the Terenure suburb of Dublin a few days ago will illustrate. A member of this force having had a new lawn-mower stolen from his garden plot besought the British organisation for ‘law and order’ to get it back. The lawn mower remained on the list of missing and the constable finally appealed to his next door neighbour, a member of the volunteers. The matter was taken up by the local Sinn Fein Club and, in a few days, the implement was restored to it's owner. Not only that but the man who had purloined it was hailed by the Volunteers before the nearest Republican court and fined for his offence.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.6 August 7, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The London Daily Hearald printed this letter from W.F.P. Stockley, Woodside, Tivoli, Cork.
‘People in Cork are so disturbed by shootings at sight, according to official advice, that they hardly bother to note if a house is raided. Here is an example of what is so commonly done by your English Trade Union soldiers as to pass unheeded. At 3am last Sunday morning, soldiers break in my gate, rouse up the ladies alone in the house. The officer enters, revolver in hand, posts a sentry with a drawn bayonet in the hall, and with searchlight rummages in papers, and goes through the ladies’ bedrooms as well as other rooms, aplogizing on the way, of course, as if that made up for the abominable outrage of daily occurrence in Ireland. Could an Englishman accept a German raiding officer’s apology? What is the midlest thing he could say to the invaders? Go away, and the disturbance of which you are the cause, and which you cannot settle, will cease.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.8 August 21, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Disturbances in Belfast - The Irish Times 22 July 1920
"Our Belfast Correspondent, telegraphing last night, says: - Serious disturbances broke out in the Belfast shipyards this afternoon, as the result of which a number of men were injured. Ten of these were treated in hospital. Most of them are alleged to be Sinn Féiners. The origin of the disturbances is difficult to trace, but for some time there has been a considerable amount of ill-feeling developing in the shipyards amongst Unionist workers against Sinn Féiners being employed in the yards, on account of the atrocities that are being perpetrated in other parts of Ireland. This ill-feeling has on more than one occasion before the 12th of July holidays almost led to disturbances.
Unionist Workers' Resolution - During the shipyard dinner-hour today an informal meeting of Unionist workers in the yards of both Messrs Harland and Wolff, and Messr Workman, Clarke, and Co. was held, and was attended by over five thousand workers. Resolutions were adopted calling upon the workers to boycott all Sinn Féiners and refuse to work with them.
Later a large body of workers went to the new East Yard of Messrs Harland and Wolff, and advised a number of men there to leave at once. Instead of doing so, it is stated, these men became aggressive, and indulged in Sinn Féin cries. Blows were exchanged, and a number of men were injured. Seven or eight men ran away, and either jumped or were pushed into the Musgrave channel, and had to swim to the other side. Here they were met by a large crowd and compelled to turn back. They were badly mauled during the disturbance.
Subsequently the same crowd went to Messrs Harland and Wolff's joiners' shop, where a similar warning was given. One man produced a revolver and shouted: 'Up the rebels!' He was immediately knocked down and the weapon taken from him. He was beaten, and had to be taken to hospital. Other men also received minor injuries. Some of them were taken away in the ambulance, while others escaped on tramcars. During the afternoon, small parties of men searched the works endeavouring to find Sinn Féiners.
A number of the parties were headed by Union Jacks. The SS Cedric, which is lying at the Thompson Wharf, was also searched, and a number of men were advised to leave. Owing to the excitement prevailing, work ceased at both yards, but was subsequently resumed ...
Sinn Féin Provocation The principal trouble took place in the new East Yard of Messrs Harland and Wolff Ltd., where a number of men, stated to be Sinn Féiners, were engaged in navvying and general labouring work. Some of these men, it is alleged, have been displaying partisan feelings recently, and indulging in provocative talk in regard to events in other parts of Ireland. One worker stated that these men have been more than once advised about their conduct and the possible consequences, but, he added, they paid no attention. Before 5 o'clock this afternoon all was reported quiet in the East Yard, admission to which was strictly refused except to all on business, for which they could produce the recognised authority. A gate into a joiner's shop at the new extension was smashed with heavy sledge hammers ...
Military Fire Over Crowd Telegraphing at an early hour this morning, our Belfast Correspondent says: - The neighbourhood of the Falls Road was, at a late hour last night, the scene of very serious rioting. The trouble arose through an attempt by Sinn Féiners to attack a number of Unionist workers who were engaged late at a mill. Incensed by the attack on the Sinn Féiners at the shipyards, they repeatedly expressed their determination to 'get their own back,' and when the workers attempted to leave the mill they were beaten. Police were rushed to the place, and the crowd immediately turned their attention on them. The police were assaulted with stones, bolts, rivets, and other missiles. It became necessary to call on the military, and they arrived, fully armed and equipped with machine guns. Revolver shots were fired at them by the mob. So menacing did the crowd become that an order was given to the soldiers to fire over their heads. A volley was discharged. This and a baton charge by the police had the effect of compelling the crowds to withdraw.
Meanwhile, the people in the district leading from the Shankill to the Falls Road had attacked a number of spirit groceries supposed to be tenanted by Nationalists. The contents of the shops were looted, quantities of the drink being consumed. Everything that would burn was thrown into the street, where barrels, beds, shop fittings, and furniture were set on fire. The Fire Brigade were called on to quell several outbreaks of fire ...
23
RIC Inspector General, T.J.Smith announced that ‘the Government has directed ’that no prisoners were to be released until they had served their sentences.'
Meanwhile the Republican courts continued to meet. In Co. Kilkenny, a man arrested by republican police on charges of desecrating a Protestant church, confessed in court and was ordered to pay reparations. ‘The Republican Judge sitting at the trial told the Protestants of his district who appeared as complainants ‘The British Government is powerless to protect your civil and religious liberties, but they are safe under the regime of the Irish Republic’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.5 July 31, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The first Arbitration Court was set up by the Sinn Fein Minister of State for Labour. It’s first case was the settlement of the carters’ strike threatened in Cork and a general town strike in Kinsale and Charleville.
The Irish Times, long considered as a ‘representative of the Northcliffe press in Dublin’ and certainly ‘the last newspaper to be suspected of sympathy with the Republic’ printed an editorial under the heading ‘Drift and Disaster’ on the collapse of British rule within the country: ‘During the great Lord Chesterfield’s latter years, somebody made a polite enquiry about his health. He replied ‘Between ourselves, I have been dead for some time, but nobody has noticed it yet.’ A contrast to this story is furnished in the present case of British authority in Ireland. It has been dead for some time. But while the fact is patent to all Irishmen, the British Government remains ignorant of it.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.6 August 7, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The Manchester Guardian in an editorial reminded it’s readers that what the British Empire had sown, so she was about to reap: ‘The natural history of Irish discontent is all perfectly obvious. We sowed it, watered it, cultivated it by every imaginable act of greed and folly, from the destruction of Ireland’s old industries in the 18th century and earlier centuries to the War Office’s virtual refusal of Ireland’s offer of help in the war of 1914. Now we have got the ripe fruit. We have got to deal, solely by our fairness, courage and good sense, with a mess of our own making, and deal with it at once, and it is no good sitting down and wailing that a wicked world has come up against us.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.6 August 7, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
General Jeudwine, Commander of the Fifth Division in Ireland reported to General Macready that: ‘the enemy is making war on us while we are not making war on him but vegetating in passive defence, maintained with difficulty…there must be either war or peace. The present policy viewed from a military standpoint can only end in disaster. If the Government elects for war it must be waged with allt he resources of war, unsparingly used, and it must begin at once and fought to the finish. The more drastic, complete and immediate the measures taken the less will be the cost, and the quicker the end will be reached. If the Government elects for peace, it must pursue peace openly at once, and make an offer of terms.’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p53-4
Winston Churchill in a Cabinet meeting asked ‘…what would happen if the Protestants in the six counties were given weapons and…charged with maintaining law and order and policing the country?’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p158
Lloyd George’s private secretary Thomas Jones wrote a memorandum setting out policy alternatives on Ireland. ‘Either they must have the rigorous application of force by means of courts martial, the suspension of civil Government, the stoppage of trains and motors, the witholding of pensions and generally the infliction of a rapidly increasing paralysis upon the country or an immediate attempt to conclude a pact with the leaders of Sinn Fein and the revoloutionists. Jones urged the Prime Minister to make a speech on the subject ‘very soon’.
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p65
The Prime Minister decided not to accept the suggestions made by his representatives in Dublin and instead followed an erratic coercion policy.
Lord Curzon asserted in the Cabinet meeting that he ‘was in favour of getting into touch with the responsible leaders of Sinn Fein’ with a view to ‘remodleling the Government of Ireland Bill’.
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p179
As Vice President of the Dail, Arthur Griffith wrote to Cohalan and Devoy:
"President de Valera is in the United States vested with the full confidence of the Cabinet and Congress of Ireland to secure explicit recognition by the Government of the United States for the Irish Republic. I such circumstances any word or action which might tend to discredit his office or mission constitutes an affront and an injury to the Irish Republic"
Eileen McGough.'Diarmuid Lynch: A Forgotten Irish Patriot'. Mercier Press 2013. p130
RIC Inspector General, T.J.Smith announced that ‘the Government has directed ’that no prisoners were to be released until they had served their sentences.'
Meanwhile the Republican courts continued to meet. In Co. Kilkenny, a man arrested by republican police on charges of desecrating a Protestant church, confessed in court and was ordered to pay reparations. ‘The Republican Judge sitting at the trial told the Protestants of his district who appeared as complainants ‘The British Government is powerless to protect your civil and religious liberties, but they are safe under the regime of the Irish Republic’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.5 July 31, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The first Arbitration Court was set up by the Sinn Fein Minister of State for Labour. It’s first case was the settlement of the carters’ strike threatened in Cork and a general town strike in Kinsale and Charleville.
The Irish Times, long considered as a ‘representative of the Northcliffe press in Dublin’ and certainly ‘the last newspaper to be suspected of sympathy with the Republic’ printed an editorial under the heading ‘Drift and Disaster’ on the collapse of British rule within the country: ‘During the great Lord Chesterfield’s latter years, somebody made a polite enquiry about his health. He replied ‘Between ourselves, I have been dead for some time, but nobody has noticed it yet.’ A contrast to this story is furnished in the present case of British authority in Ireland. It has been dead for some time. But while the fact is patent to all Irishmen, the British Government remains ignorant of it.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.6 August 7, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The Manchester Guardian in an editorial reminded it’s readers that what the British Empire had sown, so she was about to reap: ‘The natural history of Irish discontent is all perfectly obvious. We sowed it, watered it, cultivated it by every imaginable act of greed and folly, from the destruction of Ireland’s old industries in the 18th century and earlier centuries to the War Office’s virtual refusal of Ireland’s offer of help in the war of 1914. Now we have got the ripe fruit. We have got to deal, solely by our fairness, courage and good sense, with a mess of our own making, and deal with it at once, and it is no good sitting down and wailing that a wicked world has come up against us.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.6 August 7, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
General Jeudwine, Commander of the Fifth Division in Ireland reported to General Macready that: ‘the enemy is making war on us while we are not making war on him but vegetating in passive defence, maintained with difficulty…there must be either war or peace. The present policy viewed from a military standpoint can only end in disaster. If the Government elects for war it must be waged with allt he resources of war, unsparingly used, and it must begin at once and fought to the finish. The more drastic, complete and immediate the measures taken the less will be the cost, and the quicker the end will be reached. If the Government elects for peace, it must pursue peace openly at once, and make an offer of terms.’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p53-4
Winston Churchill in a Cabinet meeting asked ‘…what would happen if the Protestants in the six counties were given weapons and…charged with maintaining law and order and policing the country?’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p158
Lloyd George’s private secretary Thomas Jones wrote a memorandum setting out policy alternatives on Ireland. ‘Either they must have the rigorous application of force by means of courts martial, the suspension of civil Government, the stoppage of trains and motors, the witholding of pensions and generally the infliction of a rapidly increasing paralysis upon the country or an immediate attempt to conclude a pact with the leaders of Sinn Fein and the revoloutionists. Jones urged the Prime Minister to make a speech on the subject ‘very soon’.
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p65
The Prime Minister decided not to accept the suggestions made by his representatives in Dublin and instead followed an erratic coercion policy.
Lord Curzon asserted in the Cabinet meeting that he ‘was in favour of getting into touch with the responsible leaders of Sinn Fein’ with a view to ‘remodleling the Government of Ireland Bill’.
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p179
As Vice President of the Dail, Arthur Griffith wrote to Cohalan and Devoy:
"President de Valera is in the United States vested with the full confidence of the Cabinet and Congress of Ireland to secure explicit recognition by the Government of the United States for the Irish Republic. I such circumstances any word or action which might tend to discredit his office or mission constitutes an affront and an injury to the Irish Republic"
Eileen McGough.'Diarmuid Lynch: A Forgotten Irish Patriot'. Mercier Press 2013. p130
24
British and Irish newspapers reported that 2,000 Irish railway workers had been sacked from their employment for refusal to assist in the transportation of troops and munitions.
A cyclist in Dublin was knocked down and killed by a car owned by Macready, GOC British Forces in Ireland.
Constable Walter Oakley (20) was killed in Newenham Street, Limerick as he and two other English recruits walked along the street. The weapon was dropped in a postbox and collected the following day when another IRA man confronted the post-man.
Two suspected IRA members were later arrested for the killing, Patrick Blake and James O’Neill of Rossbrien, Co Limerick and tried on November 20th.
The Gaelic American responded in it’s weekly report on the front page of the July 24th edition:
ENGLISH SEIZE LETTERS OF DE-VALERA’S AIDES
Sean Nunan and James O’Mara write distorted and biased accounts of events in Chicago during Republican National Convention and make wholly unfounded accusations against certain Irishmen in America - Deceiving the leaders in Ireland by misinformation - No occurrence in America is described correctly, but the admission is made that the exhibition of dissension and cross purposes prevented the Convention from taking any action - bitter attack on Diarmuid Lynch because he refuses to yield his better informed judgement to men who are grossly ignorant of American affairs, but who insist on directing and controlling the actions of Irish Americans - Ask that his membership of the Dail Eireann be cancelled - Apparently De Valera assistants believe the Dail is subordinate to the President and that it's members should obey his orders, instead of exercising their own judgement - A rather fantastic theory of Democracy - A most useful batch of documents for the British Government - De Valera hints the letters were unauthorised.
The letters captured by the British Government and published in the Philadelphia Ledger (reprinted in the Gaelic American ) make painful reading. Written on behalf of President De Valera for the purpose of making Arthur Griffith and his colleagues in the Dail Eireann understand events in Chicago during the Republican convention and the situation resulting from it, the letters of Sean Nunan and James O’Mara can only mislead their colleagues in Ireland and make the trouble worse.
Unlike the statements made by Dr. McCartan in the World, the Call and the Irish Press, they are not intentionally untruthful and do not wilfully misrepresent occurrences in America. On the contrary, their statements of fact are as correct as biased and prejudiced men can make them...the writers see a bad motive in everything with which they disagree...one sees more between the lines than is actually expressed... Irish leaders in America are to be made responsible, not to the men or women who elect the man who make the platforms on which they stand, but to the men in Ireland who don’t understand America, or to the Envoy’s and Agent’s sent here to seek our help, but who think we ought to obey their orders and accept their judgement on matters on which they are either badly informed or wilfully misinformed.
The references to Diarmuid Lynch are a case in point. Here is a man who has proved his devotion to the Irish Republic as clearly as Eamon De Valera or Sean Nunan. He fought bravely on Easter Week, was sentenced to be shot, spent as long a time in prison as De Valera, was later deported to America and was elected a member of the Dail Eireann while here. He was elected Secretary of the Friends of Irish Freedom at the Second Race Convention in New York in 1918, was re-elected at the Third one in Philadelphia in 1919 and is responsible to that organisation for his actions. Unlike his colleagues in the Dail Eireann, he thoroughly understands America because he is a citizen of the United States and lived her for many years before returning to Ireland. He has studiously avoided participation in controversies, has never said an unkind or disrespectful word of any of his old colleagues, but because he refuses to join in an insane vendetta against the Irish leaders in America, whom he knows and trusts, and to do things which his judgement and knowledge of America tell him would injure the Irish Cause, he is to be punished and ostracised.
Aside from his being National Secretary of the American organisation, his membership of the Dail Eireann presupposes his right to exercise freedom of judgement, but Mr. Nunan would place him under President De Valera orders. Are all members of the Dail Eireann in the same position? It would be ridiculous to assume that they are, yet that is the plain inference to be deduced from Mr. Nunan’s letter. Mr Nunan is in ordinary matters a very clear headed man, but the theory of a member of the Irish Congress implied in his references to Lynch is most undemocratic and wholly untenable.
The man who informed Mr. Nunan of the proceedings at the Clan na Gael reunion in New York deceived him very grossly and maliciously. Mr Lynch did not sit on the platform while Dail Eireann was being attacked, for nobody attacked him. Every expression of difference of opinion with De Valera is described as an ‘attack’ when it is only fair and legitimate discussion of matters on which full and free discussion is absolutely necessary.. Judge Cohalan did not attack President De Valera at that reunion, but he very effectively refuted the falsehood that the Friends of Irish Freedom Committee opposed the Irish Republic plank in Chicago and the ridiculous statement that the plank he himself submitted after the other one had been defeated by a vote of 12 to 1, expressed only ‘sympathy’ with Ireland. Instead of sympathy, it affirmed Ireland’s right to full National Sovereignty. He questioned De Valera judgement in rejecting that plank - and that is what is called an attack.
John Devoy did not attack De Valera but, on the contrary praised his splendid fighting in Easter Week and his fine leadership in the fight in the English prisons which compelled the British Government to release the prisoners. He said further that he did not want to have any fight with De Valera and hoped the trouble would be settled without a fight. And the fellow who deceived Mr. Nunan about the reunion lied most assuredly about the reception given to Cohalan and Devoy. The applause that greeted them was as strong and enthusiastic they have got during the past two years, and the fellows estimate that a third of those present were ready for revolt is founded only on his wishes. This is the kind of mis-information that is behind all the trouble. De Valera and his staff believe every story carried to them by mischief makers and fellows with axes to grind or old grudges to satisfy.
...The description of what took place in Chicago is all biased and therefore unconsciously misleading. But the admission that two committees was largely responsible for the failure to get anything, although the responsibility is put on the wrong shoulders, conveys a lesson that ought to be remembered.
Although Arthur Griffith did not get the letters and could only read them last week in the reports on the trial of the man on whom they were seized, the same misinformation was conveyed by others and official approval of the warfare on the Irish leaders here was obtained by misrepresentation. Reading through the letters, the determination to wage that warfare to the end is made very clear, as is also the bitter personal hostility to individual men which is responsible for it all. That warfare has been going on for a full year and originated, not in failure to support De Valera, but in the determination to drive out certain leaders and supplant existing organisations”
Diarmuid Lynch Papers. The Gaelic American. 24 July 1920. National Library of Ireland MS 31-408.
Rumours abounded amongst Irish-America including one story that Liam Mellows, when he first arrived in New York had suffered a great deal of neglect and was virtually destitute and starving. Devoy, never one to shy from an untruth, quickly challenged this tale through the pages of the Gaelic American:
‘The falsehood that Liam Mellows was badly treated has been going the rounds for a long time and it is not creditable to Liam Mellows that he has never uttered a word in refutation of it, but has allowed it to go on to the detriment of the National Movement and to the discrediting of a man for whom he once expressed a high regard [ John Devoy ].The lie - an infamous and wholly unfounded lie - has not alone been circulated extensively in the United States, but it has gone to Ireland and is spread there for the same purpose - to injure the character of John Devoy. We now challenge Liam Mellows to say specifically over his name what injury was inflicted on him since he came to America.’
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.386
Liam Mellows was employed by Devoy after his arrival in the United States after the Easter Rising. He was paid a salary equal to his own and had sponsored him for the position of national organiser for the Friends of Irish Freedom.
During this time, in the words of Florence O'Donoghue, Diarmuid Lynch ‘set a standard of integrity and forbearance which merited admiration’
The Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information Newsletter led it’s July 24th edition with ‘The American’s Creed’ reinforcing amongst Irish-Americans and also others that the Irish-Americans ‘have always cherished American traditions’ citeing the ‘American’s Creed’ as a guide for ‘American’s who are assisting Ireland to obtain recognition of her indpendence and freedom’. This tied in neatly with the Newsletter’s second item, calling on Irish-Americans who were ‘encouraging and voicing attacks on Justice Daniel F Cohalan and John Devoy, editor of the Gaelic American, must awaken immediately to the urgency of ceasing such attacks. Continuance means great injury to the cause of Ireland.’. The article went on to remind ‘Americans of Irish bloof should remember that they must concern themselves in convincing the Government authorities of the United States that Ireland’s indpendence should be recognised and not engage in abuse of two men who…have done so much – perhaps more than any other two living Americans or citizens of Ireland – to advance Ireland to the place which she today occupies. Those who seek in editiorials, writings, resoloutions and heated oral remarks, before organised bodies, to make it appear that these two great friends of Ireland are deserving of one-hundreth part of some of the mean statements and innuendoes which have found publication in some quarters, where personal feelings actuate the attacks, do Ireland greater injury than is done to the individual attacked.’ In any event, this was the opportunity to re-state events ‘ Justice Cohalan and Editor Devoy have siad American activities on behalf of Ireland must be directed by American citizens.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 4 July 24, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Cable dispatches from Dublin to the US announced that the RIC desertions and resignations had now reached epidemic proportions, sufficient for Republican forces to instigate policing of the city in the absence of any effective police force.
Thomas Jones, in a memorandum to Lloyd George, sumarised the Government’s options in Ireland, either ‘the rigorous application of force by means of courts martial, the suspension of civil Government, the stoppage of trains and motors, the witholding of pensions and generally the infliction of a rapidly increasing paralysis upon the country or an immediate attempt to conclude a pact with the leaders of Sinn Fein, the Hierachy and the Southern Unionists’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 7
The FOIF Newsletter commented on how British military forces were preventing Irish trade fairs and commercial exhibitions:
"Commercial fairs and exhibitions are under the explicit ban of the English military government in Ireland, and any such attempt on the part of the Irish people would meet with the fate of the Christmas Industrial Fair in Dublin last December, when forces of the British Army of Occupation, in full war accoutrement and accompanied by armored tanks, suppressed the enterprise after prospective exhibitors had already brought their merchandise to the city and were engaged in setting up stalls and stands in display. It is to be hoped, however, that the European fairs—many of which are held on the Continent in the late summer and autumn—will hold representative displays of Irish products. Irish goods should be welcome in France and Spain and should be well represented at the approaching fairs at Lyons and Madrid.
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.4 July 24, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
"In his recent statement that he had “no sympathy” with “language coercion” in Ireland, Lloyd George is no more truthful than has been his wont. The Gaelic League is still under the official ban of the British Army of Occupation, and the British military continue to use every method of terrorization at their command to discourage interest in the native language of Ireland. It is doubtful if the history of any other oppressed nation can show a record which equals that of the past nine months in Ireland. During that time British agents have arrested eleven prominent Gaelic language revivalists, seventeen teachers of Gaelic and school organizers, and have dispersed by armed force at least thirty-eight classes and language festivals conducted by the Gaelic League."
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.4 July 24, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
British and Irish newspapers reported that 2,000 Irish railway workers had been sacked from their employment for refusal to assist in the transportation of troops and munitions.
A cyclist in Dublin was knocked down and killed by a car owned by Macready, GOC British Forces in Ireland.
Constable Walter Oakley (20) was killed in Newenham Street, Limerick as he and two other English recruits walked along the street. The weapon was dropped in a postbox and collected the following day when another IRA man confronted the post-man.
Two suspected IRA members were later arrested for the killing, Patrick Blake and James O’Neill of Rossbrien, Co Limerick and tried on November 20th.
The Gaelic American responded in it’s weekly report on the front page of the July 24th edition:
ENGLISH SEIZE LETTERS OF DE-VALERA’S AIDES
Sean Nunan and James O’Mara write distorted and biased accounts of events in Chicago during Republican National Convention and make wholly unfounded accusations against certain Irishmen in America - Deceiving the leaders in Ireland by misinformation - No occurrence in America is described correctly, but the admission is made that the exhibition of dissension and cross purposes prevented the Convention from taking any action - bitter attack on Diarmuid Lynch because he refuses to yield his better informed judgement to men who are grossly ignorant of American affairs, but who insist on directing and controlling the actions of Irish Americans - Ask that his membership of the Dail Eireann be cancelled - Apparently De Valera assistants believe the Dail is subordinate to the President and that it's members should obey his orders, instead of exercising their own judgement - A rather fantastic theory of Democracy - A most useful batch of documents for the British Government - De Valera hints the letters were unauthorised.
The letters captured by the British Government and published in the Philadelphia Ledger (reprinted in the Gaelic American ) make painful reading. Written on behalf of President De Valera for the purpose of making Arthur Griffith and his colleagues in the Dail Eireann understand events in Chicago during the Republican convention and the situation resulting from it, the letters of Sean Nunan and James O’Mara can only mislead their colleagues in Ireland and make the trouble worse.
Unlike the statements made by Dr. McCartan in the World, the Call and the Irish Press, they are not intentionally untruthful and do not wilfully misrepresent occurrences in America. On the contrary, their statements of fact are as correct as biased and prejudiced men can make them...the writers see a bad motive in everything with which they disagree...one sees more between the lines than is actually expressed... Irish leaders in America are to be made responsible, not to the men or women who elect the man who make the platforms on which they stand, but to the men in Ireland who don’t understand America, or to the Envoy’s and Agent’s sent here to seek our help, but who think we ought to obey their orders and accept their judgement on matters on which they are either badly informed or wilfully misinformed.
The references to Diarmuid Lynch are a case in point. Here is a man who has proved his devotion to the Irish Republic as clearly as Eamon De Valera or Sean Nunan. He fought bravely on Easter Week, was sentenced to be shot, spent as long a time in prison as De Valera, was later deported to America and was elected a member of the Dail Eireann while here. He was elected Secretary of the Friends of Irish Freedom at the Second Race Convention in New York in 1918, was re-elected at the Third one in Philadelphia in 1919 and is responsible to that organisation for his actions. Unlike his colleagues in the Dail Eireann, he thoroughly understands America because he is a citizen of the United States and lived her for many years before returning to Ireland. He has studiously avoided participation in controversies, has never said an unkind or disrespectful word of any of his old colleagues, but because he refuses to join in an insane vendetta against the Irish leaders in America, whom he knows and trusts, and to do things which his judgement and knowledge of America tell him would injure the Irish Cause, he is to be punished and ostracised.
Aside from his being National Secretary of the American organisation, his membership of the Dail Eireann presupposes his right to exercise freedom of judgement, but Mr. Nunan would place him under President De Valera orders. Are all members of the Dail Eireann in the same position? It would be ridiculous to assume that they are, yet that is the plain inference to be deduced from Mr. Nunan’s letter. Mr Nunan is in ordinary matters a very clear headed man, but the theory of a member of the Irish Congress implied in his references to Lynch is most undemocratic and wholly untenable.
The man who informed Mr. Nunan of the proceedings at the Clan na Gael reunion in New York deceived him very grossly and maliciously. Mr Lynch did not sit on the platform while Dail Eireann was being attacked, for nobody attacked him. Every expression of difference of opinion with De Valera is described as an ‘attack’ when it is only fair and legitimate discussion of matters on which full and free discussion is absolutely necessary.. Judge Cohalan did not attack President De Valera at that reunion, but he very effectively refuted the falsehood that the Friends of Irish Freedom Committee opposed the Irish Republic plank in Chicago and the ridiculous statement that the plank he himself submitted after the other one had been defeated by a vote of 12 to 1, expressed only ‘sympathy’ with Ireland. Instead of sympathy, it affirmed Ireland’s right to full National Sovereignty. He questioned De Valera judgement in rejecting that plank - and that is what is called an attack.
John Devoy did not attack De Valera but, on the contrary praised his splendid fighting in Easter Week and his fine leadership in the fight in the English prisons which compelled the British Government to release the prisoners. He said further that he did not want to have any fight with De Valera and hoped the trouble would be settled without a fight. And the fellow who deceived Mr. Nunan about the reunion lied most assuredly about the reception given to Cohalan and Devoy. The applause that greeted them was as strong and enthusiastic they have got during the past two years, and the fellows estimate that a third of those present were ready for revolt is founded only on his wishes. This is the kind of mis-information that is behind all the trouble. De Valera and his staff believe every story carried to them by mischief makers and fellows with axes to grind or old grudges to satisfy.
...The description of what took place in Chicago is all biased and therefore unconsciously misleading. But the admission that two committees was largely responsible for the failure to get anything, although the responsibility is put on the wrong shoulders, conveys a lesson that ought to be remembered.
Although Arthur Griffith did not get the letters and could only read them last week in the reports on the trial of the man on whom they were seized, the same misinformation was conveyed by others and official approval of the warfare on the Irish leaders here was obtained by misrepresentation. Reading through the letters, the determination to wage that warfare to the end is made very clear, as is also the bitter personal hostility to individual men which is responsible for it all. That warfare has been going on for a full year and originated, not in failure to support De Valera, but in the determination to drive out certain leaders and supplant existing organisations”
Diarmuid Lynch Papers. The Gaelic American. 24 July 1920. National Library of Ireland MS 31-408.
Rumours abounded amongst Irish-America including one story that Liam Mellows, when he first arrived in New York had suffered a great deal of neglect and was virtually destitute and starving. Devoy, never one to shy from an untruth, quickly challenged this tale through the pages of the Gaelic American:
‘The falsehood that Liam Mellows was badly treated has been going the rounds for a long time and it is not creditable to Liam Mellows that he has never uttered a word in refutation of it, but has allowed it to go on to the detriment of the National Movement and to the discrediting of a man for whom he once expressed a high regard [ John Devoy ].The lie - an infamous and wholly unfounded lie - has not alone been circulated extensively in the United States, but it has gone to Ireland and is spread there for the same purpose - to injure the character of John Devoy. We now challenge Liam Mellows to say specifically over his name what injury was inflicted on him since he came to America.’
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.386
Liam Mellows was employed by Devoy after his arrival in the United States after the Easter Rising. He was paid a salary equal to his own and had sponsored him for the position of national organiser for the Friends of Irish Freedom.
During this time, in the words of Florence O'Donoghue, Diarmuid Lynch ‘set a standard of integrity and forbearance which merited admiration’
The Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information Newsletter led it’s July 24th edition with ‘The American’s Creed’ reinforcing amongst Irish-Americans and also others that the Irish-Americans ‘have always cherished American traditions’ citeing the ‘American’s Creed’ as a guide for ‘American’s who are assisting Ireland to obtain recognition of her indpendence and freedom’. This tied in neatly with the Newsletter’s second item, calling on Irish-Americans who were ‘encouraging and voicing attacks on Justice Daniel F Cohalan and John Devoy, editor of the Gaelic American, must awaken immediately to the urgency of ceasing such attacks. Continuance means great injury to the cause of Ireland.’. The article went on to remind ‘Americans of Irish bloof should remember that they must concern themselves in convincing the Government authorities of the United States that Ireland’s indpendence should be recognised and not engage in abuse of two men who…have done so much – perhaps more than any other two living Americans or citizens of Ireland – to advance Ireland to the place which she today occupies. Those who seek in editiorials, writings, resoloutions and heated oral remarks, before organised bodies, to make it appear that these two great friends of Ireland are deserving of one-hundreth part of some of the mean statements and innuendoes which have found publication in some quarters, where personal feelings actuate the attacks, do Ireland greater injury than is done to the individual attacked.’ In any event, this was the opportunity to re-state events ‘ Justice Cohalan and Editor Devoy have siad American activities on behalf of Ireland must be directed by American citizens.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 4 July 24, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Cable dispatches from Dublin to the US announced that the RIC desertions and resignations had now reached epidemic proportions, sufficient for Republican forces to instigate policing of the city in the absence of any effective police force.
Thomas Jones, in a memorandum to Lloyd George, sumarised the Government’s options in Ireland, either ‘the rigorous application of force by means of courts martial, the suspension of civil Government, the stoppage of trains and motors, the witholding of pensions and generally the infliction of a rapidly increasing paralysis upon the country or an immediate attempt to conclude a pact with the leaders of Sinn Fein, the Hierachy and the Southern Unionists’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 7
The FOIF Newsletter commented on how British military forces were preventing Irish trade fairs and commercial exhibitions:
"Commercial fairs and exhibitions are under the explicit ban of the English military government in Ireland, and any such attempt on the part of the Irish people would meet with the fate of the Christmas Industrial Fair in Dublin last December, when forces of the British Army of Occupation, in full war accoutrement and accompanied by armored tanks, suppressed the enterprise after prospective exhibitors had already brought their merchandise to the city and were engaged in setting up stalls and stands in display. It is to be hoped, however, that the European fairs—many of which are held on the Continent in the late summer and autumn—will hold representative displays of Irish products. Irish goods should be welcome in France and Spain and should be well represented at the approaching fairs at Lyons and Madrid.
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.4 July 24, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
"In his recent statement that he had “no sympathy” with “language coercion” in Ireland, Lloyd George is no more truthful than has been his wont. The Gaelic League is still under the official ban of the British Army of Occupation, and the British military continue to use every method of terrorization at their command to discourage interest in the native language of Ireland. It is doubtful if the history of any other oppressed nation can show a record which equals that of the past nine months in Ireland. During that time British agents have arrested eleven prominent Gaelic language revivalists, seventeen teachers of Gaelic and school organizers, and have dispersed by armed force at least thirty-eight classes and language festivals conducted by the Gaelic League."
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.4 July 24, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
25
Sir John Anderson, Chief of the Irish Civil Service commenting on the lack of British success in ‘controlling’ the Dail courts ‘The machinery of the Courts has been brought virtually to a standstill and rival courts are functioning openly, and where forcibly supressed, will continue to function in secret’.
Arthur Mitchell. “Revolutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-1922.” Gill & Mcmillan 1995. P207
In addition Sir John Anderson commenting to the British cabinet said :’The brute fact, which cannot be ignored, is that, broadly speaking, the entire population in the South and est, so far as it is not actually hostile, is out of sympathy with the Government and canot be relied upon to co-operate in the carrying out of even the most reasonable and moderate measures.’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 3 and Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p61
This period represented the complete alienation of Catholic Ireland from British rule.
Sergeant William Mulherin (39) of Bandon RIC was targeted for assassination by the IRA. Aware he was a marked man, he confined himself mostly to barracks with the exception of attending mass at the local church, some 100 meters from the barracks. Each Sunday, he had an escort of Black and Tans from the barracks to the church gates. This Sunday was no different, his escort returning to barracks as he walked through the church grounds to mass. Two parishioners walked in behind him, pulling revolvers and shooting him dead in the church door.
Lord French’s recent comments when he said ‘Why don’t these Sinn Feiners say what thet want? We don’t know what they want’ was commented on by the pro-Tory, London Morning Post: ‘In fairness to the Sinn Feiners, we must protest that at least that reproach against them is undeserved. What they want they have made clear ‘beyond a perasdventure’ as President Wilson would say. The one thing is doubt is not what they want but what the present Government dare refuse.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.5 July 31, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Archbishop Mannix was welcomed to Washington DC with a public reception, where De Valera spoke : ‘The Irish people, time after time, as a matter of fact, shown themselves ready to let ‘bygones be bygones’. We have been ready always and are ready now to sign a permanent peace between the two nations. Let Lloyd George appoint his plenipotentiaries, the Government of the Republic of Ireland is ready to appoint it’s representatives. I have already indicated my belief that the Irish people would be willing to relieve British anxiety about the future in so far as that anxiety is legitimate or genuine by agreeing to a stipulation such as that of the first article of the Platt Amendment*. I would have no hesitation myself in recomending such a course to the Irish people, and if peace were signed on such terms, I would gladly devote myself to the fostering of the same good relationship between Irish and Britain as exist between Ireland and the rest of the world.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.5 July 31, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
* The Platt Amendment’s first article read ‘ That the Government of Cuba shall never enter into any treaty or other compact with any foreign power which will 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, for military or naval purposes or otherwise, lodgement in or control over any portion of said island.’
Branch after branch of the Friends of Irish Freedom were now publically questioning the leadership of the organisation, but other groups were also were also beginning to do so. '..the Ancient Order of Hibernians 'repudiated the attempts to discredit de Valera'
Eileen McGough.'Diarmuid Lynch: A Forgotten Irish Patriot'. Mercier Press 2013. p139
Sir John Anderson, Chief of the Irish Civil Service commenting on the lack of British success in ‘controlling’ the Dail courts ‘The machinery of the Courts has been brought virtually to a standstill and rival courts are functioning openly, and where forcibly supressed, will continue to function in secret’.
Arthur Mitchell. “Revolutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-1922.” Gill & Mcmillan 1995. P207
In addition Sir John Anderson commenting to the British cabinet said :’The brute fact, which cannot be ignored, is that, broadly speaking, the entire population in the South and est, so far as it is not actually hostile, is out of sympathy with the Government and canot be relied upon to co-operate in the carrying out of even the most reasonable and moderate measures.’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p 3 and Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p61
This period represented the complete alienation of Catholic Ireland from British rule.
Sergeant William Mulherin (39) of Bandon RIC was targeted for assassination by the IRA. Aware he was a marked man, he confined himself mostly to barracks with the exception of attending mass at the local church, some 100 meters from the barracks. Each Sunday, he had an escort of Black and Tans from the barracks to the church gates. This Sunday was no different, his escort returning to barracks as he walked through the church grounds to mass. Two parishioners walked in behind him, pulling revolvers and shooting him dead in the church door.
Lord French’s recent comments when he said ‘Why don’t these Sinn Feiners say what thet want? We don’t know what they want’ was commented on by the pro-Tory, London Morning Post: ‘In fairness to the Sinn Feiners, we must protest that at least that reproach against them is undeserved. What they want they have made clear ‘beyond a perasdventure’ as President Wilson would say. The one thing is doubt is not what they want but what the present Government dare refuse.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.5 July 31, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Archbishop Mannix was welcomed to Washington DC with a public reception, where De Valera spoke : ‘The Irish people, time after time, as a matter of fact, shown themselves ready to let ‘bygones be bygones’. We have been ready always and are ready now to sign a permanent peace between the two nations. Let Lloyd George appoint his plenipotentiaries, the Government of the Republic of Ireland is ready to appoint it’s representatives. I have already indicated my belief that the Irish people would be willing to relieve British anxiety about the future in so far as that anxiety is legitimate or genuine by agreeing to a stipulation such as that of the first article of the Platt Amendment*. I would have no hesitation myself in recomending such a course to the Irish people, and if peace were signed on such terms, I would gladly devote myself to the fostering of the same good relationship between Irish and Britain as exist between Ireland and the rest of the world.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.5 July 31, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
* The Platt Amendment’s first article read ‘ That the Government of Cuba shall never enter into any treaty or other compact with any foreign power which will 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, for military or naval purposes or otherwise, lodgement in or control over any portion of said island.’
Branch after branch of the Friends of Irish Freedom were now publically questioning the leadership of the organisation, but other groups were also were also beginning to do so. '..the Ancient Order of Hibernians 'repudiated the attempts to discredit de Valera'
Eileen McGough.'Diarmuid Lynch: A Forgotten Irish Patriot'. Mercier Press 2013. p139
26
General Macready in a memorandum to Cabinet commented that the Dublin Metropolitan Police ‘are, in my opinion, quite past redemption’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p48
General Macready in a memorandum to Cabinet commented that the Dublin Metropolitan Police ‘are, in my opinion, quite past redemption’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p48
27
In London, the Cabinet’s Principal Assistant Secretary, Tom Jones, submitted a paper to the Prime Minister setting forth the case for a Dominion Home Rule on a similar basis as in Australia and Canada.
"It will be seen that the precedent set by Mr. Churchill when the English Government began this particular campaign of sabotage in Ireland is being continued. After the second sacking of Fermoy last June, Mr. Churchill declared in the English Commons on July 27: “Suitable disciplinary action has been taken. Certain officers have been CENSURED and a number of soldiers HAVE HAD THEIR LEAVES STOPPED.”
While the overwhelming majority of the Coalition in the English Commons was congratulating itself upon the brutality of its Irish policy, a score of men and women, including Henry W. Nevinson, Evelyn Sharp, and the sister of Lord Buckmaster, paraded Whitehall and Parliament Square, carrying posters which read: “Stop Reprisals,” “We English Protest,” “Terrorism is not Govern ment,” “1914: Belgium—1920: Ireland,” and similar legends."
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.20 Nov 13,1920. Lynch Family Archives
Constable James Murray (26) was shot dead in Clonakilty, Co. Cork.
The first Auxilliary recruit, Harold Pearsons arrived in Ireland and transferred to the Curragh Military Training Camp
In London, the Cabinet’s Principal Assistant Secretary, Tom Jones, submitted a paper to the Prime Minister setting forth the case for a Dominion Home Rule on a similar basis as in Australia and Canada.
"It will be seen that the precedent set by Mr. Churchill when the English Government began this particular campaign of sabotage in Ireland is being continued. After the second sacking of Fermoy last June, Mr. Churchill declared in the English Commons on July 27: “Suitable disciplinary action has been taken. Certain officers have been CENSURED and a number of soldiers HAVE HAD THEIR LEAVES STOPPED.”
While the overwhelming majority of the Coalition in the English Commons was congratulating itself upon the brutality of its Irish policy, a score of men and women, including Henry W. Nevinson, Evelyn Sharp, and the sister of Lord Buckmaster, paraded Whitehall and Parliament Square, carrying posters which read: “Stop Reprisals,” “We English Protest,” “Terrorism is not Govern ment,” “1914: Belgium—1920: Ireland,” and similar legends."
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.20 Nov 13,1920. Lynch Family Archives
Constable James Murray (26) was shot dead in Clonakilty, Co. Cork.
The first Auxilliary recruit, Harold Pearsons arrived in Ireland and transferred to the Curragh Military Training Camp
28
Kit Lynch writing to her sister-in-law, Mary on events in Ireland and the United States.
Kit Lynch writing to her sister-in-law, Mary on events in Ireland and the United States.
2366 Grand Concourse
New York
July 28th 1920.
My dear Mary.
Several times recently I started a letter to you but never arrived at finishing it. It's hard to do anything these days except to pray that God may send the Huns from Ireland as soon as possible before they have murdered every man, woman & child in the country.
It's terrible to think of the torture the people at home are going through, yet the rest of the world looks silently on & forgets to cry about Ireland as they did about Belgium. But what makes things more heart breaking still is the unfortunate & unhappy way things have been going along here among our own people in United States.
The President & other men from home acting on the advice of a number of men, some of whom were never in the Irish movement in their lives till last year & who would be afraid to be seen at an Irish meeting eighteen months ago, have completely ignored the men who have been working for Ireland’s freedom all their life & are allowing men such as John Devoy, Judge Cohalan, Diarmuid and others who have served the cause just as faithfully to be hounded through the country by certain Irish American newspapers (who profess to be the champions of Pres. De Valera & the Irish Republic ) as traitors, politicians, place hunters etc. De Valera could put a stop to this disgraceful work by just a raise of his hand, but instead he and H. Boland etc encourage it by their silence.
I have sent a copy of the Gaelic American to you, containing an account of Diarmuid’s resignation from Dail Eireann, all the old friends of the cause here are delighted with the manly & unselfish stand he has taken & he had had many letters of congratulation. I hope the paper reaches you safely as it will give you a good idea of how things are here.
Now about out visit to Boston. We at last, paid our long promised visit to Fr Murphy last month who was delighted to see us & made our stay with him as pleasant as possible, our time with him was very short, only three nights & on two of these Diarmuid had to be present at meetings in connection with the organisation. One of the first things he (Fr M) did when we arrived was to send word to Mrs Sullivan (Brigid Conroy) who lost no time in coming over to the Presbytery to see ‘Christy & his wafe’ & surely the poor creature was delighted to see Diarmuid again & to hear of all the home folks. She enquired particularly from Mrs Ahern & yourself & wished to be remembered especially to you. She & her family seem very comfortable & Fr P.B. is very good to them.
We saw quite a lot of Boston & surrounding country during our short stay as his Reverence owns a huge, seven seater motor car which he did not spare while we were with him. He also gave us several presents among them a gold watch for Michael and a cameo brooch set with pearls for you, both of which we will send to Granig by hand at the first favourable opportunity. He gave m a cameo brooch too & gave D another watch with the request that he send his old watch to Denis. This Diarmuid consented to after a little hesitation as having had his old one with him all through Easter 1916, he had a special regard for it.
Fr P.B. has invited us to spend a couple of weeks with him & his friend Madge Callwon in October down at his sea side cottage which he has let at present. I hope we will be able to go as Oct is one of the nicest months of the year here & God knows poor D needs a rest badly. This present trouble here is causing him intense worry.
Sheila Lee’s sister Maura Terry & her husband sailed for home on Sat. we were down at the dock seeing them off & wished fervently that we were going with them.
Has Michael secured any place yet? We were very delighted to hear he was so succesfull in securing such a fine price for Cnoc.
We will be looking out for a long letter from you very soon telling us all the home news.
Give our best love to Mrs Ahern & all the friends in Granig including yourself.
Yours affectionately,
Kattie.
PS will send you another paper this week..
Lynch Family Archives . Folder 5/31
General Lucas, captured earlier by the IRA was tacitly released by his captors i.e they allowed him to escape. This he did but immediately drove into another IRA unit’s ambush at Oola, near Limerick Junction but managed to escape again. Two soldiers were killed and two wounded. His days of relaxed ‘imprisonment’ with games of bridge and tennis, fishing and night poaching came to an end. From August, the British military were to become more involved in the war against the IRA through increased attacks.
Punch Magazine. July 28 1920. Just months after it's first meeting, the League of Nations was quickly perceived to be ineffective largely due to it's lack of military support from member nations, the United States not a member and the concept of economic sanctions as a means of enforcement of international law. As Punch Magazine pointed out - the League of Nations at this early stage was certainly no match for 'international strife'.
An Occasional Historical Aside
In the days before email and a world where "Nigerian princes" had yet to promise untold wealth in return for doing very little, one clever Italian-American figured out a highly effective way to swindle wealthy people out of their money: by promising them a ridiculous rate of return on investments with little to no risk. So successful was this enterprising gentleman in 1920, that his name was given to any generic 'Get Rich Quick' plan in which original investors are paid off by the funds of new investors - "A Ponzi Scheme". This is the story of Charles Ponzi, a penniless emigrant in 1903 who by mid 1920 was one of the wealthiest men in the United States only to loose everything within months. |
Ponzi's scheme began to unravel in August 1920, when The Boston Post began to investigate the company and returns. This investigation unsettled existing investors and set off a run on Ponzi's company, with multiple investors demanding their money back.
Charles Ponzi was arrested on August 12, 1920, and charged with 86 counts of mail fraud. Owing an estimated $7 million, he pleaded guilty to mail fraud, and subsequently spent 14 years in prison and deported to Italy on release. Rose divorced him in 1937, and after ingratiating himself with the Fascist regime in Italy, was appointed to an Italian government position in Brazil. Out of a job again with Italy's reversal of fortune in 1943. In his last interview with an American paper he commented on the 1920 scheme: "Even if they never got anything for it, it was cheap at that price. Without malice aforethought, I had given them the best show that was ever staged in their territory since the landing of the Pilgrims! It was easily worth fifteen million bucks to watch me put the thing over" Ponzi died destitute in Rio de Janeiro on January 18, 1949. For a historic list of Ponzi Schemes - click here. |
Any "Ponzi scheme" is simply a ‘Get Rich Quick’ form of fraud that lures investors and pays profits to earlier investors with funds from the more recent investors. The scheme leads victims to believe that the profits are coming from product sales or other means, and they remain largely unaware that other, more recent investors are the source of funds. A Ponzi scheme can maintain the illusion of a sustainable business only for as long as new investors contribute new funds, and as long as most of the investors do not demand full repayment and still believe in the non-existent assets they are purported to own.
Such an idea was already well used before 1920 and had already been carried out from 1869 to 1872 by Adele Spitzeder in Germany and by Sarah Howe in the United States in the 1880s through the "Ladies' Deposit". Howe offered a solely female clientele an eight-percent monthly interest rate, and then stole the money that the women had invested. She was eventually discovered and served three years in prison. The Ponzi style scheme was also previously described in novels; Charles Dickens' 1844 novel Martin Chuzzlewit and his 1857 novel Little Dorrit both feature such a scheme. Ponzi successfully carried out this scheme and became incredibly wealthy and well-known throughout the United States during 1920 because of the staggeringly huge amount of money that he took in. His original scheme was based on the legitimate arbitrage of international reply coupons for postage stamps, but he soon began diverting new investors' money to make payments to earlier investors and, of course, to himself. Arriving in the United States as a penniless emigrant in 1903 (Ponzi had $2.50 in his pocket, having gambled away the rest of his life savings during the voyage. "I landed in this country with $2.50 in cash and $1 million in hopes, and those hopes never left me," he later told The New York Times. Ponzi started out working odd jobs, including as a dishwasher in a restaurant. In 1907, he moved to Montreal, where he found a job as a teller at Bank Zarossi, a bank formed to cater to the new Italian immigrant population, charging high interest rates. When Bank Zarossi went bankrupt because of bad loans, Ponzi was left penniless. Caught forging a cheque to make ends meet, he was sentenced to three years in a Quebec prison. Rather than tell his mother in Italy that he was in the slammer, he wrote to her in a letter that he was working at rather than in a Canadian prison. When he was released from jail, Ponzi got involved in yet another criminal venture, smuggling Italian immigrants across the border into the United States. This too landed him in jail—spending another two years behind bars in Atlanta, Georgia. Ponzi returned to Boston, where he married stenographer Rose Gnecco in 1918. He worked various jobs, including at his father-in-law's grocery store, but none of those positions lasted long. It was during this time that Ponzi got the idea for the great scheme that would earn his name a place in history. He received a letter in the mail from a company in Spain that contained in it an international reply coupon (a coupon that can be exchanged for a number of priority airmail postage stamps from another country). Ponzi quickly realised that he could turn a profit by buying IRCs in one country, and exchanging them for more expensive stamps in another country. Not satisfied with running the profitable scheme on his own, Ponzi began to seek investors to turn even higher profits. He promised investors outrageous returns of 50 percent in 45 days, or 100 percent in 90 days. Ponzi paid these initial tentative investors on time using money from other investors, rather than with actual profit—as in the criminal scheme of Bernie Madoff in the 1990s. Pretty soon, the money rolled in. Ponzi's manipulation made him rich - very rich. He bought a mansion in Lexington, Massachusetts, with air conditioning and a heated swimming pool. He reportedly made $250,000 a day and was even considering buying a bank. Such hubris built on fraud could not or would not last. |
Human nature being what it is, such frauds are cyclical and tend to re-occur in different guises. The most recent and largest Ponzi Scheme was that engineered by New Yorker Bernie Madoff in the 1990's-2000's. As with Ponzi, Madoff lured in investors by promising unusually high returns in a short space of time, used money from new entrants in the scheme to pay off earlier adopters. Investors were told they were making large returns and encouraged not to withdraw their investments. Double digit returns were promised, far above normal market rates, which attracted investors in their droves. In addition, Madoff was well-respected among the Wall Street elite. His first company, Bernard L. Madoff Investment, helped progress technology used to develop the Nasdaq, which is now the second largest exchange in the world.
Of course, the scheme went up in smoke when his clients got a little jittery and tried to withdraw $7 billion while his hedge fund, Ascot Partners, only had $300 million available. Although some older investors did receive returns, thousands were heavily out of pocket. It's estimated that investors lost a combined total of about $18 billion. Madoff was arrested in December 2008, pleaded guilty to charges of fraud and was sentenced to a hefty 150 years in prison.
As ever, the old reliable maxim applies: 'If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is".
Of course, the scheme went up in smoke when his clients got a little jittery and tried to withdraw $7 billion while his hedge fund, Ascot Partners, only had $300 million available. Although some older investors did receive returns, thousands were heavily out of pocket. It's estimated that investors lost a combined total of about $18 billion. Madoff was arrested in December 2008, pleaded guilty to charges of fraud and was sentenced to a hefty 150 years in prison.
As ever, the old reliable maxim applies: 'If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is".
29
‘The Cabinet Committee on the situation in Ireland meeting for the fifth time, first recommended unanimously the reactivation of the Ulster Volunteer Force as a measure of self-defence against the Catholic minority. It then declared that no person employed in the Irish Government...should have any communication whatsoever with Sinn Fein’
George Dangerfield “ The Damnable Question - a study in Anglo-Irish relations” Constable, London. 1977. p321
Countess Markievicz, the Minister for Labour, issued an order to all Sinn Fein clubs to safeguard members of the R.I.C that resigned, that they be allowed to live in their usual districts, that they should be given employment and that any other members of the R.I.C were to be approached by their relatives and ‘urged to resign’.
British soldiers captured Tom Hales, commanding officer of the WestCork Brigade together with the brigade’s quartermaster, Pat Harte. In Bandon Barracks, members of the Essex Regiment tortured both men to get information. After a few hours, Hales was unconcious and Harte had gone insane. The soldiers next made them pose for the camera waving a Union Jack. Hales was swiftly courtmartialed and imprisoned in England and Harte ended up in the local mental hospital, where he died a few years later. never having recovered.
First transcontinental, New York to San Francisco, air mail service begins.
‘The Cabinet Committee on the situation in Ireland meeting for the fifth time, first recommended unanimously the reactivation of the Ulster Volunteer Force as a measure of self-defence against the Catholic minority. It then declared that no person employed in the Irish Government...should have any communication whatsoever with Sinn Fein’
George Dangerfield “ The Damnable Question - a study in Anglo-Irish relations” Constable, London. 1977. p321
Countess Markievicz, the Minister for Labour, issued an order to all Sinn Fein clubs to safeguard members of the R.I.C that resigned, that they be allowed to live in their usual districts, that they should be given employment and that any other members of the R.I.C were to be approached by their relatives and ‘urged to resign’.
British soldiers captured Tom Hales, commanding officer of the WestCork Brigade together with the brigade’s quartermaster, Pat Harte. In Bandon Barracks, members of the Essex Regiment tortured both men to get information. After a few hours, Hales was unconcious and Harte had gone insane. The soldiers next made them pose for the camera waving a Union Jack. Hales was swiftly courtmartialed and imprisoned in England and Harte ended up in the local mental hospital, where he died a few years later. never having recovered.
First transcontinental, New York to San Francisco, air mail service begins.
30
The National Council of the Friends of Irish Freedom met at the Waldorf Astoria New York to discuss the Rev. Magennis resignation as President of the Friends of Irish Freedom. While it was generally agreed that he had rendered great service to Ireland, his resignation was accepted citing ‘duties in Rome made it impossible for him to continue longer in direction of the American movement’. However, an even more high profile cleric was elected – Bishop Michael J. Gallagher of Detroit.
The FOIF Newsletter commented:
"The election of Bishop Michael J. Gallagher of Detroit, as National President of the Friends of Irish Freedom, means that Ireland’s efforts to win world-wide recognition of her right to freedom and independence will continue to be pressed by Americans of Irish blood with all possible energy. From the very outset Bishop Gallagher has given his best aid to Ireland. Ireland is fortunate indeed in having him chosen to lead Americans who are straining every nerve to aid its people. Bishop Gallagher did not seek the honor, in fact he urged that some one else be chosen but those in attendance at the meeting of the National Council, held Friday night, July 30, at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, New York, the largest attended meeting held for more than a year, were insistent that the Detroit Prelate accept the office. In the hands of Bishop Gallagher, the American movement will be driven forward with an impetus that means Ireland will have a country-wide support from the United States of America, that cannot help but quickly bring recognition of Ireland’s independence as a nation. The differences of opinion regarding means and procedure relative to the direction of the American movement are certain to be quickly adjusted. The atmosphere of the National Council meeting indicated a healthy Spirit. Bishop Gallagher’s address to the meeting electrified the men and women present, and made him the choice of all for the leadership of those who, under the direction of the Friends of Irish Freedom, have accomplished so much. The resignation of Monsignor Magennis, who is at present residing in Rome, was received with great regret. Father Magennis, during his tenure as National President, rendered great service to Ireland. Duties in Rome made it impossible for him to continue longer in direction of the American movement."
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.6 August 7, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Negotiations continued between moderates, Sinn Fein and the British Government, but Government in Ireland was begin rendered impossible. The drive for international recognition continued.
British Army HQ now restricted the movement of munitions and supplies by rail in an attempt to beat the combined dockers/railwaymen strike. The Ministry of Transport informed the Irish railways managers that military guards would no longer accompany military supplies sent by train, adding that the authorities did not intend to use the Irish rail network for the transportation of arms, munitions, explosives or motor spirit. While it was a practical admission of defeat by the British authorities on the transportation of munitions by train, the railwaymen in turn refused to man trains that were carrying uniformed military personnel. There was to be no further Government action until mid-October.
Frank Brooke, the Chairman of the Dublin and South-Eastern Railways was assassinated in his office at Westland Row Station by two members of Collin’s Squad – Paddy Daly and Jim Slattery. Brooke had been a member of Lord French’s Advisory Council, was on the Irish Privy Council and a member of the Fermanagh gentry. Ernie O’Malley was rumoured for a time to have carried out the assassination.
Mark Sturgis wrote of the killing in his diary ‘a dirty cold blooded sensless murder. London will react badly against anything that looks like truckling now and small blame to them. The only line for peace, which is true, is that the gun man element want to smash DHR ( Dominion Home Rule ) – they want martial law hoping to get the Republic out of the ruins…the estremists are learning that they can act in Dublin, which is full of soldiers and police, with as complete impunity as elewhere and teyre bound to have a good try shortly to disorganise by one means or another the seats of so called Government.’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p15
The Charlemont Fort in Tyrone was burned down by armed raiders. Built during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, it had long been occupied by the Charlemont family, a member of which had founded the Irish Volunteers in the 18th century. It had been used over the previous years as a British military garrison.
The New York Tribune’s London correspondent in an article on conditions in Ireland commented: ‘Every one is wondering whether real civil war is about to start in Ireland…that the establishment of martial law throughout the island will bring peace no one believes, for Sinn Fein are too powerfull and well organised to be beaten at the game they are now playing…they are now offering to find employment for all constables who resign from the force. They have virtually all the railway men supporting them by refusing to operate trains carrying soldiers or munitions. They have enlisted thousands of ex-soldiers, many of whom are experienced officers. They have spies everywhere, in and out of Ireland. They can ht wherever and whenever they desire. They have large funds. But with all this power they are too weak to fight int heopen and they know it. Enforcement of the Premier’s ‘drastic bill’ will increase the amount of frightfulness in Ireland and it will also divide English opinion. English labour and English liberalism will atack the Premier, as it is already doing on the ground that he is playing politics…all hope of compromise and conciliation has vanished. The bitterness of both sides has been intensified by the events of last week.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.6 August 7, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The Irish Independent commented on the growing strength of the Irish movement in the US ‘The Irish cause in America is sufficiently strong to make British statesmen seek to discredit it.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.6 August 7, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The National Council of the Friends of Irish Freedom met at the Waldorf Astoria New York to discuss the Rev. Magennis resignation as President of the Friends of Irish Freedom. While it was generally agreed that he had rendered great service to Ireland, his resignation was accepted citing ‘duties in Rome made it impossible for him to continue longer in direction of the American movement’. However, an even more high profile cleric was elected – Bishop Michael J. Gallagher of Detroit.
The FOIF Newsletter commented:
"The election of Bishop Michael J. Gallagher of Detroit, as National President of the Friends of Irish Freedom, means that Ireland’s efforts to win world-wide recognition of her right to freedom and independence will continue to be pressed by Americans of Irish blood with all possible energy. From the very outset Bishop Gallagher has given his best aid to Ireland. Ireland is fortunate indeed in having him chosen to lead Americans who are straining every nerve to aid its people. Bishop Gallagher did not seek the honor, in fact he urged that some one else be chosen but those in attendance at the meeting of the National Council, held Friday night, July 30, at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, New York, the largest attended meeting held for more than a year, were insistent that the Detroit Prelate accept the office. In the hands of Bishop Gallagher, the American movement will be driven forward with an impetus that means Ireland will have a country-wide support from the United States of America, that cannot help but quickly bring recognition of Ireland’s independence as a nation. The differences of opinion regarding means and procedure relative to the direction of the American movement are certain to be quickly adjusted. The atmosphere of the National Council meeting indicated a healthy Spirit. Bishop Gallagher’s address to the meeting electrified the men and women present, and made him the choice of all for the leadership of those who, under the direction of the Friends of Irish Freedom, have accomplished so much. The resignation of Monsignor Magennis, who is at present residing in Rome, was received with great regret. Father Magennis, during his tenure as National President, rendered great service to Ireland. Duties in Rome made it impossible for him to continue longer in direction of the American movement."
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.6 August 7, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Negotiations continued between moderates, Sinn Fein and the British Government, but Government in Ireland was begin rendered impossible. The drive for international recognition continued.
British Army HQ now restricted the movement of munitions and supplies by rail in an attempt to beat the combined dockers/railwaymen strike. The Ministry of Transport informed the Irish railways managers that military guards would no longer accompany military supplies sent by train, adding that the authorities did not intend to use the Irish rail network for the transportation of arms, munitions, explosives or motor spirit. While it was a practical admission of defeat by the British authorities on the transportation of munitions by train, the railwaymen in turn refused to man trains that were carrying uniformed military personnel. There was to be no further Government action until mid-October.
Frank Brooke, the Chairman of the Dublin and South-Eastern Railways was assassinated in his office at Westland Row Station by two members of Collin’s Squad – Paddy Daly and Jim Slattery. Brooke had been a member of Lord French’s Advisory Council, was on the Irish Privy Council and a member of the Fermanagh gentry. Ernie O’Malley was rumoured for a time to have carried out the assassination.
Mark Sturgis wrote of the killing in his diary ‘a dirty cold blooded sensless murder. London will react badly against anything that looks like truckling now and small blame to them. The only line for peace, which is true, is that the gun man element want to smash DHR ( Dominion Home Rule ) – they want martial law hoping to get the Republic out of the ruins…the estremists are learning that they can act in Dublin, which is full of soldiers and police, with as complete impunity as elewhere and teyre bound to have a good try shortly to disorganise by one means or another the seats of so called Government.’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p15
The Charlemont Fort in Tyrone was burned down by armed raiders. Built during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, it had long been occupied by the Charlemont family, a member of which had founded the Irish Volunteers in the 18th century. It had been used over the previous years as a British military garrison.
The New York Tribune’s London correspondent in an article on conditions in Ireland commented: ‘Every one is wondering whether real civil war is about to start in Ireland…that the establishment of martial law throughout the island will bring peace no one believes, for Sinn Fein are too powerfull and well organised to be beaten at the game they are now playing…they are now offering to find employment for all constables who resign from the force. They have virtually all the railway men supporting them by refusing to operate trains carrying soldiers or munitions. They have enlisted thousands of ex-soldiers, many of whom are experienced officers. They have spies everywhere, in and out of Ireland. They can ht wherever and whenever they desire. They have large funds. But with all this power they are too weak to fight int heopen and they know it. Enforcement of the Premier’s ‘drastic bill’ will increase the amount of frightfulness in Ireland and it will also divide English opinion. English labour and English liberalism will atack the Premier, as it is already doing on the ground that he is playing politics…all hope of compromise and conciliation has vanished. The bitterness of both sides has been intensified by the events of last week.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.6 August 7, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The Irish Independent commented on the growing strength of the Irish movement in the US ‘The Irish cause in America is sufficiently strong to make British statesmen seek to discredit it.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.6 August 7, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
31
Gavan Duffy writing to Diarmuid O’Hegarty ‘ Anything to equal the bargaining match now proceeding at full tilt between McCartan and Devoy I have never seen; the fury of the Parnelite split is not in it’. To which O’Hegarty replied; ‘There is no doubt that they are having a great passage of arms in the States, but something like this was bound to occur’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P197
In the United States, John Devoy took the unprecedented step by publishing allegations made by the De Valera group against Irish American groups as the Friends of Irish Freedom and Clan na Gael:
No Split Among Ireland’s American Friends
Differences between De Valera and Irish leaders here are over methods of attaining the same end, not in regard to principles - these men have proved their devotion to the Irish Republic - have rendered it priceless services and built up the greatest movement in American history - the whole attack on the elected leaders founded on shameless falsehoods that will not stand the test of examination and carried on by men of no real standing or influence, but for De Valera countenance, they would not even get a hearing - Friends of Irish Freedom financed all the work done during the Presidents trip.
The difference of opinion between President De Valera and the Friends of Irish Freedom committee was seized on at once by the factionists as a pretext for flinging mud and making vile accusation of dishonest against men whom they had long been assailing in private...among other things the lies include the following allegations:
1. That the Friends of Irish Freedom have given no real support to President De Valera, but on the contrary have obstructed him in his work and conspired to make his mission a failure.
2. That the Victory Fund, collected and controlled by the Friends of Irish Freedom, has been misused and misappropriated and that none of it has been spent either to further his mission or to aid the movement in Ireland.
3. That the Friends of Irish Freedom and Clan na Gael have given no help in the sale of Irish Republic Bonds, but, on the contrary, have injured the Bond sales in every way possible.
4. That the Friends of Irish Freedom and some of the leaders of Clan na Gael are opposed to the recognition of the Irish Republic, have placed obstacles in the way of President De Valera securing it and are engaging in a conspiracy to defeat and humiliate him.
There are numerous other charges...made mostly in speeches and by innuendo and intimation, rather than by direct statement...not an atom of proof is offered...they are not only untrue, but there is not a shred of foundation for them...they are founded on malice and personal ill-will...”
John Devoy goes on to accuse De Valera of ‘incredible ingratitude as well as very bad judgement’, that the Victory Fund was raised for ‘the specific purpose of combating the English propaganda in America...in addition to that...the Victory Fund financed President De Valera whole tour in America and paid the expenses of it's staff. It also financed the Bond drive and furnished to President De Valera or his secretary, Harry Boland, the money to keep the movement going in Ireland...altogether more than $250,000 of the Victory Fund has been spent in this way, while the men who advanced it are being vilified and blackguarded as enemies of Ireland, with the tacit approval of President De Valera and active co-operation of men of his staff...and while they are engaged in this harmful propaganda, the legitimate work of sending the Bond Certificates to contributors is neglected. My personal mite was contributed many months ago, but the Bond Certificate...has not yet reached me....
John Devoy was by now getting into his stride...“A lot of the Victory Fund was wasted by De Valera’s assistants for months before any real work was done...except in San Franscisco, Clan na Gael was the driving force in the Bond Drive, yet when President De Valera called the First Bond meeting in New York, the Clan na Gael was the only organisation not invited. Out of $1 million contributed in greater New York, the Clan na Gael turned in fully $350,000. One club turned in $48,000, another $50,000...
President De Valera has many fine qualities but he is utterly wrong in trying to bend the best and brightest men of the race in America to his will on subjects on which they have more training and expertise...he cannot obtain recognition for the Irish Republic now while Wilson is President, nor at any time until there is a friend of Ireland in the White House...
The task of taking care of Ireland is quite big enough for the leaders in Ireland and they must leave America to American Irishmen. “
John Devoy writing in the Gaelic American. July 31, 1920. National Library of Ireland.
The Friends of Irish Freedom Newsletter for 31 July opened with the headline ‘The Time Has Come’, in which parrallels were drawn between the exisitng situation in Ireland and that advocated in an 1886 treatise ‘by an emminent English authority on international law’, Professor Dicey in which he advised that when and if the unity of the State ( Union ) became too great for Britian to maintain, or to do so involved coercive means, then the union should come to an end. ‘The alternative policy will then not [be] Home Rule, but seperation.’
The Newsletter quoted the London Times as admitting ‘that the sole authority of the British name in Ireland has come to rest on military power’…the bankruptcy of the British power in Ireland has been acknowledged by Lloyd George when he announced himself ready to pledge England to a five years war for reconquest. Lord Sailsbury has called the British mismanagement of Ireland ‘indescribable’. If Lloyd George is to retrieve this ‘mismanagement’ with five years of war and a million lives, the British standing army will not suffice and England will be again faced with conscription. It is obvious that the ‘effort to maintain the unity of the State is too great for Great Britain’ As Professor Dicey predicted ‘the union must for the sake of England no less than for Ireland, come to an end’. It is that seperation which eighty percent of the Irish people now demand.
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.5 July 31, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Archbishop Mannix sailed for Ireland from New York. The London Times correspondent in New York wrote ‘over 2,000 rowdy singing Irish men and women invaded the White Star quay…’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p173
Gavan Duffy writing to Diarmuid O’Hegarty ‘ Anything to equal the bargaining match now proceeding at full tilt between McCartan and Devoy I have never seen; the fury of the Parnelite split is not in it’. To which O’Hegarty replied; ‘There is no doubt that they are having a great passage of arms in the States, but something like this was bound to occur’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P197
In the United States, John Devoy took the unprecedented step by publishing allegations made by the De Valera group against Irish American groups as the Friends of Irish Freedom and Clan na Gael:
No Split Among Ireland’s American Friends
Differences between De Valera and Irish leaders here are over methods of attaining the same end, not in regard to principles - these men have proved their devotion to the Irish Republic - have rendered it priceless services and built up the greatest movement in American history - the whole attack on the elected leaders founded on shameless falsehoods that will not stand the test of examination and carried on by men of no real standing or influence, but for De Valera countenance, they would not even get a hearing - Friends of Irish Freedom financed all the work done during the Presidents trip.
The difference of opinion between President De Valera and the Friends of Irish Freedom committee was seized on at once by the factionists as a pretext for flinging mud and making vile accusation of dishonest against men whom they had long been assailing in private...among other things the lies include the following allegations:
1. That the Friends of Irish Freedom have given no real support to President De Valera, but on the contrary have obstructed him in his work and conspired to make his mission a failure.
2. That the Victory Fund, collected and controlled by the Friends of Irish Freedom, has been misused and misappropriated and that none of it has been spent either to further his mission or to aid the movement in Ireland.
3. That the Friends of Irish Freedom and Clan na Gael have given no help in the sale of Irish Republic Bonds, but, on the contrary, have injured the Bond sales in every way possible.
4. That the Friends of Irish Freedom and some of the leaders of Clan na Gael are opposed to the recognition of the Irish Republic, have placed obstacles in the way of President De Valera securing it and are engaging in a conspiracy to defeat and humiliate him.
There are numerous other charges...made mostly in speeches and by innuendo and intimation, rather than by direct statement...not an atom of proof is offered...they are not only untrue, but there is not a shred of foundation for them...they are founded on malice and personal ill-will...”
John Devoy goes on to accuse De Valera of ‘incredible ingratitude as well as very bad judgement’, that the Victory Fund was raised for ‘the specific purpose of combating the English propaganda in America...in addition to that...the Victory Fund financed President De Valera whole tour in America and paid the expenses of it's staff. It also financed the Bond drive and furnished to President De Valera or his secretary, Harry Boland, the money to keep the movement going in Ireland...altogether more than $250,000 of the Victory Fund has been spent in this way, while the men who advanced it are being vilified and blackguarded as enemies of Ireland, with the tacit approval of President De Valera and active co-operation of men of his staff...and while they are engaged in this harmful propaganda, the legitimate work of sending the Bond Certificates to contributors is neglected. My personal mite was contributed many months ago, but the Bond Certificate...has not yet reached me....
John Devoy was by now getting into his stride...“A lot of the Victory Fund was wasted by De Valera’s assistants for months before any real work was done...except in San Franscisco, Clan na Gael was the driving force in the Bond Drive, yet when President De Valera called the First Bond meeting in New York, the Clan na Gael was the only organisation not invited. Out of $1 million contributed in greater New York, the Clan na Gael turned in fully $350,000. One club turned in $48,000, another $50,000...
President De Valera has many fine qualities but he is utterly wrong in trying to bend the best and brightest men of the race in America to his will on subjects on which they have more training and expertise...he cannot obtain recognition for the Irish Republic now while Wilson is President, nor at any time until there is a friend of Ireland in the White House...
The task of taking care of Ireland is quite big enough for the leaders in Ireland and they must leave America to American Irishmen. “
John Devoy writing in the Gaelic American. July 31, 1920. National Library of Ireland.
The Friends of Irish Freedom Newsletter for 31 July opened with the headline ‘The Time Has Come’, in which parrallels were drawn between the exisitng situation in Ireland and that advocated in an 1886 treatise ‘by an emminent English authority on international law’, Professor Dicey in which he advised that when and if the unity of the State ( Union ) became too great for Britian to maintain, or to do so involved coercive means, then the union should come to an end. ‘The alternative policy will then not [be] Home Rule, but seperation.’
The Newsletter quoted the London Times as admitting ‘that the sole authority of the British name in Ireland has come to rest on military power’…the bankruptcy of the British power in Ireland has been acknowledged by Lloyd George when he announced himself ready to pledge England to a five years war for reconquest. Lord Sailsbury has called the British mismanagement of Ireland ‘indescribable’. If Lloyd George is to retrieve this ‘mismanagement’ with five years of war and a million lives, the British standing army will not suffice and England will be again faced with conscription. It is obvious that the ‘effort to maintain the unity of the State is too great for Great Britain’ As Professor Dicey predicted ‘the union must for the sake of England no less than for Ireland, come to an end’. It is that seperation which eighty percent of the Irish people now demand.
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.5 July 31, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Archbishop Mannix sailed for Ireland from New York. The London Times correspondent in New York wrote ‘over 2,000 rowdy singing Irish men and women invaded the White Star quay…’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p173
1
While over $3 million was available to Dail Eireann, only small sums had been sent over. De Valera had become “particularly anxious that you at home be satisfied that you can safeguard the money’. He also was involved in a nit-picking dispute with Collins about the appropriate date from which interest should accrue on the bonds which had been sold
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill& McMillan 1995. P196
Lord Denby, Treasurer of the Southern Irish Loyalists Defense Fund resigned his position following an article ‘so foul in it's libelous accusations against the Irish people’.
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.6 August 7, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Much to the surprise of many observers both in Ireland and Britain, an Irish Times editorial pleaded for dominion home rule. The Friends of Irish Freedom newsletter commented ‘Since the days of Butt and especially during the campaigns of Parnell and even up to a week ago, the Irish Times has been the consistent and determined supporter of Unionism and equally consistent and determined opponent of any vestige of self-Government for Ireland. Yet it’s editor now expresses the belief that the offer of dominion home rule for twenty-six counties would find favour with all moderate Irishmen and he declares that the mass of southern Unionists are anxious for such an offer without delay. ‘The vast majority of Irishmen’ he adds ‘would welcome any reasonable and honourable escape from the present situation. They are standing on the edge of a volcano’. It is evident that the pressure has been well applied and the logic of events is producing it's inevitable results’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.6 August 7, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The London ‘Nation’ newspaper in a long article ‘The Irish Republic’ declared that ‘Ireland is not only a nation but also a state… we don’t think that the average Englishman has the slightest concepttion of the strenght of the movement…the Republic is a succesful fact – that while last year it was a republic beseiged, this year it is the beseiger.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.6 August 7, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
“….When the long-awaited Universal Negro Improvement Association convention opened on Sunday night, 1 August 1920, amid great pomp in Madison Square Garden, Garvey began his speech by announcing dramatically:
“..I have in my hand . . . a telegram to be sent to the Hon. Edmund De Valera, [sic] President of the Irish Republic: "25,000 Negro delegates assembled in Madison Square Garden in mass convention, representing 400,000,000 Negroes of the world, send you greetings as President of the Irish Republic. Please accept sympathy of Negroes of the world for your cause. We believe Ireland should be free even as Africa shall be free for the Negroes of the world. (loud applause) Keep up the fight for a free Ireland. Marcus Garvey, President-General of the Universal Negro Improvement Association." (applause)
Robert A Hill. “The Marcus Garvey and UNIA Papers Project “ UCLA
The extent to which the Sinn Fein courts in Ireland were operating was raised during a debate in the House of Commons, when Lt.Commander Kenworthy commented: ‘I do not know that I am prepared to vote, at the present time, for increasing the salaries of the resident magistrates. This is not because I have no sympathies with the dangers they run, it is because there is practically, in the Anglo-Saxon sense, no law and order in Ireland., except possibly for small areas in the North and east. I do not feel inclined to waste public money…by paying resident magistrates to preside over courts to which nobody goes; and where even Unionists and Protestants – people quite opposed generally to the Nationalist and Sinn Fein movement in Ireland – place their grievances and their property matters before the local popular courts which have been set up, and there is no business in your courts.'
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.6 August 7, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The Cork Curfew Law continued to be in force, forbidding civilians to be on the streets between 10pm and 3am without a permit from the English military authority. The Special Jurors in the city met and adopted a resolution ‘…that we enter our public protest that the existing Government has ceased to govern or protect individual life and property, and we herbey resolve to abstain from attendance at the forthcoming Assizes, and call on any special jurymen not present to adopt the same course.’
Two members dissented.
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.6 August 7, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
“The Tommy Gun," the Thompson portable submachine gun (invented by J.T. Thompson), is demonstrated at a national gun show in Ohio. Soon to become the weapon of choice for bootlegging gangsters.
India: Mohandas (later Mahatma) Gandhi begins national campaign to rally the populace of India to use passive resistance and noncooperation against the occupying British colonialist government. He embarks on a trip to urge noncooperation with courts, schools, government, and military service, and advocates boycotting of foreign goods. The action is prompted by an earlier massacre of Indians and is also a protest against strict British laws clamping down on political activities. During Sept. 4-9, the nationalist Indian Congress, inspired by Gandhi's popular actions, commits itself to fighting for home rule.
While over $3 million was available to Dail Eireann, only small sums had been sent over. De Valera had become “particularly anxious that you at home be satisfied that you can safeguard the money’. He also was involved in a nit-picking dispute with Collins about the appropriate date from which interest should accrue on the bonds which had been sold
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill& McMillan 1995. P196
Lord Denby, Treasurer of the Southern Irish Loyalists Defense Fund resigned his position following an article ‘so foul in it's libelous accusations against the Irish people’.
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.6 August 7, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Much to the surprise of many observers both in Ireland and Britain, an Irish Times editorial pleaded for dominion home rule. The Friends of Irish Freedom newsletter commented ‘Since the days of Butt and especially during the campaigns of Parnell and even up to a week ago, the Irish Times has been the consistent and determined supporter of Unionism and equally consistent and determined opponent of any vestige of self-Government for Ireland. Yet it’s editor now expresses the belief that the offer of dominion home rule for twenty-six counties would find favour with all moderate Irishmen and he declares that the mass of southern Unionists are anxious for such an offer without delay. ‘The vast majority of Irishmen’ he adds ‘would welcome any reasonable and honourable escape from the present situation. They are standing on the edge of a volcano’. It is evident that the pressure has been well applied and the logic of events is producing it's inevitable results’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.6 August 7, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The London ‘Nation’ newspaper in a long article ‘The Irish Republic’ declared that ‘Ireland is not only a nation but also a state… we don’t think that the average Englishman has the slightest concepttion of the strenght of the movement…the Republic is a succesful fact – that while last year it was a republic beseiged, this year it is the beseiger.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.6 August 7, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
“….When the long-awaited Universal Negro Improvement Association convention opened on Sunday night, 1 August 1920, amid great pomp in Madison Square Garden, Garvey began his speech by announcing dramatically:
“..I have in my hand . . . a telegram to be sent to the Hon. Edmund De Valera, [sic] President of the Irish Republic: "25,000 Negro delegates assembled in Madison Square Garden in mass convention, representing 400,000,000 Negroes of the world, send you greetings as President of the Irish Republic. Please accept sympathy of Negroes of the world for your cause. We believe Ireland should be free even as Africa shall be free for the Negroes of the world. (loud applause) Keep up the fight for a free Ireland. Marcus Garvey, President-General of the Universal Negro Improvement Association." (applause)
Robert A Hill. “The Marcus Garvey and UNIA Papers Project “ UCLA
The extent to which the Sinn Fein courts in Ireland were operating was raised during a debate in the House of Commons, when Lt.Commander Kenworthy commented: ‘I do not know that I am prepared to vote, at the present time, for increasing the salaries of the resident magistrates. This is not because I have no sympathies with the dangers they run, it is because there is practically, in the Anglo-Saxon sense, no law and order in Ireland., except possibly for small areas in the North and east. I do not feel inclined to waste public money…by paying resident magistrates to preside over courts to which nobody goes; and where even Unionists and Protestants – people quite opposed generally to the Nationalist and Sinn Fein movement in Ireland – place their grievances and their property matters before the local popular courts which have been set up, and there is no business in your courts.'
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.6 August 7, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The Cork Curfew Law continued to be in force, forbidding civilians to be on the streets between 10pm and 3am without a permit from the English military authority. The Special Jurors in the city met and adopted a resolution ‘…that we enter our public protest that the existing Government has ceased to govern or protect individual life and property, and we herbey resolve to abstain from attendance at the forthcoming Assizes, and call on any special jurymen not present to adopt the same course.’
Two members dissented.
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.6 August 7, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
“The Tommy Gun," the Thompson portable submachine gun (invented by J.T. Thompson), is demonstrated at a national gun show in Ohio. Soon to become the weapon of choice for bootlegging gangsters.
India: Mohandas (later Mahatma) Gandhi begins national campaign to rally the populace of India to use passive resistance and noncooperation against the occupying British colonialist government. He embarks on a trip to urge noncooperation with courts, schools, government, and military service, and advocates boycotting of foreign goods. The action is prompted by an earlier massacre of Indians and is also a protest against strict British laws clamping down on political activities. During Sept. 4-9, the nationalist Indian Congress, inspired by Gandhi's popular actions, commits itself to fighting for home rule.
an occasional historical aside
The British Administration in Ireland: Dublin Castle, 1920. "...a creaking administration of such notoriety that for all nationalists, radical or moderate, the iniquity of British rule in Ireland was summed up in the words 'Dublin Castle'." Bitter Freedom. Ireland in a revolutionary world 1918-1923. Maurice Walsh.Faber & Faber 2015. P57-58 Facing the complete collapse of the British administration in Ireland during the summer of 1920, a team of ultra-efficient civil servants were hurriedly installed in Dublin Castle. This colourful ensemble of bureaucrats were to oversee the worst excesses of the struggle to free or retain Ireland and within eighteen months, the loss of Britain's first colony. Research in progress - June 2020. |
Dublin Castle for centuries had been the seat of British rule in Ireland. A sprawling complex of secluded and secure buildings that once housed the Viceroy's residence, a Royal Mint and accommodation should the reigning monarch visit the island, it was a British bastion in territory that wavered between indifference and hostility. By the early 1900's, it was an administrative warren of offices occupied by both civilian and military officials - top heavy, riven by territorial and petty jealousies and in particular, as described by Walter Long 'wholly divorced from the people'
Maurice Walsh points out that following the 1916 Rising, 'Lloyd George acknowledged...that the system of government in Ireland had broken down. Endless inquiries had reccomended reforms to the system but nothing was done. The byzantine complexity of it's departments, boards and subdivisions meant that officials were perpetually unsure where authority lay. Treasury official in London regarded the civil servants across the Irish sea as archaic, extravagant, lazy and incompetent...the cumulative combination of dilettante administrators and their distant detractors in London made for a chronic, bureaucratic insensitivity to Irish realities large and small'
Bitter Freedom. Ireland in a revolutionary world 1918-1923. Maurice Walsh.Faber & Faber 2015. P58-59
Any British attempts to make improvements in Ireland were tainted with the common perception that Dublin Castle was the last bastion of 'diehard Unionist rule', combined with a strong anti-Catholic & anti-Irish bias mixed in with an atmosphere of 'suspicion and espionage'. Tom Kettle, the moderate Home Ruler had described the Castle administration as a 'parasitic bureaucracy...under it's regime, the nation has had as much to say to it's own public policy as a Durbar elecphant has to say to the future of India'
In 1918 when Lord French had become Lord Lieutenant, he was soon complaining of the need for administrative reform of Dublin Castle but nothing was done. By April 1920 when General Sir Nevil Mcready arrived in Ireland as the Commander in Chief of the army in Ireland, he was 'astonished at the chaos that prevailed' at the Castle, with most departments out of touch and effectively imprisoned in the Castle due to threats of and actual assassination. Complaints were made at Cabinet level and in May 1920, an investigating committee of the head of the civil service, Sir Warren Fisher and including the second secretary of the Ministry of Pensions, Alfred 'Andy' Cope, arrived to assess the situation. Their report presented to Cabinet less than a week later was scathing in it's assessment:
Maurice Walsh points out that following the 1916 Rising, 'Lloyd George acknowledged...that the system of government in Ireland had broken down. Endless inquiries had reccomended reforms to the system but nothing was done. The byzantine complexity of it's departments, boards and subdivisions meant that officials were perpetually unsure where authority lay. Treasury official in London regarded the civil servants across the Irish sea as archaic, extravagant, lazy and incompetent...the cumulative combination of dilettante administrators and their distant detractors in London made for a chronic, bureaucratic insensitivity to Irish realities large and small'
Bitter Freedom. Ireland in a revolutionary world 1918-1923. Maurice Walsh.Faber & Faber 2015. P58-59
Any British attempts to make improvements in Ireland were tainted with the common perception that Dublin Castle was the last bastion of 'diehard Unionist rule', combined with a strong anti-Catholic & anti-Irish bias mixed in with an atmosphere of 'suspicion and espionage'. Tom Kettle, the moderate Home Ruler had described the Castle administration as a 'parasitic bureaucracy...under it's regime, the nation has had as much to say to it's own public policy as a Durbar elecphant has to say to the future of India'
In 1918 when Lord French had become Lord Lieutenant, he was soon complaining of the need for administrative reform of Dublin Castle but nothing was done. By April 1920 when General Sir Nevil Mcready arrived in Ireland as the Commander in Chief of the army in Ireland, he was 'astonished at the chaos that prevailed' at the Castle, with most departments out of touch and effectively imprisoned in the Castle due to threats of and actual assassination. Complaints were made at Cabinet level and in May 1920, an investigating committee of the head of the civil service, Sir Warren Fisher and including the second secretary of the Ministry of Pensions, Alfred 'Andy' Cope, arrived to assess the situation. Their report presented to Cabinet less than a week later was scathing in it's assessment:
The Castle administration does not administer...it can never have been good and is now quite obsolete...the government of Ireland strikes one as almost woodenly stupid and quite devoid of imagination. It listens to the ascendancy party...and never seemed to think of the utility of keeping in close touch with opinions of all kinds'
"Activities Wise and Otherwise. The Career of Sir Henry Augustus Robinson 1898-1922'. Brendan O'Donoghue. Irish Academic Press. 2015. p312-313
Once the Chief-Secretary agreed with the findings of the Fisher Report, a high-powered team of ten ulta-efficient British officials was quickly assembled and sent to Dublin in an urgent attempt to reform the Irish administration in Dublin Castle and prevent it's collapse.
"All of them were examples of the new breed of professional administrators who had thrived in the expansion of the state bureaucracy during the war. Young. liberal, pragmatic and convinced that they possessed more knowledge and better judgement than politicians, they mocked the post-war austerity regime being imposed on their colleagues in London, indulging themselves in fine hotels and first-class travel..."
Bitter Freedom. Ireland in a revolutionary world 1918-1923. Maurice Walsh.Faber & Faber 2015. P238-239
This new team arrived in Dublin and started work in Dublin Castle in August 1920.
Sir John Anderson (1882-1958) - joint Under Secretary and effective leader of the British administration in Ireland had been running the British National Insurance scheme and also as Chairman of the Board of Inland Revenue. Hew as to be the last British Under Secretary in Ireland. Perhaps better known for his service in the Cabinet during the Second World War, for which he was nicknamed the "Home Front Prime Minister". He served as Home Secretary, Lord President of the Council and Chancellor of the Exchequer. Anderson shelters are named after him. More information here.
Alfred 'Andy' Cope (1877-1954) - Joint Assistant Under Secretary to Sir John Anderson, formerly a Customs & Excise detective and a senior figure in the Ministry of Pensions. He was to play a pivotal role in negotiations leading eventually to the Anglo-Irish Treaty by meeting secretly with the Sinn Fein leadership. Suspected by British Intelligence of passing classified information to Sinn Fein, his activities were also resented by the military. Within a few months, Cope wielded enormous influence both with the British Cabinet and Sinn Fein leadership. More information here.
Mark Sturgis (1884-1949) - Joint Assistant Under Secretary to Sir John Anderson. An Old-Etonian from an aristocratic background had formerly been a special commissioner for income tax. Better remembered today for his diary which provides a vivid account of the administration's official and other activities until their departure in 1922. Maurice Walsh writes that Sturgis savoured the danger and intrigue attached to his position in Ireland. He frequently took journeys through Ireland using a false name, at lunchtime, practised firing a Colt 45 revolver in Dublin Castle (reputedly the gun owned by Sean Treacy).
More information here.
Geoffrey Whiskard (1877-1954) - Secretary of the Irish Office and career public servant & diplomat. Whiskard entered the Home Office in 1911 and served as an Assistant Secretary to the Chief Secretary for Ireland during the Anglo-Irish war, then in the Colonial Office 1922–25 and in the Dominions Office 1925–35. He was High Commissioner to Australia 1936–41, and Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Works 1941–43 and at the Ministry of Town and Country Planning 1943–46.
Basil Clarke (1884-1949) - Propaganda chief - see section below.
J.P. Fairgreave - under research
Norman Loughnane - Principal in Under Secretary's Office & Greenwood's Press Secretary
L.N. Blake-Odgers - under research
G.N.Crutchley - under research
Alexander P. Waterfield (1888-1965) - took charge of personnel and financial matters. Little is known of Waterfield other than he was a career public servant in the Treasury Department and also was part of the Palestine Partition Committee (1938), a British technical commission established to propose "a detailed" partition scheme for Mandatory Palestine.
Alfred 'Andy' Cope (1877-1954) - Joint Assistant Under Secretary to Sir John Anderson, formerly a Customs & Excise detective and a senior figure in the Ministry of Pensions. He was to play a pivotal role in negotiations leading eventually to the Anglo-Irish Treaty by meeting secretly with the Sinn Fein leadership. Suspected by British Intelligence of passing classified information to Sinn Fein, his activities were also resented by the military. Within a few months, Cope wielded enormous influence both with the British Cabinet and Sinn Fein leadership. More information here.
Mark Sturgis (1884-1949) - Joint Assistant Under Secretary to Sir John Anderson. An Old-Etonian from an aristocratic background had formerly been a special commissioner for income tax. Better remembered today for his diary which provides a vivid account of the administration's official and other activities until their departure in 1922. Maurice Walsh writes that Sturgis savoured the danger and intrigue attached to his position in Ireland. He frequently took journeys through Ireland using a false name, at lunchtime, practised firing a Colt 45 revolver in Dublin Castle (reputedly the gun owned by Sean Treacy).
More information here.
Geoffrey Whiskard (1877-1954) - Secretary of the Irish Office and career public servant & diplomat. Whiskard entered the Home Office in 1911 and served as an Assistant Secretary to the Chief Secretary for Ireland during the Anglo-Irish war, then in the Colonial Office 1922–25 and in the Dominions Office 1925–35. He was High Commissioner to Australia 1936–41, and Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Works 1941–43 and at the Ministry of Town and Country Planning 1943–46.
Basil Clarke (1884-1949) - Propaganda chief - see section below.
J.P. Fairgreave - under research
Norman Loughnane - Principal in Under Secretary's Office & Greenwood's Press Secretary
L.N. Blake-Odgers - under research
G.N.Crutchley - under research
Alexander P. Waterfield (1888-1965) - took charge of personnel and financial matters. Little is known of Waterfield other than he was a career public servant in the Treasury Department and also was part of the Palestine Partition Committee (1938), a British technical commission established to propose "a detailed" partition scheme for Mandatory Palestine.
above: British Administration in Ireland c. August 1920.
Standing, from left: Basil Clarke, G.N.Crutchley, L.N. Blake-Odgers, Norman Loughnane, J.P.Fairgreave.
Seated, from left: Geoffrey Whiskard, Alfred 'Andy' Cope, Sir John Anderson and Mark Sturgis.
By October 1920, the British Administration in Dublin Castle were effectively under seige, surrounded by barbed wire, sandbags and patrolled by heavily armed troops. The threat of assassination by the IRA a very real issue.
In this heightened atmosphere, Sturgis chronicled the 'competitive plotting and manoeuvering of his colleagues...joking about persuading the bereaucrats in London that the Crown's representatives lived like monks in a besieged castle. But he never missed an opportunity for hunting or going to the races and far from being bleak and solitary his evenings were often taken up with dinners and dances at the Viceregal Lodge, where the commander of British forces in Ireand, Nevil Macready, would recite 'Gunga Din', Kipling's poem about the travails of the British soldier in India'
Bitter Freedom. Ireland in a revolutionary world 1918-1923. Maurice Walsh.Faber & Faber 2015. P239
During 1920, Anderson did have some success in transforming the British administration - changing the organisation, staffing and operation of the Castle, restoring the primacy of the Chief Secretary and providing coherent and current advice to the Cabinet and Chief Secretary - advice that was not always accepted.
Standing, from left: Basil Clarke, G.N.Crutchley, L.N. Blake-Odgers, Norman Loughnane, J.P.Fairgreave.
Seated, from left: Geoffrey Whiskard, Alfred 'Andy' Cope, Sir John Anderson and Mark Sturgis.
By October 1920, the British Administration in Dublin Castle were effectively under seige, surrounded by barbed wire, sandbags and patrolled by heavily armed troops. The threat of assassination by the IRA a very real issue.
In this heightened atmosphere, Sturgis chronicled the 'competitive plotting and manoeuvering of his colleagues...joking about persuading the bereaucrats in London that the Crown's representatives lived like monks in a besieged castle. But he never missed an opportunity for hunting or going to the races and far from being bleak and solitary his evenings were often taken up with dinners and dances at the Viceregal Lodge, where the commander of British forces in Ireand, Nevil Macready, would recite 'Gunga Din', Kipling's poem about the travails of the British soldier in India'
Bitter Freedom. Ireland in a revolutionary world 1918-1923. Maurice Walsh.Faber & Faber 2015. P239
During 1920, Anderson did have some success in transforming the British administration - changing the organisation, staffing and operation of the Castle, restoring the primacy of the Chief Secretary and providing coherent and current advice to the Cabinet and Chief Secretary - advice that was not always accepted.
Sir Thomas Basil Clarke, KBE (12 August 1879 - 12 December 1947) was an early pioneer of public relations and British government wartime propaganda expert. An Oxford graduate, he taught English at Heidelberg University before joining the Sunday Times and later the Daily Mail where he covered the World War. In 1918, Clarke became director of special intelligence at the Ministry of Reconstruction. After this, he spent a short time as editor of the Sheffield Independent before moving on to director of public information at the Ministry of Health.
August 1920, Clarke moved to Ireland to head the British government's propaganda unit, the Public Information Department in Dublin Castle. Clarke worked closely with the head of Special Branch in London, Basil Thomson. In Dublin the propaganda apparatus pumped out a mix of false or deliberately misleading stories. 'Propaganda by news' was how they described it. The key quality that it must have, according to Basil Clarke who was in charge of the operation, was 'verisimilitude' - having the air of truth. According to his own account the routine 'issue of news gives us a hold over the press'. At the twice-daily press briefing at Dublin Castle, journalists 'take our version of the facts' and they believe all I tell them', wrote Clarke. The service 'must look true and it must look complete and candid or its "credit" is gone'. The policy, therefore was to disseminate half truths which gave the appearance of truth. As Major Street, another of the propagandists (Irish Office in London) noted: 'in order that it may be rendered capable of being swallowed', propaganda 'must be dissolved in some fluid which the patient will readily assimilate'."
Clarke produced in late August 1920, the first issue of a 'Survey of the Weeks Activities', aimed specifically at countering the impact of the Republican 'Irish Bulletin'. The archives reveal that the work of the Department was meticulously organised, with a card index system containing possible headlines, themes and outlines of anti-Republican articles. The cards did not contain any sources for the articles, no actual documentary evidence that any of the stories were grounded in fact.
Clarke was described as a 'consummate wordsmith' who pioneered the presentation of propaganda as 'News', rather than as 'Views'. Drawing on his experience as both war and political propagandist he developed the Department by ensuring that journalists became reliant on Dublin Castle as a source of news. Twenty or more journalists visited Dublin Castle daily, to be fed the 'official' news. These journalists became dependent on this source of news and they received subtly worded material, which had the appearance of truth. Special 'leaks' of papers and photographs were arranged. Great emphasis was placed on labelling the Dublin Castle sourced news as 'official', which gave it the illusion of being authoritative and truthful.
Under Basil Clarke worked three members of the Auxiliary Division; Menzies, Dowdall and Vignoles.D.I. Menzies was responsible for collecting news from the RIC and Auxiliary Division, he reported directly to Clarke. D.I. Menzies. Dowdall and Vignoles reported to Menzies. One of the first officials to leave Dublin Castle on the signing of the Anglo-Irish Agreement in 1921, Clarke left the Government service later that year and set up one of the first PR agencies, Editorial Services, in 1924.By the end of the 1920s he was running a significant operation with 60 staffers. The same year he was associated with "the setting up of ‘National Propaganda’, later to become ‘The Economic League’.
Knighted in 1923, he was later to become a speech writer for King George V and was credited with making pasteurised milk acceptable in England. He also campaigned for legislation to have imported skimmed milk marked "unfit for babies." and instigated legislation to stop the use of harmful colouring and adulterants in preserved foods.
More information here.
August 1920, Clarke moved to Ireland to head the British government's propaganda unit, the Public Information Department in Dublin Castle. Clarke worked closely with the head of Special Branch in London, Basil Thomson. In Dublin the propaganda apparatus pumped out a mix of false or deliberately misleading stories. 'Propaganda by news' was how they described it. The key quality that it must have, according to Basil Clarke who was in charge of the operation, was 'verisimilitude' - having the air of truth. According to his own account the routine 'issue of news gives us a hold over the press'. At the twice-daily press briefing at Dublin Castle, journalists 'take our version of the facts' and they believe all I tell them', wrote Clarke. The service 'must look true and it must look complete and candid or its "credit" is gone'. The policy, therefore was to disseminate half truths which gave the appearance of truth. As Major Street, another of the propagandists (Irish Office in London) noted: 'in order that it may be rendered capable of being swallowed', propaganda 'must be dissolved in some fluid which the patient will readily assimilate'."
Clarke produced in late August 1920, the first issue of a 'Survey of the Weeks Activities', aimed specifically at countering the impact of the Republican 'Irish Bulletin'. The archives reveal that the work of the Department was meticulously organised, with a card index system containing possible headlines, themes and outlines of anti-Republican articles. The cards did not contain any sources for the articles, no actual documentary evidence that any of the stories were grounded in fact.
Clarke was described as a 'consummate wordsmith' who pioneered the presentation of propaganda as 'News', rather than as 'Views'. Drawing on his experience as both war and political propagandist he developed the Department by ensuring that journalists became reliant on Dublin Castle as a source of news. Twenty or more journalists visited Dublin Castle daily, to be fed the 'official' news. These journalists became dependent on this source of news and they received subtly worded material, which had the appearance of truth. Special 'leaks' of papers and photographs were arranged. Great emphasis was placed on labelling the Dublin Castle sourced news as 'official', which gave it the illusion of being authoritative and truthful.
Under Basil Clarke worked three members of the Auxiliary Division; Menzies, Dowdall and Vignoles.D.I. Menzies was responsible for collecting news from the RIC and Auxiliary Division, he reported directly to Clarke. D.I. Menzies. Dowdall and Vignoles reported to Menzies. One of the first officials to leave Dublin Castle on the signing of the Anglo-Irish Agreement in 1921, Clarke left the Government service later that year and set up one of the first PR agencies, Editorial Services, in 1924.By the end of the 1920s he was running a significant operation with 60 staffers. The same year he was associated with "the setting up of ‘National Propaganda’, later to become ‘The Economic League’.
Knighted in 1923, he was later to become a speech writer for King George V and was credited with making pasteurised milk acceptable in England. He also campaigned for legislation to have imported skimmed milk marked "unfit for babies." and instigated legislation to stop the use of harmful colouring and adulterants in preserved foods.
More information here.
A superb historical site www.bloodysunday.co.uk outlines the British Administration, Intelligence and Propaganda operations in Ireland 1920-21. Many primary source documents are available along with an analysis of British Agents operating in Ireland prior to the Bloody Sunday operations of November 1920 which is also covered in meticulous detail.
British Intelligence Organisation in Ireland - here
British Propaganda in Dublin Castle - here
British Intelligence Organisation in Ireland - here
British Propaganda in Dublin Castle - here
2
Liam de Roiste recorded in his dairy:
"Diarmuid Lynch is resigning as representative of S.E.Cork in Dail Eireann. Letter in papers today. National Secretary of ‘Friends of Irish Freedom’ in US..has mostly argued with those who do not view things as De Valera does. He does not wish the American controversy to come into his constituency..’
Lynch Family Archives – Folder 3
The Cork Examiner reproduced a critical article written by McCartan in the Philadelphia Irish Press.
'Great things could have been accomplished if the machinery of the FOIF had been used for the purpose for which it was intended'. The same issue of the Cork Examiner underlined the contrast between the political infighting among the opponents in the US with the life and death struggle in Ireland and published reports of the catastrophic breakdown of law and order in the latter."
Eileen McGough.'Diarmuid Lynch: A Forgotten Irish Patriot'. Mercier Press 2013. p138
Collins wrote to Harry Boland 'There always seems to be something depressing coming from the USA'
Eileen McGough.'Diarmuid Lynch: A Forgotten Irish Patriot'. Mercier Press 2013. p138
James McMahon, one of the Dublin Castle under-secretaries reported that Cardinal Logue had ‘assured me confidentially that if a firm offer, not a promise or Bill that might be revoked or reduced, is made by the Government, the Bishops would unanimously accept and support it’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P217
The day before the Restoration of Order (Ireland) Bill was published, a bulletin was issued by Sinn Fein HQ in Dublin, signed by the Executive:
‘Recognising that every man of Irish birth should get a chance of becoming a loyal citizen of the Irish Republic and to earn an honest living in Ireland, and that those Irishmen, who are so unfortunate as to be at present engaged in doing the work of the enemy in Ireland as members of the Royal Irish Constabulary, and that many of those men joined without any clear understanding of what they were doing, we desire it now to be understood that those who should now resign will not be regarded as enemies of Ireland, and will be granted every opportunity of making up for the past, and every effort will be made by Sinn Fein to obtain employment for them. Financial assistance will be provided in cases of special hardship. Furthermore, to show that Sinn Fein is prepared to give credit for honest intention on the part of those who resign, if employment is unavailable and emigration unavoidable the Irish organisations in the United States of America will willingly help those men to secure employment as soon as they land in America.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 11 September 11, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Edward Saunderson resigned as Lord French’s private secretary. The son of the influential Ulster Unionist, Colonel Edward James Saunderson* , he was reputed to have had a strong influence on the Lord Lieutenant.
* Col. Edward James Saunderson (1837-1906) a wealthy conservative Unionist from Fermanagh and voiceferous anti-Home Rule. Became the Deputy Grand Master of the Orange Order in 1886 and one of the first proponents of loyalist force through warnings to co-religioinists that they must be prepared to resist Home Rule and to use physical force if necessary. By 1888 he was the recognised head of the parliamentary Unionists, a leading member of the Ulster Loyalist Anti-Repeal Union and the Irish Unionist Allicance. He rejected invitations to sit on the Reccess Committee in 1895 and the Land Conference in 1902 but was a member of the All Ireland Committee in 1897. His son Edward Aremberg Saunderson was equally a fundamentalist Unionist and bigot and had much to do with the anti-Catholic, reactionary character of the French-Macpherson era of Irish Administration.
Sturgis’s diaries hold a surprise on this resignation. ‘Eddie Saunderson resigned this morning. No he didn’t. Old man French sacked him – we was a most desperate plotter and French found him out. Both rattled at Frank Brooke’s death so it flared up’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p17
Liam de Roiste recorded in his dairy:
"Diarmuid Lynch is resigning as representative of S.E.Cork in Dail Eireann. Letter in papers today. National Secretary of ‘Friends of Irish Freedom’ in US..has mostly argued with those who do not view things as De Valera does. He does not wish the American controversy to come into his constituency..’
Lynch Family Archives – Folder 3
The Cork Examiner reproduced a critical article written by McCartan in the Philadelphia Irish Press.
'Great things could have been accomplished if the machinery of the FOIF had been used for the purpose for which it was intended'. The same issue of the Cork Examiner underlined the contrast between the political infighting among the opponents in the US with the life and death struggle in Ireland and published reports of the catastrophic breakdown of law and order in the latter."
Eileen McGough.'Diarmuid Lynch: A Forgotten Irish Patriot'. Mercier Press 2013. p138
Collins wrote to Harry Boland 'There always seems to be something depressing coming from the USA'
Eileen McGough.'Diarmuid Lynch: A Forgotten Irish Patriot'. Mercier Press 2013. p138
James McMahon, one of the Dublin Castle under-secretaries reported that Cardinal Logue had ‘assured me confidentially that if a firm offer, not a promise or Bill that might be revoked or reduced, is made by the Government, the Bishops would unanimously accept and support it’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P217
The day before the Restoration of Order (Ireland) Bill was published, a bulletin was issued by Sinn Fein HQ in Dublin, signed by the Executive:
‘Recognising that every man of Irish birth should get a chance of becoming a loyal citizen of the Irish Republic and to earn an honest living in Ireland, and that those Irishmen, who are so unfortunate as to be at present engaged in doing the work of the enemy in Ireland as members of the Royal Irish Constabulary, and that many of those men joined without any clear understanding of what they were doing, we desire it now to be understood that those who should now resign will not be regarded as enemies of Ireland, and will be granted every opportunity of making up for the past, and every effort will be made by Sinn Fein to obtain employment for them. Financial assistance will be provided in cases of special hardship. Furthermore, to show that Sinn Fein is prepared to give credit for honest intention on the part of those who resign, if employment is unavailable and emigration unavoidable the Irish organisations in the United States of America will willingly help those men to secure employment as soon as they land in America.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 11 September 11, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Edward Saunderson resigned as Lord French’s private secretary. The son of the influential Ulster Unionist, Colonel Edward James Saunderson* , he was reputed to have had a strong influence on the Lord Lieutenant.
* Col. Edward James Saunderson (1837-1906) a wealthy conservative Unionist from Fermanagh and voiceferous anti-Home Rule. Became the Deputy Grand Master of the Orange Order in 1886 and one of the first proponents of loyalist force through warnings to co-religioinists that they must be prepared to resist Home Rule and to use physical force if necessary. By 1888 he was the recognised head of the parliamentary Unionists, a leading member of the Ulster Loyalist Anti-Repeal Union and the Irish Unionist Allicance. He rejected invitations to sit on the Reccess Committee in 1895 and the Land Conference in 1902 but was a member of the All Ireland Committee in 1897. His son Edward Aremberg Saunderson was equally a fundamentalist Unionist and bigot and had much to do with the anti-Catholic, reactionary character of the French-Macpherson era of Irish Administration.
Sturgis’s diaries hold a surprise on this resignation. ‘Eddie Saunderson resigned this morning. No he didn’t. Old man French sacked him – we was a most desperate plotter and French found him out. Both rattled at Frank Brooke’s death so it flared up’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p17
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The Restoration of Order (Ireland) Bill was published, extending the defence of the realm regulations to allow for the setting up of military courts to try civil and criminal cases in camera but with the proviso that at least one person with some legal qualifications must be included in any military tribunal trying a case which involved the death penalty. It was, in effect little more than yet another coercion bill.
Alfred Cope, Assistant Under-Secretary in Ireland returned from London. According to Mark Sturgis ‘convinced there is practically no chance of peace…if we aren’t to treat we must hit and if we must hit then we must hit damn hard. The Irish aren’t fit to govern themselves, of course they aren’t, but I’m damned if the English are either – or even the Welsh!’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p17
The Irish National Bureau of Information Newsletter commented: ‘England discarded the last pretense of governing Ireland by any other means, or upon any other right than that of naked force…Lloyd George is at this moment mainly concerned with playing a rear guard action startling enough to cover the real magnitude of his defeat. He has announced the Bill as an inauguration of a new policy. It is not that. The English attitude toward Ireland was long ago bankrupt of any scheme which might establish a shadow of it’s authority there.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.6 August 7, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Sir Hamar Greenwood was reported to have ‘recently instructed officers of the Royal Irish Constabulary to arrange for the formation of local ‘protective committees’ and ‘civil guards’ in districts where ‘co-operation with the military and police may be expected’. The Newsletter commented that ‘Co-operation with the English military and police can be expected only in the Orange provinces of Ulster. It is obvious that it is the desire of Dublin Castle to revive an Orange Yeomanry in the suppression of the Republican Volunteer Police.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.6 August 7, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The Restoration of Order in Ireland Act was to change the face of warfare in Ireland by concentrating men and arms into elite units that were to define guerilla warfare. "The Flying Column" came into more widespead existence. These columns numbered around 25 men, all with extensive local knowledge, flexibility and the ability to strike quickly with decision making delegation passed to the unit commanders or simply assumed. Cork achieved most of its successful ambushes while operating largely independently from Dublin. This form of guerilla warfare was to become the preferred modus operandi for all revolutionary groups since 1920, from Latin America to Vietnam to Africa. Each Flying Column had the crucial advantage of surprise, the ability to choose when and where to attack, when to break off and the use of safe houses. Inevitably, attacks were followed by reprisals against the local populace, mainly due to the Government’s failure to define the conflict as a war and the use of police in a military role without a clear code of discipline.
‘A successful ambush involved a major amount of planning and there was often a long wait in appalling conditions in which nerves and physical endurance were tested to the limits. Anxiety no doubt increased by the number of times abortive attacks preceded successes….successful ambushes made a deep impression on the public conciousness….’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p73
Hopkinson argues that ‘a central, if unstated aim of the IRA was to provoke a harsh response and hence to court publicity and international sympathy’.
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p79
The war was about to become more brutal, ruthless and widespread… for both sides.
Litigation by expelled members of the FOIF
Divisions within many branches of the Friends of Irish Freedom were evident when a split developed within the Roger Casement Branch based in Chicago. Six members came out strongly in support of de Valera and condemning the FOIF leadership. The Branch sought to have the six (including Catherine McHugh) expelled and this was completed with formal letters of explusion issued by Lynch as National Secretary.
An early form of Class Action lawsuit against the Friends of Irish Freedom followed as a number of other expelled members from various FOIF Branches joined in requesting injunctions from the New York Supreme Court to 'restrain the [FOIF] National Executive Committee from expelling them' and suing for reinstatement.
Catherine McHugh, a member of the Roger Casement Branch (Chicago), Joseph Martin, President of the Sean McDermott Branch, Jeremiah Maher, a member of the Michael Mallon Branch and Thomas Ryan, a member of the Patrick Sarsfield Branch all claimed that the suits were 'plainly contrary to natural justice, fair play and contrary to the law of the land' and that the actions were taken in 'star chamber proceedings' and 'to expel from the association all members who might question the control which said organisation is exercising over the funds and affairs of the Friends of Irish Freedom. The funds are alleged to be $300,000 or more'.
The NY Times added that Justice Cohalan was not in his chambers, the Treasurer could not be found and that Diarmuid Lynch was in New Haven. Lynch was now nominated to prepare and subsequently deal with the legal preparation for the case.
Below: Newsclippings from Australian press show Lynch's resignation was published in rural newspapers:
4
A deputation of Cork businessmen ‘both Nationalist and Unionist, headed by the industrialist Sir Stanley Harrington, told Lloyd George ...nobody in Southern Ireland (said Mr Richard Beamish, head of the brewing firm Beamish and Crawford) wanted the Home Rule bill presently before Parliament; all were for Dominion Home Rule . The Prime Minister was polite but evasive.’
George Dangerfield “ The Damnable Question - a study in Anglo-Irish relations” Constable, London. 1977. p321
The Nation, the liberal British paper commented ‘The central fact of the present situation in Ireland is that the Irish Republic exists’
Hamar Greenwood stated in the House of Commons that 556 R.I.C constables and 313 magistrates had resigned since June 1920 and many of the remaining members of the R.I.C were demanding to be disarmed citing that since the DMP had stopped carrying arms, they had not been attacked.
The Manchester Guardian in one of it’s series of articles condemning the Coercion Bill said ‘Who would have believed six years ago that, with the experience of a generation behind us, we should be engaged today once more in the futile and degrading task of passing special laws for restricting the elementary liberties and coercing the will of the great body of the Irish people? It is done in the name of law and order, and these are great and sacred things. But the foundation of law lies in the willing support of those in whose interest it is exercised, and order can never be other than precarious and unreal where the mass of people are seething with discontent. As a measure for the assertion of appeasement the new Coercion Bill is obviously futile. As a measure for the assertion of authority it is doubtful whether it will have greater success. ..’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.8 August 21, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The Irish Times carried a strong leader in support of Dominion Home Rule.
Constable Brennan, representative of the Leinster RIC was summoned to Dublin Castle for a disciplinary interview with the Inspector General, Alexander Cope and Mark Stugis. ‘Constable Brennan…has been shooting out phamphlets to the force –2000 men – to the effect that Dominion Home Rule is the only way to save their lives. Cope urged him to cut out politics unsuitable in a policeman or civil servant…the importance of this is slightly lessened by the fact that Leinster is the quietest part – perhaps they are too busy elsewhere, but if it spreads – a bonny job to start Coercion by having to coerce the RIC..’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p17
A deputation of Cork businessmen ‘both Nationalist and Unionist, headed by the industrialist Sir Stanley Harrington, told Lloyd George ...nobody in Southern Ireland (said Mr Richard Beamish, head of the brewing firm Beamish and Crawford) wanted the Home Rule bill presently before Parliament; all were for Dominion Home Rule . The Prime Minister was polite but evasive.’
George Dangerfield “ The Damnable Question - a study in Anglo-Irish relations” Constable, London. 1977. p321
The Nation, the liberal British paper commented ‘The central fact of the present situation in Ireland is that the Irish Republic exists’
Hamar Greenwood stated in the House of Commons that 556 R.I.C constables and 313 magistrates had resigned since June 1920 and many of the remaining members of the R.I.C were demanding to be disarmed citing that since the DMP had stopped carrying arms, they had not been attacked.
The Manchester Guardian in one of it’s series of articles condemning the Coercion Bill said ‘Who would have believed six years ago that, with the experience of a generation behind us, we should be engaged today once more in the futile and degrading task of passing special laws for restricting the elementary liberties and coercing the will of the great body of the Irish people? It is done in the name of law and order, and these are great and sacred things. But the foundation of law lies in the willing support of those in whose interest it is exercised, and order can never be other than precarious and unreal where the mass of people are seething with discontent. As a measure for the assertion of appeasement the new Coercion Bill is obviously futile. As a measure for the assertion of authority it is doubtful whether it will have greater success. ..’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.8 August 21, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The Irish Times carried a strong leader in support of Dominion Home Rule.
Constable Brennan, representative of the Leinster RIC was summoned to Dublin Castle for a disciplinary interview with the Inspector General, Alexander Cope and Mark Stugis. ‘Constable Brennan…has been shooting out phamphlets to the force –2000 men – to the effect that Dominion Home Rule is the only way to save their lives. Cope urged him to cut out politics unsuitable in a policeman or civil servant…the importance of this is slightly lessened by the fact that Leinster is the quietest part – perhaps they are too busy elsewhere, but if it spreads – a bonny job to start Coercion by having to coerce the RIC..’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p17
5
Dublin: At the June 29th secret meeting of the Dail, Count Plunkett, the acting Minster for Foreign Affairs had inserted in the official records of Dial Eireann, a report on the situation in America:
‘this portion of my report would be incomplete if I did not refer to the attitude of Supreme Court Justice Daniel F Cohalan and John Devoy toward President De Valera and his mission. The ministry learns that these two men have never given their whole-hearted support to the President in his campaign. At the very outset they used their utmost endeavour to prevent a launching of the Bond Drive, and they attempted to force the President into the position of accepting their dictation in all matters of policy connected with his mission. The President has definitely refused to allow his judgement or his action to be dictated by these men and the success of his tour and of the Bond Drive are proof of his wisdom in the matter’
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.388-389
Due to delays in getting information from Ireland, the news of these comments in the Dail eventually reached Devoy. He was allegedly livid with the Count and denounced the statement as completely untrue. The following year, this paragraph was formally withdrawn from the Dail record. However the issues in Irish-America were to repeated again at the next meeting of the Dail - August 6th.
Newmarket-on-Fergus, Co. Clare: The IRA attacked the RIC barracks and it was immediately surrendered by Constable Patrick Buckley who then defected to the IRA and was actively involved in Co. Kerry until the Truce. However, at the outbreak of the Civil War, he took the Republican side and was captured in February 1923 and detained by Free State troops at Ballymullen Barracks, Tralee. Following a booby-trap explosion which killed Free State soldiers near Ballyseedy, Buckley and eight others were taken together to the area, tied around a land-mine which was then exploded, killing Buckley and seven others. One survived.
At a special conference of the Miners’ Federation* of Great Britain the following resolution was unanimously adopted: “This conference protests against British military domination in Ireland and condemns the ruthless attacks on the liberty of the Irish people. It demands the immediate withdrawal of troops from Ireland and urges the parliamentary committee of the Trades Union Congress to expedite the calling of a special Trades Union Congress in order that Labor may determine its attitude toward the producing and handling of munitions of war destined for Ireland and Poland.”
* The miners' unions were the largest and most powerful industrial combinations in Britain for decades and exercised a great influence on the rest of the British labour movement. Membership peaked in 1920 when it had more than 945,000 members.
At the Knights of Columbanus convention in New York, adopted the resolution, that ‘…in common with all true Americans, believe that Ireland has the right and ought to be a free and independent nation. The truth is axiomatic and therefore no argument is necessary’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.6 August 7, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Dublin: At the June 29th secret meeting of the Dail, Count Plunkett, the acting Minster for Foreign Affairs had inserted in the official records of Dial Eireann, a report on the situation in America:
‘this portion of my report would be incomplete if I did not refer to the attitude of Supreme Court Justice Daniel F Cohalan and John Devoy toward President De Valera and his mission. The ministry learns that these two men have never given their whole-hearted support to the President in his campaign. At the very outset they used their utmost endeavour to prevent a launching of the Bond Drive, and they attempted to force the President into the position of accepting their dictation in all matters of policy connected with his mission. The President has definitely refused to allow his judgement or his action to be dictated by these men and the success of his tour and of the Bond Drive are proof of his wisdom in the matter’
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.388-389
Due to delays in getting information from Ireland, the news of these comments in the Dail eventually reached Devoy. He was allegedly livid with the Count and denounced the statement as completely untrue. The following year, this paragraph was formally withdrawn from the Dail record. However the issues in Irish-America were to repeated again at the next meeting of the Dail - August 6th.
Newmarket-on-Fergus, Co. Clare: The IRA attacked the RIC barracks and it was immediately surrendered by Constable Patrick Buckley who then defected to the IRA and was actively involved in Co. Kerry until the Truce. However, at the outbreak of the Civil War, he took the Republican side and was captured in February 1923 and detained by Free State troops at Ballymullen Barracks, Tralee. Following a booby-trap explosion which killed Free State soldiers near Ballyseedy, Buckley and eight others were taken together to the area, tied around a land-mine which was then exploded, killing Buckley and seven others. One survived.
At a special conference of the Miners’ Federation* of Great Britain the following resolution was unanimously adopted: “This conference protests against British military domination in Ireland and condemns the ruthless attacks on the liberty of the Irish people. It demands the immediate withdrawal of troops from Ireland and urges the parliamentary committee of the Trades Union Congress to expedite the calling of a special Trades Union Congress in order that Labor may determine its attitude toward the producing and handling of munitions of war destined for Ireland and Poland.”
* The miners' unions were the largest and most powerful industrial combinations in Britain for decades and exercised a great influence on the rest of the British labour movement. Membership peaked in 1920 when it had more than 945,000 members.
At the Knights of Columbanus convention in New York, adopted the resolution, that ‘…in common with all true Americans, believe that Ireland has the right and ought to be a free and independent nation. The truth is axiomatic and therefore no argument is necessary’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.6 August 7, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
6
At the same time as the British cabinet’s Irish Situation Committee met in London, 48 TD’s met secretly in Fleming’s Hotel, Dublin for the 8th Session of Dail Eireann. The main discussion were the Belfast progroms, the resignation of Diarmuid Lynch as TD for South Cork, press reports on peace negotiations and the proposal of a general boycott of all Unionist firms and banks. Ernest Blyth opposed this on the basis that it ‘would destroy for ever the possibility of any union’, instead proposing a specific boycott of specific goods and services, suported by Countess Marckievicz and Desmond Fitzgerald. Including in discussion were various plans for sponsoring alternative employment in Belfast and acceptance of a Griffith motion that any religious tests as a condition of employment or promotion throughout the country would be illegal. This resulted from a fear that Protestant workers in the South would be discriminated against as a result of the Belfast Goods boycott started during the summer.
At the same time as the British cabinet’s Irish Situation Committee met in London, 48 TD’s met secretly in Fleming’s Hotel, Dublin for the 8th Session of Dail Eireann. The main discussion were the Belfast progroms, the resignation of Diarmuid Lynch as TD for South Cork, press reports on peace negotiations and the proposal of a general boycott of all Unionist firms and banks. Ernest Blyth opposed this on the basis that it ‘would destroy for ever the possibility of any union’, instead proposing a specific boycott of specific goods and services, suported by Countess Marckievicz and Desmond Fitzgerald. Including in discussion were various plans for sponsoring alternative employment in Belfast and acceptance of a Griffith motion that any religious tests as a condition of employment or promotion throughout the country would be illegal. This resulted from a fear that Protestant workers in the South would be discriminated against as a result of the Belfast Goods boycott started during the summer.
Proceedings of DAIL EIREANN assembled in Private Session at 9.30 a.m., on Friday, 6th August, 1920
THE DEPUTY SPEAKER read the following letters and cablegram from DIARMUID LYNCH (Cork South East):
(Copy Cablegram). “New York. Have mailed letter Hales transmitting resignation as member Dail Eireann.”
(Signed). “DIARMUID LYNCH.”
(Copy Letter to Speaker).
“A Chara dhil:--
Herewith I enclose copy of my letter of this date addressed to the people of South-East Cork, from which you will note that I have resigned as Teactaire Dail Eireann for that constituency. The reasons which impelled me to that course are stated therein.
Irrespective of other aspects of the case, I am happy to feel that this action on my part will afford the Government of the Irish Republic a fresh opportunity of functioning as such in the matter of conducting the election of my successor to An Dail Eireann.
Please convey my congratulations to my old comrades on their progress in defeating the usurping English Government in Ireland, and my best wishes for your continued and complete success.
Long live the Irish Republic!
With kindest personal regards.
(Signed), “DIARMUID LYNCH.”
(Copy Letter to People of South-East Cork).
“A Chairde:--
The honour which you conferred on me in my absence from Ireland by electing me, unopposed, as your Representative to Dail Eireann at the General Election, December, 1918, is one which I shall ever gratefully remember. In being thus honoured by the citizens of my native district, without solicitation or desire for office on my part, I have reason to feel a pardonable pride.
While fully appreciating the confidence which you have reposed in me, I realised at the time of my election that the English Government having deported me from Ireland through the exercise of its naval and military power, it would prevent my return thereto until such time as the Irish Republic secured its due recognition.
In full knowledge of how important it was that the representative for South-East Cork should be on the spot in Ireland to attend to the affairs of the Constituency and of the Nation, I seriously considered resigning at that time the position of Teactaire but concluded that my resignation then would have been an embarrassment inasmuch as the Dail had not yet perfected laws governing such elections.
Differences have arisen since July, 1919, between President de Valera and members of Dail Eireann now in the United States on the one hand, and the recognised leaders of the movement here on the other, as to the proper conduct of the campaign in America for the recognition of the Irish Republic. My judgment in this matter, based as it has been upon an intimate knowledge of conditions in America, was generally in agreement with the American Leaders. This circumstance has governed my actions as National Secretary of the Friends of Irish Freedom, and has furthered my determination to immediately tender my resignation as a member of Dail Eireann. The only consideration which deterred me from giving effect to that determination was that my action might have been misconstrued by the enemies of the Irish Republic, and heralded as a break in that splendid unity which has marked the progress of the Republican Government in Ireland.
Now, however, it has become evident from letters apparently written by officials of the Irish Republican Government at present in America, captured by the English Government on the person of a man named Barry and published in the Boston, Philadelphia and Chicago papers, that my resignation may at this time be properly offered without adding to the risk of such misconstruction.
I decline to permit my actions here or the actions of those men who have consistently worked for a generation in America for the establishment in Ireland of a form of government similar to that which prevails in these United States, from being made the subject of controversy and possible dissension in my Constituency. Without acquaintance with conditions in America, you, my friends, cannot possibly understand the American attitude, nor, in particular, the position of those who through the years have borne the brunt of the fight here. It would not be fair to ask you to express an opinion on the merits of the controversy which now diverts the attention of the supporters of the Irish Republic in this country, and it would be unwise to inject it into South-East Cork.
The foregoing reasons impel me to hereby resign my position as Teactaire Dail Eireann representing the Constituency of South-East Cork. I am forwarding a duplicate of this resignation to the Speaker of An Dail Eireann.
In thus definitely severing my official connection with you I desire once more to tender to all my old constituents my sincere thanks for the very great honour conferred on me in my election as your Representative to the first Congress of the Irish Republic, and I beg to assure you of my continued interest in your welfare and in the cause of the entire Irish Nation.
No matter what vicissitudes the future may have in store for me, I shall always cherish with pride the part which I had the honour to fulfil in the councils of those who made ‘Easter Week’ possible and solidified the foundations of the Irish Republic. It is permissible for me now to speak with a certain amount of freedom in these matters, and it may interest you to learn that during those eventful years prior to ‘Easter Week’ I was one of the selected few in whose hands lay the destiny of the Irish Republic; that my unalterable belief in the necessity of re-baptizing the ideals of Emmet, Tone and Mitchell in the blood of men strong in the faith of Irish Republicanism in order to preserve the National Soul of Ireland, guided me to the right course of action; that my voice and influence were invariably in favour of the Irish Nation reasserting itself in arms before the existing favourable opportunity had passed. Results have justified my judgment and I am happy in this knowledge.
I now feel more free to continue my efforts here for the recognition of the Irish Republic on lines which long and practical experience in America have shown me to be for the best interests of the Irish Cause.
I pray God to preserve the unity and magnificent courage of those who in Ireland are battling against the brutal militarism of England; may He give light to those citizens of the Irish Republic who are as yet irresponsive to the Proclamation of ‘Easter Week’ that ‘The Republic guarantees religious and civil liberty, equal rights, and equal opportunities to all its citizens, and declares its resolve to pursue the happiness and prosperity of the whole nation and of all its parts, cherishing all the children of the nation equally, and oblivious of the differences carefully fostered by an alien government which have divided a minority from a majority in the past.’
With renewed assurance of my esteem and my interest in your welfare, and a special word of grateful remembrance to those splendid comrades in South-East Cork who in less enlightened days stood unflinchingly for the principle of Irish Republicanism.
Is mise, le meas mor,
(Signed), Diarmuid Lynch.
The ACTING-PRESIDENT observed that as the letter of resignation was addressed to the people of South-East Cork, the next step in the matter lay with the South-East Cork Executive of Sinn Fein. The Dail, of course, would accept the resignation. Personally he was very sorry, but they had no alternative. From advices received from the United States he understood that the friction was for all effective purposes at an end, as 99 per cent. of the people there had rallied to Mr. de Valera.
The ASSOCIATE SECRETARY FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS (COUNT PLUNKETT) in the course of an oral statement, dwelt on the nature of the recent dispute between certain people in America and the President. These people thought that they in America had a right to dictate the policy of the Republic. The President naturally held a different view. The Irish Cause could not be used as a lever by any particular parties or politicians in America. The trouble was now practically over. The President was sure of his ground, and the greater volume of Irish opinion in the United States had rallied to his support.
In Italy Mr. Hales was continuing his work. Mr. Gavan Duffy was still at Paris, and for some time Mr. Sean T. O'Kelly had been successfully combatting English intrigues in Rome. Slow progress was being made in the organisation of relations between the Republic and Austria and Germany. The manufactures which Ireland might be able to get from these countries were treated by England as “key” industries and therefore could not be imported into Ireland.
P. O MAILLE (Connemara) asked (1) What likelihood there was of Mr. O'Kelly's returning to take up his duties as Secretary of the Gaelie League? and (2) If the letter of resignation of Mr. Diarmuid Lynch had been received by the Dáil?
The DEPUTY SPEAKER, replying to the second query, said that it was clear that copies of the letter had been supplied to the Dublin Press. Two copies had also been sent to himself. Mr. Lynch's letter had been read to the House that morning before the member for Connemara arrived.
The ACTING-PRESIDENT, replying to the first query, said that Mr. O'Kelly was ill at present, and had been ordered to take a few months' rest. He did not think that he would be home for some time as he was still required at Rome. Of course if his health did not improve he would very likely have to come home.
Liam de Roiste later recorded in his diary:
" D. Lynch’s letter of resignation accepted."
Lynch Family Archives – Folder 3
Sean MacEntee introduced a motion supporting a ban on financial and trade dealings with Unionist companies, initially only in Belfast. This was supported on a limited basis and by the end of 1920, a general policy was implemented. Collins was later to comment that the tactic would serve to only harden partitionist attitudes and simply reinforced the strong business attachments to British markets and stoked Unionist antagonism to the revolutionary Government.
Devlin was suspended from the House of Commons.
Dublin Castle’s Law Advisor, Wylie concerned about the Coercion Bill, sent his resignation to the Attorney General.
Perhaps somewhat encouraged by the growing levels of support, De Valera wrote to the new President of the Friends of Irish Freedom, Bishop Gallagher of Detroit, outlining his views that a radical reorganisation was ‘necessary to democratise the system of control’. The State Councils should have ‘real power and regularly function as the supreme authority except in regard to such matters as might be explicitly reserved for the National Council by the constitution’. De Valera also urged the holding of another ‘Race Convention at some central point such as Chicago before the end of the fall’
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.387
De Valera also wrote to Lynch on the matter:
Office of the President
Munsey Building Washington D.C. August 6th, 1920 A Chara; When the first public symptoms of the disease which is now threatening to disrupt the Friends of Irish Freedom organisation made their appearance, I wrote asking as you will remember that a special meeting of the National Council be called. I now repeat my request. I would urge that a central point, like Chicago, be chosen where the members of the Council who reside in the middle and far West can attend. I enclose you copy of a letter which I have just written to your National President. Le meas mor, Eamon de Valera it's interesting to note, as McGough points out (p139), that a meeting in Chicago would be a tactical victory for de Valera, as most of the support for officers of the FOIF was in New York. |
De Valera was reputed to believe in the policy of ‘Rule or Ruin’ and this became apparent now in relation to the Friends of Irish Freedom. After receipt of the letter, the Bishop was concerned to clear up difficulties that existed between Judge Cohalan, John Devoy and De Valera and so held a conference with De Valera accompanied by Judge Hally. As Tansill describes:
‘the conference had hardly begun before De Valera suggested that Bishop Gallagher resign, because he was ‘merely another retrenchment thrown up to retard his [ De Valera’s ] triumphant advance and cover the retreat of the Cohalanites while they took up new positions’. When the 4 hours conference was over, Judge Hally remarked: ‘I’m sorry I came; I'm disillusioned; I thought the President of Ireland was a bigger man. His idea of harmony reminds me of Li Hung Chang’s who said the harmony he best loved to hear was the ring of the headsman’s axe on the neck of his opponents’
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.387
The Friends of Irish Freedom, as part of a later circular on the debacle with De Valera, printed the following statement from Bishop Gallagher:
‘the conference had hardly begun before De Valera suggested that Bishop Gallagher resign, because he was ‘merely another retrenchment thrown up to retard his [ De Valera’s ] triumphant advance and cover the retreat of the Cohalanites while they took up new positions’. When the 4 hours conference was over, Judge Hally remarked: ‘I’m sorry I came; I'm disillusioned; I thought the President of Ireland was a bigger man. His idea of harmony reminds me of Li Hung Chang’s who said the harmony he best loved to hear was the ring of the headsman’s axe on the neck of his opponents’
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.387
The Friends of Irish Freedom, as part of a later circular on the debacle with De Valera, printed the following statement from Bishop Gallagher:
Needless to add, Bishop Gallagher did not approve the holding of another Race Convention ‘before the end of the fall’ or for a lengthy list of amendments that were being proposed by McCartan/McGarrity/Maloney.
Sinn Fein continued to be a role model for organisations such as UNIA (Universal Negro Improvement Association ): “ In another interview conducted in August 1920 by Charles Mowbray White, W. E. B. Du Bois revealed his belief that Garvey and his followers were "allied with the Bolsheviks and the Sinn Feiners in their world revolution. . . . "
Robert A Hill. “The Marcus Garvey and UNIA Papers Project “ UCLA ( Via Internet Site June 1997 )
The Platsburgh [New York ] Daily Press commenting on the Irish Coercion Bill : ‘The new Irish Crimes Bill which, it is said, will be railroaded through the British House of Commons this week and become law by Saturday, is aimed avowedly at the utter extermination of republican government in Ireland….the probable desire and intention is to force Sinn Fein to a show-down, to drive the Republicans to a decision to take the open field where they can be anihilated by the artillery of the well-equipped armies of occupation. These tactics have been eminently succesful in Ireland in the past, but it is doubtful if they will have the desired effect under present conditions. Sinn Fein has shown itself so resourceful and elusive an enemy, competent and effective in it's undertakings, that it does not seem possible that it should walk into the British trap.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.6 August 7, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
7
Harry Boland had written a bitter letter to John Devoy on the journalistic stance taken by the Gaelic American and Devoy replied:
‘The last sentence in your letter in which you say of the Gaelic American ...that ‘more scandal is poured into people’s ears in one day than there is in any other institution that I know in the world’ is very mean and wholly untrue. It is part of the fake case you are trying to build against us to justify the hostile action that you have been taking in an underhand way for more than a year and which you propose to supplement and complete by an attempt to destroy us. It is you and your colleagues who have been pouring scandal and falsehood into people’s ears all over the United States and Ireland.’
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.388
Later that day, John Devoy in a letter to Judge Cohalan, assessed that the immediate threat to Clan na Gael and the Friends of Irish Freedom had passed but that there were dark days still ahead. It appears that he, Judge Cohalan, Diarmuid Lynch and Daniel O’Connell in Washington had ‘upset the grand scheme of De Valera and his followers to make Walsh President [of the Friends of Irish Freedom] and have him call a convention in which they would try to swamp us with their salaried officials of the Commission. We are not yet out of the woods but we have the best of it’.
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.388
Lynch also wrote to Judge Cohalan:
Harry Boland had written a bitter letter to John Devoy on the journalistic stance taken by the Gaelic American and Devoy replied:
‘The last sentence in your letter in which you say of the Gaelic American ...that ‘more scandal is poured into people’s ears in one day than there is in any other institution that I know in the world’ is very mean and wholly untrue. It is part of the fake case you are trying to build against us to justify the hostile action that you have been taking in an underhand way for more than a year and which you propose to supplement and complete by an attempt to destroy us. It is you and your colleagues who have been pouring scandal and falsehood into people’s ears all over the United States and Ireland.’
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.388
Later that day, John Devoy in a letter to Judge Cohalan, assessed that the immediate threat to Clan na Gael and the Friends of Irish Freedom had passed but that there were dark days still ahead. It appears that he, Judge Cohalan, Diarmuid Lynch and Daniel O’Connell in Washington had ‘upset the grand scheme of De Valera and his followers to make Walsh President [of the Friends of Irish Freedom] and have him call a convention in which they would try to swamp us with their salaried officials of the Commission. We are not yet out of the woods but we have the best of it’.
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.388
Lynch also wrote to Judge Cohalan:
transcript:
Aug.7.20
McHugh (1) phoned this a.m. from Detroit: The Bishop (2) urges that everything possible be done to prevent the I.W. and I. Press (3) from confirming attack on him this coming week. That if they do confirm, he will have 'outlived his usefulness'.
He (G) desires Ginnell (4) to call on him in New York and I am to call on him this p.m. (it so happened that Mrs Ginnell phoned me too asking me to join them to lunch at the [name unknown].
It is doubtful if Ginnell can go to Detroit but I will urge same as strongly as possible.
Dick (5) argues that J.D. (6) does not reply to the I.W. (7) attacks or any other attacks, this coming week.
It is very difficult for him to refrain from denying the statement re 10,000 copies (8) going to Ireland with connivance of Br. Govh. (9)
He insists on doing so, as failure would be misrepresented. I agree with the latter & really feel more harm than good would result from his silence. I put the other point of view before him however & suggested that he write as little as possible along his own proposed line of action. So that if at the last moment he should decide to cut it out, he would not be much inconvienced thereby.
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5) Richard 'Dick' D'Alton
(6) John Devoy
(7) Irish World Newspaper
(8) This refers to Devoy's intention to refute Count Plunkett's Dail statement on affairs in the United States by sending 10,000 copies of the Gaelic American newspaper containing the allegations and his reply.
(9)
The Philadelphia branch of Cumman na mBan pledged support for de Valera and 'pointedly instructed 'copies of this pledge be sent to the National Secretary of the FOIF'.
Eileen McGough.'Diarmuid Lynch: A Forgotten Irish Patriot'. Mercier Press 2013. p139
The Irish Chief Secretary told the Commons that since the beginning of May, 315 magistrates and 566 members of the RIC had resigned. He also added that 816 new recruits had joined the RIC (but omitted the fact that they had been recruited in Britain. These new recruits were to become the nucelus of the Black & Tans)
Back in Dublin, the days of the administration’s personnel living ‘amongst the natives’ came to an end when a Castle memorandum concluded ‘that the lives of these men will henceforth no longer be safe’ and two days later were ordered into the relative safety of the Castle compound.
Irish Attorney General requested Wylie not to resign however he re-sent it undated to Hammar Greenwood so it could be acted upon should the Coercion Bill be implemented in full.
Constable Ernest Watkins (29) died in an ambush near Kildorrery, Co Cork. Recruited in Britain, he had two months service with the RIC.
A British resident magistrate at New Ross, County Wexford, is the latest unbiased observer to publicly pay tribute to the work of the Irish Republican courts. “Wherever one’s sympathies may be,” he is reported as saying, “one realizes that so far as these courts are concerned their object has been almost consistently to show that they are intended to do justice and to insist that what ever disturbances there may be for political reasons they shall not be a cloak for irresponsible lawlessness among the people themselves.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.6 August 7, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
"Sir Hamar Greenwood has gone even further in his effort to prevent the Republican government from maintaining law and order. He is reported as having recently instructed officers of the Royal Irish Constabulary to arrange for the formation of local “protective committees” and “civil guards” in districts “where co-operation with the military and police may be expected”. It is already well-known, though guardedly admitted, that the armed Carsonite bands of Ulster have enjoyed the more or less complete recognition of the Irish Executive. Dublin Castle has recently repudiated the phrase “civilian guard” used in an official report of the English Government, to describe a body of armed Carsonites, but Sir Hamar’s latest instructions to his police officers leave little doubt as to the essential fact. Co-operation with the English military and police can be expected only in the Orange provinces of Ulster. It is obvious that it is the desire of Dublin Castle to revive an Orange Yeomanry to assist in the suppression of the Republican Volunteer Police."
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.6 August 7, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Robert Lynd, writing to the London Daily News of the development of the Republican Government in Ireland commented: “Sinn Fein law has a sanction behind it such as no other law in Ireland has had for generations. One hears that it has put the fear of God into the criminal class. The courts are stern to those who slight them... Sinn Fein in its judicial way, however, is not always allowed to work unimpeded, even when it has taken steps to stamp out crime. The Volunteers in a Connaught town, some time ago, arrested a notorious highwayman. They, in turn, were arrested, under British law. The highwayman has left the neighborhood, otherwise unpunished.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.6 August 7, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The Dublin Chamber of Commerce at a special meeting passed resolutions ending as follows:
“The Council of the Dublin Chamber of Commerce views with serious concern the present condition of Ireland, which gravely imperils all industrial and commercial interests. It is obvious that peace and contentment can only be secured by a change in the form of the government of Ireland, and as the present Bill, which has for its object the better government
of Ireland does not meet with the approval of any section, it should be withdawn.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.10 Sep 4, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Eileen McGough.'Diarmuid Lynch: A Forgotten Irish Patriot'. Mercier Press 2013. p139
The Irish Chief Secretary told the Commons that since the beginning of May, 315 magistrates and 566 members of the RIC had resigned. He also added that 816 new recruits had joined the RIC (but omitted the fact that they had been recruited in Britain. These new recruits were to become the nucelus of the Black & Tans)
Back in Dublin, the days of the administration’s personnel living ‘amongst the natives’ came to an end when a Castle memorandum concluded ‘that the lives of these men will henceforth no longer be safe’ and two days later were ordered into the relative safety of the Castle compound.
Irish Attorney General requested Wylie not to resign however he re-sent it undated to Hammar Greenwood so it could be acted upon should the Coercion Bill be implemented in full.
Constable Ernest Watkins (29) died in an ambush near Kildorrery, Co Cork. Recruited in Britain, he had two months service with the RIC.
A British resident magistrate at New Ross, County Wexford, is the latest unbiased observer to publicly pay tribute to the work of the Irish Republican courts. “Wherever one’s sympathies may be,” he is reported as saying, “one realizes that so far as these courts are concerned their object has been almost consistently to show that they are intended to do justice and to insist that what ever disturbances there may be for political reasons they shall not be a cloak for irresponsible lawlessness among the people themselves.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.6 August 7, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
"Sir Hamar Greenwood has gone even further in his effort to prevent the Republican government from maintaining law and order. He is reported as having recently instructed officers of the Royal Irish Constabulary to arrange for the formation of local “protective committees” and “civil guards” in districts “where co-operation with the military and police may be expected”. It is already well-known, though guardedly admitted, that the armed Carsonite bands of Ulster have enjoyed the more or less complete recognition of the Irish Executive. Dublin Castle has recently repudiated the phrase “civilian guard” used in an official report of the English Government, to describe a body of armed Carsonites, but Sir Hamar’s latest instructions to his police officers leave little doubt as to the essential fact. Co-operation with the English military and police can be expected only in the Orange provinces of Ulster. It is obvious that it is the desire of Dublin Castle to revive an Orange Yeomanry to assist in the suppression of the Republican Volunteer Police."
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.6 August 7, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Robert Lynd, writing to the London Daily News of the development of the Republican Government in Ireland commented: “Sinn Fein law has a sanction behind it such as no other law in Ireland has had for generations. One hears that it has put the fear of God into the criminal class. The courts are stern to those who slight them... Sinn Fein in its judicial way, however, is not always allowed to work unimpeded, even when it has taken steps to stamp out crime. The Volunteers in a Connaught town, some time ago, arrested a notorious highwayman. They, in turn, were arrested, under British law. The highwayman has left the neighborhood, otherwise unpunished.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.6 August 7, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The Dublin Chamber of Commerce at a special meeting passed resolutions ending as follows:
“The Council of the Dublin Chamber of Commerce views with serious concern the present condition of Ireland, which gravely imperils all industrial and commercial interests. It is obvious that peace and contentment can only be secured by a change in the form of the government of Ireland, and as the present Bill, which has for its object the better government
of Ireland does not meet with the approval of any section, it should be withdawn.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.10 Sep 4, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
8
Dr Mannix, the Irish born Archbishop of Melbourne was arrested aboard the Baltic, five miles outside of Cobh, and transferred to a British destroyer and landed in Penzance, Cornwall. There he was served with a barring order for Ireland, Manchester, Glasgow and Liverpool preventing his addressing publicised meetings.
The Irish hierachy protested his exclusion, but as Michael Collins commented, it was ‘a rather colourless statement’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revolotionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-1922’. P175
Over the next 10 months, Mannix capitalised on the extensive publicity the dramatic arrest at sea and subsequent barring orders provided. Mannix conducted a campaign of support for Irish Independence from Britain addressing numerous torchlit gatherings throughout England and Scotland. Lord French’s sister, Mrs Charlotte Despard* spoke at one such protest meeting in Trafalgar Square.
* Mrs Charlotte Despard nee French ( 1844-1939 ) was the elder sister of Lord French. A nonconformist from early years, she espoused radical causes and was a noted sufragette. Her career in Ireland was controversial, dividing her time between Belfast and Dublin and her socialism made her suspect to both sides of the divide. During the Lock Out of 1913, she devoted her time and money to the welfare of hungry children – becoming popularly known as ‘Mrs Desperate’. Disowned by her brother Lord French, despite having expending some of her personal fortune in paying off his debts. He later refused to see her when he was dying (1925). Disillusioned by the Treaty, she moved to Belfast and left her home to Maud Gonne MacBride. There she supported Sean Murray and the Communist Party in their efforts to unite Catholic and Protestant workers.
The Manchester Guardian commented on the results of the encounter between the British Navy and the Archbishop, saying that the British Government ‘has furnished Nationalist Ireland with an eminent martyr, has angered many English Catholics, has roused new anti-English feeling among Irishmen in England, and has ensured the widest publicity for the jests of corrosive wit which Dr. Mannix occasionally emits at the expense of Mr. Lloyd George, the Navy and other British institutions – a form of artillery practice, in which he must sorrowfully be admitted to be a proficient’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 11 September 11, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The Friends of Irish Freedom newsletter in a rare example of humour commented that the Archbishop had ‘the British Cabinet in the same fix that confronted the farmer’s boy who grabbed a wildcat:
‘Pop’ yelled the farmer’s boy ‘I’ve caught a wildcat’
‘Well let him go’
‘I can't’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No9 August 28, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The New York longshoremen threatened that work on all British ships would be tied up in protest against the Government’s action against Archbishop Mannix.
Meanwhile in Dublin, the Irish Volunteers raided the Rotunda and took some bags of official mail. The Freeman’s Journal (Dublin) relates the following Sinn Fein censorship incident: “It is stated that some of the letters taken in the raid from the Rotunda on Thursday morning have reached their destination. On Saturday morning his Excellency the Lord Lieutenant received, at the Viceregal Lodge, a number of official documents and some private correspondence which in the ordinary course of events should have been delivered at the Lodge on Thursday morning. They had been opened and re-closed, but across the top of each envelope was a blue rubber stamp mark which read: “Opened and Censored by the Irish Republic.” His Excellency’s secretary, on being questioned by an *Evening Mail” representative, confirmed the statement, and added, “Unfortunately it is too true.” There was no information forthcoming as to the manner in which the correspondence was delivered at the Lodge, but the same gentlemen, when questioned on the subject, said “he did not know, but he supposed it was by the Post Office.” They were presumably dropped into some letter-box on Friday evening.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.8 Aug 21, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Dr Mannix, the Irish born Archbishop of Melbourne was arrested aboard the Baltic, five miles outside of Cobh, and transferred to a British destroyer and landed in Penzance, Cornwall. There he was served with a barring order for Ireland, Manchester, Glasgow and Liverpool preventing his addressing publicised meetings.
The Irish hierachy protested his exclusion, but as Michael Collins commented, it was ‘a rather colourless statement’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revolotionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-1922’. P175
Over the next 10 months, Mannix capitalised on the extensive publicity the dramatic arrest at sea and subsequent barring orders provided. Mannix conducted a campaign of support for Irish Independence from Britain addressing numerous torchlit gatherings throughout England and Scotland. Lord French’s sister, Mrs Charlotte Despard* spoke at one such protest meeting in Trafalgar Square.
* Mrs Charlotte Despard nee French ( 1844-1939 ) was the elder sister of Lord French. A nonconformist from early years, she espoused radical causes and was a noted sufragette. Her career in Ireland was controversial, dividing her time between Belfast and Dublin and her socialism made her suspect to both sides of the divide. During the Lock Out of 1913, she devoted her time and money to the welfare of hungry children – becoming popularly known as ‘Mrs Desperate’. Disowned by her brother Lord French, despite having expending some of her personal fortune in paying off his debts. He later refused to see her when he was dying (1925). Disillusioned by the Treaty, she moved to Belfast and left her home to Maud Gonne MacBride. There she supported Sean Murray and the Communist Party in their efforts to unite Catholic and Protestant workers.
The Manchester Guardian commented on the results of the encounter between the British Navy and the Archbishop, saying that the British Government ‘has furnished Nationalist Ireland with an eminent martyr, has angered many English Catholics, has roused new anti-English feeling among Irishmen in England, and has ensured the widest publicity for the jests of corrosive wit which Dr. Mannix occasionally emits at the expense of Mr. Lloyd George, the Navy and other British institutions – a form of artillery practice, in which he must sorrowfully be admitted to be a proficient’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 11 September 11, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The Friends of Irish Freedom newsletter in a rare example of humour commented that the Archbishop had ‘the British Cabinet in the same fix that confronted the farmer’s boy who grabbed a wildcat:
‘Pop’ yelled the farmer’s boy ‘I’ve caught a wildcat’
‘Well let him go’
‘I can't’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No9 August 28, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The New York longshoremen threatened that work on all British ships would be tied up in protest against the Government’s action against Archbishop Mannix.
Meanwhile in Dublin, the Irish Volunteers raided the Rotunda and took some bags of official mail. The Freeman’s Journal (Dublin) relates the following Sinn Fein censorship incident: “It is stated that some of the letters taken in the raid from the Rotunda on Thursday morning have reached their destination. On Saturday morning his Excellency the Lord Lieutenant received, at the Viceregal Lodge, a number of official documents and some private correspondence which in the ordinary course of events should have been delivered at the Lodge on Thursday morning. They had been opened and re-closed, but across the top of each envelope was a blue rubber stamp mark which read: “Opened and Censored by the Irish Republic.” His Excellency’s secretary, on being questioned by an *Evening Mail” representative, confirmed the statement, and added, “Unfortunately it is too true.” There was no information forthcoming as to the manner in which the correspondence was delivered at the Lodge, but the same gentlemen, when questioned on the subject, said “he did not know, but he supposed it was by the Post Office.” They were presumably dropped into some letter-box on Friday evening.”
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.8 Aug 21, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
9
The ‘Restoration of Order in Ireland Act’, rushed through Parliament, became law and gave the military authorities additional powers:
Among the powers given to military courts, was the right to exclude all press representatives where an ‘application is made by the prosecution or in the public interest that all or any portion of the public shall be excluded during any part of the hearing.’
This was to effectively give protection to any person or persons making false charges from exposure and subsequent retaliation.
Prominent Ulster Unionist, Alexander M. Carlisle (as reported in Associated Press dispatches), standing behind the rail at the steps to the throne when the House of Lords passed the second reading of the Irish coercion bill protested: “If you pass the bill you may kill England, not Ireland.” No reply was made to him and he left the house. Earl Curzon, a few days later, acting on the request of the House of Lords, sent a formal demand for an apology for ‘a serious affront to the dignity of the lord ships.” To this Mr. Carlisle sent what amounted to a refusal to apologise, saying that if he had offended the King he was ready to make ample apology, but if it was solely regarded as an affront to the House of Lords, “then the case is different.” Mr. Carlisle’s position as privy councillor gave him access to the space in front of the throne. As a result, Carlisle, upon motion of Lord Curzon, was debarred from the privileges of the House of Lords.
In Cork Jail, 11 prisoners (including a 15 year old boy ) began a hunger strike.
All senior British Civil Servants residing in Dublin and surrounding counties were now advised to take up residence in Dublin Castle immediately
The ‘Restoration of Order in Ireland Act’, rushed through Parliament, became law and gave the military authorities additional powers:
- Courts-martial jurisdiction was now extended to cover offences against ordinary civil law in an attempt to replace the non-functioning courts system.
- Internment without charge or trial for an indefinite period
- Courts martial could also impose the death penalty.
- Courts of summary justice, consisting of two Resident Magistrates could be established.
- Military courts of enquiry were to replace the coroner’s courts
- Powers given to suspend Government payment to local authorities.
Among the powers given to military courts, was the right to exclude all press representatives where an ‘application is made by the prosecution or in the public interest that all or any portion of the public shall be excluded during any part of the hearing.’
This was to effectively give protection to any person or persons making false charges from exposure and subsequent retaliation.
Prominent Ulster Unionist, Alexander M. Carlisle (as reported in Associated Press dispatches), standing behind the rail at the steps to the throne when the House of Lords passed the second reading of the Irish coercion bill protested: “If you pass the bill you may kill England, not Ireland.” No reply was made to him and he left the house. Earl Curzon, a few days later, acting on the request of the House of Lords, sent a formal demand for an apology for ‘a serious affront to the dignity of the lord ships.” To this Mr. Carlisle sent what amounted to a refusal to apologise, saying that if he had offended the King he was ready to make ample apology, but if it was solely regarded as an affront to the House of Lords, “then the case is different.” Mr. Carlisle’s position as privy councillor gave him access to the space in front of the throne. As a result, Carlisle, upon motion of Lord Curzon, was debarred from the privileges of the House of Lords.
In Cork Jail, 11 prisoners (including a 15 year old boy ) began a hunger strike.
All senior British Civil Servants residing in Dublin and surrounding counties were now advised to take up residence in Dublin Castle immediately
10
The Irish Times argued that the Restoration of Order in Ireland Act meant ‘the complete collapse of the Irish legal system’ and that there was no justification for it ‘save that of stern necessity…its introduction robs the present system in Ireland of any semblanc of normality and, indeed, of permancy.’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p65/6
Thomas Jones, Lloyd George’s Cabinet secretary recorded a meeting of a friend of his with Desmond Fitzgerald, the Dail minister of Publicity. ‘Fitzgerald related that the Dail’s leadership was willing to accept defence safeguards for British and constitutional safeguards for Ulster. ‘As regards Dominion Home Rule, the name itself with its past associations might imply to the popular mind a compromise…which is anathema, but any bone-fide schemes of real self-determination would be earnestly considered’ . Fitzgerald concluded ‘to refuse to recognise the Dail is as futile as to refuse to recognise the Soviet’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p179
The Ottoman Empire signed the peace accord.
The Irish Times argued that the Restoration of Order in Ireland Act meant ‘the complete collapse of the Irish legal system’ and that there was no justification for it ‘save that of stern necessity…its introduction robs the present system in Ireland of any semblanc of normality and, indeed, of permancy.’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p65/6
Thomas Jones, Lloyd George’s Cabinet secretary recorded a meeting of a friend of his with Desmond Fitzgerald, the Dail minister of Publicity. ‘Fitzgerald related that the Dail’s leadership was willing to accept defence safeguards for British and constitutional safeguards for Ulster. ‘As regards Dominion Home Rule, the name itself with its past associations might imply to the popular mind a compromise…which is anathema, but any bone-fide schemes of real self-determination would be earnestly considered’ . Fitzgerald concluded ‘to refuse to recognise the Dail is as futile as to refuse to recognise the Soviet’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p179
The Ottoman Empire signed the peace accord.
11
Jurors in Cork city who failed to attend court, refused to pay fines totaling £7,000.
Dail Eireann voted for a limited boycott of banks and insurance companies with headquarters in Belfast in protest at the previous months anti-Catholic progroms. Widespread support soon followed from Sinn Fein controlled local Government bodies, the Irish Labour Party and Trades Union Congress. The clergy became enthuastic supporters. The campaign spread throughout the country and had a ‘drastic effect on Belfast disrtibutors’ as no moves were made to reinstate expelled workers in Belfast. The majority of Protestant Clergy spoke out strongly against the progroms, but had little effect as the flow of refugees continued to Dublin.
The Belfast Boycott continued for almost a year and was effective. Belfast distributors lost almost all of their trade with the rest of the country, Belfast based banks were forced to close their branches outside Ulster but opinions were hardened. ‘Vigilance committeess’ were set up in Ulster to ensure Catholics did not get their jobs back, and the gulf between Southern Catholic and Northern Protestant grew ever wider.
Finnish distance runner Paavo Nurmi wins the 10,000-meter run in record time at the 1920 Olympic Games at Antwerp. From 1920 to 1928, he netted six gold medals, among other track titles and records, and became the dominant runner of the decade.
Jurors in Cork city who failed to attend court, refused to pay fines totaling £7,000.
Dail Eireann voted for a limited boycott of banks and insurance companies with headquarters in Belfast in protest at the previous months anti-Catholic progroms. Widespread support soon followed from Sinn Fein controlled local Government bodies, the Irish Labour Party and Trades Union Congress. The clergy became enthuastic supporters. The campaign spread throughout the country and had a ‘drastic effect on Belfast disrtibutors’ as no moves were made to reinstate expelled workers in Belfast. The majority of Protestant Clergy spoke out strongly against the progroms, but had little effect as the flow of refugees continued to Dublin.
The Belfast Boycott continued for almost a year and was effective. Belfast distributors lost almost all of their trade with the rest of the country, Belfast based banks were forced to close their branches outside Ulster but opinions were hardened. ‘Vigilance committeess’ were set up in Ulster to ensure Catholics did not get their jobs back, and the gulf between Southern Catholic and Northern Protestant grew ever wider.
Finnish distance runner Paavo Nurmi wins the 10,000-meter run in record time at the 1920 Olympic Games at Antwerp. From 1920 to 1928, he netted six gold medals, among other track titles and records, and became the dominant runner of the decade.
12
Terence MacSwiney was arrested while presiding at a meeting in Cork City Hall on grounds of being a member of an illegal organisation. Publicly, it was reported that he was presiding at the time over a case for arbitration with one of the litigants representing the English Prudential Assurance Company. In reality he was presiding at a meeting of the Cork No.1 Brigade. The building was searched, and nothing more incriminating was found than a resolution previously adopted by Cork Corporation and notes of a speech he had delivered when elected Lord Mayor. A copy of a cipher as used by the RIC was found in another office but it could not be proved that it was in the possession of the Mayor. Four days later he was to be tried at courtsmartial. Ironically, two far more important figures in the IRA, Liam Lynch and Sean O’Hegarty, arrested with him were released shortly afterwards by the British.
"the most malignant man in all Irish history"
John Devoy learned of the Dail Eireann report of August 5th and references to both himself and Judge Cohalan. He at once furiously and strongly denounced it. He organised a meeting of the National Council of the Friends of Irish Freedom for the August 14th and wrote to Judge Cohalan saying:
‘the most important meeting we ever held. We will hold a conference beginning at 4 o’clock Saturday afternoon at the same place [Park Avenue Hotel]. We must carefully consider our plan of action in view of the situation revealed by that attack on us in the report of Dail Eireann’s minutes... De Valera is out to smash us, and he is nibbling away at the ramparts all the time...he is the most malignant man in all Irish history...’
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.389
Terence MacSwiney was arrested while presiding at a meeting in Cork City Hall on grounds of being a member of an illegal organisation. Publicly, it was reported that he was presiding at the time over a case for arbitration with one of the litigants representing the English Prudential Assurance Company. In reality he was presiding at a meeting of the Cork No.1 Brigade. The building was searched, and nothing more incriminating was found than a resolution previously adopted by Cork Corporation and notes of a speech he had delivered when elected Lord Mayor. A copy of a cipher as used by the RIC was found in another office but it could not be proved that it was in the possession of the Mayor. Four days later he was to be tried at courtsmartial. Ironically, two far more important figures in the IRA, Liam Lynch and Sean O’Hegarty, arrested with him were released shortly afterwards by the British.
"the most malignant man in all Irish history"
John Devoy learned of the Dail Eireann report of August 5th and references to both himself and Judge Cohalan. He at once furiously and strongly denounced it. He organised a meeting of the National Council of the Friends of Irish Freedom for the August 14th and wrote to Judge Cohalan saying:
‘the most important meeting we ever held. We will hold a conference beginning at 4 o’clock Saturday afternoon at the same place [Park Avenue Hotel]. We must carefully consider our plan of action in view of the situation revealed by that attack on us in the report of Dail Eireann’s minutes... De Valera is out to smash us, and he is nibbling away at the ramparts all the time...he is the most malignant man in all Irish history...’
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.389
13
Lloyd George conceded to the Tom Jones submission: ‘that a negotiation might take place, but only if the Irish would agree to the terms in advance’
George Dangerfield “ The Damnable Question - a study in Anglo-Irish relations” Constable, London. 1977. p320
Publically however, Lloyd George’s stance on Ireland was being perceived amongst certain segments of the press as subjugating another nation and worse still, emulating Germany and Austria. The Nation published in London commented ‘We are to go to a war in which the Prime Minister is prepared to sacrifice a million lives for the naked right to control another people. The right was never more explicitly asserted.. neither Austria, nor Russia, Nor Prussia affirmed it more directly in the case of their subjected peoples. Within eight months of the Armistice we have stepped into the shoes of the Empires our soldiers destroyed. We use their weapons, we talk their language, we are succeeding, let us add, to their place in the esteem of the world.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.8 August 21, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The first publication of ‘The Weekly Summary’ appeared in Ireland and to widespread criticism. Designed to ‘bolster morale and encourage aggresiveness in the police’, An tOglach termed it ‘This dope, aided by rum, they hope will restore the morale of their ‘RIC’. The Irish Bulletin (Nov 9) claimed the publication had the ‘deliberate intention of inciting the English armed forces in Ireland to acts of outrage and violence against the Irish people'’ One of its intended readers, Douglas Duff, was similiarly unimpressed ‘ when has there ever been a more fatous, childish and lying Government publication than the Weekly Summary?’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P212
Lord Monteagle* in a letter to the Irish papers as quoted in Parliament commented that the Sinn Fein courts ‘are steadily extending their juristiction and dispensing justice even handed between man and man, catholic and protestant, farmer and shopekeeper, grazier and cattle-driver, landlord and tenant’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.8 August 21, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
* Lord Monteagle, the son of the 1st Lord Monteagle (1790-1866 ) who opposed any extension of the Poor Law to Ireland. He saw emigration as a possible soloution to overcrowding on his estate in Co. Limerick and paid passage for his tenants during 1845-49 who wished to emigrate.
The Anti-Partition League called for settlement on Dominion basis.
Foundation of the American Commssion of Inquiry
A number amongst the Irish-American leadership wished to explore further possibilities of increasing agitation but also to enlist support and involvement of non-Irish Americans. Dr. William Maloney pioneered the concept of an American Commission of Inquiry to investigate and verify alleged excesses of British troops and the RIC in Ireland. Initial work began with Maloney’s brother-in-law, Oswald Garrison Villard, the editor of the liberal New York Nation. Villard agreed to co-operate with Maloney by issuing an open invitation to every senator and state governor in addition to an extensive list of distinguished Americans to form a ‘Committee of One Hundred’ which in turn would appoint a small commission to investigate all or any alleged excesses or atrocities in Ireland.
Maloney, speaking to McCartan that ‘what we need is an American Commission sitting in Washington to investigate the British atrocities in Ireland as they occur’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p173
Dr John Harty, as Archbishop of Cashel in an open letter to British Authorities ‘It seems futile to demand justice from the British Government in Ireland…they speak of outrages attributed to Sinn Fein, but they do not call attention to the murder of a nation, or the depopulation of the country…or the protestation afford to the criminal [Edward Carson] who taught the grammar of anarchy.’
Conor O’Clery ‘Ireland in Quotes’ The O’Brien Press Dublin 1999 p.48
Lloyd George conceded to the Tom Jones submission: ‘that a negotiation might take place, but only if the Irish would agree to the terms in advance’
George Dangerfield “ The Damnable Question - a study in Anglo-Irish relations” Constable, London. 1977. p320
Publically however, Lloyd George’s stance on Ireland was being perceived amongst certain segments of the press as subjugating another nation and worse still, emulating Germany and Austria. The Nation published in London commented ‘We are to go to a war in which the Prime Minister is prepared to sacrifice a million lives for the naked right to control another people. The right was never more explicitly asserted.. neither Austria, nor Russia, Nor Prussia affirmed it more directly in the case of their subjected peoples. Within eight months of the Armistice we have stepped into the shoes of the Empires our soldiers destroyed. We use their weapons, we talk their language, we are succeeding, let us add, to their place in the esteem of the world.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.8 August 21, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The first publication of ‘The Weekly Summary’ appeared in Ireland and to widespread criticism. Designed to ‘bolster morale and encourage aggresiveness in the police’, An tOglach termed it ‘This dope, aided by rum, they hope will restore the morale of their ‘RIC’. The Irish Bulletin (Nov 9) claimed the publication had the ‘deliberate intention of inciting the English armed forces in Ireland to acts of outrage and violence against the Irish people'’ One of its intended readers, Douglas Duff, was similiarly unimpressed ‘ when has there ever been a more fatous, childish and lying Government publication than the Weekly Summary?’
Arthur Mitchell ‘Revoloutionary Government in Ireland – Dail Eireann 1919-22’ Gill & McMillan 1996. P212
Lord Monteagle* in a letter to the Irish papers as quoted in Parliament commented that the Sinn Fein courts ‘are steadily extending their juristiction and dispensing justice even handed between man and man, catholic and protestant, farmer and shopekeeper, grazier and cattle-driver, landlord and tenant’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.8 August 21, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
* Lord Monteagle, the son of the 1st Lord Monteagle (1790-1866 ) who opposed any extension of the Poor Law to Ireland. He saw emigration as a possible soloution to overcrowding on his estate in Co. Limerick and paid passage for his tenants during 1845-49 who wished to emigrate.
The Anti-Partition League called for settlement on Dominion basis.
Foundation of the American Commssion of Inquiry
A number amongst the Irish-American leadership wished to explore further possibilities of increasing agitation but also to enlist support and involvement of non-Irish Americans. Dr. William Maloney pioneered the concept of an American Commission of Inquiry to investigate and verify alleged excesses of British troops and the RIC in Ireland. Initial work began with Maloney’s brother-in-law, Oswald Garrison Villard, the editor of the liberal New York Nation. Villard agreed to co-operate with Maloney by issuing an open invitation to every senator and state governor in addition to an extensive list of distinguished Americans to form a ‘Committee of One Hundred’ which in turn would appoint a small commission to investigate all or any alleged excesses or atrocities in Ireland.
Maloney, speaking to McCartan that ‘what we need is an American Commission sitting in Washington to investigate the British atrocities in Ireland as they occur’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p173
Dr John Harty, as Archbishop of Cashel in an open letter to British Authorities ‘It seems futile to demand justice from the British Government in Ireland…they speak of outrages attributed to Sinn Fein, but they do not call attention to the murder of a nation, or the depopulation of the country…or the protestation afford to the criminal [Edward Carson] who taught the grammar of anarchy.’
Conor O’Clery ‘Ireland in Quotes’ The O’Brien Press Dublin 1999 p.48
14
John Devoy and Harry Boland made a truce between each other ‘for the sake of Irish-America’.
Information required on the meeting of the Friends of Irish Freedom re 12th August letters.
A trust fund of $50,000 was left for the poor of Dublin by Mrs Anna Sharpe of Dover, New Hampshire. The Chief Justice and a member of the Governor’s Council sailed for Ireland to distribute the fund.
Michael Collins' response to Lynch's resignation was conveyed in a cable to Harry Boland:
"He should have remained steadfast to the Dail and to Ireland and have dropped the FOIF".
Eileen McGough.'Diarmuid Lynch: A Forgotten Irish Patriot'. Mercier Press 2013. p137
John Devoy and Harry Boland made a truce between each other ‘for the sake of Irish-America’.
Information required on the meeting of the Friends of Irish Freedom re 12th August letters.
A trust fund of $50,000 was left for the poor of Dublin by Mrs Anna Sharpe of Dover, New Hampshire. The Chief Justice and a member of the Governor’s Council sailed for Ireland to distribute the fund.
Michael Collins' response to Lynch's resignation was conveyed in a cable to Harry Boland:
"He should have remained steadfast to the Dail and to Ireland and have dropped the FOIF".
Eileen McGough.'Diarmuid Lynch: A Forgotten Irish Patriot'. Mercier Press 2013. p137
15
McSwiney was court martialled on charges of holding seditious documents, including the RIC code cipher, and jailed for 2 years in Cork Jail. There he went on hunger strike, with the 11 other prisoners striking since 9th August. A few days later, he was put on board a warship and deported to Brixton Prison. “The contest on our side is not one of rivalry or vengeance but of endurance. It is not those who can inflict the most but those who can suffer the most that will conquer…I will put a limit to any term of imprisonment you may impose as a result of the action I will take. I have taken no food since Thursday, therefore …I shall be free, alive or dead, within a month’…74 days after beginning the hunger strike, he was dead
‘There is great concern and much talk of these blasted hunger strikers and how best to defeat their extremely successful game’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p21
Constable Cyril H Nathan (19) was shot and killed when returning from church in Limerick. An Auxilliary recruit.
McSwiney was court martialled on charges of holding seditious documents, including the RIC code cipher, and jailed for 2 years in Cork Jail. There he went on hunger strike, with the 11 other prisoners striking since 9th August. A few days later, he was put on board a warship and deported to Brixton Prison. “The contest on our side is not one of rivalry or vengeance but of endurance. It is not those who can inflict the most but those who can suffer the most that will conquer…I will put a limit to any term of imprisonment you may impose as a result of the action I will take. I have taken no food since Thursday, therefore …I shall be free, alive or dead, within a month’…74 days after beginning the hunger strike, he was dead
‘There is great concern and much talk of these blasted hunger strikers and how best to defeat their extremely successful game’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p21
Constable Cyril H Nathan (19) was shot and killed when returning from church in Limerick. An Auxilliary recruit.
16
Lloyd George announced in the House of Commons that he was ready and willing to talk with ‘anyone who can claim to represent Irish opinion.’ But subject to three conditions: (1) separate treatment for Ulster, (2) No secession from the UK and (3) provision for British national security. There were no takers.
Sturgis commented ‘LG did make a statement and no bad one either. He has told Ireland distinctly to come and discuss with him any project within his three limits – but he has a bad press here. May improve later but these Irishmen are the most approved pattern of swine and will not stretch their hands for what is offered, the Government must come, cap in hand and fill their mouths and ask them to spit it out if its not completely to their liking…’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p22-3
British Government thinking on the hunger strikers was somewhat simplistic ‘ the big hunger strike in Cork Gaol is awfully ticklish – we are told that men who absolutley decline to take food in Irish prisons have, and will, when told they are to be deported to England. We can it seems, do this under DORA and the new regulations but there has been much doubt and worry’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p22
With the destruction of factories and creameries on a wide scale, amongst the many voices asking immediate questions was George Russell ( ‘AE’ ) writing in the Irish Homestead:
‘..creameries and mills have been burned to the ground, their machinery wrecked, agricultural stores have also been burned, properties looted, employees have been killed, wounded, beaten, threatened...why have these economic organisations been specially attacked? Because they have hundreds of members...the policy of reprisals ... has led to the wrecking of any enterprise in the neighbourhood, the destruction of which would inflict widespread injury and hurt the interests of the greatest number of people’
Macardle. ‘The Irish Republic’ Irish Press. Dublin 1957. P378.
By the end of the summer, over 100 co-operatives had been destroyed.
Detective Inspector William H Wilson (56) was shot dead while off duty in Templemore, Co Tipperary.
Bolshevik forces continued their advance through Poland, closing in on Warsaw.
Lloyd George announced in the House of Commons that he was ready and willing to talk with ‘anyone who can claim to represent Irish opinion.’ But subject to three conditions: (1) separate treatment for Ulster, (2) No secession from the UK and (3) provision for British national security. There were no takers.
Sturgis commented ‘LG did make a statement and no bad one either. He has told Ireland distinctly to come and discuss with him any project within his three limits – but he has a bad press here. May improve later but these Irishmen are the most approved pattern of swine and will not stretch their hands for what is offered, the Government must come, cap in hand and fill their mouths and ask them to spit it out if its not completely to their liking…’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p22-3
British Government thinking on the hunger strikers was somewhat simplistic ‘ the big hunger strike in Cork Gaol is awfully ticklish – we are told that men who absolutley decline to take food in Irish prisons have, and will, when told they are to be deported to England. We can it seems, do this under DORA and the new regulations but there has been much doubt and worry’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p22
With the destruction of factories and creameries on a wide scale, amongst the many voices asking immediate questions was George Russell ( ‘AE’ ) writing in the Irish Homestead:
‘..creameries and mills have been burned to the ground, their machinery wrecked, agricultural stores have also been burned, properties looted, employees have been killed, wounded, beaten, threatened...why have these economic organisations been specially attacked? Because they have hundreds of members...the policy of reprisals ... has led to the wrecking of any enterprise in the neighbourhood, the destruction of which would inflict widespread injury and hurt the interests of the greatest number of people’
Macardle. ‘The Irish Republic’ Irish Press. Dublin 1957. P378.
By the end of the summer, over 100 co-operatives had been destroyed.
Detective Inspector William H Wilson (56) was shot dead while off duty in Templemore, Co Tipperary.
Bolshevik forces continued their advance through Poland, closing in on Warsaw.
17
Cork: Terence McSwiney was taken from Cork Gaol to England and Brixton Prison aboard a Royal Navy destroyer. Assigned prisoner number 6749 in Brixton, he continued his hunger strike as did ten others in Cork jail.
New York: Meeting of the National Executive Friends of Irish Freedom was held at 280 Broadway.
Cork: Terence McSwiney was taken from Cork Gaol to England and Brixton Prison aboard a Royal Navy destroyer. Assigned prisoner number 6749 in Brixton, he continued his hunger strike as did ten others in Cork jail.
New York: Meeting of the National Executive Friends of Irish Freedom was held at 280 Broadway.
18
Macready issued a proclamation to British troops not to take part in reprisals but readily admitted that any regiment that did not seek to ‘break out when a story – however untrue – was told them….was not worth a damn’ But if a policeman ‘put on a mackintosh and a false beard and ‘reprised’ on his own hook, he was damn glad of it’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p25
Sturgis wrote ‘I’ve no doubt reprisals do good of a sort.Tudor is sure of it, but its death to a disciplined force to countenance them, but if they sometimes give a man, caught red handed in some minor outrage, a dman good hiding instead of arresting all the minnows, it’s all to the good…’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p24
Tudor however at no stage issued a denunciation of reprisals.
Winston Churchill requested that some 10 battalions of infantry be withdrawn from Ireland for possible service in Britain. Both Churchill and Greenwood proposed the use of the soon to be formed Ulster Special Constabulary to compensate in the south for insufficient troop numbers. Anderson and Macready both strongly opposed this move.
MacSwiney’s relatives were advised by the Home Secretary that he would not be forcibly fed ‘on medical grounds, so if he wont feed it’s suicide…I hope they realise the truth but I’m sure these hunger strikers still believe we will let them out at the last moment’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p25
The remaining prisoners in Cork Jail were too weak to be moved to Britain and were be moved to the prison hospital. However the majority of the prison warders and guards were rumoured to be considering striking at the treatment of the prisoners.
Led by an army deserter who provided inside information, the Upper Military Barracks in Longford town was raided for arms and ammunition by the IRA.
Macready issued a proclamation to British troops not to take part in reprisals but readily admitted that any regiment that did not seek to ‘break out when a story – however untrue – was told them….was not worth a damn’ But if a policeman ‘put on a mackintosh and a false beard and ‘reprised’ on his own hook, he was damn glad of it’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p25
Sturgis wrote ‘I’ve no doubt reprisals do good of a sort.Tudor is sure of it, but its death to a disciplined force to countenance them, but if they sometimes give a man, caught red handed in some minor outrage, a dman good hiding instead of arresting all the minnows, it’s all to the good…’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p24
Tudor however at no stage issued a denunciation of reprisals.
Winston Churchill requested that some 10 battalions of infantry be withdrawn from Ireland for possible service in Britain. Both Churchill and Greenwood proposed the use of the soon to be formed Ulster Special Constabulary to compensate in the south for insufficient troop numbers. Anderson and Macready both strongly opposed this move.
MacSwiney’s relatives were advised by the Home Secretary that he would not be forcibly fed ‘on medical grounds, so if he wont feed it’s suicide…I hope they realise the truth but I’m sure these hunger strikers still believe we will let them out at the last moment’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p25
The remaining prisoners in Cork Jail were too weak to be moved to Britain and were be moved to the prison hospital. However the majority of the prison warders and guards were rumoured to be considering striking at the treatment of the prisoners.
Led by an army deserter who provided inside information, the Upper Military Barracks in Longford town was raided for arms and ammunition by the IRA.
A somewhat critical cartoon commentary on Lloyd George from Punch Magazine (August 18, 1920) highlighting issues on the British 'Chess Board'.. Ranging from 'Peace' sidelined with 'Coal' to 'Dublin Castle' lecturing 'Archbishop Mannix' and the main subject is the British Government backing of the Soviets against Poland.
Just a little background to the Soviet-Polish issue. As this cartoon was going to print, a military conflict between Soviet Russia and Poland, which sought to seize Ukraine was ongoing. Although there had been hostilities between the two countries during 1919, the conflict began when the Polish head of state Józef Piłsudski formed an alliance with the Ukrainian nationalist leader Symon Petlyura (April 1920) and their combined forces began to overrun Ukraine, occupying Kiev on May 7. In June the Soviet Red Army launched a counteroffensive, reaching the former Polish border by the end of July. In a wave of revolutionary enthusiasm, Soviet forces advanced through Poland to the outskirts of Warsaw (early August). Britain's Prime Minister, David Lloyd George, once a strong supporter of Imperial Russia, was now a Soviet sympathiser and authorised British sales of large quantities of armaments (including modern tanks) to fill urgent Soviet orders, at the same time blocking any British moves to aid Poland (which Lloyd George later called a historical mistake). On August 6, 1920, the British Labour Party published a pamphlet stating that British workers are not Poland's allies. The French socialist newspaper L'Humanité, shortly afterwards declared: "Not a man, not a sou, not a shell for reactionary and capitalist Poland. Long live the Russian Revolution! Long live the Workmen's International!"
Within days of this cartoon appearing in Punch, the western European powers, fearing that the Russians might succeed in establishing a Soviet government in Poland and perhaps proceed on to Germany, now sent a military mission to advise the Polish army. A strategy of counterattack began and by mid-August, the Soviets were in retreat. An armistice was signed in October 1920. The Treaty of Riga, concluded on March 18, 1921, provided for the bulk of Ukraine to remain a Soviet republic, although substantial portions of Belorussia (Belarus) and Ukraine were ceded to Poland. It resulted in the establishment of the Russo-Polish border that existed until 1939.
Just a little background to the Soviet-Polish issue. As this cartoon was going to print, a military conflict between Soviet Russia and Poland, which sought to seize Ukraine was ongoing. Although there had been hostilities between the two countries during 1919, the conflict began when the Polish head of state Józef Piłsudski formed an alliance with the Ukrainian nationalist leader Symon Petlyura (April 1920) and their combined forces began to overrun Ukraine, occupying Kiev on May 7. In June the Soviet Red Army launched a counteroffensive, reaching the former Polish border by the end of July. In a wave of revolutionary enthusiasm, Soviet forces advanced through Poland to the outskirts of Warsaw (early August). Britain's Prime Minister, David Lloyd George, once a strong supporter of Imperial Russia, was now a Soviet sympathiser and authorised British sales of large quantities of armaments (including modern tanks) to fill urgent Soviet orders, at the same time blocking any British moves to aid Poland (which Lloyd George later called a historical mistake). On August 6, 1920, the British Labour Party published a pamphlet stating that British workers are not Poland's allies. The French socialist newspaper L'Humanité, shortly afterwards declared: "Not a man, not a sou, not a shell for reactionary and capitalist Poland. Long live the Russian Revolution! Long live the Workmen's International!"
Within days of this cartoon appearing in Punch, the western European powers, fearing that the Russians might succeed in establishing a Soviet government in Poland and perhaps proceed on to Germany, now sent a military mission to advise the Polish army. A strategy of counterattack began and by mid-August, the Soviets were in retreat. An armistice was signed in October 1920. The Treaty of Riga, concluded on March 18, 1921, provided for the bulk of Ukraine to remain a Soviet republic, although substantial portions of Belorussia (Belarus) and Ukraine were ceded to Poland. It resulted in the establishment of the Russo-Polish border that existed until 1939.
19
De Valera repeated his request to Lynch for a meeting of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Council to be held in Chicago and demanded a reply.
De Valera repeated his request to Lynch for a meeting of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Council to be held in Chicago and demanded a reply.
20
Collins instructed Griffith to cease sending the Irish Bulletin to Lynch, who
"habitually included material from it in the newsletters of the FOIF. "I wonder if you have stopped the Bulletin going to him. I think it is absoultely essential. It will give them a power out there to use against the President.'.
Eileen McGough.'Diarmuid Lynch: A Forgotten Irish Patriot'. Mercier Press 2013. p137
However, as McGough's research discovered, 'Lynch told Florence O'Donoghue in 1947 that the Bulletin got to him anyway, through 'underground' means.'
Eileen McGough.'Diarmuid Lynch: A Forgotten Irish Patriot'. Mercier Press 2013. FN p252
Lynch wrote to Judge Cohalan (who was holidaying in Westport, upstate New York) and amongst other items, raised the issue of what response the Friends would make to de Valera's proposals for change:
Collins instructed Griffith to cease sending the Irish Bulletin to Lynch, who
"habitually included material from it in the newsletters of the FOIF. "I wonder if you have stopped the Bulletin going to him. I think it is absoultely essential. It will give them a power out there to use against the President.'.
Eileen McGough.'Diarmuid Lynch: A Forgotten Irish Patriot'. Mercier Press 2013. p137
However, as McGough's research discovered, 'Lynch told Florence O'Donoghue in 1947 that the Bulletin got to him anyway, through 'underground' means.'
Eileen McGough.'Diarmuid Lynch: A Forgotten Irish Patriot'. Mercier Press 2013. FN p252
Lynch wrote to Judge Cohalan (who was holidaying in Westport, upstate New York) and amongst other items, raised the issue of what response the Friends would make to de Valera's proposals for change:
transcript
My dear Judge
Supplementing enclosed. I am very much disappointed on learning that Mr. D [John Devoy] while at Westport did not discuss with you the question as to how far the 'agreement' is to affect the policy of the F.O.I.F.
As I see it, if the agreement becomes public - and it will without a doubt - the position of the Race in America will be seriously jeopardised and perhaps ruined. And, if the policy of the Friends is to be different from that of the other organisation, the members of the latter will find themselves in an impossible situation.
The situation is more confused than it was before, and when the facts become known it seems to be that our Detroit Friend [Bishop Gallagher] and many other prominent men will withdraw altogether. Dick [Dalton] says that is through - absolutely.
I have not yet written to de V [de Valera] about the proposed amendments. Will probably hear from Detroit on the subject tomorrow.
Now we must give Dev some answer on the proposition which he made. The question is, what is the answer to be? With you at Westport, the Bishop at Detroit and Dick [Dalton] out of things I find myself in a more impossible situation than ever. McHugh says I ought to keep in close touch with Detroit, but that is very difficult under the circumstances.
While it is possible that the visitor [Devoy] appreciated the seriousness of the outlook better than he did, he may consider himself in a stronger position to force the issue of a Convention.
Our friends on the 15th committee, those I've absolutely and got nothing in return. Verbal exchanges are worthless, and the written position of two or possibly three, had no proof that the Constitution of the home O. was changed in the manner stated. H said he brought a revised copy but give it to McG [McGarrity?] for safe keeping, and the latter did not bring it with him. Talk about buying a pig in a bag!!
Personally I desire our visiting friends [de Valera] to have every possible concession consistent with the safety of the cause from the American viewpoint, but there's the rub.
If you can possibly come down for the meeting of the Ex. [Executive Committee FOIF] I..you will do so. I am very sorry that Detroit [Bishop Gallagher] is not coming on Saturday as I think it is of the utmost importance that you discuss the situation with him.
Sincerely, D.L.
21
The London Times referring to the overall situation in Ireland, wrote: “The outlook is desperate”
Since developments two months previously with De Valera, Judge Cohalan maintained a virtual silence on matters. Only one public statement was made in this period ‘at a time when public explanation was essentially necessary’. The Friends of Irish Freedom Newsletter commented ‘As a Judge of long experience, he knows the worth of the legal maxim ‘Truth will prevail’. Those who are engaing in sharp, bitter abuse of Justice Cohalan may well be guided by his example’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.8 August 21, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The Friends of Irish Freedom Newsletter was particularly critical in the issue of August 21 on how ‘determined English propaganda agencies are to utilise ‘moving pictures’’. It detailed how ‘six picture houses in Washington D.C.…carried ‘Pathe Pictorial reels which pictured scenes in Cork. The picture of Lord Mayor MacSweeney carried the following explanatory line ‘The man who succeeded Lord Mayor McCurtain, recently killed by Sinn Feiners’. Thousands read that sentence and probably thousands believed it to be the truth. Readers of the Newsletter should demand elimination of the deliberate lie, circulated by the Pathe people. A coroner’s jury found Lord Mayor McCurtain was murdered by British soldiers and constables…watch for it, and demand that the sub-title be worded to conform with the truth.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.8 August 21, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
A frequent fear becomes apparent in the various issues of the Friends of Irish Freedom Newsletter, is the desire of some Americans and British to forge stronger alliances between the two countries, even to the detriment of US independence and for American’s to ‘think imperially’ with the British Empire. The Newsletter warned frequently and strongly against all such attempts and particularly so on the activities of British propaganda within the United States. ‘One of the most ambitious of the agencies…is the British Library of Information recently established in the offices of the British Consulate at 44 Whitehall St, New York ‘ and goes on to advise that the information and literature supplied is not only ‘propagandist literature published in Great Britain, but also American publications written and published by so-called Americans’. Also brought to attention was the English Speaking Union, categorised as ‘one of the most active of the nation-wide organisations in this country, whose purpose is the disemination of British propaganda and the fostering of that pro-English sentiment still exists in the United States.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.8 August 21, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The battle was also brought against British products, with woollens targeted somewhat tenuously in Vol.11 No.8. ‘Real Americans could also bring custom tailors to a realisation of staunch Americanism. There are woollen companies in American making cloth fully as good as that which comes from England. The average custom tailor will argue differently…make them fly their American colours’. Readers were told it would accomplish both aid to an American industry and that through this protest, English woollen manufacturers would respect the nation’s protest on behalf of Ireland.
Insurance companies also came under the spotlight questioning why ‘English companies, with their Dukes, Lords, Viscounts and Sirs, reap a harvest from Americans who thoughtlessly permit agents to place the insurance as the agent wills. Why should the Dukes et al get the American dollars when there are scores of American companies just as sound financially and anxious to get American business. …it is certain that the crimping of the incomes would teach them that Americans of Irish blood are very much in earnest’ and adding, just in case it may be forgotten ‘and then, again, why, as Americans, should we not patronise American insurance companies?’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.8 August 21, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Sport also came under comment when the American yacht ‘Resolute’ won the America’s Cup over Lord Lipton’s ‘Shamrock’. Lipton was described as ‘the Irishman who is more English in love of Britiain than the English themselves’ and should he have won, would have ‘joined heartily in singing the joy of england in defeating the boat that carried the Stars and Stripes.’ Americans were reminded that while the 2nd at the helm was C.F.Adams, ‘The sturdy Americanism of the Adams family of Massachussets again came to the forefront of world affairs’ and that ‘Americans of Irish blood can heartily congratulate this brainy product of staunch Americanism’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.8 August 21, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Questions seem to have been asked within the American media, specifically criticising American’s working for Ireland as ‘deficient in American patriotism’. The Newsletter suggested they study the war service record of their staff:
Daniel T’O’Connell – Director. ‘served as Captain in the Division of the Judge Advocate General’
Wright McCormick – Managing Editor Publication Division ‘Infantry Inteligence Sergeant and took part in the engagements at Bethune and the Vosges’
Robert E Lynch – ‘was a chief yeoman in the Navy and served overseas. He was also attached to the Peace Conference Naval Staff’
Jesse Ross – ‘served in France as a Sergeant in the Signal Corps’.
Edmund Sullivan – ‘though only 16 years of age tried unsuccessfully to enlist in the Marine Corps, the Navy and every Corps in the US Army, also in the French, but was rejected in each instance because of his youtfulness.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.8 August 21, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Five RIC were killed in Ireland:
Sergeant Daniel Maunsell was shot and killed in Macroom, Co. Cork.
Detective Constable John Hanlon (43) was shot dead in Kilrush, Co Clare.
Sergeant Patrick Reilly (48) and Constable Patrick Haverty (40) were ambushed and killed in Greenhills, Co Kildare.
Constable Martin Foley (33) was ambushed and killed near Oranmore, Co. Galway.
Constable Thomas Brennan (42) was ambushed and killed in Dundalk, Co Louth.
The London Times referring to the overall situation in Ireland, wrote: “The outlook is desperate”
Since developments two months previously with De Valera, Judge Cohalan maintained a virtual silence on matters. Only one public statement was made in this period ‘at a time when public explanation was essentially necessary’. The Friends of Irish Freedom Newsletter commented ‘As a Judge of long experience, he knows the worth of the legal maxim ‘Truth will prevail’. Those who are engaing in sharp, bitter abuse of Justice Cohalan may well be guided by his example’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.8 August 21, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The Friends of Irish Freedom Newsletter was particularly critical in the issue of August 21 on how ‘determined English propaganda agencies are to utilise ‘moving pictures’’. It detailed how ‘six picture houses in Washington D.C.…carried ‘Pathe Pictorial reels which pictured scenes in Cork. The picture of Lord Mayor MacSweeney carried the following explanatory line ‘The man who succeeded Lord Mayor McCurtain, recently killed by Sinn Feiners’. Thousands read that sentence and probably thousands believed it to be the truth. Readers of the Newsletter should demand elimination of the deliberate lie, circulated by the Pathe people. A coroner’s jury found Lord Mayor McCurtain was murdered by British soldiers and constables…watch for it, and demand that the sub-title be worded to conform with the truth.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.8 August 21, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
A frequent fear becomes apparent in the various issues of the Friends of Irish Freedom Newsletter, is the desire of some Americans and British to forge stronger alliances between the two countries, even to the detriment of US independence and for American’s to ‘think imperially’ with the British Empire. The Newsletter warned frequently and strongly against all such attempts and particularly so on the activities of British propaganda within the United States. ‘One of the most ambitious of the agencies…is the British Library of Information recently established in the offices of the British Consulate at 44 Whitehall St, New York ‘ and goes on to advise that the information and literature supplied is not only ‘propagandist literature published in Great Britain, but also American publications written and published by so-called Americans’. Also brought to attention was the English Speaking Union, categorised as ‘one of the most active of the nation-wide organisations in this country, whose purpose is the disemination of British propaganda and the fostering of that pro-English sentiment still exists in the United States.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.8 August 21, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The battle was also brought against British products, with woollens targeted somewhat tenuously in Vol.11 No.8. ‘Real Americans could also bring custom tailors to a realisation of staunch Americanism. There are woollen companies in American making cloth fully as good as that which comes from England. The average custom tailor will argue differently…make them fly their American colours’. Readers were told it would accomplish both aid to an American industry and that through this protest, English woollen manufacturers would respect the nation’s protest on behalf of Ireland.
Insurance companies also came under the spotlight questioning why ‘English companies, with their Dukes, Lords, Viscounts and Sirs, reap a harvest from Americans who thoughtlessly permit agents to place the insurance as the agent wills. Why should the Dukes et al get the American dollars when there are scores of American companies just as sound financially and anxious to get American business. …it is certain that the crimping of the incomes would teach them that Americans of Irish blood are very much in earnest’ and adding, just in case it may be forgotten ‘and then, again, why, as Americans, should we not patronise American insurance companies?’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.8 August 21, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Sport also came under comment when the American yacht ‘Resolute’ won the America’s Cup over Lord Lipton’s ‘Shamrock’. Lipton was described as ‘the Irishman who is more English in love of Britiain than the English themselves’ and should he have won, would have ‘joined heartily in singing the joy of england in defeating the boat that carried the Stars and Stripes.’ Americans were reminded that while the 2nd at the helm was C.F.Adams, ‘The sturdy Americanism of the Adams family of Massachussets again came to the forefront of world affairs’ and that ‘Americans of Irish blood can heartily congratulate this brainy product of staunch Americanism’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.8 August 21, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Questions seem to have been asked within the American media, specifically criticising American’s working for Ireland as ‘deficient in American patriotism’. The Newsletter suggested they study the war service record of their staff:
Daniel T’O’Connell – Director. ‘served as Captain in the Division of the Judge Advocate General’
Wright McCormick – Managing Editor Publication Division ‘Infantry Inteligence Sergeant and took part in the engagements at Bethune and the Vosges’
Robert E Lynch – ‘was a chief yeoman in the Navy and served overseas. He was also attached to the Peace Conference Naval Staff’
Jesse Ross – ‘served in France as a Sergeant in the Signal Corps’.
Edmund Sullivan – ‘though only 16 years of age tried unsuccessfully to enlist in the Marine Corps, the Navy and every Corps in the US Army, also in the French, but was rejected in each instance because of his youtfulness.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.8 August 21, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Five RIC were killed in Ireland:
Sergeant Daniel Maunsell was shot and killed in Macroom, Co. Cork.
Detective Constable John Hanlon (43) was shot dead in Kilrush, Co Clare.
Sergeant Patrick Reilly (48) and Constable Patrick Haverty (40) were ambushed and killed in Greenhills, Co Kildare.
Constable Martin Foley (33) was ambushed and killed near Oranmore, Co. Galway.
Constable Thomas Brennan (42) was ambushed and killed in Dundalk, Co Louth.
22
Sergeant Thomas Craddock (39) was killed in Athlone, Co Westmeath.
IRA captured Ballvarey Barracks in Co. Mayo. This was to be the only RIC barracks taken in Mayo during the war of independence.
The IRA caught up with the man believed to have masterminded the assassination of Tomas MacCurtain in Cork.
District Inspector Swanzy had been transferred from Cork days after the killing to an unknown location. With the assistance of RIC Sergeant Matt McCarthy, Michael Collins traced Swanzy to Lisburn. Collins now sent Sean Culhane, the Inteligence Officer of B Company, First Cork Battalion ( who knew Swanzy by sight ) to Belfast to link up with local IRA men. Using a taxi and a squad of 4 men, Culhane shot Swanzy dead as he left church in Lisburn.
Violent reprisals resulted against Catholic districts of Lisburn, Bangor and Banbridge folowed the killing as Catholic homes, shops and businesses were burned down leaving a further sixteen dead.
Admiral Benson, Chairman of the US Shipping Board was quoted in a newspaper as saying: ‘Certain British propagandists seem to be under the deluison that the United States is still a British colony. That is feeling is unfortunately fostered by a spineless type of American, happily not numerous, which believes the peace of the world and the dignity of the United States can be best preserved by kowtowing to Great Britain at every turn. It ought to be made plain that the United States has become one of the important maritime powers of the world and we will maintain and protect our merchant marine and foster American commerce…against any and all nations…it is charged that in the Harriman-Hamburg-American agreement we are joining with Germany in a trade war against Great Britain. Is the writer aware that Great Britain has chartered to Germany many of the former German vessels in order to compete with us for German trade?’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No9 August 28, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
‘The Lord Mayor of Cork isn't dead yet nor another – there’ll be a fine bust up if one does die, so we are told’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p26
Sergeant Thomas Craddock (39) was killed in Athlone, Co Westmeath.
IRA captured Ballvarey Barracks in Co. Mayo. This was to be the only RIC barracks taken in Mayo during the war of independence.
The IRA caught up with the man believed to have masterminded the assassination of Tomas MacCurtain in Cork.
District Inspector Swanzy had been transferred from Cork days after the killing to an unknown location. With the assistance of RIC Sergeant Matt McCarthy, Michael Collins traced Swanzy to Lisburn. Collins now sent Sean Culhane, the Inteligence Officer of B Company, First Cork Battalion ( who knew Swanzy by sight ) to Belfast to link up with local IRA men. Using a taxi and a squad of 4 men, Culhane shot Swanzy dead as he left church in Lisburn.
Violent reprisals resulted against Catholic districts of Lisburn, Bangor and Banbridge folowed the killing as Catholic homes, shops and businesses were burned down leaving a further sixteen dead.
Admiral Benson, Chairman of the US Shipping Board was quoted in a newspaper as saying: ‘Certain British propagandists seem to be under the deluison that the United States is still a British colony. That is feeling is unfortunately fostered by a spineless type of American, happily not numerous, which believes the peace of the world and the dignity of the United States can be best preserved by kowtowing to Great Britain at every turn. It ought to be made plain that the United States has become one of the important maritime powers of the world and we will maintain and protect our merchant marine and foster American commerce…against any and all nations…it is charged that in the Harriman-Hamburg-American agreement we are joining with Germany in a trade war against Great Britain. Is the writer aware that Great Britain has chartered to Germany many of the former German vessels in order to compete with us for German trade?’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No9 August 28, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
‘The Lord Mayor of Cork isn't dead yet nor another – there’ll be a fine bust up if one does die, so we are told’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p26
23
Sir Stanley Harrington, President of the Cork Chamber of Commerce and Secretary of the Irish Dominion League met with Mark Sturgis. ‘He thinks McSwiney ought to be let out because there will be bloodshed in Cork and ‘probably in Dublin’ if he dies. Good God! What a reason for what would be a final and complete surrender’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p27
Government sources were also concerned that some a consignment of German rifles valued at £300,000 was en-route to Ireland. The Royal Navy were placed on standby to intercept.
In Cork, the Military Doctor announced that the hunger strikers were too weak to be moved to the military hospital.
In Macroom, six RIC constables shot dead in an ambush.
John Devoy to Judge Cohalan:
Sir Stanley Harrington, President of the Cork Chamber of Commerce and Secretary of the Irish Dominion League met with Mark Sturgis. ‘He thinks McSwiney ought to be let out because there will be bloodshed in Cork and ‘probably in Dublin’ if he dies. Good God! What a reason for what would be a final and complete surrender’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p27
Government sources were also concerned that some a consignment of German rifles valued at £300,000 was en-route to Ireland. The Royal Navy were placed on standby to intercept.
In Cork, the Military Doctor announced that the hunger strikers were too weak to be moved to the military hospital.
In Macroom, six RIC constables shot dead in an ambush.
John Devoy to Judge Cohalan:
24
Arthur Griffith cabled President Wilson asking for American intervention in the case of Terence MacSwiney:
‘I inform your Excellency that the Lord Mayor of Cork, duly elected deputy for Cork County, Ireland, was recently seized by the armed forces of England, arraigned before English military officers and forcibly deported from this country in an English war vessel and is now in imminent danger of death in Brixton Prison, London. I recall to your excellency the declarations made by the heads of the Allied and neutral States when the Burgomaster of Brussels was treated with a lesser indignity and harshness’
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.406
Sturgis commenting on the hunger strikers: ‘They wont be let out so they must eat or die, and if they die they do, I suppose there will be a real row…we are being urged quietly and persistently that reprisals are the only thing to put down the gunmen and hearten the police and I begin to believe it, but the sort of reprisal that burns down half the town of Lisburn because the DI was murdered is the wrong sort’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p27-8
The Winnipeg, Canada branch of the ‘Self-Determination for Ireland League’ sent a telegram to Sir Hamar Greenwood ‘The Canadian consience is shocked at the Government’s continued reign of terror in Ireland. The Crimes bill and the treatment of McSwiney are particularly repulsive. You are alientating the Canadian people’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 11 September 11, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Protesting against the Crimes Bill, Dr. M.F.Cox, Privy Councillor in Dublin Castle, resigned.
Constable John McNamara (24) was shot dead in an ambush at Glengariff in Co. Cork.
John Devoy in a letter to Judge Cohalan:
25
Lloyd George refused to release Terence MacSwiney on hunger strike in prison.
Michael Collins wrote of McSwiney's hunger strike: ‘The prolongation of life seems to be absolutely wonderful – in fact, little short of miraculous’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p86
T.P.O’Connor* speaking in the House of Commons commented that ‘it is said that Ireland was irreconcilable, but was not the converse more the truth, and was it not England that was irreconcilable? Over and over again Ireland had given England the chance of winning her heart and affection and co-operation, and over and over again England had rejected the offer. England had tried every policy in Ireland but the one policy of justice, honour and liberty’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 11 September 11, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
* Timothy Power O’Connor (1848-1929) affectionately known as ‘Tay-Pay’ was Athlone born, moving to England in 1870 becoming a popular and successful journalist, building up close contacts within the Liberal Party. Became a long standing MP for Liverpool ( 1880-1929 ) and the only member of the Irish Party to sit for a British constituency. Described himself as ‘an advanced radical’, he advocated the extension of the Irish land legislation to the British working class, touring the US in 1881 and 1909 on fund raising missions. Opposed Parnell during the leadership crisis provoked by the divorce case. ‘Tay-Pay’ was the ‘father of the House of Commons’ in later years and British film censor in 1917 as well as founder of The Star (1887), the Sun (1893) and TP’s Weekly in 1902. As editor of the latter he turned down an application by James Joyce for a job.
Constable Matthew Haugh (25) was killed in an ambush in Bantry, Co. Cork.
John Devoy writing to Judge Cohalan expressed his concern on the ‘Irish World’ newspaper in Philadelphia:
‘the Irish World has the worst article yet, based entirely on that lie they got inserted in the records of Dail Eireann. Harry [Boland] called up to get copies of this and last weeks paper, apparently to have De Valera study them to see whether he will carry out the promise or not. It would not surprise me if he demanded that I should retract my comment of last week on the lie they sent over, which, of course I refuse to do...my experience with these men makes me suspicious of everything they do..’
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.390
Lloyd George refused to release Terence MacSwiney on hunger strike in prison.
Michael Collins wrote of McSwiney's hunger strike: ‘The prolongation of life seems to be absolutely wonderful – in fact, little short of miraculous’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p86
T.P.O’Connor* speaking in the House of Commons commented that ‘it is said that Ireland was irreconcilable, but was not the converse more the truth, and was it not England that was irreconcilable? Over and over again Ireland had given England the chance of winning her heart and affection and co-operation, and over and over again England had rejected the offer. England had tried every policy in Ireland but the one policy of justice, honour and liberty’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 11 September 11, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
* Timothy Power O’Connor (1848-1929) affectionately known as ‘Tay-Pay’ was Athlone born, moving to England in 1870 becoming a popular and successful journalist, building up close contacts within the Liberal Party. Became a long standing MP for Liverpool ( 1880-1929 ) and the only member of the Irish Party to sit for a British constituency. Described himself as ‘an advanced radical’, he advocated the extension of the Irish land legislation to the British working class, touring the US in 1881 and 1909 on fund raising missions. Opposed Parnell during the leadership crisis provoked by the divorce case. ‘Tay-Pay’ was the ‘father of the House of Commons’ in later years and British film censor in 1917 as well as founder of The Star (1887), the Sun (1893) and TP’s Weekly in 1902. As editor of the latter he turned down an application by James Joyce for a job.
Constable Matthew Haugh (25) was killed in an ambush in Bantry, Co. Cork.
John Devoy writing to Judge Cohalan expressed his concern on the ‘Irish World’ newspaper in Philadelphia:
‘the Irish World has the worst article yet, based entirely on that lie they got inserted in the records of Dail Eireann. Harry [Boland] called up to get copies of this and last weeks paper, apparently to have De Valera study them to see whether he will carry out the promise or not. It would not surprise me if he demanded that I should retract my comment of last week on the lie they sent over, which, of course I refuse to do...my experience with these men makes me suspicious of everything they do..’
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.390
26
Sturgis’s diaries reveal that the Cork hunger strikers were ‘getting albumen in their water – they don’t know it but they should not die just yet’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p29
In the US, the 19th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified, giving women the vote in federal elections.
Cardinal O’Connell of Boston sent a cable to Lansing, the US Secretary of State: ‘I implore you in the name of humanity that our Government do everything it can to prevent the death of the Mayor of Cork now dying in a British prison’
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.406
Lynch also sent a telegram to the Secretary of State requesting representation to the British Government:
"As Executive Secretary of the Friends of Irish Freedom, a nationwide organisation of several hundred thousand American citizens, I respectfully enter a most emphatic protest against the treatment accorded by the British Government to Lord Mayor McSweeney of Cork removed from Ireland on a British war-vessel and held by force of military power. We respectfully request you as Secretary of State to immediately make suitable representations to the British Government."
Diarmuid Lynch. 280 Broadway, New York.
Sturgis’s diaries reveal that the Cork hunger strikers were ‘getting albumen in their water – they don’t know it but they should not die just yet’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p29
In the US, the 19th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified, giving women the vote in federal elections.
Cardinal O’Connell of Boston sent a cable to Lansing, the US Secretary of State: ‘I implore you in the name of humanity that our Government do everything it can to prevent the death of the Mayor of Cork now dying in a British prison’
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.406
Lynch also sent a telegram to the Secretary of State requesting representation to the British Government:
"As Executive Secretary of the Friends of Irish Freedom, a nationwide organisation of several hundred thousand American citizens, I respectfully enter a most emphatic protest against the treatment accorded by the British Government to Lord Mayor McSweeney of Cork removed from Ireland on a British war-vessel and held by force of military power. We respectfully request you as Secretary of State to immediately make suitable representations to the British Government."
Diarmuid Lynch. 280 Broadway, New York.
All received a reply a few days later, apologising that the State Department would be unable to protest as Lord Mayor MacSwiney was not a US Citizen.
Constable James Munnelly (30) was killed during the defence of Drumquin RIC Barracks, Co. Tyrone. An IRA vounteer was killed.
Shanagolden Creamery and two shops in the village were set on fire by Black and Tans. Lord Monteagel, who lived locally, recalled the incident in a letter to The Times (London): “The first is the burning, on August 26, of Shanagolden Creamery, and two shops in that village, five miles from this house, which I personally investigated next day. The facts I ascertained were briefly as follows: The creamery was discovered on fire about 1 a.m., on the 26th, by Sinn Fein Volunteers, who, however, extinguished it, with the help of the villagers, without much damage being done. They suspected the Foynes police, three miles away, and retaliated about 11 a. m., on two of the latter (one an old R. I. C. man and the other a ‘Black-and-Tan') by marching them barefoot up and down the village street—a disgraceful and unmanly outrage, generally condemned in the neighbourhood. Seven ‘Black and-Tans’ from Foynes, one being one of the two outraged, naturally infuriated, hit back that afternoon at the villagers by marching some seven or eight men barefoot up the street. They fired shots as they went, and one of them deliberately shot dead an old-age pensioner 200 yards away, who was fleeing home across the fields from the terror-stricken village. None of the victims were Volunteers, though the perpetrators of the outrage in the morning were undisguised, and all well-known to the R. I. C. man.” Peace was restored, but the Black and Tans were not satisfied. The next night, two motor-lorries brought armed and uniformed men, who raided and set fire to three shops, one of which was completely destroyed, capturing four men, one of them the owner of the burned house. Finally, after burning the creamery, they motored off, taking the four men with them, whom they put down eight miles away to make their way home barefoot. None of them were connected in any way with politics nor had there been any provocation or disorder in the neighborhood. The facts were proved in the County Court on the 16th when £12,000 compensation was awarded for the creamery, and £1,970 for the shop, to be levied on the rate payers of the county. Lord Monteagle was present throughout the hearing and is in possession of a verbatim report of the evidence.
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.21 Nov 20,1920. Lynch Family Archives
Constable William Potter (36) was shot and killed at Knockcroghery, Co. Roscommon.
27
John Devoy now made it clear that he had never expectd de Valera and Boland to keep the agreed truce:
‘de Valera and Harry are making a bad mistake in doing nothing, because we are getting the credit for making peace, which is uppermost thing in our people’s mind right now….several friends are urging me to get [Austin] Ford indicted for criminal libel [ because of abusive articles in the Irish World ] but the great objection is that men would say, ‘He was getting the worst of a public controversy and now appeals for protection to the law’. But on the other hand, it would be the best means of proving the falsehood of propaganda against us and of the lies sent to Ireland.’
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.390
The Cunard Company was advised the British Government that ‘the condition of Ireland might at any time prejudice the ordinary safeguards of navigation and make it difficult in other ways to deal adequately with incoming ships’ and requested that passenger shipping bound for Ireland would proceed to a British port and not call at Queenstown (Cobh).
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 11 September 11, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The ponderously titled ‘Linen and Cotton Handkerchief and Household Goods and Linen Piece Goods Trade Board’ met in Belfast to fix for all female worked in the linen trade ‘ of 18 years of age and over…a general mininum time rate of 8 ½d per hour and a piece work basis time rate of 9d per hour.’
Questions in the House of Commons centered on the office of the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. Colonel Ashley asked whether it had been decided to abolish the office and, if not, what useful purpose was served by this appointment. During the debate, it was stated that this was not the first time the question of abolishing the office had been raised. ‘As long ago as 1862’ Col. Ashley tells us ‘it was decided to abolish this office, and is not this reform rather long overdue?’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 11 September 11, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Constable John Mullan (25) was killed while escorting a mail car at Graigue, Co. Longford.
Art O’Brien commented that news of MacSwiney had been relegated the coverage of Archbishop Mannix’ ban from visiting Ireland to the back pages.
Liam de Roiste wrote in his diary of MacSwiney:
’If released alive, he will have won. If released in death, he shall still win…MacSwiney in Brixton, Lloyd George on the Swiss Mountains – was there ever material for an epic such as this’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p86
Lynch issued a press release on the Incorporation of the Friends of Irish freedom. This was 'a statement of facts which will set malignant falsehoods at rest'
John Devoy now made it clear that he had never expectd de Valera and Boland to keep the agreed truce:
‘de Valera and Harry are making a bad mistake in doing nothing, because we are getting the credit for making peace, which is uppermost thing in our people’s mind right now….several friends are urging me to get [Austin] Ford indicted for criminal libel [ because of abusive articles in the Irish World ] but the great objection is that men would say, ‘He was getting the worst of a public controversy and now appeals for protection to the law’. But on the other hand, it would be the best means of proving the falsehood of propaganda against us and of the lies sent to Ireland.’
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.390
The Cunard Company was advised the British Government that ‘the condition of Ireland might at any time prejudice the ordinary safeguards of navigation and make it difficult in other ways to deal adequately with incoming ships’ and requested that passenger shipping bound for Ireland would proceed to a British port and not call at Queenstown (Cobh).
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 11 September 11, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The ponderously titled ‘Linen and Cotton Handkerchief and Household Goods and Linen Piece Goods Trade Board’ met in Belfast to fix for all female worked in the linen trade ‘ of 18 years of age and over…a general mininum time rate of 8 ½d per hour and a piece work basis time rate of 9d per hour.’
Questions in the House of Commons centered on the office of the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. Colonel Ashley asked whether it had been decided to abolish the office and, if not, what useful purpose was served by this appointment. During the debate, it was stated that this was not the first time the question of abolishing the office had been raised. ‘As long ago as 1862’ Col. Ashley tells us ‘it was decided to abolish this office, and is not this reform rather long overdue?’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 11 September 11, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
Constable John Mullan (25) was killed while escorting a mail car at Graigue, Co. Longford.
Art O’Brien commented that news of MacSwiney had been relegated the coverage of Archbishop Mannix’ ban from visiting Ireland to the back pages.
Liam de Roiste wrote in his diary of MacSwiney:
’If released alive, he will have won. If released in death, he shall still win…MacSwiney in Brixton, Lloyd George on the Swiss Mountains – was there ever material for an epic such as this’
Michael Hopkinson ’The Irish War of Independence’ Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002. p86
Lynch issued a press release on the Incorporation of the Friends of Irish freedom. This was 'a statement of facts which will set malignant falsehoods at rest'
Transcript
28
British officers living ‘out of barracks’ in Ireland were now ordered confidentially to ‘wear plain clothes when going to and from their work’ and within days it was reported that all Officer’s families were being re-located home to Britain.
The British Military Doctor in Cork put on his report that the Cork prisoners were receiving albumen in their water. Sturgis wrote ‘The amazing ass who is RAMC doctor at Cork…as all these things leak of course it has got round to them and they have now ‘waterstruck’ too, so it had to be discontinued as it was done only on the quiet – damn him!’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p30
The Friends of Irish Freedom Newsletter began to actively encourage Irish-American trade commenting on the ‘shrewd, calculating Boston Yankee merchant [who] made a fortune by specialising in Irish linens. He was not of Irish stock either’ Should a tailor say he does not know how to get Irish cloths, tell him to write to the Irish republic Consulate, 1025 temple Court Building, New York City.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No9 August 28, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The Friend of Irish Freedom 'John F. Armstrong branch in Augusta, Georgia 'learned with much concern that some of the national officers of this organisation have seen fit to differ with President de Valera'
Eileen McGough.'Diarmuid Lynch: A Forgotten Irish Patriot'. Mercier Press 2013. p139
The much vaunted Advisory Council to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, appointed some months previously ostensibly to assist and advise the Irish Viceroy in management of Irish Affairs failed as it was unable to advise. Sir Thomas Stafford, Privy Councillor and member of the Advisory Council in a letter of resignation to Lord French commented ‘The refusal of the pm to take the only step which in my opinion gives us a chance of peace in Ireland, viz, the firm and immediate offer of a form of Dominion Government on the lines I recently submitted to your Excellency, renders it impossible for me to remain any longer a member of your Advisory Council….my remaining any onger a member of a Council which is not consulted places me in the invidious position of seeming to approve of a policy with regard to the Government of Ireland with which I have no sympathy.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 11 September 11, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The British Library of Information, 44 Whitehall Street, New York City (attached to the offices of the British Consulate), was noted by the FOIF Newsletter as "distributing gratis to those who will “damn Ireland and praise England,” copies of the following: “A Straight Deal or the Ancient Grudge,” by Owen Wister; “The Irish Case before the Court of Public Opinion,” by P. Whitwell Wilson; “Some Ethical Questions of Peace and War,” by the late Rev. Walter McDonald; “Ireland's Vanishing Opportunity,” by T. W. Rolleston; “England and Ireland,” by Edward Raymond Turner, of the University of Michigan; and pamphlets and special articles commended by American agents of British propaganda.
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.9 Aug 28, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The 19th Amendment to the US Constitution was ratified, allowing the universal suffrage of women on the same basis as men.
British officers living ‘out of barracks’ in Ireland were now ordered confidentially to ‘wear plain clothes when going to and from their work’ and within days it was reported that all Officer’s families were being re-located home to Britain.
The British Military Doctor in Cork put on his report that the Cork prisoners were receiving albumen in their water. Sturgis wrote ‘The amazing ass who is RAMC doctor at Cork…as all these things leak of course it has got round to them and they have now ‘waterstruck’ too, so it had to be discontinued as it was done only on the quiet – damn him!’
The Last Days of Dublin Castle – The Diaries of Mark Sturgis. Irish Academic Press Dublin & Oregon 1999. p30
The Friends of Irish Freedom Newsletter began to actively encourage Irish-American trade commenting on the ‘shrewd, calculating Boston Yankee merchant [who] made a fortune by specialising in Irish linens. He was not of Irish stock either’ Should a tailor say he does not know how to get Irish cloths, tell him to write to the Irish republic Consulate, 1025 temple Court Building, New York City.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No9 August 28, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The Friend of Irish Freedom 'John F. Armstrong branch in Augusta, Georgia 'learned with much concern that some of the national officers of this organisation have seen fit to differ with President de Valera'
Eileen McGough.'Diarmuid Lynch: A Forgotten Irish Patriot'. Mercier Press 2013. p139
The much vaunted Advisory Council to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, appointed some months previously ostensibly to assist and advise the Irish Viceroy in management of Irish Affairs failed as it was unable to advise. Sir Thomas Stafford, Privy Councillor and member of the Advisory Council in a letter of resignation to Lord French commented ‘The refusal of the pm to take the only step which in my opinion gives us a chance of peace in Ireland, viz, the firm and immediate offer of a form of Dominion Government on the lines I recently submitted to your Excellency, renders it impossible for me to remain any longer a member of your Advisory Council….my remaining any onger a member of a Council which is not consulted places me in the invidious position of seeming to approve of a policy with regard to the Government of Ireland with which I have no sympathy.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 11 September 11, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The British Library of Information, 44 Whitehall Street, New York City (attached to the offices of the British Consulate), was noted by the FOIF Newsletter as "distributing gratis to those who will “damn Ireland and praise England,” copies of the following: “A Straight Deal or the Ancient Grudge,” by Owen Wister; “The Irish Case before the Court of Public Opinion,” by P. Whitwell Wilson; “Some Ethical Questions of Peace and War,” by the late Rev. Walter McDonald; “Ireland's Vanishing Opportunity,” by T. W. Rolleston; “England and Ireland,” by Edward Raymond Turner, of the University of Michigan; and pamphlets and special articles commended by American agents of British propaganda.
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.9 Aug 28, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The 19th Amendment to the US Constitution was ratified, allowing the universal suffrage of women on the same basis as men.
29
11 dead and over 40 injured in Belfast rioting.
Both British and Republican forces shot prisoners as reprisals. Accounts of barbarity and atrocities became commonplace..
“ Black and Tans seized six volunteers near Cork city and killed them all. When the bodies were found, the heart had been cut from one, the tongue from another, the nose from a third, one victims skull had been battered in and two others were recognisable only by their clothes. In the West, the bodies of two brothers were found tied together in a bog, their legs partially roasted away. In Meath, the Black and Tans trailed a live Volunteer behind a fast-driven lorry until he was quite literally smashed to pieces. Some Volunteers were just as degenerate. In Tralee, two Black and Tans were thrown into a flaming gas-retort alive. In Milltown-Malbay, Clare, the execution of a resident magistrate was bungled. Still alive, he was buried up to his neck on a beach. Finding that they had buried him above the high water mark, Volunteers returned the next day, dug him up, and buried him further down the beach where he could watch the tide advance before it drowned him”
T.P.Coogan. “Ireland since the Rising” Pall Mall 1966. P.30
The British Government was fearful of large scale military operation (as urged by Sir Henry Wilson) due to possible negative public opinion.
Meanwhile in the US, the grounds of the Catholic Summer School of America in Cliff Haven, New York was the setting for the first public appearance in the United States of Sinead de Valera. ‘seated on the platform among the speakers and church dignitaries, Mrs de Valera showed evident traces of the many ordeals through which she has passed. She appeared to shrink from observation, but in response to repeated calls from the audience, she came forward and amid tumultous applause gracefully bowed her acknowledgements of the compliment paid her. She was subsequently entertained by the ladies of the Summer School.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 11 September 11, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The Newsletter’s editorial policy struck the middle road in comments on De Valera, he ‘made an excellent presentation of the case for an Ireland independent and free. In an address which lasted for over an hour and a quarter, he carried his vast audience from point to point with the clear logic for which he is noted… ‘we want Ireland and all it's 32,000 square miles; we want no more and we will take no less’ was the keynote of his argument’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 11 September 11, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
George L. Fox, of New Haven, Conn and Rector of the Hopkins Grammar School was in Ireland, and on Thursday, July 29, addressed the Ulster Unionist Council of Belfast.
The FOIF Newsletter commenting in no uncertain terms that "He is engaged in presenting the same statements of bigotry, hate and viciousness that left in the minds of the members of the United States Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives* the belief that Fox was the most offensive, intolerant and unfair person to appear before the Committee for many, many years."
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.11 Sep 11, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
* This US Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives was held in Washington D.C. December 12 & 13, 1919. To read George L. Fox's comments, click illustration below:
11 dead and over 40 injured in Belfast rioting.
Both British and Republican forces shot prisoners as reprisals. Accounts of barbarity and atrocities became commonplace..
“ Black and Tans seized six volunteers near Cork city and killed them all. When the bodies were found, the heart had been cut from one, the tongue from another, the nose from a third, one victims skull had been battered in and two others were recognisable only by their clothes. In the West, the bodies of two brothers were found tied together in a bog, their legs partially roasted away. In Meath, the Black and Tans trailed a live Volunteer behind a fast-driven lorry until he was quite literally smashed to pieces. Some Volunteers were just as degenerate. In Tralee, two Black and Tans were thrown into a flaming gas-retort alive. In Milltown-Malbay, Clare, the execution of a resident magistrate was bungled. Still alive, he was buried up to his neck on a beach. Finding that they had buried him above the high water mark, Volunteers returned the next day, dug him up, and buried him further down the beach where he could watch the tide advance before it drowned him”
T.P.Coogan. “Ireland since the Rising” Pall Mall 1966. P.30
The British Government was fearful of large scale military operation (as urged by Sir Henry Wilson) due to possible negative public opinion.
Meanwhile in the US, the grounds of the Catholic Summer School of America in Cliff Haven, New York was the setting for the first public appearance in the United States of Sinead de Valera. ‘seated on the platform among the speakers and church dignitaries, Mrs de Valera showed evident traces of the many ordeals through which she has passed. She appeared to shrink from observation, but in response to repeated calls from the audience, she came forward and amid tumultous applause gracefully bowed her acknowledgements of the compliment paid her. She was subsequently entertained by the ladies of the Summer School.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 11 September 11, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The Newsletter’s editorial policy struck the middle road in comments on De Valera, he ‘made an excellent presentation of the case for an Ireland independent and free. In an address which lasted for over an hour and a quarter, he carried his vast audience from point to point with the clear logic for which he is noted… ‘we want Ireland and all it's 32,000 square miles; we want no more and we will take no less’ was the keynote of his argument’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 11 September 11, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
George L. Fox, of New Haven, Conn and Rector of the Hopkins Grammar School was in Ireland, and on Thursday, July 29, addressed the Ulster Unionist Council of Belfast.
The FOIF Newsletter commenting in no uncertain terms that "He is engaged in presenting the same statements of bigotry, hate and viciousness that left in the minds of the members of the United States Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives* the belief that Fox was the most offensive, intolerant and unfair person to appear before the Committee for many, many years."
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No.11 Sep 11, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
* This US Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives was held in Washington D.C. December 12 & 13, 1919. To read George L. Fox's comments, click illustration below:
30
The London Times on MacSwiney ‘we can recall no parallel in the history of this country to the duel now reaching its climax in Brixton Prison’
The Irish Catholic Hierarchy announced that should MacSwiney die, his death will be held as sacrificial and not suicidal.
Dublin Castle officials were of the opinion that the administration should sanction mass arrests throughout the country of Sinn Fein leaders and known sympathisers, convict one fifth, free the remainder and photograph all.
Three men were arrested for the murder of Inspector Swanzy in Lisburn.
British army orders a curfew in Belfast – enforced until 1924.
The Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) elected Marcus Garvey “..to the post of ‘Provisional President of Africa’ while a banner at the Convention’s closing parade was emblazoned “ a President for Ireland; why not one for Africa?”
Robert A Hill. “The Marcus Garvey and UNIA Papers Project “ UCLA ( Via Internet Site June 1997 )
On the American Commission on Conditions in Ireland, De Valera expressed a degree of skepticism as to how effective it could be. Maloney assured him that ‘the commission is merely a mask to place the Irish cause before the tribunal of the civilised world’ although hostile witnesses would be included to maintain a degree of objectivity.’
F.M.Carroll. ‘American Opinion and the Irish Question 1910-23’ Gill&McMillan. 1978.
G.W.Biggs, a Unionist merchant in Bantry, Co. Cork wrote to the press protesting against comments made by Ulster politicians that their co-religionists in the South were being treated with intolerance – ‘I feel it my duty to protest very strongly against the unfounded slander on our Catholic neighbours, and, in doing so, I am expressing the feelings of very many Protestant traders in West Cork. I have been resident in Bantry for 43 years, 32 of which I have been engaged in business – and during that period I have always received the greatest kindness, courtesy and support from all classes and creeds in the country’.
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 10 September 4, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The day following publication of the letter, the RIC entered the town and set fire to Mr. Biggs’ premises causing some £30,000 of damage.
Erskine Childers already succesfuly had published a series of articles in the the London Daily news on British military rule in Ireland now published a pamphlet commenting that ‘Faced with this formidable hardening of the national resistance, the English Government has resorted to the most despicable weapon in it's armoury, the encouragement – implied if not expressed – of the Protestant Unionists in the northeast corner of Ulster, to civil war and sectarian persecution. It is the old policy of ‘divide et impera’…to arm it's Unionists inhabitants against their fellow countrymen while disarming the latter, and to stimulate unnatural dissensions and bigotry, is, therefore, logical Imperial policy. Notoriously this policy has been followed with the results seen in Derry and in Belfast and it's neighbourhoods at the end of July. No one who studies the local evidence and reads the debates in parliament can doubt either that the English troops showed great partisanship on the Orange side, or that the same kind of approval on the past of Parliament was given the frenzied excesses of the Orangemen, as was given to the sack of Fermoy and other places by the Government forces. There is a dreadful similirity in the disturbances themselves’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 11 September 11, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The London Times on MacSwiney ‘we can recall no parallel in the history of this country to the duel now reaching its climax in Brixton Prison’
The Irish Catholic Hierarchy announced that should MacSwiney die, his death will be held as sacrificial and not suicidal.
Dublin Castle officials were of the opinion that the administration should sanction mass arrests throughout the country of Sinn Fein leaders and known sympathisers, convict one fifth, free the remainder and photograph all.
Three men were arrested for the murder of Inspector Swanzy in Lisburn.
British army orders a curfew in Belfast – enforced until 1924.
The Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) elected Marcus Garvey “..to the post of ‘Provisional President of Africa’ while a banner at the Convention’s closing parade was emblazoned “ a President for Ireland; why not one for Africa?”
Robert A Hill. “The Marcus Garvey and UNIA Papers Project “ UCLA ( Via Internet Site June 1997 )
On the American Commission on Conditions in Ireland, De Valera expressed a degree of skepticism as to how effective it could be. Maloney assured him that ‘the commission is merely a mask to place the Irish cause before the tribunal of the civilised world’ although hostile witnesses would be included to maintain a degree of objectivity.’
F.M.Carroll. ‘American Opinion and the Irish Question 1910-23’ Gill&McMillan. 1978.
G.W.Biggs, a Unionist merchant in Bantry, Co. Cork wrote to the press protesting against comments made by Ulster politicians that their co-religionists in the South were being treated with intolerance – ‘I feel it my duty to protest very strongly against the unfounded slander on our Catholic neighbours, and, in doing so, I am expressing the feelings of very many Protestant traders in West Cork. I have been resident in Bantry for 43 years, 32 of which I have been engaged in business – and during that period I have always received the greatest kindness, courtesy and support from all classes and creeds in the country’.
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 10 September 4, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The day following publication of the letter, the RIC entered the town and set fire to Mr. Biggs’ premises causing some £30,000 of damage.
Erskine Childers already succesfuly had published a series of articles in the the London Daily news on British military rule in Ireland now published a pamphlet commenting that ‘Faced with this formidable hardening of the national resistance, the English Government has resorted to the most despicable weapon in it's armoury, the encouragement – implied if not expressed – of the Protestant Unionists in the northeast corner of Ulster, to civil war and sectarian persecution. It is the old policy of ‘divide et impera’…to arm it's Unionists inhabitants against their fellow countrymen while disarming the latter, and to stimulate unnatural dissensions and bigotry, is, therefore, logical Imperial policy. Notoriously this policy has been followed with the results seen in Derry and in Belfast and it's neighbourhoods at the end of July. No one who studies the local evidence and reads the debates in parliament can doubt either that the English troops showed great partisanship on the Orange side, or that the same kind of approval on the past of Parliament was given the frenzied excesses of the Orangemen, as was given to the sack of Fermoy and other places by the Government forces. There is a dreadful similirity in the disturbances themselves’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 11 September 11, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
31
The ‘truce’ between Harry Boland and the Irish-American leaders was broken in a letter Boland sent to Devoy. Later the same day, Devoy wrote to Cohalan commenting on the contents, particularly that it was:
‘treason for you to go to Chicago to upset the President’s plans... De Valera is obsessed with the necessity of safeguarding his prerogative and they are all crazy on that point. Lindsay [Crawford] and Diarmuid [Lynch] have told me of the amendments to the Constitution. They are all De Valera’s but are presented by the Massachussets State Council. They would hamstring the National Cou’ncil and deprive it of all financial resources....Harry wanted to know what you are going to do, and I asked him what they were going to do. This, I think, was one of the things that James [K.McGuire] objected to. He calls it ‘fighting’..
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.390
Darrell Figgis, a member of the Irish Industrial Commission, attended a joint meeting of the Leitrim and Roscommon county councils conducting an inquiry into the Arigna coal deposits. He was arrested along with the committee chairman and Colonel Moore of the Industrial Commission.
The Lord Chancellor of Ireland proposed a scheme to Dublin Castle for a re-trial of Terence MacSwiney before a Commission of English judges if he gave up the hunger strike.
The Newsletter pinpointed that business and industrial plant owners were the ‘real formentors of the recent rioting’ in Ulster. Reading through the British and Irish newspapers they could only come tot he conclusion that ‘they have succeeded in stirring up hatred among their workers, not against Sinn Feiners or Republican sympathisers, but against Irish Catholic workmen’. And quoting the London Daily Herald, that ‘one of the seven hundred unemployed ex-servicemen in Belfast called on 35 firms before he could secure work, and that he was told 34 of these, in answer to questions, that he was a Catholic, he was informed that there was no work for him.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 11 September 11, 1920. Lynch Family Archives
The ‘truce’ between Harry Boland and the Irish-American leaders was broken in a letter Boland sent to Devoy. Later the same day, Devoy wrote to Cohalan commenting on the contents, particularly that it was:
‘treason for you to go to Chicago to upset the President’s plans... De Valera is obsessed with the necessity of safeguarding his prerogative and they are all crazy on that point. Lindsay [Crawford] and Diarmuid [Lynch] have told me of the amendments to the Constitution. They are all De Valera’s but are presented by the Massachussets State Council. They would hamstring the National Cou’ncil and deprive it of all financial resources....Harry wanted to know what you are going to do, and I asked him what they were going to do. This, I think, was one of the things that James [K.McGuire] objected to. He calls it ‘fighting’..
Tansill. ‘America and the fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922’. Devin-Adair. New York 1957. P.390
Darrell Figgis, a member of the Irish Industrial Commission, attended a joint meeting of the Leitrim and Roscommon county councils conducting an inquiry into the Arigna coal deposits. He was arrested along with the committee chairman and Colonel Moore of the Industrial Commission.
The Lord Chancellor of Ireland proposed a scheme to Dublin Castle for a re-trial of Terence MacSwiney before a Commission of English judges if he gave up the hunger strike.
The Newsletter pinpointed that business and industrial plant owners were the ‘real formentors of the recent rioting’ in Ulster. Reading through the British and Irish newspapers they could only come tot he conclusion that ‘they have succeeded in stirring up hatred among their workers, not against Sinn Feiners or Republican sympathisers, but against Irish Catholic workmen’. And quoting the London Daily Herald, that ‘one of the seven hundred unemployed ex-servicemen in Belfast called on 35 firms before he could secure work, and that he was told 34 of these, in answer to questions, that he was a Catholic, he was informed that there was no work for him.’
Newsletter of the Friends of Irish Freedom National Bureau of Information - Washington D.C – Vol.11, No 11 September 11, 1920. Lynch Family Archives