JOSEPH BRENAN ; 1828-1857 : 'Young Ireland' Leader .......
....... James Fintan Lalor hit back at the British in September 1849 , with Joseph Brenan by his side ; the armed action took place in Cappoquin , Waterford .......
The Rising of 1849 started in September that year - but it was over by the following month ; its objective was not achieved : parts of the south-east of the island took a stand against the British , but to no avail . Joseph Brenan was forced to go 'on-the-run' and made it to New Orleans in America , where he got a job as a reporter with 'The New Orleans Times' newspaper - he was still only a young man of 21 years of age .
He became friendly with the sister of John Savage , a comrade of his , who was a young Dublin art student who was himself 'on-the-run' from the British ; John Savage had fled to New York and got a job as a proof-reader with 'The New York Tribune' newspaper (incidentally - that newspapers 'European Correspondent' was Karl Marx !).
A small tangent here concerning a 'war' of a different kind which was taking place in American journalism at the time .......
(MORE LATER).
WHERE MOUNTAINY MEN HAVE SOWN :
war and peace in rebel Cork ,
in the turbulent years 1916-21.
By Micheal O'Suilleabhain : published 1965.
KNOCKSAHARING.
" Knocksaharing , literally translated into English , means 'Saturday Hill .' But it is probably the hill dedicated to Saturn . On top of this hill is a big rock known as Carraig a' tSagairt , where Mass was said in the Penal Days , but which in Druidical times was possibly a pagan altar . The northern slope of Knocksaharing comes down to meet the southern slope of Clohina . In the depression so formed flows the little river , the Sullane Beag , and parallel to it runs the Macroom-Renanirree Road .
It was a lovely glen at the time I write about , with its clumps of holly everywhere , surrounding the little green fields and mingling with the stunted oak to form Clohina Wood , as quiet a spot as one who longed for peace could wish to meet . The cascading of the little river , down the slope to the bridge at Aha Tiompain , was a sound which spoke everlastingly of rest . The little bridge was but half a mile north of the place where I was born . To me it was once the bridge of romance , a goal I longed to reach . I pictured it a mighty structure , spanning a wide and deep current . When I managed to walk to it and was held on its parapets , to gaze on the rippling water underneath .
I was quite pleased with it and I never wearied of that pleasure , even when later I discovered that it was but a very small bridge after all . The road it carried was the nearest way to Ballyvourney , from the village of Kilnamartyra . It was much used by us at the time ; it was quiet and the enemy made little use of it , deterred perhaps by the frowning Rahoona and its foothills , where IRA marksmen might lie close to the road in safety . It was the eve of the Feast of Corpus Christi , 1921 ; our IRA Column had been disbanded for the time being , as a 'round-up' by the British was on the way and it was thought wiser to disperse the men .
It proved to be a wise decision ......."
(MORE LATER).
GETTING OUT .......
'Britain has the economic clout to impose peace in Northern Ireland (sic), argue BOB ROWTHORN and NAOMI WAYNE . Why does'nt it use it ? '
(First published in 'New Statesman and Society' Magazine , 9th September , 1988 , pages 12 and 13).
Re-produced here in 10 parts .
[Apologises beforehand for the use of the descriptions "Northern Ireland" and "Province" , and the constant use of the terms "Catholics" and "Protestants" in the following ten-part article ; they are not our descriptions or terms , but the Authors].
(9 of 10).
The risk of widespread bloodshed could thus be reduced to almost negligible proportions . There's no question of conventional warfare , given the quality of the arms at the disposal of militant Protestants , but however intensively 'Northern Ireland' were policed , there would almost certainly be a burst of sectarian killings during the process of transition .
But this risk has to be weighed against the absolute certainty that thousands will die if Britain remains in 'Northern Ireland' , and countless more will suffer in other ways . Finally , there is the moral dimension - Britain presents itself as an honest broker in Ireland , desperately trying to establish peace between two hostile communities . But its involvement is partisan simply because the 'Northern Ireland' state (sic) is itself a partisan creation .
Discrimination against Catholics is built into its very being .......
(MORE LATER).
