THE FRENCH REVOLUTION AND THE IRISH STRUGGLE .......This article is based on a lecture delivered by Sean O Bradaigh in Dublin on January 21 , 1989 , marking the 70th Anniversary of the founding of the First (All-Ireland) Dail Eireann in the Mansion House on January 21 , 1919 , and the links between Irish and French Republicans - 'Partners in Revolution' 200 years ago .
Published in 1989 by Sean Lynch , Cleenrath , Aughnacliffe , County Longford , on behalf of the County Longford Branch of the National Graves Association .
By Sean O Bradaigh .
Liberte ! Egalite ! Fraternite ! Ou La Mort ! ( (Freedom ! Equality ! Brotherhood ! or Death!).
Unite Indivisibilite De La Republique !
' Erin's sons be not faint-hearted
Welcome ! Sing then Ca ira
From Killala they are marching
To the tune of Viva La !
They come , they come , see myriads come
Of Frenchmen to relieve us ;
Seize , seize the pike , Beat , beat the drum
They come , my friends , to save us . '
The accounts written by the French Officers speak of their shock at the terrible conditions of the peasantry , and remark as well on the hospitality with which the poor people received them . Operations commenced immediately and the people of Mayo rallied in strength .
' Killala was ours ere the midnight
And high over Ballina town
Our banners in triumph were floating
Before the next sun had gone down .
We gathered to speed the good work then
The true men of near and afar
And history can tell how we routed
The Redcoats through old Castlebar . '
(MORE LATER).
THE UNBROKEN LINKS IN THE IRISH REPUBLICAN CHAIN ....... By Martin Calligan.
(No year of publication.)
Michael Collins was sending guns and men to the Six Counties : Collins is on record : " If we don't finish the war now , the money class that was never with us will take over . " Which they did .
Collins ordered the assassination of Sir Henry Wilson for exterminating Catholics in the Six Counties ; Tom Markham , a Clareman , was entrusted to go over the papers that the British left behind in Dublin Castle ; he discovered and left in writing the name of the leading British spy - Tim Healy .
Collins locked this information in a safe in Portobello Barracks , Dublin , and was to deal with Tim Healy on his return from the South of Ireland .......
(MORE LATER).
INFORMERS : The RUC's Psychological War ....... From 'IRIS' magazine , March 1983.
By Sean Delaney.
Even should the RUC and the Orange judiciary prove unable to consistently gain convictions against suspected Republicans , they may well continue to use the tactic both for its value in effectively interning large numbers of suspected Republicans on remand for lengthy periods , and for any 'value' they may try to squeeze out in terms of demoralising the Nationalist community .
It should also be viewed as significant that this co-ordinated 'psychological operations' campaign against Nationalist resistance - of which informers are a part - comes precisely at the time when Sinn Fein and the Republican struggle in general is mounting an intensified political challenge to the British administration in the North of Ireland and severely threatening the reformist approach of the SDLP . ('1169...' Comment - that "reformist approach" has since been copied by the Provisionals whom , like the SDLP , will make a well-paid career from the Struggle and , again like the SDLP , will be held accountable by future generations for becoming part of the problem , not part of its solution.)
The arrest of former Sinn Fein National Organiser Jim Gibney on the falsified 'evidence' of informer Kevin McGrady is only one aspect of that political attack by the British .......
(MORE LATER).
