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 !
Castlebar was defended by a huge English army : the Kerry Militia ; the Galway Yeomanry ; the Sixth Foot Regiment ; the Frazer Fencibles ; Lord Roden's Dragoons (known as the 'Foxhunters') ; the Kilkenny Militia ; the Longford Militia ; the Fencible Cavalry ; the Prince of Wales Fencibles ; the Fencible and Royal Irish Artillery - in all an army of at least 4,000 men , of whom 600 were superbly mounted cavalry .
There was no shortage of 'top brass' , either - General Lake , 'the Butcher of Wexford' , Commander of His Majesty's forces in Ireland ; General Hutchinson , Commander of His Majesty's forces in Connacht ; Lord Ormond ; Lord Granard ; Lord Longford (Pakenham) . A later Pakenham in his book ' The Year Of Liberty' declares that they were all "...totally outclassed by Humbert . "
Captain Jobit , who kept a diary of the expedition , described Castlebar as "...a tough nut to crack , for a little army like ours .. " - between 800 and 900 French and about 700 or 800 untrained but determined pikemen from many parts of County Mayo .......
(MORE LATER).
THE UNBROKEN LINKS IN THE IRISH REPUBLICAN CHAIN ....... By Martin Calligan.
(No year of publication.)
On his way to the South of Ireland , Michael Collins called on Tom Malone - alias Sean Forde - to end the so-called Civil War , the last thing the British wanted , for they had supplied the guns and the ex-Black 'n Tans to put over the 26-county State .
Emmet Dalton joined the British Army and during an attack in France an Officer was killed ; Dalton took over and repelled the attackers , for which he was decorated and sent to join Sir Henry Wilson , a position of trust . Back in Dublin after the war , Emmet Dalton offered to help the IRA .
Sean McKeown was under sentence of death in Mountjoy Jail ; five British soldiers collected meat from the abettor each day under orders that the driver and sentry would not leave the armoured car , but they did not oblige , and Dalton drove to Mountjoy Jail , got past the two gates - but the alarm was raised . How did they get past the two gates and the sentry ? When State papers were released after 50 years , General McReidy had stated 'never any danger ...we know in advance' . It was a British move to endear Emmet Dalton to Michael Collins ; Dalton was a member of MI5 - he went away with an MI5 man's wife who had his papers .
Michael Cunningham in his book stated that it was seen in the papers in her possession where the British Government had paid a large sum of money for the killing of Michael Collins . Emmet Dalton was in charge of Collins' bodyguards at Beal Na Blath ; he took Collins' remains to a British Military hospital and stated that the bullet was fired from a distance , and had only sufficient strength to penetrate his skull ; but Nurse Gordon , who washed Collins' wounds , testifies to one entry and one exit wound , and that the bullet was fired so close that his hair was singed .......
(MORE LATER).
INFORMERS : The RUC's Psychological War ....... From 'IRIS' magazine , March 1983.
By Sean Delaney.
It also needs to be emphasised however , and re-emphasised , that the RUC's use of informers , and the manipulation of the Northern legal system to suit their ruthless and pragmatic ends , is not a new phenomenon but simply a new face on the unchanging nature of British repression in Ireland . Republican resistance - which despite the use of informers in a few cases to date against loyalists , is the primary target of the RUC - has shown itself well able to counter all those aspects of repression over the past twelve years and more : internment , Castlereagh , Diplock Courts , H-Blocks , assassinations , and to continue its war of revolutionary attrition . ('1169...' Comment - the Provisionals' 'war of revolutionary attrition' is now been 'fought' only from within the walls of three parliaments which were each established by the British . 'Revolutionary...' ?)
The Nationalist community as a whole , which has borne the brunt of British Army and RUC military and political repression over the same period , can and should mobilise now to counter this futher attack on the freedom struggle in Ireland and , as can almost certainly be done , make the British use of paid informers - with all of their sordid retinue of bribes , immunity and 'schooled' 'evidence' - too expensive a tactic , in terms of its political consequences , to be worth the effort .
[END of 'INFORMERS : The RUC's Psychological War' .]
(Tomorrow : 'BUTCHERS DOZEN' - from 1983.)
