"The evils of that unhappy country are not accidental, not temporary, but chronic and habitual. The state of Ireland is one which is notorious. We know the ordinary condition of that country to be one both of lawlessness and wretchedness. It is so described by every competent authority.
There is not an intelligent foreigner coming to our shores, who turns his attention to the state of Ireland, but who bears back with him such a description.
Ireland is the one weak place in the solid fabric of British power — Ireland is the one deep (I had almost said ineffaceable) blot upon the brightness of British honour. Ireland is our disgrace. It is the reproach, the standing disgrace, of this country, that Ireland remains in the condition she is. It is so regarded throughout the whole civilized world. To ourselves we may palliate it if we will, and disguise the truth ; but we cannot conceal it from others.
There is not, as I have said, a foreigner — no matter whence he comes, be it from France, Russia, Germany, or America — there is no native of any foreign country different as their forms of government may be, who visits Ireland, and who on his return does not congratulate himself that he sees nothing comparable with the condition of that country at home.
If such be the state of things, how then does it arise, and what is its cause? My Lords, it is only by misgovernment that such evils could have been produced : the mere fact that Ireland is in so deplorable and wretched a condition saves whole volumes of argument, and is of itself a complete and irrefutable proof of the misgovernment to which she has been subjected."
The words of what must be, to date - and in relation to Ireland, anyway, whatever about his other dealings - the last honest politician in Westminster, and a man who wasn't just 'an ordinary backbencher' and, as such, was listened to more so than a 'seat-filler' would be.
He came up through the 'ranks' as 'Viscount Howick' before obtaining his title as a 'Lord' and was under-secretary for the British 'colonies' for three years following which he was under-secretary in the British Home Office. He was the British 'secretary of war' for five years and, as a 'Lord', he became the effective leader of the Whig Party and was given the top job in the British 'Colonial Office'.
Perhaps the fact that he was one of fifteen children opened his mind to 'thinking outside the box' in relation to the (on-going) crimes committed by his fellow politicians in Ireland!
An honest politician, in that regard, anyway, none of whom are now to be found in Westminster, or Stormont, or Leinster House, for that matter, as those institutions are now packed to the rafters with self-serving political misfits who consider, verbally and/or by deed, that what they call 'the Irish question' was finally solved in 1998 when the Stormont Treaty was implemented.
Hopefully it won't take all concerned another 853 years before they realise that that isn't the case.
'LONDON CEREMONY...'
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, July, 1954.
Tomás O Dubhghaill stated - "The Irish people may state as strongly as possible their objection to these British troops, they may argue their case at home and abroad but in the final analysis they must be prepared to meet force with force.
It is the grim lesson of our history since the first coming of the English invaders to our shores that no amount of reasoning, no amount of argument has prevailed on the English to do the right thing. They have listened to only one argument - force - and apparently they will not listen to any other argument today but force.
It is the very last thing that the Irish people wish for, that there should be renewed conflict, but we must make it quite clear that we cannot abandon our nationhood, we will not betray our ideals, we must not turn our backs on our glorious dead. Ireland is a nation today and was a nation long before England herself. Ireland resents the invaders and will resist them. Irrespective of who may grow tired, or waver, that struggle will go on, must go on, until the last member of the occupation forces is cleared out..." (MORE LATER.)
ON THIS DATE (23RD MARCH) 175 YEARS AGO : THE DISPOSSESSED ASSIST THE DISPOSSESSED.
On the 23rd March, 1847 - 175 years ago on this date - the Choctaw Indians assembled in Skullyville, Oklahoma and, despite being politically dispossessed victims themselves, they collected about $170 (equivalent to about $70,000 today) which they forwarded to Ireland.
Their donation was remarkable because they had suffered terrible hardships themselves in the years before our 'Great Hunger' as they were evicted from their native lands of Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi just 16 years earlier and were forced to walk 500 miles to their new 'home' of Oklahoma, which the American government had chosen for them.
The walk became known as the 'Trail of Tears' due to the suffering endured by the tribes during the enforced exodus. Many perished before completing the journey - indeed, of the 21,000 Choctaws who started the journey, more than half perished from exposure, malnutrition and disease before they reached their new 'home'.
Ironically, one of those in charge of the eviction was Andrew Jackson, the son of Irish immigrants who, on the 4th March 1829, in an attempt to 'sell' the idea that the native Indians would be getting a good deal in 'moving' off their land, stated -
"It will be my sincere and constant desire to observe toward the Indian tribes within our limits a just and liberal policy, and to give that humane and considerate attention to their rights and their wants which is consistent with the habits of our Government and the feelings of our people..."
But the same man showed his true colours two years later when he stated - "It is pleasing to reflect that results so beneficial, not only to the States immediately concerned, but to the harmony of the Union, will have been accomplished by measures equally advantageous to the Indians. What the native savages become when surrounded by a dense population and by mixing with the whites may be seen in the miserable remnants of a few Eastern tribes, deprived of political and civil rights, forbidden to make contracts, and subjected to guardians, dragging out a wretched existence, without excitement, without hope, and almost without thought..."
He dismissed them as the so-called 'bed blockers' of their day, or worse.
To the Andrew Jackson's of this world we say 'shame on you', and to the brave and decent Choctaw's and those like them we say 'Yokoke' !
THE NOT SO IRISH NEWS...
Her analysis shows how the paper reflects the political attitudes of the Stormont Castle Catholics (who dominate the SDLP*) and the conservative values of the Catholic Hierarchy, especially Bishop Cahal Daly.
(From 'Iris' magazine, October 1987.)
('1169' comment - *...and who now fill the ranks of other Stoop-like political parties in Stormont and Leinster House.)
When the Dublin courts refused to extradite Patrick McIntyre, 'The Irish News' didn't miss the opportunity to assure us that "..this fundamental fidelity to justice is not the preserve only of the Dublin courts, but can be found in the far more taxing and complex Belfast situation.." (May 8th).
Only a few weeks later, however, the editor must have been in despair when once again reality impinged upon the fantasy land on Donegall Street ; in reference to the lenient sentences given to UDA men convicted of stealing rockets, they had to admit that equality before the law "..is completely lacking at present..we have all grown used to seeing soldiers and members of loyalist organisations walking free from the courts after trials on charges which would have guaranteed nationalists lengthy prison sentences.
Many ordinary people concerned with justice, equality and stability have a growing contempt for the law. Is this what British justice has come to ; a straight-forward sectarian headcount?" (June 23rd).
Overwhelmingly, the target for attack is the Republican Movement and, in particular, the continuation of the armed struggle of the IRA... (MORE LATER.)
ON THIS DATE (23RD MARCH) 96 YEARS AGO : A TERRIBLE GLUTEI IS SPAWNED.
'In response to the signing of the Boundary Agreement (see 'Micheál Martin/Gerrymandering' piece, here) between Great Britain and Ireland in December 1925, an extraordinary meeting of Sinn Féin was held in March 1926 to discuss the future of the party. Failing to get an agreement*, Eamon de Valera resigned as leader of Sinn Féin and took rapid steps to establish a new national movement.." (*"an agreement", that is, to [as stated above] abandon republicanism and 'become politically respectable', as some would have it) (sourced from here, but since purged from their website!) and this - 'Fianna Fáil was founded on 23 March 1926 when a group of Dail deputies led by Eamonn De Valera split from Sinn Féin. This happened because De Valera's motion calling for elected members be allowed to take their seats in the Dáil, if and when the controversial Oath of Allegiance was removed, failed to pass at the Sinn Féin Ard Fheis..' (from here.)
Incidentally, the same issue (re becoming a constitutional political party) was pushed to the surface once more in 1986 by, again, those who desired to be (bought and) paid politicians which, among other happenings, prompted IRA Commandant General Tom Maguire (who was born on the the 28th March in 1892, and died in his 101st year, in 1993) to issue the following statement :
The above is in answer to that age-old question - 'What's the difference between Fianna Fáil and Provisional Sinn Féin?'
Answer : 60 years!
'UNITED IRISHMEN...'
Ireland was big enough for all her children to achieve prosperity provided that the connection with Britain was broken. Britain saw that this was true and she decided that a prosperous Ireland would endanger British commerce - hence the barbarities of 1797 and 1798.
From that time onward, the Orangeman was made to fear the catholic and, fearing him, to oppress him. The catholic was taught that he needed a friend to defend him against protestant oppression and Orange violence. The maintenance of a so-called 'United Kingdom' necessitated the disunion of Ireland, and a new 'Pale' was formed around Belfast.
We must teach our northern brethern that they have lost much in the past 150 years, and that it is in London and not in Dublin that they will eventually recognise their enemies.
(END of 'United Irishmen' ; NEXT - 'IRA Not Oath-Bound', from the same source.)
ON THIS DATE (23RD MARCH) 88 YEARS AGO : THREE IRISH REPUBLICANS, THREE MONTHS IN JAIL, THREE WORDS - "ENTER INTO RECOGNISANCES".
Ireland 1915 ; The 'Irish Volunteer' Movement had split ; approximately 170,000 men stayed with John Redmond and fought with England in the belief that to do so would guarantee a form of 'Home Rule' for Ireland - but about 10,000 men broke away as they had no faith in Redmond's plan.
Months earlier, British 'Sir' George Richardson had taken command of the Ulster Volunteer Force (a pro-British militia) and had landed about 25,000 rifles and two-and-a-half million rounds of ammunition at Larne in County Antrim - when the British Government in Westminster attempted to move against the UVF (as they had no control over them then), British Army Officers mutinied in objection.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in Ireland, other forces were recruiting : Irish republicans were re-grouping ; the 'Irish Citizen Army' was recruiting for Volunteers, as was Sinn Féin, the 'Irish Republican Brotherhood' and John Redmond's 'United Irish League'. There was turmoil in the country.
A child was born into the above circumstances in Dundalk, in County Louth. He was child number three in the family, and one more was to be born after him. This third child in the Goss family, Richard, went to a local school and, like others in the Goss neighborhood, tried to get work locally when he was finished his schooling - he was successful, and got a job in Rasson's Shoe Factory in Dundalk. The troubled times he lived in got his attention and, at 18 years young (in 1933), Richie Goss joined the North Louth Battalion of the IRA, and trained in the use of explosives. At that time in the then 12-years-partitioned Ireland, the anti-Catholic bigots of the then two-year-old 'Ulster Protestant League' were in full swing ; nationalists all over the Six Counties were being hammered.
British political leaders were voicing support for the Unionists - indeed, 'Sir' Basil Brooke actually boasted that he "had not a Roman Catholic about my own place" and the then British Stormont Minister for Labour, a Mr. J. M. Andrews, spoke out about what he termed "a foul smear" - that of "another allegation made against the (British) government, which is untrue : that, out of 31 porters at Stormont, 28 are Roman Catholic. I have investigated the matter and I have found that there are 30 Protestants and only one Roman Catholic, there only temporarily."
The British Loyalists, too, in the form of the Orange Order, were putting pressure on the Nationalists in the Six Counties - the then 'Grand Master' of the anti-Nationalist 'Orange Order', a (British Senator) 'Sir' Joseph Davison, stated - "When will the Protestant employers of Northern Ireland (sic) recognise their duty to their Protestant brothers and sisters and employ them to the exclusion of Roman Catholics? It is time Protestant employers realised that whenever a Roman Catholic is brought into their employment it means one Protestant vote less. It is our duty to pass the word along - Protestants employ Protestants."
That was the sentiment of those times - the blatant sectarianism that existed, and which Richie Goss, amongst others, hoped to bring to an end. He was 18 years young, an IRA member and learning to use explosives - in early 1934, at 19 years of age, he was picked-up by the Free State Special Branch (political police) and asked to account for his movements ; he refused, and was brought before a Free State Military Tribunal and sentenced to three months in prison.
The prison sentence was related, according to the 'Court', to what became known as 'The McGrory Incident' : in Dundalk, County Louth, on 9th January 1934, a debt-collector (who was also said to be a member of the right-wing 'Blueshirt'[Fine Gael] party) was held-up by armed men and his bag of cash was taken. In making inquiries in the area about the robbery, the Free State Gardaí (police) were assisted by a local man, a Mr. Joseph McGrory, from Chapel Street, Dundalk and two IRA men were jailed as a result of the evidence given by McGrory. On the night of 11th February 1934, a bomb was thrown through the front window of the McGrory house ; the explosion killed Joseph McGrory's wife.
On the 23rd March 1934 - 88 years ago on this date - Richie Goss and two others, James Finnigan and Matt McCrystal, were sentenced to three months in jail because they refused to "enter into recognisances" ie 'explain their whereabouts' on the night of the McGrory incident. Then, in early July 1935, four IRA men were arrested and charged with the death of Mrs McGrory - Richie Goss, Eamon Coffey, Thomas Walsh and Bernard Murphy, all from Dundalk. The Free Staters had received information from an informer that five men were responsible for 'the McGrory Incident' - the four men named above, and one other - James Finnigan.
However, Finnigan was already in jail again, this time serving fifteen months for possession of weapons. The informer was Matt McCrystal, an IRA man and, on his evidence, the first-ever 'murder trial' before a Free State Military Tribunal went ahead. But it was not successful : on the 20th July 1935, after a five-day hearing, all the accused were acquitted.
Richie Goss was ordered to go to Dublin by Sean Russell, the then IRA Chief of Staff, in early 1938, as his expertise in explosives was needed to prepare for the up-coming bombing campaign in England and, within months, he was in England, helping to organise IRA Units, safe-houses etc for the campaign ; he was arrested in Liverpool in May 1939 for refusing to account for £20 in his possession(!) and was sentenced to seven-days in Walton Jail and, when released, he reported back to the IRA in London. About two months later he returned to Ireland but was unlucky enough to be grabbed by the Free Staters in their round-up of known and suspected IRA members and supporters.
On the 2nd September 1939, the Leinster House Administration had issued a statement saying that, because of "the armed conflict now taking place in Europe, a national (sic) emergency exists affecting the vital interests of the State" and, the following day (3rd September 1939), the 'Emergency Powers Bill' was enacted (ie to all intent and purpose - 'martial law').
Days later (on the 8th September 1939) a new Free State Minister for 'Justice' was appointed - the ferociously anti-republican Gerald Boland. All known or suspected Irish republicans were rounded-up, but a republican-minded lawyer, Sean MacBride (whose parents had fought alongside the IRA) supported the republican prisoners and, on the 1st December 1939, due to a 'habeas corpus' application, Richie Goss and fifty-two other republican prisoners were released from Mountjoy Jail and all reported back to their IRA Unit's and continued the fight - Richie Goss was promoted to the position of Divisional Officer Commanding of the North-Leinster/South Ulster IRA.
In July 1941, Richie Goss was staying in the house of a family named Casey in Longford when it was surrounded by Free State troops and Gardai ; a shoot-out ended in the capture of the then twenty-six years young Richie Goss and the wounding of a Free State Army Lieutenant, resulting in a charge of attempted murder against Goss. A Free State Military Tribunal returned a 'guilty' verdict on Richie Goss and he was sentenced to death. That was in July 1941 ; on the 8th August 1941, Richie Goss was taken, under armed guard, from Mountjoy Jail in Dublin and was put in the back of a truck, in which he was forced to sit on his own coffin on the journey from Dublin to Portlaoise Jail.
On the 9th August 1941, Richie Goss, 26 years young, was shot dead by a Free State firing squad and buried in Portlaoise Prison yard. In September 1948 - seven years after his execution - his remains were released and re-interred in Dowdallshill Cemetery in Dundalk, County Louth. A well-known Irish republican of the time (and still remembered by the Movement to this day) Brian O'Higgins, wrote in the 1950 edition of 'The Wolfe Tone Annual' -
"On September 18th 1948, the bodies of Patrick McGrath, Thomas Harte, George Plant, Richard Goss, Maurice O'Neill and Charles Kerins were disinterred in prison yards and given to their comrades and relatives for re-burial among their own. These men were condemned to death and put to death as criminals, as outlaws, as enemies of Ireland. Today, that judgement and verdict is reversed, even by those who were and are their opponents, and they are acknowledged to be what we have always claimed them to have been - true comrades of Tone, of Emmet, of Mitchel, of the Fenians, and of all the heroic dead of our own day and generation.
There was no bitterness in their hearts towards any man or group of men, no meanness in their minds, no pettiness or brutality in their actions. They were, and are, worthy to rank with the greatest and noblest of our dead, and the younger men we salute and pray for and do homage to today are worthy to be their comrades. The only shame to be thought of in connection with those republicans is that Irishmen slew them and slandered them, as Irishmen had slain and slandered the men of 1922, for the 'crime' of being faithful soldiers of the Republic of Ireland. Let us remember that shame only as an incentive to action and conduct that will make recurrence of it impossible ever again.
Wolfe Tone built his plan for true independence on the resistance tradition of all the centuries from the beginning of the conquest to his own day, and these men who were his faithful followers, knew no plan but his would ever end English domination in Ireland.
Those who would make all Ireland free must follow in his and their footsteps or fail. Men talk foolishly today, as they and others have talked for many futile years, of 'declaring' the Republic of Ireland. There is no need to declare it. Wolfe Tone and Robert Emmet founded it and made it known to the world. Daniel O'Connell reviled and repudiated it, but John Mitchel and Fintan Lalor stood beneath its banner and gave it their allegiance. The Fenians made it articulate and preserved it through two generations until the men and women of 1916 proclaimed it in arms.
The whole people of Ireland accepted it a few years later, giving it the most unanimous vote that has ever been cast in this country, and it was established and declared on January 21st, 1919. It has never been dis-established since, but it has been suppressed by falsehood and by force, and it is suppressed at this moment. Against that force and falsehood, against that unjust and unlawful suppression, the men we honour today - Patrick McGrath, Thomas Harte, George Plant, Richard Goss, Maurice O'Neill and Charles Kerins - did battle unto death. Their blood cries out for only one vengenance - the restoration of the suppressed Republic of Ireland."
- Brian O'Higgins, as quoted in 'The Wolfe Tone Annual', 1950, speaking about the remains of the six Irish rebels which were handed-over to their comrades and relatives on the 18th September 1948, an event in which today's date - the 23rd March - had an unfortunate part to play.
ON THIS DATE (23RD MARCH) IN...
...1921 :
The Black and Tans pasted-up 'official warning notices' in parts of County Louth, declaring that 20 IRA Volunteers would be shot dead "...for every policeman or soldier shot, injured or interfered with.."
A similar 'warning notice' (pictured) referenced Balbriggan, and this is why.
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...1921 :
Six IRA Volunteers who were 'on the run' from enemy forces (Jeremiah O'Mullane, Daniel Crowley, William Deasy, Thomas Dennehy, Daniel Murphy and Michael O'Sullivan), members of the 1st Battalion, Cork No. 1 Brigade, were shot dead by British soldiers when they were surrounded in a barn on a farm in Ballycannon, in Clogheen (An Cloichín), a townland in Leighmoney Civil Parish, near Barony, in County Cork, in the early hours of 'Spy Wednesday', the 23rd March, 1921.
Neighbours reported later that they heard English voices shouting "make a run for it" and, minutes later, the sound of volleys of gunfire. Reports locally indicated that the British soldiers considered themselves as having giving the IRA men "a sporting chance" to get away.
(More here.)
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...1921 :
Another RIC member, Edward L Leslie, died from his wounds three days later. The weapons liberated on that operation included a Hotchkiss Machine Gun and the three captured Tans offered to show the IRA how to use it in return for their feeedom, but their offer was declined. (More here.)
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...1922 :
On the night of the 23rd March, 1922, two 'A Special' members of the British forces in Ireland - Thomas Cunningham and William Chermside - were 'on patrol' on May Street/Great Victoria Street in Belfast when the IRA ambushed them, shooting both of them dead.
Later on that same evening, Peter Murphy (61) and Sarah McShane (15), were shot dead in the Short Strand and a Mr John Murdock was shot dead at his work on the Falls Road, in what was believed to have been a Crown Force revenge attack and, at about one o'clock on the following morning, gunmen broke into the home of a (Catholic) family who lived at 3 Kinnaird Terrace, near the Antrim Road in North Belfast, seeking further revenge for the deaths of their two colleagues. Publican Owen McMahon lived there with his wife, six sons, his daughter, and his barman, Edward McKinney. Mr McMahon owned the Capstan Bar on Ann Street.
The women in the house - a niece and a servant - were tied-up in a back room and the men were lined up against a wall, told to say their prayers, and shot. Four died on the spot and Mr McMahon himself died six hours later in the Mater Hospital. One of his sons, Bernard, died a week later from his wounds.
The youngest to die, Thomas, was 15 years old ; his younger brother, aged 11, managed to hide under a sofa and escaped the massacre.
John McMahon somehow survived the shootings and said afterwards that four of the five killers were dressed in the uniform of the 'Royal Irish Constabulary Specials', and that at least one of them was in plain clothes.
It later transpired that Cavan-born 'RIC District Inspector' John William Nixon and Kilkenny-born 'RIC County Inspector' Richard Harrison were named locally as having organised the McMahon murders, and their operatives, from the near-by Brown Square Barracks, were the agents who carried it out. In February 1924, the Free State 'Ministry of Defence' in Dublin issued statements signed by members of the RIC in the North admitting that 12 RIC men were involved in the murder of the McMahons, but no one was ever prosecuted for the massacre. John William Nixon was expelled from the then new 'RUC' grouping in 1924 (which had been spawned from the 'old' RIC), on full pension, but not for the part he played in the McMahon murders ; he was caught delivering a speech to the 'Orange Order', an act which was deemed to be "in breach of police regulations". But only if your caught, apparently.
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...1923 :
Most of the IRA Dalkey column is 'arrested' after being cornered in a safe house in Albert Road, in the Glenageary/Dalkey area of Dublin. One Volunteer, Michael Neary, was killed and two other Volunteers were wounded. Lilly O'Brien, a member of Cumman na mBan, was shot in the neck. Lilly's mother intervened and prevented the FSA from executing the two wounded Volunteers. One FSA soldier, a Corporal Michael Baker, was killed and two others were wounded.
The day after that, the leader of the IRA Dalkey Column, Paddy Darcy, and three of his men, surrendered themselves and their equipment in an attempt to save the lives of two of the captured men, Meaghan and Thomas.
In separate incidents on that same date (23rd March 1923), another IRA Volunteer fighter was killed in Rathmines, in Dublin, and another republican operative was shot dead trying to blow up the Carlton Cinema in O'Connell Street in Dublin city centre.
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...1923 :
Sergeant Gorman and Private Horan were in civilian clothes and had just agreed earlier on that night to go for a few drinks in McCabe's pub, but were spotted by the IRA entering the premises. The two FSA operatives left the pub at about 8pm and were arrested by the IRA, and a report of the two of them 'creating a disturbance' in the pub was sent to their colleagues. FSA Lieutenant Jones and Private John Croke were sent to investigate and they entered the premises by a back door and sat near the fire. The IRA appeared and instructed the two men to put their hands up, but Private Croke went for his revolver and was shot dead and Lieutenant Jones was arrested and taken to the local military barracks, which was under the control of the IRA, where they were shot dead, as was FSA Sergeant Edward O'Gorman.
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Thanks for the visit, and for reading.
Sharon and the team.