The aims and objectives of the Society were revolutionary for the times that were in it, and brought the organisation to the attention of the less 'socially-minded' political (and military) members of the British ruling-class in Dublin, which was then (and, indeed, now!) England's political power-base in Ireland -
'That the weight of English influence in the government of this country is so great, as to require a cordial union among all the people of Ireland, to maintain that balance which is essential to the preservation of our liberties and the extension of our commerce...the sole constitutional mode by which this influence can be opposed, is by a complete and radical reform of the representation of the people in Parliament... no reform is just which does not include every Irishman (sic) of every religious persuasion...'
The Belfast Society also adopted the 'Charter' of 'The United Irishmen' as a whole, and in so doing they drew further attention on themselves from their political enemies, at home and abroad -
'In the present era of reform, when unjust governments are falling in every quarter of Europe, when religious persecution is compelled to abjure her tyranny over conscience, when the rights of men are ascertained in theory, and theory substantiated by practice, when antiquity can no longer defend absurd and oppressive forms, against the common sense and common interests of mankind, when all governments are acknowledged to originate from the people, and to be so far only obligatory, as they protect their rights and promote their welfare, we think it our duty, as Irishmen, to come forward, and state what we feel to be our heavy grievance, and what we know to be its effectual remedy.'
'We have no national government, we are ruled by Englishmen, and the servants of Englishmen, whose object is the interest of another country, whose instrument is corruption, and whose strength is the weakness of Ireland; and these men have the whole of the power and patronage of the country, as means to seduce and subdue the honesty of her representatives in the legislature.
Such an extrinsic power, acting with uniform force, in a direction too frequently opposite to the true line of our obvious interest, can be resisted with effect solely by unanimity, decision, and spirit in the people, qualities which may be exerted most legally, constitutionally, efficaciously, by the great measure, essential to the prosperity and freedom of Ireland, an equal representation of all the people in parliament. Impressed with these sentiments...we do pledge ourselves to our country, and mutually to each other...'
And with those words, the assembled Irishmen - Theobald Wolfe Tone, Thomas Russell, William Sinclair, Henry Joy McCracken, Samuel Neilson, Henry Haslett, Gilbert McIlveen, William and Robert Simms, Thomas McCabe, Thomas Pearce and Samuel McTier, among others - ensured the continuity of the on-going struggle against the British military and political presence in Ireland.
'KEOGHBOYS OF THE 1950's...'
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, April 1955.
William Keogh was appointed to office in Ireland.
John Sadlier and the other virtuous 'Tenant Righters' accepted offices in the new British ministry in Ireland, all bought by the plums of office.
William Keogh, the new 'Irish Solicitor General', was afterwards made a judge and became noted for his fondness for passing death sentences, and John Sadlier was made one of the 'Lords of the Treasury', lost his head and other people's money and then drank prussic acid.
Another of them, O'Flagherty, also got a 'good post' ; he had the same appititude as Sadlier and Keogh, but he later fled from Ireland.
(END of 'Keoghboys Of The 1950's' ; NEXT - 'First Things First', from the same source.)
ON THIS DATE (18TH OCTOBER) 142 YEARS AGO : IMPRISONED IRISHMEN ISSUE A 'NO RENT' MANIFESTO.
If you only act together in the spirit to which, within the last two years, you have countless times solemnly pledged your vows, they can no more evict a whole nation than they can imprison them. Our exiled brothers in America may be relied upon to contribute, if necessary, as many millions of money as they have contributed thousands to starve out landlordism and bring English tyranny to its knees.
No power on earth except faintheartedness on your own part can defeat you. Landlordism is already staggering under the blows which you have dealt it amid the applause of the world...one more heroic effort to destroy landlordism at the very source and fount of its existence, and the system which was and is the curse of your race and of your existence will have disappeared forever...
No power of legalized violence can extort one penny from your purses against your will. If you are evicted, you shall not suffer ; the landlord who evicts will be a ruined pauper, and the government which supports him with its bayonets will learn in a single winter how powerless is armed force against the will of a united, determined, and self-reliant nation.
Signed CHARLES S. PARNELL, President, Kilmainham Jail
MICHAEL DAVITT, Hon. Sec. Portland Prison ;
THOMAS BRENNAN, Hon Sec. Kilmainham Jail
JOHN DILLON, Head Organizer, Kilmainham Jail;
THOMAS SEXTON, Head Organizer, Kilmainham Jail;
PATRICK EGAN, Treasurer Paris, 1881.'
The above is the wording of a 'NO RENT!' manifesto issued, from prison - on the 18th October 1881, 142 years ago on this date - by the incarcerated leadership of the 'Irish National Land League', calling on small tenant farmers in Ireland to withhold rents 'owed' to their British 'landlords' until such time as the latter agreed to the demand of the 'Land League' for the 'Three F's' - fair rent, fixity of tenure and free sale.
The scale of unrest fostered by British greed can be judged by this article, from 'The Illustrated London News' of the 21st May, 1881 -
'Our Special Artist in the disturbed agricultural districts of the west of Ireland contributes another sketch of the perils that frequently beset a process-server when employed in the legal execution of his duty.
Some remarks on this subject were made last week, having reference to the instance of a landlord near Claremorris, Mr. Walter Burke*, who, finding that none of the ordinary process-servers in the country would venture to go round and deliver writs of ejectment to his defaulting tenants, has resolved to do it himself ; galloping quickly, with his trusty servant, from one farmhouse to another ; entering armed with a loaded revolver, not as a menace to others, but for his own needful protection**, and after showing the legal instrument, of which he leaves a copy, riding off as fast as he came...'
('1169' comment - *he paid the price for his bully-boy tactics the following year, in Claremorris...**he wouldn't have needed such "protection" had he been a decent human being in the first place.)
The alphabet of the 'Children's Land League' :
'A is the army that covers the ground ;
B is the buckshot we're getting all round ;
C is the crowbar of cruellest fame ;
D is our Davitt, a right glorious name ;
E is the English who've robbed us of bread ;
F is the famine they've left us instead ;
G is for Gladstone, whose life is a lie ;
H is the harvest we'll hold or we'll die ;
I is the inspector, who when drunk is bold ;
J is the jarvey, who'll not drive him for gold ;
K is Kilmainham, where our true men abide ;
L is the Land League, our hope and our pride ;
M is the Magistrate, who makes black of our white ;
N is no rent, which will make our wrongs right ;
O is Old Ireland, that yet shall be freed ;
P is the Peelers, who sold her for greed ;
Q is the Queen, whose use is not known ;
R is the Rifles, who keep up her throne ;
S is the sheriff, with woe in his train ;
T is the toil that others may gain ;
U is the Union that works bitter harm ;
V is the villain that grabs up the farm ;
W is the warrant for death or for chains ;
X is the ’Express', all lies and no brains ;
Y is 'Young Ireland' spreading the light ;
Z is the zeal that will win the great fight.'
And this is the continuity of that "great fight".
IRELAND ON THE COUCH...
A Psychiatrist Writes.
'Magill' commissioned Professor Patricia Casey to compile an assessment of Irish society at what may emerge as the end of a period of unprecedented growth and change.
This is her report.
From 'Magill Magazine' Annual, 2002.
The Irish have always had strong family bonds and a powerful extended family network, a feature that we shared with many of our European neighbours.
Time was, children were born into a family of two married parents, when problems were resolved within the family and childcare for those working outside the home was provided by family or neighbours.
Of course, this family could also be stifling and controlling, and the judgements meted out to those unfortunate enough to have children outside of marriage were harsh and punitive.
The change has been remarkable, with the numbers of children born outside marriage now above 30 per cent. One of the problems that flows from this is the serial father who has no emotional ties to the child, a situation which, according to RE Rowthorn, Professor of Economics at Cambridge, places it at the greatest risk of abuse, both physical and emotional.
In addition, cohabiting relationships are often unstable, with about 50 per cent splitting within ten years...
(MORE LATER.)
BEIR BUA.
Republicanism in history and today.
Published by the James Connolly/Tommy O'Neill Cumann, Republican Sinn Féin, The Liberties, Dublin.
August 1998.
('1169' comment - 'Beir Bua' translates as 'Grasp Victory' in the English language.)
The great Fenian revolutionary, O'Donovan Rossa, once said -
"It is in the dark days of a nation's distress that the truest of her sons cling closest to her, and those who are ashamed to associate their names with her fallen fortunes or who, by dangers of difficulties, are scared away from giving their assistance, are not the men fitted to raise her to a position of national independence."
Down the years the truth and sincerity of those words ring clear and inspire hope in a freedom struggle characterised as much by endurance as by action.
In giving the Republican Movement 'Beir Bua', the authors have provided not merely a manual for activism but a bible of endurance.
Its pages, like the words of Rossa, will instill Irish republicans with confidence and discipline, it will direct our energies and it will deliver our Republic, but especially in these treacherous times, it will guarantee our survival and bolster our resistance to the oppression which surrounds us daily on all sides... (MORE LATER.)
ON THIS DATE (18TH OCTOBER) 103 YEARS AGO - BRITISH 'HAMAR' PUTS FINISHING TOUCHES TO HIS 'LAW AND ORDER' SPEECH.
In May 1920 the British Foreign Secretary, 'Lord' Curzon, proposed vigorous 'Indian measures' to suppress the rebellion in Ireland and he and other British imperialist 'gentlemen' formulated a policy with that objective in mind. On the 9th August 1920, the British 'Lords Commissioners' announced that 'Royal Assent' had been granted for the following 14 items -
1. Overseas Trade (Credit and Insurance) Act, 1920.
2. Unemployment Insurance Act, 1920.
3. Restoration of Order in Ireland Act, 1920.*
4. Aberdeen Corporation Order Confirmation Act, 1920.
5. Pilotage Orders Confirmation (No. 3) Act, 1920.
6. Local Government Board (Ireland) Provisional Orders Confirmation (No. 3) Act, 1920.
7. Ministry of Health Provisional Order Confirmation (Chesterfield Extension) Act, 1920.
8. Mid-Glamorgan Water Act, 1920.
9. Wallasey Corporation Act, 1920.
10. Life Association of Scotland Act, 1920.
11. Uxbridge and Wycombe District Gas Act, 1920.
12. Exmouth Urban District Council Act, 1920.
13. North British and Mercantile Insurance Company's Act, 1920.
14. Lever Brothers, Limited (Wharves and Railway) Act, 1920.
On the 18th October 1920 - 103 years ago on this date - the British 'Chief Secretary for Ireland', Lieutenant-Colonel 'Sir' Hamar Greenwood (who later threatened to resign his position if Westminster agreed to a ceasefire with Irish republicans before they had surrendered their weapons!) made final changes to the report on his 'law and order' campaign in Ireland, which he made public the next day -
"The outrages against the police and military forces since the 1st January last, which I regret to say include the loss of no less than 118 lives, are as follows: police killed -100, military killed -18, police wounded -160, military wounded -66. There have been 667 attacks on police barracks, resulting in most cases in their complete destruction. There has been an organised attempt to boycott and intimidate the police, their wives and relations.
The hon. Member will realise that I cannot publish the steps that are being taken to cope with the campaign of murder, outrage and intimidation, but I can assure him that the means available to the Government for protecting all servants of the Crown in the discharge of their duties, and for bringing to justice those who commit or connive at outrages, are steadily improving. The Royal Irish Constabulary is rapidly increasing in numbers owing mainly to the flow of recruits from ex-officers and ex-service men who served in the Army or Navy during the War.
The effective strength of the Force is now higher than it has been for the last 15 years. In the last three weeks alone there have been 194 trials by Court Martial under the 'Restoration of Order in Ireland Act 1920', and 159 convictions. The Forces of the Crown are now effectively grappling with the organised, paid and brutal campaign of murder in Ireland.."
(*The 'Restoration of Order in Ireland Act' was a 'legal' item through which the British could authorise, in Ireland, 'the issue of Regulations under the Defence of the Realm Consolidation Act, 1914, for effecting the restoration and maintenance of order in Ireland where it appears to His Majesty in Council that, owing to the existence of a state of disorder, the ordinary law is inadequate for the prevention and punishment of crime, or the maintenance of order..')
The British claimed that the 'legal' changes had been rendered necessary by the abnormal conditions which at that time prevailed in certain parts of Ireland, where 'an organised campaign of violence and intimidation has resulted in the partial breakdown of the machinery of the ordinary law and in the non-performance by public bodies and officials of their statuary obligations...in particular it has been found that criminals (sic) are protected from arrest, that trial by jury cannot be obtained because of the intimidation of witnesses and jurors, and the local authorities and their officers stand in fear of injury to their persons or property if they carry out their statuary duties...'
The 'Order in Council' provided, among other things, for the putting into operation of many of the existing 'Defence of the Realm Regulations' for the purpose of 'the restoration or maintenance of order, for the trial of crimes by Courts Martial or by specially constituted Civil Courts, and for the investment of those Courts with the necessary powers'.
Also, it was now to be allowed for 'financial punishments' to be implemented - the withholding from local authorities who refuse to discharge the obligations imposed upon them by Statute, financial grants which otherwise would be payable to them from public funds and for the application of the grants so withheld to the discharge of the obligations which the local authority has failed to fulfill, for the holding of sittings of courts elsewhere than in ordinary courthouses, where these courthouses have been destroyed or otherwise made unavailable and 'although the Regulations are not, in terms, restricted to any particular part or parts of Ireland, it is the Government's intention that they shall not be applied in substitution for the provisions of the ordinary law in places where the judicial and administrative machinery of the ordinary law are available, and are not obstructed in their operations by the methods of violence and intimidation above mentioned...for instance, under the Regulations an ordinary crime can only be tried by a Courts Martial or by a specially constituted Civil Court, if the case is referred to the Competent Naval or Military Authority. Instructions will be issued by the Irish Executive to ensure that such cases will not be referred to the Competent Naval or Military Authority except where the prevalence of actual threatened violence or intimidation has produced conditions rendering it impracticable for them to be dealt with by due process of ordinary law...'
Greenwood stated the above, as mentioned, on Tuesday, 19th October 1920 and, the following day, a young (19 years old) IRA Volunteer, from Fleet Street in Dublin, Kevin Barry (pictured), became the first person to be tried by court martial under the new 'Restoration of Order in Ireland Act 1920' which,among its other trappings, allowed for the suspension of the courts system in Ireland (bad and all as that system was) and the establishment of military courts with powers to enforce the death penalty and internment without trial.
On the 10th December 1920 martial law was proclaimed in counties Cork, Kerry, Limerick, and Tipperary and, in January 1921, this order was extended to include Clare and Waterford. The 'ROIA' was widely used by the British against Irish republicans and, indeed, was used as a 'tool' to impose censorship on the media of the day, an imposition which was challenged, sometimes succesfully so - in 1921, a ROIA court-martial convicted the proprietors and editor of a Dublin newspaper for violating ROIA press regulations.
At the end of the trial, a military detachment acting without a written order from the military court arrested the defendants and conveyed them to a civil prison. The prisoners petitioned for a writ of habeas corpus on the ground that a transfer from military to civil custody based merely on oral statements of anonymous soldiers was unlawful.
The Crown argued that since the defendants were subject to military law, they could be moved from military to civil confinement without a written order. Finding this contention to be "quite untenable," the King’s Bench put on record its desire "in the clearest way possible to repudiate" the doctrine that a civil prison could detain a king's subject without proper written authority -
"To sanction such a course would be to strike a deadly blow at the doctrine of personal liberty, which is part of the first rudiments of the constitution."
Moreover, the court-martial's failure to issue an order left the civil jailer "without the protection of any written mandate" and therefore exposed to the risk of a lawsuit.
Declaring that there was "no vinculum or bond of union between the military and the civil custody," the King's Bench issued the writ of habeas corpus. Ostensibly protecting the liberty of civilians against overreaching by the British Army, the court equally protected a civil institution from subordination to military command.
Today, the British and their political colleagues in Stormont and Leinster House are still attempting to use 'laws' of that nature, and media censorship and cooperation, to destroy Irish republicanism.
But it didn't work then and won't work for them today, either - we are in this for the long haul!
ON THIS DATE (18TH OCTOBER) 22 YEARS AGO : FINAL ARRANGEMENTS STARTED FOR FREE STATERS TO 'HONOUR' IRISH REPUBLICAN.
He was hanged by the Free State administration on the 7th June 1921 for his alleged involvement in the rescue of Tipperary IRA man Seán Hogan, even though he was not involved in that operation. Thousands of people (including his mother and sister) had gathered outside Mountjoy Jail in Dublin in protest against his execution, but to no avail (it should be noted that at the time, Munster and a small part of Leinster were under British 'martial law' and those executed there were shot as soldiers, but Dublin was under civilian law and that is why those executed in Mountjoy were hanged).
Patrick Maher and his comrade Edmond Foley were executed in Mountjoy jail, Dublin, on the 7th of June 1921, after being charged with 'the murder' of two RIC men (Peter Wallace and Michael Enright) - he strongly protested his innocence but, even though two juries failed to reach a verdict, he was convicted (by a military court martial) and sentenced to death.
He was one of 'The Forgotten Ten' IRA Volunteers (Kevin Barry, Patrick Moran, Frank Flood, Thomas Whelan, Thomas Traynor, Patrick Doyle, Thomas Bryan, Bernard Ryan, Edmond Foley, and Patrick Maher) - Kevin Barry was executed in 1920 by the British and the other nine men were put to death in 1921. All ten were buried in the grounds of Mountjoy Jail in Dublin, where six of them were placed in the same grave.
On Sunday, 14th October 2001, nine of those men were reinterred in Glasnevin Cemetery in Dublin by representatives of a 26-county state in an 'official' ceremony and, on Thursday/Friday, 18th/19th October 2001 - 22 years ago on this date - this state made the final arrangements to do the same for the tenth man, Patrick Maher, who was reburied in his home parish of Glenbrohane in Limerick (at the request of his family) on Saturday, 20th October 2001.
Both reinterments were carried out by representatives of a state which none of the ten men were fighting for - a 26-county 'Free State', which wasn't the objective of the republican campaign - then (1920/1921) or now (2023). Our campaign is for a free Ireland, not a partially-free Ireland.
And, to add insult to injury, the then Free State 'minister for justice', John O'Donoghue, was the 'official figurehead' present, on both occasions, during which he delivered the graveside orations. Irish republicans are looking forward to the day when those moral and political misappropriations can be corrected.
ON THE 18TH OCTOBER IN THE 1920's IN IRELAND...
On the 18th October, 1920, the IRA captured Ruan RIC Barracks in County Clare ; IRA Units involved in the operation were - 'A' (Crusheen), 'B' (Barefield), 'C' (Ballinruan), 'D' (Clooney) and 'E' (Ennis) Companies, 1st Battalion, 2nd Battalion, Kilnamona and Ruan Companies, 3rd Battalion, 5th Battalion and 6th Battalion.
One RIC member, John Longhead, was killed in the barracks during the IRA Operation, which was carried out with asssistance from RIC member William Carroll, who afterwards joined the IRA.
"About the middle of October, 1920, I received word from brigade headquarters to select ten or twelve men from my battalion, each of whom was to be armed with a revolver, for the purpose of raiding the RIC barracks in Ruan.
A few nights after hearing from the brigade, I took a party to Kilnaboy where a scout joined us and led the way across country to Ruan which we reached about half-past four next morning. Outside Ruan, we met Joe Barrett, brigade O/C operation, who explained that there had been a change in plans and that we would not be going into the barracks, but instead we would do outpost duty a quarter of a mile outside the village of Ruan on the Corofin road, to deal with any enemy reinforcements that might come from the RIC barracks in Corofin, about three miles away.
Barrett then asked for the revolvers which we were carrying and gave us rifles instead. He told us too, that, for the previous couple of days, he had been training men from the 1st and 2nd battalions in mock attacks in which each man was put through the part he would be called on to take in capturing the Ruan barracks.
We then went on to the position which had been allotted to us.
So far as my party was concerned, nothing happened until after daybreak when a scout came from the direction of the barracks and told us the operation was a failure. About five minutes later another scout arrived with the correct account. The barracks had been captured with all its equipment, and the garrison were prisoners. In a short while, we were called into the village where two of the police, Constables Wilmot and Carroll, were handed over to us, with orders to detain them in my battalion area until further instructions were received.
Taking the two prisoners, we made our journey homewards without incident, having got a much needed feed on the way at O’Briens, Caherlough. The two prisoners were sent on to Diffley’s cottage in Carron where the local company provided a guard over them.
I forgot to mention that a char-a-banc to take away the booty from the Ruan barracks was provided by Dwyer’s of Lisdoonvarna. This vehicle was driven by Mick Delahunty, a Tipperary man who was then employed in Dwyer’s. I can give no exact figures as to what comprised the booty but as far as I can remember hearing it included 14 rifles, 14 revolvers, several thousand rounds of ammunition, hand grenades and all the RIC bicycles.
The RIC barracks was burned to the ground.
Three nights after the taking of Ruan barracks, John Joe Clohessy, then attached to the brigade staff, came to me with orders to release Constable Wilmot. I cycled with him to Diffley’s in Carron and set this prisoner at liberty. The other prisoner's detention was only a sham. He, Constable Carroll was the man who had planned and arranged the capture of the barracks and it was pre-arranged that as soon as this was accomplished he would join the IRA and go into active service with our battalion.
Subsequently he fought in a number of engagements with the Mid-Clare brigade..." (From here.)
ALSO ON THE 18TH OCTOBER IN 1920 -
An ex-British Army soldier, described as "a civilian", Edward Turner, was shot and killed by British Army soldiers in Mallow, in County Cork. His trigger-happy comrades later claimed that shots had been fired at them from his direction and, on that same date and year, a British Army Corporal, Richard Hinds, who was attached to the 'South Wales Borderers', was on mobile patrol in the Clontarf area of Dublin when he "fell from the lorry and died", obviously not having been properly attached to it...
18TH OCTOBER 1922 -
At Kilmanagh, near Urlingford, in County Kilkenny, a Free State patrol (under Captain Anthony Lalor) was ambushed by IRA Volunteers. The firefight lasted for three hours and resulted in two deaths : IRA man Thomas O’Dea, from Mitchelstown, in County Cork, and Free State soldier Patrick Quigley, from Tullaroan, County Kilkenny. A number of IRA men were captured along with two rifles and a Lewis machine gun.
ALSO ON THE 18TH OCTOBER IN 1922 -
IRA man Tom Maguire, Commanding Officer of the 2nd Western Division IRA at the time, was captured by the Staters near Shrule, in County Mayo (on this date, according to some sources) ; his military duties were taken over by Christie Mackin.
Incidentally, in January the following year, Tom Maguire was sentenced to death by the Staters, but that never happened...
...and, yes (!), we're back from our escapades, as you will have noticed!
In the event, after all family, friends and Girl Gang members were rounded-up and sorted with transport, there was thirty-one of us altogether, in a seven-vehicle convoy.
We had mainly (!) an uneventful journey on the M50, heading to Waterford, although we did manage to temporary 'loose' one of the cars en route and, when we pulled in to our first picnic stop in Carlow, we 'misplaced' two young adults but t'was the hunger drove them back to us. Eventually...
We took a few 'toilet breaks' in a couple of pubs along the rest of the journey to Waterford (...well..that's why we told the little 'uns that we were stopping, anyway..!) and those of us that weren't driving had a lemonade (!) or two while the childer were doing their business. We eventually got to Tramore, in Waterford, stayed there for a little over a week, had the craic and then rounded everyone up, done a head count, back into the motors and headed for Galway.
And sure we weren't on the road long before 'rest stops/toilet breaks' intervened and we ended up bringing a decent bit of custom to some pubs along the way, as well as stopping at some of the '32 Stops' along the route. We had a busy 'holiday', as adults have to, but the younger ones had a ball ; and that's what it's all about!
Right - thanks for the visit, and for reading!
Sharon and the team.
