'UNOFFICIAL' ORDERS FROM A HIGH-RANKING FREE STATER...

This IRA Volunteer is said to have been shot by a one-time prison comrade of his, on the 'un-official' instructions given to the gunman (and his colleagues) by a high-ranking Free Stater...

From 1955 - 'These elections offer the people in the Six Counties the opportunity to voice their demand for freedom and the withdrawal of England's troops from Irish soil...'

As a young boy, this republican joined Na Fianna Éireann in 1971 and progressed to the ranks of the IRA very quickly. He escaped capture on a number of occasions but was eventually 'arrested' by the British in 1973 and interned in Long Kesh until 1975. When released, he reported back to the IRA for active service straight away...

From 1987 - "The people are told they should be ashamed to be Irish and even the singing of national ballads is attacked while the wearing of the Poppy is extolled. There seems to be no limit to the amount of national abasement sought..."

We'll be filling-in the missing pieces to the above on Wednesday, 2nd August 2023, and the lads tell me that we'll also have a few paragraphs about a very young 'millionaire' related (!) to this blog. Yeah - your guess is as good as mine...!

Thanks for the visit - please check back with us again on Wednesday, 2nd August 2023.

See yis then!

Sharon and the team.

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HOLDING IRELAND FOR ENGLAND WITH AN ECONOMY OF ENGLISH LIVES.

ON THIS DATE (26TH JULY) 109 YEARS AGO : HOWTH GUNS AND A BRITISH MASSACRE ON THE DUBLIN QUAYS.

'A nationalist depiction of the shootings at Bachelor's Walk, in which British troops killed three civilians...' (from here.)

In the early afternoon of Sunday, 26th July, 1914 - 109 years ago on this date - a consignment of over one-thousand rifles and ammunition for same was landed at Howth harbour, in Dublin, and unloaded by the newly-formed 'Irish Volunteers', assisted by members of Na Fianna Éireann.

On its way in to Dublin city, the republican convoy was halted by a force of about fifty British RIC 'policemen' and over one-hundred British soldiers from the 'Kings Own Scottish Borderers', known as the 'Kosbies'.

Thomas MacDonagh.

Darrell Figgis.

A large crowd of civilians gathered to watch the confrontation ; the Assistant British RIC Commissioner, William Harrell ('..a vehement unionist..') , approached the republicans and demanded that their weapons be handed over. Two of the rebel leaders, Thomas MacDonagh (pictured) and Darrell Figgis (pictured), left the main body of armed republicans and marched over to Harrell and told him it was their understanding that he (Harrell) had no legal authority to issue such a demand!

While RIC Chief Harrell quoted chapter and verse of how, and from whom, he derived his 'authority', the two Irish republicans were quoting him chapter and verse of why it was that his 'authority' was not valid in Ireland ; Harrell's RIC colleagues were lined-up on the road about ten feet behind him and the British 'KOSBIES' were, in turn, lined-up behind the RIC men - both groups were concentrating on the verbal sparring-match between Harrell, MacDonagh and Figgis.

But the group of Irish republicans, standing in military formation behind MacDonagh and Figgis, had directed their concentration elsewhere : as the verbal disagreement continued, republicans at the very back of the gathering simply walked away in the opposite direction with their weapons under their coats and other men in the republican contingent handed their weapons to known members of the public who, again , walked off with the equipment under their coats!

Meanwhile, after about half-an-hour of trying to get the better of MacDonagh and Figgis, RIC Chief Harrell gave up and ordered his men, and the British military, to move-in and seize the guns - they got 19 of the 1000 rifles, the rest having been spirited away.

The British were not amused, but the crowd that had gathered to watch the confrontation cheered, clapped and laughed at the RIC and the British KOSBIES, as the two British gangs formed-up for the march back into the city centre.

Word of the incident had spread at this stage and a large number of the public decided to walk alongside the British, laughing and jeering at them. When the procession was about three miles from Dublin city centre, they were joined by about fifty more members of the KOSBIES who fell in behind their colleagues.

Likewise, dozens of men, women and children - out for a Sunday walk - had heard about the 'disappearing rifles' and joined with their neighbours in walking beside the British, poking fun at them. It being a Sunday afternoon, families were out in force in the city and were lined-up along the Quays, having heard that the British military detachment was headed that way : people spilled-out from the old tram terminus on Bachelors Walk to view the spectacle.

The British were by now near breaking-point ; they were more accustomed to being feared or, at best, ignored, by the public, and were seething with rage now that they were being laughed at by them. An Officer in charge felt the same, and ordered one line of his men (approximately twenty soldiers) to halt and turn to face the jeering crowd ; when the soldiers had done as commanded, he instructed them to "ready weapons" and fire on the crowd, if he so ordered.

It is not clear whether the order to "fire" was given or not but, regardless, the British did open fire. The people on the footpaths - men, women and children - were easy targets. Forty-one people were hit : a man in his mid-forties died on the spot, as did a woman in her early fifties, and a teenage boy. Of the other thirty-eight people, one died later.

Such was the outcry from Ireland and abroad, the British Government decided to hold a so-called 'Commission of Inquiry' into the shooting and, in August that year (1914), that body announced its conclusion and, as expected, the 'Commission of Inquiry' was nothing of the sort. It amounted to a mere 'slap-on-the-wrist' for those who pulled the triggers.

The 'Commission' simply stated that the actions of their gunmen on that day, Sunday, 26th July, 1914, was "..questionable and tainted with illegality.." and scolded their soldiers for "..a lack of control and discipline..".

The British Army soldiers responsible for the massacre, the 'Kings Own Scottish Borderers', within hours following the shootings, found themselves even more reviled by the Irish than they had been - their very presence on the street now guaranteed trouble. They were shipped out of Ireland only days after the incident, to the Western Front.

The Irish, meanwhile, had buried their dead : on 29th July, 1914, literally thousands of Irish people followed the coffins of those shot dead three days earlier and Dublin city came to a standstill as thousands upon thousands of people filled the footpaths along the funeral route, from the Pro-Cathedral to Glasnevin Cemetery. An armed Company of Irish Volunteers, with weapons reversed, led the mourners to the gravesides.

While the British political and military administrations claim jurisdiction over any part of Ireland, the incident outlined above can happen again. That British claim must be dropped and the political and armed thugs enforcing same must be re-called to their own country.

Any other 'solution' only postpones a proper peace.







'WESTMINSTER ELECTIONS.'

From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, April 1955.

With the resignation of Mr Churchill and the accession of 'Sir' Anthony Eden to the premiership of England there is much speculation about the probable date for the general election.

It would seem that anytime now is a good time for the Conservatives to go to the country ; the Labour Party is widely split on the handling of Mr Anuerin Bevan, and it is very unlikely that they will be able to close their ranks and give the appearance of a united party with a united policy on home and foreign affairs.

The general election may be declared at any time, but we are not terribly interested in the internal affairs of England ; it makes no difference to Ireland what party is in power there. Imperial policy never changes unless it is forced by outside circumstances to change...

(MORE LATER.)







ON THIS DATE (26TH JULY) 167 YEARS AGO - BIRTH OF A BRILLIANTLY CONFUSED IRISHMAN.

"Power does not corrupt men ; fools, however, if they get into a position of power, corrupt power" - George Bernard Shaw, dramatist, critic and social reformer (pictured).

An enigma, I think, is the best way to describe 'GBS', who was born in Dublin on the 26th of July 1856 - 167 years ago on this date - and was known to be a 'problem child' - he grew into what many of his contemporaries and, indeed, society at large, considered to be a 'problem adult'!

In relation to Irish politics, he supported 'Home Rule' within the British 'empire' ("..socialism can be brought about in a perfectly constitutional manner by democratic institutions.." [which might indeed be possible elsewhere, but the Leinster House institution is not a "democratic institution", as far as Irish republicans are concerned]) and constantly voiced opinion against Irish separatism yet, at 90 years of age, in 1946, he refused an award from Westminster of an 'Order of Merit Honour'.

In 1916, at 60 years of age, he condemned "militant Irish nationalism" and accused those attempting to overthrow British misrule in Ireland as having 'learned nothing and forgot nothing' and again voiced his opinion that independence from England 'was impractical', although he did object to the British executions of the rebels that followed.

He supported Mussolini ("..the right kind of tyrant..") ,spoke of his admiration for Stalin and Karl Marx, condemned all sides in the 'First World War', flirted with 'Fabianism' and 'Eugenics' and flirted occasionally with 'Flat Earthism/Zeteticism'!

'GBS' departed this Earth (flat or not!) on the 2nd November 1950 at the grand age of 94. "Dying is a troublesome business," the man himself opined, " there is pain to be suffered, and it wrings one's heart ; but death is a splendid thing - a warfare accomplished, a beginning all over again, a triumph. You can always see that in their faces."

And, in the opinion of this blog, this world needs more 'faces' and free-thinking attitudes like that of 'GBS' today, even if we wouldn't agree with all of his political positions.

In regards to the 'Irish question', he stated (in 'Man and Superman', 1903) - "The Famine? No, the starvation. When a country is full o' food, and exporting it, there can be no famine. Me father was starved dead; and I was starved out to America in me mother's arms. English rule drove me and mine out of Ireland" - and, unfortunately, as long as Westminster continues to claim jurisdiction over any part of Ireland, the potential to 'drive us Irish' out remains.







'LAW AND SOCIETY :

IS IT TIME TO ASK QUESTIONS OF THE LEGAL PROFESSION...?

We have always been a society with a facility for the creation of myths. However, not even the most dewy-eyed devotee of the dreams of the Celtic Twilight could have invented the present status of the legal profession in Ireland.'

By John Drennan.

From 'Magill Magazine', November 2001.

If your lawyer makes the nasty choice for you, it's always possible to point the finger later on.

This is why politicians and their legal advisors have such a cosy and mutually beneficial relationship.

Meanwhile, within the media, the tentacles of the law library have stretched to the point where journalists are now experiencing the curious phenomenon of having incontrovertible facts excised from articles on the grounds that these are "libellous".

In the ideal discourse of legal ethics, these laws are needed to protect the widows mute and the defenceless chimney sweep but, unfortunately, here in the real world, Ireland's smothering libel laws attract a great deal more Beverley Cooper-Flynns to the Four Courts than they do chagrined chimney sweeps...

(MORE LATER.)







IN ANSWER TO CHURCH AND STATE AND IN DEFENCE OF IRISH REPUBLICANISM.

Address to the Annual General Meeting of Comhairle Uladh (Ulster Executive) in Cootehill, County Cavan, on Sunday, November 22nd, 1987, by Ruairí Ó Brádaigh, Uachtarán, Sinn Féin Poblachtach.

Comhaírle Uladh AGM, November 22nd, 1987.

In a statement following the Enniskillen explosion, Republican Sinn Féin said that the British would "exploit the situation to secure the implementation of the Extradition Act".

Since political extradition already exists, the English Establishment seeks to have it systematised and simplifies - and in the course of doing so to humiliate the Dublin government internationally and beat it into submission.

They wish to integrate the forces of the 26-County State fully into the British war machine in the Six Counties and - greatly to be desired by them - to bring the Free State forces into direct conflict with republicans. This is the old formula of the British which dates from 1922 : 'Holding Ireland for England with an economy of English lives'.

A veritable tidal wave of hysteria has been launched at the Irish people through the mass media ; a hate campaign against Irish republicans has been worked up day by day over the past two weeks...

(MORE LATER.)

Thanks for the visit, and for reading,

Sharon and the team.

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