ON THIS DATE (24TH FEBRUARY) 101 YEARS AGO : BRITISH-IMPOSED CURFEW IN DUBLIN COMES INTO EFFECT - "WALK WARILY AND HALT PROMPTLY".
'Soldiers To Take Charge Of City. Walk Warily And Halt Promptly.
The 'Times' correspondent in Dublin states that the curfew order became operative at midnight on February 23. The soldiers took charge of the streets until 5am, when the police resumed duty.
Numerous permits have been granted to night workers but many are not applying.
The corporation has decided to extinguish all street lamps at 11.30pm on the ground that they refuse to light the streets for the benefit of an alien people who were not interested in the progress of the city or the liberty of the subject.
It was also decided to forbid any municipal employee or official to apply for permits from the English military government.
The corporation ordered the cessation of municipal services likely to endanger the employees lives, and stopped payment to any employee working overtime during the curfew hours.
Sir Andrew Beattie denounced the decision to cut off the light, which, he said, would afford opportunities for scoundrels. The Sinn Féin members replied that the darkness would not increase the danger from the soldiery.
The official curfew notices in Dublin warn citizens to walk warily, listen keenly, and halt promptly.'
The "alien people" mentioned above were actually the "scoundrels" referenced by the 'Irish Unionist', 'Sir' Andrew Beattie, a fact politely made by the then Dublin corporation body, and full marks to them for that!
'Official' State political bodies today and, indeed, 'unofficial' State bodies such as the trade union leaderships, wouldn't dare now make such a stand against the on-going British political and military presence in Ireland as they profit, career-wise, from not doing so.
Those entities are honest in that, when bought, they stay bought. 'Honest' as they are in that manner, they are also morally bankrupt due to their 'honesty'.
'NEW CHOIR' AND 'IRELAND'S SOLDIERS REMEMBERED'.
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, June, 1955.
NEW CHOIR :
'To The Editor, United Irishman.
A Chara,
May I avail of the columns of your paper to bring to the notice of your readers the recent formation of a choir.
We are called the O'Carolan Choir, after the name of the famous Irish bard, and we are interested mainly in singing Irish folk-songs in four-part arrangements. The choir is open to everyone with or without a knowledge of music ; if you can't read music we will teach you. We meet every Friday in 63 Grosvenor Road (basement), Rathmines, Dublin, at 8.20pm (learners at 8pm sharp) - come along and bring your friends!
Is Mise,
Mairin Johnston,
Secretary'.
IRELAND'S SOLDIERS REMEMBERED :
On Monday, April 11th last, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass was offered in Leengatha, Victoria, Australia, for all those who died for Ireland.
The celebrant was Rev J McGuigan and the Mass was offered at the request of Henry McGuigan, formerly of County Armagh, and Toronto, Canada, and now resident in New York.
At his request also, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass was offered in St Jude's Church, New York, on Wednesday, April 13th, for the republican prisoners. The celebrant was Rev J Flattery.
(END of 'New Choir' and 'Ireland's Soldiers Remembered' ; NEXT - 'Dunmanway Meetings', from the same source.)
ON THIS DATE (24TH FEBRUARY) 156 YEARS AGO : 'MEAGHER OF THE SWORD' RESIGNS HIS U.S. MILITARY POSITION.
'Does the world even have heroes like Ireland's Thomas Francis Meagher anymore? After fighting for Irish independence ("I know of no country that has won its independence by accident") ,then condemned to death, pardoned and exiled, Thomas Francis Meagher escaped to America,where he became a leader of the Irish community and commanded the Irish Brigade during the Civil War. General Meagher’s men fought valiantly at some of the most famous battles of the Civil War, including Antietam, Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville. After the war, Meagher served as Acting Governor of the Montana Territory. In 1867, Meagher disappeared on the Missouri River ; his body was never found...' (from the poster, pictured, left, sourced here.)
The defining day of the The Battle of Antietam/Battle of Sharpsburg was September 17th, 1862, which was the bloodiest day of not only the American Civil War but the bloodiest single day in all of American history. The battle took place between the town of Sharpsburg in Maryland and Antietam Creek, and it ended General Robert E. Lee's first invasion of a northern state, and was the first major battle in the American Civil War to take place on Union soil.
The combined tally of dead, wounded, and missing stands at 22,717 soldiers of which the Irish Brigade, under the command of Brigadier General Thomas Francis Meagher, who recruited soldiers from among Irish immigrants for the Union side, lost over 60% of its men in an area that came to be known as 'Bloody Lane'. We have previously mentioned Meagher's involvement in the Irish struggle on this blog (here and here , for instance) but, before he left these shores for America, he unveiled an Irish flag (which he had based on the French Tricolour) in his native city, Waterford, on the 7th March 1848, outside the Wolfe Tone Confederate Club.
On the 15th April, in 1848, on Abbey Street, in Dublin, he presented the flag to Irish citizens on behalf of himself and the 'Young Ireland' movement, with the following words : "I trust that the old country will not refuse this symbol of a new life from one of her youngest children. I need not explain its meaning. The quick and passionate intellect of the generation now springing into arms will catch it at a glance. The white in the centre signifies a lasting truce between the 'orange' and the 'green' and I trust that beneath its folds, the hands of the Irish Protestant and the Irish Catholic may be clasped in generous and heroic brotherhood..."
He was arrested by the British for his part in the 1848 Rising, accused of 'high treason' and sentenced to death ('...to be hanged, drawn and disemboweled..') but, while he was awaiting execution in Richmond Jail, this was changed by 'Royal Command' to transportation for life and in July 1849, at only 26 years of age, he was transported from Dun Laoghaire on the S.S. Swift to Tasmania.
Before he was deported, he spoke about the country and the flag he was leaving behind - "Daniel O'Connell preached a cause that we are bound to see out. He used to say 'I may not see what I have labored for, I am old, my arm is withered, no epitaph of victory may mark me, but I see a young generation with redder blood in their veins, and they will do the work.' Therefore it is that I ambition to decorate these hills with the flag of my country...."
In Tasmania he was considered, and rightly so, to be a political prisoner (a 'Ticket of Leave' inmate) which meant he could build his own 'cell' on a designated piece of land that he could farm provided he donated an agreed number of hours each week for State use.
In early 1852, Thomas Francis Meagher escaped and made his way to New Haven, in Connecticut, in America, and travelled from there to a hero's welcome in New York. This fine orator, newspaper writer, lawyer, revolutionary, Irish POW, soldier in the American civil war and acting Governor of Montana died on the 1st of July, 1867, at 44 years of age. Asked about his 'crimes', he replied - "Judged by the law of England, I know this 'crime' entails upon me the penalty of death ; but the history of Ireland explains that 'crime' and justifies it." And the reasons for such 'crimimal acts' still exist to this day.
However : on the 24th February, 1865 - 156 years ago on this date - Brigadier Thomas Francis Meagher was relieved of his command of the Irish Brigade under the instructions of Ulysses S. Grant ; the decades of turmoil were said to have affected the man to such an extent that he sometimes sought refuge in a bottle - 'Not until February 24, 1865, did Thomas Francis Meagher resign from the Union army. Long before his resignation, the Irish Brigade had collapsed as a vehicle for Irish-American identity. During his tenure as both a recruiter for the Irish Brigade,and as the commanding officer, Thomas Francis Meagher became the cornerstone figure for the Irish unit, and through his speeches, he gave it significant political and social clout..'
(link to PDF source here.)
"The glory of the old Irish nation, which in our hour will grow young and strong again. Should we fail, the country will not be worth more than it is now. The sword of famine is less sparing than the bayonet of the soldier..." Thomas Francis Meagher.
'IN THE NAME OF THE LAW...'
Confidence in the Garda Siochana continues to erode as more incidents of questionable Garda 'evidence' emerge. By Sandra Mara. From 'The Magill Annual', 2002.
Solicitor John Fahy said his client, Edward Moss, got £10,000 in an out-of-court settlement and was happy with that. There was no suggestion of being offered £15,000 not to make a complaint. Frank McBrearty Jnr and the other defendants in the case, staff members of Frankie's Niteclub, were all acquitted.
In the light of these events the McBreartys, together with opposition TD's (sic) Brendan Howlin and Jim Higgins, have repeatedly called on Justice Minister O'Donoghue and the government to hold a public inquiry into the events in Donegal - not just in Raphoe, but in the greater Donegal area, where allegations of corruption abound.
Since that time, the body of Mr Barron has been exhumed and examined by State Pathologist Dr John Harbison. His report indicates that Mr Barron died as a result of a hit-and-run. His findings have brought forth fresh demands for a public inquiry into the garda handling of the investigation of the death of Richie Barron and their dealings with the McBrearty family... (MORE LATER.)
'LICENSED TO KILL...'
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, March, 1955.
Every self-respecting Protestant will condemn the outrages of the Orange Order ; every self-respecting Protestant will condemn the outrages of the 'B Specials' ; every self-respecting Protestant, North and South, will realise that the continuance of such outrages cannot but result in his (sic) being held up to world opinion as a barbarian, as a savage, than whom even the Chicago gangsters of years ago were no whit worse.
Let them, in God's name, join with us in demanding that the 'B Specials' must be disbanded. The 'B Specials' must go!
(END of 'Licensed To Kill' ; NEXT - 'IRA Not A Secret Society', from the same source.)
Thanks for reading, Sharon.
ON THIS DATE (17TH FEBRUARY) 125 YEARS AGO : JOHN REDMOND'S PLEA IN WESTMINSTER FOR IRISH POLITICAL PRISONERS GOES UNHEEDED.
On the 17th February, 1896 - 125 years ago on this date - John Redmond (pictured) secured speaking time in the Westminster Parliament to discuss the plight of Irish political prisoners held in prison by the British political administration.
Such was the dire conditions endured by our prisoners, two 'Irish Unionist' (Free Stater-) members of that political administration - Horace Plunkett and W.E.H. Lecky - actually supported Mr Redmond in his attempt to secure some sort of justice for those POW's.
During his plea to 'The House', Mr Redmond said - "...many hon. Members seemed to think that because it was contended that these were political prisoners who ought to be released, the Irish Members were thereby claiming that political offences ought not to be punished. Nothing could be more absurd. What they said was that there was a distinction drawn by all the nations in the world between the treatment of political offences and offences which sprang from the ordinary criminal instincts of mankind, and in dealing with every other nation in the world except with Ireland, England had been the first to draw this distinction...
...all persons to-day would admit that John Mitchell (pictured) was a political offender, but Englishmen of his day did not admit it, and they passed a special Act of Parliament dealing with the subject of treason in order that he might be treated, not as a political offender, but as an ordinary criminal. All men of all parties admitted that the Fenians were political offenders, but anyone who listened to the speech of the hon. Member for South Mayo (Mr. Davitt) the other night, who knew his history, and heard what he suffered in prison, would recognise that though he was a political offender he was not treated as such. In this case the Government still maintained the fiction that these men were not political prisoners; but when all these men had been released, and when another generation of Englishmen looked back on these transactions, they would, perhaps, be just as willing to admit that they were political prisoners as men of the present day were willing to admit that the hon. Member for South Mayo (Mr. Davitt) and John Mitchell were political prisoners of their day...
(END of 'Occupation Forces Augmented' ; NEXT - 'New Choir' and 'Ireland's Soldiers Remembered', from the same source.)
ON THIS DATE (17TH FEBRUARY) 175 YEARS AGO : ATTEMPTED GENOCIDE RAISED IN THE BRITISH PARLIAMENT.
On the 17th February, 1846 - 175 years ago on this date - speaking in the British so-called 'House of Commons', Daniel O'Connell (pictured) raised, among other issues, the potato blight in Ireland, and the effect it was having on 'her majesty's subjects' on that island.
The 'servants of the people' in that political institution were only too aware of the suffering that the Irish were trying to live through, and O'Connell was aware of that, but he was hoping that his comments would be carried in the newspapers and reach a wider audience.
This is an extract of the speech he delivered -
"...It was certain that there was a fearful prospect of a most calamitous season before the people of Ireland. The extent of that calamity had been disputed, and there had been a time when there was a prospect of some portion of it being possibly averted..the calamity was pressing, was imminent – more pressing, more imminent, and more fearful than that House was aware of. In order to understand it, it was right that the House should be made aware of the state of Ireland before the calamity, had impended.
The last Population Returns of 1841 showed that, out of the whole rural population of Ireland, 46 per cent lived in a single room ; the entire human family and the pigs occupied the same apartment together. The next fact was, that of the civil population – that is, of the inhabitants of towns – 36 per cent lived in a single room, and that two or three families sometimes occupied the same room.
An account of all cattle, sheep, and swine, imported into Great Britain from Ireland, from the 10th day of October, 1845, to the 5th day of January, 1846 ; oxen, bulls, and cows, 32,883 ; calves, 583 ; sheep and lambs, 32,576 ; swine, 104,141..more than half the potato crop is unfit for human food, and the disease is progressing. More than half the labourers are unemployed, and are likely to continue so for the next three months, and during the months of July and August, as the farmers will not have money nor food to give them.
The agricultural labourers of Ireland suffer the greatest privations and hardships ; that they depend upon precarious and casual employment for subsistence ; that they are badly housed, badly fed, badly clothed, and badly paid for their labour ; that it would be impossible to describe adequately the sufferings and privations which the cottiers and labourers and their families in most parts of the country endure ; that in many districts their only food is the potato, their only beverage water ; that their cabins are seldom a protection against the weather ; that a bed or blanket is a rare luxury ; and that nearly in all, their pig and their manure heap constitute their only property ; that a large proportion of the entire population comes within the designation of agricultural labourers, and endure sufferings greater than the people of any other country in Europe have to sustain..." (from here.)
The finely-suited 'parliamentarians' in that institution were aware of the suffering endured by the Irish, as policies enacted and enforced by Westminster was responsible for the genocide being played-out in Ireland, but they didn't care, as they themselves were not only not affected by those conditions but actually benefited, financially, from same ; Irish land, free of impoverished 'tenants', was more valuable and easier to sell than if the same land was sold with 'troublesome tenants' on it.
That mindset is still prevalent in British 'High Society' to this day, but here's a newsflash for our snob Brit readers - we ain't goin' nowhere ; this is our country, not a political and/or military base for your good selves. Take your unwanted debris back to your own country, and leave us in peace!
'IN THE NAME OF THE LAW...'
Confidence in the Garda Siochana continues to erode as more incidents of questionable Garda 'evidence' emerge.
By Sandra Mara.
From 'The Magill Annual', 2002.
Edward Moss said he eventually made a statement when he was told (by the gardai) that he'd never work in Donegal again if he didn't. In it, he claimed that Frank McBrearty gave him £15,000 not to make a complaint. He was reluctant to go to court, but was subpoenaed to attend. 'Magill' spoke to John Fahy, Moss's solicitor in Strabane, who wrote to the gardai on his client's behalf ; "You have insisted that he attend at the Garda Station to make statements, which statements have not been made voluntarily". John Fahy put the gardai on notice that if they persisted in contacting his client he would take proceedings to restrain them from doing so.
He says he no longer works in Donegal courts because of the difficulties he encountered - "I found some gardai were intimidatory towards me as an extension of the client. I accepted that situation prevailed in the North, but I expected more from the gardai in the South*. Unfortunately, that is not the case. I'd rather take my chances in a Northern court..."
(*'1169' comment - the 'cops' (ie State security service) on this island, North and South, will collaborate with each other in all cases to do with 'security matters' ; if they believe you have got the better of them in the North then you have made enemies with them, too, in the South, and vice versa.) (MORE LATER.)
'LICENSED TO KILL...'
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, March, 1955.
One aspect of this whole business must be emphasised over and over again ; that is, it is the deliberate policy of the Stormont junta to provoke and incite the 'B Specials' to cause these incidents. They are frantically anxious to bring about sectarian strife in the Six County area and the instrument ready fashioned for this purpose is the 'B Special police force'. It was founded for this purpose and is maintained and used today for this purpose.
Deliberately, they are organised, instructed and trained to carry on a campaign of hostility and outrage on behalf of the Orange Order against the nationalist people in the North. They are the weapon which the Stormont junta inevitably falls back on in times of stress, whether that stress arises from economic or national causes. The Stormont junta know that the continuance of the Six County puppet State cannot be justified on economic grounds any more than it can on national grounds.
It is a monstrosity on both grounds and it would long ago have fallen but for the gullibility of the bulk of the Protestant people there who allow their religious feelings to be played upon and abused, by the cute self-seeking politicians in Stormont... (MORE LATER.)
Thanks for reading, Sharon.
