ON THIS DATE (7TH APRIL) 220 YEARS AGO : JAMES NAPPER TANDY STANDS 'TRIAL'.
Liberte! Egalite! Fraternite! Ou La Mort! ( (Freedom! Equality! Brotherhood! Or Death!). Unite Indivisibilite De La Republique!
'(On the) 7th April 1801, the trial of United Irishman, James Napper Tandy (pictured), began. He stood trial for treason. He had been a member of the United Irishmen and was one of the leaders of the failed Irish Rebellion of 1798. Tandy actively encouraged young Irish people to follow the example of the French peasants, and uprise against their rulers with force. He was in the process of building an army when his actions came to the attention of the British government.
He was forced to flee Ireland and spent time in France, where he met with Theobald Wolfe Tone and other United Irishmen. They gathered support from the French military and returned to Ireland intent on leading a rebellion. However, they struggled to gain support. In their absence, the British had quashed the Irish ambition that an independent republic could be achieved using military force. Tandy again had to leave Ireland, through fear of arrest, and sailed all the way around the north of Scotland to avoid landing on English land.
British forces intercepted him in Hamburg, Germany, and Tandy was returned to Ireland to stand trial for the treasonable landing on Rutland Island, off the coast of Donegal. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to death, but his life was spared after a personal plea from French leader Napoleon, and Tandy was allowed to leave to live out the remainder of his life in France. Tandy was given a huge funeral in Bordeaux (and) is mentioned in the old folk song, 'The Wearing of the Green', which tells the story of the struggle faced by the Irish people under British rule in the early 19th century...' (from here.)
On the day Castlebar was liberated - August 27th, 1798 - James Napper Tandy, a Dublin man, born in 1739, sailed from Dunkerque with 270 French Grenadiers and a large quantity of weapons, powder and artillery, on board the corvette 'Anacreon', reputed to be the fastest vessel in the French Navy.
They landed near Burtonport, County Donegal, on September 16th, 1798 but, on hearing of General Humbert's defeat at Ballinamuck, they withdrew. On September 21st, 1798, the ships captain landed Napper Tandy at Bergen in Norway, from where, en route to France by land, he arrived in Hamburg, then a neutral state, on November 22nd, 1798.
It was there that Napper Tandy was arrested and protracted extradition proceedings followed ; the British arrogantly demanded that he be handed over for 'trial' - eventually, he was extradited (on October 1st, 1799) but French retribution was swift ; they re-called their 'charge d'affaires' and Consul in Hamburg immediately. Hamburg's representatives in France were given 24 hours to quit their residences and eight days to leave the country. This all coincided with the return of Napoleon Bonaparte from Egypt and his assumption of power as First Consul of France.
A letter from the Senate of Hamburg to the French, which set out their (Germany) reasons for extraditing James Napper Tandy was returned unopened. The German administration then communicated personally with Napoleon Bonaparte (pictured), whose reply was devastating, and which he published for the edification of the public - "You have violated hospitality, a thing that would not happen among the barbarous hordes of the desert.." He then promptly ordered trade sanctions (which were not lifted until April 1801) on payment of a fine of 4,500,000 Francs.
Napper Tandy was sentenced to death at Lifford Court, in Donegal, and May 4th, 1801, was fixed as the day of execution. A reprieve was granted until May 28th, and, on May 12th that year, his execution was postponed indefinitely. By 1802 the long war between France and England was coming to an end, and negotiations for peace were under way : 'Lord' Cornwallis, the 'Lord Lieutenant' who had taken personal command against General Humbert's army in 1798, was the Chief British negotiator and Joseph Bonaparte, brother of Napoleon, was the Chief French negotiator.
The signing of the Peace Treaty of Amiens (signed on March 25th, 1802) was delayed when the First Consul instructed his brother to demand that the British comply with one further condition - "General James Napper Tandy must be released from prison and restored 'au sein de la France' - to the bosom of France.." and, on the night of Sunday, March 7th, 1802, James Napper Tandy was quietly released from prison and put on board a ship for France ; on March 14th of that year he landed in Bordeaux to military and civic receptions. He died there, from dysentery, at 63 years of age, as an Irish patriot, on the 24th August, 1803.
'O Paddy dear, and did ye hear the news that's goin' round?
The shamrock is by law forbid to grow on Irish ground!
No more Saint Patrick's Day we'll keep, his color can't be seen
For there's a cruel law ag'in the Wearin' o' the Green.
I met with Napper Tandy, and he took me by the hand
And he said, "How's poor old Ireland, and how does she stand?"
"She's the most distressful country that ever yet was seen
For they're hanging men and women there for the Wearin' o' the Green..." '
'REFLECTION...'
By Matt Furlong.
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, June, 1955.
But there's a shadow of a cross in every dell,
burning life-like pictures in our hearts.
A silent shadow weaving its own spell ;
of tyranny displayed in all its arts.
Oh say! and shall we weep,
is the courage of our hearts asleep?
Can the manner of our pain
be lulled apace to keep
like smouldering fires, dampened with the rain?
(END of 'Reflection' ; NEXT - 'The Irish Votes', from the same source.)
ON THIS DATE (7TH APRIL) 156 YEARS AGO : IRISH-BORN FENIAN USA BRIGADIER-GENERAL MORTALLY WOUNDED.
On April 7th, 1865, Brigadier-General Tom Smyth (pictured) was mortally wounded at the battle of Farmville, Virginia.
Tom Smyth was born in County Cork on Christmas Day, 1832, and came to the United States in 1854. He was part of a group of fighters that joined the 'Irish 24th Pennsylvania Volunteer' but that Unit was disbanded within months, and its members incorporated elsewhere, with Tom Smyth being appointed as a Major in the '1st Delaware Volunteer Infantry'. The Unit was active and Smyth's bravery was noticed, so much so that he was put in command of the 'Irish Brigade' for a while.
On the 7th of April , 1865 - 156 years ago, on this date - at the battle of Farmville, Smyth was shot through the mouth by a Confederate sniper. He died two days later, on the same day that Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered, virtually bringing the war to a close. Thomas Alfred Smyth was the last Union general killed in the war.
'Thomas Alfred Smyth was a hero in the eyes of his men in the 1st Delaware Volunteers. His story begins in Ballyhooly in County of Cork, Ireland, on December 25, 1832. Raised on his father’s farm, he later immigrated to the United States. Upon settling in his new homeland, Smyth joined William Walker’s 1855 expedition to Nicaragua, and apparently became a skilled woodworker. In 1858, he moved to Wilmington, Delaware, where he remained until the start of the Civil War.
Eager to help his new homeland, Thomas Smyth raised a three-month company to assist in the war. When that service was finished, he enlisted as a major in the 1st Delaware Volunteers...by the end of 1862, Smyth had earned the respect of his fellow men and commanding officers. On December 18, 1862, Smyth was promoted to lieutenant colonel. He was wounded during the Battle of Gettysburg but was able to return to service. After his performance at Gettysburg, General Hancock recommended Smyth for promotion to brigadier general, although the promotion took a year to become official. Those in combat with him were disgusted by the slowness of his promotion, and Surgeon Reynolds of the Irish Brigade wrote a song with each stanza ending: 'There’s not a star for you Tom Smyth, there’s not a star for you...' (...more here.)
Tom Smyth was previously involved in a different campaign - with the 'Irish Fenian Brotherhood', an organisation which he joined in his late 20's/early 30's. He was 32 years of age when he was put in charge of the Fenian group within the Army of the Potomac, but had to put his Fenian duties 'on hold' while he attended to his other army duties. He died, at 32 years of age, two days after being shot, and is buried (alongside his wife) at Wilmington and Brandywine Cemetery, Wilmington, Delaware, in Pennsylvania.
NO RIGHT OF APPEAL...
Why the media consensus on a broad range of issues is increasingly disturbing.
By John Drennan.
From 'Magill' Annual, 2002.
The liberal elite did not have to wait too long for their second victim ; for all their talk about equality, the soul of the liberal journalist is essentially that of the petit bourgeois, since the liberties he (sic) fights so passionately for are those which apply only to himself (sic). When it comes to others, particularly the vocational professions, piffling little considerations such as the right to proper training and fair pay can be swept aside.
Only an attitude like this could explain the enthusiasm with which 'The Irish Times' fell over itself to support Bertie Ahern's characterisation of ASTI as the modern-day equivalent of a dangerous set of Bolshevik revolutionaries ; though its 'Education Correspondent', Seán Flynn, more than did his bit, Fintan O'Toole turned out to be the best man for the job. O'Toole's attack on the rights of teachers to go on strike for a decent living was almost Dickensian as he wailed about the blighted fate of the determined young woman hoping to escape from her windswept housing estate.
It may come as a surprise to Fintan that some of the most intelligent people in Ireland live in housing estates, and many of them are quite happy to reside there, but caveats such as this don't fit the programme... (MORE LATER.)
'COMMENTS...'
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, March, 1955.
£14,000 PER YEAR...
Ireland prospers or is impoverished according as it suits English economy. During the last two years, when England needed ships, planes and all the materials of war, there was more work than workers to cope with it. The wars being over, Irish workmen are no longer necessary.
A national economy based on the home market would not permit such fluctuations. Fishing trawlers and cargo boats for Irish imports and exports may not look as spectacular in the slips and finishing wharves as sleek luxury liners or grim battleships, but they would certainly provide more permanent supplies of the necessities of life, not only for the workers of Belfast, but for the whole people of Ireland.
In a free united Ireland the opportunities for industrial expansion in the North would tax the enterprise and industry of Northern workers to the utmost. The need of all men in the world today is security ; security means permanent employment and the ownership of property. Few Irishmen own anything in Ireland today- the purpose of the republican economic programme is to restore the private ownership of property to every Irish citizen and to base our industrial and agricultural development on the requirements of the Irish people. (MORE LATER.)
Thanks for reading,
Sharon.
ON THIS DATE (31ST MARCH) 47 YEARS AGO : IRA POW IN ENGLISH JAIL JOINS THE HUNGER-STRIKE.
Michael Gaughan (pictured), the eleventh Irish republican to die on hunger strike, was four months away from celebrating his 25th birthday.
Immortalised in song by Seamus Robinson, Michael Gaughan was an IRA activist in England and, in December 1971, he found himself in front of a British judge in the Old Bailey, where he was sentenced to seven years in Wormwood Scrubs for taking part in a (republican fund-raising) bank raid in north London.
Two years later, he was transferred to Albany Prison on the Isle of Wight and demanded that he be treated as a political prisoner. This was refused and he was placed in solitary confinement before being moved to Parkhurst Prison, also on the Isle of Wight. On the 31st of March, 1974 - 47 years ago, on this date - Michael Gaughan joined an on-going hunger-strike protest and, after 23 days, he was force-fed : the tube that was forced down his throat punctured his lung, killing him, in Parkhurst Prison, on the 3rd of June, 1974.
His body was removed from London and on Friday and Saturday, 7th and 8th June 1974, thousands of mourners lined the streets of Kilburn and marched behind his coffin, which was flanked by an IRA guard of honour, to a requiem mass held in the 'Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus' in Kilburn.
On that Saturday (8th June 1974), his body was transported to Dublin where, again, he was met by mourners and another IRA guard of honour (pictured) who brought him to the Adam and Eve Franciscan church on Merchant's Quay, where thousands filed past as the body lay in state. The following day, his body was removed to Ballina, County Mayo. The funeral mass took place on the 9th June, at St. Muredach's Cathedral, Ballina, and the procession then went to Leigue Cemetery, Ballina.
Michael Gaughan was given a full republican burial and was laid to rest in the republican plot. Mayo republican Jackie Clarke (Seán Ó Clérigh, whose family later had political disagreements with the Provisional Sinn Féin party) presided at the last obsequies, and the oration at his graveside was given by Dáithí Ó Conaill, who stated that Gaughan "..had been tortured in prison by the vampires of a discredited empire who were joined by decrepit politicians who were a disgrace to the name of Irishmen...". His coffin was draped in the same Tricolour that was used for Terence McSwiney's funeral 54 years earlier. He left a final message in which he stated - "I die proudly for my country and in the hope that my death will be sufficient to obtain the demands of my comrades. Let there be no bitterness on my behalf, but a determination to achieve the new Ireland for which I gladly die. My loyalty and confidence is to the IRA and let those of you who are left carry on the work and finish the fight."
And today, 47 years after Michael Gaughan was buried, republicans are still working towards that same objective.
'REFLECTION.'
By Matt Furlong.
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, June, 1955.
'The river winds its way into the deep,
the lark will chant its lay and soar the sky,
if the eagle were in fetters would he keep
the spirit of the free, or would he die?
For thus it is the grievings in our hearts,
the symbol of our freedom it is seen,
oppressed when such oppression smarts
and a longing, deep, to see again the Green.
Unfurled and flowing free upon the wind
as the eagle when he soars above the hills,
glorying in his freedom, and his kind,
subdueing not to any other wills...' (MORE LATER.)
ON THIS DATE (31ST MARCH) 162 YEARS AGO : 'IRISH INDEPENDENT PARTY' DISBANDS.
In 1852, 'The Irish Brigade' ( a 'pressure-group' which lobbied Westminster on behalf of the Catholic Church, its members, and its 'flock') and 'The Tenant Right League' joined forces to get the 'Ecclesiastical Titles Bill' revoked and, in July that year (1852) the new grouping came together as 'The Independent Irish Party' (IIP).
The 'IIP' declared that "legislative independence is the clear, eternal and inalienable right of this country, and that no settlement of the affairs of Ireland can be permanent until that right is recognised and established...(we will) take the most prompt and effective measures for the protection of the lives and interests of the Irish people, and the attainment of their natural rights..."
John Sadleir and William Keogh, two of the more prominent MP's in 'The Independent Irish Party' (of which there were about forty, as the new 'IIP' was joined by Irish MP's in Westminster) , like all the other 'IIP' representatives, took a pledge not to accept any Office in a Westminster administration or to co-operate with same until, among other things, the 'Ecclesiastical Titles Bill' was done away with ; however, the British had seen developments like this elsewhere in their 'empire' and were preparing to manoeuvre things in their own favour.
The new 'Independent Irish Party' was flexing its muscle ; as William Keogh (a barrister and MP for Athlone) put it - "I will not support any party which does not make it the first ingredient of their political existence to repeal the Ecclesiastical Titles Bill. So help me God ..." By this stage, Charles Gavan Duffy had been elected as an 'Independent Irish Party' MP to Westminster, representing the New Ross area of Wexford.
The 'IIP', with forty members elected to Westminster, did actually hold the balance of power in 'Lord' Derby's Tory-led government in Westminster and so pressed their claims with that administration regarding the 'Titles Bill' and other matters pertaining to Ireland - but they got no satisfaction from 'Lord' Derby or any of his Ministers, so the 'IIP' 'pulled the plug' and the British government of the day collapsed.
The main opposition party in Westminster, the 'Whigs', led by 'Lord' Aberdeen (pictured), apparently promised John Sadleir IIP MP and William Keogh IIP MP that the 'Whigs' would be sympathetic to the interests of the 'Independent Irish Party' and the two Irish MP's, in turn, passed this information on to the ruling body of their own party and it was agreed to support the 'Whigs' in their bid for power which, with 'IIP' support, they got.
But no sooner had 'Lord' Aberdeen climbed into the prime ministerial chair when his political promises to Sadleir and Keogh were cast aside ; he was, it seems, prepared to 'honour' part of the agreement he made with the 'Independent Irish Party' representatives and party, but not enough to satisfy them, and certainly not enough when compared with what he said he would do. This led to rows and bickering within the 'IIP', a signal which 'Lord' Aberdeen picked-up on and used to his own advantage, in true British 'divide-and-conquer'-style.
'Lord' Aberdeen offered John Sadleir IIP MP the position of 'Lord of The Treasury' in the new British administration, and also 'threw a bone' to the other dog, William Keogh IIP MP - that of the Office of British Solicitor-General for Ireland and, despite already having their parsnips well buttered, both men took the offer, and the Catholic Church, subservient as ever to the British, when push came to shove, supported them for doing so!
This tore not only the 'Independent Irish Party' asunder (although it did manage to 'hobble' on for another few years, disintegrating along the way) until finally it disbanded on the 31st March 1859 - 162 years ago, on this date - but it also disappointed Charles Gavan Duffy IIP MP, one of the more prominent members of the party, so much so that, in October 1855, he emigrated to Australia in despair.
As 'Lord of The (British) Treasury', John Sadleir aspired to a lifestyle which he no doubt considered to be his of right - he was, after all, a British Minister and he also owned, by now, a community-type bank/financial house, in Ireland - the 'Tipperary Joint Stock Bank' (pictured) : however, such was his taste for the fine life and his desire to 'keep in' with his new 'friends', when his bank was found to be shy by over one million pounds the shame was too much and he killed himself in 1856.
However, his old buddy, the British Solicitor-General for Ireland, William Keogh, somehow managed to 'soldier-on' and was asked to perform another task for his British pay-masters and he became a British Judge, in Ireland, during the infamous Fenian Trials of 1865-1867, where he verbally cracked many an Irish rebel skull, saving his employers from getting their hands even more bloodier. His conscience must have eventually got the better of him because, in 1878, he, too, killed himself. It could only make you wonder that, had he a bank to embezzle, would he have lived longer?
Despite success at the polls, and having the 'ear' of the political bosses and the 'respect' of the British 'establishment' and good, favourable media coverage, being well-dressed, well-spoken and well-paid, if you lose your political principles, you're finished - draw your own conclusions....
NO RIGHT OF APPEAL...
Why the media consensus on a broad range of issues is increasingly disturbing. By John Drennan.
From 'Magill' Annual, 2002.
Mary Ellen Synon was one of the 'bad journalists'* ; it was bad enough that she was a conservative, and her a woman, but she was also controversial. She didn't like Tribunals, or Social Partnership, or the Peace Process, or our new liberal junta. Worse still, she was original. A very bad bit of stuff indeed. They had been waiting in the long grass for Mary Ellen Synon for a long time.
Eventually, after she wrote a piece about the evils of moral equivalence which included the infelicitous use of a metaphor involving the Special Olympics ('1169' comment - she wrote about those who take part in the paralympics as being "grotesque...perverse...wobble in a wheelchair...swim by Braille.." ; in other words, she actually jumped out of "the long grass" and quite willingly surrendered herself on the Altar of Decency..), the mob was released. Her chosen epithets were offensive, and indefensible, but only a fool would construe the ensuing media melee as a reaction against those few badly chosen words**
It was a reaction against her entire outlook - an outlook she had been 'getting away with' for too long. When she eventually fell through her own thin ice, there followed a stirring display of journalistic unity ; blowhard radio presenters joined hand-in-glove with a woeful feminist clique to note that explanations and apologises were not enough.
In this particular Salem, as the sisterhood wailed "Where is Mary Ellen's heart..?", only the destruction*** of her career would do. The likes of it not been seen since the time when John McGahern was forced out of his teaching job by a similar mob****...
('1169' Comment -*Mary Ellen Synon uses words, as best she can, to cause outrage and, in so doing, make a name for herself. She isn't a journalist in the proper sense of that word. She is a 'sensationalist' writer, and will put pen to paper over whatever issue she believes will obtain the most publicity for herself and for whichever 'newspaper' it is at the time that has employed her.//** Those words were purposely chosen rather than "badly chosen" // *** Self-destruction, - not a "destruction" of someone else's making. // **** A chalk and cheese comparison, if even that, in our opinion.) (MORE LATER.)
'COMMENTS.'
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, March, 1955.
£14,000 Per Year :
It was announced recently in London that the salary and expenses of the English Governor General in the Six Counties would be a total of £14,000 per year. It was stated that part of this sum would be paid by the British Government and part by Stormont.
If the matter were examined closely it would be discovered that the people of the Six Counties will pay it all ; through the reserved services, income tax, indirect taxation (tobacco, liquor, purchase tax etc) Britain drains off from the Six Counties more than is returned in doles and grants.
At the same time it was announced in Belfast that a vast number of workers would become redundant in the Belfast shipyards. A huge protest demonstration was held by the shipyard workers ; they all marched to a public meeting in the city centre and were addressed by an English trade union official. Hurrah for the demonstration!
But we would urge the Belfast workers to examine closely the causes of their impending unemployment and not pay too much attention to the harangues of English leaders, whether Labour, Conservative or Liberal ; unemployment, the dole, hunger and misery - these are the recurring fruits of English control of Irish economic and political life... (MORE LATER.)
ON THIS DATE (31ST MARCH) 150 YEARS AGO : SINN FÉIN FOUNDER/TREATY OF SURRENDER SUPPORTER BORN IN DUBLIN.
One of the leaflets (pictured) distributed by Irish republicans in late 1921 to counteract anti-republican propaganda that the 'Treaty (of Surrender)' was "a stepping stone" to that which they had fought for - indeed, one of those who accepted that Treaty, ex-republican Arthur Griffith, declared, in a press release immediately after signing same - "I have signed a Treaty of peace between Ireland and Great Britain. I believe that treaty will lay foundations of peace and friendship between the two Nations. What I have signed I shall stand by in the belief that the end of the conflict of centuries is at hand."
Yet historian Nicholas Mansergh noted that, at practically the same time as Griffith had penned the above, the British were talking between themselves of "...concessions (from the Irish) wrung by devices..some of which can be described at best as devious..every word used and every nuance was so important..."
Arthur Joseph Griffith (Art Ó Griobhtha, pictured) was born at 61 Upper Dominick Street, Dublin on 31st March 1871 - 150 years ago on this date - into a working-class family. He was educated by the Irish Christian Brothers and earned a living as a skilled printer and typesetter. He joined the Gaelic League during the 1890's and was also a member of the 'Irish Republican Brotherhood' (IRB).
At 34 years of age he founded a new political organisation, 'Sinn Féin' (on the 28th November 1905) to raise support for his own personal political notion that a 'dual government' of Britain and Ireland was the best solution to England's 'Irish Problem' ; he saw no value in Fenian-style armed rebellion and believed that 'passive resistance', including a refusal to pay Crown taxes, creating independent Irish courts and an Irish civil service, taking control of local authorities and boycotting British products, would achieve his required objective ie for this country to become part of a dual monarchy under the British crown and prosper, financially, as a result. His aim was "to make England take one hand from Ireland's throat and the other out of Ireland's pocket..." but the Sinn Féin organisation didn't fully support the objectives and methods as laid down by Griffith.
The Sinn Féin organisation, when established by Arthur Griffith and others, consisted of an amalgamation of Cumann na nGaedheal, the National Council (which was founded in the main to organise protests at the visit of the British King, Edward VII, and included in its ranks Edward Martyn, Séamus McManus and Maud Gonne) and the Dungannon Clubs, a largely IRB-dominated republican campaign group.
Contrary to the perception which has been advanced by some that Sinn Féin in its first years was not republican in character but rather sought a limited form of Home Rule on the dual monarchist model, Brian O'Higgins (pictured), a founding member of Sinn Féin, who took part in the 1916 Rising, and was a member of the First and Second Dáil, remaining a steadfast republican up to his death in 1962, had this to say in his Wolfe Tone Annual of 1949 :
"It is often sought to be shown that the organisation set up in 1905 was not republican in form or spirit, that it only became so in 1917, but this is an erroneous idea, and is not borne out by the truths of history. Anyone who goes to the trouble of reading its brief constitution will see that its object was 'the re-establishment of the independence of Ireland'. The Constitution of Sinn Féin in 1905, and certainly the spirit of it, was at least as clearly separatist as was the constitution of Sinn Féin in and after 1917, no matter what private opinion regarding the British Crown may have been held by Arthur Griffith..."
In 1917, Griffith stood down as President of Sinn Féin (de Valera took the position) because the organisation had become more republican-minded than he felt comfortable with, although he maintained his membership. He also had strong differences of opinion with the trade union leadership in Ireland over strike action, as he felt that such activity was counter-productive as it damaged Irish trade, overall, and that opinion, and other such political naratives, helped to secure his election as a 'Sinn Féin MP' in the East Cavan by-election in June 1918, and he held the seat in the General Election of that same year (and he was also returned for the seat of Tyrone North West).
Griffith and Michael Collins, and others, were sent to London by de Valera to negotiate the 'Anglo-Irish Treaty' (the 'Treaty of Surrender') and, on the 6th December, 1921, he signed it and declared that "..the end of the conflict of centuries is at hand.." (see our opening paragraph, above). Incidentally, Collins and Griffith (both pro-Treaty) had pressurised at least one of their colleagues, Robert Childers Barton (the Irish Minister for Economic Affairs) to accept the Treaty of Surrender, telling him that if he did not sign then he would be responsible for "Irish homes (being) laid waste and the youth of Ireland (being) butchered.." and, at about 11pm on Monday, 5th December 1921, Barton signed the document.
The stress and strain on Arthur Griffith took its toll and, on the 12th August, 1922, in his 51st year, he died, in Dublin, from heart failure and cerebral haemorrhage, and is buried in Glasnevin Cemetery. The poor man went to his grave being wrong about "the end of the conflict of centuries" being at hand. The only Treaty that will secure that is one which witnesses the withdrawal of the British claim of jurisdictional control over any part of Ireland ; no 'fine words' offering a half-way house will be accepted by Irish republicans.
Thanks for reading,
Sharon.
ON THIS DATE (24TH MARCH) 225 YEARS AGO : 'INSURRECTION ACT' IMPOSED IN IRELAND.
Near the end of the 18th century in Ireland, so much 'discomfort' was being caused to the 'landlord and polite society'-class in London by the rebellious acts of, among other groups, the 'United Irishmen' and 'The Defenders', that a new 'law' was required to deal with the issue.
On the 22nd February, 1796, an 'Insurrection Act'* for Ireland was introduced in Westminster and, on the 24th March, 1796 - 225 years ago, on this date - that piece of paper 'received the royal assent' and became 'law' :
'AN ACT MORE EFFECTUALLY TO SUPPRESS INSURRECTIONS, AND PREVENT THE DISTURBANCE OF THE PUBLIC PEACE :
Whereas traitorous insurrections have for some time past arisen in various parts of this kingdom, principally promoted and supported by persons associating under the pretended obligation of oaths unlawfully administered...be it enacted...that any person or persons who shall administer, or cause to be administered, or be present, aiding and assisting at the administering, or who shall by threats, promises, persuasions, or other undue means, cause, procure, or induce to be taken by any person or persons, upon a book, or otherwise any oath or engagement, importing to bind the person taking the same, to be of any association, brotherhood, society, or confederacy formed for seditious purposes, or to disturb the public peace, or to obey the orders or rules, or commands of any committee, or other body of men, not lawfully constituted, or the commands of any captain, leader, or commander (not appointed by his majesty, his heirs and successors) or to assemble at the desire or command of any such captain, leader, commander or committee, or of any person or persons not having lawful authority, or not to inform or given evidence against any brother, associate, confederate, or other person, or not to reveal or discover his having taken any illegal oath, or done any illegal act, or not to discover any illegal oath or engagement which may be tendered to him, or the import thereof, whether he shall take such oath, or enter into such engagement, or not, being by due course of law convicted thereof, shall be adjudged guilty of felony, and suffer death without benefit of clergy, and every person who shall take any such oath or engagement, not being thereto compelled by inevitable necessity, and being by due course of law thereof convicted, shall be adjudged guilty of felony and be transported for life...' (from here.)
In short, the 'authorities' empowered themselves to impose the death penalty (some of the other such 'Acts' replaced that penalty with 'transportation for life/penal transportation') and allowed for the political representatives of 'polite society' to declare specific districts in Ireland as "disturbed", thereby permitting curfews to be announced.
Also, trial by jury (as 'honest' as that was) was suspended and local 'law enforcers' were given full permission to search and detain any individual they wanted to.
*Overall (so far, that is) at least half-a-dozen such 'Insurrection Acts' have been imposed in Ireland by the British ; all eventually failed to obtain the objective that Westminster sought - a passive Ireland. And the British (or their proxies in Leinster House) can, if they so desire, impose another half-a-dozen similar 'Acts' in Ireland and they, too, will fail.
A passive Ireland will never exist as long as the the British continue to claim political and military jurisdiction over any part of this country.
'THE TWO-NATIONS THEORY...'
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, June, 1955.
Act of 1920 :
The Act of 1920, which set up the Stormont Parliament, was a purely British Act passed in a British Parliament - Westminster - by British votes, with not a single Irish representative having voted for it.
A separate parliament for the Six Counties was never demanded by the people of those counties, their press or their political leaders. When it became clear to British politicians that the Irish national demand could not much longer be resisted, the Act of 1920 was passed with the object of giving the minority a privileged position.
Pressure From Without :
From this brief summary of the origin of the Stormont Parliament it is clear that the parliament is not a national parliament in any real sense. National parliaments in all countries and at all times have come into being in response to dynamic forces acting from within. The Belfast Parliament is probably the only assembly in the world which owes its existence to an attitude of negation and to pressure from without.
Such a parliament may express a mood, a temper, a prejudice, a fear or a denial, but it certainly is not the expression of a national will.(END of 'The Two-Nations Theory' ; NEXT - 'Reflection', from the same source.)
ON THIS DATE (24TH MARCH) 101 YEARS AGO : BRITISH SPY EXECUTED BY 'THE SQUAD'.
"One of the most successful British agents in the War of Independence was a man called Bryan Fergus Molloy who was shot by Collins Squad in Dublin in 1920...he was a man with no past, no birth, no census records, no war record, and the assumption is that this was not his real name..." (from here.)
From 'Hansard' : 'Mr. IRVING asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether the man who was shot in Exchequer Street, Dublin, on the 24th instant, was identified by the police as bearing the name of Molloy ; whether, in fact, this name was correct ; whether there was any deliberate concealment of the real name ; if so, can he state the reason ; and whether the man had at one time been in the Dublin Metropolitan Police?'
Mr. MACPHERSON (replied) - 'This man was identified by the military authorities as Bryan Fergus Molloy, under which name he enlisted, and, as far as is known, this was his correct name. He was at no time a member of the Dublin Metropolitan Police...' (from here.)
Bryan Fergus Molloy aka Frederick McNulty was a British intelligence operative in Dublin who was placed there by Westminster to locate Collins or other IRA operatives ; he attempted to integrate himself with the Republican Movement by offering to procure weapons for use against the British but his cover was blown when the IRA's people in Dublin Castle warned them about Molly/McNulty's true intentions.
On the 24th March, 1920, he was located by the IRA and was executed - he was followed by at least three IRA members and was shot to death, in broad daylight, on South William Street in Dublin, by members of 'The Squad'.
'The shooting of the mysterious Bryan Fergus Molloy, a suspected spy who had been trying to make contact with the rebels, took place on the 24th of March, 1920. The operation didn't go smoothly. Passersby tried to detain the assassins and a cyclist blocked one gunman's getaway outside St. Andrew’s Church...the identity of the young spy may be that of Frederick Vernon Maximilian McNulty, a Manchester-born son of Irish parents with a chequered career in the British Army. Having been discharged from the Army Service Corps in 1914 for being underage, McNulty joined the RAF in 1917 before apparently deserting the following year to re-join the ASC under the assumed name, B.F. Molloy...' (from here.)
'Oh I am the man, the slimey man, that listens at yer door,
For I belong to the Special Branch and that's what I'm paid for.
If you're singing songs of protest or against repressive law,
I'll put yer name in me little black book,
And I'll see that yer done for...'
NO RIGHT OF APPEAL...
Why the media consensus on a broad range of issues is increasingly disturbing. By John Drennan.
From 'Magill' Annual, 2002.
But things began to change again after the arrival of the 'Appeasement Process' ; our restoration to the status of being members of the 'Fourth Estate' - such notions, begob! - brought new responsibilities.
Once again it was a case of 'forget about the facts, Ma'am, the age of moral equivalence has arrived' and, in this brave new world, the duty of the 'good journalist' was to always keep the sunny side up. If the IRA had to be coaxed into the political process, so be it. And if the right stick was needed to keep those hard-line democrats of the UUP on the right road, then flay away - and give 'em plenty of it.
The problem with the journalism of consensus, whether it concerns the North of Ireland, striking teachers, or the Church, is that it wears the mask of rebelliousness whilst hiding the frozen grimace of intolerance underneath.
It is seen as 'responsible' of the good bourgeois liberal hack to root out and punish the non-house-trained journalist who defecates on the carpet of consensus. All the dissidents have to go. Only then would the field be open for the liberal bourgeois 'sociology in UCD' autocracy to reform the greatest problem of all - Fianna Fáil... (MORE LATER.)
ON THIS DATE (24TH MARCH) 98 YEARS AGO : DUBLIN IRA MEMBER SHOT DEAD BY STATERS.
As part of the IRA 'Entertainment Fixtures' order (which we wrote about last week), two IRA members were tasked with an operation to destroy or disrupt the Carlton Cinema in O'Connell Street, in Dublin.
On the 24th March, 1923 - 98 years ago on this date - the two republican operatives placed a bomb at the front door of the cinema. As they were leaving the premises, the device detonated, setting the doors on fire. The flames and smoke were noticed almost immediately by a Free State Army patrol which attempted to intervene ; the two IRA men opened fire on the Staters in an attempt to make good their escape but, as they reached near-by North Earl Street, one of the men, Patrick O'Brien, IRA First Dublin Battalion, was shot dead.
The other Volunteer, Martin Hogan (pictured), 28 years of age, was wounded in the exchange of gunfire but managed to escape his pursuers.
However, less than one month later, he was 'arrested' in Dublin by the Staters and had eleven bullets fired into him, in the Drumcondra/Whitehall part of the capital.
His girlfriend, who first tried to find him in one of the prisons, was told to enquire at Oriel House (CID headquarters), where she was told to "try the morgue".
His body was eventually found in a ditch in Drumcondra. He is buried in the family grave in Killodiernan Graveyard, Puckane, in his native County of Tipperary.
Also, a brief mention here, for the record, of an IRA man, William Walsh, from the Coombe, in Dublin who, on the 24th March in 1923, was badly wounded during an ambush at Whitehall, Dublin of a Free State troop lorry. He presented himself to the Mater Hospital but died that night. Unfortunately, we are unable to furnish more information about that brave individual as, it seems, history has forgotten him. As we said, just a name-check here of the man, for the record.
'OUR STEWARDSHIP...'
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, March, 1955.
'The United Irishman' newspaper became, therefore, a considerable menace to British rule in Ireland and had to be put down. Last month, and the preceeding month, however, the steady and consistent increase in the sales of the paper has been maintained, and in the Six Counties a spark has been kindled that is not likely to be extinguished even if there is not another copy of 'The United Irishman' seen there and, if I know our Northerners, an edict of Mr. Hanna will not prevent them from reading the newspaper.
To the pioneers who set out 'to blot out the handwriting that was against us' we raise our hats ; to the disinterested and generous who answered that ininial appeal - "funds are ungently needed" - we give our heartfelt thanks ; to the people of the North we say "hold on!", it isn't a forlorn hope or a lost cause, for the men and women of the South respond, they do not say with the politicians 'we can see no solution' ; they organise and work so that together we can, in the name of God, re-enthrone the Irish Republic.
(END of 'Our Stewardship' ; NEXT - 'Comments', from the same source.)
ON THIS DATE (24TH MARCH) 99 YEARS AGO : McMAHON FAMILY WIPED-OUT BY BRITISH MURDER GANG.
'...the murder of the family and their lodger was committed on 24th March 1922. The dead consisted of Owen McMahon and his sons Thomas, Frank, Bernard and Patrick. Their lodger Edward McKinney was also murdered.
On 23rd March 1922, USC officers Thomas Cunningham, aged 22, and William Cairnside, aged 21, were patrolling along Great Victoria Street when they were approached by IRA gunmen on foot who shot them both dead at close range. This event would provoke a ferocious response which would be carried out in a cool, calm and exceptionally cold manner. Initially, two innocent Catholics were shot dead in the Short Strand. However, much worse was to come for the Nationalist community.
At 1am on the morning of 24th March a worksite at Carlisle Circus was approached by two men in Police uniform. A City council volunteer was guarding it, and he was persuaded by these Policemen to hand over his sledgehammer. These two men met up with three others at the grounds of a large local residence known as Bruce’s Demesne and proceeded towards the large Victorian home where the McMahon family were resident. The assailants hammered at the front door, then smashed the glass panel enabling them to open the locks and break through a secondary door which led to the hallway. Owen and his wife Eliza were awakened by this commotion and attempted to run downstairs when both were confronted by a man in Police uniform.
The male members of the McMahon family and their lodger were taken into the downstairs living room whilst the females, who included Owens wife Eliza, daughter Lily and niece Mary, were ushered into the first-floor drawing-room. The male members of the family were told abruptly by the gang to say their prayers before firing was commenced. Frank McMahon aged 24; Patrick McMahon aged 25 and Thomas McMahon aged just 15 were killed almost instantaneously. Edward McKinney, their lodger, aged 25, was also killed.
Owen McMahon would die in hospital a few hours later. His son Bernard would die on 2nd April meaning only John aged 30 and Michael aged 12 survived. Michael in fact had a lucky escape hiding under the dining table and then the sofa before being found by neighbours in a "most frightful state".
The female members of the family tried to raise the alarm by screaming murder but by the time help arrived the massacre was over. Indeed an RIC patrol was close by and quickly on the scene. The scene they encountered was indescribable. The gang responsible had made a quick getaway into the darkness from whence they came...' (from here.)
The father, Owen McMahon, was shot in the abdomen and the head, Patrick was shot in the head, chest and abdomen, Frank was shot in the chest and the face, Bernard was shot in the spinal cord and lung, Thomas was shot in the head and chest and the family lodger, Edward McKinney, was shot in the lungs and abdomen.
The political administration that was responsible, in the first instance, for that outrage - Westminster - is still 'calling the shots', literally, in that part of Ireland, and the foot soldiers in their 'police force' - albeit it with a new name and uniform - are still on the ground there. And both entities remain capable of the atrocities that they inflicted, between them, on the McMahon family.
The only way to remove their ability to do something like that again is to remove them, politically and militarily, from Ireland.
Thanks for reading,
Sharon.
