ON THIS DATE (26TH FEBRUARY) 166 YEARS AGO : 'GUILTY' OF HIGH TREASON BUT PARDONED AND TRANSPORTED.
On this date - 26th February - in 1854, William Smith O’Brien (pictured), leader of the 1848 'Young Irelander Rebellion', is released. He had been convicted of 'sedition' (inciting landlords and tenants to rebel) and sentenced to be hanged, drawn, and quartered. After 70,000 people in Ireland and 10,000 people from England petitioned for clemency, his sentence was reduced to deportation to Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania). After five years in Van Diemen’s Land, he was released, but exiled from Ireland. He went to live in Brussels until 1856 when he was given an unconditional pardon and allowed to return to Ireland. He never returned to politics, and died at 61 years of age, in Wales.
On the 17th October 1803, 'Sir' Edward O'Brien (the '4th Baronet' of Dromoland Castle, County Clare) and his wife, Charlotte (nee Smith) - well established political conservatives and supporters of the Orange order - celebrated the birth of their second son, whom they named William (in later years, after inheriting land from his mother, William added the surname 'Smith' to his name). He was educated at Harrow, in London, and Trinity College in Cambridge (he was later to describe his education thus : "I learnt much that was evil and little that was good..") and, at 25 years of age (in 1828) he was elected to Westminster for the Conservative Party (for the Ennis constituency), a position he held for four years and, at 29 years young, he married Lucy Caroline Gabbett, and they had seven children together.
At 32 years of age he won a seat to represent Limerick. He was a strong supporter of Catholic emancipation and, at 40 years of age, he joined Daniel O'Connell's anti-union 'Loyal National Repeal Association', which he left three years later. Within a few years, he had joined the 'Young Irelanders' organisation and helped to establish within it a group called 'The Irish Confederation' which organised as best it could for an armed uprising in Ireland against British rule, but the timing was wrong : Ireland was suffering the holocaust, and its remaining people were too exhausted for anything other than trying to stay alive.
One of the leaders of 'The Young Irelanders', John Mitchel, was 'arrested' for writing "..wild and menacing words.." then, in April 1848, the 'Treason Felony Act' was introduced, followed by the suspension of 'Habeas Corpus' on July 25th, 1848 ; William Smith O'Brien recognised that the British were 'battening down the hatches' and, with John Mitchel in a British prison, he was in command. He called for an immediate Rising against the British and an attempt at a rebellion did take place on the 29th July 1848 in Tipperary but it failed, leading to the arrest of the leaders of the 'Confereration', Thomas Francis Meagher, Terence McManus, Patrick O'Donohoe and William Smith O'Brien (who was arrested on the 6th August 1848 and tried at a special sitting of the district court at Clonmel, Co. Tipperary : he was sentenced to death on 10th October 1848), all of whom were deemed by the British to be guilty of High Treason and were sentenced to be hung, drawn and quartered.
Following the court case, meetings were held in Ireland and England with the aim of raising a petition against the severity of the sentences and pointing out that the jury involved had recommended clemency but were ignored by the judge - over 80,000 people willingly listed their names, addresses, occupations etc (as mentioned above, in what is considered to be the first mass political petition movement) resulting in the sentences being commuted to transportation for life. The four 'dissidents' left Ireland on the 29th July 1849 for exile in Van Diemen's Land. On the 26th February 1854 - 166 years ago on this date - O'Brien won a conditional pardon which banned him from entering Ireland and he and his family moved to Brussels where, amongst other duties, he wrote a political book : he won his final pardon two years later, in May 1856, and returned to Ireland to a hero's welcome. Asked how he now felt about his actions, he replied - "I had firmly resolved not to say or write or do anything which could be interpreted as a confession on my part that I consider myself a 'criminal' in regard to the transactions of 1848.." .
His wife died in Ireland on the 13th June 1861, and he himself passed away three years later, in his 61st year, in Bangor, Wales, and is buried in Rathronan Churchyard in Limerick. The inscription on the family headstone reads - 'Here lies Edward William, eldest son of William Smith O'Brien, a just man, a lover of his people. Born 24 January 1837 Died 21 January 1909.'
William Smith O'Brien, Born 17th October 1803, Died June 1864.
Lucy Caroline O'Brien, Born 23rd September 1811 Died 13 June 1861'.
Like his son, Edward, William Smith O'Brien was 'a just man, a lover of his people..' and, least we forget, a 'dissident' of his day.
'IRA CRIMINAL CONSPIRACY - A CONSPIRATOR SPEAKS AND IS BOOHED...'
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, December 1954.
The third criminal conspiracy was that by which the notorious 1925 agreement was arrived at in London between the Free State junta, the British Government and the Stormont junta. This agreement set-up partition in its present form and Mr. Ernest Blythe was again a party to it as a member of the Free State junta.
The fourth criminal conspiracy was that by which Mr. Blythe and his co-conspirators prevented the partition agreement from being debated and voted upon by the representatives of the Irish people, in the 26 Counties, and thereby made the agreement law, in so far as they were able, although 71 votes only were cast in its favour out of a house then composed of 153 members ; sufficient, young Irelanders, to prove that this gentleman knows the full significance of the words he used at the UCD Literary and Historical Society debate - that "Irishmen of the political class are unworthy of the heroism of our patriot dead."
But the numerous conspiracies of Messrs. Blythe and Co. failed hopelessly in their main purpose which was to end for all time the organisation - the IRA - on which they had turned turtle and the very name of which they had grown to hate. It is interesting and paradoxical to note that each of these conspiracy movements over a span of more than thirty years contained a person who may be termed 'First Lieutenant' and who hailed from our occupied Six Counties -
1) Cosgrave, Blythe and Co.
2) De Valera, Aiken and Co.
3) McBride, Kelly and Co.
You, Six County republicans, who have been thrown to the wolves, please note carefully...! (MORE LATER.)
ON THIS DATE (26TH FEBRUARY) 58 YEARS AGO : THE IRA 'BORDER CAMPAIGN' ('RESISTANCE CAMPAIGN/OPERATION HARVEST') ENDS.
On this date (26th February) in 1962, due to "lack of support", the Irish Republican Army ended what it called 'The Campaign of Resistance to British Occupation', which was also known as the 'Border Campaign'.
At the time of this IRA campaign, Eamon de Valera's Fianna Fail State administration were of the opinion that it actually began in 1954, with the raid on Gough Barracks, in Armagh, on Saturday 12th June that year (1954), in which some 300 weapons were liberated from the British Army. Fianna Fail considered that proof enough that the IRA "..had renewed its activities, was rearming, recruiting young men and engaging in drilling and other manoeuvres.." and indeed they were.
On 11th December 1956, communication was sent to the IRA Volunteers involved - over 150 men - that the operation would begin at midnight on 12th December and, at the appointed time, three IRA flying columns crossed the Free State border to attack British Army depots and administration centres, air fields, radar installations, BA barracks, courthouses, bridges, roads and custom posts : the 'Resistance Campaign/Operation Harvest', had begun proper, being co-ordinated from County Monaghan.
In a letter from the leadership of the then Sinn Féin organisation, which was signed by Maire Ni Gabhan and Miceal Treinfir and which was sent from the Sinn Féin Office, 3 Lr. Abbey Street, Dublin, the Secretary of each Cumann was instructed to read out a statement after every Mass in their area, on Sunday 16th December (1956), announcing the start of 'the Border Campaign', to achieve "..an independent, united, democratic Irish Republic. For this we shall fight until the invader is driven from our soil and victory is ours..", an announcement which, later, prompted the then Free State 'Taoiseach', Fianna Fail's Seán Lemass, to describe the IRA as being "similar to fascists" re its decision to mount such a campaign!
Although it did not achieve its objectives, the Border Campaign kept 'the National Question' in the political forefront, enabling the Republican Movement to make new connections and ensuring that valuable operational lessons were learned and documented for the next generation. On the 26th February 1962 - 58 years ago on this date - the IRA, through the Irish Republican Publicity Bureau, in a communication signed by J. McGarrity, sent out the following message -
"The leadership of the resistance movement has ordered the termination of the Campaign of Resistance to British Occupation launched on December, 1956. Instructions issued to Volunteers of the Active Service Units and of local Units in the occupied area have now been carried out. All arms and materials have been dumped and all full-time active volunteers have been withdrawn. Foremost among the factors motivating this course of action has been the attitude of the general public whose minds have been deliberately distracted from the supreme issue facing the Irish people – the unity and freedom of Ireland. The Irish resistance movement renews its pledge of eternal hostility to the British Forces of Occupation in Ireland. It calls on the Irish people for increased support and looks forward with confidence – in co-operation with the other branches of the Republican Movement – to a period of consolidation, expansion and preparation for the final and victorious phase of the struggle for the full freedom of Ireland."
Although that Campaign was called off as, indeed, were others like it over the centuries of resistance, opposition to British military and political interference in Irish affairs remains in place and has been bolstered by those 'failed campaigns'. Even when we 'lose' , we win!
ILLEGAL ARMS : IN BAD COMPANY.
A man suspected of being one of the world's biggest dealers in illegal weapons was a director of two companies based in Ireland. By Annamarie Comiskey. From 'Magill' magazine, July 2002.
The coffee may be better in Italian jails, but for Leonid Minin this is little comfort during his two-year prison sentence in Milan for possessing cocaine.
Minin, born in the Ukraine in 1947, was jailed in 2001 for possession of drugs in a Milan hotel he partly owns. When the police searched his hotel room, not only did they fine cocaine but also four prostitutes, $500,000 worth of diamonds, $35,000 in cash and a stash of papers detailing his business interests. It turned out that Minin was one of the world's allegedly most wanted illegal arms dealers, and is also believed to be involved in money laundering.
He is wanted in at least three countries, has several aliases and has avoided prosecution until now. The police went to his hotel room in Milan only after a tip-off from one of the prostitutes he had been using. Through enquiries made by 'Magill Magazine', it has come to light that Leonid Minin was also a director of two companies based in Dublin... (MORE LATER.)
'GREATER LOVE'.
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, November 1954.
Omagh, October 1954 :
'Which is the greatest victory of their wondrous deed,
is it that they have proved so mightily brave,
that they who oft have scorned are quick to lead,
the exultation and the song of praise?
Is it that after thirty years and more
shots from our soldiers answered British guns,
too proud these men to beg and to implore
for what by right is theirs - theirs and their sons.
Great, noble Irish hearts, willing to give their all,
no service proves too great, no task too small,
but this, the wondrous thing all else above -
each fights in Ireland's cause, all out of love.
(END of 'Greater Love' ; NEXT - 'Thoughts After Omagh', from the same source.)
ON THIS DATE (26TH FEBRUARY) 97 YEARS AGO...
On the 26th February, 1923, a meeting of Anti-Treaty IRA officers assembled at Ballinageary, Co Tipperary. Officers from the First Southern Division reported that "..in a short time we would not have a man left owing to the great number of arrests and casualties..". Tom Crofts (who later joined the Fianna Fail party) reported that the Cork Brigades had suffered 29 killed and an unknown number captured in recent actions ; "..if five men are arrested in each area, we are finished..". Nevertheless, Liam Lynch, to his credit, issued a statement rejecting the possibility of a truce with the Free Staters ; he was shot dead by that enemy on the 10th of April that same year following which, in that same month, the IRA called a ceasefire and 'dumped arms' the following month. Incidentally, also on the 26th February in 1923, a Free State soldier was executed by his comrades for having defected and handing over weapons to the IRA -
'Thomas Gibson, a former National soldier, was executed in Portlaoise, County Laois on 26 February (1923) having already been court
martialled in Roscrea, County Tipperary on 18th January 1923. He was charged with : treacherously assisting the enemy, in as much as on 19th. November, 1922, being then on active service, he left PORT LAOIGHSE BARRACKS, and took with him five rifles, and one grenade cup. He was absent until 10th January, 1923, when he was arrested with two prominent Irregulars, all three being at the time in possession of arms. Volunteer Gibson was found guilty of the charge and was sentenced by the Court to suffer death by being shot. The sentence was duly confirmed and was carried out at Portlasighise on 26th February, 1923.
Gibson had deserted from Portlaoise barracks, the National Army, on 19th November 1922, and had taken with him five rifles and a grenade. He was captured, on 10th January 1923, while asleep in a safe house. According to Father Thomas Barbage, the local chaplain, this execution should not have occurred as Gibson was 'unbalanced in mind, and that his mother had been a patient in Maryboro [Portlaoise] Lunatic Asylum'. Whether this assertion is true or not, Gibson had committed treachery and, as a result, was shown no mercy...' (from here.)
The real 'treachery', which Thomas Gibson later absolved himself of, was in having anything to do with supporting the Free Staters.
ON THIS DATE (26TH FEBRUARY) IN 943 AD : THE DEATH OF KING MUIRCHERTACH OF AILEACH.
The Vikings of Dublin got a lucky break when they ambushed 'Muirchertach of the Leather Cloaks/Muirchertach na Cochall Craicinn' and slew him on this day. Muirchertach was heir apparent to the Kingship of Tara - Ireland's most prestigious Royal title.
Muirchertach, son of Niall, i.e. Muirchertach of the Leather Cloaks, King of Aileach and the Hector of the western world, was killed by the 'heathens', i.e. by Blacair, son of Gothfrith, king of the foreigner, at Glas Liatháin beside Cluain Chaín, in Fir Rois, on the first feria, fourth of the Kalends of March (26th February). Ard Macha was plundered by the same foreigners on the following day, the third of the Kalends of March.
Muirchertach was the son of Niall Glundubh who had himself been killed fighting the Vikings at Dublin in 919 AD. He had fought and won many battles and in one report is mentioned as leading a naval expedition against the Norsemen of the Hebrides. However he suffered an embarrassing episode in 939 AD when in a surprise raid his enemies' ships raided his fortress of Aileach (outside Derry) and carried him off. He was forced to ransom his own release to regain his freedom. Muirchertach, under the ancient rule of the kingship of Tara alternating between the northern and southern O'Neills, was due to replace King Donnachadh on the latter’s demise. Sometimes though ambition got the better of him and he clashed with his senior colleague and at other times co-operated with him. Muirchertach married Donnchad's daughter Flann, but relations between the two were not good. Conflict between them is recorded in AD 927, 929, and 938.
ON THIS DATE (19TH FEBRUARY) 76 YEARS AGO : DEATH OF A REBEL POACHER-TURNED-FREE STATE MILITARY GENERAL.
'JJ O'Connell (pictured) joined the Irish Volunteers in 1914, becoming Chief of Inspection in 1915. He travelled the country organising volunteer corps, as well as contributing to the Irish Volunteer's journal and delivering lectures on military tactics to both the Volunteers and Na Fianna Éireann. He also delivered a series of lectures about the famous Irish battles to the Gaelic League in Dublin (but) was not a member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood as he believed that soldiers should not be a part of secret societies...
At the time the 1916 Easter Rising, O'Connell was operating in Dublin under instruction from Joseph Plunkett. He was dispatched to Cork by Eoin MacNeill to try to prevent the Rising. Following the Rising, he was arrested and held in Frongoch internment camp from April to July 1916. In 1918 he was again arrested and interned, spending time in Wandsworth Prison with Arthur Griffith for the alleged involvement in the fabricated German Plot.
During the Irish War of Independence, he was a member of the Irish Republican Army headquarters staff, as Assistant Director of Training and, after the killing of Dick McKee, as Director of Training. He coordinated, and was the principal lecturer, for a training course for military officers. The course was run clandestinely in the premises of the Topographical Society on Gardiner Street in Dublin. A sympathetic doorkeeper allowed O'Connell's group in at night when the society was not present. Topics delivered by O'Connell included tactics, ordinance and engineering. In the IRA split after the Anglo-Irish Treaty was ratified, O'Connell took the pro-Treaty side...' (from here.)
On the 26th June, 1922, Leo Henderson and a group of 'Irregulars/Dissidents' left the then republican-occupied Four Courts, which had been taken over on the 14th of April by anti-treaty forces '..and arrived at Ferguson's garage on Dublin's Baggot Street, accusing them of doing business with Belfast ; this was, they said, in violation of the boycott the IRA had placed on the city due to violence against nationalists there. Leo Henderson, their leader, seized a number of cars at gunpoint, and was on the point of driving back to the anti-Treaty stronghold of the Four Courts when he was arrested by pro-Treaty/Free State troops. Henderson's comrades in the Four Courts in response arrested a pro-Treaty General, JJ O’Connell and, within 24 hours, Free State artillery was battering at the walls of the Four Courts in central Dublin. The first shots of the Irish Civil War were caused by a row over selling cars to Belfast...' (from here.)
Not altogether the full story, although the 'bones' of what actually happened are there ; Harry Ferguson's garage (pictured) was a well-known Belfast automobile company, with a branch on Baggot Street, in Dublin. It was known to be unsympathetic to the 'Irregulars' and had blatantly ignored an overall directive from the IRA that for-profit business dealings with Belfast should cease until business bosses in that city took steps to ensure the safety of their nationalist workforce. Leo Henderson and his men commandeered about 15 cars which had been sent, for sale, to Dublin from Belfast - the IRA's intention, as well as to be seen enforcing the 'Belfast Trade Boycott', was to use the vehicles, as part of the war effort, against the continuing British political and military presence in the Six Occupied Counties and in their campaign to overthrow the then-fledging Free State political administration.
Leo Henderson was captured by the Staters, with ex-IRA man Frank Thornton in command of them and, when the IRA leadership heard that Henderson had been 'arrested', they discussed abducting Collins himself or Richard Mulcahy in retaliation, but decided instead to seize Free State General Jeremiah Joseph (JJ) 'Ginger' O'Connell, who was Richard Mulcahy's Deputy Chief-of-Staff. At 11.15pm on the night of Tuesday, 27th June, 1922, 'Ginger' was arrested in Dublin by the IRA after an evening out with his girlfriend - the couple had gone to the theatre and, after the girlfriend was dropped home, 'Ginger' went to McGilligan's Pub in Leeson Street for a few pints. As he left the pub, the IRA seized him and held him in the republican-occupied Four Courts ; Ernie O'Malley actually telephoned Free State General Eoin O'Duffy, who was in Portobello Barracks, and told him that 'Ginger' will be returned to the Staters in exchange for Leo Henderson.
The republicans knew that 'Ginger' was valued by Collins and his renegades - he was one of the few that eagerly conveyed the 'cancel-the-Rising'-order from Eoin MacNeill in 1916 and both Collins and Mulcahy regarded him as a safe pair of hands. Collins's political and military bosses in London were notified about 'JJ Ginger' being held in republican custody and made it clear to Collins that if he and his Free State colleagues didn't take steps to remove the republicans from the Four Courts, they would - the Staters had already decided to attack their former comrades in the Four Courts and had already accepted the offer from Westminster of equipment with which to carry-out the task ; British artillery, aircraft, armoured cars, machine guns, small arms and ammunition were by then in the possession of Collins and his team, who then used the 'JJ kidnap'-incident as a further 'reason' to press ahead with the assault.
-
"This is not the will of the people ; it is the fear of the people". The conflict continued after that Treaty, and continues today. In 1973, the political establishment here and its hangers-on were amongst those telling republicans that the Sunningdale Agreement was the "solution" to the North. In 1985 they did the same with the Hillsborough Treaty. In 1998 they did the same with the Stormont Treaty.
Those responsible for the 'GFA' - Bertie Ahern, Bill Clinton, Gerry Adams, Tony Blair, John Hume, John Major etc etc were experienced enough to have recognised it for the 'false dawn' it was - and is - but were more interested in puffing-up/re-building their political 'careers' and would have attempted to sell any so-called 'settlement' to anyone foolish enough to listen to them. Indeed, such maneuvering was rife in the period leading up to, and after, that 1998 vote (it was signed-off on the 10th April 1998 by the politicians involved and put to a vote on the 22nd May that year) -
Bertie Ahern, quoted in 'The Sunday Business Post' newspaper on the 3rd May 1998, page 16, said it means that "Britain is out of the equation", AP/RN editorialised, on the 10th of September, 1998, on page 9, that the vote was "the will of the electorate in both partitioned states..", 'The Sunday Business Post', on the 13th February 2000, on page 18, said that the Stormont Treaty ('GFA') institutions were set up "as a direct result of a vote of all the people of this island...the will of the entire people of Ireland..", the 'Ireland on Sunday' newspaper, on the 28th March 1999, on page 14, said it was "the wish of almost every last man and woman in this country..".
And the codology didn't end there - AP/RN, on the 20th May 1999, on page 9, said it was "endorsed by a huge majority of this country's people..", Tim Pat Coogan, in his 'Ireland On Sunday' column on the 24th September 2000, on page 32, said that "more than 90 per cent of the people of this island voted for it..", Niall O Dowd, in his 'IOS' column on the 13th February 2000, on page 31, said that it was "the democratic wish of 95 per cent of the population in the Irish Republic and 72 per cent in the North..", Piet De Pauw, the Belgium lawyer and human-rights expert, said, in December 2000, that "the majority of the people on this island voted for it", AP/RN, on the 11th March 1999, on page 12, said "it was endorsed by 85 per cent of the people of Ireland.." and Tim Pat Coogan, again - this time in his 'IOS' column dated 7th May 2000 (page 34)- said that its institutions "were voted for by an overwhelming majority on this island..".
In the edition of 'The Sunday Business Post' newspaper that was published on the 12th April 1998 - just two days after the Stormont Treaty was signed - the editorial referred to the proposed amendments to Articles 2 and 3 of the Free State Constitution as "well meaning drivel", saying that the treaty would make us become "the laughing stock of Europe", and described that treaty as "a rescue operation for unionism". But, six weeks later - on Sunday, 24th May 1998 - the paper had changed its tune : the editorial in that edition declared that "clearly the vast majority of people on this island are prepared to invest their hope and trust for the future in what is, by any standards, a complex agreement." A 'laughing stock' indeed!
However, an examination of the actual outcome of that vote reveals the true figures, and confirms that the establishment and its supporters will still attempt to purposely distort the facts and mislead those who are foolish enough to simply take them at their word - in this State, the turnout for the 1998 Stormont Treaty poll was 56.3% and, of those, 1,442,583 (94.4%) voted 'YES' and 85,748 (5.6%) voted 'NO'. But 43.97% of those entitled to vote in the State did not do so!
In the Six Counties, the turnout was 81% and, of those, 676,966 (71.12%) voted 'YES' and 274,879 (28.88%) voted 'NO' . But 19% of those entitled to vote in the Six Counties did not do so!
The claims that 'the majority voted for it' and that it represents 'the democratic wish of 95% of the population' etc etc is a deliberate falsehood put about by those that would attempt to convince the Irish people that the struggle to achieve a just and permanent settlement has been achieved. That finality can only begin when the British give a date for their withdrawal from this country - it has not been a war of over 850 years only to say to the British that which the Stormont Treaty leads them to believe - 'stay if you want, just treat us better..'. That was never the republican objective, regardless of how well dressed and presentable those are that travel the globe claiming, in effect, that so-called 'civil rights' was the objective all along.
The same spoofery, the same spin, the ignorance, the deliberate misdirection and the same smoke and mirrors are being dished-out again in relation to the 8th February 2020 election held in this State, so much so that, in reply to Mary Lou's "We won!" statements, Fine Gael's Simon Harris was able to use the same election results to claim, correctly, that "..not everybody voted for Sinn Fein...you’d think by listening to some of the commentary that everybody voted Sinn Fein...76% of people did not vote for Sinn Fein to be in government.." (from here.) As we said at the start of this piece - the 'winners' are not allowed to collect their 'prize' unless the 'losers' permit them to do so!
Incidentally, the 8th February 2020 election was to elect members to the 31st Leinster House assembly and not, as declared by all and sundry, to "the 33rd Dáil Éireann". That latter term is a spoof, a spin, ignorant of the true position, deliberate misdirection and smoke and mirrors, like the outcome of the election itself.
'IRA CRIMINAL CONSPIRACY - A CONSPIRATOR SPEAKS AND IS BOOHED...'
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, December 1954.
Normally one would not pay any attention to the abnormal utterances of Earnan De Blagdh, as he is known when associated with the Gaelic League or the Abbey Theatre - otherwise Mr. Ernest Blythe. But when he assumes the responsibility of speaking on behalf of the IRA veterans it is time to join issue. The veterans themselves know Mr. Blythe too well, but the young republicans of today may not be sufficiently acquainted with his career as a republican.
Figuring in his early years as an IRB (Irish Republican Brotherhood)-cum-Volunteer-cum-Gealic League organiser, Mr. Blythe did trojan work on behalf of these organisations. With his election to Leinster House ('the government of the Irish Republic') his political life began, and the blithe enthusiastic Volunteer was transformed into the compromising partition-builder whom we know today ; the first conspiracy (criminal, in the eyes of Irish republicans) which came to light was that by which the IRB engineered the signing of the Treaty of Surrender in 1921, and later put it over on the Irish people, Mr. Blythe playing a prominent part.
The second criminal conspiracy was that by which the so-called government (Provisional) and the IRB borrowed 18-pounders and other guns from Lloyd George and the British Government with which to crush the IRA and the Irish republican government, Mr. Blythe again playing his part... (MORE LATER.)
ON THIS DATE (19TH FEBRUARY) 97 YEARS AGO : IRA VOLUNTEER SHOT DEAD BY RENEGADE IRA MAN.
On this date, 19th February, in 1923, IRA officer Thomas O'Sullivan, of Ballineanig, Kerry, was shot dead by a Free State Army officer near Dingle, in that same county. The Stater who shot him was an ex-IRA man who had been expelled from the Republican Movement for misconduct and, as such, must have felt right at home with his new comrades.
This account of the death of Thomas O'Sullivan is taken from Dorothy Macardle's book 'The Tragedies Of Kerry' -
' "I had twelve children, but I had none like him," Mrs. O'Sullivan says. Tom was twenty-two years old when he was killed ; he was a teacher of Irish and a fisherman, and he was a Volunteer since the Black-and-Tan time ; he was Commandant of his Battalion when he died. They (Free Staters) came raiding for him in December, with their lorries, but his mother got him away. He was going fishing and had his hand on the kettle, going to make himself a cup of tea, when she ran in with the warning and he made out through the back door. She lifted a bucket and went up the road towards them thinking to hold them awhile in talk.
"Who's that man running?", the officer shouted to her, and she called back "I don't know at all.." "You know well, you devil!" he answered, "'Tis your son, Tom," and he went down on his knee and fired. The bullet slit Tom's jersey, but Tom was not hurt. But the danger to him seemed more than she could bear.
"Wisha, give me your gun," she said to Tom that night, "and I'll carry it into town for you." "No, mother," he answered, "that's what I'll never do. I didn't take my oath to break it," he said. "I know what's before me, and I'm satisfied to face that."
He used to come home sometimes, never to sleep, but maybe to change his clothes. He came in on the eighteenth of February (1923). His mother thought he looked troubled. "Have you any letter from Dan?" he asked her at once. Dan, his brother, was in jail. She gave him the letter and he read it under the lamp.
"Dan's all right," he said with relief in his voice, and gave her the letter again. Then he said, "Come down with me now." She went with him down the bohereen. It was getting dark and she could not well see his face. Suddenly he put his arms round her. "Goodbye, mother," he said. "Why do you talk like that, Tom," she said, half-crying, "and you always so brave?" "Ah, mother," he answered, "I'll be under locks from you soon." He took her hand then and they walked together a little further on. He was going to sleep in a house across the fields, where he'd be safe, he said. He started to go but came back to her again : "You're not ashamed of me, mother?" he asked her. It was in Irish, the speech of her heart, that she answered him.
In the dark of the night a man came to her door. It was Bob McCarthy, Tom's friend : she knew him well. "'Tis pity to be disturbing you," he said, "but the Staters are in the fields below. Where's Tom?" She told him and he ran out. She was on her knees praying when she heard a shot fired. She started up and drew the bolt and ran out. She stood, crying out her prayers and blessings, against the gable of the house when she heard another shot and another again.
The man who was with Tom hiding in a hollow knows what happened then, but he is a prisoner, sentenced to fifteen years. Only the little that he told to a fellow-prisoner, since released, is known - "They were hiding and spoke to one another, not thinking the enemy were near, but they heard a voice call out suddenly : "That's O'Sullivan! I know his talk." They knew the man who spoke. He had been expelled from the Volunteers for misconduct and was a Free State Officer now. His kind were the most vindictive, always. Tom O'Sullivan must have known that this was death. The man saw him and fired , and Tom fell. He was badly wounded and put his hands up as he lay on the ground. "I surrender to you," he said. "Get a priest for me before you do any more." The man fired again and Tom moaned, "O Jesus and Mary come against me" and died.
Bob McCarthy evaded the enemy that night. He had another month to live. It was he who came to Mrs. O'Sullivan to tell her that her son was dead...'
That Free State officer, and other sleveen's of his type, still reside in, and operate from, Leinster House, morally and physically. And republicans continue to operate outside that institution, parasite free.
'WOMEN AIDING WOMEN...'
From 'USI News' magazine, February 1989.
When acknowledged, it often gives rise to an 'us and them' mentality which can easily become crystalised along class lines. It is much more comfortable to think about domestic violence in terms of it 'never happening to me', If the people it 'happens' to are from very different backgrounds. But this requires a deeply held belief that the women it does 'happen' to somehow let/make it happen, that they are somehow at fault. They are, therefore, not to be trusted.
This conflict is, at its root, a class one, between women from vastly different backgrounds. The powerless women are those using the refuge - they are powerless in their lives and are further being denied power in the place that they have come to for refuge. It is a poor reflection on the 'Women's Movement', a movement based firmly in the middle class, that potential solidarity between women in a very basic struggle against male oppression is made impossible by an unwillingness to share/give away power.
(END of 'Women Aiding Women'. NEXT - 'Illegal Arms : In Bad Company', from 2002.)
ON THIS DATE (19TH FEBRUARY) IN 1919 AND 1921...
On the 19th February 1919 (101 years ago, on this date), British Army Private T. Kennedy died in Dublin from Bronchitis ; he was attached to the 'Royal' Welsh Fusiliers // Lance Corporal Herbert Richard Roper, 22 years of age, attached to the Norfolk Yeomanry, died in Ballinasloe from pneumonia // Lance Corporal Charles Matthews, 24 years of age, Northumberland Fusiliers, died in Belfast from pneumonia // Private John Daly, 42 years of age, from the 'Royal' Defence Corps, died at the Military Hospital in Athlone, from bronchitis, and a Sergeant Percy Dawson, 'Royal' Scots Regiment (service number 47225) died, aged 32, in Ireland, from influenza. We are not sure of how much trouble they caused in this country before they died.
On the 19th February 1921 (99 years ago, on this date) three British soldiers (privates) of the Oxford Regiment were found by IRA men, unarmed and wearing civilian clothes near Feakle, Co Clare. The soldiers said they were deserters but the IRA suspected they were spies, shot them and dumped their bodies near Woodford ; 'There had been a number of cases in the area of British soldiers posing as deserters to gather intelligence..' (from here.) 'On 22nd February 1921, during the War of Independence, the bodies of three British soldiers - Privates Williams, Walker and Morgan of the Oxford and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry - were discovered by a farmer on the Woodford to Cahir road near the shores of Lough Attorick at Poolagoond near the Clare – Galway county border. The three soldiers had been executed by the I.R.A.'s East Clare Brigade, each been shot in the head. One of them had a label hung around his neck which read "Spies. Tried by courtmartial and found guilty. All others beware..." (from here.)
It would have been best for those men had they, and their political leadership, not come to Ireland at all.
'IRA PRISONERS REMANDED : ELABORATE SECURITY PRECAUTIONS BY NORTHERN 'POLICE' '.
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, November 1954.
Mr. Roy, the court clerk, addressing Seán Hegarty, told him that he could be brought back in 14 days or, if he so wished, on the 2nd November ; eight days, as suggested, to which Seán replied - "Tomorrow week." The Magistrate then stated - "When he does not consent, there is no point in asking the other prisoners."
As the prisoners were led handcuffed into the two Black Marias, through an avenue of police guards, eight police vans were drawn up on the High Street, with three police tenders and four police radio cars. The streets were cordoned off as the prison vans and their escorting convoy moved off from the courthouse at 11.15am for the 70-mile journey back to Belfast. The convoy was headed by a police traffic radio car and a field radio car, then two Lancia cars with armed police, the two Black Maria prison vans, two more police vans, then two other police radio cars and two further police vans. The police in towns through which the convoys passed were 'on guard' and police cars also patrolled road junctions leading into the provincial towns on the route and around Cookstown. A Royal Air Force spotter plane flew low over the countryside, reporting 'all clear', and the movement of traffic to the pilot radio car. Special security precautions were in operation also in Belfast in the vicinity of the jail.
It is possible that further hearings will take place in Belfast ; a senior police officer stated last night - "We do not wish to run any risk of losing these men."
(END of 'IRA Prisoners Remanded : Elaborate Security Precautions By Northern 'Police' '. NEXT - 'Greater Love', from the same source.)
Thanks for reading, Sharon.
ON THIS DATE (5TH FEBRUARY) 98 YEARS AGO : REBEL WOMEN SAY 'NO!'.
"As things developed in 1922, we could see that the Free State was toeing the line for Britain. Nearly all the girls stayed republican, but the men seemed to waver...we offer no apology to the rulers North or South of this partitioned land in asserting our rights as freeborn Irish women to repudiate that Treaty and the Imperial Parliament of partitioned Ulster. We fight for an Ireland where the exploitation of Irish workers by imported or native capitalists will be ruthlessly exterminated. (We will) put an end for all time to that state of chaos and social dis-order which is holding our people in unnatural bondage..." - Eithne Coyle, Cumann na mBan President.
On the 5th of April 1914, in Wynn's Hotel in Abbey Street, Dublin, the inaugural meeting of the newly-established 'Cumann na mBan' organisation took place, with Kathleen Lane-O'Kelley in the Chair. Its constitution made no secret of the fact that it was not opposed to the use of force to remove the British military and political presence from Ireland and the organisation also declared that its primary aim was to "advance the cause of Irish liberty (and) teach its members first aid, drill, signalling and rifle practice in order to aid the men of Ireland." It was the first female military force in Ireland.
In 1918, Westminster threatened to conscript Irishmen into its armed forces and the then four-year-old Cumann na mBan organisation campaigned to such an extent against that conscription that its ranks swelled and it found itself ideally placed to assist the then Sinn Féin organisation in its election campaign in December that same year. At this time, Cumann na mBan had approximately 600 active branches in the country, with the majority of its members aged from their late teens to their mid-30's, and all were active on the republican side during the War of Independence that followed, in which an estimated 10,000 women played an active part. In October 1921, the Cumann na mBan leadership recorded that it had at least 12,000 active members in 800 branches.
However, when the 'Treaty of Surrender' was signed in December 1921 (resulting in partition and the creation of two bastard States) the republican forces, including Cumann na mBan, effectively split into three groups - supporters of the Treaty, those who opposed it and those who withdrew in a neutral stance. A group of Treaty-supporting activists left Cumann na mBan and formed themselves into a new group, 'Cumann na Saoirse' and, five years later, when the Fianna Fail party was founded, more Cumann na mBan members left the organisation to join Eamon de Valera in his new party. Also, in the mid-1930's, yet another group from within Cumann na mBan left to form 'Mna na Poblachta' but the Cumann na mBan organisation itself stayed true to its republican principles in 1970 and again in 1986, when opportunists again left the Republican Movement to seek their political (and financial) fortunes in constitutional political assemblies.
Today, the Cumann na mBan organisation remains affiliated to the Republican Movement and can be contacted at 223 Parnell Street in Dublin and/or 229 Falls Road in Belfast. The email for getting in touch with the organisation is sfp1916@gmail.com.
PUTTING (ALLEGED) 'NEW OIL' INTO A SEIZED 'ENGINE'.
You would know not to do that, wouldn't you? If the engine is seized, then 'new' oil won't fix the problem, even though a shyster mechanic might tell you otherwise.
In this corrupt State, Leinster House is the 'engine' and all the candidates beseeching you for your vote in the 8th February 2020 'general election' are the self-declared 'new oil' that 'can fix the engine' and, with your vote, they will 'fix' that 'engine' - for themselves, that is, financially. One term in Leinster House is all they need to secure an income for themselves for life and/or to make business contacts which will ensure for them a paid position in either Brussels or on the Board of some NGO/Quango but the collapsing health service and housing situation etc in this State will continue in a downward spiral. The Leinster House institution is only fit for one purpose - the cutting of deals and throats ; the deals favour those inside that venue and the throats belong to those of us on the outside who, through our taxes (and votes), pay for the life of luxury enjoyed by those inside those gilded walls.
Compromise with George Carlin (pictured, above) - on the 8th of February next, claim your ballot paper and write 'NONE OF THE ABOVE' on it and place it in the ballot box. Don't fall for the slick words of a shyster mechanic.
ON THIS DATE (5TH FEBRUARY) 200 YEARS AGO : DEATH OF A 'UNITED IRISHMAN' FOUNDING FATHER.
"Nor one feeling of vengeance presume to defile
The cause, or the men, of the Emerald Isle..."
- the words of William Drennan (pictured), physician, poet, educationalist political radical and one of the founding fathers of the 'Society of United Irishmen', who was born on the 23rd May in 1754.
As well as his involvement with the 'United Irishmen', William Drennan will be forever associated with the descriptive term 'Emerald Isle' being used as a reference for Ireland, although he himself stated that that expression was first used in an anonymous 1795 song called 'Erin, to her own Tune'.
When he was 37 years of age, a group of socially-minded Protestants, Anglicans and Presbyterians held their first public meeting in Belfast and formed themselves as 'The Belfast Society of United Irishmen' (the organisation became a secret society three years later), electing Sam McTier as 'President', strengthing the link that William Drennan had forged with that revolutionary organisation - Sam McTier was married to Martha, who was a sister of William Drennan.
'..he was born on May 23, 1754, at the manse of the First Presbyterian Church, Rosemary Street, Belfast, where his father was minister. A doctor by profession, he became one of the pioneers of inoculation against smallpox. Drennan became one of the founder members of the United Irishmen, and upon moving to Dublin in 1789 was appointed its chairman...after he was tried and acquitted of sedition in 1794, he withdrew from the movement and emigrated to Scotland (but remained) committed to radical politics..he married Sarah Swanwick in 1800, and they had four sons and a daughter...' (from here.)
'When Erin first rose from the dark-swelling flood,
God blessed the green island, he saw it was good.
The Emerald of Europe, it sparkled and shone,
in the ring of this world, the most precious stone.
In her sun, in her soil, in her station thrice blest,
With her back towards Britain, her face to the West,
Erin stands proudly insular, on her steep shore,
And strikes her high harp 'mid the ocean's deep roar...' (from here.)
William Drennan died on the 5th February 1820 - 200 years ago on this date - at 66 years of age, and is buried in Clifton Street Graveyard, Belfast. His coffin was carried by an equal number of Catholics and Protestants, and clergy from different denominations were in charge of the ceremony, as per his request.
'A SACRED TRUST...'
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, December 1954.
In this period, coming up to Christmas, we especially appeal to you on behalf of An Cumann Cabhrach, to aid the prisoners' dependents. Christmas means so much to all of us in Christian Ireland, and our patriotism has always been so closely linked with our faith, let us not forget our boys in prison.
Send us a subscription, but do a little more ; get your friends to do likewise. If possible, form a small committee and write to An Runaidhe, An Cumann Cabhrach, and obtain collection cards. Small weekly subscriptions from many people will ensure the continuance of the fund, without throwing too great a strain on the pocket of any individual. God knows the demands on the pocket of the working man are manifold, but remember this - every penny you contribute is another blow at British domination in Ireland, and the results even in our own day may reach beyond our wildest dreams.
All subscriptions and communications to : An Runaide, An Cumann Cabhrach, c/o 94 Sean Treacy Street, Ath Cliath. (END of 'A Sacred Trust' ; NEXT - 'IRA Criminal Conspiracy - A Conspirator Speaks And Is 'Boohed' ', from the same source.)
ON THIS DATE (5TH FEBRUARY) 99 YEARS AGO : DEATH OF AN UNWITTING FEMME FATALE.
Kitty O'Shea (pictured), was born as Katharine Wood in 1846, on the 30th January ; she matured into an unwitting femme fatale, and is said to be practically solely responsible for 'the most notorious scandal of the late Victorian Age' - the downfall of Charles Stewart Parnell and the split which followed in the 'Home Rule Movement'.
'Kitty' was a name she would have hated, as it was slang for a woman of loose morals. In fact, she only loved two men in her life and married both of them, though the marriage to Charles Stewart Parnell was to prove tragically short-lived as he died in her arms after a few brief months of happiness. She was born Katharine Wood in 1845, and was known as Kate to her family. Her father was a baronet, a member of the British aristocracy and her brother a Field Marshall, although their grandfather had started life as an apprentice and was a self-made man.
The Woods were closely linked with the Gladstone family and Katharine often acted as a go-between with William Gladstone when Parnell was trying to persuade the British government to grant Ireland independence. She had married William O'Shea at the age of twenty-one, not long after the death of her father, and the marriage had produced a son and two daughters. O'Shea neglected his wife and pursued his own pleasures while she was often left to bring up the children alone, while also looking after her elderly aunt. She played the part of a dutiful wife, however, and hosted dinner parties to help her husband's career. Parnell, an important figure in Irish politics, was always invited, always accepted and yet never showed up.
Annoyed and perplexed by these apparent snubs she went to confront him in person at his office in Westminster in July 1880. The effect was immediate ; "This man is wonderful and different," she was to write later. Parnell was a bachelor who had once loved and been rejected, and never took an interest in women again until he met Katharine. It was a suicidal love as she was married to a fellow Irish MP and was a respectable wife and mother. The power of the attraction between the two, however, was impossible to resist and before long they were living together in her home in Eltham in the suburbs of London.
They had an illicit 'honeymoon' in Brighton and Katharine was to bear three children to Parnell while still married to O'Shea, the first of whom died soon after being born. It is even thought that she bore Parnell a son who could take his name after they finally married, although this child was stillborn. O'Shea knew of the relationship but turned a blind eye to it. Then the Aunt died and left Katharine a large inheritance and he decided to divorce his wife and shame Parnell publicly. The ensuing scandal ruined Parnell's career and his health.
His traditional supporters in Catholic Ireland turned away from him when they learned he had been living with a married woman even though he and his beloved Katharine became man and wife after they married at Steyning register office in Sussex, the county where they made their home. In an attempt to revive his flagging fortunes, Parnell went to Ireland and spoke at a public meeting in County Galway. He was caught in a thunderstorm and developed a chill from which he never recovered. Seriously ill, he returned to be with Katharine and died soon afterwards. They had been married for only four months.
It is estimated that half a million people lined the streets of Dublin to pay their respects to Parnell as his coffin was taken to Glasnevin cemetery to be buried near Daniel O'Connell. Later Eamon de Valera and Michael Collins were also laid to rest nearby. On the granite stone above his grave lies just one word – 'Parnell', enough to identify Ireland’s flawed hero whose dream of a free and united country at peace with Britain was destroyed by his love for a married woman.
