Saturday, April 15, 2006
The seven signatories - Padraig Pearse
"Life springs from death; and from the graves of patriot men and women spring living nations. The Defenders of this Realm have worked well in secret and in the open. They think that they have pacified Ireland. They think that they have purchased half of us and intimidated the other half. They think that they have foreseen everything, think that they have provided against everything; but the fools, the fools, the fools! - they have left us our Fenian dead, and while Ireland holds these graves, Ireland unfree shall never be at peace."Padraig Pearse's graveside oration at the funeral of O'Donovan Rossa, Glasnevin cemetery, 1915
Over the last seven days here on United Irelander in preparation for tomorrow's military parade, I have focused on each of the seven rebel leaders who signed the proclamation of the Republic. I felt it was fitting to leave this man, Padraig Pearse, as the last leader I would focus on seeing as he is by far the most controversial. While I will try and offer up a look at the man's life as I did with the other rebel leaders, I will not go into too much detail, mainly because the man's life is scrutinised so much and I wouldn't be able to do it justice. Since he is so controversial, I will first highlight his life story and then finish up with my own thoughts on the man.
Padraig Pearse was born in Dublin, November 10, 1879, to an English father and an Irish mother.
He was interested in the heritage and history of Ireland from a young age and at 21 he joined the Gaelic League. He became editor of the League's newspaper - An Claidheamh Solais ('The Sword of Light').
Politically, Pearse was initially a moderate, supporting the Home Rule movement, but seeing that the unionists were getting results by taking up arms, he came to be of the view that independence could only be achieved through force.
Pearse joined the IRB and quickly rose through their ranks. The speech he gave at the funeral of O'Donovan Rossa (which can be read here) greatly impressed the veteran Fenian and IRB man Thomas Clarke and Pearse eventually became a member of the IRB's Military Council. He was made President of the Provisional Government (though some, like Thomas Clarke's widow, dispute this).
It was Pearse who read out the Proclamation of the Republic to the bemused citizens of Dublin which,contrary to myth, was not read out "on the steps of the GPO". (The GPO had no steps).
During the rebellion Pearse made a prophetic comment that:
"When we are all wiped out, people will blame us for everything, condemn us…..(but) in a few years they will see the meaning of what we tried to do."
Padraig Pearse gave the order to surrender on Friday, 28th April. Padraig Pearse was court martialled and sentenced to be shot. In a last letter home to his mother he told her, "I will call to you in my heart at the last moment." On May 3rd, on the way to his execution, he heard two volleys of shots - Thomas Clarke and his friend Thomas MacDonagh had preceded him in death. Padraig Pearse was himself then shot and the next day his brother Willie would meet the same fate.
My own thoughts on Pearse:
Padraig Pearse is arguably the most interesting and controversial figure in Irish history. Some people abhor the man, others regard him a a fine patriot. I would be in the latter category. I find his writings to be of a brilliant standard and to be immensely inspirational. While there is no doubt that his moving writings led a minority of men and women to commit horrendous acts, I don't feel Pearse should be blamed for that. After all, Pearse did say at his court martial that:
"If our deed has not been sufficient to win freedom, then our children will win it by a better deed."
Some sad individuals meanwhile have tried to demean the man by hurling out some vile allegations about his character with no concrete evidence to back up their views. Even critics of Pearse like Ruth Dudley Edwards do not subscribe to these smear camapigns but I will however address some of the legitimate criticisms of Pearse and give you my honest opinions on them...
"Pearse believed in 'blood sacrifice'"
I don't doubt that. It is clear to me that Pearse felt blood needed to be spilled to free Ireland from British rule. However, I think we need to judge this in the context of its time. Blood sacrifice was a widely held belief in the time of Pearse. Notable figures such as Sigmund Freud espoused it. Let's not forget that some unionists chose to sign the Ulster Covenant in their own blood. There was a romantic image of war in those days as can be seen by the enthusiastic attitude of the British in joining the army to fight in the First World War. I would condemn anyone who subscribes to the blood sacrifice ideology in this day and age but 1916 was a completely different era so I don't hold it against Pearse.
"Pearse didn't care about the civilians"
I don't buy that argument either. There is plenty of evidence showing that Pearse was genuinely appalled at the deaths of civilians during the Rising. Indeed, Pearse surrendered to save the lives of the civilians according to those who were around him at the time and his final statement at his court martial, which you can read below, confirms this. As I've stated before the point of the Rising was not to kill the civilians - which would make it a terrorist act - but rather to have the people rise up with them as Emmet had hoped and Tone before him.
"Pearse wanted a Gaelic Ireland"
I believe that he did but again I say look at it in the context of its time. Irish culture was on its knees, the language was dying fast, and there was a widely held belief that only an independent Ireland could safeguard Irish culture. It is easy with hindsight to say that Pearse and those like him did not concern themselves with the views of those who had no interest in Gaelic culture, but Pearse viewed the English education system as a "murder machine" and history proves that there was an effort on the part of the British (and admittedly Daniel O'Connell as well) to see the language die out. I can understand the view of men and women like Pearse that desperate times called for desperate measures.
"Pearse wanted to become a martyr"
I believe that's true but does that mean he deserves our condemnation? I don't think so. It is my belief judging from the huge body of literature that Pearse left behind, not to mention his fascination with figures like Cuchulainn, Christ, Tone and Emmet, that Pearse indeed wanted to become a martyr. As a child he told his familiy stories about being stretched out on a rack and dying for Ireland. Admittedly this is not the stuff of a normal child's imagination. There is evidence too that he called on the other leaders to be spared and for him to die alone. I agree with the conclusion that he wanted to become a martyr but should we really castigate him for that? Pearse saw his role in dying for Ireland as similar to Jesus' role dying for our sins. If we condemn Pearse for laying down his life for Ireland don't we have to likewise condemn Jesus for laying down his life for humanity in general? (I should point out here that I'm not at all trying to equate Pearse with Christ but rather I'm trying to explain how going down the path of martrydom doesn't necessarily have to be regarded as a bad thing)
There you have my thoughts on the arguments against Pearse. As for why I personally admire the man, as I touched on at the start of this post, I find his writings inspirational and I feel he played a big part in awakening Irish people to the harsh realities of British rule. I don't feel he was a perfect individual by any means but I believe he was a good man and in the words of Ruth Dudley Edwards, "a man of the highest ideals". While she may draw different conclusions to myself on the political choices he made, personally I support them and this Sunday I will pay tribute to the man. While there were a ton of inspiring words by Pearse that I could have finished this post with, I will instead leave you with Pearse's final statement at his court martial. It's not as heavy on rhetoric as some of his other writings, nor is it as well known, but I feel it shows the human side of him - determined to see the lives of his men spared and giving an honest and forceful explanation of his view on Britain's role in Ireland:
"My sole object in surrendering unconditionally was to save the slaughter of the civil population and to save the lives of our followers who had been led into this thing by us. It is my hope that the British Government who has shown its strength will also be magnamimous and spare the lives and give an amnesty to my followers, as I am one of the persons chiefly responsible, have acted as C-in-C and President of the Provisional Government. I am prepared to take the consequences of my act, but I should like my followers to receive an amnesty. I went down on my knees as a child and told God that I would work all my life to gain the freedom of Ireland. I have deemed it my duty as an Irishman to fight for the freedom of my country. I admit I have organised men to fight against Britain. I admit having opened negotiations with Germany. We have kept our word with her and as far as I can see she did her best to help us. She sent a ship with men. Germany has not sent us gold."
Tomorrow I will pay tribute to Pearse and the other signatories of the Proclamation of the Republic. I thank them for their heroism and sacrifice.
Silly Sammy's stupid stories
I was quite amused by these comments from General Maxwell...sorry I mean Sammy Wilson (pictured left with his bling-bling), who said republicans had no sense of irony as they prepared for a commemoration of the Easter 1916 rebellion at Stormont.Sinn Fein's Assembly team will gather at Stormont's Long Gallery for a commemoration of the rebellion and an address by West Tyrone MLA Barry McElduff.
But Sammy has chosen to ridicule the event:
"It would seem republicans have no sense of irony.
"The very existence of Stormont shows that the ideals of the 1916 rebels did not succeed.
"One half of the island broke away from British rule but the other half remained tied to Britain.
"Republicans today are now accepting that symbol. They are staging their commemoration in a building that is the epitome of everything republican rebels opposed in 1916.
"Stormont is the symbol of Northern Ireland's Britishness, its enduring Britishness - and the prospect of a devolved Assembly in Northern Ireland returning only reinforces and hammers home that point.
"With Stormont remaining intact and republicans using its facilities, I am sure that the 1916 rebels are spinning in their graves just as much as Sinn Fein is trying to spin their acceptance of Stormont."
How fanciful and an example of wishful thinking at its best.
If the 1916 Rising had not occurred, it's questionable whether Stormont would be in existence today at all. All of Ireland would likely have remained in the UK and would have had a much more active role in World War 2 meaning there might not have been a need for a parliament in Belfast.
If anything, perhaps Sammy should be thanking the 1916 rebels for changing the very dynamic of Irish politics and allowing Stormont the role it ended up being given!
No doubt the irony of that is lost on Sammy!
Oh and by the way Sammy, "half of the island" didn't break away. Someone get Mr Wilson a map!
Remember folks, you can't spell "duplicitous" without "DUP"!
Friday, April 14, 2006
Fun Irelander Feature - Easter Rising quiz
I've covered the Easter Rising quite alot of late on United Irelander but just how much have you learned?To continue with the spirit of 1916 I've created a new quiz which will let you know just how much you really know about the Easter Rising. If you've been reading United Irelander over the past week or so then you should be able to answer the questions. But be warned - there's a few toughies in there! Take the quiz here:
How well do you know the Rising?
So then? How well do you know the Rising?
Update: Since the quiz doesn't allow you to find out which questions you got right and which questions you got wrong, I've posted the correct answers in the comments box. Don't read the comments before taking the quiz! You'll only be cheating yourself!
UVF clinging on to their guns
It was a day of statements in Ireland yesterday but while a statement released by the Provisional IRA denounced former members who have "embraced criminal activity", a statement released by the Ulster Volunteer Force (pictured left) indicated the group will not definitively decide on ending its campaign before political talks conclude at Stormont on 24th November.In an interview with the Belfast Telegraph, a UVF spokesman indicated the UVF was in favour of what he called an 'internal settlement'.
The group also ruled out decommissioning:
"It has never been an issue with us. Quite frankly decommissioning is not a word that we use in our vocabulary. Decommissioning is something that the Ulster Volunteer Force have neither promised nor discussed nor are likely to become engaged in. It is not on our agenda."
Seeing as the unionist parties pushed so vociferously to secure decommissioning from the IRA as well as a commitment that its armed campaign would end, can those of us of a nationalist persuasion now count on the unionist community to vociferously call on the UVF to go down the same route that the Provos have gone down?
I mean, unionists wouldn't have one rule for Republicans and another for Loyalists would they?
The seven signatories - Joseph Plunkett
"If the German offensive timed for May comes off, the English will be so much occupied that it is possible we could hold out one way or another for anything up to three months. At the end of that time the English would have to make peace."Joseph Plunkett
Continuing United Irelander's focus on the seven signatories of the Proclamation of the Republic as we count down to this Sunday's military parade, today I will take a look at the scholar and poet, Joseph Mary Plunkett.
Joseph Plunkett was born in Dublin and was the son of a Papal Count, George Noble Plunkett. He suffered from very poor health and at a young age was stricken with tuberculosis. As a result he spent much of his youth in the warm climate of Italy and Egypt.
Throughout his life, Plunkett took an active interest in Irish heritage and the Irish language. He joined the Gaelic League, and took on as a tutor Thomas MacDonagh, with whom he formed a lifelong friendship. The two were both poets with an interest in theatre, and both were early members of the Irish Volunteers, joining their provisional committee. Plunkett's interest in Irish nationalism spread throughout his family and his father allowed his property in Kimmage, south Dublin, to be used as a training camp for young men who wished to escape conscription in England during World War I. Men there were instead trained to fight for Ireland.
Plunkett joined the Irish Republican Brotherhood in 1915 and soon after was sent to Germany to meet with Roger Casement who was negotiating with the German government on behalf of Ireland. Most of Casement's energies in Germany were spent recruiting Irish Prisoners of War to form a brigade to fight for Ireland instead of Britain. Plunkett was seeking a shipment of arms and he successfully got a promise of a German arms shipment to coincide with the rising.
Plunkett was one of the original members of the IRB Military Committee that was responsible for planning the rising, and it was largely his plan that was followed. Shortly before the Rising was set to begin, Plunkett was hospitalised following a turn for the worse in his health.
In terms of Plunket's personal life, he was engaged to be married to Grace Gifford with the wedding set for 24th April, 1916. Grace knew nothing about the plans for the Rising and as a member of the IRB's Supreme Council, Plunkett was sworn to secrecy.
The day before Easter, Grace visited Plunkett in hospital where he had an operation for glandular tuberculosis. That same evening, Plunkett made out a will leaving everything to Grace, and left the hospital to take place in the Rising. Plunkett, still bandaged, stayed in the GPO with several of the other leaders, though his health prevented him from playing a big part. His aide de camp was Michael Collins.
Following the surrender Plunkett was held in Kilmainham Gaol, and faced a court martial. He was found guilty and sentenced to death with no recommendation for mercy. Plunkett married his fiancée, Grace Gifford, hours before his execution.
At about 5pm on Wednesday 3 May 1916, Grace drove up to a jeweller's shop in Grafton Street. The jeweller had put his stock away for the night, and was about to shut the shop. She asked for any kind of wedding ring. The jeweller went over his stock, and gave her a ring.
At 1.30am on 4 May 1916, Grace Gifford was led into the small chapel of Kilmainham Gaol and stood waiting until the handcuffed Joseph Plunkett was brought in, and led up the aisle to stand beside her at the chapel's altar. As there was no electricity available, the marriage ceremony was conducted by Reverend Eugene MacCarthy, using candles for light. Twenty British soldiers, with fixed bayonets, lined the walls of the chapel. Immediately after the conclusion of the ceremony Joseph Plunkett was taken away.
Before Plunkett's execution by firing squad, Grace was allowed to see him for a further ten minutes. During this time, 15 soldiers stood guard in the cell, and the duration of the meeting was timed by a soldier with a watch.
One hour after this last meeting , Joseph Plunkett, together with Edward Daly, Michael O'Hanrahan and Willie Pearse (Padraig Pearse's brother) were executed by firing squad in Kilmainham Gaol.
Plunkett's execution caused particular anger amongst the Irish people seeing as he was a sick man, not to mention the romantic aspect involved in how he married his fiancée in prison.
Following the executions, Grace stayed at the Plunkett home in Larkfield, where she suffered a miscarriage. She continued working for Irish republican causes after her husband's death. In 1917, Joseph Plunkett's father was elected to Parliament representing Roscommon but refused to take his seat and instead joined the First Dáil.
My Lady Has the Grace of Death
My lady has the grace of Death
Whose charity is quick to save,
Her heart is broad as heaven’s breath,
Deep as the grave.
She found me fainting by the way
And fed me from her babeless breast
Then played with me as children play,
Rocked me to rest.
When soon I rose and cried to heaven
Moaning for sins I could not weep,
She told me of her sorrows seven
Kissed me to sleep.
And when the morn rose bright and ruddy
And sweet birds sang on the branch above
She took my sword from her side all bloody
And died for love.
Joseph Plunkett
I find Joseph Plunkett's execution particularly poignant and I feel he conducted his final hours with great class and dignity.
This Sunday remember to pay tribute to this brave man.
Quotes from the Rising
"This is a very sick man - will you leave him alone."Joseph Plunkett's aide-de-camp, Michael Collins, standing up to a British officer who threatened Plunkett.
Separated at Birth?
One is renowned for his hostile attitude towards the Irish, the other is General Maxwell.
General Sir John "Bloody" Maxwell, the man tasked with putting down the Easter Rising and who ensured the executions of several of the rebel leaders, and Sammy Wilson of the DUP.
Separated at Birth? You decide.
Friday Fun's Fascinating Fact
Fact: While it is commonly assumed that Willie Pearse was executed by the British simply because of his famous brother, in actual fact Willie Pearse was the only prisoner to plead guilty.
He may have ended up sealing his own fate.
He may have ended up sealing his own fate.
Thursday, April 13, 2006
Thursday Thoughts: My view of the Rising
Lately on United Irelander you may have noticed one or two posts on the Easter Rising (ahem) but I've realised that while I have given a staunch defense of the Rising numerous times and while I have endeavoured to pick apart the flaws of certain revisionist commentators, I have not yet actually put forth a frank and open account of my own views on the Easter Rising.With that being the case, I thought that for this week's issue of Thursday Thoughts I would, quite simply, give my thoughts on the 1916 Rising. In doing so, I will first analyse the common arguments against the Rising and my thoughts on them, I will give my own reasons for why the Rising was justified and lastly I'll give my thoughts on what its overall significance was to Ireland. First up, the common arguments against the Easter Rising...
Home Rule would have been introduced anyway
I disagree, certainly not the Home Rule that had been initially sought by the Irish people. It is clear that the UVF posed a serious threat to stability and by 1914 there was talk of some counties being excluded from Home Rule and some form of Partition being introduced. If the British had introduced Home Rule straight away - which is what they should have done - I don't believe there would have been a Rising at all. But the British chose to toy around with the Irish once again. This time they paid for it.
The Rising was a terrorist act
No, I don't buy that for one second. There is a difference between a terrorist act and an uprising. The goal of a terrorist act is to target civilians to strike fear into the heart of the establishment, the goal of an uprising is to have the people 'rise' up with you. There's a big difference. The Easter rebels did not want to harm Irish civilians, they wanted to make a point. They wanted to take a stand. They wanted the people to join their fight as Emmet had wanted over a century earlier. In the end the rebels surrendered to save the lives of civilians, who as I have highlighted recently on United Irelander were being murdered in cold blood by the British. The 'terrorist' argument doesn't wash.
The rebels had no democratic mandate
In my opinion this argument is highly naive as the reality is the Irish people had not had their democratic wish - Home Rule - delivered to them. The unelected British House of Lords had rejected two of the Home Rule Bills and they delayed the third Bill. Then the British went and postponed Home Rule using WW1 as an excuse. British democracy wasn't all it was cracked up to be back then so in my opinion the argument that the rebels had no mandate is a pointless one. Now for why I feel the Rising was justified:
British rule could no longer be tolerated
It's amazing that the Irish people put up with British boobery for as long they did. However, the fact that the British were not giving the Irish people their wish - Home Rule - meant that they could no longer be respected. As well as that the British were showing a willingness to listen to the hostile minority in Ireland who threatened to challenge democracy. With that being the case, an armed insurrection by the rebels was justifiable because while the unionists only had to threaten violence to get their wish, the Easter rebels had to try and forcibly remove the British, which is what they attempted.
Partition
Ripping the Irish nation in two was unacceptable. In 1912 Herbert Asquith made a speech in which he acknowledged that the Irish nation was one nation. Thus the rebels had a definite right to challenge any attempt to divide the island in two.
British mistreatment
While the unionists were given an Ulster division in the British Army complete with symbols and emblems, efforts by the nationalist leader Redmond to attain similar measures for nationalists were treated with disdain. This added to the disillusionment many in Ireland felt over the war. The British did not prevent guns from Germany making it into Larne for the unionists but yet they made an effort to prevent guns from Germany landing in the hands of Irish Volunteers. They also opened fire on a jeering crowd on Bachelor's Walk a few years prior to the Rising. All examples of British mistreatment. The fact is that the Irish Home Rule movement was built around the belief that the British could not handle Ireland's domestic affairs and while the majority of Irish people might not have called for it at the time, they were better off as an independent state free of British rule.
Final thoughts:
The efforts of the Easter rebels to free Ireland from British rule was a noble cause that helped establish the Irish state that exists today. The Easter Rising is a massively important event for the people of this country and we derive so much from it - our flag, our anthem, the Proclamation, our republican ideals, these are just a few things that we owe to the Rising. Some revisionists might not like the fact that a few hundred rebels bloodied the nose of the greatest superpower on Earth but that is what happened. Those who try and defend the British should look at the legacy that it has left to the world. Is Ireland a special case? Sadly not. Look at Israel/Palestine, look at India/Pakistan, look at Africa. The fact is British colonialism has left a legacy of misery and unhappiness all around the globe.
The Easter Rising meanwhile, epitomises, to me, everything that is good about the Irish character - heart, determination, defiance. Never giving up and never giving in. The Easter rebels are responsible for people like me living in a free Ireland and while I feel we still have things to do to fully achieve the aims of the men and women of 1916, I believe one day that we will.
This Sunday I look forward to honouring those brave men and women who fought British rule during the Easter Rising.
They fought for the freedom of a small nation - their own one. And I thank them for that.
Irish national anthem draft sold off
Do me a favour, would you? Read this post of mine from February before you proceed to read this post.Read the February post? Good. It has now transpired that the original first draft of the Irish national anthem has been sold for 760,000 euro to an anonymous bidder.
The document was sold at an auction of artefacts commemorating the 1916 Rising.
Bidding for the draft, penned by Peader Kearney in 1907, had begun at 500,000 euro.
The auctioneers are unable to disclose the identity of the buyer but they believe it will stay in the country. (And what are they basing that belief on?)
During the auction, the largest ever sale of Irish historical and political artefacts, more than 450 lots fetched a total of 2.8million euro.
A 1916 Proclamation of the Irish Republic, one of about 20 original versions still in existence, was sold for 200,000 euro.
Michael Collins's original signed Sinn Fein Membership card meanwhile was sold for 60,000 euro.
Can you believe this? Only in this country would the Government sit by as national treasures get sold off to God knows where.
Only the other day the Taoiseach commented on the 1916 Rising and encouraged a "great national conversation on what it means to be Irish, on the values we hold and cherish".
Here's my conversation starter, Bertie - you have sat by and watched our priceless historical artefacts get pissed away. For shame.
"Values we hold and cherish", Taoiseach? Unless a tempting offer comes along, eh?
That first draft of the anthem belongs in a museum as does the original version of the Proclamation and Michael Collins' membership card.
I hope the auctioneers are happy with all their euros. Personally I don't know how they and the Government Ministers can sleep tonight.
They make me sick to my stomach. Idiots.
Remembering the Rising - Civilians killed by Sth Staffordshire Reg.
Continuing United Irelander's look back at key events from the Easter Rising, today I will highlight the murderous activities of the South Staffordshire Regiment who were directly responsible for the deaths of 15 innocent Irish civilians during the Rising.The Easter Rising began on Easter Monday but by Friday, it was apparent that the end was near. The GPO was in flames and the Volunteers were forced to evacuate. Pearse and Connolly were the last to leave. As the GPO was burning, British General Lowe ordered a savage frontal attack. This last battle was fought for King's Street, near the Four Courts and it took some 5,000 British soldiers, equipped with armoured cars and artillery, 28 hours to advance about 150 yards against some 200 rebels.
The fighting was fierce and it was at this time that the South Staffordshire Regiment took out their wrath on the civilian populace by bayoneting and shooting innocent Irish civilian men who had been hiding in cellars. In all, 15 civilians were murdered by them.
In the summer of 1916, the British Prime Minister Asquith was under pressure from MPs to conduct a public inquiry into the shootings.
Secret documents released in 2001 revealed a memo given to Asquith by Sir Edward Troup, the top Home Office official, advising agaisnt publishing evidence in the manner in which the civilians died. Sir Edward advised Asquith to take the line that the deaths had been "thoroughly investigated", though he admitted that if the events had occurred in England, "the right course would be to refer the cases to the D of PP [Director of Public Prosecutions] ".
In the end, Sir Edward won the day. British murder went unpunished whereas the Easter rebels were made to pay the ultimate price.
These are the dirty secrets of the British Empire that Irish people weren't supposed to know about. Luckily for us, a minority of men and women were able to see the true colours associated with British rule and Ireland was saved from the iron grip of its evil master.
This Sunday let us pay tribute to the Easter rebels for revealing to the Irish people the true extent of British misrule.
The seven signatories - Thomas MacDonagh
"The fierce pulsation of resurgent pride that disclaims servitude may one day cease to throb inthe heart of Ireland - but the heart of Ireland will that day be dead. While Ireland lives, the brain and the brawn of her manhood will strive to destroy the last vestige of British rule in her territory"Thomas MacDonagh
Continuing United Irelander's focus on the seven signatories of the Proclamation of the Republic as we count down to this Sunday's military parade, today I will take a look at the poet, Thomas MacDonagh.
MacDonagh was born in Cloughjordan, Co. Tipperary. He had an interest in Irish heritage and the Irish language which led to him joining the Gaelic League. While staying on the Aran Islands he first encountered Padraig Pearse who he befriended along with Eoin MacNeill.
His friendship with Pearse and his love of Irish led him to join the staff of Pearse's bilingual St Enda's School upon its establishment in 1908, taking the role of teacher and Assistant Headmaster. Though MacDonagh was essential to the school's early success, he soon moved on to take the position of lecturer in English at the National University. MacDonagh remained devoted to the Irish language, and in 1910 he became tutor to a younger member of the Gaelic League, Joseph Plunkett. The two were both poets with an interest in the Irish Theatre, and formed a lifelong friendship.
In 1913 both MacDonagh and Plunkett attended the inaugural meeting of the Irish Volunteers and were placed on its Provisional Committee. He was later appointed commandant of Dublin's 2nd battalion, and eventually made commandant of the entire Dublin Brigade. Though originally more of a constitutionalist, through his dealings with men such as Pearse, Plunkett, and Sean MacDiarmada, MacDonagh developed stronger republican beliefs, eventually joining the Irish Republican Brotherhood. MacDonagh was asked by Tom Clarke to plan the grandiose funeral of veteran Fenian Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa, which was a resounding propaganda success.
Though one of the seven leaders of the Rising, MacDonagh was a late addition to the group. He didn't join the secret Military Council that planned the Rising until April 1916, weeks before the Rising took place.
During the rising, MacDonagh's battalion was stationed at the massive complex of Jacob's Biscuit Factory. On the way to this destination the battalion encountered the veteran Fenian, John MacBride, who on the spot joined the battalion as second-in-command, and in fact took over much of the command throughout Easter Week, although he had had no prior knowledge and was in the area by accident.
All witnesses agree that MacDonagh was showing symptoms of intense strain as the fighting went on ('careworn and dishevelled' according to Peadar Kearney) and while he didn't question the authenticity of nurse Elizabeth O'Farrell's surrender order from Pearse, he did question its legitimacy saying that it might have been written under duress and that in any case he was not bound by the orders of a prisoner. Eventually after recomendation from two Capuchins, Father Aloysius and Father Augustine, MacDonagh agreed to recommend a surrender. MacDonagh's 4th Battalion had seen little fighting and his arguments to his men were low-key:
'Boys we must give in,' he said, 'We must leave some to carry on the struggle.'
Indigant volunteers shouted, 'We won't surrender to be shot like dogs', to which MacDonagh replied sadly, 'They may shoot some of us, but they can't shoot us all.'
There was an angry dispute over what to do and it is clear that MacDonagh's own military judgement was no longer entirely accepted but a key part in the restoration of control was the appearance of Major MacBride who accepted the fight was over for the time being:
'Liberty is a sweet thing', he advised, 'Any one of you that sees a chance, take it. You may live to fight again. If it ever happens again, take my advice and don't get inside four walls.'
As MacDonagh prepared to surrender he met with Rose McManners, Vice Commandant of the Inghinide branch of Cumann na mBan (and chief cook to the garrisson) who heard cheering as MacDonagh approached with Father Aloysius. According to her, MacDonagh was "hatless and unarmed, and looked old, weary and ill".
Thomas MacDonagh was court martialled and executed by firing squad on May 3rd, 1916, aged 38. William E. Wylie, a barrister who had been co-opted by General Maxwell's Deputy Advocate-General, Byrne, to conduct the prosecution of the rebels, stated that he felt MacDonagh's execution was "particularly unnecessary".
Thomas MacDonagh is generally credited as being one of the most gregarious and personable of the rebel leaders, a wit, a family man and someone who never had a bad word to say about anyone. He was a great friend of Francis Ledwidge, also a nationalist, who fought with the British Army in World War I. Ledwidge was himself killed at the age of 29 in the Battle of Ypres in Belgium but before his death he wrote this touching poem for his lost friend, Thomas MacDonagh:
Lament for Thomas MacDonagh
He shall not hear the bittern cry
In the wild sky, where he is lain,
Nor voices of the sweeter birds
Above the wailing of the rain.
Nor shall he know when loud March blows
Thro' slanting snows her fanfare shrill,
Blowing to flame the golden cup
Of many an upset daffodil.
But when the dark cow leaves the moor,
And pastures poor with greedy weeds,
Perhaps he'll hear her low at morn,
Lifting her horn in pleasant meads.
This Sunday let us remember this brave hero, Thomas MacDonagh.
Quotes prior to the Rising
"Redmond has been honestly Imperial in the war, but by going as far as he has done he has lost his position in the country."Sir Matthew Nathan, under-secretary for Ireland, November 1915
Wednesday, April 12, 2006
Langerland and the Rising
The boys at Langerland have come up with a new cartoon, this time on the Easter Rising.Check it out here.
I thought it was hilarious!
No reason to object to a United Ireland
The issue of whether or not Ireland should be reunited is a debate that has raged in Ireland since the division of the island back in 1921.It is a complex debate that shows no sign of letting up any time soon but is there any good reason for keeping the island divided in this day and age? Not according to Paedar Ó Laoire who has written this very sensible letter in the Irish Examiner:
What exactly are the unionists’ objections to a united Ireland?
Surely the four bugbears - religion, welfare, jobs and politics - no longer apply.
Rome no longer rules in the south. Now that almost all of the Church-inspired legislation has gone, the Republic is much the same as any other European country.
As for social welfare, pensioners down here are much better off than those north of the border and the health benefits have almost caught up - and in some cases have exceeded - those in the British jurisdiction.
The jobs scene is now so much better that we have to import workers.
As for politics, the parties down here are no longer polarised. And if the UUP made a pact with its natural allies, Fine Gael, we wouldn’t see republicans for dust.
Paedar Ó Laoire
Ardán Túreen
An Pasáiste
Co Chorcaí
So what say you? Is there any good reason to object to a United Ireland?
Do you agree with the Irish state celebrating the Easter Rising?
I haven't done a poll here on United Irelander for some time and with this being a very important week for the people of Ireland, I felt a new poll was merited. Thus I have created a poll which asks the following question:Do you agree with the Irish state celebrating the Easter Rising?
As usual please take the time to vote in the poll along my sidebar and please use the comments section of this post to explain which way you voted and why.
Unsurprisingly, I voted that yes I do agree with Irish state celebrating the Easter Rising.
I don't feel there would be an Irish state today if it weren't for the bravery shown by the Easter rebels back in 1916. I don't think Irish people should be ashamed of supporting an event that was justifiable as well as necessary to give the people of Ireland a voice.
What are your own thoughts though?
The seven signatories - James Connolly
"We believe in constitutional action in normal times; we believe in revolutionary action in exceptional times."James Connolly, from The Workers Republic, 4 December 1915
Continuing United Irelander's focus on the seven signatories of the Proclamation of the Republic as we count down to this Sunday's military parade, today I will take a look at the great socialist leader, James Connolly.
Born in Edinburh, Scotland, to two Irish parents, Connolly took a job as a printer's devil at the age of eleven. When he was fourteen he joined the British Army, spending seven years stationed in Cork, Ireland. Here he witnessed how the Irish were treated not just by the army but also by the landlords who owned the land there. It was at this time that Connolly developed a hatred of landlords.
In 1889, James Connolly left the army and married. He moved back to Edinburgh where he worked as a labourer and a carter. It was around this time that he became interested in socialism. Connolly joined the Scottish Socialist Federation and he was also involved with Keir Hardie’s Independent Labour Party. He accepted a job in Dublin in 1896 as organiser for the Socialist Society. Within a few days of his arrival, Connolly founded the Irish Socialist Republican Party and soon after established a newspaper, the Workers' Republic. After this, Connolly embarked on a series of lecture tours, both in Scotland and America.
The party proved a fairly unsucessful venture, although Connolly was becoming renowned for his social thinking. He left for a trip to America, touring and lecturing until his return to Ireland, where he accepted the position of organiser for the Belfast branch of James Larkin's new union, the ITGWU (Irish Transport and General Workers Union). Connolly came to Dublin to help during the 1913 Lockout and was instrumental in founding the Irish Citizen Army, an armed and well-trained body of labour men whose aim was to defend workers and strikers, particularly from the frequent brutality of the Dublin Metropolitan Police. Though they only numbered about 250 at most, their goal soon became the establishment of an independent and socialist Irish nation.
Connolly stood aloof from the leadership of the Irish Volunteers. He considered them too bourgeois and unconcerned with Ireland's economic independence. In 1916 thinking they were merely posturing, and unwilling to take decisive action against Britain, he attempted to goad them into action by threatening to send his small body against the British Empire alone, if necessary. This alarmed the members of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, who had already infiltrated the Volunteers and had plans for an insurrection that very year. In order to talk Connolly out of any such rash action, the IRB leaders, including Tom Clarke and Patrick Pearse, met with Connolly to see if an agreement could be reached. It has been said that he was kidnapped by them, but this has been heavily disputed. As it was, he disappeared for three days without telling anyone where he had been. During the meeting the IRB and the Irish Citizens Army agreed to act together at Easter of that year.
When the Easter Rising occurred, Connolly was Commandant of the Dublin Brigade, and as the Dublin brigade had the most substantial role in the rising, he was de facto Commander in Chief.
James Connolly was sentenced to death for his role in the Rising. Some of the employers with whom he had battled in the ‘Great Lock-Out’ of 1913, called on the British government to execute Connolly.
On May 12th, 1916, Connolly was shot by firing squad. He had been taken by military ambulance to Kilmainham Gaol, carried on a stretcher to a courtyard in the prison, strapped to a chair because he was too weak from his wounds to stand and then shot.
The manner of his death caused great anger amongst the Irish people and contributed to the swift U-turn of public opinion which would give retrospective support to the actions of the rebels.
Interestingly, in a 2002 poll conducted by the BBC of the 100 Greatest Britons, Connolly was voted the 64th greatest Briton of all time, even finishing ahead of David Lloyd George.
This is James Connolly's last statement, given to his daughter Nora Connolly, on the eve of his murder by the British:
To the Field General Court Martial, held at Dublin Castle, on May 9th, 1916:
I do not wish to make any defence except against charges of wanton cruelty to prisoners. These trifling allegations that have been made, if they record facts that really happened deal only with the almost unavoidable incidents of a hurried uprising against long established authority, and nowhere show evidence of set purpose to wantonly injure unarmed persons.
We went out to break the connection between this country and the British Empire, and to establish an Irish Republic. We believed that the call we then issued to the people of Ireland, was a nobler call, in a holier cause, than any call issued to them during this war, having any connection with the war. We succeeded in proving that Irishmen are ready to die endeavouring to win for Ireland those national rights which the British Government has been asking them to die to win for Belgium. As long as that remains the case, the cause of Irish freedom is safe.
Believing that the British Government has no right in Ireland, never had any right in Ireland, and never can have any right in Ireland, the presence, in any one generation of Irishmen, of even a respectable minority, ready to die to affirm that truth, makes that Government for ever a usurpation and a crime against human progress.
I personally thank God that I have lived to see the day when thousands of Irish men and boys, and hundreds of Irish women and girls, were ready to affirm that truth, and to attest it with their lives if need be.
JAMES CONNOLLY,
Commandant-General, Dublin Division,
Army of the Irish Republic
This Sunday remember to pay tribute to this brave hero.
Quotes from the Rising
"The greatest result of the Rising is the complete and amazing revival of Irish nationality. We have been asleep...now we have awakened to the knowledge that we really are a separate nation."
Moira Regan's Story, New York Times, September 1916
Moira Regan's Story, New York Times, September 1916
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
Top Ten Tuesday - Dream interviews
As you know, here on Wednesdays on United Irelander I like to interview figures from all walks of Irish political life.Interviews that I have already conducted can be viewed here and I hope to have an interview up tomorrow, although it's by no means a certainty that I will at this point.
I've been thinking about some of the figures I'd really like to put my questions to though and next thing I knew, a list formed in my head. So without further ado, I give to you all my top ten dream interviewees.
1. Bertie Ahern - Obviously it would be a nice coup for this site to be able to put questions to the Taoiseach himself. Who knows, maybe one day I'll nab such an interview.
2. Tony Blair - Fair enough he's not Irish but it would be great to put some questions to Mr Blair and I happen to have alot of respect for him.
3. Ian Paisley - I'm not even sure if he has an email address but it would be great to put my questions to the leading figure of unionism.
4. Michael McDowell - Arguably the most controversial of all Irish politicians, it would be good to get his thoughts on a couple of matters.
5. Gerry Adams - I'd very much like the opportunity to put some questions on Irish reunification to Mr Adams.
6. Mary McAleese - The President is someone I've discussed alot on this site and it would be good to get her thoughts on alot of the controversy that surrounds her.
7. Jeffrey Donaldson - He's an articulate unionist politician and while I disagree with pretty much everything he stands for, it would be interesting to interview him.
8. Enda Kenny - Is he the next leader of this country? I'd like to ask him that and alot more.
9. Roy Keane - OK fine he's not a politician but he's one of my heroes and I'd love the chance of an interview!
10. Toireasa Ferris - No explanation necessary...
So there you have it. What about yourselves though? Is there anybody out there you would love to see interviewed? Have you any suggestions on who I should try to get an interview with in future?
Sinn Féin's Green Paper returns...Zzzzz
Uh-oh! I thought we had seen the end of this document but I guess I was wrong. What am I referring to you ask? No, not the EU constitution. And no, I'm certainly not talking about the Good Friday Agreement. I'm referring to...the Sinn Féin Green Paper on Irish Unity! (sigh)Just when you thought things were picking up in the island of Ireland, Sinn Féin have revived this useless little sheet which is about as much use to advancing the cause of a United Ireland as a chocolate donut is to limiting the size of Jennifer Lopez's rear end.
The Green Paper is an attempt to force the Irish government to seriously face the issue of planning for uniting NI with the South.
We don't even have an Assembly up and running in the North and yet Sinn Féin want to focus on the ins and outs of a United Ireland. You couldn't make it up!
The idea for a Green Paper has been linked to a plan for the appointment of a minister who would be devoted to monitoring the progress of the North-South bodies set up by the Good Friday Agreement. I personally find that idea alot easier to digest but unfortunately it's buried under a big old pile of rhetoric.
"There has never ever been debate in Leinster House on how you would actually go about establishing Irish unity.
"This is about starting that debate," a party source said.
Such a debate is an utter waste of time at this stage. It will not be of any benefit and will do more harm than good. Sinn Féin ought to leave these silly ideas well alone and get down to coming up with ways to work with unionists and get the North's Assembly back on track.
Gerry Adams has suggested the paper could be followed by a more substantial "White Paper".
I would suggest to Mr Adams that after the White Paper, he should come up with some toilet paper. It will fit right in with the two previous papers because unionists will simply wipe their arses with the whole lot of 'em.
Forget about this foolishness Mr Adams and focus on the issues that matter!
Blogging and the 'national conversation'
I echo the Taoiseach Bertie Ahern's sentiments that Irish people ought to begin a "great national conversation on what it means to be Irish, on the values we hold and cherish" in light of the upcoming 90th anniversary celebrations this Sunday.I don't regard myself as a big blogging enthusiast but I do feel that this is an area the the medium of blogs is ideal for - communication.
Engaging with people from various backgrounds and challenging views. That's the great strength of blogging.
Lately on United Irelander there has been a 1916 theme in the run up to this Sunday and already there have been opinions on the Rising from unionists, nationalists, hard-line Republicans and from people all around the world.
Such a "great national conversation" can indeed be conducted in the Irish blogosphere and here's hoping there will be alot more conversation as we count down to this Sunday.
Sticking with that theme, seeing as my effort to get guest posts from readers has been such a massive success (cough), I am now looking for articles on the 1916 Riisng if anyone is interested in contributing some. It doesn't have to be in support of the event, it can be a critique of the event.
If anyone is interested in offering up such an article, email it to:
unitedirelanderfeedback -at- yahoo.com (change "-at-" to "@")
Go raibh maith agaibh.
The seven signatories - Eamonn Ceannt
"I shall die, like a man for Ireland's sake."Note written by Eamonn Ceannt to his wife, May 7th, 1916.
Continuing United Irelander's focus on the seven signatories of the Proclamation of the Republic as we count down to this Sunday's military parade, today I will take a look at perhaps the least-known of the seven signatories, Eamonn Ceannt.
Ceannt was born Edward Thomas Kent in Glenamaddy, Ballymore, County Galway, one of seven children. His father, ironically, was a member of the Royal Irish Constabulary. When he retired in 1892, he moved his family to Dublin.
It was there that young Edward became interested in the Irish Ireland movement. He joined the Gaelic League, adopting the Irish version of his name (Eamonn), and becoming a master of the uilleann pipes, even putting on a performance for Pope Pius X. He was employed as an accountant for the Dublin Corporation.
Sometime around 1913 Ceannt joined the Irish Republican Brotherhood, and later was one of the founding members of the Irish Volunteers. As such he was important in the planning of the Easter Rising of 1916, being one of the original members of the Military Committee and thus one of the seven signatories of the Proclamation of the Republic. He was made commandant of the 4th Battalion of the Volunteers, and during the Rising was stationed at the South Dublin Union, with more than a hundred men under his command, notably his second-in-command Cathal Brugha, and W.T. Cosgrave.
His unit saw intense fighting at times during the week, but surrendered when ordered to do so by his superior officer Padraig Pearse.
Ceannt was held in Kilmainham Jail until his execution by riring squad on May 8th, 1916, aged 34.
This Sunday let us remember this brave man.
Quotes from the Rising
"You are letting loose a river of blood...It is the first rebellion that ever took place in Ireland where you had the majority on your side. It is the fruit of our life work...and now you are washing out our whole life work in a sea of blood."Speech by deputy leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party, John Dillon, to the House of Commons, 11 May, 1916
Monday, April 10, 2006
Monday Madness - The Rising's 'evil' legacy
Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later. The rotten revisionists have finally begun their attack on Ireland's Easter Rising commemorations this Sunday which will celebrate the 90th anniversary of the rebellion.Geoffrey Wheatcroft, journalist from The Observer, has sunk his claws into this important event for the Irish people by blasting the celebrations which he believes commemorate an "evil legacy". He might want to correct the subtitle on his piece though:
"For Ireland to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the 1916 rebellion is to betray democracy."
It's actually the 90th anniversary, Geoffrey. Tut-tut. It doesn't end there though. Let me highlight some more of his innaccurate nonsense...
"Last Tuesday, Denis Donaldson was found savagely murdered in County Donegal. Next weekend, the government of the Irish Republic will noisily celebrate the 90th anniversary of the Easter Rising. Perhaps only in Ireland could anyone fail to see the connection between the two."
No Geoffrey, perhaps only in the high-brow parts of England would anyone be so ignorant as to look for a connection. There is no connection of course and Donaldson is barely mentioned again in the article so it's a stupid remark.
"Although it claimed to be a national rebellion, the rising was a very strange affair. The Irish Republican Brotherhood was a tiny sect with little popular following. In 1914, there had been deep sympathy in Ireland for Belgium as a small Catholic nation brutally violated, the official Nationalist party had supported the Great War and for every 'volunteer' who took part in the rising, there were 100 Irishmen fighting on the Western Front for home rule, which had already been granted by the London government."
It seems this guy has no idea what he is talking about. 'Deep sympathy' for Catholic Belgium? That's quite an exaggeration and the numbers who signed up to fight for the British Army were in fact not as high as had been initially hoped. This is what Inspector-General of the RIC, Sir Neville Chamberlain, said of recruiting in Queen's County (Laois):
"(the people) regard (the war) with sympathetic interest, but more or less from a detached point of view"
According to historian Charles Townshend, "Canon Hannay's analysis of the problem was more acute and more sombre. He saw the apathy of the Irish people in general as":
'much worse than any which existed in England, because at the back of it was a vague feeling that to fight for the British Empire was a form of disloyalty to Ireland.'
According to Townshend, "The problem, at root, was visceral anti-English feeling" which Hannay described as:
'smouldering, lacking public expression, but strong.'
Maybe Mr Wheatcroft should pick up Mr Townshend's latest book on the Rising?
"Sentiment was revolutionised by the executions which followed the rising, Sinn Fein swamped the constitutional party (just as it has recently done in Ulster), a free state was created in 1922 and it soon became what one Tory politician predicted at the time, the most reactionary corner of Europe."
Can you believe the pathetic and embarrassing connection made between the Sinn Féin victory over the IPP, and Sinn Féin's recent victory in the North over the SDLP? Apparently they are now one and the same despite the fact that several Irish parties in the Irish state can trace their roots to the Sinn Féin of 1918!
"Although revisionist Irish historians have spent the past generation examining the creation of the state and its underlying myths, even the best of them tend towards insularity and have not noticed how Ireland fitted into a European pattern."
Again, wrong. I remember myself when I was at university attending a lecture on the Irish independence struggle where I learned of the parallels between Irish history from this period and Finland's history from this period.
"In the early decades of the 20th century, there was everywhere a reaction against constitutional liberalism into irrationalism, whether it was Mussolini's successful 'march on Rome' in 1922 or Hitler's unsuccessful Munich putsch of 1923.
"The Easter Rising was the forerunner, echoed all too often thereafter. Patrick Pearse's exalted (or insane) words about the tired old earth that needed to be enriched by the spilling of much blood - that at a time when the blood of several million young men was being spilled on the Western Front - was the very language of Blut und Boden (blood and soil) that the National Socialists would soon use."
A pathetic effort to associate Pearse with these fascists in yet another attempt to portray the man as a "proto-fascist", as Kevin Myers would say. Wheatcroft overlooks the fact that such important figures as Sigmund Freud espoused the ideal of 'blood sacrifice' so Pearse was hardly a "forerunner" but rather a man of his time. Incidentally, speaking of blood sacrifice, here is a quote from one Winston Churchill:
"If you will not fight for right when you can easily win without blood shed; if you will not fight when your victory is sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance of survival. There may even be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves."
Make of that what you will, ladies and gentleman.
"When Hitler came to power, he built a great mausoleum in Munich to the 'old comrades' who had fallen there in the failed putsch. They were just the same number, 16 dead men."
I don't feel the need to comment on these ridiculous remarks as I don't believe for one second that someone could write something this stupid with the intention of contributing a serious point.
"The Free State, now Republic, is not a fascist country, but it is a country with a hang-up and an internal contradiction. You realise this when you go into Leinster House in Dublin, the home of the Dáil or parliament. The first things you see in the antechamber are three images. Ahead is the 1916 proclamation and on either side are two portraits of men in uniform - Cathal Brugha and Michael Collins - there for party balance.
"Both were killed in the savage little Irish civil war of 1922-23 which succeeded the previous Troubles, Brugha fighting on the Republican side from which the governing Fianna Fáil party descends and Collins for the Free Staters who are the forebears of the opposition Fine Gael party.
"And so here is the legislature of what claims to be and, indeed, is a parliamentary democracy; and here are three images celebrating bloody rebellion against parliamentary democracy. One simple fact will be brushed over in next weekend's celebrations."
Mr Wheatcroft conveniently overlooks the fact that it was the unelected British House of Lords which had ensured that the democratic desire of the Irish people - an Irish parliament - would not come to fruition. The House of Lords had destroyed attempts by the Irish Parliamentary Party and the Liberals to give the Irish people their desire - Home Rule. Even when the Lords' power was curtailed, the Home Rule bill was delayed and it would never be introduced in the manner in which it had been originally sought for decades.
What we in Ireland will celebrate this Sunday Mr Wheatcroft is attaining something that the British denied the Irish people for centuries - a voice!
"In 1916, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was a democracy with limited representative government and a rule of law. Obviously, it wasn't a perfect democracy - what is? - but it was much more of one than most countries on earth then or many today."
Who is Mr Wheatcroft trying to convince? Himself, or the rest of us? The British claimed to be a democracy when they denied Catholics the right to vote. They made the same claim when they denied women the right to vote. They again claimed to be a democracy when they denied Irish people their own parliament. They criticised the Catholics, criticised the Suffragettes, and criticised the Easter rebels. Why don't people like Mr Wheatcroft criticise the British attitude of the time? Incidentally, the Irish state is doing quite nicely here in 2006.
"Over the years, the contradiction worsened. In 1966, Dublin marked the 50th anniversary of the rising with an orgy of nationalist bombast. Eamonn de Valera had been one of the leaders of the rising and was by then President of the Republic, in which capacity he renewed the irredentist claim on Northern Ireland and in the coarsest Son-of-the-Gael terms.
"Although that wasn't the only cause of the horrible bloodshed in Ulster over the next 30 years, there can be no possible doubt that it helped to validate that 'armed struggle'. After all, violent republicans continually invoke the Easter rebels, claiming to be the true heirs of Connolly and Pearse."
Yeah that's right, Wheatcroft. Blame the 50th anniversary celebrations. Of course it had nothing to do with Catholics being treated like animals by the Northern Ireland state, right?
"When 12 Protestants were burned to death at the La Mon House hotel in 1978 or 11 worshippers were killed by a bomb on Remembrance Sunday at Enniskillen in 1987, or another 10 Protestants, two of them children, were blown to pieces in the Shankill Road in 1993, a deed publicly celebrated by Gerry Adams, or 29 people were killed at Omagh in 1998 - on all those occasions, the Provisional IRA or its splinter factions thought that a terrible beauty was born. In 'Irish republican' terms, maybe they were right."
I doubt the Provos would have regarded these acts as a "terrible beauty" and it is farcical anyway to compare a stand-and-fight battle to a terrorist bombing campaign.
"Before the haunting but morally repugnant 'Easter 1916', Yeats had earlier written the play, Cathleen ni Houlihan, and he would wonder: 'Did that play of mine send out certain men the English shot?' It was a good question."
Yeats wasn't being serious and I hope the same can be said of yourself judging by this drivel you're producing.
"Today his shade might ask: 'Did that poem of mine send out certain men who murdered children?' or hundreds of men and women up to and including Donaldson."
I think a better question to ask would be, 'Did that poem of mine send certain idiotic journalists into a frenzy so they could produce inaccurate, impertinent claptrap?
"In another unforgettable line, Yeats wrote that 'the blood-dimmed tide is loosed' and ever since 1916, Ireland has been lapped by that tide. Most Irish people don't really like this cult of violence and yet they cannot escape the legacy of the rising which has poisoned Irish life."
The only thing that "poisoned Irish life" was British incompetence and mistreatment. Today Anglo-Irish relations are healthy because the British are not governed by stupid and cruel politicians.
"The problem is quite simple. If the Irish want to celebrate the Easter Rising they may, but they must realise that they are in no moral position whatever to condemn any other violent insurrection against another lawful government carried out by people who feel strongly enough. Looking around the world today, the Easter rebels have a good deal to answer for."
This is Wheatcroft's attempted coup de grâce over the Easter Rising celebrations. We the Irish people are told by Mr Wheatcroft that we are in no moral position to condemn other violent insurrections around the world. This of course coming from a man whose own country illegally entered another country to topple its leader and bring about "freedom", "democracy" and so forth. Talk about hypocrisy!
How can the British bemoan the so-called "illegal" activites by the Easter rebels to topple rule in a country when the British themselves did the very same thing a few short years ago in Iraq!
The Easter rebels of course were fighting in their own country too in a much more different era.
Mr Wheatcroft's piece would be insulting if it weren't so historically and truthfully arseways. If the only thing the revisionists can come up with is this kind of half-baked, hackneyed hokum then they are all in a very sorry state indeed!
You can rest assured that United Irelander will have no problem whatsoever rubbishing the revisionists as we count down to the glorious celebrations of the 1916 Rising this Sunday.
Bring it on, revisionists!
Plan B for NI - Joint Authority
There have been some very interesting comments emerging from Irish and British officials regarding Joint Authority, sorry Joint Stewardship, (always get those two mixed up!) and if you're a rejectionist unionist, it makes for bleak reading.Let's face it, any kind of joint partnership talk is to unionists what a South Park episode on Scientology is to Tom Cruise. In other words, not very nice.
Bertie Ahern on Sunday talked to Sky News about 'Plan B' which involves the Irish and British governments implementing the Good Friday Agreement without any of the North's parties:
"Plan B ignores the politicians of Northern Ireland and the deals and co-operation and partnership basis between the two governments.
"We would have to do that because we're the custodians of the Agreement and we're the stewards of the process - but that is not by a long shot our preferred option.
"What the Irish government wants to do is to work with an assembly, to work with an executive to have the north-south ministerial council, working with northern politicians on these issues and working east-west between the two governments."
The Sunday Business Post reported that the joint governmental efforts are expected to centre around the areas of enhanced North-South cooperation, the human rights and equality agenda and the British-Irish dimension. And as the paper noted:
"It is hoped the threat of extension of Dublin’s influence and authority over the North, which is central to Plan B, will act as a spur - a threat, some might say - to Ian Paisley’s Democratic Unionist Party to form a Stormont administration with Sinn Fein."
These are no mere empty threats either as a Dublin source acknowledged:
"It’s the first time that they’ve really put Plan B on the table.
"Previously it’s been Plan A, Plan A, Plan A. Now the important thing is that they have a Plan B and they want to put flesh on it.
"The focus is on Plan A right now. But if people think there isn’t a Plan B, they’re making a big mistake.
"There will be a Plan B, and it will be ready to go," said an Irish government source, who declined to be drawn on further details.
Yesterday, British Secretary of State Peter Hain moved to allay unionist fears insisting that NI's constitutional position would not be changed:
"There's no question of joint authority or anything like that."
However, comments from a British source to the Sunday Business Post highlighted a much more different mindset:
"Whether the threat of joint authority will be enough is anyone’s guess."
So it would appear safe to assume that some measure of Joint Authority is going to be introduced if the DUP continues to refuse to deal and that this will involve a far greater dimension for the Irish government in the North's affairs.
While it is being dressed up in various terms, "Joint Stewardship", "British-Irish partnership arrangements" etc., we all know what it will really involve.
I personally do not want to see Joint Authority used as the ultimate solution for NI's difficulties because, unlike alot of nationalists, I don't view it as a good thing long-term because I think it could lead to northern nationalists finding the arrangement quite suitable, thus ceasing their desire for a United Ireland. The same goes for Irish people in the south who might find it a fair settlement to the Partition problem. To be honest, I'm surprised that more unionists don't advocate Joint Authority as I believe it could safeguard NI's future forever more.
However, despite all that, I like it as a Plan B option and I feel it has alot of benefit in the short-term. While I'm sure it would annoy alot of unionists they have to understand that it's not an ideal situation for anybody and prolonged Direct Rule is most annoying for those of a nationalist persuasion.
Ultimately, this Plan B isn't ideal for the majority of people seeing as the main goal remains reviving the North's assembly, but until the DUP stop their games and get down to business with the other parties, this remains the only option.
It's Paisley's move next. Let's hope he makes the right move.
Remember 1916
Myself and Simon of The Dossing Times have both come up with this image to your left which you will have no doubt noticed on my sidebar.It features the seven leaders of the Easter Rising and it's our way of paying tribute to the men and women who fought back in 1916, as well as our way of standing up to those who attempt to make us feel guilty for being proud of the event.
I urge anyone who reads this site and who has a site of their own to add this image to their sidebar as a way of commemorating the Easter rebellion which is such a massively important moment in Irish history.
Remember 1916.
The seven signatories - Thomas Clarke
"This is the beginning, our fight has saved Ireland. The soldiers of tomorrow will finish the task."Thomas Clarke, May 1916
Continuing United Irelander's focus on the seven signatories of the Proclamation of the Republic while we count down to the military parade this Sunday, today I will take a look at the spider at the heart of the Fenian web, Thomas Clarke.
Born on the Isle of Wight in 1857 to a Leitrim man and a Tipperary woman, his parents eventually settled in Dungannon, Co. Tyrone.
Clarke was a member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood from the age of 18. When he turned 21 he emigrated to America where he took a position as an explosives operative during construction work on Staten Island.
Recognising the value of his knowledge of explosives, he was sent to London in 1883 to put his skills to use however he was captured with a case of liquid explosives and spent fifteen years in Pentonville Prison. Upon his release he married Kathleen Daly, a niece of his old cell mate, John Daly, the Mayor of Limerick. The couple soon emigrated to America before returning to Dublin in 1907 where he opened a tobacco shop in Great Britian Street, nowadays Parnell Street.
Clarke once again immersed himself in the IRB which was undergoing a rejuvenation under the guidance of younger men like Bulmer Hobson and Denis McCullough. Clarke developed a close friendship with Bulmer Hobson who, along with Sean MacDiarmada, became his protegé, however Clarke fell out with Hobson in 1913 when John Redmond, leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party, demanded equal control of the Irish Volunteers. Most of the IRB hard-liners opposed this but the decree was accepted, partially due to the support given by Hobson. Clarke angrily asked Hobson, "What did the castle pay you?", a terrible accusation and the two men never spoke informally again. Hobson resigned from the IRB Supreme Council and was sacked by John Devoy as a contributor to Gaelic American which was his main source of income.
After falling out with Hobson, Clarke and MacDiarmada bcame almost inseparable and the two of them de facto ran the IRB. In 1915 Clarke and MacDermott established the Military Committee of the IRB to plan what later became the Easter Rising. The members were Pearse, Ceannt, and Joseph Plunkett, with Clarke and MacDermott adding themselves shortly thereafter. When an agreement was reached with James Connolly and the Irish Citizen Army in January, 1916, Connolly was also included on the committee. Thomas MacDonagh was added at the last minute in April.
These seven men were the signatories of the Proclamation of the Republic, with Clarke as the first signatory being the oldest and most respected member of the Military Council. It has been said that Clarke indeed would have been the declared President and Commander-in-chief, but he refused any military rank and such honours, which were given to Pearse, who was more well-known and respected on a national level. With that being said, Tom Clarke's widow always maintained that Clarke had indeed become President, and this would have followed standard IRB thinking.
Clarke was stationed in the headquarters at the GPO during the Easter Rising where command of the rebel forces was largely under Connolly. Following the surrender on April 29, Clarke was held in Kilmainham Gaol until he was executed by firing squad on May 3rd. Clarke was the oldest of the leaders to be shot at the age of 59.
It is said that the largest file in Dublin Castle was marked 'Tom Clarke' and the British probably recognised his importance seeing as Clarke was the second leader to be shot on 3 May, immediately after Padraig Pearse.
This Sunday let us pay tribute to this brave hero.
Quotes from the Rising
"I find no tendency at present to be afraid of strong action. I have no doubt it will come when we have shot a few people."Brigadier-General Byrne (pictured left), 28 April, 1916
Sunday, April 09, 2006
The seven signatories - Seán MacDiarmada
"We bleed that the nation may live. I die that the nation may live. Damn your concessions England, we want our country." Seán Mac Diarmada
As we are now seven days away from the military parade which will take place in Dublin marking the 90th anniversary of the Easter Rising, I felt it would be a good idea to count down to that event by focusing each day on one of the seven signatories of the Proclamation of the Republic.
Today I will focus on Sean MacDiarmada, more commonly referred to as Seán MacDermott, who is one of the lesser known leaders of the Easter Rising.
Seán MacDiarmada was born in County Leitrim in 1884. He ran away from home when he was just 15 and ended up in Glasgow where he had an uncle. His uncle was a gardener and for a time Seán worked with him, but gave up gardening to become a conductor on the Glasgow trams. Here he worked for 12 months, and stayed altogether 2 years in Glasgow. He then returned to Ireland and went to Belfast, where he worked for a time as a tram conductor, and later as a barman. It was in Belfast in 1906 that MacDiarmada took the IRB oath, at a time when he was already a member of Arthur Griffith's Sinn Fein organisation.
His speech at the Sinn Féin annual convention in Dublin made a deep impression and he was described as a "striking handsome, and earnest, speaking with natural eloquence and with a sincerity which held his audience, gay and light-hearted with a gift of telling a humorous story and a tongue that was witty without being malicious."
MacDiarmada's association with Sinn Féin did not last long as he sought to spread the IRB throughout the country and in 1908 he transferred to Dublin where he developed a close friendship with veteran Fenian Tom Clarke. Shortly thereafter, MacDiarmada became stricken with polio and was forced to walk with a cane. He carried this cane with him into the GPO on Easter Monday, 1916.
Sean MacDiarmada fought in the GPO, where he was attached to the headquarters staff under James Connolly. It was Sean MacDiarmada that read Padraig Pearse's letter of surrender to those in the G.P.O.
After the Rising was put down by the British and the rebels taken captive, a sneering British officer remarked to MacDiarmada: "Do the Sinn Feiners take cripples in their army?"
MacDiarmada in fact almost escaped execution by blending in with the large body of prisoners but a British officer, Lee-Wilson, picked out the man with the stick and remarked to another officer that he was "the most dangerous man after Clarke."
Lee-Wilson was later killed during the Anglo-Irish war on the orders of one of MacDiarmada's closest friends - a man called Michael Collins.
Sean MacDiarmada was executed on May 12, 1916, the same day as James Connolly. They were the last two to face the firing squad.
They have slain you, Sean MacDermott; never more these eyes will greet
The eyes beloved by women, and the smile that true men loved;
Never more I’ll hear the stick-tap, and the gay and limping feet,
They have slain you, Sean the Gentle, Sean the valiant, Sean the proved.
Have you scorn for us who linger here behind you, Sean the wise?
As you look about and greet your comrades in the strange new dawn.
So one says, but saying, wrongs you, for doubt never dimmed your eyes,
And not death itself could make those lips of yours grow bitter, Sean.
As your stick goes tapping down the heavenly pavement, Sean, my friend,
That is not your way of thinking, generous, tender, wise and brave;
We, who knew and loved and trusted you, are trusted to the end,
And your hand even now grips mine as though there never were a grave.
- Lament for Sean MacDermott, written by Seamus O'Sullivan, 1922.
Quotes prior to the Rising
"You can no more split Ireland into two parts than you can split England or Scotland into parts. Ireland is a nation; not two nations, but one nation.
"There are few cases in history, and, as a student of history in a humble way, I myself know of none, of a nationality at once so distinct, so persistent, and so assimilative as the Irish."
Herbert Asquith, British Prime Minister, speaking in 1912.
"I admit that perfectly genuine apprehensions of the majority of the people of North-East Ulster constitute the most serious obstacle to a thoroughly satisfactory settlement ... but whatever Ulster's rights may be, she cannot stand in the way of the whole of the rest of Ireland."
Winston Churchill commenting on the complicated Home Rule question.
Even these important figures in British history knew deep down that it was unacceptable to talk about ripping the Irish national territory in two.
The threat of Partition alone justified the Easter Rising.
