1866 - 1868 AD
1866 AD Paul Cullen the Catholic Archbishop became the first Irishman to become a Cardinal, and was from a family of 16 children.
The
Habeus Corpus Act
(Give up the Body) was
suspended again by the British Imperial Conservative Government Dublin Castle
(The Devill's 1/2 Acre) authorities in Ireland.
March:
Although
James Stephens had by now
set up a
"Provisional Irish
Government"
and planned for an
Irish Uprising
in Ireland against the continuing oppression of the
British Imperial Conservative Government
he postponed it again, which was the last straw for those
in Ireland who supported the cause of the the
Clann na Gael
/ American
Brotherhood in
America, and they decided to depose him from his position and
appoint Colonel Thomas J. O Kelly, the
Irish - American
War veteran,
as the
Acting Chief Organizer of the Irish
Republic and he was
then personally to return
from New York
to
Ireland
to take
over overall command of the I.R.B. in Ireland.
July: Thousands of Irish ex - American Civil War veterans invaded the British Imperial Government's colony nearby in Canada to draw attention to Ireland's plight, which was also carried out by the American Brotherhood with their veterans there under John O Neill a Union Army Officer who was physically able to reach the border region near Buffalo in New York, but his men were then forced to surrender to the American troops.
The British Imperial Conservative Government was to release John Devoy from prison and then exile him from out of Ireland, and he would then go to America were he would personally head the Clann na Gael and be able to gain the finance to promote many of their projects to try and gain Irish Freedom up until 1922 AD.
A Government of Ireland Reform Bill was introduced by William Ewart Gladstone the Scotchman and Statesman, into the British Westminster Parliament to allow 28 Irish Peers to remain members for life out of the 75 members there, while in the second order there were to be 204 members with both bodies to sit together.
The Dominican Order laid the foundation stone for their priory at Tralee in Co. Kerry in the south - west of the Munster Province after having previously re - established there presence there in 1861 AD.
1867 AD The original Catholic Cathedral at Emly in Co. Tipperary in the north - east of the Munster Province, that had been previously taken over by the Ascendancy Church of England, under the confiscations of all things Catholic by Henry V111 was now pulled down due to their disestablishment and also after the Catholic parish priest there tried to buy it back, and some of the material was used at Monard on the new Ascendancy Church of England church, which is now also long gone.
The
"Invincible Party"
in
Ireland, which was also independently pushing for
Irish
Independence
from the
British Imperial Conservative Government
and their Immoral Union created a
Fenian Rebellion in
Dublin
in the north - east of
Southern Leinster and
Co. Kerry
in the south - west of the
Munster Province
as
they
were a separate independent organization
to the
Irish Republican Brotherhood / I.R.B.
although they had similar aims seeking Irish Freedom
for the majority in
Ireland from
the ongoing repression of the British
Imperial Government.
February: The Irish Provisional Government set up previously by James Stephens to carry out a Fenian Uprising in Ireland had been planned for the coming March, and Colonel Thomas J. O Kelly had now arrived back from America to oversee the overall operation with other Irish American ex - Civil War veterans on a Fenian chartered ship sent from Boston and they also brought arms with them to begin their preparations, and Cluseret, although a Frenchman, was given the control of the I.R.B. Military side of it. They decided to set up their headquarters in London as the Habeus Corpus Act had been re - enacted only in Ireland, and it did not apply there as it was his intention to use the tried and true method of guerrilla warfare tactics in Ireland instead of direct confrontation, until they could receive further assistance from America.
February 11th:
was
the date that the Fenians had set down for the raid on the
Chester Castle in England
to obtain the arms they required for use in
Ireland to begin
their campaign there, but on
arriving in England they were informed that they had been betrayed by the traitor
Corydon, so they decided to call the raid off.
March 5th: The
widespread
I.R.B. / Fenian Organization
in
America,
Ireland and
Great Britain was to retain a strong political presence even though
James Stephens had
personally made plans for another
Fenian
Uprising on
this day,
which had to be aborted, as the
R.I.C. police had once again been informed of the plan and for which they paid
2,000
pounds reward to the informer, but due to the previous
Irish Nationalist activity
that had occurred in
Ireland because of this, and even though nothing ever really came of it, and the opportunities were lost,
the
Clann Na Gael
/ The Organization
was re - founded in New York
to further assist the future intentions of the
Irish Republican Brotherhood
in Ireland. The
reorganization meant the end of the
previous activities that had been carried out by the
Fenian Brotherhood in
America, which had been begun
originally by
John O Mahony in
1858 AD but despite this the baton for political
Irish Freedom
was now handed on once again to future generations to try and re -implement the
cause. In their
new platform, The Organization were to also recognize the Supreme
Council of the
Irish Republican Brotherhood
/ I.R.B. in
Ireland
itself as the legitimate
Irish Provisional Government and
that the British Imperial Government’s continual
oppression must be stopped
as they had no right to be in
Ireland in the first place. Meanwhile the
I.R.B.
in Ireland
were
now also well organized in the Irish
-
Scottish
communities
in Scotland
also, and other risings
also occurred in
Ireland in
the
Munster Province,
in
the Dublin
area,
and
in various other regions throughout
England itself,
as for the first time the cry for
Irish Independence had been carried over to
England.
At
Cahirciveen
in
Co. Kerry
in the south - west of the Munster Province
they had also
carried out a
raid on an R.I.C police barracks to try and obtain arms, but were betrayed again and
found that had to
retreat instead, and in the meantime their ship, the
Erin’s Hope, was
also sent
over to Ireland
by the
American Fenian Brotherhood
with arms,
but it too had been seized by the British
Imperial Government authorities in the Dublin Castle when it landed.
March:
James Stephens had
by now personally left
Ireland,
so the
I.R.B / Fenians
created an Irish Insurrection basically
just to gain publicity for their cause, which came to an
end in a night, when
General
Massey, under the
command of
Cluseret, was
arrested in
Co. Cork in
Southern Munster
as he too had been betrayed by
the traitor,
Corydon, together with all the plans of the
I.R.B and the blame for this
recent unsuccessful attempt was thrown back on
James Stephens for not making a move
earlier when they were better organized towards the original planned Irish Insurrection, while
by now
Cluseret
too had also left for
France. The
Fenian
Uprising on this
occasion had
still gone ahead and
James Stephens was
never to
recover his lost prestige over his original lack of action
in the first instance. Peter O Neill
- Crowley
had also carried out an abortive personal
Fenian raid at
Kilclooney Wood.
July 1st:
Thomas Francis Meagher
/ Maher
who was on his way to take up his appointment as the
Territory Secretary of Montana in
America was drowned
in the Missouri
River where he disappeared off a steamboat, under very suspicious circumstances.
September 9th: Colonel Thomas J. O Kelly and Captain Deasy were arrested after the raid on Chester Castle in England, where they were trying to obtain arms for use in Ireland, when they were betrayed once again by the informer, Corydon.
September 18th:
Colonel Thomas J. O Kelly
and Captain
Deasy were to be rescued from a
British police van that was taking them to
Manchester Prison
in England,
by
30 members of
the
Irish Republican Brotherhood / I.R.B.
there, but during the rescue a police sergeant was killed and the
two
I.R.B.
leaders were never to be sighted again, but despite this the
I.R.B. / Fenian
members
were to still continue to carry on with their activities in trying to bring
about Irish Freedom for the next 50
years although they were now basically
leaderless. The
British Imperial Conservative Government
arrested
5 Irishmen
over the successful Manchester escape and
although they were sure they were the ones who had not fired the shot they decided to
execute
3 of the younger men among them, who then became known
as the
"Manchester
Martyrs"
after finding them guilty anyway with dubious evidence. These
3 Irishmen were
Allen,
Larkin and
O Brien whose gravesites are now to be
seen in the
Glasnevin
Cemetery
in
Dublin intermingled
with all those there who have previously or since paid the ultimate price to try and bring about
Irish Freedom from
the British Imperial Government domination.
These 3 particular
Irishmen were basically killed in retaliation for
the humiliation of
Colonel Thomas J.O Kelly's escape,
besides the death of the policeman, and once again this cruel
decision to execute these 3 young men was to be the catalyst to change Irish history as
it persuaded
Charles Stewart - Parnell an
Anglo -
Irish
non - Catholic 23 year old Land Lord,
who had his Estate
in Co.
Wicklow in the south - east of
Southern Leinster, who was also an M.P.
in the Westminster Parliament
in England to step
forward in the cause of Irish justice. He was to promote the rights
of the Irish population as
no one of his class had ever done before, while the German Hanoverian British Queen
Victoria
stated, "These Irish
are really shocking,
abominable people, not like any other civilized nation."
December: The Irish Republican Brotherhood / I.R.B. while trying to also rescue a prisoner from Clerkenwell in England caused an explosion, which killed 20 people there, which stirred up anti - Irish / Fenian feeling there, but despite the terrible terror and horror of it all the general population in England itself were finally coming to have some understanding that there must be reasons for the Irish to carry out such an attack in England and they were beginning to comprehend that it might have been brought on by the dreadful conditions that still applied in Ireland and they began to bring pressure on the British Imperial Conservative Government to do something about it. The I.R.B. / Fenian attacks carried out in England also had an effect and further convinced William Ewart Gladstone the Scotsman and Statesman who was now the British Liberal Opposition leader, that something had to be done in Ireland to alleviate the distress there, so he put forward the notion of Justice for Ireland and that the Disestablishment of the Ascendancy Church of England / Ireland in Ireland and its "Enforced Tithes" was an urgent problem that the British Imperial Government must face up to.
Henry Temple / Lord Palmerston had since died, and Lord John Russell was in trouble with his Liberal colleagues as they had split over the extension of the Franchise (the right to vote) and William Ewart Gladstone was preparing to take over from him as their leader, Benjamin Disraeli / D 'Israeli, who had been born a Jew and had converted to the Ascendancy Church of England to advance his political career, and the Conservative Party were now in government in England and they had just accepted the 2nd Reform Act, but very reluctantly. William Ewart Gladstone felt that he now had just the issue to unite his own Liberal Party once again that would disadvantage the Conservative Government and receive popular support and correct the ongoing conditions in Ireland that were being highlighted now by the I.R.B. / Fenian attacks in England.
Thomas Power - O Connor, who was
a journalist in
Dublin
in the north - east of
Southern Leinster at
this time, would later on migrate to
Liverpool in England
were he could bring even greater pressure to try and obtain
Irish Freedom
politically
from the British Imperial Government's rule under their
Immoral Union when he was to become an
M.P.
there.
The police
in Ireland had been
renamed the Royal Irish Constabulary
/ R.I.C. who were now
being utilised by the Dublin Castle (The Devill's 1/2 Acre) authorities on behalf of the British
Imperial Conservative Government in reality as an anti -
Irish freedom
force who were based throughout the countryside keeping
day books
on the
whole of the
Irish
population, while operating
in conjunction with the
Dublin Metropolitan Police
basically as a political force to monitor any sign of
any
Irishness
among the population, while a British Imperial Government
Special Branch
had also been set up also by their Dublin Castle authorities to infiltrate any
Irish Associations or anti - British movements
in Ireland.
1868 AD
March:
An
Irish Parliamentary Party
/ I.P.P.
member in the Westminster House of
Commons in England
moved a motion for something to be done about the ongoing problems
that were occurring in
Ireland,
both in England and Ireland, to which
William Ewart Gladstone who was now the leader of the
Liberal
Opposition was to respond to
3 days
later putting forward 3
resolutions
that were based on
Disestablishing the Ascendancy
Church of England / Ireland, which was one of the
main
causes through
Ascendancy
repression,
and the ongoing collection of their "Enforced
Tithes"
on the
tenant farmers and their families in Ireland no matter
what their religion.
April 3rd: Due to the appeal arrangements to the extension of the franchise (The right to Vote) William Gladstone's motion on the 3 resolutions as regards to the Ascendancy position in Ireland, had been held over, but in this session by a 56 majority it was decided to bring them forward for discussion and there was a majority of 112 votes in favour, which saw the further decline of the power and authority of the long running Ascendancy in both England and Ireland.
Benjamin Disraeli
who was now
the leader
of the British
Imperial Conservative Government for this year only,
decided to go to the electorate specifically on this issue and his government
resigned before the meeting of the new Parliament. William
Ewart Gladstone had fought the election basically on the
Disestablishment issue, but had
also placed before the electorate the matter of
Irish land reform, which he was
to begin after his Áscendancy
Church of England
/ Ireland Act was to be secure.
The
Irish Nationalists in
Ireland were naturally excited by his democratic efforts
and they decided that they would try and use Constitutional
means again, and supported by the
Catholic Irish he now became the new
British Liberal Prime Minister until 1874
AD when
60 Liberal M.Ps were returned and
he had the fullest intention of bringing normal peace to
Ireland
and on which he was to concentrate
during the next
2 years.
December: William
Ewart Gladstone
the new British Liberal Prime Minister began working on the correct wording and contents for the
Disestablishment
Act
for the
Ascendancy
Church of England / Ireland to remove the power of the Ascendancy altogether and the long
running hated
"Enforced Tithes" to the Ascendancy Church of England / Ireland.
This year, Michael Davitt, who would become the founder of the "Irish Land League" in the future for the rights of Irish tenant farmers and their families, and for the return of the land of Ireland to the people of Ireland, became the secretary of the Irish Republican Brotherhood / I.R.B and John Mandeville, a nephew of John O Mahoney who had originally founded the Fenians / I.R.B., was the leader of a group of Irish people who were against the ongoing evictions, carried out on their tenants by the English Land Lords the Kingstons who had previously been granted the land off of the Irish O Mahonys and the Kingstons were now supported by 100 British Imperial Military soldiers and 300 R.I.C. police and John Mandeville was to be killed during the conflict.
John
O Connor - Power who was a member of
the
I.R.B. who was from
Co. Galway
in Southern Connacht
was detained without trial,
and a
campaign for
Amnesty was begun, and
the non - Catholic lawyer,
Isaac Butt founded the
Amnesty Association, which was to
be the
fore bearer of a new organized
Irish Nationalist
movement.
The Franciscan friars who had arrived into Ireland from Belgium, now shifted and established a friary on Martyrs Hill / Cnoc na Maircri in Co. Kerry in the south - west of the Munster Province.
James Connolly was born this year at Cowgate, an Edinburgh slum in Scotland, and was to become a journalist and lecturer and especially a revolutionary Irish socialist leader, and one of the most determined leaders to try and bring about Irish Freedom from the British Imperial Government's ongoing oppression in Ireland in the 1916 Easter Rising in the future, which was actually to see the beginning of the elusive Irish Republic.
St. Colman's Cathedral was begun to be constructed at Cobh, (the English renamed Queenstown), in Co. Cork in Southern Munster, which would not be finished until 1919 AD.
An Aqueduct was
completed from
Co. Wicklow
in the south - east of
Southern Leinster
running for
22 miles
to supply water to
Dublin City in the
north - east, and
the use of the Grand Canal
water was now discontinued.
Henry Cooke
the
intolerant
Presbyterian
clergyman from the
Ulster Province
who had spewed his seeds of sectarian hate in the north for so long, which was to
still continue to
flow from his ilk down through the years to the
likes of
Ian Paisley, died.