1919 - 1 / January - March
"1st Dail Eireann / Irish Parliament"
1919 January: Dr. Patrick Mac Cartan the previous founder of the Dungannon Clubs in the Ulster Province in an attempt to try and bring about Irish independence / Freedom was to be the Irish Republican envoy in America for the Provisional Irish Government, and he would eventually notify those in authority in Washington in America that the elected Government of Ireland had severed "political" relations with the British Imperial Government, and that the "political" Sinn Fein Party who were their elected representatives were now at "War" with the British Military Forces Of Occupation in Ireland.
The Irish "political" prisoners who were still being held by the British Imperial Government in the Belfast Jail in Co. Antrim in the the north - east of the Ulster Province were to be further "mistreated" as they were also put into "irons" to add to their suffering and misery there and were also to be confined "permanently" in their cells for another 5 months, which did nothing for the kudos of the British Imperial Government and only incited further estrangement from the general population in Ireland.
January 10th: Michael Collins and Gerald Boland had gone over to Manchester in England to try and organize for Eammon de Valera the "political" President of the Sinn Fein Party to carry out his planned "escape" from "Lincoln Jail" there, to gain further "publicity" for the cause of Irish Independence and to also to increase the prestige and exposure of the "political" Sinn Fein Party, and to try and bring this about as soon as possible they arranged for Fintan Murphy to turn up at the jail with a copied "key" of the jail concealed in a cake, but when they tried it out it would not fit the lock.
The
"politically" elected
Irish Republicans who were still free in
Ireland, decided
that they
would now form
the
1st
Dail Eireann /
Irish Assembly for the
Provisional
Government of Ireland by the
Irish people themselves from those
previously "elected"
representatives of the Irish
people at the Mansion House
in
Dublin, which
was
against the realities of the continuing
British
Imperial Government suppression
on all things Irish and together with the rest of the
Irish population they would have to endure more of
what hd gone on before from the Dublin Castle authorities, and
although "elected" once again
they would have to physically fight against the
Military might of the British Imperial Government in Ireland for a further
3 years to
eventually obtain their normal
rights. They invited all of the
105 Irish M.P's
who had been
elected for the whole of Ireland
to participate in the
1st
Dail Eireann, but the
"Unionists" from their stronghold in the north
- east of the
Ulster Province, and the
dying embers of the ailing
Irish
Parliamentary Party failed to show.
George Gavin Duffy an
M.P. and solicitor from the
"political"
Sinn Fein Party
(the son of Gavin Charles Duffy)
had already drafted the
Irish
Constitution, so they went
ahead and formed
the 1st Dail Eireann / Irish Assembly although
36 out of the
73
Sinn Fein Party members who
had been "officially" elected for Ireland were
still being held by the
British
Coalition Government in their "prisons" in England, while another
4
of the Sinn Fein Party members who had
been also "officially" elected were out
of the Country, and
5
others who had also been "officially" elected were physically unable to attend.
Michael Collins
and
Harry Boland
were also still at this time in England trying
to arrange for
Eammon de Valera the
President of the Sinn Fein Party to "escape"
from his incarceration in the
"Lincoln Prison" there.
January
21st:
The recently elected members of the
1st Dail Eireann /
the 1st
Irish Parliament of
the Irish Republic
met after
being formed from the
27 Irish
representatives / M.P.s who were now physically able to attend with
Cathal Brugha / Charles Burgess as their
"Acting Chairman," while
the British Coalition Government felt secure with
Eammon de Valera the
"elected"
President of the Sinn Fein Party and
35
of the other "elected"
Irish M.P.s still safely locked away in their
British Imperial prisons in England where they had been
locked away
previously by the British
Coalition to try and stop them from electioneering in
Ireland and thereby being democratically elected in
the first place.
The
T.D. / Teachtai Dala members
of the the
1st Dail Eireann
and their respective "elected"
Irish seats were Robert Barton
/ West Wicklow,
Piaras Beaslaoi
/
East Kerry,
Earnan de Blaghd / North Monaghan,
Harry Boland / South Roscommon,
Joseph Mac Bride / West Mayo,
Cathal Brugha
/ Co. Waterford,
Domhnall O Buachalla
/ Kildare, Seamus Burke
/ Mid Tipperary, Alec Mac Cabe
/ South Sligo,
Pierce Mac Cann
/ East Tipperary,
Padraig O Caoimh
/ North Cork, Dr.
Patrick
Mac Cartan
/ Co. Offaly,
Sean T. O Ceallaigh
/ College Green, Dublin,
J.J. Clancy
/ North Sligo,
M. P. Colivet / Limerick City,
Con Collins /
West Limerick,
Michael Collins / Cork
and Armagh,
Art O Connor / South Kildare,
*Liam T. Cosgrave
/ North
Kilkenny, Dr. Crowley
/ North
Mayo, James Crowley
/
North
Kerry,*Dr.
B. Cusack / North Galway,
Joseph O Dougherty / North Donegal,
*James Dolan
/ Leitrim,*
Joseph Mac Donagh / North Tipperary,
George Gavin Duffy
/
South Co. Dublin, Eamonn Duggan
/ South
Meath,*Sean Etchingham
/ East Wicklow, *Sean Mac Entee
/ South Monaghan,*Frank Fahey
/ South Galway,*Desmond Fitz
Gerald / Pembroke, Dublin,
*Paul Galligan / West Cavan,
*Laurence Ginnell
/ Westmeath,*Joseph
Mac Grath / St. James, Dublin,
*Arthur Griffith
/ North West Tyrone
and East Cavan,*Joseph Mac
Guinness / Longford, *Dr.
Richard Hayes
/ East
Limerick, Sean Hayes
/ Cork,
Kevin O Higgins
/ Laois / Leix,*T.
Hunter / North East Cork,
J.J. O Kelly / Louth, *Tom
Kelly / St. Stephens Green,
Dublin,
D. Kent
/ East Cork,
*Frank Lawless
/ North Co.
Dublin,*J. Lennon
/
Carlow,
Diarmuid Lynch
/ South East
Cork, *Fionan Lynch
/ South
Kerry,*Sean O Mahony
/ South
Fermanagh,
Padraic O Maille
/ Connemara, James O Mara
/ South Kilkenny,*Countess
Constance Markievicz / St. Patricks,
Dublin, Liam Mellowes
/ North
Meath and East Galway, P. J. Moloney
/ South Tipperary, Richard
Mulcahy /
Clontarf, Dublin,
Eoin Mac Neill / Derry City
and the
National University, Count
Plunkett / North Roscommon,
Liam de Roistre
/
Cork City, Dr.
J. Ryan
/
South Wexford,*Liam Sears / South Mayo,
Phillip Shanahan
/
Harbour,
Dublin,*Austin
Stack / West Kerry, Michael
Staines / St. Michans, Dublin,
Joseph Sweeney /
West Donegal, *Roger
Sweetman / North Wexford,*Terrence
Mac Swiney / Mid Cork,
*Brian
O hUigin / West Co. Clare,*Eamonn
de Valera / East Clare
and
East Mayo,
J. J. Walsh /
Cork City,
P. J. Ward /
South Donegal,
While the
1st
Dail
/ Irish Assembly was being formed
Dan Breen / Ua Braoin and
Sean Treacy / Ua Treasaigh from the
Irish Volunteers decided to move things
along in
preparation for what they now all could see was in store for them, and on their own initiative they endeavoured to obtain a quantity of gelignite from
a quarry in Co. Tipperary
in the north - east of the Munster Province without realising the full consequences of their
individual action as it was to begin the
Irish War of Independence,
as the gelignite there was guarded by the Dublin Castle's Royal Irish
Constabulary / R.I.C. and during their escapade
two of the
R.I.C were shot and killed, and
the result of this premature action was that
10,000 pounds reward was
then offered
for the capture of
Dan
Breen alone by the
British
Coalition Government.
January 22nd:
Eammon De
Valera
was now "officially" elected the President
of the 1st
Dail Eireann / Irish Parliament
until
1921,
although he
was still "imprisoned" in the British Government's "Lincoln Jail"
in England, and
Cathal Brugha
was also
"officially" elected the Acting - President
until Eamonn de Valera could be physically available to take up his
particular position if and when he either "escaped" from the British Government's
incarceration or was released "officially" as the British Government had no
further illegal "cause" to hold on to the Irish
T.Ds now
as the elections were "over" and the results were in.
Sean O
Kelly also became their
"Speaker,"
of the 1st Dail Eireann and they
were now to set up the various Irish Departments under the
"Big Fellow,"
Michael Collins
as
the "Minister of
Home Affairs," while
Eoin
Mac
Neill
took up
"Finance,"
Count
Plunkett
/
Foreign Affairs, Richard Mulcahy
/ Minister for Defence,
Countess
Constance Markievicz / Labour and
Brian O
Higgins was also elected to the
Dail Cabinet. It was decided to put forward
Eammon de Valera, Arthur Griffith and
Count
Plunkett
as the
Irish
delegates of an
oppressed "Small Nation" to the
"Peace Conference"
to be held in
Paris to seek legitimate
democratic
Irish Independence, and they also declared
Irish Independence / Freedom and ratified the
Irish Republic that was previously proclaimed
in the 1916 Irish Easter Rising, and
also that the British Imperial Government had no jurisdiction over
Ireland, and
that they should therefore do the right and sensible thing and evacuate their
British Military Forces and their oppressive administration
in the Dublin Castle (The Devill's 1/2 Acre) from out of
Ireland altogether.
Eventually
Michael Collins,
Richard Mulcahy
and Cathal
Brugha who all represented the Irish Volunteers I.R.A.
which was now the Irish Republican
Army were to be the
only ones who were really to be in charge of it all.
On this same day
4
Irish "political" prisoners were
able to "escape" from the "Usk
Jail" in
England, which was a further
cause for immense "celebration" in
Ireland,
and this also assisted in focusing further attention and "publicity" on the continuing
British Imperial Government's
oppressive
policies that they had continued to carry out on the
population in Ireland.
January 24th: Frank Kelly arrived at the "Lincoln Jail" in England endeavouring to push on with the plan of Eammon de Valera the President of the 1st Dail Eireann / Irish Parliament' to escape from there, and he brought with him another cake that also contained another copied "key," but it too was not suitable, so Gerald Boland had to return once again with a set of "blank" keys and files so they could manufacture their own, but they too were unsuitable until Kathleen Talty an Irish school teacher then brought a blank key so that a final "master" key could be manufactured there on site.
January 31st:
Cathal Brugha as the
Acting - President
of the 1st Dail Eireann / Irish Assembly declared that, "A
State of War
now existed until the
"British
Imperial Military" invaders
evacuated our Country," and he further stated that the
Irish Volunteers were now the
"Official" Irish Republican / Army / I.R.A. of
the Irish people and that they would "resist" any violence
tghat was to be further carried out by the British
Imperial Government's Military Forces and the
"Anglo -
Irish War" was now begun in
earnest, as the
British
Imperial
Government had no intention of releasing the
grip of their
"Immoral Union" and their
750 year
hold over the population in
Ireland, and
Liam
Lynch
from Co. Limerick re
- organised
the
Co. Cork
Irish Volunteers
in the
Munster Province
in preparation for what was to come.
The 27 year old
Michael Collins
as the
"Minister for Home Affairs,"
was now to
organize the running of the
1st Dail Eireann, with a reward of
10,000
pounds also placed on his head by the
British
Coalition
Government, but
despite this he would
still be able to continue to walk
and ride about the streets of
Dublin
in the future on a bicycle, and
also
develop a secret Intelligence
"Network," second to none, until
1921, which also included
England, as the
the British Government's "spies,
informers and investigators" were to be his main prey. From now on he was to conduct a
hit and run "guerrilla" war against the might of the
British Imperial Government Forces
in
Ireland,
and he was to be so "successful"
that
the British
Military Forces and their
British Army Auxiliaries were to even run a "jackpot" for the man who could
"get"
Michael Collins, and they were also to put their best
Detectives from the
"G" Division
on the case to
try and track him down personally.
February: The 3rd Irish Convention of America was held in "Philadelphia" where it was attended by 5,000 representatives, and they appointed 3 Special Delegates to meet with Woodrow Wilson, the American President, in regard to Irish Independence from the continuing oppression of the British Imperial Government, and their only request at this time was that the Irish population should receive representation at the forthcoming "Peace Conference" to be held in "Paris" as per his previous wartime call for "Self - Determination for the Small Nations." They also created an "Irish Victory Fund," which brought forward a greater membership for Irish Independence / Freedom, and the immediate result of raising 1,000,000 dollars that was to be pledged began to create an "internal" problems there, as many among them wanted to use it solely for Irish "propaganda" in America itself, to assist to bring it about as at this time, as none of them were personaly aware of the growing "administration" costs in Ireland to set up and run the 1st Dail Eireann in opposition to the British Imperial Government and their "Immoral Union."
February 3rd:
Michael Collins,
Harry Boland
and
Frank Kelly
began to
instigate their plan, to not only free
Eammon de Valera
the President
of the 1st
Dail Eireann / Irish Parliament,
but also
Sean Mac Garry
and
Sean Milroy who the
British Coalition
Government' also had locked away in their
"Lincoln Prison" in England, and
with the blank key now fully manufactured
to act as a master key, that had been hidden in the cake bought in by
Kathleen Talty, the
three of them managed to "escape"
from the jail and headed for the town of
Workshop 25 mile
away, while
Michael Collins
and those
who had assisted him to ensure their
release returned to London, and
Fintan Murphy
then took the three of them onto
Manchester were everything went as
had been previously organized by
Michael Collins.
February 4th: The freeing of the
3 Irish "political" prisoners from
British Coalition's "Lincoln Prison" in England,
especially the escape of
Eammon de Valera
the "elected political" President of the Sinn Fein Party and the
1st Dail Eireann / Irish Assembly was
reported in the
Dublin
newspapers and the reaction to it was tremendous on the part of the
Irish population, but not so in
Britain, but the continuing publicity
over their escape received "World - Wide" attention, and the ongoing general speculation as to
Eammon de Valera
the President
of the 1st
Dail Eireann / Irish Parliament's
whereabouts was a further public impetus for the overall cause of
Irish Independence. In
anticipation of a hearing at the "Peace Conference," Sean
T. O Kelly
and
George Gavin Duffy
were sent to
"Paris" where they opened up an
Irish
Embassy
to represent the
1st
Dail Eireann / Irish Assembly
while Dr.
Patrick Mac Cartan,
the founder of the
Dungannon Clubs,
had also established an
Irish Dail Eireann Embassy
in
Washington in America, where he was to advise the
American Government
that the "elected" representatives in
Ireland
had definetly "severed"
all political relations
with the
British Imperial Government in
England, and that the
Irish Republic
was now "officially" at
"War" with the
British Imperial Government's Occupational
Forces.
February 11th: Eammon de Valera left Father O Mahony's house where he was staying in Manchester in England, as he had come under surveillance there, and in disguise he walked many miles with Kathleen Talty to Fallowfield were he remained for another week.
February 20th:
Eammon de Valera
the elected President of the Sinn Fein
Party
and the 1st Dail Eireann, who
was now physically free
from British Coalition Government control landed in
Dublin and then
went to
Dr.
Farhan's
home in
Merrion Square were he was
interviewed by an
"American Journalist"
to whom he expressed the opinion that he
considered that the American
President
Woodrow Wilson
was the
"Great White
Hope" for the population in Ireland
to gain entry
into the coming
"Peace Conference"
in Paris,
where if this was to occur the Irish population could then expect that they
would
receive Irish Independence
by peaceful "political and
democratic" means without the need of any further physical and mental suffering
and anguish on both sides. From
there he went on to
Archbishop
Walsh's residence, who
personally had
no idea that he was in the vicinity, as he was now actually under the protection and care of
Father
Curran, the Archbishop's secretary, who
placed him out of sight in the ground house, which
allowed Eammon de Valera
as their President to
personally be able to attend the next meeting of
the
1st Dail Eireann / Irish Assembly
that was to be held in the
Dublin Whiskey Distillery
building. On that occasion,
Michael Collins
was
re - appointed the "Minister for
Finance," and
Arthur Griffiths
the
"Minister for Home Affairs,"
William T. Cosgrave became the
"Minister for
Local Government," and Kevin O Higgins
the "Assistant -
Minister for
Local Government,"
and
they
were
then also able to begin to "set up" the Dail
Eireann
"Law Courts and
Departments."
Sean T. O Kelly
had since reported back from
"Paris"
that the
British
Imperial Coalition
Government 's
delegation had done it's job well and the population of
Ireland
was "not" to get a hearing,
as the
"Victorious Nations"
had
decided that their policy applied only to those Nations
who had been held in bondage by those
Countries who "they" had defeated, and the American
President "Woodrow
Wilson" was
not going to interfere in "domestic issues," especially those of the
British Imperial Empire
who he seriously wanted to
personally support his own idea of a "League of Nations."
March 4th:
The
"American
House of Representatives"
in America
now voted
216
to 45
that the "Peace Conference"
that was
to be held
in Paris
should consider
Ireland's claim for
Self
-
Determination / Freedom, and
Diarmuid O Hegarty,
who was
later to become the
"Secretary"
of the Irish Free State in
the future, drew up a
"Statement of the Irish Case"
for
Independence / Freedom.
March 6th: Pierce Mac Cann from Co. Tipperary in the north - east of the Munster Province who was also being held as a "political" prisoner by the British Coalition Government in "Gloucester Jail" in England, died, and his remains were brought back to Dualla, and with all of the "bad" publicity that his death had created for the British Coalition Government, and once again it seemed to have an effect on their previous stand.
The staid Eamonn
de Valera
the President
of the 1st
Dail Eireann / Irish Parliament
was to inform the members of the
1st Dail Eireann /
Irish Assembly
that he was
still determined to go to
"America," to
put pressure on the American
President
"Woodrow
Wilson," so he returned to
Liverpool in England
were he stayed once
again with
Mrs.
Mac Carthy,
in anticipation of getting his own way.
March 8th: Arthur Griffith and the rest of the Sinn Fein Party "political" prisoners who were still being held without cause in the British Imperial Government's "prisons" in England still on the basis of the British so called "German Plot" were now "released," and Lord Haldane arrived in Ireland from England "secretly" for a compromised settlement, and he stated that if the Irish would drop their "extreme" claims and their violent methods they would release the rest of the Irish "political" prisoners still held in the British Jails in England, but once again nothing came of it and the Irish Volunteers / I.R.A. / Irish Republican Army in preparation for what was to come, now decided to raid Collinstown Aerodrome were they secured 75 rifles and 5,000 rounds of ammunition without a single shot being fired.
March 29th:
Michael Collins
also
set up an "escape" plan to release a further
20 of the Irish
"political"
prisoners who had been locked away
also
by the British Coalition Government
in
"Mountjoy Jail" in
Dublin,
including
Pierce Beaslaoi
/
Beasley and
Patrick Fleming, and
Richard Mac Kee
and
Rory O Connor
were put in
charge of carrying out this particular rescue operation.
The
"political"
Sinn Fein
Party members began to spread the word that
Eamonn de Valera
the President
of the 1st
Dail Eireann / Irish Parliament
would be
returning to
Ireland
to a reception
by the Dublin
Lord Mayor, who
would present him with the "keys" to the City of
Dublin, so Ian
Mac Pherson
who was
now the
British
Coalition Government's appointed Chief Secretary in the Dublin Castle in Ireland
quickly issued a
Proclamation "against" it, but despite this the
"elected members" of the 1st Dail
Eireann / Irish Parliament
still wanted to proceed with the occasion, but the staid
Eamonn de Valera would not
go along with the plan as he considered the lives of the
Irish people were not worth
risking, and instead he returned
to Ireland inconspicuously.