1921 AD - 1 / January.
"The 3rd Year of Irish Struggle."
1921 AD
The population of
Ireland in the whole of
the
32 Counties, was now
3,000,000.
The Irish
Republicans, were in the "third" year of
their struggle with the
British Imperial Government
in England to obtain
Irish Independence
/ Self
Determination for the population in
Ireland,
despite the fact that the Irish "political"
Sinn Fein Party had previously
"won" all of the "elections"
with landslide victories, as the
British Imperial Government still
under David Lloyd -
George the British Coalition Prime Minister were even more
determined then ever to uphold their
Imperial Empire authority over the Irish population, regardless of the costs of
Irish
"lives" or even those of their "own" subjects, although by now
they had come to well and truly realise that the
Mere Irish themselves were not as easy to
"push around" as they once thought.
Winston Churchill,
the British
Imperial Government's Secretary
of
State for the
"Colonies,"
was ready to launch, "The
most unlimited exercise of rough handed force on the
Irish population"
as changes had been made to the British Imperial Government's
previous regular policy of
"unofficial"
reprisals on the
Irish population, as they now
blatantly and "officially"
condoned the "bloody" reprisals in
Ireland
carried out by their British
Imperial Military Forces, and
18
of the
32 Counties
in
Ireland, were now placed under
British Martial Law. The Irish Volunteers /
I.R.A. / Irish Republican Army came out in response to the
"increased" raids carried out by the
British Imperial Government Military
Forces, and their
other activities, by increasing their own "attacks" to obtain more arms,
and it was now finally and abundantly clear to all looking on that an ongoing
"violent conclusion" by the British Imperial Military
Forces was now
totally "impracticable." The
British Imperial Government, had also by now lost
any chance of retaining their previous
"overall
full
control" over the general population in
Ireland, but true to their
"imperialistic" attitudes, traditions
and ongoing stupidity,
they were to continue to "ferociously" carry on the dreadful "onslaught" no matter what the costs
of human suffering would turn out to be in Ireland.
The population of
Ireland was now also to be denied any chance of their
normal "democratic
rights" for another 2 years, while the British
Imperial Government's Military Forces continued to carry out their ferocious "reprisals,"
with a lot more Irish
"blood"
continuing to be
shed as the
British Imperial Coalition Government now had to either decide to
"conquer"
Ireland outright, or offer up
"terms" to the
Irish population to reach a
final sensible "solution." Unfortunately for everyone involved, once again, due to the
previous Centuries of
their "Imperialistic Military" control over other "foreign" Countries
also, including
Ireland, which by now had suffered the "longest and the most," their bruised
"egos" could not,
allow
them to make a just "democratic peaceful" decision. To make it even harder for them to reach a final
just decision,
there were now 3
"individual parties" involved in the final solution in
Ireland, for by now their chickens had well
and truly came home to roost, after nearly 8 Centuries of continued
ethnic,
religious and economic repression in
Ireland,
and
their confiscations and ongoing "foreign"
sectarian plantations.
Because of their continued intransigence on
Irish
Civil
Rights they now had not only the
Irish Republicans,
but also the Ascendancy "Official"
Unionists
in the north - east of the
Ulster Province to contend with.
Within weeks, feelers were put out for an
"Anglo - Irish
Truce"
by the British Imperial
Coalition Government,
but their conditions still included the
Irish Volunteers / I.R.A
/ Irish
Republican Army
laying down their guns "first," but the Irish had gone through too many
"broken promises" from the authorities in England and the Dublin
Castle (The Devil's 1/2 Acre) in The English Pale in
Ireland to fall for that
one again, as
Michael Collins
had also previously set up the
A.S.U. /
Active Service Unit under
Patrick Flanagan from the
I.R.A's
Dublin Brigade's 3rd Battalion,
who
took in other members from his group, including
James Browne,
James Doyle, James Gibbons,
Richard Sweetman and others, and there was no way that he was going to allow their
"covers" to be broken.
January 1st:
Eammon de Valera,
the Priomh Aire of the 1st Dail Eireann / Irish
Assembly, who had returned to Ireland from
America was now set up in a house at
Merrion in Dublin by the
Irish
Sea,
were many of the individual members of the
1st Dail Eireann
Cabinet
were now able to visit him to carry out
discussions on their individual problems, away from the searching eyes of the
many
British Imperial Government "agents"
roaming around in
Ireland.
January 3rd: Eammon de Valera as the Priomh Aire of the 1st Dail Eireann / Irish Assembly had discussions with Father Flanagan, who was now the Vice - President of the "political" Sinn Fein Party and Arthur Cope who was the British Imperial Government's appointed Assistant Under - Secretary in Ireland, and because of these extra separate individual discussions, Arthur Cope then informed Archbishop Clune that the British Coalition Cabinet had now decided to carry out their own "separate" negotiations with "other" Irish parties, excluding Michael Collins altogether. The inference was that these negotiations were now being carried out separately, on behalf of Eamonn de Valera only, through the offices of Father Flanagan, who also went to London to see David Lloyd - George the British Prime Minister, personally, but nothing further was to come from these "individual" negotiations, and it was generally recognized that these further "unofficial" individual discussions, had now only "weakened" Ireland's negotiating position in the eyes of David Lloyd - George, who considered that he now had "another" string to his bow.
Further pressure was increased
also on the
Irish Volunteer / I.R.A / Irish Republican Army now, as the
British Imperial Government's
"Military Auxiliaries" were coming to realise that their
"Imperial carte blanche" position, to do as they liked in
Ireland, was
not as rigid as they had first thought, and more
general incidents
were to occur, like the "attack" on
3 Irishmen who were walking along
Clare Street, who were at first
"assaulted" by
the British Government's "Auxiliaries" with their
rifle butts, who then "shot" one of them in the "back" as he panicked and ran away. The
Dail Eireann
Finance Office were
Michael Collins
was
operating out of at this time was also "raided" by the
British Government's "Auxiliaries,"
while he was still in there, but he just continued on slowly
down the stairs and passed them by and went on out into the street,
were although they stopped him and searched him they let him continue on, not
realising who they really had within their grasp.
January 7th:
Sean Mac Eoin,
while out walking on his own, was also surrounded by
11 members of the
Dublin
Castle's
R.I.C.
police, and during the ensuing
struggle to arrest him, Inspector
Mac Grath the
leader of the
Dublin Castle's R.I.C. police
was "killed,"
while
Sean mac Eoin
managed to
escape.
January 9th:
Eammon de Valera,
met with his 1st
Dail Eireann Cabinet, were he appointed
Kevin O Higgins to the
"Assistant Minister for Local Government"
position, to assist
William. J. Cosgrave,
and
Joseph Mac Donagh
as the
"Minister for
Labour" to replace
Countess
Constance Markievicz who was still
being held in a
"prison" in
England.
Eammon de Valera
was also now well aware of the personal stress between the defiant
staid obstinate idealist,
Cathal Brugha
and the realist,
Michael Collins,
and that
Cathal
Brugha
wanted "control" over all of the Irish
Volunteer / Irish Republican Army as the
"Minister for Defence." The officers
at the Irish
G.H.Q., who were members of the
I.R.B. / Irish
Republican Brotherhood,
gave their "allegiance" only to
Michael Collins, who was in charge
there, while
Cathal Brugha
felt that
Michael Collins
should be "subordinate" to him in his position
as the
"Director of Military Intelligence,"
but this could not be, as
Michael Collins
had much more "responsibility" and was also his
"equal" as the
"Minister for Finance"
in the
Irish Dail
Cabinet.
Cathal Brugha
/ Charles Burgess
was also of the opinion that he should have been the
"Acting - President
of the 1st Dail Eireann" after
Arthur Griffith was
"arrested," due to his seniority, although he had
himself declined to take up the position.
Eammon de Valera, was also well aware of the multi - personal role carried out by
Michael Collins,
and as a
consequence, wrote to him stating that,"
I would be sorry to think that your feeling discontented, dissatisfied and fed
up, and that it was due to anything more than natural physical reaction after the
terrible
personal strain you have been subjected to. "
January 21st:
Eammon de Valera
and
Michael Collins,
decided to hold another meeting of the
1st Dail
Eireann / Irish Assembly
on this date, but
Cathal Brugha was worried
about them all being "arrested," and
Eammon de Valera and the
other Dail
Eireann
Cabinet Ministers did not show, while
Michael Collins
was to be pulled up on the way there by a
British Imperial Military Force, who once
again not
realising who he was, allowed him to go on his way.
The
British Imperial Coalition Government's
Military Forces were
now constantly physically "executing" all of the
I.R.A. /
Irish Republican Army /
Irish Volunteers
members, whenever
they were able to capture them, so
January 24th: In the 6 Counties to be "artificially partitioned" from the 9 Counties in the Ulster Province, which were still under the control of the British Imperial Government and the Ascendancy "Official" Unionists up to this date, a further 264 persons from out of the population in Ireland were to meet with more "violent deaths," with two thirds of these being Catholic Irish, and William Craig the "Official" Unionist leader had since appointed "A" and "B " Special Police there in those 6 Counties in the Uster Province.
January 25th:
24 TD / Teachla Dala members
of the
1st
Dail Eireann / Irish Assembly were able to
finally meet at
Walter Cole's house in
Mountjoy Square in Dublin, were
Eammon de Valera
put it to
them to "cut back or lighten
off" on the "Anglo
- Irish War" effort, as he was of the opinion,
"That
the
enemy had superior forces, while all the
Irish population had,
was endurance and moral resistance," and to this end he put forward the
suggestion that
Michael Collins
should be "sent away" from
Ireland to the
United States of
America.
Naturally the rest
of the members "refused" to go along with this impossible request, except for
Roger Sweetman and
Liam de Roistre, and it was
around this time that
Cathal Brugha and
Austin Stack really
joined forces.