1924 AD
"First British Labour Government - Political Sinn Fein Party."
1924 AD January:
James Ramsay Mac Donald became the new
British Labour Prime Minister, as the
Labour
Party were finally successful in winning
government in England in their own right in the
British Elections
for the
"first" time in British History, but
basically they would only last for 9 months, but it
was a "start" towards progress in the 6 Counties
"artificially partitioned" from the 9
Counties in the Ulster
Province as they did not rely on the votes
of the Ascendancy Unionists to hold onto "power" in
the British Government itself. It was
arranged for
William T. Cosgrave,
the leader
of the Irish Free State
to
meet with
Sir James Craig,
the
"Official" Unionist
leader
in London, to set up the Boundary Commission for the
particular 6 Counties "artificially partitioned"
from the 9 Counties in the Ulster Province,
but Sir James Craig
once again "refused" to nominate
anyone as their representative
on the
Commission,
as he was wary of the "new" Labour Government and
their predilection of "fairness" to all and categorically stated that
"He would not give up an inch."
So
William T. Cosgrave, the
Irish Free State leader /
Taoiseach, agreed with
James
Ramsay Mac Donald to allow the
British Labour Government to
"amend" the
"Anglo - Irish Treaty," and also for
them to "nominate" a
representative
instead
on behalf of the reluctant Ascendancy"Official" Unionists in these
6
Counties in the Ulster Province who would
not, and he appointed
Joseph Fisher, a
lawyer from the
Ulster Province who was the
editor of a "Pro - Unionist" newspaper, and
the Boundary Commission was set up for
a "year." James
Ramsay Mac Donald
the
British
Labour Prime Minister was to now only hold office for
another
"9
months" and the "artificial
partition" Boundary
Commission finally met, under the chairmanship of the
British representative,
Justice Feetham,
who was from
"South Africa,"
and they were to
sit for a further year, trying to dissect the 9 Counties in the
Ulster
Province, to suite those now involved, with
Eoin Mac Neill
the previous "Commander in Chief" of the Irish Volunteers
representing the Irish Free State.
April:
The "Anti - Treaty
Irregular - IRA" prisoners, that were being held in the
26 Counties in the
Irish Free State,
had their rules
relaxed and
Eamonn de Valera
was
now allowed contact with
Austin Stack,
and his mother
who lived in
America, and as he
was associated with the
American
Association for the Recognition of the Irish Republic
they
had also been working
for his "release" while in the meantime the "Irregular - IRA"
had agreed to support the "political"
Sinn Fein Party,
and
a
General "Amnesty Bill"
was passed, to release all of the "Irregular - IRA" prisoners
in the Irish Free State.
October:
Stanley Baldwin, as the new leader of the British
Tory Conservatives was able to win back the
Conservative Government's
position in England, who were
then to remain in "power" now for the following 4 1/2
years until 1929
under his leadership. Sir
James Craig,
informed the new
British
Conservative Government
that he would "resign" as the
Prime Minister
of
the
Ascendancy "Official" Unionist
Stormont
Government
in
the 6
Counties "artificially partitioned"
from the 9
Counties
in the Ulster Province if any of the
"territory" was "removed" from under the
Ascendancy Unionist control, and that he would then also lead the "defence" of that territory.
The the original
intention of both
Arthur Griffith
and
Michael Collins,
on behalf
of the future Irish Free State,
in
agreeing to the "Anglo - Irish Treaty,"
on the
"artificial partition" border
in the first place, was
in "anticipation" that the 32
Counties of Ireland
would be made "whole" again given enough time. Unfortunately this was not to
come about in the foreseeable future as
they had hoped, as the British Imperial Government always had a
2/3
majority in the decision making process, which was naturally always to rule the day, as they
had also tried to secure some
further fertile land in
Co. Donegal
from the Irish Free State.
Eoin Mac Neill acting
for the Irish Free State had
"resigned" in protest of this move, and their report was
"never" published or
acted upon. Later on
Sir
James Craig was to eventually meet with
William T. Cosgrave in
London, where they agreed that the
existing "partition border" was
to be left as it was.
In the
6 Counties "artificially partitioned"
from the 9 Counties in the Ulster Province, an
"Education Act"
was to
be bought in to encourage a "mixed" system were
Catholics and
non - Catholics could be "educated" together, but those non - Catholics
there who were "against" it,
organized the
United Education Committee,
as their
Grand Orange Order Lodge
was
also "against" any "mixed" education, and in
Derry
and
Dungannon
they also
became
"notorious" for "discrimination" against the
Irish
Catholics there also, especially in relation to
"housing."
July 16th: The 15,000 "Anti - Treaty Irregular IRA" prisoners, that were being held in the 26 Counties in the Irish Free State in Ireland, were "released," including the staid Eamonn de Valera, who was at this time back in "Arbour Hill Prison."
John Devoy the long time "leader" of the Clann na Gael / The Organizationl in America, who had laboured long for Irish Independence, was now able to personally "visit" Ireland and he also died this year.
Dr.
Dignan
the newly
elected Catholic
Bishop of Clonfert in
Co. Galway
in the south of the
Connacht Province,
forecast at Loughrea,
that the committed
Irish Republicans would soon be
in "power" in Ireland, although
they were still "against" taking up their seats but
Eamonn de Valera
declared, that he
definetly would personally if he could get around the
"Oath
of Allegiance" to the
German British King, as he had already previously set up an
illegal
"Emergency Republican Government"
with himself
as President
and
Minister for Foreign Affairs. He he was
still also
the member for Co. Down
one of the particular
6 Counties
"artificially partitioned" from the
9 Counties in the Ulster
Province, that were now
under the control of the
Ascendancy
"Official" Unionists
and
British Conservative Government rule.
September 1st:
Dawson Bates,
the
Unionist Minister for Home Affairs,
in the
6 Counties "artificially partitioned"
from the 9 Counties in the Ulster Province
issued an order
in Belfast
in
Co. Antrim,
"prohibiting"
Eamonn de Valera from
entering his Constituency in Co. Down
or anywhere else in the
6
Counties, except for
Co. Antrim,
as the "elections" were coming up for the
British
Westminster Parliament,
and he
also stated that he would be "arrested" if he was to turn up there.
October 24th:
Eamonn de Valera
went up to
Newry in
his "elected" seat in
Co. Down, in the
6 Counties "artificially partitioned" from the
9 Counties in the
Ulster Province, where he was
"arrested" by the Ascendancy
Royal Ulster Police /
R.U.C. there
and
the next day he was put back "across" the "artificial
partition" border into the other
26
Counties in the
Irish Free State with a
"Notice of
Prohibition" from the "Official" Unionist Stormont Government.
November 1st: Eamonn de Valera, now went up to Co. Sligo in the north - west of the Connacht Province, and crossed over into Co. Derry in the 6 Counties "artificially partitioned" from the 9 Counties in the Ulster Province, trying to reach "his" Constituency in Co. Down, where he was once again "arrested," and taken to Belfast in Co. Antrim were he was "charged" by the Ascendancy "Official" Unionist Government officers and given a month's "imprisonment" in "Solitary Confinement," but in reality he was only to be actually held for 3 days until "after" the "election" was over. Even though a "protest" was made to Stanley Baldwin the Tory Conservative Prime Minister of Britain he did "nothing" at all about it.
November 28th: Eamonn de Valera was once again taken by the Ascendancy Unionist R.U.C police to the "artificial partition" border in Ireland, were he was "released" once again into the other 26 Counties in the Irish Free State.
In
the Irish Free State by
now there was a trend in
5
of the Bye -
Elections
that were
carried out in the
26 Counties,
for an increasing amount of "votes" to go once
again towards the "political"
Sinn Fein
Party.
In the
6 Counties "artificially partitioned"
from the 9 Counties in the Ulster
Province, now under the control of the
Ascendancy Stormont
/ Great
Mountain Government, still led by
Sir James Craig
the Ascendancy "Official" Unionist
leader,
the
"curfew" imposed since
1922 on
Belfast in
Co. Antrim was finally "withdrawn," and the
"Official " Unionist
Government then also "altered" the
Local Ward "boundaries" to favour the
non - Catholic vote, by introducing
"property owning" qualifications to be entitled to "vote," which favoured the more
"entrenched and prosperous" non - Catholics, by
allowing up to
6
votes "each" and all of this
"gerrymandering" of the "voting" rights was to do as it was intended
for it to do by "reducing"
the
Irish Nationalist "majorities" on the
Local Councils back to
"2,"
instead of the original
"25."
The
"highest rainfall" period ever recorded in
Ireland
occurred on
Bally na Hinch Loch were there were
309 "rainy days" this year.
John Mitchell, the previous Young Irelander leader, died this year in America, whose father had been a "Presbyterian" minister who had been "frustrated" by the control of the Presbyterian Church over the "Orange Order" in the Ulster Province, and he had become a "Unitarian" minister instead at Newry in Co. Down, which had previously had a great influence on John Mitchell's outlook, and life ambitions, and along with Thomas Davis ("You must educate to be free.") and other journalists he had also been involved in the Young Irelander movement. Due to the previous "apathy" of the various British Conservative Governments towards the Irish population during the "Great Famine," they had all come together to found the Young Irelander Association to bring about Irish Independence as an Irish Nation in its own right intended to be carried out initially by "democratic" means. John Mitchell had been born in 1815 in Co. Derry in the north - east of Ulster, and as a non - Catholic had been educated at Trinity College in Dublin, and in 1841 he had produced The Nation newspaper with another of their members Charles Gavin Duffy (who was to go on to become the "Premier of Victoria in Australia", to try and bring about normal "democratic reform" in Ireland, and in 1845 he had been "arrested" by the British Conservative Government and charged with "sedition" for expressing his "democratic" views. In 1846 he was to co - found the Young Irelander Association, but was to "withdraw" from it due to the frustration of gaining any chance of obtaining "rural reform" in Ireland from the British Conservative Government by the use of "democratic" means until he was finally to be "convinced," as usual, that "armed" "insurrection" would be the only way to achieve it in Ireland. In 1848 he was "arrested" again, and sentenced to 14 years "Transportation" to get him out of Ireland, and he was to then be treated so "badly" because of his convictions in the British Conservative Government's prison in Co. Cork, that this had the result of "upsetting" everyone who knew about it and caused many of the Young Irelanders to finally come to the "same" conclusion. He was "Transported" at first to Bermuda and then onto Tasmania (Van Dieman's Land) in Australia, from where he was to "escape" from in 1853, and go onto America and was to found another Irish newspaper there, to try and push for Irish Independence from the never - ending "oppression" of the British Conservative Governments. In 1875 he was "elected" a member of the Westminster Parliament in England for Co. Tipperary in the north - east of the Munster Province, and although 27 years had by then elapsed, a "new warrant" was issued by the British Conservative Government for his "arrest" again if he was to take it up.
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