1917- 1 / January to June
1917
- 1918 John Redmond, the leader of the
Irish Parliamentary Party, which was by now
becoming more and more out of touch with the general Irish population, was to state
that he was willing to go to any lengths to
satisfy
the Ascendancy Unionists
in the Ulster Province, and the
Irish
Convention set up by David Lloyd - George
the British Imperial Coalition Government's previous Home Minister, later on was to turn out to be a failure,
while the proposal of Dominion Home Rule, moved previously by Sir
Horace Plunkett the Chairman and leader of the Irish Dominion League, was to
continue to last until 1921.
March: David Lloyd - George,
the British Imperial Coalition Prime Minister,
was willing to give Irish Self - Government to the people of
Ireland, on his terms, if they
accepted the new British Coalition Government
amended 4th Irish Home Rule Bill,
which would see Ireland "artificially partitioned" under his scheme, but not to those who
rejected it and he also passed
another Amendment to the 4th Irish Home Rule Bill that stated that “No
force was to be used
The Irish poets and the dreamers, who had given their all for Ireland were now gone, but not forgotten, and the Supreme Council of the Irish Republican Brotherhood / I.R.B. decided to re - organize the Irish Volunteers, and the I.R.B. / Irish Republican Brotherhood was to also set up once again throughout Ireland in the branches of the Gaelic League, which had not as yet been proscribed by the British Imperial Coalition Government authorities as the Irish also continued on with the organization of their "political" Sinn Fein Party, assisted by the press in England, who continued to refer to all of the Irish Republicans as "Sinn Feiners," as their aim was still the same to bring about Irish Independence in Ireland, under the guidelines previously laid down by Arthur Griffith, the founder of the "political" Sinn Fein Party (We Ourselves). They began the re - organization of the Irish Volunteers, under the direction of Michael Collins, who was to also draft the new Constitution for the revamped organization, and he was to carry out this responsibility together with Richard Mulcahy, who was another member of the I.R.B Supreme Council, who were once again to be the real military force in Ireland. (The I.R.B. Constitution, was also revised under the scrutiny of Thomas Ashe, Diarmait Lynch, Con and Michael Collins, which was further strengthened by their members, who were now in the many branches of the Gaelic League.) Although there was still a small number of Irish men who were still left in the former Redmonite National Volunteers, under the leadership of Colonel Moore, who acted on behalf of John Redmond who was still the much bewildered leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party. (They too soon left that organization, and joined in with the revamped Irish Volunteers). Ernest O Malley, from the Heremonian Ui Briuin Ui Maille Sept in Co. Mayo in the mid - west of the Connacht Province, was one of those who joined up also, and later on he was to become one of the major players against the Anglo - Irish Treaty that would be made at the end of the Anglo - Irish War in 1922 when they would then form the anti - Treaty IRA, and bring about a Civil War in Ireland in the same year, all due to the "artificial partition" of the 6 Counties, from the 9 in the Ulster Province by the British Imperial Coalition Government to suite the continuation of the Ascendancy and their own political agenda.
Arthur Griffiths,
the founder of the
Gaelic League
and the '"political"
Sinn Fein
Party, (We Ourselves), who would become known as the
Father of the Irish Nation, had since been released from
Redding Jail
in England, and he started the
newspaper Nationality,
as it's
editor, and the "political"
Sinn Fein
Party
was now ready to come into it's own as the
next real Irish
"political force,"
for the removal of the
continuing
oppression and repression of the
British Imperial Government over the population in Ireland.
The authority of the
Irish Parliamentary Party
/ I.P. Party, which was
still under the control of it's leader
John Redmond, who had previously called for
Irish blood after the
1916
Easter Uprising, was now well and
truly in the decline onsidered throughout
Ireland
now as just
another tool to be made use of by the
British Westminster Parliament,
although
this certainly was not true of the likes of
John Dillon, John Boland
and
the old Labour stalwart,
William O Brien. Following the
1916 Easter Rising
Laurence Ginnell
/
Lorcan Mag Fhionnghail who was another member of the
Irish Parliamentary
Party had been the only
voice heard among them against the
executions in the
Westminster Parliament, as he
personally was not frightened to speak out against his leader
John Redmond, as was also
John Dillon.
January 20th:
Count
Plunkett,
was now expelled by the
elitist
Royal Dublin Society, by a vote of
236 to
58 just for being the father of
Joseph Plunkett who had signed the
Proclamation of the
Irish
Republic for which he had been
executed, and there were also his other two sons,
George and
John who were now
Irish prisoners in
English prisons to be considered,
but his expulsion by this elitist group was to backfire, as it really upset the population
in
Ireland.
Eamonn
de Valera,
who was to be a future political leader in Ireland,
who had also been one of the commanders
of the Irish Volunteers during the
1916 Easter
Uprising, was also still in prison in
England, where he let it be known generally
that he personally was not in favour of taking on the
Irish Parliamentary Party
/ I.P. Party
in the
coming elections, and also that he was also personallyof the opinion that the
Irish Volunteers
should
refrain
from any "political affiliations." (Time and the actions of British Imperial
Government would soon
change his.mind)
February:
Michael
Collins
and
Arthur Griffith together with the
Irish Repblican Brotherhood,
the Irish Nation League
and
the Irish Volunteers,
saw it different and threw all of their support behind
Count
Plunkett, who had made up his mind to stand for an elected position in the
British
Westminster Parliament
in the
coming by -
election for the seat of North
Co. Roscommon in his
own right as the Republicans
who were
now well aware of
his anti - British
stance
supported his nomination at every chance. This election
had been called due to the
demise of
James J. O Kelly,
who
had been an
old Fenian
himself, and although it was
considered an Irish Parliamentary Party
/ I.P. Party
safe seat, Father
Michael Flanagan
also gave many
speeches in support of Count Plunkett's candidature and he won the seat easily by polling
3,022 votes
defeating
Divine from the
Irish Parliamentary Party / I.P. Party with
1708 votes, and
also another
Kelly from the
Independent Nationalists who
had gained
687 votes.
Arthur Griffiths,
who had founded the "political" Sinn
Fein Party was convinced that non - attendance at the
British Westminster
Parliament, by any of those who were successfully elected to represent
Ireland, was to be the crux of a true
Irish Policy,
and he was to be relieved when Count
Plunkett informed all and sundry that he would not recognize the
British
Parliament in Westminster
but intended to form his
own political party,
which
Arthur Griffith
was totally
against, as he wanted a joint
Executive from all of the
Irish
Nationals as a
united
group to be represented by the
"political" Sinn Fein Party.
Michael Collins, meanwhile took over from Joseph Mac Grath as the secretary of the Irish National Aid Association, which had been set up to assist the families and the dependents of all the Irish who had been held as prisoners in the jails in England, who had since been left in desperate circumstances with no chance of any income to sustain them through all of this and no information on what was occurring in Ireland because of the previous 1916 Easter Uprising was allowed by the British Imperial Government to find it's way to the Irish prisoners held in the English Prisons, but despite this much correspondence was received by them from Ireland, concerning "Kathleen Ni Houlihan," the name used for "Ireland" until the Governor of the English prison was also informed to black out all references to her name.
March: David Lloyd - George the Welsh British Imperial Coalition Government's Prime Minister, now moved an Amendment to allow the "Ulster Home Rule Bill" to proceed, "artificially partitioning" 6 of the Counties, from the 9 Counties that made up the whole of the Ulster Province, to continue on with the Ascendancy in Ireland, which naturally upset the Irish Nationalist Constitutionals in the Irish Parliamentary Party also, who were still Ireland's elected representatives in the Westminster Parliament and with their leader, John Redmond they walked out of the Chamber in England, again, as they where now also against Irish Home Rule being coupled with the Conscription of Irish men, as was the Catholic hierarchy.March 17th: Count Plunkett, sent a letter to all the popularly elected Irish Boards, Irish National organizations and the Irish Nationalists generally, to send 2 delegates each to a Conference to be held at the Mansion House on the 19th April, to seek representatives for Ireland at the coming World Peace Conference in Paris, as regards to the previous commitment on the political position of "Small Nations" as it was now hoped that Irish Independence from the repression of the British Imperial Coalition Government in England could be finally achieved by this simple peaceful means.
Meanwhile
Eamonn de Valera,
the previous staid Irish Volunteer
Dublin Brigade
commander who was against "political" involvement and who was still in an English prison, in a fervour wrote to
Simon Donnelly,
stating that
in his opinion, a defeat at the coming elections might well mean ruin for the cause
of Irish
Independence, and that the
Irish Volunteers
should not
take sides,
as in his opinion, none of the candidates should be
officially recognized as standing in the interests of the
Irish Volunteers.
April: America now also entered the War, between the British Imperial Government and Germany, and their President Woodrow Wilson with his own agenda urged the British Coalition Government to settle the ongoing problems with the Irish people, so that it would also unite the American public towards the War.
May 17th: The Catholic Irish Bishops, also now decided to make a stand on the "artificial partition" of Ireland, into 2 separate parts by the British Imperial Coalition Government to continue on with the Ascendancy, and came out declaring the "Partition of Ireland was as dead as a doornail," as far as they were concerned.
May 25th: Joseph Mc Guinness was succeesful in winning the seat in Co. Longford in Northern Leinster for the "political" Sinn Fein Party, by 37 votes despite the personal previous involvement of Eamonn de Valera who had been against it, and this was also to be a further embarrassment to the British Imperial Coalition Government's position of overall authority in Ireland.
May 28th:
The Irish who were still being held as prisoners
in Lewes Prison in England,
by the British Imperial Government without trial, went on
strike and refused to work, to bring pressure
to bear on
David Lloyd - George
the British Coalition Prime Minister, to be treated
"officially" as prisoners of
War, as they were
well aware of their eventual forthcoming release from prison, and they intended to pull it off,
before he was able to announce the date for their release and because of their
actions on this occassion, the staid
Eamonn de Valera
and other
individual
Irish
prisoners were returned
to Maidstone Prison,
while some
were also taken to
Parkhurst, to
split them up, but they still continued to carry out their rebellious acts against
the British
authorities there.
Cathal Brugha
/ Charles Burgess back in Ireland was able to
create quite an amount of useful propaganda because of these rebellions being
carried out in
the English prisons, where he
was able to blow
them out of all proportion for political purposes.
Countess Constance Markievicz, was also still being held in Aylesbury Jail in England, were the conditions were very bad, and she became a Catholic during this period in her life.
Eoin Mac Neill, the Chief of Staff of the Irish Volunteers, who had tried desperately to stop the 1916 Easter Uprising, by countermanding Patrick Pearse's orders, was now also arrested by the British Imperial Government and imprisoned once again, as was Terence Mc Swiney from Co. Cork in Southern Munster.
May: David Lloyd - George the Welsh British Imperial Coalition Prime Minister, called his Irish Convention, in which he purported to draw up his own scheme of government in Ireland.
June:
Cathal Brugha
/ Charles Burgess and
Dr.
Thomas Dillon,
were calling
for further unity in the "political"
Sinn Fein
Party ranks, and
Arthur Griffith
agreed to a
committee of
6
members from
the "political" Sinn Fein
Party,
6 members
from Count
Plunkett's
newly
formed Liberty Clubs,
and
6 members of the previous
Joint Committee
as at this time, the
"political"
Sinn Fein
Party's
policy, as
outlined under
Arthur Griffith's
original
proposals, was still restoration of the
Irish Parliament
under the
auspices of the
British Crown,
while the
Irish Volunteers
and the
I.R.B. / Irish
Republican Brotherhood wanted complete
Irish Independence
from the British Imperial Governments.
June 10th: Count Plunkett and Cathal Brugha, decided to hold a joint public meeting to protest at the treatment of the Irish being held prisoners by the British Imperial Coalition Government, and the public meeting was then proclaimed illegal by the British Government's authorities in the Dublin Castle, (The Devil's 1/2 Acre) but they continued to hold it anyway, and there was a huge crowd in attendence, and during the meeting many of those present were arrested and a R.I.C. Police Inspector was killed by a hurling stick.
June 15th:
Andrew Bonar - Law
the Conservative leader,
who was
now acting as the Chancellor of the
British Exchequer, and the leader of the
British House of Commons, announced that the
British
Coalition Cabinet had decided to
release the
rest of the Irish
who were being held
prisoners,
who had been sentenced to imprisonment by the previous
British Imperial Court Marshalls
and they were
taken to Pentonville Prison,
were they were given civilian clothes, and they eventually arrived back into
Dublin, where they were given a very
warm welcome by the population in
Ireland, who had previously been hostile towards the
original efforts to bring
on Irish Independence,
who now
saw things in a different light. Many of those returned to
Ireland,
from the
English prisons, were to continue
on with the original struggle for Irish Independence,
and were now even more committed then ever they
had been before. (Once
again if you want to make anything stronger - repress it.)
John Redmond's
brother,
Major
William
Redmond the
M.P. for
East Co. Clare was
killed in the
War at
Messines, and
John Redmond had previously stated in desperation of appeasement
to the British Coalition Government that,
"He would go to any lengths to satisfy
the Northerners,"
and any one at all who now opposed him was now generally known as a
"Sinn Feiner,"
whether they belonged
to the "political" Sinn Fein
Party or not.
Eamonn de Valera,
the previous staid Irish Volunteer
Dublin Brigade commander, although he also was still in prison in
England, was now put forward by the "political"
Sinn Fein
Party for the vacant seat in
East Co. Clare
(The Banner County), and he was now in agreement with
this decision, despite all of his previous carrying on over
Joseph Mac Guinness being nominated by them.
His nomination was on the condition, that
Eoin Mac Neill the previous leader of the
Irish Volunteers
accompanied him
during the rallies, and the
Irish
Volunteers then organized his election with military precision
leaving
no stone unturned and he also put forward his policies for, the return of the
Irish Gaelic language,
for Irish Independence at the
Peace Conference
in
Paris, non - attendance at the
British Westminster Parliament, no
Partition of Ireland, and an
Independent Irish Republic.
His canditure was also successfull and he
won the seat, although he too at this time was also still being held
in prison in England.. (This seat had been originally
the seat in the past of
Daniel
O Connell "The
Liberator" and Emancipator, and he
won it by polling
5,010 votes against
Patrick
Lynch a
Crown Prosecutor who
represented the
Irish Parliamentary Party.
(The
Irish Parliamentary Party, under
John Redmond, by now had been discredited over the
Irish Home Rule
mess,
the "artificial partition" of
Ireland
mess, and the
British Imperial
Coalition Government's Conscription issue, and they
were only to
poll
2,035 votes).
The
Irish
National Aid Fund
under Michael Collins, was to grant Eamonn de
Valera
250 pounds to continue his political campaign, in which he was always to appear in his
Irish
Volunteer
uniform, which was contrary to the edict by the
British Imperial Coalition Government and
Patrick Lynch who was
his opponent on this occasion, was to
eventually become his
supporter, and also the
Attorney General
in his future
Fianna Fail
(Warriors of Destiny) Irish Government
in
1932.
June 18th - July: All of the other Irish who were still being held prisoners in English Jails were now released, including Eamonn de Valera, who arrived back in Dublin as a member of the old Irish Republican Brotherhood / I.R.B. and who was now the accepted leader also of the Irish Volunteer forces in Ireland and he would not join in with the new revamped Irish Republican Brotherhood / I.R.B., as it had been condemned by the Catholic hierarchy as a secret society, and once again in his opinion, it had outlived it's usefulness. Eamonn de Valera's opinion of the revamped I.R.B. was also shared by Cathal Brugha / Charles Burgess, who had by now become a bitter opponent of the newly constructed I.R.B., and they now both naively and honestly believed that the Irish Volunteers would now be allowed to work openly within the authority of the British Coalition Government for a new "democratic society" for a peaceful Irish Independence.