1918 - 2 / July - December
July 4th:
Lord
French
the British Imperial Government's Commander - in - Chief in Ireland now went further to crush all
Irish
interests and prohibited all
Irish
meetings and processions, including all those
of even the
Gaelic Athletic Association
and even went so far as to have all the
Gaelic
Football matches
terminated by the
R.I.C. police,
while the
British Imperial Military forces were now also feeling the
hostility emanating from the general
Irish population.
(Once again suppress to unite.)
Reports
were also coming in of
ill treatment in the
Belfast Jails in Co.
Antrim in the north - east of the
Ulster Province,
of baton
bashing being carried out there on the
Irish
"political"
prisoners while their
hands were handcuffed behind their backs, and of
them then being dragged down the stairs where they were hosed down and left for
3 days in their wet clothes and
also of other
Irish "political" prisoners there left in
solitary confinement in this
condition for a week.
August 4th: Regardless of the directions of Lord French the British Imperial Government's Commander - in - Chief, the executive of all the Irish sporting bodies still held their Gaelic Games all over Ireland, and also on this same day in defiance of restraint on their public rights, and so on August 15th the "political" Sinn Fein Party did the same.
Michael Collins was at this time struck down physically by a bout of pleurisy, and this made everyone who was involved in the day to day running of affairs to try and bring about Irish Independence from British Imperialism, realise the many duties he had previously been carrying out personally on his own. (Liam Tobin / Toibin was his acting Assistant Intelligence Officer.)
Kevin O Higgins / Ua hUigin who had previously also joined the "political" Sinn Fein Party as a student. had since become the M.P. for Co. Laois / Queen's Co. in the mid - west of Southern Leinster and had also won the seat for Co. Clare in the north - west of the Munster Province for the British Westminster Parliament, while he too was still being held in a prison in England by the British Imperial Government.
Peader
O Donnell
also
joined the
Irish Republican Brotherhood / I.R.B
while
Richard
Mulcahy
who was
elected the "political"
Sinn Fein Party
M.P. for
Clontarf was their
Chief of Staff, and
Edmund Duggan
who had been elected to the 1st
Dail Eireann / Irish Assembly
was their Director of
Intelligence, and
Robert Childers - Barton
was also the elected "political" Sinn
Fein Party M.P. for
West Wicklow
in the south - east of
Southern
Leinster.
August 15th: Piaras Beaslaoi / Peter Beasley was the editor of the Irish Volunteer paper, An tOglach, which now laid claim to the fact that the Irish Volunteers were the actual Irish Republican Army / I.R.A.
The
British
Imperial Coalition Government
also began to
re - arrest and deport
the
Irish
prisoners at they
came out of the jail gates on their release, and they set up
British Army
recruiting meetings for the
Irish public, but it wasn't working out for them as they had planned, and
there deadline for the General French imposed
50,000
Irish
recruits was getting nearer and those in charge of the overall Irish opposition to the British
Government's Imperialism and Conscription had by now decided to take
Lord
French, the
British
Imperial Commander, as a hostage, as his
British Imperial Court
Martials, raids, arrests,
re - arrests and imprisonment
were constant, and he had also brought in
British Military Army tanks to
Dublin to further intimidate the
general Irish
population. Due to their deadline not being met the British Government's Army recruiting
drive
was now extended to
October 15th,
and they also threatened the general
Irish population that they would increase the number of
Irish
Conscripts to
100,000
if they were forced to bring in British Government
Conscription in
Ireland.
October 15th: General French the British Government's Imperial Commander had the British Military forces occupy many of the buildings in Dublin in preparation for the intended British Government's enforcement of their Irish Conscription recruiting policy, but once again as fate would have it Germany had sent a Peace note to the American President Woodrow Wilson and this defused the issue. (The Irish Volunteers decided to hold a Convention to discuss the overall situation in Ireland).
October 29th: The "political" Sinn Fein Party / Irish Republican Party also held a Convention where they decided to demonstrate against the terrible treatment being carried out on the Irish prisoners still being held by the British Imperial Government in the Belfast Jails in Co. Antrim in the north - east of the Ulster Province.
November 11th: An Armistice was declared on this day, and the 1st World War was bought to an end, in which 7,000,000 people had died in what was described as the, "War to end all Wars," which was basically over who actually was the power that ruled the seas of the World.
November 13th: 700 British Imperial Government soldiers attacked the "political" Sinn Fein Party headquarters in Dublin where they were resisted by only 30 armed Irish Volunteers / Irish Republican Army / I.R.A. who had received advance notice of their coming and were able to drive them off, as they had no fire arms with them. (This particular unprovoked attack, which was carried out by British Imperial Government forces was then prohibited from being reported by the British Government's stronghold in Dublin Castle (The Devil's 1/2 acre).
As the
British Imperial Coalition Government
had constantly boasted about its
democratic ideals, yet continued on to
oppress
Ireland
still after
750
years, so the
Irish
now turned their attention to
Woodrow Wilson, the
American President,
for
some redress, who had also
publicly stated that he stood for, "The
rights of "Small Nations"
to
self
- determination" and
all
the Irish wanted him to do
at this juncture was to
support
the
pleas of
Ireland
for entry only into the Peace
Conference in Paris
and
restrict the added use of force by
David Lloyd - George
the
British Imperial Prime Minister
to subdue
thoughts of
Irish
Independence. It was to turn out that Woodrow Wilson would
do nothing for
Ireland
because of his obsession
with the League
of Nations for which he needed the British Coalition Government's support, and in the finish his own
American Congress
was actually
to refuse to ratify his signature and
he was to have a mental breakdown while in another act of stupidity
David Lloyd -
George, the British Coalition Prime Minister,
announced that although the
War was over
Irish
Home Rule would still be further
postponed. This really meant the death knell for the
remaining members of the
Irish Parliamentary Party,
which
had fought diligently and patiently by
Constitutional means for it's
introduction, giving the British
Government every allegiance to obtain it, and the
British Government had broken their
promises once again and treated the
Irish Nation, as usual.
November:
John Dillonwho
was
now
also a frustrated and agonising leader of the
Irish Parliamentary
Party at a meeting of the
Irish League
said he was still determined to oppose the "political"
Sinn Fein / Irish Republican
Party
all the way, as his
I.P. Party
had
previously offered
40
years of unparalleled success, but despite the continuing attitude
expressed by their leader several of his members now stood aside for the
rising political fortunes of the "political"
Sinn Fein
Party candidates in the following elections for the
80 seats to be contested for
the British Westminster Parliament, in Ireland. They did this in the interests of
Ireland,
following on from the belief of showing solidarity with the
expressed
policies of the "political"
Sinn Fein
Party,
as this was now the best course of action to be taken
against the
British Imperial Government,
as previously
outlined also by
Bishop
Mac Rory.
November 20th:
Bob Brennan
/ Ua Braonain was now also arrested by the
British Coalition Government 's Dublin Castle authorities and this showed that there was to be no chance
for the release of the "political"
Sinn Fein
Party
leaders, as the British
Imperial Government
meant to deny them their rights to
contest the coming General Elections for Westminster on their own
behalf.
November 25th:
The
British Coalition Government
dissolved the
Westminster Parliament
in
England and called the General Election,
known commonly as the Khaki Election
for all the seats there, including those in
Ireland as they were feeling secure in the knowledge that they had
annulled any
democratic chances of the "political"
Sinn Fein
Party now being able to make any personal showing in the election.
December:
To put further pressure on the "political"
Sinn Fein Party / Irish Republican
Party of having any chance in the
coming Westminster election, the
British Imperial Government had
James O
Mara
/ Meara / Ua Meadhra, the
Director of Elections for the
Dail Eireann /
Irish Assembly also arrested, and imprisoned him and
deported him from out of Ireland,
and then increased
the censorship in
Ireland and made it especially
harsh on any members of the "political"
Sinn Fein
Party, despite this the
remaining free "political" Sinn Fein Party members went ahead and published their own
Manifesto stating their aims,
"To
form an
Irish Republic,
not to
attend Westminster, and form their own
Irish Assembly from those members who
were successfully elected
by the
Irish
people." Although the their
Manifesto was highly
censored by
the British Imperial Government
it
contained a Black Border
around the material itself that the British Government had removed from their platform, but it did not lose it's significance on
those in Ireland who were to see it for what it
was, and vote accordingly.
December 9th:
Richard Swords,
died in Usk
Jail were he had also been
imprisoned in England by the
British Imperial Government
and a public
funeral was held in his
honour in Dublin,
from where he
was conveyed to Glasnevin Cemetery
and interred along with many of the other
Irish men and
women there who had also given their life trying to obtain
Irish Independence
/ Freedom.
(He was to be another of
the, "Fenian dead left to remind the
Irish of the continuing English oppression)."
Sean Etchingham,
who had also been imprisoned by the British
Imperial Government
in
Lincoln Jail in
England, at this time, was also very ill and
Eamonn de Valera
informed
the British Governor
of the
prison that if anything happened to
Sean Etchingham he would not be responsible for what would happen, and
Sean was immediately released.
December 10th:
A meeting was held on this day in
America at Madison Square Gardens
to
support, "Self Determination
for
Ireland."
The "political"
Sinn Fein
Party members, although
many of them were still imprisoned by the BritishCoalition Government in jails
in England, were
now more then ready to take on the might of the
British Imperial Empire and even the
previous followers of
John Redmond
and John Dillon had
now joined in
with them and the
Irish Parliamentary Party
could now only raise candidates for
75%
of the Irish seats available for Westminster.
December 14th:
The Westminster
General Elections were conducted and
out of the
105
Irish seats
the "political" Sinn Fein
Party
won
73
of them
of which
69 were
won outright giving them
75% of all the elected seats in
Ireland,
while
36 of the the
"political"
Sinn Fein
Party members or
50% of the candidates who were
successful in the election, were still being held in
British prisons, while
3 others were still in
exile and 6 were evading
British Imperial Government
arrest with
26
seats going to the
"Official"Unionists,
which
included 25
of these in their
stronghold in the north - east of the
Ulster Province, while another
6 went to the
Irish
Parliamentary Party of which
4
of these were
Irish Catholic
majorities in the
Ulster Province. Among
these was the one to go to
Joseph Devlin
in the
Falls in the
west of Belfast
in Co. Antrim in the Ulster Province
were he
defeated
Eamonn de Valera
who
also
stood for the seat there, but despite this
Eamonn de Valera
had
also defeated
John
Dillon the leader of the
Irish Parliamentary Party
for the
seat in the east of Co. Mayo in the
Connacht Province, and secured the
seat in the east of Co. Clare
in the Munster Province with no
contest.
Eoin Mac Neill also became the
M.P. for the National
University, and
Michael Collins
won
the seat in the west of Co. Cork
in the Munster Province, and also another in
Armagh
in
the south - east of
Ulster,
while
Arthur Griffith also won 2 seats
with one of these in the east of
Co. Cavan, and another seat in the north
- west of Co. Tyrone in
Ulster.
December: The Irish Volunteers Dublin Brigade had set up a munitions factory underneath a bicycle shop in Dublin, which was taken over later on by Michael Collins and expanded.
The
Irish
"political"
prisoners still being held
in the Belfast Jail in the
north - east of Co. Antrim in the
Ulster Province now abandoned
their protests on promises by the
British
Coalition Government,
which as usual were
not carried out, and in fact their miseries there
were increased even further.
Eammon de Valera the
President of the "political" Sinn Fein Party although elected for
2 Irish seats in Westminster
was
also
still in jail in England, and he decided to try and
escape from the prison before the prisoners were
to be released to gain further
publicity for the continuing British Imperial Government
occupation in
Ireland
and he copied the prison key and sent a drawing of it with
Sean Milroy in a
Christmas Card to
Sean Mac Garry's
wife, but
she just put it aside thinking it was a joke card and never showed it to anyone.
December 25th:
When no reply had
been received regarding the Christmas Card
containing the drawing of the key
John O Mahony wrote to
Father
Cavanagh / Kavanagh
to ask
Mrs.
Mac Garry if she had received the card.
James Arthur Butler
became the twenty second English Earl
of Ormonde until 1943 who was
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