1919 AD - 3 / July - December
July 8th: Frank P. Walshe and Governor Dunne from Illinois who had been supposed to represent The Friends for Irish Freedom to put Ireland's cause forward at the Peace Conference returned to America from Paris, as there was by now just no hope of Ireland's case being heard. (President Woodrow Wilson had also returned to America where he was only involved in pushing for his League of Nations).
July 12th:
Edward Carson
the leader
of the Official Unionists
In the
Ulster Province was threatening to bring out the
Ulster Volunteer Force - U.V.F. there, and publicly stated that his Official Unionist followers in
Ulster
would
not tolerate the
political
Sinn Fein
Party.
July 19th:
Eamonn
de Valera
the President of the 1st Dail Eireann was in
America where
Liam
Mellowes organized a tour
for him to try and secure the U.S.A. and
League of Nations
democratic recognition for the
Irish Republic, and
he was to stay there now for the next 18
months and was to take no part during the violent "Troubles"
that lie
ahead in Ireland. While there he was to be under the patronage of
the
Clann na Gael whose leader
Joseph Mac Garritty had him call himself the
President of the
Irish Republic, although in reality he was the
President
of
1st Dail Eireann / 1st Irish Assembly and the use
of the former title upset some in control over there, including John
Devoy the editor of the
Gaelic American.
Judge
Cohalan, who had been held in high esteem in the
Irish - American Movement
for years,
was also upset with him and requested that
he not attend
the American
Republican
Party Convention, which he ignored, and they had a
serious
falling out.
The
Clann na Gael had been the
driving force for Irish Independence in
America for over
50 years against
the the oppression of the various British Empire Governments, and they now held huge
receptions in his honour, and within
6
months
1,000,000 pounds was
raised by their
Irish Victory Fund.
As a sign of things to come also in Ireland in the future, the continuing particular
staid attitude unfortunately
of Eammon de Valera was to create a
split in the
Clann na Gael
into
2
rival bodies as
Joseph Mac Garrity was now the only
Irish - American
leader who stood up
for him. He advised Eamonn de Valera to increase the size of his personal
activity, the
Irish Bond Drive,
which he then
strongly pushed ahead with also, which was also supported by
Frank P. Walshe, and they submitted their scheme to
Franklin D. Roosevelt to ensure there were no legal difficulties,
who was still only a lawyer at this time, who gave it the
O.K.
Meanwhile
back
in Ireland a Special Squad
was now formed
by the
Irish Republicans
from a small number of the
Irish
Volunteers
who
were to carry out any "Special" assignments for them under
the leadership of
Michael Mac Donnell.
July 21st:
There were to be
3
days
of bloodshed carried out in
the Cities of Derry and Belfast
in the north -
east of the
Ulster
Province, due to the
tendency of the
Unionists there towards ethnic sectarian violence brought on by a never ending
"siege mentality" that was to be always encouraged there to suite
other people's agendas.
July 30th: After repeated warnings to lay off the excessive persecution of the Irish population, Detective Sgt. Smith was executed by the newly introduced Irish Republican Special Squad.
August:
Michael Collins had
been appointed the
Director
of Intelligence for the Irish Republicans, and
he was now carrying out
4
different duties at the one time for the
1st Dail
Eireann / 1st Irish Assembly and brought in
Liam Tobin and
Tom Cullen
to assist him
with further Intelligence gathering.
August 13th:
Francis Murphy,
a 15
year old boy, was shot dead in his father's house at
Ennistymon
in Co. Clare in the north - west of
the Munster Province by the British
Military
forces and a general
strike was carried out in Co. Limerick
in the mid - west of Munster,
which was to continue on until 1922.
Once again the character of
British Imperialism came to the fore as
Lord
Birkenhead
came out strongly against the Irish
stating, "We
shall use force and yet more force."
The British Coalition Government
already had a
70,000
Military
force in
Ireland
and they were to bring
in another 15,000,
including the dreadful
Black & Tans,
and the British Government Military Auxiliaries
who were
to be the worst
offenders of public morality in
Ireland.
August
21st:
The
Irish National Loan
was announced in Ireland by the
1st Dail
Eireann / 1st Irish Assembly now under the control of
Arthur Griffith the acting - President,
due to
Eamonn de Valera
still being in
America, and at this meeting there
were 47
members in attendance,
with 250,000 pounds to be
also
raised in
Ireland
and
1,250,000
pounds in
America. This amount
together with the Loans
from 1864 - 1867
previously secured by the
Fenians / I.R.B
/ Irish Republican Brotherhood were
also to be repaid to the lenders at
6 %
per annum on the eventual introduction of the
Irish Republic.
Eamonn de Valera's
American
- Irish Association had
quickly
raised
10,000 pounds for the
recognition of the Irish Republic,
so he
wrote back to the members of the
1st Dail Eireann
and wanted to increase the size of the
Irish National Loan to
5,000,000
in America
as
there was substantial amounts now being put forward, to gain
Irish Independence,
on a regular basis.
Sean Russell,
who
was a
member of the
Sinn
Fein Party
and the
I.R.B
/ Irish Republican Brotherhood,
was to be their Director
of Munitions until 1921,
but would eventually come to lead the breakaway
anti Anglo - Irish Treaty
Irregular IRA in the years ahead,
due to the Artificial Partition of Ireland allowed
under that Treaty.
(Frank Aiken,
who was to be another of
the future Irregular IRA leaders then, also was at this time the
I.R.B
Commandant until
1922).
September:
Eammon de Valera, who was still
in America,
put it to the
Friends of Irish Freedom.
who
controlled the
Irish Victory Fund.
for a 10% advance to launch
his personal activity the Irish National
Loan, as they had
now agreed to
send 25% of the
Fund to be used in
Ireland.
John Devoy
at this time informed
Eammon de Valera
to be wary
of Dr.
W.J.
Maloney,
who was a friend
of Dr.
Mac Cartan,
as he
considered him personally to be acting in the interests of the British
Coalition Government, and was influencing him through
Dr. Mac Cartan
and
Joseph Mac Garrity.
September 7th:
Meanwhile in
Ireland the Irish Volunteers
went in to their first real battle
against the British Imperial Government forces when they disarmed
17 British Military soldiers at
Fermoy
in Co. Cork
in Southern Munster
where
one of the
soldiers was killed and
3
were wounded, and the
British Military
forces
in retaliation that night ransacked the town of
Fermoy and the
R.I.C
police made no effort to stop them. Many members of the
R.I.C
were by now leaving the police force in
Ireland, and the
British
Coalition Government
was finding it hard to get new
recruits in Ireland, and had
to begin closing down their R.I.C.
barracks all over the Country.
-
Arthur
Griffith
the
Sinn Fein
Party
M.P for East
Co. Cavan in
Southern Ulster Province who was now the
Acting -
President of the
1st Dail Eireann
/ 1st Irish Assembly
was now arrested once again by the British Coalition Government. September 10th:
The
British Imperial Government
suppressed the political
Sinn Fein
Party,
and
the 1st Dail Eireann
/ 1st Irish Assembly was
declared illegal under British Law, together with the
Irish National Loan,
and the British
Imperial Government forces then raided all their homes and carried out attacks in the surrounding
areas. September 12th:
The 1st Dail
Eireann
was now also physically suppressed and all their offices were
raided and their documents seized, and
Padraig O Keefe
and
Ernest Blythe
/ Ua Blighe were
also arrested.
September 13th:
Sgt.
Daniel Hoey
who had been very active after the
1916 Easter Rising
against his own
people was now warned to lay off, but he disregarded the warning and continued to
zealously persecute them, and he was then shot
dead near the R.I.C police
headquarters. The
result of this action was that the remaining
R.I.C
police now backed off from being over zealous on behalf of the
British Coalition Government's Dublin Castle
officials.
September 16th:
An
Ard Fheis (Convention),
that was set down to be held by the political
Sinn Fein
Party at the
Mansion
House in
Dublin on this
date, was held
instead the night before, and when
the
R.I.C police surrounded the building they
naturally found no one was there.
The
Irish National Loan
was publicly advertised in Ireland, and all of the
Irish
papers who did so were then also suppressed
by the British Coalition Government and their copies seized, and also some
of their printing machinery was dismantled, but
Arthur Griffith was still able to get out his paper
Young Ireland.
All of this further repression on the newspapers in Ireland
further bought home
to the general
Irish
population once again the realization that
Ireland
would only ever be free from the British Imperial
Empire constraints by the continual shedding of her own blood.
Sean Mac Bride,
the son of
Maude
Gonne Mac Bride
and
Major John
Mac Bride, who had been
born and educated in Paris, was
now living in
Dublin, and was to
become an Irish
Independence fighter in the
future
Anglo - Irish War
and the founder of Amnesty International.
Meanwhile,
back in America, Eamonn de Valera the
President of 1st Dail Eireann,
was well received during all his tours, but
by now had well and truly fallen out with
John Devoy, the editor of the
Gaelic American
newspaper, who had
always been a great supporter of
Irish Independence
both
in Ireland and America for many generations.
-
William
O Brien
the old Labour stalwart from Co. Cork in
Southern Munster was now also the General
Secretary of the
Irish Labour
Party. -
The American Commission
for Irish Freedom had
now also noted
the random and pointless imprisonments
being carried out by the
British
Imperial Government
on
the Irish people.
September:
Woodrow Wilson
the American President
had
by now suffered a complete nervous breakdown.
September:
Due to the continuing "siege mentality," again
in the Ulster Province,
80 Irish
people were killed in further sectarian riots
that were still carried out there by
the Unionists,
and
Belfast in
Co. Antrim in the north - east of
Ulster, in desperation, was now to
be put under an
Irish Boycott
to try and stop any such further ethnic and sectarian riots occurring there
again.
September 29th:
On this day, the
Friends of Irish Freedom
in America released $100,000
to
Eammon de Valera the
President of the 1st Dail Eireann,
which had
been approved by the
National Council
of Organizations
as part of the
25% to
be used in Ireland as a loan to
try and bring about Irish Independence.
October 25th:
Rory O Connor
was in charge of the rescue of
6 Irish
prisoners held by the British
Coalition Government in
Manchester Jail in
England,
including
Piaras Beaslaoi
/ Beasley, and
Austin Stack who
Arthur Griffith
as the
Acting
- President of the
1st Dail Eireann
in Ireland re - appointed as
the Minister for Home Affairs.
The staid,
Cathal Brugha then
further
appointed him as the
Deputy Chief of Staff of the
Irish Volunteers, and he now also began to side with
him
against
Michael Collins. The
Irish Volunteers
were by now known as the
Irish Republican
Army
and this was to be shortened to the term
I.R.A
by common usage.
Cathal
Brugha wanted the
Irish Volunteers
to
take the same Oath
as the
1st Dail Eireann,
but
Michael Collins
said it was
too risky to call an overall
Irish Volunteer Convention,
which further upset
Cathal Brugha who had
previously left the
Irish Republican Brotherhood / I.R.B,
and was suspicious of it and also of
Michael Collins who was one of it's leaders.
(He personally also resented Michael Collins
growing prestige and popularity).
November 6th:
On this day, the British
Empire Military forces
in Ireland attacked and ransacked the town of
Kinsale in Co. Cork in
Southern Munster.
November 12th: The British
Empire Government Military
forces attacked the City of Cork in
Co. Cork in Southern Munster.
November 15th:
James O Mara the
previous electoral officer for the
1st Dail Eireann / 1st Irish Assembly arrived in
America from
Ireland
and joined up with
Eamonn de Valera
and took
over the control of the Irish
National Loan.
November 29th:
On this day, Det. Sgt. Barton
was shot dead, and
Lord
French
the appointed British General and Commander in Chief for the British
Coalition Government
in
Ireland offered
5,000 pounds for any information
in regards to the event, and as a further consequence he also decided to carry
out individual raids on the political Sinn Fein
Party
members generally, but
Michael Collins
was able to
forewarn them. The
Dublin
offices of the political
Sinn Fein
Party and the 1st
Dail Eireann / 1st Irish Assembly
were
also raided again, and
9
people there were arrested, as they
also tried in vain to
arrest
Michael Collins, who was able to
escape through the
skylight, so they closed down the political Sinn Fein Party buildings.
Although many Irishmen
had been killed and
wounded and thousands
had been arrested, with
raids carried out on their homes, proclamations, prohibitions, court martials, deportations,
their meetings broken up, their newspapers suppressed, their democratically
elected political leaders imprisoned during the
previous 2 years, the
Irish
population had still not turned to violence in
retaliation. The political
Sinn Fein
Party members were now to be re - elected with
great majorities although all of their organizations had been driven
underground by the British
Imperial Government forces under
Lord
French. The
time had come were the Irish were finally compelled to meet the
British Imperial Government forces
head on, as those in authority in England had
always compelled them to do over the many Centuries, if they ever wanted any common rights or justice at all
in Ireland.
December 19th: David Lloyd - George the British Coalition Prime Minister in anticipation of having to settle with the elected political Sinn Fein Party and appease public opinion, especially in America, now put forward a “Better Government of Ireland Bill“ / Partition Bill for 2 divided Parliaments in Ireland, with one in the north - east, and one in the north and the south, composed of 26 Representatives from each Parliament, who would eventually set up a Parliament for all of Ireland, or there would be 46 M.P.s at Westminster with Ireland as a Colony, if either Parliament did not function. Those in the South said "No" to his Partition of Ireland Act, while Edward Carson the leader of the Official Unionists accepted a final solution on his terms only, for the 6 Counties that he wanted to control in the Ulster Province to continue on with the Ascendancy, although there were 400,000 Irish Nationalists still living in there in there own Country.
During the year
14 R.I.C police had been killed, and
20
were
wounded, and
Lord French
the British Imperial Government's appointed Commander - in - Chief in Ireland
had since dismissed the
Catholic
Inspector General Sir
Joseph Byrne,
and offered
3,000
pounds for information on any shooting at an
R.I.C policeman, and he now advertised in
England
for
fresh recruits to
further bolster the
British Imperial Armed forces in
Ireland.
Arthur Griffith, the Acting - President of the 1st Dail Eireann, now wrote to Eammon de Valera and advised him that the Irish Cabinet wanted him to stay in the U.S.A. and finish off his projects there, and that they feared he would be arrested by the British Coalition Government if he returned to Ireland.
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