1920 AD - 6 / December
December 1st: Dr.
Clune
the Catholic Archbishop of Perth
in Western Australia
was
asked by
David Lloyd - George
the
British Imperial Prime Minister
to postpone
his journey back to
Australia, as he
wanted him to put a proposal to
Arthur Griffith the Acting - President of
the
1st Dail Eireann
/ 1st Irish Assembly
who was being held as a
British Government prisoner in Mountjoy Jail in
Dublin in
Ireland, for a
Truce leading on to
Peace.
December 4th: In
reality due to Arthur Griffith's incarceration Michael Collins
was now the Acting
- President of the 1st Dail Eireann
/ 1st Irish Assembly
and he met with
Dr.
Clune
instead, and he agreed to
proceed further with the discussions of a Truce. During this period, unknown to
Arthur Griffith or
Michael Collins, other independent moves for
Peace had been
previously made in the meantime, by other interested parties in
Ireland.
Although they had did this
with the very best of intentions, this unfortunately led
David
Lloyd - George the British Coalition Prime Minister
to now believe that his brutal methods were
finally working, and that he was
by now actually winning the Anglo
- Irish War. (The chance
for this early opportunity of a Truce had been lost.)
Their independent actions in personally intervening, were to force
Michael Collins
to have to put out a statement that the
people of Ireland should not be
stampeded by any false promises and any foolish ill - timed actions, but should,
"hold fast."
December 9th:
Archbishop Clune
met again with David
Lloyd George the British
Imperial Government's Prime
Minister, who was now
more sure of
his own Imperial position, and he told Archbishop Clune that he had decided the British
Government would not proceed any further at this stage
with Truce negotiations, giving as his
reason, "Bloody Sunday." He
advised Archbishop
Clune that he
would only meet in the future with the members of the
1st Dail Eireann,
which did not include
Michael Collins
and
Richard Mulcahy, and he also told
Archbishop
Clune that he should instruct both of
these Irishmen that they should leave
Ireland if they knew what was good
for them.
The
British
Imperial Government's Cameron Highlanders
who were then to shoot dead a blacksmith in
Co. Cork were taken on by the
I.R.A. Volunteers
who defeated
them in Cork City
where they also captured
12 of their rifles and the
British Imperial Government's Military barracks at
Mallow in
Co. Cork were
an R.I.C. Sgt. was also killed. The
British Government's Essex Regiment
there also shot a
man dead at Kilbrittain
in
Co. Cork so the
I.R.A. Volunteers
took them on
also, and
killed 4
of them, also capturing
their arms and ammunition.
10 members of the I.R.A. Volunteers
from the Cork Brigade
also
commandeered a British Government's Naval
sloop at Bantry
Bay and secured all
of their arms and ammunition too, and at
Coolavokig in
Co. Cork during a battle
there 16
of the
Black & Tan Auxiliaries were killed by the
I.R.A. Volunteers, including
Major
Seafield - Grant while
another
18 of
them were wounded. The
I.R.A. Volunteers
also attacked a
5
vehicle
British Imperial Government Army convoy at
Clonbanin in Co. Cork
who were
under the command of
Brigadier
General H.B. Cummins who was killed during the conflict
while he was
using an Irishman as a
hostage
in his own car. The
I.R.A. Volunteers,
under the leadership of
Tom Barry,
also defeated
900 British Military
forces at
Crossbarry in
Co. Cork,
and were piped on by
Florence Begley who played
Irish war music, with
300
of the
British Government's Essex Regiment
being under
the command of
Major
Percival. 70 members of the
I.R.A. Volunteers
attacked
4
truck loads of
British Government Auxiliaries
at
Rathcoole were the
I. R.A. Volunteers suffered no
casualties at all, but half of the British
Government
Auxiliaries were killed and
wounded.
The Black & Tan
- Auxiliaries retaliated the next day by just generally carrying out
indiscriminate raids throughout the region there and burning the homes and the buildings
of the Irish population there, while killing many innocent
people in the process. At
Middleton in
Co. Cork
12 British Government Cameron Highlanders
and a member of the R.I.C.
were attacked by
10 members
of the I.R.A. Volunteers
who
also captured their arms with out any injuries occurring and that night the
Cameron Highlanders
raided and shot up the town of
Middleton in retaliation. The
British Government's Hampshire Regiment
who were backed
up by their Black & Tans
attacked
a farm house at Clonmult
in
Co. Cork,
which they burnt down, and killed
2 members of the
I.R.A. Volunteers
with another
16
men still trapped in the house,
and of these
7
surrendered, and the
British Military officer stopped them from
killing 3
others and one who
was wounded, and they also captured the other
3
wounded together with another
6, with
2
of these
then being
hanged in
Cork Jail
and
the others imprisoned.
The British Government forces under
Major General
Philip Armstrong - Holmes,
who replaced
Smyth as the
British Divisional Commissioner of the
R.I.C. Black & Tans,
was attacked by the
I.R.A. Volunteers
who
defeated them,
sending all their wounded to the County infirmary. The next day the
Black & Tans fired on a
football
match were they killed the young
Kelleher
who was only 14 years of age and wounded
2
nine year old boys, while bombing
and burning the homes and shops of the Irish
population at
Bally Desmond in Co. Cork.
The British
Government forces were
now desperately scouring the
Co. Cork
countryside, endeavouring to get at any member of the
I.R.A. Volunteers, and
as usual the general Irish
population were the ones who were really made to suffer accordingly.
December 11th: The
British Imperial Government Cabinet now
decided they would break up the
Irish
Republicans in
Ireland first, and proclaimed
British Martial Law in the
south of
Ireland also, and demanded the surrender
of all Irish
arms, and also
offered safe conduct to some
members of the
1st Dail Eireann / Irish Assembly to
discuss their Peace
proposals. The
business area, in the City of Cork was placed under
British Martial Law
and
was then burned and looted by the
Black & Tans - R.I.C. and their
Auxiliaries assisted by the
British Military Armed forces, with the City Hall and the
Public Library then burnt down they also
cut the fire hoses and fired on
the firemen who came to assist and the people who tried to give a hand generally. They also killed the
2 Delaney
brothers in
their beds in front of their family on
Dublin Hill in
the City of Cork,
and caused
3,000,000 pounds
worth of damage to the City itself and their violent actions on this particular occasion were to cause great
disgust even in England and all
over the rest of the
World. The
I.R.A. Volunteers stood by on this occasion and did not interfere in the
ongoing mayhem, as
all the British Government was
really doing now was recruiting more members for the cause
of Irish Independence from their
scathing Imperial rule.
December 13th: Archbishop
Clune
who was
from West Australia met with
Arthur Griffith
and
Eoin Mac Neill the
representatives of the 1st Dail Eireann in their
British Imperial Government confinement in
Mountjoy Jail in Dublin where they decided against him going
once again to see
Michael Collins
as they knew that he
was being
followed by the British Government agents to try and catch
Michael Collins.
To increase
British Imperial Government pressure further on the population in
Ireland the British Government Military forces now attacked any of the
buildings
"officially" to try and drive out the followers of the
political
Sinn Fein Party
and also many prominent Irish people
were now taken around in chains on the back of their
British Military trucks as hostages. The
British Government's "Murder Squad"
continued to carry
out their assassinations in the Dublin area, including that of the
I.R.A. Volunteer,
Howlett
/ Huileid in the daytime, and at the railway station, for all
of the Irish population who were there at the time, to see.
December 18th:Despite
the risk Michael Collins
nevertheless met with
Archbishop
Clune anyway, where it was decided not to continue any further with
the talks with David Lloyd - George the British
Imperial Government's Prime Minister, as the proposed conditions of the I.
R.A,
Volunteers surrendering up their arms was not acceptable, as
this was really to capitulate on any terms.
Archbishop Clune reported back to
Lloyd - George on the discussions, and also informed him that he
personally was
not happy with his whole approach, as
Lloyd - George had previously gone back on his word.
December 21st:
Even the Loyalist Unionists
in the City of Cork wanted a
genuine inquiry carried out
into the rampage of their City,
but the British
Imperial Cabinet,
refused and instead handed
it over to their own British
Government Military Commander,
General
Strickland, and they refused
to publish even his findings.
Sir Hamar Greenwood
who was
still in
control of Ireland
for
the British Government,
stated
in the British Westminster Parliament
that
the perpetrators of the disaster there in Cork City were not known to him. He
told them that he believed the
Irish
people
themselves had set
fire to the City, as there was no evidence that it was carried out by
the British
Military forces, even though
everyone in the City of
Cork had seen
them carrying it out. Sir
Henry Wilson the
"Official Unionist,"
who had been born in the Ulster Province, and
who was now the
British
Chief of the Imperial General Staff also wanted to carry out further
"official" reprisals on the
Irish
population in Ireland.
December 23rd:
Eamonn de Valera the
President of the 1st Dail Eireann
/ Irish Assembly returned to
Ireland from America on the
S.S.
Celtic were he was met by
Tom Cullen and was boarded at
Dr. Farnans were
Cathal Brugha
/ Charles
Burgess came to see him personally.
December 24th:
Michael
Collins
was nearly captured on this day again, along with
Liam Tobin, Tom Cullen,
Gearoid O Sullivan and
Rory O Connor at the
Gresham Hotel, by the
Auxiliaries who then let them go after interrogating them,
and the British
Imperial Government forces then raided the bicycle shop were the grenades were
being manufactured for the I. R.A. Volunteers in
Dublin. They waited to trap what they thought was
to be the
unsuspecting members of the
I. R.A. Volunteers, who
in the meantime had been warned of their intentions, who then shifted their enterprise to
Luke Street, which was then also
raided, so many other ammunition sites were then set up throughout
Dublin. The
Flying
Columns of the I.R.A. Volunteers
/ Irish Republican Army were now also active in
Co.
Longford in the north - west
of
Northern
Leinster and in the south of
Ireland, where they were able to garrison in with the
Irish population in each area.
December 25th:
Eamonn de Valera the President of the
1st
Dail Eireann / 1st Irish Assembly who was now back in
Ireland was introduced
to
Erskine - Childers, an
Englishman, who was not a member of
the 1st Dail Eireann, by
Michael Collins,
and
Eamonn de Valera was to
make him the Director of Publicity
to replace
Desmond Fitz Gerald
who had
also since been arrested.
Arthur Griffith
was to be
against the appointment as he considered him a disgruntled
Englishman and as such could revert to his previous allegiance at
any time and
Cathal Brugha was against his
appointment
also on the grounds
that he was an
Ex - English Army officer. Liam Mellowes
also returned
from America
again, and was
appointed the Director of Purchases
for the
I.R.A. Volunteers, due
to
Joseph Vize
also
still being held prisoner
in the Mountjoy Jail in
Dublin, who under the
I.R.B.
had previously bought in
arms through Glasgow
and
Liverpool with
Neill Kerr,
and
Piaras Beaslaoi / Peter
Beasley was appointed the
Director of Publicity for the
I. R.A. Volunteers.
The
British Imperial Government
now increased
their British Military forces to
50,000 regular
British Army soldiers and
15,000 R.I.C. Black & Tan Auxiliaries
to continue to try and continue to hold
their authoritarian control over the population in
Ireland. The
British Imperial Cabinet also allowed the
Ascendancy, in the
6 Counties
artificially partitioned from
the 9 Counties in the
Ulster Province
to raise a
Class "B" Police Force
known as the
"B Specials"
who were
also to carry weapons.
By this time 11,000,000 acres had been returned into the hands of the Irish people, while another 2,000,000 acres were still under negotiation.
The
Friends of Irish Freedom in America
by now
had raised $900,000
of which
$150,000 only was to
be spent in Ireland, while
the other $750,000 was listed
for convincing the
League of
Nations that had by now been set up on
January 10th,
to
recognize
Ireland's natural rights
to Self -
Determination,
but
America
was still not a member.
The British Imperial Government had brought in the Restoration of Order Act - Government of Ireland Act 1920 in England, which was to "officially" create the artificial partition of Ireland into 2 parts and also into 2 Parliaments, while still retaining their Imperial Supremacy over them with a Council of Ireland for certain matters, with a merging of both if it was desired later on. Because of this artificial partition of Ireland the "Official Unionists" in the 6 Counties in the Ulster Province were to abandon all of the other Loyalist Unionists who lived in the other 3 Counties, and their link with the rest of Britain was also weakened. In these 6 Counties that were still to be under the control of the British Imperial Government and the "Official Unionist" Government 455 people were to be killed and 1726 were to be wounded.