1922 AD - 7 / September to December
September: With
the recent death of Michael Collins,
General
Richard Mulcahy
the Commander of the Irish National Army,
was hoping now
that common sense would prevail,
and in an attempt to end the hostility from the
anti - Treaty
group, he met with the original anti -
Treaty leader, Eamonn de Valera
at Dr. Farnan's
in Merrion Square
in
Dublin,
but once again, Eamonn de Valera still denied the
Anglo - Irish
Treaty.
- Meanwhile, Liam Lynch
as the Chief of Staff
of the
anti - Treaty Irregular IRA
issued an order prohibiting any
reprisals.
September
9th:
William Thomas
Cosgrave,
the Chairman
and
Minister of Finance
of the
Irish
Provisional
Government came forward to create stability as the
Chairman and the
President of the
3rd Dail Eireann / Irish Assembly
until
1923
and he founded the
Cumann na nGaedheal
Party
to take office in the proposed Irish Free State.
He
refused to try and make any further attempts
at
peace with
Eamonn de Valera, who also now came out and denounced the Irish
Free State
Government as a
British
tool, while the Irish Parliamentary Party,
originally so strong, had
by now totally disintegrated.
The
Irish
Provisional Government now under
William T. Cosgrave,
authorised the
Irish National Army to execute any
prisoners carrying guns or
attacking the
Irish National Army troops
on public or private
property, and introduced the
Emergency Powers Bill.
October 3rd:
William T. Cosgrave
as the Chairman of
the
Irish Provisional Government
offered
Amnesty to all of the
anti -
Treaty
IRA
Irregulars, as it was intended
to begin
Military Courts
on October 15th, and
he also
stated that if
any IRA Irregular operations occurred where there were any
anti
- Treaty prisoners being held they could be executed.
- (Windham Thomas Wyndham Quin
and
William Butler Yeats
were to become Senators
in the proposed Irish Free State,
but the great old Labour
stalwart,
William O Brien,
declined).
October: Meanwhile in England,
David Lloyd -
George
the British Imperial
Coalition Prime Minister
was forced to resign over the debacle that
had recently occurred in
Turkey under his leadership, and Andrew Bonar - Law the
Conservative leader became the new British Conservative Prime Minister until
1923.
October 17th:
The Irregular IRA Army Executive
met at
Mrs.
Nugent's
house in
Ballybacon, were
Eammon de Valera now put forward a new
proposal that they should set up a rival, "Emergency
Republican Government," with him as the
President,
although he now had no popular support in
Ireland.
October 22nd:
The
Irish Catholic Bishops came out in support of the
Irish
Provisional
Government and the proposed
Irish Free State and denounced the anti - Treaty
Irregular IRA.
November:
An
illegitimate anti - Treaty IRA Irregular rival
"Emergency Republican
Government" was now set up with
Eammon de Valera as it's
President,
Austin Stack
as their
Minister for Finance,
P.J. Rutledge
as their
Minister for Home Affairs,
Sean T. O Kelly
as their
Minister for Local Government,
Robert Barton
as their
Minister for Economic Affairs,
and
Liam Mellows
as their
Minister of Defence
although he
was still locked up in
Mountjoy Jail,
while
Liam Lynch
was to be their
Chief of Staff and become
responsible for their Defence.
November: 5
IRA Irregulars
were executed under
Irish Government
orders,
so
Liam Lynch the IRA Irregulars Chief of Staff issued an order to the
IRA Irregular's
Dublin Brigades for
9
members of the
Irish Provisional Government forces to also be executed,
while another
2
Members of the
Irish Parliament
were to be captured.
He
also gave permission for the
Commandant of the IRA Irregular's 1st Dublin Brigade
to deal with all those who
had
voted for the decree, and
Eammon de Valera once again, did not disapprove of
their actions.
Following on from this another
2
of
the IRA Irregulars were executed by the
Irish
Provisional Government.
November 10th:
Erskine Childers
was arrested at
Robert Barton's house
in
Amiamoe in
Co. Wicklow
in the south - east of Southern Leinster for issuing publicity in favour of the
anti - Treaty
IRA Irregulars,
although he was not supposed to be engaged in the conflict, but he had been sent to
Dublin
by
Liam Lynch
the IRA Irregulars Chief of Staff to serve the cause
of the
anti - Treaty group.
November 17th:
The last of the
British
Imperial Government Army forces
were finally gone from Ireland, and the
Irish
Provisional Government began their
Military Courts
and 2
of the pro - Treaty Deputies
who had voted for the Military Court
were then shot by the anti - Treaty
Irregular IRA,
including
Sean Hales
who was killed outright, while the other
Deputy
was only wounded. With the added death of
Sean Hales, this
immediately brought about the execution of
77 members of the
IRA
Irregulars
who had been previously condemned and the sudden shock of it all was
to basically to bring about the
end to the
Irish Civil War.
The Irregular IRA
now intended to kill all of the
members of the 3rd
Irish Dail
Eireann on site.
November 24th:
Erskine Childers,
although defended by
Michael Comyn,
was
also
executed at
Beggar's Bush Barracks for
carrying a gun, (It had been originally given to him by
Michael Collins
for his protection.) Sean
Lemass who was to be
a future Prime
Minister of Ireland who was a comrade
of
Eamonn de Valera, and who had been
opposed to the
Treaty, was also imprisoned.
December
3rd:
An
Agreement was signed to retain the artificial
border, which divided the
6
Counties artificially partitioned by the
British Imperial Government from the whole 9 in the
Ulster Province, to appease the
"Official" Ascendancy Unionists, who themselves
would not appoint a representative.
Eoin Mac Neill who
was now the
Minister for Education
in the
Irish
Provisional
Government was to resign after acting on their behalf
as its only representative against the
2 British
Imperial Government's appointed representatives,
where he was naturally outvoted. They attempted to
remove further territory also from
Co. Donegal,
which had been one
of the other 3 Counties there in
Ulster that had too many
Catholic Irish in them
to ensure total Ascendancy control there.
December 5th: George V the German Saxe - Coburg King of Britain signed the Constitution of the Irish Free State under the British - Irish Free State Act.
December 6th:
The
Irish
Free State came into force and all of those who were elected to serve in it's
Parliament were
now
forced to swear the
Oath of Allegiance
to the German
Saxe - Coburg British King before
Michael O Aodha the
Speaker, who had been authorised by the
British Governor - General
to
administer it. (The
Irish Republican anti - Treaty
members did not
attend.) During the unrest of the
Irish Civil
War, 10 - 11,000
anti - Treaty IRA Irregular supporters
had been
arrested, and
Liam Lynch
the IRA Irregular Chief of Staff
always operated independently of the original anti - Treaty
leader,
Eammon de Valera,
who was supposed to be the
President of
the IRA Irregular rival "Emergency Republican
Government."
December 7th:
The "Official"
Unionist Government in the
6 Counties
artificially partitioned from the
9 in the
Ulster
Province, to
continue on with the Ascendancy in
Ireland, appealed to the British Crown
to be excluded from the
Irish Free State.
December 8th:
Rory O Connor, Liam Mellowes, Richard Barrett
and
Joseph Mac Kelvey
the original anti - Treaty IRA Irregular leaders at the
Four Courts garrison were
now also
executed in
Mountjoy Jail, and the other
Irregular IRA
members attacked the houses and property of the members of the
Irish Free State
Government,
and
Sean Mac Garry's
young son
was burnt to death in his own home during one of their
raids and later on they
were to even take hostages.
Eamonn de
Valera at this time asked
Liam Lynch the IRA Irregular Chief of Staff to stop the reprisals, but he refused.
- George Gavin Duffy
resigned as the Minister
for
Foreign Affairs and also from
the
Irish Free State
Government.
-
Maude Gonne
Mac Bride became the
1st Secretary of the
Womens Prisoner Defence League and
Countess
Markievicz had supported the
Irregular
IRA in the Civil
War.
-The
Irish Free State
Government
under the Congested Districts Board.
introduced compulsory land
purchase and many of the previous
Ascendancy families now left
Ireland altogether.
-
Frank Fahy
from the
Gaelic League Peace Committee made
contact with
Austin Stack
to try and
arrange a Truce,
but
Liam Lynch
the Chief of
Staff for the IRA Irregulars was determined
to continue on with the fight.
Ireland was now divided into 2 artificial parts. (2 Parliaments), The 6 Counties artificially partitioned from the 9 in the Ulster Province were separated by the British Imperial Government from Ireland, and the German Saxe - Coburg British King George V was to open their newly formed "Northern Ireland" Parliament in Belfast in Co. Antrim. Sir James Craig, who had succeeded Sir Edward Carson, as the Ascendancy "Official" Unionist leader under the control of the British Imperial Government, immediately proclaimed Martial Law there. Elections were held with the "Official" Unionists in complete control, who naturally gained 16 seats to the political Sinn Fein Party's 4, and the Irish Nationalists 1. In the Local Government elections for the Commons there, composed of 52 seats, the "Official" Unionists controlled 34 seats, while in the Senate, composed of 46 seats the "Official" Unionists controlled 26 seats. Out of the Westminster House of Commons elections for 12 seats, the Ascendancy "Official" Unionists controlled the whole 12 seats. In Derry City the number of voters allowed to vote were: Non - Catholics 31,620. Catholics 18,479. Wards: Although there were actually 3 they were only to be elected for 2. All of the Irish Nationalists voters were crammed into 1 Ward with only 8 members, while in the 2 "Official" Unionist Wards there was to be 12, giving a majority and the ability to always outvote and change the rules whenever it suited.
The
Ascendancy "Official"
Unionist Government, in the 6 Counties artificially
partitioned
from the 9 in the Ulster Province,
under their leader
James Craig
informed the
British
Imperial Government
that they
would go on
the offensive if there was any alteration to the
artificial border that
was now used
to separate the 6 Counties from the other
26
Counties of Ireland. They also took this opportunity to
"officially" opt out of the
All Ireland
Government, and
the
British Imperial Government
then
appointed
James Hamilton the
3rd Duke of Abercorn as
their Governor
until
194?.
Andrew Bonar - Law,
who was now the British Conservative Imperial Prime Minister and the
Conservatives dragged their feet
over
the
partition border
Boundary Commission, while
James Craig continued to refuse to nominate a
representative to it.
Also to firmly entrench the
Ascendancy there in the 6 Counties in
Ulster under their control, their "first act" was to abolish
Proportional Representation
for Local Elections.
Another 232
people
were to be killed
this year in the 6 Counties in
Ulster, including
5 "Official" Unionist M.P.s,
while
1,000 people there were
to be wounded over voting rights.
Only
70,000 land holdings now remained unpurchased
in the whole of Ireland, with 3/4
of these in the
Irish Free State,
and both Partitioned Governments in Ireland were to pass compulsory
legislation to force the remaining Land Lords to sell their Estates.