Ireland and the Union, 1815-1922



Dáil ?ireann in its message to the Free Nations [declares a ‘state of war’ to exist between Ireland and England. It] further declares that the state of war can never be ended until the English military invader evacuates our country, a fact which has been recognised and acted on by the Volunteers almost from their inception..We thus have a clear issue laid down, not by any body that could be termed ‘militarist’ or ‘extremist’ but by the accredited representatives of the Irish people met in solemn session, in a document drawn up with the utmost care and full sense of responsibility, and unanimously adopted.The ‘state of war’ thus declared…justifies the Irish Volunteers in treating the armed forces of the enemy – whether soldiers or policemen – exactly as a National Army would treat members of an invading army. It is necessary that this point should be clearly grasped by Volunteers. Every volunteer is entitled, morally and legally, when in the execution of his military duties, to use all legitimate methods of warfare against the soldiers and policemen of the English usurper and to slay them if it be necessary to do so in order to overcome their resistance. He is not only entitled but bound to resist all attempts to disarm him.Part of an article which appeared in the Volunteers’ journal, An t?glach, 31 January 1919.They had a special technique. Fast lorries of them would come roaring into a village, the occupants would jump out, firing shots and ordering all the inhabitants out of doors. No exceptions were allowed. Men and women, old and young, the sick and the decrepit were lined up against the walls with their hands up, questioned and searched. No raid was ever carried out by these ex-officers without their beating up with the butt ends of their revolvers, at least a half-dozen people. They were no respecters of persons and seemed to particularly dislike the Catholic priests.From Tom Barry, Guerrilla Days in Ireland, published in 1949. Tom Barry was a prominent member of the IRA. Here he describes the actions of the Black and Tans.At the age of twelve I was full of hatred towards my fellow countrymen. I did not know the republican movement included many who were not in sympathy with those who decided to shoot their way to freedom…To me every Republican was a gunman and the guns were pointed towards those I loved. Those on every side were my enemies and I hated every one of them.I was an uncompromising unapologetic West Briton…[In 1920 his father was sent to Co. Down]. On our last morning one of the sergeants in the barrack came to help mother get her family and possessions on the train…Shortly after we arrived…we read in the paper that the sergeant…had been shot dead…He was going home unarmed one night when eight bullets were fired into him from a sdark entry. Later we learned of the death of the merry little man who was the organiser of our games in the yard. Then Charlie was killed. He was a young constable used to…lift us, each in turn unto the saddle (of his cycle) and walk us around the yard all the time chattering nonsense in his Co. Clare accent. Riding along a country road on his shining bicycle Charlie was shot odwn and the news saddened four small boys in [Co. Down].Patrick Shea, Voices and the Sound of Drums, Belfast, 1981, pp.37-42. Patrick Shea’s father was a Catholic from a small Kerry farm who had joined the RIC. Up to 1920 he served in Athlone, then he was moved to Co. Down. Patrick here recalls his early years in Athlone.The RIC were at this time distributed in small detachments throughout the country, quartered in ‘barracks’, which consisted, in the vast majority of cases, of small houses, adjoining other buildings, quite indefensible and entirely at the mercy of disloyal inhabitants. The ranks of the force had already been depleted by murders, and many men, through intimidation of themselves or more often of their families, had been reduced to resign. Although, in the main, a loyal body of men their moral [sic] had diminished, and only two courses were open to their detachments; to adopt a policy of laissez faire [leave things alone] and live, or actively to enforce law and order and be in hourly danger of murder.Lieutenant-General Sir Hugh Jeudwine written in an intelligence document called ‘Record of the Rebellion in Ireland in 1920-21 and the Part Played by the Army in Dealing With It’, in 1922.171450-9461500An anonymous cartoon entitled ‘A Bit of a Mouthful’ published in 1922. The Anglo-Irish Treaty was signed in London on 6 December 1921, effectively ending the War of Independence. This anti-Treaty handbill depicts Michael Collins ramming the Treaty down the throat of an Irish Citizen, under threat of violence. ................
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