Week 5 - The Proclamation of the Irish Republic
The 1916 Proclamation of the Irish Republic was a document issued by the Irish volunteers and the Irish Citizen Army proclaiming Irish Independence.
The document consisted of a number of assertions:
- that the Rising's leaders spoke for Ireland (a claim historically made by Irish insurrectionary movements);
- that the Rising marked another wave of attempts to achieve independence through force of arms;
- that the Irish Republican Brotherhood, the Irish Volunteers and the Irish Citizen Army were central to the Rising;
- "the right of the people of Ireland to the ownership of Ireland"
- that the form of government was to be a republic;
- a guarantee of "religious and civil liberty, equal rights and equal opportunities to all its citizens", the first mention of gender equality, given that Irish women under British law were not allowed to vote;
- a commitment to universal suffrage, a phenomenon limited at the time to only a handful of countries, not including Britain;
- a promise of "cherishing all the children of the nation equally". Although these words have been quoted since the 1990s by children's rights advocates, "children of the nation" refers to all Irish people;[1]
- disputes between nationalists and unionists are attributed to "differences carefully fostered by an alien government", a rejection of what was later dubbed two-nations theory.
The Proclamation was signed by:
- Thomas J. Clarke
- Seán Mac Diarmada
- Thomas MacDonagh
- P. H. Pearse
- Éamonn Ceannt
- James Connolly
- Joseph Plunkett
It was later read by Padraig Pearse outside the GPO signalling the start of the Easter Rising. Watche here the reinactment of this event at the recent 100 year anniversary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OFq2KxG9UY
The words can be read here:
POBLACHT NA hÉIREANN
THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT
OF THE
IRISH REPUBLIC
TO THE PEOPLE OF IRELAND
IRISHMEN AND IRISHWOMEN: In the name of God and of the dead generations from which she receives her old tradition of nationhood, Ireland, through us, summons her children to her flag and strikes for her freedom.
Having organised and trained her manhood through her secret revolutionary organisation, the Irish Republican Brotherhood, and through her open military organisations, the Irish Volunteers and the Irish Citizen Army, having patiently perfected her discipline, having resolutely waited for the right moment to reveal itself, she now seizes that moment, and supported by her exiled children in America and by gallant allies in Europe, but relying in the first on her own strength, she strikes in full confidence of victory.
We declare the right of the people of Ireland to the ownership of Ireland and to the unfettered control of Irish destinies, to be sovereign and indefeasible. The long usurpation of that right by a foreign people and government has not extinguished the right, nor can it ever be extinguished except by the destruction of the Irish people.
In every generation the Irish people have asserted their right to national freedom and sovereignty; six times during the past three hundred years they have asserted it in arms. Standing on that fundamental right and again asserting it in arms in the face of the world, we hereby proclaim the Irish Republic as a Sovereign Independent State, and we pledge our lives and the lives of our comrades in arms to the cause of its freedom, of its welfare, and of its exaltation among the nations.
The Irish Republic is entitled to, and hereby claims, the allegiance of every Irishman and Irishwoman. The Republic guarantees religious and civil liberty, equal rights and equal opportunities to all its citizens, and declares its resolve to pursue the happiness and prosperity of the whole nation and of all its parts, cherishing all of the children of the nation equally, and oblivious of the differences carefully fostered by an alien Government, which have divided a minority from the majority in the past.
Until our arms have brought the opportune moment for the establishment of a permanent National Government, representative of the whole people of Ireland and elected by the suffrages of all her men and women, the Provisional Government, hereby constituted, will administer the civil and military affairs of the Republic in trust for the people.
We place the cause of the Irish Republic under the protection of the Most High God, Whose blessing we invoke upon our arms, and we pray that no one who serves that cause will dishonour it by cowardice, inhumanity, or rapine. In this supreme hour the Irish nation must, by its valour and discipline, and by the readiness of its children to sacrifice themselves for the common good, prove itself worthy of the august destiny to which it is called.
Signed on behalf of the Provisional Government:
THOMAS J. CLARKE
SEAN Mac DIARMADA THOMAS MacDONAGH
P. H. PEARSE EAMONN CEANNT
JAMES CONNOLLY JOSEPH PLUNKETT
SEAN Mac DIARMADA THOMAS MacDONAGH
P. H. PEARSE EAMONN CEANNT
JAMES CONNOLLY JOSEPH PLUNKETT
The Black and Tans ( Dúchrónaigh), officially The Royal Irish Constabulary ) was the police force in Ireland from the early nineteenth century until 1922. A separate civic police force, the unarmed Dublin Metropolitan Police controlled the capital, and the cities of Derry and Belfast, originally with their own police forces, later had special divisions within the RIC. With 75% Roman Catholic.
ReplyDeleteThe British government under Lloyd George proposed autonomous governments in Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland and also deployed new corps of paramilitary police from Britain, the Black and Tans and Auxiliary Division, made up largely of war veterans from the First World War. Lloyd George also passed the Restoration of Order in Ireland Act, giving special powers to the police and military. This led to a grave escalation of the conflict as the new forces carried out reprisals on the civilian population for IRA attacks – for example in the summer of 1920 burning extensive parts of the towns of Balbriggan and Tuam.
In the north there was severe rioting in Belfast, Derry and in Lurgan after a IRA killing of two northern Protestant police officers. After which loyalists attacked Catholic areas; up to 100 people were killed and hundreds of Catholic homes burnt out. Another 7,000 Catholics were expelled from their jobs in the Belfast shipyards. By the end of 1920 some 300 people had been killed. There were attempts to call a truce in December but this was prevented by Hamar Greenwood, the Chief Secretary for Ireland who insisted that the IRA surrender its weapons first. In the first 6 months of 1921, around 1,000 people were killed in the fighting. By the summer of 1921, the IRA was very short of ammunition and weapons and many fighters had been imprisoned, notably in the raid on the Customs House in Dublin. British forces claimed they were on the verge of defeating them but the guerrillas had also improved their bomb making capabilities, were still inflicting casualties and no immediate end was in sight to the conflict. The fighting was brought to an end however, on July 11, 1921, when a truce was negotiated between British and Irish Republican forces so that talks on a political settlement could begin. The truce allowed the IRA to regroup, recruit and train openly. Many of their activists believed at first that it was just a temporary end to hostilities.