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CIIRISH REBELLION
OF 1916

JOHN F. BOYLE

THE IRISH REBELLION
OF 1916

A BRIEF HISTORT OF THE REVOLT
4ND ITS SUPPRESSION

JOHN F. BOYLE

LONDON

CONSTABLE AND COMPANY LIMITED
1916

The Map and Plan are included by permission of the
Proprietors of THE TIMES.

PREFACE

MY aim in writing this short account of
the Rebellion that broke out in Ireland
during Easter-week, 1916, has been to pre-
sent the facts in a clear and lucid manner,
so that a just appreciation of what actually
occurred may be gleaned by readers in
Great Britain and Ireland as well as
abroad. The facts I have set forth are
obtained from official sources, as well as
from the accounts of the rising that ap-
peared in the Press from well-informed
correspondents. It has been a task of
considerable difficulty to collate and re-
arrange them so that a complete and
graphic pen-picture of the whole affair may
result from the chaos, but I trust the work
will be found to have been at least not
negligently performed in the following

PREFACE

pages. It is too early yet to estimate the
real causes of the revolt or its probable
consequences, and I have ventured no
opinions, merely confining myself to as
plain and impartial a presentation of the
actual facts as I could, under all the cir-
cumstances, set forth.

JOHN F. BOYLE.

CONTENTS

PAGE

INTRODUCTION II

The Sinn Fein movement.

CHAPTER ONE.

THE RISING IN DUBLIN 27

The Irish or Sinn Fein Volunteers — Their rise,
progress, and objects — No secrecy about the
movement — Open hostility to Great Britain — Their
efforts to obtain arms — Germany and Ireland —
Anti-recruiting newspapers in Dublin — Causes that
led to the rebellion — A fateful Easter Monday —
General Post Office and other buildings seized —
An Irish Republic proclaimed — Insurgents publish
a newspaper — Their successes and failures — The
position after the first two days.

CHAPTER TWO.

STREET FIGHTING 68

Martial Law in Dublin — The barricades — A Com-
mune similarity — Shooting from houses — Fighting
at Fairview — Troops hold railway line — Poland's
Bakery — A clever rebel ruse — The Mount Street
Bridge affray — Soldiers attacked — Heavy losses
of the Sherwood Foresters — Firing from villa resi-
dences and from shrubberies — Painful plight of
families — Stephen's Green — How the insurgents
were driven out — Jacob's Factory — Insurgents in

CONTENTS

PAGE

possession — An abundance of food — South Dublin
Union — Heavy and continuous fighting — The Four
Courts — Sniping in lanes and alleys — Difficulties
of the troops — Liberty Hall destroyed by a gunboat.

CHAPTER THREE.

END OF THE DUBLIN REVOLT ... ... 95

The military cordon closes in — Insurgents trapped —
Official reports — Sackville Street in flames — Awful
scenes of devastation — The surrender of the leaders
— What Pearse signed — The Countess Markievicz
— Her dramatic capture — An account of her career
— Isolated fighting — The appearance of the rank
and file — Their occupations — How they fought —
King's tribute to his troops — Last snipers rounded
up in Dublin.

CHAPTER FOUR.

OUTBREAKS IN THE COUNTRY 127

What happened in Kerry — The Casement fiasco — Small
rising in Louth — Serious County Dublin attempt —
Police barracks captured — Post Offices raided —
Telegraph wires cut — The Ashbourne tragedy —
Eight policemen shot dead and twenty-three
wounded — The Enniscorthy insurrection — Town
captured and held for several days — The rising in
the West — Railway line torn up — Galway saved
by a gunboat — Country, as a whole, quiet.

CHAPTER FIVE.

THE DAMAGE TO DUBLIN 153

Fire and looting^How the capital suffered — The wreck
of Sackville Street — An appalling scene of ruin —
Wholesale robbery — Daring acts of the looters —

CONTENTS

PAGF

Shot by troops and by rebels alike — Stolen goods
hidden in churches — Shortage of supplies — Remark-
able effects of the revolt — Hundreds of innocent
people killed and wounded — Burials in gardens —
Firemen fired at when fighting the flames —
List of prominent buildings destroyed — Estimate of
the damage — The Government asked to pay.

CHAPTER SIX.

EXECUTIONS AND DEPORTATIONS l88

P. H. Pearse shot — The orator and inspirer of the
rebellion — His last poem — Thomas MacDonagh
dies — A gloomy poet — Clarke, the old Fenian, shot
at 74 years of age — Edmond Kent, the Sinn Feiner
— His end and his life-story — Joseph Plunkett —
His midnight marriage before execution — James
Connolly — An able leader — Nationalist or An-
archist?— John MacDermott — A troubled life —
Major McBride and the Boer War— Penal servitude
and deportations.

CHAPTER SEVEN.

PUBLIC OPINION AND THE REVOLT 221

Feeling in Great Britain — Amazement and disgust —
Government criticised — Lord Lieutenant of Ireland,
Chief Secretary, and Under Secretary resign — The
Colonies and the rebellion — Irish public bodies —
The rising denounced — M Worse than Huns " —
Gradual change in Irish Nationalist opinion —
Sympathy evoked by the executions — Alarm caused
by the arrests and deportations — Mr. Redmond's
views — Irish Party's manifesto — A new develop-
ment— Mr. Dillon's vehement speech — America and
the insurrection — The Irish-Americans — Germany's
glee — Use made in Berlin of the rebellion.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER EIGHT.

PAGE
AFTER THE REBELLION ... ... 243

Mr. Birrell's extraordinary admission — Peers indict the
Government — General Sir John Maxwell's powers
— Irish Catholic Bishops and the revolt — Nation-
alists and the Carsonite campaign — Conscription
and Ireland — Colonel Churchill's strange hint —
The military and civilian casualties in Ireland —
Mr. Asquith visits Dublin, Belfast, and Cork —
Speculations as to the causes — The Government
and the rebuilding of Dublin — Official announce-
ment— How the insurgents fought — British testi-
mony— Irish at the Front — Dismay caused by the
revolt — The Skeffington and North King Street
affairs — The Casement trial — The Royal Commis-
sion— Astonishing evidence by Sir Matthew Nathan
and Mr. Birrell.

CHAPTER NINE.

THE ROYAL COMMISSION 274

Sir Matthew Nathan's story — How the rebellion was
planned — Money from America and arms from
England — Why the Volunteers were not suppressed
— Mr. Birrell in the witness-box — His remarkable
evidence — Nationalist leaders and the Sinn Feiners
— His request for more troops — Reply of the War
Office — Lord Midleton examined — His warnings
to the Government — How they were treated — Lord
Wimborne and the Viceroy alty — His limited
powers — " An incredible rebellion " — Brighter hopes
for the future.

THE IRISH REBELLION
OF 1916

INTRODUCTION

THE SINN FEIN MOVEMENT

THE Irish words " Sinn Fein " mean,
literally, " Ourselves alone." Irishmen
should depend on themselves, and not on
outsiders — this was the essence of the
teaching in the Sinn Fein movement.
They should think in Irish, speak in Irish,
write in Irish, dress in Irish, develop Irish
resources, support Irish industries, and
generally progress on purely Irish lines.
This, too, was, in a great measure, the pro-
gramme of the Gaelic League, which was
founded some years in advance of the Sinn
Fein movement. There were, however,

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

wide divergences, at first, in the policies
of the Gaelic League and the Sinn Fein
movement. The Gaelic League was not
political. Its propaganda was purely edu-
cational. Its chief aims were to restore
the Irish language as a medium of con-
versation, to re-create an Irish literature in
the vernacular, to foster Irish games and
amusements, and in every way possible to
render Ireland a distinctive cultural entity.
It hoped to enlist in this work Protestant
and Catholic, Unionist and Nationalist,
and for this purpose it eschewed politics
and religion. Not alone was it non-poli-
tical, but it was also non-sectarian. The
Sinn Fein movement was, from the first,
political. It was Nationalist in the widest
and most extreme form of that word.
Founded in 1905, some five years or so
after the Gaelic League, to a large extent,
it left to the latter organisation the
educational work it might, under other cir-
cumstances, have itself undertaken, and
proceeded to supplement that work by the
wider means at its disposal owing to its

INTRODUCTION

freer constitution. Though strictly non-
sectarian, it was not, like the Gaelic
League, trammelled by non-political bonds,
and it was able to expound a policy and
formulate a programme that the Gaelic
League, committed as it then was to a
severe estrangement from all that politics
mean, could not undertake. The Sinn
Feiners, from the first, were dissatisfied
with, and disapproved of, the Irish repre-
sentation in the Imperial Parliament.
They held that, under the best circum-
stances, such representation was bound to
be prejudicial to Ireland, and, under the
worst, to be absolutely disastrous to the
country. They based this belief on the
futility that had followed nearly a hundred
years' agitation in the British Parliament
for a measure of self-government for Ire-
land. They were also convinced of the
truth of some saying attributed to Charles
Stewart Parnell that a couple of years in
the British Parliament was sufficient to sap
the nationality of even the strongest Irish-
man. Holding such views, it is not sur-

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

prising to find them, from the very start
of their movement, in deadly and uncom-
promising hostility tcTTEe" Irish Nationalist
Parliamentary Party. They hurled charges
against members of that Party. They
alleged that instead of attending to the true
interests of Ireland they spent the most of
their time in London or in the lobby of
the House of Commons seeking jobs of all
kinds for their friends and relations. They
asserted that the reasons why they never
pressed the Liberal Government, or tried
in any way to embarrass it, was because they
were too busy asking for personal favours.
When the payment of members of Parlia-
ment was adopted, and the Irish represen-
tatives received £400 a year, the scorn of
the Sinn Feiners passed all bounds. How
could anything virile, they asked, be ex-
pected from men who were in the pay of
the Government? Why should men in
receipt of such a salary be anxious to turn
the Government out, no matter what its
delinquencies were, when their livelihood
depended on its remaining in power?

INTRODUCTION

Pressing these questions to their logical
conclusions the Sinn Feiners urged that
the Irish representatives should withdraw
"From the British Parliament and devote
themselves to Ireland. The moral effect of
such an action would, according to the Sinn
Feiners, have been immense. Other sug-
gestions were for the establishment of
Irish Consuls. This was the sug-
gestion that caught the fancy of Sir
Roger Casement, who for years had been
in the British Consular Service. He be-
came interested in the Sinn Fein movement
and strongly supported the proposal that
Irish Consuls should be appointed in the
various large capitals of the world. The
primary object of these Consuls would be
to act as visible signs of the distinct nation-
ality of Ireland. Their secondary, and
equally important, purpose would be to
watch for opportunities for Irish trade and
to assist and suggest in every possible way
openings for the sale of Irish goods
abroad, as well as to advise as to new
methods of business in Ireland. All these

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

proposals had one direct object and that
was to initiate the Irish people into the art
of depending on themselves alone. Too
long had they waited for others to help
them. The time had come for them to help
themselves. Self-reliance was the motto
of the Sinn Feiners. In the early days of
the movement it was not revolutionary, nor
did it profess to appeal to arms to carry
out its objects. Like the Gaelic League,
but in a larger and wider sense, it was an
educational movement formed for the pur-
pose of trying to convince the Irish people
to look out on the world from a new and
more self-centred standpoint. Much, it
was felt, could be accomplished if only
they could be converted from the evil prac-
tice of looking to England for everything
they stood in need of. In Ireland lay re-
sources that the Irish people themselves
could work and develop. Instead of wait-
ing for State aid, why should not the
people start at work themselves? There
was mineral wealth in the country waiting
to be opened up. There were railways and

INTRODUCTION

waterways that could be utilised if the
people would only combine instead of talk-
ing. Why should Ireland stand apathetic,
wearily waiting, whilst some seventy or
eighty Irish members in the British Parlia-
ment delivered interminable speeches about
Home Rule ? Better than any Home Rule
would be the spirit of the Irish people if
they started doing things and relied on
themselves alone to do them. Such was the
essential teaching of the Sinn Fein move-
ment, and, at this stage, it was, as Mr.
Birrell, the ex-Chief Secretary for Ireland,
stated at the Royal Commission in London
(May iQth, 1916) wholly unobjectionable.
The inspirer, and practically the founder,
of the Sinn Fein movement was Mr. Arthur
Griffith, an able journalist of Welsh
descent, who returned to Dublin, his native
place, early in the twentieth century, after
several years spent in South Africa. A
bold and acute thinker, a lucid and forcible
writer, and a man who obtained and re-
tained the unshakable confidence of his
followers, he devoted himself to expound-

17 B

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

ing, by means of a weekly newspaper in
Dublin, the doctrines of Sinn Fein. He
gathered around him a devoted band of
adherents. Some were intellectuals ; others
were men who disliked Parliamentary
methods. From the first the Sinn Fein
cause attracted to itself the malcontents

..»! II! I *M <>^.' '.--.. .^-^^,-.-.-^^^.....-

whose sole dogma may be summed up in
the word— Hate. Living in the practice
of this Hate — their hatred was against
England, in their imaginations always the
enemy of Ireland — these men saw, or
thought they saw, an opportunity in the
new movement to gratify their predomi-
nant passion. Despite its novel features —
and movements can always, when they have
such features, command a certain pre-
liminary measure of support in Ireland —
the Sinn Fein idea did not spread rapidly
or effectively. Outside of certain circles
attracted by its doctrines in Dublin and
some of the larger cities and towns, the
country, as a whole, refused to have any-
tfimg to do with it. The farmers, especi-
ally, neither understood it nor attempted to

INTRODUCTION

understand it. They knew they had
secured certain substantial advantages as a
result of agrarian and Parliamentary agita-
tion, and they could not at all approve of
the suggestion relative to the withdrawal
of the Irish M.P.'s from Westminster. The
proposal, too, to appoint foreign consuls
left them cold. Nor did the prospects of
internal developments, the stimulating of
Irish industries, and the opening up of
mines interest them very considerably. As
an agricultural people their thoughts were
centred solely on the soil. They had just
emerged from a long-drawn-out struggle
with landlordism. They had won. What
they next wanted was some rest. Even
Home Rule interested them but mildly.
Sinn Fein did not interest them at all.
Even in the towns and cities the move-
ment made only poor progress. To be
styled a Sinn Feiner meant being a crank.
The Nationalist Press, being behind the
Nationalist Party, ridiculed the Sinn Fein
movement. The politicians derided it.
The Unionist Press, seeing the weakness

19 B 2

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

of the movement, supported it just a little
as a lever against the more powerful
Nationalist Party. Under such circum-
stances it flourished but feebly. Still, it
managed to survive. Those who were
followers of it believed in it wholeg
heartedly, which is more than could be said
of the supporters of other Irish policies.
Meetings were held weekly in Dublin.
Some Sinn Feiners secured seats on the
Dublin Corporation. A Sinn Fein bank
was opened. A Sinn Fein evening news-
paper was started. The bank continued,
but the newspaper failed, and the Sinn
Feiners had to fall back on their weekly
organ again. Occasional set-backs to the
Nationalist Party gave the Sinn Feiners
opportunities for criticism and for propa-
ganda work. The former, however, was
hampered by not being able to reach the
country at large owing to the absence of
newspaper opportunities, whilst the latter
was also lessened owing to the want of
means to pay organisers to tour the country.
The disgust aroused, however, over the

INTRODUCTION

abortive Irish Councils Bill of 1907 gave
jjKeJSinn Feiners a temporary fillip. The
Budget of 1908, which laid a heavy finan-
cial burthen on the country, also played
somewhat into their hands. There were
other elements, too, which indirectly
assisted them. The followers of Mr.
William O'Brien, though they would have
nothing to do with the Sinn Fein pro-
gramme, did not dislike the Sinn Feiners
in the same intense way that they detested
and distrusted the followers of Mr. John
Redmond. From the independent Nation-
alist Press, therefore, the Sinn Feiners
were able to obtain encouragement in their
task of endeavouring to destroy the Irish
Parliamentary fabric as erected at West-
minster under the leadership of Mr. Red-
mond. In the same way the Sinn Feiners
coalesced with the followers of James
Larkin. Little as they believed in the
principles of international syndicalism, as
preached by Larkin, or small as was their
sympathy for his policy of ruining the few
remaining industries of Dublin, they were

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

at one with him in his revolt against the
Irish Parliamentarians. James Connolly,
the lieutenant of Larkin (and many say
the real man behind the scenes in the
troubled years of Dublin from 1911 to
1913), was a frequent speaker at Sinn Fein
gatherings. The defeat of the Larkinites
at the hands of Mr. Wm. Martin Murphy,
Dublin's ablest capitalist, left the Sinn
Feiners with little to gain from union with
the extreme labour element. The advent
of the Home Rule Bill of 1912, too, de-
flected public interest completely away
from the Sinn Feiners and their pro-
gramme. All they could do was to point
to the defects of the measure and suggest
remedies. / For nearly two years the Sinn
Fein movement lay dormant, until towards
the close of 1913 an opportunity was
afforded of associating with the establish-
ment of the Irish (afterwards known as the
Sinn Fein) Volunteers. It would be in-
correct to associate all the active members
of the Irish Volunteer organisation with the
Sinn Feiners, but the latter undoubtedly

INTRODUCTION

dominated the movement, and they
carried with them at the split in September,
1914, all those who were really zealous in
the Nationalist Volunteer movement. The
story of what followed is told in the suc-
ceeding pages. It should, however, be made
perfectly clear that all Sinn Feiners were
not Irish Volunteers, nor were all Irish
Volunteers Sinn Feiners. It would, how-
ever, be accurate to say that nearly all Sinn
Feiners, whether believers in the Volunteer
(or physical force) idea or not, were agreed
as regards opposition to recruiting for the
Army in Ireland. Many Sinn Feiners were
pacificists. Some of them were against Ger-
many for declaring war, but nearly all, as
has been said, were against Irishmen join-
ing the Army to fight with England and her
Allies against Germany. The policy of
the " Sinn Fein " newspaper early in the
war brought it into collision with the
authorities, and it was suppressed. By
other small newspapers, however, means
were found of reaching the rank and file
of the Sinn Feiners. The change in atti-

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

tude was gradual, but certain. When the
Home Rule Bill was before Parliament
there were signs that the Sinn Feiners,
although they regarded it as inadequate,
were prepared to accept it. Especially
were they anxious to retain the Ulster
Protestants, for whom they professed an
affection owing to the part played by the
Northerners in the United Irishmen move-
ment of 1798. A comprehensive scheme
was outlined, under Sinn Fein auspices,
which would have given the Ulstermen
great power and influence in the Irish Par-
liament. This scheme was ignored alike
by Unionists and Nationalists. Neither, in
fact, regarded the Sinn Feiners seriously.
Then came Jhe war, which completely re-

,f**— "- '- " *^*l^*^^TTHii<"fflin<il_tr-rT^B^1L11_l, ii r /m_ i "i i" "

volutionised the ideas and aspirations of,
not alone Sinn Feiners, but others in Ire-
land. Home Rule was relegated to second
place in the larger dream of an indepen-
dent Ireland. Old Fenians and Irish
Republicans who had never been converted
either to Constitutionalism or to Sinn
Feinism thought they saw the opportunity,

INTRODUCTION

as a result of the war, of realising the ideal
of their boyhood days. At first there was
some hope amongst the Sinn Feiners that
Great Britain might rise to the occasion
and, by a large and immediate measure,
confer on Irishmen the complete control of
their own affairs. A Provisional Govern-
ment for Ireland was suggested. Instead
came the delay over the passing of the
Home Rule Bill, which damped enthusiasm
in the country. When it finally passed,
with, however, the guarantee that it would
not come into operation until the end of
the war, and also with the promise to the
Ulster Unionists of an Amending Bill, the
Sinn Feiners and other sections of actively
discontented Irishmen had taken their
choice. They had definitely become pro-
German. A convention was established
with the extreme Irish element in the
United Irish States, and the words Sinn
Fein came to mean (not quite, but in the
main, fairly accurately) pro-German and
pro-Republican. From the outset, and
especially after the signing of the Home

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

Rule Bill, Mr. Redmond and several mem-
bers of his Party professed to treat this
now very extreme section of Irishmen with
supreme contempt. In this attitude he un-
doubtedly, as Mr. Birrell admitted, in-
fluenced the Government. The Sinn
Feiners, and those who, whilst not Sinn
Feiners, thought with them on this matter,
were treated as negligible, and thus came
to pass the tragic series of events narrated
in the following chapters.

CHAPTER I

THE RISING IN DUBLIN

ON Easter Monday morning, April 24th,
1916, a mobilisation took place in Dublin
of the Irish (Sinn Fein) Volunteers, to-
gether with the members of what was
known as the Citizen Army, mostly com-
posed of followers of James Larkin, the
Syndicalist leader. Having assembled at
various points in the city, they proceeded
to take possession of such important public
buildings as the General Post Office in
Sackville Street, the Four Courts on the
Quays, the huge factory of Messrs. Jacob
and Co., biscuit manufacturers, the South
Dublin Union, the Royal College of Sur-
geons, Westland Row railway station, Har-
court Street railway station, several banks,

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

bakery establishments, newspaper offices,
and private premises of various kinds.
Attempts were also made to obtain posses-
sion of Dublin Castle, Trinity College, and
the Bank of Ireland, but the insurgents
were unable to take them. Such important
buildings as they occupied were, however,
quickly fortified, the windows and doors
barricaded, sentries placed in the imme-
diate vicinity and, fully armed, the insur-
gents prepared to fire on either military or
police who might challenge their possession
of these premises. So sudden were the
movements made, so totally unexpected
was the outbreak, so little did the vast
majority of the people of Dublin dream
that a rebellion had broken out, of all
mornings on a bank holiday, that numbers
of families proceeded on excursions for the
day, thinking the whole proceedings were
just ordinary practice in street fighting
undertaken by the Volunteers. There was
reason for this belief. On several occa-
sions these Irish (or Sinn Fein) Volunteers
had carried out manoeuvres on the hills

THE RISING IN DUBLIN

surrounding Dublin. Their appearance in
uniform in the streets was a familiar sight.
They had even before made a mock attack
near Dublin Castle. Whilst some loyalists
had regarded these operations with anxiety
the greater part of the people of Dublin
were content to see in them nothing but
a desire on the part of a number of young
Irishmen to play at soldiers. Their route
marches, their country manoeuvres, their
parades, were all looked upon with good-
humoured tolerance. Rumours circulated
from time to time as to the real objects of
these armed men, but there was perfect con-
fidence that the Government knew all about
the matter, and when the Government took
no action it was generally assumed that
there was no real danger. On Easter
Monday, therefore, when the storm burst,
many people, sheltered by their belief that
the whole affair was but a mimic proceed-
ing, went on business or pleasure exactly
as if nothing had occurred. Even on
Easter Tuesday, after many deaths had
taken place, there were to be found people

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

who went to their business as usual, and it
was only on Tuesday afternoon that the
grim significance of the whole affair was
generally known. It .was then clearly
realised that nothing less than an Irish
Rebellion of a most serious kind had taken
place, and that unless it was put down
promptly in Dublin it might have grave
Consequences in the country. The out-
break was all the more serious from its
startling suddenness. Two previous re-
volts in Ireland in the nineteenth century
had been quenched with comparative ease
by the Government, one of them with the
aid of the police alone. Both in 1848 and
in 1867 a great amount of secret prepara-
tions had been made by the rebels, but the
Government had proved it knew all their
movements, and there had been little or no
trouble in laying hands on the leaders.
The amazing thing about 'the Rebellion
of 1916 was that there was hardly any-
thing secret about it. The Irish (or Sinn
Fein) Volunteers took no oath. They did
not drill secretly. On the contrary, they

THE RISING IN DUBLIN

paraded openly, with arms in their hands.
Perhaps for that very reason their rising
came as all the greater surprise to the
people at large, as well as to the Govern-
ment. There was a further reason which,
whilst it may not have added to the gravity
of the revolt, nevertheless prevented early
and adequate attempts to suppress it on
the part of the Government. This was a
division of opinion in the ranks, at the last
moment, of the insurgents themselves.
Apparently important movements had
been ordered for Easter Sunday of a very
general nature. These may not have had
to do with an attempted rising all over the
country, but, in any event, notices were
sent out on Easter Saturday and Easter
Sunday, signed by Professor John Mac-
Neill, the Chief of the Irish (or Sinn Fein)
Volunteers, cancelling all arrangements
made for the Easter holidays. Presum-
ably this cancellation order, if it set the
plans of the insurgents awry, also had an
equal effect in putting the authorities in
Dublin Castle off their guard. It is suf-

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

ficient, in any event, to state, what is now
perfectly well known, that, when the out-
break did occur, both the civil and military
authorities were completely taken un-
awares, and even on Easter Tuesday after-
noon, in Parliament, Mr. Augustine Birrell,
the Chief Secretary for Ireland, and re-
sponsible for the government of that coun-
try, was unable to give an intelligible, a
connected, or a satisfactory account of what
had occurred in Dublin. Although he was
able to state that the situation was well in
hand, it was clear in Dublin that only
towards the end of the week could that
statement be made with perfect accuracy.
Yet, though there might be some excuse for
the people generally in Dublin not know-
ing what was happening, or was about to
happen, there can hardly be said to be the
same exoneration for the authorities. The
fact is that after the cancellation order had
been issued by the leader of the Irish
Volunteers, a number of his associates came
together and decided that the time for
action had arrived. In order to understand

THE RISING IN DUBLIN

how the whole affair occurred, it is neces-
sary, at this point, briefly to explain the
objects of the Irish (commonly, but not
altogether accurately, styled Sinn Fein)
Volunteers. Their establishment dates
back to shortly after the creation of the
Ulster Volunteers. It will be recalled that,
when the Ulster Unionists decided to re-
sist Home Rule by force if necessary, a
body of Ulster Volunteers was formed.
Secretly, arms were obtained in 1912, in
1913, and in 1914. Many of these arms
were procured from Germany, which was,
undoubtedly, watching events in Ireland
with intense interest. During the summer
of 1913 the Ulster Volunteers drilled
openly, and made no secret of their inten-
tion to resist, by arms in the field if it
should prove necessary, the imposition of
Home Rule on Ulster. The Nationalists
in the South and West of Ireland watched
this arming and this drilling in Ulster, at
first with amusement, and afterwards with
admiration. Unaccustomed, for years, to
the use of the rifle or the bayonet, young

33 c

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

Irishmen, especially in the country dis-
tricts, were attracted by the martial glamour
that surrounded the Ulster Volunteers.
The name revived memories of the Irish
Volunteers of 1782, formed first to repel
a Continental invasion of Ireland, and
then used to obtain legislative independ-
ence for the country. It was not surprising,
therefore, to find an attempt made towards
the end of 1913, amongst the Nationalists
in the South and West of Ireland, to emu-
late the doings in the North. In Dublin
and other places National Volunteers were
formed. Drillings immediately began, and
efforts were at once made to obtain
arms. Funds were not wanting. In
America, where an extreme section of Irish
is always to be found, money was raised
foT the arming and equipping of the
National Volunteers. The Government,
however, alarmed by the establishment of
two sets of Volunteers in Ireland, took
tardy action, and in December issued a
Proclamation forbidding the import of
arms into the country. The Ulster Volun-

THE RISING IN DUBLIN

teers, by their great gun-running exploit
at Larne and other northern ports in the
spring of 1914, practically defied this Pro-
clamation, and the National Volunteers
were not slow to follow their example.
They also endeavoured to obtain arms and
equipment, and they grew steadily in num-
bers. At length Mr. John Redmond inter-
vened. Up to now both he and the Irish
Party, as well as the Nationalist Press in
Ireland, had watched the growth of the
National Volunteers with anxiety. At the
head of these Volunteers, in addition to
supporters of his Party, were men who for
years had been criticising him as being a
weakling in the hands of the Liberal
Government. Sinn Feiners, also, who did
not believe in .Parliamentary agitation,
were prominent in the leadership of the
newly-formed National Volunteers. To
make matters more serious, the member-
ship of the Volunteers was increasing daily.
Finally, therefore, Mr. Redmond took
action. The Volunteers were governed by
a Provisional Committee of twenty-five

35 c 2

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

members. Profiting by the word Pro-
visional, Mr. Redmond sent a letter de-
manding that twenty-five of his supporters
should be nominated on the Provisional
Committee, until, as he stated, such time
as a regular governing body was elected
to control the movement. The demand of
the Irish Parliamentary leader was re-
sented by the Sinn Fein and the extreme
section of the Volunteers, who pointed out
that they had been formed without the
support of the Irish Nationalist leader or
his Party, and that now, when they were
growing stronger, they were to be captured
by men hostile or indifferent to the move-
ment. Singular to state, the Unionist Press
in Dublin, obviously to embarrass the
Nationalist leader, supported the Sinn
Fein section against the demands of Mr.
Redmond. A split in the ranks of the
National Volunteers was imminent when,
at the last moment, the Provisional Com-
mittee gave way and admitted the twenty-
five nominees of Mr. Redmond. All dur-
ing the summer of 1914 the ranks of the

THE RISING IN DUBLIN

Volunteers continued to swell, until,
shortly before the war broke out, there
must have been well overdone hundred
thousand active members. It is very much
to be doubted, however, if the arming, or
the equipment, or even the training of, the
National Volunteers improved in the same
proportion as the membership. It was
calculated in July, 1914, that not one-fourth
were armed or properly drilled or equipped.
The active section of the Volunteers, who
were still to a large extent Sinn Feiners
or extremists of one kind or another, made
strenuous attempts to obtain arms, and it
was due to their efforts that some thousands
of rifles and a large quantity of ammuni-
tion were landed at Howth on the second
last Sunday in July, 1914. The ending of
the affair was tragic. On hearing of
the occurrence, the Assistant Commis-
sioner of Police in Dublin sent a
force of police and military to intercept
the National Volunteers on their march
back, with their arms, from Howth. There
was a collision on the Howth Road, in

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

the course of which some rifles were
seized, but the Volunteers dispersed
through the fields and roads with their
weapons, and the military on their
march back to Dublin were followed
by a mob, mainly composed of women and
children, as well as a number of roughs
not connected with the Volunteers. Irri-
tated by the conduct of this mob, which
flung taunts and missiles alike at the troops,
the latter, composed of a detachment of the
Scottish Borderers, fired at the crowd in
Bachelor's Walk with the result that several
people were killed and over a score
wounded. The affair created a great sensa-
tion throughout Ireland, and, as was not
unnatural to expect, contrasts were drawn
between the immunity enjoyed by Sir
Edward Carson's Volunteers in the North
as compared with the Nationalist Volun-
teers in the South. The Government dis-
avowed the action of the Assistant Com-
missioner of Police and suspended him.
In the midst of the excitement, the Euro-
pean War burst forth, and in the larger

THE RISING IN DUBLIN

catastrophe the smaller one was forgotten.
When it became apparent that Great
Britain would be involved in the war, Mr.
John Redmond, in a notable speech, strove
to link Ireland with the fortunes of Eng-
land and the Empire, and in a dramatic
manner offered the National Volunteers to
the Government for the defence of Ire-
land. The speech created a great burst
of enthusiasm in Parliament, as well as in
Ireland. Protestant and Unionist land-
lords in the South and West hastened to
offer their services to the National Volun-
teers, and it really seemed as if the mil-
lennium had arrived, so far as the relations
between Ireland and the British Empire
were concerned. The enthusiasm was,
however, short-lived. Quickly it became
apparent that there would be no German
invasion of Ireland, the Germans having
quite enough to do to hold their own
against the French, the British, and the
Russians abroad, to say nothing of the
British Fleet. Eventually, on the Royal
Assent being given to the Home Rule Bill,

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

Mr. Redmond and members of the Nation-
alist Party came definitely forward and
asked for Irish recruits for the firing line
abroad. It was at once apparent that he
would be opposed in this by the Sinn
Feiners and others who hated England.
The split, that had been avoided earlier in
the year, came about, therefore, in Sep-
tember, 1914, a little after the war had
been in progress. A great part of the
country sided with Mr. Redmond, and their
ranks were known as the National Volun-
teers. Those who seceded called them-
selves the Irish Volunteers. Deprived of
the men, who up to then had been training
them — the army reservists were called
up on the outbreak of the war — both the
National and the Irish Volunteers lost, not
alone in membership, but in efficiency, the
former especially. Never very enthusias-
tic about the movement, the leaders of the
National Volunteers, once removed from
the stimulus caused by association with
the extremists who were keen on getting
arms, soon grew apathetic, so that it might

THE RISING IN DUBLIN

in truth be said during 1915, and certainly
in the early months of 1916, the Irish (or
Sinn Fein) Volunteers formed the only
live organisation in the country. Defec-
tions from the ranks of the National to the
Irish Volunteers were frequent, not alone
in Dublin, but in the country. The greater
part of the members, who had taken up
drilling with such verve in the summer of
1914, quitted the movement altogether,
leaving the ardent spirits to join the ranks
of the Irish (or Sinn Fein) Volunteers.
Such was the position of affairs in the early
part of 1916. It cannot be doubted that,
during the whole of the previous year, the
leaders of this Sinn Fein organisation were
zealous in endeavouring to procure arms
and ammunition, though it may be ques-
tioned whether the quantities so obtained
were either exceptionally large or of the
best quality. A considerable number of
rifles, and a fair share of rifle ammunition,
were undoubtedly, by various means, ob-
tained. Money, too, was not scarce, and
the source from which it came was America

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

— probably from the irreconcilable Irish
out there, as well as from the German
element in the States. The abrupt out-
break of the war caught the Sinn Feiners,
as well as other people, unawares, and, for
a time, it was difficult to adjust into the
minds of the Sinn Fein Volunteers the
impression that it was their duty to regard
the Germans as the friends of Ireland,
simply because Germany happened to be
at war with England. The daily Nation-
alist Press in Ireland, without exception,
sided with the cause of the Allies. The
weekly organ of the Sinn Fein Party, how-
ever, took up a different attitude, and when
it became clear that it would oppose re-
cruiting, it was suppressed, besides other
lesser-known publications. In its place a
small daily organ called Ireland was pub-
lished. That, too, was suppressed. A
successor to it, called Scissors and Paste,
which purported to give extracts only from
papers allowed to be read in England, was,
after a short career, also shut up. Even-
tually, a series of small weekly publica-

THE RISING IN DUBLIN

tions, the principal of which was entitled
Nationality, appeared, and were allowed
to circulate by the Government up to the
very eve of the Rebellion. It cannot be
doubted that these publications had an
enormous effect in moulding the views of
the men who subsequently took arms and
fought against British troops in the streets
of Dublin. They were openly and undis-
guisedly anti-British in tone, and on more
than one occasion clearly indicated that an
attempt would be made, by force of arms,
to break the British connection with Ire-
land. Mr. Redmond and the Nationalist
Party were denounced in violent terms for
advocating recruiting, and the German
army and navy were extolled, sometimes
rather furtively, and at other times with
plainness and exultation. The Govern-
ment, through Mr. Birrell, made attempts,
now and again, to seize these publications,
just as they made efforts, now and again,
to deport some of the more daring organ-
isers of the Irish (or 'Sinn Fein) Volunteers.
In the main, however, they took no strong

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

or definite action. These weekly publica-
tions were sold openly, week after week,
in hundreds of newsagents' shops in Dublin
and the provinces, and were even carried
through the post. It is scarcely to be
wondered at, in view of this tolerance on
the part of the authorities, if the impression
rapidly grew among the extremists that, in
the event of a rising, the Government might
be found acting with the same lack of
energy. Nor would it be quite wrong to
place amongst the reasons also, for en-
couraging them in this belief, the daily
attacks made on the Government, by a sec-
tion of the British Press, for its nerveless
conduct of the war, and the hints constantly
thrown out that all was not going well in
England. In any event, what might be
logically expected, duly happened. Fed
weekly on papers bitterly hostile to Eng-
land, trained and officered by men who
imagined that a revolution might be suc-
cessful, whilst England was engaged in a
world war, a situation was reached in which
the Irish Volunteer leaders and men were

THE RISING IN DUBLIN

faced with the prospect of sitting tight with
the certainty of being disarmed, or of
coming out into the open. The latter
course was not decided upon without jnany
misgivings, and, in the end, was not un-
animous. True or false, the impression
gained currency towards the end of April,
1916, that the Irish Government might be
forced, by the loyalist section in Dublin,
to attempt a general disarmament of the
Irish Volunteers. It may be doubted if
this idea alone would have tempted even
the hottest-headed amongst the revolu-
tionaries to attempt an insurrection. It is
here that the occurrences culminating in
the arrest of Sir Roger Casement, and the
sinking of the German vessel laden with
arms for Ireland, must be weighed. Had
even a small German force landed in the
West or South of Ireland, plentifully sup-
plied with arms and ammunition, and
accompanied by Sir Roger Casement, the
Sinn Feiners might possibly have deemed
the moment as favourable as they could
hope to expect. The sinking of the vessel

THE IRISH REBELLION OF i9I6

laden with arms, and the arrest of Case-
ment, undoubtedly precipitated matters,
and the rising of Easter Monday was the
result. There is a further consideration
that must be taken into account, in
dealing with the whole tragic epi-
sode. Week after week the organs read
by the revolutionaries had been denounc-
ing Mr. Redmond for his statements
that Irishmen were unanimously with Eng-
land in the war. The Nationalist Press
had also been violently attacked for con-
veying the same impression. Under these
circumstances, the leaders of the Irish
Volunteers, to whom the prospect of the
failure of a rebellion must have been pal-
pable unless they had taken leave of their
senses, may have considered that some
moral effect would be produced by an in-
surrection and the declaration of an Irish
Republic. In any event, the plans that
were carried out showed that some con-
siderable thought had been bestowed on
the nature of that awful struggle on which
they were about to embark. The sudden

THE RISING IN DUBLIN

seizure of the General Post Office in Dublin
was unmistakably a master-stroke of the
revolutionaries. In an instant it paralysed
all telegraphic communication with Eng-
land. Had it been followed by the imme-
diate seizure of the telephone exchange
the insurgents would have been placed in
a very strong position. An English war
correspondent, in describing what he styled
the admirable plans of the insurgents,
stated that their one serious blunder was
the failure to seize the telephone exchange,
and in the light of after events this must
be regarded as a correct appreciation of
facts. With the General Post Office and
the telephone exchange in their possession,
the insurgents would have had a couple of
days to consolidate their position in the
city, and, though the end would in-
evitably have been the same, it is certain
that a considerable number of other lives
would have been lost, with much more
destruction of property. Another serious
failure of the revolutionaries was their in-
ability to seize Dublin Castle. It may

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

seem incredible, but it is a fact, that a
coup de main on that fateful Easter Mon-
day morning might have placed the rebels
in easy possession of the seat of the Irish
Government, with all its moral effects, its
historical associations, its wealth of impor-
tant documents, and incidentally they
might have secured possession of the
Under-Secretary, Sir Matthew Nathan,
who, it is stated, was present in the Castle
at the time. A feeble attempt was, indeed,
made to seize the citadel, but the
approaches were quickly barred to the in-
surgents by the few men who were guard-
ing the place, and, deficient in artillery, the
insurgents were unable to force their way
in. The same applies to Trinity College
and the Bank of Ireland, all of which
places might have been obtained by sur-
prise but not otherwise. With the excep-
tion of these buildings, the insurgents acted
with promptitude in the case of the other
places that they seized and held. At the
General Post Office even barbed wire was
not forgotten, and a line of it was laid

THE RISING IN DUBLIN

across the street. The proximity of the
great Metropole Hotel, next the Post
Office, relieved the insurgents of any imme-
diate fear of lack of provisions in this
quarter. The seizure of Jacob's biscuit
factory, in the heart of the city, also set at
ease any anxiety of the insurgents in this
area, that they would be compelled to sur-
render through starvation, at least for a
considerable time. The possession of a
Union, in another part of the city, showed
that the insurgents had made their plans
rather carefully, so far at least as the build-
ings they occupied were concerned. They
probably counted on an abundance of food,
as well as on immunity from artillery fire,
owing to the presence of inmates and' sick
in hospital. Another strong and favour-
able strategic point, near an important rail-
way, was a big mill and bakery. This was
early occupied by the insurgents, who, at
this point also, were relieved of fear as
regards the food supply. So quickly were
all the arrangements carried out that ft
must be taken for granted they had all been

49 D

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

carefully thought out beforehand. This,
indeed, is proved by the subsequent acts
of the insurgents after they had obtained
possession of their main strongholds. For
example, once the General Post Office was
seized and barricaded, the flag of " The
Irish Republic5' was hoisted, and a
message was sent indiscriminately over the
wire, " Ireland a Republic." The hoisting
of the Republican flag was signalised by a
volley from the insurgents in the building.
At the same time a Volunteer at the door
of the Post Office handed to passers-by
printed copies of the following Proclama-
tion : —

POBLACHT NA H EIREANN.

(The people of Ireland.)

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
whom she receives her old traditions of
nationhood, Ireland, through us, summons

THE RISING IN DUBLIN

her children to her flag and strikes for her
freedom.

Having organised and trained her man-
hood through her secret revolutionary
organisation, the Irish Republican Brother-
hood, and through her open military organi-
sation, the Irish Volunteers and the Irish
Citizen Army, having partially 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 confi-
dence 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, ex-
cept 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 300
years they have asserted it in arms. Stand-
ing on that fundamental right, and again
asserting it in arms in the face of the world,

51 D 2

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

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 wel-
fare, and of its exaltation amongst 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 citi-
zens, and declares its resolve to pursue the
happiness and prosperity of the whole
nation, and of all its parts, cherishing all
the children of the nation equally and ob-
livious 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 oppor-
tune moment for the establishment of a
permanent national government, represen-
tative 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

THE RISING IN DUBLIN

under the protection of the most High God,
whose blessing we invoke on our arms, and
we pray that no one who serves the 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 sacri-
fice 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 MACDIARMADA,
P. H. PEARSE,
JAMES CONNOLLY,
THOMAS MACDONAGH,
EAMONN CEANNT,
JOSEPH PLUNKETT.

In addition to the issue of this Proclama-
tion, one of the leaders of the Revolu-
tionary movement, stepping from the
General Post Office into the middle of the
street, publicly proclaimed by word of
mouth the establishment of the Republic
and called for volunteers. Nor in the

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

stress and excitement attendant on the re-
bellion did the insurgents forget the Press.
A little four-page newspaper was printed,
in one of the printing offices seized, and
under the heading of Irish War News,
gave details of the progress of the insurrec-
tion. The leading article, which filled the
whole of the front page, was entitled, " If
the Germans conquer England." The fol-
lowing statement made by " Commander-
General Pearse" was prominently dis-
played : —

" The Irish Republic was proclaimed in
Dublin on Easter Monday, April 24, at
12 noon. Simultaneously with the issue of
the Proclamation, the Dublin division of
the Army of the Republic, including the
Irish Volunteers, the Citizen Army and the
Hibernian Rifles, occupied dominating
positions in the city. The General Post
Office was seized at 12 noon, and the Castle
attacked at the same moment, and shortly
after the Four Courts were occupied. Irish
troops hold the City Hall, and dominate
the Castle. Attacks were made next by

THE RISING IN DUBLIN

the British Forces, and were everywhere
repulsed."

The newspaper further stated that Com-
mander-General Pearse was Commander -
in-Chief of the Army of the Republic, and
President of the Provisional Government;
while Commander-General James Con-
nolly was commanding the Dublin district.
The Irish War News appears only to
have been published on one day, the
second of the rebellion. Whilst these
proceedings were taking place at the
General Post Office, which was the head-
quarters of the Revolt, having regard both
to the importance of the building and its
prominent situation, stirring events were
taking place in other quarters of the city.
A small body of insurgents marched up to
the gates of Dublin Castle, shot the police-
man on duty, but were unable to rush the
building, either because of lack of men to
take and hold the place, or because they
were fearful of being trapped inside. They
seized the City Hall, however, from the
windows and roof of which they were able

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

to dominate the Castle Yard. They also
obtained possession of newspaper offices,
and other corner premises, thus securing
the main approaches to the Castle. At St.
Stephen's Green, a select and fashionable
square near the centre of the city, the pro-
ceedings of the insurgents were remark-
able. Having taken possession of the
small grassy park in the square, they dug
trenches, and barricaded the railings.
Once the military secured possession, how-
ever, of a corner of the square, these
trenches were found to be untenable, and
the insurgents had to retreat from them to
the opposite end of the square, where they
seized the Royal College of Surgeons, a
strongly-built stone structure, and other
premises, including a large public-house in
the immediate vicinity. On the first day of
the revolt, two railway stations were in
possession of the insurgents. Attempts to
seize two others — Kingsbridge, the termi-
nus of the Great Southern and Western
Railway, and Amiens Street, the terminus
of the Great Northern Railway — were not

THE RISING IN DUBLIN

successful. Broadstone, the terminus of
the Midland Great Western Railway, was
for a time held by them, but they were
driven out. No attempt seems to have been
made by the insurgents to take by surprise
and storm the military barracks in Dublin.
A small party, however, appeared about
midday on Easter Monday, at the canal
bridge near Portobello barracks, and taking
possession of a public-house, commanded
for a time the main approach citywards from
the barracks. An officer of the Irish Rifles,
who was returning to the barracks on
horseback, was fired on by the insurgents,
and wounded. He succeeded, neverthe-
less, in reaching his men, who, having been
reinforced, attacked with machine-guns the
public-house occupied by the insurgents.
The latter evacuated the position, the bulk
of them making their escape by the back.
The insurgents' plan seems to have been
to seize buildings, as nearly as they could,
in the form of a circle, so as to have their
movements as free as possible in the centre
of the city, and in order, also, that when

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

evacuating forward positions they might
have the opportunity to retreat citywards.
The next important building taken by them
in the line of the circle starting from
Stephen's Green, via Leeson Street and
Portobello Bridge, was the South Dublin
Union and a distillery adjoining. Here
some very sharp fighting took place, on the
first day of the revolt, between the insur-
gents and the military, in the course of
which several casualties occurred, not alone
to the parties engaged, but also to civilians.
On Easter Monday night, both the Union
and the distillery remained in the posses-
sion of the insurgents. Unable to take or
to hold the Kingsbridge railway terminus,
which would have been important to them,
as it was the gateway through which troops
would come from the Curragh, and from
the depots in the south and west of Ireland,
the insurgents made a raid on the magazine
fort in the Phoenix Park, not very far dis-
tant. This was only guarded by a few
soldiers. Driving up in four or five motor-
cars, the insurgents rushed the guard-

THE RISING IN DUBLIN

room, and set fire to the outer portion of the
fort, where some small-arms munitions were
destroyed. The insurgents did not remain,
and the military, having returned in force
from adjoining barracks, were able to quell
the flames before any serious explosion
occurred. The nearest building to the
Phoenix Park, of any importance, occupied
by the insurgents, was the Four Courts.
This beautiful building, with its majestic
dome, is situate on the quays, and is one
of the sights of Dublin. The rebels
showed scant courtesy for its grave and
dignified surroundings. Having secured
an entry, they manned the windows, which
gave them a wide and commanding out-
look. They barricaded them with law
books of heavy size, and with records in
parchment. The possession of this large
building gave them control of the quays.
On the north side of the city, the insur-
gents, being unable to hold Broadstone
railway terminus, took possession of a
number of houses in various streets,
especially corner houses commanding

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

canal and railway bridges, and sniping was
commenced. The insurgents on this side of
the city, however, being without the shelter
afforded elsewhere by large and important
buildings, were gradually driven in, from
the first, in the direction of the Post Office.
Completing the circle from Fairview to
Liberty Hall, the headquarters of the
Citizen Army on the quays, they at the
beginning strove to keep the outer posi-
tions as long as possible. On Easter
Monday evening they took Ballybough
Bridge and the houses around. They
also took Annesley Bridge, and they
broke into, and occupied, manure works in
the vicinity. They seized several motor-
cars, and practically occupied the whole of
the Fairview district, through which the
main line of the Great Northern Railway
from Belfast to Dublin runs. They were,
however, as already stated, unable to
secure possession of the Amiens Street ter-
minus of that important line. On Easter
Monday, therefore, before night closed,
they were in occupation of a large and im-

THE RISING IN DUBLIN

portant portion of the city. In the Rings-
end district they held Boland's bakery, a
huge building overlooking the grand
canal, and giving a wide view of the sur-
rounding neighbourhood. Possession of
the railway, from Westland Row to Lans-
downe Road, gave them partial control of
the line from Kingstown, where, it must be
presumed, they knew troops would be
landed in large numbers. From the very
first fighting was severe in this district, with
its network of narrow and dirty stjeets.
The presence of a military barracks in the
vicinity led to immediate conflicts between
the insurgents in the bakery and mill and
the troops from the barracks, who occupied
several houses from which they enfiladed
the approaches to the premises seized by
the Sinn Feiners. The outer circle held by
the insurgents on Easter Monday night
ranged from Ringsend to Ballsbridge,
Leeson Street, Portobello, across to Dol-
phins Barn, from thence to the Four Courts
on the quays, extending therefrom to the
greater part of the northern side of the

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

city, Fairview, back again to Liberty Hall
on the quays. This was the utmost limit
they reached on the outer radius. On the
inner and narrower circle, they held the
General Post Office, the City Hall, the
Royal College of Surgeons, and Jacob's
factory. There can be no doubt, judging
from their operations, that their plan was
to hold as wide an outer area as possible,
so as to give them a surer foothold in
important buildings in the centre of the
city. Manifestly their complete plan went
wrong. The first, and most important,
difficulty with which they were faced, was
a shortage in men to hold the various and
rather widely extended buildings of which
they made attempts to secure possession.
This shortage may possibly be explained
by the cancellation of the Easter
manoeuvres, and the consequent defection
of a large body of volunteers, whom the
insurgents might, under other circum-
stances, have counted upon. Assuming
that the full plan, which was evidently
worked out with great care, and with a

THE RISING IN DUBLIN

thorough knowledge of the geography of
the city, provided for the seizure of as wide
an outer area as possible at the commence-
ment, the lack of men caused by the cancel-
lation order would have seriously depleted
the resources of the leaders, who, at the last
moment, decided to proceed at all costs
with their adventure. Forced to act on a
preconceived plan, with a smaller number
of men than had been reckoned on, they
were unable to carry all the outer or the
inner number of buildings on which they
may have counted. The failure to seize
or to hold the railway termini was unmis-
takably due to lack of men. So, too, was
the failure to rush the various military bar-
racks, Trinity College, the Telephone Ex-
change, and Dublin Castle, as well as the
Custom House. In the light of what
actually happened, there cannot be the
smallest shadow of doubt that, given
the same surprise, and supplied with the
full number of men on whom they counted,
the insurgents would have been able to
take possession of the various buildings

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

they required in the outer and inner areas.
An exception may possibly be made in the
case of Trinity College, which was occu-
pied by a detachment of the Officers Train-
ing Corps. Acting promptly, they soon put
the College in a state of defence, and it
is probable that, even had the rebels the
number of men they expected to have,
the result, so far as Trinity College is con-
cerned, would have been the same. In any
event, the occupation and the holding of
Trinity would have entailed after the first
couple of days a large number of men on
the part of the insurgents, and possibly for
this reason, as well as owing to the very
determined defence of the Officers Train-
ing Corps inside, the attack was not
pressed. The failure to secure the Bank of
Ireland, a thick and solid stone structure,
was due, in part, to the fire from
Trinity College defenders, but in a larger
degree it was owing to the Volunteers' want
of artillery in any shape or form, or even
of suitable explosives. The same remark
applies to Dublin Castle. Had the insur-

THE RISING IN DUBLIN

gents any artillery, or even high explosive
bombs, it cannot reasonably be doubted
they would, given a sufficient number of
men for the purpose, have been able to
force their way into the Castle from the
positions they held on Easter Monday
afternoon in its immediate vicinity. Lack-
ing both men and explosives, the most the
insurgents could do on Easter Monday,
after their surprise attacks had placed them
in possession of several important parts of
the city, was to barricade themselves in the
buildings they had seized, provide means
of retreat for themselves, if possible, in the
case of those on the outer radius, and, in
the case of those in the inner area, to de-
fend themselves as best they could by rifle
and machine-gun fire. The leaders may
have possibly hoped that artillery fire
would not be used in the case of large and
imposing buildings in the heart of the city,
either because they were Government
property, or because prominent citizens and
hostages in the shape of captured officers
and men would be injured thereby. Pos-

65 E

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

sibly, also, some dream of the country
springing to arms, and coming to
their relief, of a naval battle at sea
resulting in German warships appear-
ing in Dublin Bay, or a German
raid on the coast of Ireland, resulting
in the dispersal of the cordon of
troops that on Easter Monday night
started to be drawn round the city — some
dream, or some hope of this kind, may have
animated the minds of the leaders of the
revolt. They were, undoubtedly, in a
rather cheerful and hopeful frame of mind
on the Monday night, and so also were
their followers. The rather easy manner
in which they had secured a position in
many buildings, the fact that they com-
manded, if they did not hold, Dublin
Castle, the practical disappearance of the
military and police from the city, the com-
plete surprise, not alone of the authorities,
but of the populace generally — all these
things may, for the moment, have tended to
raise illusions which, under cooler circum-
stances, would have been rejected. In any

THE RISING IN DUBLIN

event they remained, during the first night
of the revolt, practically in undisputed pos-
session of nearly all the portions of the
city that they had seized at noon. Several
days were, in fact, to elapse before any
general, determined or successful attempts
were made to drive them from their main
vantage places.

67 E 2

CHAPTER II

STREET FIGHTING

ON Easter Tuesday morning, the
second day of the Rebellion, Dublin
awoke to an extraordinary position of
affairs. The absence of letters, trams,
newspapers, and police showed that some-
thing unique had occurred, but, even yet,
many citizens found it hard to realise that
their city was a prey to revolution. The
stillness of the morning was soon, however,
to be broken by other and clearer signs of
the storm that had so startlingly burst on
the capital, and the sharp crackle of rifles,
the rapid rattle of machine-guns, the burst-
ing of shrapnel and of bombs convinced,
even the most bewildered, that the war
which they had deemed so far distant was
68

STREET FIGHTING

now at their very doors. It was from
Tuesday onwards to the end of the week
that Dublin was to witness a most remark-
able form of warfare, namely, sustained
and stubborn street fighting. For a
parallel to this form of fighting in a big
city, one has to go back to the days of the
French Revolution, or to the days of the
Commune in Paris. It was, probably, on
these models that the insurgents acted
when, on the fateful Easter Monday, they
seized the General Post Office and other
important buildings in the Irish capital.
On Tuesday the first concerted attempt
was made by the authorities to deal with
the rising. Martial law was proclaimed
in Dublin city and county. The Lord
Lieutenant of Ireland issued a Proclama-
tion stating that an attempt, instigated and
designed by foreign enemies, to incite re-
bellion in Ireland had been made by a
reckless, but small, body of men, who had
been guilty of insurrectionary acts in the
city of Dublin. The Viceroy warned all
loyal subjects that the sternest measures

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

were being taken for the prompt suppres-
sion of the disturbances, and cautioned
people of the danger of unnecessarily fre-
quenting the streets, or of assembling in
crowds. Beyond tightening the cordon
round the city, and the capture of some
outlying positions, the military were unable
on Tuesday to drive the insurgents from
their main positions in the heart of the city.
Supplies were commandeered from grocery
and other food shops by the rebels,
who handed in payment drafts drawn on
" The Irish Republic/' The troops were
still too few on Tuesday morning to pre-
vent the Volunteers from appearing on the
streets in the main thoroughfares, or from
proceeding from one of their strongholds
to another. The retention of Trinity Col-
lege by the Loyalists was, however, clearly
proved of great importance on Tuesday.
Its small garrison was, during Monday
night and Tuesday morning, reinforced by
a number of regular troops who, armed
with rifles and machine-guns at the win-
dows, swept with their fire the ap-

STREET FIGHTING

preaches from Westmoreland Street,
College Green, Grafton Street, and Col-
lege Street. Some insurgents, caught by
this fire whilst making their way from the
General Post Office to Stephen's Green,
suffered rather severely. The possession
of the College by the military had another
advantage. Its grounds at the rear, ex
tending to within easy reach of Stephen's
Green, and well protected by thick walls
and heavy railings, enabled the military to
move with comparative safety in the direc-
tion of the Green, which they recaptured
from the insurgents, with the exception of
the end on which stands the Royal College
of Surgeons. Meanwhile, sharp fighting
was taking place throughout Monday night
and Tuesday morning at other points. A
stronghold of the Volunteers was at Fair-
view. This locality had, for some years,
been a favourite meeting place for the -fol-
lowers of James Larkin. When his citizen
army was formed, and when they procured
arms and ammunition, it was in a park in
this district they met to drill and undergo

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

other military evolutions. One of the
first acts of the revolutionaries had been
to seize a large manure works in this area,
and also to barricade the bridges in the
vicinity. The open spaces in this locality,
the railway embankment of the Great
Northern line, and the country beyond,
enabled both military and insurgents to
move with somewhat greater freedom than
in the crowded streets and narrow lanes of
the city. The troops on Tuesday manned
the railway embankment, which gave them
a commanding position, and they were
able to fire with some effect on the insur-
gents. The latter took possession of
several houses, as well as the manure
works already alluded to, from which they,
in turn, fired on the soldiers. Throughout
the whole of Tuesday they held practically
the entire district of Fairview, the troops
in the vicinity being too few to do more
than snipe at them from the railway and
other points of vantage. On Wednesday
reinforcements arrived for the military,
and the insurgents, who, until then, had

STREET FIGHTING

been holding up civilians, searching them
and generally acting as if in entire control
of the area, were definitely placed on the
defensive. They still kept up a desperate
fight, and, for thirteen hours on one occa-
sion, ceaseless stoiping went on between
them and the military. From the win-
Hows of quiet villa residences, from small
shops, from the shelter afforded by canal
bridges, and from the roofs of houses,
volley after volley was fired, the crack of
the rifle being varied now and again by the
rattle of machine-gun fire. In one in-
stance an insurgent sniper, who was shot
down, was found to have tied himself, by
means of a rope, to a chimney stack. The
wounded rebels were attended to in
the houses by their friends, whilst the
troops, when injured, where conveyed
along the railway to Amiens Street ter-
minus of the Great Northern line. Search-
lights were used by the military, their posi-
tions on the railway embankment enabling
them at night time to sweep the various
roads, in the houses of which the insur-

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

gents were entrenched. Gradually the
latter were driven in on the city, and, to-
wards the close of the week, Fairview was
in possession of the troops. In Phibs-
borough and the Phoenix Park districts, on
the extreme north side of the city, the same
task was slowly but effectively accom-
plished. It was on Tuesday that the
Dublin Fusiliers forced their way to-
wards the centre of the city from
this northern side. The insurgents
tried to blow up some bridges on the
main routes, but, either through an insuffi-
ciency of high explosives for the purpose,
or because of inadequate preparation, they
were unable to do so, and the weak barri-
cades that they erected were easily de-
molished by shell fire. Owing to the per-
sistent sniping from shops and dwelling-
houses, the advance of the troops in this
district, as, indeed, all over the city, had to
be slow and cautious. Having no strong-
hold on the extreme northern side of the
town, the operations of the Volunteers con-
sisted in sniping as long as they could in

STREET FIGHTING

the outlying streets, and then taking up
new positions at night time, or by the back
entrances when any particular spot became
too hot for them. Early in the week a
body of Lancers charged, from the north
side of Sackville Street, down the centre
of the city, in the direction of the General
Post Office. They were met with a volley,
and there were several casualties. Obvi-
ously cavalry were useless in such a junc-
ture, their animals and themselves but
making targets for the insurgents in the
buildings attacked. The same remark
applied to attempts by infantry to storm
the larger buildings held by Sinn Feiners.
They offered a favourable mark for
snipers, and, on several occasions, after
obtaining possession of houses from which
they had been fired on, they found the pre-
mises evacuated by the insurgents, who,
by back ways, or by holes bored in the par-
titions, had made their way to new posi-
tions. The network of old and dilapidated
streets, lanes, and valleys in the vicinity of
the Four Courts and the quays on the north

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

side of the river proved very difficult for
the military, and firing was constant here
during the entire week. Bygradual progress,
however, the troops made their advance
from street to street without very many
casualties, and by Wednesday night the
authorities were able to announce that
there was then a complete cordon around
the centre of the town, on the north side
of the river. The Four Courts, the General
Post Office, and several high buildings in
that area of operations were still held by
the insurgents, but they were being
slowly but surely pressed in on the
river on this particular side. To the south
of the Liffey the fighting was more vari-
able. One of the places where a very de-
termined stand was made was Boland's
Bakery and the Ringsend district
generally. The possession of the bakery
was valuable to the insurgents in a
twofold sense. It secured them a supply
of foodstuffs, and, by its height, it offered
a commanding position for concentrated
rifle fire. In addition to the bakery the

STREET FIGHTING

rebels seized an old distillery, of which
they were able to make effective use. The
commandant here was one of the ablest of
their chiefs. His name was De Valera,
and, like many other of the leaders,
he was a professor in a college before he
took up arms. To a young British officer
who fell into the hands of the insurgents
at this spot we owe a most interesting ac-
count of their proceedings. The position,
he said, was considered by them of great
importance. It commanded a large part
of the south river district. By what ap-
peared to be a clever ruse de guerre the
insurgents succeeded in getting the mili-
tary to shell the distillery instead of the
bakery. They ran up a green flag on the
top of the distillery, started signalling sea-
wards, and posted half a dozen men with
rifles at different points of the building.
The result was that the distillery was razed
to the ground. Some shells were fired in
the direction of the bakery, but it was not
destroyed. As a matter of fact, the insur-
gents Kacl a way of retreat cut for them-

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

selves over to the Dublin and Kingstown
Railway, which was not far distant. De-
spite the heavy firing day and night in this
district, there were not many casualties,
the great amount of cover available both
for the rebels and the troops safe-
guarding them from dangers that had a
more tragic effect elsewhere. Such casual-
ties as occurred in this district were mainly
suffered by the Veterans' Corps early in the
week, as they were returning to Beggars
Bush Barracks, and by the civilians, who
received injuries from the bullets alike of
Volunteers and of soldiers. Altogether,
Ringsend and the district surrounding
Boland's Bakery was a very lively place
during the rising, the presence of an insur-
gent stronghold and a military barracks in
close proximity leading to continued and
obstinate sniping, which lasted right to the
very end of the revolt, and, indeed, for
some days after the rising had ended in
other parts of the city. Not far from this
disturbed area, but in quite a different
locality, the most serious and the most

STREET FIGHTING

desperate fighting associated with the
whole rebellion took place. This was in
Mount Street and the better-class houses
that abut on it all round. No greater con-
trast could be imagined than that between
the squalid slums of Ringsend and the
stately and fashionable houses in the
Mount Street area. Row upon row of neat
and stylish residences, inhabited by the
well-to-do professional classes in Dublin,
by doctors, county court judges, wealthy
merchants, are here to be found. It was,
nevertheless, this select neighbourhood
which was to be the scene of fierce and
desperate fighting, in which the heaviest
losses of the troops occurred. From the
high houses in Clanwilliam Place, and
other roads in the neighbourhood of Mount
Street Bridge, of which the insurgents
took forcible possession, they awaited the
arrival of the first troops from Kingstown.
When the first detachment appeared,
therefore, consisting of a body of the
Sherwood Foresters, they poured a
violent fire into their ranks, causing very

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

heavy casualties. Within a couple of hours
it was calculated that some seventy dead or
wounded soldiers were brought into one
Nurses5 Home in the vicinity. Four
officers of the Sherwood Foresters were
killed at this spot. The troops had no
artillery, and only by a lucky chance suc-
ceeded in obtaining bombs and dynamite ;
but finally, after several attempts to blow
in the houses and schools which formed
the position, it was taken by an assault
properly organised.

The mode of procedure adopted by the
insurgents, when they took possession of
private houses, was simple. The women
and children were, in many cases, allowed
to leave, and so also were the men, but
they were cautioned not to give informa-
tion to the military authorities. In some
instances the families remained in the base-
ments whilst firing took place continu-
ously from the upper windows. Unable
to leave their houses, forced to live on such
small rations as remained fn their larders,
the plight of the unfortunate inhabitants

STREET FIGHTING

of these residences can well be imagined.
Several of them who ventured into their
gardens, or out on the streets, were shot
either by stray bullets or because they were
mistaken by snipers as possible enemies.
Driven to desperation in some cases by
the persistent firing and the constant danger
night and day, it was not unusual to see
families consisting of the husband, the
wife, and the children place their money
and jewellery in a perambulator, and,
under cover of a white flag, rush from
their houses to friends in some other
and safer portion of the city. The guests in
large and fashionable hotels in St.
Stephen's Green also had a most trying
experience. From the first to the finish of
the revolt this green was the scene of sharp
fighting. Ousted from their trenches in
the Park the insurgents retreated to the
Royal College of Surgeons and other build-
ings on that side of the Green. Here they
engaged in a day and night rifle duel with
the troops posted in the Shelbourne Hotel
and other buildings on three sides of the

81 F

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

Green. From the flagstaff of the College
of Surgeons the flag of "the Irish Re-
public" was hoisted, and remained there
to the very end of the rebellion. The win-
dows were barricaded, and from loopholes
the barrels of rifles could be seen project-
ing. After the first few days' fighting in
this region, when the insurgents were com-
pelled to evacuate the Park, the rest of the
week passed comparatively quietly, the firing
consisting mainly of persistent sniping.
Whilst this was in progress it was a com-
mon sight to see passers-by in the streets
walk unconcernedly by the buildings from
the windows of which firing was proceed-
ing. It was, indeed, scarcely any wonder
that so many casualties occurred amongst
innocent civilians having regard to the
manner in which they braved the risk of
stray bullets and mistaken snipers. A short
distance at the back of the Royal College
of Surgeons stands the huge biscuit factory
of Messrs. Jacob and Co. This proved
an ideal stronghold for the insurgents. Its
great height gave it a dominating position

STREET FIGHTING

over the rows of small shops and, the
narrow streets with which it is surrounded.
From its windows those in possession
could sweep with their rifles the con-
gested approaches to the building,
and it may be doubted if anything
short of concentrated shell fire could
have driven them out of it. As a
matter of fact they held it undisputed
to the last. The garrison numbered
200 volunteers, and they had a plentiful
supply of food from the stock in the
factory. So abundant, indeed, was the
food supply that the barricades at the win-
dows were constructed of flour and sugar
bags. Four policemen were captured by
the Volunteers and placed in custody in
the factory. These police were told by
one of the insurgent commandants (i) that
France had withdrawn from the war, (2)
that England was seeking a separate peace,
(3) that the coast of Ireland was sur-
rounded by German submarines, (4) that
30,000 Germans had landed in Kerry and a
similar number of Irish-Americans in Wex-

83 F*

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

ford, and that they were marching on
Dublin. The police were also informed
that there were risings in Limerick, Kerry,
Cork, and Tyrone, and that Irish pri-
soners of war in Germany were coming to
the assistance of the Irish Republic. Fed
on such fantastic stories as these the insur-
gents in the biscuit factory, provided with
an abundant supply of food, sniped con-
tinuously all the week at any military they
could see, but owing to the narrow
thoroughfares and the shelter available all
round, the losses of either the insurgents or
the military were not large in this particu-
lar locality. After the evacuation of the
corner public-house next Portobello Canal
Bridge, the insurgents made no further
concerted attempt to menace the ap-
proaches to the military barracks in this
district. A sniper or two occasionally ap-
peared in private houses in the neighbour-
hood and potted at sentries or passing
soldiers. Such guerilla tactics were very
difficult to detect or to finish, because
generally the inhabitants of the houses

STREET FIGHTING

from which the shots were fired were too
terrified to do anything save huddle in a
basement, and when as often occurred, the
military raided the house in strength, the
sniper, or snipers, had disappeared to take
up new quarters. It was a novel form of
warfare, and quite surprised some soldiers
who had been in Gallipoli. In the Penin-
sula, they said, they knew the Turks were
in front, but in the Dublin revolt they
never knew where a bullet might come
from. The occupation of the South Dublin
Union Workhouse by the insurgents was
not left in their possession without a deter-
mined struggle. Attacked by the troops
early in the week, they were driven
from the grounds, and on attempt-
ing to evacuate the place suffered rather
severe losses. The remainder, numbering
about forty, stopped in the master's office
and the board-room, which they barri-
caded. Here they started sniping at
the soldiers outside. The losses on
both sides were, however, rather heavy,
and the military were hampered, es-

85 F* 2

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

pecially as regards the use of shell
fire, by the proximity of an hospital, as
well as of the large number of inmates
in the vicinity. After the conflict for the
grounds early in the week no further
organised attempt was made on either side,
and sniping commenced and continued to
the end of the revolt. During the fighting
a nurse was shot dead. In addition to the
struggle in the workhouse, the district
around was the scene of fierce fighting. A
malting store was seized by the insurgents,
as well as a number of houses in the streets.
By heavy fire the troops succeeded in get-
ting possession of the malting store. The
rebels then made their way along the
bank of a small river, evidently endeavour-
ing to reach the open country, but the mili-
tary were too strongly posted, and many
were killed and captured. In the fighting
two children were shot, and there were
several casualties amongst civilians.
Amongst those captured by the troops were
a number of females, with arms in their
hands, who had joined the insurgents.

STREET FIGHTING

Another district where very serious fight-
ing took place with heavy loss of life was
in the vicinity of Green Street Courthouse.
The insurgents obtained possession of an
old barrack, which they fortified as best
they could. They remained in possession
until Thursday, when it was set on fire.
The flames spread to adjoining premises,
and much destruction of property was
caused. New positions were taken up by
the insurgents, and in the subsequent fight-
ing the denizens of the crowded and
narrow streets which abound in the locality
suffered severely. In a dairy the bodies
of four dead men were found in a top
back bedroom. As many of the Volunteers
fought without any uniform or accoutre-
ment beyond rifles and a belt of ammuni-
tion, it was very difficult in the case of
dead civilians to detect whether they lost
their lives as insurgents or as mere on-
lookers. Caught by the fire, a number of
police in Green Street Courthouse and
barrack-room were unable to leave for six
days, the buildings being literally covered

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

with bullet marks. Close to this spot a
struggle took place between the troops and
the insurgents for possession of a timber-
yard. The windows were held by the in-
surgents, but they were driven out by rifle
and machine-gun fire from an armoured
car. Severe and dangerous fighting also
raged around a market and a bakery in the
same neighbourhood. Cleverly posted
snipers developed a positive art for con-
cealment, and the troops were fired at from
the most unexpected angles. Artillery was
of little avail in such circumstances. By
the time even a small gun could be trained
on a building from which shots had been
fired, the snipers had evacuated it and
taken up a new position in another build-
ing. The narrow lanes and alleys, the
tumble-down houses, the opportunities for
those who knew the locality of utilising
back-ways, and even of getting from house
to house by means of the roofs — all these
circumstances made the neighbourhood a
truly ideal one for the adventurous and
enterprising sniper. By Thursday in this

STREET FIGHTING

fateful Easter week it was clear that unless
the rebellion was to drag on into a sniping
campaign that might last weeks or months,
something drastic and determined would
have to be done. It was decided that the
place to destroy was the headquarters of
the insurgents in and around the General
Post Office. With the leaders of the revolt
driven out of this place it was felt that the
back of the rebellion would be broken.
On that day the military authorities felt
that they were strong enough to act with
vigour and effect. The outlying strong-
holds of the insurgents were surrounded
but not stormed. They could wait until
after the main citadel of the rebels had
been destroyed. Liberty Hall, the head
offices of the Larkinites and the Citizen
Army, was shelled and ruined by the
Helga, a small gunboat that came up the
river for the purpose. The City Hall and
the newspaper offices at the corner of Cork
Hill having been retaken, by the aid of
hand grenades and machine-guns, the time
was ripe for the attack on the General Post

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

Office and the other large buildings held
by the insurgents in Sackville Street.
Thursday and Friday are days that will be
long remembered by the people of Dublin.
During those days and nights an almost
uninterrupted fusillade was kept up,
shells, machine-gun fire, and bullets and
bombs being rained unceasingly on the in-
surgents in the centre of the city. The
latter replied as best they could by rifle
fire, but the artillery was doing its work.
Giant fires lit up the sky from the General
Post Office, and the beautiful buildings in
its vicinity. The Volunteers sought such
cover as they could find, but it was soon
clear that not alone their headquarters at
the General Post Office, but all the other
buildings held by them around, would
become untenable. Some of the volunteers
made a dash to reach the adjoining streets
not yet reached by the fire. The ap-
proaches leading to and from Sackville
Street were, however, strongly held by the
troops. They were in most of the build-
ings at the other side of the river. From

STREET FIGHTING

Carlisle Building roof they had a clear
view up Sackville Street. They were also
posted in Earl Street, in Henry Street, and
at the upper end of Sackville Street. As
the insurgents endeavoured to retreat,
therefore, they were enfiladed from all
sides, and there were a number of casual-
ties. Thus died Commandant the
O'Rahilly, a prominent leader in the rebel-
lion. His name was not affixed to the
Proclamation of the Irish Republic, and it
has even been stated that he was against a
premature outbreak, but, once started, he
joined the insurgents, and was in command
of a body of men at the Post Office. His
dead body was found in the street near the
building, and it is presumed that like many
others he was shot down as he was making
his way from the flames to take up a new
position. Another prominent leader
wounded at this quarter was James Con-
nolly. The scene in Sackville Street on
Friday night was a terrible one. Great
buildings like the General Post Office, the
Hotel Metropole, the Imperial Hotel, were

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

ablaze. Whole streets were in peril of
being destroyed, and were, in fact, burned
to the ground, whilst the Fire Brigade, at
the other side of the river, stood powerless.
Amidst the crackling of the flames the con-
stant, unceasing rattle of machine-gun and
rifle fire was heard throughout the entire
night, varied by the loud explosion of a
shell or of insurgents' ammunition catch-
ing fire and exploding. Nevertheless,
trapped as they were in blazing blocks of
buildings, the rebels kept up their fire to
the end, and from ruined and blackened
buildings, as well as from premises parti-
ally burning, the crack of rifles was heard
as they replied to the prolonged and con-
centrated fire of the military. To add to
the weirdness and frightfulness of the
scene, from the outskirts of the city also
came the sharp rattle of rifle and machine-
guns as the insurgents were being fired on
in their strongholds or in private houses.
Searchlights and star shells, lighting up
the darkness of the night, completed a
picture that might not unnaturally be com-

STREET FIGHTING

pared to that of Dante's Inferno. In many
of the poorer streets the night was made
more hideous by the shrieks of women and
children terrified out of their senses by the
loud and sustained bombardment. By
Saturday morning it was plain that the
worst had been passed, and that the resist-
ance of the Sinn Feiners, so far as their
headquarters in the General Post Office
were concerned, could not be prolonged.
In fact, the Post Office itself was in ruins,
together with whole blocks of valuable
buildings in its neighbourhood. Firing
was still briskly taking place by those in-
surgents who had managed to survive the
hail of shells, bullets, and bombs, as well
as to escape from the flames. Their radius,
however, was completely circumscribed,
and there was no avenue of escape, with
every street leading from the locality in
the Tiands of the military. From the
bakery in Ringsend, the College of Sur-
geons in Stephen's Green, the biscuit
factory of Jacob's, the South Dublin
Union, the Four Courts, and other build-

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

ings in the outlying parts of the city, the
insurgents by their obstinate firing showed
that they were not yet run out of ammuni-
tion or ready to surrender. This generally
was the position about noon on the Satur-
day after Easter, the sixth day of the rebel-
lion that had so suddenly and so dramatic-
ally broken out on the Easter Monday
Bank Holiday.

CHAPTER III

END OF THE DUBLIN REVOLT

BY noon on Saturday, though the insur-
gents still clung to the practically ruined
and demolished remains of their head-
headquarters in Sackville Street, and
though they were still in possession of
nearly all the important buildings they had
seized on the outskirts, it was plain that
the end, so far as Dublin was concerned,
was very near. In fact, most people were
surprised it had not come earlier. In the
suburbs, especially, as the inhabitants
watched the long files of troops newly-
arrived from England, from Belfast, from
the Curragh, and from the other depots
in the south and west, accompanied by
artillery, and fully equipped with rifles,
machine-guns and ammunition, the feeling

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

was one of amazement that the insurgents,
whom they surmised could not be very
strong either in men or munitions, were
still holding out after a week of incessant
fighting.

On Friday, the day before the surren-
der, an order was sent from the General
Post Office signed by James Connolly.
Obviously its object was to cheer, if pos-
sible, the insurgents, who must have felt
that they were hopelessly trapped. Evi-
dently, owing to the cordon, which by that
date was completely round the city, it
could not reach all the rebel commandants,
but a copy was found on the dead body of
The O'Rahilly, one of the leaders. He
was shot in the vicinity of the Post Office.
The document is an interesting one, and
reads as follows :

Army of the Irish Republic

(Dublin Command),
Headquarters, April 28, 1916.

To SOLDIERS, —

This is the fifth day of the establish-
ment of the Irish Republic, and the flag

END OF THE DUBLIN REVOLT

of our country still floats from the most
important buildings in Dublin, and is gal-
lantly protected by the officers and Irish
soldiers in arms throughout the country.
Not a day passes without seeing fresh post-
ings of Irish soldiers eager to do battle for
the old cause. Despite the utmost vigi-
lance of the enemy we have been able to
get in information telling us how the man-
hood of Ireland, inspired by our splendid
action, are gathering to offer up their lives
if necessary in the same holy cause. We
are here hemmed in because the enemy
feels that in this building is to be found
the heart and inspiration of our great
movement.

Let us remind you what you have done.
For the first time in 700 years the flag
of a free Ireland floats triumphantly in
Dublin City.

The British Army, whose exploits we
are for ever having dinned into our ears,
which boasts of having stormed the Dar-
danelles and the German lines on the
Marne, behind their artillery and machine-
guns are afraid to advance to the attack or
storm any positions held by our forces. The
slaughter they suffered in the first few days
has totally unnerved them, and they dare

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

not attempt again an infantry attack on our
positions.

Our Commandants around us are hold-
ing their own.

Commandant Daly's splendid exploit in
capturing Linen Hall Barracks we all
know. You must know also that the whole
population, both clergy and laity, of this
district are united in his praises. Com-
mandant MacDonagh is established in an
impregnable position reaching from the
walls of Dublin Castle to Redmond's Hill,
and from Bishop Street to Stephen's
Green.

(In Stephen's Green, Commandant

holds the College of Surgeons, one side of
the square, a portion of the other side, and
dominates the whole Green and all its en-
trances and exits.)

Commandant De Valera stretches in a
position from the Gas Works to Westland
Row, holding Boland's Bakery, Boland's
Mills, Dublin South-Eastern Railway
Works, and dominating Merrion Square.

Commandant Kent holds the South
Dublin Union and Guinness's Buildings to
Marrowbone Lane, and controls James's
Street and district.

On two occasions the enemy effected a

END OF THE DUBLIN REVOLT

lodgment and were driven out with great
loss.

The men of North County Dublin are in
the field, have occupied all the Police Bar-
racks in the district, destroyed all the tele-
graph system on the Great Northern Rail-
way up to Dundalk, and are operating
against the trains of the Midland and Great
Western.

Dundalk has sent 200 men to march upon
Dublin, and in the other parts of the North
our forces are active and growing.

In Galway Captain , fresh after his

escape from an Irish prison, is in the field
with his men. Wexford and Wicklow are
strong, and Cork and Kerry are equally
acquitting themselves creditably. (We
have every confidence that our Allies in
Germany and kinsmen in America are
straining every nerve to hasten matters on
our behalf.)

As you know, I was wounded twice yes-
terday and am unable to move about, but
have got my bed moved into the firing line,
and, with the assistance of your officers,
will be just as useful to you as ever.

Courage, boys, we are winning, and in
the hour of our victory let us not forget the
splendid women who have everywhere

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

stood by us and cheered us on. Never had
man or woman a grander cause, never was
a cause more grandly served.

(Signed) JAMES CONNOLLY,

Commandant-General,

Dublin Division.

On Saturday morning the following
official statement was issued from the mili-
tary headquarters in Dublin, with reference
to the Sackville Street area of operations :

The Sinn Fein rebels in this area are
completely surrounded by a cordon of
troops which is gradually closing on to the
centre. The troops, assisted by artillery,
are gradually overcoming resistance. One
of the principal rebel leaders, P. H. Pearse,
is known to be inside the cordon suffering
from a fractured thigh. The Countess
Markievicz has also been seen inside. An-
other leader, James Connolly, has been
reported killed. The adjoining area con-
taining the Four Courts is also surrounded
by a cordon, which is closing on its centre
and containing therein most of the rebels.
A division, complete with artillery, is now
operating in the Dublin area, and more

100

END OF DUBLIN REVOLT

troops are constantly arriving. Arrange-
ments are being made to intern in England
the Sinn Feiners captured or surrendered
who are not dealt with here. Roger Case-
ment has declared that Germany has sent
all the assistance she is going to send,
which assistance is now at the bottom of
the sea.

This official report, published in Dublin,
differed in some respects from the daily
official report from Field-Marshal Vis-
count French, Commander-in-Chief , Home
Forces, in which it was stated :

The situation this (Saturday) morning
had improved considerably, but the rebels
were still offering serious resistance in the
neighbourhood of Sackville Street. The
cordon of troops encircling this quarter
was, however, steadily closing in, but the
house-to-house fighting necessarily ren-
dered this progress slow. The Post Office
and a block of buildings east of Sackville
Street have been destroyed by fire. A
party of rebels have been driven out of
Boland's Mills, Ringsend, by guns
mounted on motor lorries. One of the
rebel leaders, a man named Pearse, was

IOI G

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

said to be in this area, and was wounded
in the leg. A report received this evening
states that Pearse has surrendered uncon-
ditionally, and that he asserts he has
authority to accept the same terms of sur-
render for his followers in Dublin. An-
other leader, James Connolly, is reported
killed. The Four Courts district, which is
still held by the rebels, is also surrounded
by a cordon of troops, which is gradually
closing in. All the information to hand
points to the conclusion that the rebellion,
so far as Dublin is concerned, is on the
verge of collapse. A considerable number
of rebels are prisoners in military custody.

It was about four o'clock on Saturday
afternoon when the insurgents in the
General Post Office intimated their readi-
ness to surrender. The building was by
this time a ruin, and so also were scores
of other large buildings in the vicinity, so
that further residence in this area was
clearly out of the question. The end of
the revolt in Dublin was signalised by the
surrender of P. H. Pearse, the Com-
mander-in-Chief of the Irish Republic, and

102

END OF DUBLIN REVOLT

President of the Provisional Government,
to General J. G. Maxwell, Commanding-in-
Chief the Forces in Ireland. With Pearse
there surrendered, at the same time, James
Connolly, styled Commander-General of
the Dublin Division of the Republican
Army, as well as other leaders who had
signed the Proclamation of the Irish Re-
public. Some attempt seems to have been
made by the leaders to try to secure terms
for their followers, but this was obviously
impossible, and both leaders and men had
no option, therefore, but to give themselves
up unconditionally. The terms of the sur-
render were set on record in a document
signed by the insurgent leader in the pre-
sence of the British General and other
Government officials. The surrender was
announced to the public in the following
terms : —

In order to prevent further slaughter of
unarmed persons, and in the hope of saving
the lives of our followers, now surrounded
and hopelessly outnumbered, members of
the Provisional Government present at

103 G 2

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

headquarters have agreed to an uncondi-
tional surrender, and the Commanders of
all units of the Republican Forces will
order their followers to lay down their
arms. — (Signed) P. H. PEARSE.

Thus ended the short-lived reign of the
Irish Republic in Dublin. On Sunday,
General French was able to report that
rebels from the areas of Sackville Street
Post Office and the Four Courts were sur-
rendering freely. More incendiary fires,
however, had taken place in Sackville
Street, but the Fire Brigade was able to
resume work. It was further reported that
up to 6.45 p.m. on Sunday evening 707
prisoners had been taken. Included
amongst these was the Countess Markie-
vicz. The surrender of this lady was as
dramatic as was her appearance in the
revolt. The daughter of Sir Henry Wil-
liam Gore-Booth, fifth baronet, of Lissa-
dell, County Sligo, she was related to
several noble families in the British peer-
age. Forty years of age at the outbreak of
the Rebellion, her career had been a varied

104

END OF DUBLIN REVOLT

and a chequered one. As a girl, she was
reputed to be a splendid horse-woman, and
she seemed gifted to be an ornament to
society, but her restless and wayward dis-
position led her into the most strange com-
pany and the most remarkable adventures.
She studied art in Paris, where she met
her husband, Casimir Duvin Markievicz,
who was incorrectly styled a count. The
owner of a small estate near Kieff, Markie-
vicz was by birth a Pole, and of an artistic
temperament. When the couple came to
Dublin they were associated for a time
with theatrical enterprises. Then came the
activities of James Larkin and his Syndi-
calist strikes, which plunged Dublin into
turmoil and distress for several years. The
Countess Markievicz, as she called herself,
became an enthusiastic follower of Larkin,
organised a band of women-workers to help
the strikers, and played a prominent part
in the exciting events that followed Lar-
kin's dramatic appearance on the balcony
of the Imperial Hotel in Sackville Street,
Dublin, on a Sunday morning. She was

105

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

also a suffragette. When the Citizen Army
was formed out of the remains of Larkin's
followers, and when this force joined, after
the split in the ranks of the Irish National
Volunteers, with the Sinn Fein, or revolu-
tionary section, the Countess continued to
be identified with the movement now
dominated, to a large extent, by James
Connolly, the erstwhile lieutenant of James
Larkin. Some months before the rising
her house was raided by the police, and
arms, ammunition, and seditious literature
seized. Then came the rebellion itself, in
which the Countess found herself in her
element. The most amazing stories were
in circulation as to the part she played in
the revolt. She was said to have shot a
policeman and a soldier. Dressed in man's
attire, fantastic tales were repeated as
to her doings. Her headquarters were at
the Royal College of Surgeons in
Stephen's Green, where she was in com-
mand of 120 insurgents, who remained in
possession of the building from the start
of the revolt right to the very finish. When

1 06

END OF DUBLIN REVOLT

it was decided to surrender eventually, a
white flag was hoisted, and a communica-
tion sent to the officer commanding the
attacking forces to say the garrison in the
College was ready to come out.

Of what followed, a picturesque account
by an eye-witness was published in the
Daily Mail: —

At the appointed hour Countess Markie-
vicz marched out of the College followed
by her force, walking two abreast. She was
dressed entirely in green — green tunic, a
green hat with a green feather in it, green
puttees, and green boots. It was a rather
impressive scene. She marched to where
the opposing force was waiting, and, going
up to the officer in command, saluted,, put
her revolver to her lips and kissed it before
handing it to him, gave up her bandolier,
and announced that slie was ready. The
men were disarmed, and the squad was
marched under an armed escort through
Grafton Street and Dame Street to the
Castle.

Despite the order to his followers by
P. H. Pearse, the reputed leader in the

107

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

movement, commanders in the outlying
districts still continued the struggle on
Sunday and Monday. On Sunday^ Com-
mandant De Valera, who was in charge
of the operations at Boland's Bakery and
the Distillery in the Ringsend district,
surrendered. The despair caused by the
hopeless struggle of just a week was shown
by the remarks attributed to the leader at
this point, when giving himself up to the
military : " Shoot me," he said, " if you
will, but arrange for my men." Then, as
he walked up and down waiting for the
preliminaries of the capture to be arranged,
he added : " If only the people had come
out with knives and forks." In the case of
Jacob's biscuit factory, it was a Catholic
clergyman who was instrumental in bring-
ing to the notice of the insurgents inside
the order of their leader. This was also
on the Sunday. Shortly after the volun-
teers marched out, leaving their flag flying
behind them. On the same night, after just
a week's occupation of portion of the South
Dublin Union, the insurgents quitted the

1 08

END OF DUBLIN REVOLT

fort they held. Their numbers, owing to
heavy losses, had been seriously depleted,
but, despite this, they stubbornly refused
to surrender until they received authentic
information that such was the order of
their leaders. Their final effort was made
in the Board-room of the institution, which
they fortified with the heavy books from
the offices of the Union officials. Almost
the last stand, so far as any important
building was concerned, was made by the
insurgents in the Four Courts. Here they
had repeated on a larger scale the tactics
adopted at the South Dublin Union.
Huge legal tomes were utilised to protect
the snipers in the windows. Any furni-
ture that could be dragged from the interior
of the Courts was placed as a barricade
at the main entrance. The marks of
thousands of bullets from rifles and
machine-guns showed how severe was the
fusillade around the Courts. The troops
had been able to gradually throw a cordon
around the building, and even had not the
General Post Office fallen it would have

109

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

been only a question of a very short time
before the insurgents in the Four Courts
would have been compelled to capitulate;
Considerable anxiety was felt in the legal
profession in Dublin lest the occupation
of the Courts should result in irreparable
damage to the valuable records, and
much relief was experienced when it be-
came known that though a large number
of documents had inevitably been tossed
yet there was no wholesale destruction.
The recapture by the military authorities of
the General Post Office, Boland's bakery,
the Royal College of Surgeons, Jacob's fac-
tory, the South Dublin Union, and the
Four Courts practically placed them again
in complete possession of the city. On
Monday, at 7 p.m., Field-Marshal French
was able to announce : " All the rebels in
Dublin have surrendered and the city is re-
ported to be quite safe." This applied to
compact bodies of insurgents who surren-
dered en masse. As a matter of fact, during
Sunday and Monday, and even on Tues-
day, isolated snipers still continued at work.

END OF DUBLIN REVOLT

This was especially the case in the narrow
and congested district of Ringsend. They
Jcept up during Monday night an irregular
fire from houses and from the railway line
in the vicinity. On Tuesday at 7 p.m.
Field-Marshal French reported : " Dublin
is gradually reverting to its normal condi-
tion. The work of clearing some small dis-
tricts around Irishtown is being carried out
by an ever-contracting cordon." By Wed-
nesday the last of the snipers had been
silenced, and the work of searching in the
areas frequented by them began in earnest.
This was rendered difficult by reason of the
lack of a distinctive uniform. Numbers of
the volunteers, of course, wore dark green
tunics and puttees resembling in all but
colour the regular uniforms of the British
soldiers. The great majority, however,
fought, as did the Boers in South Africa,
with bandoliers swung over their ordinary
working-day clothes. When at the conclu-
sion of hostilities they discarded their rifles
and ammunition, and mingled with the
ordinary people in the streets, it was no

ill

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

easy task to identify tKem. Those, how-
ever, who were taken with arms in their
hands were removed to places of detention
under strong military armed escorts, and
hundreds of them were deported to Eng-
land. A description by an eye-witness of
the appearance of these men is interesting,
as it typifies that of the great majority of
the insurgents who were up in arms in Dub-
lin. Most of the men wore their work-a-
day clothes, but there were a few amongst
them who could be classed as intellectuals,
men who were to be found in the learned
professions : —

" The most surprising thing of all was
the appearance of the men. The spirit of
defiance and hatred which kept them
fighting against overwhelming odds for
upwards of a week, and bade them
throw in their lot with Great Britain's
deadly enemy, was, notwithstanding
their miserable condition, firmly stamped
on their faces. There was a striking
incident when a young Sinn Fein
officer, who could not have been much more
than twenty, came on board. He was wear-

112

END OF DUBLIN REVOLT

ing the full uniform of the Irish Volunteers,
with cap, Sam Browne belt, and pack.
Standing six feet in height, with a clean
open countenance, he calmly folded his
arms and stood on deck in the glare of the
light of an officer's electric torch. There
was no evidence of fear written upon his
face — it reflected nothing but determina-
tion— and upon the word of command he
passed down to his quarters with the other
men without uttering a word. Another pris-
oner in mufti, as he reached the deck, fer-
vently exclaimed in my hearing: 'Are we
downhearted? Good-bye, Ireland.' He
probably would have said more had he not
been hurried on. Each of the prisoners, as
he came on board, was handed a life-belt,
and although the accommodation was some-
what crowded it cannot be said that they
were very uncomfortable, considering the
circumstances. It is stated that among the
prisoners were women in male clothing."

Such was the interesting description of
the first batch of prisoners sent to England,
written by a special correspondent of the
Press Association. The reference to the
women in male clothes was very probably

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

correct — certainly, if it did not apply to the
prisoners on the boat it was applicable to
others who were either captured or surren-
dered. There were large numbers of women
with the insurgents; some, of course, were
wives, sisters, and sweethearts, who helped
to cook, and to nurse them when wounded.
Others, like the Countess Markievicz, were
actually in the firing line. The male insur-
gents belonged to all classes. Numbers of
these — especially in the Citizen Army —
were ordinary dock labourers and working-
men. Embittered against the capitalists of
Dublin, soured by their defeats in the
labour troubles, seeing their masters on the
side of Great Britain in the war, they were
only too glad to plunge Dublin once more
into turmoil and disturbance. In James
Connolly they found a leader in whom they
had probably more real confidence than in
James Larkin. These men were more anar-
chists than insurgent Irishmen. Very dif-
ferent were the young men belonging to the
Irish Volunteers. Many of them hailed
from the country districts and occupied

114

END OF DUBLIN REVOLT

positions in Dublin as grocers' assistants
and behind drapery counters. An inventory
taken of the occupations of several hun-
dred prisoners removed from the Richmond
Barracks, Dublin, on April 3Oth, and
lodged in Knutsford Detention Bar-
racks, England, shows the various types of
men that were found in the ranks of the
insurgents. The list included :

Actors, Coopers,

Apprentices, Drapers,

Artists, Drillers,

Bakers, Electricians,

Barmen, Engineers,

Barristers, Farmers,

Belt-makers, Farriers,

Bookbinders, Firemen,

Boiler-makers, Gardeners,

Brush-makers, Goods-checkers,

Cabinet-makers, Grocers,

Canvassers, Grocers' Assistants,

Carmen, Grooms,

Carpenters, Hairdressers,

Caretakers, Hole-borers,

Carters,, Insurance Agents,

Chauffeurs, Insurance Inspectors,

Clerks, Journalists,

Coach-builders, Labourers,

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

Law Clerks,

Librarians,

Locksmiths,

Loco. Firemen,

Mattress-makers,

Motors-drivers,

Night Watchmen,

Office Boys,

Painters,

Paper-cutters,

Plumbers,

Porters,

Poulterers,

Printers,

Professors,

Riveters,

School Teachers,

Sewing Machine Agents.

Shorthand-typists,

Shirt-cutters,

Shunters,

Slaters,

Students,

Tailors,

Upholsterers,

Vanmen,

Waiters,

Wax-bleachers,

Weavers,

Wood-workers.

Amongst the insurgents, in addition to
educated men who had endeavoured to
make a study of the peculiar kind of war-
fare which they had decided to undertake,
were men well fitted to assist them mecha-
nically. There were, it is true, but few
munition factories in Dublin, or in Ireland
generally, but from the few there were
came men to assist in making bombs and
hand grenades for the insurgents. These
were, of course, of a primitive kind, old
tins being utilised for the purpose. The

116

END OF DUBLIN REVOLT

supply of explosives, too, was not adequate
enough to render them really effective. In
some cases, indeed, the bombs were more
dangerous to the rebels than to the
troops. A captive British officer in the
hands of the insurgents in the General
Post Office saw one of the latter endeavour
to place a bomb in position, when it ex-
ploded prematurely and blew his head off.
These bombs were charged with melinite
and fitted with wicks attached to fuses at
the outer end. From the same source it
was learned that the insurgents possessed
arms of the most various patterns : Mauser
and Holton rifles, army weapons, automatic
rifles, sporting guns, revolvers, and auto-
matic pistols of every conceivable type.
Among the insurgents in this building were
electricians, engineers, and experts in the
use of warlike weapons. They possessed
stores of gelignite, cordite, gun-cotton, and
dynamite. Some of the latter had been im-
ported into the country in boxes labelled
margarine. Undoubtedly the volunteers
numbered in their ranks and were assisted

117 H

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

by many time-expired soldiers, who
possessed a knowledge of arms and of mili-
tary operations. The great defect of the
insurgents was that they possessed no artil-
lery of any description. Once artillery,
therefore, was used against them it was
manifest that they could not expect to hold
out. Probably, as they entrenched them-
selves in the large and imposing buildings
in Sackville Street, including such an im-
portant Government establishment as the
General Post Office, the idea may have
gained belief that the military authorities
would not use cannon to batter them out of
their headquarters in this neighbourhood.
The fact, too, that the private buildings
they occupied in this street, the large and
beautiful hotels, the imposing shops and
offices, all belonging to loyalists of the most
unimpeachable devotion to the British
Crown and connection, may have convinced
the insurgents that the Government would
spare these premises so far as shell fire was
concerned. Well barricaded, well supplied
with rifles and ammunition, under no imme-

118

END OF DUBLIN REVOLT

diate anxiety as regards food supplies,
they may well have believed that they
could hold out here for a considerable time
and inflict very heavy losses on the troops
in the event of storming operations. When
the first shells came whistling, therefore,
over the Post Office, their leaders must
have clearly realised that the military
authorities meant, by the most drastic
means, to end the rebellion, even if by
doing so Government buildings and impor-
tant private and business establishments
were destroyed. It was only, however,
after they had been literally shelled and
burned out of their headquarters that the
leaders capitulated. The same fate would
eventually have soon overtaken those in-
surgents in the outlying strongholds such
as Roland's bakery, the Royal College of
Surgeons, Jacob's factory, the South
Dublin Union, and the Four Courts. It
was a realisation of this undoubted fact
that made the leaders surrender, as they
themselves stated, for the purpose of
saving the lives of their followers. As one
119 H 2

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

saw the latter march forth after the capi-
tulation it was evident, as was afterwards
affirmed in Parliament and elsewhere, that
in many cases they had not fully realised
the dangerous adventure into which they
had entered. Many of them were young
men and even boys, and as they had on
several previous occasions taken part in
mimic operations, it was very probable that
they at first took the Easter Monday pro-
ceedings as merely practice in street fight-
ing. Once engaged in the real and deadly
work of insurrection they fought with the
traditional inclination of young Irishmen
and obeyed the orders of their leaders with
zeal and fidelity. The fertility of the re-
sources both of leaders and of men in some
quarters was remarkable. Insurgents dis-
guised as women indulged in sniping in
some quarters. In other cases, rebels, who
knew every hole and corner of Dublin,
were ordered to discard their weapons and
to mingle with the people in the streets
for the purpose of procuring information
as to the movements of the troops. It was

120

END OF DUBLIN REVOLT

probably to information gleaned from this
source that the attack on the military in
the Mount Street Bridge area was due.
Up to Friday the military cordon, though
effective so far as the outskirts of the city,
was not drawn sufficiently tight in the centre
to prevent insurgents from getting in and
out. It has even been reported that insur-
gents were able up to that day to leave
their comrades in such buildings as Jacob's
factory, Boland's mill, and St. Stephen's
Green, return home to their families in the
suburbs, take their meals, and return with
information as to the movements of the
troops to their brothers-in-arms during the
night. Undoubtedly, it was due to this
exact knowledge of Dublin on the part of
the insurgents and the lack of such know-
ledge on the part of English Territorial
regiments sent to quell the revolt that so
many military casualties occurred. It was
not until Wednesday, May 3rd, that the
last of the snipers was silenced and that
the rattle of rifle fire was heard for the last
time in the streets of Dublin.

121

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

Immediately the revolt was quelled the
following order was issued to the troops by
General Sir John G. Maxwell, Command-
ing-in-Chief the Forces in Ireland : —

I desire to thank the troops who have
been engaged in the City of Dublin for
their splendid behaviour under the trying
conditions of street fighting which I found
it necessary for them to undertake. Owing
to the excellent direction of the officers and
the tireless efforts of the troops, all the
surviving rebels in Dublin have now sur-
rendered unconditionally. I especially
wish to express my gratitude to those Irish
regiments which have so largely helped to
crush this rising. Many instances of very
gallant behaviour have been brought to
my notice, which I am unable to refer to
in this order ; but I must express my admir-
ation of the conduct of a small detachment
from the 6th Reserve Cavalry Regiment,
which, when convoying ammunition, was
attacked in Charles Street, and after a
splendid defence for three and a half
days, during which their leaders were
struck down, safely delivered the am-
munition.

122

END OF DUBLIN REVOLT

Other tributes were also paid by British
and Irish journalists to the coolness and
bravery of the troops, who, after long and
arduous journeys from Great Britain, were
suddenly called upon to undertake the
singular form of fighting which developed
in the streets of Dublin. This feeling was
voiced by King George who, on the an-
nouncement of the end of the revolt, sent
the following message to General Max-
well : —

Now that the recent lamentable outbreak
has finally been quelled, I wish to express
to my gallant troops in Ireland, to the
Royal Irish Constabulary, and to the
Dublin Metropolitan Police, my deep sense
of the whole-hearted devotion to duty and
the spirit of self-sacrifice with which
throughout they have acted.

The numbers of the insurgents in Dublin
have been variously estimated. Probably
the exact figure will never be known as,
owing to the lack of a distinctive uniform,
there were losses and defections of which
even the leaders of the movement were not

123

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

aware. It is possible, however, to arrive
at an approximate estimate, which may not
be found to be very wide of the mark. The
strength of the Dublin battalions of the
Irish (or Sinn Fein) Volunteers was re-
garded, with some reason for belief in its
accuracy, as being roughly about 5,000
before the outbreak. The followers of
James Connolly in the Citizen Army would
not muster more than a couple of hundred.
The cancellation of the Easter manoeuvres
by Professor MacNeill prevented numbers
of the volunteers from mobilising in
Dublin on Easter Monday. When the
other leaders of the movement decided to
go on with the enterprise, therefore, they
were able to muster probably between
two and three thousand men altogether in
Dublin. There were excursion trains run-
ning into Dublin for the Easter holidays,
and it is possible the ranks of the Dublin
Volunteers were strengthened by the pre-
sence of volunteers from the country dis-
tricts. Indeed, a reference to men from
outside the city being in the ranks of the

124

END OF DUBLIN REVOLT

Dublin contingents is made in the Irish
War News, published by the insurgents on
the second day of the rising. Adding the
followers of Connolly, therefore, it is pos-
sible that the insurgent leaders had, in the
Dublin area, between two and three
thousand followers on the first day of the
revolt. The comparative simplicity with
which they took possession of the city may
have induced many of their followers to
remain in the ranks, and even to have in-
duced those who, following the MacNeill
order, had not mobilised, to throw in their
lot with the insurgents. By Thursday,
however, when authentic reports circulated
through the city of the enormous numbers
of troops arriving from all points of the
compass and armed with artillery, the
serious and desperate nature of the enter-
prise may have caused defections in the
ranks of such bodies of insurgents as were
not completely surrounded by the troops.
The extent of such defections will possibly
never be fully known; but, judging by the
numbers of prisoners taken, there could not

125

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

have been more than a couple of thousand
men in arms by the Saturday morning, and
many of these managed to escape from the
military by donning ordinary civilian
clothes and discarding their arms and am-
munition. Some of them were identified
and arrested. Others, thanks to the efforts
of friends and relations, managed to escape
detection. In any event, with the surrender
of the leaders and their immediate fol-
lowers, with the rounding up of the few
snipers who persisted for days in eluding
pursuit, and with the complete occupation
of the city by the military, all signs of the
revolt, so far as attacks on the troops were
concerned, had ceased by Wednesday,
May 3rd, and from that day business began
again to be somewhat normally resumed,
though martial law still ruled in Dublin,
and it had to be rigorously obeyed by the
people.

126

CHAPTER IV

OUTBREAKS IN THE COUNTRY

IT has always been an axiom amongst
Irish revolutionaries that the possession of
Dublin would lead to a general rising in
the country. From the days of Robert
Emmet, who, in 1803, attempted to seize
the Castle, it was believed by rebel writers
and leaders that once that symbol of
British power in Ireland was taken the
moral effect would be so great in the pro-
vinces that each city and town would
rush to arms. Failing the capture of
Dublin Castle there was an idea that the
possession and retention for some days of
other prominent buildings in Dublin would
result in outbreak in the country, for which
the insurgent leaders in Ireland have

127

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

always hoped and prayed. Bearing this
in mind, it is possible to trace the connec-
tion between the landing of Sir Roger
Casement off the South coast in Ireland
and the bursting out of the revolt in
Dublin. The county Kerry was known as
a place — one out of four or five in the pro-
vinces— where extreme views were held by
a more or less numerous part of the popu-
lation. The Irish, or Sinn Fein, Volun-
teers were strong in the county. Probably
for that reason it might have been con-
sidered a suitable place from which to arm
and equip such members of the force as
had been drilled, but were not yet sup-
plied with rifles. In any event, it was
somewhere in this county that Sir Roger
Casement was captured, and it was off the
South and West coast of Ireland that the
attempt was made, a few days before
Easter, to land arms from a disguised
German vessel, escorted by a submarine.
When challenged and chased the vessel
was scuttled, and a number of those on
board taken prisoners. It was from the

128

OUTBREAKS IN THE COUNTRY

submarine that three individuals landed,
one of whom was Casement. This is not
the place to deal with his activities beyond
pointing out the undoubted fact that his
landing and capture in Ireland preceded
by but a few days the outbreak of the
rebellion in Dublin. It is not difficult to
piece together the main features of what
might have happened had Casement been
able to raise a force in the South or West
of Ireland, and had a sufficient number of
arms been landed from a German vessel,
presumably with German instructors, to
equip some thousands of volunteers. In
any event, whatever may have been any
secret plans of the kind, the fact remains
that if they were ever conceived they were
destined to failure as the result of the
arrest of Sir Roger Casement and the de-
struction of the German vessel containing
arms. In the county of Kerry itself, re-
puted in various places to be a hot-bed of
revolt, there was no attempt at a rising.
Some Sinn Fein Volunteers at Castle
Gregory, on the extreme West coast, about

129

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

sixteen miles from Tralee, turned out to
the number of about thirty, with rifles, and
paraded the country. Next morning
troops, who travelled in motor-cars, ar-
rested seven members in their beds, and
seized their rifles. During the remainder
of the rebellion the authorities were able
to report that the situation in the county
Kerry was normal, with the exception of a
slight affair at a village named Firies,
between Tralee and Killarney, where two
policemen belonging to the Royal Irish
Constabulary were fired upon and
wounded, one of them seriously, after they
had posted up a proclamation concerning
martial law. It was on Wednesday, April
26th, that martial law was extended to the
whole of Ireland, and in a further procla-
mation, dated Saturday, April 29th,
martial law for all Ireland was ordered for
one month. General Sir John Maxwell
was appointed to the command of the
British Forces in Ireland, and was given
plenary powers. It was in the county of
Dublin and the adjoining county of Louth

130

OUTBREAKS IN THE COUNTRY

from which the first disturbances were re-
ported. On Wednesday (April 26th) the
General Officer Commanding-in-Chief re-
ported from Dublin : — " There has been a
small rising at Ardee, Uouth, and a rather
more serious one at Swords and Lusk,
close to Dublin." Taking the events in
the order mentioned, the story of what hap-
pened in county Louth is as follows : On
Easter Monday a party of armed men
passed the village of Castle Bellingham
proceeding towards Dunleer. They were
stopped by some police, but the latter were
covered with revolvers and searched. One
of the policemen was fatally shot. After
holding a military officer up for some time
the men left the place in motors, and their
subsequent movements were lost sight of.
Whether they proceeded to Dublin and
joined the insurgents there, or whether
they disbanded, is not quite clear, but no
organised attempt was made to hold any
town or village in the county. On Friday,
April 28th, some fifteen Sinn Fein Volun-
teers entered and seized a tower at Bar-

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

meath Castle, county Louth, the residence
of Lord Bellew. They posted armed
sentries, but molested nobody. They sub-
sequently evacuated the place, and ap-
parently dispersed. This was the beginning
and the end of the rising so far as Louth
was concerned. In the county Dublin, as
the General Officer Commanding re-
ported, the attempt made was more serious.
It was on Wednesday, two days after the
outbreak in the city, that the volunteers in
the county Dublin village of Swords began
operations. Some fifty men, fully armed,
surrounded the post office and the police
barracks, and took possession of the build-
ings. The insurgents were led by a doctor
and a schoolmaster. They took prisoners
a police sergeant and two constables, com-
mandeered their arms and ammunition,
and then proceeded to wreck the telegraph
instruments in the post office. They did
not touch the money or the postal matter.
One of the insurgents climbed a telegraph
pole and cut the wires. Some bread having
been commandeered the insurgents left in

132

OUTBREAKS IN THE COUNTRY

the direction of Donabate, and received re-
inforcements on the way. They blew up a
railway bridge at Rogerstown, and de-
stroyed the levers in the signal cabin. They
then attacked the police station in Dona-
bate, which was guarded by a sergeant and
two constables armed with rifles. In order
to understand these operations it must be
realised that the Royal Irish Constabu-
lary, unlike the police force in Great
Britain, constitute a semi-military force,
armed with rifles, and ready at all times to
know how to act in the case of an insurrec-
tion. In the firing one of the constables
was wounded, and the other police surren-
dered, their arms and ammunition being
taken from them. The post office was next
entered, the telegraph instruments broken,
and the wires cut. Towards the end of the
week the insurgents encamped between
Fieldstown and Kilsallaghan, where, on
Sunday morning, they received word of
the proclamation signed by the Dublin in-
surgent leader, Pearse, advising all his
followers to surrender unconditionally.

133 i

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

The Swords' men were incredulous, but
after some time agreed to send one of their
troop, in company with a policeman, to the
military barracks in Dublin, where they
learned that the surrender order was
general. That evening they capitulated,
and, to the number of over 100, were con-
veyed to Dublin by a strong escort, com-
posed of Lancers and Hussars. A large
number of rifles, eighty or ninety revolvers,
and over 30,000 rounds of ammunition
were also surrendered. A quantity of
gelignite was also found in the village of
Swords. There were several casualties in
the ranks of the insurgents, whilst, in addi-
tion to those who surrendered in arms, a
number of other arrests in the Swords dis-
trict was also made subsequently. During
the height of the trouble in this locality it
was feared that the Marconi station would
be attacked. A destroyer, however, landed
some hundreds of men of the North Staf-
fordshire Regiment, and these entrenched
around the station. Two gunboats also
patrolled the coast, their guns being within

134

OUTBREAKS IN THE COUNTRY

reach of the roads by which the insurgents
were expected to attack the station. The
volunteers probably heard of these pre-
parations, because they did not come in
this direction. It was at a place called
Ashbourne, in the adjoining county of
Meath, that the most serious affray outside
of the city of Dublin occurred. The in-
surgents having attacked Ashbourne
Police Barracks, a party of fifty police, in
ten motor-cars, under the command of
County Inspector Gray and District In-
spector Smyth, proceeded to the relief of
the small force locked up in the barracks.
As they were passing by a place called
Rathgate they were fired upon by the in-
surgents, who had secreted themselves in a
small wood by the side of the road. Several
of the police were shot dead, and others
wounded. The remainder sprang from the
motor-cars and took such cover as they
could find. A five hours' struggle then
took place between the police and the in-
surgents, and at its conclusion the con-
stabulary, having exhausted all their

135 I 2

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

ammunition, were compelled to surrender.
Eight policemen, including the county in-
spector and the district inspector (the
latter an ex-Army officer), lost their lives in
this desperate roadside encounter, and
fourteen were wounded. The rebels
also lost several killed and injured.
Having taken the police prisoners, the in-
surgents next proceeded to attack in
strength the police station at Ashbourne,
the garrison of which consisted of eleven
constabularymen. The insurgents threat-
ened to blow up the barracks, and under
the circumstances, resistance being useless,
the police surrendered. The insurgents,
having cut all the telegraph wires,
bivouacked in the vicinity, and after hoist-
ing the flag of the "Irish Republic" on
another police barracks that they captured
at Garristown, were preparing for further
operations when word reached them of the
Dublin surrenders. They then capitu-
lated. The story of the rising in the
county Wexford provides a most interest-
ing, but fortunately bloodless, little

136

OUTBREAKS IN THE COUNTRY

chapter. It was perfectly well known in
Ireland that if trouble broke out in Dublin
Enniscorthy would soon be in arms. The
war had not been long in progress when
arrests were made in this locality. It was
here that notices were posted up advising
the people that "if the Germans landed
they would come, not as enemies, but as
friends." In no part of Ireland were the
Irish or Sinn Fein Volunteers stronger or
more determined. The reasons for this
were mainly historic. Near Enniscorthy
stands Vinegar Hill, where the insurgents,
in 1798, put up a fight against British
troops that is still remembered in the dis-
trict. It was not surprising, therefore,
when intelligence reached Enniscorthy of
the events in Dublin on Easter Monday,
that an attempt was made at insurrection
in the excited little town by the Slaney.
Enniscorthy contains about 5,000 inhabi-
tants, and is a prosperous place in ordinary
times. In Easter week, however, busi-
ness was neglected, and the town seethed
with excitement over the news of the revo-

137

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

lution in Dublin. It was Thursday morn-
ing, however, before the insurgents were
ready to act. About two o'clock that day,
to the number of over two hundred, they
seized the Athenaeum, one of the most pro-
minent buildings in the town, and pro-
ceeded to convert it into their headquarters.
They attacked the police station, which
was defended by constables armed with
rifles, but were unable to obtain possession.
One of the constables was wounded, and
this, singular to say, was the only casualty
in the whole rising so far as the county
Wexford was concerned. The insurgents
next turned their attention to the railway
station. They cut the telephone and tele-
graph wires, tore up the line, held up and
took possession of a train that was proceed-
ing from Wexford to Arklow with 300
working men for Kynoch's munition fac-
tory. They tried to blow up a bridge at
Scara Walsh over the River Slaney, and
were also about to destroy the viaduct at
Enniscorthy, but at the last moment
changed their minds. They comman-

138

OUTBREAKS IN THE COUNTRY

deered over a score of motor-cars in the
town, took control of various houses which
controlled the roads leading to Ennis-
corthy, and then extended their operations
into the adjoining country. They advanced
and captured the town of Ferns, making
an old mansion in the vicinity their head-
quarters. They were about to progress in
the Gorey direction when the arrival of the
military made them retire on their main
position, which they had hastily fortified
by digging some trenches. Some thought
seems to have been bestowed on the advis-
ability of imitating the example of their
ancestors and making a stand on the domi-
nating height of Vinegar Hill, but in the
absence of artillery it was felt that this
would be an impossible position to main-
tain. They still, however, held the town
of Enniscorthy, where the flag of the
" Irish Republic " was hoisted. Their
mode of procedure whilst in occupation of
the town for several days was interesting.
By order of the leaders all the public-
houses were closed, and a number of the

139

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

inhabitants were sworn in as special con-
stables. The townspeople were required
to keep indoors, and a species of insurgent
martial law was in force. Scouting parties
on motor-cars, motor-bicycles, and ordinary
bicycles scoured the country for miles
around, and as all the wires were cut, the
post office in possession of the insurgents,
and the telephones also out of use, the town
of Enniscorthyand the district around were
for several days cut off from all communi-
cation with the outside world. Supplies
of food were commandeered from the local
traders, the bakers being required to work
for that purpose. It was about midday on
the Sunday after Easter when word was
conveyed to the rebels of the surrenders
in Dublin. The leaders were, however,
sceptical, and the unusual course was taken
of allowing two of them to proceed, under
military escort, to Dublin, to verify the
news. These two leaders interviewed
Pearse, T' the commander of the armies of
the Irish Republic," and they also saw the
ruins of Sackville Street and the effect of

140

OUTBREAKS IN THE COUNTRY

artillery fire. On their return to Ennis-
corthy they agreed, therefore, after consul-
tation with their men, to surrender. The
arrival of a large force of military with
artillery would, in any event, have con-
vinced them that their struggle was hope-
less. On Monday morning a force of
1,000 troops, comprising cavalry, infantry
and artillery, under the command of
Colonel French, entered the town, which
from the previous Thursday had been
almost completely in the possession of the
insurgents. A number of the latter dis-
banded on the Sunday night, and returned
to their homes, but many were subse-
quently arrested, including the leaders,
who numbered six, two of whom were
journalists, one a labour society clerk, one
a vintner, another a Labour Exchange
clerk, and the sixth an ordinary clerk.
Large quantities of arms and ammunition
were taken by the military. Thus ended
the rising in the county Wexford, where
the trouble was confined to the district
around Enniscorthy, Ferns, and Gorey.

141

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

In Wexford town itself the National
Volunteers, who were followers of Mr.
Redmond, turned out to assist the military
and police, and 600 special constables were
enrolled, the Mayor being of the number.
Arrests of sympathisers of the insurgents
were numerous, many prominent people
being placed in custody. The last place
in the country from which any serious at-
tempt at a rising was made was in the
West. On Easter Tuesday, the day after
the outbreak in Dublin, nearly 500 insur-
gents assembled in the Oranmore district
and captured the town. The police bar-
racks were rushed and the police captured.
At Oranmore, about three miles from Gal-
way, a police constable was shot dead,
and the news reached Galway that the in-
surgents were marching on that city, the
capital town of the province of Connaught.
They had, in fact, reached a place called
Merlin Park, and were also threatening
the town from another point. In the town
itself the most alarming rumours were in
circulation, and as owing to the outbreak

142

OUTBREAKS IN THE COUNTRY

in Dublin it was completely cut off from
the outside world, the citizens who were
opposed to the rising met and formed a
Committee of Public Safety. Business
was at once suspended, and the police
made a number of arrests of prominent
people in the University and outside who
were suspected of sympathy with the
revolt. The National Volunteers turned
out to assist the police, special constables
were sworn in, and the Loyalists made an
estimate of their strength, which, so far as
armed men were concerned, did not at the
time exceed one hundred. Meanwhile the
insurgents from the Oranmore district were
engaged in cutting the railway line, and
further isolating Galway town. A body of
them were actually marching on the town
when they were shelled from a gunboat in
Galway Bay, and they thereupon retreated.
On Thursday troops and marines were
landed for the purpose of engaging the
insurgents. The latter, now stated to be
over 1,000 strong, were encamped at
Moyode Castle, near Athenry. They had

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

been busy for some days commandeering
supplies of cattle and food with the evident
intention of making a stand in some more
favourable position. When the news of
the Dublin surrenders reached them the
greater portion of the insurgents dispersed.
The remnant took to the hills, where the
rounding up proceeded for some time
after. The leader of the insurgents in
the West was stated to be a Captain Mel-
lowes, whose history was enveloped in
some mystery. A man of the name had
been deported some months before the
rebellion, but was said to have made his
way back again to Ireland disguised as a
priest. It is estimated that between 300
and 400 of the insurgents under his com-
mand were armed with rifles and the re-
mainder with sporting guns and scythes
and pitchforks. There were fifteen to
twenty women with the insurgents, and
these did the cooking for them. The in-
tention probably was to capture and try
to hold Galway, but the shells from the
gunboat in the bay possibly conveyed the

144

OUTBREAKS IN THE COUNTRY

clear intimation that even if they secured
possession of the town itself their retention
of it could not be prolonged in view of
artillery fire from the sea, to which they
would be unable to reply. If the risings
in the Midlands, in Wexford county, and
in the West were rather aimless and abor-
tive, the proceedings in Cork were abso-
lutely farcical. For some remarkable
reason this city rejoiced for many years in
the title of " Rebel Cork/5 though how it
was deserved is not very easily discernible,
considering the fact that the most the
rebels belonging to it have ever accom-
plished has been a very considerable
amount of talk. They did not belie their
reputation on this particular occasion.
Some plan seems to have been arranged to
imitate the example of the Dublin insur-
gents and to seize the General Post Office
and other prominent buildings in the city.
This plan, however, never matured. In-
stead, such followers as there were of the
revolutionary movement assembled and
very prudently decided to stand by the

145

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

cancellation order which had been issued
on the Saturday before the outbreak in
Dublin. In any event, had they at-
tempted, after the news of the rising in
Dublin, to emulate the example in that
city tfiey would have been too late, as the
General Post Office in Cork was promptly
held by the military. The leaders were
visitecT by the Catholic Bishop, to whom
an undertaking was given that the volun-
teers would not attempt any outbreak.
There was, of course, a good deal of
excitement in the city due to the absence
of news from Dublin, and many alarming
rumours were in circulation, but from first
to last there was not a single attempt made
at a rising, and " the Cork Comedy," as it
was called, provided the only comic inter-
lude of the rebellion. Stories were printed
in the London Press of midnight vigils,
of insurgent leaders eagerly waiting for
news, of prolonged appeals to them and
their men to attempt nothing in the way of
a rising, and of the wise decision of the
Cork men, after an immense amount of

146

OUTBREAKS IN THE COUNTRY

talk, to lay down their arms. In the county
of Cork the only place where any incident
of note occurred was at Fermoy, where the
police, on attempting to arrest two men in
their houses, were met by armed resistance,
and a head constable was shot dead. On
the arrival of military reinforcements the
occupants of the house surrendered. At
Mallow, in the same county, the military
placed a strong guard at the railway
station, and erected emplacements for
guns on the viaduct over the Blackwater.
Barbed wire was used on the roadway, and
permits were required from motorists. No
attack, however, on the troops took place
at this spot or in any part of Cork county
or city. The rebellion, if ever such a thing
was really contemplated in this district,
was therefore aliasco so far as the extreme
South-West was concerned. In Limerick,
where the Irish or Sinn Fein Volunteers
were strong, the surrender of rifles and
ammunition took place peaceably. The
county of Tipperary, a hot-bed of agita-
tion during the stormy days of the Land

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

League, also remained quiet, and the in-
habitants took no part in the rising. Ad-
dressing the people in Tipperary town on
the Sunday after Easter, the Roman
Catholic Archbishop congratulated them on
having taken no share in the rebellion.
The history of the past, he said, showed
fKat all revolutionary measures were
doomed to failure. Kilkenny, Clonmel,
and Waterford also kept aloof from the
outbreak, and on Monday, May ist, Field-
Marshal Sir John French, so far as the
South was concerned, was able to report :
"Wicklow, Arklow, Dunlavin, Bagnals-
town, Wexford, New Ross, counties Cork,
Clare, Limerick, and Kerry are generally
quiet." The whole of Ulster was at the
same time reported quiet. Prompt mili-
tary measures taken in that province put
an end to any possibility of an outbreak
even if any had been planned. In the
county Tyrone, where it was thought the
rising might possibly start, the authorities
took early measures to suppress it in the
event of a mobilisation of the Irish or Sinn

148

OUTBREAKS IN THE COUNTRY

Fein Volunteers in that neighbourhood.
Over 100 motor-cars were placed at the
disposal of the military, and flying columns
were sent in various directions. In Dun-
gannon the post office and the telephone
wires were placed under a strong guard,
and a search for concealed guns resulted in
3,000 rounds of ammunition in cases and
bandoliers being seized by the military.
In Belfast and other towns in the North a
number of arrests were made, and precau-
tionary measures were generally taken, but
no attempt at resistance was made by the
volunteers, who were taken prisoners. In
Ulster, as in the other provinces, search
was made for arms and ammunition be-
longing to the Irish or Sinn Fein Volun-
teers, and a considerable quantity was
seized. In this manner ended the out-
breaks in the country. They were mainly
put down by the police, who suffered losses
numbering fourteen killed (including two
officers) and twenty-three wounded. At
no point in the provinces was any compact
body of troops actually in conflict with the

149 K

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

insurgents, nor did the military suffer any
casualties. The rising, indeed, so far as the
country was concerned, was an almost com-
plete failure. In Wexford, as well as in
Drogheda, the National Volunteers, all
supporters of Mr. Redmond and his party,
turned out to assist the military and police.
In Limerick, in Cork, in Galway and other
towns the mayors and public people of
Nationalist sympathy offered their services
to the authorities either to prevent the
spread of the rebellion or, in some cases,
to actually assist in quelling it. In the
case of such isolated places as did rise no
coherent plan seems to have been acted
upon by the insurgent leaders. Possibly
some such plan may have been elaborated
beforehand, but if so it was not acted upon
by such insurgents as actually took up
arms. The cancellation of the " Easter
manoeuvres," whatever they were meant to
be, by Professor MacNeill, the chief of the
Irish Volunteers, may have altered the
movements and set astray the plan of the
insurgent leaders in the provinces, but

150

OUTBREAKS IN THE COUNTRY

with a revolt in full swing in the capital
during a whole week there seems to have
been no reason why the rural volunteers all
over the country could not have done what
those in county Meath, in county Wexford
and in county Galway did. The fact is
that the country as a whole, the farming
community especially, did not want a
rebellion, and it may be doubted if, under
any circumstances short of its complete
and absolute success in Dublin, Cork, and
other large towns would they have been
inclined to welcome it. Had it succeeded,
the prospect of having their lands free
might, had it been put before them cleverly
by the leaders of the " Irish Republic,"
have tempted them to transfer their allegi-
ance to the new constitution, but simple
appeals to Irish patriotism would have left
them cold. Unwilling to fight for England
in the war, they were also unwilling to fight
against her, and though they were vastly
interested in the rebellion they refused in
any way to touch it. The promptitude,
too, with which the situation was handled

151 K 2

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

by the military authorities had much to do
with the suppression of the revolt in the
country before it had time to assume
serious proportions. In any event, even if
the country had risen in large numbers the
absence of one essential would have
doomed the insurrection to failure, though
it might, of course, have caused much more
trouble. That essential was artillery. It
was shell fire that prevented Galway from
being taken, and that enabled the troops to
recapture Enniscorthy.

152

CHAPTER V

THE DAMAGE TO DUBLIN

WHEN the revolt was quelled in Dublin,
and the loyalists in the city went forth
once more, the sight that met their eyes
was one of ruin and devastation. Sack-
ville Street, the principal thoroughfare of
the Irish metropolis, and accounted one of
the most beautiful in Europe, lay, for
nearly half its length, an unshapely heap
of smoking debris. The heart of the city
was destroyed. On every side lay marks
of the terrible struggle that had raged for
nearly a week. In addition to shot and
shell the rebellion had brought in its train
the twin terrors of wholesale looting and
of awful conflagrations. From the very
first day of the revolt looting took place

153

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

on a large and an audacious scale. In their
Proclamation declaring an Irish Republic
the leaders of the rebellion had issued a
warning against rapine, and the evidence
of more than one eye-witness was to the
effect that they did their best to check
looting. In conjunction with the troops
they actually fired on those who, profiting
by the turmoil, seized the opportunity to
rob and plunder. With the police off the
streets, however, with the ordinary law at a
standstill, and with a population always
ready to profit by disturbance, both insur-
gents as well as troops were powerless to
prevent the barefaced robbery that con-
tinued thoughout the week. It was of a
nature to startle and amaze all onlookers.
From the lanes and alleys of the city, from
the purlieus where misery and want were
always to be found, came a mob of men,
women, and children to seize everything on
which they could lay their hands. It was
typical of the puerile character of the mob
that the first places looted were sweet- and
toy-shops. Urchins in bare feet and slat-

154

THE DAMAGE TO DUBLIN

ternly girls in shawls were to be seen
smashing the windows of sweet shops and
seizing boxes and bottles of chocolates,
heavy bars of rock, sugar-sticks, and im-
mense slabs of toffee. With childish glee
they tore these dainties asunder and de-
voured the contents on the kerb-stones.
Others raided toy emporiums, collected
armfuls of dolls, games, and mechanical
instruments of all descriptions. Not even
in the days of the first French Revolution
were more singular or more incongruous
spectacles. A bootless and ragged boy
was seen with a hockey stick striking golf-
balls up and down the street, and when
they disappeared he searched for them with
a costly opera-glass, also looted. Pale and
miserable little children were observed run-
ning home to their dirty hovels with loads
of expensive toys and their mouths full of
the daintiest confectionery. Finding them-
selves unchecked, the operations of the
looters became more and more daring, until
finally their audacity passed all bounds.
Men and women entered wholesale into

'55

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

splendid shop-fronts and threw out the
contents on the streets to be taken by any
passers-by who chose. One man outside
an outfitter's shop, after searching vainly
in collar boxes for a particular size he
needed, was heard asking the robber inside
to fling out some number fourteens. Gold
watches were openly sold at one shilling
apiece. Men and women sat down in the
gutters to fit on stolen boots, and flung them
aside in disgust when they could not get
them to suit. Both boots and shoes were
sold at threepence a pair. Barefooted girls
walked proudly with costly Bangles on their
ankles. In Henry Street, after broaching
whiskey barrels and scooping up and
drinking the raw liquor, the drunken looters
allowed the contents to run to waste. One
individual actually took off his clothes in
the street and fitted on a new suit from the
window of a fashionable tailor's shop.
Dirty, unkempt women from the slums
were seen wearing sealskin coats and costly
jewellery which they had just stolen. Even
well-dressed people did not disdain to loot

156

THE DAMAGE TO DUBLIN

or to purchase looted goods. Nor did
the deadly fusillade of bullets stop the
work of plunder. Women were seen busy
at the work while a leaden hail whizzed by
their ears, and several of them were shot
dead. When the trouble spread to Rings-
end, with its network of squalid streets and
lanes, the looting of the shipping com-
panies' stores provided scenes that might
well astonish those who witnessed them.
Asses and carts were used to take away
the spoil. In some cases tons of bacon
and other provisions were stolen. Women
and girls were seen staggering along with
sheet-loads of looted articles. Many were
drunk on stolen whiskey, and in their
delirium marched right into the firing line,
utterly oblivious to their peril. The most
remarkable hiding-places were selected for
such articles as the looters could not con-
veniently carry home. In one church there
were found toys, tennis and cricket bats,
jewellery, clocks, watches, rings, and even
stolen prayer-books. In another church
was found a stolen perambulator. Hun-

157

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

dreds of arrests were, of course, made after
the revolt for looting alone, but a tithe of
the goods stolen was never recovered. It
is but fair to say that this open robbery
was confined to a few places in the city.
With law and order suspended for a week
it might not unnaturally have occurred that
looting might be even more extensive, but
numbers of streets in which not a policeman
was seen for seven or eight days escaped
unscathed. The insurgents themselves
paid for most of the articles they comman-
deered, and, according as the cordon of
troops became tighter around the city,
more check was placed on the operations
of the looters. There was another reason
why the taking of provisions, at any rate,
could be condoned in the case of the popu-
lace. The stoppage of the food supplies
occasioned acute distress both in the city
and the suburbs. One big bakery was in
the possession of the insurgents, and as
constant firing went on from it, it was ob-
viously impossible to supply the people with
bread from it. Shopkeepers, too, being

158

THE DAMAGE TO DUBLIN

unable to renew their supplies of meat,
vegetables, flour, milk, and other commodi-
ties, the stocks they had on hand soon gave
way, and the subsequent shortage caused
lamentable consequences. There was no
milk in many localities, and children,
especially infants, suffered severely. Such
bakers as tried to supply bread to their
customers had their carts raided by starving
people, and prices reached famine level.
Numbers of respectable families found
their plight a shocking one. The banks
were all shut. There were no wages and
few means of obtaining money. Those
with Post Office Savings Bank books could
not obtain money because the General Post
Office was in possession of the insurgents,
and the sub-post offices were not open. In
conjunction with the food supplies, coal
and oil became scarce, as, for the pro-
tection of the city, the gas supply was cut
off. The most extraordinary methods had
to be adopted for cooking such food as
was obtainable. In one quarter of the city
a huge mound of turf, that had lain accumu-

159

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

lating for years next a canal, was cleared
in a single night. Woodwork of all kinds
was used for cooking purposes. Fortun-
ately the weather during this terrible week
kept fine and dry, or the results might have
been even worse. In the suburbs some
extraordinary sights were witnessed,
according as the food became shorter and
shorter. Well-dressed men and women
holding responsible and well-paid positions
in the city, which they were, of course, un-
able to reach, could be seen journeying
miles and returning, after long searches in
provision shops, with loaves of bread, sides
of bacon, heads of cabbages, and other eat-
ables. A clergyman, in a suburb that ran
completely out of bread and flour, suc-
ceeded, by a circuitous route and by means
of motor-cars and trains, in obtaining a
quantity from Belfast. Small provision
shops with stocks of tinned meats that had
lain for years on their shelves found them
cleared out rapidly, until not an article re-
mained behind and there was no immediate
prospect before them of renewing their
1 60

THE DAMAGE TO DUBLIN

supplies. The people who suffered most
were those in the vicinity of the fighting,
who, unable to leave their houses for days,
had to depend on the small stocks they
had got in on the Easter Saturday for
the bank holiday. Had the revolt
lasted for a few days longer, a great part
of the city would have been faced with
actual starvation. As it was, so scarce had
commodities become in some quarters that
six shillings a pound was asked for butter,
whilst fruit was so dear that sixpence each
was demanded for oranges and one and
threepence for six bananas. In some parts
of the city and suburbs prompt and
efficient steps were taken with the rapidly-
increasing distress. There were no railway
trains running either into or out of the city,
but by means of motor transport food sup-
plies were obtained and distributed in an
organised and systematic manner. Relief
tickets were distributed to long queues of
people who were run out both of ready
money and provisions, and in other ways
efforts were made to cope with an unex-

161

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

pected and a dangerous situation. The
fact that no wages could be paid left num-
bers of people completely short of cash, and
even people with banking accounts were un-
able to obtain money owing to all banks
and commercial establishments being
closed. Numbers of soldiers' wives were
unable to draw their separation allowances.
In four days it is calculated over 100,000
people had to receive relief in some form
or another. The danger of starvation,
however, was small compared to the perils
of the streets. The total number of civi-
lians having nothing whatever to do with
the revolt who were killed or injured will
probably never be known. Many were un-
identified. Others were buried in gardens
of deserted or vacant houses. In other
cases, young men or women who were
wounded, but who were not in the ranks of
the insurgents, preferred afterwards to keep
their injuries secret for fear of being com-
promised. Citizens, however, were shot
under the most remarkable circumstances.
Several people were shot as they were look-

162

THE DAMAGE TO DUBLIN

ing out of windows; curiosity to witness
what was occurring being responsible for
their deaths. One shopkeeper was shot as
he was going upstairs. Several lost their
lives in their gardens. A nun was killed
as she was closing a window in a convent.
Another woman died of fright, whilst a
priest who was going to the aid of the
wounded was fatally shot either by a sniper
or as the result of a stray bullet. Many
engaged in the perilous work of bringing
in the wounded lost their lives. A woman,
sitting by her fireside and thinking she was
perfectly safe, was shot dead by a bullet
that entered the window at an oblique angle.
Some of the bullets fired from high build-
ings in the city penetrated to the suburbs
and caused casualties in the streets. A
man going for the doctor for his wife, who
had become suddenly ill, was shot dead at
his doorstep. Another man lost his life as
he was escaping with his wife and children
from a blazing building. In one Red
Cross Hospital there were brought in, dead
or wounded, 118 troops, 34 insurgents, and

163

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

20 civilians. There were 36 deaths. Even
the hospitals were not safe. Though both
the soldiers and the insurgents scrupu-
lously respected them, their wards were not
free from the peril of stray bullets, whilst
in a couple of cases the danger of fire from
adjoining buildings in flames was most
serious. Fortunately they all escaped. In
no building, however, could people feel
themselves perfectly safe. One woman,
sitting in a room and away from the win-
dow, was struck by no fewer than three
bullets and succumbed. A County Court
crier, raising his hand in the street to salute
a friend in a window, was shot by a sniper,
who mistook his action. He died on the
street. Another gentleman, knocking at
his hall door, was shot dead. In this most
amazing of all revolutions there were many
other poignant scenes. A soldier rushed
at a rebel to bayonet him, and found to his
horror it was his own brother. There were
several instances of insurgents having
brothers in the Army, some of them even
in Dublin, engaged in quelling the insur-

164

THE DAMAGE TO DUBLIN

rection. One young man in arms had a
father, a colonel in a line regiment, at the
Front. One of the leaders, a signatory to
the Proclamation, and who was shot by
order of a Court-martial, had an uncle an
officer who was killed at the Dardanelles.
Bullets penetrated the most extraordinary
places. One struck the brass rod near the
Lord Mayor's chair in the City Hall. Per-
haps one of the saddest features of the
revolt was the plight of a number of blind
workers who found themselves in a building
in one of the most dangerous portions of
the city. Fortunately, they escaped un-
injured. Several of the Corporation and
Poor Law buildings suffered severely, and
the inmates of one workhouse were
in the terrible position of having to re-
main in the institution whilst its posses-
sion was being disputed for by insurgents
and military armed with rifles and machine
guns. A nerve-wracking experience, es-
pecially for the aged and infirm. It was
in this institution that a nurse was shot dead,
and there were many casualties both among

165 L

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

the troops and insurgents as well as civi-
lians at this place. Owing to the dangers
of the streets the dead lay sometimes for
three days where they fell. So fearful and
continuous was the firing at some places
that the inmates of buildings in the vicinity
were unable to leave them. An Army Pay
Department, where thirty-two clerks were
employed, was under direct and constant
fire for four days, and the men inside were
unable to venture out because of the
certainty of immediate death. To add to
their suffering their premises caught fire,
but they managed to extinguish the flames.
Many thousands of people were in a some-
what similar plight, knowing not what best
to do, whether to venture forth with the
grave risk of being shot, or remain behind
to be burned in their houses. In most cases
people preferred to leave their residences
for safer places in the suburbs, and during
the week it was a common sight to see
families on the move with their children,
all the possessions taken by them being in
a perambulator or go-cart. Perhaps the

1 66

THE DAMAGE TO DUBLIN

saddest scenes during that terrible week
were the solitary hearses on their way to
Glasnevin Cemetery. Owing to ammuni-
tion having been found in a coffin, the
troops in many cases had the hearses
stopped and the coffins opened for examin-
ation. No mourners were allowed through,
and the interments took place with no
friend or relative at the graveside. In
many cases there were no coffins for the
bodies, due, in the first place, to the ab-
normally large number of deaths, and, in
the second, to the difficulty experienced by
the undertakers in executing orders, especi-
ally in the areas where continuous street
fighting was taking place. In Glasnevin
alone there were 415 burials from April
2/th to May 4th, of which 216 cases were
due to fatal gun-shot wounds. Thirty of
the bodies were unidentified. There were
46 burials in another cemetery during the
same brief period, nor did these represent
the total deaths, numbers of bodies being
interred in gardens, as well as other burial
grounds, both consecrated and uncon-

167 L 2

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

secrated. Many bodies were burned and
buried in the great conflagrations that raged
in Sackville Street, and, of course, their
remains cannot be found for months
until the work of removing the debris is
completely carried out. It was, indeed, in
this neighbourhood that Dublin suffered
the most in life and property. The first
fire started here on the evening of the first
day of the revolt, and the burnings con-
tinued right until the following Sunday.
The causes of some of the fires are obscure,
but heavy shell fire undoubtedly started the
serious conflagrations that spread during
the week-end with such disastrous conse-
quences. The Fire Brigade did their best
to cope with the flames, but with firing
going on all round, and with several
people killed as the firemen were at work,
it was obviously impossible to save num-
bers of the large blocks of buildings that
were destroyed. The bullets even struck
the ladders on which the firemen were using
the hose. To add to the danger, ammuni-
tion and explosives stored by the insur-

168

THE DAMAGE TO DUBLIN

gents in many of the buildings burst as
they were reached by the flames. One of
the first fires of the week was at the Maga-
zine Fort in the Phoenix Park. Popular
imagination had credited this place with
containing vast stores of high explosives,
and it was one of the first places visited by
the insurgents, who set it ablaze. Boxes of
small-arms ammunition were destroyed by
the fire, but before the flames could reach
any of the other explosives the Fire
Brigade, which came promptly on the
scene, quelled the flames. Had they been
afforded an equal opportunity in the case
of the Sackville Street area, there can be
no doubt they would have saved a great
portion. When they did get the chance,
they isolated the conflagrations, and thus
saved adjoining blocks. It was, indeed,
owing to their unceasing efforts in the face
of enormous danger, as well as the fact that
there was fortunately little wind on that
awful week-end, that saved all central
Dublin from complete ruin by fire. As it
was, the damage was appalling. In all,

169

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

over 200 large buildings were more or less
destroyed. The following list will give
some idea of the destruction, though as it
only contains, in many cases, the name of
the chief firm doing business on the pre-
mises destroyed, it does not completely
show the damage done. In the Sackville
Street area, hundreds of people had their
offices in the upper portions of the de-
stroyed buildings, and, of course, these
offices, with all their effects, suffered the
same fate as the main buildings : —

LOWER SACKVILLE STREET.

i — Messrs. Hopkins and Hopkins, one of the
best-known firms of jewellers in Dublin.

2 — Messrs, William Scott and Co., tailors.

3 — Messrs. Hamilton, Long- and Co., apothe-
caries.

4 — Messrs. Francis Smyth and Son, umbrella
manufacturers; the Waverley Hotel and Restau-
rant.

6 and 7 — The Dublin Bread Company restau-
rant, large and imposing dining and tea rooms,
generally known as the D.B.C. ; Mr. Frank R.
Gallagher, cigar merchant.

8 — The Grand Hotel and Restaurant.

170

THE DAMAGE TO DUBLIN

9 — E. R. Moore, jeweller.

10 and ii — Charles L. Reis and Co., fancy
goods warehouse.

The Irish School of Wireless Telegraphy.

12 and 13 — The Hibernian Bank.

14 — Robert Buckham, gentlemen's outfitter.

15 — City and County Permanent Building
Society.

1 6 — F. Sharpley, ladies' and children's out-
fitters.

17 — Hoyte and Son, druggists.

G. P. Beater, architect and civil engineer.

1 8 — The True-Form Boot Company.

19 — J. P. Callaghan, tailor and hosier.

20 — George Mitchell (Ltd.), cigar and wine
merchants.

21 to 27 — The Imperial Hotel.

Clery and Co. (Ltd.), drapers.

28 — Richard Allen, tailor.

29 — F. O'Farrell (Ltd.), tobacco importer.

30 — The Munster and Leinster Bank (branch).

31 — The Cable Boot Company (Ltd.).

32 — Dunn and Co., hatters.

33 — Lewers and Co., boys' clothiers and out-
fitters.

34 — Noblett's Ltd.

35 — Knapp and Peterson (Ltd.), tobacconists.

35 to 39 — Hotel Metropole.

39 — Henry Grandy, tailor.

40 — Eason and Sons, general newspaper and
advertising office and subscription library.

171

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

41 — David Drimmie and Sons, insurance agents.

42 — The Misses Carolan, milliners.

43 and 44 — Manfield and Sons, boot and shoe
manufacturers.

46 and 47 — John W. Elvery and Co., water-
proof and gutta percha manufacturers.

UPPER SACKVILLE STREET.

i — John Tyler and Sons, boot merchants.
2 — Dublin Laundry Co. and Dartry Dye Works.
3 — John McDowell, jeweller.
4 — E. Nestor, milliner.

5, 6, and 7 — William Lawrence, photographer,
and stationer.

8. — Henry Taaffe, gentlemen's outfitter.

SACKVILLE PLACE.
1 1 — Vacant.

13 — Corrigan and Wilson, printers.
14 — John Davin.
1 6 — Denis J. Egan, wine and spirit merchant.

HENRY STREET.

1 6 — James O'Dwyer and Co., tailors.
17 — Harrison and Co., cooks and confectioners.
18, 19, and 20 — Bewley, Sons, and Co. (Ltd.),
provision and general merchants.
21 — Irish Farm Produce Co.
22 and 23 — E. Morris, merchant tailor.
24 — The Coliseum Theatre.

172

THE DAMAGE TO DUBLIN

25 — H. E. Randall, boot and shoe manufac-
turers.

26 and 28 — Maclnerney and Co., drapers.

27 — McDowell Brothers, jewellers.

29 — Adelaide Repelto, fancy warehouse.

30— The World's Fair 6^d. Stores.

34 — Dundon and Co., tailors and outfitters.

35 — A. Clarke and Co., millinery and general
fancy warehouse.

36 — Madame Drago, hairdresser.

37 — E. Marks and Co. (Ltd.), Penny Bazaar.

38 — R. and J. Wilson and Co., confectioners
and fancy bakers.

39 — McCarthy and Co., costume and mantle
warehouse.

40 — Bailey Brothers, tailors.

4OA — Mrs. Charlotte Gahagan, ladies' outfitter.

41 A — Joseph Calvert, provision merchant.

41 — Patrick M'Givney, cutler and optician.

42 — John Murphy, spirit merchant.

43 — R. and J. Dick, boot and shoe manufac-
turers.

44 — Caroline E. Fegan and Co., underclothing
factory.

49 — Menzies and Co., milliners.

50 — Hampton, Leedom and Co., hardware mer-
chants.

51 — Hayes, Conyngham, and Robinson,
chemists.

52 — Miss White, milliner.

53 — Maples and Co., tailors.

173

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

LOWER ABBEY STREET.

i — Young and Co. (Ltd.), wine and spirit mer-
chants.

2 — J. J. Kelly and Co., cycle agents.

3 — J. J. Keating, cycle and motor dealer.

4 — Irish Times (Ltd.), reserve printing offices.

5 — Ship Hotel and Tavern.

6— The Abbey Toilet Saloon (Ltd.).

7 — John Hyland and Co., wholesale wine mer-
chants.

8 — C. G. Henry, wholesale tobacconist.

Presbyterian Church — Rev. John C. Johnston,
M.A., minister.

28 — Patrick Foley, wine and spirit merchant.

29 — Denis Nolan, private hotel.

30 — Francis Marnane, furrier.

31 — William Collins, oil importer and hard-
ware merchant.

32 — Humber, Ltd., cycle and motor manufac-
turers, wholesale depot.

32 — The Leader Newspaper.

32 and 33 — Keating 's Motor Works.

32 and 33 — The Irish Commercial Travellers'
Association.

33 and 34 — Percy Macredy and Co., Ltd.,
publishers ; Irish Homestead Publishing Co. ;
James McCullagh, Son, and Co., wholesale wine
merchants; the Royal Hibernian Academy.

35 > 36, and 37 — Wynn's Hotel.

174

THE DAMAGE TO DUBLIN

37 — Smyth and Co., Ltd., hosiery manufac-
turers.

38 — J. Ferguson and Co., hair dressers.
39 — Peter Callaghan, gentlemen's outfitter.

MIDDLE ABBEY STREET.

62 — Patrick Gordon, wine agent".

66 — W. J. Haddock, ladies' and gentlemen's
tailor.

67 — Collins and Co., tailors.

68 — George Young, builder and general iron-
monger.

69 and 70 — Sharman Crawford, wine mer-
chant.

71 — Dermot Dignam, advertising agent.

73 — James Allen and Son, auctioneers and
valuers.

74 and 75 — Gaynor and Son, cork merchants.

76 — Y.M.C.A. Supper Room for Soldiers and
Sailors.

78 — John J. Egan, wine and spirit merchant,
The Oval.

79 and 80 — Eason and Son, Ltd., wholesale
newsagents.

8 1 and 82 — Do.

83 — Evening Telegraph Office.

84 — Weekly Freeman and Sport Office.

85 — Sullivan Brothers, educational publishers.

86 — Sealy, Bryers, and Walker, printers and
publishers.

175

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

87 to 90 — Alexander Thorn and Co., Ltd.,
Government printers and publishers.

91, 92 and 93 — Fitzgerald and Co., wholesale
tea, wine, and spirit merchants.

94 — The Wall Paper Manufacturing Co.

96 — Maunsel and Co., publishers.

96 — Francis Tucker and Co., Ltd., church
candle and altar requisites manufacturers.

97 — W. Dawson and Sons, Ltd., wholesale
agents.

98 and 99 — W. Curtis and Sons, brass and
bell founders, plumbers, electrical and sanitary
engineers.

100 — J. Whitby and Co., cork merchants.

101 — John Kane, art metal worker.

102 to 104 — National Reserve Headquarters.

105 — Perfect Dairy Machine Co.

EARL STREET.

IA — James Tallon, newsagent.

i — T. Carson, tobacconist.

2 — A. Sullivan, confectioner.

3 — J. J. Lalor, Catholic art repository.

4 — Philip Meagher, vintner.

5 — James Winstanley, boot warehouse.

6 — Noveau et Cie, costumiers.

7 — Sir Joseph Downes, confectioner.

2 5 — J- Nagle and Co., wine and spirit mer-
chants.

26 — Mrs. E. Sheridan, wine and spirit mer-
chant.

176

THE DAMAGE TO DUBLIN

27 — Delany and Co., tobacco and cigar mer-
chants.

27A — J. Alexander, merchant tailor.

28 — M. Rowe and Co., general drapers.

29, 30, and 31 — John Tyler and Sons (Ltd.),
boot manufacturers.

EDEN QUAY.

i and 2 — Barry, O 'Moore, and Co., ac-
countants and auditors.

3 — Gerald Mooney, wine and spirit merchant.

4 — The London and North-Western Railway
Co., General Inquiry Office.

5 — G. R. Mesias, military and merchant
tailor.

6 — The Midland Railway of England, re-
ceiving, booking, and inquiry office.

6 — Wells and Holohan, railway and shipping
agents.

7 — J. Hubbert Clark, painter and decorator.

8 — The Globe Parcel Express.

9 — Henry Smith, Ltd., ironmongers.

10 — Joseph M'Greevy, wine and spirit mer-
chant.

ii — The Douglas Hotel and Restaurant.

12 — Mr. John Dalby.

13 — The Mission to Seamen Institute.

14 — E. Moore, publican.

PRINCE'S STREET.
3 — Princes Stores.
4 to 8 — Freeman's Journal (Ltd.).

177

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

13 — Stores.

14 — Vacant.

15 — Pirie and Sons, stores.

MOORE STREET.

i and 2 — J. Humphrys, wine and spirit mer-
chant.

3 — O. Savino, fried fish shop.

4 — Miss B. Morris, dairy.

5 — M. J. Dunne, pork butcher.

6 — R. Dillon, fruiterer.

59 — Francis Fee, wine and spirit merchant.

60 — Miss M'Nally, greengrocer.

6 1 — C. O'Donnell, victualler.

62 — Miss Ward, victualler.

LOWER BRIDGE STREET.
1 8 — Tenements.
19 and 21 — Doherty's Hotel.
20 — Brazen Head Hotel.

USHER'S QUAY.

i — H. Kavanagh, wine and spirit merchant.
2 and 3 — Dublin Clothing Co.
4 — Tenements.

BOLTON STREET.

57 — George Freyne, hardware merchant.
58 — D. Dolan, chemist.

59 — W. Leckie and Co., printers and book-
binders.

60 — Tenements.

178

THE DAMAGE TO DUBLIN

MARLBOROUGH STREET.
112 — J. Farrell, wine and spirit merchant.
113 — Marlboro ugh Hotel.

GLANWILLIAM PLACE.
i and 2 — Private houses.

YARNHALL STREET.

i — Hugh, Moore and Alexanders, Ltd.,
wholesale druggists.

Linenhall Barracks.

4, 5, 6, and 7 — W. Leckie and Co. 's work-
shops.

BERESFORD PLACE.
1 6 and 17 — Offices.

Liberty Hall, headquarters of Irish Transport
and General Workers' Union.

HARCOURT STREET.
96 — Norman Reeves, tailor.
97 A — Mrs. Elizabeth Bryan, fruiterer.

It has been calculated that the value of
the various properties in this list, accord-
ing to the new valuation for 1916, and ex-
clusive of any estimate for goods and also
excluding any sum for the General Post
Office, the Royal Hibernian Academy, the
Presbyterian Union Chapel or the Metho-

179

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

dist Church in Abbey Street, amounted to
,£241,870. The total damage caused to pro-
perty was estimated at £2,500,000. Many
of the buildings in the above list were
beautiful and imposing structures. The
General Post Office, of which the outer
walls and pillars were alone left standing,
was a large and powerfully built work of
stone, which, if it could not be called
exactly artistic, was, nevertheless, a land-
mark in the centre of the splendid street in
which it stood. Near it was the Hotel
Metropole, an extensive and prettily con-
structed building, with many balconies
overlooking Sackville Street. Opposite
stood the great drapery emporium of
Messrs. Clery and Co., with the Imperial
Hotel, a large structure in white, overhead.
At the back of the Post Office was the Coli-
seum Theatre, only completed about a
year before the revolt, and capable of seat-
ing about 3,000 people. Adjoining, too,
were the offices of the Freeman's Journal
and kindred publications, the official organs
of the Irish Nationalist Party. These

1 80

THE DAMAGE TO DUBLIN

were laid in ruins, the plant and machinery
being mere twisted wreckage. News-
papers, indeed, suffered severely in Dublin
during the revolt. The reserve office of a
Dublin Unionist daily was burned to the
ground, and the offices of two weekly news-
papers, as well as a large Government
printing office, were also destroyed. No
evening paper was published in Dublin
from Easter Saturday, April 23rd, until
Tuesday, May 2nd, an interval of eight
days. No morning paper was printed
and circulated in Dublin from Thurs-
day, April 27th, to Monday, May
i st. Several buildings of historic in-
terest met destruction. Of the num-
ber may be mentioned the Linen Hall
Barracks, the relic of a great national in-
dustry and the site, a year or two before the
rebellion, of a civic exhibition, in which
their Excellencies Lord and Lady Aber-
deen took a great interest. The Royal
Hibernian Academy was another building
destroyed whose loss could not be esti-
mated in mere figures. Some 500 pictures,

181 M

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

many of them of considerable value, were
lost in the flames. In Middle Abbey Street
the old Nation office met the same fate, as
well as the house associated with the meet-
ings of Michael Davitt, the Irish patriot.
Fortunately the statues in Sackville Street
escaped. The giant figure of Daniel
O'Connell, who won Catholic Emancipa-
tion for Ireland, was uninjured save for
the marks of some bullets, which chipped
the stone work. Nelson's Pillar, also
escaped destruction. This tall monument, a
replica to some extent of the Nelson Pillar
in London, was hateful to the insurgents,
who made an attempt to blow it up, but
they did not succeed. A sniper, from the
roof of the General Post Office, however,
spent some time firing at the figure of
Nelson. The nose was shot off, and one
of the arms was also damaged. In addi-
tion to the material damage caused by the
destruction of buildings and offices much
inconvenience is likely to result for many
years by reason of the loss of valuable re-
cords and agreements in solicitors' and

182

THE DAMAGE TO DUBLIN

business offices. The same remark ap-
plies to the loss of letters posted in the
General Post Office, the wholesale destruc-
tion of all the money and postal orders in
that building, as well as savings bank
books, receipts, and other postal and tele-
graphic records. Fortunately the fire-proof
safes in all the large buildings withstood the
effects of even such a huge conflagration
as ate up large buildings in whole blocks,
and were dug out of the ruins afterwards
with comparatively little damage. The
scene of desolation that met the eye, how-
ever, as the workmen probed in the smok-
ing ruins for such things as were recover-
able was indeed a melancholy one. Shape-
less heaps of dust and broken brickwork,
tangled bits of iron and brass work, broken
and disjointed, and scarred masses of stone
work, and odds and ends of all descriptions
in inextricable confusion marked all that
stood of imposing hotels, of pretty restau-
rants, of busy banks, of large printing
works, of beautiful shops, and of hundreds
of well-fitted business offices. Some outer

183 M 2

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

walls still stood, but as they were mani-
festly dangerous the work of pulling them
down was started as early as possible.
Even in the midst of so much devastation
that passion that leads people to collect
souvenirs was not forgotten, and broken
barrels of rifles, volunteer buttons, burnt
scraps of paper, broken screws, and other
relics of the rebellion were carried away
to be treasured in remembrance of the most
terrible time Dublin has ever known in all
its chequered and eventful history. Out-
side of the Sackville Street district the
damage to Dublin was not extensive.
Some hundreds, possibly thousands, of
houses bore marks of bullets. Windows
were smashed in immense numbers.
There was also considerable destruction in
the Ringsen'd district as well as looting,
both here and at some other isolated
quarters. On the whole, however, the city
escaped remarkably well save in the Sack-
ville Street area. Boland's bakery, though
damaged, was not destroyed. The same
remark applies to Jacob's factory, where

184

THE DAMAGE TO DUBLIN

work was resumed about a week after the
revolt ended. The plight, however, of the
hundreds of unfortunate property owners
and occupiers of business premises in the
Sackville Street district was pitiful. Some
of them were rich men, of course, and
would not be ruined, but the majority could
not afford to see swept out of existence
their means of livelihood. For some days
they literally did not know what to do.
Their premises had, of course, been in-
sured, but their policies expressly included
clauses that the insurance companies would
not be liable in the event of riot, rebellion,
earthquake or invasion. It was due to the in-
itiative of Mr. Wm. M. Murphy, who had
himself lost enormously by the revolt, that
definite steps were taken by the sufferers
to have their position plainly stated. In
addition to being the chairman and the
leading shareholder in the Dublin tram-
ways, Mr. Murphy was the practical pro-
prietor of the Imperial Hotel and Clery's,
where the damage was estimated at
£200,000. It was due to Mr. Murphy's

185

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

efforts that Larkin's Syndicalist strikes in
1911 and 1913 were defeated in Dublin,
and it was due to his endeavours also that
the first organised efforts were made after
the revolt to get the property owners and
occupiers who had suffered in the fires to
meet and state their case. At a meeting
held in the Mansion House, Dublin, Mr.
Murphy, who presided, said : —

" We have been paying taxes to the
Government to protect us. We have been
paying our annual sum in premiums, in in-
surance policies, and IF we cannot get some-
body to help us now it will be a very extra-
ordinary affair indeed."

The prevailing view at the meeting was
that the Government should help. It was
also pointed out that after the San Fran-
cisco earthquake the British insurance com-
panies paid, though by the terms of their
policy they were not compelled to do so.
It was decided that the Prime Minister be
requested to receive a deputation on the
subject. A most serious aspect, indeed, of
the wholesale destruction of property was

1 86

THE DAMAGE TO DUBLIN

the number of people it threw out of em-
ployment at a time when money was so
scarce and provisions so dear. Steps were,
of course, taken for dealing temporarily at
least with the most acute cases of distress,
but it was clearly apparent, as one watched
the smoking ruins of hundreds of prosper-
ous business premises, that Dublin, for
many a year, would feel acutely the dam-
age caued as a result of the revolt.

CHAPTER VI

EXECUTIONS AND DEPORTATIONS

AFTER the surrender of the leaders of
the rebellion much speculation existed as
to their fate. It was known that seven of
them who had signed the Proclamation of
an Irish Republic were in custody, and also
that the commandants of such places as
Boland's bakery, the College of Surgeons,
Jacob's factory, the South Dublin Union,
and the Four Courts were in the power of
the authorities. With martial law in force
the matter was not long in doubt. On
Wednesday morning at daybreak, P. H.
Pearse, Thomas MacDonagh, and T. J.
Clarke, three signatories of the notice pro-
claiming the Republic, were shot, following
sentence of death by a Field General

1 88

EXECUTIONS AND DEPORTATIONS

Court-martial. The news created a great
sensation in the country. Up to the time
of the revolt the three men were, generally
speaking, unknown in Ireland. Pearse was
thirty-six years of age, a barrister and head-
master of St. Enda's Boys5 School, Rath-
farnham, outside Dublin. Deeply versed
in a knowledge of the tragic history of
Ireland, a fluent speaker of the Irish lan-
guage^ he was the visionary leader of the
movement that culminated in the rebellion.
Gifted with eloquence of a kind that power-
fully appealed to the Celtic temperament,
his influence over the Irish (or Sinn Fein)
Volunteers in Dublin was immense. When
the remains of O'Donovan Rossa, the
Fenian leader, were removed from the
United States and laid to rest in Glasnevin
in 1915, it was Pearse who delivered the
funeral oration in a manner that electrified
his hearers. Robert Emmet, the young
Irish insurgent leader who essayed a rebel-
lion in Dublin in 1803, was Pearse's hero,
and all his speeches and writings were
modelled on the type of the oration de-

189

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

livered by Emmet before his execution.
It was this lofty tone, this idealistic por-
trayal of extreme Nationalism, this exalta-
tion of Ireland among the nations of the
earth, that marked the words and thoughts
of Pearse. His name was third on the list
of signatories to the Proclamation of the
Irish Republic, but the whole document
bears marks of the influence of his mind.
Dreamer though he was in many respects,
it may be doubted if he believed the in-
surrection, which he did so much to bring
about, would succeed. On the contrary, it
is reported that on Easter Sunday, the day
before the rebellion started, he expressed
the opinion that it would fail in its direct
object, but that its moral effect before the
whole world would be immense, and that
it would form " a glorious chapter in Irish
history." Although named as Commander-
General of the Irish Republican Forces,
the military skill of Pearse may be doubted.
His appearance, in the dark green uniform
of the Irish Volunteers, at the head of his
troop, was a familiar one in Dublin amongst

190

EXECUTIONS AND DEPORTATIONS

those who took any interest in the move-
ments of these Volunteers. In the vicinity
of his school and around the hills in county
Dublin he frequently was seen at the head
of his Volunteers whilst they engaged in
mimic field operations. His deep-set eyes,
his far-away looks, his complete absorption
in the Volunteer movement marked him out
as a man who would play a leading and a
dangerous part in any revolutionary
attempt in Ireland. Indeed, he made no
secret of his intentions, and from a hillside
near his school it was openly stated, in his
presence, some weeks before the revolt,
that a rising would take place. Secrecy
played little part in the preparations so far
as Pearse, at any rate, was concerned,
though, of course, he was not the practical
organiser of the insurrection. That was in
more effective hands. Pearse was the
orator, the dreamer, the inspiring force to
a large extent of the movement. He was
content to leave to others a large share in
the actual details. Like Pearse, Thomas
MacDonagh was a teacher. An M.A. of

191

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

the National University, he held a position
as tutor in English literature at University
College, Dublin. A man in the thirties,
he had established some reputation as a
minor poet of a melancholy type. Excit-
able and impulsive, his appearance, man-
ner, and gestures approximated him more
closely to the Parisian type of student than
that of Dublin. As a teacher of English
and of mathematics he was clever and in-
fluenced his classes, but it is very doubtful
if his influence was similarly strong in the
revolutionary movement. It has been
stated that his expressed belief was that to
attempt a rebellion without German aid
would have been madness. Once started,
however, he threw himself into the work,
and he was one of the signatories of the
Republican Proclamation. There is evi-
dence that at Jacob's factory he told some
police prisoners that the insurrection would
be a success, that aid was forthcoming, and
that the country was up in arms. His
imagination was probably excited at the
time to an acute degree, and with a man of

192

EXECUTIONS AND DEPORTATIONS

his temperament exultation one minute
would very likely be succeeded by pro-
found gloom the next. His poems, pub-
lished many years before there was any
prospect of trouble in Ireland, reveal a
deep vein of sadness. Under the title of
" The Suicide/5 he wrote : —

Here, when I have died,

And when my body is found,
They will bury it by the roadside

And in no blessed ground.
And no one my story will tell,

And no one will honour my name ;
They will think that they bury well

The damned in their grave of shame.

The fact is, MacDonagh was an exotic,
and he died the violent death he had so
often pictured in his poems and mirrored
in his mind. He was true to what he wrote
about himself. Thomas J. Clarke, the
third of the executed men, belonged to an
altogether different category. He was
purely and simply the unrepentant old
Fenian, the old Irish Republican of the
'seventies and the 'eighties of the last cen-

193

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

tury. He was seventy-four years of age.
Convicted in the 'eighties of dynamite out-
rages in England, he served fifteen years'
penal servitude. Returning to Dublin he
opened a news agency and tobacco shop,
and passed many quiet years until the revo-
lutionary movement brought him back once
more to the practices of his boyhood days.
He provided a link between the revolu-
tionary days of the later part of the nine-
teenth century and those of the first quar-
ter of the twentieth century, and it was
probably as a tribute to his age and his
associations of the past that he was allowed
to sign first the Republican Proclamation
in place of those who were playing a more
active part in organising the new rebellion.
On Thursday morning, May 4th, four more
insurgents were shot, namely, Joseph
Plunkett, Edward Daly, Michael O'Han-
rahan, and William Pearse. None of these
were well-known men. The only one
amongst them who was a signatory to the
Republican Proclamation was Joseph
Plunkett, a son of Count Plunkett. This

194

EXECUTIONS AND DEPORTATIONS

young man was a poet and a writer of some
note. At one time he was editor of a
monthly publication called the Irish
Review. Early in the war, his uncle, a
brother of Count Plunkett, joined the
British Army, and was killed in the Galli-
poli Peninsula. Edward Daly, who com-
manded at the Four Courts, was a nephew
of Mr. John Daly, who was at one time
Mayor of Limerick. He was twenty-four
years of age, and an officer of the First
Battalion of the Irish Volunteers. Michael
O'Hanrahan was a writer of short articles
and stories of Irish interest, but he never
attained any distinction at this class of
work, and at the time of the revolt he was
engaged as a clerk in connection with the
Irish Volunteers. William Pearse was a
brother of P. H. Pearse, and was a sculptor
in Great Brunswick Street. He did not
possess the dominating personality of his
brother, and, indeed, was little known save
to his immediate friends. On Friday morn-
ing, May 5th, John MacBride was shot.
A native of the West of Ireland, he was

195

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

fifty years of age. In 1897 he went to
South Africa and worked in the Robinson
Mines. When the Boer War broke out he
organised an Irish Brigade to fight against
the British and took part in the Battle of
Colenso. He was made a Major by the
Boers, and was known by that title in Ire-
land. Returning to Ireland he married
Miss Maud Gonne, well known in Ireland,
in Parnellite days, from whom he was sub-
sequently divorced in Paris. For some
years before the revolt he occupied a posi-
tion under the Dublin Corporation, and,
during the outbreak, he commanded at
^Jacob's factory. On Monday morning,
May 8th, the executions of the following
took place : Cornelius Colbert, Edmund
Kent, Michael Mallin, and J. J. Heuston.
The only one amongst them who had
signed the Republican Proclamation was
Edmund Kent. Better known in Ireland
by his Irish name of Edmoun Ceannt, he
was an accountant with a salary of £300 a
year in the City Treasurer's Office, Dublin
Corporation. About two months before the

196

EXECUTIONS AND DEPORTATIONS

rebellion he was prosecuted, under the
Defence of the Realm Act, for certain
remarks made by him in the county Cork,
but the charge was dismissed. A man of
notable intellectual entertainments, he was
undoubtedly an influence in the counsels
of the insurgents, though that influence
would .be more moral and persuasive than
dominating. Nationalism in his case was
carried to extreme lengths, and he was
probably one of the ablest and most con-
vinced Sinn Feiners in Ireland. His
speeches were direct utterances — he hated
eloquence or " green flaggery," as he called
it, and his own speeches were delivered
more to influence the understandings of his
hearers than to delight them with a flood of
oratory. The other three men executed,
though they were stated to have taken a
very prominent part in the rebellion, were
not by any means well known. Colbert was
a native of Clare, and aged about twenty-
three. He was only a junior clerk in a
city bakery. The other two men held
equally obscure positions. On Friday

197 N

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

morning, /May I2th, sentences of death
were carried out in the cases of James
Connolly and John MacDermott, both of
whom signed the Proclamation of the Irish
Republic. Viewed from the standpoint of
practical knowledge and of organising
ability, James Connolly was incomparably
the ablest man amongst the insurgent
leaders. Hailing from the North of Ire-
land his career was a stormy and a
chequered one. Early in life he became
associated with the labour movement in
Belfast, in Edinburgh, and in Dublin. He
was a Socialist of a convinced, determined,
and aggressive type. The author of a
volume entitled " Labour in Irish His-
tory," he was a self-educated man, and a
speaker and writer of much power. During
the Syndicalist strikes in Dublin he was
generally credited with being the strong,
silent man behind Larkin, who was put
forward as a picturesque figurehead. Cer-
tainly Connolly's influence over the work-
ing classes in Dublin was powerful. He
continued to inspire confidence even when

198

EXECUTIONS AND DEPORTATIONS

Larkin was to a large extent discredited.
Rugged in speech, he resembled Kent in
just one particular only, and that was a
profound dislike for mere oratory. His
own remarks to his followers were curt and
direct. He retained the rugged bluntness
and keen common sense generally asso-
ciated with the North of Ireland character,
even after years spent in Dublin, and in the
counsels of the Irish (or Sinn Fein) Volun-
teers his personality was a dominating one.
He kept, nevertheless, the Citizen Army
composed of workers as a separate organ-
isation, and in the war sheet issued by the
insurgents on the second day of the revolt
he was named as being in command of the
Dublin troops of the Irish Republic. He
was in command in the General Post Office
area, and his orders, type-written and
businesslike, have been preserved. One
of them reads as follows : —

199 N 2

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

Army of the Irish Republic

(Dublin Command).

Headquarters. Date, April 25th, 1916.
To Officer in Charge. Reis and D.B.C.

The main purpose of your post is to
protect our wireless station. Its secondary
purpose is to observe Lower Abbey Street
and Lower O'Connell Street. Commandeer
in the D.B.C. (restaurant) whatever food
and utensils you require. Make sure of a
plentiful supply of water wherever your
men are. Break all glass in the windows
of the rooms occupied by you for righting
purposes. Establish a connection between
your forces in the D.B.C. and in Reis's
building. Be sure that the stairways lead-
ing immediately to your rooms are well
barricaded. We have a post in the house
at the corner of Bachelor's Walk, in the
Hotel Metropole, in the Imperial Hotel,
and in the Post Office. The directions
from which you are likely to be attacked
are from the Custom House and from the

200

EXECUTIONS AND DEPORTATIONS

far side of the river, DJOlier Street, or
Westmoreland Street. We believe there is
a sniper in McBirney's on the far side of
the river.

JAMES CONNOLLY,
Commander General.

These orders, clear, incisive and direct,
were typical of the man, the hard-headed,
cool, practical Northerner, so different
from the poets and dreamers with whom he
was associated in his last great enterprise.
So great is this contrast that one is tempted
to speculate whether it was for the sake
of a national idea or to create anarchy in
Dublin that Connolly became mixed up in
the insurrection. He hated the capitalists
with a fierce and a burning hatred. This
loathing was apparent in every harsh sen-
tence that came from his mouth in address-
ing his followers. To die after causing
them millions of loss in property would be
to such a man a worthy end to meet. Pro-
bably, as he lay wounded with a shattered
leg in the General Post Office, and saw
around him giant buildings in flames and

201

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

central Dublin almost in ruins, his turbu-
lent spirit, nurtured on hatred of the
capitalistic system, may well have been
content. John MacDermott, or Sean
MacDiarmada as he called himself, was
quite a different man from Connolly.
Whilst the latter lived on hatred of the
capitalists, MacDermott grew upon hatred
of England. Aged about 30, he was a
native of the county Leitrim. Before the
war he was editor of a paper called Irish
Freedom, which, at a time even when Sinn
Feiners were discussing the Home Rule
Bill as a possible form of settlement, ad-
vocated the complete separation of Ireland
from Great Britain. After the war he be-
came connected with several papers that
were suppressed. He served four months
in prison under the Defence of the Realm
Act for an anti-recruiting speech delivered
at Athenry. By nature delicate, with a
defect in one of his legs that prevented him
walking without the aid of a stick, Mac-
Dermott had a mind which, though it was
warped by his one great passion of hatred

202

EXECUTIONS AND DEPORTATIONS

of England, was in other respects practical
and pleasing enough. The obstinacy,
however, with which he devoted his whole
life to the task of trying to undermine
British power in Ireland, led him inevitably
into the forefront of any revolutionary
movement. Whilst some of his com-
panions would have been content to stop
short at the work of hindering recruiting,
MacDermott's imagination was fired by the
men of action in Ireland and by the men
who had died for Ireland. Probably he
would not Have asked a better fate than the
one he met. In the country Thomas Kent,
of Coale, Fermoy, was executed at Queens-
town by order of a Field General Court-
martial, in connection with the shooting of
a head constable. This brought the total
number shot by order of Field General
Courts-martial in the country to fifteen. In
addition there were the cases of Mr. Sheehy
Skeffington and two other men stated to
have been shot by the military early during
the revolt in Dublin. The almost daily
series of executions that followed the

203

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

crushing of the rebellion created immense
feeling in Ireland, and, according to the
Washington correspondents of the London
Press, also in the United States of
America amongst the Irish-Americans. In
Ireland, and in Dublin especially, the
Unionists greeted with a fierce joy the sum-
mary sentences inflicted on the rebels. The
satisfaction of the Northern Unionists
over the crushing of the revolt was also
intense. In Dublin the feelings of the
Unionists and loyalists were voiced by the
Most Rev. Dr. Bernard, the Protestant
Archbishop, who spoke of the necessity of
"swift and stern" action to punish those
connected with the insurrection. The
organ of the Unionists in Dublin went even
further. It wrote :

" Only by a stern policy of suppression
and punishment can the Government pro-
tect the highest interests of the Irish capi-
tal and of Ireland as a whole. The State
has struck, but its work is not yet finished.
The surgeon's knife has been put to the
corruption in the body of Ireland and its

204

EXECUTIONS AND DEPORTATIONS

course must not be stayed until the whole
malignant growth has been removed."

One of the first acts of the official organ
of the Nationalist Party (its works were
completely destroyed in the rebellion),
when it reappeared on May 5th, was to
" denounce as utterly destructive of all
hopes of settled peace and order in
Ireland such bloodthirsty incitements
to the Government. If such recom-
mendations were accepted and fol-
lowed, the sole effect would be to
set flowing new rivers of hate and
bloodshed between England and Ireland."
In the House of Commons on May 9th,
when twelve executions (apart from the
Sheehy Skeffington and kindred affairs)
had taken place, Mr. John Redmond, the
leader of the Nationalist Party, said that
the continuance of these death sentences
was causing " rapidly increasing and bitter
exasperation amongst sections of the Irish
Republic who had no sympathy with the
rebellion." Mr. Asquith replied that the

205

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

Government had the greatest confidence in
the discretion of General Sir John Max-
well. His general instructions were to
sanction the infliction of the extreme
penalty as sparingly as possible, and only
on responsible persons guilty in the first
degree. At a meeting of the Irish Nation-
alist Party on May loth a resolution was
passed on the same lines as Mr. Red-
mond's plea in the House of Commons.
The resolution also asked that no further
executions should take place, and that
martial law should be immediately with-
drawn in Ireland. This was followed on
May nth by a vehement and impassioned
speech by Mr. John Dillon, a prominent
member of the Irish Nationalist Party, in
the House of Commons. He spoke of
"the maddening effect on Ireland of
General Sir John Maxwell's secret trials
and executions, and the rivers of blood set
flowing between the Irish and English
races by the champions of small nation-
alities." He would prove, he said, that
two persons had been shot in Portobello

206

EXECUTIONS AND DEPORTATIONS

Barracks, Dublin, without a trial. If a
military government was to be substituted
in Ireland in place of civil law, the Govern-
ment had better get 100,000 men to gar-
rison the country. What kind of appear-
ance, he asked, would Great Britain make
at the Peace Conference as the champion
of small nations with Ireland under a mili-
tary despotism? He was informed that
hundreds of people who were arrested were
given half an hour in which to decide
whether they would give information
against their leaders. If they refused they
were put up against a wall and shot without
any form of trial. One man said to the
British officer, " Shoot me, for I have killed
three of your soldiers." There were
Nationalist cheers as Mr. Dillon spoke.
"That," exclaimed Mr. Dillon, "may
horrify you, but I am not ashamed to say
I am proud of these men." Here there
were some cheers and loud cries of
" Shame ! " as well as other remarks of
anger. "I am proud of their courage,"
Mr. Dillon continued, " and if you were not

207

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

so dense you could have had them lighting
for you. It is not a Military Service Bill
you want in Ireland, but it is to find a way
to the hearts of the Irish people." No
rebellion, he added, in modern history had
been put down with so much bloodshed
and savagery. Why, he asked, could the
Government not have treated Ireland as
General Botha treated South Africa? In
regard to the main body of the insurgents
in Ireland he admitted they were wrong in
rebelling, but their conduct as fighting men
was beyond reproach. ' They fought a
good clean fight," he asserted, and be-
cause of the manner in which they had been
crushed, thousands of people in Ireland
who were bitterly opposed to the Sinn
Fein movement were now becoming in-
furiated against the Government. Mr.
Asquith, in reply, regretted the tone of
parts of Mr. Dillon's speech. It would
have to be remembered that the casualties
suffered by the military and police num-
bered 521, of whom 124 were killed. The
casualties of the civilian population of

208

EXECUTIONS AND DEPORTATIONS

Dublin were not complete at the time he
spoke, but amounted to 694, so that the
total to that date came to 1,215. That was
very serious. He promised an inquiry into
the Skeffington case, but the Government
could not see their way to interfere with
the executions o'f Connolly and MacDer-
mott, who had signed the Republican
Proclamation. Clemency would, however,
be extended to the rank and file. " So far
as the great body of the insurgents are
concerned," he said amidst cheers, " I have
no hesitation in saying they conducted
themselves with a humanity which con-
trasted very much to their advantage with
some of the so-called civilised enemies
whom we are fighting in Europe." In con-
clusion, he created a sensation by stating
that the Government regarded the Irish
situation as unsatisfactory, and he was
leaving for Ireland at once to consult the
military and civil authorities for the pur-
pose of arriving at some arrangement suit-
able to all parties. The feeling in Ireland
was, indeed, difficult to diagnose and

209

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

classify. On the one hand were the
Unionist and loyalist classes crying for
blood, many property owners whose
premises were destroyed being infuriated
and eager to have wholesale shootings of
insurgents. On the other hand were the
Nationalists, and numbers of people who
were neither Unionists nor Nationalists,
whose sympathies were being instinctively
aroused by the terrible fate of the insur-
gent leaders. Nor were there wanting cir-
cumstances to render that fate sadder and
more pathetic in some cases. It was known
that one of the leaders, Joseph Plunkett,
had been married at midnight, a few hours
before his execution, to Miss Grace
Gifford, the daughter of a Dublin solicitor.
A sister of the ill-fated bride named Muriel
was the wife of Thomas MacDonagh,
another of the executed leaders. These
dramatic circumstances appealed to the
Celtic imagination. It was inevitable that
contrasts should be made with the pathos
and romance that surrounded the ill-
fated insurrection of Robert Emmet at the

210

EXECUTIONS AND DEPORTATIONS

beginning of the nineteenth century.
" Nothing in heaven or earth," wrote
George Bernard Shaw in a London Liberal
daily, " can prevent the men shot taking
their places beside Emmet and the Man-
chester Martyrs in Ireland, and beside the
heroes of Poland and Serbia and Belgium
in Europe." The publication in a Dublin
Unionist evening paper of a poem written
by P. H. Pearse whilst awaiting the carry-
ing out of the sentence of death also ex-
cited commiseration. It was entitled : —

THE WAYFARER.

The beauty of this world has made me sad :

This beauty that will pass;

Sometimes my heart had shaken with great joy,

To see a leaping squirrel in a tree,

Or little rabbits in a field at evening,

Lit by a staring sun;

On some green hill, where shadows drifting by;

Some quietude where mountainy men had sown

And some would reap, near to the gate of heaven,

Or children with bare feet upon the sands of some

ebbed sea,
Or playing in the streets of little towns in

Connacht,
Things young and happy, —

211

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

And then my heart had told me,

These will pass !

Will pass and change, will die, and be no more,

Things bright and green, things young and happy,

And I have gone upon my way — sorrowful.

The mixture of romance and poetry that
thus surrounded the executions had its in-
evitable effect in Ireland. The long lists
of sentences to penal servitude, the arrests
throughout the country, and the deporta-
tions completed the work of influencing the
views of Nationalist Ireland towards the
rebellion. The following sentences by
Field General Court-martial were promul-
gated from May 4th to May 3ist: —

Penal servitude for life : Thomas Ashe,
Wm. Cosgrove, Edward De Valera,
Thomas Hunter, Constance Georgina
Markievicz, Henry O'Hanrahan, John
MacNeill.

Twenty years : Richard Hayes.

Ten years : Thomas Bevan, Peter
Clancy, Richard Davys, John Doherty,
Peter Doyle, Frank Drennan, Francis
Fahy, Patrick Fahy, Thomas Desmond

212

EXECUTIONS AND DEPORTATIONS

Fitzgerald, James J. Hughes, George
Irvine, James Lawless, Frank Lawless,
Finian Lynch, Jeremiah Lynch, Patrick
McNestry, James Melinn, Michael Mer-
vyn, Denis O'Callaghan, Colgan O'Leary,
Councillor William Partridge (Dublin),
P. E. Sweeny, William Tobin, John
Tomkins, J. J. Walsh, Thomas Walsh,
John Williams.

Eight years : John M' Garry, James
O'Sullivan.

Five years : Henry James Boland,
Robert Brennan, Timothy Brosnan, Wm.
P. Corrigan, Philip B. Cosgrave, Gerald
Crofts, James Doyle, John R. Etchingham,
Peter Gallighan, Michael de Lacey,
J. J. Joyce, Richard F. King, Bryan
Molloy, C. O'Donovan, V. Poole, James
Rafter, John Shouldice.

Three years : Pierce Beasley, Charles
Bevan, Michael Brady, J. Brennan,
Maurice Brennan, F. Brooks, James Burke,
J. Byrne, C. Carrick, John Carrick, J.
Clarke, R. Coleman, John Corcoran, L.
Corcoran, W. Corcoran, John F. Cullen,

213 o

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

James Dempsey, J. Dorrington, John
Dourney, Gerald Doyle, Edward Duggan,
John Faulkner, Michael Fleming, senior,
P. Flanagan, P. Fury, T. Fury,
Thomas (Fred) Fury, Patrick Fogarty,
M. Helna, M. Higgins, J. Howley,
William Hussey, P. Kelly, R. Kelly,
George Levins, J. Loughlin, Conor
McGinley, Philip J. McMahon, John
McArdle, J. Macguiness, J. Marks, W.
Meehan, James Morrissey, J. Norton,
John O'Brien, W. O'Dea, T. O'Kelly,
T. Peppard, John Quinn, Michael Rey-
nolds, M. Scully, M. Toole, P. Wilson,
Wm. Wilson.

Two years : J. Wilson.

One year : Thomas Barrett, J. Grenigan,
Wm. Derrington, Michael Donoghue,
Murtagh Fahy, Michael Grady, John
Grady, John Hanify, Martin Hanshery,
Michael Higgins, P. Kennedy, Thomas
Kennedy, James Murray, Charles O'Neill,
E. Roach, Charles Whyte.

John McNeill, the leader of the Irish
Volunteers, but who took no part in the
214

EXECUTIONS AND DEPORTATIONS

rebellion, was a Professor in the National
University.

The strange and troubled career of
Countess Markievicz, who also received a
life sentence, has already been briefly de-
scribed. A short indication of the positions
of a few of the others will be typical of the
status of the lot. Thomas Hunter (life sen-
tence) was a draper's assistant in Dublin.
Wm. T. Cosgrave (also a life sentence) was
a member of the Dublin Corporation, being
chairman of the Estates and Finance Com-
mittee. He belonged to the Labour Party in
the Council. Edward De Valera (life) was
a professor. J. J. Walsh (10 years) was a
member of the Cork Corporation. Origin-
ally in the postal service in that city, he was
transferred to Bradford after the outbreak
of the war, and was eventually dismissed
the service. He then opened a news-
agent's shop in Dublin, where seditious
publications were sold. George Irvine (10
years) was a Protestant and a teacher in a
Diocesan School in Dublin. Patrick
McNestry (10 years) was in the silversmith
215 o 2

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

business, and was a well-known Associa-
tion footballer player. Finian Lynch (10
years) was a school teacher. Denis O'Cal-
laghan (10 years) was employed in the
General Post Office. James Melinn (10
years) was a provision dealer. Francis
Fahy (10 years) was a teacher in a Dublin
College. Richard Davys (10 years) was
employed in a Dublin brewery. Thomas
Be van (10 years) was in the printing trade.
James J. Hughes (10 years) was a Dublin
commercial clerk in a responsible position.
William Tobin (10 years) was a Dublin
artisan. Peter Doyle (10 years) was also
an artisan. John 1VT Garry (8 years) was
engaged in commercial work in Dublin.
Pierce Beasley (3 years) was a journalist,
and the nephew of an Irish Nationalist
M.P. John R. Etchingham and Robert
Brennan (5 years each) were reporters in
county Wexford. After the surrender of
the insurgents in Dublin, in Meath, in
Louth, in Wexford, and in Galway came
the arrests of hundreds in these and other
counties, who, whilst having taken no
active part in the rising, were suspected of

216

EXECUTIONS AND DEPORTATIONS

sympathy or of indirect assistance given to
it. It was these arrests, followed by de-
portations to England of the great majority
of those taken in custody, that aroused such
intense feeling in the country. In Dublin
several aldermen and members of the Cor-
poration were arrested. Other prominent
people were the Count and Countess Plun-
kett, the parents of the young man Joseph
Plunkett, who was married a few hours
prior to his execution. Count Plunkett was
well known in social circles in Dublin. He
was curator of the National Museum, a
barrister, an antiquarian, and a literary
man of some note. Arthur Griffiths, the
principal founder of the Sinn Fein move-
ment and the editor of several publications
that were suppressed, was also taken into
custody and deported. A Roman Catholic
clergyman, the superintendent of an insur-
ance company, several urban district coun-
cillors in the suburbs, and some ex-soldiers
were also arrested in Dublin city and
county. In the county Wexford an assis-
tant county surveyor, a newspaper man-
ager, the chairman of a board of guardians,

217

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

an alderman of the Wexford Corporation,
and two ladies (one with a brother a naval
lieutenant and the second the secretary of
the County Insurance Committee) were
amongst those arrested. In Mayo the
arrests included a commercial traveller, a
Gaelic League organiser, a hotel proprie-
tor, and a Customs and Excise officer,
whilst others taken in custody in the West
of Ireland were a stationmaster, several
rural district councillors, a technical school
instructor, the brother of an M.P.,
a town commissioners' chairman, clerks
in the county council offices, and several
town councillors. In the Midlands a
county surveyor, an ex-M.P., an engineer
to a board of guardians, and several rural
and urban councillors were arrested. In
the South of Ireland generally the arrests
included aldermen and members of city
corporations, county and rural district
councillors, justices of the peace, barristers,
teachers in colleges and schools, an assis-
tant clerk of a union. In Waterford two
post office clerks and a Customs official
were suspended. In the North of Ireland,

218

EXECUTIONS AND DEPORTATIONS

in addition to hundreds of arrests, the
houses of a clerk of petty sessions and of
a magistrate were searched, and in the
latter case a rifle was seized. In one
northern county a county councillor and a
justice of the peace was taken into custody.
This list, which, of course, only relates to
the most prominent amongst the person-
ages arrested, gives some idea of the scope
of the search that was made by the authori-
ties after the revolt and of the positions
and professions of those whom they thought
to have been implicated in it. In addition
to the above, some thousands of lesser-
known men were arrested, anH the list of
deportations to England filled columns of
the Dublin Press for weeks after the in-
surrection. The number and the character
of the arrests not alone had a profound
effect in Ireland, but also filled with some
disquiet a portion of the British Press. The
Nationalist Press in Ireland, even that
section of it which had wholeheartedly ad-
vocated recruiting for the Army, was stag-
gered, not alone by the executions, by the
sentences to penal servitude, but perhaps

219

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

most of all by the arrests and deportations.
In numbers of Nationalist counties there
had not alone been no rising, but not even
the faintest attempt to create or support a
rising. Yet arrests took place in counties
like Tipperary, Wicklow, Kilkenny,
Waterford, King's County, Westmeath,
and Monaghan. To the local people and
to the local Press this seemed inexplicable.
Nationalist papers in Dublin and the pro-
vinces that recognised the justice and de-
sirability of punishing the leaders were
unanimous, not alone in pleading for the
rank and file, but in condemning the arrests
throughout the country of those who had
taken no part in the rising. British Liberal
newspapers also joined in the protest, but
in the House of Commons the Government
defended the arrests on the ground that
none were kept in custody save those im-
plicated in some way in the insurrection.
Those who were arrested, but who proved
their 'innocence, were released. There
were, indeed, a number of discharges, but
the great majority of those arrested were
deported to England.

220

CHAPTER VII

PUBLIC OPINION AND THE REVOLT

AMAZEMENT was the first and the most
powerful feeling aroused throughout the
world by the news of the rebellion. That
Ireland, which had been hailed at the very
start of the war by Sir Edward Grey, the
British Foreign Secretary, as the " one
bright spot" in the whole dark situation,
should be the scene of an insurrection,
whilst England was engaged in the most
terrible war she had ever known, seemed
unbelievable. Had not Mr. John Red-
mond, on the same memorable occasion on
which Sir Edward Grey spoke, also told
the world that Ireland was heart and soul
with the Empire ? Had he not invited the
Government to take away all its soldiers

221

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

from Ireland, leaving the defence of that
country against foreign invasion in the
hands of the Ulster and Irish National
Volunteers? Had not Irishmen enlisted in
thousands in the army ? Had they not died
for the Empire in Flanders, in France, in
Gallipoli and in the Balkans? Had not
Mr. Redmond and his Party over and over
declared that all Ireland, save a negligible
minority, were on the side of the Empire
and the Allies in the war? Had not
Michael O'Leary received a V.C.? Had
not Lord Kitchener paid tribute to the
bravery of the Irish troops in the field ? To
learn therefore in the face of all these
things, that a rising the most daring, the
most resourceful and the most dangerous
since 1798 had broken out in Dublin, that
the insurgents were in possession of a great
part of the city, that there was grave danger
of it spreading to the country, that out-
breaks had in fact occurred in parts of
the provinces — the realisation of these un-
pleasant facts came as a great shock on
public opinion in Great Britain and the

222

PUBLIC OPINION AND REVOLT

Colonies. True, there had been warnings
that in Ireland all was not of the roseate
hue painted by the Parliamentarians at
Westminster and by certain sections of the
British as well as by the Irish Press. Well-
informed people knew that the elements of
an explosion lurked beneath a surface that
seemed so fair to the eye. Men had been
arrested and deported in Ireland for de-
livering anti-recruiting speeches. News-
papers in Ireland had been suppressed for
anti-British propaganda. Others had ap-
peared in their places. Parades had taken
place in Dublin and the provinces of armed
and well-drilled men who were openly told
that their duty was to fight in Ireland and
for Ireland. All these things should have
been sufficient to put public opinion in
England on its guard. But they did not.
Accordingly, therefore, when the revolt
burst forth a feeling of stupefaction was
created in Great Britain, being succeeded
by a deep and bitter anger. This anger
was manifested first against the Govern-
ment for the negligent manner in which it

223

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

had acted. Criticisms of the Irish Govern-
ment were especially severe. Where was the
Intelligence Department of this Govern-
ment that it had allowed to mature a
dangerous and a widespread movement?
Where were the men at the head of affairs
on that fateful Easter Monday when the
insurgents practically took possession of
Dublin? How came it that no arrange-
ments were made for promptly dealing with
a situation which they ought to have known
would arise? Why had not the warnings
of men who did know been listened to and
acted upon? All these questions, and
more, were asked in Great Britain with a
vigour and a directness that must have been
exceedingly irksome to the Government.
There were some critics who elaborated the
moral. The same muddle,, the same lack
of energy and foresight, the same weakness
that had marked the Government's conduct
of the war abroad, they declared, were
equally responsible for the mess into which
Ireland was plunged. The Government,
said one vigilant newspaper, had not dealt

224 *

PUBLIC OPINION AND REVOLT

with Sinn Fein, but Sinn Fein had dealt
with them. Public opinion was un-
doubtedly impressed in Great Britain with
these charges against the Government, ard
it was inevitable that as soon as things were
quietened down a bit someone would have
to go. In the end the resignations were
announced of the three principal men asso-
ciated with the Government of Ireland, the
Lord Lieutenant, Lord Wimborne, the
Chief Secretary, Mr. Birrell, and the
Under- Secretary, Sir Matthew Nathan.
The next and the most pronounced feeling
uppermost in the minds of the people of
Great Britain was one of strong animosity
against the Irish insurgents, as well as those
who sympathised with them. In ordinary
times a revolt in Ireland would have been
regarded as bad enough, but with Eng-
land fighting with all her strength a
powerful and a highly-organised enemy
abroad the idea of rebellion at home was
looked upon as not alone a terrible but a
treacherous business. In the minds of the
British people an impression prevailed that

225

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

they had been exceptionally generous in
their consideration of Ireland. They had
been hearing for years that if the Irish ob-
tained Home Rule they would become
loyal and devoted children of the Empire.
A Home Rule Bill had been signed by the
King, and yet here were Irishmen up in
arms, not for, but against England. They
had seen conscription applied in Great
Britain whilst Ireland escaped. It is not
surprising, therefore, that a general feeling
of anger and indignation should have
arisen in the minds of people in Great
Britain against not alone the insurgents but
almost against everybody and everything
Irish, even the Pro-British Irish M.P.'s who
had misled them as to the state of the
country. The Government, bowing to this
feeling, took drastic steps to act upon it.
There can be no doubt that in their anger
and their indignation the executions and
the deportations in Ireland met with almost
unanimous support in Great Britain. This
feeling of astonishment and of vexation
was equally aroused in the Colonies.

226

PUBLIC OPINION AND REVOLT

Canada, Australia, South Africa and New
Zealand were shocked and amazed at the
news of the rebellion. In South Africa,
however, where the racial question also cul-
minated in a rebellion, a juster estimate of
the difficulties and intricacies of the Irish
problem was formed and was reflected in
the message of sympathy sent by General
Botha to Mr. John Redmond. The mes-
sages sent from all the Colonies, however,
made it clear that the leaders of public
opinion there exonerated the great bulk of
the Irish people from complicity or sym-
pathy with the rebellion. In the greater
part of Ireland, indeed, the news of the
rising came as an even greater shock than it
did in Great Britain or abroad. Outside of
Dublin and the cities and towns of the
South and West, the Sinn Fein programme
had never made much progress in Ireland.
The farmers to a man were supporters of
Mr. John Redmond and the Irish Nation-
alist Party. They had in a large
number of cases purchased their lands
through the medium of the Government.

227

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

Their savings were invested in Government
securities or in banks that depended on
British credit for their stability. The
country, as apart from the towns, was be-
coming prosperous, and a country that is
becoming prosperous dislikes revolutions.
Here and there were to be found men even
in the remotest parts of the country who
nourished the old traditional hatred of
England. But generally speaking the
farmers were not infected with this hatred.
They may be said to neither hate nor love
England, but they loved their lands. The
majority of them would have sprung to such
arms as they could possess if they thought
those lands in peril from any source, but
they did not see the necessity of righting
for England or the Empire. They were
equally unwilling to fight against England
or the Empire. To these men the news of
the rebellion was irritating and annoying,
as well as somewhat amazing. Sinn Fein
meant to them an impossible and im-
practicable ideal. Sinn Feiners were
mostly young men and the Irish farmer

228

PUBLIC OPINION AND REVOLT

despises the judgment of young men. The
older men in the towns and the country
were against rebellion as a sinister and a
futile business. They had heard their
grandfathers speak of the horrors of '98.
They had heard their fathers tell of the
failure of '48. They themselves had seen
the fiasco of the Fenians in '67. One thing
alone would have put young and old in
sympathy with the Sinn Feiners. That
was the extension of conscription. But the
Irish Party had saved the country from
that, and the country accordingly remained,
as a whole, quiet. The feelings of dismay
and disgust, however, with which in its
initial stages it regarded the revolt were
shown by the first resolutions that were
passed by public bodies, Nationalist as well
as Unionist. For example in New Ross, in
the very same county in which the insur-
gents had seized and held for several days
an important town, the following resolution
was unanimously adopted (May 5th) by a
Nationalist body : —

229

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

That we4 the New Ross Board of
Guardians, hereby, in the strongest possible
manner, condemn the action of the Sinn
Fein organisation and citizen army in their
outrageous, disgraceful and blackguardly
conduct at present carried on by them in
the rioting and looting in Dublin and else-
where ; and we as a Nationalist Board en-
tirely dissociate ourselves with such dis-
graceful and unworthy scenes, the more so
at a time when our Empire and our Allies
are involved in one of the greatest struggles
for freedom the world has ever known ; and
we regard the present conduct as an insult
to our brave and gallant Irishmen who have
sealed the common bond between England
and Ireland by shedding their blood on the
battlefields of Flanders and other scenes
of action. That we pass this resolution to
show the responsible parties for the present
crisis in Ireland are of the irresponsible
class and so that the action of the loyal sub-
jects cannot be misinterpreted by our
Empire or our Allies. It is also resolved
that we place implicit faith and trust in our
able leader Mr. John Redmond and his
party, and we unreservedly place ourselves
in his hands, knowing full well that with the
assistance of the Irish Party he will care-

230

PUBLIC OPINION AND REVOLT

fully and consistently watch over the in-
terests of the Irish People so that by reason
of the acts of these worse than Hun parties
the whole Irish race will not be disgraced
and branded as traitors. That copies of
this resolution be forwarded to the Lord
Lieutenant of Ireland, the Chief Secretary,
Mr. Redmond and all the Irish leaders.

This resolution is given in full because it
is typical of the first views adopted by
many Irish public bodies when they met
and discussed the rebellion. Then came a
qualification. The remembrance of Sir
Edward Carson and his Ulster Volunteers,
the threats of the Ulster Unionists to form
a Provisional Government in case the Im-
perial Parliament passed a Home Rule
Bill for Ireland, the gun-running in the
North, the immunity of the Ulster leaders,
the affair of the officers of the Curragh who
refused to proceed against Ulster. All
these things were too recent and too vivid
in the minds of the Nationalists not to in-
fluence them in the expression of their
opinions towards the Sinn Fein Rebellion.

231 p 2

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

That rebellion, they argued, was a foolish
and a wretched affair, but after all
what had the Sinn Feiners done but
put into practice what had been threatened
for years by the Ulster Unionist leaders.
The resolutions of the Nationalist pub-
lic bodies, therefore, whilst denounc-
ing the rebellion contained qualifying
paragraphs relating to the Carsonite
campaign in the North of Ireland. Water-
ford Guardians passed a resolution con-
demning Sir Edward Carson " as being the
cause of first bringing arms into the North
in defiance of the Government." Reason-
ing on this basis Nationalist speakers came
to blame Sir E. Carson and the Ulster
Unions as being the direct cause of the in-
surrection. "Why should not the South
have arms as well as the North ?" asked one
Nationalist. When the list of executions,
of penal servitude sentences, and of arrests
and deportations swelled into huge propor-
tions the resolutions took a new form. Less
was said in condemnation of the rebellion
and more of protest against the sentences

232

PUBLIC OPINION AND REVOLT

and the deportations. In this the National-
ist public bodies were following the line
adopted by the Nationalist Party. At the
commencement Mr. John Redmond, as the
spokesman of the Party, referred to the in-
surrection thus : —

My first feeling, of course, on hearing of
this insane movement, was one of horror,
discouragement, almost despair.

Continuing, he denounced the insur-
gents as enemies of Home Rule and de-
clared that " this wicked move " was their
last blow at the cause. " It is not half as
much treason to the cause of the Allies as
treason to the cause of Hjome Rule." The
whole affair was a German plot paid for and
organised by Germany. " So far as Ger-
many's share in it is concerned it is a Ger-
man invasion of Ireland, as brutal, as
selfish, as cynical as Germany's invasion of
Belgium."

As to the final result I do not believe that
this wicked and insane movement will
achieve its ends. The German plot has
failed. The majority of the people of

233

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

Ireland retain their calmness, fortitude and
unity. They abhor this attack on their in-
terests, their rights, their hopes, their prin-
ciples. Home Rule has not been de-
stroyed; it remains indestructible.

This was the first stage. Then came the
executions, and Mr. Redmond felt himself
compelled to refer to the bitter exaspera-
tion caused in Ireland by the shooting of
the insurgents. The Irish Party met and a
long manifesto was issued to the Irish
people. It was mainly a justification of the
policy of constitutional agitation, but it also
contained references to the Ulster move-
ment, the executions, and a rather milder
denunciation of the rebellion itself.

Blood (it said) has been shed freely.
It is true that Ireland had been bitterly pro-
voked by the growth of a similar revolu-
tionary and illegal movement in another
portion of Ireland backed by an army in
revolt. A grave responsibility for these
events in Dublin rests on the leaders of
that movement. Ireland has been shocked
and horrified by the series of military
executions, by military tribunals in Dublin.

234

PUBLIC OPINION AND REVOLT

These things have been done in the face
of the incessant and vehement protests of
the Irish leaders, and these protests will be
pressed continually and strongly until the
unchecked control of the military authori-
ties in Ireland is abolished. But it is also
true that in spite of these bitter provoca-
tions the people of Ireland have had no
hesitation in condemning the rising in
Dublin as a dangerous blow at the heart
and the hopes of Ireland.

This manifesto was followed by the im-
passioned speech of Mr. John Dillon, on
the part of the Nationalist Party, in the
House of Commons, in which he spoke of
the maddening effect in Ireland of the exe-
cutions, of the ruthless manner in which the
rising had been crushed in comparison with
the " clean " fight of the insurgents them-
selves. By the time Mr. Asquith deter-
mined to visit Ireland for himself, there-
fore, public opinion in that country was in
nearly as chaotic a state as the centre of
Dublin itself. The most contradictory
views were expressed in Nationalist circles.
Denunciations of the rebellion were

235

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

mingled with protests against the execu-
tions, the sentences to penal servitude and
the deportations. It is scarcely any wonder
that the Prime Minister regarded the situa-
tion there as most unsatisfactory and went
on the spot to see for himself. Whilst
Nationalist Ireland was thus in the throes
caused by conflicting emotions, Unionist
Ireland was grim and self-satisfied. The
Unionists had never been deceived by the
professions of loyalty of the Nationalists.
They had always believed them to be
potential rebels. Here was clear and
decisive proof. Disloyal Dublin had
seized a critical moment in the world war,
when England was preoccupied with the
struggle abroad, to start a rebellion at
home. Protestant archbishops and bishops,
even those who had made speeches fore-
shadowing a new and more tolerant era in
Ireland, were now to be found demanding
most ruthless methods in dealing with the
rebels. It was with fierce satisfaction that
the Orangemen in the North hailed the
crushing of the insurrection. They had

236

PUBLIC OPINION AND REVOLT

helped to quell it and thus to prove their
traditional fidelity to England and the
Empire. They could not but feel that
thereby their case against submitting to
Home Rule was enormously strengthened.
It was, therefore, a distracted country to
which the Prime Minister came, a country
filled with racial hatreds, suspicions and
elemental emotions. Not even Belgium,
Serbia, or Poland had a sadder or a more
perplexing history, as a forcible English
writer stated, and the ruins of Central
Dublin, as well as the chaos in the minds
of the people, bore testimony to the melan-
choly accuracy of the description. Irish
opinion abroad was no less hopeless and
divided. In the Colonies there was horror
in dismay. In the United States of
America there was absolute stupefaction.
The Washington correspondents of the
London Press bore testimony to the fact.
The news of the rebellion and of the
executions, of course, aroused intense feel-
ing amongst the extreme Irish section in
the States. This was but to be expected

237

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

and it was accordingly discounted. The
effect, however, on the moderate or con-
servative Irish element, the followers of
Mr. John Redmond, was more serious.
They had zealously striven to counter the
German-Irish alliance in the States. They
had fought the Clan-na-Gael campaign.
They were on the side of President Wilson
in his d.ealings with Germany. Amongst
these men the news of the executions, the
penal servitude sentences, and the deporta-
tions came with a deadening effect. For
the time being, the extreme section got the
upper hand, and, it would seem, actually
gloated over the executions because of the
opportunity afforded of gratifying their
hatred of England. The President was
attacked bitterly for having, as alleged,
furnished information to the British
Government which led to the capture of
the Casement expedition. This charge
was denied by the State Department. The
American Press, on the whole, disapproved
of the rebellion, though it was noted by the
Washington correspondents of the London

238

PUBLIC OPINION AND REVOLT

Press that there was equal disapproval of
the death sentences. One prominent New
York newspaper declared that the Irish-
American members of the Clan-na-Gael en-
couraged the rising, but took good care not
to risk their own skins. According to another
source, ' The Dublin Rebellion was
planned in New York by Devoy, editor
of the Gaelic American, with the aid of
German money," a sum of £10,000 being
obtained from Germans in New York and
still larger sums from Germany. In France
the news of the rising came as a surprise.
It was not, however, regarded seriously in
itself, the main reason why it was deplored
being, to use the words of an English
correspondent, " because of the misrepre-
sentation that will be possible in Germany
and under German influence in neutral
countries." According to the same corre-
spondent, there has been no incident that
has done more harm to the Home Rule
idea in France for the last twenty years.
The Russian view was about the same,
whilst in Italy the suppression of the revolt

239

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

proved that all similar German attempts
in South Africa, Egypt, India, Mexico,
and elsewhere were doomed to failure.
Another Italian view was that a similar
attempt to the Irish revolt might be made
under German influence in Portugal. In
Germany itself, the progress and results of
the Irish insurrection were naturally fol-
lowed with the keenest interest. Little was
said about the Casement expedition and
his arrest, but the revolt in all its bearings
was discussed fully and minutely. From
the very first, it is apparent from the ex-
tracts of the German Press published in
England, little hope was entertained of the
success of the rebellion. The whole con-
sensus of opinion, on the contrary, was that
it would be crushed quickly and effectively.
Believers as they are in big guns and
machine-guns, the Germans could hardly
think otherwise. They must have known
that the insurgents were without artillery
and that the lack of that arm spelt early
and complete failure. The reasons, how-
ever, why the Germans exulted over the

240

PUBLIC OPINION AND REVOLT

outbreak were because of the use they saw
at once they could make out of it, not only
in America, but in neutral countries.

German newspapers (wrote the Morn-
ing Post's Berne correspondent) acknow-
ledge a debt of gratitude to the Sinn
Feiners. Columns are published by them,
and even more, especially by the Austrian
newspapers, on the Irish disturbances and
on Sir Roger Casement. How the revolt
will be exploited by German ingenuity can
easily be imagined.

Undoubtedly, it gave them an oppor-
tunity of which they made immediate use.
In neutral countries they insinuated that,
whilst Great Britain was engaged in the
war on behalf of small nationalities, she
was at home engaged in crushing a rebel-
lion in one of the smallest of the nations.
The pro-German Press in these neutral
countries, of course, seconded the German
propaganda. It was, therefore, on its
moral side that the Germans were able to
make the greatest use of the Irish revolt.
In Austria, where racial questions have

241

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

always been acute, and where the Irish
question could be viewed with the know-
ledge gained by experience of similar prob-
lems, the Irish rebellion was hailed with
equal satisfaction. According to one
Vienna paper, the movement only material-
ised in Ireland " as soon as it was clearly
realised that England was going to lose
the war." Some hope seems to have been
felt, too, by the Austrian and German Press
that the Welsh and Scotch miners would
follow the example of the Irish insurgents.
On the whole, however, the Germans and
the Austrians were content to make the
most of the moral effect of the rising and
influence thereby their own and neutral
people's opinions. From the point of view,
therefore, of the Allies the effects of the
Irish trouble were irritating and annoying
rather than material. True, the Germans
hoped that a large British force might be
tied up in Ireland, but they hoped more
from the many ingenious uses they would
be able to make of the rebellion in neutral
countries, and especially in the United
States.

242

CHAPTER VIII

AFTER THE REBELLION

ONE of the first acts of General Sir John
Maxwell after the crushing of the revolt
was the issue of an order directing mem-
bers of the Irish Volunteers and Citizen
Army to surrender, before Saturday, May
6th, all arms, ammunition, and explosives
in their possession. This applied even to
those who had taken no part in the rebel-
lion. Another order forbade all parades,
processions, football matches, or public
assemblies of all kinds. Martial law, of
course, still continued in Ireland for weeks
after the revolt, though the hours up to
which people could remain out of doors
were gradually lengthened until midnight
was reached. In Parliament, Irish affairs,
as is usual after any trouble, occupied a

243

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

prominent and a persistent place. When
Mr. Birrell rose to make his statement and
incidentally to announce his resignation, a
scene was created by Mr. Ginnell, the
Independent Nationalist member for
South-west Meath. He accused Mr. Bir-
rell of jobbery in Ireland, and had to be
called to order by the Speaker. Mr. Bir-
rell's statement was brief but surprising.
They had been promised, he said, a full,
true, searching, and particular inquiry into
the causes of the insurrection. It would
therefore be unwise, unfair, and improper
to say anything relative to what might
transpire at the Inquiry. When he was
assured that the insurrection was quelled,
he placed his resignation in the hands of
the Prime Minister, who had accepted it.
Mr. Birrell then made the remarkable ad-
mission that he had made an incorrect
estimate of the Sinn Fein movement, but
error on his part had not proceeded from
any lack of thought, or consideration, or
anxiety on his part. His supreme aim and
duty was to maintain, if possible, an un-

244

AFTER THE REBELLION

broken and an unimpaired front. He was
well aware of the difficulties of the situa-
tion, but he conceived it as his duty to run
great risks in order to maintain, in the face
of Europe, the picture of unbroken union
within the boundaries of Ireland. Mr.
Redmond, who followed, made an equally
extraordinary admission. He said he felt
that he had incurred some share of the
blame, because he had agreed with Mr.
Birrell that the danger of an outbreak of
this kind was not a real one, and what he
said might have influenced Mr. Birrell in
his management of Irish affairs. Sir
Edward Carson also paid a graceful tribute
to Mr. Birrell, and in Parliamentary circles,
where he was very urbane and popular, the
melancholy end of his political career was
heard of with general regret. In Dublin,
precisely the same feelings did not prevail.
In Unionist circles the very qualities that
endeared Mr. Birrell to politicians were
regarded as the causes that led to so much
ruin and devastation in Ireland. It was
felt that, whilst Mr. Birrell was returning

245 Q

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

humorous answers, which turned away
wrath, to Irish M.P.'s, he was leaving Irish
affairs to look after themselves to a great
extent. It was recalled that he was not
very often in Ireland, that he rarely spoke
there, and that he was seemingly content
to take his opinions secondhand rather
than see for himself on the spot. True,
he had held the Chief Secretaryship in this
manner for a longer period than most
others, but then the catastrophe was all the
greater in the end. In Independent
Nationalist circles there was a disposition
to blame the Irish Nationalist leaders
along with Mr. Birrell. They, too, had
not been well informed as to Irish affairs.
On May 7th it was officially announced
that Sir Robert Chalmers had been ap-
pointed Irish Under- Secretary in succes-
sion to Sir M atthew Nathan. No announce-
ment was, however, made as to any suc-
cessor to Mr. Birrell, and this, as will be
noted afterwards, gave rise to rumours as
to a change in the Government of Ireland.
On May loth the House of Lords took up

246

AFTER THE REBELLION

the debate on the Irish question. Lord
Loreburn said it was only by an accident
that Dublin Castle had not been captured
by the insurgents. The Government ap-
peared to be wholly unprepared. The
House of Commons had allowed Mr. Bir-
rell to be a scapegoat, but other Ministers
must have known what was happening.
There had been a neglect of the elemen-
tary duties of government, and the events
of the war had also shown the danger of
silence when carried to excess. A grave
mistake had been made with regard to the
Irish rising, and it was the duty of the
House of Lords to record dissatisfaction,
to ask how the mistake arose, and to be
told who was at fault. Lord Midleton
spoke in stronger vein. The police had
been ordered to take no notice of the Sinn
Feiners or their activities. The problem
of German spies in Ireland had been
neglected. It was known that German sub-
marines had received supplies from the
Irish coast. Sinn Feiners had been caught
distributing treasonable literature.

247 Q 2

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

Judges were criticised. Juries were
dragooned. One offender, tried for a trea-
sonable speech, was fined one shilling, and
the crowd in the court cheered for the
German Emperor. An official of the Sinn
Fein organisation was found in possession
of a case of explosives. No action was
taken.

Lord Midleton went on to give other
instances, which tended to show that the
rebellion should not have come as a sur-
prise to the Government, and then told how
steps had been even taken by business men
in Ireland to inform the Government in
case they still remained blind to the dan-
gers of the situation. Last autumn he had
shown Mr. Birrell a copy of a speech and
of the orders of the Irish Volunteers. Mr.
BirreH's reply was : —

The step of proclaiming the Irish Volun-
teers as an illegal body and putting them
down by force wherever they are organised
would, in my opinion, be a reckless and
foolish act, and promote disloyalty to a
prodigious extent in Ireland.

248

AFTER THE REBELLION

All the trouble had been caused, Lord
Midleton asserted, because a Chief Secre-
tary, who governed Ireland longer and
resided there less than any Chief Secre-
tary since the Union, would not listen to
representations addressed to him from re-
sponsible quarters. The noble lord asked
that martial law should be continued until
all arms had been taken from the rebels,
and that all guilty of murder should suffer
the death penalty. Further, all Sinn
Feiners should be dismissed from the
public service. Lord Crewe, in a weak
reply, announced, incidentally, that the
Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (Lord Wim-
borne) had resigned. No organised effort,
he declared, had been made by any body of
persons to bring before the Government,
as a whole, any collection of facts which
would have made action imperative. Earl
Desart, ex-Public Prosecutor, said that
anyone who believed there would not be
an aftermath of passion and hatred in Ire-
land was profoundly mistaken. They must,
however, show that treason would not be

249

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

tolerated in war time. In the House of
Commons, on the same day, Irish members
were busy questioning the Government as
to the fate of Mr. Sheehy Skeffington. In
reply, Mr. Asquith said he had received the
following report from the General Officer
Commanding in Dublin : —

Mr. Skeffington was shot on the morning
of April 25th without the knowledge of the
military authorities. The matter is now
under investigation; and the officer con-
cerned, that is, the officer who directed the
shooting, has been under arrest since May
6th. Directions have been given to bring
his case before a Court-martial.

" He should be handed over to the civil
authorities as an ordinary murderer,"
ejaculated Mr. T. M. Healy, an Inde-
pendent Nationalist member. Mr. Asquith,
continuing, said the case appeared to be
the isolated act of an irresponsible indi-
vidual. With regard to two other cases
which are alleged to have taken place at
the same time, the same procedure would
be pursued. On the same day the instruc-

250

AFTER THE REBELLION

tions given to Sir John Maxwell by the
Army Council with regard to steps to be
taken by him as to the Irish outbreak were
published as follows : —

His Majesty's Government desire that
Sir John Maxwell will take all such meas-
ures as may in his opinion be necessary for
the prompt suppression of the insurrection
in Ireland, and be granted a free hand in
regard to all troops now in Ireland or which
may be placed under his command here-
after, and also in regard to such measures
as may seem to him advisable under the
Proclamation dated April 26th, issued
under the Defence of the Realm Act, 1915.

Undoubtedly, the powers given to Sir
John Maxwell were wide and drastic, and
he used them firmly and with sternness.
His position, as he took occasion to de-
clare, was not a pleasant one. On one hand
were the loyalists and the loyalist Press
clamouring for swift and merciless punish-
ment, whilst on the other hand the Nation-
alists and English Radicals were on the
side of leniency. In the end Sir John

251

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

Maxwell, as is usual in such circumstances,
did not exactly satisfy either side, though
a bigger clamour was made by those de-
nouncing the military executions than by
those who did not think they were numer-
ous enough. It was not until about May
7th, a week after the surrenders, that the
causes of the revolt began to be generally
discussed. The views of Mr. T. P.
O'Connor, M.P., an influential member of
the Irish Party, were interesting. He attri-
buted the rebellion to the armed Carsonite
movement in Ulster, to active German in-
trigue, to the Larkinite movement (of which
the revolt was the backwash), and he
assigned, as a contributory cause, the War
Office refusal to allow Mr. Redmond to
arm and equip the Volunteers who kept
faithful to him. He urged the hurrying on
of the opening of an Irish Parliament in
Dublin. A Roman Catholic Bishop (Dr.
Gilmartin) blamed the Government for in-
action. This Volunteer business was
allowed to go too far, and Sir Edward
Carson and his men were allowed to do

252

AFTER THE REBELLION

practically what they liked. Another
Roman Catholic Bishop (Dr. Higgins) de-
clared that, in the case of the insurgents,
it was "the old, old story of relying on
false promises of foreign aid." Where, he
asked, was the German army that promised
to assist these men ? The Roman Catholic
Archbishop of Cashel (Dr. Harty) said the
Irish people as a whole did not want
revolution, being content to rely on con-
stitutional means for redress of their griev-
ances. "A senseless, meaningless, de-
bauch of blood," was the description of
Most Rev. Dr. Kelly, another Catholic
Bishop. The fundamental cause of all the
trouble in Ireland for three years, wrote a
Nationalist M.P., was that Sir Edward
Carson was allowed to establish, arm, and
equip, and publicly drill large bodies of
citizens in defiance of the law. The fol-
lowers of Larkin claimed the same right,
and the Government, having made the fatal
error of permitting one set of volunteers
could not well suppress another body. The
remedy was for all armed men in Ireland,

253

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

outside of the military and police forces,
to give up their arms. It was in the heated
atmosphere following the rebellion that the
delicate subject of conscription for Ireland
again came forward. In the case of the
Military Service Bill for unmarried men,
Ireland had been excluded. When the
Conscription Bill for the married men was
under discussion (May loth) it was pro-
posed by the Ulster Unionists that it should
apply to Ireland. Sir John Lonsdale, in
moving the proposal, appealed to Mr. Red-
mond to accept it. With the suppression
of the rebels no opposition to conscription
need be feared in Ireland. Mr. Asquith,
in a cautious reply, admitted that, logic-
ally, there was no reason why Ireland
should be excluded, but a very large num-
ber of Irish representatives were not at the
moment prepared to agree to the applica-
tion of the Bill to Ireland. It was un-
desirable in every way to plunge into con-
troversy, but the Government were review-
ing, with the utmost care, the military
arrangements of Ireland and the whole

254

AFTER THE REBELLION

question of arms in Ireland. Sir Edward
Carson declared that the true reason for
excluding Ireland was not the outbreak
that had occurred, but Mr. Redmond's
opposition. Recruiting was over in Ire-
land, the Government never having taken
the slightest step to put down the anti-
recruiting campaign. Mr. John Redmond,
who followed, said if the Irish Party had
held power and responsibility for the. past
two years, the recent outbreak would never
have occurred. Ireland had done well for
the Empire in the war, but at the moment,
after recent events, it would be wrong,
unwise, and well-nigh insane, to force con-
scription on Ireland. Colonel Winston
Churchill intervened in the debate, and
made a remarkable speech. The omission
of Ireland, he admitted, would be serious,
but it was not advisable to court an Irish
row. He added, however, the curious
prophecy that they were nearer a solution
of the Irish question than was commonly
supposed. The proposal to apply the
Conscription Bill failed, but interest in the

255

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

result was less keen than in the hint con-
veyed in Colonel Churchill's speech.
Speculation was rife on the matter in
political circles, and it became more acute
when, the next day (May nth), after Mr.
Dillon's vehement speech denouncing the
military executions, Mr. Asquith announced
his intention of proceeding to that country,
the situation of which the Government re-
garded as unsatisfactory. On the same
day that the subject of applying conscrip-
tion to Ireland was debated, the military
and police casualties in the Irish insurrec-
tion were announced by the Prime Minister.
They were heavier than expected, the
figures being : —

RANK. KILLED. WOUNDED.

Military Officers . . .17 46

Rank and File . . .86 311

Royal Irish Constabulary .12 23

Dublin Metropolitan Police . 3 3

Royal Navy i 2

Loyal Volunteers 5 3

Total . . .124 388

These figures, with nine missing soldiers,

256

AFTER THE REBELLION

gave a complete total of 52 1 . A day or two
later the civilian casualties in Dublin were
announced as follows: Killed, 180;
wounded, 604. The Prime Minister could
not guarantee the accuracy of these figures,
and it was especially impossible to sepa-
rate insurgents from the ordinary popula-
tion. This was understandable, as num-
bers of the insurgents wore no distinctive
uniform. When killed or wounded it was,
therefore, difficult in their cases to classify
them apart from the ordinary civilians who
met their deaths by stray bullets or from
the looters who were shot dead alike by the
troops and by the insurgents. In connec-
tion with the estimate given of the civilian
casualties in Dublin, it is interesting to
note that from the start of the revolt up to
May 4th there were 216 interments in
Glasnevin Cemetery alone, and 68 in other
cemeteries, due to gun wounds, so that
the civilian casualties must have been much
greater than the estimate given in Parlia-
ment. One of the matters to which atten-
tion was called at an early stage in the

257

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

rebellion was the participation in it of civil
servants. According to one newspaper
certain Government departments in Dublin
were honeycombed with treason. There
were, indeed, several arrests of men who
held positions in Government departments.
On May nth Lord Lansdowne, in the
course of the Peers' debate on the Irish
situation, made the important announce-
ment that the Government had decided
that no Sinn Feiner should be employed in
any Government department. Martial law
also would not, he said, be withdrawn in
Ireland until it could be done with abso-
lute safety. On May i2th Mr. Asquith
arrived in Dublin, and after inspecting the
ruins he held long conferences with Sir
John Maxwell and the military authorities.
Immediately the most astonishing rumours
were afloat as to the objects of his visit.
In some quarters it was taken to mean that
a dramatic change in the Government of
Ireland was in immediate contemplation.
This change was outlined in the Press
under varying forms. The one most gene-

258

AFTER THE REBELLION

rally accepted was that a National Council
would be formed to help in the Govern-
ment of Ireland, several prominent Irish-
men being associated in the work. On
Monday, May i5th, Mr. Asquith visited
Belfast and conferred with some leading
business men. He returned to Dublin in
the evening. The obvious deduction was
that the Prime Minister went to Belfast to
see for himself if a settlement of the Home
Rule question were possible in the interests
of the Empire. If that were the real
object of his visit, however, he could not
have found the Belfast Press very much to
his taste. One and all of the Unionist
Ulster papers made it clear that it was use-
less trying to convert that province to
Home Rule. On Tuesday (May i6th) Mr.
Asquith was again busy with conferences
in Dublin, political circles being again
very active discussing the purport of his
movements. An unusual development oc-
curred on Wednesday (May i;th) when the
Premier was sworn in as a member of the
Irish Privy Council at Dublin Castle.

259

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

Such an event was unprecedented in Irish
history, and naturally public curiosity was
further stimulated by the intelligence. On
Friday (May igth) Mr. Asquith travelled
to Cork and saw several important per-
sonages in that city. He afterwards re-
turned to London, without making any
statement or giving any indication as to the
reasons which actuated him in making his
rather mysterious visit to Ireland. In one
respect, indeed, his visit had a direct effect,
pleasing alike to Unionist and Nationalist
property owners in the ruined area of
Dublin. This was an official statement as
to compensation for the damage done as a
result of the revolt. On Tuesday (May
1 6th), while Mr. Asquith was still in
Dublin, the following official announce-
ment was made : —

In connection with the destruction in
Dublin and elsewhere of buildings and
their contents the State will assume, as the
maximum of its ex gratia grant, the same
liability as would have fallen on insurance
companies if the risk had been covered by

260

AFTER THE REBELLION

policies in force at the time of the recent
disturbances. The Lord Lieutenant has
decided to appoint a committee (a) (i) : To
ascertain what were the sums covered for
ordinary fire risks by insurance policies in
force at the time of the destruction of the
property; (2) to advise what part of such
sums would normally have been paid by
the insurance companies if the destruction
had been caused by accidental fire; and
(£), having regard to the information ob-
tained under the foregoing heads, to advise
how, in analogy, the several claims of un-
insured persons could fairly be dealt with.
For the foregoing purposes looting may be
deemed to be burning, but no conse-
quential damages of any kind are to be
taken into account. In no case will any
grant be made in respect of persons in
complicity with the outbreak.

This statement, though it still fell short
of the hopes and expectations of the suf-
ferers by fire and loot, nevertheless raised a
great load off their minds, especially as
they had learnt that fire insurance com-
panies, save where bound by a special war-
risk clause, refused all liability in connec-

261 R

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

tion with property losses in Dublin. As
showing the nature of the losses in Dublin,
it may be mentioned that the amount of
claims lodged up to the middle of May,
1916, came to £2,500,000, whilst to the
same date applications made on the Dublin
Corporation for malicious injury and
damage reached nearly four million
pounds. Two things stared property
owners in the face : (i) the loss to them
caused by the actual destruction of their
premises, and (2) the consequential dam-
age done to their business, pending re-
building. With State aid they might hope
to rebuild ; but how were they to meet the
grave loss caused by the prolonged in-
terval? Some firms had branch offices
elsewhere in the city, and others were able
to obtain temporary premises, but the
majority were, of course, unable to do more
than dismiss their employees and wait for
the reconstruction of their buildings.
Under such circumstances it can well be
imagined that the appeal for new and more
beautiful streets to spring up on the old

262

AFTER THE REBELLION

and rather congested area around Sackville
Street did not fall on ears that were very
sympathetic. The matter was brought
under the notice of the Corporation, but
the Town Clerk explained that that body
had no power to enforce designs for re-
building or widening streets. The Coun-
cil's officers might suggest alterations in
designs, but could not enforce them. Busi-
ness people who had lost all could not
afford to be too anxious for the good ap-
pearance of the streets. Their main effort
was to restore their business. On the
whole, however, the desire was very
general that, so far as Sackville Street at
least was concerned, the new should be an
improvement on the old. Outside of that
area, indeed, the damage was surprisingly
small. This was due to the fact that the in-
surgents, blinded as they were to the con-
sequences of their acts against the troops,
were, nevertheless, in most cases desirous
of saving their city from destruction. Evi-
dence exists that in at least one case a
looter was shot dead in Sackville Street by

263 R 2

THE IRISH REBELLION OF !9i6

the insurgents in the General Post Office.
The testimony of British officers who were
in the custody of the insurgents during the
hottest part of the fighting is interesting in
this respect. Captain Brereton, J.P., re-
lating (May 14) his experiences in Dublin
during the rising, stated he was taken
prisoner near the Four Courts by the Sinn
Feiners. In their custody also were two
other British officers, an Army chaplain,
three policemen, a private soldier, and
three civilians. There were 150 in-
surgents in the Four Courts, and what
impressed Captain Brereton most about
them was : —

The international military tone adopted
by their officers. They were not out for
massacre, for burning, or for loot. They
were out for war, observing all the rules of
civilised warfare and fighting clean. So
far as I saw, they fought like gentlemen.
They had possession of the restaurant in
the Four Courts. It was stocked with
wines and spirits and champagne, yet there
was no sign of drinking amongst them, and
I was informed they were all total ab-

264

AFTER THE REBELLION

stainers. They treated their prisoners
with the utmost courtesy and consideration
—in fact, they proved by their conduct
what they were : men of education, incap-
able of acts of brutality, though also
misguided and fed up with lies and false
expectations.

Exactly a similar story was told by
Private Richardson (May 15), who was a
prisoner at the General Post Office. An
insurgent leader there named The
O'Rahilly saw to the feeding of the
prisoners, saying they would share alike in
that matter with the Sinn Feiners. " It's
war time," he said to the soldiers, " and we
are short ourselves, but we've done the
best we could for you." It may be men-
tioned here that The O'Rahilly was fatally
wounded during the evacuation of the
General Post Office, and his dead body
was afterwards found in Moore Street in
the vicinity. A soldier in another building
held by the insurgents said, as he lay a
prisoner in their hands, he was offered
stimulants. The cellar was filled with

265

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

liquor, but the insurgents never touched
one drop. :f We are out on a very despe-
rate venture," said their leader, " and we
do not expect any of us will be left alive,
but we will not have anything to do with
drink. We know it was drink that ruined
the insurrection of 1798." Perhaps this
feature of the rebellion was its most
curious aspect, the semblance of austerity,
almost puritanical in its strictness, of the
insurgents. All the more surprising is it
when the age of most of them is recol-
lected. In Amiens Street a deadly and
continuous rifle fire came from one house.
Eventually it was taken by the troops with
machine-guns and bombs. On being
searched the astonishing fact was revealed
that the house had been held by a solitary
sniper, a mere lad of 15. He had an ample
supply of ammunition, was remarkably
active in shooting from side and front win-
dows, and was a crack shot. " I wish we
had some more of your kind at the front,"
said the British officer wlio arrested the
youth. When a Catholic priest visited the

266

AFTER THE REBELLION

General Post Office at the hottest part of
the fighting, to attend a dying volunteer,
he found another lad of 15 busy firing at
the military. Moved by the boy's size and
appearance, he offered to try to remove
him from the inferno, but nothing would
induce the youth to leave his comrades.
The whole insurrection was, indeed, a
tragic and a futile thing, marked by ignor-
ance combined with heroism, by blunders
on both sides, by horrors side by side with
little human touches that in some way re-
deemed its worst features. Miserable as
were its effects in a ruined Dublin and an
Ireland dismayed and disheartened, it is
doubtful if anywhere the news was re-
ceived with such poignant feelings as
among the Irish at the front.

" The trials have been ours," wrote an
Irish officer in the firing line abroad. " I
don't think my condition of over-strain
alone could possibly account for the de-
jection of spirit into which the news threw
me. It puts Ireland back a generation. It
was cruel and foolish. Dublin has a tragic

267

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

way of becoming European. I do feel
lonely at the thought of Ireland. You will
exhaust facts and arguments, but you won't
eradicate a new suspicion of Irishmen this
ghastly thing will have created."

This was a pessimistic way of looking
at things, but the fact that this pessimism
did not affect the fighting efficiency of the
Irish troops at the Front is proved by the
reports of British war correspondents — that
never did they fight so desperately against
the Germans as at the very time when the
Sinn Feiners were fighting against the
British in Dublin. Such are the contrasts
that amaze and startle those who try to
understand the Irish.

Apart from the executions, the penal
servitude sentences, and the deportations,
two phases of the insurrection aroused in-
tense interest in Dublin when things had
quietened down. The first of these was
the case of Mr. F. Sheehy Skeffington, and
the second was what was known as the
North King Street affair. On May 7th a
statement written by Mrs. Skeffington was

268

AFTER THE REBELLION

published and circulated by a news agency.
Its main features were that her husband
was a pacificist, that his sole movements
during the insurrection related to a scheme
to prevent looting, that he was, neverthe-
less, conducted, in military custody, to
Portobello Barracks, Dublin, where he was
shot without trial. Pending a full investi-
gation into all the circumstances, impartial
public opinion was reserved about this case.
With reference to the North King Street
affair, the facts were as follows : Some
bullet-riddled bodies were dug up after the
rising by sanitary officers in a licensed
vintner's cellar. The allegation was that
they were killed by the military, although
they had no connection with the Sinn Fein
movement. At inquests on two of the
bodies, the jury found " the men died from
bullet wounds inflicted by soldiers in whose
custody they were, unarmed and unoffend-
ing prisoners. " The affair occasioned con-
siderable controversy in Dublin. In a
statement given to the Press, General Sir
John Maxwell declared that the troops had

269

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

been fired at, front and back, in the houses
in this district, and their casualties had
been heavy. Under the circumstances, it
would not have been surprising if the sol-
diers were unable to discriminate between
the innocent and the guilty. A rebellion
of this kind could not be suppressed by
kTd-glove methods. He had, however,
ordered a strict military inquiry into the
allegations against the troops, and any man
proved guilty would be properly punished.
With this promise of investigation into the
North King Street affair, and with the
Government undertaking that the whole
circumstances of the Skeffington and com-
panion cases would be investigated, both
these matters lay in abeyance for the time
being. On Monday, May isth, the magis-
terial investigation into the charge of High
Treason against Sir Roger Casement was
opened in London, before Sir J. Dickinson.
With Sir Roger Casement in the dock
appeared a man named Daniel Julian
Bailey, stated to be a native of Dublin. It
was alleged that he was in the Royal Irish

270

AFTER THE REBELLION

Rifles, that he had been taken prisoner by
the Germans, that he joined the German
Irish Brigade, and that he accompanied Sir
Roger in a submarine to Ireland in order
to assist in fomenting and taking part in
the Irish Rebellion. Evidence was given
by Irish prisoners of war in Germany, who
had been released, that they had seen
Casement at Limberg trying to get Irish
soldiers to join the Irish Brigade, and that
they had heard him saying that Germany
was going to free Ireland. A pamphlet was
distributed among the Irish prisoners. It
read : —

Irishmen, here is a chance for you to
fight for Ireland. You have fought for
England, your country's hereditary enemy.
You have fought for Belgium in England's
interests, though it was no more to you than
the Fiji Islands. The object of the Irish
Brigade will be to fight solely the cause
of Ireland, and in no circumstances shall
it be directed in the interests of Germany.

Other evidence related to the dramatic
capture of Casement after his landing from

271

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

a German submarine off the Irish coast, of
the sinking of a German vessel with arms
and ammunition for Ireland, and of the
statements of Bailey to the police. After
three days' hearing the two accused were
committed for trial. The magisterial in-
vestigation in this case had scarcely con-
cluded when the sittings were opened of the
Royal Commission of Inquiry into the
causes of the rebellion in Ireland. The
proceedings before the Royal Commission
were followed nearly as keenly as the evi-
dence of the Casement trial, and for the
time being the war was almost forgotten.
Meanwhile, the sentences to penal servi-
tude and the deportations continued. Up
to May 26th the lists of deported persons
published in the Dublin Press totalled
2*330; amongst those in the very latest
list up to that time being Alderman James
Nowlan, of Kilkenny, the President of the
Gaelic Athletic Association. On Saturday
(May 2oth) the names of eighteen men sent
to penal servitude for terms varying from
five to three years were published. They

272

AFTER THE REBELLION

brought the total sentences to that date
(including fifteen executions) up to 139.
The last eighteen men hailed from Kerry,
Wexford, and the West of Ireland.
Further arrests in the country were also
announced on the same date. One tragic
month, therefore, in Ireland had witnessed
the outbreak of a dangerous rebellion, its
stern suppression, the incidental destruc-
tion of Central Dublin, causing losses ex-
tending into millions of pounds, the death
or wounding of nearly 1,500 people, the
shooting of fifteen insurgent leaders, the
sending to penal servitude of scores of
others, the arrests and deportations to
England of thousands of Irishmen. It
had also seen the resignations of all
responsible for the government of Ire-
land, and on the bright side it had seen
hopes expressed that, despite all the ruin,
there was a better time in store for
Ireland.

273

CHAPTER IX

THE ROYAL COMMISSION

THE Royal Commission, appointed to
investigate the facts surrounding the rebel-
lion in Ireland, opened at Westminster on
Thursday, May i8th. The members of the
Commission were : Lord Hardinge, Mr.
Justice Shearman, and Sir Mackenzie
Chalmers. The first witness was Sir
Matthew Nathan, late Under- Secretary to
the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. He de-
scribed the movement that led up to the
rebellion as the work of the Irish Volun-
teers, the Citizen Army, and the Irish Re-
publican Brotherhood. Other anti-British
Associations in Ireland were the Sinn Fein
Society, the Gaelic League, and the Gaelic
Athletic Association. These bodies op-

274

ROYAL COMMISSION

posed Mr. Redmond and repudiated his
claim, " to offer up the blood and lives of
the sons of Ireland and Irishmen to the
service of the British Empire, while no
National Government, which could speak
and act for the people of Ireland, is allowed
to exist." When the cleavage occurred in
the Nationalist ranks in Ireland over the
question of recruiting for the Army, the
vast bulk of the National Volunteers
followed Mr. Redmond, their numbers
being nearly 1 70,000, whilst not more than
11,000 adhered to the disloyal section,
which then became known as the Irish
Volunteers. Afterwards, however, Mr.
Redmond's Volunteers fell in numbers,
whilst the disloyal Volunteers increased in
strength. At the time of the outbreak, the
latter numbered about 15,200, including
both Dublin and the provinces. In addi-
tion to these Irish (or Sinn Fein) Volun-
teers, there was the Citizen Army. The
total number of the Dublin Corps of the
Citizen Army was about 300 on the eve of
the rebellion. The Citizen Army con-

275

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

sisted of the militant members of the Irish
Transport Workers' Union, which, under
James Larkin, had been concerned in the
Dublin strike of 1913, and which, when
Larkin, at the end of 1914, left Ireland
for America, obeyed the orders of James
Connolly. It was believed that the close
association between the Citizen Army and
the Irish (or Sinn Fein) Volunteers only
dated from the latter part of 1915, the
Citizen Army leaders being eager for
violent action. In this they were supported
by the Irish Republican leaders, consisting
of a small knot of men associated with the
dynamite outrages in 1883. These men
worked with great secrecy and never
appeared publicly. It was the leaders of
the Irish Volunteers, the Citizen Army, and
the Irish Republicans who constituted the
inner circle where the plans for the rebel-
lion were drawn. They were in close touch
with organisations in America from whom
they received funds which were used to
maintain seditious newspapers, leaflets, and
to employ organisers throughout Ireland

276

ROYAL COMMISSION

to win people to join the Irish organisers.
Women's societies were formed and the
members trained for first-aid work. Rifles
were obtained in many ways. Large num-
bers of them were imported. Others were
stolen from the military. Army ammuni-
tion had also been taken as well as ex-
plosives. Describing the steps taken to
deal with this dangerous movement, Sir
Matthew Nathan pointed out the initial
difficulty in the way of disarmament. A
Judicial Commission which sat shortly after
the outbreak of the war had declared any
attempt to deprive Volunteers of their
arms to be illegal. The proceedings of the
Irish Volunteers were, however, carefully
watched, and Civil Servants were warned
not to belong to the organisation. Persons
were dismissed from the Ordnance Stores,
the Post Office, the Inland Revenue, the
Ordnance Survey, and other Government
Departments. In the case of priests assist-
ing the Irish Volunteers in any public way,
representations were made to their higher
ecclesiastical authorities. Seditious news-

277 s

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

papers had been suppressed, and the cases
of others had been under consideration at
the time the rebellion broke out. As re-
gards the organisers of the Irish Volun-
teers, some had been imprisoned and some
deported. Of 496 cases in Ireland under
the Defence of the Realm Act regulations,
153 had been for making use of seditious
and anti-recruiting language and 34 for
offences in relation to arms and ammuni-
tion. Juries, however, could not be trusted
in connection with cases of this kind, and
there were miscarriages of justice in Dublin
and Cork. Sir Matthew Nathan read a
letter written by the Adjutant-General sug-
gesting that, in the event of emergency,
trials by court-martial in Ireland might be
restored. He replied to this letter by
stating that, though the Irish Volunteers
had been active, he did not believe they
meant rebellion or that they had sufficient
arms to make it formidable. The bulk of
the people were not disaffected. Proceed-
ing, Sir Matthew said that the Irish
Government had considered it of primary

278

ROYAL COMMISSION

importance to prevent the Irish Volunteers
becoming a military danger, and that every
obstacle should be placed in the way of
arms and ammunition getting into their
hands. It was difficult to make this policy
effective. English manufacturers had been
importing freely into Ireland for some time
after the commencement of the war, and
even after the importation was forbidden,
owing to the action of the Customs ex-
aminers, it was impossible to prevent for-
bidden goods from getting through. As
late as April i6th a case of 500 bayonets
was detected by the police on the way from
a Sheffield cutler to the Sinn Fein manager
of what was believed to be a reputable firm.
Referring to the warnings and events
immediately preceding the insurrection, Sir
Matthew said that until Good Friday there
was no definite information of any alliance
between the anti-British Party in Ireland
and the Germans. From America, indeed,
came reports that Sir Roger Casement had
given a pledge that a German army would
land in Ireland. These reports appeared

279 s 2

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

in the New York Press of October 1915,
and it was also rumoured that Germany
reported the Irish Volunteers to be ready.
It was known that the young men in the
movement were anxious to start the insur-
rection, and they were backed up strongly
by James Connolly, but the heads of the
volunteers were against an immediate re-
bellion, and one of them said it would be
sheer madness unless help from Germany
was forthcoming. On March 28th a
Dublin daily newspaper published a state-
ment purporting to be issued from the
headquarters of the Irish Volunteers
stating that the possession of arms was
essential to their movement, and that any
attempt to disarm them by the Government
would be followed by resistance and blood-
shed. Sir Matthew Nathan then went on
to speak of the events of the week preced-
ing the rebellion. On April i;th the Irish
Government received information in a
letter of the contemplated landing from a
German ship made up as a neutral and ac-
companied by two submarines of arms and

280

ROYAL COMMISSION

ammunition on the south-west coast of Ire-
land. The police were put on their guard.
The destruction of, the vessel containing
the arms was followed by the arrest of Sir
Roger Casement. About the same time
word was received from the county inspec-
tor at Tralee that a motor-car containing
Sinn Feiners had driven into the sea by
accident, and the party, except the driver,
drowned. Two Irish Volunteers had also
been arrested at Tralee on a charge of
conspiracy to land arms. Next came the
notice published by John MacNeill, " Chief
of Staff, Irish Volunteers," cancelling the
orders for mobilisation on Easter Sunday.
No movement was reported on that date,
but it was stated that five 5o-lb. cases of
gelignite had been stolen and brought to
Dublin by motor-car. At the Viceregal
Lodge a consultation took place, and in
view of what had occurred it was con-
sidered by the Irish Government that the
position justified the arrest and internment
in England of some of the leaders of the
movement. That course was, therefore,

281

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

decided upon. Then came telegrams re-
porting malicious damage to railways and
telegraphs. The first shot was fired a little
after noon on Easter Monday, April '24th.
While the situation was, in fact, being dis-
cussed at the Castle, the body of a dying
policeman was carried into the yard. It
appeared that a meeting of the leaders of
the Irish Volunteers had taken place on
Easter Saturday or Easter Sunday, and it
had been decided by a majority of one to
start the rebellion on Easter Monday.
The only practical purpose such an insur-
rection could achieve was to detain a large
number of troops in the city for a time,
which would be valuable to a hostile force
operating elsewhere. Apart from its
general ultimate futility, the conduct of the
insurrection showed greater organising
power and more military skill than had
been attributed to the volunteers, and they
also appeared, from reports, to have acted
with great courage. These things, and
the high character of some of the idealists
who took part in the insurrection, no doubt

282

ROYAL COMMISSION

accounted for the sympathy which they
excited in a large number of people in
Dublin, and in many cases in the country.
There were also the deeper grounds of
passionate national feelings for Ireland
and long hatred of England. Referring
to the problem of previous disarmament
of the Irish Volunteers, Sir Matthew
Nathan declared that if this were done and
the Ulster Volunteers formed to resist
Home Rule had been allowed to continue,
the Nationalists would thereby have been
completely alienated, and with them that
large body of Irish feeling favourable to
Great Britain in the war, and which had
sent some 55,000 Irish Catholics to fight
for the Empire. Such measures as had
been adopted by the Irish Government, the
suppression of seditious newspapers and
the prosecutions for inflammatory speeches,
were taken against the advice of the Irish
Parliamentary Party, whose loyalty was un-
doubted. It was for these reasons that the
policy of the Government was not to at-
tempt the suppression of the volunteers.

283

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

Any attempt to have done so would have
been forcibly resisted. Sir Matthew was
questioned at some length as to the sham
attack on Dublin Castle made by the Irish
Volunteers on October 6th, 1915. He did
not believe it meant to precede a real at-
tack unless under the circumstances of an
enemy landing in Ireland. Sir Matthew
said he had had interviews on the state of
Ireland with Mr. Redmond, Mr. Dillon,
and Mr. Devlin. He also handed to the
President a memorandum of interviews he
had had with Lord Midleton, which he de-
sired to keep private. The principal wit-
ness before the Commission at the second
day's sitting on Friday, May igth, was Mr.
Birrell, the ex-Chief Secretary for Ireland.
He traced the use and progress of the Sinn
Fein movement as mainly due to the old
hatred and distrust of the British Conven-
tion. He then went on to describe how it
was that the movement had been found in-
creasing during the past two years. Even
with the Home Rule Bill on the Statute
Book, the chance of its ever becoming a

284

ROYAL COMMISSION

fact seemed to some Irishmen so uncertain,
the outstanding difficulty about Ulster was
so obvious, and the details of the Home
Rule measure itself were so unattractive,
that people left off talking about it or
waving it in the air. The sneers of the
O'Brienites and the naggings of the inde-
pendent Nationalist Press in Ireland con-
tributed to the political eclipse of Home
Rule. There were growing doubts of its
advent, and added to this the Ulster rebel-
lion plans had a most prodigious effect on
disloyalists everywhere in Ireland. It was
impossible also to over-estimate the effect
on Nationalist Ireland of the formation of
a Coalition Government with Sir Edward
Carson as a member. If Mr. Redmond had
consented to enter the Cabinet he would
that instant have ceased to be an Irish
leader. This formation of a Coalition
Government seemed to make an end of
Home Rule and strengthened the Sinn
Feiners enormously. As regards the rebel-
lion the opinion seemed to have been held
by some Irishmen that a German landing

285

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

was possible. German assistance was at
the bottom of the outbreak. He realised
that there was a dangerous movement in
Ireland, but after consultation with various
Irish leaders came to the conclusion that
non-intervention was the safest policy. Mr.
Redmond always took the view that the
Sinn Feiners were negligible, and he was
good enough to say so in Parliament. " I
did not attach much importance to Mr.
Redmond's opinion upon that matter,"
added Mr. Birrell, "because I was sure
they were dangerous. At the same time
Mr. Redmond expressed the opinion
strongly, and it did affect my mind to
this extent that I gave it great considera-
tion. But I came round to another view.
Mr. Dillon, for example, was strongly the
other way, not in the sense of taking action,
but strongly of opinion that the Sinn Fein
and the insurrectionary movement un-
doubtedly was a danger. Mr. Dillon was
however in favour of non-intervention in
the absence of proof of hostile association
with the enemy." Mr. Birrell, continuing,

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ROYAL COMMISSION

said he was exceedingly nervous about what
would happen. At a conference which he
attended in the War Office in March he put
the view forward that if more soldiers were
sent to Dublin it would make an impression
on the Sinn Feiners. It would have shown
them the military were in possession. In
some parts of Ireland the priest was a
source of disaffection. One of the most
anti-British letters had been written by the
Most Rev. Dr. O'Dwyer, the Roman
Catholic Bishop of Limerick. The literary
Sinn Fein movement had been drawn into
the military movement by the excitement of
the war, which had a tremendous effect
upon Ireland. The rebellion, however,
had been a failure from the beginning. He
did not think another thousand soldiers
would have made any difference unless they
had been posted beforehand in the General
Post Office and other buildings in Dublin.
There were rumours spread among the
people that the Germans were landing, and
that they had guns. If that had been so he
could not say what the population would

287

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

have done. Some might have joined in the
rebellion. As regards his presence in
London, he declared that for a Chief Sec-
retary to be absent from meetings of the
Cabinet when Irish matters were dealt
with was a disaster, Further extraordinary
disclosures were made at the third sitting
in London on Monday, May 22nd. At the
commencement of the proceedings on this
date the President read a letter from
General Macready, the Adjutant-General
of the Forces, with reference to the state-
ment by Mr. Birrell about the need of more
soldiers in Dublin. The facts were that
Mr. Birrell, with Lord Wimborne and
others, came over from Ireland and had a
conference at the War Office on March
20th, purely in relation to recruit-
ing in Ireland. Various proposals
were made, among others that troops
should be sent from England to Ireland to
be quartered in localities other than Dublin
for the purpose of encouraging recruiting.
It was not considered that the presence of
these troops would have an effect on re-

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ROYAL COMMISSION

cruiting in Ireland commensurate with the
delay that would take place in training the
men and the unpopularity of the movement.
Mr. Birrell afterwards saw Lord French,
and so far as the War Office were aware no
question arose of sending troops for the
purpose of overawing the Sinn Feiners.
General Friend, however, had written, in-
timating that there might be trouble in the
South of Ireland, and arrangements were
made that a reserve brigade should be ear-
marked if called for by the Irish authori-
ties. Mr. Birrell's visit on March 23rd
had also, so far as the War Office was
aware, no connection with sending troops to
Ireland to anticipate or crush any rebellion,
though, of course, had troops been sent for
recruiting purposes they would have been
available for any emergency. Asked by
the President if he wished to make any re-
marks on this letter, Mr. Birrell said he
had in his mind when he mentioned the
matter three sets of interviews, one at the
War Office, a second at the Horse Guards
with Lord French, and other interviews

289

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

with General Friend. At all these inter-
views, notably at those with Lord French
and General Friend, he made the point that
it was most desirable to let the people of
Dublin see the troops marching about the
streets.

The next witness was Lord Midleton,
who told in detail the efforts he had made
to warn the Government. Early in 1915
he had called attention to the illegal
organisation called the Irish Volunteer
Force, which did not take the oath of alle-
giance, did not use the Union Jack, and
had no right to exist. Lord Crewe, in
reply, had minimised the increase of the
organisation. About the middle of Novem-
ber, 1915, he saw Mr. Birrell, and pressed
upon him the position in the South and the
West of Ireland. He strongly urged that
the Volunteers should be disarmed, and
that seditious speakers should be brought
to account. Mr. Birrell said, in effect, that
the Sinn Fein organisation and drilling
were to be laughed at and need not be
taken seriously. To take notice of speeches

290

ROYAL COMMISSION

by crack-brained enthusiasts and priests
would only halt the slow growth of loyalty
in Ireland. Mr. Birrell expressed some
fear of the use of bombs, but not of revo-
lutionary trouble. The Government were
watching closely and were advised from
day to day of the actions of the Sinn
Feiners, but Mr. Birrell said more harm
than good would be done by attempting to
suppress them, as it would probably end in
shooting, and would divide the country
during the war. Sir Matthew Nathan was
no less convinced than Mr. Birrell that
nothing should be done. On January
2oth he saw Mr. Birrell again in London,
and specifically called his attention to
speeches made a week before by Father
O'Flanagan suggesting that Ireland should
become an independent country in alliance
with Germany, and also to a circular that
was being distributed in Ireland. Mr.
Birrell suggested that he should go over
and see General Friend on the subject. He
further said that Mr. Redmond and Mr.
Dillon were against taking any notice of

291

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

the seditious utterances. He was convinced
there would be no armed rising. On
January 26th he saw the Prime Minister
and brought all the facts before him. Mr.
Asquith asked him to draw up a memoran-
dum and undertook to make a careful
examination of the whole matter. That
memorandum was sent. Lord Midleton
then read a letter which he received from
Mr. Birrell, in which it was stated : " In
Ireland you have heard strong priests and
crack-brained people making speeches and
passing resolutions which in England
would bring down not the terror of the law,
but the rage of the mob." They could not
rely on a jury in Ireland, but the letter
went on to express Mr. Birrell's opinion
that to proclaim the Irish Volunteers as an
illegal body, and to attempt to put them
down by force, would be a reckless,
foolish act, and promote disloyalty. The
next step was the formation of a committee
in Dublin. It was composed of gentlemen
of high standing, not all of Unionist poli-
tics, connected with three of the provinces

292

ROYAL COMMISSION

in Ireland, and who had an intimate know-
ledge of conditions in these provinces.
That committee recommended that charges
under the Defence of the Realm Act in
Ireland should be tried by the military, that
immediate action should be taken against
the printers of journals against recruiting,
and that the Irish Volunteers should be
suppressed and their arms and explosives
confiscated. The substance of that report
was sent to Mr. Birrell, omitting the refer-
ence to the suppression of the Irish Volun-
teers, because Mr. Birrell had stated that
could not be entertained by the Govern-
ment. He had not been able to submit
the report to the Prime Minister. He again
wrote to Mr. Birrell on March 15th, and
impressed on him that some notice should
be taken of the report. He also saw
Sir Matthew Nathan. He pointed out the
danger of inaction, and also that Mr. Red-
mond, whether he knew of it or not, was
in danger of his life. Finally, six days
before the outbreak he had an interview
with the Lord Lieutenant, and gave him

293 T

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

the gravest warning possible of the
probable results of inaction. Lord Wim-
borne appeared more impressed than he
had been in an interview six weeks before.
Lord Wimborne was next called, and
defined the position of the Lord Lieutenant
in the Government of Ireland. Since the
Chief Secretary became a member of the
Cabinet he and the Permanent Under-Sec-
retary had absorbed the powers of the Lord
Lieutenant. The Lord Lieutenant had no
independent information apart from that
which reached him from Castle sources,
and no executive machinery for asserting
his views should they conflict with those of
his colleagues. The doctrine of the Lord
Lieutenant's total irresponsibility was held
by the late Secretary. Very soon after
assuming office he had reason to com-
plain of the complete dissociation of the
Lord Lieutenant from the administration,
and asked to have a clear definition of his
position. He pointed out the absurdity of
the Lord Lieutenant having to rely upon
the Press for his knowledge of current ad-

294

ROYAL COMMISSION

ministration and practical events, which
resulted from his being kept in ignorance of
subjects constantly referred to by those
with whom he came into contact during his
tours. After repeated representations he
did succeed in obtaining a personal insight
into the Irish administration. He had
several conversations with General Friend
as to the military resources. He was then
thinking more of enemy raids than of in-
ternal disturbance. At the War Office on
December i3th, he pressed Lord Kitchener
for reinforcements. On March 23rd, he
pressed Lord French to send a division to
Ireland. The following week he told
Lord French (who had objected to sending
a division owing to the delay it would
cause) that what was worrying him was that
they had not enough of troops in Ireland
in case of internal disorder. Lord Wim-
borne then described how on April i8th
he was shown by the Under- Secretary a
letter conveying the information from the
Admiral at Queenstown that a ship with
two German submarines was due to arrive

295 T 2

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

on May 2ist. It was also stated that a
rising was timed for Easter Eve, but that
the Admiral was sceptical of this intention.
The Admiralty did not communicate
directly with the Irish Government. Sub-
sequent events revolutionised the situation.
When the facts therefore established com-
munication between Sinn Feiners and the
enemy, he urged that the ringleaders should
be arrested. Discussion afterwards took
place as to the feasibility of a raid on
Liberty Hall. He urged that a raid un-
accompanied by arrests would be provoca-
tive. The Under-Secretary disagreed
about the arrests on the ground of ille-
gality, and it was decided not to go forward
with the raid on Liberty Hall on Sunday
night. He asked the Chief Commissioner
to furnish him with a list of the chief sus-
pects and urged on the Under-Secretary
the need for immediate action. On Easter
Monday at 10 a.m. the Under-Secretary
called with a report that Bailey, who had
landed with Casement, had been arrested,
that a man named Monteith was still at

296

ROYAL COMMISSION

large, that a rising had been planned for
that day, and that the Castle was to be
attacked. He urged the strengthening of
the Castle guard. He was of opinion, how-
ever, in view of the disorganisation of the
Sinn Fein plans, that the rising would not
take place. The Under-Secretary feilso
read hirn a cipher telegram from Mr. Bir-
rell agreeing to the arrests being made. " I
had completed a letter to the Chief Secre-
tary, and was in the act of writing to the
Prime Minister," said Lord Wimborne,
"when at 12.30 we had a telephone mes-
sage from the Chief Constable saying that
the Castle had been attacked, the Post
Office seized, St. Stephen's Green occu-
pied, and that the insurgents were march-
ing on the Viceregal Lodge. I wrote to the
Chief Secretary saying : — c The worst has
happened, just when we thought it averted.
If only we had acted last night with deci-
sion and arrested the leaders as I wanted
it might have been averted.5 ' He made
it clear they must have troops — at least a
brigade, and he would prefer a division.

297

THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

Asked what powers the Lord Lieutenant
possessed over the military, Lord Wim-
borne replied that the position was rather
curious. The name of the Viceroy ap-
peared in the Army list of the Irish com-
mand, but with no rank of any kind con-
nected with it. When the trouble began
General Friend was not in Ireland. He
left on the Thursday before for England
on short leave. It was part of the system
in Ireland that everybody seemed to be
away. There was no co-ordination.
General Friend arrived on Tuesday morn-
ing. There had, of course, been a good
many previous false alarms, and at noon on
Easter Monday it did not look like a revo-
lution. His belief was that the whole thing
was an eleventh-hour decision, or they
would have started earlier. He never anti-
cipated a rebellion — it seemed too incred-
ible unless foreign assistance was relied
upon. After sitting three days in London
the Commission proceeded to Dublin on
Thursday, May 27th, for the purpose of
hearing evidence there. The remarkable

298

ROYAL COMMISSION

revelations by the ex-Under-Secretary, the
ex-Chief Secretary, and by Lord Wim-
borne, the three men responsible in the
main for the Government of Ireland,
aroused great public interest. Combined
with the fact that no announcement was
made for weeks after their resignations
were published of their successors, and
taking into account also Mr. Asquith's mys-
terious visits to Dublin, Belfast and Cork,
it was not surprising to find rumours in cir-
culation that some drastic change was in
contemplation in connection with the
Government of Ireland.

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BRUNSWICK STREET, STAMFORD STREET, S.E., AND BUNGAY, SUFFOLK

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962 The Irish rebellion of

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