PART ONE ended with public comments by and in THE FREEMAN’s JOURNAL, THE IRISH INDEPENDENT and THE IRISH TIMES on the result and the conduct of the East Clare By-Election of 1917.
It should not be thought that Colonel O’Callaghan-Westropp, whose comments in THE IRISH TIMES I quoted earlier, was converted to Irish Nationalism or Republicanism, to Liberalism or Pacifism. He remained a Unionist and a supporter of Britain’s Great War and said so in his letter.
But his memory should be saluted for his honesty and moral courage , characteristics not often associated with anti-Republican commentary in THE IRISH TIMES, or other media in his day or ours.
Other comments, British State Secrets, were released in 1967 after a 50 year delay during which the victor there was repeatedly returned for the constituency which he served for 42 years and twice elected for 7 year terms as President of Ireland,
In a memorandum of July 14th 1917, Lord Wimborne, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland reported to the British Cabinet;
“The Sinn Fein victory in East Clare is a fact of cardinal significance, and has precipitated events. Following as it does on a course of extreme leniency and conciliation which culminated in the general amnesty of political prisoners and tacit tolerance of seditious and secessionist propaganda, it marks the definite failure of the policy to rehabilitate constitutional nationalism or disarm Sinn Fein defiance to English rule .After making all deductions for local influence and the general revolt against the Redmondite party machine, the fact remains that in a markedly well conducted political contest sustained by excellent candidates on both sides, the electors on a singularly frank issue of self-government within the the Empire versus an independent Irish Republic,have overwhelmingly pronounced for the latter.” The Public Record Office Record is Ref.Cab.24/20/1416.
By coincidence the defeated candidate, Patrick Lynch KC, also penned a letter on 14 July 1917 to Britain’s Chief Secretary in Ireland, Edward Duke, saying, inter alia –
“I have come to the conclusion that the country is passing through a phase of excitement which will not lasr.The only thing to fan the flame and put the country in a blaze would be repressive measures of any description…………I have no fear of the future of Ireland if the Government are not misled by people who do not understand the real situation”.
That letter was made public together with Lord Wimborne’s letter fifty years after it was written and was no longer considered dangerous to the British State. In the meantime its writer had served as Attorney General for some years in the 1930s in Governments led by the victor of the East Clare By-Election, Edward aka Eamon de Valera, and helped draft Bunreacht na hEireann. (For an informed appreciation of that document see Chief Justice Susan Denholm’s comments on the 75th Anniversary of its enactment by Irish voters.)
In nine months the Centenary of the East Clare By-Election will probably be mentioned in the media. It would be a shame if “distinguished historians”and media superstars ignore or misinterpret the considered opinions of voters, journalists and persons in authority in 1917. Although Republican candidates never stood for Sinn Fein before its October 1917 Ard Fheis, it may be noted that Republicans were associated in the popular mind and the anti-popular mind with Sinn Fein even before the 1916 Rising. Emeritus-Professor John A Murphy, so busy with the Royals – brass-rubbing a statue of Queen Victoria, and brown-nosing her current successor, repeatedly though reluctantly tears his eyes from the objects of his devotion to accuse Sinn Fein of hijacking the Rising. He should know better. Sinn Fein, like Malvolio in “Twelfth Night” had the Rising IMPOSED on them!
MacLysaght’s father’s motor car was the only such vehicle used in de Valera’s first election campaign, and Edward MacLysaght’s and Edward de Valera’s friendship outlasted the latter’s adoption of “Eamon” as his forename, for seventy years. But MacLysaght was no starrry-eyed admirer. He disagreed with Dev’s stance on the “Treaty” in 1922 and fifty six years later, after further study and discussion, he still disagreed with it.
HERE ENDETH PART TWO
I hope to complete my appreciation of Mr MacLysaght’s memoirs in a third instalment.
Sorry, the Chief Justice is Susan Denham.
Her family has served Ireland, and the wider world community, with distinction.For example,
her father was Douglas Gageby.
Her maternal grandfather was Sean Lester who served in the Department of External Affairs
and was the last Secretary General of the League of Nations.
Sorry! The Chief Justice is Susan Denham.
Her father was Douglas Gageby, Editor of the IRISH TIMES.
Her maternal Grandfather was Sean Lester of the Department of External Affairs
and last Secretary General of the League of Nations.
Three generations doing the Irish State some distinguished service as well as the wider world
community.