When the all-Protestant Irish Parliament voted itself out of existence in 1801 some Dublin Orangemen declared that it had acted ultra vires, beyond its powers and unconstitutionally.
Daniel O’Connell, Parnell, John Redmond, John Dillon, so far as I can make out, were in agreement with those Orangemen on that issue. Rule of Ireland from London they deemed illegitimate and they campaigned for the restoration of an Irish Parliament to Dublin’s College Green. Whilst the Union lasted it never won the willing allegiance of most Irish people.
Nor has it yet. If it had won that allegiance, the shooting of a small handful of insurgent leaders by British firing squads in 1916 would have left most Irish people unmoved. Indeed if it had won that allegiance, Irish juries would have found all of the insurgents guilty of high treason and been happy to have seen them hanged. Nationalism was the rejection of what the British, when it suited them, deemed constitutional. For the “Constitution” is whatever the British Parliament says it is, or may say tomorrow.
It seems to me that Arthur Griffith’s greatest achievement was to create a framework for the creation of an Irish Parliament by the Irish people themselves without the by-your-leaveof London.When it happened the parliament, Dail Eireann, was republican, separatist and democratic, as well as very, very, modern and internationalist. For it was the embodiment of the principle of the self-determination of nations expounded by the United States and Britain in the recent Great War. It was also realistic for Ireland had been known to the world for centuries and still is today. Whereas nobody in 1900 had heard of Czechoslovakia or Yugoslavia, “nations” carved out of the Austro-Hungarian Empire by the professed champions of national self-determination. Those ersatz nation-states have self-destructed and their resurrection has no champions.
But in 1922 Dail Eireann was persuaded to abolish the state of which it was the parliament. The state was the Republic, to which all TDs had sworn allegiance. It purported to empower a body unrecognised by it, or by the voters, called “The Parliament of Southern Ireland” to exercise a right not enjoyed by Dail Eireann itself – “to ratify” Articles of Agreement signed in London, and to appoint a Provisional Government.
I’m no lawyer, constitutional or otherwise, but it seems to me that Dail Eireann mimicked the old Irish Parliament which voted itself out of existence in 1800. In 1800 Irish Parliamentarians were bribed and bought with titles and money by Britain. In 1922 they acted under the influence of the preponderant military and naval power of Britain.
The so-called “Staters” abolished the republican State by IRREGULAR methods and cannot with accuracy be deemed constitutional nationalists
Those who opposed them defended the Republican Constitution in what became impossible conditions. In 1937 voters not directly under the heel of the British, enacted an Irish, democratic Constitution creating a sovereign state in the form of a republic. Anyone wanting less for Ireland cannot be a nationalist or constitutionalist.
This piece is a shot at teasing out what constitutional nationalism can mean. It seems to me that the term is generally used to dignify the undignified posture of licking John Bull’s jackboots.
I think you should rephrase IRREGULARS with SUBVERSIVES…lol
Quod scripsi scripsi,Andrew, et verbum scriptum manet.
“For it was the embodiment of the principle of the self-determination of nations expounded by the United States and Britain in the recent Great War.”
The great irony of course being that it wasn’t prepared to acknowledge the self-determination of the British-unionist people over whom and against whose will it assumed sovereignty. What was sauce for the goose was apparently not sauce for the gander.
It is odd hearing Donal dismiss these “ersatz” states like Yugoslavia of Czechoslovakia as unstable and artificial, and then insist that Ireland is a natural political whole regardless of the wishes of the people who live here.
It’s myopia.
Fermanagh?
Tyrone?
Derry City?
In 1912 Winston Churchill remarked that Carson was the leader of half-Ulster.
But the Unionists got to be top dogs in more than half, and by gerrymander
and restricting the local government franchise made sure they’d stay that way. But unlike
the Bourbons who forgot nothing and learned nothing BYC and MT appear to have learned
nothing and to have, very conveniently, forgotten everything.
If one half Ulster, masquerading as all-Ulster, might fight and be right, surely the other half
might be similarly indulged.
Poor MT wants all the sauce for himself.An ersatz democrat, who doesn’t know his erse
from his elbow.
“Fermanagh?
Tyrone?
Derry City?”
Not sure what point you’re trying to make. The Dail refused to recognise the self-determination of unionists everywhere in Northern Ireland, not just in those places. If it had taken issue only with nationalist-majority districts in Northern Ireland you would have a point, but it didn’t: it assumed sovereignty over the whole jurisdiction.
“But the Unionists got to be top dogs in more than half, and by gerrymander and restricting the local government franchise made sure they’d stay that way.”
Gerrymandering and the local government franchise only ensured that unionists stayed top dogs in Londonderry corporation and maybe one or two other places (though I can’t think of any others: perhaps you can?). Unionists were assured “top dog” status in the Parliament of Northern Ireland without gerrymandering, and obviously the local government franchise wasn’t relevant for parliamentary elections.
“But unlike the Bourbons who forgot nothing and learned nothing BYC and MT appear to have learned nothing and to have, very conveniently, forgotten everything.”
Why do you think that? What do you think we haven’t learned and what have we forgotten?
“If one half Ulster, masquerading as all-Ulster, might fight and be right, surely the other half
might be similarly indulged.”
As I said, you would have a point if the Dail had taken that view, but it didn’t.
“Poor MT wants all the sauce for himself.An ersatz democrat, who doesn’t know his erse from his elbow.”
That doesn’t make sense. My position is consistent in recognition of democratic self-determination.
So you’re a repartitionist now Donal? Should we all be repartitionists?
The Dail did NOT enact the Constitution in 1937. The electorate free to do so did.
No MP from an Irish Constituency voted for the 1920 Better Government of Ireland Act partitioning the country.
Carson campaigned to keep all Irela\nd within the Union.
All the Churches and Christian Denominations and other religious groups, and the Freemasons were, and continue to be organised on an All-Ireland basis, as is the IRFU.
Even Atheist Ireland is organised on an ALL-IRELAND basis.
You BYC and MT believe that what you have you hold. Take good care of it while it lasts.