1918 - unionist and nationalist
Commentary on political events in 1918.
A collection of poetry by Toirdhealbhach Mac Suibhne. Irish mythology and history are among the recurring themes in a poetry collection from Terence MacSwiney.
A pamphlet by Eamonn de Valera on the threat of conscription in Ireland.
A collection of speeches of British statesmen, lawyers and legislators pertaining to the rebellion in Ulster. Compiled by Thomas Johnson, leader of the Irish Labour Party, the speeches are by opponents of the Republican cause.
In the meantime the new Lord Lieutenant Viscount John French had declared martial law throughout most of the southern and western counties and had rounded up the SF leaders during the so-called “German Plot”. The capture in suspicious circumstances of Connaught Ranger Joseph Dowling off the Clare coast who had been interned in Germany convinced French and Chief Secretary Edward Shortt that there was a German plot involving Sinn Fein and accordingly over a hundred of their members, including De Valera and two of the other three elected deputies, were rounded up and shipped to British prisons. Michael Collins was one of those fortunate to evade capture while the imprisoned Arthur Grifith was triumphant in a by-election in Cavan. French banned the Gaelic League, The Irish Volunteers and Cumann na mBan as he felt they were at the very least sympathetic to Sinn Fein which itself became even more militant in the absence of its imprisoned leaders as Collins, Richard Mulcahy and Cathal Brugha rose to dominant positions.
Another organisation causing anxiety to French was the GAA. Though strictly non-political since its inception in 1884 many of its members were involved with other groups and there was a significant GAA presence in the GPO and elsewhere during the Easter Rising. The authorities leaned increasingly on it as the year progressed with heightened police activity on the way to and during matches and in July they were required to seek a police permit for all fixtures. This move was greatly resented and in an act of defiance a “Gaelic Sunday” was arranged for the 4th of August. On that day every GAA club in the country played a match without seeking a permit and every ground was packed during one of the most successful demonstrations of the era. The permit system was abandoned shortly afterwards.
Events unfolded rather differently in the north eastern part of Ireland with Unionists there determined to resist home rule or any other type of separation from Britain. Their leader Edward Carson resigned from a government position to concentrate on resisting any change favouring nationalism and to look for a partitioning of Ireland instead. This brought him into conflict with the unionists in the south whose leader Lord Midleton advocated home rule without partition provided that special safeguards were included.
On the nationalist side matters were also developing somewhat differently in Ulster and the electoral support that the Home Rule Party had enjoyed in the February by-election was reflected elsewhere in the province with SF expansion not on the same scale as it had been in the other regions. In the SF electoral landslide five of the six seats that the Home Rule Party would retain were in Ulster. This was due to the party having a well oiled electoral machine, in contrast to the situation outside of Ulster where dozens of safe seats meant that the party never had to do any real campaigning and were not equipped to take on SF electorally when the challenge came.