1916 (75 page)

1. Larkin, James Larkin, pp. 187–218; von Rintelen, Franz,
   The dark invader: wartime reminiscences of a German naval intelligence officer, Lovat Dickson
   , London, 1934, pp. 79–186; and Bird, Kai,
   The chairman – John J. McCloy: the making of the American establishment
   , Simon & Schuster, New York, 1992, pp. 87–89. These German sabotage activities culminated after the von Igel raid in the so-called ‘Black Tom’ explosion on 30 July 1916, where thousands of tons of explosives and munitions blew up at a shipping terminal on the Jersey side of the New York harbour.
   
2. John Devoy (David Jones) to Joseph McGarrity (Dear Friend), 19 April, box 16, McGarrity papers, Maloney collection, New York Public Library. Also see Golway
   , Irish rebel
   , pp. 223–25.
   
3. The office of Wolf von Igel was not on either embassy or consular property and therefore was deemed not to have diplomatic protection. However, when Ambassador von Bernsdorff asked for the return of the seized papers Secretary of State Robert Lansing agreed. Ambassador Walter Hines Page cabled the State Department on 25 April to say that the Admiralty had asked him to request that photograph copies of any papers acquired in the von Igel raid be shown to the British naval attaché in Washington. Page urged that this be done because the British had previously provided information useful to the Americans about German activity in the US. On 27 April Secretary of State Lansing recorded in his desk diary that the president’s secretary had attempted to follow up a rumour that the British had been told about the Rising before it occurred – essentially Devoy’s public argument – and presumably Lansing denied any leak of information from the State Department. On 1 May Lansing cabled Page in London to say that the American government had been accused of giving this information to the British. He wrote specifically that ‘he did not believe anything of any value has been discovered here’, although he would consider the request. This was a week after the Rising. See Robert Lansing to Count J.H. von Bernsdorff, 24 April 1916, American Embassy to Secretary of State, 25 April 1916, and Robert Lansing to American Embassy, 1 May 1916, 701.6211/367, Wolf Von Igel case, State Department Papers, Record Group 59, US National Archives; and Desk Diary, 27 April 1916, Robert Lansing Papers, Library of Congress. F.S.L. Lyons is almost certainly wrong in his assertion that the American government gave the British copies of the von Igel papers, but correct in noting that the British had broken the German diplomatic codes and were reading all the transatlantic traffic. See Lyons, F.S.L., ‘The revolution in train, 1914–16’ in Vaughan, W.E. (ed.),
   A new history of Ireland V: Ireland under the Union II, 1870–1921
   , Clarendon, Oxford, 1996, p. 200.
   
4. Richard McGinn to John Devoy, 12 October 1915 in O’Brien and Ryan (eds),
   Devoy’s postbag
   , vol. ii, pp. 480–81; John Devoy to Congressman Joseph McLaughlin, 8 December 1915, box Misc., and McLaughlin to Devoy, 21 February 1916, box M, Devoy papers, NLI; John Devoy to Clan brothers, 29 December 1915, and 15 January 1916, box 16, McGarrity papers, Maloney collection, New York Public Library; and Splain, ‘The Irish Movement in the United States Since 1911’, pp. 226–28.
   
5. Carroll,
   American opinion and the Irish question
   , pp. 52–53; Tansill,
   America and the fight for Irish freedom
   , pp. 188–90; and, for a fuller account, Doorley, Michael,
   Irish­American diaspora nationalism: The Friends of Irish Freedom, 1916–1935
   , Four Courts Press, Dublin, 2005, pp. 21–61.
   
6. Devoy,
   Recollections of an Irish rebel
   , p. 458. Also see Lyons, ‘The revolution in train, 1914–16’ pp. 201–2.
   
7. McGarrity sent a message to Clarke that the date for the arms shipment could not be changed, but it proved impossible to deliver it. Cronin,
   The McGarrity papers
   , pp. 61–62. No one has satisfactorily explained why provisions were not made for receiving the arms shipment over several days.
   
8. Golway,
   Irish rebel
   , p. 229.
   
9. See, for example, ‘Ireland fighting for freedom’,
   Gaelic American
   , 29 April 1916, and ‘Ireland redeemed by Dublin’,
   Gaelic American
   , 6 May 1916.
   
10. Theodore Roosevelt to Arthur Hamilton Lee, 7 June 1916 in Morison (ed.), The letters of Theodore Roosevelt, vol. viii, pp. 1,054–55. Interestingly Roosevelt thought Casement to be in an entirely different category. Many other examples, from private correspondence and newspaper editorials, could be given.
    
11. Cable from C. Spring-Rice to [Sir Edward Grey], 1 August 1916, FO 800/86, National Archives, Kew. Several people with claims to American citizenship who were involved in the Rising may have had their sentences moderated for that reason, among them Éamon (Edward) de Valera and Diarmuid ( Jeremiah) A. Lynch. See Dudley Edwards, Owen, ‘American Aspects of the Rising’ in Dudley Edwards, Owen and Pyle, Fergus (eds),
    1916: the Easter Rising
    , MacGibbon and Kee, London, 1968, pp. 162–63. For the Casement trial and aftermath, see Ward, Alan J.,
    Ireland and Anglo­American relations, 1899–1921
    , Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London, 1969, pp. 101–24; and Carroll,
    American opinion and the Irish question
    , pp. 69–77. The White House and the State Department did co-operate with the Philadelphia lawyer, Michael Francis Doyle, who went to London to assist in Casement’s defence, and transmitted a message to Casement from his sister. Doyle wrote to the president’s secretary, Joseph Tumulty, that he had been told by John Redmond and Lord Northcliffe that a letter from Wilson would save Casement. Michael Francis Doyle to Joseph Tumulty, 6 and 19 July 1916, and Woodrow Wilson to Joseph Tumulty, 20 July 1916, file vi, # 3085, Wilson papers, Library of Congress. Many appeals were made to President Wilson, asking him to intervene personally, which he refused to do.
    
12. Doorly, Irish-American diaspora nationalism, pp. 51–52; and Carroll, American opinion and the Irish question
    , pp. 78–81. Michael Francis Doyle informed Joseph McGarrity of the probability of these difficulties when he went to London to defend Casement. See Michael Francis Doyle to Joseph McGarrity, June 1916, box 12, McGarrity papers, Maloney collection, New York Public Library. The State Department attempted to intervene, but without success. See Frank K. Polk to the American embassy, London, 25 July 1916, file 133, drawer 77, State Department, Polk papers, Yale University Library.
    
13. Report of John A. Murphy as delegate in Ireland to the Irish Relief Fund of America, c. 1916, box Misc., Devoy papers, NLI.
    
14. Woodrow Wilson to Robert Lansing, 10 April 1917, 841d.00/103½, Foreign Relations of the United States, Lansing Papers, vol. ii, pp. 4–5; and cable from Walter Hines Page to Secretary of State, 18 April 1917, marked ‘Confidential for the President’, 841d.00/106, State Department papers, RG 59, National Archives, Washington. Also see McDowell, R.B.,
    The Irish Convention, 1917–18
    , Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, 1970, passim; and Tansill,
    America and the fight for Irish freedom
    , pp. 218–50.
    
15. Carroll, Francis M., ‘The American Commission on Irish Independence and the Paris peace conference of 1919’ in
    Irish Studies in International Affairs
    , vol. ii, no. 1, 1985, pp 103–18.
    
16. Carroll, Francis M.,
    ‘Money for Ireland’: finance, diplomacy, politics, and the First Dáil Éireann Loans, 1919–1936
    , Praeger, Westport, 2002, pp. 13–29.
    
17. Carroll, Francis M., ‘The American committee for relief in Ireland, 1920–22’
    Irish Historical Studies
    , vol. xxiii, no. 89, May 1983, pp. 30–49.
    

The Easter Rising in the context of censorship and propaganda
with special reference to Major Ivon Price

1. Clery, Arthur,
   Dublin essays
   , Maunsel, Dublin, 1919, p. 44.
   
2. Thanks to the research of Eunan O’Halpin and James Herlihy this error has now been corrected. Herlihy, Jim,
   Royal Irish Constabulary Officers: a biographical dictionary and genealogical guide, 1816–1922
   , Four Courts, Dublin, 2005, p. 258 for detailed account of his life. O’Halpin, Eunan, ‘British intelligence in Ireland, 1914–1921,’ in Andrew, Christopher and Dilks, David (eds),
   The missing dimension: government and intelligence communities in the twentieth century
   , Macmillan, London, 1984, p. 55.
   
3. Ó Broin, Leon,
   Revolutionary underground: the story of the Irish Republican Brotherhood 1858–1924
   , Gill & Macmillan, Dublin, 1976, pp. 124–25. See Richard Hawkins’ review of Ó Broin’s book,
   Irish Historical Studies
   , vol. xx, no. 79, March 1977, p. 365 for clarification of Price’s status in the RIC.
   
4. Herlihy, Jim,
   The Royal Irish Constabulary
   , Four Courts, Dublin, 1997, p.217 provides a short outline of his career.
   
5. Jeffery, Keith (ed.),
   The Sinn Féin rebellion as they saw it
   , IAP, Dublin, 1998, p. 110; idem,
   The GPO and the Easter Rising
   , IAP, Dublin, 2006, pp. 40, 129; Herlihy, Royal Irish Constabulary officers, p. 258.
   
6. Evidence of Major Price in
   1916 rebellion handbook
   , Mourne, Dublin, 1998 [first published 1916], p. 176.
   
7. Mackey, Herbert O. (ed.),
   The crime against Europe: writings and poems of Roger Casement
   , Fallon, Dublin, 1958, p. 112.
   
8. Gwynne to French, 23 March 1914, Gwynne papers, 19, Bodleian library, Oxford.
   
9. Wilson, K.M., ‘Sir John French’s resignation over the Curragh affair: the role of the editor of the Morning Post’,
   English Historical Review
   , vol. xcix, no. 393, October 1984, p. 811; see also Holmes, Richard,
   The little field marshal: a life of Sir John French
   , Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London, 2004, pp. 166–94 for more on this incident.
   
10. Jalland, Patricia,
    The Liberals and Ireland: the Ulster question in British politics to 1914
    , Harvester, Brighton, 1980, p. 247.
    
11. See Campbell, Colm,
    Emergency law in Ireland 1918–1925
    , OUP, Oxford, 1994, pp. 9–12 for the origins and development of DORA; see Ewing, K.D. and Gearty, C.A.,
    The struggle for civil liberties: political freedom and the rule of law in Britain 1914–1945
    , OUP, Oxford, 2005, p. 51 et seq. for details of the Defence of the Realm Regulations and chapter 7 for ‘Civil liberies: the Irish dimension’. See Murphy, Brian P.,
    The Catholic Bulletin
    and republican Ireland, Athol, Belfast, 2005, p. 228 for the application of DORA in Ireland.
    
12. Report of the Royal Commission on the Rebellion in Ireland
    , 1916 [cd.8279] xi.171, p. 7.
    
13. Messinger, Gary S.,
    British propaganda and the state in the First World War
    , MUP, Manchester, 1992, pp. 145–63.
    
14. The
    Times
    , 26, 27 November 1914.
    
15. Ibid
    ., 26 November 1914. Among other publications strongly criticised were George Bernard Shaw’s
    Common sense about the war
    , which was first published on 14 November 1914 as a supplement to the New Statesman. See Kennedy, Thomas C., ‘War, patriotism, and the Ulster Unionist Council, 1914–18’, Éire-Ireland, vol. xl, nos. 3–4, fall–winter 2005, for more on Long and H.A. Gwynne, mentioned above.
    
16. As reported in the
    Times
    , 26 November 1914.
    
17. The
    Times
    , 27 November 1914.
    
18. Carty, James,
    Bibliography of Irish history 1912–1921
    , Stationery Office, Dublin, 1936, p. xxx.
    The Irish Volunteer
    , despite attracting attention in the House of Commons, was not suppressed. However, it began a new series on 5 December 1914 (see
    Ibid
    ., p. 51). I am grateful to Donal Ó Drisceoil for clarifying this point. See also Glandon, Virginia,
    Arthur Griffith and the advanced nationalist press: Ireland, 1900–1922
    , Peter Lang, New York, 1985; idem, ‘The Irish press and revolutionary Irish nationalism’,
    Éire­Ireland
    , vol. xvi, no. 1, 1981, pp. 21–23; Novick, Ben,
    Conceiving revolution: Irish nationalist propaganda during the First World War
    , Four Courts, Dublin, 2001, pp. 204–7.
    
19. Novick,
    Conceiving revolution
    , pp. 20–21; Carty, Bibliography, p. 58. The National Volunteer
    , printed by the
    Freeman’s Journal
    , was published from 17 October 1914 to 22 April 1916. Carty’s book has invaluable notes on all the journals of the period.
    
20. Irish Freedom
    , August 1913; ‘Shan Van Vocht’ [Roger Casement], ‘Ireland, Germany and the next war’,
    Irish Review
    , July 1913; see Mackey (ed.),
    The crime Against Europe
    , pp. 72–80 for the entire article. See
    Irish Freedom
    , October 1913 for evidence that the German General von Bernhardi was aware of Casement’s writings, and Pollard, H.B.C.,
    The secret societies of Ireland, Allan
    , London, 1922, p. 134 for the claim that Bernhardi actually translated the articles into German. See Clifford, Brendan (ed.),
    Roger Casement: the crime against Europe
    , Athol, Belfast, 2003 for an important critique of Casement’s book.
    
21. See Mitchell, Angus,
    Casement
    , Haus, London, 2003, p. 83.
    
22. ‘Ardrigh’ [Roger Casement], ‘Mobilise’,
    Irish Volunteer
    , 28 February 1914. See Mitchell, Angus, ‘John Bull’s other empire: Roger Casement and the press, 1898–1916’, in Potter, Simon J. (ed.),
    Newspapers and empire in Ireland and Britain: reporting the British empire, c.1857–1921
    , Four Courts, Dublin, 2004, pp. 217–33 for the many pen names used by Casement and invaluable insights on the propaganda context in which he wrote.
    
23. For a report see
    Irish Volunteer
    , 25 April 1914.
    
24. See Nevin, Donal,
    James Connolly: a full life
    , Gill & Macmillan, Dublin, 2005, chapter 28, ‘War’, for more on Connolly’s writings on the war. For Connolly’s differences with Larkin and the IRB at this time see Greaves, Desmond,
    The life and times of James Connolly
    , Lawrence and Wishart, London, 1961, pp. 292–96.
    
25. Pearse, P.H., From a hermitage,
    Irish Freedom
    , Dublin, 1915, pp. 21–22 citing
    Irish Freedom
    , December 1913. See Lee, J.J., ‘In search of Patrick Pearse’, in Ní Dhonnchadha, Máirín and Dorgan, Theo (eds),
    Revising the Rising
    , Field Day, Derry, 1991, pp. 128–29 for a valuable analysis of these words in the context of Pearse and ‘blood-sacrifice’.
    
26. See the editorial ‘Recruiting in Ireland’ in the
    Times
    , 31 October 1914.
    
27. Carty, Bibliography, p. 17. These Notes feature prominently in Phillips, W.A.,
    The revolution in Ireland 1906–1923
    , Longmans, London, 1923.
    
28. Carty, Bibliography, pp. 52 and 49; see Novick,
    Conceiving revolution
    , p. 31 for more on the Mahon case.
    
29. Ginnell, Lawrence, DORA at Westminster, Irish Wheelman, Dublin, 1917, pp. 76–77 for reply of Mr Tennant, under secretary for war, to Ginnell, 12 May 1915. Ginnell became the first director of publicity of Dáil Éireann in April 1919.
    
30. Report of the Royal Commission on the Rebellion in Ireland
    , p. 5; the date is given as 16 March 1915 on p. 7. See 1916 rebellion handbook, p. 167 for Lord Midleton’s evidence on the Parmoor legislation.
    
31. Irish Volunteer
    , 7 August 1915. See Maume, Patrick,
    The long gestation, Irish nationalist life 1891–1918
    , Gill & Macmillan, Dublin, 1999, p. 240 and idem,
    History Ireland
    , March–April 2006, p. 74 for information on this unusual man.
    
32. Irish Volunteer
    , 7 August 1915.
    
33. Report of the Royal Commission on the Rebellion in Ireland
    , p. 4.
    
34. Ibid
    ., p. 4, copy of Joseph Brennan (in the personal possession of the author). See ‘Files on Republican and Sinn Féin Suspects, 1899–1921’, CO 904, 193–216, National Archives, Kew.
    
35. A record of the rebellion in Ireland 1920–1921, Jeudwine papers, 72/82/2, Imperial War Museum, vol. ii, Intelligence, p. 4.
    
36. Ewing and Gearty (eds),
    Struggle for civil liberties
    , pp. 336–7;
    Irish Volunteer
    , 7 August 1915; White, Gerry and O’Shea, Brendan,
    Baptised in blood
    , Mercier, Cork, 2005, p. 56 for P.S. O’Hegarty and J.J. Walsh, and pp. 65–66 for attempted action against Seán O’Hegarty; also Townshend, Charles,
    Easter 1916: the Irish rebellion
    , Penguin, London, 2005, p. 82.
    
37. MacAtasney, Gerard,
    Seán MacDiarmada: the mind of the revolution
    , Drumlin, Manorhamilton, 2004, p. 84.
    
38. Irish Citizen
    , 22 May 1915. See Dudley Edwards, Owen and Pyle, Fergus (eds),
    1916: the Easter Rising
    , MacGibbon and Kee, London, 1968, pp. 149–52 for his letter.
    
39. Irish Citizen
    , 8 August 1914.
    
40. Sheehy Skeffington, Owen, ‘Francis Sheehy Skeffington’ in Dudley Edwards and Pyle (eds),
    1916: the Easter Rising
    , pp. 141–42. He was released under the terms of the ‘Cat and Mouse’ Act.
    
41. Ibid
    ., p. 142.
    
42. Ibid
    ., p. 143. See Millman, Brock, ‘HMG and the war against dissent, 1914–1918,’
    Journal of Contemporary History
    , vol. xl, no. 3, 2005, pp. 413– 40 for an invaluable account of DORA in England.
    
43. Ginnell,
    DORA at Westminster
    , p. 122.
    
44. ‘Historical sketch of the directorate of military intelligence during the Great War, 1914–1919’, WO 32/10776, National Archives, Kew, p. 20. See
    Ibid
    ., pp. 20–22 for details of postal censorship and pp. 17–19 for cable censorship.
    
45. Ibid
    ., p. 21.
    
46. Nathan to Postmaster General, 23 November 1914, CO 904/164, National Archives, Kew.
    
47. Nathan to Postmaster General, 22 July 1915, CO 904/164, National Archives, Kew. See MacAtasney,
    Seán MacDiarmada
    , facing p. 89 for a reproduction of a suspect list dated 31 December 1915.
    
48. Novik, Ben, ‘Postal censorship in Ireland, 1914–1916,’
    Irish Historical Studies
    , vol. xxxi, no. 123, May 1999, p. 345 citing CO 904/164/1, National Archives, Kew.
    
49. Report of G Division, 30 November 1914; report of Sergeant. J. Edwards on John McDermott, 21 December 1914, CO 904/164, National Archives Kew.
    
50. Report of the Royal Commission on the Rebellion in Ireland
    , p. 8.
    
51. Evidence of Major Price in
    1916 rebellion handbook
    , p. 77. There is a discrepancy over the date: in Price’s evidence he stated that the letter was a translation from the Irish and was dated 14 April; the Royal Commission report gave the date as 24 March 1916.
    
52. Ó Broin, Leon,
    Dublin Castle and the 1916 Rising
    , Helicon, London, 1966, retains its value for elucidating the internal structures of the Castle administration and the role of individuals, especially of Nathan. He has many references to Major Price.
    
53. Report of the Royal Commission on the Rebellion in Ireland
    , p. 7.
    
54. Ibid
    ., for evidence of Price; see
    1916 rebellion handbook
    , p. 167 for Lord Midleton’s warnings; see Jeffery,
    The Sinn Féin rebellion as they saw it
    , p. 111
    
55. Evidence of Nathan, in
    1916 rebellion handbook
    , p. 160.
    
56. The newspapers were the
    Irish Volunteer
    ,
    Nationality
    ,
    Hibernian
    ,
    Spark
    and Workers’ Republic
    .
    
57. Nathan to Dillon, 13 November 1915, Dillon papers, Trinity College Dublin; Lyons, F.S.L.,
    John Dillon: a biography
    , Routledge and Kegan Paul, London, 1968, pp. 363–66.
    
58. Carty, Bibliography, p. 73.
    
59. Quoted in Redmond-Howard, L.G.,
    Six days of the Irish republic
    , Ponsonby, Dublin, 1916, pp. 116–17. This valuable book, with many references to advanced nationalist journals, has been reprinted this year, with an introduction by Brendan Clifford, by the Aubane historical society.