UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY AA 001 200 750 6 THE DRAMA OF EIGHT DAYS JUNE 22nd to JUNE 29th, 1922 How war was waged on Ireland with an economy of English Lives AS RELATED BY GENERAL SIR NEVIL MACREADY MR. WINSTON CHURCHILL AND MR. LLOYD GEORGE t Lovers of Liberty You can best support the existing Irish Republic and work for its recognition by joining the Ameri- can Association for the Recognition of the Irish Republic. If there is not already a Council in your district — Start one. Write for particulars to JOSEPH BEGLEY, Secretary Irish Republican Headquarters 3 East 42nd Street New York City SRU- 'JRl THE DRAMA OF EIGHT DAYS PROLOGUE: THE PLOT DEVISED London : The House of Lords. 8//t March, 1922. Lord Birkenhead said : "The Provisional Government i« sanguine enough to believe that with the passage of a littl* time, they will be strong enough to deal with the rebels from their authority. ... I would far rather that they were undertaking that task than that we were, and I be- lieve that if the task is effectively and successfully carried out by them the fact that it should be done by them and not by us, will have resulted in an economy of English lives." THE CONSPIRATORS MEET Dublin. April, 1922. General Macready writes : "On the 4th April I went to see Collins at his request. . . . The two things that Collins wanted were barracks and arms. ... In order to meet his views I arranged to hold on to Youghal, near Cork, for a short time longer until his affairs were more in order. Eventually Collins received all the arms he asked for. . . . "The day after Rorv O'Connor's men had seized the Four Courts and other buildings I wrote to Michael Collins ask- ing what action he proposed to take. . . . The following day Cope came to tell me that Collins could not reply to my letter in writing, but had deputed him to explain the line of action which the Provisional Government wished pursued. ... "In the meantime the demands for arms and military appliances by the Provisional Government became daily more insistent, and were supported by Cope." THE TRAGEDY. First Day, Thursday Dublin. June 2.2nd. General Macready continues : "At 6 p. m. on 22nd June I reached the Royal Hospital, to be greeted with the news of the murder of Sir Henry Wilson in London. . . . There was, so far as I am aware, no evidence to connect the two men directly with De Valera or Rory O'Connor. . . . "An hour after I heard the sad news a telegram arrived calling me over to London." Second Day, Friday London. June 2yd. "I went straight to Downing Street. . . I confess that I was somewhat taken aback when asked if the Dublin Four Courts, in which Rory O'Connor had been established with his Republicans for the last two months, could be captured at once by the British troops." Third Day, Saturday Dublin. June 24th. "Soon after arriving in Dublin, and while I was going over the details of the scheme with General Boyd, whose troops could carry out the operation if it materialised, a telegram came ordering it to be put into effect the next day." Fourth Day, Sunday Dublin. June 2$th. "On the following day word came through from London that the Government had reconsidered their original de- cision and that no action was to be taken against the Four Courts — I have never ceased to congratulate myself on having been an instrument in staving off what would have been a disaster." London. Same day. "The Army Council and the Cabinet, with the exception of the originator of the scheme, heaved a sigh of relief when wiser counsels prevailed." Fiftk Day, M«*day London: The House of Commons. June 26th Mr. Churchill said : "The presence in Dublin, in violent occupation of the Four Courts of a band of men styling themselves the Headquarters of the Republican Executive is a gross breach and defiance of the Treaty. The time has come when it is not unfair, premature or impatient to make the strengthened Irish Government and new Irish Parliament a request in express terms that this sort of thing must come to an end-. If it does not come to an end . . . if it is not brought to an end and a speedy end . . . then it is my duty, on behalf of H.M. Government, to say that the Treaty has been formally violated." Mr. Lloyd George, in the same debate, said : "To permit it (the occupation of the Four Courts} to go on is weakness, which lowered the prestige and authority of the Provisional Government. I do not want to use the language of menace, but it is essential that that should be brought to an end, and speedily. The British Government had indicated their views to the Provisional Government. I do not want to give de- tails of communications." Sixth Day, Tuesday Dublin. June 27th. General Macready continues his narrative : "Through representations to London by Cope, I received instructions to hand over two 18-pounder field guns to the Provisional Government with a reasonable supply of ammunition, of which only sufficient for our needs was on hand. . . . Although the Provisional Government wanted the guns they were not at all sure that they had any men who could work them, nor was it to become known until they were in action that the British Government had loaned them. "In the end General Dalton, the one man who among Collins's officers had any knowledge of such things, came up after dark to our artillery lines with some motor lorries, on the tails of which the guns were hitched and taken down into town." Seventh Day, Wednesday Dublin. June 2&th. "At 4 a. m. the next morning the noise began. ". . . During the day two more 18-pounders were asked for and handed over to Collins's men, and by the evening they had fired away all the ammunition. "On the previous day (June 27th) I had sent a destroyer to Carrickfergus for some ammunition, and telegraphed to England for more, and also for guns to replace those handed over to the Provisional Government, but neither the one nor the other had arrived on 28th. When, that evening, in answer to frantic te 1 ephone messages from Cope and from 'General' O'Duffy, who apparently had replaced the kidnapped O'Connell as Commander-in-Chief, I told them they would have to wait till next day for more high- explosive shell, the\- metaphorically turned their faces to the wall and gave up the enterprise as lost. O'Duffy did not fail to tell me it was my fault, and that he would tele- graph to Mr. Churchill to sav so, an Irishism for which I was quite prepared. "I then asked if Dalton could be sent to me. The poor man arrived about 9.30 p. m., thoroughly worn out, but full of fight. After he had got outside a drink or two he told me his story. . . . "I have already said that Dalton had seen service in the Great War, and while entirely agreeing with me that they would never take the Four Courts by shooting at them, he sa'd he could not get his men to risk their lives in an assault, which from our experience of their tactics I could well be- lieve. . . . P.efore he left I agreed to send him fifty rounds of shrapnel, which was all we had left, simply to make a noise through the night, as he was afraid that if the guns stopped firing his men would get disheartened and clear off. "Accordingly, about every quarter of an hour during the night a shrapnel broke up against the walls of the Four Courts." Eighth Day, Thursday Dublin. /utM 2<)th, 102 2 "On the following day one of these shrapnel burst over the Royal Hospital (British Headquarters). Shortly after- wards an apology arrived from which it appeared that the gun had gone off by mistake. . . . "On the afternoon of 29th Tune I went to the Provisional Government offices to see Michael Collins, and to discuss the heavy demands he had made through Cope for arms and other engines of war. Mulcahy was with him, and they at once started complaining that their want of sua was due to the lack of gun ammunition. I told them that we had not anticipated such demands, especially as from the press they seemed to be getting on so well in the country, and were so desirous that all the British troops should clem out, which led us to reduce our stocks, a little thrust which Collins appreciated, but T am afraid it was lost on Mulcahy, who had not his comrade's sense of humour. . . . At the same time I impressed on Collins that no amount of bombarding would s T et the rebels out of the Four Courts, as they were probably smoking and drinking in safetv in the cellars, and that unless an assault was made, preferably at night, when the gates could be blown in with out much loss, thev might go on for ever. "On the way back to the Royal Hospital, we were sniped by a nest of Republicans on the South Circular Road. I in- formed Collins, who had them turned out and burned the house. . . . England. . Same day. Sir L. Worthington Evans, Secretary for War, sneaking at Colchester, said: "The British Government had told Mr. Collins and Mr. Griffith that they had got to govern 01 They have commenced to govern and have started to kick the rebels out of the Four Courts." I EPILOGUE: LOYAL ALLIES (From General Macready's Narrative.) "The South side of ■ the Liffey was cleared up by 3rd July, but De Valera, Cathal Brugha, and some desperadoes still held hotels and other buildings. . . . During these days I received constant wires and instructions to supply Collins with rifles, ammunition and other armament — it struck me that the need had been somewhat exaggerated by the nervous excitement of Cope and the Colonial officials. . . . As a matter of fact the Provisional Government was amply supplied with everything they required to bring the Republican gunmen under control." THE CROWNING TRIUMPH "In William Cosgrave and Richard Mulcahv two men stepped forward who, if they did not at first inspire uni- versal confidence, proved for a time loyal to their obliga- tions towards the British Government, and determined to assert their authority in their own country by means far more drastic than any which the British Government dared to impose during the worst period of the rebellion." Thus, to the Empire's satisfaction, was Lloyd George's "Treaty" justified, Churchill's war-making successful, and Lord Birkenhead's dream fulfilled.