By James P. Shannon
Source: CARLOVIANA 2017
Edition.
No. 65. Pages 4 - 8
At the start of the new
year of 1916 the political atmosphere of County
Carlow, at least on the surface, appeared stable
and unchanged from that which had prevailed for
many years now. The Irish Parliamentary Party,
reunited under John Redmond in 1901 after the
long bitter division of the Parnellite Split,
was unchallenged in its dominance as the voice
of Nationalist Ireland. The success of the Party
in finally getting a Home Rule Bill enacted
seemed to have copper fastened its grip on the
allegiance of nationally minded people
throughout the country. Furthermore the very
fact that Home Rule was on the statute book and
waited only for the end of the Great War to come
into operation seemed to prove once and for all
that the path of constitutional nationalism was
the right way to go, the method that worked.
In County Carlow the
leaders of the Party were Michael Molloy, the
sitting Member of Parliament for the county, and
Michael Governey, the much respected Chairman of
Carlow Urban District Council, member of Carlow
County Council, and President of Carlow Branch
of the United Irish League. These men and the
many who followed them and looked to them for
leadership were thoroughly convinced that the
path to national freedom was the one outlined by
John Redmond, that success was in their grasp
and they now had only to continue as before, to
support the government’s war effort, and to
demonstrate by so doing that Irish people were
to be trusted, that they were worthy of
self-government. Then, they believed, once
Germany had been defeated the Liberal government
led by Asquith would be happy to reward such
loyal support by implementing the Home Rule Act,
and the great achievement that had eluded
O’Connell and Parnell would come about.
There can be no doubt
that the public in general were fully behind
this strategy. The allegiance of the Irish
voters to the Party had lasted now for over
forty years. In election after election they had
steadfastly supported the Home Rule line.
Indeed, so strong was the grip of the Party on
the loyalty of their supporters in County
Carlow, that neither Michael Molloy nor his
predecessor in the Carlow seat at Westminster,
Walter McMurrough Kavanagh, had ever had to
fight an election for the seat, being returned
unopposed on each occasion. Carlow was staunch
in its commitment to the constitutional approach
to the achievement of Irish freedom, and solidly
behind the advice of Redmond to support the
British war effort. An example of this is found
in a resolution passed on the motion of the
chairman, Mr. J. O’Gorman, at the annual general
meeting of the Hacketstown Branch of the United
Irish League in February 1915, which read, That
this Branch of the U.I.L. hereby re-affirm our
unwavering confidence in Mr. John E. Redmond and
the National Party, and we cordially approve of
the position taken by Mr. Redmond with reference
to the present world war. We also protest at the
campaign of vituperation levelled at Mr. Redmond
and his colleagues of the National Party.
Another indication of
general support for this line of action was the
regular appearance of recruiting advertisements
in the pages of the Carlow Nationalist. For
example, on March 23rd 1915 that paper published
one such, which was headed Why Mr. Wm. Redmond,
M.P. joined the Army and went on to say, in his
own words, That he offered himself to the Irish
Brigade because he is absolutely convinced that
the future freedom, welfare, and happiness of
the Irish people depend on the part Ireland
plays in this War.
The Nationalist’s
Unionist contemporary meanwhile was also
enthusiastically urging young Carlowmen to
enlist and urging their wives and mothers to
encourage them to do so. A recruitment
advertisement published in the paper on March
6th 1915 ended thus s “Women of Ireland do your
duty! Let your men enlist in an Irish regiment –
TO-DAY. GOD SAVE THE KING. GOD SAVE IRELAND”.
A few weeks earlier the
Sentinel had given prominence to an extract from
The Windsor Magazine which gave a very laudatory
account of the conduct of Brigadier-General
McMurrough Kavanagh of Borris who had
distinguished himself in an action at Klein
Zillebeke, where some French troops had been
retreating in the face of superior German
numbers. The Irishman, reported the Windsor
Magazine, flung a couple of squadrons across the
road to steady friends and stay foes, and ……got
things sorted out, disposed of his forward on
their legs again, and saved an ugly situation.
Public support for the
war effort was again demonstrated in February
1916 when a large number of people attended a
public meeting in Carlow Town Hall for the
presentation of Certificates of Honour to the
wives or nearest relatives of Carlow soldiers
serving with the colours. Michael Governey
presided, and presented sixty of the
certificates, with words of encouragement to
each recipient.
Bishop Foley in his
Lenten Pastoral for 1916 commented, as in duty
bound, on the enormous suffering inflicted on
humanity by the war and prayed that the killing
might soon cease. However he went on to refer to
the 312,000 men of the Irish race in the British
army and navy and said There is no Irishman
worthy the name who has not followed the
fortunes of these fearless fellows with
admiration, who is not proud of their remarkable
bravery, who is not prepared to do what he can
to encourage and sustain them. He further
referred to altered feelings towards Britain
among Irish people and opined that there can be
little doubt ameliorative measures passed by
Parliament recently have wrought a change in
their minds and hearts, which is little short of
the marvellous.
That Pastoral was
published little more than a month before the
Easter Rising and it shows how far removed the
thoughts of most Irish people were from armed
rebellion at that point in time. The religious
and civil leaders of the people were at one in
their support for John Redmond’s policy and
there was no sign of any significant dissent.
The Rising then took
almost everybody by surprise and the immediate
reaction was one of condemnation. The Sentinel’s
first edition after the Rising described it as
the latest and nearest outcome of German
atrocities as well as a foolhardy attempt at
rebellion. The paper described Liberty Hall as
the Sinn Fein headquarters, which would lead one
to doubt the accuracy of its reporting. The
language used by the Sentinel leaves no doubt
that the sympathy of the editorial staff, and
presumably the sympathy of the readers, was very
definitely hostile to the Rising.
It was likewise with
the Carlow Nationalist. The editorial column of
the edition of May 6th 1916 condemned the Rising
and the entire thinking behind it in clear and
unambiguous terms. Over and over again, it said,
we have warned our readers about the futility of
a policy which a section – a small section – of
intellectual fanatics was trying to impose on
Ireland. Later in the same article the editorial
writer went on to state, No one in the Irish
provinces with a spark of intelligence could
believe that a few thousand armed Irishmen could
establish a republic in Ireland, even if Dublin
could be relieved. And apart from all this –
sentiment – point of view, how many of us really
wish the change which the Dublin propagandists
wished to effect so quickly?
One week later the
Sentinel referred to the Rising as the insane
revolting outbreak in Dublin and called for the
authorities to probe the whole melancholy
conspiracy to the bottom, and to exact the just
and appropriate penalties on those who have
organised and shared in it. Furthermore it
continued, The Sinn Fein rebellion, viewed as a
German enterprise, has provoked no emotion but
disgust, with a strong mixture of contempt, for
the brutes who planned and paid for it.
A meeting of the Carlow
Urban District Council was held on May 8th.
Present were Michael Governey, D.J. McGrath,
J.D. McCarthy, William Purcell, John Foley,
Frederick J. Williams, Ebenezer Shackleton,
Denis Mullane, Edward Duggan, John Brennan, John
Murphy and Thomas Murphy.
On the proposal of the
Chairman, Michael Governey, seconded by D. J.
McGrath, the Council unanimously passed this
resolution: That we in common with other Public
Bodies in Ireland desire to express our
abhorrence of the appalling crime committed on
Ireland by the terrible incident of the recent
Rebellion. It was treason to the constitutional
cause, to its leader Mr. John Redmond, who has
led us so far and so well, to the 150,000
gallant Irishmen who are heroically devoting
their lives to save Ireland from the ravages
that have desolated France, Belgium and Servia,
and to every hope and aspiration of true
Irishmen.
That we are ready to
assist the authorities as far as in our power to
eradicate now and forever the elements of
disorder in Ireland, and we wish to publicly
express our appreciation of Mr. John Redmond’s
attitude recently in the House of Commons, and
to ensure him that he has nobly voiced the
feelings of every man in Ireland who loves his
Country, and heart and soul they are with him in
his every effort to restore peace and
tranquillity to our sorely afflicted Country. We
express our deepest sympathy with the people of
Dublin in the great calamity which has befallen
them by the destruction of beautiful portions of
their ancient and proud city, and in the trying
ordeal through which they have passed.
It is as clear as
daylight then that in the immediate aftermath of
the Rising there was little if any sympathy
among the people of Carlow for the aims or the
actions of those who had planned and carried out
the Rising. The terms used by the Nationalist in
its report on the events of Easter Week are very
revealing. The permanent Under-Secretary for
Ireland, Sir Matthew Nathan, is respectfully
given his full title and described as the man
whose measures saved Dublin Castle from the
hands of the Sinn Feiners. The Nationalist also
points out that Sir Matthew is a Privy
Councillor, a K.O.M.G., has been Secretary of
the Post Office, was Governor of Natal and other
places, and was born in 1862. Meanwhile his
opponents are disdainfully dismissed as the
rebels. Within a few weeks the tide of public
opinion had begun to turn. General Maxwell’s
enforcement of martial law, the executions of
the leaders of the Rising and the wholesale
arrests throughout the country of men who had
not been involved in the fighting began to turn
people’s sympathies towards the revolutionaries.
John Dillon, M.P. warned the House of Commons
that the executions were embittering people who
had been friendly towards Britain. The killing
without trial of Mr. Sheehy Skeffington, an
unarmed man who had been trying to prevent
looting, was, he said, maddening the people of
Dublin. The rebels, he continued, were the
victims of misguided enthusiasm. They fought a
clean fight with superb bravery. There were not
more than 3,000 insurgents in Dublin and when
the population did not rise in their favour they
were disappointed. Now thousands of people,
bitterly opposed to the Sinn Fein movement, were
becoming infuriated against the government on
account of these bloody executions. In a
memorable phrase he said that the military
policy was letting loose a river of blood
between two races who after nearly 290 years of
strife they had almost succeeded in bringing
together.
At a meeting of the
Carlow Urban Council, Michael Governey in the
chair, one of the members, Mr. John Foley, made
an appeal for leniency. He considered that the
hasty executions were very improper and, in an
obvious reference to the government’s handling
of the Larne Gun-running and the Curragh Mutiny,
stated that the government was very much to
blame for creating the conditions that brought
about the Rising through the many glaring cases
of what I call preferential treatment that a
section of the population of this country have
been treated to, and sedition of the very
gravest nature condoned – I might say applauded.
He felt that if
clemency were now shown a lot of bitterness
would be avoided and be a sure source of having
this little island the one little bright spot in
the Empire, which, I hope, it will remain till
the end of time. Mr. Foley stressed that these
were his sentiments and that they did not
compromise him in the slightest in regard to the
former resolution (condemning the Rising), as he
stood by it and by the Irish Party. Michael
Governey spoke in support of Mr. Foley and
expressed the greatest possible sympathy with
the poor fellows, misguided though they were, in
the action which they took in putting themselves
into that unfortunate position. He knew three of
them – three as fine Irishmen as ever breathed
the breath of life – but, unfortunately, they
were extremists. They ignored constitutional
agitation. They refused to be led by the
constitutional leaders, with the result,
unfortunately, that they came to their end.
A meeting of the United
Irish League Carlow Branch was held in late May.
At this meeting a number of resolutions were
passed which condemned the Rising in clear
terms, reaffirmed their confidence in the
leadership of John Redmond, expressed high
appreciation and admiration of John Dillon’s
recent courageous and manly speech in the
British House of Commons, and sympathised with
the relatives of Mr. Sheehy Skeffington. Another
resolution protested strongly at the extent to
which the manhood of this country has been, and
are being deported, in many instances
innocently. It described it as this process of
wholesale arrests and deportations, and asked
the government to pause in the course of
destruction it is pursuing, and remember it (the
Government) was more culpable than the majority
of those deported.
A meeting of Carlow
County Council at the end of May 1916
unanimously passed a resolution condemning and
deploring the recent rising in Dublin, but also
recognising that it was the natural outcome of
the tactics adopted by the leaders of Ulster
Orangeism in 1914, and permitted by the
government to spread unchecked, rewarding the
prominent leaders, who openly challenged and
defied by anticipation the decisions of
Parliament, with the highest positions in the
gift of the Crown. This resolution also asked
the young men of the towns and country districts
to support John Redmond, and then continued, as
the wholesale arrests and detention of many
innocent young men makes the task of
conciliation almost an impossibility, we ask the
Government to cease the arrests except where
there are grave reasons, and to liberate
forthwith the many hundreds of youths and
thoughtless men who were duped by mad or
designing enthusiasts to enter a course that
could only end in ruin to themselves and to the
country they professed to serve.
Clearly the leaders of
nationalist opinion in Carlow were at this point
far from being won over to the revolutionary
agenda, but they could see where the
government’s handling of the aftermath of
rebellion was leading, and they feared that
unless that policy changed the effect on public
sentiment in Ireland would be the opposite of
what they themselves would desire. The most
prominent local leader of nationalist opinion in
the county, Michael Governey, spoke at a meeting
held in Carlow Town Hall on June 15th for the
purpose of arranging a collection for the Irish
National Aid Fund, which had been set up to
support the relatives and dependants of those
killed in the Rising. He made it clear that
while he differed from these men as to the
methods they adopted he still admired the spirit
that animated them. Many of them were his
friends on the Committee of the National
Volunteers. Although he regretted the movement
and never approved of their methods he still
recognised that they were Irishmen and no matter
what anyone said they gave up their lives for
their country. At this point his speech was
interrupted by calls of Hear, hear. Compare this
statement with the terms of the resolution
proposed by the same man at the meeting of
Carlow Urban Council only five weeks earlier and
already we can see a significant change in
attitude to the Rising. The cries of Hear, hear
would seem to indicate that he was not the only
one to think along these lines. The National Aid
Fund was mentioned approvingly by the Carlow
Nationalist on June 24th when that paper
commented that the enthusiasm with which the
National Aid Fund is being taken up in Carlow is
very commendable. Three days later the
organisers forwarded £76.16s.6d. to the national
headquarters, together with a list of
contributors, 141 in total. They also stated
their intention of arranging a weekly collection
and indicated that they had started a branch of
the Irish National Aid Association in the town.
John Brennan was the President of this branch,
Wm. Martin Hon. Sec. and Pat McDonald of The
Plough the Treasurer.
In August the Carlow
Urban Council debated a resolution asking for
clemency for Sir Roger Casement. The point was
made that Casement’s case was part and parcel of
the Irish rebellion and that enough blood had
been shed. Two members of the Council, Mr.
McCarthy and Mr. Shackleton, refused to support
this resolution and left the meeting, after
which the remaining members unanimously passed
the resolution. It had no effect on the
government and Casement was hanged in
Pentonville, creating another martyr for the
revolutionary cause and further embittering
Irish feelings towards British rule.
The next month, at a
meeting of the Carlow United Irish League,
Michael Governey related an incident that a
businessman had reported to him. A young man had
told this businessman that John Redmond was a
traitor to Ireland. Both the businessmen in
question and Mr. Governey were obviously upset
about this incident, and Michael Governey went
on to make an eloquent and scathing reply to the
insult to Redmond. Nevertheless, it was another
indication of the direction in which the wind of
local public opinion was blowing.
The shocking losses at
the Somme in the summer of that year caused the
British government to consider introducing
conscription for Ireland. In the event the
government decided to drop any such plans for
the moment, but not before the possibility of
conscription had roused popular opinion in
Ireland to fever heat, and done further damage
to the cause of constitutional nationalism.
Carlow Urban District Council debated a motion,
proposed by Mr. John Foley, which pledged
themselves as a public body to resist by every
means at our disposal any effort to have
conscription applied to Ireland, describing such
a proposal as this further contemplated
in-justice.
The resolution also
called for the immediate release of all Irish
prisoners interned in England and elsewhere.
Supporting the resolution Michael Governey used
some very revealing language. If the government
had put the Home Rule Bill into operation at the
beginning of the war, he said, There never would
have been the slightest need for conscription,
nor would they have had a rebellion. (hear,
hear). He thought it was the greatest blunder
ever the Government made and they had added to
that by murder in cold blood. The motion was
carried, only Mr. Shackleton dissenting.
Another indication of
changing political opinions came in February
1917 when the Sinn Fein candidate, Count
Plunkett, soundly defeated the Home Rule
candidate, T.J. Devine, in the Roscommon North
by-election. Then in early March came further
humiliation for the followers of John Redmond.
The new Prime Minister, David Lloyd George,
announced in the House of Commons that in the
north-eastern portion of Ireland you have a
population as hostile to Irish rule as the rest
of Ireland is to British rule. Redmond and his
followers immediately withdrew from the House of
Commons. The Nationalist in its editorial of
March 10th greeted this development with the
headline The old, old story. Ireland again
deceived. It was painfully obvious that the
Irish Party were not going to be able to deliver
the promised Home Rule, and the drift of support
away from them continued.
On May 9th 1917 Joseph
McGuinness of Sinn Fein defeated Patrick McKenna
of the Home Rule Party in the South Longford
by-election. The Nationalist reported that The
result was eagerly awaited in all parts of the
County Carlow, and the telephone and telegraph
services were very busy all Thursday afternoon.
In many places pent up feelings gave way, and
crowds and individuals strongly demonstrated
their sympathy with Sinn Fein, especially the
young men and women. In Carlow town Sinn Fein
badges were particularly conspicuous on
Thursday. There were scenes of jubilation in
Tullow – Bonfires were ablaze, national songs
were sung and Republican flags were waved.
There then followed De
Valera’s famous victory in Clare on 10th July.
This time Carlow town celebrated in style – At
night huge crowds assembled in the Gaelic
Grounds at Graigue, and a monster procession was
formed. An onlooker computed the assemblage at
between 1,500 and 2,000. The immense throng
quickly formed into military rank and paraded
the town, numerous Sinn Fein and Republican
flags being carried. On the return journey to
Graigue the procession halted at Croppy Hole and
a most solemn scene was enacted. Heads were
bared and in most emotional silence prayers were
offered for the men who fell in Carlow in 1798.
The crowds then marched to the Town Hall where
they were dismissed. Mr. P Gaffney delivered a
short address. During the procession the best of
order was maintained.
They also stated
their intention of arranging a weekly collection
and indicated that they had started a branch of
the Irish National Aid Association in the town.
John Brennan was the President of this branch,
Wm. Martin Hon. Sec. and Pat McDonald of The
Plough the Treasurer.16 In August the Carlow
Urban Council de[1]bated
a resolution asking for clemency for Sir Roger
Casement. The point was made that Casement’s
case was part and parcel of the Irish rebellion
and that enough blood had been shed. Two members
of the Council, Mr. McCarthy and Mr. Shackleton,
refused to support this resolution and left the
meeting, after which the remaining members
unanimously passed the resolution.
It had no effect on
the government and Casement was hanged in
Pentonville, creating another martyr for the
revolutionary cause and further embittering
Irish feel[1]ings
towards British rule. The next month, at a
meeting of the Car[1]low
United Irish League, Michael Governey related an
incident that a businessman had reported to
him.18 A young man had told this businessman
that John Redmond was a traitor to Ireland. Both
the businessman in question and Mr. Governey
were obviously upset about this incident, and
Michael Governey went on to make an eloquent and
scathing reply to the insult to Redmond.
Nevertheless, it was another indication of the
direction in which the wind of local public
opinion was blowing. The shocking losses at the
Somme in the summer of that year caused the
British government to consider introducing
conscription for Ireland. In the event the
government decided to drop any such plans for
the moment, but not before the possibility of
conscription had roused popular opinion in
Ireland to fever heat, and done further damage
to the cause of constitutional nationalism.
Carlow Urban District Council debated a motion,
proposed by Mr. John Foley, which pledged
themselves as a public body to resist by every
means at our disposal any effort to have
conscription applied to Ireland, describing such
a proposal as this further contemplated
in-justice.19 The resolution also called for the
immediate release of all Irish prisoners
interned in England and elsewhere. Supporting
the resolution Michael Governey used some very
revealing language. If the government had put
the Home Rule Bill into operation at the
beginning of the war, he said, There never would
have been the slightest need for conscription,
nor would they have had a rebellion. (hear,
hear). He thought it was the greatest blunder
ever the Government made and they had added to
that by murder in cold blood. The motion was
carried, only Mr. Shackleton dissenting. Another
indication of changing political opinions came
in February 1917 when the Sinn Fein candidate,
Count Plunkett, soundly defeated the Home Rule
candidate, T.J. Devine, in the Roscommon North
by-election. Then in early March came further
humiliation for the followers of John Redmond.
The new Prime Minister, David Lloyd George,
announced in the House of Commons that in the
north-eastern portion of Ireland you have a
population as hostile to Irish rule as the rest
of Ireland is to British rule. Redmond and his
followers immediately withdrew from the House of
Commons. The Nationalist in its editorial of
March 10th greeted this develop[1]ment
with the headline The old, old story. Ireland
again deceived. It was painfully obvious that
the Irish Party were not going to be able to
deliver the promised Home Rule, and the drift of
support away from them continued. On May 9th
1917 Joseph McGuinness of Sinn Fein defeated
Patrick McKenna of the Home Rule Party in the
South Long[1]ford
by-election. The Nationalist reported that The
result was eagerly awaited in all parts of the
County Carlow, and the telephone and telegraph
services were very busy all Thursday afternoon.
In many places pent up feelings gave way, and
crowds and individuals strongly demonstrated
their sympathy with Sinn Fein, especially the
young men and women.
In Carlow town Sinn
Fein badges were particularly conspicuous on
Thursday. There were scenes of jubilation in
Tullow – Bonfires were ablaze, national songs
were sung and Republican flags were waved.20
There then followed De Valera’s famous victory
in Clare on 10th July. This time Carlow town
celebrated in style – At night huge crowds
assembled in the Gaelic Grounds at Graigue, and
a monster procession was formed. An onlooker
computed the assemblage at between 1,500 and
2,000. The immense throng quickly formed into
military rank and paraded the town, numerous
Sinn Fein and Republican flags being carried. On
the return journey to Graigue the procession
halted at Croppy Hole and a most solemn scene
was enacted. Heads were bared and in most
emotional silence prayers were offered for the
men who fell in Carlow in 1798. The crowds then
marched to the Town Hall where they were
dismissed. Mr. P Gaffney delivered a short
address. During the procession the best of order
was maintained.
Mr. P Gaffney delivered a short address. During
the procession the best of order was maintained.
The progress of advanced nationalist ideas in
the county was evidenced by the formation of new
Sinn Fein clubs in Tullow and Bagenalstown
towards the end of July 1917. A letter by Seamus
De Maol Craoibhe in the Nationalist listed
Clashganny, Borris, Knockdrumagh, Bagenalstown,
Tullow and Leighlinbridge as areas where Sinn
Fein clubs had already been established and
urged other areas to follow their example.
A further by-election,
this time in Kilkenny, saw William Cosgrave of
Sinn Fein defeat his Home Rule opponent, John
Magennis, by almost two to one on August 10th.
By this time it was becoming obvious that the
weight of public opinion was now won over to
support of the Sinn Fein programme of abstention
from Westminster and the pursuit of full
independence for Ireland. An editorial in the
Carlow Nationalist on The Political Situation is
indicative of this. That editorial is
unambiguously supportive of the Sinn Fein
movement. Here in Ireland, it says, the
idealists, the ‘visionaries’ and the ‘cranks’
have won the day. A far cry indeed from the days
not so long since when the same paper described
the same idealists and visionaries as a small
section of intellectual fanatics and as Dublin
propagandists!
By the time of John
Redmond’s death on 6th March 1918 and the
by-election victory of his son Capt. W.A.
Redmond in the consequent Waterford by-election
on March 22nd, the Nationalist had become
entirely supportive of Sinn Fein. In an article
on The Waterford Result it referred to Captain
Redmond as the Imperialist candidate, ascribed
his victory to Unionist support, to the election
being held on the old restricted register, and
to the alleged fact that voters were shipped
from munitions factories in England and from the
bases in France. It predicted that the next
general election, which would be fought under
the new franchise including all men over 21 and
women voters for the first time, would show a
different result.
In April 1918 the Lloyd
George government introduced a bill to extend
conscription to Ireland. If anything had been
lacking to ensure the victory of Sinn Fein in
the next general election this mutton-headed
decision supplied it. A better means of uniting
Ireland behind the demand for independence from
Britain could not have been found. There
followed a great anti-conscription campaign
throughout Ireland involving both sides of Irish
nationalist opinion. The success of this
campaign was demonstrated when in June the
government dropped the plan to introduce
conscription to Ireland, realising that trying
to enforce it would probably need more soldiers
than conscription would produce. Even though the
Home Rule Party and Sinn Fein had jointly led
the anti-conscription campaign it was to Sinn
Fein that the people gave the credit for saving
the country from that threat.
Dr. Foley, Bishop of
Kildare and Leighlin, was not convinced that the
threat of conscription had been totally removed.
In a speech at Carbury, Co. Kildare, he advised
people to continue to pray, to act as if it
might yet be enforced, and to hold firmly
together until the danger had completely
disappeared.
With the end of the
Great War came the general election of December
1918. As far as Carlow is concerned this
election conclusively demonstrated just how far
public attitudes to the Easter Rising had moved
in the previous two and a half years. The heir
of the 1916 men in Carlow was the Sinn Fein
candidate, Seamus Lennon. The Home Rule Party,
after the withdrawal of Mr. Michael Molloy, the
sitting M.P. on October 31st, had initially
selected a Mr. Donovan as their candidate.
However, on the advice of Bishop Foley, and
realising that they had no chance of success,
they withdrew their candidate and Seamus Lennon
won the seat.
Carlow public opinion,
like public opinion throughout most of the
country, had thus moved from a position in May
1916 where there was no discernible support of
any significance for the Easter Rising to a
position where only a candidate totally
supporting the aims and ideals of that Rising
stood any chance of success in the election of
December 1918. This was a truly radical shift in
political thinking and one that was to shape the
future of the country for a long time to come.
Sources:
- 1 Carlow
Nationalist, February 22nd 1915
- 2 Carlow
Nationalist, March 27th 1915
- 3 Carlow Sentinel,
March 6th 1915
- 4 Sentinel,
February 18th 1915
- 5 Sentinel,
February 12th 1916
- 6 Sentinel, March
18th 1916
- 7 Sentinel, April
29th 1916
- 8 Sentinel, May
13th 1916
- 9 Sentinel, May
13th 1916
- 10 Nationalist,
May 20th 1916
- 11 Ibid
- 12 Ibid
- 13 Nationalist,
May 27th 1916.
- 14 Ibid
- 15 Nationalist,
June 20th 1916
- 16 Nationalist,
July 1st 1916
- 17 Sentinel,
August 5th 1916
- 18 Sentinel,
September 23rd 1916
- 19 Sentinel,
October 21st 1916
- 20 Nationalist,
May 12th 1917
- 21 Nationalist,
July 14th 1917
- 22 Nationalist,
July 28th 1917
- 23 Nationalist,
September 1st 1917
- 24 Nationalist,
March 30th 1917
- 25 Sentinel, June
29th 1918