it was looked upon as yet another victory for Sinn Fein, and the
released leaders were quick to proclaim it as the outcome not
of generosity, but of fear. 1 From the first they made their
intentions perfectly clear; and their intentions were not peace-
ful. On the very day of their release (June 18) they joined
in signing two appeals to the President and Congress
Slaa Fein of the United States, calling attention, in the name
Appeals to o f " t jj e provisional Government of the Irish Re-
Presideat , ,. ' -, ,,... , . .
Wilson. public, to Mr. Wilson s statement, in his recent
letter to the new Russian Government, that " no people must be forced under a sovereignty under which it does not wish to live "; denouncing the " English conspiracy against Ireland " and John Redmond's share in it, notably the " hypocrit- ical sham on the Statute Book " (the Act of 1914) ; representing the proposed Convention as but a device to find out the minimum that Ireland would accept; and ending by expressing their deter- mination to be content with nothing short of the practical appli- cation in the case of Ireland of the principles which the President had enunciated, viz. that of the right of small nations to independ- ence of foreign control. "We are engaged," the appeal of the " officers " concluded, " and mean to engage ourselves in the practical means for establishing this right." 2
They lost no time in setting to work to organize these practical means. The arrival of 118 released prisoners in Dublin
was celebrated by a procession in which Sinn Fein Return flags were liberally displayed. The return of the Released liberated prisoners to Cork was the signal for a riot, Pr/soaers. i n the course of which the gaol was wrecked and
the military had to fire on the mob. Edward (Eamonn) De Valera, who had been one of the leaders of the 1916 rebellion, at once became the most conspicuous figure
in the movement. In vain the Roman Catholic Attitude hierarchy issued, on June 19, an " instruction " to of the priests warning them against " dangerous associa- Cathoiic tions " and " organizations that plot against the
Church or lawfully constituted authority," and reminding them that it was strictly forbidden by the statutes of the National Synod " to speak of politics or kindred subjects in church." 3 Among the younger priests national sentiment proved in the long run stronger than ecclesiastical discipline; and the Sinn Feiners knew well that, if they could carry the mass of the people with them, sooner or later the Church would also fall into line. And it seemed as though the mass of the people were willing to be carried. There were, indeed, spasmodic outbreaks against the revolutionists, as when, on July 9, Countess Markievicz was attacked by a Nation- alist mob at Ennis. But the true trend of public feeling was soon to be revealed by the election for the parliamentary repre- sentation of East Clare, vacant owing to the death of Maj. Willie Redmond at the front. Mr. De Valera had already been select-
East Clan e< ^ as ^ ^ mn ^ n can ^idate, and on July u he Election. was returned by a majority of nearly 3,000 votes over his Nationalist opponent. 4 He was not slow to point the moral of his victory. In Clare itself he had said that if the Irish people would only combine, they could easily make " English law " impossible.
. Addressing a large crowd in Dublin on the day following the election he explained the method of the combination. It must be under the Republican flag, and no other, and if Ulster stood in the way of Irish freedom, Ulster would have to be coerced. 6 This was said on July 12, the day of the Boyne celebrations, the resumption of which showed that the men of Ulster had no intention of being coerced. Six days later an event of sinister import occurred Mr. Redmond's severance of his connexion with the National Volunteers (July 18). Col.
1 De Valera in conversation with Mr. John Balderston, McClure's correspondent in Ireland.
2 Doc, rel. to the Sinn Fein Movement, pp. 30 ff .
- The Instruction was signed by the Cardinal Archbishop of
Armagh and the bishops of Cloyne and Ross (Irish Times, June 20
I9I7)- 4 The figures were: De Valera, 5,010; P. Lynch, 2,035.
- 7mA Times, July 13 1917.
The
Conven- tion.
Maurice Moore, 6 their commander, now announced that a convention would be held to nominate a governing body; and it was held, under his chairmanship, on Aug. 5, when it was decided to reaffirm allegiance to the Keor x aal - original declaration of the Volunteers and to elect a* the a committee to negotiate a reunion with the Irish Volunteers. Volunteers. Thus began the formidable organization of the Irish Republican Army; and such was the " atmos- phere " in which, on July 25, the Convention met to discuss and settle the future government of Ireland.
The meeting-place of the Convention was in the hall (known as the Regent House) over the entrance gate of Trinity College, which had been placed at its disposal by the Provost and Fellows. It was felt that the selec- tion of Trinity as the scene of its labours was sym- bolical of the hoped-for fusion of the two conflicting streams of Irish political sentiment; for the old college founded by Queen Elizabeth, though traditionally loyal, had been a fruitful mother of Irish Nationalist leaders, among its alumni being Wolfe Tone and Robert Emmet. It was, however, of evil augury that the assembling of the members was greeted by no popular demonstrations. It was noted, too, that the dele- gates were nearly all elderly men ; young Ireland stood contemp- tuously and ostentatiously aside; and, indeed, among Irishmen generally there was little belief in any satisfactory outcome of the deliberations. Yet the earlier meetings gave the happiest promise. In Sir Francis Hopwood (afterwards Lord Southbor- ough) the Convention had a secretary who brought to its aid his experience of the not very dissimilar problems presented by the negotiating of the Union of S. Africa, and the general good-will of the members was advertised by the unanimous election to the chair of Sir Horace Plunkett, who had proclaimed his conversion to Home Rule, but without attaching himself to any political party. A grand committee of 20 was elected to consider schemes presented under the terms of reference and to select those considered suitable for discussion. On Aug. 21 the Convention met to consider these schemes, most of which suggested a form of government on the Dominion model, but with modifications to suit the peculiar conditions of Ireland. These debates lasted till Sept. 27, during which time the Con- vention visited and held several sessions in Belfast and Cork. On the latter date it was decided to refer the various schemes to the grand committee to report, and the Bishop of Raphoe, one of the representatives of the Roman Catholic hierarchy, was commissioned by the chairman to draft the heads of a scheme to serve as the basis of discussion in the committee.
The Grand Committee met on Oct. u, and, to facilitate business, decided to delegate the task of examining the draft scheme to a sub-committee of nine, other sub-committees being appointed to deal with the questions of electoral areas and representation, defence and police, and land purchase. The final report of the committee was presented on Nov. 21. It stated that it had arrived at certain provisional conclusions on most of the heads, but that these were all contingent on full agreement being reached on the general scheme. It was soon clear that no such general agreement was likely to be reached. The first point of fundamental disagreement was as to the safe- guards to be provided for permanent minorities. It had been agreed in the sub-committee that the Unionists, 7 North and South, should be guaranteed a 40% representation in the lower House of the Parliament, this proportion to be made up, when necessary, by nomination. This proposal was submitted by the Ulster representatives to the advisory committee, outside the Con-
6 Brother of George Moore, the novelist. He had commanded a battalion of the Connaught Rangers.
7 In Ireland the words " Unionist " and " Protestant " are practically synonymous and are commonly used alternatively. " Unionists," as such, would of course cease to exist under Home Rule, and the " safeguard " suggested would therefore have meant the stereotyping of parties on sectarian lines. The objection of Ulster, however, was that the nomination of parliamentary repre- sentatives is undemocratic and quite unsuitable to a democratic and industrial community such as N.E. Ulster.
