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The politics of reaction: the dynamics of treatyite government and policy, 1922–33

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2016

John M. Regan
John M. Regan*
Affiliation:
Wolfson College, Oxford
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Extract

On 3 July 1944 William T. Cosgrave, the former President of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State, wrote to his friend and former colleague, Professor Michael Hayes, reflecting on his life in politics. The occasion was Cosgrave’s retirement as leader of the Fine Gael party.

I find this break a painful operation in many respects. Even were my physique equal to the Dáil and political work it seems this slip should have been inevitable ... But we must be candid — in the sphere that one considered the least important but which was the most important we failed — viz to retain popular support. It should not and I believe it is not beyond the capacity of able men to discover a way to the people’s confidence and having found it to keep it.

The letter remains a lachrymose valediction to a political career which witnessed Cosgrave’s rise from Dublin municipal politics to the leadership of the first independent Irish government. Cosgrave presided over the first decade of independence. Governments under his leadership fought and won the Civil War which was waged against the implementation of the 1921 Anglo-Irish treaty. In the process they created a stable polity which integrated its internal opponents with remarkable success. Within nine years of defeating the anti-treaty forces in the Civil War Cosgrave’s last government was able to pass power peacefully to its former adversaries in the guise, by 1932, of the Fianna Fail party under the leadership of Eamon de Valera.

Type
Research Article
Information
Irish Historical Studies , Volume 30 , Issue 120 , November 1997 , pp. 542 - 563
Copyright
Copyright © Irish Historical Studies Publications Ltd 1997

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References

1 W. T. Cosgrave to Michael Hayes, 3 July 1944 (University College, Dublin, Archives (henceforth U.C.D.A), Hayes papers, P53/258).

2 Treatyite politics refers in this article to the politics of that part of revolutionary Sinn Féin (1917-21) which accepted the 1921 Anglo-Irish treaty and went on to support and form the governments of Southern Ireland and the Irish Free State until 1932 and thereafter the main parties of opposition as Cumann an nGaedheal, later Fine Gael / United Ireland, until the treaty was dismantled under the 1937 constitution.

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5 ProfessorFanning, Ronan, however, makes a short but incisive analysis of the fundamentalist republican response to the treaty, an analysis which has not been surpassed (Independent Ireland (Dublin, 1983), pp 4–7 Google Scholar). See also Lyons, F. S. L., ‘The great debate’ in Farrell, Brian (ed.), The Irish parliamentary tradition (Dublin, 1973), pp 246–81 Google Scholar; Curran, Joseph, Birth of the Irish Free State, 1921–3 (Tuscaloosa, Alabama, 1980), pp. 147–59 Google Scholar; Hopkinson, Green against green, pp 37–10; Keogh, Dermot, Twentieth-century Ireland: nation and state (Dublin, 1994), p. 2 Google Scholar.

6 According to P. S. O’Hegarty, the second Dáil’s composition was controlled by the I.R.B.’s conspiracy to select radical candidates at the 1918 general election who were subsequently returned unopposed at the 1921 general election ( O’Hegarty, P.S., The victory of Sinn Féin (Dublin, 1924), pp 75–6 Google Scholar). See also Figgis, Darrell, Recollections of the Irish war (London, 1927), pp 228–9 Google Scholar.

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8 Coogan, Tim Pat, Michael Collins (London, 1990), pp 94–188 Google Scholar, 158–62.

9 Ibid., p.ll5.

10 Dáil Éireann treaty deb., pp 20–21 (19 Dec. 1921).

11 Ibid., p. 22.

12 Ibid., p. 34.

13 Ibid., p. 33.

14 Dáil Èireann private sessions, pp 149–78 (15 Dec. 1921).

15 Dáil Éireann treaty deb., p. 34 (19 Dec. 1921).

16 Ibid.

17 Dáil Éireann private sessions, p. 225 (17 Dec. 1921).

18 Ibid., p.240.

19 Ibid., pp 232–3, 244, 263, 264.

20 For example, Mary MacSwiney’s reply, ibid., p. 249.

21 Liam de Róiste, diary, 17 Dec. 1921 (Cork Archive Institute, U271A/41). De Roíste noted in 1946 in vol. 1: ‘Rewriting diaries has occupied me from 30.3.1943 to 14. x. 1946’. This entry relates to the transcription of the first sixteen volumes of diaries (vols l-15a), covering the period between February 1902 and March 1910. Entries in the later vols 16–55 are original and have escaped retrospective alterations.

22 Transcript of voice recording made by George Gavan Duffy, President of the High Court, 20 Jan. 1951 (N.A.I., 1125/15).

22 Irish Independent, 20 Dec. 1921.

24 Batt O’Connor to Maire, 28 Jan. 1922 (U.C.D.A., O’Connor papers, P68/4).

25 Dáil Ėireann private sessions, p. 263 (17 Dec. 1921).

26 Tobin, Liam and Dalton, C.F. to Cosgrave, W.T., 6 Mar. 1924, reproduced in The truth about the army crisis (Dublin, 1924), p. 12 Google Scholar, see n. 52; Coogan, Collins, p. 339; Hopkinson, Green against green, p. 37.

27 Power, Jennie Wyse’s address to the Cumann na mBan convention, Irish Independent, 6 Feb. 1922, cited in Maire O’Neill, From Parnell to de Valera: a biography of Jennie Wyse Power, 1858–1941 (Dublin, 1941), p. 136 Google Scholar.

28 Batt O’Connor to Maire, 28 Jan. 1922 (U.C.D.A., O’Connor papers, P68/4).

29 Dáil Éireann private sessions, p. 206 (16 Dec. 1921).

30 The Dáil ministry and the Provisional Government had been meeting in joint session and in effect as one body since the beginning of May (Fanning, Independent Ireland, p. 9).

31 Duggan was demoted to parliamentary secretary, a post he held until 1932 ( Curran, , Birth of the Irish Free State, p. 252 Google Scholar; Farrell, Brian, Chairman or chief: the role of the Taoiseach in Irish government (Dublin, 1971), pp 88–92 Google Scholar).

32 O’Higgins’s speech to the Dáil on Monday 19 December, when he stated that ‘if we go into the Empire ... we go in with our heads up’, was seized upon by the opposition, and Collins feared that it would alienate the nationalist-republican vote he was trying to secure. Thereafter Collins referred to his colleague as the ‘Balls O’Higgins’. For Walsh’s contribution to the treaty debate see Dáil Éireann treaty deb., p. 45 (19 Dec. 1921), p. 188 (3 Jan. 1922); James Burke memoir (in the possession of Professor David Harkness).

33 Dáil Éireann treaty deb., pp 142–3 (22 Dec. 1921).

34 Ibid, p. 305 (7 Jan. 1922).

35 Ibid., p. 193 (3 Jan. 1922); de Vere White, Terence, Kevin O’Higgins (London, 1948), p. 170 Google Scholar; interview with Hogan’s driver in the 1920s, Mr P. J. Broderick, Kilrickle, County Galway, 31 Dec. 1994.

36 Gallagher, Michael, ‘The pact general election of 1922’ in I.H.S., xxi, no. 84 (Sept. 1979), p. 415 Google Scholar. For a further exposition of this view see O’Higgins, Kevin, Civil war and the events which led to it (Dublin, n.d.), pp 3–7 Google Scholar.

37 O’Higgins, Kevin, ‘The quenching of our shining light’ in Arthur Griffith, Michael Collins (Dublin [1923?]), p. 42 Google Scholar.

38 Rory O’Connor assumed command of the anti-treaty I.R.A. in March 1922 and threatened the establishment of a military dictatorship. O’Connor also initially took command of the Four Courts garrison after its occupation on 13 April (Hopkinson, Green against green, pp 67–70).

39 Liam Archer to Michael Hayes, 25 June 1969 (U.C.D.A., Hayes papers, P53/344).

40 Kerry People, Aug. 1922, cited in Harrington, Niall C., An episode of the Civil War: Kerry landing, August 1922 (Dublin, 1992), p. 45 Google Scholar.

41 Ibid., p.66.

42 Joe Sweeney interview with Ernie O’Malley (U.C.D.A., O’Malley notebooks, P17b/97).

43 General situation: memorandum from the Commander-in-Chief, 26 July 1922 (U.C.D.A., Mulcahy papers, P7/B/28).

44 Ibid.

45 O’Higgins, Kevin to all district justices, n.d. (Boole Library, University College, Cork, Crotty papers, U256)Google Scholar.

46 O’Sullivan, J. M., Phases of revolution: lecture delivered before the ard-chumann of Cumann na nGaedheal on 21st November, 1923 (Dublin, n.d.), p. 3 Google Scholar.

47 Proposed Cumann na nGaedheal statement of policy, 3 Nov. 1924 (Milroy papers, in the possession of Mr Conor Kenny, Galway); see also Address by Mr Kevin O’Higgins, Minister for Justice, Irish Free State, to the Irish Society at Oxford University, 31st October 1924 (U.C.D.A., MacNeill papers, LA1/F/305).

48 As early as 15 November 1922, a senior officer told Cosgrave that his brother officers and men wanted to know ‘do you mean to get the Republic’ (Mulcahy’s statement to the army inquiry, 29 Apr. 1924 (U.C.D.A., Mulcahy papers, P7/C/10)). See also Commandant Michael Brennan to Mulcahy, 15 May 1923 (ibid., cited in J.J. Lee, Ireland 1912–1985: politics and society (Cambridge, 1990), p. 101); minutes of Cumann na nGaedheal standing committee, 27 Nov. 1923 (U.C.D.A., Cumann na nGaedheal party minute books, P39/1/1).

49 Mulcahy’s notes of interview between Cosgrave and Mulcahy and Liam Tobin, Charlie Dalton, Frank Thornton and Christy O’Malley, 25 June 1923 (U.C.D.A., Mulcahy papers, P7/B/195).

50 General Seán MacMahon’s evidence at the army inquiry, Apr. 1924 (ibid., P7/C/14, 34).

51 The truth about the army crisis (official) with a foreword by Major-General Liam Tobin (Dublin [1924?]), p. 12; see Dáil Éireann deb., vi, 1894–5 (11 Mar. 1924).

52 Valiulis, Maryann Gialanella, Portrait of a revolutionary: General Richard Mulcahy and the founding of the Irish Free State (Dublin, 1992), chs 8, 9Google Scholar; Lee, Ireland, pp 96–105.

53 Irish Times, 3 Apr. 1924; Why the National Group resigned (pamphlet repr. from The Nation, [1924]) (Milroy papers).

54 McGrath’s statement to the press, reproduced in Irish Independent, 24 Nov. 1924.

55 ‘Statement by General Tobin’, n.d. [1924?] (Milroy papers).

56 Ibid.

57 McGrath to Judge Daniel Cohalan, 13 Oct. 1924 (American Irish Historical Society, New York, Cohalan papers, Box 10, file 1).

58 ’Cumann na nGaedheal: Statement of views of Coiste Gnotha relative to the political aspect of the present situation’, 10 Oct. 1924 (U.C.D.A., Cumann na nGaedheal party minute books, P39/1/1).

59 Ibid.

60 McBride, Lawrence W. in his study of the political reform of the Dublin Castle administration concludes: ‘The top forty-nine officials who transferred to the Free State in 1922 were about evenly divided between Catholics and Protestants, perhaps with the Catholics holding a slight majority’ (The greening of Dublin Castle: the transformation of the bureaucratic and judicial personnel in Ireland, 1892–1922 (Washington, D.C., 1991), p. 310)Google Scholar.

61 Fanning, Ronan, ‘Britain’s legacy: government and administration’ in Drudy, P. J. (ed.), Ireland and Britain since 1922: Irish Studies 5 (Cambridge, 1986), p. 51 Google Scholar.

62 For accounts of police and army mutinies see Brady, Conor, Guardians of the peace (Dublin, 1974), pp 55–64 Google Scholar; statement by General Seán MacMahon to the army inquiry, 5 May 1924 (U.C.D.A., Mulcahy papers, P7/C/14).

63 Valiulis, Maryann Gialanella, ‘After the revolution: the formative years of Cumann na nGaedheal’ in Eyler, A. and Garratt, R. F. (eds), The uses of the past: essays in Irish culture (Newark & London, 1988), p. 134 Google Scholar.

64 Valiulis, Maryann Gialanella, “The “army mutiny” of 1924 and the assertion of civilian authority in independent Ireland’ in I.H.S., xxiii, no. 92 (Nov. 1983), pp 354-66Google Scholar; eadem, Almost a rebellion: the Irish army mutiny of 1924 (Cork, 1985), pp 114–23; eadem, Portrait of a revolutionary, pp 109–235.

65 Mulcahy’s diary, 26, 27, 28 Nov. 1924 “(U.C.D.A., Mulcahy papers, P7/C/99); minutes of special meeting of the standing committee, 27 Nov. 1924 (U.C.D.A., Blythe papers, P24/454).

66 Lyons, F.S.L., Ireland since the Famine (London, 1971), pp 487–9 Google Scholar. For an exposition of Clann Éireann’s political agenda see Colonel Maurice Moore to John Devoy, 9 May 1927 (N.L.I., Moore papers, MS 5500).

67 Martin, Ged, ‘The Irish Free State and the evolution of the Commonwealth, 1921–40’ in Hyam, R. and Martin, G. (eds), Reappraisals in British imperial history (London, 1975), pp 211–16 Google Scholar.

68 O’Higgins to Hazel, Lady Lavery, 17 Nov. 1926 (Gwynn papers, in the possession of Sinéad McCoole, Dublin).

69 L. S. Amery to James Craig, 11 Dec. 1926 (University Library, Cambridge, Baldwin papers, vol. 101, pp 212–15).

70 Cabinet: Proposed creation of a kingdom of Ireland: note by the Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs, 22 Dec. 1926 (Churchill College, Cambridge, Chartwell Trust papers, 22/105).

71 Fanning, Independent Ireland, pp 84–5; Mansergh, Nicholas, The Commonwealth experience, i: The Durham report to the Anglo-Irish treaty (London, 1982 ed.), p. 241 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Martin, ‘The Irish Free State & the evolution of the Commonwealth’, pp 220–22.

72 Cosgrave, W.T., Policy of Cuman na nGaedheal party (Dublin, 1927), pp 1, 16.Google Scholar

73 Cumann na nGaedheal membership books, 1924–9 (in the possession of Mrs Ena Crummey, secretary at the Cumann na nGaedheal / Fine Gael party headquarters 1927–36, Booterstown, County Dublin).

74 For Cumann na nGaedheal election posters from the June 1927 general election campaign see O’Kennedy-Brindley Ltd, Making history — the story of a remarkable campaign (Dublin, 1927)Google Scholar (U.C.D.A., Hayes papers, P53/232). An excellent collection of posters from the 1920s exists in the Mulcahy papers (U.C.D.A., Mulcahy papers, P7/A/172).

75 ’Don’t let this happen[:] vote for Cumann na nGaedheaľ (election poster (21 cm X 14 cm) depicting de Valera opening a door and releasing armed members of Saor Eire and the I.R.A.) (Dublin, 1932) (copy in U.C.D.A., Blythe papers, P24/622 (b) (8)). For a detailed survey of the ‘red scare’ see Banter, M. M., ‘The red scare in the Irish Free State, 1929–37’ (unpublished M.A. thesis, University College, Dublin, 1981)Google Scholar; see also, with examples of posters, Keogh, Dermot, ‘The Catholic church and the “red scare”, 1931–32’ in O’Carroll, J. P. and Murphy, J. A. (eds), De Valera and his times (Cork, 1983), pp 134–59 Google Scholar.

76 The Irish Free State Election News (Dublin, 1932) (copy in U.C.D.A., Blythe papers, P24/662 (b)(1)).

77 Prager, Jeffrey, Building democracy in Ireland: political order and cultural integration in a newly independent nation (Cambridge, 1986), pp 31–44 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.