Proclamation of the Irish Republic: Difference between revisions

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The '''Easter Proclamation''', officially referred to as the '''Proclamation of the Republic''', was a document issued by the [[Irish Volunteers]] and [[Irish Citizen Army]] during the [[Easter Rising]] in [[Ireland]], which began on [[24 April]], [[1916]]. In it the Military Council of the [[Irish Republican Brotherhood]], styling itself the "[[Provisional Government of the Irish Republic]]", proclaimed [[Ireland|Irish]] independence from the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland]]. The reading of the proclamation by [[Padraig Pearse|Pádraig Pearse]] outside the [[General Post Office (Dublin)|General Post Office]] (GPO) in Sackville Street (now called [[O'Connell Street]]), Dublin's main thoroughfare, marked the beginning of the Rising. The proclamation was modelled on a similar independence proclamation issued during the 1803 rebellion by Irish rebel [[Robert Emmet]].

(The document is headed ''Poblacht na hÉireann'', which is ''[[Irish Republic]]'' in the [[Irish language]]).

{{Easter Proclamation}}

Before reading the proclamation (to the bemusement and some derision from shoppers and passers-by), Pearse and other Republican leaders seized the GPO and made it their military headquarters, flying the new flag of the republic (a green flag with the words '[[Irish Republic]]' emblazoned across it) from the flag-pole instead of the [[Union Jack]] which had hitherto flown there. ThisThe flag, of the military unit that seized the GPO, ''E Company'', a green, white and orange [[tricolour]], was also flown on a lower flag-pole. The GPO, the Easter Proclamation and the tricolour (which later came to be seen as the flag of the republic, replacing the original green flag, which is now on display in the National Museum of Ireland) are the three most identifiable symbols of the Easter Rising, along withalongside the Rising's leaders, thesuch sevenas signatoriesPearse, of[[Tom theClarke Proclamation(Irish republican)|Tom Clarke]], [[James Connolly (nationalist)|James Connolly]] and others.

==The text of the Easter Proclamation==

{{wikisourcepar|Proclamation of the Republic}}

(The document is headed ''Poblacht na hÉireann'', which is ''[[Irish Republic]]'' in the [[Irish language]])

''IRISHMEN AND IRISHWOMEN: In the name of God and of the dead generations from which she receives her old tradition of nationhood, Ireland, through us, summons her children to her flag and strikes for her freedom.''

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Though the Rising failed in military terms, the principles of the Proclamation to varying degrees influenced the thinking of later generations of Irish politicians. The document consisted of a number of assertions:

* that the Rising's leaders, though unelected, spoke for Ireland (a claim historically made by Irish insurrectionary movements);

* that the Rising marked another wave of attempts to achieve independence through force of arms;

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* a promise to cherish "all the children of the nation equally" (though often misinterpreted as referring to Irish children and their rights, it actually meant people of all religions, who were all seen as 'children of the nation').

==The printing and distribution of the text==

The proclamation had been printed secretly prior to the Rising. Because of its secret printing by a small printers, problems arose which affected the layout and design. In particular, because of a shortage of lettering, the document was printed in two halves, leading to a proliferation of 'half copies', most of which were destroyed by [[British army|British soldiers]] in the aftermath of the Rising. The typesetter lacked a sufficient supply of same size and font letters, and as a result the latter half of the document used smaller ''e''s than the rest of the text, a distinctive feature of the document (though only noticed when studied up close). The language suggested that the original copy of the proclamation had actually been signed by the Rising's leaders. However no evidence has ever been found, nor do any contemporary records mention, the existence of an ''actually signed'' copy, though had such a copy existed, it could easily have been destroyed in the aftermath of the Rising by someone (in the British military, a member of the public or a Rising participant trying to destroy potentially incriminating evidence) who did not appreciate its historic importance.

==The signatories==

One question sometimes raised is why the first name among the 'signatories' was not Pearse but Tom Clarke, a veteran republican. Had the arrangement of names been alphabetical, [[Eamon Ceannt]] would have appeared on top. Clarke's widow maintained that it was because the plan had been for Clarke, as a famed veteran, to become the ''President of the Provisional Republic''. Such an explanation would certainly explain his premier position. However others associated with the Rising dismissed her claims, which she made in her memoirs. Later documents issued by the rebels gave Pearse pride of place, though as 'Commanding in Chief the Forces of the Irish Republic, and President of the Provisional ''Government'' '¹, not 'President of the Republic'. Whether the plan had ever been to have Clarke as a symbolic head of state and Pearse as head of government, or was simply that Pearse was always to be central but with statements ambiguously describing his title, remains a mystery about which historians still speculate.

All seven signatories of the proclamation were executed by the British military in the aftermath of the Rising, being viewed as having committed treason in wartime (i.e., the [[World War I|First World War]]).² British political leaders regarded the executions initially as unwise, later as a catastrophe, with the [[British Prime Minister]] [[Herbert Asquith]] and later prime minister [[David Lloyd George]] stating that they regretted allowing the British military to treat the matter as a matter of military law in wartime, rather than insisting that the leaders were treated under civilian criminal law. Though initially deeply unsympathetic to the Rising (the leading Irish nationalist newspaper, the [[Irish Independent]] called for their execution), Irish public opinion switched and became more sympathetic due to manner of their treatment and executions. Eventually Asquith's government ordered a halt to the executions and insisted that those not already executed be dealt with through civilian, not military, law. By that stage all the signatories and a number of others had been executed.