Wednesday, March 16, 2005

MURDER MOST FOUL .......
By Joe Egan .
A lecture delivered to Dublin Republicans by Joe Egan on 26th November 1989 : I have had the following document for the past 16 years ; it was given to me by its author , a friend and true Irish Republican and deserves a wider readership - John Horan .

" Regarding the French , Wolfe Tone said - " Attached to no party in the French Republic , without interest , without money , without intrigue , the openness and integrity of my views raised me to a high and confidential rank in its armies ; under the flag of the French Republic , I originally engaged with a view to save and liberate my own country . For that purpose , I have encountered the chances of war , amongst strangers .

For that purpose , I have repeatedly braved the terrors of the ocean , covered as I knew it to be , with the triumphant fleets of that power , which it was my glory and my duty to oppose . I have sacrificed all my views in life ; I have courted poverty , I have left a beloved wife , unprotected children I adored , fatherless . After such sacrifices , in a cause which I have always conscientiously considered as the cause of justice and freedom - it is no great effort , at this day , to add the sacrifice of my life .

To the eternal disgrace of those who gave the order , I was brought hither in irons , like a felon ....... " "

(MORE LATER).


LIGHTS , CAMERA , REAGAN .......!
By John Dean.
First published in 'MAGILL' magazine , October 1980 , pages 30, 31, 35, and 37.
Re-published here in 20 parts .
[20 of 20].

To me , Reagan's speech to the retirement community in Florida was well beyond political hyperbole ; it was flirting with senility . And next month , the man with that 'vision' of the United States , Ronald Wilson Reagan , celluloid hero , may finally make it to the Presidency . If he does he will be inaugurated almost two years after the death of John Wayne .

He was born just two years after the deaths of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid .......

[END of 'LIGHTS , CAMERA , REAGAN .......!'].
(Tomorrow - 'WOMEN IN IRELAND'S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM' - by a late Cork Republican).


INCITEMENT TO COERCION : DEMOCRACY IN DANGER .......
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper , Aibrean [April] 1957 , page 1.
(IML. IX. UIMHIR 4 - price Tri Pingin [Three Pennies].
Thanks to my late friends Christy and Theresa L. for giving me this 48-year-old newspaper ; this thread published in memory of those two old Fenians ! - John.

' In point of fact the candidates nominated by Sinn Fein were publicly pledged not to " ... sit in or take part in the proceedings of any Parliament ... other than the Parliament of the Irish Republic . " To the full extent of its capacity and abilities Sinn Fein made it clear that its elected representatives would not take their seats in Leinster House .

On this understanding approximately 66,000 voters , in 19 out of the total of 40 constituencies , registered their approval and support for the Sinn Fein policy . Sinn Fein recognises the Leinster House Parliament precisely for what it is - for what it has been since its inception - one of three institutions of Government legislating for an Ireland forcibly partitioned by an alien power .

Whatever validity it has as such is not questioned and is therefore not denied . Again Mr. Costello is reported to have stated - " I believe myself ... that there are people and organs of public opinion that have been directly responsible through their speeches and writings for bringing about a situation in which the institutions of the State have been brought into something like disrepute . " Many times in the past party politicians have challenged Sinn Fein to put its policy and programme before the public and to seek for it the support of the electorate .

It is very definitely the intention of Sinn Fein to do precisely this when future occasions arise , not because of any challenge issued , but simply because it is a fundamental part of its policy to seek the support of the Irish people for the reintegration of our National Territory and for the enthronement of a National Government of the Irish Republic ....... '

(MORE LATER).