COLLINS, MICHAEL Irish politician, was born near Clonakilty in County Cork, the eighth child of John Collins, a prosperous farmer who, at 62, married Kate O'Brien, his junior by 4o years. Michael Collins entered the second division of the British civil service and went to London as a junior postal clerk in 1907. After two years he left the civil service to be clerk in an accountant's office. During this period he joined the Irish Republican brotherhood.
At the beginning of 1916 Collins returned to Ireland, joined the Irish volunteers in Dublin, and was one of those who fought under Pearse in the general post office during Easter week. He escaped being taken under arms, but later was arrested and sent with the great body of suspects to the detention camp at Frongoch. Re leased with the rest in July 1917, he was returned at the general election in Dec. 1918 as Sinn Fein member for County Cork. Out of 73 elected only 29 were present when they met in the Mansion house and declared for the Irish Republic. E. de Valera, their elected president, was in gaol, so was the vice-president, Arthur Griffith. All effective decisions were taken by the men who were clever enough to avoid arrest. These were Collins, Cathal Brugha and the headquarter staff of the Irish volunteers.
Brugha (Charles Burgess), as minister of defence in de Valera's Republican Ministry, was head of the Irish volunteers, known later as the I.R.A. (Irish Republican Army). In this military or ganization Collins was head of the intelligence department; but in the administration as a whole he was minister of finance. In this dual capacity Collins controlled the entire correspondence of the movement. All enterprises were considered, financed, and many were carried out by him. In March 1919 he and Harry Boland arranged the escape of de Valera from Lincoln gaol. How far he was responsible for the spread of the guerrilla war cannot now be ascertained. But by 192o his name, first gradually and then uni versally, had become known as that of the man most wanted by the British authorities. A reward of f io,000 was offered for his arrest, and pictures of him were published. Yet he used no dis guise, went about Dublin alone on a bicycle and frequently made appointments for an interview in the public streets. He demoral ized the British secret service and created a most effective spy system of his own.
At the close of 1920 secret negotiations, conducted through the Australian Archbishop Clune, were held with Collins, who after wards maintained that all the concessions obtained six months later could have been secured then but for the action of a county council which called for cessation of hostilities. This, he held, en couraged the British to insist on a surrender of arms, upon which demand the negotiations broke down. In July 1921 when the truce with Britain was proclaimed, Collins for the first time became di rectly known to the Irish public. No other figure was so popular. When the negotiations between de Valera and Lloyd George failed to reach any conclusion, Griffith, Collins and three others were appointed to renew the attempt. Collins, by his, genial personality, undoubtedly smoothed over many of the difficulties, and though in principle a republican he knew when the utmost possible had been gained. Griffith alone could not have forced the Dail to ac cept the treaty against de Valera's opposition ; this achievement was mainly due to the magnetic personality of the younger man. When the result of the voting showed the narrow margin of seven for acceptance, Collins instantly rose and gravely warned the assembly of the anarchy that might follow dissension. He pro posed a joint committee of public order, but the proposal was rejected. In the debate he had declared that he accepted the treaty as a stepping stone to a republic, but he was careful both in his speech and his published volume, The Path to Freedom, to disavow any desire to force a separation which would injure Britain or leave her exposed. In his opinion, the Dominions were destined to detach themselves naturally and without a wrench, like ripened fruit.
The first result of the Dail's decision was confusion. Griffith was elected president, not of the Free State but of the Irish Re public. Collins was appointed chairman of the provisional Govern ment. But administration in the ordinary sense was impossible. Civil life had been destroyed in the guerrilla war; the police were now necessarily disbanded, since the struggle had left a blood feud between them and the people ; the British garrison was evacu ating the country, and the Irish army, still considered the army of the Republic, was deeply disaffected.
Collins's first object was to reach a settlement with Ulster. He therefore entered into personal negotiations with Sir James Craig, (Lord Craigavon) premier of Northern Ireland. No settlement was reached, largely because of the imminence of civil war in the South. Mutiny broke out in the army, and Collins, hoping against hope to avoid civil strife, refrained from drastic action. He was instrumental in postponing the general election (stipulated for under the treaty), and when at last a date for it was fixed in June he entered at the eleventh hour into a compact with de Valera by which he and the Republican leader agreed to appeal for the unopposed return of candidates jointly nominated by them. This would have given a very large representation to opponents of the treaty. But when independent candidates were put f or ward, Collins at the last moment advised his countrymen to vote as they wished. This he knew would mean the acceptance of the treaty. At the elections the republicans were heavily beaten and the Irish Government, challenged by force even in the capital, decided to use force in return.
Civil war began; and Collins, assuming chief command, flung himself into the struggle with all his energy. Opposition was crushed in Dublin and all the large towns. Suddenly, on Aug. 12, Griffith fell dead and Collins became at once head of the State and of the army. The newly enrolled forces needed impetus and he went down to give it to them by his presence in Munster, where the chief resistance lay. On Aug. 22, 1922, motoring with a strong escort from Skibbereen to Cork, his party was ambushed, and in the skirmish he was shot through the head. No man since Parnell had so caught the imagination of Ireland. Perhaps the moment of his death was fortunate, for he died when victory was more ap parent than real, and he was spared the task of executing those who had been his comrades. But his work stands, and he emerges from the struggle with a reputation less tarnished than some of his contemporaries. . (S. G.)