A few minutes after 12 o'clock noon on Easter Monday things began to happen in Dub lin. An unarmed policeman on duty outside Dublin Castle was killed by a shot from a Volunteer rifle. Immediately after the general post office on Sackville street was rushed and occupied by the rebels. There the government of the Irish Republic' was estab lished. The colors of the new republic— green, orange and white — were run up over the building and the following proclamation posted on the main entrance: The rebels immediately proceeded to fortify the general post-office and to occupy houses commanding the corners of various streets leading into Sackville street. Another body of Volunteers commanded by Countess Markievicz (q.v.) entrenched themselves in Saint Stephen's Green, a small park facing the Catholic University College and the Royal University grounds. he four courts on the banks of the river Liffey, Liberty Hall, the South Dublin Union, Jacob's Biscuit Factory and Boland's Mills at Ring's End were seized by other detachments. Various private houses all over the city at strategic points where troops might approach were also occupied and fortified. Three of Dublin's five railroad sta tions were likewise occupied or else lay well within the area controlled by the Volunteers. Despite warnings and premonitions the British authorities were totally unprepared to deal with the situation. Officers and men of the garrison were away at a local race meeting, and Dublin Castle "mustered half a dozen men with blank cartridges." All the telegraph wires at the post office were cut, but the rebels did not seize the central telephone exchange, a fact that enabled the authorities to maintain communications with the rest of the city and its environments. Before the evening of the first day of the rebellion the entire centre of Dublin was in the hands of the rebels, as well as a carefully chosen cordon of positions in the outlying districts beyond. The only ex ception was Trinity College and the adjoining park. Here a group of the Officers' Training Corps located at the college, reinforced by a small number of soldiers who happened to he passing, barricaded the doors of the college and put the buildings in a state of defence. This position, which was afterward of great value to the British troops, was held by the small force of defenders until it was relieved by the soldiers. It was primarily due to the fire which could he directed from Trinity College in the direction of the most important business streets that the Volunteers were unable to gain a foot ing in them, and those streets were therefore safe from destruction when the British troops attacked with artillery to drive out the rebels. The Volunteers had also seized an ammunition magazine in Phoenix Park, but this was the first position regained by the troops.
During the night the Custom House, com manding the approach to the docks, was oc cupied by British troops, and steps were taken to relieve the Castle. On Tuesday, 25 April, martial law was proclaimed in the city and county of Dublin. and on Wednesday this was extended to cover the whole of Ireland for a period of one month. On the same day another proclamation ordered all persons to keen within their homes between the hours of 7.30 P.M. and 5.30 A.m.; also, the right to trial by jury was suspended in Ireland. Reinforcements of British troops arrived in Dublin on Tues day; communication was re-established with the Castle and the small force holding Trinity College. In order to secure the safety of the Castle it was first necessary to expel the rebels from a number of buildings and houses com manding the Castle Yard, among which was the City Hall. This was accomplished only after desperate fighting; a military cordon was then thrown around the northern part of the city. Meanwhile more British troops were arriving from England, and on Wednesday they were in sufficient strength to assume the offen sive. During Wednesday severe fighting oc curred, especially in the vicinity of Trinity Col lege. .The troops encountered the most de termined resistance everywhere and the losses on both sides were heavy. On that day Liberty Hail, the headquarters of the Volunteers, was attacked with guns and demolished. This was accompanied by bitter fighting in the Sackville street section. During the following night the first of a long series of fires in that part of the city broke out, creating enormous damage. Some 200 buildings were destroyed before the end of the week. The British government, now thoroughly alive to the danger, continued to pour troops into Dublin; Gen. Sir John Maxwell, who had been placed in supreme com mand, arrived on Friday from England. On Thursday the Sackville street section had been Surrounded with a strong cordon of troops, that was held continuously for two days. The position of the rebels was rapidly becom ing more and more hopeless; the various cordons were gradually drawn tighter and the Volunteers were driven back step by step in spite of desperate resistance. This "squeezing out* process was carried out in accordance with the following proclamation issued by Sir John Maxwell: "Most rigorous measures will be taken by me to stop the loss of life and dam age to property which certain misguided per sons are causing by their armed resistance to the law. If necessary I shall not hesitate to destroy all buildings within any area occupied by the rebels, and I warn all persons within the area now surrounded by His Majesty's troops to leave such areas under the following conditions: (a) Women and children may leave the area from any of the examining posts set up for the purpose, and will be allowed to go away free. (b) Men may leave by the same posts and will be allowed to go away free, provided the examining officer is satisfied they have taken no part whatever in tise'present disturbance; (c) All other men who present themselves to the said examining posts must surrender unconditionally, together with any arms and ammunition in their possession. Both Pearse and Connolly — the latter had been wounded — issued proclamations on Friday the tenor of which indicated that the end was ap proaching. That of Pearse foreshadowed failure, while the document from Connolly gave an entirely wrong estimate of the situa tion; he referred to "our Allies in Germany* and wound up with "Courage, boys, we are winning . . Fighting continued throughout the morning of Saturday 29 April, when part of the post office was shot to pieces by British guns and the balance of the pile caught fire. In the early afternoon Pearse sent a Red Cross nurse to inquire about terms of surrender; he was informed that surrender would have to be unconditional. Shortly after he yielded to the inevitable and surrendered unconditionally at 2 o'clock in the afternoon of Saturday. He ad
vised his followers of this step by the follow ing document "In order to prevent the further slaughter of unarmed people, and in the hope of saving the lives of our followers, now surrounded and hopelessly outnumbered, members of the Provisional Government pres ent at headquarters have agreed to an uncon ditional surrender, and the commanders of all Units of the Republican Forces will order their followers to lay down their arms.* Connolly followed Pearse's lead and on Sunday Mac- Donagh, Kent and de Valera submitted likewise. Thus ended the Sinn Fein rebellion in Dublin, which lasted altogether a week. In the provinces the rebellion was actively sup, ported in spots only; the outbreaks were of local extent and in general restricted to small areas, especially in the vicinity of the larger centres of population. The only ex ception was the city of Cork, one of the strong.1 holds of the Irish Volunteers, where the au thorities were able to suppress, at the first signs, all -attempts at an uprising. Not until the end of the week following the fateful Easter week was peace re-established in the various parts of Ireland. The military casual ties amounted to 106 killed and 334 wounded; the losses on the rebel side have never been ascertained, but 180 civilians were reported killed and 614 wounded. The leaders of the rebellion, all of whom had perforce surrendered unconditionally, were tried by Field Court Martial. Fifteen of the most prominent leaders were sentenced to death and shot: P. H. Pearse, T. MacDonagh, T. J. Clarke, Joseph Plunkett, E. Daly, M. Hanrahan, W. Pearse, MacBride, C. Colbert, E. Kent, M. Marlin, . J. Heuston, James Connolly, Sean Mac earmada (MacDermot) and Thomas Kent, who was executed for the murder of a police man. H. O'Hanrahan, Countess Markievicz, J, MacNeill and E. de Valera were also sen tenced to death, but received a commutation to penal servitude for life. They were liberated under the amnesty of June 1917. Others, less prominently connected with the rebellion, re ceived sentences ranging from three to ten years; they were also freed under the amnesty. The great body of the rebels, both those who had surrendered and others who had later been arrested on suspicion, were deported, to the matter' of aboiat to a Prison canin in England.' Here they • were carefully sifted; Many were 'released after a short detention. About 2,000 were interned in Wales, three 70 per cent of these were set' at liberty A. painful episode of the rebellion' was the shobting of three innocent men, Mr. Francis Sheehy-Skeffington, an earnest pacifist, Mr. Dixon, an editor, and McIntYre, :also a journalist. They were ar rested on 5 •April and taken to Portobello Bar racks, where they were 'shot by order of Cap tain without any trial. The Captain responsible for this deed was ward court martialed, found to . be insane, and incarcerated in a lunatic asylum. Sir Roger Casement was, brought to trial for treason be fore 'the Lord Chief Justice and a Airy. was convicted, deprived of his titles and and banged on 3 Aug. 1916. • The rebellion and its collapse some remarkable political consequences in its train. On'3. May 1916 Mr. Augustine Birrell; Secre tary. of State 'for Ireland, resigned his . office, confessing the total failure of the principles on which he 'had endeavored to govern Ireland,for nine years. Sir Mathew Nathan, the Under-' Secretary 'in Ireland, also resigned, to. he . lowed, in the same course a fear: days later Lord Winaborne,' the' LordiLieuttnant of Ire land. The resignation of the latter was not accepted. Strong charges were Made in the House of Commons in regard to the operation of martial law, and public opinion in 'Great Britain was highly incensed against the officials. Who were declared have °bungled° Irish:, affairs. -Mr. Asquith decided himself to visit' Ireland; he returned with the opinion that °Castle. Government had entirely' broken down.° ) A Royal Commission, consisting of Lord Hard-, in of Penhurst, Mr. Justice Shearman' and Sir Mackenzie Chalmers, was.. ppointed to in quire into the of the rebellion. The) general conclusions drawn in their report (41 July 1916) were to the effect °that the main ) cause of the rebellion appears to be that law-, lessness was.. allowed to grow . unchecked, and; that Ireland for several years past had been ad-, ministered on the principle, that it was safer and more. expedient to leave the law in abey ance—if collision with any faction of the Irish people could thereby be avoided.° The , Lord-Lieutenant was absolved from respon but the Commission found that °the Chief Secretary, as the administrative head your Majesty's Government in Ireland, primarily responsible for the situation that was allowed to arise and the outbreak that oci curred.)? Sir Mathew Nathan was blamed be-. cause he did not sufficiently impress upon the Chief Secretary, during the latter's prolonged_ absence from Dublin, the necessity for, more active measures to remedy the situation in Ireland, which ,in December last in a letter to, the Chief Secretary he described as °most serious and menacing.° On 19 Oct. 1916 Mr. Redmond moved a vote of censure in. Parlia ment, demanding the abolition of martial law in Ireland and the immediate release of 500 Sinn Fein prisoners who still remained in terned, the treatment of the sentenced rebels as "political"' offenders, and the trusting of the' people by putting the. 'Rule Act into force. The governmen replied that Ireland" could have Holt* Rule if Irishmen theingelves' agreed to it, but Ulster blocked the way; that two-thirds of the arrested Sinn Feins had al ready been released and that a considerable number of others could be released on giving an assurance not again to engage in rebellion. The vote of censure was defeated by 303 to 106 votes. In November Sir John Maxwell left Ireland and was succeeded by Gen. Sir Bryan Mahon.
Bibliography.— Boyle, J. F. (The Irish Re bellion of 1916) (London 1916); Jones, F. P., 'History of the Sinn Fein Movement and the Irish Rebellion of 1916> (New York 1917) •, Joy, M. editor, (The Irish 'Rebellion of 1916 and its Martyrs) (New York 1916); Norway, Mary L. 'The Sinn Fein Rebellion as I' saw it) (London 1916) ; Redmond, J. E., 'Strong Words from Mr. Redmond) (London 1916) ; Redmond-Howard, I. 'Six Days of the Irish Republic) (London 1916) ; Stephens J., 'The Insurrection in Dublin) (New York 1916) ; Wells, W. B. and Marlowe, 'N., -(A History of the Irish Rebellion of 1916) (Dub lin and London 1917). See also Cssincattr; MaRmVtCZ; BaaWEit,; Hosts RULE. • Hirst F. KLEIN, Editorial Staff of The Americana.