An Cosantóir

An Cosantóir March 2016 www.dfmagazine.ie 12 | by SGT TERRY MCLOUGHLIN RETD AND FORMER EDITOR OF AN COSANTÓIR T he driving force behind the Rising in 1916 was a special Military Council established by the Irish Republican broth- erhood (IRb), a secret physical-force republican movement established by James Stephens in 1858. Having stagnated over a number of years, the IRb was revitalised and reorganised in the early years of the 20th Century by the efforts of a new genera- tion of young republicans, particularly belfast-born bulmer Hobson, assisted by veteran Fenian, Tom Clarke, and Seán Mac- Diarmada, among others. Home Rule had been the main issue for constitutional nation- alists in Ireland for decades. The first attempt to introduce a Home Rule bill in 1886 had been defeated in Parliament. A second attempt, in 1893, was successful in Parliament but was vetoed by the House of Lords. Following the introduction of the Parliament Act of 1911, which limited the power of the House of Lords, a third Home Rule bill was brought to Parliament in 1912. This was passed and although it was again vetoed in the House of Lords, this veto could now only hold up the bill for two years. It was placed on the statute books in September 1914, but suspended for the duration of the Great War. Within the IRB's Supreme Council, hopes of armed insurrec- tion increased with the establishment of the armed, paramilitary Ulster Volunteer Force in January 1913. This was seen as providing an opportunity to set up a similar force for nationalists, which the IRB hoped would provide the military vehicle for a rebel- lion. However, suspected IRB men could not be seen to be too closely involved in the setting up of such a force as that would surely lead to its suppression. Consequently, the IRB operated behind the scenes, promoting the idea to constitutional na- tionalists such as the academic Eoin MacNeill, who was well known for his moderate nationalist views. From the constitutional nationalist point of view, the establish- ment of a force to counter the UVF, which was opposed to the introduction of Home Rule in Ireland, was seen as a necessary action to ensure its eventual introduction. After a series of closed meetings organised by the IRB, the Irish Volunteers were founded at a huge public meeting in the Rotunda in November 1913. A large Provisional Committee was formed, which included a substantial amount of IRB men. The manifesto of the Volunteers, mainly drawn up by MacNeill, stated that the organisation's objectives were "to secure and maintain the rights and liberties common to the whole people of Ireland". MacNeill himself was against futile rebellion and would only approve of armed resistance in the event of the British attempt- ing to suppress the movement or, following the outbreak of war, to impose conscription on Ireland. The IRB's influence within the Volunteers was drastically reduced when the leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP), John Redmond, moved to gain control of the organisation, which he may have seen as a threat to his authority as the voice of constitutional nationalism. His demand in June 1914 that 25 IPP nominees should be co-opted onto the Provisional Committee was acceded to by the majority of the Volunteer's leadership, including Bulmer Hobson, who reluctantly supported the move to avoid a split, despite vehement opposition by other IRB men. (This led to the end of his long friendship with Clarke and the effective sidelining of Hobson within the IRB, although he remained on the Supreme Council.) Despite his difficulties with other members of the Volunteer leadership, Hobson was heavily involved in organising the gun- running operations that saw over 1,000 rifles being smuggled in through Howth and Kilcoole in July and August 1914. In September 1914, two days after Parliament passed the Home ' John Redmond MP for Waterford, circa 1904. Photo: The Booklovers Magazine, Vol IV, No 4, October 1904, P579. Eoin McNeill. Photo: National Library of Ireland P.H. Pearse addressing a number of people. Photo: Mrs. Maeve Cavanagh McDowell/Military Archives/BMH P series

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