THE words of Michael Collins still have the power to electrify. A proven soldier, Collins had the vision and intellectual vigour to become a statesman. He hoped to make Ireland a shining light in a war torn world. The horizon of many Irish people had "become bounded by the daily newspaper, the public house and the racecourse". Our wealth "will be the men and women of the Irish nation, the extent to which they are rich in body and mind and character". Moreover, "a prosperous Ireland will mean a united Ireland".
In August 1922, shortly before his assassination, Collins asserted that the substance of freedom had been gained. Those who opposed the Treaty were asked "to help in keeping an orderly united nation with the greatest possible strength over against England, exercising the greatest possible peaceful pressure towards the union of all Ireland" and in having a united government "to deal with the urgent problems of housing I and hunger and unemployment
But the hairsplitting of the fundamentalists distorted republican idealism. "Worse still, their violence and the passions it aroused have broken up the united concentration on the revival of our language." Worst of all, the Civil War undermined national self confidence.
These articles and speeches first published in 1922 reflect Collins's foresight "As the division in our ranks has become more apparent, the attitude of Sir James Craig has hardened."
Was not the task of persuading Northern unionists "incentive enough to cause us to join together to win a far greater victory than ever we got against the British?" he asked. "It is this serious internal which argues for the attainment of the final steps of freedom by evolution rather than by force to give time to the North east to learn to revolve in the Irish orbit and to get out of the orbit of Great Britain."
Hopefully, Collins is being listened to finally.
Tim Pat Coogan, in his foreword to the book, writes with panache about his Prometheus, "whose career is a paradigm of the tragedy of modern Ireland, the suffering, the waste of talent, the hope, the bedevilling effects of history and nomenclature Read Collins's book before you see the movie.
While The Path to Freedom is topical, the publication of Comdt Brennan Whitmore's book is overdue.
Brennan Whitmore, too, was cut from the cloth from which soldiers are made. As a young man he served with the Royal Irish Regiment in India, and became a journalist on returning to his native Co Wexford. He was a staff officer of the Volunteers in 1916 and, after the Rising, one of the few surviving commandants (he lived until 1977).
His memoir was considered too controversial for publication in 1966 probably because of his unflattering references to President de Valera. Subtitled The Easter Rising from behind the Barricades, it may be the last account by a participant. The good wine has been kept until, now.
Dublin Burning contains vivid pen pictures of the insurgent leaders Connolly, MacDonagh, Plunkett, Clarke and Pearse, whose influence sprang from his "innate spirituality". It records the heroism, chaos and humanity of the Rising.
The author's experience of the British army left him free of bitterness. As prisoners, he and his men were treated with kindness by the NCOs and soldiers of the 18th Royal Irish Regiment, many of them Wexford men. They expressed dissatisfaction that we had not given them a chance to join us. Practically all those whom I knew personally, and some I didn't know, came and unhesitatingly voiced that sentiment to me." He was not an advocate of the blood sacrifice, believing that insurrection remained a viable military option.
The introduction and notes by Dr Pauric Travers enhance this attractively produced book. {CORRECTION} 96052000045
