Sir, - On June 5th, 1798, the battle of New Ross (and particularly its aftermath) was marked by widespread atrocity by the forces of the state. The appalling record of state terror-tactics over previous weeks and months (though not necessarily those at New Ross) were undoubtedly a factor in the most notorious rebel atrocity that same morning at nearby Scullabogue, when up to 150 non-combatants (almost all Protestants and including women and children) were shot or burned in a barn.
The understandable desire to explain this appalling event in terms of what happened at New Ross has been there from the first "Catholic" account, that of Edward Hay in 1803. Only recently, however, has a specific and similar government atrocity been discovered - by Daniel Gahan in The People's Rising (1996) - the burning to death of 75 wounded rebels in a "hospital". This discovery involved no new evidence, only a reinterpretation of the well-known contemporary account by James Alexander, who, as Gahan acknowledged, described the building concerned as "a rebel stronghold". I looked at the evidence in detail as part of a presentation to a "Comoradh '98 conference two years ago.
However, from your report on March 24th, "Comoradh '98" seems, sadly, to be determined to disregard the historical record when it does not fit its political agenda - and not for the first time. Following its celebration of a Wexford "Republic", which never existed, and its planned reconvening of a "Senate", which never met, we are now to have "a plaque at the rebel hospital in New Ross", for which we haven't a shred of evidence. This is meant to complement the memorial planned for Scullabogue, which, we are told, "will take it out of the realm of propaganda and into history". If the inscription involved is still that announced two years ago (The Irish Times, May 22nd, 1996) then its real purpose is to deny the basic historical reality - that this was, above all else, a sectarian atrocity, tied to competition for land and work. Comoradh's only concern is to record "the remorse of the United Irishmen at this outrage" (as if that was what we need to confront). Perhaps it is time that "Comoradh '98" (commemoration of '98) changed its name to "Cumadoirea cht '98" (invention of '98). - Yours, etc., Tom Dunne,
Department of History,
University College Cork.