The condemned leaders of the Rising in 1916 went to their deaths, confident that they had made a sacrifice of value that would keep the dream of independence alive. Other participants, even when they were initially despondent, soon sensed that important changes were under way, writes Martin Mansergh.
Independence would bring sobering realities and responsibilities as well as struggles of a more mundane nature, but the potential was unblocked.
Earlier generations, seeking freedom, had no such comfort. Young Irelanders fitted into several categories. Thomas Davis died young in 1845, but his writings were an inspiration to later generations. Others proved their capacity to govern abroad. Some were embarrassed by the radicalism of their youth. Finally, there were the defiant, like John Mitchel, and young men who went on to form the Fenian brotherhood.
Bleaker still was the aftermath of the 1798 and 1803 Rebellions for the surviving United Irish leaders, many of whom spent the rest of their lives in exile. Bright dreams, embracing all traditions, extending the legislative independence won in 1782, and inspired by France and America, had ended in disaster, appalling bloodshed and comprehensive defeat, with the Act of Union abolishing the Irish Parliament and bolting the door on independence for the foreseeable future.
Many settled in America. In the beautifully maintained Greenwood Cemetery in Brooklyn, on top of a hill, is the grave of Matilda Tone, transferred from Georgetown DC in 1891. The restored monument funded by Irish-American organisations was unveiled by President Mary Robinson in October 1996. The inscription reads "revered and loved as the heroic wife of Theobald Wolfe Tone".
Matilda Tone (1769-1849) was an indomitable woman, who, despite much hardship, was more than anyone else responsible for transmitting the legacy of Wolfe Tone to posterity, by ensuring the publication of his memoirs and diaries in two volumes in 1826.
Her son was the named editor and an officer in Napoleon's armies, married the daughter of William Sampson. A considerable orator, William Sampson was what would today be called a human rights lawyer, and championed the rights of Irish immigrants in early 19th century New York. His grave and that of his wife is nearby. The inscription on her tomb records she was "a faithful Wife, an affectionate Mother, an upright Woman, a humble Christian", born Belfast, Ireland, November 28th 1764, died August 6th 1855.
The inscription on his is nearly illegible, after "Born Londonderry, June 1764".
The other words that can be picked out are "persecution", his countrymen "who required his services", and "his long exile".
In lower Manhattan, at the west end of Fulton Street, is St Paul's Church (Episcopalian), overlooking the gaping hole that was once the World Trade Center.
It was a centre for first aid, refuge and prayer, following the attacks of 9/11, and attracts many visitors. Dating from 1766, it is a beautiful colonial church with balconies, and contains George Washington's box pew and tall chair. He worshipped here immediately after being sworn in as first president of the United States at City Hall in 1789.
Outside in the churchyard to the right of the door, is a monument to a Catholic, Dr William James MacNeven (1763-1841), "who in the service of his native land sacrificed the bright prospects of his youth and passed years in poverty and exile, till in America he found a country which he loved as truly as he did the land of his birth. To the service of this country which had received him as a son he devoted his high scientific acquirements with eminent ability".
He wrote one of the first accounts of the 1798 Rebellion, contained in his Pieces of Irish History. President Thomas Jefferson thanked him for a copy in 1807, commenting: "It is a record of the documents and facts which interested all the feelings of humanity when they were passing, and stand in dreadful account against the perpetrators. In this the United States may see what would have been their history had they continued under the same masters. Heaven seems to have provided them as an asylum for the suffering."
To the other side of St Paul's Church is a tall obelisk at the top of which is a cameo of Thomas Addis Emmet, elder brother of Robert, who served as attorney-general of New York. A long inscription is unhappily faded.
A worthwhile and inexpensive project would be to make it legible again along with the inscription on William Sampson's tombstone.
The tremendous research library in the American Irish Historical Society on Fifth Avenue opposite the Metropolitan Museum possesses in typescript a memorial of Emmet, written during his imprisonment in Scotland, to Whig opposition leader, Charles James Fox, with an outline of Irish history to 1790. It reminds us that the right to democracy and independence was as strong in 1800 as in 1916. Some quotations indicate its spirit, written by a member of a family settled in Ireland since the mid-17th century.
"Civilisation has frequently been diffused by conquest and even imposed by force. But such a civilisation can be relative only, above the barbarism which it has succeeded, far below the standard of independent voluntary government."
"National independence by no means necessarily leads to national virtue and happiness, but reason and experience demonstrate that public virtue and general happiness are absolutely incompatible with a state of provincial subjection."
"The will of the people is the only rightful foundation of government."
"The very idea of such a proscription of three-parts of a people (the penal laws) is utterly incompatible with the idea of civil society."
Questioned by Archbishop Agar of Cashel about the economic viability of an independent Ireland at a Parliamentary Commission of Enquiry in 1798, Emmet replied: "America is the best market in the world, and Ireland the best situated country in Europe to trade with that market." Repeated to President Clinton's commerce secretary William Daley, he commented: "Farseeing man, your Mr Emmet." Tragedy, frustration and unfulfilled ambition were the lot of many generations of patriots.