Volume 18 , Issue 13

1916 - Hold Sinn Feiners

Researching back through the old newspapers archives, we found this article in the Fitchburg Sentinel, Fitchburg, Massachusetts, dated 24 April 1916, Monday, page 8: "Hold Sinn Feiners." Anti-war party organizers were arrested and told to leave Ireland at once.
Found on Newspapers.com

Dublin, Ireland, April 10 (1916) -- Two organizers of the Sinn Fein Volunteers in Dublin and two others in Galway had been arrested and ordered to leave Ireland within six days. These men had been given the choice between going to some foreign country, or to certain specified places in England where they can be kept under observation. The Sinn Fein, or Irish Volunteers, practically constitute the anti-war party in Ireland. They had held frequent parades with arms, and some Conservative members of Parliament had criticized the government for not taking strong measures to suppress activities of the organization.

The proceedings of the government against the "Volunteers" had been very sporadic. Their little papers, following on protests in the English press had been seized from time to time but reappear under different names. There were more of them in existence then than before the war. The searches for arms had been isolated and unimportant. A considerable number of muskets and a dozen revolvers represented the government's bag, from all Ireland.

From time to time an organizer was arrested and sent total but more were acquitted. The council had offices in Dublin which were known to the authorities and to the public. The council had issued an official statement, which, in part, follows: "The council of the Irish Volunteers which met on March 26 (1916) wished to warn the public that the general tendency of the government's action was to force a highly dangerous situation. The government was well aware that the possession of arms was essential to the volunteer organizations and that Volunteers could not submit to being disarmed without surrendering and abandoning the position they had held at all time since their first formation. The Volunteer organization also could not maintain its efficiency without organizers. The raiding for arms and attempted disarming of men, could in the natural course of things only be met by resistance and bloodshed. None of the Irish Volunteers recognized or would ever recognize the right of the government to disarm them, to imprison their officers and men in any fashion.

"The council also drew attention to the repeated instances in which the government's action had been associated with the movements of hostile crowds which were led to believe that they act under government approval. In the Council;s belief this feature of the case was based on a deliberate policy of creating factious hostility between sections of the Irish people. Nothing need be hoped from remonstrance with the government, but we appeal to the Irish people to look into thefts in every instance, and keep watch on the conduct and policy of the authorities, and to fix the responsibility for any gave consequences that may arise."

Most people in Ireland had relatives or friends in the British army, and consequently the appearance of the Volunteers on parade frequently lead to trouble. In Tullamore the crowd wrecked the Sinn Fein premises, and the complaint of the Sinn Feiners was that the police did not protect them. Police protection for the anti-war party struck most of the people, who were for the war, as a humorous demand.
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