The Casper paper, like most, lead with headlines about the German election held the prior day. They were more than a bit optimistic about what that meant for Germany. The momentous news about the Irish Dail, however, was also on the front page.
The Dail did, however, declare independence, adopted a constitution and issued a proclamation intended to call upon the nations of the world to recognize Ireland as a state.
The declaration of independence, in Irish, read:
De bhrigh gur dual do mhuinntir na hÉireann bheith n-a saor náisiún.
Agus de bhrigh nár staon muintir na hÉireann riamh le seacht gcéad bliadhain ó dhiúltadh d'annsmacht Gall agus ó chur ina choinnibh go minic le neart airm.
Agus de bhrígh ná fuil de bhunadhas agus ná raibh riamh de bhunadhas le dlighe Shasana san tír seo acht foiréigean agus calaois, agus ná fuil de thaca leis ach sealbh lucht airm I n-aimhdheóin dearbhthola muinntire na hÉireann.
Agus de bhrigh go ndeárna Saor-Arm na hÉireann Saorstát Éireann d'fhorfhógairt I mBaile Átha Cliath Seachtmhain na Cásca 1916 ar son muinntire na hÉireann.
Agus de bhrigh go bhfuil muinntir na hireann lán-cheeaptha ar neamhspléadhchus iomlán do bhaint amach agus do chosaint dóibh fhéin d'fhonn leas an phobuil do chur chun cinn, an ceart d'athchur ar a bhonnaibh, an tsíothcháin I nirinn agus caradas le náisiúnaibh eile do chur I n-áirithe dhóibh féin agus féineachus náisiúan tsíothcháin I nirinn agus caradas le náisiúnaibh eile do chur I n-áirithe dhóibh féin agus féineachus náisiúnta do cheapadh go mbeidh toil na ndaoine mar bhunudhas leis agus cothrom cirt is caoitheamhlachta dá bhárr ag gach duine I nÉirinn.
Agus de bhrigh go ndeárna muinntir na hÉireann, agus sinn I mbéal ré nuadha de stair an domhain, feidhm a bhaint as an Olltoghadh, Mí na Modlag, 1918, chun a dhearbhughadh de bhreis adhbhalmhóir gur toil leó bheith díleas do Shaorstát Éireann.
Ar an adhbhar son deinimídne .i.na teachtaí atá toghtha ag muinntir na hÉireann agus sinn I nDáil Chomhairle I dteannta a chéile, bunughadh Saorstáit d'áth-dheimhniughadh I n-ainm náisiún na hÉireann agus sinn féin do chur fá gheasaibh an deimhniughadh so do chur I bhfeidhm ar gach slighe ar ár gcumas.
Órduighmíd ná fuil de chomhacht ag éinne ach amháin ag na Teachtaíbh toghtha ag muinntir na hÉireann dlighthe dhéanamh gur dual do mhuinntir na hÉireann géilleadh dhóibh, agus ná fuil de pháirliment ann go mbeidh an náisiún umhal do ach amháin Dáil Éireann.
Dearbhuighmíd ná fuilingeóchaimíd go bráth an cumhangcas atá dá dhéanamh ag an annsmacht Ghallda ar ár gceart náisiúnta agus éilighmíd ar chamthaí na Sasanach imtheacht ar fad as ár dtír.
Ilighimíd ar gach saornáisiún ar domhan neamhspleádhchus na hÉireann d'admháil agus fógraimíd gurab éigean ár neamhspleádhchus chun síothcháin a chur I n-áirithe do'n domhan.
I n-ainm muinntire na hÉireann cuirimíd ár gcinneamhaint fé chomairce Dhia an Uile-Chomhacht do chuir misneach agus buan-tseasamhacht n-ár sinnsear chun leanamhaint leó go treun les na céadta bliadhain gcoinnibh tíoránachta gan truagh gan taise: agus de bhrigh gur móide an neart an ceart a bheith againn san troid d'fhágadar mar oighreacht againn, aithchuingimiíd ar Dhia A bheannacht do bhronnadh orainn I gcóir an treasa deiridh den chomhrac go bfhuilmid fé gheasaibh leanmhaint do go dtí go mbainfeam amach an tsaoirse.
Whereas the Irish people is by right a free people:
And Whereas for seven hundred years the Irish people has never ceased to repudiate and has repeatedly protested in arms against foreign usurpation:
And Whereas English rule in this country is, and always has been, based upon force and fraud and maintained by military occupation against the declared will of the people:
And Whereas the Irish Republic was proclaimed in Dublin on Easter Monday, 1916, by the Irish Republican Army acting on behalf of the Irish people:
And Whereas the Irish people is resolved to secure and maintain its complete independence in order to promote the common weal, to re-establish justice, to provide for future defence, to insure peace at home and goodwill with all nations and to constitute a national polity based upon the people's will with equal right and equal opportunity for every citizen:
And Whereas at the threshold of a new era in history the Irish electorate has in the General Election of December, 1918, seized the first occasion to declare by an overwhelming majority its firm allegiance to the Irish Republic:
Now, therefore, we, the elected Representatives of the ancient Irish people in National Parliament assembled, do, in the name of the Irish nation, ratify the establishment of the Irish Republic and pledge ourselves and our people to make this declaration effective by every means at our command:
We ordain that the elected Representatives of the Irish people alone have power to make laws binding on the people of Ireland, and that the Irish Parliament is the only Parliament to which that people will give its allegiance:
We solemnly declare foreign government in Ireland to be an invasion of our national right which we will never tolerate, and we demand the evacuation of our country by the English Garrison:
We claim for our national independence the recognition and support of every free nation in the world, and we proclaim that independence to be a condition precedent to international peace hereafter:
In the name of the Irish people we humbly commit our destiny to Almighty God who gave our fathers the courage and determination to persevere through long centuries of a ruthless tyranny, and strong in the justice of the cause which they have handed down to us, we ask His divine blessing on this the last stage of the struggle we have pledged ourselves to carry through to Freedom.
The short constitution, which was the constitution for the Dail, rather than the country, read:
Article 1
All legislative powers shall be vested in Dail Eireann, composing of Deputies, elected by the Irish people from the existing Irish Parliamentary constituencies.
Article 2
- (a) All executive powers shall be vested in the members, for the time being, of the Ministry.
- (b) The Ministry shall consist of a President of the Ministry, elected by Dail Eireann, and four Executive Officers, viz.;
- A Secretary of Finance
- A Secretary of Home Affairs
- A Secretary of Foreign Affairs
- A Secretary of National Defence
- each of whom the President shall nominate and have power to dismiss.
- (c) Every member of the Ministry shall be a member of Dail Eireann, and shall at all times be responsible to the Dail.
- (d) At the first meeting of Dail Eireann after their nomination by the President, the names of the Executive Officers shall be separately submitted to Dail Eireann for approval.
- (e) The appointment of the President shall date from his election, and the appointment of each Executive Officer from the date of the approval by the Dail of his nomination.
- (f) The Ministry or any member thereof may at any time be removed by vote of the Dail upon motion for that specific purpose, provided that at least seven days notice in writing of that motion shall have been given.
Article 3
A Chairman elected annually by the Dail, and in his absence a Deputy Chairman so elected, shall preside at all meetings of Dail Eireann. Only members of the Dail shall be eligible for these offices. In case of the absence of the Chairman and Deputy Chairman the Dail shall fill the vacancies or elect a temporary Chairman.
Article 4
All monies required by the Ministry shall be obtained on vote of the Dail. The Ministry shall be responsible to the Dail for all monies so obtained, and shall present properly audited accounts for the expenditure of the same -twice yearly- in the months of May and November. The audit shall be conducted by an Auditor or Auditors appointed by the Dail. No member of the Dail shall be eligible for such appointment.
Article 5
This Constitution is provisional and is liable to alteration upon seven days written notice of motion for that specific purpose.This is a translation of course. The Irish text, which can be translated slightly differently (apparently. . . I don't speak Irish Gaelic) is as follows:
AN CHEUD ALT.
Beidh iomlán comhachta chun dlighthe dheunamh ag Dáil Éireann agus isé bheidh san Dáil ná teachtaí toghtha ag muintir na hÉireann ó sna dáilcheanntair atá san tír fé láthair.
AN DARA hALT.
1. Beidh iomlán comhachta gnímh éan tráth aca so a bheidh I bhfeadhmannus san Aireacht an tráth soin.
2. Isé bheidh san Aireacht ná Príomh-aireach, toghtha ag Dáil Éireann, agus ceathrar Aireach eile, eadhon:
- Aireach Airgid.
- Aireach Gnóthaí Dúthchais.
- Aireach Gnóthaí Coigcríoch.
Isé an Príomh-Aireach ainmneochaidh an ceathrar Aireach eile, agus beidh de chomhacht aige iad do chur as feadhmannus.
- Aireach Cosanta
3. Is éigean do gach Aireach bheith n-a Theachta san Dáil agus beidh sé freagarthach I gcomhnuidhe don Dáil.
4. Is éigean ainmneacha na nAireach do chur fé bhrághaid na Dála ag an gceud thionól taréis don Phríomh-Aireach a n-ainmniughadh, I gcóir a ndeimhnighthe.
5. Beidh an príomh-Aireach I bhfeadhmannus chomh luath is a thoghfar é, agus beidh na hAirigh eile I bhfeadhmannus chomh luath agus a dheimhneóchaidh an Dáil a n-ainmneacha.
6. Is féidir don Dáil an Aireacht nó éan duine desna hAirigh do chur as feadhmhannus le neart bhótaí má chuirtear foláramh rúin fé scríbhinn d'éan toisc chuige sin isteach seacht lá roimh ré.
AN TRÍOMHADH ALT.
Ceann Comhairle toghtha ag an Dáil I naghaidh na bliadhna, nó Ceann Ionaid toghtha I naghaidh na bliadhna, muna mbíonn an Ceann Comhailre I láthair, a bheidh I gceannas gach tionóil den Dáil. Ní bheidh I gceannas infheadhma I gcóir na n-ionad so acht Teachtaí de'n Dáil. Má bhíonn an Ceann Comhairle agus an Ceann Ionaid as láthair, ceapfaidh an Dáil lucht ionaid nó toghfaidh siad Ceann Comhairle sealadach.
AN CEATHRAMHADH ALT.
Gheobhaidh an tAireach pé airgead bheidh uaidh de bhárr bhóta na Dála. Beidh an tAireach freagarthach don Dáil san airgead a gheobhfar mar sin agus leagfaidh sé cúntaisí mionscrúduighthe ar chaitheamh an airgid fé bhrághaid na Dála dhá uair sa bhliadhain - um Shamhain is um Bealtaine. Scrúdaidhe nó Scrúdaidhthe toghtha ag an Dáil a dheunfaidh an mionscrúdadh. Ní féidir éin Teachta den Dáil do thoghadh mar Scrúdaidhe.
AN CÚIGMHADH ALT.
The text of the Dail's Message to the Free Nations of the World read:Bunreacht sealadach é seo agus is féidir é d'atharughadh ach foláramh fé scríbhinn do thabhairt d'éan toisc chuige sin, seacht lá roimh ré.
To the Nations of the World—Greeting
The Nation of Ireland having proclaimed her national independence, calls, through her elected representatives in Parliament assembled in the Irish Capital on January 21, 1919, upon every free nation to support the Irish Republic by recognising Ireland's national status and her right to its vindication at the Peace Congress.
Naturally, the race, the language, the customs and traditions of Ireland are radically distinct from the English. Ireland is one of the most ancient nations in Europe, and she has preserved her national integrity, vigorous and intact, through seven centuries of foreign oppression; she has never relinquished her national rights, and throughout the long era of English usurpation she has in every generation defiantly proclaimed her inalienable right of nationhood down to her last glorious resort to arms in 1916.
Internationally, Ireland is the gateway to the Atlantic; Ireland is the last outpost of Europe towards the West; Ireland is the point upon which great trade routes between East and West converge; her independence is demanded by the Freedom of the Seas; her great harbours must be open to all nations, instead of being the monopoly of England. To-day these harbours are empty and idle solely because English policy is determined to retain Ireland as a barren bulwark for English aggrandisement, and the unique geographical position of this island, far from being a benefit and safeguard to Europe and America, is subjected to the purposes of England's policy of world domination.
Ireland to-day reasserts her historic nationhood the more confidently before the new world emerging from the war, because she believes in freedom and justice as the fundamental principles of international law; because she believes in a frank co-operation between the peoples for equal rights against the vested privileges of ancient tyrannies; because the permanent peace of Europe can never be secured by perpetuating military dominion for the profit of empire but only by establishing the control of government in every land upon the basis of the free will of a free people, and the existing state of war, between Ireland and England, can never be ended until Ireland is definitely evacuated by the armed forces of England.
For these among other reasons, Ireland—resolutely and irrevocably determined at the dawn of the promised era of self-determination and liberty that she will suffer foreign dominion no longer—calls upon every free nation to uphold her national claim to complete independence as an Irish Republic against the arrogant pretensions of England founded in fraud and sustained only by an overwhelming military occupation, and demands to be confronted publicly with England at the Congress of the Nations, that the civilised world having judged between English wrong and Irish right may guarantee to Ireland its permanent support for the maintenance of her national independence.
Of interest, the message to the free nations of the world specifically referenced the "Peace Congress", i.e., the Paris Peace Conference. Put in this context, the declaration and the message were calling upon the democratic nations of the world to put their values to the test, which presented a difficult argument for the British in particular in some ways, as the point could hardly be ignored or rejected.
This sort of problem was one that was going to reoccur again and again for those gathered in Paris. While various European nations (but not the Irish) would be able to advance their claims for independence from ancient empires, overseas colonies of European nations wouldn't find seats at the table. There were quite a few that would have liked to have had them, and some did better than others. Be that as it may, European nations weren't acting like the Age of Empire was over, even though the sun was clearly setting on that age.
As for Ireland, the Irish question would launch the United Kingdom into a war that had many unseemly and dirty features on both sides and which came immediately after the Great War, in which Irish troops had fought heroically for the United Kingdom. The entire situation was murky in the extreme in that the Irish themselves never gave their unqualified backing to independence in-spite of having seated a pro independence majority for the English Parliament which was clearly going to pursue full independence. As recently as 1916 such moves had clearly not received the support of the majority of Irish sympathies and even in 1919 it was entirely clear exactly what the Irish electorate wanted, as the results of the subsequent war and peace negotiations would demonstrate. The English, for their part, proved to be less yielding than might have been imagined for one reason or another, all of which suggests that the Irish and the English were grasping, for the most part, for some ground between home rule and independence, with dominion status ultimately agreed upon for at time.
Even at that, this story in some ways has failed to fully play out. The Irish, undoubtedly a separate people with a separate but nearby homeland, had, as the Dail's declaration pointed out, endured 700 years of English occupation. But they had in turn been very heavily influenced by the English during that period, as their cousins the Scots had been. In some ways their national character came to be defined by steadfastly not being English in whatever they could refuse to be English in. Their early independence would see the new nation overemphasize that in numerous ways that came back to haunt the country later, and then when it achieved economic power in later years it came to loose much of its identity in the rush to gain what it perceived it had lost to the extent that Ireland today is a rather poor reflection of what it once was, now being a nation that's much less Irish and much more one of the United Kingdom's angry teenage children, with a parent that's not concerned that much about the child that moved out of the house.
Speaking of the rise and fall of Empires and trying to wrest free from them, Korea's only real modern Emperor, out of power, died on this day in 1919.
This sort of problem was one that was going to reoccur again and again for those gathered in Paris. While various European nations (but not the Irish) would be able to advance their claims for independence from ancient empires, overseas colonies of European nations wouldn't find seats at the table. There were quite a few that would have liked to have had them, and some did better than others. Be that as it may, European nations weren't acting like the Age of Empire was over, even though the sun was clearly setting on that age.
As for Ireland, the Irish question would launch the United Kingdom into a war that had many unseemly and dirty features on both sides and which came immediately after the Great War, in which Irish troops had fought heroically for the United Kingdom. The entire situation was murky in the extreme in that the Irish themselves never gave their unqualified backing to independence in-spite of having seated a pro independence majority for the English Parliament which was clearly going to pursue full independence. As recently as 1916 such moves had clearly not received the support of the majority of Irish sympathies and even in 1919 it was entirely clear exactly what the Irish electorate wanted, as the results of the subsequent war and peace negotiations would demonstrate. The English, for their part, proved to be less yielding than might have been imagined for one reason or another, all of which suggests that the Irish and the English were grasping, for the most part, for some ground between home rule and independence, with dominion status ultimately agreed upon for at time.
Even at that, this story in some ways has failed to fully play out. The Irish, undoubtedly a separate people with a separate but nearby homeland, had, as the Dail's declaration pointed out, endured 700 years of English occupation. But they had in turn been very heavily influenced by the English during that period, as their cousins the Scots had been. In some ways their national character came to be defined by steadfastly not being English in whatever they could refuse to be English in. Their early independence would see the new nation overemphasize that in numerous ways that came back to haunt the country later, and then when it achieved economic power in later years it came to loose much of its identity in the rush to gain what it perceived it had lost to the extent that Ireland today is a rather poor reflection of what it once was, now being a nation that's much less Irish and much more one of the United Kingdom's angry teenage children, with a parent that's not concerned that much about the child that moved out of the house.
Speaking of the rise and fall of Empires and trying to wrest free from them, Korea's only real modern Emperor, out of power, died on this day in 1919.
Elsewhere, Gojong of Korea (고종; 高宗;), the Emperor Gwangmu, Korea's First Emperor (광무제; 光武帝;) died under mysterious circumstances that are still somewhat debated, although at age 66 he was not at an age where death and failure to detect its arrival were really uncommon by any means.
He had abdicated in 1910 due to Japan absorbing Korea into its empire following the Russo Japanese War. Gojong had declared an empire in the first place to attempt to separate Korea from Chinese influence, but the result was ultimately unsuccessful as his nation ended up being absorbed into the expanding Japanese Empire, which resulted in his abdication.
There was really nothing that Korea could do about this itself and there was nobody the Koreans could turn to. The fate of small Asian nations sandwiched between the rising Japanese Empire, Russia and China was not one that any western nation was going to bother taking up, and the only anti colonial power in the region was the United States, which had no association with Korea of any kind at that point in history. The great Korean tragedy was about to begin.
There was really nothing that Korea could do about this itself and there was nobody the Koreans could turn to. The fate of small Asian nations sandwiched between the rising Japanese Empire, Russia and China was not one that any western nation was going to bother taking up, and the only anti colonial power in the region was the United States, which had no association with Korea of any kind at that point in history. The great Korean tragedy was about to begin.
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