Liam Mellows. Conor McNamara
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LIAM
MELLOWS
Dr Conor McNamara has written extensively about the history of the Irish revolution and rural society. He was previously a winner of the National Library of Ireland, History Fellowship (2009) and was awarded the 1916 Scholar in Residence at NUI Galway (2015–17). He was a Moore Institute, NUI Galway, Visiting Fellow (2017) and this is his fifth publication.
LIAM
MELLOWS
Soldier of the Irish Republic
SELECTED WRITINGS
1914–1922
Conor McNamara
First published in 2019 by
Irish Academic Press
10 George’s Street
Newbridge
Co. Kildare
Ireland
© Conor McNamara, 2019
9781788550789 (Paper)
9781788550796 (Kindle)
9781788550802 (Epub)
9781788550819 (PDF)
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
An entry can be found on request
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
An entry can be found on request
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved alone, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
Typeset in Adobe Caslon Pro 11/14 pt
Cover front: Liam Mellows portrait taken in the United States, circa 1919 (National Library of Ireland, NPA LME); Irish Republican leaders, NYC (1919): Harry Boland, Liam Mellows, Éamon de Valera, Patrick McCartan and Diarmuid Lynch standing, John Devoy seated (National Library of Ireland, NPA RPH6); Howth Gun Running, 1914 (National Library of Ireland); Four Courts bombardment (National Library of Ireland).
Cover back: Irish Volunteers, US postcard (National Library of Ireland).
Contents
Chapter 1. Behold the Mysteries of Faith: Liam Mellows, A Life in Search of the Heroic
Chapter 2. ‘Real live, earnest Irish rebel boys’, History of Na Fianna Éireann (1917)
Chapter 3. Re-imagining Insurrection, ‘The True Story of the Galway Insurrection’ (1917)
Chapter 4. ‘A cause that is as great as that of any race’, American Speeches, 1917–20
Chapter 5. ‘I have not fought for that Treaty’, Dáil Éireann Contributions, 1921–2
Chapter 6. ‘The Irish Republic is the People’s Republic’, Civil War Writings, 1922
Chapter 7. ‘I don’t care about myself. Work on and hope on’, Letters, 1917–22
Chapter 8. ‘I die for the truth. Life is only for a little while’, Final Letters, 1922
Epilogue: The Battle for the Soul of Liam Mellows
Endnotes
Select Bibliography
Index
Index of Writings
Chapter 2. ‘Real live, earnest Irish rebel boys’, History of Na Fianna Éireann (1917)
1. The History of the Irish Boy Scouts (1917)
Chapter 3. Re-imagining Insurrection, ‘The True Story of the Galway Insurrection’ (1917)
1. The True Story of the Galway Insurrection (1917)
Chapter 4. ‘A cause that is as great as that of any race’, American Speeches, 1917–20
1. ‘This country remains under a stigma’, Hibernian Hall, Roxbury, Boston, 1 April 1918
2. ‘A cause that is as great as that of any race’, Washburn Theatre, Chester, Pennsylvania, 23 April 1918
3. ‘Let America speak now on behalf of Ireland’, Irish Race Convention, Central Opera House, New York, 18–19 May 1918
4. ‘Irish people have left in them some remnants of a soul’, Central Opera House, New York, 29 June 1918
5. ‘The greatest moral cowards on earth’, Madison Square Garden, New York, 21 September 1918
6. ‘There is still autocracy to reckon with’, Maennerchor Hall, New York, 19 November 1918
7. ‘Never in the whole history of Ireland has there been such a time’, Central Opera House, New York, 5 January 1919
Chapter 5. ‘I have not fought for that Treaty’, Dáil Éireann Contributions, 1921–2
1. ‘I have not fought for that Treaty’, Dáil Éireann, 17 December 1921
2. ‘We do not want peace with dishonour’, Dáil Éireann, 4 January 1922
Chapter 6. ‘The Irish Republic is the People’s Republic’, Civil War Writings, 1922
1. ‘We will continue the struggle’, Bodenstown, Co. Kildare, 20 June 1922
2. ‘The Irish Republic is the People’s Republic’, Workers’ Republic, 22 July 1922
3. ‘The “stake in the country people” were never with the Republic’, Mountjoy Jail, 26 August 1922
4. ‘The necessity of getting the Provisional Republican Government established’, Mountjoy Jail, 29 August 1922
5. ‘Where is the government of the Republic?’, Mountjoy Jail, 11 September 1922
Chapter 7. ‘I don’t care about myself. Work on and hope on’, Letters, 1917–22
Letters from the United States, 1917–20
1. ‘Cant, hypocrisy and big talk’, to Barney Mellows, 4 November 1917
2. ‘I am a citizen of the Irish Republic’, to NYC Draft Board, 9 January 1918
3. ‘I have failed lamentably’, to Miss Herbert, New Jersey, 10 February 1919
4. ‘The Cause comes first’, to Patrick McCartan, 28 February 1920
5. ‘Content to remain a slave?’, to the Jordan Family, Co. Wexford, 19 March 1920
Letters to the Irish-American