Part 3 OF MY IRISH ITENARY...FOLLOWING THE MICHAEL COLLINS TRAIL

What bona fide Cymric Patriot and Republican can visit Ireland without a visit to Michael Collins country and the important sites associated with Michael Collins's life and the Irish struggle, and following on my attendance of the Bordestown Wolfe Tone commemoration, an itenary of Michael Collins's country was a 'must do' for me.

All Cymric patriots should be familiar with Irish history and the history of the Irish struggle since Irish history has been a mirror of our own Cymric history since the times of the Roman qonquest of Britain and then, was further linked through centuries of migration, trade and pararell social and cultural struggles.

Following the collapse of the Owain Glyndŵr War of Independence and the Acts of Annexation passed by Henry Tudor, which reduced the majority of Cymry (apart from a handful of 'Uchelwyr, bards and clerics that had 'sold out' in order to get positions in the new regime) to being second-class citizens, living under suppression and in extreme povety in their own land, the Cymry had given up fighting for a Cymru Rydd. Yes, pockets of socioeconomic rebellions would arise such as the Merthyr Riots of 1831, the Newport Rising of 1839, the Rebecca Riots (1839 - 1843) the Tithe Wars 1886 - 1891 and the Penrhyn Strike and,during the period mentioned, such conflicts were taking place in Ireland as well but in Ireland, such resulted in the formation of the Land league, a national movement, founded in Castlebar in County Mayo on October 21, 1879. The Land League was established to organize tenant farmers to resist evictions und unfair "rack rents, its ultimate goal was to abolish landlordism and enable tenant farmers to own the land they worked. This is where the parallels between Ireland and Cymru change. In Ireland, despite the cruel impact of the Cromwellian Civil War which crushed the Irish nation in so many ways, the Irish 'never' gave up fighting for their nationhood and their people. Theobald Wolfe Tone established the Society of United Irishmen in 1791, his aim was to unite Catholics, Protestants and all Irish Dissenters to destroy British rule in Ireland and establish an Independent, democratic irish republic.

in Cymru, In contrast, following on the 'imposed' Acts of Annexation' and, although there were periods of unrest, as forementioned, we did not have a national leader, such as Wolfe Tone to unite and lead the oppressed, and to establish a national society that would 'fight back' against English rule in Cymru. Had we had a Wolfe Tone, our history might be very different today but, post Owain Glyndwr, we didn't have any Cymric person of that calibre to lead a renewed fight for Cymric freedom at that crucial time in our history and, until the 1960's, I can truly state, that nobody did step forward in Cymru 'to light the torch and strike' for National Cymric freedom - and even then, in the 1960's, 70's and 80's of the 20th century, the militant fighting for Cymric freedom had been left to a minority who understood, that marching the streets of Cymru with banners, in itself, was futile and would not get us one step nearer achieving our Independence. The English State and its Royalty don't bat an eyelid when it comes to peaceful protest marches, it doesn't cost them money does it.

Since the death of Wolfe Tone and the fall of the United Irishmen Society, Irish Reublicans have never submitted to British rule, After the United Irishmen, came the Fenians and the IRB (The Irish Republican Brotherhood) who organised the 1916 Easter Rebellion, and who then evolved into the original IRA (Irish Republican Army) who fought a guerrilla war against Britain between 1919 - 1921 and, ultimately, they forced the British to come to the negotiating table.

Michael Collins was a very prominant figure in this period of Irish history, he was amongst those arrested during the aftermath of the Easter Uprising and was one of the prisoners sent to the Fron Goch prison camp, just outside Bala in Gwynedd, Gogledd Cymru.

For those who are not familiar with the history of Irish P.O.W's. interned at Fron Goch and wish to learn more, two excellent books to read are 'Frongoch University of Revolution' by Sean O' Mahoney (see below)

and, With the Irish in Frongoch by Brennan Whitmore (see below)

There is also an excellent website entitled 'Frongoch Wales - a unique place in Irish history'. Look it up and should you wish to visit the Museum at Fron Goch, contact the volunteer curator there Alwyn Jones, tel:07854 504619 (he lives in the house opposite the museum) Alwyn has. passionately spent years of labour of love in turning one of the original prisoner huts into a musum full of the history and artifacts relating to the period of the 1916 uprising and the prisoners that were imprisoned at the camp. Its well worth a visit and donations to pay for improvements to the visitor experience to the site are always welcomed and appreciated.

We have also given most of Gethin's books on the Irish Struggle to the Frongoch museum so, I'm sure Alwyn will be happy for you to have a browse through them during your visit.

Now to get on with my itenary trip into Michael Collins couuntry.

Michael Collins as every Cymric and Irish patriot must know was born on the family farm juust outside the town of Clonakilty in County Cork. He was schooled locally and during his early teens, lived with his sister and her husband on Emmet Square.

During my visit to Clonakilty, I immediately noticed how the streets were named after figures that had been prominent in the Irish struggle; there was Wolfe Tone St which Led onto Pearse Street, Emmet Sguare and Connelly St which leads on to Rossa St, then there was Clarke St and Casement St. Where in Cymru would you find one town that respected the revolutinary heroes of Cymru in this way ? The answer is 'nowhere'

In Cymric towns, you will come across streets named after members of the English royals and English politicians, such as Whinston Churchill and Lloyd George, the two villains who were the architecs of the infamous Anglo Irish treaty which ended the War of Independence and established the Irish Free State as a self -governing Dominion within the British Empire, but, you will need to dig very deep to find any streets named after Cymric revolutinary leaders of any period - even our greatest of all warrior princes Tywysog Owain Glyndŵr! Why is that do you think, are the 'powers that be' that decide on street names ashamed of our Cymric revolutinaries, will we ever see streets named after Edward Morgan, leader of the Scotch cattle who led the struggle against Miner's rights and was executed or, Lewsyn yr Heliwr who was transported for his leading part in the Merthyr Riots or, will we ever see streets named after John Jenkins leader of Mudiad Amddiffyn Cymru or of Alwyn Jones or George Taylor, the Abergele Martyrs? I don't think so.

Anyway, back to my itenary of the Michael Collins trail.

When he was 16 yrs old, Michael left Clonakilty for London and got work in the British Civil Service there but, he had also become heavily involved in the Irish Republican movement and by 1915, he had returned to Ireland to take part in the rebellion and took part in the 1916 Easter Rising - which failed for a number of reasons, but mainly because the British empire was so much better equipped for war and could send war ships along the Liffey to bomb the city of Dublin to smithereens - which they did.

Following the surrender, Michael was amongst the prisoners that was sent to Frongoch, he was not a leading figure in the movement at that stage but by the time the prisoners had been released a couple of years later, Michael emerged as one of the key players in the formation of the new revolutinary Irish government Dail Eireann and served as Minister of Finance. At the same time, he was also an important military figure carrying out a querrilla war against British Crown forces until the truce was finally called in 1921.

Despite his pleadings, De Valera was insistent that Michael had to follow orders and lead the delegation that travelled to London to negotiate the peace treaty, Michael is quoted to have said at the time...

"To me the task is a loathsome one. I go, I go in the spirit of a soldier who acts against his best judgement at the orders of his superior."

Of course, we all know the outcome, Michael was forced to bring back something out of the negotiations, he knew only too well that what was on offer was not what the Irish Republican Movement wanted, but Lloyd George made it clear that if the Irish delegation refused to sign, then Britain would wage an immediate and terrible war on Ireland and that those who refused to sign would have to take responsibility for the bloodshed and destruction of a new conflict.

The enforced signing of the treaty led to civil war between Republicans, that would not accept less than a full Republic, and the new Free Staters and as leader of the delegation who signed the treaty, Michael immediately became a target and within eight and a half months, he was shot dead in an ambush at a place called Beal na Blath by a Republican hit squad that had, before the civil war, been his comrades. He was 31 yrs old,

I wished to place a wreath at the foot of the memorial at Beal na Blath on behalf of Cymru for this great Irish patriot, and after a long car ride along back lanes which took us up and down a number of mountains we finally found the spot and I was able to lay the wreath. Although the memorial is at the side of a main road, it is a very quiet main road, no traffic passed during the time we were there - which was a while. As I stood by the memorial I looked up at the hills on both sides of the road and sadly reflected on the republicans up there, waiting poised with rifles in hand, for the appearance of a great leader and patriot so that they could open fire and shoot him dead, and I wondered on their thoughts throughout their lifes after that dastardly deed was done. Were they to reflect as to the consequences for Irish freedom because of what they had done? Did they realise that by executing Michael Collins, they had carried out the work of the British State by getting rid of that one man that the British State considered a danger to that British State who still had its hold on Northern Ireland following on the signing of that treaty?

I finally whispered my goodbye to Michael Collins and sadly left the site but, hopefully, will return again one day soon and I hope that other Cymric patriots and Republicans will also follow the trail and pay their respect at the Michael Collins Memorial at Beal na Blath.

Below are pics that we took as we visited the various places associated with Michael Collins.

The Michael Collins Museum;

This is a very well constructed and well run museum that is on 3 floors of a Georgian house in Emmet Square It has exhibition boards on every bit of knowlege you need to know about the 'Big Fella' and has audio visual interpretations and many artifacts belonging to michael and to the period. A must to visit.