|
Limerick
bishop refused to bow to British military orders
Bishop Thomas O'Dwyer tells British Army Commander to get
lost.
In the lead up and after the 1916 Easter Rising, the Irish
bishops were reluctant to stand up to the British government
or their military advisers. But, as Padraig O Cuanachain,
writes, the Bishop of Limerick, Thomas O’Dwyer, was
not among themWhen I am finished, there will not be a whisper
of sedition in Ireland for another 100 years, boasted General
Sir John Maxwell, KCB, KCMG, CVO, DSO, the new commander
of the British forces in Ireland, when he arrived in Dublin
on Friday of Easter Week.
He promptly set about achieving this by establishing court
martials and execution of the 15 of the leaders and long
terms of imprisonment for scores of others.
Over 2000 insurgents and suspects were deported and interned
in English jails.
Maxwell’s record in the British army was horrific.
He had served in Egypt with Field Marshall Kitchener, the
“Butcher of Khartoum” and while there he was involved
in atrocities against Civilians and prisoners of war.
As a senior general in the Boer War he was fully aware of
he appalling sufferings of Boer women and children and native
Africans, held prisoner in concentration camps without adequate
supplies of food and medicine - a policy openly condemned
by many decent English people, including MPs. Bishop Thomas
O’Dwyer viewed the proceedings after Easter Week with
horror and disdain. An energeticable, able and outspoken
man, a champion of the poor and especially their right to
decent living conditions, he was only a curate, aged 44,
when appointed Bishop of Limerick.
At the commencement of World War 1, he was the only bishop
to oppose the action of John Redmond and the Irish Parliamentary
Party, who, without authority from the Irish people, had
effectively declared war on Germany. While the Catholic
Bishops were praised by the British press for their contribution
to the war effort. Bishop Dwyer’s lenten pastoral in
1915 in which he denounced the war and the sufferings of
small nations caused consternation and he was attacked by
the jingoistic press in Ireland and England.
Obviously he, like James Connolly, understood the true nature
of the war, nothing to do with the freedom of small nations
but the crucifixion of the unfortunate working classes of
Europe at the behest of the royal freebooters and metropolitan
thieves in the capitals of Europe squabbling among themselves
for power and colonies.
After a vicious mob attacks in Liverpool on a number of
Irish emigrants en route to America, the Bishop wrote scathingly.
“Their crime is that they are not ready to die for
England. Why should they? What have they or their forbears
got from England, they they should die for? It is England’s
war, not Irelands.”
General Maxwell wrote to various Bishops directing them
to remove suspect priests from the active ministry. But
he picked the wrong man in Bishop O’Dwyer when he named
two priests in his Diocese who had preached against the
dangers of conscription and whom the general regarded as
being a dangerous menace to the peace and safety of the
realm.
“You appeal to me to help you in furtherance of your
as military dictator of Ireland. Even if action of that
kind was not outside my province, the events of the past
few weeks would make it impossible for me to have any part
in proceedings” which I regard as wantingly cruel and
oppressive. And then embarrassingly, he raised the ghost
of a truly shocking act of blackguardism involving a group
of army officers, believed to include Maxwell.
“You remember the Jameson Raid when a number of buccaneers
invaded a friendly state and fought the forces of the lawful
government. If ever men deserved the supreme punishment
it was they, but the influence of the British government
was used to save them and it succeeded.”
O’Dwyer continued, “you took care that no pleas
for mercy should interpose on behalf of the poor young fellows
who surrendered to you in Dublin. The first information
which we got of their fate was the announcement that they
had been shot in cold blood. Personally, I regard your action
with horror and I believe that it has outraged the conscience
of the country. Your regime has been one of the worst and
blackest chapters in the history of the mis-government of
the country.”
His stand against Maxwell inspired ordinary people who,
despite British war propaganda, were stirred by the sacrifices
of Pearse and Connolly and it gave leadership to the nation
when most needed. He like the 1916 leaders, set in train
a series of events that led not alone to the demise of the
British empire but to all other empires also. For that humanity
is very much in their debt.
What a tragedy that Bishop Dwyer did not live to see the
victory of the Irish people in resisting British treats
to impose conscription, or the 1918 election when the Irish
people gave an overwhelming majority of support to Sinn
Fein and the subsequent declaration of an independent Irish
republic.
The behaviour of the Catholic Church Bishops during the
centuries of British occupation was a scandal and gravely
damaged religion.
British money endowed Maynooth, lecturers and students had
to swear an oath of allegiance to the British morarch well
into the 19th century.
The Bishops with some honourable exceptions, could always
be called upon to back Britain by excommunicating United
Irishmen, the Fenians and those who stood for Irish Independence
and social justice. But never once did they denounce the
corrupt junta in London who degraded their own as well as
the Irish people and who, without any democratic mandate,
engaged in worldwide military ventures that enslaved and
exterminated millions of unfortunate coloured people.
But Bishop O’Dwyer, a courageous and patriotic man,
redeemed the Irish Church from many shames and for that
he deserves recognition and an honourable place in its history.
Leaba i measc na Naomh go raibh aige.
Bishop's
letter to Maxwell
Sir,
I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter of 12st instant
which has been forwarded to me here.
I have read carefully you allegations against Rev. and Rev.
but do not see in them any justification for disciplinary
action on my part. They are both excellent priests, who
hold strong national views, but I do not know that they
have violated any law civil or ecclesiastical.
In your letter of the 6th instant you appealed to me to
help you in the furtherance of your work as a military dictator
of Ireland. Even if action of that kind was not outside
my province, the events of the past few weeks would make
it impossible for me to have any part in proceedings which
I regard as wantonly cruel and oppressive.
You remember the Jameson raid, when a number of buccaneers
invaded a friendly state and fought the forces of the lawful
government. If ever men deserved the supreme punishment
it was they, but officially and unofficially, the influence
of the British government was used to save them and it succeeded.
You took care that no plea for mercy should interpose on
behalf of the poor young fellows who surrendered to you
in Dublin. The first information which we got of their fate
was the announcement that they had been shot in cold blood.
Personally, I regard your action with horror, and I believe
that it has outraged the conscience of the country. Then
the deporting of hundreds and even thousands of poor fellows
without a trial of any kind seems to me an abuse of power
as fatuous as it is arbitrary and your regime has been one
of the worst and blackest chapters in the history of misgovernment
of the country. I have the honour to be Sir your obedient
servant.
Edward Thomas, Bishop of Limerick
To General Sir J.G Maxwell,
Commander-in-Chief, the forces in Ireland
- Courtesy of the Limerick Leader
|
