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February: The British Government's Dublin Castle stronghold (The Devil's 1/2 Acre), now tried to demoralise all of the Irish forces by putting out a false report that they had successfully killed or wounded Michael Collins, during an attack being carried out on the Roscarbery Barracks by the Irish Volunteers / I.R.A.

Desmond Fitz Gerald, the Irish Director of Propaganda, had previously been arrested, so Eamonn de Valera announced to the Dail Eireann Cabinet that he had personally appointed Erskine Childers, who was also a non - Catholic Englishman, to the position of Director of Publicity. He was to be a civil service head only, for whom he personally would be responsible, but his appointment bought forward strong protests from the Dail Eireann Cabinet especially from Sean Mac Entee, (Peter Beasley / Piaras Beaslaoi, a member of the G.H.Q. Staff also acted as the Press Officer of the Irish Volunteers / I.R.A and organized interviews for Eammon de Valera to begin his publicity campaign.) Despite the objections to him personally, Erskine Childers, as an Englishman, understood the English mind and was to ensure as much as it was possible that the Irish facts and point of view, was at times at least received positively in England. Robert Barton, also a non - Catholic and another member of the 1st Dail Eireann at this time, was still also being held in the Portland Prison in England by the British Government, just for being a member of the political Sinn Fein Party. The members of the 1st Irish Dail Eireann / 1st Irish Assembly now took over the responsibility for the Irish Volunteers, who now became officially known as the Irish Republican Army.

February 2nd: On this day, Michael Collins signed an 11 point Agreement with James Craig the leader of the Official Unionists, to try and protect the Irish population in the 6 Counties Artificially Partitioned from the 9 in the Ulster Province, also still under British Government control, but it was only to last for a week, until the Ascendancy Official Unionists there, were given "Special Powers" by the British Government.

February: The Longford Irish Volunteers / Irish Republican Army under the control of their commander, Sean Mac Eoin, in Co. Longford in the north - west of Northern Leinster, attacked a 20 British Government Military force at Ballina, where they killed 3 of their forces there, and wounded another 12.

February 22nd: Another 3 British Government Forces were killed at Woodford in Co. Galway in Southern Connacht.

February 23rd: The British Government Essex Regiment, came under attack by the Irish Republican Army, and some of their Military Forces were killed.

March: With their usual inhumane stupidity the British Imperial Government, proceeded to hang Patrick Moran and Thomas Whelan, along with 4 other Irish men for High Treason, and thousands of Irish men and women, lined up outside the prison to pray for them after the British Government brought in their hangman a Mr. Ellis all the way from England in a tank, and removed him the same way, after he had carried out this terrible negative policy for them.

March 5th: Colonel Cummings, one of the British commanders, was killed by the Irish Republican Army at Clonbannin in Co. Cork in Southern Munster, along with 4 other British Government Military Forces, during a conflict there.

March 7th: George Clancy, the Mayor of Limerick and Michael O Callaghan the previous Mayor of Limerick in Co. Limerick in the mid - west of the Munster Province, were also murdered in their homes in front of their wives by the British Government Forces, and Joseph O Donoghue who was an Irish Volunteer in Limerick was also murdered in his house, while David Lloyd - George the British Prime Minister, continued to infer in the British Parliament, that they were all being murdered by their own Irish people.

The British General Mac Ready, wanted to bring in British Martial Law all over Ireland, in an attempt to bring the rampant British Government's Dublin Castle R.I.C. / Black & Tans and their Auxiliary Officers, who were a law unto themselves, under his Military control, as he wanted to try and bring about some discipline in their ranks, but David Lloyd - George and the British Government refused his request. Instead he sent out letters to all the political Sinn Fein Party Clubs, advising them that the British Government's Military Forces would soon carry out "official reprisals," against the Irish population. British Government Military Forces were then sent to Middleton in Co. Cork in Southern Munster to destroy 6 homes there of purely innocent people, because they did not give any information to them of a previous raid carried out by the Irish Volunteers / Irish Republican Army, even though they personally had no such knowledge of that particular action.

March 11th: The 1st Dail Eireann / 1st Irish Assembly, met at Walter Cole's home again, were they repudiated the British Government's Census carried out on the people of Ireland, which then had to be abandoned by the British Government, who then insisted that all Irish householders must have a list, of all people who were presently living in their houses pasted to their doors, and all Irish doctors were instructed to report any wounded Irish man or women that they had treated, which they naturally all ignored. 6 of the Irish Volunteers / Irish Republican Army were captured in Co. Kerry in the south - west of the Munster Province, and the British Imperial Military Forces, with their usual brutality, cut out the tongue from one of them, cut the nose off another, the heart out of another, and battered the fourth man's head in until there bodies were unrecognizable. 2 Irish brothers from the west, were also found tied together in a bog with their legs nearly burnt off, and in Co. Meath in the south - east of Northern Leinster another young boy was tied to the back of a truck and dragged behind it until his body was actually torn to pieces and was spread all over the area.

The White Cross Association, set up in America, by Eamonn de Valera for the relief of distress in Ireland, was now also beginning to function, and Eammon de Valera now publicly laid claim to the Irish Volunteers as the Irish Republican Army, on behalf of the 1st Dail Eireann / 1st Irish Assembly, and stated that their ambushes were defensive actions taken by the Irish people themselves against theI continuing cruelty of the British Imperial Military Forces in Ireland.

March 14th: The British Government, now also executed 6 of the I.R.B. / Irish Republican Brotherhood prisoners, they now held in their English Prisons, and 20,000 Irish people in Dublin came out in a mass demonstration of support for them, and publicly prayed for their souls. Sean Mac Eoin, the commander of the Irish Republican Army's Longford Brigade, was captured in Co. Longford in the north - west of Northern Leinster, but he was still able to escape although he was wounded, but he was then retaken within a very short time. At this time Patrick Cahill, was the commander of the Co. Kerry No 1 Irish Republican Army Brigade, Oscar Traynor was the commander of the Irish Republican Army Dublin Brigade, and Liam Lynch was the commander of the Irish Republican Army 1st Southern Division. The British Government Military Forces were now blatantly carrying out their blatant terrorism on the Irish populations in the outer country areas, where they felt they would meet the least resistance, and many Irish women were visited during the nights, where they chopped off their hair, and they were also subjected to many indignities by the British Government Auxiliaries. Eileen Mac Grane / Mag Raighne, was one of these Irish women, who was also put before a British Court Martial and imprisoned, for having old letters from Michael Collins. Patrick Mac Mahon, the printer of the Young Ireland newspaper for Arthur Griffith, the acting - President of the 1st Dail Eireann / 1st Irish Assembly was sentenced to long term imprisonment, although he was not a well man, and the British Government extended the Curfew from 9 p.m. to 8.a.m.

+On to 1921 / 3 - April to May

Situated on the western bank of the Hunter River, midway between Muswellbrook and Denman the doorway to the Heart of Australia's "Horse Capital" in the Hunter Valley in New South Wales., Australia.

John & Sue Markham

RAINBOW FARMS 603 Roxburgh Road., Muswellbrook., 2333.

02 65 479 100 - Fax: 02 65 479 102 E - Mail: www.rainbowfarms@bigpond.com