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September: With the recent death of Michael Collins, General Richard Mulcahy the Commander of the Irish National Army, was hoping now that common sense would prevail, and in an attempt to end the hostility from the Anti - Treaty group, he met with the original Anti - Treaty leader, Eamonn de Valera at Dr. Farnan's in Merrion Square in Dublin, but once again, Eamonn de Valera still denied the Treaty. - Meanwhile, Liam Lynch as the Chief of Staff of the Anti - Treaty Irregular - IRA issued an order prohibiting any reprisals.

September 9th: William Thomas Cosgrave, the Chairman and Minister of Finance of the Irish Government came forward to create stability as the Chairman and the President of the 3rd Dail Eireann / Irish Assembly until 1923 and he founded the Cumann na nGaedheal Party to take office in the Irish Free State. He refused to try and make any further attempts at peace with Eamonn de Valera, who also now came out and denounced the Irish Government as a British tool, while the Irish Parliamentary Party, originally so strong, had by now totally disintegrated. The Irish Government now under William T. Cosgrave, authorised the Irish National Army to execute any prisoners carrying guns or attacking the Irish National Army troops on public or private property, and introduced the Emergency Powers Bill.

October 3rd: William T. Cosgrave as the Chairman of the Irish Government offered Amnesty to all of the Anti - Treaty IRA - Irregulars, as it was intended to begin Military Courts on October 15th and stated that if any IRA - Irregular operations occurred where there were any Anti - Treaty prisoners being held they could be executed. - Windham Thomas Wyndham Quin and William Butler Yeats were to become Senators in the Irish Free State, but the great old Labour stalwart, William O Brien, declined.

October: Meanwhile in England, David Lloyd - George the British Imperial Prime Minister was forced to resign over the debacle that had recently occurred in Turkey under his watch.

October 17th: The Irregular - IRA Army Executive met at Mrs. Nugent's house in Ballybacon, were Eammon de Valera now put forward a new proposal that they should set up a rival, Emergency Republican Government, with him as the President, although he now had no popular support in Ireland.

October 22nd: The Irish Catholic Bishops came out in support of the Irish Government and the proposed Irish Free State and denounced the Anti - Treaty Irregular - IRA.

November: An illegitimate Anti - Treaty IRA- Irregular rival Emergency Republican Government was now set up with Eammon de Valera as it's President, Austin Stack as their Minister for Finance, P.J. Rutledge as their Minister for Home Affairs, Sean T. O Kelly as their Minister for Local Government, Robert Barton as their Minister for Economic Affairs and Liam Mellows as their Minister of Defence, although he was still locked up in Mountjoy Jail, while Liam Lynch was to be their Chief of Staff and actually became responsible for their Defence.

November: 5 IRA - Irregulars were executed under the Irish Government orders, so Liam Lynch the IRA - Irregulars Chief of Staff issued an order to the IRA - Irregular's Dublin Brigades for 9 members of the Irish Government forces to also be executed, while another 2 Members of the Irish Parliament were to be captured. He also gave permission for the Commandant of the IRA - Irregular's 1st Dublin Brigade to deal with all those who had voted for the decree, and Eammon de Valera once again, did not disapprove of their actions. Following on from this another 2 of the IRA - Irregulars were executed by the Irish Government.

November 10th: Erskine Childers was arrested at Robert Barton's house in Amiamoe in Co. Wicklow in the south - east of Southern Leinster for issuing publicity in favour of the Anti - Treaty IRA - Irregulars, although he was not supposed to be engaged in the conflict, but he had been sent to Dublin by Liam Lynch the IRA - Irregulars Chief of Staff to serve the cause of the Anti - Treaty group.

November 17th: The last of the British Imperial Government Army forces were finally gone from Ireland, and the Irish Government began their Military Courts and 2 of the Pro - Treaty Deputies who had voted for the Military Court were then shot by the Anti - Treaty Irregular - IRA, including Sean Hales who was killed outright, while the other Deputy was only wounded. With the added death of Sean Hales, this immediately brought about the execution of 77 members of the IRA - Irregulars who had been previously condemned and the sudden shock of it all was to basically to bring about the end to the Irish Civil War. The Irregular - IRA now intended to kill all of the members of the 3rd Irish Dail Eireann on site.

November 24th: Erskine Childers, although defended by Michael Comyn, was also executed at Beggar's Bush Barracks for carrying a gun, (It had been originally given to him by Michael Collins for his protection.) Sean Lemass who was to be a future Prime Minister of Ireland who was a comrade also of Eamonn de Valera, and who had been opposed to the Treaty was also imprisoned.

December 3rd: An Agreement was signed to retain the Artificial Border, which divided the 6 Counties Artificially Partitioned by the British Imperial Government from the whole 9 in the Ulster Province, to appease the Official Ascendancy Unionists, who themselves would not appoint a representative. Eoin Mac Neill now the Minister for Education in the Irish Government was to resign after acting on their behalf as its only representative against the 2 British Imperial Government's appointed representatives, where he was naturally outvoted. They attempted to remove further territory also from Co. Donegal, which had been one of the other 3 Counties there in Ulster that had too many Catholic Irish in them to ensure total control there.

December 5th: George VI who was now the German King of Britain signed the Constitution of the Irish Free State under the British - Irish Free State Act.

December 6th: The Irish Free State came into force and all of those who were elected to serve in it's Parliament were now forced to swear the Oath of Allegiance to the German British King before Michael O Aodha the Speaker, who had been authorised by the British Governor - General to administer it. (The Irish Republican Anti - Treaty members did not attend.) During the unrest of the Irish Civil War, 10 - 11,000 Anti - Treaty IRA - Irregular supporters had been arrested, and Liam Lynch the IRA - Irregular Chief of Staff always operated independently of the original Anti - Treaty leader, Eammon de Valera, who was supposed to be the President of the IRA - Irregular rival Emergency Republican Government .

December 7th: The Official Unionist Government in the 6 Counties Artificially Partitioned from the 9 in the Ulster Province, to continue on with the Ascendancy in Ireland, appealed to the British Crown to be excluded from the Irish Free State.

December 8th: Rory O Connor, Liam Mellowes, Richard Barrett and Joseph Mac Kelvey the original Anti - Treaty IRA - Irregular leaders at the Four Courts garrison were now also executed in Mountjoy Jail, and the other Irregular- IRA members attacked the houses and property of the members of the Irish Free State Government, and Sean Mac Garry's young son was burnt to death in his own home during one of their raids and later on they were to even take hostages. Eamonn de Valera at this time asked Liam Lynch the IRA - Irregular Chief of Staff to stop the reprisals, but he refused. - George Gavin Duffy resigned as the Minister for Foreign Affairs and also from the Irish Free State Government. - Maude Gonne Mac Bride became the 1st Secretary of the Womens Prisoner Defence League and Countess Markievicz had supported the Irregular - IRA in the Civil War. -The Irish Free State Government under the Congested Districts Board. introduced compulsory land purchase and many of the previous Ascendancy families now left Ireland altogether. - Frank Fahy from the Gaelic League Peace Committee made contact with Austin Stack to try and arrange a Truce, but Liam Lynch the Chief of Staff for the IRA - Irregulars was determined to continue on with the fight. - Liam Deasy, the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Irish Free State Government, captured a document that was sent by Eammon de Valera, addressed to the Irregular - IRA leaders, calling for their surrender, but Liam Lynch not only said "No" but wanted to further extend the fight into England, to which Eammon de Valera was in agreement.

Ireland was now divided into 2 Artificial Parts. / 2 Parliaments, The 6 Counties Artificially Partitioned from the 9 in the Ulster Province were separated by the British Imperial Government from Ireland, and the German British King George V was to open their newly formed "Northern Ireland" Parliament in Belfast in Co. Antrim. Sir James Craig, who had succeeded Sir Edward Carson, as the Ascendancy Official Unionist leader under the control of the British Imperial Government, immediately proclaimed Martial Law there. Elections were held with the Official Unionists in complete control, who naturally gained 16 seats, to the Sinn Fein Party's 4, and the Irish Nationalists 1. In the Local Government elections for the Commons, composed of 52 seats, the Official Unionists controlled 34 seats, while in the Senate, composed of 46 seats the Official Unionists controlled 26 seats. Out of the Westminster House of Commons elections for 12 seats, the Ascendancy Official Unionists controlled the whole 12 seats. In Derry City the number of voters allowed to vote were: Non - Catholics 31,620. Catholics 18,479. Wards: Although there were actually 3 they were only to be elected for 2. All of the Irish Nationalists voters were crammed into 1 Ward with only 8 members, while in the 2 Official Unionist Wards there was to be 12, giving a majority and the ability to always outvote and change the rules whenever it suited.

The Ascendancy Official Unionist Government, in the 6 Counties Artificially Partitioned from the 9 in the Ulster Province, under their leader James Craig informed the British Imperial Government that they would go on the offensive if there was any alteration to the Artificial Border that was now used to separate the 6 Counties from the other 26 Counties. They also took this opportunity to opt out of the All Ireland Government, and the British Imperial Government then appointed James Hamilton the 3rd Duke of Abercorn as their Governor until 194?. Andrew Bonar - Law, who was now the British Imperial Prime Minister and the Conservatives dragged their feet over the Partition Border Boundary Commission, while James Craig continued to refuse to nominate a representative to it. Also to firmly entrench the Ascendancy there in the 6 Counties in Ulster under their control, their "first act" was to abolish Proportional Representation for Local Elections. 232 people were to be killed this year in the 6 Counties in Ulster, including 5 Unionist M.P.s, while 1,000 people there were to be wounded over voting rights.

Only 70,000 land holdings now remained unpurchased in the whole of Ireland, with 3/4 of these in the Irish Free State, and both Partitioned Governments in Ireland were to pass compulsory legislation to force the remaining Land Lords to sell their Estates. - Wilfred Blunt, (1840 - 1922) died this year, who had previously agitated for reform in Ireland. - Sir Horace Plunkett a Unionist M.P. who had introduced rural co - ops into Ireland became a Senator in the Irish Free State (26 Counties.) but was to leave Ireland after his house was burnt down

+On to 1923

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