Easter proclamation
The Easter Proclamation (officially: Easter Proclamation or Proclamation of the Republic , Irish Forógra na Poblachta ) is a document from 1916 , which Patrick Pearse read at the beginning of the Easter Rising in Dublin ( Island of Ireland ). In it the Republican Provisional Government announced the secession of Ireland from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland .
The reading of this proclamation outside the main Dublin Post Office on April 24, 1916 in Sackville Street (now O'Connell Street ) marked the beginning of the uprising. The proclamation was based on a similar declaration of independence from 1803 , which was read out by Robert Emmet during the rebellion at the time .
After the reading, which was greeted with astonishment and a little mockery by people passing by, Pearse and other leaders went to the main post office, took control of it and set up their headquarters there. The previous British flag, the Union Jack , hoisted on the roof of the post office , was lowered and replaced by the new flag of the Republic (green with the words "Irish Republic" across it). The flag of the military unit that conquered the main post office, the E Company , with the 3 colors of green, white and orange still known today, waved on a slightly lower mast.
The General Post Office (GPO), the Easter Proclamation, and the Irish tricolor (which later became the official flag of the Republic, replacing the original green banner now in the National Museum of Ireland ) are the three main symbols of the Easter Rising .
Principles of the proclamation
Although the Easter Rising was a debacle from a military point of view, the principles of the proclamation more or less influenced the views of politicians in the years and decades to come. The document consisted of a series of declarations:
- Claiming that the leaders of the insurrection, although not elected, speak on behalf of Ireland.
- The claim that the Irish people have an incontrovertible right to sovereignty in all fortunes of the country.
- The claim to stand in the tradition of the uprisings of earlier centuries and thus to assert a continuous claim of the Irish people to this sovereignty unchanged.
- The statement that the radical Irish Republican Brotherhood , the Irish Volunteers and the Irish Citizens Army are responsible for the uprising
- The guarantee of religious and social freedom, equality and equal opportunities for all residents.
- The explicit emphasis on universal suffrage for women too.
- The announcement that the new republic will honor the people of all religions of the nation equally. Literally it said "all the children of the nation", which refers to the various religious communities.
The text of the Easter proclamation
Poblacht na h Éireann.
THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT OF THE IRISH REPUBLIC FOR THE PEOPLE OF IRELAND
IRISH AND IRISH: In the name of God and the dead generations, from whom she receives her ancient tradition of nationality, Ireland through us calls her children to her flag and strives for their freedom.
Having organized and trained her people through her secret revolutionary organization, the Irish Republican Brotherhood, and through her open military organizations, the Irish Volunteers and the Irish Citizen Army, patiently perfected her discipline and determined to wait for the right moment to become show, she is now using this moment, supported by her children living in exile in America and by gallant allies in Europe, but above all relying on her own strength, to strike for victory with confidence.
We declare that the right of the Irish people to own property in Ireland and to control the fortunes of Ireland in full is sovereign and inviolable. The long usurpation of this right by a foreign people and government has not extinguished the right, nor can it ever be extinguished except through the destruction of the Irish people. In every generation the Irish people have exercised their right to national freedom and sovereignty; it has affirmed this in arms six times in the past three hundred years. On the basis of this fundamental right and exercising it again under arms in the face of the world, we hereby proclaim the Republic of Ireland as a sovereign independent state, and we commit ourselves to our lives and the lives of our comrades in arms for the cause of their freedom, well-being and exaltation to give among the nations.
The Irish Republic has the right to and claims the loyalty of all Irishmen. The republic guarantees all its citizens religious and civil rights, equality and equal opportunities, and declares its will to pursue the happiness and prosperity of the entire nation and all its parts by cherishing all children of the nation equally, regardless of those sponsored by a foreign government Differences that in the past have separated a minority from the majority.
Until our armed forces have achieved the appropriate time for the establishment of a permanent national government, representative of the entire Irish people and elected by the suffrage of all their men and women, the temporary government that is hereby formed will become the civil and military affairs of the republic manage in trust for the people.
We place the cause of the Republic of Ireland under the protection of the Most High God, whose blessings we seek on our weapons, and we pray that no one who serves this cause dishonor it through cowardice, inhumanity or pillage. At this highest hour, the Irish nation, through its courage and discipline, and the willingness of its children to sacrifice themselves for the common good, must prove itself worthy of the lofty fate to which it is called.
Signed on behalf of the Provisional Government
Thomas J. Clarke,
Sean Mac Diarmada, Thomas MacDonagh,
PH Pearse, Éamonn Ceannt,
James Connolly, Joseph Plunkett.
Printing and distribution of the proclamation
The proclamation was secretly printed in the run-up to the uprising, which ultimately led to design problems due to the small printing presses. Due to insufficient letters, the document had to be printed in half, which led to various unfinished prints, which were largely destroyed by British soldiers after the uprising. The typesetting was also characterized by uneven letters. It so happened that a smaller “e” was used in the lower half of the proclamation than in the rest of the document. The language within the text suggested that the original of the proclamation was signed by the leaders of the uprising. However, there was no evidence or indication that such a signed original ever existed - of course it is also possible that an original was destroyed during the uprising.
The signatories
An unresolved question to this day is why the undersigned was not named Patrick Pearse but rather Thomas J. Clarke , a Republican veteran, in the first place . Clarke's widow later suggested in her memoir that Clarke, a highly decorated veteran, would become President of the Provisional Republic. Other historical documents, however, indicated Pearse as "Commander-in-Chief of the Forces of the Republic of Ireland and President of the Provisional Government ". This question is still unanswered.
The individual signatories were:
- Thomas J. Clarke
- Seán Mac Diarmada
- Thomas MacDonagh
- Pádraig Pearse
- Éamonn Ceannt
- James Connolly
- Joseph Plunkett
present
Today, copies of the Easter Proclamation are treated as venerated national symbols. A copy recently fetched € 390,000 at auction. A copy that once belonged to Sean T. O'Kelly , a participant in the uprising, is now on display in the entrance hall of the Leinster House . Additional copies can be seen in the Trinity College Library and National Museum in Dublin, as well as in other museums around the world. Copies of the proclamation are sold in almost every tourist shop.
Literature (all in English)
- Tim Pat Coogan: De Valera. Long fellow, long shadow. Hutchinson, London 1993, ISBN 0-09-175030-X
- Tim Pat Coogan: Michael Collins. Aa biography. Hutchinson, London 1990, ISBN 0-09-174106-8
- Dorothy McCardle: The Irish Republic.
- Arthur Mitchell; Padraig Ó Snodaigh: Irish Political Documents. 1916-1949.
- John O'Connor: The 1916 Proclamation.
Web links
Remarks
- ^ Name for "Irish Republic" in the Irish language