Amos - 01 May 16 - 01:05 PM

I think that those nationalists who supported Daniell O'Connell were perfectly aware of his vision and his goal of independence. The dissolution and repeal of the Act of Union was the first stepping stone on that path. If you do believe that the Rising advanced the cause then you should also accept that at the same time it hardened the Unionist opposition

Between the famine, the land-takings, and the executions of the leaders, etc., the British painted an ugly picture of themselves. I would certainly have felt getting shut of them would be a high priority, were I an Irishman in those days.

1: "The Famine" was a natural disaster it was not the fault of the British - it is lazy and convenient for anyone to blame them for it.

2: What "Land-Takings"? Between 1870 and 1903 the British Government passed a whole series of Laws giving Irish Tenant farmers what the Irish Land League demanded.

3: The executions were a mistake but the hands of the Government may have been tied both legally and in the interests of national security. 90 people were sentenced to death in the wake of the Easter Rising - 75 of those sentences were commuted to a term of 5 years imprisonment. The 15 who were executed were guilty of treason, I think back then if you committed murder the automatic sentence was death, the Judge having no option, I think the same was true of treason in time of war. As I have previously stated it would have been far far better to let the leaders of the rising live and then publicly shame them throughout Ireland and Great Britain, but that would run the risk of letting the Germans know that Britain's Naval Intelligence Service had broken Germany's Naval Codes.

4: Lastly Amos you would not have thought that way at all if you were an Ulsterman.