#jonathan bardon

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A History Of Ireland In 250 Episodes ~ Jonathan Bardon

[brianjohnspencer]

All through the year 1912 loyalists had been drilling. This was not judged illegal since ancient statutes permitted the formation of militias to defend the constitution. The tragedy was that until then the gun had almost disappeared from Irish politics. The Irish Republican Brotherhood, better known as the Fenian Brotherhood, had been reduced to a handful of elderly men with pints of foaming porter before them reminiscing about the old days of plotting and dynamiting. Now the situation altered with breakneck speed. In January 1913 the Ulster Volunteer Force was formed with the aim of enlisting 100,000 men who had signed the Covenant. The republican militant, Tom Clarke, wrote enthusiastically to Joe McGarrity, the Tyrone-born Clan na Gael leader in Philadelphia: 'Joe, it is worth living in Ireland these times – there is an awakening...Wait till they get their fist clutching the steel barrel of a business rifle and then Irish instincts and Irish manhood can be relied upon'.

Jonathan Bardon, Covenant Lecture (Here: http://www.niassembly.gov.uk/about-the-assembly/assembly-commission/perspectives/covenant-lecture/)