In his poem Salutation, written in the aftermath of the executions of the 1916 leaders, AE, George Russell, expressed admiration for the slain men despite his strong reservations about the Rising.
Here’s to you, Pearse, your dream not mine,
And yet the thought for this you fell
Has turned life’s waters into wine.
The poem mirrors the feelings of great numbers of the Irish people following the executions, most of whom did not support the Rising, many considering it an act of treason. The poem continues:
Their dream has left me numb and cold,
But yet my spirit rose in pride,
Refashioning in burnished gold
The images of those who died
Or were shut in the penal cell.
General Sir John Grenfell Maxwell arrived in Ireland on Friday 28 April. The Rising had begun the previous Monday. Maxwell was ‘military governor’ with extensive ‘plenary powers’ under the Defence of the Realm Act of 1914. He was in sole charge of trials and sentences by ‘field general court martial’: trial without defence or jury and in camera. Maxwell was, it would seem, intent on suppressing this latest manifestation of radical Irish nationalism. More than 3,500 people were arrested — more than twice the number who took part in the Rising.
On May 2, the first courts martial sentenced PH Pearse, Tom Clarke and Thomas MacDonagh to death. They were taken to Kilmainham Gaol and shot at dawn on May 3rd in the Stonebreaker’s Yard.
John Redmond, leader of the Irish Party, warned Prime Minister Herbert Asquith that if ‘more executions take place in Ireland, the position will become impossible for any Constitutional Party or leader’. Asquith, in turn, told General Maxwell that ‘a large number of executions would sow the seeds of lasting trouble in Ireland’. But the executions continued, with 15 leaders of the Rising facing the firing squad between May 3rd and 12th.
On April 26th, the third day of the Rising, Francis Sheehy Skeffington and two journalists, Thomas Dickson and Patrick MacIntyre, as well as two other bystanders, were murdered by or on the direct orders of Captain J.C. Bowen-Colthurst.
The executions of the rebel leaders had an immediate impact on a public already disturbed by the brutality of the Skeffington and other killings. Particular outrage was expressed at the executions of Willie Pearse, apparently because he was a brother of PH Pearse, Boer War veteran Major John MacBride, Joseph Plunkett who was seriously ill, and the wounded James Connolly who was shot while strapped to a chair.
The executions at Kilmainham were swift and brutal. Capt HV Stanley, a Medical Officer, said that he ‘attended the executions of the first nine Sinn Féiners to be shot. After that I got so sick of the slaughter that I asked to be changed. Three refused to have their eyes bandaged. The rifles of the firing party were waving like a field of corn. All the men were cut to ribbons at a range of about 10 yards.’
The horror of the executions was exacerbated by the trial of Roger Casement throughout the summer of 1916, which ended with his execution by hanging in Pentonville Jail in August.
Mary Colum, the writer and critic, wrote that with the last of the executions, ‘some part of our youth died’.
It wasn’t just the public mood that was changing. Newspapers and the Catholic Church, both of which had taken a firm line against the Rising changed too. In the summer of 1916, the rebel leaders became heroes. Ballads were written to celebrate their deeds. Funds were raised for their families. Recruitment levels to the British Army fell dramatically.
The plan to introduce conscription to Ireland completed the transformation of Nationalist Ireland. A new generation of voters emerged, empowered and enraged, and the Irish Parliamentary Party was swept aside on a Sinn Féin tide in the General Election of 1918.
The Rising, which just a year earlier had seemed a catastrophic failure with needless loss of life, now took on an entirely new significance. Yeats' terrible beauty was born. Francis Ledwidge wrote:
A noble failure is not vain,
But hath a victory its own.
A bright delectance from the slain
Is down the generations thrown.
Sa dán a scríobh AE, George Russell, i ndiaidh chur chun báis na gceannairí i 1916, Salutation, cuireann an file an urraim mhór a bhí aige do na héachtaí in iúl, in ainneoin an amhrais a bhí aige faoin Éirí Amach.
Here’s to you, Pearse, your dream not mine,
And yet the thought for this you fell
Has turned life’s waters into wine.
Léargas atá sa dán ar an gcaoi ar airigh go leor Éireannach i ndiaidh chur chun báis na gceannairí, cé nár thacaigh a bhformhór leis an Éirí Amach, agus go deimhin gur mheas roinnt mhaith acu gur tréas a bhí ann. Leanann an dán ar aghaidh:
Their dream has left me numb and cold,
But yet my spirit rose in pride,
Refashioning in burnished gold
The images of those who died
Or were shut in the penal cell.
Tháinig an Ginearál Sir John Grenfell Maxwell go hÉirinn ar an Aoine, an 28 Aibreán. Bhí tús curtha leis an Éirí Amach an Luan roimhe sin. ‘Gobharnóir míleata’ a bhí i Maxwell a raibh ‘cumhachtaí iomlánacha’ go leor aige faoin Acht um Chosaint na Ríochta 1914. Ba eisean amháin a bhí i gceannas ar na trialacha agus ar na pionóis a gearradh trí chúirt airm le triúr oifigeach: triail phríobháideach a bhí ann gan aon chosaint ná coiste. Bhí sé mar aidhm mhionnaithe ag Maxwell go gcuirfí an léiriú ba dhéanaí de náisiúnachas radacach Éireannach seo faoi chois. Gabhadh breis is 3,500 duine – os cionn dhá oiread daoine a ghlac páirt san Éirí Amach.
Ar an 2 Bealtaine, daoradh Pádraig Mac Piarais, Tomás Ó Cléirigh agus Tomás Mac Donnchadha chun báis le linn na gcéad chúirteanna. Tógadh go Príosún Chill Mhaighneann iad agus scaoileadh iad le fáinne an lae ar an 3 Bealtaine i gClós an Bhristeora Cloch.
Thug John Redmond, ceannaire an Pháirtí Éireannaigh, rabhadh don Phríomh-Aire Herbert Asquith, ag rá ‘má chuirtear tuilleadh daoine chun báis in Éirinn, tiocfaidh deacrachtaí dosháraithe ag aon Pháirtí Bunreachtúil ná aon cheannaire as’. Dúirt Asquith leis an nGinearál Maxwell ansin go gcuirfeadh ‘níos mó cur chun báis in Éirinn tús le trioblóid in Éirinn nár léir a deireadh’. Ach lean siad orthu ag cur daoine chun báis, agus cuireadh 15 dhuine de cheannairí an Éirí Amach os comhair an scuaid lámhaigh idir an 3 agus an 12 Bealtaine.
Ar an 26 Aibreán, an tríú lá den Éirí Amach, maraíodh Francis Sheehy-Skeffington agus beirt iriseoirí, Thomas Dickson agus Patrick McIntyre, chomh maith le beirt eile a bhí ar an láthair, ar orduithe ón gCaptaen J.C. Bowen-Colthurst.
Bhí tionchar láithreach ag cur chun báis na gceannairí ar an bpobal, pobal a bhí cheana féin trína chéile faoi mharú brúidiúil Skeffington agus eile. Bhí daoine go láidir in aghaidh cuid de na cuir chun báis ach go háirithe: Liam Mac Piarais, ar chosúil gur cuireadh chun báis é de bharr gur deartháir PH Mhic Phiarais a bhí ann, an Maor Seán Mac Giolla Bhríde, iarshaighdiúr de chuid chogadh na mBórach, Seosamh Pluincéad a bhí go dona tinn, agus Séamus Ó Conghaile a bhí gortaithe agus a scaoileadh agus é ceangailte le cathaoir.
Ba go brúidiúil agus gan mhoill a cuireadh na ceannairí chun báis i gCill Mhaighneann. Dúirt an Captaen HV Stanley, arbh Oifigeach Leighis é, go raibh sé ‘i láthair ag cur chun báis na chéad naonúr de chuid Shinn Féin a scaoileadh. Bhí mé chomh tinn sin den choscairt ina dhiaidh sin gur iarr mé cead athraithe. Dhiúltaigh triúr do na bindealáin súl. Bhí raidhfilí an scuaid lámhaigh ag corraí anonn agus anall mar a bheadh croithleoga amuigh sa ghort. Stialladh na fir uile laistigh de raon 10 slat.’
Méadaíodh an t-uafás a bhí ar dhaoine i ndiaidh cur chun báis na bhfear i gCill Mhaighneann le linn thriail Ruairí Mhic Easmainn i samhradh na bliana 1916, agus nuair a crochadh é ar deireadh i bPríosún Pentonville i mí Lúnasa.
Scríobh an scríbhneoir agus criticeoir Mary Colum go ‘bhfuair cuid dár n-óige bás’ leis na cuir chun báis dheiridh.
Níorbh é meon an phobail amháin a bhí ag athrú. Bhí athrú meoin le feiceáil sna nuachtáin agus san Eaglais Chaitliceach freisin, cé go raibh an péire acu sin go láidir in aghaidh an Éirí Amach ar dtús. Le linn shamhradh na bliana 1916, rinneadh laochra de cheannairí 1916. Scríobhadh bailéid le ceiliúradh a dhéanamh ar a gcuid éachtaí. Bailíodh airgead dá dteaghlaigh. Tháinig laghdú mór suntasach ar líon na ndaoine a bhí ag clárú le hArm na Breataine.
Chuir an plean a bhí ar bun le coinscríobh a thabhairt isteach in Éirinn an t-athrú go hÉirinn Náisiúnach i gcrích. Tháinig glúin nua toghthóirí chun cinn, lán cumhachta agus feirge, agus rinneadh beag de Pháirtí Parlaiminteach na hÉireann nuair a bhain Sinn Féin ollbhua amach in Olltoghchán na bliana 1918.
Bhí tábhacht mhór nua anois leis an Éirí Amach, cé gur ceapadh bliain roimhe sin nuair a thit sé amach gur teip thubaisteach agus caillteanas gan chúis a bhí ann. Bhí áilleacht uafásach Yeats i réim. Scríobh Francis Ledwidge:
A noble failure is not vain,
But hath a victory its own.
A bright delectance from the slain
Is down the generations thrown.