TATTOO AT BALTINGLASS
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The Siege of the
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It was an honour which as a Wicklow man, I felt very deeply and I feel it all the more, therefore, that I should have the privilege of speaking here to-day. The proud record of our history has been faithfully preserved by our writers and historians and is therefor all to read who wish to learn. But the libraries are not within the reach of everyone (please God some day they will be) and even if they were, it would be a sorry day for us if an interest in History were confined to the scholar and student.
It is a glorious thing and an encouragement to all who have the love of Ireland in their hearts, to know that here in County Wicklow and in many other parts of the country, the historical traditions live in the minds of the people of the land, and are so strong that out of them can grow the enthusiasm that has made the organisation of this magnificent commemoration possible. I have helped to organise many things in my time and I know well what planning and patience it has taken to organise this commemoration. I know it has meant many months of quiet work undertaken in addition to all the cares and worries which every one of us carries these days. It has called for a spirit of co-operation on a very wide scale. You will not misunderstand me if I say that it is that spirit which is the important thing almost more so than the object to which it is directed. One of the tragedies of our time is the decline of local spirit and local pride. We had begun to fear that people only realised their love for their own locality when they had travelled far from it, but the 98 commemorations have done much to re-assure us. Here in County Wicklow we have all the evidence that anyone could demand to prove that local history is not forgotten and that it is remembered not with bitterness, but with pride.
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Thank God, we have travelled far along the road on which Michael Dwyer and his followers set out. Their glorious deeds seemed at the time to end only in hopelessness and ruin, but they were part of the chain of national struggle, and others came after them to link their work with that of new generations, so that we can now look back along a line of patriotic effort, leading up to Easter Week and, beyond it, to the final struggle in arms which achieved not full independence, but, at least, some foundation on which it could be built by peaceful methods.
Our efforts have not yet been crowned with complete success, nor will they be until we see an Ireland undivided by an artificial and unnatural barrier, with every IrishmanNorth and Souththinking of himself as one of a strong if small, island people, whose only boundary is the blue sea around our shores. Smallness doesn't mean helplessness or weakness. One man, by his way of life, can inspire many, and one small nation, by its Christian example, may well be an influence to turn the world to the only true principles on which peace can stand. Present at Reception and Dinner. Those present at reception and dinner wereJames Everett, T.D., Minister for Posts and Telegraphs; G.O.C. Hugo MacNeill, Lieut Russell, A.D.C., to the G.O.C.; Comdt. Cosgrave, Comdt. Blake, H. C. Doyle, M.I.A.A., Baltinglass, Chairman of local committee; F.Lanigan, State Solicitor, Carlow, and Mrs Lanigan; Captain Banahan, Lieut. Seward, Lieut. Moran, O/C., Portlaoighise F.C.A.; O/C. Abbeyleix F.C.A.; Tom Flemming, Shillelagh; Comdt. G. ODoherty, Lieut. Sean Doyle, Richard L Barron, N.T.; F. Glynn N.T.;M Byrne, N.T.; Peador OReilly and party, and Press representatives. |