Sunday marches-out were held and these were made the occasion of still further fostering a rebel spirit. To city boys in particular it appealed, and the Dublin Mountains was the goal of the Dublin boys every Sunday. Rations were brought and cooked, some of the boys developing great skill in the culinary art, while considerable ingenuity was shown in the way fires and cooking places were built and arrangements made for hanging pots over them.
Camping out was also attempted during this summer but with little success. Want of funds and want of experience were not exactly a combination conducive to success. Nevertheless, a few, headed by Con Colbert, heroically suffered all the discomforts attendant on camping in the most primitive manner, believing that it was fitting them to fight the good fight later on. But whether tired on the march or cold at night in camp, scorched by the sun or drenched by the rain, the boys always sung and laughed and joked. And the songs they sang – not the vulgar suggestive inanities from the music halls, vile importations from England that were perhaps the best proof of how far Anglicisation had eaten into the national life of Ireland – were the songs of resurgent Ireland, ballads that breathed patriotism, love of country, rebellion and defiance. Ah! those merry hearts that sung as they trod the paths to freedom. Some are stilled in death by the bullets of the tyrant, some are being seared with the anguish of the captive in the penal cell, some are in exile and others are still in the land they love, still hoping, still working, still believing.
***
No boy became a member of the Fianna until he passed the preliminary Test, and took the Fianna Pledge. He remained on probation for three weeks during which time he was taught the subjects necessary to pass the test. These subjects were as follows:
1. Understand aims and objects and how the name of the organisation was derived.
2. Know his name in Irish.
3. Be able to count up to twenty in Irish.
4. Be able to perform the few simple drill movements taught him.
5. Read and send the first circle in the semaphore system of signalling.
6. Have saved a small amount of money, according to his means, towards his uniform.
At the end of the three weeks having passed the test, he took the following pledge: ‘I promise to work for the independence of Ireland, never to join England’s armed forces, and to obey my superior officers.’ He was then a fully fledged member and entitled to wear the Fianna badge and uniform. The badge was a representation of the rising sun on gold on a green background with a white border on which were the words ‘Cuimnige ar Luimneac agus ar fheall na Sasanac’ – meaning ‘remember Limerick and English faith’. The Fianna also wore the colours of the Irish Republic and carried the Republican flag in addition to their own flag. There were two uniforms. Kilts were originally intended as the only uniform, but as it required tremendous moral courage at one time in some parts of Ireland to appear in kilts, another uniform was authorized in addition. The present writer well remembers his first appearance in the old Irish dress. He was the cynosure of all eyes, and many and varied were the comments that greeted his ears on all sides, and being like most Irish boys, self-conscious, it was a long while before he got used to wearing them. Nevertheless all who adopted the kilt uniform grew to like it very much. This consisted of a green kilt and green knitted woollen jersey with blue cuffs and collar, of Irish manufactured material. The second uniform was an olive green double-breasted shirt and knee pants, of Irish manufactured material also.
Each Sluagh or branch was governed by rules in conformation with the general principles of the organisation, with such additions as local circumstances demanded. One of the branch rules was that ‘no Anglicizing influences will be tolerated’. Usually when a boy joined he knew nothing of Irish Ireland and the first song or air he usually whistled or sung was something not Irish. The method adopted by his comrades to correct his ignorance was effective if arbitrary. The first warning he received that he was transgressing the rules would usually be some rough handling by his fellows, who themselves perhaps had only learned better some months before. And the new member in turn was generally the hardest on the latest recruit. Of course such methods were not countenanced by the officers but nevertheless they were of regular occurrence.
The first convention of the Fianna was held in July 1910. The attendance was small as the organisation was only in its childhood. The Countess de Markievicz was elected President and Bulmer Hobson Vice President and Pádraic Ó Riain, Hon. General Secretary. In November of this year, Irish Freedom was started. The paper was the strongest and best written national journal published in recent years. It appeared continuously until its suppression in 1914. Its columns were open to the Fianna, and through the publicity the movement received, became an important factor in its progress. That the Fianna knew the seriousness and had counted the cost of the task they had set themselves, is apparent in the following which appeared in the first number of the paper:
To those of us who are growing up boys and girls will probably fall the task of finally settling the Irish Question. Now is the time therefore for us to consider the course we are to follow and the methods to be adopted to ensure success. As we are not skilled enough in the use of platitudes we interpret Irish freedom liberally, and as we are not old enough to hide our cowardice behind a mask of so-called wisdom, we realize that Irish freedom must be won by one method by which it is won in every other part of the world – the sword and its allies.
In these days of practical patriotism we, of the Fianna, without any exaggeration, can justly claim to be the most practical element in the population, though we are but a small factor of it. We turn our eyes from the loaf, which in one form or another, we see on all sides held up as a standard of nationalism, and have firmly fixed our gaze and concentrated our attention on the dreary cell where Tone was base murdered; the gibbet which the blood of Emmet consecrated, and on the chains which the bleeding limbs of Mitchel and the Fenians turned into garlands. Not only that but we have set ourselves the task of preparing mentally and physically for the great day, on the eve of which those of us who have survived will see, with gladsome eyes, Cathleen Ni Houlihan launch Fair Freedom’s ship with the Republican colours at the mast in the blood of the Saxon.
The movement made considerable progress during 1911. It began to extend to several places in the country. Clonmel, Listowel, Rathkeale, Maryborough, Athlone and Limerick fell into the line. Through the generosity of the late John Daly a splendid hall was built in the latter place for the Fianna. Seán Heuston, who was afterwards executed in Dublin after the Easter Revolution, was in charge there and did Herculean work in bringing the organisation to a high state of perfection. In Dublin the number of branches increased from four to seven, while Belfast established six within a year.
On June 23, George V was crowned King of England. A huge meeting was held in Dublin on this date to protest against his being crowned King of Ireland also. Twenty-thousand people are estimated to have attended and the Fianna were strongly represented. The meeting was addressed by Seán Mac Diarmada, Dr Patrick McCartan and several others. A fortnight later occurred the ‘Royal visit’ to Ireland. Saturday 7 July, the day of George V’s entry into Dublin was proclaimed a public holiday. The garrison strained every nerve to make the occasion appear as if the Irish people were intensely loyal. The streets were decorated on a lavish scale and night turned into day with illuminations. The school children were bribed with buns and lemonade to be present, while all the ‘Peelers’ from the country that could be spared were drafted up in plain clothes to Dublin to swell the mob as honest workmen and cheer as the King passed.
The whole reception was engineered and did not represent the Irish people at all. The Nationalists left Dublin that day in two special trains on a pilgrimage to Wolfe Tone’s grave at Bodenstown. The Dublin Fianna, numbering about three hundred, with their pipers’ band formed an inspiring spectacle in the procession to the graveyard. There round the grave of Ireland’s noblest dead all pledged their loyalty to the cause for which Wolfe Tone’s life
