Big Fellow made history in own image
WHAT Michael Collins actually did 90 years ago today was formally accept his commission from the representative of King George V to act as chairman of the new provisional government. As he was one of the country’s foremost Republicans, that might have been sensational news, but he covered it up with a fictitious announcement about accepting the surrender of Dublin Castle.
After the Dáil approved the Anglo-Irish Treaty on January 7, 1922, Éamon de Valera resigned as President, and he was defeated in a bid for re-election. Collins then proposed Arthur Griffith as both President and chairman of the provisional government. The latter role was just a title to facilitate the handover of power, but de Valera said Griffith had no authority to act in the dual capacity until the Irish people ratified the treaty.
It was ironic that de Valera should be fussy about the title. In April 1919, he was elected Priomh Aire (prime minister) of Dáil Éireann. But when he went to the US a couple of months later, he realised that most Americans would not understand Priomh Aire, so, without any authority, he changed his title to “President of the Irish Republic”.
The title of his office was not changed until the truce, when an amendment was slipped into the Constitution in August 1921 stipulating that the Dáil cabinet would consist of seven ministers — “the President who shall also be Prime Minister” and “six Secretaries of State, each of whom the President shall nominate”.
“Though the office had been accepted it had never been constitutionally created,” de Valera told the Dáil on August 23, 1921.
After the Dáil accepted the Treaty, however, de Valera insisted on strict formalities. Many found his behaviour infuriating.
A meeting of the Southern Parliament was called. It was essentially the same as the Dáil, except that four southern Unionists took their seats. Anti-Treaty deputies boycotted this meeting, so the Treaty was approved without debate. Michael Collins was selected to act as chairman of the provisional government, and he nominated eight members to serve with him.
The final formality was for the Lord Lieutenant to approve their nominations on behalf of the British King. Collins met with Sir John Anderson, an undersecretary of state, to make preliminary arrangements for the handover of power. The meeting was memorable for just one brief exchange when Judge John Wylie — the man who had prosecuted the 1916 leaders — entered the room.
“You met the judge before, of course?” Anderson said to Collins.
“That’s the damn silliest question I ever heard,” the Big Fellow snapped. “Would I be here if I’d met the judge before?”
Arrangements were made for the Lord Lieutenant to hand over power formally to the Provisional Government in Dublin Castle on Monday, January 16, 1922.
As Collins and his colleagues arrived that morning, they were greeted by under-secretary of state James MacMahon.
“We’re glad to see you, Mr Collins,” he said.
“Like hell you are,” the Big Fellow growled.
The heads of the various departments met their new bosses in the under-secretary’s room. The two groups sat across a table, eyeing each other suspiciously. The Crown civil servants were struck by the youth of the members of their new government. One of the civil servants noted that Collins was “cordiality itself, and there was none of the ‘top dog’ attitude about him”. This, of course, was typical of the Big Fellow, who showed off by reserving his insolence for their bosses — under-secretaries Anderson and MacMahon.
Collins formally handed the resolution approving of the Treaty to the Lord Lieutenant, who delivered a short address. Collins did not respond with any speech. Instead, he bounded into his taxi and returned to the Mansion House. In a sense, he had just surrendered his Republicanism by accepting his commission from the representative of the British King, but the Big Fellow issued a statement in which he put his own exquisite spin on the proceedings.
“All public servants would be retained in the offices for the present, and would continue to carry out their functions, unless otherwise directed,” he announced. “Members of Rialtas Sealadacht na hÉireann [Provisional Government of Ireland] received the surrender of Dublin Castle at 1.45pm today. It is now in the hands of the Irish nation.”
Thereafter, even the historians have referred to what happened that day as “the surrender of Dublin Castle.” But the Provisional Government, which took over that day, set up its headquarters in City Hall, where Collins took over the old office of the town clerk.
The outgoing British administration retained Dublin Castle for its own convenience, and a garrison of the Royal Corps of Engineers remained.
The castle was not handed over until the following August — in fact, the week before Collins was killed at Béal na mBláth.
* Ryle Dwyer’s new book, Michael Collins and the Civil War, is due to be published by Mercier Press later this year.
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