Tom Clarke (Irish Republican) - The Irish Volunteers

The Irish Volunteers

From the very beginning, the Supreme Council of the Irish Republican Brotherhood decided that it was essential that they should control, though secretly, the Irish Volunteers. At this time the executive of the Council consisted of Seamus Deakin as President and Chairman, Sean MacDiarmada as Secretary, and Tom Clarke as Treasurer. They instructed Bulmer Hobson not to accept any position in the Volunteers, or appear to be in any way connected with the force. Despite this, he accepted the Secretaryship of the Provisional Committee. From the beginning of the Volunteers, there was according to Louis N. Le Roux, ‘a germ of internal conflict in the air’, however it did not become a matter of concern to the IRB leaders until May–June, 1914 when John Redmond demanded control.

In a letter to John Daly, dated April 29, 1914 Clarke outlined the situation. Redmond, he said, was ‘thoroughly alarmed’ at the spread of the Volunteer movement, and they were prepared for some attempt to ‘make peace with the influential ones of the Provisional Committee.’ This, he said, proved to be the case, with Redmond offering Eoin MacNeill to finance the Volunteers if his Party would be allowed to have a controlling ‘say’ on the movement. To this MacNeill would not agree. Clarke also notes that Joe Devlin, in an interview with Roger Casement, would make practically the same offer, and meeting the same response, concluded the interview by outlining the situation:

the young men of the country are flocking into the Volunteer Movement, and, of course, as a consequence are being drawn away from the Party; this is going on at such a rate that it means the smashing of the Party—unless, we smash the Volunteer Movement.

The IRB instructed all their officers that Redmond must not be ‘allowed to get his tentacles’ on the Volunteers. On Sunday, June 7, MacNeill, Casement and Patrick McCartan met in Dundalk to discuss the response they would have to give to the demand by Redmond, John Dillon and Devlin. McCartan obeyed his instructions, telling how dangerous it would be to allow Redmondites in, and both MacNeill and Casement dreaded the dilemma. On June 10, Redmond’s ultimatum appeared in the Press. While the IRB Executive and the Supreme Council would remain irreconcilable to the idea of surrender to Redmond, Hobson, despite his instructions, took an opposing course. Writing in An t-Oglach (Free State Army monthly), March, 1931, he wrote “I set to work and …succeeded in convincing a majority of the Committee of the necessity of our giving way for the moment.” When Clarke was told about Hobson’s exertions, and that the decision to accept Redmond’s nominees would not have been possible but for Hobson, he nearly broke down.

Seán McGarry who was with Clarke when Hobson's actions were reviled recalled:

I was with Tom when the news came and to say he was astounded is understating it. I never saw him so moved. He regarded it from the beginning as cold-blooded and contemplated treachery likely to bring about the destruction of the only movement in a century which brought promise of the fulfilment of all his hopes.