Road Trip: How Michael Collins sold the Treaty to the public
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On March 13, 1922, Michael Collins delivered a speech to more than 50,000 spectators in the centre of Cork city in advocation of the newly ratified Anglo-Irish Treaty which he had signed, along with other plenipotentiaries, the previous December, 6, 1921.
The Treaty was a significant milestone for Irish independence, with Collins denoting it as “the written endorsement of the freedom which we have obtained”.
However, as we well know, the Treaty was not looked upon so favourably by other factions of Irish leadership. The Treaty, although ratified in the Dáil on January 7, 1922, by 64 votes in approval to 57 against, accounted for a consequential fracture throughout the assembly, ultimately leading to the Irish Civil War.
According to reportage of the time, the presence of Collins in Cork created quite the stir, with people lining the streets ‘the whole length from South Mall to Patrick’s Street’.
It was reported that Collins’ "vigorous and logical exposition of the case for the Treaty" as a vital impetus for the "deep impression" cast upon the spectators.
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The gathering began with an address from Liam de Roiste, a local TD. As de Roiste commenced his rhetoric, several shots rang out, leading the TD to condemn the actions and insist that “we were not afraid of the Black-and-Tans, and we are not afraid of them.”
The orator continued his speech deftly and invoked tokens of past Irish resistance, lamenting the Battle of Kinsale and conjuring images of “Oglaig na hEireann,” or the Irish Volunteers of 1913, and the “inevitable clash” that was the 1916 Easter Rising.
De Roiste concluded his declamation in advocation of the Treaty, annunciating his satisfaction and belief that it “does give Ireland the essentials of freedom,” along with the “chance to develop its culture and civilisation, in peace and order, to the fullest extent.”
Succeeding the peroration of de Roiste’s speech, Michael Collins approached the dais and was met with "rousing cheers" as "hats and handkerchiefs were waved, and drums were beating". This reception was "unrivalled" and lasted several minutes.
Collins’ speech was exceedingly immersive and descriptive, as he recalled past traumas of Irish internment and outlined the major components of the Treaty and what it meant for the people of Ireland.
He began with a bold metaphor in which he likened the cause for freedom to a ship whose “helm had been left by the captain in the hands of those very incompetent amateurs who afterwards in calm water had the ship on the rocks and, while he was away, somehow or other, we steered it safely through these troubled waters – the roughest through which the ship of the Irish nation has ever had to be navigated in all her turbulent history.”
Collins then disputed de Valera’s attribution of himself as an "incompetent amateur" and questioned what de Valera means by "the Republic," quoting the definition given by de Valera some weeks prior, as that of “the democratic right of the people of Ireland to rule themselves without interference from any outside power”.
Collins argued that “if Mr de Valera’s definition is right we could never have had a republic hitherto… it is only now by means of the Treaty that the interference of the outside power has ceased.”
The disconnect between Collins and de Valera was outlined further as Collins pronounced that “Mr de Valera and his friends are stepping into the shoes of the departing enemy, by preventing or attempting to prevent, in their autocratic manner, the right of the Irish people to rule themselves.”
This sentiment received extensive cheers from the crowd, denoting the discord and division within the nation at the time.
Endeavouring to gain the support of the multitude, Collins evoked powerful imagery of conditions in Ireland and traumas of the past, delineating how, under direct British rule, “our people were being hunted, tortured, imprisoned, murdered, hanged. Our houses were being burned - your houses were being burned.”
It is at this conjecture that an interruption is noted, as a spectator asked, “Who burned Cork?”. The spectator is referring to the burning of Cork city, which occurred on the night of 11-12 December 1920. The burning has been described as “one of many outrageous acts” committed by British forces during the conflict.
Collins, glad of the interruption, denoted how “each side was responsible for certain losses and coming to an arrangement that each side would be responsible for losses inflicted by themselves, and I said it to a man whose name you well know, that we would want to have it more definite than that, for apparently, I said, 'you don’t know who burned Cork'… Mr Collins, he replied, but everybody knows who burned Cork.”
Although it took place 15 months prior to Collins’ address, the damage inflicted upon the city and its inhabitants were as topical as ever.
Upon satiating the question asked by the interrupter, Collins continued his discussion of the troubles which pervaded the Irish past, an environ which had “no peace… night or day.”
Triumphantly, Collins delineated how “we were not beaten, and the enemy flung himself in vain against the spirit of the Irish people, and by the time the summer came, the British Prime Minister himself had to invite over the ‘murderers,’ the ‘heads of the murder gang,’ to discuss with him and his cabinet terms of peace.”
Collins, upon securing sustained applause, then detailed the conditions surrounding the Treaty and the inherent negotiations, depicting how the British “agreed to withdraw their forces, military and administrative and economic. If we would agree to maintain an international association with them, and the nations they call their Commonwealth.”
Collins justified the signing of the Treaty explaining how “in July last [there were] 25 or 26 men under sentences of death, hundreds of our people were in penal servitude, thousands were in internment, dozens of others were lying with capital charges over their heads.”
In addition, Collins addressed the crowd directly, asking “will any man stand up in this assembly and tell me that he would have refused to sign, and would by his refusal commit these 25 men to death, and commit the country generally to further bloodshed and destruction?”
Collins explained his decision to sign the Treaty as for the betterment of the Irish people and the nation. He went on to refute de Valera’s claims that "if the Treaty was signed under duress, then the men who went over broke their faith with the Irish people, if they signed it without duress, they were traitors to their cause".
Collins claimed this is a “typical de Valera argument. It’s a ‘heads I win, tails you lose’ argument.”
This discernment provoked mass cheers from the crowd and offered further insight into the frayed relations between the two leaders.
Collins devoted the denouement of his speech to his opposition and the claims they have made in relation to the Treaty. Collins disputed these claims, rebuking their assertion that “the British Parliament still has power to legislate for Ireland.” Collins insisted that “it has not, and our opponents know it has not, and you know it has not.”
Furthermore, he quoted the opposition regarding their depiction of life within the Treaty as ‘towards living practically the lives of beasts,’ to which he refuted as “the language of madness” insisting “there is no slavery under the Treaty.”
Through the signing of the Treaty, Collins told the crowd “we have a chance now of giving our people a better life, we have a chance of doing the things that the people required done”.
By opposing the ratified Treaty, Collins asserted that the anti-Treaty forces are prohibiting the will of the people through their jeopardization of “the unity of Ireland… its independence… [and] its progress.”
In his opinion, the opposition’s only policy is one intended “to stir up trouble” and “their desire evidently is by any trickery to deny the expression of the people’s will in an election.”
This assertion of the opposition as autocratic forces echoes the beginning of the speech in which Collins likened de Valera and his supporters to the "departing enemy".
Collins concluded his address with a challenge to the opposition – “Let them put their policy, their Constitution, their programme, before the people. What is their object? I, for one, do not know. I know what their tactics are – they are the tactics of a discredited and defeated faction.”
According to reportage, his peroration received "prolonged cheering", emphasising the impact Collins’ rhetoric had on the people.
This impassioned speech recollected broken fragments of Irish history and pieced them together, taking the form of a united, free nation, under the Treaty.
It also delineated the virulent discord between both sides of the dispute, which would lead to future violence and conflict, encompassing the loss of sundry lives and the death of Collins himself, just five months later.