Fenian Notes

The Twentieth Century has been designated as the American century, a period of 100 years during which time the USA went from a burgeoning power to the only super-power in the world.

Everywhere the US has left its imprint in a variety of ways, but we must consider America and its effect on the achievement of the goals of Irish Republicanism as set out by its founders led by Theobald Wolfe Tone.

Tone did not believe in surrender be it men, arms or principle he thought it better to fight and be beaten and not in any way to co-operate or compromise with England.

He said: "I hate the very name England; I hated her before my exile; I hate her since, and I will hate her always!"

Tone was not a man for stepping-stones nor should anyone who would take on the name Republican. He tied America and Ireland together when he said: "The discussion of the subject of American Independence naturally made them [the Irish] think of their own oppression and led them to call for independence and a free trade."

Tone saw a virtue in the American experience that he wanted for Ireland and he would expect sympathy and assistance as well.

Many felt as he that as America gained power, it would be used to help those in similar situations.

James Monroe was US Ambassador to France for whom Tone felt a friendship and regarded as a true Republican. He confided in Monroe about seeking French help in driving the British out of Ireland and Monroe encouraged him in that endeavour.

Irishmen for two hundred years have looked to America for encouragement believing that one revolutionary country could embrace another. As America grew and Irish Americans grew along with it, there are always great expectations.

Economic power came first to America followed by military power and the two joined as one in the Twentieth Century. At the dawn of the Twentieth Century Britain was the dominant world power with the largest Empire rivalled only by Germany.

America had grown but was unwilling and unready to inherit the mantle of world leadership, still basically isolationist. But there was political virtue in America as the Spanish suppression of the Cuban Revolution was observed by Americans.

Soon to be President Theodore Roosevelt said in 1898: "We are a great nation and we are compelled to face the responsibilities that must be faced by all great nations."

This was not mere rhetoric because then Assistant Secretary of the Navy Roosevelt ordered the Pacific fleet to stand ready to attack the Spanish Philippines if war came. It did, and the US navy destroyed the Spanish fleet.

This "splendid little war" sparked an imperial enthusiasm in the US, united northerners and southerners alike who were still experiencing a bitterness at that time left over from the American Civil War. Americans were feeling a new confidence and a sense of power extending beyond its borders.

Americans were gaining expertise that made them feel only they could make the world a better place. As World War I approached, Americans wanted to remain out of it because it was not viewed as being in the US self-interest.

Self-interest, though understandable for any nation was an obsession for the US in the Twentieth Century. With this in mind, has America fulfilled its destiny that was written by its revolutionary founders who intended it be passed on to other freedom-loving peoples such as the Irish?

The British claimed the top status of world power after WWI although its resources were depleted and in truth America was the saviour of Britain and had supplanted it as a world power.

Now a world economic giant in the making, America was not quick to assume the mantle of power of Britain because of the residue of isolationists who remained in positions of power.

The American President Woodrow Wilson, the descendant of Orangemen was hell bent on securing freedom and self-determination for all small nations, save Ireland because this would be an affront to the British, his recent war-time ally and now a partner in the peace. A peace brutally controlled by the Allies. Reparations drained the losers as the wounds of WWI festered.

As a reaction to the harsh treatment of the losers, totalitarianism rose from the ashes on the wings of nationalism. The result was Lenin's Soviet Russia in 1918, Mussolini's fascist Italy in 1922, and Hitler's Nazi Germany in 1933.

The US made a mistake prior to WWI by seeing English-speaking Britain as a "natural ally". If the US had half a brain, it would have realised the two largest ethnic groups in the US were Germans and Irish in that order, both of whom despised the British and with good reason.

The US should have remained neutral in WWI and let the chips land wherever fate took its course. Perhaps Germany deserved US consideration. From an Irish perspective they were not as evil as Britain.

It has always been maintained by this writer that it would have been far better if Germany had won the war. We would not have had Hitler and a powerful Germany would not have permitted the growth of Soviet Russia. This would assuredly have been in the best interest of the United States minus Britain..

The First and Second World Wars were a causal link to Britain with American backing their imperial moves. Brutal post-war treatment of Germany spawned Hitler and brought on World war II and more American blood wasted for Britain.

We all know of the secret alliance between Winston Churchill and US President Franklin Roosevelt in violation of US neutrality.

Churchill was astute enough to recognise that America had grown far more powerful than Britain so he plotted to keep Britain on top by using and manipulating the USA to his will.

Churchill was terrific on selling US leaders on an English-speaking brotherhood. He appealed with charm and emotion and the ducks lined up to do his bidding and a special relationship was born that would haunt Irish Republicans in their dealings with US leaders.

At every turn concerning the Irish issue, political hopes were crushed by lies perpetrated by the British Embassy and the pro-British US State Department. The British usually managed to demonise Irish Republicans placing them on the defensive.

After WWII, Churchill came to America and gave his famous "Iron Curtain speech" which was the birth of the "red scare".

Now Churchill put the fear of "commies" in Americans in order to maintain a controllable US foreign policy slanted to Britain.

Freedom-fighters around the world and significantly in Ireland were branded Communist or Communist-inspired. This was the Cold War between the West and the predominantly Communist East.

The two sides tried to gain influence in emerging nations to instil respective political philosophies. In doing so right and left-wing dictators were put in power to maintain control as long as support was given to either superpower.

During the sixties and seventies, Soviet Russia made strides in gaining influence among Third World countries by offering support to revolutions and freedom-fighters.

The US missed the boat here as it seemed to abandon its revolutionary founding and adopt a British-inspired imperial design.

But America was not to be denied because the US economy was solid and the Soviets' was not. America could end up buying the century.

When the Berlin Wall came down and Communism with it, the US had its victory and psychological control of the Twentieth Century.

Hot spots around the world were to be bent to the US will as peace at whatever price the US determined fair was to be implemented.

Bosnia, Kosovo, Middle East and Ireland were the focus of the US putting in effect its new world order inclusive of the United Kingdom, so-called.

The new world order was part of the English-speaking partnership. The US/UK partners believe that they are righteous and what they impose on other nations is for their own good.

The elitist mentality was enshrined by US President Ronald Reagan and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. America is the only superpower and dominates the world militarily, economically and culturally with Britain as a hanger-on.

As part of the new world order a US-inspired peace has been imposed in Ireland. Peace is the goal not unity and freedom.

John Hume, David Trimble and Gerry Adams have personally pledged themselves to a US peace which they will do nothing to disrupt.

All three men need each other and President Clinton has told them to go easy on the rhetoric, knowing hard lines must be taken, but at the end of the day they need each other.

Republicans thought they could rely on the US to honour their rebellion in 1916, but the British co-opted America and corrupted it as Britain is morally and politically corrupt.

At the end of the century Ireland is divided, nothing has changed and Partition is copper-fastened.

Somewhere, America has lost the revolutionary zeal and the heart of freedom and has as a partner the evil empire. A campaign by the USA against the country which controlled America and now Ireland would have brought freedom. America has lost its soul.

America may have its century, but it cannot have the respect of true Irish Republicans. Where once there was the Soul of Freedom, there is now the lost soul of a callous superpower.

As I finished this piece, I found out that Ellen Farley, a true Republican lay gravely ill in New Jersey. We can all pray for her and for a miracle.

For years she has been an inspiration in her dedication to the Republican Movement for which she and her husband Peter Farley, another of the Republican Movement's finest, were justifiably honoured by the Movement in Ireland two years ago.

She and Pete have been married 50 years, an event they celebrated last year. Mary Ward of the Republican Movement paid tribute to them at the event in New Jersey. Things will not be the same without Ellen, although physically broken, a pillar of utter strength to the cause of Irish freedom.

When you get on your knees, please remember Ellen Farley.
— Peadar Mac Fhínín

We regret that while this contribution was still in the post, on January 24, Ellen Farley passed to her eternal reward. God rest her noble soul. — Editor.