Saturday, May 10, 2008

6th May 1882



The gates to the American Ambassadors residence Pheonix park

As we drive around our respective cities there are some things we as taxi drivers should know.
Like who lives in the White House?, or Buckingham Palace etc.

Once an Australian woman gave me and her kids a lecture on Robert Emmett as we passed Thomas St. church.
Her kids and husband who were French were told all about the rising,Robert Emmets trial and execution at that very church.
Thousands were put to the sword as a result of the rising and many are buried in the plot called the Croppy Acre in front of Collins Barricks on the quays.
This shows how an Australian education from Irish nuns was so much better than an Irish education.
This was finished off with a quote from his speech from the dock, which was delivered by Robert Emmett without notes, spontaniously.

"I am here ready to die. I am not allowed to vindicate my character; no man shall dare to vindicate my character; and when I am prevented from vindicating myself, let no man dare to calumniate me. Let my character and my motives repose in obscurity and peace, till other times and other men can do them justice. Then shall my character be vindicated; then may my epitaph be written."

The Pheonix Park is a place where Dubliners go to relax.
It is the biggest public park in any city of Europe.
There are many places of interest and many things to do there.

Few Dubliners remember the 6 th of May 1882.

That day was a 9/11 moment.

No matter where you were in the world you would hear of the murders which took place on that day.

The chief secretary for Ireland Lord Fredrick Cavendish was walking with Thomas Henry Burke head of the civil service when they were set upon by men wielding surgical knives and they were butchered.
The Invincibles.as the group became known carried out the act
The civil unrest was moved into a higher gear and the methods used by both sides in the conflict are still in use today in Iraq or wherever there is strife.
Guirella tactics, informers and summery executions.

I know it says in Wickapedia that the guilty parties were caught and executed but this fact is not so clear in the book I am reading by Senan Molony.

On the 6th of May beside the road opposite the Aras An Uachtarain a cross appears with 2 bunches of flowers to mark the spot and remember the day.
This year they still appeared,here is the photo.
They are not exactly what I expected to see.
I think the deer may have got to the flowers before me.

1 comment:

  1. Anonymous8:22 AM

    The spelling is terrible and the quotation from Emmet's speech is garbled

    ReplyDelete