[Frontispiece: JAMES CONNOLLY] THE IRISH REBELLION _of_ 1916 OR THE UNBROKEN TRADITION BY NORA CONNOLLY BONI AND LIVERIGHT NEW YORK Copyright, 1918, Copyright, 1919, By Boni & Liveright, Inc. _Printed in the United States of America_ LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS James Connolly ...... Frontispiece Countess Markievietz Thomas J. Clarke The Proclamation of the Provisional Government issued at the G.P.O. on Monday, April 24, 1917 John McDermott Nora Connolly Liberty Hall Joseph Plunkett Thomas Macdonagh Eoin MacNeill Patrick H. Pearse Eamonn Ceannt MAPS The Journey from Belfast to Leek The Journey from Dundalk to Dublin Map of Dublin {vii} INTRODUCTION There have been many attempts to explain the revolution which took place in Ireland during Easter Week, 1916. And all of them give different reasons. Some have it that it was caused by the resentment that grew out of the Dublin Strike of 1912-13; others, that it was the threatened Ulster rebellion, and there are many other equally wrong explanations. All these writers ignore the main fact that the Revolution was caused by the English occupation of Ireland. So many people not conversant with Irish affairs ask: Why a revolution? Why was it necessary to appeal to arms? Why was it necessary to risk death and imprisonment for the self-government of Ireland? They say that there was already in existence an Act for the Self-government of Ireland, that it had been passed through the English House of Commons, and that if we had waited till the end of the war we would have been given an opportunity to govern ourselves. That they are not {viii} conversant with Irish affairs must be their excuse for thinking in that manner of our struggle for freedom. To be able to think and to speak thus one must first recognize the right of the English to govern Ireland, for only by so doing can we logically accept any measure of self-government from England. And we cannot do so, for, as a nation Ireland has never recognized England as her conqueror, but as her antagonist, as an enemy that must be fought. And this attitude has succeeded in keeping the soul of Ireland alive and free. For the conquest of a nation is never complete till its soul submits, and the submission of the soul of a nation to the conqueror makes its slavery and subjection more sure. But the soul of Ireland has never submitted. And sometimes when the struggle seemed hopeless, and sacrifice useless, and there was thought to make truce with the foe, the voice of the soul of Ireland spoke and urged the nation once more to resist. And the voice of the soul of Ireland has the clangor of battle.