An air of relaxation and a general feeling of freedom and optimism permeated the countryside during the summer of 1921. With the termination of curfew and of the prohibition of fairs and markets, movement and a form of order was restored. Normal trade and commerce created a sense of relief in the public mind. Men who had been out on active service over the past years were at last free to go about without being hampered in their activities. But as time progressed and negotiations in London between the Irish and British delegates proceeded, a dispassionate assessment of the situation was to become more difficult. As far as Liam Lynch was concerned the fight against the British government was not yet over. Quick to realise the danger of apathy, he started to combat any tendency towards relaxation in his division. Training camps were established and an expanded series of inspections were inaugurated. He discouraged men, as far as it was possible, from coming out into the open.
British tact showed itself in the establishment of liaison officers. These were appointed by both sides to supervise the observance of the terms of the truce. By doing so they recognised the IRA as an army and not as a group of rebellious civilians. During this truce period division HQ had been moved from its wartime location at Sweeneys, Coolea to O’Sullivans, Lombardstown on 2 July.
Liam had had very little contact with home over the past year and he now returned home for his brother’s ordination on 11 June and stayed for two days. He was again able to meet his girlfriend, Bridie Keyes and the pair had much to discuss, including the prospect of marriage. His hope was that future discussions between both governments would reach a final settlement, and that his days of guerilla warfare would be finally over, so that he could at last settle down and have a future with Bridie. He was thankful to have survived the War of Independence, but sensed an anti-climax.
Richard Mulcahy, chief-of-staff, visited him at division HQ in early August and during the following week the two men inspected units of the Cork and Kerry brigades. Later that month De Valera visited division HQ and, with Liam and a few more officers, over the following three days, made a tour of the scene of the principal actions in the division. At each place the columns, which had participated were mobilised under arms and congratulated by De Valera. Liam was proud and happy. There was no sign of a break in national unity. The future seemed hopeful. Even the Irish Times acknowledged a changed Ireland!
For good or evil the old Ireland is gone. Instead of this there is a young people with new qualities and also with new defects ... none of the efforts that have been made to divide the people have succeeded. On the contrary, they have vindicated the strength of the national ideal.
On the evening of 18 August 1921, Liam was driving back from Bandon when he was held up at Ballinhassig by three cars of military personnel. The district inspector in charge demanded that he produce a British permit for use of the car (one of the restrictions enforced under martial law). Liam demanded the right, as an Irish army officer, to use his own transport without an enemy permit just as British officers ‘do without our permits’. Nevertheless, he was taken to Bandon barracks and detained there until 1.30 next day, when, following a phone message from Dublin Castle, he and his driver were released.
Afterwards, he wrote to his brother, ‘I enjoyed the time with the Tans and the D.I. as the truce feeling prevailed all round. We even discussed the possibility of again meeting them face to face in a clash with arms.’1
But Liam still felt that the truce was only temporary. Planning to go to a dance in Mitchelstown, to meet old friends, especially Bridie Keyes, he wrote, ‘I believe that after a few weeks I may have a poor chance of seeing them again. It is also my intention to run home if possible.’2His brother Tom came home shortly after the truce and Liam, excusing himself for not being home on that occasion, wrote, ‘somehow I would consider it a national sin when there is work to be done.’
With Seán Moylan, Liam was on his way to Dublin for Tom Barry’s wedding when his car broke down. They arrived late, so they weren’t present for the historic photograph on 22 August 1921. But it was a memorable, social occasion.
After a visit to Dublin in mid-September, he expressed a feeling to his comrades that national unity was within sight ‘though there may be a resumption of the struggle in arms.’3
To his brother Tom he wrote:
You may rest assured that our government as well as the army is out for the Republic and nothing less, and that without a rest on our oars either. We are and must be prepared to fight to the last for that ...4
Subsequent to the assembly of the second Dáil in the Mansion House, Dublin, De Valera and Lloyd George entered into a series of communications. On 14 September Dáil Éireann sanctioned the appointment of delegates and negotiations commenced in London on 11 October 1921. (The Irish delegates were Arthur Griffith, Michael Collins, George Gavan-Duffy, Robert Barton and Éamon Duggan.)5
It was October before Liam was again able to visit home. On this occasion he went to Ballylanders Races. Congratulations were heaped on him by locals, but Liam viewed the newfound patriotism of many with a jaundiced eye:
I don’t give a damn about these people when it comes to praise or notoriety, and they are making the hell of a mistake if they think I forget their actions during the war. I remember at one time in the best areas where it was next to impossible to find a bed to lie on.’6
Liam appeared happiest when he was among army men as within the movement he found warmth and friendship. He balanced the integrity of the men within the conflict with the insincerity of some of those who were outside.
He spent much of October and November in IRA organisational activities and conferences both in the Southern Division and at GHQ. His ability and integrity impressed the Dáil cabinet so much, that at the end of November 1921, he was offered the position as commander-in-chief of the army. (This would mean Richard Mulcahy, chief-of-staff, would be sub-ordinate to him.)
As Michael Collins and his comrades wrestled in London with the culmination of the treaty debates, Liam apparently anticipating the resumption of war against Britain, wrote to Cathal Brugha:
Headquarters,
1st Southern Division,
6th December, 1921.
To the Minister for Defence
It is after serious consideration I acquaint you that I cannot under present circumstances accept the commission you offer me.
I feel that the Commander-in-Chief and his staff cannot do their duty when they are not placed in a position to do so. I may have wrong views of the duties of a Commander-in-Chief and Minister for Defence, if so I will put up with the result. I painfully realise the consequences of the present relations between Cabinet and GHQ Staff, therefore I cannot act blindly in the matter and be responsible for directing general operation policy. At the present moment when war may be resumed at short notice I have got no general directions.
When the situation is cleared up to the Brigade Commandants in this Division I shall be pleased to be relieved of my present responsibility.
Liam Lynch Commandant.7
This letter from Lynch seems to imply that tension existed between the cabinet and GHQ, and that Lynch at this period and subsequently maintained that control of the army should be free from cabinet interference.
On 6 December 1921 the Articles of Agreement for a treaty – which required an oath of allegiance to a British monarch disestablished the Republic and partitioned Ireland – were signed. Where British arms had failed, British diplomacy had won. A chapter in Irish history was closed and another, more bitter was about to begin.
1 Letter to his brother Tom, Lombardstown 22/8/1921 (Lynch private family papers).
2 Letter to his brother Tom, 26/9/1921 (Lynch private family papers).
3 Matt Flood, author interview, 28/3/1980.
4 Letter to his brother Tom, Lombardstown, 26/8/1921 (Lynch private family papers).
5 See Frank Parkenham, Peace by Ordeal; also T. Ryle Dwyer, Michael Collins and the Treaty.
6 Letter to his brother Tom, 18/10/1921 (Lynch private family papers).
7 Mulcahy papers, University College, Dublin, Archives P7a/5. Cathal Brugha was minister for defence in December 1921. I could not find any written documentation of the offer.