The Proclamation of

POBLACHT NA H EIREANN.

IRISHMEN AND IRISHWOMEN: In the name of God and of the dead generations from which she receives her old tradition of nationhood, Ireland, through us, summons her children to her flag and strikes for her freedom.

Having organised and trained her manhood through her secret revolutionary organisation, the Irish Republican Brotherhood, and through her open military organisations, the Irish Volunteers and the Irish Citizen Army, having patiently perfected her discipline, having resolutely waited for the right moment to reveal itself, she now seizes that moment, and, supported by her exiled children in America and by gallant allies in Europe, but relying in the first on her own strength, she strikes in full confidence of victory.

We declare the right of the people of Ireland to the ownership of Ireland, and to the unfettered control of Irish destinies, to be sovereign and indefeasible. The long usurpation of that right by a foreign people and government has not extinguished the right, nor can it ever be extinguished except by the destruction of the Irish people. In every generation the Irish people have asserted their right to national freedom and sovereignty; six times during the last three hundred years they have asserted it to arms. Standing on that fundamental right and again asserting it in arms in the face of the world, we hereby proclaim the Irish Republic as a Sovereign Independent State, and we pledge our lives and the lives of our comrades-in-arms to the cause of its freedom, of its welfare, and of its exaltation among the nations.

The Irish Republic is entitled to, and hereby claims, the allegiance of every Irishman and Irishwoman. The Republic guarantees religious and civil liberty, equal rights and equal opportunities to all its citizens, and declares its resolve to pursue the happiness and prosperity of the whole nation and all of its parts, cherishing all of the children of the nation equally and oblivious of the differences carefully fostered by an alien government, which have divided a minority from the majority in the past.

Until our arms have brought the opportune moment for the establishment of a permanent National, representative of the whole people of Ireland and elected by the suffrages of all her men and women, the Provisional Government, hereby constituted, will administer the civil and military affairs of the Republic in trust for the people.

We place the cause of the Irish Republic under the protection of the Most High God. Whose blessing we invoke upon our arms, and we pray that no one who serves that cause will dishonour it by cowardice, in humanity, or rapine. In this supreme hour the Irish nation must, by its valour and discipline and by the readiness of its children to sacrifice themselves for the common good, prove itself worthy of the august destiny to which it is called.

Signed on Behalf of the Provisional Government.

THOMAS J. CLARKE

SEAN Mac DIARMADA

THOMAS MacDONAGH

P. H. PEARSE

EAMONN CEANNT

JAMES CONNOLLY

JOSEPH PLUNKETT

PADRAIG H. PEARSE [Padraig MacPiarais] (1879-1916) was the son of an English stonecutter who discovered the beauty and grandeur of the Irish language while studying at the Christian Brothers School in Dublin. Throughout his life, through his involvement in the Gaelic League and through his writing, he attempted to promote the ancient language back to his countrymen and stop the Anglization of the Irish. He was more a scholar than a soldier, but on Monday, April 24, 1916, he took command of the forces that participated in the Easter Rising. When the British turned against non-combatant Irish, assaulting them and burning their homes in an attempt to flush out the revolutionaries, Pearse made the decision to surrender rather than see innocents suffer and perish. On Friday, April 28, 1916, Pearse surrendered the General Post Office. By Saturday, a General Surrender was called. Pearse was executed by firing squad on May 3, 1916 after a British Court Martial and buried in an unmarked grave. During an eulogy in 1915, he made the statement that "Ireland, unfree, will never be at peace". This touching sentiment, combined with his lovely poetry and prose, his unfailing desire to see Ireland a free nation and his tremedous devotion to his country prove him to be one of the most powerful forces in the attempt to bring Ireland to her rightful place in the world.

THOMAS J. CLARKE

SEAN Mac DIARMADA(1884-1916) was a member of the Military Council and participated in the planning of the Easter Rising. Diarmada also served as the National Organizer of the Irish Republican Brotherhood. A son of County Leitrim, he was executed by a British firing squad on May 12, 1916 at Kilmainham Jail in Dublin after the failed uprising.

THOMAS MacDONAGH

EAMONN CEANNT

JAMES CONNOLLY was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, on June 5, 1868. His parents were Irish immigrants, and his childhood was a difficult one, having been born and raised in the Cowgate, a notorious Edinburgh slum. He was, over the course of his life, a labor leader and socialist, as well as a vigorous supporter of a free Ireland. He was seriously wounded during the Easter Rising. After his arrest, he was brought to Dublin Castle where his wounds were dressed. After being held at the castle for a short time, he was brought to Kilmainham Jail and dragged into the courtyard. His captors had to tie him to a chair in order to keep him upright. Sitting bound to the chair, surrounded by a pool of blood pouring from his wounds, James Connolly was executed by a firing squad which was mainly comprised of young Welsh conscripts. He was buried in a common grave with many of the other leaders of the Rising. Their bodies were covered with lime, a caustic which destroyed the bones of those buried there in order to prevent exhumation by their loyal followers.

JOSEPH MARY PLUNKETT
Plunkett was a gifted poet.

I see His blood upon the rose
And in the stars the glory of His eyes,
His body gleams amid eternal snows,
His tears fall from the skies.
I see His face in every flower;
The thunder and the singing of the birds
Are but His voice -- and carven by His power
Rocks are His written words.
All pathways by His feet are worn
His strong heart stirs the ever-beating sea,
His crown of thorns is twined with every thorn,
His cross is every tree.

• When the General Post Office was seized, many Dublin residents were violently opposed to the action. Why? Because the Rising took place during World War I, and many Dublin residents were serving with the British forces in Europe. The families of the soldiers could not collect their mail - which contained the checks of their husbands and sons, leaving them without money for food and other necessities.
• During the heat of the fighting, there was a short break every day. In the center of the city at twelve noon, a man would wave a white flag. The shooting would stop, and the man would progress across the open space with a bag of food. He would feed the ducks, leave the field, wave the flag again, and fighting would resume.
• The rebels had help from unlikely assistants. A Dublin cabby told me that his grandmother aided the effort by hiding rifle parts, ammunition and messages inside the metal tubes of her bicycle. She would ride across the city, leave her bicycle with the intended recipients and walk back home.
• When non-Dubliners arrived to aid in the rebellion, their ability to help was hampered by the lack of maps. No one thought that they were necessary.
• This rebellion, like every other, failed in great part due to the successful efforts of turncoats, traitors and informers.

The Lords Prayer and the Hail Mary in Irish Gaelic