ELCOLLIN MICHAEL COLLINS' OWN STORY MICHAEL COLLINS. MICHAEL COLLINS' OWN STORY Tou to HAYDEN TALBOT LONDON: HUTCHINSON * CO PATERNOSTER ROW " Multitudinous is their gathering . a great host with whom it is not fortunate to of contend . the battle-trooped host the O'Coileain." The ancient slogan of Collins' ancestors, chieftains of the tribes of Mimster 450 years ago. To ESTHER TALBOT CONTENTS CHAPTER PACK - I. HOW IT HAPPENED - II - II. INTRODUCING MICHAEL COLLINS 21 III. EOIN MACNEILL ULSTERMAN - 2Q " " iv. COLLINS' OWN STORY OF EASTER WEEK - 40 v. ARTHUR GRIFFITH'S LAST STATEMENT - 48 " " VI. THE AFTERMATH OF EASTER WEEK 58 vii. COLLINS' ESTIMATE OF ERSKINE CHILDERS - 67 viii. COLLINS' PLAN OF TERRORISING TERRORISTS - -73 IX. OUTWITTING THE BLACK AND TANS - 79 X. UNDER THE TERROR - 86 XI. THE MURDER OF FRANCIS SHEEHY SKEFFINGTON 95 xii. CHILDERS' OPINION OF AMERICANS - - 115 XIII. THE TRUTH ABOUT THE TRUCE - 123 XIV. THE INVITATION TO NEGOTIATE - 134 XV. THE TREATY NEGOTIATIONS - - 145 XVI. THE MISGUIDED ONES - - 153 XVII. DISHONEST TACTICS - - l62 XVIII. THE ULSTER PROBLEM - 170 XIX. THE REBELLION ITS CAUSE AND COST - l8l XX. THE FUTURE OF IRELAND - igi XXI. WHAT THE TREATY MEANS A SYMPOSIUM - 202 XXII. ADDENDUM * - - 249 Michael Collins' Own Story CHAPTER I HOW IT HAPPENED IT began belligerently. It grew into a friendship I valued more than any other I ever made. The reference is to my relationship with Michael Collins. I tell it not because these two facts matter to anyone except me, but because they are in themselves proof of the greatness of this Irishman. And, inasmuch as I found him, in nine months of intimate association, the finest character it has ever been my good fortune to know, I mean to adduce such proof as I can as will tend to justify my opinion. My job as a newspaper correspondent took me to Dublin early in December, 1921. I made the trip from London aboard the train that carried the five plenipotentiaries and the Treaty they had signed the night before. But it was not until several days later that I met Collins. Of the no correspondents representing newspapers in all parts of the world at that first public session of Dail Eireann, none could have been more unconversant with the Irish situation than I was. But that did not prevent my quickly discovering that Collins was far and away the most interesting figure in all that remarkable parliament. An interview with him was patently what news- paper readers most wanted. So I made it my business, dur- ing a lull in the proceedings, to follow him into the lobby and introduce myself to him. He made an appointment to see me at ten o'clock that evening at the Gresham Hotel. A quarter of an hour before time, I arrived at the Gresham and sent my card upstairs. Ten minutes later boiling 12 Michael Collins* Own Story with rage, all the more maddening because I realised that the interview would be in circles as a " regarded newspaper rare beat," and at the same time in the depths of my ignorance counting these inexperienced, untried statesmen as distinctly small fry I sat down at a desk in the lounge and wrote the following note : " DEAR MR. COLLINS, " You invited me to visit you here at ten o'clock ' this evening. Word is now brought me you are too ' busy to see me. Is this the answer you wish me to send to fifteen million readers in America ? my " Sincerely, " HAYDEN TALBOT." Further to express my outraged feelings I scorned to the note in an envelope. I folded the sheet put impudent " of paper once and addressed it merely, Michael Collins." In three minutes by the clock the note was returned to me with the following reply written hi one corner : " I thought I said 10.30 and will be down at 10.30. " Please wait and oblige, M. C." " " a case of soft it It was not only the answer ; was evidence sufficiently striking to convince me that here was a big man. Even before I knew more about him than what these few words told me, he had made me ashamed of myself for my arrogance. He kept me waiting only half as long as I had expected, and as soon as our eyes met it was apparent he intended to more than half-way to be friendly. go" " This is no place to talk," he said hurriedly. Come upstairs with me." Now that I look back on it I am sure Collins had quite forgotten who I was. Many times since he has proved possession of a marvellous memory, but with the desperately urgent matters then weighing on his mind it would have been impossible for him to have visualised me from my How It Happened 13 card. Seeing me was different. And a sense of this, even while my earlier hostility was still uppermost, had place in my consciousness. He sprang up the stairs two at a time physically, as well as mentally, Collins was the embodiment of speed and swiftly showed the way down a corridor that led to the rear portion of the hotel. Later, I was to learn that this whole wing was occupied by the organisation that since has come into official being as the Free State Government. As we passed quickly along I caught sight of one room stripped of its bedroom fittings and literally packed with men for the most part wearing trench coats and caps. Almost at the end of the passage Collins stopped and pushed open a door, nodding to me to follow. As I stepped over the threshold I saw Arthur Griffith seated at a table busily writing. He glanced at Collins and then immediately resumed his labours. Collins strode across the room and opened the door of the adjoining room, again nodding to me to follow him. So finally we came face to face in the last of ten communicating rooms. I noted that the door open- into the was fitted with two bolts. ing " passage " heavy Have a drink ? asked my host, for the first time his eyes showing the glint of a smile. Almost before he had removed his thumb from the push- button, a youngster in the inevitable trench coat and cap opened the door of the adjoining room, took Collins' order and disappeared. In ten seconds he was back again with a tall glass containing wish. " my " Sorry," apologised Collins, but I am not drinking myself." In the next quarter of an hour, while I explained at length the importance, from his viewpoint, of taking the public into his confidence (that public which my newspapers ! ! I I reached !), had abundant evidence that was present at a secret conclave of the Treaty leaders, the first one, as I later learned, to be held after the signing of the Treaty. A dozen times while I was closeted with Collins, young, eager, serious-visaged chaps stuck their heads into the room 14 Michael Collins' Own Story and brought their chief close to them with a peremptory nod. A swift whispered word or two and they would be gone. Without knowing it at the time, I was witnessing the working out of a scheme to force an early adjournment of the Dail to give these leaders time to undertake a campaign of education that woukhresult in a crystallisation of public senti- ment that would compel Dail Eireann to accept the Treaty. When I had finished stating my case I asked Collins what he wished to say for publication. For a space he sat looking at me soberly as if weighing the consequences of departing from his long established policy of silence. Then he from his seat and crossed the room in three strides. sprang" " Do you mind if I bring Mr. Griffith in ? he asked. A moment later I discovered another quality of this man that stamped him truly big. In his attitude towards Griffith and be it remembered that Griffith himself went on record in the Dail as being prouder of his association with Collins than of any other incident in his life there was the limit of respectful yielding. I subsequently discovered that Collins maintained this attitude towards the lowliest of his supporters. He listened to advice from his chauffeur. But while we three were together that first night, Collins made it evident, even to me, a stranger, that his was in no of inferior to it was rather sense the yielding an a superior ; the well-mannered deference of a junior to a senior equal. Followed fifteen minutes of staccato interchange of opinions Colh'ns doing most of the questioning and Griffith furnishing for the most part monosyllabic replies. The discussion revolved around the advisability of making any statement for publication at that time. They talked freely, seeming to ignore the fact of my presence. Finally, Collins tore a few pages from his notebook and wrote the following : " At a late hour I talked with Michael Collins. He was reticent, had little to say and was reluctant to say it. He supported the Treaty and stood for it. He was not very concerned with oaths. He was concerned about getting the English out of Ireland How It Happened 15 and having a chance of going ahead to rebuild the Irish nation. He is full of hope and buoyancy, and although he is well aware that the Treaty does not mean full freedom he states emphatically that it does give freedom to show the Irish capable of making their national status secure and strong.