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The History Sale 2015
www.adams.ie651
‘I SHALL BE BANKRUPT AND DISGRACED ..’ PADRAIC PEARSE & TOMÁS UA CONCHEANAINN
A typescript copy (2 pp, top copy) of an original letter from Pearse to the Gaelic League organiser Tomás Ua Concheanainn [1870-1961], concerning his dealings
with the Irish-Argentine businessman Padraic MacManus, sent by Ua Concheanainn to MacManus with a long covering letter (7 pages, close-typed, on Gaelic
League notepaper, signed). Pearse’s letter to Ua Concheanainn explains his understanding that Padraic MacManus had promised a subscription of €500 towards
the capital fund for St. Enda’s, and his alarm when the subscription did not arrive. It is clear that he hoped Ua Concheanainn – a friend of both men -- would
persuade MacManus to deliver the funds. Pearse’s original letter appears to have vanished. It is not quoted or mentioned in Ó Buachalla’s edition of Pearse’s
collected letters, and neither the letter nor its contents is mentioned in Ruth Dudley Edwards’ biography of Pearse. It is reasonable to conclude that the present
copy is the only surviving evidence of Pearse’s letter. Pearse begins by clarifying a misunderstanding. ‘I never told you, or at least meant to tell you, that he
promised to “finance” the whole scheme. What I told you was that he promised to join in with the rest of us to the extent of €500, and this is exactly what he did
promise .. The whole capital would then be €1,400. P. MacManus stands pledged in honour (if not legally) to provide €500 of this, and no more. ‘I don’t think I ever
said that no shares would be called on until after a committee, etc., was formed. At any rate, Cullenswood House [where St. Enda’s began] came into the market,
the beginning of the school year was rapidly approaching, and no time was to be lost if we were to make a start on September 7th. Accordingly I concentrated
attention on the really urgent things -- the purchase and equipment of the house, the engagement of the staff, etc., rather than on the legal formalities of getting
trustees appointed and the rest. If I had waited until all these details were legally arranged I should not have been able to start in September at all ..‘Firmly
confident that his money would arrive in course of post, I bought Cullenswood House, and spent some €500 in alterations, improvements, furniture and
equipment. To enable me to do this I had to borrow €300 from my bank and €200 from another source. The €200 must be paid immediately, and to repay it I must
now borrow from someone else. The €300 must be repaid to the bank in about four months from now. What am I to do if Mr. MacManus’ money does not arrive?
I shall be bankrupt and disgraced and the school will end in disaster. ‘We are doing splendid work. It would be a tragedy -- a national tragedy -- if anything were
to happen to us now. We have 43 or 44 pupils in senior school and over 30 in junior school, over 70 in all. All are being taught to speak, read and write Irish.
‘Irish is the language of the school. All school subjects are taught through Irish as well as English. Irish History holds an important part of the programme. The
boys are being trained up as Irish Nationalists first and foremost, and the eagerness with which they study Irish history and the ardour of their newly-awakened
patriotism are at once a source of amazement and gratification to their teachers. Get out of Mr. MacManus’ head the ideas that we are teaching “royalism”. The
boys are rebels, every one of them .. All inscriptions, notices, time-tables, etc., in Irish. All furniture, books, equipment [of] Irish manufacture, Irish games etc.
The whole thing more Irish than anyone ever dreamed was possible ..‘Ask MacManus is all this to be stopped for want of funds? .. ‘Put it clearly to him that if
the money does not come the magnificent work we have started will be wrecked in the beginning .. You yourself who have seen the school can tell MacManus
of its Irish tone and its absolutely Gaelic and national character. The crisis is a terrible one, and I rely on Mr. MacManus to pull me through.’ In his own letter to
MacManus, dated Samhain [November] 12 1908, Ua Concheanainn says, ‘As to Sgoil Eanna: I sent that part of your letter bearing on this school to Pearse, and I
think I cannot do better than send you a copy of his letter ..‘I do not want to influence you in the least, Don Patricio, but I feel bound to reiterate everything Pearse
has said about the Irish spirit of the school. My idea of an Irish school is all but realised in Sgoil Éanna .. the wonder is that with all his difficulties, financial and
otherwise, it could be so saturated with the Irish atmosphere, and so well equipped in almost every detail, in so short as time ..‘A dozen Sgoil Eanna’s would
revolutionise this country in ten years, and in my humble opinion our work in the Gaelic League will eventually fail unless we succeed in capturing the schools ..
Sgoil Eanna will not only give us good Irishmen, but it will also give us educated Irishmen .. the thinkers and the workers of ten years hence. I cannot conceive of
an Ireland taught, for 20 years, like the students of Sgoil Éanna are taught, to be other than a free Ireland .. Love of truth, which after all is real character, love [of]
it for its own sake, is what we would inculcate in the mind of every boy and girl in Ireland, if we once got control of our education ..‘Cheer up now. We will see an
intellectually free Ireland ere we die, and to reach political freedom after that is the easiest thing in the world. Bíodh misneach agat anois.’
Tomás Ua Concheanainn, a native Irish speaker from Aran, was a notably successful Gaelic League organiser and teacher. He had lived and worked in the
Americas for over a decade before returning to Ireland. In 1898 he met Pearse in Inismeain, and helped him to found branches of the Gaelic League in the
three Aran islands. His letter encapsulates the Gaelic League’s message during its most fruitful and influential period. It also includes much about his personal
activities and plans (including a possible return to America). We do not know precisely what were MacManus’ concerns about St. Enda’s. It seems he had
doubts about Pearse’s business abilities, and he must have heard reports from someone who felt the school was not sufficiently Republican in tone. Pearse’s
letter was evidently written in haste and under the influence of strong emotion. It reads persuasively even today. Another letter in Ó Buachalla’s edition (no. 225)
indicates that as late as September 1911, Pearse was still hoping to receive funds from MacManus; see also the Hyde letter below. These are splendid letters, Ua
Concheanainn’s no less than Pearse’s. Taken together, they give an excellent account of the programme and atmosphere at St. Enda’s, and they add substantially
to our understanding of its finances. (2)
€3,000 - €5,000