‘I am against shooting down unarmed men’ COLLINS, Michael. ...

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‘I am against shooting down unarmed men’

COLLINS, Michael. An important TL, unpublished and apparently unrecorded, 29 July 1922, addressed to GOVERNMENT, responding to a ‘suggested Proclamation warning all concerned that troops have orders to shoot prisoners found sniping, ambushing etc.’.  1 pp, on headed notepaper of Óglaigh na hÉireann, Office of Adjutant General, GHQ, Portobello Barracks, signed in a secretarial hand Micheal Ó Coileáin, Commander-In-Chief. Later inscription in blue ink bottom left, small tear top left where apparently torn from a file, no loss.

A most important statement of Collins’ views on a crucial issue, just over three weeks before his death in a roadside ambush. ‘It is for Government to come to a decision .. The Troops will obey whatever orders may be issued .. I may say that I am in favour of drastic action being taken, but I am against shooting down unarmed men in any circumstances where it is known to the Troops that the men are unarmed.  This would not, naturally, refer to a man who deliberately shoots a soldier and then throws down his rifle and puts up his hands.’
Collins goes on to say, ‘So far as Dublin is concerned I have already small groups of men in Mufti on the streets. These men have been carefully chosen and their work will be slow.  Grave dangers can easily be forseen [sic], and the selection will, therefore, have to be very carefully made.’
The letter does not bear Collins’ signature, but in our view there is no doubt of its authenticity.  It was apparently drafted in response to a letter from President Cosgrave in connection with the suggested Proclamation, itself a response to earlier letters from Collins. See Coogan, 'Michael Collins', p. 394; Hart, 'Mick: The Real Michael Collins', p. 404.  Neither of these works quotes the present Collins letter, and it appears to be unrecorded.
It is possible that Collins had second thoughts, and decided not to send the letter; but in our view it is more likely that the letter was sent but not delivered, or was later removed from the file. Postal deliveries were frequently raided around this time. The later inscription refers to the death of Barney Daly, ‘found dead soon after this (18 bullet wounds)’, etc., probably an Irregular. This indicates that at some point the letter was in the hands of persons sympathetic to the Irregulars, and it is most likely in our view that this letter was intercepted in the post and never delivered.

It is in any case a clear and important statement of Collins’ views on a crucial issue, literally a matter of life and death, a few weeks before his own death.
Cian O'Heigeartaigh, 2023