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Memorial to the China War at St. Patrick's Cathedral. Dublin
Saeve Indignation
An open Letter Re: Memorial to the China War at St. Patrick's Cathedral. Dublin
 An open Letter to:
The Most Reverend Robert Henry Alexander Eames,
LL.B PLW, LLD, D.LH.DD
Archbishop of Armagh, Primate of all Ireland and
Metropolitan
The Most Reverend John Robert Winder Neill M.A LL.D Archbishop of Dublin and Bishop of Glendalough, Primate of Ireland and Metropolitan
The Very Reverend R.B. MacCarthy
Dean and Ordinary The National Cathedral and
Collegiate Church of Saint Patrick .
Re: Memorial to the China War at St. Patrick's Cathedral. Dublin
Dear Reverend gentlemen,
We recently conducted a Chinese visitor upon a tour of Dublin.
The context of this was the developing relationship between Ireland and China flowing from the remarkable growth of the economies of our two countries. Ireland and China have entered
into agreements covering, inter alia, economic and cultural issues.
Essential to the growing spirit of solidarity is the principle that we share a common heritage as victims of colonialism. The first thing which caught our visitor's attention upon the streets of our capital was the prevalence of heroin addicts. It had been the determination of the Chinese government to resist the importation of drugs into their country that was used as a pretext for the invasion of China in 1841.
The one hundred and sixty-fifth anniversary of that illegal invasion occurs this year on May 24th. That was Queen Victoria's birthday. Who was the head of the Church of Ireland.
Let us go back to the first encounter between the Irish and the Chinese.
The commander of the invasion force was Hugh Gough, of Tipperary. Soldiers of the 18th Royal Irish Regiment were the first Europeans the people of Amoy ever saw. Many committed suicide. At Tinghai, the Royal Irish bayonetted defenders along the wall of the city until they reached Pagoda Hill. There they planted the colours. The Chinese had no weapons to match those of the invaders. The Royal Irish slaughtered them without mercy.
At Ningpo, the citizens opened their gates without a struggle, thereby frustrating Sir Henry Pottinger's object of plundering the town as a punishment for resistance. He proposed instead to steal public and ransom private property. Gough demurred, declining to disperse his men "to punish one set of robbers for the benefit of another set".
Gough and the Royal Irish moved on to Chapoo, where the stiffest resistance was offered by the Tartars, many of whom, preferring death to the dishonour of defeat, destroyed their wives, their children and themselves. On to Chingakingfoo where again the Tartars fiercely resist, where again they kill themselves in defeat. At Nanking, Pottinger offers to spare the city on payment of a ransom. The Tartars refuse to accept these terms, so Gough prepares to bombard them into submission. Then emissaries arrive from the Emperor, sueing for peace. They agree to indemnify the opium sellers and make a present of Hong Kong to the British, among other concessions.
Returning to the present day
Our Chinese friend noted that Saint Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin flies the colours of the Royal Irish Regiment (1837-54). And noted that there was a large monument to some people who had died perpetrating the rape and humiliation of his country. A monument which attributed success in this action- called 'The China War" - to the intervention of Jesus Christ.
How can a national Cathedral of a country which presented itself to China as a fellow-victim of colonialism commemorate the humiliation of China? It was clear that the people who stole Hong Kong from the Chinese in 1842 were the same as those who had stolen Saint Patrick's Cathedral from the Irish in 1532, through a "surrender".
Dean and recalcitrant elements of the chapter of the then Catholic Cathedral - some of whose sacred relics remain to this day beneath the altar - were locked up in a room until they submitted to a man named Browne, who described himself as w a protestant", and agent of King Henry VIII.
The ancient sacred staff of Saint Patrick was burned by Browne - an act designed to humiliate the Irish people. Sonow instead of finding in our national cathedral the staff of our national saint, our Chinese visitor could find the standards of an army which had crushed and humiliated his people, and ours.
And our Chinese visitor was obliged to confront the pretence of the Cathedral: that the gospel of Jesus Christ was implicated in the humiliation of the Irish and the humiliation of the Chinese.
The British lease on Hong Kong ran out in 1991. Had not the lease on Dublin run out in 1922?
In 1948, when the British were evicted from India, all the imperial statues on the streets of Calcutta were collected and re-housed in Barrackpur in a kind of reservation for British imperial art. Something of that nature might have happened to Saint Patrick's cathedral. It didn't.
Shortly after the Chinese re-occupied the city of Hong Kong, every vestige of British imperial domination was removed. overnight. Something like that might have happened to St. Patrick's Cathedral. It didn't.
It is a matter of urgency now. Because the Church of Ireland Prelates have not condemned the illegal invasion of Iraq anymore than their forbears condemned the illegal invasion of China. Irishmen are part of the occupation force. At least one has died. There is a space on the wall of the North transept.
There are many Muslims in Dublin.
Our Chinese friend and ourselves concluded that seisin of Saint Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin should be surrendered to the people of Dublin. To all of us. Catholic, Buddhist, Orthodox, Hindu, Muslim, Jew, Sikh, Confucian - everyone -not least the protestants, who are as sick of the duplicity of the hierarchy of the Church of Ireland as the rest of us.
If the surrender is not volunteered, it might be encouraged in the manner of the previous surrender. The Primate, the Archbishop and the Dean might be locked up in a room. And a deed of surrender slipped under the door. For execution.
There should be no need for that.
Our Chinese friend and ourselves shall be pleased to receive the surrender of Saint Patrick's on behalf of the people of Dublin.
Yours faithfully,
Ronan Sheehan (1 Dartmouth Place, Dublin 6)
Stephen Costello (1 Dartmouth Terrace, Dublin 6)
Lien Chi Altangi (Pagoda Hill, Tinghai China
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dublin |
rights, freedoms and repression |
opinion/analysis
Thursday April 06, 2006 11:41
by Ronan Sheehan - The Law Society
sheehanwriter at yahoo dot ie
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Comments (8 of 8)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8lovely line "Armagh and metropolitan" yeah verily unto the isles of Kowloon".
Who knows maybe there is still a stash of opium or silver ingots under the memorial?
bong + boing + bong + boing +
I've got a crowbar. I'm off down to see wghats under the memorial. Might be enough to buy a new Moon Shuttle.
I wholly concur with the contents of this most estimable letter. For centuries I've had to endure the presence of HM's military regailia defiling my tomb, and I should like it removed forthwith. Godspeed in your efforts, Ronan Sheehan! We have just Religion enough to make us hate, but not enough to make us love one another. But take heed, when a true Genius appears in the World, you may know him by this infallible Sign; that the Dunces are all in Confederacy against him.
Qui pro innocente dicit, satis est eloquens!
Adieu,
Jon. Swift
St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin
Hic depositum est corpus
JONATHAN SWIFT S.T.D.
Huyus Ecclesiae Cathedralis
Decani
Ubi saeva indignatio
Ulterius
Cor lacerare nequit
Abi Viator
Et imitare, si poteris
Strenuum pro virili
Libertatis Vindicatorem
take our comments as praise.
Wer'e enjoying your article and its getting us thinking.
& the "typo" is an almost institutional but definitely quaint hallmark of our style on this site. I quite like how your "typo" tweaked the title. The debate on the flags in Pat's has gone on a long time, it reached its peak in the mid 1960s, when also up for debate was the "royal" in front of various national institutions, including the RIA, the RIAM, the RCS and the RDS. But at end the flags don't matter that much, because if you examine the symbolism and the regimental standards in question and their placement according to most ancient rite, and the other bits and bobs in teh place, you see a historical record & quite the prettiest flag in the cathedral is not in the apse /transept (Pat's doesn't quite follow the usual architectural pattern) but in the nave and is the tricolour for our first president Erskine Childers which is number 23 on the virtual tour of Ard-Eaglais Naomh Pádraig which you will see is located between the celtic stones and Dean Swift's memorial
you may all consult that plan here :-
http://www.stpatrickscathedral.ie/plan.htm
Having spent part of my youth in Pat's but more down the road in Christchurch (where the organ & aucustics are much much better) I must say I wouldn't change an "iota" of the scheme. If you have eyes to see, it says everything there is to say.
everyone go read Ronan's piece again
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/75277
I've seen that name appear at least 10 times over the past week. Who are these 'Childers' people. If I didn't know better I'd suspect someone was trting to communicate something of importance. :)
What a marvelous idea! I hope it happens--and soon. Whilst eveyone's stirred up over the militarization of 1916, at least someone has noticed the ancient militarization of St. Patrick's. Good on ye, Ronan Sheehan! We're still an occupied territory!
gosh. Perhaps your letter to Robin is satire? In which case, oooooh! i do feel silly.
Well ok. I can continue to praise you, mól na oige and all that eile .
C/P of the joint statement by Rt. Hon PM of HMG Tony Blair
and knight honorary of Constantine & St. George, an Taoiseach Bartholomew Patrick Ahern.
In recent months we have held discussions with all the political parties in Northern Ireland with a view to restoring the political institutions and building on the peace and prosperity which have flowed from the Good Friday Agreement.
When we last met, we noted the historic progress represented by the IRA statement of July 2005. We are convinced that the IRA no longer represents a terrorist threat.
By any standards, that is a momentous stage in the history of Northern Ireland. On that basis, we have made it clear that all parties should engage in political dialogue.
We have also made it clear that all parties should support the police as the most effective way of addressing continuing concerns about criminality.
We cannot force anyone to enter the political institutions. Every part of the political process over the past eight years has been voluntary.
What we can do is to set out what we believe to be a practical framework and a reasonable timescale for moving forward.
While we are conscious of the view that further confidence needs to be established, we also know that time alone is not enough: trust will not build itself in the absence of positive engagement by all parties.
Everyone in Northern Ireland is aware of the dangers of a political vacuum.
The Assembly will therefore be recalled on 15 May.
Recognising that it has not sat for nearly four years, it seems sensible to give the Assembly a short period in which to prepare for government as envisaged by paragraph 35 of Strand One of the Good Friday Agreement.
The Assembly's primary responsibility would be to elect a First and Deputy First Minister as soon as possible, to allocate Ministerial posts under the d'Hondt formula and to make other preparations for Government within Northern Ireland and in the North/South and East/West fields.
As soon as the Assembly elects a First and Deputy First Minister on a cross-community basis and forms an Executive, power will automatically be devolved to the Assembly, as happened in December 1999, and all its functions will be resumed.
At that point the British Government's power to suspend the Assembly will lapse for good.
If, despite best efforts, the Assembly is not able to elect a First and Deputy First Minister on a cross-community basis within the normal six week period, we would be prepared to allow a further period of 12 weeks after the summer recess in which to form an Executive and we would expect it to do so at the earliest opportunity within this timeframe.
We are also conscious that all parties have made proposals for the better functioning of the institutions and that discussion on these issues has not yet concluded.
It would be open to the parties to continue these discussions with each other and with the governments, as appropriate, so that consideration could be given to proposals for the implementation of the Agreement, including changes to Strands 1 to 3 in the context of a commitment by all involved to participate in a power-sharing Executive.
It would of course also be open to the Assembly to prepare for government by considering issues which the Executive will have to deal with, such as future economic strategy, water rates, public administration and education.
Ministers would naturally take account of views which command cross-community support within the Assembly.
While it is reasonable to give the Assembly a little more time, there must be a clear limit.
We said in January that a power-sharing Executive must be formed this year. If by 24 November the Assembly has failed to achieve this, we do not believe that any purpose would be served by a further election at that point or a few months later in May 2007.
We do not think that the people of Northern Ireland should be asked to participate in elections to a deadlocked Assembly.
There would be no choice but to cancel salaries and allowances for MLAs and to defer restoration of the Assembly and Executive until there is a clear political willingness to exercise devolved power.
The Governments would, of course, stand ready to facilitate full restoration when all parties indicate such willingness.
If restoration of the Assembly and Executive has to be deferred, the Governments agree that this will have immediate implications for their joint stewardship of the process.
We are beginning detailed work on British-Irish partnership arrangements that will be necessary in these circumstances to ensure that the Good Friday Agreement, which is the indispensable framework for relations on and between these islands, is actively developed across its structures and functions.
This work will be shaped by the commitment of both Governments to a step-change in advancing North-South co-operation and action for the benefit of all.
The British Government will introduce emergency legislation to facilitate this way forward. It will set out clearly the limited timescale available to the Assembly to reach agreement. In parallel with the recalling of the Assembly, we will engage intensively with the parties to establish the trust necessary to allow the institutions not only to function but to flourish.
There is a great deal of work to be done. The Governments will do all in their power to restore the institutions and return devolved Government to those elected by the people of Northern Ireland.
But the final decisions are for the parties. We hope they will seize the opportunity to move forward.
"Everyone in Northern Ireland is aware of the dangers of a political vacuum" - the speeches get better.
oh well.
they are very historic flags.
such a boring place St Pat's.