Posted by Terence McManus on April 22, 2002 at 03:31:22 from 202.108.48.20:
In Reply to: Do Agents Have to be Consistent..? posted by Andy Morley on April 21, 2002 at 22:07:27:
Ah Andy, that's partly true: however his life is well documented and his motives open.
He was a patriot in the best sense who aimed to protect both his countries against what he perceived as outside threats: first the German threat against Britain and then the British threat against Ireland.
Robert Erskine Childers wrote The Riddle of the Sands while working as a clerk in the House of Commons. His aim was to warn of the danger of an invasion of England from across the North sea
Half Irish, he sympathised with the Republican cause and used his yacht "Asgard" to run guns for the Irish Volunteers. After serving in the First World War he represented the Irish cause at Versailles and was a member of the team that negotiated the 1921 treaty with Britain.
A staunch Republican he opposed the terms of the treaty and fought in the Irish Republican Army during the civil war that followed the creation of the Irish Free State. For this he was court-martialed by the Irish Government. He was shot as a traitor in 1922.
His son was elected president of Ireland in 1973. The name "Asgard" lives on as an Irish sail training vessel.