AD - Sligo Poets

Sligo Independent 7 March 1914
BIRRELL A FAILURE

At last Birrell you admit
For your post you’re quite unfit.
You have no right, that’s quite clear –
To £500 a year;
At the price you’re far too dear.

A.D.
London W.



Sligo Independent 14 March 1914
L.G. “Don’t Shoot, I’m Coming down”

Idol of a vulgar gang,
Master now of Limehouse slang;
Posing as the people’s friend,
Of his tricks the public sick,
Up like rocket! down like stick!!

A.D.
London W.



Sligo Independent 4 April 1914
QUIS SEPERABIT!

How long must Ulster wait
Before she knows her fate?
Blamed for sectarian hate–
Far from the fact.
Never such patience shown,
Loyal to King and throne,
Asks to be left alone–
Union intact!

A.D.

A.D. continues his campaign against the Liberal Government of Asquith, against the Irish Party and against the Home Rule bill, up to April 1914. His subsequence silence may be due to the passing of the bill and/or the outbreak of war. His contributions to the Sligo Independent in previous years were sporadic and inclined to be grouped by months thought there was not a regular pattern.

In 1912 he contributed seven short poems between June and August.

In 1913 six of his poems were published, five in August-September and one in December.

Augustine Birrell was Chief Secretary for Ireland and L.G. is David Lloyd George the Chancellor of the Exchequer whose 1909 budget was called the 'people's budget' since it provided for social insurance that was to be partly financed by land and income taxes.

The origin of the "Up like a rocket, down like a stick" saying is Thomas Paine's gibe about Edmund Burke's oratory in a House of Commons debate on the subject of the French Revolution "As he rose like a rocket, he fell like the stick".

Quis separabit? (Who will separate [us]?) is a motto associated with Unionism and Northern Ireland. It was also the motto of the Irish regiment, the Connaught Rangers, from 1881 until it was disbanded in 1922.

It was the motto of the former Government of Northern Ireland and appeared on the province's defunct coat of arms. It is also the motto of the Ulster Defence Association, a proscribed loyalist paramilitary in Northern Ireland.