of 29th ult., but have been exceedingly busy. I find nothing to object to in your
proposals, but I would urge this general
consideration, viz., that your will find it
extremely difficult to bring a new organisation
with branches etc., into existence at
present, and that it would perhaps be
better to have merely a small central
body in the nature of an information
bureau, whose duty would be to diffuse
information and education e public opinion
by leaflets, pamphlets, press letters, etc.
If similar bureaux spring up elsewhere
in other centres, well and good. P.H.Pearse
This is a letter from Patrick Henry Pearse (1879-1916) to an unknown person. In this letter, Pearse advises his correspondent that the idea of bringing an (unnamed) organisation 'with branches, etc.' into existence at the present time is unworkable, and that it would be more advisable to found 'a small, central body in the nature of an information bureau', which could 'educate public opinion' through pamphlets and so on.Pearse was a writer, a teacher, and a revolutionary nationalist. A strong critic of the soulless by-rote approach to learning he termed the 'murder machine', Pearse was the founder in 1908 of St. Enda's College, a bilingual school for boys with an ethos based around the needs and imaginations of the children themselves. He was a key member of the military council of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, and was one of the signatories of the proclamation of the Irish republic (largely his own writing), which he read outside the GPO after the outbreak of the Easter Rising. As president of the provisional government, it was Pearse who called the surrender. He was executed on 3 May 1916.
How to cite
Letters 1916, published by the Austrian Centre for Digital Humanities, Vienna, 2026 (https://letters1916static.github.io/letters1916-static/item__0845.html)
- Mentioned in
-
- Letter from Patrick Pearse to Seamus Doyle, 17 February 1916
- Letter from Patrick Pearse to Seamus Doyle, 17 February 1916
- Letter from Patrick Pearse to Seamus Doyle, 17 February 1916
- Letter from Patrick Pearse to Seán T. O'Kelly, 22 April 1916
- Copy of letter from Patrick Pearse to his mother Margaret Pearse, 3 May 1916
- Letter from Patrick Pearse to his mother Margaret Pearse, 3 May 1916
- Letter from Patrick Pearse, 25 November 1915
- Letter from Patrick Pearse, 9 December 1915
- Company Mobilisation Order from Patrick Pearse to Frank Sheridan, 20 April 1916
- Letter from Patrick Pearse to his mother Margaret Pearse, 3 May 1916
- Copy of last letter from Patrick Pearse to his mother Margaret Pearse, 3 May 1916
- Company Mobilisation Order from P.H. Pearse to F. Sheridan, 20 April 1916
- Letter from Patrick Pearse to Mr O'Danaher, 14 December 1915
- Letter from Patrick Pearse, 4 March 1916
- Letter from Pádraig Pearse to Seamus Doyle, 17 February 1916
- Place
- St. Enda's College, Rathfarnham, Dublin, Ireland
- Mentioned in
- Letter from William Pearse to Éamonn Bulfin, 21 April 1916
- Letter from William Pearse to Éamonn Bulfin, 24 April 1916
- Counterfoil addressed to William Pearse, April 1916
- Letter from Patrick Pearse, 25 November 1915
- Letter from Patrick Pearse, 9 December 1915
- Letter from William Pearse to Éamonn Bulfin, 21 April 1916
- Letter from Patrick Pearse to Mr O'Danaher, 14 December 1915
- Letter from Patrick Pearse, 4 March 1916