"My Dear Miss Collins- Don't let them make you miserable about it: how could a born soldier die better than at the victorious end of a good fight, falling to the shot of another Irishman- a damned fool, but all the same an Irishman who thought he was fighting for Ireland- 'A Roman to a Roman'? I met Michael for the first and last time on Saturday last, and am very glad I did. I rejoice in his memory, and will not be so disloyal as to snivel over his valiant death. So treat up your mourning and hang up your brightest colours in his honour; let us all praise God that he did not die in a snuffy bed of a trumpery cough, weakened by age, and saddened by the disappointments that would have attended his work had he lived."
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Politicians from IrelandInterior ministersIrish nationalistsFinance ministersMilitary leaders of Ireland
Original Language: English
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Sources
George Bernard Shaw, in a letter to Collins' sister Hannie on 25 August 1922, as quoted by James Mackay in Michael Collins: A Life (1996), p. 297
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Michael_Collins_(Irish_leader)
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Michael Collins (Irish leader)
Michael Collins (in Irish MÃcheál Seán Ó Coileáin; 16 October 1890 – 22 August 1922) was an Irish revolutionary leader, Minister for Finance in the Irish Republic, Director of Intelligence for the IRA, and member of the Irish delegation during the Anglo-Irish Treaty negotiations, both as Chairman of the Provisional Government and Commander-in-Chief of the National Army.
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