Irish Republic the Third Dáil, and all future institutions arising from it, as illegal. (See Second Dáil). The anti-Treaty side was then defeated in the Civil War. Most militant opposition to the Free State came to an end on 24 May 1923 when Frank Aiken, chief-of-staff of the IRA issued the order to "dump arms" and Éamon de Valera issued his address to the "Legion of the Rearguard". Éamon de Valera continued as president of the Sinn Féin political party. In March 1926, Éamon de Valera, along with most anti-Treaty politicians, founded a new party called 'Fianna Fáil' and ended their boycott
Éamon de Valera would he be likely to make trouble in the future?" On being told that de Valera was unimportant, he commuted the court-martial's death sentence to life imprisonment. De Valera had no Fenian family or personal background and his MI5 file in 1916 was very slim, detailing only his open membership in the Irish Volunteers. Fourth, by the time de Valera was court-martialled on 8 May, political pressure was being brought to bear on Maxwell to halt the executions; Maxwell had already told British Prime Minister H. H. Asquith that only two more were to be executed, Seán Mac Diarmada and