famous Irish nationalist shook hands with his firing squad

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception 

Childers was secretary-general of the Irish delegation that negotiated the Anglo-Irish Treaty with the British government. Erskine Childers was most famous for his influential novel The Riddle of the Sands which revolved around the idea of British military preparedness pre-World War I.
Childers was born an Englishman and even served for the British army, but over the course of his life and his positions within the British military, he moved toward the idea that Ireland should have it's own government.
Childers eventually became a radical Irish nationalist who smuggled guns to Ireland. In 1919 he was appointed Director of Publicity for the first Irish Parliment and he wrote the book Military Rule in Ireland which attacked the British government.
Over the next several years, his involvement in the negotiations of the Anglo-Irish treaty increased and in 1921, but the negotiations failed and the divide in Ireland between the IRA and the Sann Fien increased and civil war erupted. He was soon arrested by The National Army Soldiers and put to death on November 24, 1922.
Before his execution, in an attempt for peace and reconciliation, Childers shook hands with each of his executers and told them, "Take a step or two forward, lads. It will be easier that way". His sense of humor remained with him until the end.