The Irish standard., 1901-09-21
MANUFACTURING IRISH CRIME.

When England contemplates the do
ing of wrong to any people she be-
gins by trying to ruin their reputa-
ton before THE world. She is we'll
skilled in this sort of propagandism,
rs she has had centuries of experience.
Before the guns of Butler and Roberts
and Kitchener were heard resounding
among the hills Of the South African
republics the campaign of villification
had been prosecuted with vigor and
fiendish malevolence. The Beers were
first pictured as savages who could
not be civilized. Next they were
branded rs grasping, penurious and
avaricious money getters, who were
robbing industrious miners through
burdensome taxation. To these ap-
peals to the passions and prejudices
of the British public was added the
charge that the burghers were intol-
Grant bigots and prosecutors of the
Catholic church. John Bull imagined
that all classes of his people would be
so incensed against the "embattled
farmers Of the Transvaal that he
would be given free hand in robbine
them Of their lands and their mines
and their nationality, says the Boston
Republic.
The traditional policy of John Bull
in Ireland has been to Islander its
people, to picture them as lawless, rest
less fanatics utterly unfit for the bless
ings Of free government and entitled
to no consideration. Through the dis
seminatlon of these lies and ISLANDERS
he thought he could find justification
for his brutal assaults upon Irish lead
ersswhO dared agitate for their coun-
try's independence. Whenever n new
coercion law was In process Of con-
coction the English papers teemed
with lurid stories Of rural crime. All
sorts Of outrages were reported, and
after British passion and British pref
udice had been sufficiently aroused the
soldiery and constabulary were turned
loose upon the people and given free
rein. The results Of their raids were
duly reported in the English papers,
and the government was urged to use
strenuous measures to establish order.
That a new crusade against Ireland
has been i'll contemplation for some
time is made clear by recent events
1t cropped out at the Blenheim gather.
ing, where Salisbury and Chamberlain
spoke in favor of reducing Irish rep
resentation in Parliament. The Boer
war and Irish sympathy were made
the pretexts for the proposed change.
But the agents of the government
We're at work in Ireland to furnish
additional justification for drastic
measures. British hatred of ireland
needed to be intensified, and so re-
ports of heinous crimes against life
and property began to come in. The
fact that crime was remarkably scarce
did not discourage the ministers. They
proceeded to manufacture it. This Is
a regular industry. 1t has been fol-
lowed for centuries. But 1t received
depressing check through the revela-
lions which Mr.. John Dillon made in
the House Of Commons of the syste-.
matte manufacture of crime in Ireland
by British agents. Mr.. Dillon dis
closed the methods employed by Po-
lice Sergeant Sheridan, an agent of
Dublin Castle.
We quote Mr.. Dillon's story of the
case: II take first the case of Dan
MEG in the county Leitrim. This
Police Sergeant Sheridan charged Nc
Gowan with having committed the
cruel outrage of cutting off the tails
of cows. MCGOWAN was respectable
young farmer, and when this atroci-
Gus outrage was laid to his charge, the
magistrates, on the evidence of Sher-
idan and another policeman, commit
ted him for trial to Sligo winter as
sizes. The first jury empaneled to try
the case was a mixed jury, and they
disagreed, whereupon the Judge spoke
rather violently, and announced that
owing to this failure of justice the
jury list would be called again under
heavy fines. On the second occasion