The Washington herald., 1916-06-18
Bitterness Growing Out of Re-
volt Makes Task of Settle
ment Hard-British Try to
Conciliate Inhabitants but
Meet with Opposition.
By JOHN L. BALDERsToN.
Copyright. lslS.C'

may emerge from ner present ordeal TO
continue on the path OF progress she
was hopefully pursuing before the volun-
teer armies were formed or may sink into
hopeless welter Of anarchy. The one
thing certain at the moment Is that the
Sim Fein rising Of Easter Monday will
be landmark in Irish history. for Ire
land can never be the same country
again.
Information obtainable here and In Lon
don tends to the belief that the home rule
settlement which the king tried vainIy
to bring abaout in 1918, will be achieved.
thanks to the revolt, by Lloyd George in
1916 But the settlement will be a proper
one, and in this land of paradox formal
peace between John Redmond and Sir
Edward Carson may be the signal for the
reputation and dethronement of both
by their followers. Many sober men on
both sides are OF this opinion.
The agreement between Redmond and
Carson. II 1t can be accomplished, prob
ably will take this form:
Form of Agreement.
1. Carson will agree, on behalf Of Ulster,
that home rule for Leinster. Munster and
Connaught, the three southern provinces
Of Ireland, shall no longer be opposed.
?. Redmond will agree, for the Nation
aast party, that Ulster shall be per-
mitted to remain outside the BILL and
that there shall never be any question
Of coercion.
= Both will agree on simultaneous dis
armament Of all the volunteer bodies on
both sides
The difficult question Of the boundary
line between homo rule and Ulster ter
ritOry will be left to impartial arbitra-
tiOn.
This program. it is understood in Lon
don, is what Lloyd George is working
for, and when the two factions have
agreed on so much, he plans to with
draw Sir John Maxwell and as many
troops as possible and end martial law
without reveTting to castle govern
ment," the bureaucracy " Mich for gen.
erations has been so bitterly hated by the
people. If any details have been worked
out by the munitions minister, they have
not become public, but. broadly speaking,
he hopes that representative Irishmen Of
all parties will agree to take in an ad.
miEistrative council which will in effect
govern the country until home rule can
be formally put into opera ation.
Atmosphere of HopefuIness.
1t all sounds we'll. and the atmosphere
in England is hopeful On paper, 1t
seems that the problems which brought
the country to the verge Of civil war two
years ago are approaching a settlement
But trip from Lsndon to Dublin dIspels
many pleasant Illusions and brings the
investigator up aginst unsuspected and
ugly realities.
For every supporter Sim Fein had on
Easter Monday, it has ten today said
a famous priest who has worked for
years against the forces Of sedition. Sir
Maxwell came to Dublin, and he was
welcomed as a deliverer; when he goes
the curses of all Ireland will follow him
and he will live in Irish tradition as q
bloody-minded tyrant-"
This feeling. which exists not only in
hut ad =
throughout the country south, east and
west is not based on reason. Sir John
Maxwell is not a tyrant, and martial
law has been and is being exercised in
Ireland with the greatest possible con-
sIderation for the inhabitants. If an
average Nationalist had been asked be-
fore Easter what would happen to the
Sim Feiners if they started an insur-
rection in Dublin and killed many
soldiers, he would have laughed and re-
Piled they would be shot and serve
them right"
HaIoes for the Dead.
But now they have been shot, the lead
es Of the rebellion, and a few others
whose execution by mistake was real
tragedy for England and Ireland alike.
And the Nationalist sees with other eyes.
Deep-seated memories of generations Of
struggle and oppression and hatred, half
IOTEOLLen stories Oh lIldI LyL "LlO ulCi
for Ireland on scaffolds and before FIR
ing squads, have taken possession Of his
mind, and already glirnmering haloes sur
round the shadowy shapes Of the dead
men whom In life he sneered at and
hated.
Nearly all the men executed were
authors. Since their deaths new editions
of their works, some Of them without
merit or Importance Of any kind, have
poured from the presses and sold in vast
quantities. In the opinion of all Irish
men I have met, the executions were a
political mistake. Some go further and
denounce them as a crime, claiming that
the historic ennity between England and
Ireland entities Irtshmen who may try
to win freedom for their country to treat
ment as prisoners Of war and not as
traitors. In London, a large section of
liberal opinion is now convinced that the
government made a terrible mistake in
giving the courts-martiaI power to deal
with the rebels and this view is taken
by such powerful organs as The Nation.
The New Statesman, The Manchester
Guardian, and The Daily News. Many
Liberals, and all Tories, defend the deaths
Of the rlngleaders, but 1 think during
the past few weeks the feeling that a
blunder was committed has gained
ground
Examples of Bitterness.
Innumerable examples could be given
OF the bitterness Of Irish feeling on this
matter. The fiery orator, Dillon. one of
the fercest opponents of the separatist
movement, spoke for Ireland when he
lost control OF himself in the house of
commons and taunted his hearers with
the heroism of the trapped rebels, who
fought a week against ten times their
number. Bernard Shaw, the dramatist,
has made fun OF the Irish movement and
his plays have been mobbed by the Sim
Fein element, but he now says, He who
fights for the independence Of his coun-
try may be an ignorant and disastrous
fool; but he Is not a traitor and never
will be regarded as one by his fellow
countrymen. All the slain men and wom-
en- Of the Sim Fein volunteers fought and
died for their country as sincerely as any
soldier in Flanders has fought and died
for his. AS a republican forlorn hope,
their ideal cannot be fnsulted without
insulting our ally France and our friend
America; and by the time the whole
world has become republicans and ro-
nance has covered their graves with its
flowers, the last of the Irish rebellions
will be stock subject Of British heroic