The daily progressive-miner., 1916-05-05
LEADERS RE-
 FUSED TO LEAD
VARIOUS ENGLISH NEWSPAP. FRS BLAME OFFICIALS FOR
 REVOLUTION.

in Ireland, the press turned thu guns upon the officials and free true, according to reports. The Daily Mail in an endeavor to put tht blame where it belongs says: ! The revolt in Ireland is the ma tural result of the governments poli cy in that country. Augustine Bir rell, chief secretary of Ireland anc Premier Asquith sat still and allow ed rebel force to be enrolled and armed. They did not move hand nor foot against it. March IT, l. 600 Irish volunteers paraded, most. ly armed with relies and nobody stopped or challenged them.
 MT. Birrell never asked why the volunteers existed. He knew it was not to serve against the enemy but rather to obstruct the imperial for ces. Dec, 16 he declared "evidence of their disloyalty is voluminons, ' yet he did nothing.
 If he had any policy other than merely drifting, it was to turn q blind eye to the disloyal movement. The. government persuaded itself that the treason could be overcome by resolutely looking the other way. The governments wait-and-see po- licy was complicated by a hide-the- truth policy.
 If the newspapers had been per- mitted to publish information in their hands Sunday nighs these things could not have happened. The Irish authorities would have been aroused from their sleeping-sickness by the publication of news that something very exceptional was oc- curing. They might have taken or dinary precautions, but the press was muzzled. It is proof of the grossest negligence and obtuseness when four or five parts of great city can be seized by comparatively
 
 a small number of armed men.
 This colossal blunder follows upon and surposses all other blunders of the war. How much longer is the nation prepared to drift under the domination of leaders who refuse to lead?
 ! The Daily Express says that Au- gustine Birrell's strange hesitation in informing the house of commons of the Irish revolt makes it natural to imagine the situation is worse than officially reported. It is the duty of the government, says the, Express, frankly to admit the truth that stern measures must be adopt ed against the "crass folly of the rebels"
 The Daily .Chronicle says: What is most dreaded now is that even the order speedily restored may be at the bloodshed which may rankle for generations. Inc cannot help fearing reaction against the pros. poets of constitutional home rule.
 The Times says: The whole mis- erable business is a sorry comment upon the complete failure of Mr Birrell to maintain respect for law and order during the nine years of his weak, callous administration. Such are the fruits of trucking to seditlon and making light of con- tempt for law.
 Sir, Roger Easements invasion ap- pears to have been the merest opera bouffe, the Times adds: The paper suggests that the Germans had grown tired of him and his boasts and insisted that he redeem his promises. Continuing, it says:
 The Germans may have calculated that the uprising in Ireland would Influence certain kinds of American opinion in their favor at a time when relations with the United States are critical. German societies and Irish societies in America have been working hand-in-glove to preiu- dice opinion against Great Britain. They doubtless will exert themselves now about Ireland's struggle for freedom"
 IT the cabinet tries to hush up any part of the truth or confine the intelligence reaching America to of- hcial communications doled out bv themselves, the German and Irish agencies in the United States will have free field for their malien activities; but if the government al- lows responsible, competent Ameri- can correspondents to investigate matters freely and unfettered we are confident the Germans will find they have misunderstood real Ameri- can oDiniorj