The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1916-05-20
Lynch's Sentence Has
Not Yet Been Confirmed
by British Commander
Continued from Page One)

CONTINUED from Page Onc)
tertes in 1914, undoubtedly had a great
effect on disloyalists elsewhere"
| Ireland had preserved an unbroken front
at the outset of the war through the pa
| trotism of John Redmond, Mr.. Birrell
| continued, but there were many who did
! not agree with his attitude. 1t was i'm
possible to overestimate the effect which
the advent of the Ulster leader, Sir Ed
ward Carson, to the cabinet, had eXer-
| cised upon the minds of the people of
| Ireland. If Mr. Redmond had accepted Of
| flee in the same cabinet he would not
| have remained leader of the Irish party
,, EXPECTED GERMAN AID
| When it was seen the war would be
prolonged" Mr.. Birrell said ireland
| soon developed not wholly unrea soma BILE
expectations of a German landing and OF
partial uprisings m different parts of
| Ireland, and promises of German assist
ance were at the bottom of the out
| break
| Answering Baron Hardinge, Mr.. Birrell
| said:
|
place. The Sim Feiners were incensed
at parliamentary parleys anrd they de-
sired to be left alone. | realized for two
years certainly that there was dam
gerous movement in Ireland afoot, but
after consultation with the various Irish
| leaders 1 came to the conclusion that a
| policy of nonintervention was the safest.
! These armed bodies of volunteers were
! all over the place, and if we could have
got disarmament all around, it would
have been an infinite blessing, but to
dsarm any one section of the population
! on the evidence we had would have been
| dangerous and doubtful proposition
ora Bn sHardinge said:
you need not answer this question,
but why, were the Irish leaders, who
advised you in this policy, straight
away to be relied upon?"
| Mr.. Birrell: '1n the first place, l had
| formed pretty clear estimate of my
own and I don't think / ever was much
| influenced by other people. But Mr..
Redmond, for example, always took the
| view that the Sim Feiners were neg
ligible and he said SO in the House of
Commons. l did not attach much i'm
portance to his opinion because l was
quite sure they were dangerous
Continuing, Mr.. Birrell said ne had
daily reports from the Royal Irish con-
| stabulary and these reports were or
such a character that one could form
a general estimate of the state of feel
ing in the country.
THE state of feeling varied very
| much,' Mr.. Birrell added.
"If priest was anti-lsinn Feiner,
| Sim Feinism died out, but if the priest
was in favor of it the movement was
promoted. But in Dublin it was diff
ferent. I always felt that i was very
ignorant of what was going on in the
cellars of Dublin and 1 was exceeding
ly nervous about that. I had heard that
the castle was to be taken.
Steps were taken to deal with these
reports, but nothing came of them Ind
should be very curious to hear If
anybody knew this thing was to hap
pen.
WENT TO KITCHENER
Il had very decided views. So much
SO that had conferences with Generals
Kitchener and French on March 20 and
March 27 to persuade them to send
more soldiers to Dublin. l knew the
people of Dublin should have evidence
that England still had soldiers and if
soldiers with bayonets and bands could
be got to parade the streets of Dublin
lit would have had a great effect on
the Sin Feiners. The revo1utionaries
would tnen nave KNOWN tnere was
force in Dublin with which they would
have to contend.
"The war office replied that they
were very busy training men and that
the men could not be spared to be
transferred to Ireland The military
authorities considered that in case of
trouble in any part of Ireland they
could move troops from Liverpool as
quickly and as safely as from one part
Of Ireland to the other. Lord VIM
borne held the same views that did"
Sir Montague Sherman: IF the mill
tary authorities had acted upon your
advice the results might not have hap
pened."
Mr.. Birrell: 'T was very uneasy about
Dublin but did not anticipate such a
thing. Nor do I know anybody else who
did"
Explaining why he spent SO little time
in Ireland, Mr.. BiArell said he had to
be in London to attend the cabinet
meetings to represent Ireland, and
added:
But of course jackdaw or a mag
pie might have done just as well to
Icry out ireland! Ireland! when bills
were being discussed by the cabinet.
Mr.. Birrell said, however, that al
though he had let the vice regal lodge
parts of Ireland than had any of his
predecessors.
The commission adjourned until Mon
day.
Irish Pilot Held
Tralee, Ireland, May 19.-(via London)