The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1917-12-29

conceit,r and that Sim Fein's delight
is to propagate this morose malady.
Some Of the results are dangerous,
others only ridiculous.
What the Result Is.
The dangerous result is the arm
ing and drilling OF young country
men so stupendously ignorant Of the
magnitude and resources of the
great powers that they speak and
read of striking a decisive blow at
England" without suspecting. that
England or any other western Eu-
ropean power except. perhaps the
Drincipality of Monaco could wipe
them on the face Of the earth from
the water or the air without setting
foot on Irish soil. They are quite
capable of attacking a police station
with all the seriousness OF the Ger
mans attacking Verdun or Sir
Douglas Haig investing the Flanders
ridges. They actually put up a stun
ming fight in Dublin on Easter, 1916,
and were so clumsily tackled that
they are able to point to the walls
and portico and statues Of their
stronghold. the general postoffice
standing unscathed in the midst Of
acres of devastation, as a proof that
haystack at point blank range. Fed
on dreams and Irish air. they are
subject to an agonizing desire to die
for Ireland, which makes 1t quite i'm
possible to keep them in order by
the ordinary police methods OF free
countries. To them the war against
England has a medieval double quail
ity of being a holy war and a chival-
rous romance at he same time. They
bear to battle the colors Of the Dark
Rosaleen, a Dulcinea proof against
all disillusion. Baton charges and
silly police court prosecutions OF Boy
Scouts for illegal drilling produce as
much effect on them as briars and
bee stings on a bear. Forbidden to
wear uniforms or carry arms. they
form. a column. three miles long.
fully equipped and armed, and give
an impressive funeral to Thomas
Ashe, wh6se body has lain in state
at the DunsdnscoiI6, Hall under their
Could -FssShts6seAIn Guns.
Theoreticaffy tue Castle could furn-
ish every police station in Ireland
with a couple OF machine guns, and re
place the batons by Mills bombs. It
COulo eAnlOlI lncse "edpOubadn -pEAG-
tice every week at public parades and
drills. 1t coulu show the constabulary
cooperating with aeroplanes, and pos
sibly with the local sanitary author
ity in demolishing a slum occasional
~. But practically it does none OF
these things, perhaps because it dares
trust nobody and perhaps because it
is even more hopelessly out-of-date
than the Sim Feiners themselves, and
still thinks of q rising as an assem-
bly, OF pixies at the rising OF the moon,
to be put down by bayonet and Brown
Bess, with plenty of informing and
hanging to follow. However that may
be. the Sim Feiners have been SO ir-
resolutely handled that they have not
the least idea OF what they are up
against, and see nothing extravagant
in the notion that less than a million
adult Irish. males, without artillery,
ships. or planes. could bring the Brit
ish empire 10 its knees ina conflict
Of blood and iron. This is the danger
GUS ito themselvesD side of Sim Fem.
Now for the ridiculous side. They
propose that the Irish question should
be settled by THE Peace Conference.
BY this they mean that when the