The Irish standard., 1919-10-18

cupation mean.
Martial law, as it has been occa.
sionally applied in isolated cases in
the United States, has been simply an
orderly system Of protection, under
military direction, of localities and
communities which were not in a po-
sition to protect themselves. This is
how American people have been wont
to interpret martial law.
Therefore, the American public can
not understand-cannot imagine
what martial law means as it is ap-
piled in Ireland today.
have just returned from France,
and before l left France | succeeded
in obtaining a leave Of absence to visit
my home in Ireland.
l must confess that my blood still
boils at the memory of some of the
outrages which, with my own eyes
saw perpetrated by the British army
of occupation in Ireland.
British Troops Everywhere.
At present there are 25O,OOO British
troops in Ireland. On the night Of
August 26, when came away from
there, 10000 more troops We're en-
barking at Holyhead for Ireland. They
fill the towns, villages, railroad sta
tions and countryside.
Everywhere you go you are con-
fronted with British troops, all wear
of bayonets is everywhere, and the
pounding of rifle-butts on the side
walks is common sound.
About half of Ireland was under
martial law when l was there. 1t was
applied most systematically in the
south and west. In the County of
Glare especially was it enforced with
all the rigor and thoroughness known
to INSCRIPTIONS soldiery and still more
unscrupulous officers.
When you want to go from one place
to another, say from one village to
another, you must have pass from
a British officer. All industry is prac-
tically dead in Glare, because the peo-
pie are not allowed to congregate for
the purpose of buying and selling
goods.
, How Martial Law Works.
An assembly of four people for a
period of five minutes constitutes un-
lawful assembly in violation of the De-
fense of the Realm Act.
ment is three years in prison. Four
men walking abreast constitutes mil
itary formation in violation of the De-
fense of the Realm Act.
I Arrests are wholesale. For abso-
lutely no reason, several young fellows
were arrested in my own village and
sent to prison without trial. AS a mat
ter Of fact the arrested man always
valves trial. For he knows that since
he will be tried by court martial
composed of British officers, the Ger.
tainty of conviction and maximum pun.
ishment is 'foregone conclusion. So
the accused all waive trial and go di-
rect to prison.
! Soliciting Funds Crime.
My own brother, with another young
fellow, both of them about 20 years of
age, were arrested and imprisoned for
soliciting a subscription in their ma
tive village for the purpose Of buying
set of band instruments My brother
was let go because there was, no evil
dence that he had actually accepted
contribution in money, but his COM
rade was sentenced to eight months in
Jail. He had just come back from
prison when got home.
The soldiers are everywhere in full
panoply of war. They have armored
cars, light artillery, whippet tanks
even in villages of 500 souls.
They have the right to search at any
hours of the day or night, any per-
son, any house, or any property they
may have the caprice to select. 1t is
a common occurrence for them to sur
round farmers house out in the
country, in the dead Of night, with a
Gordon of troops, order the occupants
outside, and, proceed in a most brutal
way to turn everything in the house
upside down, on the pretext that they
are looking for firearms.
shall quote one such example
which happened to a. number of my
own family.
Innocent Girls Victims Of Brutality.
My sister, who is the examiner in
French for the Board of Education for
Ireland, was staying, with seven other
girls-all teachers-at girl friends
house in Cork, in village called Clan
dore There is a college in Glandore,
which is the object of especial vindic-