El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1920-07-24
IRELAND DRIF rs
NEARER To
ROCKS
Guerilla Warfare Leads to
Destruction, Eng
land Thinks.
PREMIER CHANGES
HIS OLD VIEWPOINT

dav By day drifting nearer the
rocks Not few sober Irishmen
and Englishmen whom I have seen
recently have come back from dis
turbed districts with full knowledge
OF local conditions, forecast the muir
derous, guerilla warfare, with all the
atrocities and savagery Of medieval
struggles that has broken out Some
say IL may depopulate hale the Island
They made a desert and they
called Ii peace" was said Of the RO-
man method Of suppressing rebellion,
and a moderate Irishman who has
never been a Sim Feiner recalled the
quotation today and added: If this
near civil war that has started, con-
tinues, Ireland. in the present temper
Of Catholics and Protestants, Of the
police and the soldiers, viii be des-
ert before peace can be restored"
England Ready for Concessions
The Irish question after half a CEN
fury Of agitation is really at the cross
roads. Never since the English first
crossed St. Georges channel have the
British government and public been
prepared to 20 so lar in concessions
as they are today The attempt OF
British labor TO intervene between
Sim Fem and the cabinet 20 bring
about a settlement probably viii fail,
ike other attempts but in these ne
gotfations, underneath the defiant
language with which be always tries
to conceal an abrupt change OF posi-
ton, there have been indications that
Lloyd George is coming round 70 the
Sim Fein standpoint
That is a sensational statement to
make, but two months ago I limited
in a London dispatch that within a
year, n Sim Fem avoided proVoki
an armed struggle OF allowed itself
to be tranped into one, the English
% r~nrr~rnHfnm whit h with
drawn. Since that time, the affairs
OF Ireland have grown more perilous,
but side by side with the Increasing
reign OF terror and murder in Ire
land, has gone the growth OF Liberal
opinion here. Lloyd George with his
faculty for approaching before any
other politician, changes in public
opinion. IS evidently beginning 70 re-
Moral Sabotage Succeeds.
There Is one great big If IN any
prediction that England. even though
she does not know It yet is getting
ready TO grant to Sim Fem large
measure Of autonomy. Sim Feln has
indeed. as Arthur Griffith told me
three years ago u would. made Brit
ish government in Ireland lmpos-
sible." There IS no British govern
ment in Ireland outside the large
cities where important garrisons are
kept. and the British public has at
last awakened TO the fact
Sim Fein's brilliant policy Of moral
sabotage, coupled with non-resistance
to force, has proved a success beyond
all hopes. England is beginning. I
think, 70 feel that an Ireland which
cannot be governed, which outside
the six Ulster counties is permanent
ly and trreconcilably hostile isn't
" orth the cost Of the army OF occu-
HaHHam 81
america and the rest Of the world, II
ireland would only stop and give
England a chance
England Ready to Give int
But all these moderate views, All
this silent swing to Cancellation II not
blood Of English soldiers is continued
to be shed in battle.
Englishmen are not growing more
kindly disposed towards the lrishs
they are not coming to feel that the
Sim Fein cause is just Their grow
ing readiness to surrender 70 Sim
Fein is based solely on their appre-
citation OF the fact that Sim Fein is
making good its campaign against
British rule to such an extent that II
is not worth England's while to keep
up the farce any longer.
This IS not a pleasant thing for the
Englishman to admit even to himself.
He is not yet ready to admit 1t to
any outsider. And il this latest out
break Of fighting, the death Of his
soldiers. arouses his latent hatred Of
the Irish. he viii veer round to a
policy Of oppression and iron military
rule.
IreIand's Fate in Balance.
Accordingly. the fate OF Ireland Is
in the balance, and must be decided
quickly. England, in my opinion,
through the agency Of Lloyd George,
will surrender and grant Sim Fein
a large measure Of autonomy if-the
big ff-Ireland will prevent further
armed collisions, but If these con-
tinue, the rebellion VIII be put down
in blood, and Lloyd George, who Is
now veering towards moderation. will
probably be the most Cromwellian
advocate Of a blood and iron policy
That n Lloyd Georges way. He
interprets faithfully, and therein
lies his greatness rs a politician
not the public opinion OF today
hut the public opinion of the day
after tomorrow, and English pub
lie opinion, II there Is TO be war
in Ireland. viii be excessively
hard and bitter.
England Is a proud country, and
Englishmen Of all shades OF opinion
deeply resent the sympathy for Sim
Fein which they are told exists in
america II is hard for any country,
anu AlAN0a1ANAI AEE eAAA0 DAAHr 10 DaEh
down. to take a step humiliating 10
the national pride, under what ap-
pears to be pressure from another
great nation American acts OF friend
ship towards Sim Fein in America
are resented here. and the resentment
takes the form Of increasing unwill-
ingness TO meet Sim Fein's claims.
American Sympathy.
This IS not to say that American
sympathy with Ireland has not been
one Of the most potent factors in
bringing Lloyd George and the people
here into a more reasonable frame OF
mind. Spread over long period Of
years. # has that effect, but Il can
be carried to excess. All England be-
lieves now that America sympathizes
with Sim Fein, and II the Irish prop
agsndists in the United States were
better Informed they would realize
that in the critical weeks ahead the
less said in the United States the bet
ter for their cause
I'VE will have no Irish republic"
said Lloyd George in firmest accents
and he proceeded to threaten that
England would fight to the last man