Evening star., 1921-04-03

This is the second of ttCO articles
by Sir Philip Gibbs 'The an
archy in Ireldnd."1
BY SIR PHILIP GIBBS.
"HE act Of conscription. which never
enforced in Ireland intensified the spirit
of national resistance to English rule,
and the recruiting, drilling and training
of Irish volunteers under Sim Fein went on
apace. 1 am told-and absolutely beieve-that
any attempt to enforce conscription would have
led to bloody civil England could not, and
did not. risk it. and during the last two years
of the the Sim Fein organization was per-
fected, and the administration of Dhail Erin.
the Irish republic. put into actual prac-
tice They established their own courts of law,
whose judgments their people sought and
obeyed; their volunteers acted as police in civic
disturbances when the royal Irish constabuary
weak in numbers, and boycotted, could only
look and take active notice. They did not
for time attack the English executive. They
simply ignored it. Over a great part of the
south and west of Ireland the kings writ did
not run
Then came another phase. when. after the
war. English government were able to turn their
attention to Ireland with a greater determine
tion to enforce the old rule 1t was the phase
Of police murders, attacks on police barracks
ambushes and all elements of guerrilla warfare.
The average Englishman read with horror the
repeated shootngs of royal Irish constabulary
men. His blood boiled at the thought of these
guardians of law and order shot down so often
in cold blood after sieges of their barracks.
in which. temporarily, they were greatly out
numbered by >well armed men. 1t seemed to
him. and seems to him still, brutal campaign
of murder for which there is and
defense. Again he does not know the Sim Fen
point of view, or, if he knows, rejects it ut
terly poisonous in its dictrine.
The Sim Fein view, told on trust worthy
authority from the inside. is that the majority
of policemen shot by armed bodies of men have
been proved to be spies of Dublin Castle. gath
erins. or concocting, secret evidence against
Irish volunteers and that in all warfare, it
is acknowledged right to shoot spies on sight,
so these men have been dealt with such
and not as ordinary policemen carrying on the
ordinary duties of maintaining order.
That is not good enough for the average
Eng1ishman, and he says Murder is murder
and these crimes must be stopped by the full
power of martial. law" The Irishman retorts:
Withdraw you police. and your orders which
turn them into spies and agents provocateurs
and they will not be killed." The English an
swer is: Let the murders stop first before
there is any truce"
1t was to stop murders and to maintain or
der. apart from all political discussion. that
the average EngIishman gave his moral sup
port to the governments Strengthening of the
military garrisons in Ireland and 10 the enlist
ment of new force of men. auxiliary to the
constabulary, who now have earned sinister
name as the black nd-tans." These men
were recruited from the enormous numbers of
ex-of1cials and non-commissioHed officers who
had not settled down to peace after the great
war. who found it difficult or impossible to
get decent jobs, and who were tempted at once
by this chance of active employment in Ire
relatives hat
they were going to Ireland for honest work.
even though dangerous and unpleasan work,
such might befall a body of special police
in time of riot. They did not think they were
going for dirty work which would bespatter
the good name of England with mud and filth.
1t not until recently that certain
ominous word mentioned in English news
papers and in the English parliament. Re-
prisals. Months after there were columns in
Irish. American and continental newspapers
about this new phase of activity in ireland did
the ordinary English reader hear anything
about 1t beyond few obscure paragraphs, or
occasional half columns which gave him to be-
leve that dreadful things were happening in
some places across the Irish when English
soldiers and the new force of auxiliaries were
firing back at crowds which attacked them and
rafdng private houses where they killed those
and other houses and cottages from which they
had been fred upon.
The ordinary decent Englishman deplored
these things and said: Surely to God this
business ought to be settled" but could not
find 1t in his heart to blame any Of those SOL
diers or police who defended themselves against
ambush and assassination and hit back hard
against those who. struck first. That is still
the view. very largely, sure, of many in
cfdents briefly reported to him. and the Eng
lshman says to all sentimentalists: Surely
our fellows must be allowed to hit back to
shoot II they are shot at, to arrest the mur-
derers at all risk. to burn their houses about
their ears If they won't surrender to the forces
of the crown in their duty of checking crime
and maintaining order" If that were
all. think the average Englfshman would be
justified in his judgment, apart from the rights
and wrongs of our government of Ireland.
X X
1t is only quite recently, within the last
month two, that certain facts have been
brought under tine Englishmans notice which
I'LL him with abominabie misgvng. Charges
were brought against the "black-and-tans"
which at first he utterly refused to believe
re not successful. In most of
larger cities there more Ger
ms than Poles but in villages nj .