Evening star., 1921-03-27
The Anarchy in Ireland: An Unbiased Account of /

kind Of force for the suppression
of crime or for the maintenance of
order. even when the security Of
the state is menaced.
In the case of Ireland they admit
everything on the Irish side and
see only the soul of people strug-
Cling for life against brutal op-
preston and using heroic means
against great odds on behalf of
liberty. They do not condemn the
murder Of policemen. They do not
call it murder. They grant the
full claim to an Irish republic. The
policy of reprisals fills them with
anguish and rage. They are gen.
erous, sensitive. romantic, unprac-
tica1 souls. with whom I confess
have much in sympathy, though
some old ancestor Of mine, or so1ne
hard experience of life. enables
me. I think. to see a strain of
weakness in them.
They are the "intellectuals" Of
England. the little intellectuals re-
cruited from the ranks of novel;
lists. painters, poets, social reform
ers, theoretical socialists and revo-
lutionary rebels. who are desper-
ately anxious to see a reconcilia-
tion of peoples in Europe. to abol-
ish war, to get move on toward
a closer brotherhood of man, and
they are utterly incapable of con-
trolling the forces of violence
which are surging about them.
+ + ~
On the other side Of the Irish
quarrel is the old type Of English
man, hard in his Imperialism, mar
row in his Professionalism, reaction
ary against any effort Of change
or progress, sure that the English
man of his own type is the noblest
effort Of God. disliking all aliens,
including Irish. Welsh and Scots,
and a firm believer in "resolute
rule" with machine guns and tanks
for all rebellious people, such as.
native races, and workingmen who
want more wages. He was the
defender of the Amritsar massacre.
He is all for shooting down the
unemployed il they make them
selves annoying. He would like
to see a rounding up Of all social
ists, labor leaders and Intellectual
theorists, like H, G. Wells, who are
endeavoring to change the old
structure of English life with its
heaven-sent prerogatives of great
landed estates for the good" fam
lilies, high profits for the capital
lists. and low wages for the work.
Ing class. His ideas on Ireland
are clear and sharp. "The Irish
people," he says, "are just savages.
and they must be dealt with as
such. Shoot 'emt down wholesale
If they won't obey English law.
Reprisals? Certainly; and plenty
of them. Let our men have a free
hand and teach 'em what's what.
If necessary. conquer Ireland
again, and do it properly this time.
The best thing you'd be to sink
the whole damned island"
= 4@4+
That type Of man is to be found
In many places and classes of
English life. You may find him in
sporting clubs down Pail Mall and
St James etre4R 1on tho race
course at Epsoin, where he is
keeping -'books; in, the crowd
that goes to see = prize fight, in
the manor houss Of a country
squire. sometimes in the rectory
Of a country parish.
But his type is old fashioned and
dwindling away. .Even before the
war it was passing. and when. the
war came his old-fashioned opin-
ions were heard with laughter at
mess tables where young officers
who had been thinking hard about
many problems Of life and death,
the cause of the war and the hopes
OF the world, were not taking the
old chaps blusterings as the last
word in the way Of wisdom. But
he still exists, and writes letters
to the Morning Post, which is pub
lished exclusively for his class and
ideas. He is also in the coalition
government. and in the house Of
commons, where he fumes and
frets over the weakness Of the
ministers and their compromise
with the forces Of disorder. He