The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1921-03-15
COYLE HOTLY
 DEFENDS SHIN
 FEN METHOD

An inpassioned defence of the Sim
 Fein methods of warfare, which he
 declared were comparable to those
 employed by the embattled farmers
 of Lexington and Concord who shot
 British soldiers from ambush behind
 stone walls and to those General
 Francis Marion, the Revolutionary
 hero, who led troops into Swamps
 and ambushed them was the out
 standing feature of the lecture of -Dr.
 John G. Coyle .at St. Augustine's hall
 last night on Ireland a Nation" D:'.
 Coyle was introduced by Michael J. Flanagan, himself a deep student of
 revolutionary history. MT. Flanagan made a fevent plea for American sup port to the struggling republic Of
 Ireland and declared that opposition to th4 Irish republic could only
 flourish in the minds of those nursed a secret admiration for monarchiaI
 institutions. Prof. Fritz Weber or St. Augustine's was in charge of
 pleasing musical program which pre- ceded the lecture
 Developing his defence of Sim Fein
 methods from the standpoint of
 American history. -Dr. Ceyle said:
 "A state of war exists in Ireland and we must expect those things which follow in the wake of war. When armored tanks go up and down
 the streets of Ireland, when rifles fire if a dog barks, when soldier shoots first and then asks pedestrian ms
  Great Britain to complain that British troops are being ambushed-- It has never been a rule of warfare any where that you must send your enemy a postal card notifying him you are going to attack. The embattled farm CTS of Lexington and Concord were no more uniformed than the Irish Re publican army, and they fought as | a large body of disciplined troops, rhev shot from ambush behind stone | walls.
 British newspapers tell us that
 Lloyd GeoEge has offered truce to De Valera to discuss terms of peace | That is the language of war. The
 British Labor Commission admits | state of war The Kings Supreme | Bench in recent case ruled that a | state of war exists in Ireland and that | the military authorities are in Su- | preme control That is the British | official declaration"
 When the Germans held hostages l just as Col aurice Moore Of the lr1sn | Volunteers is held as a hostage, \when
 the Germans killed Mayors because | a German soldier was shot in the l street although the Mayor was Tn tne i City Hall, when they rayished women l and burned cities, a great wave o1 | protest went ups none louder than l that from the British government
 Yet today British troops are doing | the very same things in Ireland.
 1 'If America is true to her traditions, l the America that welcomed Kossuth l and helped to make Cuba free, Amer | ica cannot but look with sympathy
 on the only white people in the world | fighting for their independence un- 4 der in the land of their fathers Ii we are true to American traditions we will ask our government to ex- | tend belligerent rights to Ireland, or better yet recognize the Irish Repub- l lie as an independent nation"
 Dr. Coyle in opening defined the l five marks of nationhood as com
 munity of culture, continuity of his- | tory, general unity of social and poli- | tical and occasionally of religious in | stituhonS, and very often physical | characteristics which make its people | distinct He declared Ireland had all !! these marks in abundant degree and | cited other nations recognized every | where which lacked some of them.