Evening star., 1921-04-03
THE ANARCHY IN IRELAND
England Says: 'iNurder Must Stop. ireland
Retorts: '@Withdru,u Your Police and They VIII
Not Be Killed. -Deadlock Results.

1t asserted by the Irish and their
American friends that in Balbriggan and Taum
and many other places these English auxiliary
police had run amuck, and had committed acts
of arson and murder. not in self-defense, not in
punishment of individual criminals. not even in
the passion of rage against great provocation.
but blindly wantoniy and brutally. as those
Germans who played the devils game in Alost
and Louvain
1t was further asserted that civilians were
being shot and f1ogged; that buildings. cream
cries. farmsteads and village homes were be-
ing burned. not as the sudden impulses OF
brutal men infamed by boycott in hostile
population and by murderous attacks. but
der the direct orders of their military chiefs
and part of a deliberate and -blooded
policy to kill the spirit of people by steady
reign of terror. The average Englishman, the
man in the street, of whom I am writing. the
decent-minded fellow, proud of the good name
and fame of England, resented such charges
with Indignation and disgust The vast ma
jority of people in England at the time am
writing still repudate those accusations They
do not believe 1T possible that their government,
or the military and police chiefs in Ireland.
would tolerate such abominable policy,
that soldiers who fought in the great would
carry it out. That is their position now at the
time l am writing, and they fortified by
government denials in the house of commons
1t is there that 1 must leave "the average
Englshman' tired to death of the whole Irish
which would bring about peace without injuring
the prestige and power of old England, willing
to grant the broadest measure of home rule
this side of a republic, irritated with the trucu-
lence and narrow spirit of the Ulster men and
with the passion and fanaticism of the Catholic
Irish shocked by the anarchy now prevailing.
abhorrent Of the police murders, but upho!ding
the right of retaia ton so long as the tragedy
and stupidity Of this guerrilla warfare lasts.
l write now for myself not CHASING myself
III thn
greater access to the sources of news, closer
knowledge of the forces at work. and personal
acquaintance with some of the moving spirits
behind the scenes on the English and the Irish
sides.
1 am bound to admit that not satisfied
with the government denials on the subject of
reprisals I cannot put one side the admis-
sion of Gen. Macready. which he has never de-
MED. that it is delicate and difficult matter
to punish men who, under his authority and
discipline do acts of indiscipline and disorder
in the way of reprisals. Vainly l searched the
speech of Lloyd George at Carnarvon for any
denunciation of reprisals, but found only
admission and defense. And since then have
seen great deal of evidence coming in, but not
admitted. as rule, to the English newspapers.
revealing certain criminal acts and brutal Deeds
callous and wanton cruelty amounting to
real reign of terror the part of the black
though l hate to believe them, because of their
origin and authority. From some English peo-
pie living in Ireland, well from some of
the Irish themselves. have been given detailed
accounts of the shooting of civilians, the
'shooting-up" of villages, the destruction of
property. for which / can find no justification
even by the laws of warfare which are ruthless
enough
X X * X
I
England too we'll to defend that which dishonors
her AS war correspondent in France during
the years of slaughter l was the chroncler Of
the heroism of all those young men of ours
who fought for the ideals of liberty-who died
for them-and 1 described the war with what
passion could put into my pen only because
liberty seemed to me the goal for which we
fought and the only justification of it's horror
it's insanity, it's degradation of our civilized
world. should be betraying the dead. and all
their faith, IL now / tried to defend a reign Of
terror in Ireland which the united body of Irish
Catholic bishops have described in words which
cannot be put on one side in view of other evil
dence / have:
I'VE know that latterly, at least, all pre-
. tense of strict discipline has been thrown ito
the winds and that those who profess to be
the guardians of law and order have become
the most ardent votaries of lawlessness and
disorder; that they running wild through
the country. making night hideous by raids;
crowded places have made many innocent VIC
Tins; ;that towns sacked as in the rude war
fare of earlier ages; that those who run through
fear are shot at sight
For all this not the men, but their masters
chiefly to blame. 1t is not question Of
hasty reprisals. which, however. unjustifable
might be attributed to extreme provocation, nor
of quick retaliation evildoers nor of lynch
law for miscreants-much less Of self defense
of any kind whatsoever. 1t is indiscrimi-
nate vengeance deliberately wreaked on a whole
countryside. without any proof of its completely
in crime, by those who ostensibly are employed
by the British government to protect the lives
and property Of the people and restore order
in Ireland"
There is no decent Englishman who, if he
believes these things are true. as 1 believe
some of them are. will for single moment
defend them as legitimate, in spite of all provo
cation. Unfortunately, the facts have been boy
cotted in England-apart from two or three
courageous papers-and the mass of the peo-
pie do not know them
/ see in all this the inevitable result of long
stupidity and wickedness. The wickedness be-
gan again when Sir Edward Carson was allowed