The Washington times., 1922-09-11

special correspondent of labor papers
such as the London Herald, New
York Call, Manchester Guardian, and
as author Of the Life of Michael
Davitt,' and as editor and founder of
the Irish Citizen, a Pacifist and Fem
mist Dublin weekly, established him
as a man to whom the thought of
militarism was abhorent.
Opposed to Griffith.
Equally well known was his op-'
position to Arthur Griffith, whose
ideals were anti-Socialist. Altogether
then, although he was openly asso-
ciated with James Connolly in the
revolutionary Irish Labor movement,
and was one of the founders Of the
Irish Socialist party, he was not an
undesirable in British eyes in the.
same sense that rebel suspects were.
'Of course, neither he nor l would
have been surprised had he been de-
ported to England on his return from
America. But murder without trial
we did not foresee. My brother,
Eugene Sheehy, an attorney, volun-
teered as a follower of Redmond for
service in the British army during
the war. He became a lieutenant In
the Dublin Fusilleers and later won
q captaincy. My sisters husband,
Prof. Tom Kettle, also was a lieu
tenant in the same regiment and was
killed in action in France In Septem-
ber, 1916. My father-then a MEM
Der of Parliament for South Meath
supported England in the alleged
fight for small nations. Thus my
husband and ] were in a small mi
nority. in our family.
For Workers Commonwealth.
Finally my husband was sympa-
thetic to the idea of an Irish Repub-
lie I'M so far as 1t made for a workers
commonwealth, but he was distinctly
opposed to the use of military meth
ods to achieve that end. / empha-
size this point because 1t bears d.
rectly upon the fact that his muir
der was so completely without justi-
fication as to compel English mill
tary chieftains to admit as much
officially.
And they knew his attitude in
March, a month before his murder,
for my husband published an open
letter to Thomas Macponagh, one Of
the signers Of the Irish Republic
proclamation, and made this position
clear. In the course Of this letter
he stated:
LAS you know, l am personally
in full sympathy with the funda-
mental objects Of the Irish Volun-
teers. When you shook off the
Redmonite Incubus last September,
l was on the point of Joining you. l
am glad now that l did not. For,
as your infant movement grows to-
ward the stature at full-grown mill
tarism, its essence-preparation to
kill-grows more repellant to me.
Fight Against Injustice.
High ideals undoubtedly animate
you. But has not nearly every mill.
tarist system started with the same
ideals? You are not out to exploit
or to oppress, you are out merely to
prevent exploitation and to defend.
You justify no war except a war to
end oppression, to establish the
right. What militarism ever avowed
other aims in its beginnings?
81 advocate no mere servile, lazy
acquiescence in injustice. But
want to see the age-long fight against
Injustice clothe itself in new forms,
suited to a new age. l want to see
the manhood of Ireland no longer
hypnotiZed by the glamour Of the
glory Of arms, no longer blind to
the horrors of organized murder.
I'VE are on the threshold of a
new era in human history. After
this war nothing can be as 1t was
before. The foundations Of all things
must be re.examined. Formerly we
could only imagine the chaos to
which we were being led by the mill
tary spirit. Now we realize It. And
we must never fall into that abyss
again.
Surely there was nothing in this
openly distributed document to earn
British censure. On the other hand,
there was his arrest to prove that
he was none the less offensive to
the British authorities.
Circulated to Military.
His article in Century Magazine
was not calculated to improve his
standing. In that article he had re-
ferred to a sentence of a fortnight
meted out to a Dublin boy for kick.
ing a recruiting poster.
AS a matter Of fact, subsequent
events proved that his description
was circulated to the military imme.
diately after the Easter Monday
rising.
80 much for my husband and
his record.
Capt. Bowen colthurst had had