The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1922-08-31
IRELAND,S TRAGEDY

The murder of Michael Collins, chief
of the Irish Provisional Government, is
the heaviest blow ever struck at Irish
liberty. lie was the man who more
than any other was responsible for the
existence of the Free State; since the
death of Griffith he has appeared to be
the only man capable Of developing an
Irish Government out of that nucleus.
Ana now he has been butchered by
members of the irrecOncilahle minority.
Assassination has been defended as
method Of tempering tyranny but
there was no tyranny in Ireland except
a gunman tyranny that posed as super
patriotism There was only guerilla
warfare waged by dissatisfied group
against the central authority estab-
lishcd under majority sanction. In the
absence of any definite program an
nounccd for De Valera and his follow
crs, II must be assumed that what they
still wanted was an Irish republic Hav-
ing lost their case at the bar of public
opinion, they appealed to force to set
tie the issue. u was a challenge that
could not he ignored Michael Collins
took il up; not gladly, for he was dir
Getting operations against his comrades
i'm long 9cbellion, but as a necessity
if the Free tSate was to endure. 1t isl
a question, now that he is gone wheth-
err there is sufficient force in the Free
State organization to finish the job.
But unless the Free State does finish
it Great Britain will. That was the
alternative that drove Collins to accept
the treaty in the first place and to up
hold it at the cost of employing arms
against lifelong friends, When, after
obtaining unbelievable concessions
from Lloyd Gcordge, he went back to
demonstrate that Ireland could, i'll
given chance, govern herself, he
found himself branded by the die-hard
rebels as a traitor because he had com
promised as all practical statesmen
must compromise. He met an oppo-
,ition blind to everything but its own
unavoidable theories and unrcalizable
ideals, an opposition Of bad losers, will
ing to descend to the assassination OIL
political antagonists when their appeal
to The public failed, willing to resort to
Russian terrorism to wreck the admin
istration Of a popular government with
which they could not agree.
They have ambushed and killed
Michael Collins, and what little sym
pathy was left for their hopeless cause
is alicnaled completely and forever
They have gone a long way toward
proving what Collins had almost sue
cccdcd in dsproying that Ireland does
not know how to govern herself and
is not willing to learn. Like the de
struction in Cork, this Staying is an
open and useless defiance of all civil
lied opinion, an act calculated to bring
back to the island not freedom, not
recognition Of statehood, but the po-
ltjcaI Ieadng-strngs which are the lot !
of the lesser peoples.
That is perhaps the objective of the
Republicans Collins was at home in
"a free country; he shouldercd his re-
sponsibilitics like a man; but the De
Valera faction have been utterly lost
and out of place without an arbitrary
overload at whom to strike. At the
expense Of The rest Of Ireland they are
on The way to get their overload back
once NOR, to Justify that chronic, tenn
pcramculm childish rebellion which
creates tyrunls even where there are
none New York World.