The Washington times., 1922-09-09

-.
WHY VIOLENCE
!. IN ERIN BEGAN
Britain Tried to Suppress In
tolerable Conditions With
Bloodshed.
The continuation Of Michael
Collins otOn story of has hfe,. as
told exclusively 10 Hayden Talbot,
{ foreign representative Of The
Washington Times, shortly before
the death of the great Irish leader,
folloVs: ... ... .. .
BY HAYDEN-TALBOT
: Copyright. 1899. by the New York
4 AmericanD
I, CHAPTER Y.
4 Section 2.
"Many and ingenious were the
methods of distribution OF An T'Oglac
Crhe Volunteer), our secret national
newspaper" Collins continued. AT
one time consignment OF our paper
destined for distant part of Galway
would be concealed in a sofa from
which the upholstering had been re-
moved. AS often as not, several
hundred ShaGfa NVnlIld he hidden In
q bag of flour.
q 1.-The consignees of these camou-
flaged receptacles all knew their
business. Undep them were girls Of
the Cumman ma M Bann and Boy
Scouts of the l. r. A. These did the
actual house-to-house distributing.
and thus every man of the rank and
file would have a copy of the paper
In his possession by Friday of Zach
week.
For the success of the distribu-
tion of An TOglac, a great deal of
credit is due to the railway workers
OF Ireland and not only for this
does Ireland owe them much. At all
times they were ready to take any
. personal risk and incur personal loss
II 1t helped the Sim Fein organiza-
ton. Frequently they went out on
strike and remained out months at a
time rather than handle munitions
Intended for the British forces.
Time after time engineers refused
to run trains in which there were
black and tans. BY close co-opera-
ton with these railway men we were
frequently able to organize sue
cessful ambush when the foe, forced
to reach their destination by road,
were bound to pass a known point.
England Fell Short.
IF 1t seems that this citing of our
ability to outwit our enemies places
me In the category Of those who
imagine that in time we could have
routed them out of the country, let
me dissipate that idea quickly. I
q, held no such opinion. English
power rests on military might and
economic control. Such military re
sistance as we were able to offer was
unimportant had England chosen to
go at the task of conquering US In
real earnestness. There were good
reasons for her not doing this.
About them I shall presently have
something to say. ... t... .,
"At the general election Of 1918
1, British government. had been re-
fpudiated aby the Irish people by a
majority OF more than 20 per cent.
The national government was. set
up in a quiet. orderly and progress
sive fashion. Dali Eireann came
into being. British law was grad
ually superseded. A loan of 400, 900
pounds was raised. At last the
issue was knit. The struggle was
our determination to govern our
selves and get rid of English rule,
and the British determination to
prevent US from doing either.
"It was all thls-this slow build
ing up sof an orderly elf.govern-
ment, this ignoring of English civil
power-which was becoming an in
tolerable prcvocation to the British
government. Whitehall was COM
Ing to realize that ordinary methods
would no longer do. Violence alone
would meet the situation. But
England as yet thought 1t unwise
to make these facts known.
Thus far the British had been
content to ridicule us. Then grow
ing alarmed at the increasing au-
thority of our new government, at.
Temps were made to check our
activities by. wholesale political ar
rests. But neither rid.cule nor ar
their purpose.
The final phase of the struggle was
at hand.
For two years such violence as
the British armed forces had been
guilty Of in their efforts at sup
preston had resulted in the kill
ing of fifteen Irishmen and the
wounding Of nearly 400 men, WON.
en- and children. Let. 1t be remem.
bered that in this same period there
was not one instance Of reprisals
in kind by the Irish Republican
army. There is not an authenti.
Gated case of violence against an
Englishman in this period-in the
British records.
British Sought violence.
The only bloodshed was the
work OF the British. The black
and tans were sent to ireland by
the British government for the OK.
press purpose of goading the peo-
pie into armed resistance. This
would give them the excuse they
wanted. Once we arose in right.
eous wrath and gave back blow