Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1937-04-14
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
BY MARGARET GERMOND.
ARMY WITHOUT BANNERS. BY Ernie
O'Malley. Boston: Houghton, Miff1in

In these troubled days, when in almost
every country In the world alien forces
are at work seeking to undermine insti-
tutional forms of government by sapping
the spirit of national pride which is vital
to its maintenance, this heroic story of
the rebirth of nationalism in Ireland is
a significant reminder that where faith
in the principle of liberty exists there
is strength. Years, even centuries, may
pass while false prophets thunder their
dictumS from usurped thrones to regi-
mented masses whose vision has been
dimmed and whose intellect has been
charred by the flaming tongues of
grandiloquent orators, but eventually the
beautiful rainbow of words and promises
falls apart. National pride may and
does sink to low levels under such
leadership; it may lie dormant during
reigns of tyranny and oppression, but
it does not die. And when aroused from
It's slumbers 1t accepts the challenge of
its opponents and faces its enemies with
undaunted courage.
Ireland, for those of today who have
thrown nationalism into the discard in
favor of some other variety of ism, is a
case in point. For eight centuries the
victim of conquest and reconquest to
appease the vanity of political sharp
wits, TO crafty a nations Unsuitable
hunger for dominion or to enrich the
Golfers of alien treasures, Ireland as an
independent kingdom vanished. The
long procession of oppressors and ex-
ploiters succeeded in wearing down its
people, but, perhaps to the surprise and
dismay of it's conquerors the spirit of
its people still lived. Its native civiliZa-
ton, weakened by the natural erosion
of continuous invasion, gradually dis
appeared. But neither physical nor po-
litlcal power succeeded in killing the
inherent belief of its people in their
right to possess the soil and its products,
and to develop the cultural, spiritual and
creative characteristics distinctive of the
race. Submission or surrender not being
in accord with the Irish temperament,
the people naturally withdrew to them
selves, living under, but apart from, the
Would-be lords and masters of their
national destiny.
Conquered kingdoms and occupied ter
ritory seldom result in the complete con-
quest of people. Ireland is an out
standing example of the spiritual
tenacity of a race subdued against its
will. Through generations of turmoil,
through disastrous rebellions under in
adequate leaders, through hope and
despair, the people of Ireland held on
to the remnants of their nationaliSm, to
the fragments of their native culture, to
the spirit of unconquerable pride and
valorous conduct which characterized
the achievements of their ancient heroes.
When, in 1916, the faint breath of a
new hope gently touched the small,
bright flame of nationalism, it needed
only the careful and skillful addition of
selected fuel to feed and spread the
awakened fires of passionate patriotism.
How that spark of love for political
and spiritual freedom was quietly famed
into formidable and successful flame
through an army without banners" is
the true story which Ernie OMalley
tells, not as an authentic history of the
struggle which gripped Ireland from
1916 to 1921, but as an attempt to show
the background of that struggle to-
gether with an impartial account of
events as they developed and Of his own
relation to them.
Mr.. O'Malley was born in the west
OF Ireland. He was living in Dublin
when Padriac Pearse proclaimed that
provisional government of the Irish
Republic had been formed and that
the right of the people of Ireland to
the ownership of Ireland and to the I'M
fettered control of Irish destinies" would
be asserted by force of arms. O'Malley
was but boy in his teens. and not par
ticularly interested in the ups and
downs of Irelands struggle for freedom.
But he accompanied friend on a
nocturnal sniping expedition against
British soldiers. and when the rebel
leaders of the Easter week uprising of
1916 were shot by the British after
surrender OMalley became convert
and an able leader in the army without
banners" which conducted five years
of guerilla warfare against the British
Empire.
Guerilla warfare, in the public mind,
Is outlawry. just why there should be
so marked distinction between a
soldier fighting for righteous cause
in his own clothes and one dolled up
In uniform is question which does
not make any material difference to the
layman who believes in the inherited
right Of man to govern himself. Ire
lands army without banners" was also
an army without uniforms 1t had to
be. Also it had to be more quick witted
and more versatile in its strategy. And
1t was. It needed to possess the imple-
ments Of war, to maintain spy system
and to safeguard its plans with all the
secrecy of an accredited military force.
And it did, with remarkably few
tragedies, considering the magnitude of
its task and the odds against which it
fought. Hardship, imprisonment and
danger were endured and faced by the
noble ununiformed army, however, with
the courage and audacious spirit char
acteristic of the Irish, and victory was
the reward. Not full victory, to be
sure, but a great one, nevertheless. for
the people with whom the British En-
pire had been playing foot ball for far
too many years.
An integral part of this extraordinary
story of the struggle of race for free
dom is the sheer poetic nature of its
author. For instance:
1--WE halted near bank. I had heard
a startling mimic disgruntled sparrow
and then the clear whistle call of
blackbird. AS we watched him feed on
purple blackberries there was an orange
blue green flash and a petulant screech
as a kingfsher slipped into yellow flags
amongst the reeds at the bottom of the
slope. Jerry gripped my arm: Look!
soldiers!' I saw two bits OF khaki figures
throw themselves down on the upper