The Press TUESDAY, MAY 21, 1918. Treachery in Ireland,

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16217, 21 May 1918, Page 6

The Press TUESDAY, MAY 21, 1918. Treachery in Ireland,

Vw some time past it has been evinunt to those who have kept in touch •vith what is occurring in Ireland, that treasonable activities on the part or Sinn Fein were rapidly reaching a point at which the Government would bo bound to interfere with great firmness unless it was to give up altogether its function of governing the country. When the Irish Convention was summoned, the Government, anxious to preserve an "atmosphere" as favourable as possible to a settlement, issued an amnesty to all the Sinn Fein leaders who were in imprisonment for com- ! plicity in the Casement rebellion. These leaders, interpreting this as a sign of "weakness, and assuming that the Gov- '■ ernment was afraid of them, immediately resumed their seditious plot- j ( tings and agitation, and did not stop short of openly preaching disloyalty. ( The Government, still anxious that •_ there should be no note of discord j while the Convention was sitting, turned a blind eye and a deaf ear as \ far as possible to all theso proceedings, j It was a close season so far ns Government and the loyalists were concerned, but the Sinn Feiners were practically allowed to do as they pleased. Papers to hand by the last mail bring reports from many parts of Ireland of unrestrained lawlessness. "Farms,'' says ' the London "Spectator" of March 2nd, "were commandeered in the name or 1 " the 'Irish Bepublic,' while the police ' " looked on and did nothing. Raids < " for the purpose of seizing arms for 1 " the Sinn Fein rebels were frequent. "In County Dublin an aerodrome was ' "invaded and maps and documents 1 " were carried off. Cattle-driving had "become a more common political * " sport than perhaps ever before. In "one instance some men who had been "arrested for cattle-driving calmly 1 "walked out of Court during their * "trial, and the police apparently did 1 "nothing to re-arrest them. In wearing J. " uniforms and carrying arms the rebel '' vojunteers daily broke the law. Even " when men were condemned to pun-. ' "ishment for such crimes they soon j "found' themselves at liberty again by . " going on hunger-strike. A man who " starved himself for a few days auto- c " matically found himself among l.is " friends again with a halo of mnrtyr- * "dom and heroism surmounting b " his volunteer cap. This re- " bellion was being popularised and c **one wondered whether those reap on- e

" sible for tho government of Ireland "had not decided to reproduce the cpi- " sodo of Henry VTII. and the Earl of " Kildare, and say, in answer to the " argument that 'all Ireland cannot " 'rule Sinn Fein'—'Then let Sinn Fein " 'rido all Ireland.' " d That tile Government was wrong in g allowing the forces of rebellion to ' triumph in this way, especially witli the e Empire fighting for its life, there can J be 110 question. A worse plan for producing a favourable "atmosphere ' for " a settlement could hardly have been des vised. The weakness of the Govcrn--3 ment, so far from conciliating the ex--3 treinists. merely encouragcd them to commit acts of tho greatest audacity. Ori the other hand, the conduct of tho Sinn Foiners in openly agitating for a | Republic, and committing outrages on j those who would not join them, was . | .surely sufficient to inspire the deepest j reluctancc on tho part of tho Ulsterites to placo themselves in the power of an Irish Parliament which would be largely elected by the Sinn Fein vote. Affairs have now reachcd a climax, ' when tho Government dare no longer refrain from energctic measures. A week or so ago wo learned of tho arrest of a German spy who had been landed in Ireland from a submarine. Now wo aro told by a proclamation issued by the Government that certain subjects in Ireland have entered into treasonable communication with the Germans. Another plot, similar to that which led to tho former rebellion, lias been discovered, and a largo number of leading members of tho Sinn Fein movement—ono report says five hundred —have been arrested for complicity in this act of treachery. Now that the Government, albeit lato in tho day, is preparing to act firmly to stamp out treason, we hope that a grave danger threatening tho Empire will bo nipped in tho hud. Irishmen have the oportuiiity afforded them by tho proclamation of dissociating themselves as a people from thoso who have entered into treacherous communication with tho common enemy. Tho Governmont, it would seem, while taking drastic measures to put down tho German plot, will not, for the present, attempt to enforce conscription, but will tako further steps to cncourago voluntary enlistment. Wo can only hopo that the response will bo such as to rehabilitate tho good name of Ireland now dragged in tho mud.