The Dominion FRIDAY, JUNE 30, 1922. CIVIL WAR IN IRELAND

Dominion, Volume 15, Issue 235, 30 June 1922, Page 4

The Dominion FRIDAY, JUNE 30, 1922 . CIVIL WAR IN IRELAND

The significance of the, Four Courts battle in Dublin stands out clearly in light of to-day’s news. It is now beyond doubt that the Provisional Govefnme.nt and the I.R.A. insurgents are engaged in a decisive contest- for supremacy. The later cablegrams on the subject show that the insurgents, headed by “Rory” O’Connor, are doing their utmost to extend the scope of the conflict which centres meantime on the Four Courts building. -As yet their success in this direction seems to have , been slight. The area of fighting in Dublin has been somewhat extended, but apparently the Free State troops have been successful up to the present m organised measures to prevent any reinforcement of the insurgent force,in Dublin by others outside the city. . . \ \lt is, of course, obvious that the Provisional Government is grappling with something more than a plain military problem. , At an ultimate view its success must depend upon the Government’s ability to hold its supporters together as a united Body determined to establish constitutional rule and respect for the law. The insurgents are making free use of propaganda in an endeavour to sow disunion in the ranks of the Free State forces. Although he is besieged in Four Courts, O’Connor is finding it possible to address florid appeals to the attackers, whom be hails as former comrades. * / ' , “How long,” he asks, in one such effusion, “will our misguided former comrades outside attack those who stand for Ireland alone,” and again: "Our love to all comrades outside and to the brave boys of the Dublin Brigade.” Appeals to the unthinking on a basis of national sentiment and comradeship are perhaps the most dangerous kind of bombardment the insurgents could devise. As far as can be judged at present, however, O’Connor’s appeals appear to have been of slight effect in undermining the unity and discipline of the Provisional Government’s forces. It is reported to-day that in one instance a number of Free State troops “refused to fire on their brother Irishmen,” and were placed under arrest, but there is nothing meantime to suggest that the trouble is spreading. Mr. de Valera's wild assertion that the Irish people, byi voting for th# Treaty/ have placed themselves “under the lash of an aliejn Government,” ought, in face,, of the facts, to be as ineffective as O’Connor’s bogus appeals to comradeship. The Provisional Government is engaged manifestly in the most purposeful attempt yet made by any Ir ish authority to establish order and security in Southern Ireland. The Republican extremists have shown their hand so clearly that it may be hoped they are completely discredited in the eyes of all but a small minority of their countrymen. The only right they have attempted to enforce is that of a tyrannical dictatorship—the right to murder and pillage at their own sweet will. . ' In its present action the Free State Government is defending the people of Ireland against outrage, robbery, and intimidation, and giving effect to the verdict of the Irish electors. As its own manifesto declares, it is “putting down disorderly elements who are attempting to tyrannise over the people and defy their will.” It woulda indeed be a crowning irony if in these circumstances the insurgents were enabled, by popular aid or by, disunion in the Free State forces, to lengthen out their resistance.