UNHAPPY SITUATION IN IRELAND

Evening Post, Volume XCVIII, Issue 146, 18 December 1919, Page 5

UNHAPPY SITUATION IN IRELAND

VENDETTA CAUSES A PEELING

OF HORROR

STRIFE AT THE CULMINATING POINT.

(UNITED PRESS ASSOCIATION.—COPYRIGHT.) (AUSTRALIAN ■ NEW ZEALAND CABLE ASSOCIATION.)

(Received December 18, 11 a.m.)

LONDON, 16th December The strife in Ireland is reaching the culminating point. English and- American newspapers have sent special correspondents to Ireland. The gravest violence would hot surprise the British public. A feeling of horror has been raised by the latest manifestations of the Sinn Fein yoridetta. The Times' special correspondent states that this is being relentlessly pursued, not merely against the police", but against everyone. The corresnondeht instances the case of a woman named Adare, who, because she milked cows during'a strike, was dragged from her bed, pulled with a rope along a road, kickM and beaten, and left for dead. She sci'eamed for. assistance at a^ farmer's door, but none dared stir. Sinn Fein has more terror and moral power over the country than the Government. The result is the terrible spectacle of a country on sti'iko against the Government. The police are compelled to move at least in threes and sometimes in four and fives. A policeman doing a beat alone would not last a night. Hundreds of police barracks have been closed in order to concentrate the men. for iheir protection The re-openirig of the barracks is urgently demanded by the, local people for- the protection of tho communities, but this is only possible by the use of soldiers,, and General Shaw (Comrriandor-in-Ohief in Ireland) refuses to disperse troops in small parties. Ho ha* a large arniy, so disposed as to deal quickly,, and . drastically with any opan oiitbreak without heavy casualties amongst the troops. The Irish Unionists appeal for fee cessation of repressive measures, specially the prohibition of fairs and markets, but thi> vicious circle operates, and every increase of violence leads "Viscount French to a further dis'clav of Government strength.

The Times says that the Government is daily driven to the use'of more force, because,it,cannot get support from the ooinniuhity. It is ptishiifi into ahem *b siirdities in repression in order to combat the claims which impeach its authority, Every policeman carries his life in his v hand. Of this splendid body .of brave men many are known, and marked by a secret and violent gang, which, ha-s been trained as a military force. These <nbn dp'g the footsteps of the police wait'!i£T ilwa^s until they .get their victim •ilone, when they shoot from so close that in many cases the clothing of the victim is singed. The authorities were surprised to-day by. the publication of the Freeman's Jo'urual. The evening newspaper. Telegraph, as a special edition of the Journal, stnnovmced that the proprietors were testing the legality of its suppression, and appealed to all newspapers to protest against the outrage.