Evening Post. SATURDAY, JANUARY 27, 1923. IRELAND'S SCOURGE

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 23, 27 January 1923, Page 6

Evening Post. SATURDAY, JANUARY 27, 1923. IRELAND'S SCOURGE

In withdrawing the British Minister from Athens on accdunt of the judicial murder of the ex^Premier and his colleagues, the 1 Bonar Law Government made, according to the "Observer," its first mistake. We have no moTe right, the "Observer" argued, to interfere with, the internal concerns of any foreign people than to meddle in tire affairs of Southern Ireland; which on' the whole have been worse than those of Greece. . . . The Greeks, like the Russians and the Southern Irish, must conduct their internal affairs their own way; and work out salvation or damnation for themselves without, our impotent intrusion. It is a sad collocation, indeed— Greece,. Russia, and Southern Ireland, and the "Observer" had not foreseen such a possibility when almost exactly a year before its immense resources of enthusiasm and etoqueoce were being strained to the uttermost in the attempt to do justice to the statesmanship which had put th© Irish Treaty through. It is damnation rather than salvation that the Southern Irish have so far been working out for themselves under the scheme that was to have put an end to all their troubles. A year after the signing of the Treaty they bid fair to realise "The Specta-tor's"-prophecy that their country would become the worst-governed in Europe. The hope and the disappointment are now described by the "Observer" as follows:—

For Ireland a short.year ago the prospects were of. the faireßt. She had certain prosperity in sight. Her credit stood high. She could have' borrowed for development of every kind with greater ease than any country in Europe. There wasino antecedent period of grinding misery such as extenuates the excesses of the French' or the Russian, revolutions.: There is not even that to justify the misgiided and malevolent squandering of resources, actual and potential, the wholesale, Burning of public . buildings, the destruction of homes that had their big part to play in the all-import-ant rural economy, the terrorisation and expulsion of brains and capital—r-in short the wilful impoverishment oia.rich.,country. The only durable remedy for this state of things is responsibility.

Both sides of the "Observer's"' statement are illustrated by the latest news from Ireland. The, tactics of the Republicans have long since ceased to deserve the name of war, but bands of irregulars continue to loot and to burn and to murder and to scatter destruction and terror far and wide. In large areas of the country districts there is no security for life or property, and in many of the towns the position is highly insecure. Of Cork, where the Republicans are strong, we have heard little lately, but in Dublin itself the conditions are shown by recent cablegrams to be very precarious, and in spite of the drastic measures of the Government they appear to be> growing worse; In a leading article on the 21st November, the "Irish Times" thus described the position in the capital: ' ' •

Apart from tne, accidents of warfarer— the ambush, the 6tray bullet, the furious-, ly-driven lorry-^-the streets of Dublin .are safe for nobody after nightfall. Highway robbery is rife. Shopkeepers are at tho mercy of armed plunderers. Even in the broad light of day buainess men and their clerks are. forced to "stand and deliver." . '

No such general picture of insecurity has been conveyed by our cabled reports, for the reason, no doubt, that the 'English papers have not much to say about it. But as muqh might be reasonably inferred from some of the more striking incidents reported during the past fortnight. The, holding up of a County Council Conference by' armed irregulars searching for some members of the Dail Eireann, the lorry piled with grey blankets ■ from which rebels opened fire-when it reached College Green—both these were apparently dayfight-performances—and the attacks made on- the "Freemarr 1? Journal" office, the Broadston railway station, and the Portobello Barracks on the evening of the same day as the performance in Coßege Green show that even in the capital the Government is fighting for its life. ,

While robbery and loot and sniping at soldiers or barracks are easy to understand, the wanton destruction of property, public eund private, is so devoid of rational'motive as to seem almost like the act of madmen.. Most of the work that the ■ Republicans are doing would be just as injurious to them, if they ever got the upper hand, as it is to the other side under existing conditions. The destruction of railways and roads and telegraph lines is of course, within limits, a legitimate operation of war, but what sense i^ there in it when it is no part of a military scheme because there is no military force behind it! Under such conditions destruction of this kind is a sheer piece of vandalism which can irritate and inconvenience and impoverish, but cannot possibly win a victory. The cutting of all the telegraphs connecting Dublin with Cork, Limerick, Waterford, and Sligo, the blocking of the main railway. line between Dublin and SlU?a, and the .wrecking of trains in Kerry, and

elsewhere are among the rebel triumphs of the last week or two. Today the raiding of all rural post offices within twenty miles of-Ma-croon! is, reported,' and the burning of stamps, money-orders, and other documents, and the smashing of telegraph and telephone instruments. ' The execution of two men who had been convicted at Waterford for being found, in possession of arms indicates, on the other hand, that the Government is not weakening in its uphill task.

Of more hopeful significance is the result of General Mukahy's call for recruits for one year's service against the rebels. Long queues of volunteers are said to have been waiting for hours in order to register. The Government was reported a week ago to be discussing the increase of the army beyond the 35,000 limit fixed at the time of the Treaty, and to an increase for such a purpose the British authorities will certainly raise no objection. With these hew! tWops the Free State Government hopes "to deal with the nomadic gangs who are reducing the western regions to de-' solatibn." The "wonderful response" made to the Defence Minister's call is highly encouraging, not merely as providing the military force that is needed to save the Free State from utter ruin, but as indicating that the Government has behind it the moral force upon which the British administration in Ireland could rarely, if ever, rely. For twelve months at least) it has been clear that the Treaty has the support of a large* majority of the people behind it, but a passive approval is a very different thing from an active public opinion. In the third of his articles on "Ireland Revisited," "The Spectator's" correspondent writes as follows : —

A' public opinion, indeed 1, in tho sense in which the term is used in Britain, there is not and never has been in Ireland ; for public opinion i$ the product of free and open discussion, which in this land of explosive violence has always been perilous, if. not impossible. Popular support," which U another thing, is apt to veer round suddenly to the side which—whatever the hidden sources of its power—seems likely to gain the upper hand. And so, at the present time, open criticism of the powers that be, or of the power? that may be to-morrow, k generally felt to be unhealthy, and the all but universal attitude is,one of discreet support of the Free State Government, tempered by discreet politeness to the Republican enthusiasts who prowl round it -with revolvers.

The men who have,come forward so eagerly in answer to General Mulcahy's call are not likely to allow any "discreet politeness" to interfere with the due discharge of their duty.. •