Evening Post. THURSDAY, AUGUST 10, 1933. GREEN AND BLUE

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 35, 10 August 1933, Page 10

Evening Post. THURSDAY, AUGUST 10, 1933. GREEN AND BLUE

The change of a single Word in the opening, of; Byron's famous stanzas on Waterloo will suffice lo bring it right up to date. There was a sound of reveliy by night, And Ireland's capital had gather'd tlion Her beauty and her chivalry, and bright The lamps shone o'er fair women i and brave men. Yet even so there is one point that does not quite fit the bright interlude by which Dublin relieves today the dreary monotony of the world's depression. The contrast which Byron suggests between the "fair women and brave men" assembled at the WaterlooJjall does not do justice to the women on this occasion, for their presence testified that they were as brave as the men. It fortunately does not appear, that any. of *■ them were injured, but flying stones are no respecters of persons, and jiot whom they were aimed at but whom they were likely to hit was the material point. The general terror inspired by a hostile crowd would also Be without respect of persons, and as .Halifax "the. Trimmer" remarked, - the angry Buzz of a Multitude is one of the bloodiest Noises in the World.'• That the booing and hissing specially directed al Mr. James McNeil, a former Governor-General, must .have been at least equally painful to his wife goes without saying. When therefore we honour the brave who stood up to this ordeal we must remember that for this purpose there is no distinction between the brave and the fair. It was the first annual dance of General O'Duffy's Blue Shirts that supplied the occasion, for the "amazing scenes" described in our report. So striking has been the success of this organisation that, though it was only launched at a convention of the Army Comrades' Association held on July,. 21, it /had within a week achieved the unique distinction of impressing Mr. de Valera with a genuine, though very imperfect, sense of his responsibilities as a constitutional ruler. By July 29 he had actually " . decided to use force to prevent. National Guards parading in blue shirts or other uniform, or marching in military formation at the demonstration in memory of Mr. Michael Collins and Mr. Arthur Griffiths on August 13, becauso he belli e^ieig this would lead to a breach of tfipifipeacG with the Republican Army. To prohibit the public parade.of any unauthorised organisation in military formation and military uniforms would, of course, be not only a legitimate but a laudable act, of statesmanship if it 'was made of general application, but this is just what Mr. de Valera does hot dare to do. He desires to prevent-the Blue Shirts' demonstration on Sunday next "because it would lead to a breach of the peace with the Republican Army," but he "knows perfectly well that it is this organisation and not General O'Duffy's that is the unconstitutional one, and that the I.R.A. and not the Blue Shirts would be the aggressors if there was a clash on Suniday. What Mr. de Valer,a proposes is to shut up the sheep and give the wolves a free run because he is afraid of the wolves^ and thinks the sheep a safer mark. A comical feature of the trouble, and one thoroughly characteristic of a country which has become more topsy-turvy than ever under Mr. de Valera's rule, is the colour of the new organisation. Time was when green was the forbidden colour in Ireland. She's the most distressful country that ever yet was seen; They are hanging men and women for the wearing of the green. When the Irish- Treaty gave Southern Ireland a Government of its own hanging had long since gone out of fashipn, but the country nevertheless celebrated its complete emancipation by turning the colour of the pillar-boxes bequeathed by the oppressor from red to green. It may suit Mr. de Valera to represent that the green is again in peril, and .the apparent acceptance of the astounding canard regarding Sunday's proposed demonstration at the Cenotaph suggests that he may. possibly believe it. , It seems, we are told today, that the Cenotaph in memory of Messrs. Griffiths, Collins, and O'Higgins adjoins Parliament House. The, .Government was informed that if the ' J3lueShirts were permitted to parade, there in strength they intended to seize both the Government and the. Parliament Buildings/ This would bo the : : signal for the seizure of othes Government buildings throughout the country. And it is on this account that "the Government- Buildings and the Dail are swarming with guards armed with guns and tear-gas bombs," and that some smoke resulting from the fall of -a lighted cigarette in some rubbish during the singing qf the Free State , National Anthem—a highly suspicious circumstance—nearly stampeded 'a Fianna Fail dinner party, at which Mr. de Valera was the guest of honour, in the fear that there might be a blue-shirted Guy Fawkes at work in the basement! Fears of this kind, however ill-

grounded,, may, of course, have very serious consequences if they are widely held and badly handled, and, whether he shares them or not, Mr. dc Valera is about the very last person any reasonable man would expect to handle a delicate issue with the firmness and the calmness and the tact that it demands. The call-ing-in of firearms from people of the wrong colour and the pulling of the Dail and the Government offices in a state of defence are the only active -measures yet reported. • The only penalties that the Blue Shirts have suffered so far were those in-, flicted by the mob of 5000 which assembled outside, the ballroom yin O'Connell Street on Tuesday night. She's the most distressful country that ever you did view; They are stoniDg men and women for the wearing of the Blue. But the only effect of these" arguments has been to. send a few of the enemy to.hospital'for minor injuries and to provide them with- a magnificent advertisement and a powerfulstimulus. The dilemma in which' I Mr. de Valera was already placed by I the proposed demonstration on Suniday has become'more-perilous than lever, and the peril will have become more serwus still by the time- his measures* have been fiercely debated 'in the Dail... Have things gone too | far .for a de Valera-Cosgraye or a I Blue-Green conference?" ;,