IRISH PEACE

Otago Witness, Issue 3510, 21 June 1921, Page 44

IRISH PEACE

“ BALKAN! SING THE WORLD.” j PREMIER’S REBUKE TO CHURCHMEN. NO SURRENDER TO VIOLENCE. (Fkosj Oub Own Correspondent.) LONDON, April 22. Mr Lloyd George has laid down Ins Irish policy in emphatic ar.d unmistakable terms m answer to a letter which he recently received from the Bishop of Chelmsford and j other prominent Churchmen. “In opening the latest discussion on the Irish situation in the House of Lords,” it was stated in the communication sent to the Prime Minister, “the Archbishop of Canterbury took occasion once mare to protest strongly against the deplorable practice of indiscriminate and unauthorised reprisals by the irregular forces of the Crown. He did so on the highest of ail grounds—namely, the absolute unlawfulness of the attempt to overcome wrong, however flagrant and piovocative, by means of further and equally indefensible ‘wrong. With that protest we desire earnestly to associate ourselves.” The signatories to this statement and to whet followed were the Bishops of Chelmsford, Chester, Manchester, Peterborough, Southwark, and Winchester, Bishop Goio, the Rev. R. C. Gillie (president of the national Council of Evangelical Free Churches), Principal Garvie (chairman of the Congregational Union), Dr J. T. War (Ho Stafford (president of the Wesleyan Methodist Conference), the Rev. M. P. Davison (president of the Primitive Methodist Conference). Mr W. A. Hindley (president of the Independent Methodist Conference), the Rev. Duncan Macgregnr (Moderator of ihe General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of England), Mr Roger Clark (chairman of the London Yearly Meeting of the Society of Assembly of the United Free Church of Scotland), Dr Robberds (Bishop of Brechin, Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church), Dr Walpole (Bishop of Edinburgh), Mr Henry Brown (chairman of the Congregational Union of Scotland), the Rev. Alex. Paters on (president of tiie Baptist Union of Scotland), and Mr S. Wilcox Stocker (chairmen of Wesleyan Methodist Church, Scotland District). j DIFFERENT POLICY ADVISED. ! “While not en til led to commit our respective Churches," the letter proceeded, “we feel constrained to say that we cannot re"ard the cruel and detestable outrages which have given rise to the whole reprisals policy, authorised and unauthorised alike, as a mere outbreak of wanton, criminality in the ordinary sense. Notoriously- there lies behind them a long-cherishcd and deep-seated sense of political grievance which has been aggravated and inflamed by many untoward events, and which the concessions of the new Irish Government Act have altogether failed to appease Hence Dail Firearm's quarrel with Great Britain and the emergence of a situaticn fraught with intolerable distress and humiliation to every lo\er of his country. In these circumstances we join our voices with those who are appealing from many sides for the adoption of a different line of policy. We plead with the Government to arrange, if possible, a genuine truce, with a view to a deliberate effort after an agreed solution of the Irish difficulty. It may be that the attempt will fail; but until it has been seriously and patiently tried we cannot acquiesce in any alternative course of action. The present policy is causing grave unrest throughout the Empire, and exposing us to misunderstanding and the hostile criticism even of the most friendly of the nations of the world. Admittedly it affords no prospect of the speedy restoration, of law and order. Nor can we believe that it leads to the end all must desire—a peaceful and contented Ireland. On the contrary, its heaviest condemnation perhaps lies in the deepening alienation it is sleadily effecting between this country and all classes of the Irish people. A method of government attended by such consequences cannot be politically or ethnically right, and ought, we submit, to give place without delay to a policy of conciliation. What form this should take we do not presume to say. Various possibilities seem to be open. What the situation in our judgment requires is that the Government should take the initiative, and with resolute magnanimity pursue such a course, by the blessing of Heaven, to the end." NO “IRREGULAR FORCES." J In his reply the Prime Minister begins by expressing his heartiest sympathy with the general motive of the resolution passed by the signatories, which was that “of 7helping to bring about peace with a contented Ireland." Ho then deals with their arguments in detail, and points out that there are no “irregular forces" of the Crown in Ireland, as the signatories say. The Auxiliary Division, he says, was formed to assist Ihe authorities, and did not come into effective operation until after 100 policemen had been murdered in cold blood, and it is composed entirely of ex-officers of the Navy, Army, and Air Force. j MURDERERS GO FREE. j For all these murders, says the Premier, no murderer was executed, for no witnesses to enable conviction were forthcoming, largely because of intimidation, although many of these murders were committed in Ihe open street in the presence of non-participatory, if" unprotesting, passers-by. “Can it be contended that, when a rebel oiganisation, which is based on the repudiation of constitutional action in favour of violence, sets to work to achieve its ends by the deliberate, end calculated murder of the members of a j police force, 99 per cent, of whom were Irish and 82 per cent, of whom were Roman Catholic, which had always held an extraordinarily hteh reputation for tolerance and goodwill poulation it served, that the Government to stand idly by? The police, if they •u-e to vindicate the law and bring murderers to* justice, must lie armed with exceptional powers akin to those entrusted to soldiers in the field. But that there has been any authorisation or condonation of a policy of meeting murder by giving ram to unchecked violence on the other side, is utterly untrue’ THE sternest discipline. - The Prime Minister docs not deny that there have been deplorable excesses. “Individuals,” lie adds, “working under conditions of extraordinary personal danger and strain, where they are ill uniform, and their adversaries mingle unrecognisable among the ordinary civilian population, have undoubtedly been guilty of unjustifiable acts. A certain number of undesirables have got into the corps, and ill the early days discipline in the novel and exacting conditions took some time to establish. But the Government lias never ceased to press upon the Irish Administration and tho military and police heads the paramount importance it attached to til© enforcement of the sternest discipline. "With your plea for discipline, therefore, I am m the most complete sympathy. No one is more anxious from tradition and position to ensure discipline in the forces than

their official chiefs, if only because indiscipline means inefficiency.” As evidence of what the Chief Secretary and his colleagues tire doing to enforce discipline tile Prime M.nis'er then quotes the number oi pokes and of the auxiliary division who have been removed from the forces as the result of provocations, and the number who have been sentenced by c ■ urt-mart ial. Despite all difficulties,” he adds, '’discipline is improving, the force is consolidating, and the lets of indiscipline, despite ambushes, assassinations and outrages, often designed to provoke retuliut ion for the purposes of propaganda, are becoming increasingly infrequent.” JUSTIFICATION FOR MURDER. Referring to the cor damnation of reprisals Mr Lloyd George goes on to sav: “It condones the adoption by Sinn Fein of tho weapon of wholesale murder on the ground that tlie ‘end justifies the means. It seems 1o me that this part of ycur resolution :s subversive alike cf order and good government, morality, and the Christian religion. “Shin Fein rejected Horn? Rule, and demanded in its place an Irish Republic for the whole of Ireland. Sinn Fein went further. If deliberately set to work to destroy conciliation and constitutional methods, because it recognised that violence was the only method by which it could realise a republic. 1 do not contest Sinn Fein’s right to its opinions and aspirations, and I have never done so. But what amazes me is that a body of responsible men, eminent leaders of the Church, should state publicly that Sinn Fein lies porno kind of justification for murdering innocent men in cold blood, because its novel and extravagant political ideals have been denied. INDIFFERENCE TO CRIME. “Where does the doctrine end/'.’ There is a small but vigorous Communist party in these islands, which bitterly and with the most intense conviction believes that it ought to overthrow democratic institutions and seize power by force and violence, because of the manner in which they consider that tlie ruling clasp.es of the past, the aristocracy, and the owners of capital, oppressed and exploited the poor. Are the Communists, because of the sufferings and grievances of the working classes and the sincerity of their own industrial ideals, to be justified in employing murder and assassination to achieve these ends? ‘‘Perhaps the most terrible aspect of the Irish situation to-day” acids Mr Lloyd George, “is the indifference which lias grown up there to the crime of murder, since Sinn Fein entered upon its -campaign, though I cannot help feeling that in their hearts Ihe Irish people are as shocked by it as wo are.” WHAT CIVIL WAR MEANS. A truce, suggests the Prime Minister, would not in itself bridge the gulf between tho two parties, because: —“The declared policy of Sinn Fein and the policy of his Majesty's Government are irreconcilable. I lrelieve that the policy of establishing an Irish Republic is impossible for two reasons; fust, because it is incompatible with the security of Great Britain and with the existence of the British Commonwealth ; and second, because if it were conceded it would mean civil war in Ireland. “Ulster would certainly resist incorporation in an Irish Republic by force, and in this war hundreds of thousands of people, not only from Great Britain, but from all over tho world, would hasten to take part.” GOVERNMENT WILL NEVER GIVE WAY. Tlie Government's policy he believes to be just and wise, and, further, the present Home Rule Act is a sensible and workmanlike method of carrying that policy into effect. “The present struggle in Ireland is an issue between secession and Union. Our ideal of combining unity with Home Rule is « finer and nobler ideal than that excessive Nationalism which will take nothing less than isolation, which is Sinn Fein's creed to-day, and which, if it has full play, will Balkonise the world. Settlement is, in my judgment, impossible. The Government of which 1 am the head will never givo way upon tiie fundamental question of secession. I recognise, as fully as any man, that fore© is itself no remedy, and that reason and goodwill alone can lead us to the final goal. But to abandon the use of force to-day would be to surrender alike to violence, crime, and separation, and that I am not prepared to do.” OTHER APPEALS. Cardinal Bourne, Catholic Archbishop of Westminster, has addressed a letter to tho Prime Minister in which he states that the Catholic bishops in England are convinced that much could be done towards promoting a good understanding and the restoration of law and order were tho auxiliary troops withdrawn without delay from Ireland. “Every week,” he says, “is adding to tiie difficulties of the situation. The bishops trust that the Government will immediately take such measures as may promptly lead to the permanent reconciliation which all men, whatever their political opinions may be, so greatly desire.” A letter signed by 27 professors and lecturers in the University of V. ales lias been addressed to Mr J. Herbert Lewis, M.P. for the university, protesting against the actions of the British Government and its agents in Ireland, and declaring their absolute ’'dissociation from the Government of this country which has, with an incredible cyllie-ism, covered the name of Britain- with ignominy.”