The Dominion TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 1919. CRIME IN IRELAND

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 301, 16 September 1919, Page 4

The Dominion TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 1919. CRIME IN IRELAND

In this country as in other parts of the Empire there is lull sympathy for Irish aspirations in regard to sclf-governmenfc. Without doubt, however, it will be 'the general verdict of New Zcalanders that the. Irish people have themselves alone to thank for the fashion in which their prospects of attaining that goal are darkened for the' time being. The dastardly outrage committed at Fermoy just over a week ago has brought matters to a head, but it stands out not as an isolated event, but as the culminating point in a long series of crimes. The unprovoked and treacherous attack made by Sinn Fein desperadoes upon a party of soldiers pn their way to church calls in itself for little comment. Tho merits of the case are staringly apparent and were well summed, up by the Roman Catholic Bishop of Cloyne, who described the deed as "a fearful tragedy, a savage crime calling for the vengeance of God." All true men and women will echo this denunciation and that of the Loud Lieutenant and will from their hearts that so vile a crime will .not go unpunished, Apart from tho immediate horror it inspires, however, the Fermoy outrage and _the events which followed have raised far-reaching issues. With the facts before their eyes a Fermoy jury refused to bring in a verdict of murder against the assassins. There is no excuse to be offered for the events which followed, tho sacking 'and looting of shops in the town by angry soldiers, but it has to.be recognised that these events were a natural and logical sequel to what went before. What the .Bishop of Cloyne rightly deplores as "the subsequent outrageous conduct of the soldiers" is not on any account to bi condoned, but it is self-evident that the action of the soldiers was a retort in kind upon those who had in effect aligned themselves with the Sinn Fein in its defiance of all law. The people of Fermoy invited the treatment tliey recoived. In finding no. fault with a jury of their number which refused to find mur-; derers guilty of murder they did what in them lay to make legal safeguards impossible. Much the same is to he said of the people of a large part of Ireland—the part dominated by Sinn Fein. Responsibility for the fact that the clock of progress is set back —that for tho time being all thought of political change and reform is subordinated to tho imperative necessity of _ suppressing anarchy—is shared oniy by those who have made Ireland a theatre of crime and by those who support or tolerate their regime. Nothing is more certain than that the British Government has been driven, unwillingly but inevitably, to the course it has now adopted. The best justification of the stem measures it i 3 now taking is that it has compiomisod too long with crime and so has done something to propagate throughout Ireland that tame acquiescence in lawlessness which was manifested so shamefully at Fermoy by people the bulk of whom are no doubt thoroughly respectable and law-abiding so far as their own actions are concerned. If the people of Ireland were downtrodden and labouring under heavy injustices, there would be some hesitation about applying as ugly a word as crime to even the most violent excesses of their political partisans and popular leaders. But it is the simple truth that the Irish grievances of which so much is made arc in essence sentimental—admittedly sentiment may count for a great deal—and academic. Against the rampant lawlessness in Ireland which has at length compelled the British Government to take drastic action there is to be set the undisputed fact that Ireland is to-day one of the most prosperous countries in the world. Few countries indeed which were engaged iu it have been as lightly touched by the war. The actual conditions in and bearing on Ireland were very effectively su mined up not long ago by the London Spectator in an article in which it referred with evident regret to the fact that Colonkl House. the well-known American envoy, would leave "Ireland unvisited." and touched upon what lie would have learnt "had to (rone to Ireland, as ho certainly would have doni', with open oars and an mind." Tn the first place, the Special if points out, hi would have hern fold by t,li« Sinn I'Vin, the Nationalist, and the Irish Roman Catholic leaders of public opinion that Ireland is a country suffering under a system of cruel oppression in every phasf of social, political, and national life. But in turning to concrete facts he would hav found that Inland instead of being politically onpmssod is ovcv-vpiirosented in Parliament—that forty-five thou-SrT-d Irish electors a. member to Wesl,mins f "r as airni"st. wvntvfivo thousand, electors in England. He would have learnt_ also that while there is no inhabitant of Ireland who pays taxes he would not have to pay if he lived in England or Scotland, "there arc quite a number of taxes which Englishmen

and Scotsmen have to pay that aro not paid by.the more fiscally fortunate persons who live in Ireland" and that "Ireland _ benefits very greatly on tho financial side owing to her political partivc-rship with Scotland and England, while England and Scotland get nothing fiscally beneficial out of tho Irish connection." Other facts open to the gaze of the impartial observer aro that England and Scotland have made largo contribution to bring economic benefits to the Irish farmers, and that Ireland is enjoying a prosperity such as hardly exists elsewhere in Europe. In regard to th" Irish Rebellion:

He would then have leirnt how the Sinn Feiners and tho extreme Nationalists sprang at our throats in the crisis of tho war, took money in large Minis from our German enemies, and laid a good part, and the best part, of Dublin in ruins. If the butchers' bill of the Insurrection has to be balanced, the Sinn Feiners killed far more innocent people than were killed by Ihigli.'h bullets. Wo may he hopelessly wrong in our political treatment of Ireland, but at any rate no one can say tiiat we put the TnsuirectioK down with blcodthirsty violence.

In a companion article on the same plan the Spectator sums up the attitude of the grim and determined folk who inhabit North-East Ulster. They believe in the Union and dislike the idea of a partition of Ireland, but are propared to concede the people of the South and West the right of local self-government provided they are themselves conceded the same right. The facts which havo been outlined stand against all challenge. Making anarchy and' crime their the Sinn Feiners are not fighting in the cause of an oppressed people, but are weakly tolerated by a people exceptionally prosperous. The British Government is and long has been eager to satisfy every legitimate aspiration of the Irish people under the head of local _ selfgovernment, and there is nothing in the attitude of Ulster to ■ prevent these aspirations being satisfied-so far as the rest of Ireland is concerned. Admitting that the Irish problem is in some aspects complex and difficult, it has no feature which offers a shadow of either reason or excuse, for Sinn Fein crimes. In giving active or tacit support to this organisation the Irish people are falling into a much more serious error than that of misconducting a political agitation—they are destroying the foundations of their own social life. Until they reach a more rational frame of mind and a more competent understanding of their own interests, it would seem that the only useful service tho British Government can render them is to stamp out crime and lawlessness wherever clwy appear.