VIOLENCE BEGETS VIOLENCE.

Hokitika Guardian, 16 November 1920, Page 3

VIOLENCE BEGETS VIOLENCE.

1 THE “BLACK-AND-TANS.” (By Janies Dunn). DUBLIN, Sept. 29. Ireland to-day is being governed b; secret tribunals and disciplined b organised violence. In this country o contradictions there is the strange para dox of rebels represented by official Sim Fein seeking to promote law and order and of the constitutional Governmen represented by the military authority using the weapons of barbarism to en force the ethics of civilisation. In order to understand this peeuliai position it must be known that then are two schools of Sinn Fein. One, re presented by Mr Arthur Griffith anc other founders of an idealist’s drean that has become a social nightmare, i: working with enthusiasm to show tin world that the Irish can govern them selves. , Hence we have the Sinn Fein court: with their wisdoni-of-Solomoti judg ments, the administration of the county) councils, tlie stern repression of crinu by the Irish volunteer police force. In the other school we have the young men who, not content with the vote, have adopted violence as the shortesl I and surest way to independence. Lee by a man whose very name is unknown outside the innermost circles of tlu Irish Republican Army, these extremistsLare responsible for the shooting oi policemen, the boycotting of the R.1.C., and the intimidation of the countryisde. These young men hold the sword of Sinn Fein—a double-edged sword wielded against friends as well as enemies. For nearly two years the young men have carried the fiery cross through the country, antTthe British Government has been helpless against the guerilla tactics of men not only willing but even eager to die to win a martyr’s halo. In consequence of this campaign the Royal Irish Constabulary, once the finest police force in tli world, lias not only lost the confidence of the people, but it has also lost confidence in itself. No longer is it possible to recruit the force in Ireland, and its ranks, depleted by assassination and boycott, have been filled by men of another race, temperament, and religion—the “black-and-tans." The advent of the “black-and-tans” has been synonymous with a change of policy in the Irish administration. Ever since Parliament was prorogued Ireland has been practically under military law. Dublin Castle has become dumb, and General Sir Nevil Macready, commanding the forces, lias ruled the country from and through the War Office. With the abnegation of the Irish Executive came the era of reprisals, the employment of violence against violence, intimidation against intimidation, savagery against savagery. Superior in weapons and organisation, the “black-and-tans” are subduing Ireland with fire and sword. Towns and villages are being burned and sacked, civilians are being flogged and shot, women and children are being driven to seek refuge in the open fields, while their cottages are burning. Cattle are being killed and maimed, creameries are being destroyed. Nobody is punished for these_ crimes. The military inquiries are merely farcical. The military authorities hide behind the inability of the Government to govern.