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Behind the Veil in Ireland

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Behind the Veil in Ireland Tlhe 1 i Ford. international Weekly J THE BlAUB DM I M DEPEMBENT a' $1.50 igj Dearborn, Michigan, July 16, 1921 fen Cents Behind the Veil in Ireland is the bra in center lieve from what they Irish movement. I By told me that DUBLIN ALEXANDER IRVINE Sinn Fein and the I. R. A. over there a few are in solid agreement as to weeks ago to find out what men the present The Irish question is every editor's nightmare. Nothing was ever written methods. There are a considerable were thinking about. What they about it which to bring failed denunciation from one side or the other. Alex. number of Irish people who de- do is the result of what they think. Irvine, Irish by birth, American by choice, went over to see he could if see it plore and stand out against mur- 1 was born in Ireland but I found steadily and see it whole. Here is his report. Irvine is a good observer and an honest man. No editor can hope more. der but at present they have mvself looking at the situation for no voice in the matter. through the eyes of an American. The man who was described My sympathies were with the to Home Rule movement and what I me by Sir Horace Plunkett as "the greatest living Irishman" is saw confirmed my the sympathies in that direction. I had some ideas poet and dreamer George W. Russell ("A. He is about violence as E."). against the a political weapon and they were strengthened in policy of violence, so is Sir Horace. So are scores of the midst of violence. men and women who were working for Ireland before Mr. DeYalera was I met the extremists at both ends. I talked with men of every born. All the men and all the movements living and dead are in phase of opinion. I met the real leaders. They talked freely. I hopeless ill repute. "They were corrupted by the English," I was asked questions and the answers were plain and explicit. told, and "betrayed Ireland for social recognition in London." Sir "Would an ofFer of Dominion Horace Plunkett, after 40 years Home Rule be a basis of nego of constructive service for Ire tiation tor an armistice or land, is suspected by both Sinn truce?" I asked a member of Fein and the British Govern- the I. R. A. THIS WEEK ment. So is Lady Aberdeen "We have not been definitely who has done more for Ireland offered anything' he answered. than any other woman. The "But the prime minister has The Dominions and the Anglo-Ja- p Treaty "no surrender" of L'lster rinds publicly stated that he would its counterpart in "no com- meet any representative of the promise." in Dublin. Irish people." Two Pennsylvanians in the Cabinet Everybody in Dublin seemed "Yes," he replied, "but we to be in revolt against the cur- are a nation and he must recog- Service to Fellows Displaces Doctrine few, against the military search nize our government and make for arms, and the raids. Yet terms with our president." Dublin does business as usual. "And if he doesn't?" The people move freely up and "Then the fight goes on !" Jewish Power and Money Famine down the streets. Even the ar- The policy of all or nothing mored cars filled with Why Is the "Richest Country in the World" Broke? armed permeates all ranks. "The moral men who sit with their ringers on supremacy of Sinn Fein is com- the trigger cause little excite- plete," is a phrase I heard a ment. Every time they pass score of times. I spoke of "mur- Within Sacred Precincts of Diplomacy through the crowded thorough- der," they didn't like the word. fares people turn to watch them, Nobody would concede that to Study-What-You-Wa- not out of mere curiosity but to The nt School shoot a man dead in his bed or notice where they fall foul of from behind was murder. When a bomb. I pointed out that the British Wanted A Friend to the Indian The popular mind is still (Government had pardoned the mystified about the Black and Countess Markevitz and that the and Many Other Features Tans. Nine out of every ten I. R. A. had taken Kate Connell persons in London or New York-d-o out in the middle of the night not know the difference be and killed her without trial, one tween the R. I. C, the Auxiliary man replied that the latter was Division and the Black and Tans. "a damned spy." The man who said that was standing at a window When the regular police force of Ireland the Royal Irish Con- overlooking a Dublin street with a bomb in his hand. He gazed stabulary was found inadequate to cope with the situation, it was down the street as he spoke. A gun leaned against the wall near re-enfor- by recruits from England. These recruits were very the window. largely misfits in the social reconstruction. Some of them wen-desperat- e He spoke of reprisals and outrages by the British as sufficient in characters. Not having enough R. I. C. uniforms to fit themselves to justifv am sort of killing. When pressed for an in- them out, they were arrayed in khaki trousers and black R. I. C. stance in which a woman was killed he could only reiterate that tunics. That was soon rectified but the combination gave them the the I. R. A. was a regular national army and as such dealt with all name that still sticks. All tb R. I. C". force is now "Black and spies as the nature of the war demanded. Fan" in the popular mind. 1 was asked scores of times whether in my opinion the United When it was necessary still further to reinforce the police States would recognize the Irish Republic. When I ventured to power, the Auxiliary Division, composed entirely of ex-arm- y officers, suggest that such recognition would probably mean war. they said was organized. In the beginning of this force there were desperate they knew that and were working toward that end. Some men characters also and outrages were committed. The regular arm frankly said that reprisals kept the movement alive. It stirred to is quite distinct from all of these. Outrage, violence and mur- action their friends and silenced their enemies. der by men in rebellion are reprehensible in anv civilized com- A It has been stated in the press many times that Sinn Fein is munity but at their worst they are not quite so reprehend divided on the policy of violence. I found no such division. 1 be ble as acts of the same nature done by the agents of the state 'Irish Republican Army. !('. on fiate 2).
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