500,000 fighting volunteers, that the only hope of another rebellion with any chance of success lay in a German invasion of England and the landing of further arms in Ireland, but for that they must prepare. He further said:
" That there would never be peace in Ireland till they got their independence. When the war was over England would be tottering The Allies could not win. All nations at the Peace Conference would claim their right to the freedom of the seas, and Ireland was of such international importance in that respect that her claim must be admitted. They wanted an army to back their claim. ..."
On Nov. 4 at Athy he delivered another speech, important as an index to Sinn Fein principles and methods. England, he urged, did not " desire another front," and therefore, if Ireland were armed, there would be no conscription. Turning to the attitude of the hierarchy, and possible action by the Vatican, he said that England would doubtless like such an intervention, but he claimed for priests in political matters full freedom, in- cluding that to join Sinn Fein. 1
A bitter attack on Mr. Redmond 2 followed, and a stout assertion that Sinn Fein was " not afraid of Sir Edward Carson and his crew."
It is not surprising that the repetition of this sort of language should towards the end of the year have produced a situation with which the Government, hampered by the " atmospheric theory of administration, were unable to cope. Disciplinary measures, even of a mild sort, had according to the police reports an instantaneously good effect; but discipline was all but impossible when the only available punishment, imprison- ment, was rendered nugatory by the expedient of the hunger strike, and prisoners were released almost as soon as they were condemned. 3 The sword of justice, dropped from the nerveless hands of the legitimate administrators of the law, was grasped by Sinn Fein, which did not scruple to use " any and every means " to attain its end. Thus, even so early as this, the effective control of affairs in large parts of Ireland was passing out of the hands of the officers of the Crown. The process may be illustrated by one instance. In Dec., according to police reports from Clare, " Sinn Fein continued to rule the county, and persons who were not Sinn Feiners must show sympathy with the movement if they wished to live in peace with their neighbours " in other words, if they wished to escape the terrible weapon of the boycott or worse. 4 That Sinn Fein was still in touch with Germany was proved when James Ruane, a local Sinn Fein leader, was arrested on Dec. 2 at Kiltimagh in county Mayo, when he was found in possession of two pamphlets printed in Germany and bearing the official impress, " Kriegs- ausschuss der Deutschen Industrie, Berlin." 6
The beginning of 1918, which saw affairs in the Convention come to a crisis, saw also the development of grave disorders in large parts of the country. Through the south and west a flood of lawlessness was sweeping; in the counties of Clare, Sligo, Roscommon and Mayo the King's writ had virtually
1 On Nov. 25 Cardinal Logue issued a pastoral condemning the agitation. Speaking at Roscommon, next day, De Valera refused to discuss it. The movement, he said, had two sides, destructive and constructive; the destructive side to destroy English misgovern- ment,and the constructive side to build up a self-respecting, self- reliant nation, a nation able to manage for itself, without looking abroad for help of any sort; and when the opportunity comes for producing Ireland's case before the world, then to ask those nations who are supposed to be fighting for small nationalities if they are not hypocrites. It was on that plea, he believed, that England went into the war; so far as England was concerned that plea was hypocrisy.
2 These and similar attacks threatened to have unpleasant con- sequences, and while at Aughavanagh, in Wicklow, Mr. Redmond was protected by a police patrol.
3 Between Nov. 15 and 21 102 hunger strikers were released from various prisons. From County Clare the police reported that " the arrests for illegal drilling in Nov. had a good effect until the release of the prisoners on hunger strike, which made matters worse." On the other hand they reported that in Dec. the cessation of arrests had made many give up drilling, as done out of mere bravado.
4 As an indication of the spread of Sinn Fein it is interesting to note the great rise in the circulation of Sinn Fein organs. The Irishman, e.g., which in Feb. 1916 had a circulation of only 1,692, had increased this in Nov. 1917 to nearly 15,000 weekly.
6 Documents rel. to Sinn Fein Movement, p. 39.
ceased to run. From Clare, especially, the police reported that during the first four months of the year there was " utter anarchy." There were huge cattle " drives," encouraged by the local clergy; illegal drilling was openly carried on; R.I.C. barracks were attacked; on three occasions small patrols of police were overwhelmed and their arms taken; telegraph wires were cut and roads blocked to hamper the movements of the police and troops. " It was not until a large force of soldiers were drafted in, and the county made a special military area with very severe restrictions, that some sort of order was re- stored." Similar reports, though not so grave, came from other counties; in Gal way and in Tipperary, as in Clare, there were numerous raids for arms on isolated country houses, carried out by bands of masked men; and Tipperary, where the police reported a. " reign of terror," had to be declared a special military area so early as March 6. On the same day there were serious riots in Limerick.
On March 6, John Redmond died in London, and with him seemed to go the last hope of settling the Irish question on a basis of reasonable compromise. In him, indeed, it is said that the hope had died already, and that his death Death of was hastened by the consciousness of the break- Redmond. down of his life's work. On Jan. 1 1 the Ulster Unionist Council had urged the Government to extend the Military Service Act to Ireland, but three days later, when the new bill was introduced in the House of Commons, Sir Auckland Geddes announced that this course would not be followed. This was a victory for the Irish Parliamentary party, and its reflex was seen in the results of the Irish by-elections, Nationalist candi- dates defeating Sinn Feiners in South Armagh (Feb. 2), at Waterford (March 23) and in East Tyrone (April 4).' The day following this latter election saw the last meeting of the Irish Convention; and the set-back to Sinn Fein seemed of favourable augury for some satisfactory outcome of its labours. But circumstances almost at once arose which again made any peaceful solution of the Irish question impossible.
The March offensive of the Germans, resulting in the press- ing back of the British line with an immense loss of men and material, made it necessary for the Government to summon every possibly available man in Great Brit- The Man ain to the colours, the age limit being raised to 50. p ^ er ^-
-,. , ., a Extension
It was felt, however, that to call elderly men to arms to Ireland. in Great Britain while thousands of young men of military age in Ireland continued to be exempt would strain the patience of the British to breaking point; and when, on April 9, Mr. Lloyd George introduced the Man Power bill, he announced that he proposed to extend obligatory military service to Ireland on the same terms as to England. On the following day the second reading of the bill passed by 323 votes to 100, the clause extending it to Ireland being carried two days later by a slightly smaller majority.
The passing of this measure, which two years earlier would probably have been accepted in Ireland without serious demur, at once threw the whole country into fresh turmoil, which Mr. Lloyd George's undertaking to introduce a bill to give self- government to Ireland did nothing to allay. On March 12 Mr. John Dillon had been elected as Mr. Redmond's successor in the leadership of the Nationalist party. Under his auspices Nationalists and Sinn Feiners established a sort of temporary alliance, ominous of the ultimate fate of the Parliamentary party. On April 17, after the defeat of an amendment to exclude Ireland from the Man Power bill, the Nationalists left the House of Commons in a body and decided to transfer their deliberations to Dublin. On the i8th, the day on which the bill received the royal assent, a meeting to de- nounce it was held at the Mansion House, Dublin, and
6 March 30.
7 The figures were: S. Armagh Donnelly (Nat.) 2,324; Dr. VlacCartan (the Sinn Fein " ambassador " to the United States) I .3O5; Richardson (Ind. Unionist) 40. Waterford Capt. W. A. Redmond (Nat.) 1,242; Dr. White (S. F.) 764. E. Tyrone Harbi- son (Nat.) 1,802; Sean Milroy (S. F.) 1,222.
