been holding a secret inquiry under the Crimes Act, was dragged from a crowded tramcar near Dublin by a band of armed men and shot dead by the roadside. On July 31 Mr. Frank Brooke, a member of the Irish Privy Council and chairman of the S. E. Railway Co., was shot dead by armed men in his office at West- land Row Station. In neither of these cases were the murderers caught. But the blackest day of crime was Sunday Nov. 21, when, at 9 o'clock in the morning, bands of armed men visited the houses where certain young officers, mainly engaged in court-martial work, were lodged, found them all unarmed, some still in bed and others dressing, and shot them down in cold blood. Some succeeded in escaping, but in all 14 were killed. This crime, which showed the most elaborate prepa- ration, gave proof of the most revolting treachery, and for a moment awakened the British public from its apathy about Irish affairs, received the high approval of Mr. De Valera in America, and to judge by the description of it by Father Dominic, Lord Mayor MacSwiney's chaplain, as " a wonder- ful day " was regarded by the fanatics of Sinn Fein as a glorious victory. 1
Yet to say that Sinn Fein organized or approved these crimes, without qualification, would be to give a false impression. For certainly all Catholic Ireland did not approve them; and Catholic Ireland, with, rare exceptions, Sinn Fein, was by this time Sinn Fein. In the case of very many people this adherence was due to the terror, but it would be untrue to pretend that this cause alone operated. Among the young people, especially, the Sinn Fein creed had by this time developed into something like a religious fanaticism. Since the rebellion of 1916 a whole new generation of boys and girls had grown up, baptized in the blood of the martyrs, trained to regard Ireland as the centre of the universe and England as the barbarous oppressor who for 700 years past had arrested its development and obscured its glory, and firmly convinced that, if only the yoke of the barbarian could be shaken off, Ireland would once again become a pattern of civilization to the nations. And behind this crude idealism was the economic pressure of the young manhood of the country, cooped within its narrow limits, without work, without money, and without prospects. These were the recruits, inexorably conscribed, of the armies of the " Republic " and the executors of its decrees. The great majority of this army consisted of shop-assistants and town labourers. If the farmers and the petty tradesmen professed and called themselves Sinn Fein, this was often but an accommodation to circumstances; and the term Sinn Fein, covering a variety of aspirations, might mean much or little at most an intransigeant faith, at least a mantle of protection against an ever-present fear. And the terror was the more poignant since its sources .remained obscure. None could tell what sinister forces lurked behind the self-styled " Republic," who really issued the orders in the name of Dail Eireann, or who held command at the elusive " headquarters " of the Irish Republican army. And to the welter thus produced was pres- ently added on orgy of private crime, ancient vendettas being satisfied under the disguise of one or other of the warring forces, 2 while burglaries and highway robberies became common.
Against certain private crimes Sinn Fein for a time attempted to set its face. With the breakdown of the legal organs of Government, during the early months of 1920, in < theMuai- * ar 6 e P arts of the country, the Sinn Fein organization cipaiities. gradually took over the administration. The mu- nicipal elections in Jan., though the new principle of proportional representation introduced under the Act of 1919 here and there produced remarkable results, 3 placed Sinn Fein
1 For an eye-witness's account see " Experiences of an Officer's Wife in Ireland." Black-wood's Magazine for May 1921, vol. ccix., No. mccixvii. " Studies in Green," published serially in the same magazine, also give a vivid picture of conditions under the terror.
2 This accounts for several mysterious murders, charged (accord- ing to taste) to Sinn Fein or Crown forces. Outrages were often committed by men dressed in stolen police and army uniforms.
1 A few Unionists were elected in constituencies which had always been solidly Nationalist, while the Belfast corporation included a minority of Nationalists and Sinn Feiners.
in the majority in most of the corporations and councils of the South and West, which is not surprising, since apart from the intense resentment at the proposed partition of Ireland, the Sinn Fein organization had long since made it clear that those who refused allegiance to the " Republic " would be under its ban. 4 The election of Alderman T. Kelly, who was interned in England, as Lord Mayor of Dublin (Jan. 24), the hoisting of the Sinn Fein flag on the City Hall, and the removal of the sword and mace from the council chamber as " relics of barbarism," advertised the new spirit of the Nationalist municipalities. It was not, however, until May 4 that the Dublin Corporation resolved formally to acknowledge the authority of Dail Eireann and to undertake to give effect to its decrees, and its example was soon followed by other corporations, and county and district councils. On April 14 Sinn Fein " headquarters " had defined its policy with regard to these bodies; all the old council- lors were to stand aside and give place to younger men who would refuse to recognize the Local Government Board, and who, being without property, could not be made liable for damages in resisting the Government. The result was, of course, the- complete confusion of local administration; for the refusal of the elected bodies to submit their accounts to the Board's inspector was met by the refusal of the Government to make the statutory grants in aid of rates. The mutual boycott continued in many cases into the following year. It was combined with the wrecking and burning of inland revenue offices and the looting of Government money from post-office vans and mail trains. At the same time a general destruction of Government property began, starting with the police " bar- racks," which in many parts of the country had been left unpro- tected owing to the necessity of concentrating the police. 5 Many empty country houses, suspected of having been requi- sitioned by the military, were also burned down.
Meanwhile Sinn Fein had set out to cure the anarchy which it had created by setting up an organized system of justice. Sinn Fein courts were early in operation; on May 12, at Kilfinane in Limerick, two Sinn Feiners were Tfte put on trial before such a court for cattle-" driving." c'ourt Such irregularities were no longer to be permitted, and on the igth, at Balh'nrobe, the first public court established in Ireland under the aegis of Dail Eireann was opened to de- termine land disputes and effect settlements of agrarian trouble. By the $rd of next month Sinn Fein courts had been established in 21 Irish counties, 6 and a fortnight later it was reported that a Sinn Fein supreme court was to be established in Dublin. Before the end of the summer, in two-thirds of Ireland, Sinn Fein justice was alone available; the King's writ had ceased to run; the royal judges still went on circuit, but their courts guarded by police and soldiers were empty of litigants, who, often unwillingly enough, had to transfer their suits to the improvised tribunals of the " Republic."
These tribunals might or might not be honest and effective. They usually consisted of a Roman Catholic curate and one or two prominent local Sinn Feiners; and sometimes a lawyer's clerk, or others with a rudimentary knowledge of the procedure of the courts, took part in their decisions, which were often reported as reasonable. Substantial court fees were exacted from the litigants, which went to supply a fund for salaries for the members of the court.
In course of time people of all political opinions found it expedient to apply to these courts, if they were to have any redress; solicitors, deprived of practice in the ordinary courts, made no scruple of appearing before them, and even loyalists, compelled to sell their property occasionally, weakened when they found that the Sinn Fein land courts imposed a higher price for land compulsorily purchased than that allowed by the Land Commission. And, so long as it lasted, the authority of these courts was absolute, and for a sufficient reason the ultimate penalty for disobedience was death.
4 " The candidates for the chairmanship of the Granard Rural District Council are requested to attend the Executive meeting and sign the Sinn Fein pledge." Nationality, Aug. 4 1917.
6 These " barracks " were usually cottages, privately owned, which had been leased to the Government. Their destruction im- posed a heavy burden on the ratepayers of the county including the owners who were assessed for compensation.
e Freeman's Journal, June 4 1920.
