[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—I was not surprised
that you, as an Englishman, should only think in terms of England ; but I am amazed that Commander Francis Spring Rice, an Irishman, can make a similar mistake.
The Army Comrades' Association has nothing whatever to do with the British Army. It is composed of past and present members of the Free State Army, including those who belonged to, and fought in the ranks of that body before the Treaty gained them England's recognition, and who, of course, never were, and never could have been, called upon to take an oath of allegiance to the King. Consequently also, there can be no fear, as suggested in your original paragraph, of any clash between the Association and our Regular Army. The Association is now desirous of drawing into its organization for purposes of good citizenship and defence all those who wish to uphold law and order against the insidious attacks of the I.R.A. (the Irish Republican Army), or the open ones of the gunmen attached to the said I.R.A.—
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