The Government have decided to place certain counties in Ireland
under Sections 2, 3, and 4 of the Criminal Law Pro- cedure Act (Ireland). People sometimes talk as if this were akin to handing over large parts of the United Kingdom to martial law or to the arbitrary control of some police tyrant. As a matter of fact the result of the proclamation is merely to secure a stricter enforcement of justice, and in a way which could be applied to England without inflicting any injury at all upon its inhabitants. The State is merely armed with somewhat increased powers for punishing the breakers of the law. It will be possible also under the Act to proclaim the United Irish League as a dangerous associa- tion within the scheduled districts. The Government must, of -course, use their discretion on this point, but we trust that Unionist writers and speakers will refrain from exaggeration in regard to the state of Ireland.
Previous page
