Major Street has followed up his account of Ireland in
1920 with a clear and dispassionate history of the following year. It is a most painful book, but it should be widely read. In Major Street's pages we see the Nemesis that attends on weak and cowardly politicians. The author has used a good many official papers which are new to us, notably a military report on the innumerable breaches of the truce by Sinn Fein in the autumn of 1921. He describes the enigmatic activities of Mr. Lloyd George's agent, Sir A. W. Cope, in dealing with the rebels and gives a careful account of the long negotiations that led up to the Treaty and of the debates in the Dail. The outcome of it all is now apparent to the world, which has yet to see whether Southern Ireland can shake off the rule of the gunman and give herself the order and prosperity that she had before Mr. Lloyd George took office.
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