3 JUNE 1922, Page 5

SINN FEIN RULE IN IRELAND : ATTACKS UPON FREEMASONS.

[COMMUNICATED.] THERE are some people in the North of Ireland who believe that Mr. Lloyd George and his Cabinet— or some of them—foresaw what would be the present state of the country, and that they deliberately negotiated the " Treaty " with Sinn Fein with the object of proving to the world that the Irish people could not govern themselves and that the British Government must again return to Dublin. There are good reasons for not sharing that belief, but in any case it is more charitable to attribute the Treaty to blindness and ignorance on the part of British Ministers than to such prevision. But the result has been the same. The present condition of the South and West of Ireland is a complete refutation of the claims of the Irish Nationalists to any capacity for self-government. Throughout the twenty-six counties the authorities— both those set up by the so-called Treaty and those others who have been self-constituted—have been proving to the world that they have not even an elementary con- ception of the principles of government. So far as can be seen there appears to be but one idea amongst them, and that is to take revenge upon all those whom they believe to be opposed to the movement for Irish independence. Suspicion is quite enough ; such people do not look for proof. Quite recently one class of Irishmen has been marked out—on suspicion only—for special attack, namely, those who are members of the Masonic Order. For some time after the establishment of the Provisional Government the irresponsibles among them were guided by the advice of those who considered it was bad tactics to show any hostility towards this Order, but lately they have thrown all restraint to the winds. By the Freemasons themselves these attacks were expected. Safeguards were put into the 1920 Act on their behalf, but no such provision was included in the Treaty.

Many Masonic Halls have now been destroyed, one of the first to suffer being that at Ballinamore. In Mullingar the Masonic Hall was raided, and all the windows and presses were smashed. Petrol was poured over the broken furniture, and the complete destruction of the place was only prevented by the intervention of the local priest. In Dundalk, which is not very far from the Ulster frontier, there were three Masonic Lodges with a fairly large membership. Their hall was raided and the books and other property seized. Many of the members received a few days' notice to leave the town, and some of them had to escape hurriedly to Belfast. As a consequence of these proceedings the meetings of these Lodges have been indefinitely suspended. - Molesworth Street Hall, in Dublin, the meeting-place of the Grand Lodge and the headquarters of the Order in Ireland, was until Monday occupied by the " Irish Republican Army," who have thus had in their possession the register of all the members of the Order in Ireland. There can be little doubt that those members who live in out-of-the-way districts will suffer. The murders of Protestants in County Cork followed very closely on the seizure of the Masonic headquarters in Dublin. There is, as English Freemasons well know, no reason in the principles or constitution of the Order itself for these attacks. It is undenominational. It embraces Jews and Mohammedans, as well as Christians of all varieties. It is non-political. The discussion of political matters is forbidden at its meetings. It enjoins on its members the duty of avoiding plots or conspiracies against the State and of obedience to the laws of the land wherein they reside. Its activities are charitable and social. It maintains orphan schools for boys and girls, in which the children of deceased Freemasons are educated and fitted for respect- able positions in life. No conditions are attached. The boys are left perfectly free to go their own way in life, and are not asked to make any return to the Order. Even Roman Catholic children have been educated in their own faith by the same means. In a case referred to by the late Sir Charles Cameron, in the last Report for which he was responsible, the children of a deceased Roman Catholic Mason were educated in a convent, money from the Masonic Order being regularly sent to the Mother Superioress and regularly acknowledged. The administration of these schools and of other charities has been interfered with by the I.R.A. occupation of Molesworth Street Hall, and their future is threatened, without any political object, save that of party hatred, being served. But one has not to go far to find the origin of the hatred exhibited by the Sinn Fein organization towards. Freemasonry. The Roman Catholic Church authorities, for some reason best known to themselves, have denounced the Order for many years past as the most dangerous secret society in existence. Members of the Church who joined the Order or who refused to leave it— and they were not many—became ipso facto excommunicate. This grave measure greatly impressed the lay mind in Ireland with .the supposed iniquities of the Freemasons, and the present campaign is the result. But, while this is so, it must not be inferred that the campaign is in any way directed or controlled by the Church Authorities. There is no reason to believe that it is. In the case already referred to of Mullingar, the influence of the priest was exerted against the destruction of the Masonic Hall. The fact is, that the men in power in the South and West of Ireland have broken with all religion, retaining only its prejudices and antipathies. An " official " closely associated with one of the " Ministries " of the Irish Republic has been heard to declare that if a Roman Catholic Bishop or Archbishop opposed the Republic he would crush the prelate's head to a pulp without the slightest compunction. It is the spirit of one phase of the French Revolution or of Bolshevist Russia that is abroad—as hostile to Roman Catholic as to Protestant. To a very large extent the Church of Rome in Ireland is responsible for that spirit, but it is a Frankenstein creation which now seeks to destroy its author. No man residing in the " Irish Free State " whose name appears on the roll of the Grand Lodge of Freemasons of Ireland can, at the present time, have any sense of security for himself or his family. He can only look to his Brethren in Great Britain to use their influence with the British Government on his behalf. The preservation of life and property is not a matter of party politics ; it is an elemen- tary principle of any Government, and it is the absolute duty of the British Cabinet to see that it is maintained in Ireland.