No one in the present case can say we are
defending conventional bloodthirstiness, for the other way of dealing with an insurrectionary movement has just been tried and failed egregiously. The more extreme section of the Sinn Feiners have practically been in revolt ever since the war began, if not before it. We tried to kill their movement with kindness, and to prevent sore hearts by sympathy and gentleness. The policy of " not making martyrs of men who, though misled, are sincere fanatics " has never been given a better chance to prove its value, and what has been the result ? Some hundreds, if not thousands, of innocent people killed and wounded, a city in flames, two-millions'-worth of darnsge done, and a deflection of national energy from the great duty of beating the Germans This is hardly the moment to say that kindliness will never be mistaken for weakness.
