SINN FEIN AND THE MURDERS IN IRELAND. [To TIM EDITOR
or MB " SPECTATOU."3
Snt,—I see that in some of the English papers surprise is expressed that the leaders of the Simi Fein Party have not denounced the recent murders of policemen in Ireland. Why should they ? At a 'district Court-Martial held at Cork on December 20th a copy of the official organ of the Irish Volunteers was produced, which contained the following words:—
"Every Volunteer is entitled, morally and legally, when in the execution of his military duties, to use all legitimate methods of warfare against the soldiers and policemen of the English usurper, and to slay them, if it is necessary to do so in order to overcome their resistance. He is not only entitled* but bound, to resist all attempts to disarm him. In this position he has the authority of the nation behind him, now constituted in a concrete form."
But this after all is only carrying out the policy, enunciated by the Nationalists all along. The late Mr. Patrick Ford wrote in the Irish World in 1893 3— " The men who struck down Burke and Cavendish were not ruffians. They were the soldiers of Ireland, fighting Ireland's battle. The man who sets foot on Irish soil to administer or enforce any other law than the law and will of the Irish nation must be prepared to abide the consequences."
It may be said that this was only the opinion of one man; but Mr. Devlin has eulogised Mr. Ford for "the brilliancy in his exposition of the principles inculcated in our programme." He was therefore voicing the opinions of the Nationalist Party. And these are the men who will form the overwhelming majority in the Dublin Parliament, to whose tender mercies 400,000 Unionists will be handed over.—I am, Sir, &c., UNIONIST.
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