LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.
[Letters of the length of one of our leading paragraphs arc often more read, and therefore more effective, than those which fill treble the space.]
IRELAND AND OON SCRIPTION.
[To THE EDITOR OF " SPECUTOR2] Sut,—As I share ray Spectator with others, and do not get it direct, I have only just read your articles on Ireland in the issue of April 20th. Every word you say in those articles is true, except that I believe the Government are two years too late with their Conscription Bill. Sinn Feinism being now so fully organized, it will be quite impossible to enforce it. A perfect reign of terror exists here, with which the local Constabulary are quite unable to cope. Thousands of Sinn Feiners openly drill and route-march every night, and many houses of loyalists have been entered in broad daylight by men with blackened faces and all firearms found seised. Those of us who, on the adtice of the authorities, have now sent our guns to the police barracks for safety, are perfectly helpless when these armed and masked villains make their appearance! Only yesterday evening two local Sinn Feiners marched into my kitchen and got all the maidservants to sign their paper against Conscription and subscribe to their funds, and though I knew they were there, I had no power of turning them out. Then the other day a friend of mine had two shot-guns and a small rifle stolen by two men with blackened faces about three o'clock in the afternoon while he was out; another had a favourite retriever dog shot, which dared to bark, and thereby gave the alarm before the house could be raided; two local quarries have had their stores of blasting powder broken into and their contents removed, Ice., dm. And yet, Sir, in the face of all this, a Cabinet Minister recently pooh-poobed in Parliament the Sinn Fein movement, stating "they were only a few unarmed boys drilling on a mountain-side," or words to this effect. We unfortunate residents in Ireland know full well this Government
policy is encouraging the " Sinn Fein, Prussian-fed tiger" to make another spring at the very heart of the Empire!—! am, Sir, Co. Cork.
AN OLD SOUTHERN 'UNIONIST.
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