We will record the chief events of the week briefly
in their order. On Thursday, May 4th, a truce was signed by represen- tatives of the two rival factions of the I.R.A. The truce was to last for four days in order to provide an opportunity " to discover a basis for army unification." This produced a temporary quiet- ness in the South, but the attacks on Ulster police posts by the Irregulars of the I.R.A. continued as before. In County Galway Lord Ashtown's property was confiscated by irregulars " on behalf of the victims of Orange gunmen." At the end of the week in Ulster there were five brutal murders by Republican gunmen. Several banks were robbed. The four days' truce in the I.R.A. before it expired was prolonged indefinitely in order that the peacemakers might have every chance of success. This, however, had no power to create confidence among the
unhappy Protestants in the South and West. They are the victims of a real Terror, and have been escaping to England in increasing numbers.
