stances we must repeat the question we asked last week
: What are the troops doing ? We know that there are many officers of ability in Ireland, and they could doubtless carry out the necessary work of protection with discretion and efficiency if they were allowed to do so, in spite of the fact that the non-com- missioned officers are inexperienced and that the men aro mostly half-trained boys. To our mind it is trifling with the question to say that the troops cannot do police work. The danger to isolated and unprotected families, families who are law-abiding and loyal citizens, is so great that no punctilious objections about the right or usual employment of troops ought to be tolerated as an excuse for inactivity. A debate would probably be more effectual in the House of Lords than in the House of Commons, for the House of Lords is much less subject to party rallying-cries and much less given to the repetition of threadbare formulas. It is easier there to got a situation appreciated on its merits.
