We will quote again a few sentences from Mr. O'Rahilly's
article :-
" The ordinary procedure of war as of criminal jurisdiction must be regarded as dispensed with, so long as the nation is in the physical impossibility of organizing regular warfare. If such irregular methods—with their consequent difiger of deineralization—are permitted or even enjoined, it is perfectly clear that when the nation is able to organize and equip a quasi-military force, acts of belligerency require no special justification. Nor is there any need of a formal declaration of war, for such a declaration is merely an ordinance of positive international law which affects only the signatories of the Hague and Geneva regulations. It is the usurper who by his continued occupation has declared war on the nation. It is the right and duty of the nation to defend, by every effective means in its power, its liberty, its honour, and its independence."
The issue containing that poisonous doctrine was stamped with the imprimatur of the Roman Catholic Archbishop of
Dublin. Consider what such sentiments meant when they were hurled into the midst of the present Irish turmoil and were taken as the considered Roman Catholic judgment upon the campaign of assassination. If Mr. O'Rahilly's words meant anything at all they were a justification of murder.
