25 SEPTEMBER 1920, Page 3

Terrible and inexcusable though such a reprisal is, it is

neces- sary not to forget that it is a proof of the awful provocation which the Sinn Feiners have given by their long and relentless campaign of assassination. We must remember that in Ireland those who " see red " when their friends and colleagues are shot down like dogs from behind a hedge do so very largely because they know that the law in the present condition of Ireland will never overtake the malefactors. They therefore introduce a frightful regime of Lynch Law. Lynch Law Mauch circumstances is at least more intelligible than it is in. the United States where the judicial system has not broken down.