It is very difficult to give a connected narrative of
what happened in Dublin, partly owing to the reticence of the Government, who naturally do not want our enemies to get early information of the effect of their action, and still more to the severance, or partial severance, of telegraphic communication. All that we know is derived from statements made in Parliament, first by Mr. Birrell en Tuesday afternoon, and secondly by Mr. Asquith and Lord Lansdowne on Wednesday, supplemented by some hints dropped by Lord Midleton. On the whole, Lord Langdowne's summary was the clearest. It appears that on Monday the rebels made a half-hearted attack on Dublin Castle, but could not, or at any rate did not, press it through. They occupied St. Stephen's Green, however, and held up troops on their way from the barracks, firing on them from the windows of hoissea en the route. The Sinn Fciners--i.e., the members of the secret and semi-anarchical society which has of late ousted Mr. Redmond and the moderate Nationalists from the political stage in Ireland—seized and occupied the City Hall, the Post Office, the Four Courts, Westland Row Station, and Broadstone Station.
