AN IRISH " JEHAD."
(To THE EDITOR or THE " SPECTATOR."I Sia,—Your courageous articles in the Spectator of April 20th came as a breath of fresh air after the stupefaction induced by the Parliamentary debates. The situation in Ireland is now plain. On the one side, the whole body of the Roman Catholic Church ; on the other, the Protestant communities of the North and South staunchly loyal and ready, as they always have been, for any sacrifice which will help on the cause of the Allies. On Sunday, April 21st, every Roman Catholic congregation took a religious vow to resist Conscription, and a " jelled " or holy war was defiantly preached from every pulpit. The influence which has already wrought such mischief in Quebec, Australia, and Spain has thus, by common consent, taken the lead in this unhappy country, and, to quote Mr. Devlin's words, " the cat is now out of the bag." Among a highly emotional and deeply religious people like the Irish such action is shout as safe as lighting a match in a powder magazine. Does any sane man in England imagine that the situation can be met with a bribe of even the most extreme form of Home Rule, so long as Conscription remains on the statute-book, as remain it must ? We Southern Protestants, realizing in all seriousness our precarious position, appeal to you in England—Be firm, insist on Ireland doing its duty, but do not
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