he time, and we could see that only a
pane divided us from a whole line of them ranged along the pavement.
Resistance was useless, and Mr. Oliver gave orders to admit them.

"We intend to commandeer your food supply," said the man in the cocked
hat, "and I must ask you to show me the way to your provisions."

For a second Mr. Oliver hesitated. "Suppose I refuse?" he said.

"In that case I will take them and you too," was the reply, and then,
addressing the two men, he added, "Men, do your duty," and they
ransacked the place, while I took down a list of the goods they took.

Eventually the officer signed a receipt for the goods taken in the name
of the Irish Republic, and Mr. Oliver, much to my disappointment,
pocketed the precious document.

They left, and after a few minutes came back with a ten-pound note.
Again I presented myself, and ventured one or two questions.

The looting had already begun, and children were wandering through the
streets with toys and food and sweets.

"Surely," I said to the officer, "you do not approve of all this
indiscriminate theft?"

"No, certainly not," was his dignified reply.

I next asked the meaning of all the rising, and to this he simply
replied:--

"It means that Ireland is free, that English government is at an end,
and that we have established an Irish Republic. As it is, we hold the
whole city, and within a few days the provinces will be ours as well."

I still pressed for a pronouncement on the real aims and objects of the
new Government, and was referred to headquarters.

Accordingly, I took my courage in both hands and walked past the
soldiers opposite the Post Office and the sandbagged windows, and asked
the guard at the main door if I could have an interview with their
President.

At first I thought I was going to get it, but I suddenly noticed a
change come over the man, and saw guns covering me in a most
uncomfortable way.

I argued my case with some of the minor officials, and pleaded the
importance of such a pronouncement, but, taking me possibly for a spy, I
was ordered off, and told that my safest way was to get back to my
hotel, where no harm would come to me as a civilian if only I left the
men of action alone.

As soon as I realized the impossibility of penetrating the headquarters,
I returned to the "Metropole" and took up a position of vantage upon the
balcony, and was able to secure a unique snapshot of the hoisting of the
new flag of the Rep