ish military authorities in Ireland know perfectly well that the
members of both these organizations are earnest, determined men. If,
knowing this, General Friend and his subordinate militarists proceed
either to disarm the Volunteers or to raid the Labour Press, it can only
be because they _want_ bloodshed--because they want to provoke another
'98, and to get an excuse for a machine-gun massacre.

"Irish pacifists who have watched the situation closely are convinced
that this is precisely what the militarists do want. The younger English
officers in Dublin make no secret of their eagerness 'to have a whack at
the Sinn Feiners'; they would much rather fight them than the
Germans.[3] They are spurred on by the Carson-Northcliffe
conscriptionist gang in London. On April 5th the _Morning Post_
vehemently demanded the suppression of the _Workers' Republic_; on April
6th a question was put down in the House of Commons urging Mr. Birrell
to disarm the Irish Volunteers. These gentry know well the precise
points where a pogrom can most easily be started.

"Twice already General Friend has been on the point of setting Ireland
in a blaze--once last November, when he had a warrant made out for the
arrest of Bishop O'Dwyer, of Limerick; once on March 25th, when he had a
detachment of soldiers with machine guns in readiness to raid Liberty
Hall. In both cases Mr. Birrell intervened in the nick of time, and
decisively vetoed the militarist plans. But some day Mr. Birrell may be
overborne or may intervene too late. Then, once bloodshed is started in
Ireland, who can say where or how it will end?

"In the midst of world-wide carnage, bloodshed in our little island may
seem a trivial thing. The wiping out of all the Irish Nationalist and
Labour Volunteers would hardly involve as much slaughter as the single
battle of Loos. Doubtless that is the military calculation--that their
crime may be overlooked in a world of criminals. Accordingly, the nearer
peace comes, the more eager will they be to force a conflict before
their chance vanishes. Is there in Great Britain enough real sympathy
with Small Nationalities, enough real hatred of militarism, to frustrate
this Pogrom Plot of British Militarist Junkerdom?

"Yours, etc.,
"F. SHEEHY SKEFFINGTON."

Personally, I think I can diagnose the rebellion into ten perfectly
distinct factors, but by far the least of them all is German