POSTLUDE
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n the three years following the visit of the Americannewspaper delegation, Ireland has been the scene ofepochal events; but neither the aims of the irreconcilableextremists nor the fears of those who deemedIreland's struggle for political liberty hopeless, have beenrealized. The Irish Free State has been born. Its estab-lishment is a notch short of the absolutely independentIrish Republic which was the ultimate object of thepredominant Sinn Fein faction.The plan of campaign outlined by the Sinn Fein enderto their American listeners, as already mentioned, was— 120 — put in operation in the general Parliamentary elections Worutp WARof Nineteen Hundred Eighteen. The volume and Ay Iqsviolence of the Sinn Fein movement that overswept ©, iraxIreland at that time may be judged from a simple . ~mathematical comparison. In the outgoing, or War, *Parliament, Southern Ireland—i.e., the anti-Britishconstituencies—had ninety representatives, of whomonly six were avowed Sinn Feiners, while nearly all therest, or seventy-eight, were Irish Nationalists, or HomeRulers, who had followed the leadership of John E.Redmond, recently deceased, and John Dillon. Butwhen the returns for the Parliamentary election follow-ing the Armistice were all in, it was found that the SinnFeiners had elected seventy-three members and theHome Rulers only seven.This striking reversal told the whole story of the SinnFein avalanche. What is more, the seventy-eight SinnFeiners were elected, not to sit in Parliament, but toprotest against British rule by staying home. Theirseats were never filled; and thus one of the predictionsmade to the American visitors was verified.The political revolt of aroused Ireland was soon fol-lowed by armed rebellion. For more than two yearsmost of the counties of Southern Ireland were in a stateof insurrection. Owing to the strict British censorship,little was known by the outside world of the progress ofthe fighting. It has since gradually come out that in thelater months of the rebellion, the British army of occu-pation, including the considerable body of irregulartroops known as ** Black-and-Tans,” was not far fromone hundred thousand. But in the reports that filteredthrough there were accounts of sharp local engage-ments, and many interesting stories of the prowess andenterprise of the leader of the Irish insurgents, GeneralMichael Collins. ae) Wo
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