THE IRISH WAR OF INDEPENDENCE: 1919-1921 It was every sane-thinking English journalist's dilemma of its time--the Irish War of Independence, fought from 1919-1921-- namely, how to report on the brutality of the British Government's response to the violence of the situation by introducing the infamous "Black and Tans" --hardened veterans of the Great War to augment the RIC (Royal Irish Constabulary) --while, despite the brutality on both sides of the political...
More Description THE IRISH WAR OF INDEPENDENCE: 1919-1921 It was every sane-thinking English journalist's dilemma of its time--the Irish War of Independence, fought from 1919-1921-- namely, how to report on the brutality of the British Government's response to the violence of the situation by introducing the infamous "Black and Tans" --hardened veterans of the Great War to augment the RIC (Royal Irish Constabulary) --while, despite the brutality on both sides of the political divide, maintaining a personal loyalty to the home country. It was no easy task, as Hugh Martin, special correspondent to the London Daily News came to learn, often at great cost to his reputation and personal risk.
IRELAND IN INSURRECTION was published in 1920, provoking an immediate denial from the House of Commons by Sir Hamar Greenwood, Chief Secretary for Ireland.
Meanwhile, the violence would continue into the following year, ending with a truce on 11 July 1921.
ENGLAND' SHAME CORRESPONDENT'S EXPERIENCES IN IRELAND Dublin Evening Telegraph - Thursday 11 November 1920 Mr. Hugh Martin telegraphing to ' "Daily News" from Dublin says:
The last three months have been months of catastrophic change. 'Three months ago it was still possible for a thinking Englishman to be very skeptical when an Irishman told him or he read in an Irish newspaper that Irish creameries being systematically burnt down one after another by the very men who, in any other civilised community are sworn to protect the property of the people.
To-day I know of only two men who even profess any scepticism on the subject, the Prime Minister England and the Chief Secretary of Ireland, end they are seen whose professions long ceased to hare any importance.
Three months ago the word 'reprisals' merely recalled the later stages of the Great War. Today, to the whole of the English-speaking world, it means one thing-and only thing --the method by which Great Britain is waging war upon Ireland. It has been my duty to watch at close quarters the unfolding of this drama, which in its implications and results, may well prove one of the great world-moulding tragedies of the human race. And now as I leave the theatre for a little while to share in my country's celebration of the victory of the day of freedom, what else can an Englishman do except bow my head in shame?
The People of England would share in the shame if they had lived through this three months on Irish soil. It is as aiding disgrace to the Press of England-a crime against truth and liberty- that so few of them do know. Yet if only a few Englishmen share his sense of shame on Armistice Day the work of some of us will not have been thrown away.
THIS EBOOK EDITION HAS BEEN TYPE-SET FROM THE ORIGINAL AND UPDATED TO INCLUDE:
- Hugh Martin: The Moral Accountant , by Maurice Walsh
- Mr Hamar Greenwood's response from the House of Commons to Mr. Hugh Martin of the Daily News, London.
- A Journey in Ireland, 1921. Danger and Intimidation, by Mark Holan