Sectarian or not? Presbyterian view of IRA actions in War of Independence

IN his letter headlined ‘Why IRA killers of the Pearson boys were guilty of a war crime (December 17), Brendan Cafferty gives what appears to be very damning evidence of republicans’ attitude towards Protestants during the War of Independence.

He quotes from an editorial in the Belfast Presbyterian paper, The Witness, on June 17, 1921: “The plight of the Protestants in the south and west is sad in the extreme. They are marked, they are watched, they are raided; some of them have been dragged out and shot like beasts. An air of suspicion and dread is about them day and night.”

Like knowledge, a little quoting is a dangerous thing. Mr Cafferty should have quoted some more of the editorial to give this extract its proper context.

Far from republicans causing problems for Protestants, the editorial actually says the opposite. It says that Protestants, as Protestants, had no choice but to oppose the democratically elected republican government (twice elected by June 1921) and that was the source of the problem.

But let the editorial, headlined The State of the Country, speak for itself. It began as follows:

“The Honourable HM Pollock, DL, MP, Minister of Finance in the Northern Parliament, presented the Report on the State of the Country in the General Assembly last Friday, and called attention to certain deplorable facts of which we are all more or less cognisant.” (This is interesting in itself. The finance minister of the new government of Northern Ireland reports to the governing body of a church on the state of the country. Did Michael Collins, as Minster for Finance in the Dáil, ever consider reporting to Maynooth?)

The Witness editorial continued: “He (Mr Pollock) referred in particular to the sufferings and persecution of Protestants, which undeniably form a part of the Sinn Féin policy of vengeance upon those who in any way stand opposed to this crusade of wickedness and wish to see the law of civilised society prevail.

“The Sinn Féiners, of course, deny that Protestants as such are persecuted and there is an amount of truth in their contention, for their vengeance falls upon all who hinder them without regard to creed or class.

“But it is easy to see that this does not invalidate Mr Pollock’s assertion of the persecution of Protestants, for Protestants are loyal and law-abiding and feel it as a duty which they owe to God and their own conscience to support the forces of the Crown in the repression of crime.

“There is no blinking the fact that this is the line which divides Roman Catholics and Protestants in general at the present time in Ireland. The vast majority of Sinn Féiners are Roman Catholics, and while there must be many Roman Catholics who hate and disapprove of the evil deeds of Sinn Féin, yet the Roman Catholic population as a whole have provided Sinn Féin with a sphere of influence and moral, or rather we should say, immoral, support which render their foul work in Ireland possible.

“Protestants, on the other hand, are the bulwark of liberty and justice and the due administration of law, and it is only natural that Sinn Féiners should look upon them as enemies and wreak their anger upon them.

“Sinn Féiners may say that they do it not because they are Protestants, but because they betray their cause; yet since Protestants cannot do otherwise in virtue of their religion, it comes to the same thing whether we say Protestants are persecuted for their religion, or are persecuted because they will not fall into line with Sinn Féin.

“Mr Pollock is, therefore, perfectly right when he calls attention to the persecution of Protestants and evokes the sympathy of the Church in their behalf. The plight of Protestants in the south and the west (the 26 counties) is sad in the extreme. They are marked, they are watched, they are raided; some of them have been dragged out and shot like beasts; an air of suspicion and dread is about them day and night,” The Witness declared.

The subtlety and honesty of the editorial, according to its own lights, seems beyond Mr Cafferty to appreciate, but I hope that readers will see that this fuller extract provides a proper and more comprehensive context.

Such a context is essential when dealing with this subject and it is highly irresponsible to go in for a selective and tabloid approach to what was a life-and-death issue.

Jack Lane

Aubane

Millstreet

Co Cork