PREFACE A BOOK of this nature, dealing with existent organisations, inevitably labours under certain handicaps. The worst of these is, perhaps, the fact that all the counter-measures of the Intelligence Departments and Police who deal with the problems raised by these societies may not be even suggested. All that can be said is that the authorities are well informed. They will probably continue to be so, unless, at some future date, the cost of vigilance is foolishly economised. This has been done in the past by doctrinaires in office, and to a large extent the expense and political difficulties attendant on the recent Irish Rebellion could have been obviated, had an Intelligence Department, dealing with Irish affairs, been properly maintained in the years preceding and during the Great War. Sound political intelligence, properly appreciated, would have obviated the tragic years. The problem of the Irish secret societies raises a vital question for solution by statesmen rather than by politicians. So long as there exists a powerful criminal organisation rooted in the United States, as well as in Ireland, and with ramifications all over the globe, whose avowed object is the establishment of an independent Irish Republic by methods of political assassination and secret murder, then how long will any settlement of "The Irish Question " endure? The following pages will show that for centuries the peace and prosperity of Ireland have been broken by malignant and terrible secret associations of Irish people who have brought ruin and suffering on their country. For the last seventy years, the source of infection has been external, and the Irish of the United States have been responsible for energising the Irish of Great Britain and Ireland into active crime. It must be realised that this " organising' of the Irish is a remunerative trade or callingjust as much as that of the professional coiner, burglar or blackmailer—and that, so long as men can earn dishonest livelihoods by the plea of patriotism, so long will the Irish Republican Brotherhood and kindred criminal bodies maintain a sporadic activity. Given a spell of weak government in Ireland (and it is not yet proven that Irish self-government can be strong) they will seize the opportunity and trouble will inevitably occur. The attitude which I have taken throughout this book is that of the normal citizen interested in the maintenance of social order. To certain doctrinaires and extremists, rebellion and murder are not criminal, but justifiable and even praiseworthy. I do not hold these views, and with some experience of other revolutions besides the Irish one, I do not believe that they convey any immediate or future benefit which cannot be obtained almost as expeditiously and with far less suffering to the whole mass of the nation by ordinary constitutional means. |