“NO PEACE IN IRELAND.” SEDITIOUS DOCUMENTS.

FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT. DUBLIN, THURSDAY. Documents seized by the police and produced at a court-martial in Cork disclose the efforts of the “Irish Republican Army” to carry on war against the Crown. A man, named Lawrence Breen, of Billybeg, Tipperary, was tried by district court-martial on July 24, under the Defence of the Realm regulations, for being in possession of seditious documents. Among the papers found at his house were some intelligence reports asked for by the rebel army, and the information required referred particularly to men serving in the Royal Irish Constabulary, “whether they were hostile or not.” The names of civilians who were friendly with the military and police were sought, no doubt with a view to putting pressure on them. The report of the trial and sentence of Breen issued to-day by the Headquarters of the Irish Command sets out some of the documents produced at the court-martial:

The evidence showed that the accused was stopped and searched by a party of police at Ballybeg on June 23. He was found to be in possession of a copy of orders which contained amongst others the following documents: “There should be no peaceful districts in Ireland while the war of independence lasts, except those districts which the enemy has evacuated. In those districts peace and order will be maintained by the volunteers. It is being done already in some districts in the South of Ireland. We must increase the number of such districts and must push the enemy back on his central strongholds everywhere. There must be no peaceful district in Ireland occupied by the enemy. We must have no slackers. Every officer and every man must do his share of the work. The organisation must be brought up to the same level of efficiency everywhere. Our motto is ‘Still forward.’”

On the same date, on the premises of the accused were found a Webley revolver, six rounds of ammunition, and other seditious documents. These documents showed the accused to be an active member of the Irish Republican Army, as amongst them was a specimen copy of an intelligent report, seeking the number of ex-soldiers and EX-R.I.C. men, the number of serving soldiers and R.I.C. men in the district, requesting that information be sent, whether they were hostile or not, also the names of the friends of the military and R.I.C. men. The same information was sought with reference to telegraph and telephone operators and signalmen on railways. The accused, who had previously been convicted in May, 1919, and sentenced to nine months’ hard labour for being in possession of seditious documents, was found guilty and sentenced to two years’ hard labour. A large force of soldiers this morning surrounded and occupied the town of Swords, in county Dublin. No person was allowed to enter or to leave it without a military permit. Such permits were issued to any persons who proved that they had valid business reasons for quitting or entering the district. This regulation was rigidly enforced between the hours of eight a.m. and one o’clock p.m. Soldiers visited and searched many of the houses. The object of these measures is as yet unknown.