1 2 Issabella Place Combe Down Bath May 17th 1916
7425 Private To the Under Secretary Dublin Castle Sir I suppose that there is
some secretary to attend to
letters it at present though
there is no regular Irish Government
now — I beg to acknowledge the
receipt of your letter of
the 10th of May & to point out
that my name is EF BATTY.
I fear I do not always write
it sufficiently distinctly
It might lead to some
mistake if you read it wrong 2
I presume your letter is a
mere form - sent to hundreds
but in case it is not I
beg to say I did not offer
my services - though if on
the spot I would have been
glad to be of use — you
might just run your hen
though the route of the offer
It is a friendly hint that
I should have done so I
must mention I am 53 and
short sighted & have never
handled a rifle. I want to make a non
political suggestion that
only occurred to me today
If Dublin had been policed
by the RIC the late events
could not have taken so
serious a turn & the prob
lem would have been far
less — Would it not be a good
thing if during the war the
control of the Policing of
Dublin was in the hands of
the Government & not the
Corporation — and if the
Police force was (like the RIC)
mostly trained to the use of the Rifle All are interested in the
maintenance of law & order
& I think it would tend to
restore confidence — It might be well to leave some
of the police force unarmed
but most of them would I expect 3
be fit to train as RIC are
trained (for town watch anyway) It might or might not be
well to combine the two
forces -(So far as armed)
The safety of Dublin is the
main point & this would
seem to tend to it. There is no reason why in this
way a considerable body
properly armed trained &
under the control of the
Government should not be
added to the forces available
in the safety of Dublin. Armed Police would seemingly
have been able to prevent
many of the places being seized
& much of the damage &
left things far easier for the soldiers
to deal with. Your Obed. Serv. EF Batty 4 PS There may be members
of Police Force - all right unarmed
who it would not be well to
arm