1 2 North George St. Dublin 8 May 1916 My Dear Sir John Maxwell I beg to thank you
for your letter of 7th inst.
I am very glad to hear
that you have enlisted
the services of Captain
Crean — He knows all
l about the National
Volunteers. 2 Enclosed are particulars of
some cases — I am
assured by reliable friends
that two men mentioned
in enclosed letters have
had no connection with
the Insurrection - or with
the Organisations who
prepared it. I feel bound to renew
my earnest protest
against the continued
military executions. 3
The list in this evenings
paper has given a
very severe shock to
a large section of the people
who are good friends of
the Government — And who
were utterly opposed to
the Irish doings of
last week. — The
feeling is becoming
widespread and intensely
bitter -— It really 4
could be difficult to
exaggerate the
amount of mischief that
the executions are
doing. As you kindly invite
advice — there are two
other matters I feel I
ought to mention to
you —
I. I do not believe
it is a wise measure 5
to arm special Constables —
they are not required —
and seem to be quite ineffective
— and in the present
temper in the city they
are very apt in my
opinion to create disturbance. II. I very much doubt
the wisdom of
instituting searches
and arrests in a large 6
scale in districts in which
there has been no
disturbance. Yours sincerely John Dillon