1 Confidential Belvedere
Lisburn 14:10:16 Dear Colonel Craig as Irish matters seem likely to engage the
attention of the House to a considerable extent for the next
week or so, perhaps it may interest you to know a few
little matters bearing on some of the subjects to be
discussed. I see that the Radical press is trying to make out that the
principal hindrance to getting recruits over here is the
continuance of martial law and doubtless strong pressure is
being brought to bear on the Govt to put an end to it.
It looks as if these efforts would be successful, for we seem
to have again reverted over here to the old "Birellian"
system of taking the line of least resistance in
dealing with Nationalists & rebels in Ireland, in spite
of the fact that as recently as last Sunday morning
all County Inspectors throughout Ireland were warned
(officially) to take all possible precautions against an
attempted rising that night or the next morning. By the same post a confidential return was called for
of all rebels at present interned in England or a separate
report was to be made as to each person, giving amongst 2 other details the opinion of the police as to whether he
could now be released either unconditionally or on certain
conditions. Imagine the feelings of a police officer in a disturbed
district getting such a document by the very same post
as one warning him to be on his guard against another
rising. From the nature of the return called for the County
reports could not possibly reach Govt sooner than next
week and yet last tuesday before any report had been
written much less received by Govt, the Home Secy
announced the intention of the Govt to release most of
the rebels still interned. No doubt this public announcement by such a responsible
Minister as the Home Secy, will greatly "assist" some
police officials to form a "correct" opinion as to the
desirability of releasing interned rebels belonging to
their districts. As regards recruiting, I see that at last the official figures
are to be given in full. Up to the present it has always
been stated that they were not available etc. — Absolute
bunkum ! They have been available practically since the 3 war started. We send in every month separate returns
for the Army & Navy showing the number of recruits
who have joined in each county from the 16th of one
month to the 15th of the next. These returns show the
number of recruits belonging to (a) Ulster Volunteers,
(b) National Volunteers (c) Unclassed, & also the number
believed to be (a) Protestant (b) R.C. The first return was called for in december 1914 & embraced
the period from the beginning of the war till then. After
that it was sent in each month, & the figures could at any
time have been got from the Castle in a few minutes. Possibly they are not absolutely accurate. We get the
names of the recruits from the local recruiting offices, &
then supply the rest of the information from our
local knowledge. Making every allowance for
errors etc I think they may be considered as
sufficiently accurate for all practical purposes. My people in the South & West write to me of the bad
example exerted by the released Sinn Feiners & of the
evil influence they have on the other young men
in the neighbourhood. I was very glad to hear from his wife that your brother 4 is now out of hospital & in fairly comfortable
quarters. I hope he may get exchanged to
Switzerland before long. Poor Jenkins seems to have had very bad luck, as
none of the many parcels of uniform etc sent out by
his wife had reached him & in consequence he
writes in a very despondent frame. Sincerely Yours Gregory.