will be no landing of troops in either England or Ireland unless Germany
in the meantime can solve the problem of submarine transport. It is a
problem which will be solved some day, for every problem can be solved,
but it will hardly be during the progress of this war. The men at the
head of the Volunteers were not geniuses, neither were they fools, and
the difficulty of acquiring military aid from Germany must have seemed
as insurmountable to them as it does to the Germans themselves. They
rose because they felt that they had to do so, or be driven like sheep
into the nearest police barracks, and be laughed at by the whole of
Ireland as cowards and braggarts.

It would be interesting to know why, on the eve of the insurrection,
Professor MacNeill resigned the presidency of the Volunteers. The story
of treachery which was heard in the streets is not the true one, for men
of his type are not traitors, and this statement may be dismissed
without further comment or notice. One is left to imagine what can have
happened during the conference which is said to have preceded the
rising, and which ended with the resignation of Professor MacNeill.

This is my view, or my imagining, of what occurred. The conference was
called because the various leaders felt that a hostile movement was
projected by the Government, and that the times were exceedingly black
for them. Neither Mr. Birrell nor Sir Mathew Nathan had any desire that
there should be a conflict in Ireland during the war. This cannot be
doubted. From such a conflict there might follow all kinds of political
repercussions; but although the Government favoured the policy of
_laissez faire_, there was a powerful military and political party in
Ireland whose whole effort was towards the disarming and punishment of
the Volunteers--particularly I should say the punishment of the
Volunteers. I believe, or rather I imagine, that Professor MacNeill was