29 MARCH 1924, Page 3

As it is we may allow ourselves a certain amount

of hope that the irreconcilable elements have overreached themselves by this crime. If only Mr. Cosgrave's Govern- ment can succeed in catching the criminals there is real hope that the Government may have strengthened its position rather than the reverse. On the other hand, the two incidents taken together—the mutiny and the crime —unqUestionably give us a glimpse of the sinister under- currents that are still flowing in Ireland. Murder remains the obvious expedient for any faction which has a cause to press.