Quite shamefully, they left him in sole authority to handle what was essentially the task of statesmanship.
Everybody saw that in such a case the need was to prevent a rebellious spirit from spreading.

Sir John Maxwell took the simple view that the way to secure this was by plenty of executions.

Knowledge of Irish history cannot be expected in an English Minister, still less in an English soldier; but it could have taught him how often and how ineffectually that recipe had been applied.

Still less could it be hoped that a soldier, in no sense bound to the study of contemporary politics, should allow for the effect of two factors which must certainly influence Irish judgment and Irish feeling.

The first of these was the precedent within the Empire created by General Botha's Government.