Sir, – Prof John P McCarthy (September 30th) would have us believe that the phenomenon of 25 constituencies returning Sinn Féin candidates unopposed in 1918 "was in no small part the consequence of intimidation". He provides not a scintilla of evidence to support his assertion.
Prof McCarthy would have us believe that a party, thousands of whose supporters had faced German or Turkish guns on land and sea for four years, could be intimidated by a republican movement which was virtually unarmed and whose best-known candidates were in British jails.
No party or candidate challenged Sinn Féin’s victories in the 73 constituencies it won, nor its conduct in the other constituencies it contested.
Sinn Féin’s conduct in 1918, and subsequent elections, compares favourably with that of the Irish Party when led by John Redmond.
In two general elections in 1910, the winning Redmondite candidates were disqualified as a consequence of intimidation and fraud on the part of their agents or supporters in East Cork, East Kerry and Louth. – Yours, etc,
DONAL KENNEDY,
London N13.