As British military and police retaliations and reprisals continued throughout the country with homes and businesses wrecked in the process, An t-Oglach, the newspaper of the Irish Volunteers urged its members to ‘Keep Cool’ as they were winning the war.

In its front-page memorandum of 7 August the editor encouraged not to bow to the burning of Irish towns which is ‘getting out of hands’. Although such action was almost certain to drive volunteers into a fit of rage, the newspaper urged them to remain calm. As the police withdrew from remote areas the result would be a more effective volunteer organisation who could carry out their duties undetected. The editor of the newspaper urged that: It is the duty of volunteers, in face of this outrageous provocation, to go on with the work as coolly and efficiently as ever, with stern discipline, unshaken determination, and even greater energy than before. The enemy’s latest outbreaks of pillage and arson are only symptoms of baffled rage and demoralisation, a proof that he realises he is badly hit. His principal weapon of offence and defence, the RIC is crumbling to pieces in his hands’. A striking line in the editorial noted that volunteers should fight in a way and time that suited themselves and not to allow the enemy to provoke them.  

Source: An t-Oglach, 7 August 1920, page 1.