“THE question of the withdrawal of British troops from Pettigo is at present the subject of negotiation between the Provisional Government and the British Government.

“In the circumstances I prefer to make no detailed statement. There is absolutely no occasion for the panic which is alleged to exist amongst Protestant inhabitants.

“Ample precautions will be taken to obviate the possibility of any unfortunate incident, and in Pettigo, as elsewhere with the area of jurisdiction of the Free State Government, there will be an impartial and impersonal administration of the law. Press comments suggesting contrary are highly mischievous.” – Mr. Kevin O’Higgins, the Provisional Government’s Minister of Home Affairs.

In view of this statement, a representative of The Impartial Reporter visited Pettigo to learn from the inhabitants their views on the present critical situation, and make enquiries as to the general position of affairs.

Pettigo is an intensely loyal village, surrounded by a loyal district. For the most part it is in County Donegal, in the Free State, and forms a pocket in the North-west of Fermanagh.

Fermanagh almost surrounds this district, which in sympathy is wholly with the North; in religion it is over 80 per cent Protestant, and in politics it is Orange.

In the past, Pettigo has been the scene of many large Orange demonstrations. It possesses a new Orange Hall on the Free State side; three Protestant churches, two of which are on the Fermanagh side of the Border, and two Protestant assembly halls, and a Masonic Hall also in the Northern territory.

Bereft of all postal facilities for three months this year, following the sack of Pettigo by the Sinn Feiners in May last, it now has two post offices – one North and one South; and naturally the Northern officer, affording cheaper postage, gets the bulk of the postal business locally.

Since the terrible happenings of May last, two leading Protestant families, who were driven out at that time, have gone to Canada. The gable of the house of another Loyalist, on which were printed the words, ‘Fear God, Honour the King,’, was daubed with tar by the Sinn Feiners, and the inscription ‘Up de Valera’ put up instead.

With the British re-occupation, these three words in turn disappeared, and today in large white letters upon the black-tarred background are the lines -

Thee, God, we Praise.

June 4, 1922.

Fear God and Honour the King.