under the "Cat and Mouse" Act and wanted them simply left to die, but eventually in April 1920, under pressure from London, the hunger strikers were released on parole. French lost a good deal of executive power as substantial control over Irish affairs was given back to a new Chief Secretary, Hamar Greenwood, in April 1920, with Macready as the new Commander-in-Chief, not Robertson whom French did not want. French again urged the introduction of martial law in Ireland and the use of Ulster Volunteers as peacekeepers in Southern Ireland. Wilson and Macready expected French to be sacked in the spring of 1920. Wilson wrote: "Poor little man he is so weak and pliable and then has such inconsequential gusts of illogical passion. He is an Imperialist, a Democrat, a Home Ruler all at the same time. Poor man", although Wilson also thought him "brave as a lion". H. A. L. Fisher thought French in July 1920 "a shadow of his former self and quite useless". French had supported the use of armoured cars and aircraft in Ireland. Shaw had recommended one air squadron per province (i.e. four) in an "Entrenched Air Camp", but only one squadron was available and it was unclear exactly what they could do. By June 1920 the military situation had escalated considerably and French suggested that they should be permitted to strafe and bomb freely into areas from which civilians had been removed. French resigned as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland on 30 April 1921 and was replaced by Lord Edmund Talbot, a Catholic. Honorary positions French was president of The Ypres League, a veterans' society for those who had served at the Ypres Salient. He was also colonel of the 19th Hussars from 14 February 1902 (retaining this position when French persuaded Wilson to amalgamate them with the 15th to become the 15th/19th The King's Royal Hussars), colonel of the 1st Battalion, The Cambridgeshire Regiment from 22 April 1909 and colonel-in-chief of the Royal Irish Regiment from 26 March 1913, succeeding Wolseley. The Royal Irish Regiment was disbanded along with the four other Southern Irish regiments, in 1922. He was Colonel of the Irish Guards from June 1916. Memoirs Stung by press attacks in February 1917 (a Smith-Dorrien interview in the Weekly Despatch—"How the Old Army Died"—and a book The Retreat from Mons by Major Corbett-Smith—Smith-Dorrien had worked on the proofs), French published his memoirs