A PACT FOR PEACE.

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 78, 1 April 1922, Page 6

A PACT FOR PEACE.

"Saddest of ali," says the poet, "is what might have been." How much better off Ireland would have been if years ago, or even months ago, Ulster and the South of Ireland had made a pact in the spirit of that which has just been signed in London. However, it is not profitable to think too long on the past; the present is the problem, and a dark and critical one it is. This new treaty between North and South, if it is carried out in the true spirit, will be a development of the highest importance to Ireland, but the course of Irish j events has proved to be so perverse and ! disappointing that people may be | excused if they do not feel for it the I enthusiasm that is its due. Th_ declaration of peace in clause one and the undertaking by both sides in the second ckuse, "to co-operate in every way with a view to the restoration of peace in the unsettled areas of Ireland," contain the gist of the treaty. An earnest attempt is to be made to recon>Ue those religious and political animosities that have made parts of Ireland a hell. A police force composed half of Roman , Catholics and half otf Protestants is to be organised; a committee similarly constituted is to investigate complaints of outrage and intimidation in Belfast;! provision is made for the relief of unemployed persons of both religions; and the Northern Irish Protestants "agree |. to use every effort to secure tbe restora-1 tion of expelled workmen." The cx-| pulsion of Catholic workmen in Belfast i probably did more than anything else to - provoke Ulster Sinn Fcincrs to reprisals, and the Northern Government's under- j taking to redress the consequences of this deplorable action as far as possible j should ease the tension. Moreover, the | two Irish Governments not only agree ' to "unite in appealing to all concerned 1 to refrain from inflammatory speeches • ] and to exercise restraint in the j j interests of peace," but to explore at I an early date the question of Irish union, and failing agreement on this, to consider whether the boundary dispute j can be settled without reference to the commission provided for in the Anglo- > Irish treaty. All this means that both! 8 Governments in all sincerity desire | c peace. As regards Ulster it means more, I * that the Government of Ulster is realis- ' ing more fully as time goes on that the I J peace and prosperity of Ulster i depend j upon the peace and prosperity of its j t neighbour, that, in short, Ulster's fate' 1 is bound up with the fate of the Free j ' State. Among modern Irish develop-11 n>3nts, this pact is second in importance 1 only to the treaty creating the Freei r State, of which it is the necessary com- !" plement. England can give, and has, c given, Ireland her freedom, but she can-j a not give Ireland internal peace and ' union. That is a condition which the' r Irish must reach by their own efforts, v and it cannot be reached in the present j r atmosphere of bitterness, hatred andi strife. It is, of course, one thing to | C frame an agreement and another thing t to carry it out successfully. The agree-1« ment between Sir James Craig and Mr. 1 Collins about the boundary w-as hailed | c with the greatest satisfaction, but the 8 terrible conditions on the border have t developed since it was made. Mr. Win-1 c ston Churchill's statement about the j • Irish outlook, reported in our news to- ' day, is a corrective to easy optimism. * There are elements in Ireland—and. they c do not all wear the cockade of Rcpub- t licanism—that will go to any lengths to ' wreck the treaty. It is against these s that Ulster und the Provisional Govern- * ment of the Free State have ranged ', themselves, and unless one is to despair of Ireland, one must think that sooner « or later the forces of sanity and order, l of friendship and peaceful' union, will 1 prevail. I - t