IRISH PEACE NEGOTIATIONS.

Press, Volume LVII, Issue 17320, 5 December 1921, Page 7

IRISH PEACE NEGOTIATIONS.

THE NEW PROPOSALS. QUESTION OP ALLEGIANCE. <By Cable—Prese Association—Copyright.) (Australian and X.Z. Cable Association.) LONDON, December 2. Last night was the most strenuous since the Irish negotiations opened. Mr Lloyd George's alternative scheme was submitted to the Sinn Fein delegates at 6.30 p.m., but, in consequence of the amendments suggested by the latter, the Conference lasted, on and off, till early in the morning. Messrs E. J. Duggan and G. Gavan Duffy have taken the final draft to Dublin to-day, and Messrs Arthur Griffith nndiMichnel Collins are to follow. The Dail Eireann's reply is expected on Monday. If the proposals are rejected, they will not be submitted to Ulster.

The "Manchester Guardian's" wellinformed contributor "Politicus" declares that the Irish negotiations are in danger of collapsing, mainly on the question of personal allegiance. Sinn Feiners, he says, contend that the oath ought to bo to the Irish Constitution. Irishmen, unfortunately, imagine that the oath of allegiance to Britain implies the right of interference in Ireland's domestic life, stamping theoountry as a daughter instead of a sister State. Though such scruples apgear pedantic and formalist in view of the uniformity of the oath throughout the Empire, .which does not entail Imperial interference in the Dominions, nevertheless they are a conscientious obstacle. Ireland is willing to associate with Britain on terms securing our safety. Wo are in danger of making the form of the oath of allegiance a capital issue, when it is really unimportant. Mr Arthur Henderson, M.P. (Labour, Widnes), speaking at the London Labour Fair, said that if the Ulsterites entertained a dream that the South was to be dragooned or coerced back to violence and bloodshed, because Ulster could not obtain its own particular form of settlement, they wiere deluding thomselves. Labour would resolutely oppose such wickedness. The resumption of war would be an outrage to the moral conscience of the whole nation, and would be viewed with the deepest detestation. Ulster, like Sinn Fein, must make concessions.

FIGHT IN DERRY GAOL ATTEMPTED RELEASE OP PRISONERS PAILS. LONDON, December 2. A sensational attempt to rescue Sinn Fein prisoners from Derry Gaol was foiled iu the nick of time. After heavy fighting between soldiers, police, and civilians within the gaol, a police patrol noticed a rope ladder on an outside wall. When they entered they found the dead bodies of .two constables. There were no marks of violence on them, and it is believed that they were strangled. Later. The attempt to rescue Sinn Fein prisoners from Derby Gaol waa the most sensational ever made. A party drove up in motor-cars at three o'olock in the morning; simultaneously several prisoners in tho cells called for water, and then overpowered, tied and gagged the warders. The prisoners next rushed out into the prison yard, where they knocked down and tied up several constables. Meanwhile, a patrol interrupted the rescuers as the latter were throwing a rope ladder over the wall to a dozen bare-footed prisoners who were found waiting inside ready to climb the ladder. The patrol, on entering the corridor, found Constables Littlf and Gorman dead, and handcuffed with their own handcuffs. It is now certain that the constables were murdered by means of drugged handkerchiefs. Soldiers seized the motorcars and arrested three civilians. Two warders succeeded in forcing the prisoners back to their cells. The eightysix prisoners in the gaol have now been handcuffed and placed in separate cells. AFFAIRS IN TYRONB, (Received December 4th, 8.8 p.m.; LONDON, December 2. la consequence of the decision of the Tyrone County Council to ignore British and Ulster Local Government Boards, the Ulster authorities took possession of the Courthouse, where they placed guards. The officials of the County Council departments were ordered to leave work.