PEACE IMPOSSIBLE

Dominion, Volume 16, Issue 120, 6 February 1923, Page 7

PEACE IMPOSSIBLE

BASED ON IRISH TREATY DE VALERA DECLARES FREE STATE IS DOOMED WILL FUNCTION ONLY OVER REPUBLICANS’ BODIES De Valera has been interviewed in his hiding-place and declares that “a peace based on the so-called Treaty is impossible.” He added that the Republican Government was functioning and that the Free State was doomed. Mr. O’Higgins, the Free State Minister of Home Affairs, however, says de Valera, like Don Quixote, is tilting at windmills. BY TELEGRAPH—PRESS ASSOCIATION —COPYRIGHT. London, February 4, “A peace based on the so-called Treaty is impossible. Die Republicans will never consent to surrender national independence and sovereignty to threats. They will fight to the last against recognition of foreign authority, direct or indirect.” Diis is the considered opinion of Mi. de Valera, obtained by a “Daily Mail” correspondent after a journey to de Valera’s secret hiding-place. .“I could not, if I would, disclose the whereabouts,” he says. “I know it cannot be far from the lieart of Dublin. The car journey took barely a half-hour from the rendezvous in one of Dublin’s busiest streets. “The appointment resulted in the arrival of a car driven by a most charming young woman, who intimated that she was appointed to take the correspondent to meet ‘Mr. Bourke.’ The limousine twisted and turned in side streets, traversed strange thoroughfares, crossed the water twice, and drew up in a. street of old substantial houses. The guide knocked with peculiar emphasis on the door, which was opened bv a woman in evening dress, who led "me through a handsome hall up softly-carpeted stairs to a drawingroom, where I found Mr. de Valera. “The Irish Government,” he declared, “must be determined by ths people, and not dictated from the outside. We in arms are now resisting exactly what the nation resisted from 1919 to 1921. The only difference is that England then was maintaining her claims directly; now she is niaintaining them through Irishmen. This is a continuance of the former fight against foreign aggression. _ Lloyd George and his colleagues bullied the delegates into signing the Treaty. “Remove outside threats of coercion snd we could have peace within • a day, but if England continues to refuse she cannot rid herself of the resnonsibJ*tv. Lloyd George played the" part of a tyrant. If the Free State ever functions, it will be over the bodies of Republicans. England will have cause to regret her mistake. The new Ireland would remember her Wrongs in the hour of England’s difficulty. A brother who has killed a brother sooner than have a sister surrender would remember who caused him to brand himself with the mark of Cain.” . . Had de Valera been in the position of the Free Staters, he said, he would have drawn the line at war in order to compel acquiescence. He would not have put to death men like Brugha. Roland. Childers, Mellowes, and O’Connor. He would have told England that, ho had made a mad mistake and could not do what he thought could be done The Republican Government, he added, was functioning. It was collecting a revenue and organising an army. The Free State was doomed. It was alive only in the cities and towns. Replying to a question as to what would happen to the Free State lead-, ers if the Republicans triumphed, do Valera stated that he hoped that the Government of the Republic would be wise enough not to be tempted into the path which the Free Staters had followed. —Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn. LIKE DON QUIXOTE TILTING AT WINDMILLS London, February 4. Tn replying to tho de Valera interview. Mr. Kevin O’Higgins. Minister of Home Affairs, says: “We have reached a stage when the grimmest,decisions have to be taken, if organised sabotage continues. De Valera is like hi« compatriot Don Quixote. He is tilting at windmills. The people acting with him in the criminal conspiracy against the life of the Irish nation cannot- complain if the nation, in self-defence, deals with them summarily and ruthlessly.”—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn. CAMPAIGN OF DESTRUCTION INCENDIARISM AND TRAINWRECKING (Rec. February 6. 0.35 a.m.) .’y London, February 4. Tho “Timos” Dublin correspondent states that armed men, shortly after dark. railed a restaurant in Henry Street, the propertv of Senator Wysepower. ordered out the customers, sprinkled with petrol and set the premises on fire and escaped. The fire was extinguished. Military activity is increasing and tlrrty important arrests have been, made and large Quantities of material ami documents have been discovered. Two cross-Channel cables have been cut. Howth, the summer residence of Senator of Killarney, has been burned down. A number of postmen have been held up end robbed of letters. .5 t—'’’. was sot on fire and wrecked at Killala. County Mayo, where" the railway station wa-s destroyed.—:Die “Times.” (Ttec. February 5, 11.45 p.m.) London, February 4. Armed men on Saturday night visited Colonel Charles Guinness’s beautiful historic, mansion, Clorninnt Bark. They allowed tho household fifteen minutes to collect a few small valuables, and placed Colonel Guinness and his wife and servants under, nn armed guard. The sprinkled the house with petrol from basement to roof, and it was qtrckly cons-inned. Die damage, is assessed at. £10.0(10. The -folonel is the head of the Guinness family of Ireland, and is a prominent Unionist.— Aus.-N.Z. Gable - A-ssn.-.jrfoj.s.