The Dominion. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 1935. BRITAIN AND IRELAND

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 122, 16 February 1935, Page 6

The Dominion. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 1935. BRITAIN AND IRELAND

Lord Palmerston is reported to have remarked on a certain occasion that the best way to deal with the Irish people was to leave them alone. Whether that would have settled the Irish problem it is hard to say. At all events, his advice, sound or unsound as it may have been, was not taken. The latest phase of the problem is how to heal the present breach between the British and the Irish Free State Governments. On both sides, according to reports to-day, an extension of the recent coal and cattle arrangements would be welcomed. Mr. Thomas says that if this one economic barrier is broken down, “how fervently we all hope it may lead to a permanent reconciliation. But,” he adds, “the sanctity of agreements and membership of the British Commonwealth must always be fundamental to any settlement of the Irish difficulty.” Mr. de Valera, for his part, agrees that it is no use blinking facts. His very next statement, however, raises the question, what facts ? “I bring to Mr. Thomas’s notice,” he says, “the most vital fact that the history of 750 years has proved that the Irish will not for any consideration abandon their right to determine their own destiny, choose the political institution they desire, and judge the extent to which they will associate and co-operate with other nations.” Mr. de Valera no doubt is impressed by the importance of certain hard economic facts which have emerged since his quarrel with the British Government over the land annuities. But the necessity of coming to terms in this connection is evidently a question of less importance in his mind than that of persuading the British Government to agree to his demands for the complete severance of his country, politically, from the Commonwealth.

In this question of severance there are now on record two declarations of policy from the British side which are somewhat conflicting. Speaking in the House of Commons in 1920 the late Mr. Bonar Law said that if a Dominion chose to say: “We will no longer remain a portion of the British Empire,” the British Government would not attempt to retain it by force. Mr. Thomas, on the other hand, insists that membership of the Commonwealth is fundamental, to the settlement of the Irish question. Mr. Bonar Law’s declaration, it should he noted, was made prior to the Treaty which in 1921 conferred Dominion status on the Irish Free State.

In 1933 Mr. de Valera put to the British Government a specific question as to whether Britain would adopt coercive measures in the event of the Free State severing its connection with the Commonwealth. There Was no reply. It is hardly conceivable, however, that any attempt at coercion would be made, but a number of important questions would have to be determined before the divorce could be granted, and not the least of these would relate to an Irish republic’s attitude should Britain be involved in war with another State. Although the Irish Free State for the purposes of self-government enjoys similar privileges to those enjoyed by other members of the Commonwealth, her juxtaposition to the United Kingdom and the fact that the adjoining counties of Ulster are opposed to severance necessarily make her status of independence subject to some qualification. Mr. de Valera therefore considers that if this cannot be removed, the status is a Commonwealth anomaly. Mr. de Valera, however, is not making a point of this in order that the anomaly may be removed, but as a further argument for complete severance and republican status. Taking all the facts into consideration it is difficult to see any hope for what Mr. Thomas describes as “a permanent reconciliation” unless and until there is a change of Government in the Irish Free State, and there seems no immediate likelihood of such an event.