A BACKGROUND TO THE NEWS

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 136, 5 March 1938, Page 9

A BACKGROUND TO THE NEWS

Mr. De Valera Negotiations are at present proceedin for the clearing up of misunderstandings between Great Britain and Ireland (Eire). Prominent in the ue gotiations are Mr. De Valera, President of the Irish Free State, and Mr. Mai colm MacDonald, Secretary of Slate for the Dominions. Previous negotiators with Mr de Valera have left on record what a difficult man lie is to move. Say< one of them: "Sir .James Craig, now Lord Craigavou. struggled for many hours with Mr. de Valera without making the slightest impression on him. A year later, Mr. Lloyd George, after six hours’ talk with Mr. de Valera, said it was like sitting on a hobby-horse at a roundabout and trying to catch the horse in front. I myself once talked to him for an hour iu Dublin without succeeding in altering history in the slightest degree. It is not that he is obstinate or argumentative; on the contrary, he is quiet and gentle, almost wistful. But, like the Chinese, he lias an infinite capacity for absorbing an invading argument until it ceases to exist. . . . Mr. de Valera rises up before the people of Ireland unsmiling, aus tere, ascetic, to remind them that they must never forget. . .’’ Mr. Malcolm MacDonald Of Mr. Malcolm MacDonald the same writer says: "When be was appointed Secretary of State for the Dominions the news was not received with complete jubilation. Some people even suggested that the appointment was part of the terms on which Mr. Ramsay MacDonald resigned the Premiership to Mr. Baldwin. Also it was regarded as another example of the hereditary system of promotion which is so strong iu the House of Commons. Still fur tlier, it was felt that the new Secretary of State was too young, that be was lacking iu impressiveness, and that his political record did not show any grea' zeal for the Imperial idea. “It was Mr. Mackenzie King, Prime Minister of Canada, who first intimated that Mr. MacDonald was doing well. He was genuinely enthusiastic about the new man at the Domiuiou’s office: ■‘He has character, ability, and tact' he said. "Mr. MacDonald is the least pretentious of ministers without being selfeffacing. His humour is deft and lie has clarity to a high degree. Above all, he has a fineness of spirit which is expressed less in.words than by his attitude towards life and men.” Recently he said in the presence of some of hts senior cabinet colleagues: “I have been asked if I had early political ambitions. Yes, I had. When I was a boy I could not enter an omnibus or a railway carriage without hearing my father’s name cursed and derided. It was then that I formed my political ambition—that some day I would be the son of the Prime Minister of Great Britain. Four times was that ambition realised. I do not know what the future holds for me, but. whatever may lie ahead, my greatest pride will be that I am my father’s son.” It was said with complete simplicity and sincerity. Brest-Litovsk Treaty The activities of Russians now being tried for treason are said to date from the time when Bukharin and Trotsky unavailingly plotted to frustrate the Brest-Litovsk peace pact. This pact was a treaty of peace concluded between Germany and Russia on March 3, 1918. During the Great War, Lenin and Trotsky, the Bolshevist leaders, overthrew the Kerensky Government in Russia on Novemlier 7. 1917, and in a manifesto issued next day, pledged themselves to secure a general armistice, or if that proved impracticable, to dissociate Russia from the Allies, and negotiate a separate peace with Germany. In spite of the protests of the Allied ambassa dors in Petrograd, they, on November 21, sent a wireless message to the enemy Governments that they were ready to treat for an armistice, and on November 29 Germany stated that she was willing to receive Russian delegates at Brest-Litovsk, a town in Poland. An agreement suspending militarj operations on that front for 10 days was signed on December 5, and 10 daylater a regular armistice was signed, coming into effect on December 17. The conference opened formally on December 22, the Bolshevist proposal* Including no annexations or indemnities. The Central Powers agreed pro Tided the Allies approved, and would join, in the negotiations. The Allies dfd not even reply, aud on January 10 Trotsky announced .that Russia would make a separate peace. In February. Trotsky , refused'to sign a separate peace, but at the same time said that war was over with Germany and Austria, and that the Russian army would be demobilised. Germany suspended her armistice, and proceeded with her ( invasion of Russia. On February 24. ’ the Bolshevists gave in, and the treaty was signed on March 3, 1918. The treaty definitely ended the war between the contracting parties. The Bolshevists undertook to evacuate Esthonia, Livonia, Finland and Ukrainia. The Russian army was to be demobilised, and Russian warships disabled. There were to be no indemnities. Territorially, the result of the treaty was to put back the Russian frontier to where it had stood in the seventeenth century. It subsequently appeared that instead of there being no indemnities the Bolshevists had agreed to pay £300,000,009 to Germany. The treaty was annulled by a proviso ' of the armistice of November 11, 1918, aud about £12,000,000, which had been paid to Germany on account by the Bolshevists was afterward recovered by them. Italy Annexes Abyssinia It is stated that the main concession of Great Britain in the negotiations with Italy may be the recognition of Italy’s conquest of Abyssinia. In 1935 Italy waged war on -Aliys sinia in the face of numerous agreements and treaties, including the League of Nations Covenant and the Kellogg Pact. On May 2. 1936, before dawn, when Italian troops had arrived within 20 miles of Addis Ababa, the Emperor, Haile Selassie with the Empress, and members of the Royal Family, left the capital by train for Djibuti, and from there, via Palestine, to England The Italian troops occupied Addis Ababa on May 5. and proclaimed th*Italian conquest of the country. On May 9, at Rome, Signor Musso lini announced Italy’s annexation ol Abyssinia and the assumption by King Victor Emmanuel of the title of Emperor. Marshal Bagdolio was appoint cd Viceroy, and General Graziani was made a marshal