A GENEROUS OFFER

Evening Post, Volume CII, Issue 39, 15 August 1921, Page 7

A GENEROUS OFFER

GENERAL SMUTS'S ADVICE TO

DE VALERA

A UNIQUE ,QPPORTUNITY FOR

LASTING PEACE.

LONDON, 14th August.

General Smuts, before sailing for home, ■wrote to Mr. de Valera as follows: —"I have done my best to arrange a meeting between you and Sir James Craig. While lie was willing,to meet you in conference with My. Lloyd George, he still remains unwilling to meet you in his absence. Nothing I was able to do or say moved him from that attitude. If you request a meeting, he will reply saying that Ulster will not be moved from the constitutional position she occupies under existing legislation. She is satisfied with her present status, and will not agree to any change. On the other hand, in your letter you insist on Ulster coming into the United Ireland constitution^ and that until that is done no further progress can be made. There is therefore an impasse which I do not know how to get over. Both you and Sir James Craig are equally immovable. Force as a solution of the problem is out of the question. Both on yours and his "premises the process of arriving at an agreement will therefore take time. My conviction is that for the present no solution based on Ulster's entering the Irish State crm succeed. Any solution on those lines will be foredoomed to failure. I believe it to be in. Ulster's interest to conic in; that the force of community over a i eriod of years would prove compelling, but at present an Irish settlement is only possible if Ulster is left alone. My strong advice to you is to leave her alone, concentrate on a constitution' for the remaining counties, and by successful running of the Irish State eventually bring Ulster in. Ireland is travelling the same painful road as South Africa, but with wisdom and moderation she is destined to achieve success and freedom, which will lead inevitably to unity. As to that freedom, you are called to choose between two courses. \ You say a republic is tho true expression of national self-determination. The British Prime Minister made an offer of the other form on freedom on Dominion status, which is working with complete success in other parts of the British League. What is good for these ought to be good enough for Ireland. For Irishmen to say to the world that they will not be satis3ed with Dominion status would be to ilienate that sympathy which has been

the mainstay of the Irish cause. The Prime Minister offers complete Dominion status to twenty-six counties, subject to certain strategic safeguards which you are asked to agree to voluntarily as a free Dominion, and which we , South Africans agreed to. To my mind such an offer by the Prime Minister, who, unlike his predecessor, is in A position to deliver the goods, is an event of unique importance. It is far more than was offered the Transvaal and the Orange Free Slate. They accepted a far less .generous offer, and from it improved the position until South Africa became a happy, contented, and completely free country. I hope you will become a sister Dominion in sthe gTeat circle of equal States, who will stand beside, you should you need help and protect your new rights as if they were their own; who would view any invasion or violation of status as if it weTB their own, and who .would srive you most effective guarantees against nny arbitrary interference by the British Government. lam satisfied that from a constitutional point of view a settlement of the Irish question is now possible and pra-cticable. It is the liuman difficulty that remains. It is now mostly a human problem. It will be the araVest reflection on bur statesmanship if this auspicious moment be allowed to pass. You and your friends h»ve a unique opportunity such as Partre'.t and his predecessors never had to secure a laAing peace. I pray God you may be wisely guided and that peace will be concluded before tempers change and another generation of strife ensues."