CURTAIN ABOUT TO FALL

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 91, 17 April 1923, Page 7

CURTAIN ABOUT TO FALL

THE CHURCH AS MEDIATOR

NEGOTIATIONS FOR PEACE.

(imiEß FXESS ASSOCIATION.—COPYRIGHT.) (AUSTRALIAN - NETF ZBALAND CABLE ASSOCIATION.) LONDON, 16th April. The Australian Press Association's special correspondent in Dublin says the curtain is about to fall on another act. in Ireland's secular drama. Last week was seen the virtual annihilation of mili- , tant Republicanism. For the time the irregular forces, bereft of Liam Lynch, Tom Derrig, and Austin Stack, are sheep without a shepherd. Peace is in sight at.last. The deus ex machina will be Monsignor Luzio, the Papal delegate, who has been following Mr. Bonar Law's example and waiting for the psychological moment to intervene in the interests of peace. The moment arrived to-day. A special meeting of the Dublin Corporation will be held on Monday, at which Monsignor Luzio will be asked to.institute negotiations for peace. President Cosgrave, and Messrs. O'Higgins, Blythe, and Hogan are still determined to push their advantage home and insist on an unconditional surrender.

Powerful influences, however, are at work to save the faces of de Valera and his associates, .while it is quite .certain the people as a whole have no desire to see their fallen idol humiliated. Therefore, when Monsignor Luzio intervenes he will have the wholehearted support of the people and will move more readily when he sees that success will not only bring peace to Ireland but restore the diminishing prestige of the Roman Catholic Church, which has never been at a lower ebb. The final terms are likely to follow closely those to which Archbishop Harty lent his- name, and which Austin Stack proposed to support at the jll-stiirred meeting at Knockdealdown Mountains. It must be remambered the Government has 15,000 prisoners. Their future behaviour depends largely on the terms of settlement.

The "Irish Times" calls for a conference between the Free State authorities and the Republicans with a view to the negotiation of an immediate peace.. It suggests Monsignor Luzio as chairman of the conference.