IRELAND AND THE LEAGUE

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 108, 3 November 1923, Page 7

IRELAND AND THE LEAGUE

CEREMONY OF ADMISSION

SIR J. ALLEN'S WELCOME TO DELEGATES.

(PROM OUR OYFN CORRESPONDENT.)

LONDON, 13th September

One of the chief events at the Assembly of the League of Nations this week was the admission of the Free State of Ireland as a member. The proceedings began by tha reading by -U. Meierovies, the Lettish delegate, of the report of the committee which had been dealing" with the matter, from which it appeared that Ireland presented all the phenomena (including the possession of a ■ stable Government) which States desiring admission to the League must present, and the committee therefore recommended that the assembly should grant Ireland's request. The delegate for Latvia therefore moved that the Irish Free States be admitted to membership. He expressed admiration for the generous spirit of the great British nation, which, in the very plenitude of its power and ' its might, has.not remained deaf to the aspirations of the Irish people. The Assembly then voted by roll-call whether the. Free State should be admitted or not. All the delegates of States replied "Yes," The president then called upon the delegates of the Irish Free State to come and sit amongst them, and President Cosgrave, in morning dress, with a black tie, entered the hall,, followed by the nine other members of the Irish delegation; amidst loud applause from the delegates and-the public galleries. _ The Irish Free State representatives took their places on a bench in front of the New Zealand delegation, and the first delegate of a sister Dominion, Sir James Allen, was the first to shake hands with and welcome the Irish delegates to the. Assembly. In fact, as there was not sufficient room on the Irish bench for all the delegates, Sir James Allen provided them with eeats on the New Zealand bench, so that the Irish Free State and JNew Zealand sat side by side. A GAELIC SPEECH. President Cosgrave, who was called upon by the president to address the Assembly, first read a few words in lT«ehc, which probably not half-a-dozen people understood. The following i s ! a translation: "In the name of God, to this Assembly of the League of Nations, life and health. We are dele- i gates from Saorstat Eirann, from its Parliament and Government, who have come to you to signify to you that baorstat hirann desires to acquire membership of the League of Nations and to participate in the great work of this League. You have unanimously agreed to this request. We have found welcome and generosity from you all We thank you and we pray that our peace and friendship may be lasting." After this he "spoke in beautifully phrased English, but with an Irish brogue. He said that Ireland counted on having no enemy, and on harbouring no enmity in time to come She counted also on bringing forth f niits worthy ot her liberty. He assured the Assembly thafc he and his fellow-dele gates would return to Ireland to take part with then- fellow-countrymen in the ..onerous work of national construction and consolicjatisu. The kind welcome which the Irish delegates had received from the League of Nations would cheer -and sustain them in their work, and would remind them, too, that as the life of man is bettered and fructified beyond measure in the harmonious society of men, so must the life of nations roach much fuller liberty and much fuller dignity in the harmonious society ol nations.