A LOSS TO IRELAND.

Evening Star, Issue 18046, 14 August 1922, Page 4

A LOSS TO IRELAND.

The sudden death of Mr Arthur Griffith makes a severe loss to the Irish Free State and to Ireland. He had reached tho years which bring the philosophic mind and ! matured judgment, and was still for otf ■from those when, in the ordinary course of Nature, tho man begins to become a “hollow ghost." It might have been expected that for the next ten years he would be ablo to give his best powers and his best wisdom to his country. The fate which has caused his hand to bo snatched from tho helm of tho new Fxeo State is particularly unfortunate at this juncture, when high seas are buffeting it cruelly at the very commencement of its journey, and tho firmest as well as tho most skilful hand fis needed for its guidance. 110 was by common consent tho brains of the Sinn Fein movement which ho founded, but tho quality which distinguished him most among its leaders was not so much brains-as practicality, Whatever ideals his vision surveyed, in latter years, at least, ho kept his firm grasp on realities. Tho mirage of a republic had no attractions for him when the Free State which ho fought for was obtained. His people could afford to trust him, and so could tho British Government. He had signed tho treaty, ho declared, when the motion for its ratification was moved by him in tho stormy session of Dail Eireann, and every man with- a scrap of honor who signed it was going to stand by it. His moderation was shown in more ways than one. Though ho had been more than once a political prisoner, no vindictiveness -was ever expressed by him, so far as we havo seen, against tho British Government. He said nothing to make bitterness between the South and the North. He was the natural complement of M:r Michael Collins, a much younger man, who must miss him sorely. Mr Stephen Gwynn contrasted the two leaders as they appeared during tho decisive debates of Bail Eireann. “In the debate that had concluded,” he wrote, “Mr Griffith, winding up the case for the treaty, had shown himself by far the ablest brain. His speech had in it more human nature, a warmer sense of reality, than I expected from him; but it was simply an argument. He has not and never will have the gift that makes a man followed -because he is himself. The brain of a State Mr Griffith may be, but never its heart; and it is the heart, not the brain,- that prompts instant, decisive, and) winning acts of leadership. Mr Collins can supply and will have to supply what Mr Griffith lacks.” Southern Ireland understood, however, all that it owed to Mr Griffith. Its appreciation: of his services and its confidence in his judgment were shown when he topped the poll for Cavan at tho recent elections, receiving nearly 7,000 votes above the second member. Mr Lloyd George’s message of condolence pays the warmest tribute to his character. Bail Eireann may find another President of his calibre, but it is not easy to say where ho will bo found.