THE PATH TO FREEDOM

Evening Star, Issue 18157, 23 December 1922, Page 9

THE PATH TO FREEDOM

• IRELAND AND THE TREATY.A FATEFUL DECISION. LLOYD GEORGE'S PEN PICTURES. Press Association—-B.v Telegraph- -Copyright. LONDON, December 22. [The following a.nd all of Mr Lloyd George’s articles are copyright by tho United Press Association in America (all countries), copyright in Australia and New Zealand by the Australian Press Association, copyright in Britain by the ‘Daily Chronicle.’ Reproduction in full or part is prohibited.] Mr Lloyd George’s third article is devoted to the Irish Treaty, and it is notable chiefly for pen portraits of those who have figured in Irish questions since Mr Gladstone’s Home Rule Bill was introduced nearly thirty years ago. Mr Lloyd George says:—“ When tho members of the House of Commons summoned the House of Lords to hear the Royal Assent to the Irish Constitution Bill, two pictures flashed across my mind during the short procession to the House, of Lords—firstly, Mr Gladstone's great speech when introducing his Home Rule Bill, and secondly that of a dreary December night just'a. year ago, when four British representatives and five Irish leaders sat at a table in tho Cabinet room in Downing street. “ In this" simple council chamber, where Pitt’s Act of Union and many other Irish measures had been discussed, now came the final treaty of peace. Would it be signed? It was an anxious moment, charged with (ho destiny of two great races who confronted each other. The climax of the decision had been reached. Britain had gone to the limit of her concession. No British statesman could have faced an assembly of his countrymen had ho appended his signature to a constitution placing Ireland‘outside the fraternity of free nations known ns the British Empire, or freeing her from the bonds of union represented by a. common fealty to the Sovereign. Would tho Irish leaders have the courage to make peace on the only conditions attainable?—namely, liberty within the Empire. Opposite me sat Mr Griffith, the most tin-Irish leader that ever left Ireland. Quiet to tho point of gentleness, and reserved almost to the point of appearing a saturnine man of laconic utterance, he answered in monosyllables where most men would have considered an oratorical deliverance demanded by the dignity of the occasion; hut wo found that his ‘yea’ meant yea,’ and his ‘nay’ meant ‘nay,’ He was asked whether he Would sign, and in an abrupt, staccato manner he replied ; ‘ Speaking on my own behalf, I mean to sign.’ Bv (Mr Griffith's side sat Mr Michael Collins, one of the most courageous loaders ever produced by a valiant race. Nevertheless, ho hesitated painfully when, the quiet, gentle, little figure on his left had taken his resolve. Both saw the shadow of doom clouding over the fatal paper. They knew that the pen which affixed their signature at the same moment signed their death warrant. Tho Rule man saw beyond his own fall Ireland rising out of her troubles a free nation, and that sufficed Him'

“ Mi - Collins was not appalled by the spectre of death, but ‘he had an Irishman’s fear of a charge of having succumbed to the alien will and (having betrayed his country. It was the first time that Mr Collins ha.d ever shown fear, and it was also the last. I knew the reason why he halted, although he uttered no word revealing his mind. I addressed my appeal to demonstrate how the treaty gave Ireland more than O'Connell and Parnell over hoped for—that his country would bo ever grateful to him, not only for the courage which won such an offer, but for the -wisdom that accepted it. Ho asked for a few hours to consider the matter, promising to reply hy 9 o’clock. Nine o’clock passed, 10 o’clock passed, and 11 o’clock passed, but the lenders did not return. and wo doubted whether we should see them again-. Then came a message of their return to Downing street. “ When they entered it was clear from their faces that they had come to a great decision after a prolonged struggle. There were, however, difficulties of detail to bo overcome; hub soon after 1 o’clock tho treaty was complete. Outside in the lobby sat a man who used all his resources, v.-ell trained and backed by a tenacious will to wreck every endeavor to reach an agreement—Mr Erskine Childers, a man whoso kindly, refined, and intellectual countenance, and whoso charm and courteous demeanor offered no clue to the fierce passions which raged in his breast. At every critical point of tho negotiations he played a sinister pari. He was clearly Do Valera's emissary. Every draft that emanated from his pen (and all tho first drafts were written by him) challenged every fundamental position to which the British delegates were irrevocably committed, and he was incapable of compromise. Brave and resolute he undoubtedly was: but, unhappily for himself, he was also a rigid fanatic. When we left the room, -worn with tense and anxious labor, wa met Childers outside, sullen with disappointment and compressed wrath at what ho conceived to he a surrender of tho principles for which he Wd fought. Poor Collins was shot by his own countrymen, and Griffith died worn out by anxiety and toil. Childers was shot at dawn for a rebellion against the liberties he had helped to win. Truly tho path of Irish freedom right up to the goal is paved with tragedy; hut the blood-stained -wilderness is almost through, and the verdant plains of freedom stretch before the eyes of this tortured nation.”