DIVISIONS IN IRELAND.

Evening Star, Issue 19632, 11 August 1927, Page 6

DIVISIONS IN IRELAND.

Jmsn politics havo not been clarified by tho recent elections. Tho verdict of tho electors has been described as a perfectly logical decision. As it lias been summed up, “ tho country made plain beyond yea or nay its desire to bo done with bombs and revolvers and arson, and to havo a quiet life; it left opponents of tho Treaty where they were, in a minority of about ono in three, but it secured tho two to one majority by giving extra votes to Labor, to tho National Party, and to Independents; and it gratified its sentiment by encouraging Ah’ Do Valera.” It gave a reminder to the Government that all its acts were not approved of, even by those who were content to give it their first preferences, and it virtually wiped out Miss MncSwiney’s Sinn Fein Party, which has tho reputation of being more extreme than Air Do Valera himself. But if all of these were natural objects to bo sought by tho electorate tho securing, of them, under tho elaborate system of Proportional Representation, madq a result too complex to bo conducive to any practicable carrying on of the administration. Though it remained tho largest party, tho Government was left with less than a majority of even the pro-Trcaty groups in tiio 'new Dail. It was enabled to continue in office by tho decision of all those groups, except the Labor section, to support it, until they should find cause to assume a different attitude. In the absence of the Republicans, who wore disqualified from sitting by their refusal to take the oath, Air Cosgravo was re-elected, when tho Dail met, as. President of flic Executive Council by a very handsome majority. But they were tho hardest conditions under which ho continued iu office.

For a few days all went well. On tho day fixed for tho opening of tho Dail all the members of the divergent parties 'who bad been elected, including Mr Do Valera and his followers, attended Mass together in the cathedral, causing ono commentator to exclaim: “If in'God’s name they can pray together, why can’t they, in God’s name, work together? >Some day, perhaps, they will.” There was no violence when the Republicans, declining to take the oath, wore excluded from tho Dail. Then followed tho assassination of Mr O’Higgins, Minister of Justice, and the Government, with its weakened support, was constrained to embark on a new campaign for tho repression of crime. A new Public Safety Bill was brought down, which provides that anyone possessing firearms without a license may bo sentenced to death or imprisonment for life. Seditious publications may be suppressed and newspapers forbidden to print information from any unlawful association. The civic guards would be empowered to effect searches and arrest without warrant, and to detain suspected persons for a period of up to three months. Faced with tho prospect of this measure being passed, Mr Do Valera’s party of Fianna Fail has been reconsidering its policy of abstention from 111© Dail. The policy has never been popular with a large number of its followers, virtually disfranchised by it,; and it has been stated as a “notorious” fact that many electors gave it their first preferences, enabling forty-four of its ■ candidates to be returned, in tho fond belief that they would finally take the oath and enter Parliament, it is expected that there will bo a slight majority of the party in favor of taking the oath as an expedient enabling it to enter the Dail, for the primary purpose of opposing this particular Bill. It is understood that Mr De Valera is opposed to taking the oath under any circumstances. But a good many people have long been of the opinion that, sooner or later, ho will find an excuse for taking it. The oath, it has been said, is unpopular with almost all the groups except the Government party. To quote an Irish opinion: “ Tho idea of a departmentalised universe with a supreme deity as a sort of director-gene-ral and oatiis as sort of rubber stamps testifying to the official nature of some act or performance is essentially English, tidy, wash-your-ears, chloridc-your-drains, givc-full-weight, industri-ous-apprentice sort of idea to bo expected of the shopkeeping Saxon. The only oath known to the more practical Celt is tho religious vow to abstain from women or wine, but never from song. No ono can understand England’s insistence on the oath as a bulwark of the Constitution. But it is in the Treaty, and there you are. May it bo solved by walking and not by ambulances!” It has been further urged that its retention has not the slightest effect in promoting loyalty to tho British Commonwealth of Nations —very much to the contrary. But a declaration of allegiance to the Crown is required of members of every British Parliament. There must bo some dies of a common loyalty in an Empire which already has reduced them to tho smallest number. For tho present tho Oatli of Allegiance is an integral requirement of the Treaty by which the Irish Free State was constituted. It cannot be cither altered or abolished without the consent of both parties to tho Treaty. Opinion is said to be growing, outside of Republican circles, that dangerous as Fianna Fail might bo inside the Chamber, it would bo less of a nuisance than it is in its present position of complete irresponsibility. We wonder. The best result that could happen from its new discussions would he a new split in the Republican Party. It is nob the least likely result.