THE NEUTRALITY OF IRELAND.

Evening Star, Issue 23882, 12 May 1941, Page 8

THE NEUTRALITY OF IRELAND.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —I read with interest your leader on the above subject. At school we learned that the British Isles were England, Scotland. Ireland, and Wales. Now, alas, that is no longer so. Mr Winston Churchill must have spoken out of the bitterness of his heart when he deplored the fact that the Irish ports were closed to us in this deadly battle of the Atlantic. He said that we should not have had this extra burden —or words to that effect. But the leader of the Irish State evidently has no kindly thought for Britain in this struggle for her existence. He is the true parallel to Hertzog in South Africa. They feed on their bitter memories of the past. Yet there is more real excuse for Hertzog, for after all he was our opponent in the South African War. But Mr de Yalera, whatever Ireland may have suffred through wrongs inflicted on his country, at least could not have personally suffered through them, for the evil of the absentee landlord one of the greatest—has long since disappeared. And what of Scotland? History records the long years of bitter warfare waged between England and herself, yet what finer or more spontaneous service has been given than that of her sons to the Empire? . —I am, etc.. Patriot. May 12.