IRISH REPUBLIC

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIX, 28 January 1936, Page 5

IRISH REPUBLIC

ALL BUT IN NAME DE VALERA MARCHES ON LONDON, 14th December., . . Sixty days lienee, the Senate will cease to be part of the Irish Free Suite Parliament, and Mr De Valera .will have taken one more step towards the con-, summation of his Republican policy. 1 Th Free State is already a republic, in ail but name.

When Mr De Valera was returned to uower for the first time, three years ago, be, promised to : Abolish the oath of aliegience to the British Crown; keep at home the land annuities and other payments formerly . made to Britain until and unless the British Government could makd’ good its claim to them before a court of international arbitration ; abolish the citizens' ■right of appeal to the Privy Council ; “ destroy the Senate; scrap the existing c onstitution; abolish the office of .Governor-General; and achieve a position where an Irish Republic would be established except by actual proclamation. Once this stage has been reached it was his intention to appeal to the country for a mandate for secession from the British Empire and the formal-de- • claration of an Irish Republic. ' The first, part of this programme has been fufilied, and the second part, involving the abolition of the Senate,“has begun. ” BAD TIME ECONOMICALLY .1 So much for-the political aspect. ,;. In,’ the economic field the budding republic- " is’travelling over a very thorny , path,.. with weary feet and hopeless eyes. .It ; has been treading this path for -four.. » years in a mood of self-righteousness,-. - content, it would seem, to go on making sacrifices to annoy the hated Briton. No race oil earth is more adept at cutting off its own nose to spite an enemy’s face than the Irish. It is nothing to them,-.', apparently, that their farms should, )be , ruined, that their young men should walk the streets in idleness,' "that the general standard of living should remain 7“ incredibly low, and that trade should 7 languish.’ Enough that the goal of national self-sufficiency should -be —in sight, that there should ,be -a. gradual redistribution of property,j and tba£ Irish 7 should be spoken iii the schools. So long as the De Valera Administra- 2 lion sets the pace, the prospect of a - settlement with England;; must .remain L remote, however advantageous such "a • settlement would be to both countries. U It was said that Mr Baldwin, on being - returned to power, would at once try to 1 sow the seeds of an understanding,-but “ (lie President of the Irifeh Free St'aleJias 2 already made sure that those seeds wili ” never sprout. He emphatically denied in » the Dail, the other day, that any neget Rations were pending and that any were '* possible on the basis laid down by .Westminster. In plain words, he made it cicar that he was determined to stand - firm. • - *" MASSES BEHIND DE VALERA It is only necessary to visit the Free t. State in these times to realise that all tlie talk of. “waning prestige” of! the- - De Valera Government is so much moon- 7 shine. The people may .Be suffering—■ are, indeed, suffering—and they may .” have their own opinion of the "make-haste-slowly” policy preached by- the President, but the masses are behind him ! as enthusiastically as ever they were. ; This is not because they are happy with - their lot, but because of their inborn ~ prejudice against England, their ancient ( enemy aiid best customer. When Mr ’ 7 De Valera makes his appeal to them on 7 the republican issue, there is no doubt- a ns to what the answer will be. It will * be an overwhelming affirmative. - .1 » But that appeal will be delayed as ,( long as possible. The Rupublic is the Government’s trump card, to be reserved until the very last moment. For once it • has been played—and it must be well played Government must proceed on its v merits, which is an unenviable prospect i for any Irish administration. To be agin the Government” is as natural to • the Irish character as to hate the English.