The Southland Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. "Lucea Non Uro." TUESDAY, DECEMBER 19, 1933. O’DUFFY ARRESTED

Southland Times, Issue 22201, 19 December 1933, Page 4

The Southland Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. "Lucea Non Uro." TUESDAY, DECEMBER 19, 1933. O’DUFFY ARRESTED

Martyrdom is so valuable in Irish politics that the arrest of General O’Duffy could have been undertaken only because Mr de Valera has been pushed into it by the progress being made by the opposition parties in the country districts. Every effort will be made to present General O’Duffy to the Irish people as the tool of British interests. A little while ago Mr de. Valera was compelled to retract and apologize for a statement he made that Mr Cosgrave had had a secret meeting with a representative of the British Government; but it was obvious that his purpose is to discredit his opponents by the circulation of these reports. Recent figures have disclosed the extent to which the Irish Free State has suffered in the economic warfare with Britain, and Mr de Valera is shrewd enough to know that the economic pressure on the Irish people as a result of his seizure of the land annuities is the strongest political opponent he has to fight. Mr Cosgrave was rejected because Ireland was suffering from the depression, but her sufferings since then have intensified and the de Valera Government has failed utterly to produce any solution of the ills it has brought about. In the country districts these troubles have been most serious, and the united opposition has been driving home to the people the fact that Mr de Valera is the cause of these ills. His only answer is to stir up the antiEnglish feeling, and the arrest of General O’Duffy will be used to press this campaign further. The Blue Shirts, it has been said all along, were unarmed; though the Government with its frequent raids has tried to secure evidence of the movement’s violent aims. When the original organization was banned, the League of Youth took its place, and General O’Duffy’s case is that this body is

a political organization, unarmed and working only for political change in a constitutional manner. Mr de Valera has talked of a general election; and obviously he will.go to the country if he is able to brand the League of Youth with pro-British tendencies, because in this way he will cloak the deficiencies of his own Government, which, since it took office, has done nothing of a constructive character. Anywhere but in Ireland he would not dare approach the electors with such a record of ineptitude, and even in Ireland, so serious has the position become, so plain is the evidence, he dare not fight a political battle on any ground but hatred of England. The Imperial Government has taken no active steps since it put the duties on Irish imports. Certainly it has explained what will be some of the effects of the Free State’s adoption of outright republicanism; but beyond this it has done nothing and it is clear that nothing will be done. Mr de Valera knows that the Free State stands to lose a great deal by withdrawing from the British Commonwealth —the trade losses during the last year have given him an indication of what independence will cost—but republicanism can be used as a political slogan, and it can be made effective if the British Government can be tricked into authorizing some act which can be shown to the Irish people as coercive. So far he has failed to induce the British Government to make this blunder, and his position, therefore, has been growing steadily worse. The arrest of General O’Duffy is a dangerous step. If Mr de Valera can discredit him as a pro-British advocate he will achieve his purpose, but if he fails in this he will strengthen the League of Youth and increase the effect of the campaign which is built on the complete failure of the de Valera Government to do anything ameliorative in the Free State. This arrest is a desperate fling.