THE IRISH FREE STATE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16902, 29 November 1922, Page 6

THE IRISH FREE STATE.

The British House of Commons, with its Conservative majority, bowed to the inevitable when it passed the second reading of the Irish Constitution Bill, The T'nder-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs did not conceal the fact that he regarded his share in the matter as an exceedingly unpleasant duty. The mischief, he said, had been clone, and consequently Parliament had no option but- to agree to what was a fair accompli Mr Bonar Law was studiously moderate in his. speech, and was on sound ground throughout. The people of Ireland must work out their own salvation, and any attempt to re establish the old order would simply result in chaos. It is exceedingly disappointing that the Free State Government has met with such determined opposition by the Republican irreconcilables, and it is doubtful whether the .%'tate of Ireland to-day is much better than it liars been for years past. Recently the Government de cided to take a more drastic line with their opponents in arms, and to give their officers power to inflict the death penalty on those found in arms againsi the Government. There could he no possibility of drastic action until the Government ceased to recognise the T R-.A. as belligerents, and dealt with its members as brigands. The outrages of the I.R.A. were no part or military operations, but they had produced conditions of anarchy in Southorn Ireland which were without parallel anywhere else in Europe. Mansions were destroyed, shops looted, farm houses burned, of ops trampled upon and the whole of an agricultural civilisation broken in pieces. The Government, which had evidently resolved to (leal tenderly with the rebellious factions, found that it» generosity was being mistaken for weakness, arid it was compelled to adopt a stronger and harsher attitude. The most dramatic expression of the new attitude was the execution of Erskine Childers, one of the most prominent of the Republicans, and a former comrade-in-arms of Michael Collins and Arthur Griffith. Tt is possible that Childers was executed as an indication to the rest of the Republicans that the Government which would not spare so notable .» figure would have less compunction in dealing with lesser rebels. The latest defiance issued by de Valera has been taken up, and it is probable that an intensified campaign will he inaugurated against his followers * There exists both in England and Ireland ;. sincere desire to give the new Free State a. fair trial. Its constitution is a strange one in some respects, hut time and experience will reveal its defects and suggest remedies. The Government, however, must make its first concern the establishment of its authority and the complete suppression of its challengers.