Ireland and British Diplomacy

New Zealand Tablet, 27 October 1921, Page 15

Ireland and British Diplomacy

Is British diplomacy deteriorating It would- seem"so. Mr. Lloyd George has long been held up to admiration as the “brains” of England, and yet the Irish peace negotiations have badly rattled him. George W. Russell (A.E.), an Ulster Protestant, calls attention to Mr. George’s warped mentality in an article published in the current issue of Pearson’s Magazine, as follows:’ “Mr. Lloyd George at Carnarvon some months ago rested the objections on naval, military, and economic grounds. He drew a vivid picture of Ireland with an army of 500,000 men and a navy which would be a danger to the Empire. He said also if Ireland was free its income tax would be merely nominal, the duties of commodities so low that the Irishmen could get tor threepence the tobacco for which Englishmen pay as many shillings; and because of this low taxation manufacturers would move their factories to Ireland, trade Would desert Great Britain and come to the/Irish Statb. I am sure there are‘many people in Great Britain who wish Mr. Lloyd George would perform these, the miracle's of finance, he conceives us capable of in Ireland. He desired to mobilise against Ireland the easily" aroused feelings of fear and envy, and knew* his public would not pause to ask themselves whether a navy, and a higher percentage of our population under arms than any country in Europe, even the most militarist, had ever dreamed of, were compatible with a nominal income tax, low duties on commodities, and great industrial productivity. Perhaps he did not himself know he was talking nonsense. I felt a thrill of dismay reading that speech, for I realised that the same mentality had been arranging the destinies of Europe.”