The New Zealand Tablet THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 1923. IRELAND

New Zealand Tablet, Volume L, Issue 37, 20 September 1923, Page 29

The New Zealand Tablet THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 1923. IRELAND

«HE fact that forty-three of de Valera’s party were returned by the electors is an indication that the young men and women of Ireland are to a notable extent dissatisfied with existing conditions. That seven three per cent, of the million votes cast were in favor of supporters of the Treaty proves, on the other hand, that the country wants peace, for the time being. It would be wrong to say that de Valera’s supporters were the only Republicans for it is certain that among those who voted, for other parties there are Republicans as sincere and patriotic as their opponents. Hence, if any single fact is plain from the results, it is that there is a very large number of the people of Ireland still fixed in their determination to work on, in the ways that seem best to them, for the freedom from every foreign restraint of an Ireland, one and undivided. Vast numbers of the old members of the I.R.A.—of the men who did the bulk of the fighting against the Black-and-Tans to follow d© Valera into civil war against their countrymen and to take a hand in a campaign which has destroyed the lives and property of the people. But these men are still Republicans. They were satisfied that it was best for Ireland to be guided by the voice of the majority and they refused to revolt against the authority of. the Bishops, who in discharge of their pastoral duty condemned as contrary to Christian teaching methods of violence employed by an armed minority. Hence, the cause of the Republic is far from being abandoned. It will go on in a constitutional manner; in that way it will perhaps regain much of the strength it lost through the desperate measures in vogue for the past couple of years.

That de Valera has at last seen the folly of force is clear from a pronouncemnet issued by him to his friends in America on the eve of the elections. He says: "It is not the intention of the Republican Government or the Army Executive to renew the war in the autumn or after the elections. The war, so far as we are concerned, is finished. Our present purpose is to work through the Sinn Fein political organisation. We intend to devote, ourselves to social reform and to education and to developing the economic and material

“We Lope to organise and mobilise for the work all the best hearts and, ; the best brains of our people. We shall endeavor to secure the co-operation of those of our race in other lands who are willing to help. We hope to prove, how much more fruitful as a principle, and how much more potent as an instrument of government, is the loving regard which attracts and inspires and elevates than the domineering brutality which can only disgust and debase.” The press receives his message with coldness and even with doubts as to his sincerity. Thus, the Freeman’s comment on it is the following: Mr. de Valera announces that he does not propose ‘ to renew the war in the autumn or after the elections.' No doubt, like Clive on a famous occasion, he stands astonished at his own moderation. We question if the Irish people will be as much impressed as he imagines. They know Mr. de Valera by this time. They remember how indignantly he repudiated the idea that his incitements in the Treaty controversy were firing passions that could only lead to bloodshed. They remember also how promptly he rushed to join the Four Courts Executive when it challenged in arms the authority of the people. What- guarantee is there that if a section of his followers return again to the rifle and the land-mine according to Miss MacSwiney the war is over only ‘ temporarily ’—Mr. de Valera will nob range himself behind them?” However, most Irishmen will welcome his announcement that he is not going to disturb the peace of the country, and, as tar as he is concerned, he has a far better chance of winning friends by pursuing the constitutional path which he indicates, and which, hitherto, his best advisers in vain recommend him to follow. At a huge cost to Ireland he has learned wisdom late in the day: and in his delay he has injured his own cause as much as he has injured the country. Had he taken the advice of people like “A.E.” long ago, there is little doubt that the majority of the votes would have been cast in favor of his supporters at the recent elections.

( The defects of the Treaty arc admitted by most Irishmen. The evil of partition, a heritage' of woo from the old Parliamentary Party which basely agreed to a divided Ireland in 1914, is, in the eyes of most of us, the vital fault of the .settlement. And it is only fair to say that, while the Treaty does not remedy it de Valera's Document No. 2 was no more than a paper remedy for it, seeing that he consented that Ulster should not be coerced to come in. With good reason did an Ulster Bishop complain at the time of the Westminster discussions that there seemed little anxiety among all concerned for the welfare of the staunch Northern Nationalists. The Unity of Ireland, and not the oath, it always seemed to us, ought to have been made the essential issue; but for reasons we can never hope to fathom, beyond a plausible attempt to provide a theoretical solution, the Unity issue was disregarded As for the oath (which by the way is not an oath of allegiance to the King), we believe, with that outspoken member of the Dail who said during the debates on the treaty that he would not shoot a dog for the difference between the Treaty form and de Valera's version of the oath, that it is a minor question, and, as The-Nation said not long ago, a matter of an out-of-date and feudal anachronism which time will set right- William O'Brien suggests in his latest book that it would be a good thing to take a plebiscite of the people of Ireland on the Partition Question, in order to put before the world the true issue. One of these days the Boundary Commission must be called together if the British Government wants to carry out its undertakings Craig refuses to have anything to do with it. . If an-impasse follows his refusal, and if British fail to. carry out their undertakings, the Irish representatives will certainly be justified in demanding a revision of the entire Treaty. And, given : such a revision, the essential demands ought to be, first, the tangible matter of United Ireland, and secondly, the more theoretical ■ problem of the form of oath. ..'■: