The New Zealand Tablet WEDNESDAY, JULY 2, 1924. IRISH AFFAIRS

New Zealand Tablet, Volume LI, Issue 28, 2 July 1924, Page 29

The New Zealand Tablet WEDNESDAY, JULY 2, 1924. IRISH AFFAIRS

E have given prominence this week to accounts \S!t lJwiluP °f interviews between President Cosgrave and Sir James Craig and ah American \W/aU journalist, and our readers will gather from them a clear idea of the whole situation ff W/aC journalist, and our readers will gather from them a clear idea of the whole situation caused by the deadlock over the Boundary Question. Once more, the Prime .Minister of the Six Counties wants to have a conference. lie has had conferences until everybody concerned is tired of them; and every one of them was rendered futile by his determination to hold fast to the Nationalist territory which his recent persecution has made more insistent than ever that the rule of the Orangemen shall end. Sir James now evidently sees that the British are no longer either willing or able to evade the obligation accepted by themselves under the Treaty. The Chairman of the Boundary Commission has been appointed and is already on his way to England. The independent papers of England are backing the Free State in its just demands that the Treaty must he duly honored, and even Lord Birkenhead considers that he and his friends have had enough of Ulster bluster. From Mr. Cosgrave’s remarks .it is obvious that the Free State will have the whole Treaty or no Treaty, and he shows no disposition to give Sir James another opportunity to mark time, by agreeing to a useless conference. * The cables report that the British Government has sanctioned the demand made by the Free State . for a separate represent at Washington. Indeed the Government could not do otherwise as it was expressly mentioned that Ireland’s status should he equal to Canada’s, and Canada, not altogether to the satisfaction of England and certain Imperial Jingoes, has already asserted her right to a plenipotentiary who shall look after her concerns without reference to the nominee of Downing Street. The same Jingoes view with small favor Ireland’s attitude, and we have had some foolish articles on what they call the unfortunate tendencies of Irishmen, to regard the Empire unfavorably. Irishmen have now their own ambassador, their own flag, their own postage stamps, and in a short time they .will- have their own currency. Our - learned critics appear unable to recognise ■ the fact . that no ■ Irish

patriot cares-for the Empire, and that every Nationalist, in the Free State views the Treaty as a step towards absolute independence. It was made quite clear to the whole world that: the terms were only accepted as the best compromise available at the time, and that Griffith and Collins and the other Irish signatories held firmly that it was for them only a step forward in the. march of the Nation. With few exceptions, all of us who support the Free State do so because the majority of the people stood by it; did the majority reject it we certainly should not hesitate to support them as we did before the Armistice; and we are just as certainly with the majority whom we know to be true to the ideal of complete and full freedom for Ireland. The followers of dc Valera and Griffith divided on a question of moans rather than of aims: Collins and those of ns who Stood by him considered that the acceptance of the Treaty was the best thing under the circumstances for the welfare of the Irish Nation, with full consideration of its aspirations for the future; de Valera and his friends rejected the Treaty because they were unable to see eye to eye with the majority; and, as far as the opinions of supporters of the Free State are concerned, it was not their ideals that were wrong but their methods. They have -fortunately abandoned the tactics which were so costly for the country and, although rather late in the day, they have decided that their cause is best promoted by constitutional methods. Many -of them found their oath to the Republic an obstacle to entering the Bail Eireann, not choosing to interpret it as do Valera declared he must interpret itnamely, as an oath to do , what was best for Ireland under the circumstances. Many who flocked to the Republican banner did it no great credit during the reign of terror, but among tbe leaders and in the rank and file were and are thousands of sincere Irishmen who were guided by their ideals as they saw them. Apart from the damage done to the Nation both materially and spiritually, the spirit of these men must help to keep alive and vigorous the common aspiration to lull freedom; -and their criticism and their watchfulness will certainly never allow the Oireachtas to become tainted with West British or Imperial notions

* England never had and has not now any right whatsoever to interfere with the government of Ireland She is, for Irishmen, an unjust aggressor who, owing to circumstances, has been compelled to relax her grasp on the throat of Ireland. The Irish Nation belongs to the Irish people, and they will not cease to push forward on their inarch until Irish people alone have in their hands the lest freedom to govern their own country, without consideration for the selfish interests of outsiders. Moreover the two races are poles apart, in religion, in ideals, in traditions. Every true Irishman views British interference and British customs in somewhat the same way as he regards Abe filthy Sunday papers which are sent across the Irish Sea from Liverpool and Manchester. They are a nuisance of which Ireland will be rid at the earliest opportunity. And, as for the twaddle we have seen written concerning the substitution of the Irish tricolor for the Inion Jack, Irishmen, while remembering how their flag was won and by what a victory it was consecrated, have no illusions whatever as to the flag of England. Lastly, Mr Thomas has told us that he and his friends object to an Irish Republic. It does not matter. British Labor loaded the boats that brought arms for the Black-and-Tans to Ireland, but Ireland beat the Black-and-Tans and the day will come when Labor or other Governments will be as powerless to deny Ireland her full rights as a Tory Government was to crush her.

<m> A report on the Catholic schools of the Province of Quebec, the most Catholic province in Canada, shows that 80 non' u lg - IT™ here h3S be «n an Increase, of over 80,000 pupils in the elementary schools. s • . 'll j :■;*>;5 1 I: ,41/; , ■ .0; : ' ;-a‘