The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-09-05
ARTICLE X OF LEAGUE NOT CHECK
 BUT HELP ID IRELAND'S FREEDOM

Washington, D. C.. Sept. 5.-It is only against external aggression that any member of the League of Ma i tions will be bound to preserve the | territorial integrity and existing po- litical independence" of another nation signatOry to the league coven- | ant, declared Senator Thomas J. 1 Walsh, Democrat. of Montana, in a speech on the League of Nations be- fore the Senate. Senator Walsh is of l Irish lineage and one of the strongest | sympathizers of the cause. of Irish 1 freedom in America.
 l Ut is perfectly gratuitous assump- ton that the political map of The world can never undergo any change unles nations are permitted to wage 1 aggressive warfare against each other" said Senator Walsh. who con tended that the formation of l Leasue of Nations will therefore be no bar to the aspirations of small na- tions 10 attain political independence. 1 either by revolution or peaceful means. In fact. the league will really al- such nations as desire to attain their independence through the lat ter method
 Senator Walsh was discussing the Irish question as it relates to the i League of Nations.
 ] '.It is conceded. of course" said the Montana Senator, that changes in territorial bounds or the obligation of nations through foreign aggres- sion. if the league shall prove a sue cess, can not occur. The very pur- i pose of entering into it is to prevent any nation from robbinE its neighbor. 1 But changes will continue to be wrought, as they have been in the past. by peaceful negotiation between lndepcndcnt nations as well as by | internal commotion or revolution, both in the form of the government and in the Jurisdiction over which any particular nation exercises it's sway.
 siberia may separate itself from Russia and proclaim and maintain i.s Independence: Ireland or Egypt may
 revolt and a new republic arise ad-
 ministered from the banks of the
 Iiffey or the Nile. Article x con stitutes no obstacle, nor would any
 nation by reason of any obligation incurred by virtue of it be required to lend any aid whatever to Russia in the one case or to Great Britain in the other. It is against external IaEgression only that our country is asked to bind itself to extend cid.
 It is in preserving the right of revolution that the covenant is dis tinEuished from the Holy Alliance of (which so much has been heard in this iEG5ate.
 The senior Senator from Idaho CIr. BOrah) enjoys the good fortune
 of being regarded as the champion of Irish independence, and yet at every opportunity he protests that the
 United States should never under any circumstances interpCse in any Eu- rCpean cOntrOversy--tllat is as he
 expressed it, should stay out of Eu- ropean affairs
 Tt is not difficult to discern in the
 discussions in relation to Article x q
 studied effort. usually insidious. but not infrequently direct. to arouse the ,prejuGices of our citizens of Irish
 birth or descent against the league. Take the case of Ireland for the pur- pose of Illustration say these shrewd
 dispUtants''
 After reciting the history of sev-
 eral centuries, and the numerous
 failures of Ireland to attain inde- IQendenCe through war and the aid of
 other countries, Senator Walsh said:
 "I am a Senator of the United States, representative of the people of Montana. If I am satisfied. as I
 am. that the future peace and we'll
 being of this country will be promot-
 ed by entering into this covenant. de- vised in the hope that war may be
 no more, what right have I to hesi-
 tate because of the bare chance that at some remote time in the future
 under conditions which no man can foresee, out of another world war.
 Ireland may emerge a free nation. I
 prefer to hope that the end may be attained some other way. If it is sad the hope is in vain I renIv that +bo
 history of 700 years establishes that
 the one we are said to close is. no less so.
 If we permit ourselves to reflect
 as practical men, there will be found some advantage even to Ireland in the covenant and even in Article x
 If there is a valf5i excuse for the con
 tinuance of English nominations over Ireland, it is that otherwise the latter would become a base of military operations against her by any enemy
 of Great Britain. At least it is
 speciously assigned that an independ-
 ent Ireland could be reduced speedily
 by any foe of the former and afford him convenient base.
 Tn one of the Times Gondon)
 articles to which reference has been
 made, in which dominion home rule
 is advocated as against an fndepend- ent republic, the writer asserts that
 the latter is impossible and adds: | "It would be superflous to in- vestigate the reasons in detail. The
 most cogent of them are strategic
 and concerned with British inviol-
 ability, and the safety of British trade routes. Even were Ireland
 friendly. the peril involved would be lgreat. As under Article x an inde-