The Irish standard., 1919-09-27

1Ay pOWO1O. buC III CAAOA AAAeAA USSOPI
ance of "the terms of peace laid down
in the Presidents address to Congress
of January, 1918, and the principles
of settlement enunciated in his sub
sequent addresses" they definitely
and in honor committed themselves
not only to the fourteen points with
one exception), but to the evident
principle" underlying them.
Great Britain was especially COM
mitted both by the warm praise given
to all the Presidents utterances and
by the Prime Minister'S speeches
at the same PERIOD embodying, ac-
cording to general agreement, an
identical policy with that of the
United States. But whatever the inner
views of the imperialists, events forced
the issue. The disintegration of the
Russian Empire left a dozen small
nationalities without a master.
Nine months later the collapse in
quick succession of the Turkish, Aus
trian and German empires added a
host more. All Europe and much of
Asia was in ferment of republican
ism, and "self-determination" was not
only the universal inspiration, but the
deciding factor in reconstruction. 1t
was impossible to expect that recon-
struction should be easy, that this
gigantic ferment should subside at
once on what Mr.. Wilson called Clear
ly recognized lines of nationality"
There are complexities still un-
solved and perils that cannot be avoid
ed arising from the inter-mixture and
INTERPRETATION of races and Ian
guages and the absence of clearly de-
fined frontiers. There are perils aris-
ing from mutilations and temporary
annexations of parts of Germany it.
self and from claims like that of Italy
over Jugo-Slavia. The future of some
of the Asiatic races is still undecided.
But this much is true, that the an
cient servitudes are gone forever, and
that Europe, at any rate, now consists
of free peoples, with the one solitary
exception of Ireland.
Only One Denied Self Rule.
But that is not tho full extent of
the anomaly. White peoples in the
rest of the world, all of them offshoots
of Great Britain, had already made
good their right to self-determination
so that Ireland survives as the only
white community on the face of the
globe where the government by con-
sent" which President Wilson sum-
moned the "organized opinion of man.
kind" to sustain, is not established.
If in Ireland special circumstances
could be shown to exist which distin-
guish her case from all others, it
would still be hardly possible to JUS
tify an anomaly SO fragrant.
But there are none.
On the contrary, her case is sim.
pier than that of any of the host of
new European nationalities. She is an
island, with the best and most immut-
able of all frontiers, the sea, with an
historical identity beyond dispute and
an historical unity beyond dispute,
for, although conquered and to some
extent colonized, she has absorbed
conquerors and colonists, so that all
her Inhabitants call themselves Irish
men, live under an Irish administra-
tion, and obey laws common to the
whole island but differing widely
from those of Great Britain.
And among these Irishmen, Ulster
men included, there is larger meas
ure of unanimity for unified self-gov-
ernment and smaller and less diff
cult minority problem than in any of
the new European states, while minor
ity problems at least as difficult we're
surmounted in the great dominions.
Nor does freedom for Ireland raise
any Interior International problems
and difficulties like those which, in de.
fault of the most unselfish and en-.
lightened craftsmanship, threatens Eu
rope.
ireland has no irredenta; she covets
nothing, threatens nobody and arouses
no rival cupidities. She is as incapa
BILE of aggression as she is incapable
of defense against the one power she
has ever had to deal with, Great Brit