The Washington herald., 1920-07-09
PLUNKETT PICKS
AN AMERICAN AS
IRISH MEDIATOR
CONTINUED FROM PAGE ONE.

(, alton.
I'VE have now In Ireand two
| governmets. a de ture government
exercising its functions through An
army of occupation ana q oe Iscto
! government which has the greater
force of the peoples will at It's
| back. Sim Fein has its parliament.
its civil and criminal courts. hold
| ing that the presence Of British
army constitutes a state OF war.
1t has also its courts martial
Naturally there Is continuous
conflict between these two govern
ments. Each issues its daily ofncial
| reports The facts upon which both
sides are agreed seem to show that
the tide of battle is going steadiiy
i against the British forces and In
favor of the Irish republic, -
"The miniature civil war which
broke out in Derry last week shoull
make oven this government pause.
! The essence OF their Irish policy
/ dictated to them by Sir Edward
Carson and his friends Is the parti-
I ton OF Ireland. Upon frankly sec
tartan lines the bill creates for the
first time in history a Northern
Ireland and a Southern Ireland.
! They are so called because 1t would
not look well to call them Prot
estant and Catholic, but IL you look
on the map you will observe that
the most northern county In Done
gal Is to be gerrymandered INTO
Southern Irlsand. Derry, with Its
population almost equally divided
In religion and politics, might have
hgone into either Ireland. The home
rulers had the better claim, as ita
| sovernment has a Sim Fein ma
| jority at the present time. Sir Ed
ward Carson did not see his way to
any further scrapping Of the cove
nant than was involved in assign
/ ing three Ulster counties to South
| ern ireland, so he retains Derry.
From what I have said you will
see that this city was bound to be
the scene of conflict between the
| two Irelands. Indeed, II Is the only
spot where one or the other Ireland
is not so preponderant as to pre-
clude sustained conflict between
them. You will observe that Irish
supporters of the two nations
] theory are here furtherest from
! their British base. while upholders
| of Irish nationality and Irish unity
are in immediate contact with one
of the most virile parts of nation
alist Ireland. The lesson of Derry
/ is one which he who runs may read.
! The chief Importance of the rail-
way trouble is its bearing upon the
| political situation in England. Here
you have Irish workers refusing to
! earn wages by carrying materiai
(which may be used for making war,
| not only upon their own fellow
| countrymen. but also upon Russians
\ xxyft arF 90
! II Is true that in the case of Poland
they have come to an agreement
with the government. What they
may do in Ireland we do not YET
know, but at the time of the hun
ger strike in Mount Joy prison
they took action which enabled
Irish labor to rout the Dublin Cas-
| tie horse. foot and dragons.
! But the government must know
they are treading on very danger
ious ground. The anomoly. / may
add, the gross impartiality OF treat
ment of Southern Ireland must
lead TO searehings of the heart
I among some OF our military rulers
who not so long ago were threaten
ing to resign their commissions
rather than risk being ordered I.
/ fire upon the irregular forces under
the command of the provisional
government of Northern Ireland.
The whole situation Is SO full or
dangers that the only sane plan is
/ to scrap the present policy and call
/ upon Irish people, north and south
alike to elect a constituent assem-
/ bly, or constitutional convention
representative of the whole Of Ire
land and to empower that body TO
adopt any constitution they like
within the empire"
Independent as Canada.
by the term. within the en-
pire,' / understand you mean that
the Irish people should be permit
ted to adopt a constitution prac-
tically as independent as that OF
Canada" / asked.
/ Yes. practically as independent.
but there would have to be an
agreement in regard to military and
naval affairs which is not required
in the case of distant dominions.
An overwhelming majority In these
islands, and not an inconsiderable
minority in Ireland. are firmly con-
vinced that their defences must be
under a single central authority
which would obviously have to be
predominantly British. II was made
perfectly clear that no outside in
terference with the civil govern
ment Of Ireland should be possible.
see no difficulty about this Ifmi-
tation nor would anyone once
friendly settlement had been ar
rived at"
I asked Sir Horace how. under
what he calls dominion plan, he
gets over the Ulster dificulty
Exactly as similar difficulties
have been got over in Canada. South
Africa and in Australia. The rest
of Ireland would willingly concede.
at the outset. complete control OF
local affairs by Ulster. part OF
Ulster or any other homogeneous
area that wanted it. But these and
all other questions can only be
hopefully approached by Irishmen
in friendly conference in Ireland" I"
! Would either extreme listen to
such a counsel of moderation"
asked.
Perhaps not at the moment. al
though I am convinced any genuine
offer like the present bill. which is
the reverse of a genuine offer, to
meet the wishes of the great ma
jority of Irish people. would be met
by a response so generous that IT