The Columbia evening Missourian., 1921-09-05
By X. WALTER

LONDON by Mail.D -Disagreeablc as
i, may be for any Englishman with Irish
sympathies TO admit. nobody in this
country could avoid recognising the fact
ih1, Egnlish opinion has rallied 10 Mr.
lloyd Georges threat Of an Irish war
Of secession contained in his second let
ter 10 Mr.. De Valera With the political
luck and adorilness of which he is a SUI
prcme exponent. his own failure is being
turned to Lloyd Georges advantage. In
appearance he had gone the whole way.
had offered Ireland everything that could
reasonably be given 10 her; therefore. if
lrciand's refusal stands, he will haze
the support Of English opinion behind
him in whatever measures he may see fit
10 take
In the words Of the cynical. Mr.. Lloyd
George has now got the Irish where he
wanted them. In appearance he has Of
fered them full Dominion status or. as
General Smuts calls ii, the Freedom
which is working with complete success
in all parts of the British League" The
six conditions. or reservations, attached
to the offer did not include any funda.
mental constitutional reservation. In
spite OF the reservation of the control of
the seas around Ireland and Great Bri.
tain. and the stipulation regarding ia.
cilities for the British Air Force. the
conditions left the offer of Dominion
status constitutionally intact; they were
all conditions which might have been
written in treaty such as that governing
the reations between the United States
and Cuba. For Ireland 10 refuse such
an offer. therefore, 10 the casual British
mind-and the national mind of Britain
like that of any other country is casual
seems unreasonable, fanatical. fully
warranting employment of force as the
only possible alternative in dealing with
such inficxiblc extremists. Very few
in England realized that. unspeci6ed and
scarcely even implied in the terms of the
offer, there had been behind i, al! the
time reservation which a people so
deeply concerned with their consti,u.
tional status as the Irish must have con.
sidercd fundamental.
SHUTS ADVICE FOLLOWED
De Valera and his followers had enter.
ed upon these negotiations through the
wise and trusted intervention of General
Smuts, who for his part had taken up
practically intact the terms of the settle
ment advocated by Sir Horace Plunke,t
and the Irish Dominion League. Being,
as always, most closely in touch with all
the swaying factors of the Irish situation.
Sir Horace Plunkett had some months
ago declared that ireland would accept
an offer OF the full Dominion status. But
Plunkett and Smuls both recognized.
and publicly stated, tha, full Dominion
status today implies the constitutional
rights OF secession. The admission of
this right, indeed. by such authorities as
MIR. Bonar Law and Lord Miner was
the very factor which made possible a
positive declaration that the Dominion
status would be acceptable to Repub.
lican Ireland. Long and important dis.
cussions on this very point had taken
place with Sim Fein leaders; and there
is no reason 10 suppose tha, Mr.. Lloyd
George and the British government were
ignorant of them. Dominion status"
might mean anything, but henceforlh full
Dominion status could mean nothing less
than the status claimed by and admitted
for Canada. South Africa, Australia and
New Zealand, including the constitu-
tional right Of secession.
LETTER THROWS LIGHT on SUBJECT
Fortunately letter Smuts wrote 10
De Valera on August has now been
published, so we know with certainty and
accuracy what kind of Dominion status
had been in question between the South
African and the i5ish leaders when the
former persuaded the latter to enter into
negotiations with Lloyd George. Smuts