The Washington herald., 1921-12-15
SURE TO RATIFY
President Resorts to Hair
Splitting After Losing
First Battle.
COLLINS CHEERED
DURING SPEECH
Resents Being Called
Traitor When Follow
ing His Credentials,

DUBLIN. Dec. 1.-THE histori,
meeting Of Dali Eireann. which by
ratifyinE or rejecting the peac,
treaty will decide the fate of Ire
land for generations to come. be-
gan today in the lecture room Of
the National University. and tht
preliminary Eparring which oc.
CURED at the opening session in.
dlcated that the general sentiment
81 Dali was against Eamonn d,
valera and the extremists.
Ihe President of the Irish Re
public was evidently aware Of this
and he fought like a man who
knows that his cause is lost In
stead Of fighting for essentials. ht
made his stand on technicalities
and hair splitting over the mean.
ing OF words and he lost the pre-.
Hminary battle for secrecy. AL.
though the Dali sitting this after.
noon was secret. when il received
the reports Of the military and
hQancial situation and Of the secret
steps by which the agreement was
reached. il was decided by an over
WncImiuE majority that the debate
on the ratification of the treaty
should be public.
In some respects this meetinc
OF peasant legislators to decide the
tate Of nation excited pity. II
was so hOpelessly unable to con-
duct the legislative business in a
speedy and efficient manner. The
speaker, John MacNeiH. an idealistic
college professor. had no control
over the assembly. Mr.. De Valera
tried TO play the role of boss, but
on two occasions he was actually
shouted down and compelled 10
cnangc his attitude from dictating
TO suggesting
No attempt was made either by
-" speaker or the leaders to keen
the members 10 the subject before
The house and in the motion for
secrecy the dCbaters wandered over
all the points on which secrecy
was sought
II was noticeable that for the
fist time there were visible signs
"f two parties in Dali Arthur
GriTth, Michael Collins and Robert
Barton sat together on the speak
er's right On the left were Eamonn
"a Valera, Cathal Brurha and Aus
tin stack, while ". Cosgrove. who
* understood to be supporting
Griffith. sat among the body OF
delegates.
The proceedings were opened BY
roll call in Gaelic and then 4.
prayer.
ne Valera then began to speak
IL Gaelic. but there was evidenc.
T dissatisfaction. SO he declared
that as sorue Of the members didn't
know Gaelic the proceedings would
Ice in English. He then made a
statement which showed him a way
ont in case Of defeat and gave
color to q rTmor that eventually
r7tifi.ation might be unanimous,
Fie declared that the question OF
-he I. -atv nu-t be considered on
f-s merits ard Il wa important
'rar the certain differences OF
opinion which had arisen in the
cariret should not be allowed to
affect Frjs rs n result
lie stressed tie flct thar no
--as rar'e bod. wouII send FIVE
H1.u 20 ENGLAND To make Il treaty
which would seal The fortunes of
nation fHr EClerations without
IcservirE the right to ratification
.'rncr hr 4 legislative body OF by
tFp ucnple.
-trrctior7 fro mthe cabinet to TIE
e.. Ie=Gt-s. oil cL irh h said they
.roveS- except tho third para graph,
whicr provided that before the COM
-,'ate and final text Of the draft %
The treaty was signed il should be
.uhrfftCd to D-blin and a reply
awaited.
"Tb'- was not done" he said
The treaty vae si~-ed in the
mall hours # the morning, and
whether we approve of th- result
attained OF rrc we must examine
every step by which it was
-eached."
The m-tion for a private session
supported by Nir. de Valera and
his followers brought Mr. Griffith
to his feet. saying:
''If there is any suggestion that
he delegates exceeded their in
structions I will insist that the
whole matter b. debated pub
licIy"
Mr.. de Valera then said: Para
graph 3 Of the Instructions was not
carried oU. and there were vital
differences in the final draft from
the one which we approved"
Then came a dramatic moment.
Mr.. Collins jumped to his feet and
taking the word from Mr. de Va
lera. who had accused him of mis-
representation said:
81 am against a privSte session
so far a there is anything that
either Dali or Irish people have a
right TO know. have been called
4 traitor. II any man says 1 was
a traitor to Ireland let him say
where publicly, and ! am ready
20 meet him in any place and at
any time as have always been
ready to do. protest against un-
fairness Of reading this document
without also reading the one that
preceded ii, and I am now going
to take the liberty OF reading the
ORIGINAL
This proved TO be a credential au-
= thorizing the delegates as repre-
sentatives Of the Irish Republic 10
meet the British to negotiate for
an association between the two ma
tons.
was this ever presented or ac-
CoHt.nged on Page Tpo.