Evening star., 1921-09-09
IRISH LEAGUE VIEW.
SURPRISING Toll. S.
De vaIera's Demand May
Have Future Bearing on
American Sentiment.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.

Eamonn De Valera's inststence that
the British government grant Ireland
a membership in the league of nations
as one Of the guarantees Of autonomy
has caused much surprise here. where
the news was regarded as having a
special bearing on Americas political
situation,
. The general impression here has
been that the Irish were unalterably
opposed to the league. of nations and
that that the e .,s Ans.sesss g is,sa e, .sxs ssscsss
democra tic partyNn large numbers be-
cause OF its espDusal of the league
were In absolute harmony with the
wishes Of the leaders In Ireland. In
, the state OF Massachusetts the Irish
were 30 powerful In the democratic
party that an attempt to indorse the
league at q state convention resulted
in the absence Of most Of the.demo-
cratic leaders. To the Wilsonian ar
gument that the league Of nations
would protect Ireland's territorial in
tegrity whenever she obtained inde-
pendence, the answer was made that
the league covenant would put Ire
land In chains and force America to
help Great Britainin the event of war
between Ireland and England. Ar
ticle X was held to be a means OF
compelling the United States to side
with England. Notwithstanding the
insistence of the leagues friends that
the protection of territorial integrity
meant against external aggression
only.
Various Interpretation.
The news conveyed here from Lon
Eamonn de Valera wants to be as
sured that Great Britain will grant
Ireland membership in the league of
nations as well as the dominion con-
.ferences on the same basis as Canada,
New Zealand, Australia and South At
Government officials, of course. are
loath to discuss the Irish situation.
This correspondent, for example, in
quired of the Department of State II
the United States government were
using its good offices either unofficial
ly or officially. formally or Informally,
in the threatening situation between
England and Ireland, and the answer
came back NO"
There Is no evidence that the Hard
ing administration intends to become
involved in any way in the dispute.
The reasons for this attitude are pre-
sumed to be a feeling that the whole
different parts of the British empire
and that the American government
could not afford to do anything which
might cause offense to the British
government in London. President
Wilson took q different view of his
prerogatives. He went SO far as to
discuss the importance Of an Irish
settlement when Arthur Balfour ar
rived here in the spring of 1917 as the
head Of the British war mission. In
Paris he endeavored to secure an au-
dience for three. American delegates
from an Irish organization who want
ed to lay the Irish question before the
refused the audience, but 1t is a1fact
that the Washington government used
the occasion to discuss with the Brit
ish the vital need for settlement Of
the Irish issues.
May Change Sentiment.
But while nothing is being done by
fact that everybody views with. grave
concern the possibility of a rupture
between England and ireland, and the
hope is unofficially expressed that the
latest proposals of -the British gov
ernment will lead to a peace confer
ence at which the matter can be set
tied satisfactorily to both sides. It
is realized that If civil war is re-
newed in ireland the British dele
gates to the coming conference on
armament in Washington may en-
counter hostile outbursts on the part
of Americans of Irish descent, some
of whom have not hesitated in the
mast to picket both the White House
and. the British embassy. On the
other hand, friendly settlement of
the Irish controversy, bringing Ire
land into the league of nations, may
turn some Americans who have been
against the league into a more friend
ly frame of mind toward that organ
ization and remove one of the pillars
of political strength of the "irrecon-
cilable" movement, which has thus
far kept America from membership
in the Geneva organization.
g Copyright, 1921