The New York herald., 1921-12-15
IRELAND VOWS ALLEGIANCE
TO KING, SAYS LLOYD GEORGE

present condition of things does any one
imagine what course he would have
pursued. where treaties and alliances.
peace and war, was left to a great coun-
Gil of three people. each of them self
governing and coming together In the
motheriand to discuss their affairs and
decide their policy? What he would
have done then would undoubtedly have
been to invite Ireland to come to that
conference table and merge her inter-
ests and her ideas into those of the
whole of these three peoples throughout
the empire
THAT Is the position. Ireland would
share in the rights of the Empire. would
share in the responsibilities OF the En-
pire and would take part with other
free States in discussing the policy of
the Empire. But that undoubtedly
commits her to a responsibility which
have no doubt her people will honor.
THAT Is general summary of the
main proposition which is involved In
these articles of agreement. But 1t is
all very well to say dominion home
rule or dominion self government. The
difficulties only begin then--difficulties
formidable. peculiar to ireland. There
are millions of people in this country
to-day made happy by che thought that
they have settled the Irish question
daughter and cheers). You don't settle
complicated problems the moment you
utter good phrases about them. There
have been innumerable letters, resolu-
tions, speeches. &c, about dominion
home rule. They have all advocated
that opinion. but they ignored all the
obstacles. Therefore they must learn
counsel. 1t is no use giving a general
prescription for a complicated case. You
NAV find the same old symptoms. but
you cannot ignore the constitution of
the patient. hts temperament and. above
all, his spirit, because you might find
evils in his system left there by earlier
imprudencies.
Therefore 1t is no use going to a
chemist to order a general prescription.
There are complications In Ireland which
are attributable to its history and i'm
prudencies of statesmen on both sides
which render settlement OF the Irish
question a very difficult one. I hope
now we can be confident. I never like
to be too confident and sanguine when
talking about ireland. for 1t has been
said too often that a specific has been
found. There are difficulties arising
from the geographical and stragetical
position Of Ireland. You cannot treat
Ireland as you would Canada.
The War Debt and Pensions.
'"The security of this country depends
on what happens at this advanced base
In this front trench. and that Is one
of the first causes of the difficulty we
have had to deal with. 1t is no use
saying: Apply home rule fully and
, completely because we had to safe
guard the security of this land and then
| shortly, the next thing was the ma
tional debt. Every other dominion has
its war debt and It's pensions. Unless
we can come to some arrangement with
Ireland Irishmen in Ireland would be
the only Irishmen who would escape
their contribution to these great mat
ters Irishmen in this country. in the
dominions and in the United States are
all paying their share OF this debt and
as have said, unless some provision is
made. Irfshmen In Ireland would escape
| their share of the burden.
Then there is the difficulty that arose
from religious animosity. I am sorry
to use the word animosities in connec-
ton with religion, but there they are
Perhaps they are produced by fears
probably exaggerated fears, although, Of
course. you cannot say exaggerated fears
aren't facts---and they are to be dealt
| with as long as they are rooted In mems
minds. Old differences added new fuel
| TO old flames and stirred up the en,bers
| Then there was the great difficulty
created by the peculiar position Of the
northern part of the island. Before ap-
plying dominion status you have to deal
with each of these questions. which are
really complicated troubles rooted in the
| past history OF Ireland. But allegiance
| to the British Crown has been complete-
| ly accepted. with membership in the
| British Empire OF common citizenship.
First Great Difficulty.
Now I come to the first great dfffi-
! cu,ty--the security of this country. II
full and complete dominion government
we're conferred on Ireland she would
have complete control OF her army and
navy. They could raisc any army and
navy they liked, and. as pointed out a
year ago. that is what they meant to
do. / said they could raise an army Of
half million men. ] think that was
rIdiculed at the time. I have only to
point to two or three facts. The first is
that Australia, with practically the same
population, sent that number Of men
overseas. The second is that this coun-
try raised during the war very nearly
cpe-sixth Of It's population for service
under arms. That would have meant
700. 900 men in Ireland and Scotland,
with the same population, sent 100000
! men.
There are two objections apart from
the security of this country TO that
being permissible. This country has
| taken since the war leading part In
| the disarmament of land forces and
| has taken q leading part with America
| in the disarmament OF naval forces We
were the first to put an end to con-
scription. We took a leading part in i'm
| posing the abolition OF conscription upon
our enemies In the peace treaty. But
these problems OF disarmament are
problems OF the immediate future. How
can the British Empire exercise the
weight II ought to exercise In impressing
| other countries with the Importance Of
reducing these great forces which do
so much toward promoting and precipi-
tating war? How could they do 80
standing in partnership, side by side,
with country whose armed forces
number half n million men, all trained
for war? That is an international OBJ
| lection.
! The second objection is ~ " differ
ent character. IL south Ireland trained
| all these young men and raised a great
| force one can imagine the apprehensions
which would FIJI the hearts of the men
of northeast Ireland.
THE northeast would be driven 70 pur-
sue the same course, IL would there
| fore have all the young men In north
east Ulster enrolled. trained and