Evening star., 1921-12-10
IMPERIAL Thinking
WON IRISH PEACE
Changes in Views by Personal
Contact Proved Revelation
to ParIey Delegates.
BY EDWARD PRICE BELL.

By ED"AHD Fh1Ors hEAN'
Special Cable to The Star and the Chicago
Daily News. Copyright, 1911
LONDON. England, December To-
Imperial thinking achieved peace De-
tween the British government and
Sim Fein Ireland. Without the whole
hearted support of the unionists
Prime Minister Lloyd George. with all
his resourcefulness. good will and pa
Itience, would have been helpless.
Some yyrs ago the unionists deemed
themselves the only real exponents OF
British imperial thought. Joseph
Chamberlain urged British statesmen
to think imperially. and fancied MIN
self to be the most vigorous Imperial
thinker Of his time.
But the unionlSts-in other words.
the opponents Of a liberal policy con.
cerning such questions as the politfcai
status of South Africa after the Boer
war and the demand of three-quarters
Of the people Of Ireland for freedom
were not imperial thinkers. They
boundaries Of the actual British en-
pire were concerned: they did not,
think imperially so far as the inter-
nal peace and external welfare of this
empire were concerned. Austen Cham-
berlain a few days ago. In perhaps the
confession. He admitted that he, the
son of a great imperialist. had been
an imperialist in intention. but not
in understanding. He expressed the
wish that he might recall his vote
against that act of craftsmanship
which gave self-government to South
Africa.
Amazing Changes in Views.
Now we find Chamberlain. together
,;st, cta oh,
unionists as Birkenhead and Worth
ington Evans. attaching his name to
a document giving the majority OF the
Irish population far more liberty than
ever was asked for by such leaders
Both the liberal and conservative
negotiators on the British side
thought imperiaIIy. Prejudice they
swept out of their minds. Old bat
tie cries they forgot. They saw the
British empire not impregnable and
not a self-contained group Of states
itself about opinion outside its bor-
ders They saw the Irish race scat
tered all over the world. notably in
the United States and their own do
minions, and they saw it everywhere
hostile to Britain.
At the first meeting of the British
conference, before they had been Joined
by the Sim Fein delegates. Birkenhead
said:
Irish Question Far-Reaching.
1T is folly to talk as if the Irish
question were solely a British dues-
tion. 1t is a factor in political af-
fairs throughout all the English
wherever an Irishman lives on the
globe. For settlement the question is
a British question, no other nation
can settle it: We must settle 1t or
go discredned wherever people under
stand the word craftsmanship
Consideration for the good will of
the United States played a big part in
the peace conference. No first-rate
British statesman today doubts that
British imperial thinking is impos-
sible with the United States left out
of mind. Lloyd George forced this
fact to the front. He declared that
unless Britain and the United States
could be mutually trustful and friend
ly neither could look forward to its
proper destiny and mankind must
prime minister used the largest as
pect of the Anglo-Irish dispute in his
struggle for an agreement.
! Craig Takes World View.
I'VE hold T. trust the interests of
the world" he said to Sir James Craig.
Let US rise to this conception. If we
can consolidate our empire in peace,
we can probably effect a junction with
American strength. Both these pow
erfrl sections of humanity desire the
, universal right of peaceful inter-
course. Any one who stands in the
way Of such an end assumes a heavy
, responsibility
Lloyd George called attention also
to the conditions in India and Egypt
along the chief line of imperial COM
munication. He argued that Irish
peace would help the empire in it's re-
lationS with the Indians and Egyp-
tians and wherever hostility touched
: its fringes.
II Griffith and Collins left a deep
and wholly favorable impression upon
the British ministers, as they did. it
; is equally true that Lloyd George,
Birkenhead and the other British
members of the~conference complete
ly disabused the minds of the Irisi,
delegates of the notion that in no
circumstances can British statesmen
treat sincerely and fairly with Irish
| men,