Evening star., 1921-08-27
By the Associated Press.

|
the reply of Premier Lloyd George to
canon de Valera is as follows:
| Sir: The British government are
profoundly disappointed by your let
ter of August "a. You write of the
conditions of the meeting between
MS as though no meeting had ever
taken place.
! Il must remind you, thereiore. tnae nat
when l asked you to meet me SIX
! weeks ago 1 made no preliminary
, conditions of any sort. You came to
London on that invitation and ex-
| changed views with me at three
meetings of considerable length. The
proposals 1 made to you after those
! meetings were based upon full and
/ sympathetic consideration OF the
views which you expressed.
| Liberal stand Declared.
| "They were not made in any hag-
Cling spirft. On the contrary, my
| colleagues and l went to the very
| limit of our powers In endeavoring to
| reconcile British and Irish interests
! Our proposals have gone far beyond
| all precedent and have been approved
as liberal by the whole of the civil
| lied world. Even in quarters which
had shown sympathy with the most
extreme Of the Irish claims they are
regarded as the utmost which the
empire can reasonably offer or Ire
land expect.
"The only criticism of them I have
yet heard outside Ireland Is from
those who maintain that our pro-
pOsalS have OverStepped both war
rant and wisdom in their liberality.
Your letter shows no recognition of
this. and further negotiations must. I
fear. be futile. unless some definite
progress is made toward acceptance
of a basis.
Many COncessiOns.
"You declare our proposals involve
the surrender of Ireland's whole ma
tional tradition and reduce her to
subservience. What are the facts?
Under the settlement we outlined
Ireland would control every nerve
and fiber of her national existence.
She would speak her own language
and make her own religious life; she
would have complete power over tax
alton and finance. subject only to an
agreement for keeping trade and
transport as free as possible between
herself and Great Britain, her best
market
"She would have uncontrolled au-
thority over education and all the
moral and spiritual interests of her
race; she would have it also over law
and order, over land and agriculture.
i
try. over the health and homes of her
people and over her own defense.
Wide Range of Freedom.
She would. in fact. within the
shores of Ireland, be free in every
respect of national activity. national
expression and national development.
The states of the American Union,
/ such range Of rights.
Our proposals go even further.
for they invite Ireland to take her
place as partner in the great COM
Tonwcalth of free nations, united by
allegiance to the king.
We consider these proposals COM
pieteiy fulfill your wish that the
principle of government by consent
ard guiding principle of the settle
: nent which your plenipotentiaries
are to negotiate. That principle was
first developed in England and is the
handspring of the representative in
stitutions which she was first to cie-
ate. 1t was spread by her throughout
| the world and is row the very life
OF tn" British commonwealth.
Line Drawn.
I'VE could not have invited the
, Irish people to take their place in
that commonwealth on any other
through it we can heal old misun-
derstandings and achieve an endur-
ing partnership as honorable to Ire
land as to the other nations of which
the commonwealth consists.
But when you argue that the re-
lations of Ireland with the British
empire are comparable in principal
to those of Holland or Belgium with
the German Empire, I find it necces-
sary to repeat once more that those
are premises which no British gov
ernment. whatever its complexion.
can ever accept.
Impossible Demands.
I'm demanding that Ireland should
be treated as separate sovereign
power. with no allegiance to the
crown and no loyalty to the sister
nations of the commonwealth, you
famous nationalist leaders in Irish
history. from Grattan to Parnell and
Redmond. have explicitly disowned.
'Grattan. in a famous phrase, de-
clared that The ocean protests
against separation and the sea
against union Daniel O'connell. most
eloquent perhaps of all the spokes-
men of the Irish national cause pro-
tested thus in the house Of commons
in 1880:
Dissolution Denounced.
".Never did monarch receive more un
divided allegiance than the present
agitate the repeal Of the union. New
er was there grosser calumny then as
to assert that they wish to produce
separations between the two coun-
tries. Never was there greater
mistake than to suppose that we wish
to dissolve the connection
The premier then quotes a letter
written in 1884 to the Duke of We'll
lington by Thomas Davis, "fervent
exponent Of the ideals Of young Ire
land" as advocating the retention Of
the imperial parliament and the Civ
ing to Ireland of senate selected
by the people; the right Of levying
the making of road> aarbors, rail-
ways, canals and bridges. encourar.
ing manufacturers. commerce. agri-
culture and fishing, and the settling
of the poocSlaws. tithes tenures
grand juries and franchises.
Meet Patriots Demands,
''The British government" the text
Of the reply of Mr.. Lloyd George con-