The New York herald., 1921-12-15
Continued from First Page.


Ireland. They sought peace and insured
| 1t. There were some of my honorable
friends who took greater risks than l
did in signing the treaty. The part they
/ took will be remembered with honor.
There were men on the other side who
| took risks. The risks they took are be-
which Is raging at this hour in Ireland.
All honor to them.
mo word will say appeal to every
member of this house not TO say a woro
to make their task more difficult They
are fighting to make peace between the
great races designed by Providence to
work in partnership and kingship. Let
| US help them.
1T Is very difficult on an occasion
Hike this to know exactly what to say.
what to dwell upon. what needs elucida-
ton. what can be left to the mere
| articles to speak for themselves. To no
one is this difficulty greater than to a
man who has been immersed in the busi-
ress for months. This difficulty I ex-
perience at this moment. propose to
explain the general effect of the articles
leaving II to those who come after me to
tnswer the criticisms and clear up the
obscurities.
The main operation OF this scheme
is the raising of ireland to the status of
dominion of the British Empire, that
of free State within the empire and
common citizenship. and by virtue OF
that membership in the empire ami that
common citizenship owning allegiance
to the King.
i What does a dominion status mean
| 1t is difficult and dangerous to give a
! definition. When made a statement
at the request of the imperial ccnfer-
ence in this house as to what passed at
I the conference I pointed out the anxiety
Of all the dominion Premiers not 70 have
| any rigid definition. That Is not the
| way of the British constitution. We
realize the danger Of rigidity. the dan
ger of limiting our constitution ~ too
| many ffnalities.
MANY Of the Premiers delivered
notable speeches in the course OF that
conference emphasizing the importance
Of not defining too precisely what were
the relations Of the dominions to our
selves and the same thing applies to
the defining Of the crown in the con-
stitution. IT Is something that never
has been defined by act of Parliament,
yet 1t works perfectly.
Guarantee Against Encroachment.
Whatever measure OF freedom the
dominion status gives to Canada, Aus
tralia, New Zealand and South Africa,
that will be extended to Ireland and
| there will be a guarantee contained in
the mere fact that it's status is the
same and that whenever there is an
! attempt at encroachment on the rights
of Ireland every dominion will begin tc
| feel that its own position Is put in
| jeopardy. That Is a guarantee of in
| finite value to Ireland. In practice 1t
means complete control of their own in
ternal affairs without any interference
from any other part of the emrire.
| "They are to be the rulers Of their own
hearth-finance, administration and leg
islariou-as far as their domestic affairs
are concerned and the representative or
the sovereign will act on the advice OF
the Dominion Minister. That Is, as tar
as internal affairs are concerned. now
come to the question OF external affairs.
"The position OF the dominions with
reference to external affairs has been
completely revolutionlzed In the course
Of the last four years The dominions
since the war have been given equal
rights with Great Britain In the control
of the foreign policy Of the Empire.
That control was by the aid they gave
us in the great war. / wonder whas
Lord Palmerston would have said II a
dominion representative had come nere
/ in 1855 and said: I am coming along
TO the conference Of Vienna
"IIe would have dismissed him with
nolite disdain, wondering where he came
from. There was not a single platoon
from the dominions in the Crimea war
II would have been equally inconceivapie
that there should have been no repre-
sentatives of the dominions at Ver-
sailles. Why? There has been COM
nIete change in conditions since 1856.
What were they?
A Place In the Empire.
"a million men. young, strong, prave,
indomitable men. had come from all tne
dominions TO help the mother country IN
the hour of danger, and although they
came to help the empire in policy
which they had no share In fashioning
they felt that in future this was an un-
fair dilemma in which to put them.
They said: You are putting us In this
position where We have to support you
in a policy which we might or might
not approve or we have to desert the
old country in time of trouble. That d.
lemma you have put us In; therefore In
the future you have to consult US before
the event
THAT was right. That was just
That was advantageous to both parties.
We acceded TO 1t gladly. There are ad-
yantages In 1t for both parties Their
machinery IA the machinery OF the Brit
ish Government the Foreign Office. the
Ambassadors. The machine must re-
main here. IL is impossible that 1t could
be otherwise unless you had great
council OF the empire where you've got
representatives elected for the purpose.
Apart from that you must have some
one instrument, an instrument for the
foreign policy of the empire such as the
British Foreign Ofice. That has been
accepted by all the dominions as inevit-
able, but they claim voice In deter
mining the lines OF our policy, and at
the last imperial conference we we're
discussing policy in Germany, Egypt
America, our policy all over the world
and we are now acting upon the gen.
eral discussions arrived at with the
common consent of the whole empire.
The sole control of Britain over the for
eign policy Is now vested in the em-
pircs whole.
Means Joint Responsibility.
That is a new fact and will point
out the bearing II has upon the Irish
controversy. The advantage to us In
that joint control is that ~ means joint
responsibility. and when the burden OF
tho empire becomes so vast II Is well
that we should have the shoulders OF
these young giants under the burden TO