The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-08-15
BRITISH OFFER IS
 NOT ACCEPTABLE,
 SAYS DEVALERA
CCOntinued From Page One.)

we believe groundless, that Irish territory may be used as the basis for attack upon England's liberties can be met by reasonagle guarantees not inconsistent with Irish soy- ereignty."
 sMr. DeValera declared that do- minion status for Ireland is illusion ary. He says the freedom the British Jominions enjoy is less the result C legal enactments or treaties than of the immense distances which separ- ate them from Great Britain and make interference by Great Britain inipractIcable.
 The most explicit guarantees in- cluding the domInions' acknowledged right to secede," MT. DeValera con for Ireland an equal degree of free dom. There is no suggestion, how ever in the proposals made of any such guarantee"
 Instead, the natural position Is reversed. Our geographical situation with respect to Great Britain is made the basis of denials and restrictions unheard of in the case of dominions. The smaller island must give hillary SdltB anu kudTdHleGS u Lnt larger and suffer itself to be reduced to position of helpless dependency.
 Cannot Urge Acceptance
 "Obviously we are unable to urge, acceptance of such proposals upon our people. A certain treaty of free association with the British common wealth group, as with a partial League of Nations, we would have been ready to recommend and, as government, to negotiate and take the responsibility had we an assur- ance that the nation as a whole would secure for 1t the allegiance of the present minority. To meet those sen timents alone this step could be con- templated.
 "Treaties dealing with proposals for free intertrade and mutual limi- tation of armaments we are ready at any time to negotiate. Also mutual agreements concerning air, railway and other communication and to smooth the commercial intercourse essential to both nations. But all such treaties and agreements we would require submission for ra tiff cation first to the national legisla- ture and afterwards to the Irish peo- pie, in a manner showing that their decision was a free decision and without any element Of military com pulsion."
 MT Devalera offers to leave the question of Ireland's share of the national debt to arbiters. one each to be appointed by Ireland and Great Britain, and the third chosen by agreement or nominated, say, by the President of the United States" He declares that the question between political minority and the great ma Jority of the Irish people must be left for the Irish people themselves to settle.
 We cannot admit the right of the British government to mutilate our country either in it's own interest or at the call of any section of our population" the letter continues.
 Force Not Contemplated
 We do not contemplate the em- ployment of force. If your govern ment stands aside we can effect com plete reconciliation. We agree with you that no common action can be secured by force. Our regret is that this wise and true principle which your government prescribes to us for the settlement of our local problems 1t seems unwilling to apply consist ently to the fundamental problem of the relations between our island and yours
 The principle we rely on in one case we are ready to apply in the other, but should this principle not yield to immediate settlement, we are willing that this question, too, should be submitted to external arbitration
 Thus we are ready to meet you in all that is reasonable and Just. The responsibility for initiating and effecting an honorable peace rests primarily not with our government but with yours. We have no condi- tions to impose, no claims to advance, but the one that we be freed from az gression.
 We reciprocate with a sincerity to be measured only by the terrible sufferings our people have under gone. the desire you express for a mutual and lasting frienship The sole cause of the ancient feuds yc/ deplore has been. as history nrol |; the attacks of the English rulers upon Irish liberties. These attacks can cease forthwith if your govern ment has the will.
 The road to peace and under | standing lies open"
 Premier's Reply
 MT. Lloyd Georges reply, which was dated August IS, was as follows S:
 The earlier part of your letter IS so much opposed to our funda- PVsitioH tlldl we reel bound to, leave you in no doubt of our mean ing. You state that after consult Ing your colleagues you confirm your declaration that our proposals are such as the dail Eirrean could not and Irish people would not accent. You add that the outline given Ly our draft is elf-contradictory and that the principle of the pact offered you is not easy to determine We de- A> .1- absolutely clear.
 Tn our opinion nothing is to Le sained by prolonsing the theoretical discussion of the national status which you may he willing to accent as compared with that of the great self governing dominions of the British commonwealth, but we must direct your attention to one point on which you lay some emphasis and on which no British government can compromise, namely the claim that we should acknowledge the right of Ireland to secede from her allegiance to the King.
 No such right can ever be ac- knowledged by us. The geographical propinguity of Ireland to the British Isles is a fundamental fact The his- tory of the two islands for many cen turies, however it is read is suff- cient evidence their interests are in dissolubly linked.
 Ireland has sent members to the British Parliament for more than a hundred years. Many of her people during all that time have enlisted freely and served gallantly in the forces of the cro1kn, Great numbers in all the Irish provinces are pro- foundly attached to the throne.
 "These facts permit of one answe and only one. to the claim that Great Britain should negotiate with Ireland as a separate and foreign power .t only One Condition