The Washington times., 1922-09-21
BY HAYDEN TALBOT.
(Copyright, 1922, New York Americana
Chapter 14-Section l..
The Invitation to Negotiate.


THE excuse offered by the British
government for the british insensi-
bility Of the Black and Tans was that
they were melting out TO murderers
Just retribution. Mr.. Lloyd George
was firmly convinced that the men
who are suffering in Ireland are the
men who are engaged in a murderous
conspiracy At the London Siuiid.
hall he announced that the police
were getting the right men A u@-
mand for the truth about English re.
preston in ireland was beginning TO
make itself heard in all parts Of the
world. 1t was becoming ever more
difficult to convince the world that
the premeditated murder of Irishmen
constituted legitimate acts of self
defense"
Michael Collins thus began the
story of events leading up to the
treaty negotiations.
AT length. when the Terror, grow
ing ever more violent and. conse.
quently, ever more futile. failed to
break the spirit of the Irish people
failed as IL was bound to falcon.
cealment was no longer possible. 4"
Collins continued. The true eXpla-
nation was blurtrd out when Mr..
Lloyd George and Mr.. Bonar Law
declared that their acts were neces-
sary to destroy the authority of the
Irish national government which
has all the symbols and all the rcaH-
ties OF government
Call To Farley.
But this announcement had an
unexpected consequence. In the
opinion of responsible men in the
other states OF the British empire
such destruction had no Justification.
They expressed their opinion in
emphatic fashion. They convinced
British statesmen that IL was es-
sential for England TO put herself
right with the world-the Irish slate
had TO be cleaned.
so declared the premiers OF the
free nations Of the British common
wealth-then assembled at the i'm.
perial conference in London. There
was only one course for the British
prime minister to take--to invite us
whom he had called 'murderers' and
heads OF the murder gang TO dis.
cuss with him terms of peace. The
invitation was: To discuss terms Of
peace-to ascertain how the as
sociation OF Ireland with the com.
munity of nations known as the
British empire may best be recon.
ciled with Irish national aspirations.
The world knows that We &C.
cepted that invitation.
Skeptic ut Start.
What Is not known-except only
by those few OF US who had to take
the responsibility OF accepting or re-
fusing the invitation-is the search
ing OF our hearts and minds. the
weighing of every consideration. the
honest effort some OF US made to
put aside the skepticism in order that
the decision might be the fruit Of our
combined best judgment.
There was much in the immediate
past that undeniably prejudiced us
as TO the possibility Of obtaining a
generous peace from England. Be
yond that were more than seven
centuries of English misrule of
Ireland. In our councils were men
who believed-and who still believe
that to try to make a bargain with
England could result only in
Ireland's getting the worst of II.
II have always believed that Mr..
Lloyd George foresaw the in
evitable-at least a year before his
colleagues even considered the pos
sibility Of granting Ireland freedom.
The Partition Act.
II base my belief on the fact that
while the Terror was at it's height
the British cabinet passed the gov
ernment of Ireland act, 1920-better
known as the Partition Act. In my
the act to allay world criticism. As
propaganda It might do to draw at.
tention away from British violence
for a month or two longer.
AT the end of that period-most
Of the English ministers mistakenly
believed-Ireland would have been
tcrrorized into submission. That de.