The Washington times., 1922-09-02


conversations with me his reasons
for voluntarily aiding the nation he
swore he loathed-always en-
phasizing the fact that he had done
no more than what tens Of
thousands of born Irishmen had
done, and as he tried to put, for the
same 'reason-natural love OF fight
and adventure.
"In 1917, Childers met De Valera.
A genius as brilliant as De Valera
Is guileless.
.:It was Childers who wrote the
famous document No. 2, and II was
Childers who guided practically
every action Of De Valera's In the
last five years.
."I was strongly opposed to
Chiiders' presence in the delegation
Of peace-treaty plenipotentiaries,
even as secretary, but valera
wouldn't listen to my objections.
The London Farley.
There wasn't room to doubt that
Valera firmly believed Childers was
the only man upon whom he could
depend. And what did Childers do
in London? risk the charge OF
being perhaps indiscreet in re-
vealing what / am about to re-
veal-but considerations Of that kind
cannnot weigh with me when the
fate of the Irish people depends on
knowing the truth about this man.
He had told Valera, BruSha,
Stack and others in Dublin that he
had a great scheme whereby he
could argue the British Government
into recognizing that there was m
danger in her granting Ireland's de
| mand for a republic, Griffith and
the rest Of us had no such scheme.
Wherefore. in due course, II was
decided that Childers should have a
chance Of putting his scheme into
execution.
He had been most secretive
about It all along. and had no idea
what 1t was when we went together
by appointment, to the colonial OF
| flee, one day last November, and
met there Winston Churchill and
Lord Beatty. The latter had a huge
map brought over from the Admir-
atty at Childers' request.
Ireland's Coast.
1T showed the British, Irish and
European coasts" continued Col
lins," and was on the biggest scale
ever had seen, Now, gentlemen.
began Chiiders, I mean to demon
strate that Ireland is not only nc
source Of danger to England. but
from a military standpoint, Is Vir'
tually useless
This announcement by Childers
staggered me probably more than 1t
did the other two. 1t was such
ridiculous balderdash that felt like
wanting to get out OF the room
but, naturally, realized must
make a pretense at least OF stand
ing by my colleague.
"Churchill and Beatty exchanged
glances, and then gave Childers
chance to take up the matter of
Irish bases for English submarine
chasers.' At their instance, Childers
continued: From the viewpoint OF
naval expediency, Plymouth Is far
better base than any port on the
Irish coast
Felt Like Fool"
"'Do you really think so?" asked
Beatty. Childer insisted that he did.
'Ah,' said Beatty with a smile, but
Ireland is there
land how many times inter
jected Churchill. have we wished 1t
wasn't!
And that was Childers' great
idea--and that was all OF II. The
arguments with which he was 60
ing to persuade the British govern
ment to recognize the Irish republic
i got no further.
IT never felt more of a fool in
my whole life. Yet hayward,
Valera, and others believe Childers'
scheme failed only because we OF the
delegation did not back him whole
heartedly.
From our experience in deal
ing with the British ministers, i
feel convinced that nothing could
more surely weaken any cause In
their eyes than a ridiculously stupid
espousal Of a cause. George ana
Churchill-all Of them-who were
responsible were reasonable, but
there were no common sense meth
DDS used to put forward our points
with rational arguments. But
Childers was a duly accredited mem
ber Of the secretariat and well
known by George to be Valera's per-
sonal representative.
Collins Suspicious.
"was this merely another instance
Of Childers doing Ireland grevious
damage-unwitting For my part,
find II difficult to believe that
Childers ever, did one unwilling act
In his life.
But having said this" Collins
added, as he closed the interview, II
repeat that Il makes little difference.
The one important fact which the
Irish people must appreciate Is
that Willingly or unwittingly-Er.
stine Childers, who already had
done nothing, was doing his utmost
to effect Ireland's ruin"
Had Collins lived, he might have
extended his prohibition against the
release Of this interview for publicn.
ton. but now that he Ia dead, take
upon myself the responsibility Of re.
leasing II.