The New York herald., 1922-04-01
A Good Job Done for Ireland.

A Good Job Done for Ireland.
If peace can be secured by con-
certed action on the part of the three
Governments interested Ireland will
have il. The agreement signed in
London by representatives Of the
Irish Free State and the governments
Of Ulster and Great Britain is as
good guaranty of harmony as can
be put on paper.
Ulster, which has been severely
criticized in the British press for
leaning to one side in the attempts to
end disorder, now deserves praise for
her courage in entering the new
agreement. She has, as WINSTON
CHUEeHlLI says, rendered q supreme
service TO both Britain and Ireland.
The quelling OF trouble in the north
OF Ireland will have favorable ef-
feet on the fortunes of the Free State.
The complaint that the Catholics
were unfairly treated in Ulster was
the strongest argument used by the
followers of DE VALERA in the south.
Now Ulster has agreed that the spe-
cial police in the troubled districts
OF Belfast and other northern cities
shall be half Catholic, half Protes-
tant: that when houses are searched
for arms the searchers shall be of
both seets; that complaints OF in
timidation and outrage shall be heard
by a committee with equal numbers
of Protestants and Catholics.
This is going about the business
in practical way. The London con-
ference declined to blink the fact
that in Ulster the desperate situation
was largely the result of religious
feeling centuries old. 1t has done
the wise thing in putting the job or
stopping disorder into the hands OF
men OF both religions, working to-
gether. More than that, the British
Government has agreed to make
large appropriations for relief work
in Ulster and to eXpend one-third OF
it for the benefit of the Catholics.
As most of this relief is needed in
the Belfast neighborhood, where the
Catholics constitute about one-fourth
of the population, the division is cer-
tainly fair to the minority. In addi-
tion to this relief Sir JAMES CRAIG's
Government pledges itself to secure
the restoration of the expelled Catho-
lie workmen wherever practicable.
On the part of the Free State it is
agreed by COLLINS and GRIFFITH that
the activities OF the Irish Republican
Army are to cease in Ulster.
or course no student OF the Irish
situation believes that peace will ar
rive Immediately. In the north there
are armed fanatics of both sides who
do not want peace. They feed on
passion, riot, arson and murder,
Even with new police system Bel
fast can no more be expected to dis
pose of these criminals in a day or
a month than New York could be
expected to rid itself instantly of
all its gunner. In future, however
the victim of an outrage can be GER
tain to find hearing by board
composed OF both denominations;
certain to find police not in secret
sympathy with the criminal.
The effect OF the new agreement
on the fate of the Free State should
he good COLLINS and GRIFFITH 60
back to Dublin with what amounts
to a political triumph. They bring
promise to the Catholics OF the
south that their coreligionists in the
north will have fair treatment. This
should still the cry of the irrecon-
cilables that the Free State had aban-
doned the Catholics of Ulster.
Yet COLLINS and GRIFFITH have tre-
mendous tasks. They must remove
all Republican Army soldiers from
Ulster. In the south they must either
win the whole army over to their
side or else recruit new troops from
the loyal Free Staters and disarm
the irreconcilables. They must pro-
vide very soon the opportunity for
southern Ireland to express itself
freely at the general elections. These
are jobs for brave, wise men.
1t is no time to despair. however
large the work looms. When the
three Governments Of Ireland and
England are united in purpose they
ought to win.