Evening star., 1922-08-20

The British Empire.-On August IL Arthur
Grifith. president of the dali ereann. died
suddenly of a heart attack, induced by over
work, at the age Of fifty. He was one Of the
initiators and he was the principal brains of
the Sim Fein movement. But. fortunately for
Ireland. he was not fanatic He had very
just sense of true values. In the negotiation
in London last year his influence and his logic,
1t is understood. were chiefly instrumental to
signature by the Irish delegation of the agree
ment which created the Free State. He liter
ally killed himself working for fulfllment OF
that agreement His death is for Ireland
tragedy of the first order.
The Irish Rational army. under the direct
cessfully the work of "cleaning up the ir-
regulars
caused by the death of Lord Northcliffe.
though to my mind. the death of Griffith (be-
Of the aek Of po
cal intellect to supply his place. was much the
Lord Northclife tAlfred Harmsworth) at
the time of his death had controlling In
terest In more than one hundred neWspa pers.
the London Times and the Daily Mall He was
a self-made man. having started his lifeWork
career was crowned in 1908. when he gained
control Of the London Times. He was one of
clearly foresaw 1t and. through the Times.
tried to persuade Britain to prepare for it:
Asauith out he exposed Kitchener's failure in
respect of supply OF munitions. whence the
ministry Try Of Of munitions which cured that de-
~ due to him: his mission to the United States
in 1917 was of the very greatest service to
Britain. and. finally. he became chief Of allied
propaganda. The Germans are pleased to at
tribute their fall to the efficient propaganda
instrument created by him. rather than to
Foch. but in this they consult their self-love
rather than aI the truth. though that instrument
After the he devoted himself toward
ter acquainted with each other. toward con-
knowledge of imperial needs. To this end he
made, tour of the British possessions. the
heart trouble to which he succumbed.
I have confined myself to notice Of his
benehcent side: He had his blind side. too.
"or else he had forgone his mortal nature"
'Tis said Lloyd George will get s450o00 for
his book. That would be nice little nest
egg against retirement. and. so considering.
Lloyd George is. of course. justified in divert
ing from the work of government the time and
energy required to make a big seller
Germany said last week that it was
probably safe guess that the outcome of the
London conference of the supreme council
would be another unsatisfactory compromise
"a moratorium Of sorts. with stricter control,
but without the particular sort of productive
guarantees. advocated by Poincare. for the
reason that. in the view of all except the
French. Poincare's guarantees did not promise
productiveness."
1t might seem that my guess has been fals-
fed by the event. Not so. however-not yet.
To be sure. the conference broke up on
August IA. with decisions taken on the
grand questions. but that did not signify the
end of all things. The conference proceedings
have been reported very incompletely, but
the following rough outline is probably cor
rect: Poincare offered to grant further mora
torium to Germany chow generous or for how
long does not appear) aon condition that the
allied control of Germana finance should be