The New York herald., 1922-01-09
VALERA RESIGNATION
is STILL UNSETTLED
He Insists He Is Only Titular
Head of Republic.

if he does, what viii become of the
Dali.
Mr. de valera's resignation rendered
10 the Dali Elreann on Friday was
specific. He consented. however. to
postpone action thereon on condition
that a vote on the treaty should be
taken within forty-eight hours. At the
same time he plainly stated that he In
tended. whatever happened" to retire
TO private life.
When the vote was taken the resig-
nation was not repeated. Mr.. de Valera
merely aluding to it when he rose and
Ia a voice broken with emotion began
to explain his personal position. But
he had not got far when he sat down,
unable TO so on.
Subsequently De Valera summoned a
meeting for to-day, exclusively confined
10 the fifty-seven Deputies who voted
against the treaty. and to-day at the
Mansion House prior to the private
session of his associates he delivered
speech which was a clear indication
OF his intention TO continue the fight
this time apparently not only against
the British Government but against the
provisional Government of the ] rish
Free State which, he said, he regards
as a usurpation. and to which the chief
objection is that 1t derives its authority
from the British Parliament
There are many tonight who are OF
the opinion the question of Mr.. de Va
lera's suspended resignation must be
debated at to-morrow's meeting of the
Dali. but Art O'Brier. president of the
differentiation League Of Great
Britain, informed the Associated Press
to-day that his Interpretation Is that
Mr.. de Valera will resign the Presidency
and retire to private life only when he
hes consolidated the Republican position.
The task of the new provisional Gov
ornment, faced by opposition from old
Republican colleagues, will be extremely
difficult. Some of the Deputies. includ-
ing Miss MacSwiney, have frankly de-
clared their intention to act from the
outset as rebels against the provisional
Government.
1t is taken for granted that the pro-
visional Government will certainly in
clude both Arthur Griffith and Michael
Collins. Their associates are less
clearly marked out. but among the men,
bers Of the Dali Cabinet supporting them
is William Cosgrave, Minister of Local
Government, who. by universal consent,
is an administrator of rare ability, more
skilled in the duties of Government than
any of his colleagues.
For the last year Cosgrave has con.
trolled the great majority OF the Irish
local representative bodies, which for
mcrIy obeyed the orders OF Sir Henry
Robinson, the crown representative of
local government In Ireland. The diff
Guilty in determining how far the Irish
Minister will use the existing machinery
OF the British Government officials In
Ireland, and how far they Will be able
to rely upon the cooperation of the ma
chine which they constructed themselves
WIN lrbe enormously increased IL the new
ministry is obliged at the same time to
resist an attack from the surviving re-
public ministry.
stormy Debate To-day.
The Dali tomorrow will consider
resolution in general terms proposed by
Speaker MacNeiu. affirming Ireland's
sovereign status and the complete au-
thority OF the Irish people. 1t is so
framed that most of the nationalist
Irishmen and all the members OF the
Dali Eireann could accept IL as an un-
questionable truism, but, according TO
the contention of DE Valera and his sup
porters, acceptance of the treaty is alb
rogation of that principle. and In the
debate they are expected to say so.
On any motion framed on purely re-
publican principles it Is not doubted
majority in the Dahl Though 1t was
admitted on all sides during the course
of the debate that the great majority
or Ir1sh people favored accepting the
treaty and giving the free State Govern
ment q trial. there is technically no
machinery where the Dali could for the
present be replaced By them at an
election. The Dali owes its existence to
election by the people under the terms
of the Britich act of Parliament which
defined the constituencies. allotted their
numbers and prescribed proportional rep
resentatlon as the method of election.
Tho intention of the act, OF course,
was that the members so elected should
constitute the Parliament of southern
Ireland under the home rule act Of
1890. II that Parliament had ever been
constituted. Il could hold elections any
time n accordance with the provisions
OF the statute. But all the Sim Fein
members refused TO attend the Parlia-
incnt. preliminary condition of whose
existence was an oath of allegiance to
the King, and formed the Dali Eireann
instead.
Under the treaty Il is the function
Of the British Government to summon
the ratifying body, but all steps in that
direction were postponed until II should
Eireann whether It was worth while
The Prime Minister has promised the
British army would be evacuated after
ratification. and X is expected that
when the prelimlnaries have been sottlcd
the British soldiers will be withdrawn.
Another outcome of the treaty win be
the release Of all political prisonern.
When the treaty was signed I'm Lon
don there were IN various prisons and
internment camps both IN Ireland and
England more than 5000 political pris-
oners. OF these Il was estimated there
were 1000 men and women against
whom no charge had been made. but
who were interued or imprisoned on
suspicion they were n sympathy with
the republican party. They were given
their freedom on signature OF the docu-
rnent About 1000 were men convicted.
for the most part. by court martial of
various oflenscs under the special act
OF Parliament known as the regulation
of order act, aimed at the suppression
Of the Sim Fcin movement.
The military authorities here evil
IDENTIFY consider the vote In favor of the
peace treaty by the Dali Eireann as a
final decision on the Irish situation.
Ever since the Dublin City Hall was
by the military and
courts martial were held there the build
ing has been surrounded by barbed wire
which projected across
the pavement This morning soldiers
began clearing away oil the wire.
REPUBLIC TURNED DOWN
INSISTS DE VALERA