The New York herald., 1922-03-31
Have Reached Agreement:
North and South Can Work
Together He States.
IRELAND TO HAVE CHANCE
Spirit Of Freedom. Not Form
Of Government, the Main
Principle.

Special Gable to THE New York HERALD
Copyright, 1893, by TIE New York HERALD
New York Herald Bureau.
London, March 20.
I'VE have reached an agreement
upon which the north and south can
work together; an agreement which
banishes passion from the horizon and
stops mutual murder. The primary
cause of the conference was to put an
end TO murder and it was for that
purpose | came to London-I think
Nwe have accomplished our aim," said
Michael Collins, head of the provi-
sional Government of Ireland. to THE
NEW YORK HERALD correspondent to-
night
Passion and prejudice have entered
entirely too much into the minds OF
those outside and inside Ireland, view
ing the present apparently turbulent
state of affairs. They see in the Ulster
border an impossible and intangible
frontier, pictured differently in the
minds of the northerners and the
southerners, which is impossible Of
settlement.
They fear a growth in the strength
OF the Republicans of the south and
that the armed men of the north
may wreck the treaty. Their opinions
are swayed by hearing from all sorts
of sources that / or other members Of
the Provisional Government are Try
ing to stand on whatever Government
the treaty gives Ireland in the hope OF
sooner or later shelving that for re-
public.
Rabbi and Roughnecks' mt Work.
Tn the division OF the army which
came to head last Sunday. when the
convention was held in Dublin, they
see support slipping from under the
Provisional Government and strength
ening the cause and hopes Of the Re
publicans. They think they see the
men with whom | fought--men whom
they think | led in the recent war
backing away from me to swell the
armies Of the republic
"They are wrong. Ireland is un-
doubtedly In a state OF turbulence at
present. but that is the natural result
OF long war. misgovernment and the
4 split in thought which formed Sim
Fein in the beginning and has operated
| throughout its entire life. as similar
differences OF opinion are TO be seen in
every national organization anywhere
| in the world-even here in England.
| The border doesn't mean anything
like the difficulty which it is imagined
TO mean.
Border troubles are all rot and rub
bish. 1t is pretext upon which to
sacrifice unification, the united effort
OF the north and south to wreck any
endeavors toward a constructive gov
ernment Border talk is all nonsense.
The growth of the Republican Army is
also a matter which can only be esti-
mated from expert knowledge. ss it
were. These men, whose efforts ap-
pear to be concentrated upon the de-
struction of the treaty, which seemed
to reach the stage of crystallization in
Sundays convention in Dublin, are not
the men with whom fought they are
not the men who valued their lives as
80 much in the purchase of Irish free
dom--they are the rabble and rough
nec.Ss from all quarters, and their
strength and value must not be esti-
mated by numbers.
Governments Form Matters Little.
The nonsense that is talked OF my
attitude or that OF my colleagues at the
present moment is ludicrous. Can you
tell me whether or not the United
States is going TO become a monarchy
within the next century? Can you tell
me will Britain be republic within
the next decade? Well. no more can /
tell you what form OF gtjs- rnment viii
obtain in Ireland whiting se next year.
! stand by what have =, erred in pub
lie during the last fcr years. The
form Of government matters nothing
II Is the principle which ii seeks 10
maintain that matters. DO you think
an English republic would have been
less tyrannical or less unjust toward
Ireland than has been the monarchy?
"Of course not. Irelands sufrerings
were never 50 intense or poignant a.
when Cromwell sat at the head or the
British commonwealth. IL is the prin-
ciple OF freedom which Governments
the world over seek 10 maintain and
cherish: whether that Government be
free state, republic or monarchy
matters little. II IS the strength at
which II can maintain that one and
only principle that makes its merit.
And IT Is for the freedom OF the Irish
citizen that | am fighting.
II want TO sec created in ireland a
great figure Of liberty, as symbolized
in the American Constitution as inter-
proted and carried out AZ present !
don't say that that Constitution en-
bodies q government Of liberty in it's
perfect form, or that ii makes impos-