The New York herald., 1922-04-16
An English View Of Ireland
Causes of Unrest and the Way to Peaceful Solution
of Present Difficulties.
From the Saturday Revssv ., London.

From the S0eurd0l
The placid Englishman Is frankly
puzzled and bewildered by tho present
situation in Ireland. When peace was
signed in December he thought that
now the two countries could live at
peace forever and that all the troubles
were over. He wished well to the Free
State and he hoped that Dublin and
Belfast would soon come to = sensible
working arrangement.
Now he reads Of anarchy In parts OF
the south; OF q frontier bristling with
armed men; of extensive raids and dep
relations far from the border and nf
tragedy succeeding tragedy In the
streets Of Belfast. He also dImly
realizes that each section will present
the bill to him and that at any moment
he may be drawn into the Irish mael-
strom. What they want to fight about
now he cannot imagine nor why all
cannot settle down and be friends. What
he does not quite realize is that Ireland
is and has been In the throes OF q
| revolution. and that once the founda-
tions Of social order have been tor 4
up 1t is impossible in any country to
have settled conditions.
II we suppose tina. General Smuts had
failed to put down the rising on the
Rand and 1t had spread to the veldt; II
it had reached the dimensions of ma
tional movement supported by labor
and hideous warfare had resulted in
conclusive In its results; IL, then. repre-
sentatives Of each side had agreed to n
peace not assented to by either the ir-
reconcilables or the secret agents be-
hind them, we can in some degree Wis.,
ualize the position in Ireland to-day.
Mr.. Griffith and Mr.. Collins have signed
an agreement but they have not been
able to secure its adoption by many Of
their recent associates, nor have they
apparently felt strong enough to Inn
pose their will on them or to control
their actions. To complicate matters
still further, though there is reason for
supposing that they personally and in
their more lucid moments would like
an agreement with Ulster, many Of their
associates are vehemently opposed to a
rapprochement. And Ulster. at first in
clned to friendly relations, is now sui
len and suspicious.
The best chance of a peaceful solu-
tion was in the ffrst flush of enthusiasm
to put the treaty before the Irish people.
Then the Provisional Government might
have been returned to power with suffi-
cient impetus to put down all opposi-
ton and to make fair terms with Ul-
ster. Now It appears that the issue OF
kt,o nrn 1x,;1l ha nj
wishes OF the people but by the gun
men, and at any moment there may be
further embodiment with Ulster.
It is easy to criticize Mr.. Collins and
to say that he should have taken a
much firmer line from the beginning. or
to argue that Mr.. Griffith. having for
hidden the convention In Dublin. should
have prevented it's meeting at all costs
How do we know whether this was pos
sible or what secret agencies he may
have had to consider? In the last thirty
years no Irish leader has had an abso-
lutely free hand, and, apart altogether
from their past. none have had more
difficult task than Mr.. Grifith and Mr..
Collins.
AS far as the English have been con-
cerned their chief hope during the re-
cent negotiations has been to end the
quarrel and to offer full partnership n
the Empire. In South Africar-though
here again the parallel must not be
forced--a similar policy of trust had
striking results; but there they had one
great advantage In that Botha and
SHUTS came loyalty in. No allies could
have been more faithful from the first
day until now. But In addition to fidei-
ity to their pledged word each was in
full sympathy with the effort to end the
racial quarrel. SO it was that during
the war when there was revival OF