The Birmingham age-herald., 1922-04-23
IRELAND |SST|LL BIGGEST PROBLEM
 OF GREAT BRITAIN
England Is Now Thinking More of Domestic Worries Than of RusSo-German
 Agreement
B. L. VIVIAN. jR.
By GEORGE N. BARNES Parliame ent Lender

 Special Wireless Dispatch to The Age Herald 1 Copyright, 1922. by Tho Age-Heraldi
 London, April 22.-With Ireland facing revolution and the provisional government unable decisively to as- sert it's authority, Great Britain to- day finds it impossible to become alarmed over the possibility that the Russo-German agreement at Genoa may presage a new cleavage in Eu- rope. Domestic affairs eclipse all others at this moment Our home difficulties and perils demand our first attention.
 DeValero himself Is Responsibility personified. In a nonsensically word ed manifesto, Issued last Sunday he tells the young men and women of Ireland that Ireland Is yours for the taking" Certain excited. excitable and immature persons are taking 1t. They take 1t in bits. One section under a Gen. Rory O'Connors, has l taken the law courts at Dublin. An other took Sligo and attempted to deny free speech there to Arthur Griffiths. An attempt has been made | to take some prisons and barracks. One armed party of youths tried to take Michael Collins, head of the gov- ernment.
 Life Disarranged
 The entire normal life of southern Ireland has been disarranged and its people subdued. The intention of the 1 insurgents, of course, is clear enough. They desire to prevent the people re- cording a free expression of opinion through the ballot boxes. Some of the actors in this pitiful drama have disclamed any connection with De- Valera. The truth seems to be that he has raised Frankenstein that he cannot control even if he tried and he has not tried.
 He confines to breathe defiance of all constituted authority and the ir- responsible. hot headed youth who have followed his advice have made no secret of their desire to commem- crate the 1916 Easter rebellions by repeating them.
 The rebellions are now not direct i ed against the brutal Saxons" but are against the responsible govern ment by representatives c, the Irish stalled in accordance with an agree ment made with the British govern ment by representative sof the Irish people. Nothing, indeed. would bet ter please the Saxon-brutal or not than to wash his hands of Ireland if he could. But he cannot do so either | with safety or honor.
 | Apart from strategic conditions and responsibility for the rights of peace l full people there are two external causes which have a direct bearing upon the present abnormal excitement in Ireland and which must be borne
 in mind by Great Britain. The first | is the undue emphasis which was | laid during the war upon the princi- 1 pie of elf-determinatton and the sec ond is the welter of guerilla warfare up to June last, with its repressions and reprisals for which the British government must bear al all events some of the responsibility. These have produced a mentality which un- doubtedly Is contributing to the pres sent trouble.
 Must Be Patient
 Great Britain must be patient even under perhaps greater provocation but when all Is said in extenuation. | the fact remains that the present conditions in Ireland brings to mind | some arresting reflections. Irishmen have been offered the opportunity to work out their own destiny as a free | state in a community of free states. They have been left meanwhile to govern themselves as they please and l to keep order 10 ensure free vote or all the people. The responses have been anarchy and murder. Ireland
 is a tragedy. The despair of lovers of liberty.
 | Great hopes were raised few
 weeks ago when, in response to an | invitation from London, Craig and Collins met with the government and agreed to a scheme for the suppress sion of crime in Belfast They were to set up committees of the two sec tions of the people to cooperate to- | eether for the purpose But there has been little if any improvement. The situation which has developed in Ireland as a whole is one which l must engage the attention of the | British government. Parliament now | is in Easter recess but before separat- | ing Winston Churchill repeated an as-
 surance which already had been given 1 that under no circ arstances would an Irish republic be tolerated. Much as the British people would like to | be relieved altogether of Ireland, and ! everything Irish. they would at the same time heartily support any steps which might be taken to support the | provisional government in getting free and independent expression or i the mind of the Irish people on the treaty, which I still believe would, ,n that event. be accepted.
 |
 nl AM NCI CDDATlnM