Evening star., 1932-05-01
De Valera Runs Risks
In Fight Against Oath
BY A. G. GARDINER.

LONDON. April 30-The battle in
the Irish Dali on the bill to abolish the
cath to the King has opened unprom-
isingly for President Fam onn de Valera.
The inSistence of the Labor members
on the priority of the question of un-
employment, and the consequent defeat
of the government claim to the whole
time of the House for consideration of
the oath bill, is regarded as significant
of trouble ahead.
It is not clear whether the unexpected
revolt of the labor members foreshad-
owS an intention to vote in favor of
honoring the treaty with England If
so. the bill is doomed even in the Dali,
while its fate in the Senate is regarded
as assured.
The most constant supporters of Irish
freedom here regret De Valera's refusal
to submit the question of the oath to
negotiation. The Manchester Guardian,
and even the Spectator, expressed the
view that the desire of the country Is
so strong to preserve friendly co-opera-
ton with the Free State that no British
government woulc be unwilling to dis
cuss the oath, and even the payment Of
annuities, sympathetically.
X
But De Valera's doctrine that munic-
ipal law overrideS treaties, and that
the Dali can repeal or modify any arti-
Gle of a treaty without consultation
with the other signatory power, is dis
missed as destructive basis of inter-
national relationship. If the doctrine
is admitted. says the Spectator, the
treaties might as well be abandoned
forever.
The difficulty is that De Valera is
so entangled in mutually destructive
propositions that it is impossible to
understand his objective. He wishes
at one and the same time to exercise
the right to amend the treaty as he
thinks fit and yet act on the assump-
ton that relations between Ireland and
the other members of the British Com
monwealth remain undisturbed. He
announced on Wednesday that his
party is ready to lead the country in
setting up an independent republic.
Meanwhile he announces that the Free
State will be represented at the Ottawa
Conference in order to enjoy whatever
advantages the conference conferS on
states within the British Common
wealth.
De Valera cannot have it both ways,
and the plain issue is whether the
Free State chooses to remain a part
VI LA4C DllbASll SySLcLl VI OSCOIl6 dill
independent republic William T. Cos
grave, former President, put the case
clearly on Wednesday when he asked
whether, economically. Ireland had
more to gain from cultivation of friend
ly association with Britain than from
a breach of its honorable obligation.
For this De Valera's newspaper ac-
cuses CoSgrave of playing the British
game and betraying the national cause.
but The new statesman points out that
ireland has so much to gain from eco
nomic cooperation with this country
and so terribly much TO lose by refusing
to pay its recognized debts and cut
ting itself off from the English mar
ket, which absorbs more than three
fourths of its exports, that separation
would involve disaster
Other considerations pertinent to the
discussion are the position of the
large and influential Irish population
in Britain, threatened with the choice
of renouncing their nationality or be-
coming aliens, and the fatal effect Of
the De Valera policy upon the ultimate
hope of establishing a United Ireland,
for none regards the separation of Ul-
ster from the British Commonwealth
as within the realm of possibility.
The question is whether political
sentiment or economic realities will &C.
eide the issue. The decision is a mat
ter for Ireland.
mo EngliShman in these days" says
the Manchester Guardian, will inter-
vene in Irish politics. That is a habit
long since cured
IF Ireland wishes to leave the Com
monweath and become a separate re-
public" says the New Statesman, she
has a right to do so, but De Valera
must count the cost. Horace Plunket
once made the remark that Irish his
tory was a thing for Englishmen to
remember and Irishmen to forget. We
recommend that De Valera do a little
forgetting. Others will do their best
to make Englishmen remember"
(Copyright, 1921