Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1940-07-18
Censorship Of Press
Makes Irish Slow 10
Realize Nazi Menace
England Is Traditional
Enemy ond Change
Now Is Difficult
BY VIRGINIA COWLES.

DELI no , July 10 tN AN Abby
Radio The drive from Dublin to
Belfast Is only 8 miles, but the
transition is as complete as though
you we're travelling between two
widely divided nations.
You leave Dublin and its bright
lights to find yourself in a world
OF lazy, rolling fields, and then
reach Belfast with its lights BACKED
out and its streets resounding to
the rumbling of camou1aged trucks.
Until few weeks ago the people
OF the Irish Free State discussed
the war as though it were as re-
mote as China. Lately they have
been somewhat logged out OF their
complacency by the sudden warn
ings of their government, the calls
to store food, to evacuate their chill
dren to the country and to enlist
in local defense.
Even so, when this reporter ar
rived in Dublin more than one per-
son regarded me with mild sur
prise. why are journalists coming
to Dublin?" they asked anxiously.
us anything going to happen here?"
Press Strictly Censored.
This extraordinary detachment in
world that is only too unhappily
welded together by the mechanical
development of this century is due
In part to strict censorship of the
press. From the very start of the
war all newsreels, films, radio pro-
grams and magazines have been
carefully deleted of material which
might arouse the people into taking
sides. so that there has been little
war news of any kind.
Politically, the free state seems
to be in the bow and arrow stage.
While the civilized world is shaken
to its foundations by the onslaughts
from Nazi Germany, the major is
sues IN Ireland are still the CEN
turies-old struggles between Prot
estants and Catholics, Nationalist
and semi Nationalist, Unionists
and Partitionists. In view of the
decisive and terrible challenge
hanging over the whole of Europe
today, it seems comparable to
family so busy squabbling over the
arrangement of knickknacks in the
living room that they cannot seem
to notice that the house is burning
down.
1t is impossible to compare the
neutrality of the De Valera govern
ment with the neutrality of other
small countries which, one by one,
have fallen under the German ak.
Whereas the sympathies of these
small nations were with the Allies,
they chung to neutrality in the for
lorn hope it might prevent their
countries from being turned into
battlefields.
England Traditional Enemy.
This consideration, however, is not
the major concern of the Irish. The
deciding factor in their policy is
the fact that for TOO years the
political life of the country has been
directed against Great Britain and
they cannot bring themselves to re-
nounce the traditional enemy even
in the face of a far more dangerous
one. AS one Irishman put it, ut is
almost a question of sentiment"
But it was even more efficiently ex-
pressed by a member of the De
Valera government, who, when
asked whether he would prefer a
partitioned Ireland under England
or a united Ireland under Germany,
grinned and said. Il think what
most of us would like would be to see
England nearly beaten"
According to reports in Dublin,
Premier canon de Valera is fully
aware of the danger of attack from
Germany, but he is not strong
enough politically to ally his country
with the age-old enemy, England.
De Valeras statement last week to
the American press asking for the
end of partition was regarded even
in Dublin as slightly paradoxical.
The end Of partition would mean
the removal of British troops from
Northern Ireland, which would
leave the country completely open
and vulnerable to attack. If such
an offer were accepted, it Is believed
the Dublin government would be
most alarmed of all.
The Free State has only a few
airplanes and could scarcely place
more than one division against
Germany. The country's only hope,
and one which is freely admitted, is
that British troops can now be in
Dublin in two hours.