THE IRISH SENATE
[To the Editor of TIIE SPECTATOR] SIR,—The Spectator has always been fairer than other publi- cations in Great Britain in its attitude towards the Irish Free Stoic. I am, therefore, all the more surprised to read your extraordinary paragraph with regard to President de Valera's action in abolishing the Senate. It appears you must be suffering from some misunderstanding with reference to this question.
At the last General Election in January, 1938, one of the planks in the platform of the Fianna Fail Party was the Abolition of the Senate. Their election at that time was partly helped because of the action of the Senate in rejecting the Oath or Allegiance (Abolition) Bill. Since then the Senate has been very inconsistent in its attitude towards Government policy. In a previous administration (that of Mr. W. T. Cosgrave) the Senate passed, in the course of a few hours, every measure designed by Mr. Cosgrave to preserve public order. When president de Valera introduced a similar measure, namely the abolition of Political Uniforms, the Senate obstructed the wishes of the electorate, and members residing in England crossed over by boat in order to vote in the division. As has been known for a long time the fate of the Senate has been hanging in the balance. Already a Bill has passed all stages in the Dail to restrict its powers of veto for three months, and the President is only fulfilling his promise to the electors in making the latest
[The President has made many promises the fulfilment of which calls for criticism.—Ed. The Spectator.]
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