[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—I fear that in
the back of our minds most of us feel there may arise, out of the dispute over the frontier, another bloody war in Ireland. In that country experience shows that often the first we hear about war is that it has begun, and other effort is too late. If war comes we must side with our fellow British subjects in the North—or be for ever dis- graced. It would be a costly thing, but could not all our loyal British fellow subjects in the Free State be made secure ? Could not a great exchange of families and property, between non-loyalists in the North and loyalists in the South, be arranged by an International Board with power to com- pensate ; also to fix a definite frontier line? Costly yes, but if it would avoid war !
If the Irish Free State refused such an offer it would show a determination to dominate all Ireland, which, except in a state of madness, we could never agree to.—I am, Sir, &c.,
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