The first meeting of the new Dail was held in
Dublin on Tuesday. Mr. Cosgrave was elected President of the Executive Council by a majority of six votes. He is thus in a stronger position than he was in the last Dail but is, of course, far from having the strength he hoped to gain at the General Election. For the first time the Dail is a full house, as Mr. De Valera and his Republicans took the oath and were present. When taking the oath Mr. De Valera repeated his former explanation that he regarded it as an " empty formula." Thus the warning of the Hierarchy's recent Pastoral has been entirely ignored, and it is not thought that the Hierarchy will say anything more on the subject at present. The attend- ance of the Republicans at the Dail is, however, distinctly for the public good. Mr. De Valera will now be judged by his actions day by day instead of getting a kind of mystical importance attached to the wild and whirling words he projected from country meetings. _ .
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