Eire and the Enemy
Eire has kept within the letter of her strictly legal rights as a neutral in rejecting the request of the American Government that she should remove the diplomatic and consular representatives of Germany and japan, whose presence in Dublin, where they may acquire and transmit news of military importance, is a grave danger to the Allied cause. Her neutrality is helpful to the Axis, and the retention of its agents at this moment of projected invasion is, as Mr. Churchill described it on Tuesday, a "substantial dis- service to the Allied cause." The American and British Govern-
meats, however, are not resorting to sanctions or to any form of coercion ; but it is the absolute duty of this country to itself and its Allies to take every legitimate measure to minimise the dangers of Eire's hostile neutrality. The suspension of travel between Britain and Northern Ireland and Eire, announced on Sunday, was an obviously necessary measure, described by Mr. Churchill on Tuesday as the first step to isolate Southern Ireland from the outer world during the critical period now approaching. It should be followed by the closing of the frontier between North and South, in the interests of security, however inconvenient to the local in- habitants. This is all the more important in view of the under- ground activities of that strange product of fanaticism and gangsterism, the I.R.A., which has thought fit to declare war on Britain. During all the period of Mr. de Valera's cherished neutrality, so helpful to Germany, Eire has been protected, sustained and kept alive by Allied arms and ships, and has been treated with studied patience. Amends have indeed been made for ancient wrongs. Mr. de Valera is pursuing a dangerous policy in seeking to keep alive a bitter memory among his countrymen. That is his affair. Our business is to see to it that Eire's attitude does not cause a catastrophe to the Allied armies.
