Let us look first at this matter of the Oath.
The Anglo-Irish Treaty maybe said to depend upon the Oath, for without those words embodying the Oath, which were contrived with extraordinary care and most fertile ingenuity, there could not have been a Treaty. Here are the words :- " I . . . do solemnly swear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of the Irish Free State as by law established and that I will be faithful to H.M. King George V., his heirs and successors by law, in virtue of the common citizenship of Ireland with Great Britain and her adherence to and membership of the group of nations forming the British Commonwealth of Nations."
Ever since December, 1922, when the Irish Free State Act was passed, Mr. De Valera—at least till last week— has denounced the Oath as an atrocious and humiliating instrument to which no decent Irish patriot could dream of setting his name. The basis of Mr. De Valera's Republicanism was, in brief, that there could be no pledge of fidelity in any shape or form to the King. Yet on Wednesday of last week, he and his party unanimously decided that they could take the Oath without any loss of self:respect and without committing themselves in any way since it was an " empty formula."
