. PARTITION AND THE CROWN
SIR,—The question of the Crown is not the only fundamental issue between the two Irelands, but fundamental it is. In spite of the External Relations Act the Twenty-Six Counties do not accept the Crown sentimentally at all, and this fact is perhaps more important than any- thing written in a constitution. I do not say that this attitude is unchange- able, but it exists. The royalism of O'Connell is as obsolete as are the once republican tendencies of Belfast Presbyterians.
So far I come rather nearer to agreeing with Professor Savory than with Mr. Rawle Knox. But to Mr. Ainslie's question why Ireland should not be divided between two States one could reply by enumerating several strong, though not necessarily, from his point of view, decisive reasons. Perhaps, however, it will be more constructive to ask him on what principle the division should be carried out. Surely not by including so much territory in Northern Ireland that one-third of the population of the Six Counties is in a permanently disaffected frame of mind?—Yours
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