29 APRIL 1938, Page 6

A remarkable evidence of the increasing liberalism of Mr. de

Valera's re'gime in Eire is the choice of Dr. Douglas Hyde as the first President of Eire and Mr. de Valera's personal nominations to the new Senate. Dr. Hyde is, of course, the greatest living authority on Erse and the man primarily responsible for its revival at the end of the last century when it seemed to be on the point of dying out. But he is also a Protestant, the son of a Protestant clergyman, and a graduate of Trinity College, which staunch Gaels and the Roman Catholic Bishops decry as the last outpost of political, cultural and religious heresy. He will make a much more impressive President than any politician, with the exception of Mr. de Valera himself, could have been. * * * *