[7'o the Editor of the ScnerAron.] Sot, --The Government will
make a profound mistake if it attempts, by direct or indirect means, to compel the people of the Irish Free State to accept the Oath of Allegiance. The Irish settlement was never a good one. It lacked the spirit of surprising generosity. that characterized the South African settlement. It is very doubtful if Mr. Cosgrove and thoSe who were with him were enthusiastic about the settlement. I suggest that they accepted it reluctantly. That kind of settlement is of no real use to us.
We have far lesS to fear from an Ireland quite free than fmnt an Ireland partly, if not entirely, dissatisfied. In any ease, the last thing we should do is to work ourselves up into a state of artificial. indignation over this latest development of the Irish situation. If the Irish desire to leave OM Empire, let them go. Sentimentally they will lose•more- than we-Shall. On the trade side, we should be guided by collusion sense. Cutting off one's- nose to spite one's face is poor business. There- is more involved here than the comfort of the Free Staters. There is involved the question of self-determinatioh. If we acknowledge the freedem of the Irish Free Stat6t6do as site pleases, we have our hands free to insist on the same freedoin Ibr Ulster. Mi. de Valera's designS on U1Ster are pure Imperialism. Politically, world thought is moving in a new direction, and•wein this-wintry should not allow onnielveS tit become enmeshed In a Middle Ages tradition. ----I am, he., 75 SeymOur Street, Marble Arch, W. 2. ' '
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