Sir James Craig added that he was prepared, on behalf
of the people of Ulster, to enter again into that agree- ment. Provided that it was understood that the settle- ment was to be by agreement between the two peoples, he was ready to use the " whole of his weight and energy " in rearranging the boundary. Surely an offer which was good enough for Mr. Michael Collins is good enough now. On Tuesday in the Northern Parliament Sir James Craig definitely announced his refusal to appoint a member to the Commission. As we said last week, the Treaty contains no machinery whatever for imposing a settlement ; it provides only for mutual agree- ment. An imposed settlement would mean special legislation, and when the British Government had taken up the position of arbiter against the wishes of one part of Ireland—as would be bound to happen—the whole Irish trouble would begin over again, with Great Britain bearing the responsibility. We do not believe that Mr. MacDonald and his colleagues contemplate such madness. If it were proposed that Northern Ireland, contrary to the terms of the Treaty, was to be terri- torially reduced so far that life would become economi- cally impossible for her, the majority of the British people would have nothing to do with such an outrage. And yet if Northern Ireland were not thus reduced, most of the Free Staters—though not, we believe, Mr. Cosgrave himself—would not accept the verdict.
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