In this letter Mr. De Valera takes up again the
question of Ulster, and remarks that " the conditions sought to be imposed would divide Ireland into two artificial States each destructive of the other's influence in any common Council." But the partition, we must point out for perhaps the thousandth time, is not of the making of the British Government, but is the result of the division among the Irish people themselves. Mr. De Valera's last argument is that force will not solve the problem. " Threats of force must be set aside. They must be set aside from the beginning as well as during the actual conduct of the negotiations." Then he suggests, after all, continued negotia- tions. He says that he and his Sinn Fein colleagues are ready at once to appoint plenipotentiaries, but the respective pleni- potentiaries must' meet " untrammelled by any conditions save the facts themselves." There. must be only "a guiding principle" and in no ease a. resort to force. For his part he suggests that " government by the consent of the governed" should be the guiding principle.
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