The papers of Wednesday published a statement by Mr. De
Valera in which he-said that "plain common sense "—his own description of the unreal phrases wherewith the Shin Fein rulers have so far avoided the issue—was to-day sneered at as rhetoric. British salesmen were trying to sell Irelandd-a second- rate political margarine instead of buttere and were angry because the butter label which they had put on and all the advertising stuff which they had printed about it were not accepted. He went on to say that the English Press wanted to know " whether the Irish had a will to peace." " Yes," was his answer, " we have, and an ardent desire. It is for that very reason that we refuse to see things other than as they are. rot us tear aside the camouflage and put away the hypocrisy. If England is issuing an ultimatum, let it be an ultimatum. Brute force, naked and unabashed, has been used-against small nations before." He ended his statement by saying that " Pitt's work must be scrapped " and the debris must be cleared away to find the foundation for the real natural union between Ireland and Great Britain..
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