Ireland
The impatiently awaited correspondence between IBS Majesty's Governments in London and Dublin Wee published on Monday. We have tried to show in a leading article that it reveals no new cause for alarm; and that the question of the Oath is one for the whole Empire ; it is not merely a dispute between the Mother country and Southern Ireland, but affects all the partners, who, with the Free State, have taken part in the Imperial Conference and have accepted the Statute of Westminster. The Oath of Allegiance set out that the Treaty of 1921, "to be taken by members of the Parliament Of the Irish Free State," is, as we regard it, and as Mr. de Valera evidently regards it, the symbol of membership in the Commonwealth of the British Empire. The abolition of the Oath in any of the Parliaments of the Dominions would mean resignation from that proud position. Probably Mr. de Valera is beginning to see the political and economic difficulties in which Southern Ireland would be involved by Secession, both internally and with the Mother country, and also with the Dominions over- seas. We hope that before the Ottawa Conference is held his dispatches and speeches will only be remembered as object-lessons of how a Dominion should not be represented. It is important that nothing should be said here to make difficulties with or for the loyal Irish.
* * * *
Previous page
