Ireland We hear nothing of any movement towards negotiations or
conciliation between His Majesty's Governments in Great Britain and Southern Ireland, and we deeply regret it. (We cannot take very seriously the rumour that Mr. MacDonald has obtained from the Aga Khan the services of his Irish jockey as a political intermediary. Our high opinion of Mr. Beary's skill gives us no reason to believe that he is experienced in riding two horses at once.) The most important piece of news from Ireland is that the Army Comrades' Association in the Free State have announced that they intend to form a new force. Such a new " Guard," or whatever it calls itself, will be formed of men who have known discipline and took once an oath of loyalty to the King. They might there- fore have a steadying influence, although many- old soldiers of the Crown feel very bitterly the treatment that they have received in Southern Ireland since the War. But the principle is dangerous and wholly wrong. The Free State army is said so far to be unimpeachably loyal to the Government, Mr. Cosgrave's or Mr. de Valera's. The Irish Republican Army now has licence to parade and is feeling " cock-a-hoop." A third army within the State intensifies the nightmare that besets Southern Ireland, and the likelihood that passions will flare up disastrously.
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