Correspondence
[A LETTER FROII DUBLIN.] [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sia,—The conclusion of the Imperial Conference renders a few lines from the Irish Free State, perhaps, timely. The Conference has been followed—thanks to one Irish journalist's enterprise—with close interest in Ireland, and details of its procedure have been considered as heavy with significance for this country. The belief that much has been achieved for the strengthening of the Free State's position in the British market has created a very favourable impression. The advertisements' issued by the Empire Marketing Board, drawing the British consumer's attention to the claims of Irish dairy produce to voluntary preference, have been reprinted in the Irish Press, and have given great encourage- ment. I cannot remember a time when Ireland's interest in close commercial relations with Britain was so obviously appreciated on all hands. Never before, in my memory, was there a livelier sense of the economic possibilities of Anglo-Irish friendship.
Touching the political upshot of the Irish delegation's work, there is a feeling that the Free State has attained the recognition as a nation-State that its representatives sought. Many concessions have been made on points of procedure between Britain and the Free State which will gratify Irish Ministers' desires for the symboLs of independence. On the other hand, sober opinion recognizes that no real alteration in the relations of the two lands has taken place. Plus fa change plus c'est lu nghne chose.
The celebration of Armistice Day in Dublin was sadly misrepresented in many English papers. Tens of thousands of people took part in the commemoration, and the observance of the Silence at the Cenotaph was one of the most impressive sights that could be imagined. At the most, a few hundred —certainly not more than 500—young people took part in the attack on some of the groups returning from the Cenotaph. There was street fighting round about College Green—although never more than the police could control—and this com- paratively small blot upon the propriety of the day was reported as though it were the whole picture. I do not mean to suggest that the majority of the people threw themselves into the celebrations. Indeed, a Cork periodical points out that in the Southern city, where the ex-Service men paraded without interference, there was, nevertheless, not a single Union Jack to be seen. What I want to make clear is that the majority, all save a small wild element, behaved decently and respectfully towards the minority. Despite our different traditions and allegiances, we are getting on well with one another in our common country—although as yet we are not fusing.
The outbreak of armed raids is a very different matter. In recent months the police have secured information regarding the Irish Republican Army organization, and the raids—as those responsible announce in a Republican organ —have. been carried out as a warning to informers. The Volunteer organization, so far as it failed to go over to the Free State at the time of the Treaty, appears still to exist in a secret and attenuated form. Recently its leaders announced their severance from the political Republican party—for hitherto they had claimed to represent the army of a still existent Reimublic. -They stated that they had deeided to proceed at their own discretion, and thus the State is threatened (although not very seriously) by a declared revolutionary organization that is not controlled or influenced by any responsible political group. Raids by the Government forces now are the order of the day—and of the night—for the revolutionaries are " on the run."
Meanwhile, we move fast towards a General Election, and the raids have multiplied the Govenunent's assurance of return. The issues on which the election will turn are Protection and Compulsory Irish. Most of the oppition groups in Nationalist politics are in favour of high Protection; but the Government Party's views as yet arc not defined, and important interests supporting the Government urge the dropping of tariffs that create ill feeling in Britain. Some of the experimental tariffs have proved a sorry failure— that on imported furniture, for instance, although as drastic as could be desired, has yielded no results save higher prices. Others are claimed to have justified themselves. Thus, the tariff on footwear is thanked for a big Cork factory having doubled its output in two succeeding years, and it is said that present progress would enable the Free State factories to produce all the boots and shoes needed in rural Ireland in a few years more. It is hard to disentangle the economic from the psychological causes of rise and fall in Irish manu- factures. Certain it is that in shoes, woollens, hosiery, and many dress fabrics the Irish article, though dear, offers remarkable durability, and is conspicuously good value. On the other hand, the old-fashioned taste for strong tweeds and serges and the like has yielded place to a liking for smart ready-mades against which a tariff system works in vain. A return of Irish taste to its old standards would do more for the idle factories than any impost at the ports.
Representatives of the Church of Ireland have announced that the Protestant schools will be withdrawn from State control, even at the sacrifice of State subsidy, if the regulations making Irish a compulsory subject in 1928 are not withdrawn. As the position stands, no teacher unqualified for teaching Gaelic will be appointed to State-supported schools after next year. Protestant spokesmen take the position that Irish Protestants do not share the Celtic tradition of the Irish majority and cannot justly be compelled to teach a language foreign to their stock, and a literature in the snaking of which Protestantism had no part. It is impossible not to deplore the appearance of a fundamental racial, linguistic, and religious cleavage—the identification of the Protestant Church with the Anglo-Saxon Plantation—which thus arises. Many of .us had hoped to see a fusion instead of a conflict of traditions. It would be painful and tedious to go into the rights and wrongs of the question. Its immediate political interest is that it forces a dilemma upon the Government leaders. If Compulsory Irish is maintained, and Protestant schools are withdrawn, the Government Party will lose support on which it largely depends at the polling booths, and the financial assistance of the most substantial class in the country. If the Government gives way, on the other hand, it will suffer a split in its own ranks and will be attacked by the indignant forces of the Gaelic . League and other organizations of the sort, time assistance of which actually brought about the Revolution. At this stage it is impossible to foresee the outcome. During the coming two months the Government Party will have to make up its mind on the two vital questions of the hour.--I am, Sir, &c.,
YOUR DUBLIN CORRENPONDENT.
Previous page
