The Free State Dail has been dissolved and the General
Election is fixed for June 9th. It is impossible to pass over this moment without writing a small tribute to the persistence, courage and skill with which Mr. Cosgrove has managed affairs. At the last General Election the loyalty of the Free State troops was extremely doubtful and Republican bands were still roaming the country. Moreover, the country was threatened with bankruptcy. Mr. Cosgrave managed to reduce the armed forces without provoking a mutiny or coup d'etat. Then there was the boundary question which seemed insoluble. It was said that if Mr. Justice Feetham's Commission recommended a trifling correction of the boundary the Free State people would not accept it, but on the other hand, Northern Ireland threatened armed resistance to radical alteration.
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