A RECONCILED IRELAND

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 16, 19 January 1924, Page 6

A RECONCILED IRELAND

It is, perhapsj too much to expect that there will shortly be peace in Ireland, a complete reconciliation of North and South and the final and complete capitulation of the rebels. But if progress towards perfect peace continues at the recent rate, the more optimistic observers will soon be thinking that it is something more than a spell between., bouts, and that the fighting is really ended. The rebels appear to havo been vanquished. Of De Valera the most recent news is that he is still in prison, and had been forbidden by the Republican "Cabinet" to go on hunger-strike. Now we have Sir James Craig, Premier of Northern Ireland, making a most conciliatory speech in tKe County of Fermanagh, one of the, counties concerned in the boundary dispute. After commenting upon the way in which Southern Ireland was settling ■ down under its new Government, Sir James proceeded to remark upon the friendly feeling which he had observed between the two parties in Southern Ireland. It is true that he said he would not disband the Ulster special constabulary till ho was convinced that.all danger was gone, but his words suggested that he did not regard the remaining danger as great. All this is most promising, and if Southern Ireland responds to the invitation to friendship North and South should soon be: reconciled; and reconciliation must be effected before there can be any thought of union. The boundaries dispute still divides them, but according to at least one Southern Irish correspondent, who writes in the " New Statesman," this is a relatively minor issue,'and;may be reduced to its proper proportion if an effort is made to obtain a general understanding: Such an understanding would be promoted by the disbandment -of the special constabulary, and Sir James Craig's speech offers at least a prospect of that. . In November the Northern and Southern Governments accepted an invitation from Britain to confer upon the boundary issue. The first meeting was to have been held before Christmas, but apparently it has been postponed until''Britain decides her own political issues. Sir James Craig's speech certainly warrants the hope that when the conference is held it will meet in a favourable atmosphere.