In the Public Eye

Evening Post, Volume CXIV, Issue 122, 19 November 1932, Page 23

In the Public Eye

."William,T. Cdsgrave is the realist of the Irish. Free State," wrote , an American journalist once,and it is true. Mr. Cosgrave, -with General Richard Mulcahy, carried oil after the' youthful general, "Mick" Collins, was killed by an Irregular's bullet ten years ago. Much.has, happened in Ireland since then', and' from'these many events the figure of;: Mr. Cosgrave emerges as a man of considerable stature. Complete unselfishness; devotion to his'country, and untiring .effort have marked this ■workaday philosopher who is destitute of theories but ever at grips with the facts. It is rather curious that Mr. Cosgrave should be the man ta save, the Tree State. ; Ireland's leaders have often: been1 men of emotional' instability, very different from the patient administrative type of a Cosgrave. He has little of that appeal which enables Mr. de "Valera to sway a crowd with a sweep *of his longj lean. arm. Some of the victories which Mr. Cosgrave has gained iii his electorate have been naTrow. • He is Tather an idealist, and in family and career he is the man of affairs. Before the fighting which led to the : formation of the Free State he was a greengrocer and licensed victualler. One of'his brothers-in-law was the-if-amous;'-'Bird ■'.' • Flanagan, known to 'ail Dublin; as "The Bird." And Mr. i-Cosgrave - himself contributed to the family name for waggishness. He -once rode on horseback to the Gresham •> Hotel and up a flight of stairs, and his ;!faydurite-trick was to- get a policeman ■ ' on suspicion^ of having! itftoleiTa ham." "When he was "29—23 ; years, ago—he was' a ■ member; of. the, ! Dublin Corporation, and by 1915 he was \ ; chairman.;' Of -its?,.. Finance Committee. Me bepamera lieutenant!of Xrish. ; yolun--I.'fever'' of nationalism ijbegaiitt'o; spread, and-hie fwas one of. the ioadersiof the. thousand,men,who took '"'lip'arms alj;Easter, 191 G. : ; He w.as. sen-Meneed.-tof.death by a British Court; but Jthe- sentence was- later commuted, to; lianlprl.asS.ment,.,and finally..he^was .re:l'eased^K He entered Parliament on the ;.-Sintt;aplein ticketjjwas-ar member ;< ; pf •tMrV^esXTTalera's"first '/Cabinet," and Vfhea-Collins and Griffith split" with ISlr^Jay^alera over the"-"" TSeatyy^SEv 1 Gqsgray.e .was one of its defenders. :iThen., came the sudden "death, of-the two, Treaty, leaders, ten days' apart, rand■": Mr.. Cosgrava was left with the "fight bnvjiis/hands.' ' " " .' " jprofessor dil Plessis. . . ■■•, ;; ; It Was f«ported "this; week that Professor duPlessis,/whose'encounter with the Dutch Reformed Church gained so -much publicity ,two years ago, had refused to resign :his-salary and- pension Sad.was being removed by the Church ■organisation. Professor, dv P.lessis. was ?the"h6lder.'of: a chairs at: Stellenboseh Theological South Africa, and he waJ'twice tried by the local pVesbytery on charges of heresy^ He ~'l7aa cQnyieted .and removed from .his , -poit in 1929,' but' last year he launched a' long; action against the Synod, contending that. the' ecclesiastical -court .lyhich removed him was nfrt-an impar.'tialb'oay'andihat in 1928, when , ttie. trial' against itlm.was pending, certain aesolntions affecting doctrine had been passed which showed'the prejudices of the^court. • .The Full Court heard the Sctioa in Cape Town ' and after fout-lays?-consideration of the case gave Verdict 'for the- professor on all ; points, This meant that he would. be able to ask, the " Supremo ' Court to deal with questions, ;of .doctrine ■in ■ a further action. - i.The professor then proceeded with has:":ease.: against ' the-. Synod. In this- action ,he defended the;. views for ;which he was tiled and convicted. ""The contents of the, Bible "aire ;not_ history, only, but partly fable,;" : he v- said. / "The- story, of the cremation •.is < treated as an. inspired allijgory, by mariyf.authbrities. The fall of niauylsi: explained, by Professor Orr as embracing an historical event in the fbrm-of^ an,allegory: belonging vto the early records of the human- Tace." T,hfese,-he held, were questions not' of {fegmatism^but.jDf exegesis, and the Keformed Church had always ruled that questions '-of -exegesis were free. ihe^Court: unanimously decided in his fayouir and pronounced, the. Synod disqualified 'to, hear the' case because dfthe prejudice it had Bhown.'■ Matters are now. back where they began. ioid Salisbury. The chairman of the British Committee which reported in favour of a y Eeheme for widening the basis of representation in the House of Lords was himself a Lord, the Marquess of Salisbury. He has held important positions in the Upper Chamber, having been Lord Privy Seal and Leader of the House in Mr. Baldwin's last administration. /;. Lord Salisbury, who was born in 1861, was in Parliament for a good iramber of years before he- received his first appointment, .during the Boer War, as Under-Secrotary for, Foreign Affairs,' He first entered the House in ISSS, when, he was known as Viscount Cranborne, representing the Darven Division of Lancashire for seven years, Vifter which he was member for Kochester for ten.years. He was Colonel cf tie Hertfordshire Volunteer Regiment arid the 4th Essex Regiment, and served for a time in South Africa during the. Boer War. In 1903 his father, the famous Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary, who gave him hisfixst political'appointment, died, and his son succeeded'him in the-House of Lords. His interest in church affairs is very keen, and" he has recently been a member ,of the National Assembly of. the Church, of England, while when he was a member of the House of Commons he was chairman of the Church Parliamentary Committee." He has held many Parliamentary offices, and was Lord Privy Seal from 1903 to 1905, President of the. Board -of Trade in 1905, and Lord President of the Council in 1922---2-23, during the same period being Chan-cellor-of the Duchy of Lancaster. In . 1887 Lord Salisbury married Lady Cicely Gore, a daughter of the Earl of -'. Arran, and they-have two sons and two daughters.

He ..was- 'christened /Edward de Valera, Taut the Gaelic revival transformed him into Earnon^ and that is the name, by which the world -knows him.1 The President of the Irish Free State is also- the leader .of the Fianna Fail, the Republican Party,.which, like so many other parties before it,'-is. discovering - that time .will produce organisations that stand farther to the Left..*. Mr.' de; Valeia's .appearance is familiar to' most people.' He is tall, ! gaunt, angular, with a mop of untidy hair. He possesses a voice which ?is j enriously. attractive at first but which j quickly becomes monotonous, its limit-1 ed range and uniform level of tone being a burden to the listener. Yet this | man, despite a series of events which would have wrecked the career of many another politician, retains his hold on authority in the Irish Free State. By what means is this accomplished? . Mr. de Valera's, secret is his personal magnetism. He draws people, to him and holds them. Yet it is significant that quite a number, of those closely associated with him in the past dislike him'and distrust him intensely. Sixteen years ago he was a professor of...mathematics:-in..a_.trainiug- college, employing his spare time in studying the Irish' language and "playing at soldiers' ' with the Irish .Volunteers. For a moment in the Easter of 191G that play became grim earnest, and as a Commandant -of -the insurgents, he rose from obscurity.., rJ?hq. execution o£.'s.b.me. ,0£,,.. the.; leaders .left him a prominent' , survivor, '.in' a . lost cause, and 'when"the .Sinn' Fein; 'movement swept tho'''cioiint;ryi.'MiI.' de Valera found' national-leadership thrust upon him.'- ■.He.;has. never forgotten this' and has never been1 willing1 to' relinquish the role; •:■ .■■ !■"■-.! ■:.'. Mr. 'de ;Valera sees himself as Ire-land's-man of destiny. ' He is, in his own. ■' eyes, /the Moses of the Irish race, conic ;to "lead the geople out of tie"'wilderness" of .'British rule .into tli'e promised' land •of a» free Ireland. He probably "'does: 'not hate' England, he merely considers.' her superfluous. -.Tfi'(£~Britisti : :ir6 U'egai-ds as" nnbelievers. Thus- he took himself very seriously during his term as President in 1918-21." Theie was no love lost between Mr. de Valera and Michael Collins in-those days. - When the 1921 Treaty was signed Mr. de Valera was .dumbfounded./ He repudiated the signatories as. false prophetsi and he set about to bring the people.back to their old allegianee-^tb himself." "When I want, to know ;what.the people want," he saidonce, '.'I look.intomy heart." It is this attitude which, has. enabled him to follow his path' to the present. He 'split the Irish organisations in Amerida,! Ke split the: 1.R.. A.,- ha split th-e Dail, he split ,Sinn Fein in. 1921, and ithen split, his own remnant' of it a few years later.. In due course, it 'seems, he will -plifc'Fiaiina Fail.Nadir Shah. Nadir Shah,'who rules over Afghanistan and who frustrated an. attempt 'against' his throne this week by .the execution of -the leader -of the plotters, was Selected to rule over lis State in November,. 1929. Nadir Shah is - a Barakzai, .descended: from Sultan Moham ed, .the. elder half-brother, of that vigorous -nonagenarian,; Dost Mohanied Khan, who made himself Ameer of Afghanistan in 1534.-and after being deposed in" favour of' Shah 'Shujah jin 1840, reconquered the whole kingdom piecemeal between 1842 and 1563. His "sister, the TJlja Janab. was the second wife of tliei old Ameer. Hababullah, who was assassinated in February,. 1919. Her only son,; half-brother to the deposed Kings,-, is Asadullah Khan Jan, who was- born in 1910, and was imprisoned for a".while at Kabul. Nadir Shah himself has been :Cpmmander-in-Chicf, Minister of War, and Afghan Minister in Paris in turn, and among his near kinsmen are Suleiman Jan, who was Governor of -Badakshan, Sher Ahed Khan, the President of the Shora or National Council, which ceased to exist when the modern regime collapsed, and three former members of the Cabinet. He gained a gieat advantage when ho secured the support of Sher Agha, brother of the Hazrat Sahib of , Shorbazar, who was principally instrumental in putting King Amanullahf'tp. flight by inciting the Ghilzais against him. When Amamillah fled a proclamation was issued stating: "Whoever strays from the path of Allah and does not obey the commandments of Islam is bound to suffer disgrace. King Anianullah forcibly used' the' income of the State for his personal ends. He excited Afghans against each other, shed the blood of his own brothers, and fled to Bombay." After this Nadir, Shah issued a proclamation to the effect that neither he nor his brothers would accept the throne of Afghanistan, even if offered by a united country, but he changed his mind. -. ■ He is a strong character, and when King Amanullah decided to make war ■against India, it was Nadir Khan (as he then', was) who led the forces itud might have made great inroads upon British territory had it-not been for the late General Dyer. Nadir Shah was originally very suspicious of the British, but this Campaign taught him great respect for British-arms, and his later visits to Europe appear to have cured him of any anti-British tendencies. --■•: