THE IRISH PROBLEM.

Hokitika Guardian, 22 December 1922, Page 2

THE IRISH PROBLEM.

At’KTHALIAN ANP N .<!. CABLE ASSOCIATION. republican' MANIFESTO. LONDON, Dec 19. -> “The Times” Dublin correspondent says the rebels have issued a manifesto* . which may be taken as a definition oflft their attitude towards peace proposals. It says:—“lreland never consent- , od to enter the British Empire, and never will. If De Valera had oeeiu listened to she would have had peacef*”) The road of freedom is easier than the road of slavery-’.’ ■ The manifesto concludes: —“We ardently desire peace and prosperity.” .ANOTHER. ASSASSINATION. .; j. LONDON December 20, Mr James Dwyer, a former member, of the Dnil Eireann, was shot dead while serving a customer in his provision shop in Dublin. Two men entered the shop, and asked if he were Dwyer. _ Directly the answer was given, one_ man drew a revolver and shot Dwyer through the heart. The assassin escaped through the streets crowded with Xmas shoppers. COSGRAVE’S ATTITUDE. LONDON, December 20. Air W. T. Cosgrnvc (President of tlio Free State Cabinet) in an article hi tin? “Daily Express” said:—“A small Armed faction, with the moral backing of less than two per cent of the population, deny the right of the Irish people to accept an equal status with the other members in the British Commonwealth of Free Nations, and are now trying to produce chaos by pillage. arson and assassination. Mr do Valera and his supporters say that “the . people have no right to do wrong,” abrogating to themselves the right of deciding what is wrong! For months we strove for peace, but our opponents were only emboldened by our restraint.” Alter giving in detail the Irregulars’ crimes in recent months, Mr Cosgrave concludes:—“lt is vital to the existence of the nation that the Government |and the Army Council shall show, in a plain and drastic way, that they are determined to safeguard the peopled Parliamentary representatives.”- The Irregulars’ leader, he said, liad been shot, not in any spirit of vindictiveness, not in hot blood, or even in .anger but as part of a definite policy of'counter action. “Tin? position in Ireland,” he adds, “may seem dark,' but tne clouds are breaking. The Free St-at«“" is firmly established.”