STILL IRELAND’S PORTION.

Shannon News, 6 February 1923, Page 4

STILL IRELAND’S PORTION.

DE VALERA WILL CONTINUE; TO RESIST. f r ■ 1 V “FREE STATE IS DOOMED.” (Received Monday, 8.5 p.m.) LONDON, Feb. 4. Armed men on Saturday night visited Colonel Charles Guinness’ beautiful historic mansion, Cleremont Park. They allowed the household fifteen minutes to collect a . few small valuables, and placed the Colonel, his wife and servants under an armed guard, then sprinkled the house with petrol from, basement to rodf, and the building was quickly consumed. The damage is assessed at £IO,OOO. The Colonel is the. head of the Guinness family in Ireland, and a prominent Unionist. '' '

TREATY PEACE IMPOSSIBLE. l

INTERVIEW WITH REBEL LEADER.

LONDON, Feb. 4. “Peace,; based on the so-called Treaty is impossible. The Republicans W;ill never consent to surrender their national independence and sovereignty to threats. They will fight to the last against the recognition of a foreign authority, direct or indirect.” 1 This is the Considered opinion of ■ Mr de Valera, obtained by th* “Daily Mail’s” correspondent after a journey to Mr de Valera’s secret hiding place, the whereabouts of which he could not disclose if he would. All he knows is that it cannot be far from the heart of Dublin. . The car journey took barely half an hour from the rendezvous in one of Dublin’s busiest streets. The appointment resulted in the arrival of a car driven by a most charming young woman, who intimated that she was appointed to take the correspondent to meet “Mr Bourke.” The limousine twisted and turned in side streets, traversed strange thoroughfares, crossed the water twice, and drew up in a street of old and substantial houses.

The guide knocked with a peculiar ■ efnphasis on the door', which was open-' ed by a woman in evening dress, who led the visitor through a handsome hall up softly carpeted stairs to a ' drawing room, where he found Mr de Valera, who declared that the Irish Government “must be determined by the people and not dictated from outside. We are in arms now, resisting exactly what the nation resisted in 1919 to 1921. The only, difference is that England was then 'maintaining claims directly, now she is maintaining them through Irishmen. This is; a continuance of the . former fight,' against foreign aggression. Mr Lloyd i George and his colleagues bUllied tnet delegates into signing the Treaty. Remove the outside threats of .coercion;, and we could have peace: within a day, but if England . continues-; to refuse she cannot rid herself of the* responsibility. Mr Lloyd George played the part of a tyrant. If the Free? State ever functions, it will be over the bodies of the Republicans. England will have cause to regret the mistake. The new Ireland will remember her wrongs in the hour of England’s difficulty.” “The brother-who killed brother sooner than have a sister surrender,” said Mr de Valera, “will remember who caused him to .brand himself with the mark of Cain.” Mr de Valera declared that had he been in the position of the'Free Staters he would have drawn the line at war in order to compel acquiescence and would not have put to death men like Brugha, Boland, Childers, Mellowes, ' and O’Connor. He would have told. England that he had made a mad mistake and couiv* not do what he had thought could be done. ' The Republican Government, he said, was functioning. It was collecting -revenue and organising an army.. The Free State was doomed. It was. alive only in the cities and towns. Replying to a question'as to what: would happen if the Republicans triumphed, Mr de Valera stated that he: Hoped the Government of the Republic; would be wise enough not to be tempted into the path the Free Staters had! followed.

CROSS-CHANNEL CARLES CUT- , MANY IMPORTANT ARRESTS-/ : (Received Tuesday, 2 a.m.), LONDON, Feb. '4. The “Times”. Dublin correspondent - states that armed men shortly after dark raided a restaurant in 'Henry ; Street, the property of Senator WysePower, and ordered out the customers.. Then they sprinkled petrol, set the premises on fire, and escaped. The fire * was extinguished. Military activity is increasing. Thirty important arrests have been made, and large quantities of material and '. documents discovered. Two crossChannel cables have been cut. The summer residence of Senator - O’Sullivan, at Killarney, was burned, down. , ' . A number of postmen were held up’ l and robbed of their letters. A train was set on fire and wrecked.l at Killala, County Mayo, where railway station was destroyed.