MR. LLOYD GEORGE’S REPLY.

Taranaki Daily News, 16 August 1921, Page 5

MR. LLOYD GEORGE’S REPLY.

NO RIGHT TO SECESSION. FOREIGN ARBITRATION REFUSED. NO FURTHER CONCESSIONS. Received August 15, 5.5 p.m. London. August 14 Mr. Lloyd George’s reply expresses a desire to make the position absolutely clear. He says:— “In our opinion nothing can be gained by prolonging the discussion on the national status which you are willing to accept, compared with that of the self-governing Dominions. I must direct your attention to one point you emphasise on which no British Government can compromise, namely, the claim that we should acknowledge the right of Ireland to secede from her allegiance to the King. No such right can ever be acknowledged by us. The geographical propinquity of Ireland is a fundamental fact and the history of the two islands for many centuries, however it may be read, is sufficient proof that their destinies are indissolubly linked. Great numbers in all the Irish provinces are profoundly attached to the throne and these facts permit of one answer, and one only, to the claim that Britain should negotiate with Ireland as a separate and foreign power. “When you, as the chosen representative of Irish national ideals, came to speak I made one condition only, to the effect that Ireland should recognise the force of the geographical and historical facts. Those facts govern the problem of British and Irish relations. I pass, therefore, to the conditions imposed by these facts, but there is no need to restate them here, except to say that the British Government cannot consent to the reference of any such question which concerns Britain and Ireland alone to the arbitration of a foreign Power, “I am profoundly glad to have your agreement that Northern Ireland cannot be coerced. This point is of great importance, because the resolve of our people to resist to their full power any attempt at the secession of one part of Ireland carries of necessity an equal resolve to resist any effort to coerce any other part of Ireland to abandon its allegiance to the Crown. I gladly give the assurance that I will concur in any settlement which Sout ;- ern and Northern Ireland may /nake for Irish unity within the six conditions laid down. These condi t* gm q contain no derogation of Ireland’s status as a Dominion. There is no desire for British ascendancy and no impairment of Ireland’s national ideals, but they offer to the Irish people an opportunity such as never drawned before and are made in the earnest desire for peace; but beyond them I cannot go.”—-Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assifc