A DEADLOCK

Taranaki Daily News, 29 August 1921, Page 5

A DEADLOCK

IRISH OUTLOOK GRAVE. SINN FEIN REJECTS TERMS. BRITAIN STANDS FIRM, NO MORE CONCESSIONS. The situation in Ireland is again critical. Sinn Fein has rejected Britain’s settlement terms, bringing about a deadlock which suggests that the'only issue remaining is a resumption of hostilities.

The British offer was rejected by a unanimous vote of the Dail Eireann (the Sinr. Fein Parliament). De Valera reiterates the demands for independence and the right of self-determination, adding: “It is the bedrock of the nation’s existence, and upon that rock we mean to stand.” In his reply Mr. Lloyd George emphasises that the proposals are the utmost that Britain can offer, and no further concessions will be made. He points out that the situation is dangerous.

DE VALERA’S REPLY,

RIGHTS OF SMALL NATIONS. SELF-DETERMINATION PLEA. WILL FIGHT IF NECESSARY. Ey Telegraph.—Tress Assn.—Copyright London, August 26. Official.—The Dail Eireann unanimously rejected Britain’s settlement terms.

De Valera, in his reply to Mr. Lloyd George, said:— “I laid your proposals before the Dai) Eireann, which, by a unanimous vote, rejected them. From your letter of August 13 it was clear that the principle we were asked to accept was that the geographical propinquity of Ireland to Britain imposed the condition of the sub ordination of Ireland’s rights to Britain’s strategic interests as she conceives them, and that the very length ard persistence of the efforts made in the past to compel Ireland to acquiesce in foreign domination imposed the acceptance of that domination now.

“We cannot believe that your Government intended to commit itself to the principle of sheer militarism, destructive of international morality and f.it&l to the world’s peace. If a small- nation’s right to independence is forfeit when a moye powerful neighbor covets its territory for the military or other advantages it is supposed to confer, there is an end to -iberty. No longer can any small nation claim the right to separate sovereign existence. Holland and Denmark can be made subservient to Germany, Belgium to Germany or i France, Portugal to Spain. If the nations that hare been forcibly annexed to empires have lost thereby the title to independence There can be no re-birth of freedom for them.

“In Ireland’s case, to speak of her seceding from a partnership she has not accepted, or from an allegiance she has not undertaken, is fundamentally false, just as the claim to subordinate her independence to British strategy is as fundamentally unjust. To neither can we betray our nation’s trust. If our refusal is to be made the issue for war, we deplore it. We are as conscious of our responsibility to the living as of our obligations to the heroic dead. We have not forgotten the war. nor do we seek it, but if war is made upon us we must defend ourselves. We are confident that, whether our defence is successful or unsuccessful, nobody representative of Irish men or women will ever propose to surrender the nation’s birthright. We long to end the conflict.

“If your Government be determined to impose its will by force and, antecedent to negotiation, to insist upon conditions involving the surrender of our whole national position and to make the negotiations a mockery, the responsibility for the continuance of the conflict rests upon you. On the basis of the broad guiding principle of government by the consent of the governed, peace can be secured, peace that will be just and honorable to all and fruitful of concord and enduring amity. To negotiate such a peace the Dail Eireann is ready to appoint representatives, and, if your Government accepts the principle, it is proposed to investthem with plenary powers to meet and arrange with you for its application in detail.”

OPINION IN AMERICA. IRISH URGED TO ACCEPT. FAIRNESS OF THE TERMS. Received August 28, 5.5 p.m. New York, August 27. The New York Times, editorially, remarks that any fanatic leader who now needlessly plunged Ireland into murderous warfare again would find it hard to maintain himself. It is this conviction, doubtless, which lies behind De Valera’s eagerness that the rejection of the British proposals should not be taken as final and the discussions should be continued. So long as they are there is hope of a settlemeatThe New York Evening Post says Mr. Lloyd George can justify action with argument. He offered the Irish even more than the recognition of the principle of government by consent of the governed. Even if the somewhat truculent beginning of De Valera’s reply were not eaten up by a mild conclusion it would be destroyed by its own lack of convincing logic. The British conditions cannot hamper the real destinies of the Irish.

The New York Tribune says the Irish reply is evasive and labored. It does not breathe sufficient conviction that a resumption of warfare would be a crime against civilisation and an affront to the hopes and judgment of the rest of the world. The British terms are libera!; can De Valera expect moro?~Au«.*N,Z. Cable