DE VALERA MAY GO.

Taranaki Daily News, 13 December 1921, Page 5

DE VALERA MAY GO.

SOLUTION FOR IRELAND. SUPPORT FOR MODERATES. ' BIG MAJORITY LIKELY, PEOPLE FAVOR TREATY. The Dail Eireann (Sinn Fein Parliament) will meet to-morrow, when the Irish Treaty will be accepted or rejected. Indications are that De Valera will be defeated and that his more moderate colleagues, headed by Mr. Michael Collins and Mr. Arthur Griffiths, supporters of the treaty, will gain a big majority. The tone of messages all parts of Ireland indicates favorable prospects for the treaty. Br Telegraph.—Press Assa.—Copyrftht. Received Dec. 12, 8.50 p.m. London, Dec. 12. It is believed in Dublin that Mr. Michael Collins and Mr. Arthur Griffiths (the leaders of the Sinn Fein delegation which negotiated the treaty) will command in the Dail Eireann a majority of eighty to forty. His keenest friends do not believe that Mr. De Valera can possibly carry the Dail Eireann. He has three alternatives: (1) To accept the treaty and become a simple member of the Dail Eireann, tacitly acknowledging the end of the short-lived republic; (2) to invite defeat and retire; (3) to lead the republican party in the same way as Mr. Hertaog does in South Africa. London, Dec. 11. The tone of mesdXges from all parts of Ireland, embracing divergent centres of sentiment, indicates favorable prospects for the treaty. Cardinal Logue’s summoning of the Catholic hierarchy on the eve of the meeting of Dail Eireann is regarded as a significant move to influence its decisions.

Mr. Stephen Gwynn, writing in the Observer, says de Valera does not represent the normal Irish mind. He reasons abstractly and his logic puts an end to bargaining, which the Irish like. The release of the prisoners mitigated the gloom which was caused by his surprising and unwelcome bombshell. Mr. Gwynn points to Bishop Fogarty’s letter in this connection, coming as it does from a most important bisttbprie, which covens de Valera’s constituency, a!=n the county in which the Irish Republican Army is strongest and best organised. Bishop Fogarty has hitherto been most outspoken in support of what Sinn Fein has done; now he comes out frankly for peace.

Mr. Gwynn adds: “It is doubtful if any bishop is, against acceptance.” The Sunday Times thinks that de Valera has not left himself a loophole of escape. Defeat will be a severe blow to his prestige, but he has placed himself in a position which will make it difficult for him with any show of consistency to co-operate with his quondam colleagues in the new regime. POLITICAL PRISONERS. EARLY RELEASE EXPECTED. Received Dec. 12, 8.50 pan. London, Dec. 11. The Daily Herald’s Dublin correspondent says he is convinced that political prisoners will be released soon. The Irish do not distinguish between internees and' those convicted by court-martial, and the Goyernment’f decision to release the latter will be taken as another token of the new relationship. EXTREMISTS IN AMERICA. Received Dec. 12, 10 p.m. New York, Dec. 12. The national convention of the Friends of Irish Freedom Society pledge a fund of 2,525,000 dollars to wage a campaign of propaganda against Britain in the United States and support the element of Ireland which strives for a free and independent Ireland having no connection with England. The convention condemned thesettiement, and called those involved in the Anglo-Irish pact traitors.—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn.