Part 33 (2/2)

General Maurice, in wonderful article in New York _Tiue of Nations, says about Ireland: _Quote_ One obvious need to coether is that we should show that we knohat America did in the war, but there is another obvious need, which presents greater difficulties We ard to Ireland, which we can explain to the American people At present Ireland threatens to reopen all the rifts which co _End quote_

The New York Evening _Post_ of last night prints the following editorial:

_Quote_ Self-Governht and a necessity, and it is a satisfaction that once more a movement is under way for the establishic and history have deter with the other dominions under the British crown _End quote_

Frankly, this represents the opinion of the average ion The arrival of De Valera in A and the Republicans will take full advantage of it Now that the League of Nations is on its feet, we should take the lead in thisabout a real co that could happen I think that the situation in Africa, India, and the seriousness of the situation in Canada, will inevitably force England to consider these matters It is in anticipation of this that I a part in this situation

It would do , vital force in the affairs of the world There are no boundary lines between free peoples any ton

Paris, June 27, 1919

I entirely agree with the general tenor of your cable of the twenty- fifth about the Irish question and I firanized it will afford a foru the opinion of the world and of the United States in particular to bear on just such proble which lay close to Woodrow Wilson's heart was the setting up of the League of Nations Unless England and France should consent to the establishue as part of a world settleh the influence of world opinion was not in the reckoning The wise, prudent thing, therefore, to do was first to establish a world court before which the cause of any oppressed peoples ht This is just what he had inTo have thrust a settleround of the Peace Conference and to have made it a _sine qua non_ would have been futile and foolish and ht have resulted in disaster Unfortunately, the friends of Irish freedo well-consideredthe matter thrust into the early conferences at Paris The President knew that England would never consent to this and would resent any attempt on his part to carry out idea If the President had done so, England would undoubtedly have withdrawn froue of Nations, which formed the foundation stone upon which the Arone by the board The President was looking far beyond ato accoh the instruue of Nations

What would it have availed Ireland to have been granted Doovernrant there was set up an instru upon which the Peace Conference functioned was the settlement of the affairs of those nations affected by the war

Why didn't Wilson bring Ireland's cause to the attention of the Peace Conference? was the query which frequently reached us at the White House

The President in his Western speeches discussed thisway:

”It was not within the privilege of the Conference of peace to act upon the right of self-determination of any peoples except those which had been included in the territories of the defeated empires--that is to say, it was not then within their power--but the ue of Nations is adopted it becoht If the desire for self- determination of any people in the world is likely to affect the peace of the world or the good understanding between nations it becoht of any ue to call attention to it; it beco the whole process of the opinion of the world to bear upon that very matter

”Article XI is the favourite article in the Treaty so far as I am concerned It says that every matter which is likely to affect the peace of the world is everybody's business; that it shall be the friendly right of any nation to call attention of the League to anything that is likely to affect the peace of the world or the good understanding between nations, upon which the peace of the world depends, whether thatattention to it or not In other words, at present we have to mind our own business, under the rules of diploue of Nations we canthat affects the peace of the world, whether we are parties to it or not, can by our delegates be brought to the attention of lobe to bring to that bar ofthat is afoot in that part of the world which is likely to affect the good understanding between nations, and we can oblige them to show cause why it should not be remedied There is not an oppressed people in the world which cannot henceforth get a hearing at that foru willthat those doing injustice have most reason to dread is publicity and discussion At present what is the state of international law and understanding? No nation has the right to call attention to anything that does not directly affect its own affairs If it does, it cannot only be told to mind its own business, but it risks the cordial relationshi+p between itself and the nation whose affairs it draws under discussion; whereas, under Article XI, which I had the honour of advocating, the very sensible provision is made that the peace of the world transcends all the susceptibilities of nations and governed to consent to discuss and explain anything which does affect the good understanding between nations”

Sir Frederick Pollock, in his valuable work on the League of Nations, coe:

Various Irish writers, including some who deserve serious attention, have raised the question whether the standing probleue of Nations There is only one way in which this could happen--namely, that the Government of the United States should declare Irish-American sympathy with unsatisfied nationalist clai between Great Britain and the United States That is a possible event if a solution is not reached within a reasonable time, but it is more likely that a confidential intimation from the United States would not only precede a formal reference to the Council, but avoid the necessity for it

The friends of Ireland in this country have often asked me the question: ”Would Woodrow Wilson have intervened in behalf of Ireland?”

I can answer this question only by saying that Ireland has never had a truer friend than Woodrow Wilson From the day that ent to war it has been his steadfast purpose to induce the Governland to settle the Irish question justly and permanently His statesmanlike approach to a settlement of the problem is the only one that holds hope of success

As I coton newspaper apparently confir that by September, 1921, Mr De Valera had arrived at the sa that the British Governue of Nations as one of the guarantees of autono to be free in company with the rest of the world and in accordance with a neorld order which shall function through the machinery for justice and liberty which is provided for in the Covenant of the League of Nations, and is provided for nowhere else

CHAPTER XL

PROHIBITION

One of the things for which the Wilson Administration was held to ”strict accountability” was the passage of the Eighteenth A nation-wide prohibition

Unfair critics of the President, in their foolish atte in the eight years of Democratic control, had stated that the President was the real motive force that lay back of the hteenth Amendment as part of the funda the discussion of this amendment in the Senate and House, the President maintained toward it an attitude of absolute neutrality While he was an ardent advocate of te the ae of the Volstead Act, so extre way toward alienating the support of every te citizen in the country, and that certain of its provisions had struck at the foundation of our government by its arbitrary interference with personal liberty and freedohteenth Aainst abuses by the Arown out of the unorganized liquor traffic He felt that it was unreasonable for Congress, in the Volstead Act, to declare any beverage containing an excess of one half of one per cent of alcohol intoxicating and that to fra and non-intoxicating beverages within the saainst it He was of the opinion that it required no cohteenth Amendment in order to deal justly and fairly with the serious protests that followed the enactment into law of the Volstead Act He was, therefore, in favour of perovernht wines and beers, which action in his opinion would make it much easier to enforce the amendment in its essential particulars and would help to end the illicit traffic in liquor which the Volstead Act fostered by its very severity This would put back of the enforcehteenth Amendment the public sentiment always necessary to the execution of laws Satisfied with a reasonable recognition of their rights to personal liberty and control of their personal habits, he believed that the American people would be the readier to turn their attention to the grave issues of reconstruction and steadier inthese issues which would test to the utovernment