Partition

Page 1

"PARTITION." Issued by Government Publicity Department:- The Irregulars make propaganda of the following words which Archbishop Mannix is stated to have used in the course of an address in Australia:- "The English Government divided Ireland into two parts - a thing which they have no more right to do than I have to divide Australia." The Irregulars make use of these words as an argument against the Treaty. They refrain however from indicating that Mr. de Valera was aware of the "Ulster" clauses of the Treaty long before the Treaty was signed, and that he made no protest; that he had assured Mr. Lloyd George that force would not be used against "Ulster" in order to bring the Six Counties into a United Ireland; and that even the version of Document No. 2 which he exhibited for public inspection contained the following:- " . . . . . in order to make manifest our desire not to bring force of coercion to bear upon any substantial part of the Province of Ulster whose inhabitants may now be unwilling to accept the National Authority, we are prepared to grant to that portion of Ulster which is defined as Northern Ireland in the British Government of Ireland Act, 1920, privileges and safeguards NOT LESS substantial than those provided for in the 'Articles of Agreement for a Treaty between Great Britain and Ireland' signed in London on December 6th, 1921." Mr. de Valera has never informed the people of Ireland how he proposed to make Sir James Craig and Belfast recognise the authority of "the Republic" without the use of force. He should do this now. Otherwise it is clear that his propaganda on the subject of "Partition" is based on nothing but hypocrisy and insincerity.