IRELAND

the first part of this article deals with the history of ireland from 1910 to the creation of the irish free state, while the second discusses its agricultural develop- ment. its history subsequent to that date is dealt with under ireland, northern; irish free state, i. political: history i rom i9g10 to the outbreak of war the vear rgro saw the opening of the most important period in the relations between great britain and ireland since the act of union. the relative strength of the two great english parties in parliament as the result of the general election in december made the liberal govt. dependent on the assured support of the irish nationalists; and this support could only be secured by a genuine effort to pass a ifome rule bill into law. nationalist sentiment was by no means universal. there was a formidable minority for the maintenance of the union. the line between nationalists and unionists coincided roughly with 516 the line between catholics and protestants, though a certain number of persons of either religion held the political views gen- erally identified with the other. the unionist minority existed in every part of ireland, but was more concentrated in the north. even in the unionist north there was a respectable nationalist minority in belfast, and in the predominantly union- ist counties of antrim, down, armagh and derry; in fermanagh and tyrone and in the city of derry unionists and nationalists divided the population; in donegal, ee ane one un- ionists were in a minority. “ all over ireland, but more suits’ in che out the politi- cal cleavage was deepened, and differences exasperated, by the difference in religion. in such circumstances it would not have been reasonable to expect a compromise on the political question; and the nationalist party as a whole hardly attempted to secure one, or to face the issue of the position of the unionist population under home rule. they seemed to expect that the minority, after violent protests, would accept a position which ‘they would be no longer able to alter. some of the nationalists, notably mr. william o'brien, saw the necessity of attempting to conciliate the minority; and the all for ireland league was inaugurated in cork on march 31 1910, its declared object being to combine “‘ all the elements of the irish population in a spirit of mutual tolerance and patriotic goodwill.” - the rise of sinn fein.—outside the nationalist party a small but earnest body of irishmen, led by mr. arthur grifhth, had been for a dozen years! declaring that the nationalist party was upon entirely wrong lines. their policy was to assert the posi- tion that ireland was a separate and independent kingdom united to great britain by only one link, that of the crown. they went further than the most advanced nationalists, and claimed for ireland in the united kingdom the same position that franz deak had claimed for hungary in the austro-hun- garian empire. this party, afterwards known as sinw feiit, had for vears insisted that the national movement should include all classes of irishmen; they recalled the fact that some great leaders of irish nationalism in the past, such as henry grattan, wolfe tone, robert emmet and charles stewart parnell, had been protestants, and tried to enlist protestant irishmen in a comprehensive national movement. ‘they repudiated and ridiculed the parliamentary policy of the nationalist party; they would have the irish members withdraw from westminster and «devote themselves to building up a national culture and economic life, and to developing irish industry and commerce, in the hope of ending the economic epprnceneo® of ireland upon great britain. this party, though more intellectually vigorous than the na- tionalist party, was small and without any very wide influence in roit. its importance lay in its almost fanatical earnestness and in the fact, not then apparent, that a revolution in the affairs of europe was at hand in which the most drastic constitutional changes would be regarded as almost normal occurrences. but while the sinn fein party proposed a peaceful, though extra- constitutional, policy for the immediate future, it did not refuse to contemplate the possibility that ireland, strengthened by years of perseverance, might in the end find herself strong enough to assert her freedom by force of arms. this brought it much nearer to the revolutionary elements in ireland than to the par- hamentarians. republican fecling was represented by the irish socialist republican party founded in dublin by james connolly in 1896. it was not till 1911 that this party became active in irish politics, but during the next few years its intluence through connolly’s paper, the workers’ republic, became more and more marked upon the republican side; and the irish transport and general workers union founded by him, though not professedly repub- lican, could always be depended on to cast its weight upon the side of the more “ advanced ” political parties. the ulster protest—during the year tort nationalist ire- land was practically undisturbed, but the northern unionists ‘mr. grifath’s paper, the united irishman, first appeared in 1899. the national council of sinn fein was founded in 1905. ireland were in a ferment of unrest and apprehension. the introduction of the home rule bill was imminent; and while nationalist ireland awaited events in comparative quiet, unionists were aware that, so far as parliament was concerned, their cause was lost. they were convinced that they had an unassailable case. they held that ireland as a whole had benefited by the union, and that in particular the industrial development of northern ireland had been made possible by it. they believed that a self- governing ireland would prove an irreconcilable enemy of the - british empire, and, by its hostility in the case of a future war, would menace the safety of great britain. ireland was, they argued, a strategic position which on naval and military grounds alike it would be madness to abandon. mr. john redmond’s prophecy that the grant of home rule would produce tn ireland a demonstration of “ imperial loyalty ” fell upon deaf cars, and it was not hard to produce statements of avery different tenour, not only from the acknowledged leaders of irish nationalism of a previous generation but even from other speeches of mr. redmond. finally, they raised the reli- gious objection to a parliament which would be composed mainly of roman catholics, and declared that they would never sit in it or submit to any laws which it might pass. their ideals as protestants differed essentially from those ideals which would command the respect of a parliament of irish catholics, and to force them to submit to the decrees of such a body would be tan- tamount to religious persecution.2, they refused to credit any assurances from any quarter designed to allay their apprehen- sions, and declared that, in spite of any legislation to the con- trary, they would retain the constitutional position in which they had stood for more than a century. the views of the irish unionists had often been proclaimed, but their complete sincerity was called in question. the rest of ireland had not forgotten the united irishmen, a body that arose and had its chief strength in northern ireland, and they could not believe that the interval that had elapsed since 1798 had completely extinguished in the north the love of independ- ence and the spirit of religious toleration which had once dis- tinguished the protestants of ulster. they hoped with some confidence that this spirit would revive or that at the least home rule would be accepted under protest. and the british govt. seemed to regard the often vehement defiance of their policy in irish unionist circles as but another example of hiber- nian hyperbole. on sept. 23 iori a great nignit demonstration of protest against home rule, said by the belfast newspapers to have been attended by 100,000 persons, was held at craigavon near bel- fast. it was addressed by sir edward (lord) carson, the leader of the irish unionist party. in the following week the ulster unionist council, strengthened by representatives of the union- ist clubs and the orange lodges, resolved to frame a constitu- tion and appoint a provisional govt. for the province of ulster, to come into operation when home rule should become the law of the land. this bold step aroused the govt. to a sense of the nature of the resistance they might expect, and carly in 1912 mr. winston churchill decided to explain at a public meeting in belfast the general principles underlying the government policy. the unionist party organisers in belfast decided that he should be prevented, by force if necessary, from speaking in the public hall which had been engaged for his meeting. no steps were taken by the govt. to meet the challenge, and their inaction was interpreted in belfast as weakness. mr. churchill spoke (feb. 8) under military protection, in a marquee erected on a football ground, and explained that any measure of home rule would be part of a general scheme of devolution, not in any sense inconsistent with the federation of the empire. but nothing he could then say would have had the least effect; he was mobbed on his way to the meeting, and had to slip out of the town the moment it was over. a month later the unionists 2 the quite recent promulgation of the ne tenzere decree in ire- land did much to harden the attitude of protestant unionists, being interpreted as an attempt to subordinate the law of the land to the decrees of the church. ireland held a great counter-demonstration at balmoral, a suburb of belfast, over which the protestant primate presided. it was addressed by sir edward carson and mr. bonar law, the latter of whom declared that protestant ulster formed a separate “nation” which it would be unjust to force into any political combination with the rest of the population of ireland. from this time on resistance to the home rule bill took more and more the form of the assertion of the distinct nationality of the ulster protestants, and it was this which finally led the ulster unionists to dissociate their cause from that of the southern unionists. home rule bill of rg12.—in april 1912 the home rule bill was introduced in the house of commons by mr. asquith. it proposed to establish in dublin a parliament strictly subordinate to westminster (a large number of services being reserved for the exclusive control of the british parliament); it did not con- fer upon ireland fiscal autonomy, nor did it propose to establish a separate irish treasury; and ireland was still to be represented in the imperial parliament as an integral part of the united kingdom. the bill was so far from an attempt to repeal the act of union, that it might have been expected to appease unionist opposition: but it was received with uncompromising hostility. no one in ireland was entirely satisfied, although a nationalist convention officially endorsed the bill as satisfactory on april 23. it was at best regarded as an instalment, while the extreme nationalists and the republicans denounced the accep- tance of it as a surrender of ireland’s national rights. an amend- ment to exclude the four counties of antrim, armagh, down and londonderry put forward on june tr was defeated, both the prime minister and mr. redmond declaring that ireland must be treated as a national unit; but the amendment was a sign of the direction in which ulster unionists were moving. the southern unionists, who would have been placed in a hopeless position by the acceptance of the amendment, or by any solution of the controversy along similar lines, continued to protest against any form of home rule; and english unionists in a great demonstration held at blenheim on july 27 pledged themselves through the mouth of mr. bonar law to an almost unconditional support of ulster in resisting the bill. fortified by this assurance the ulster unionists took still another step. on sept. 28, amid scenes of great enthusiasm, the “ ulster cove- nant’? was signed by large numbers, who pledged themselves to defend their political position by the use of any means which might be found necessary to defeat the imposition of home rule upon irish unionists. this pledge was at the time understood to be a pledge on the part of the ulster unionists to resist home rule for the whole of ireland. undeterred by the temper of ulster, and the opposition of the english unionist party, the govt. pressed on with their bill, its repeated rejection by the house of lords serving only to delay its final enactment. resistance of ulster—meanwhile the ulster unionists de- cided upon a final defiance. they had begun to form companies of volunteers, who were drilled and practised but not yet armed; and on sept. 25 1913 the ulster unionist council formally took upon itself the duties of a provisional govt. for ulster, and appointed sir edward carson as head of that government. gen. sir george richardson, an officer on the retired list, was appointed to command the volunteer force, which was formally inspected by the head of the provisional govt.; committees were formed to manage the various public services, posts, cus- toms, excise; and the administration of justice and even educa- tion were entrusted to the care of their special committees. ulster unionists drew a. distinction between loyalty to the crown and submission to parliament. in general they acknowl- edge both; as adherents of the act of union, they could not but admit the right of parliament to legislate for every part of the united kingdom. but they held that the imperial parliament could not, without the consent of the protestants of ulster, alter an act which had conferred upon them the position which by its terms they held in the united kingdom. if parliament passed an act giving home rule to ireland in any form which they did not approve, then their duty to submit to its decrees ceased to exist, and nothing remained but their loyalty to the king. when ot7 the royal assent to the act was given some persons declared that the king had taken a step which put his authority upon a level with that of parliament. but with the exception of mo- mentary outbursts, the ulster unionists protested their entire loyalty to the crown. this constitutional doctrine would be subjected to a delicate test if the king’s army were called upon to support the decrees of parliament, but it was hoped that the application of this test might be averted. the proceedings in ulster were not without effect on the rest of ireland. the parliamentary party and its supporters, with an easy optimism, assumed that the difficulty would settle itself, or that parliament would in the last resort assert its own authority by force. but some clements hostile to the parlia- mentary party held that what was happening was the just nemesis of the policy which, they asserted, had persistently ignored the duty of persuading the ulster protestants to accept home rule under safeguards for their special interests and guarantees for their special rights. nationalists of a more ad- vanced type saw in ulster’s passionate repudiation of the author- ity of parliament an assertion by a body of irishmen that irish- men had the right to the final decision of the terms upon which they would consent to be governed; and they were content to overlook the particular ground of the quarrel between ulster and parliament for the sake of the principle logically involved. the official nationalists were not aware of the complete sin- cerity of the vast majority of ulster unionists, nor did they attach enough weight to the formidable objections to any attempt on the part of parliament to enforce its authority; while the nationalists who applauded ulster overlooked the fact that ulster’s quarrel with parliament was due not so much to the proposal to govern them in a particular way as to the proposal to divest itself of part of the functions of governing them. the national volunteers —the example of ulster was con- tagious. on nov. 25 1913, at a meeting in the rotunda in dub- lin called by a provisional committee representing sinn fein, the irish republican brotherhood and the gaclic associations, it was decided to inaugurate the national volunteers “ to secure and maintain the rights and liberties common to all the people of ireland, without distinction of class, creed or politics.” this formula was a direct challenge to the ulster volunteers who held that, ireland having no separate political existence, there were no rights and liberties which ireland was specially called upon either to secure or maintain. the formation of the national volunteers was not at all palatable to the parlamentary party, who were still confident that parliament would give adequate protection to any rights and liberties that might be endangered. after the great strike which paralysed dublin during the autumn of 1913, the citizen army! began to be enroljed, with headquarters in liberty hall, the property of the irish trans- port and gencral workers union. though comparatively few in numbers, the citizen army, composed of men who with their families had suffered during the strike and were prepared to take great risks, played a very important part in later political developments. the govt. in ireland, now awake to the possibjlities of dis- turbance, proceeded to seize arms consigned either to dublin or belfast; and in december a proclamation was issued, in spite of the repeal of the arms act by parliament in 1910, prohibiting the importation of arms into ireland. the validity of the procla- mation was immediately challenged in belfast, and it was not until june 1s in the following year that the court of king’s bench in dublin ruled on appeal in favour of its validity. mean- while small consignments of arms were making their way into the country, and preparations were being made upon both sides for the wholesale purchase of arms on the continent. proposals for compromise.—a conference between represent- atives of the govt., the two irish leaders and the leader of the english unionist party led to no result, sir edward carson being now confident of his ability to beat the goyt., and mr. red- mond being unwilling to consider the exclusion of any part 'the character and aims of this body are set out in the citisen army by p. o’cathasaigh (dublin, 1919). 518 of ireland from the scope of the bill. the prime minister, how- ever, on march 9 1914, proposed a compromise of his own, that six counties of ulster should be excluded for five years, on the understanding that unless parliament, at the end of that time, should otherwise determine they should be included without further delay. both irish leaders publicly refused to consider the expedient, sir edward carson on the double ground that the security offered to his followers was insufiicient, and that he could not agree to abandon the unionists of the rest of ireland. after his speech in parliament he and the other irish unionist members withdrew from the h[ouse, and crossed to belfast, where he issued his final challenge to the govt.: ‘‘ give us a clean cut or come and fight us.’’ the policy of the “ clean cut ” thus became the official policy of the ulster unionists as offer- ing the best chance of success, but its acloption, nevertheless, was more or less a disappointment to irish unionists outside of ulster. . the curragh incident.—it was clear now that ulster unionists were prepared, if necessary, to resort to arms, and the govt. took measures to protect the military stores in ulster from being seized. on march 20 the attitude of the army was brought into sudden’ prominence by the ‘ curragh incident.’? gen. hubert gough, with a large number of the officers stationed at the curragh in co. kildare, on being asked whether if ordered to ulster they were prepared to go, replied by tendering their resignations, some of them (at least) on the ground that such a question should not have been put to an officer. their refusal, though their resignations were subsequently withdrawn as the result of mutual explanations, led the ulster volunteers to be- lieve that the army was with them, that it had yielded to the insistent appeals to refuse to be made the instrument of ‘* coerc- ing loyalists.” but the ulstermen did not relax their vigilance, or counter- mand their orders for arms, on that account; and on the night of april 24 there was landed, under the superintendence of the volunteers, at both sides of the mouth of belfast lough a con- signment of nearly 50,000 rifles and 3,000,000 rounds of ammuni- tion. the fact that the naval squadron, stationed at lamlash for the purpose of supporting the army in the event of a conflict in ulster, had not intercepted the vessel conveying the rifles was interpreted in belfast as an indication that the sympathies of the navy, as of the army, were with ulster. on june go 1914 mr. redmond identified himself formally with the volunteers already in existence in dublin and the south. the original committee, with some reluctance, for mr. redmond’s policy was increasingly divergent from their own, allowed him to nominate additional members of the committee. the national volunteers were still unarmed, but their arms were already on the way. meanwhile the home rule bill was nearing the end of its course. it passed its third reading on may 25 ro14. the govt. were considering an amending bill, as certain to be as strenu- ously opposed by the upper house as the bill which it was in- tended to amend; and as a last resort a conference was called by the king at buckingham palace to see whether some compromise could be arranged. after three days the conference broke up on july 24, each party adhering stoutly to its original position. two days later the national volunteers landed a consignment of arms at howth in broad daylight. the deputy commissioner of the dublin metropolitan police, hearing of the landing, called upon the military for assistance, and intercepted the voluntecrs who had superintended the landing as they marched back with their arms. after some parley, however, the details of which are uncertain, the volunteers were allowed to retain their arms, on condition of disbanding before they reached dublin, and the soldiers marched back to their barracks. on the way they were assaulted by a jeering mob, on which they turned and fired, killing three persons and wounding a considerable number. this occurrence caused a profound sensation. the govt. de- cided to dissociate itself from the dublin incident, and the assist- ant commissioner, whose zeal had brought it about, was eventu- ally dismissed on the ground that he had exceeded his authority. ireland the war period when a few days later war was declared against germany, mr. john redmond, in a moving speech in the house of com- mons, declared that all quarrels between great britain and ire- land were at an end, that ireland ranged herself on the side of iengland and her allies, that english troops might with safety be withdrawn from ireland, whose shores during the war would be “ defended by her armed sons.”’ his attitude aroused great en- thusiasm in england, but in ireland the response was less warm. on his own side the more advanced of his followers thought that he had failed in his duty to ireland by this unconditional dec- laration, and the northern unionists, though they received his words with respect, were inclined to wait before committing them- selves. it was not long before party passion was again aroused. the cabinet had to decide upon their policy with regard to home rule in the new circumstances. they chose to proceed as usual to the royal assent (sept. 1914), but of postponing the opera- tion of the act for a year (or to a date after the termination of the war to be fixed by order in council), with a promise to introduce, in the interests of ulster, an amending bill when the war should be over. their action was denounced by the unionist party both in england and in ireland as a breach of the war-time truce in party politics;in nationalist ireland the promise of an amending bill robbed the provisional enactment of home rule of much of its value. the members of the committee in control of the national volunteers divided into two sections, those in favour of mr. redmond’s policy and those who adhere to the original principles of the volunteers. the latter seceded and formed a distinct body, the irish volunteers, opposed to enlistment in the british army and to any compromise upon the principle of the unity and independence of ireland. but this party was in a minority, and the appeals of mr. redmond and the prime minister (who came to dublin to address a recruiting meeting) met with considerable success. southern unionists united cor- dially with irish nationalists in the efforts to enlist irish soldiers; many of the national volunteers joined the army, and it seemed as ii mr. redmond’s enthusiastic support of the allies was to prevail. in ulster recruiting was more successful. the ulster volun- teers did not (any more than the national volunteers) flock to the colours. they retained their arms, and they kept up their organisation. they found themselves faced by a double duty, that of protecting the empire and that of securing their own political position. the ulster division, formed out of those ulster volunteers who enlisted and other ulster recruits who did not join the irish regiments of the line, did not readily admit nationalists or catholics to its ranks; the ulster catholics who enlisted were as a rule sent south to join the division formed out of the nationalist recruits of the other three provinces; and sir edward carson refused to address a recruiting meeting in company with mr. redmond. during the year 1915 the ulster mills and shipyards were working at high pressure on govt. orders and the farmers were extremely prosperous. a period began in which constant em- ployment at good wages was open to the workers and large profits could be made by the manufacturing and commercial community. as the war progressed this tended to check re- cruiting for the army. in southern ireland recruiting was at first fairly satisfactory, though the percentage of able-bodied men who enlisted was not so high as in northern ireland, and agriculture began as in northern ireland to enter on a period of great prospcrity. | the political situation was peculiar. nationalists and union- ists in the south had sunk their old political difficulties in the task of inducing men to enlist, but their efforts were checked and in the end nullified from two opposite quarters. the war office in england made no concessions to the national feelings of the irish recruits, who desired to be allowed to carry the national colours on service and were refused permission to do so. difficul- ties were thrown in the way of the formation of an irish div. (though one was eventually formed), while the ulster div. was ireland said to be favoured by the authorities. the nationalist irishmen who volunteered for the army resented this the more because it seemed to imply that the national claim was to be ignored in spite of the service which mr. redmond'’s trustful policy had done to the cause of england. the easter rebellion.—the sinn fein party and the irish republican brotherhood had been long opposed to mr. redmond and his policy. the more belligerent spirits revived the old max- im that “ england’s difficulty was ireland’s opportunity,” and, pointing to the increasing difficulties of the allies, asked whether the time had not arrived for a vigorous attempt to secure what it might not soon again be possible to claim with such apparent hope of success. these arguments were enforced with growing boldness in a number of papers, sis fein, the workers’ re- public, irish freedom, eire and the trish volunteer. these were suppressed three months after war had broken out, and the im- portation of two american papers which proclaimed the same policy, the gaclic american and the irish world was prohibited. but other papers sprang up to take their place, such as sctssers and puste and nationality. pamphlets, some of them written with considerable ability, in favour of the same policy, were widely circulated. organisers formed branches of the irish volun- teers, spoke against recruiting, and spread the «dloctrines of sinn fein and the republican brotherhood. arms, ammunition and explosives were imported. the govt. arrested and deported some of the most active of these organisers and attempted, not always with success, to secure the punishment by the courts of men arrested on the charge of breaking the regulations made by the defence of the realm act, rorq. this party had agents and correspondents in the united states, and early in the war sir roger casement had gone to germany, with the knowledge of the irish republican leaders, to induce the german govt. to lend armed assistance in the event of an irish rising. most of these facts were known to the authorities, but the chief secretary, mistaking the significant for the accidental, took no drastic or immediate action. the vol- unteers drilled, paraded and practised war-like manocuvres under the eyes of the police. as early as may 1915 the project of an immediate rising had been discussed by the committee of the irish voluntcers, but it was not till the early part of 1916 that there was general agree- ment that the right moment had arrived. america was still neutral, and the friends of the volunteers there could assist them with comparative freedom. germany was, it is true, unwilling to send help in the shape of an invading force, as sir roger case- ment had requested, but was ready to send a vessel with warlike stores. it was hoped that sir roger casement would arrive with these late in the week preceding easter, and easter monday was fixed as the date for the rising. the volunteers throughout ire- land were ordered to be ready for a ‘‘ very interesting series of manoeuvres at easter.” the german vessel, the “ aud,” arrived with her stores, but sighting no signals from the land and being accosted by and requested to follow a british gunboat was scuttled by her crew. sir roger casement landed from a sub- marine on the kerry coast; but by mistaking their directions, the occupants of one of the two motor-cars told off to capture the submarine cable station at valentia drove into the sca and were drowned; no one met sir roger casement, who was captured by the police and hurried across ireland to prison in london. the news reached volunteer headquarters on the saturday before easter. the chairman of the committce, prof. john mac- neill, at once countermanded the order for the ‘‘ manoeuvres ”’ in dublin, and sent messengers to warn the country battalions. but a section had cletermined to persevere with their plans at all risks, and, without the knowledge of the chairman, attempted on easter monday to carry out their original design. on easter monday they proclaimed the irish republic. they seized the post office, the four courts, stephen’s green, boland’s mill and jacob’s biscuit factory, all strategical positions; they seized houses on both sides of the road in lower mount street, com- manding the route by which any troops summoned from england must have entered dublin. but they failed to secure two very im- 519 portant points, the castle and trinity college; and though they held the telegraph headquarters in the post office, they did net capture the telephone exchange. the authorities, civil and military, were for the moment para- lysed. so complete had been their confidence that the officers of the dublin garrison had been granted leave of absence to attend the fairyhouse races. but on the evening of easter tuesday april 25 1916, the first companies of the 178th infantry brigade landed at kingstown and fought their way past the fortified houses that lined their route. the light artillery shelled the post office, and on the evening of april 29 the volunteer stronghold surrendered unconditionally to sir john maxwell. outside dub- lin city there was practically no fighting. the rising was fore- doomed to failure; and there is some evidence to show that some of those who actually led it knew that this was so, and hoped for no more than that by the sacrifice of their lives they might, as other irishmen had done before them, furnish to their coun- trymen an cxample which would not be forgotten in other days. of the leaders 15 were tried by court-martial and shot, 160 prisoners were sent to penal servitude for various terms and 1,841 were deported to england and interned there. from the date of these executions sinn tein and the republican party began to acquire an iniluence and a following which in a short time made them the dominant factors in irish political life. mr. lloyd george’s conferences and the convention. early in june 1916, mr. lloyd george was entrusted with the task of making another attempt to settle the irish difficulty on the basis of the exclusion of six ulster counties. mr. redmond and. his party would have agreed to a temporary exclusion of them, pro- vided that the ilome rule act were put into immediate opera- tion in the rest of ireland; sir edward carson and his followers claimed that the exclusion should be definite and permanent. no agreement was reached,' and at the end of july mr. duke be- came chief secretary for ireland and sir james campbell, sir edward carson’s chief lieutenant, was appointed as irish at- torney-gencral. it seemed as if a stern policy of repression were in contemplation, but the new chief secretary was more inclined to conciliation. in dec. gen. maxwell, who had been in com- mand since easter, was recalled, and just before christmas 600 of the prisoners interned in england were released. the next vear (1917) saw a revival of the irrepressible national feeling of which sinn fein became more and more the authorita- tive exponent. in feb. the publication of the sinn fein paper nationality was resumed, and two by-elections in ireland in feb. and may resulted in the return of sinn fein candidates. a statement by the prime minister (now mr. lloyd george) in parliament on march 7, declining to consider any proposal for home rule which would place the ulster unionists under an irish parliament against their will may be taken as the final step in the process by which the irish nationalist party finally lost its influence both in parliament and in ireland. later in the month count george plunkett, the newly returned’ member for north roscommon, called a convention tn the mansion house, dublin, to inaugurate an executive for sinn fein; while in the middle of the following month the prime minister proposed to summon a convention representative of all shades of opinion in ireland, including even sinn fein, to draw up proposals for an irish settlement. mr. lloyd george’s proposal was accepted by all parties except sinn fein, who were offered a representation unequal to their importance in the country and whose principle—irish inde- pendence—would not have been even considered by the other parties. the ulster unionists, while sending delegates, insisted that they should have no power to agree to any proposal which 1 mr. redmond asserted that mr. lloyd george had led him to believe that the exclusion contemplated was only temporary; even on this understanding he had great difficulty in persuading his followers (especially in ulster) to agree to it. sir edward carson claimed that he had understood mr. lloyd george to offer perma- nent exclusion, the only basis upon which he would negotiate; he was strengthened in his position by the attitude of prominent members of the house of lords who, still opposed to home rule on principle, were likely to upset any arrangement with which the ulster union- ists were not satisfied. 520 had not been communicated to and endorsed by the ulster unionist council. as the prime minister had intimated that the govt. would not be bound by the findings of the convention unless there was ‘ substantial agreement ” the ulster unionists were thus in a position practically to veto any finding which was not theirown. on june rs, to provide an atmosphere of general goodwill for the convention, the remaining irish prisoners were released and returned to ireland. in july the vacancy in east clare, caused by the death in action of maj. willie redmond, resulted in the return of mr. de valera by an overwhelming majority. mr. de valera had been in command of a company ‘luring the easter rising in dublin and had just been released irom. prison. but in the autumn the atmosphere of goodwill was disturbed. the volunteers began again to drill and the govt. began again to arrest. and on aug. 15 the military raided the barracks of the national volunteers throughout the country and carried off their arms. this action, coupled with the complete immunity from disturbance enjoyed by the ulster volunteers, was signifi- cant. on oct. 25 sinn fein summoned a convention of its own, at which mr. de valera was elected president, in place of mr. arthur griffith, who had been till then the sole acknowledged, as he was still the ablest, leader in the party. the election indi- cated the final amalgamation of the sinn fein and the republi- can parties and the formal acknowledgment by sinn fein of the service done by the leaders of the easter rising. but the inex- perience of the new leader was, fortunately for sinn fein, still allied to the ripe wisdom and real ability of its older chief. mr. lloyd george’s convention reported on april 8 1918, but there was no “ substantial agreement.”’ it was decided therefore that the report furnished no basis for legislation and the situation in ircland remained where it was. but the cabinet had by this time decided upon the application of conscription to ireland. it was a most scrious decision. the parliamentary party joined with every other section of irish nationalist opinion in resistance to it, and the decision in con- sequence could not be enforced. mr. redmond did not live to sce this final collapse of all his efforts for peace between great britain and ireland, for he had died on march 6, the very day on which an irish district (the co. tipperary) had been named a “ special military area.”’ military rule in ireland—on may 1 mr. edward shortt succeeded mr. duke, the viceroy (lord wimborne) was replaced by lord french and the viceregal court was transformed into the headquarters of a military administration; at the same time sir james campbell was raised to the office of lord chancellor of ireland. the new administration began by arresting promi- nent sinn fein and republican leaders, and sinn fein, the re- publican brotherhood and their allied societies were “ pro- claimed.” conscription was not put into force; voluntary re- cruits, who were promised grants of land after the war, were called for in a viceregal proclamation and recruiting continued with some degree of success until the end of the war. at the general election of 1918, out of 106 members for irish constitu- encies, sinn fein returned 73, who immediately refused to take their seats in parliament, formed themselves into the assembly of ireland (deil eireann) and elected mr. de valera as president of the irish republic, with a number of ministers of departments, answerable to the dail. from this date until the conclusion of the anglo-irish treaty the history of ireland is the record of one long struggle between two forces, the british govt. in ireland relying upon the right of possession, the existing law and the troops, and dail eireann, claiming to be representative of ire- land’s right to freedom and adopting the usual methods of in- surgent peoples. from the armistice to the treaty during the year 1919, a large portion of the country was por- tioned off into “ special military areas.’’ the plan usually adopted was to proclaim any district in which an officer of the crown had been shot. but efforts were not wanting to bring about a peace- ful solution. the irish centre party, later changing its title to ireland that of the irish dominion league, in which the most prominent members were sir horace plunkett, gen. sir h. gough, capt. stephen gwynn and capt. henry harrison, endeavoured to press upon both english and irish opinion through their organ, the irish statesman, the necessity for a solution of the irish question along dominion lines. the republican party on their side endeavoured in vain to have the case of ireland brought before the peace conference by president wilson. this hope had finally to be abandoned when on mav 31 the american peace delegation in paris refused to receive the irish republican envoys. in march the govt. tried to placate irish opinion by relcasing their prisoners, and mr. de valera, who had succeeded in ieb. in escaping from lincoln jail, was able to proceed to america to put the case of ireland before american statesmen and the american public and to raise a republican loan in the united states. shortly after he left the policy of boycotting the families and dependents of the police began to be put into force with the object of bringing about whole- sale resignations from the police force. later in the year (on sept. 12) the govt. retaliated by proclaiming dail eireann as a dangerous association.’ this did little to ease the situation, and from the beginning of winter raids for arms, the burning of barracks and courthouses and the shooting of police became matters of weekly occurrence. the first ‘‘ reprisal ” took place on sept. 17, when the soldiers at fermoy wrecked the shops of tradesmen who, as members of a coroner’s jury, had brought in an open verdict in the inquest on a soldier who had been shot on leaving church by a number of armed men who deprived the church party of their arms. the last home rule bill—towards the end of the year the govt. introduced the last home rule bill, providing for two separate parliaments in ireland, one for six counties in ulster, the other for the rest of ireland; each parliament was to have control of the government of its own area, while customs and excise, the army and navy, foreign relations and the post office were reserved for the imperial parliament, ireland contributing as i1s share of the cost of their upkeep an annual sum of {£18,000,- ooo. ‘the act also contained provision for the amalgamation of the two parliaments by mutual consent. it fell far short of what the republicans claimed; it was regarded with dismay by those southern unionists who still wished to continue the fight against home rule and with still greater dismay by the unionists of the three ulster counties which were not to come under the northern parliament. the unionist party in the six counties agreed to accept it. repression in ireland, 1920.—by april the govt. had decided to make a final effort to suppress by force the republican party and its sympathisers. on the 4th of the month, sir hamar greenwood was appointed chief secretary for ireland, and the activitics of the “ black and ‘tans ” and the auxiliaries, under the control of maj. gen. sir henry tudor, began. in july gen. macready was appointed commander-in-chief in ireland with an army of 60,000 men under his control. but on may 4 the cor- poration of dublin formally acknowledged the authority of dail eireann, and its example was followed pretty generally through- out southern ireland. on may 19 the sinn fein courts began to function, and in a short time had replaced the king’s courts over a large area of ireland. the conflagration spread to the north; on aug. 8 the shooting of a district inspector of police in lisburn (co. antrim) was the signal for the burning by a protestant mob of the shops and houses of prominent catholics, and on sept. 25 the shooting of a detective in belfast led to similar excesses there. four days beiore this the town of balbriggan had been partially sacked as a reprisal for the shooting of two policemen in a public- house. during the course of the year reprisals of this kind took place in nearly 20 towns, culminating in the serious conflagration in cork on dec. 18. these reprisals, except in the cases of belfast and lisburn, were the work of the crown forces. but in the case of the “black and tans” and the auxiliaries, recruited among ex-service men, it had been understood from the first that they were to be allowed a considerable freedom. their excesses ireland became notorious; roaming the country, armed to the teeth, they terrorised the countryside. on the other side the irish republican army, moving about by night or in lonely places, sheltered and protected by the favour, and in some cases by the fear, of the inhabitants, layingambushes, shooting spies or persons believed to have furnished information to the crown forces, picking off small parties of their opponents, made life a nightmare to any members of the police and military who found themselves outside their barracks. both sides fired or threw bombs at the members of the other at sight, often in crowded streets, to the danger of the civilian population. one of the most horrible of the incidents of the struggle took place on the morning of nov. 21, when 21 officers were shot at an early hour in their lodgings, without opportunity of defence or escape. such was the condition of ireland when on dec. 23 the bill for the better government of ireland became an act of parliament. policy of reconciliation —but early in 1921 it became ap- parent that the true facts of the state of ireland could no longer be concealed. the tide of opinion in europe and america was beginning to set steadily against great britain. the policy of “‘ reprisals ” was checked and exchanged for one of “ official reprisals.” gen. macready issued an order that in future houses in the vicinity of an ambush laid for the troops, whose inhabit- ants might be presumed to have known of it and had not given information, were to be burned. but public opinion in england began to be roused. on april 21 lord fitzalan was appointed viceroy of ireland, the first catholic to hold the position, and so great was the uni- versal desire for peace that early in the following month sir james craig, who had sueceecled lord carson as the leader of the ulster unionists, held a conference with mr. de valera with a view to a settlement. during the same month, the elections for the two new parliaments were held. in southern ireland out of 128 seats, 124 fell to the republican party; in northern ireland out of 52 seats the unionists secured 40, the others being divided be- tween the nationalists and the republicans. in southern ire- land the republicans refused to acknowledge the new parliament which, in consequence, could not meet. on may 25 the customs house in dublin with all its records was burned to the ground by a party of the republican army, and on the following day the government resolved to send more troops to reinforce its army of occupation. meanwhile preparations went on for the formal inauguration of ilome rule in the six counties of northern ireland, which by the irony of fate were the first to accept a measure which a few years before they had repudiated with anger. on june 7 the northern parliament was opened by ‘the viceroy, and on june 22 the king and queen visited belfast, when his majesty address- ing the new parliament urged upon them and the rest of ireland the necessity for harmony and goodwill. but the govt. had re- solved to yield, and on july 8 at a conference in the dublin mansion house between gen. macready and the republican leaders and representatives of the southern unionists, invited by mr. de valera, a truce was signed by which the trial of strength which had lasted for so long was finally to be at an end. the irish treaty —the relief in southern ireland wasintense. it was hoped that the details of an agreement would be scttled at a conierence between the prime minister and the republican envoys: but after secing them on july 14, the prime minister had a meeting with sir james craig, who made it clear that the six counties would not under any circumstances agree to a union with the rest of ireland, though they would endeavour so far as possible to co-operate on a basis of mutual independence. mr. lloyd george thereupon offered the republican leaders for the 26 counties the status of a dominion with certain reservations, mainly with regard to the military, naval, fiscal and financial interests of great britain. on returning to ireland and consult- ing dail eireann and the exccutive of sinn fein, mr. de valera intimated to the prime minister, both on his own account and as the spokesman of the republican party, that these proposals could not be entertained, and to this decision, in spite of advice and threats, the party adhered firmly. 521 long negotiations followed, in which it seemed at every step that a break was inevitable; until finally on sept. 30 the re- publican leader accepted, with no other comment than the words “our respective positions have been stated and understood,” an invitation to send envoys to london “ with a view to ascer- taining how the association of ireland with the community of nations known as the british empire may best be reconciled with irish national aspirations.” the irish envoys were mr. arthur griffith, the founder of sinn fein, mr. michael collins, who had chiefly organised the military policy of the republicans and had been finance minister of dail eireann, mr. r. c. barton and mr. g. gavan duffy, with mr. erskine childers as their secre- tary; they met the prime minister, mr. a. chamberlain, mr. winston churchill, lord birkenhead, sir gordon hewart, sir l. worthington evans and sir hamar greenwood. after protracted discussions there was signed on dec. 6 a treaty by which ireland was accorded the constitutional status of a dominion; the right of northern ireland to intimate its de- sire to remain under the act of 1920, provided it did so within one month of the ratification of the treaty by parliament, being secured and provision made in that event for a commission finally to decide upon its boundaries. the new dominion was to have complete fiscal) autonomy, the right, within certain limits, to maintain an army and was to have its financial obligations to great britain regulated by mutual agreement or arbitration. the treaty was ratified by the british parliament on dec. 16. it was not till jan. 7 that a debate, which had begun on dec. 14 in dail eireann, concluded by a division in favour of the treaty. mr. de valera, who disapproved of it, ceased to be president of dail eireann and his place was taken by mr. arthur griffith, mr. michael collins becoming head of the new provisional govt. appointed to carry the provisions of the treaty into etiect; and on jan. 16 1922, mr. collins formally took over from the viceroy dublin castle and all the offices of govt. in the name of the irish l'ree state. biptrography.—it is impossible to name all the books and pam- phiets which have appeared on the [irish history of the years 1911-22. current frish events may best be studied in the files of the leading irish newspapers, the frist times (unionist), the freeman's journal (nationalist) and the belfast newsletier (ulster unionist), the last named may be consulted for the manifestoes of the ulster unionist party and for the expression of the aims and feelings of the party. the sinn fein standpoint can best be studied tn its news- papers, mentioned in the preceding article, files of which are pre- served in the national library, dublin, and in its various pamphlets (to be found in the same library). the writings and pamphlets of patrick pearse, the intehectual author of the rising in 1916 and one of tts principal leaders, furnish the best key to an understanding of the motives which gave rise to it. “vhere are many official publica- tions which should also be consulted, such as the kepert of the koya! commission on the rebellion in ireland, cd. 8279 (1916); documents relative to the sinn hein afovement (1916); repert of the proceedings of the irish convention cd. gotg (1918), etc. on the conditions in ireland during 1920 and 1921 the anti-republican account is given in the sidunistvation af ireland in 1920 (1921) and ireland in rg2t (1922) by 1. o. (c. j. c. street) published by philip allan & co.; while the republican account may be studied in the files of the irish bulletin. these should be supplemented by the report of the labour commission to ireland (london, 1921) and fvrdence on conditions in ireland (american commission, washington, 1921). cr. mh) il. agricultural co-operation the main interest and importance of the co-operative move- ment in jreland since the beginning of the world war consists in the struggle of its promoters to preserve and develop it as the chicf agent for implementing a certain philosophy of rural! life and evolving an agricultural policy consonant therewith. the move- ment had been initiated a quarter of a century before the war by men who were not themselves farmers, and its inspiration has ever since come from practical idealists. these men realised that in a country depenclent upon a sound agricultural economy for the well-being of every section of the population, a technically educated and efliciently organised rural community was of the first importance. in countries highly industrialised, agriculture could be neg- lected without disaster; in a country predominantly agricultural 522 the efficient production and economical distribution of food was what mattered most. yet those who saw that these ends could best be obtained by the application of the co-operative principle and system to the occupation of farming were chielly concerned for the building of a rural civilisation which would provide intellectual interests and social amenities calculated to counter- act ‘‘ the lure of the city.” for the solution of the modern rural problem as they saw it, they invented the formula: “ better farming, better business, better living.’’ to use a new world phrase, the “ pivotal’ thing was better business and better business was co-operation. agricultural organisation society—the post-war civil dis- turbances in ireland might well have wrecked the movement. war prices and a demand which ignored quality had consider- ably demoralised the dairy societies. the movement was in no condition to meet the sudden decline in prices which set in in 1920-1. it became clear that its future success—perhaps even its survival—would depend upon the ability of the irish agri- cultural organisation society 10 continue its service as guide, philosopher and friend of the societies. this central body had always derived from the farmers it served and from philanthropic individuals a large part of its funds. in the circumstances of the country, these subscriptions were bound to fall off. while the development commission, which was authorised by its act to treat ‘‘ the organisation of co-operation ”’ as one of the ways of ‘* aiding and developing agriculture,” functioned in ireland it subsidised the i.a.o.s. for this purpose. under the anglo- irish treaty the commission transferred its functions and a prop- er proportion of its funds to the two irish governments. the i.a.0.s. had to be partitioned, an ulster a.o.s. being formed to operate in the six northeastern counties. the govt. of the irish free state has from year to year con- tinued the grants to the i.a.o.s. and for its first year the govt. of northern ireland continued it to that part of the organisation movement which came within its territory. this, however, was not renewed, and in northern ireland the movement in con- sequence had greatly to restrict its work. but that the farmers there have come to realise its value is evident from the fact that of its total funds in 1925 more than two-thirds came from so- cieties’ contributions, so that it was able to end the year without a deficit. the new free state govt. wished to reconstitute the agricul- tural policy of the country. this was to be expected in a land which, itself purely agricultural, had just obtained independence from a union of countries mainly industrial. the department was merged in a new ministry of lands and agriculture, and a commission on agriculture was set up which made many far- reaching recommendations, especially emphasing the importance of agricultural education and commending the development of co-operation as well as an increased subvention to the i.a.0.s. at present the ministry and the organisation society are engaged in negotiations pointing towards increased government aid. statistical position.—in the country signs are not lacking of a renewal of co-opcrative enterprise. the largest trade federation of the movement, the agricultural wholesale society, which made great progress in the more prosperous years, participated to the full in the country’s economic depression; but ‘“ irish co-operative meat, ltd.,’”’ established in 1920, with headquarters in waterford, is now preparing to work on a large scale. it was unable to function during the years of civil disorder, but has alreacly a membership of 5,793, with a share capital of some £175,000, of which {65,000 has been paid up, the source of the capital being farmers or farmers’ co-operative societies. the shipment of pigs was begun in 1925, and the society proposes shortly to deal weekly with roo cattle, 1,000 pigs, and to be able to cold store 200 tons of butter (or equiva- lent produce) at one time. the irish co-operative agency society, which markets the butter of the creameries, had in 1924 a trade turnover of £555,649, representing a quantity of butter only slightly exceeded by the years 1920 and 1922, the highest recorded. a further development took place in 1925. the credit socicties were doing a dwindling business, largely because the i.a.o.s. could not pay for propaganda and inspection, but the commission on agriculture had recommended that this aspect of co-operative business be specially endowed; two winters disastrous for farming (1923-4 and 1924-5) had resulted in severe losses of live stock through fluke, etc., and the dail of the free state, at the instance of ireland the minister for agriculture, passed a vote for loans not to exceed £100,000, for restocking of lands, to be advanced to credit socicties approved by the [. a. o. s., to whom the administration of the scheme was entrusted. thus were re-established satisfactory relations be- tween the state aid and the self help parts of a movement which may encourage other countries to adopt the device of an “ organisation socicty,’’ working in close co-ordination with the governmental de- partments of agriculture. there was, too, during the winter of 1925-6 a revival of energy among the dairying societies. the organisation of about 150,000 farmers (in a country containing about 4,250,000 people) into a movement whose aggregate business for the decade i914-23 (inclusive) was well over £80,000,000—to which creamcries contributed about one-half—is not an unimport- ant factor in irish economics. education.—the need of all co-operative movements 1s al- ways education, and the higher the development the greater js that need. the hampered condition of the central organisation society is probably the true cause of the halt of the movement as a whole. up to the present, the i.a.0o.s. has had to render many services, notably technical advice to creameries and other so- cieties, which the govt., through the ministry, are now rendering under the dairy produce act and the agricultural produce (eggs) act. to ensure the future of co-operation, technical in- struction in itself is not the chief desideratum. when it can leave that to the ministry, the organisation society will concen- trate on educating the farmers not only in credit and the tech- nique of co-operation, but in the co-operative spirit—without which loyalty and solidarity, essentials to success, must always be lacking. the standard of efficiency required of the modern farmer is only to be attained by an educated man. the govt. of northern ireland, like that of the irish free state, through its dept. of agriculture, enforces egg-grading; but the ulster organisation society, with an income of £913, 3s. 6d., cannot do the work necessary to educate the farmer up to a standard which the govt. can only punish him for failing to reach. the work, therefore, cannot be expected to show im- mediate spectacular results, but that, it must be understood, is as much due to the width of the aim as to the narrowness of the resources. and these two have another connection. to-day the central society’s funds are largely drawn from the fees the farm- ers will willingly pay it for technical instruction, which is not a co-operative but a manufacturing technique. when that func- tion is transferred to govt. and the organisation society is de- voted to its educational but less remunerative purposes, the farm- ers’ financial support will for some time be considerably lessened. nevertheless, the founders of the movement were convinced that nothing less than a continual extension of the study of the rural problem—the regarding of agriculture as an indusfry, as a business and as a life—could bring the country population even 1o the standard demanded under modern economic conditions. the next step, therefore, in this concerted advance was to gather and distribute knowledge of every side of agricultural co-opera- tive evolution the world over, and to provide a centre at which students and organisers could study and compare the progress of local developments. to provide this, the co-operative refer- ence library had been founded in dublin in 1913. one of the founders of the irish movement has endowed a trust (which the trustees christened the horace plunkett foundation) for the purpose of extencling the irish philosophy of rural life throughout the british commonwealth. : under its auspices there was convened at wembley in july 1924, a conference on agricultural co-operation in the british em- pire. the delegates, who were thoroughly representative of agriculture in this vast area, approved the irish policy, and called upon the foundation to establish an office in london to act asa clearing-house for the exchange of experiences and opinions of all organisations which were putting the co-operative principle into practice. this has been begun by opening a london centre which, when the carnegie united kingdom trust promised to defray the cost of maintenance, naturally offered hospitality to the co-operative reference library, an offer which the car- negie united kingdom trust approved. thus the foundation is in a favourable position to see that ireland is kept fully in- formed of the progress of similar movements in other countries. “ireland, northern brreciograpiy.—annual reports ef the irish agricultural organi- sation society from 1895 (dublin); herbert g. smith, the best methods of organisation for agricultural co-operation and credit, department of agriculture for ireland (1903); g. de k. kossilowski, la cooperation agricole en irlande (paris, 1906); reviual of agricul- ture in ireland: report of scottish agricultural commission (1906); ze, co-operation and nationality (dublin, 1912); co-operative credit movement, report of the departmental committee on a gri- cultural credit in ireland (cd. 7375); ed. e. lysaght, sir iorace plunkett and his place in the irish nation (dublin, 1916); l. smith-gordon and l. c. staples, rural reconstruction in ireland (1917); l. smith-gordon and cruise o’brien, co-operation in ire- land (manchester, 1920); 44, the national being: some thoughis on an irish polity (dublin, 1920). (ho) ireland, northern (see ireland, 14.742), a part of the united kingdom of great britain and ireland, with a certain measure of local self-government. the population at the census of rgii was 1,250,531; at the census of 1926 it was 1,255,881, an increase of 5,350. the population of belfast, the capital, in 1926 was 414,844. the area of 3,351,970 statute acres consists of the six counties of antrim, down, londonderry, armagh, ty- rone and fermanagh, and the county boroughs of belfast and londonderry. i. political and constitutional history under the govt. of ireland act, 1920, the lord lieutenant, in the name of the king, summons, prorogues and dissolves parliament. he gives and withholds the royal assent to bills passed by the senate and house of commons, subject to the following limitations:— (1) he shall comply with any instructions given by his majesty in respect of any such bill or order; and (2) he shall, if so directed by his majesty, reserve any such bill or order for the signification of his majesty’s pleasure, and a bill or order so reserved shall not have any force unless and until within one year from the day on which it was presented to the lord lieu- tenant for his majesty’s assent, the lord licutenant makes known that it has received his majesty’s assent. the senate consists of the lord mayor of belfast, the mayor of londonderry and 24 senators to be elected by the members of the house of commons; the house of commons consists of 52 members; 13 members are returned to represent northern ireland in the parliament of the united kingdom. the members of the house of commons are elected by the same electors and in the same manner as members returned by constituencies in northern ireland to serve in the parliament of the united kingdom, except that, in any contest election of the full number of members, the election is according to the principle of pro- portional representation, each elector having one transferable vote. all election laws relating at the time of the passing of the act to the commons house of parliament of the united king- dom and the members thereof were, so far as applicable and sub- ject to the provisions of the act, to extend to the house of com- mons of northern ireland. money bills can only originate in the house of commons and may not be amended by the senate. if the senate reject, or fail to pass, or pass with amendments to which the house of commons will not agree a public bill which is sent up to the senate at least one month before the end of the session, and if the house of commons in the next session again pass the bill, with or without any amendments which have been made or agreed to by the senate, and the senate reject or fail to pass it, or pass it with amendments to which the house of commons will not agree, provision is made for the holding of a joint session. subject to the provisions of the act, the parliament has power generally to make for the peace, order and good government of northern ireland, with the limitations that it shall not have power to make laws except in respect of matters exclusively relating to the portion of ireland within its jurisdiction. the crown, armed forces, defence of the realm, relations with foreign states and certain other matters were excluded from its power. the parliament cannot make laws interfering with religious equality, taking property without compensation, etc all executive power in northern ireland continued vested in the king, but exercised by the lord lieutenant or other chief executive officers for the time being appointed in his place. 923 certain taxes, such as customs and excise duties, were reserved to the imperial parliament; the postal service, post office sav- ings bank, etc., were reserved temporarily, pending the forma- tion of the proposed irish union. the act abolished the supreme court of jucicature for ireland, and established the supreme court of judicature of northern ireland, consisting of two divisions, the high court and the court of appeal. developments after 19g20—a proclamation was issued by the lord lieutenant of ireland (viscount fitzalan of derwent) on may 4 1921 summoning a parliament of northern ireland to meet in belfast on june 7 following. the election of members of the ilouse of commons was held on may 24, the unionists securing 40 seats to 6 nationalist and 6 sinn fein. fe lections for the senate were held on june 12, and 24 unionists were returned unopposed. the ulster unionist council had on feb. 4 unanimously elected sir james craig as leader of the party. the nationalist and sinn fein members did not attend the opening of parliament. the hon. hugh o’neill was elected as speaker of the ilouse of commons and the marquess of dufferin and ava as speaker of the senate. on june 22 parliament was formally opened by king george v. the first cabinet was constituted as follows:— prime minister, sir james craig. minister of finance, mr. h. m. pollock. minister of labour, mr. j. m. andrews. minister of home affairs, sir r. d. bates. minister of education, the marquess of londonderry. minister of agriculture and commerce, mr. e. m. archdale. sir james craig immediately made it clear that his policy was to preserve the existence of northern ireland as an integral part of the united kingdom, and, while willing to contemplate common action with southern ireland under the government of ireland act, to resist union with the rest of ireland in any system which would involve separation from great britain and the abandonment of the representation of northern ireland in the imperial parliament. the first task of the government was to restore internal order. political and religious antmosilics, to which unemployment aris- ing from post-war decline in trade and industry had added fuel, had been kindled to a dangerous heat. outbreaks of civil dis- order leading to murder and arson had taken place. the anti- british party in southern ireland had undoubtedly contributed to increase the difficulties of the government, presumably in the hopc of forcing an all-ireland form of government by making government under the act of 1920 impossible. however, the disruption of this political party, which followed upon the irish agreement of the winter of 1921-2, accompanicd as it was by an outbreak of civil war in southern ireland, actually eased the situation in northern ircland, as it caused the withdrawal of certain elements of disorder which had been organised and in- troduced from outside and which were now called off to take part in the quarrels of their leaders. after the setting up of the provisional govt. in southern ire- land, the royal irish constabulary was disbanded under the constabulary (ireland) act, 1922, which received the royal assent on aug. 4 1922 and modified the provisions of the govt. of ireland act by providing for the disbandment of the constabulary, in heu of the transfer to the govt. of northern ireland of the members of the forces serving in that area. before this disbandment was completed the parliament of northern ireland had established a new police force, the royal ulster constabulary, and a considerable proportion of dis- banded members of the royal insh constabulary reccived appointments in the new ulster force. a large body of auxiliary police was also organised and, thanks to vigorous measures both in and out of parliament, order was restored in a comparatively short time. the irish free state (agreement) act, 1922, affected northern ireland (although she was not a party to the agreement thereby given legislative sanction) in the following respects:— (a) it purported to give dominion status to ircland as a whole; (6) it put a stay upon the exercise of the powers of the parliament and govt. of the irish free state, as respects northern ireland, until the expiration of one month; 524 (c) it enabled northern ireland to vote herself out of the free state by means of an address presented to his majesty by both houses of parliament of northern ireland, before the expiration of the month above referred to, and it attached to the presentation of such an address the consequence that a commission was to be set up consisting of three members, one to be appointed by the govt. of the irish free state, one to be appointed by the govt. of northern ireland, and one (who was to be the chairman) to be appointed by the british govt., in order to ‘ determine in accordance with the wishes of the inhabitants, so far as may be compatible with economic and geographic conditions, the boundaries between northern lreland and the rest of ireland "; _(d) it expressly preserved the council of ireland and the irish free state representation thereon, whilst depriving the council of any powers in that state; and (e) it offered to northern ireland, as an alternative to going out of the free state, a continued existence under the govt. of treland act, subject to an overriding jurisdiction of the parliament and govt. of the irish free state, in all matters in respect of which legislative power is withheld from the parliament of northern ire- land under that act. the majority of the points in which the constitution of northern ireland was affected by the setting up of the irish free state received attention from the imperial legislature in the irish free state (consequential provisions) act, 1922, which came into force on the same day as the act providing for the northern ireland = ‘english miles ei - rathlin " wrish miles ih = fur 6 re ene ‘a ; ballycastle 4] sa . y 4 ffyts a \ i <— 74 rkmare——p——-1,_¢ 4° ls ics we. an fallymena ‘7 arne b— = lep scr avaiieyivgcctyn ¢ are r ws re eras ” “f= les ‘ age = ji roy wew towns lewart. 2s ce fantriny 3ecarrickfergu ald : —— —* 9 mf q ast & fas j | ‘dt oar! angor : ro ne white ade lbrighaclee— -. omag sm ns alia asa cy: r¢ ae: nf unpe ‘ton . \ehniskilign= 97n a 4 so rel 1 sbur4) ye z long. west of greanw free state constitution. this act contained various provisions which were to take effect in the event of northern ireland vot- ing herself out of the irish free state under article 12 of the original agreement. this voting out was immediately accom- plished, and thus authority was given for various constitutional changes. subject to the provisions of the first schedule (modi- fication of the govt. of ireland act, 1920, etc.) to the act, the govt. of ireland act was only to apply to northern ireland. this schedule provided for the appointment of a governor of northern lreland, and for the application of the provisions of the govt. of ireland act, 1920, with respect to the lord licutenant, to him. further references in any other enactment to the lord licutenant, were in their application to northern ireland, to be construed as references to the governor of northern ireland. a privy council of northern ireland was to be established and there was to be a great seal of northern ireland. on dec. 9 1922 the duke of abercorn was appointed governor of northern treland. during 1923, in spite of continued trouble with the free state over the failure to agree on the boundary question, northern ireland progressed. the most important legislative achieve- ment of the year was the education act, which came into operation, in the face of condiderable hostility, on oct. 1 1923. based largely on the recommendation of a committee of en- quiry appointed in 1921 under the chairmanship of sir r. lynn, ireland, northern m.p., the act marked a new departure in irish educational ad- ministration by establishing the principle of popular control. provision was made for the establishment of local education au- thorities, to be formed by the county borough councils and county councils, with power to appoint administrative sub-areas under regional committees. the fiscal separation from the irish free state, dating from april 1 1923, had an adverse effect on trade between northern and southern ireland owing to customs duties levied by the government of the irish free state on cer- tain goods crossing the land frontier. boundary question.—the chief obstacle to the development of better relations with the irish free state during the years 1923 and 1924 was the boundary question. the govt. of north- ern ireland declined to appoint a commissioner under article 12 of the irish free state (agreement) act, 1922, and, as a consequence of this refusal, the lrish free state (confirmation of agreement) act, 1924, was passed by the imperial govt., whereby, in the event of the continued refusal of the govt. of northern ireland to appoint a boundary commissioner, the power of appointment residing in that govt. was to be trans- ferred to, and exercised by, the british govt., any commissioner so appointed being deemed to be a commissioner appointed by the govt. of northern ireland. the british govt. and the govt. of the irish free state had, in the meantime, appointed as their respective commissioners, mr. richard feetham, a judge of the high court of the union of south africa, and prof. j. mcneill. upon the passing of the above act, the british govt. appointed mr. j. r. fisher, barrister-at-law, as the commissioner for northern ireland. the boundary commission occupied upwards of a year in visiting, and hearing evidence in, the various border districts in ireland, and in considering the information so obtained. in nov. 1925, on the eve of the promulgation of the report of the commission, the free state commissioner withdrew. <a conference was then held in london between the three govts. represented on the commission, and a further agreement was concluded on dec. 2 1925. by this agreement, the ireland (confirmation of agreement) act, 1925, the three govts. “being united in amity ” and “ being resolved mutually to aid one another in a spirit of neighbourly comradeship ”’ achieved at length the settlement which is sel out in article 1:— the powers conferred by the proviso to article 12 of the said articles of agreement on the commission therein mentioned are -hereby revoked, and the extent of northern ireland for the purposes of the govt. of ireland act, 1920, and of the said articles of agree- ment, shall be such as was fixed by sub-section (2) of section one of that act. the act also provided that april 1 1926 should be the date as from which the powers in relation to northern ireland, which by the govt. of ireland act, 1920,were made powers of the coun- cil of ireland, were to be transferred to the parliament and govt. of northern [reland. the constitution of northern ireland could not, before the consummation of this last agreement, have been described as being settled with finality. the establishment of a separate legislature has not led to a further differentiation of the law in northern ireland from that in other parts of the united kingdom, but to the assimilation of the jaws in northern ire- land to the law in great britain, and to the enlargement of the status of the subject in northern ireland to that of the subject in great britain. it is, perhaps, to this undertaking above all that the parliament of northern ireland, on a study of its stat- ute-book, will be found to have addressed itself with vigour from its earliest inception. (lo.) ii. financial and economic history finance.—the financial provisions of the govt. of ireland act, 1920, were necessarily of a very intricate and comprehen- sive character, as not only did that act completely overthrow the whole system of finance in force since the act of union of 1800, but went further and set up in ireland two exchequers, each under an entirely separate jurisdiction. subsequent events have considerably modified the operation of the 1920 act and it is therefore not necessary to deal in this article with ireland, northern northern ireland’s position as regards the irish free state but simply 10 consider the relationship which exists under the act between northern ireland and great britain, and the financial system which has been built up in ulster since 1921. the newly constituted state was not granted absolute finan- cial autonomy. the act of r920 contemplated two distinct classes of revenue, and two classes of expenditure, (1) purely local revenue and expenditure and (2) taxation and expendi- ture which by reason of the wider issues involved, should not be delegated to a subsidiary authority. under the first heading fall such duties as stamp dutics, death duties and licence duties, together with expenditure on services such as old age pensions, police, education, etc., while included in the second category are the more important duties of income tax and customs and excise, and expenditure on the higher administration of justice, the land commission and certain other services. revenue.—approximately 90% of the taxes are imposed and collected by the imperial government. in the year 1922-3 the revenue yielded by taxes under the control of the imperial govt. amounted to {10,700,000, while the ordinary ‘‘ transferred ” tax revenue amounted to £923,000. this revenue, alter deducting from it the cost of the various services reserved to the impcrial govt., together with ulster’s contribution towards imperial expenditure, is remitted to the exchequer of northern ireland, and is used in the ordinary way to meet expenditure on local services. as a further source of revenue to meet the “ addi- tional expense incidental to the severance of the two irish govts.,” it was provided that the produce of the land purchase annuities payable by those agricultural tenants who had bought out their holdings under the land purchase acts (and who had effected their purchases by the payment of annuities extending over a period of 65 years) should be transferred to the northern government. after making provisions for a sinking fund with the object of ensuring a permanent revenue from this service, these land annuities produce a net revenue of £550,000 which should be added to the figures given above. fiscal uniformity—the control by the imperial authority of the main sources of revenue requires almost complete fiscal uniformity between ulster and great britain, and necessarily ensures that the industrial and general economic policy of the province must,in practice, largely conform to that of the impcrial govt., not only in a local sense, but also as regards its commercial relations with foreign countries. hence no tariff barriers can be erected between northern ireland and great britain, and the normal flow of merchandise between the two areas has continued without the inconveniences and hindrances resulting from the imposition of customs duties. contribution to imperial expenditure ——the act of 1920 en- acted that the province should make a fixed statutory con- tribution to “ imperial ” services, but this proving unworkable, it was eventually agreed to set up an arbitration committee which, after sitting for two years and having heard expert evidence on both sides, issued its final award in march 1925, settling the principles upon which ulster’s contribution is in future to be assessed. in brief, the contribution will be the balance of revenue over expenditure; for the purpose of making this calculation the taxes over which ulster has control are to be presumed to raise a sum proportionate to the yield of similar taxes in britain; while on the expenditure side the province is allowed for development and social service a sum proportion- ate to the amounts required by britain for similar purposes. reduction in revenue.—the 'reductions in taxation made by the chancellor of the imperial exchequer from time to time in the inter- vening years between 1922 and 1925 have had their reaction on the revenucs of northern ireland resulting in an annual diminution in revenue of approximately £1,889,000. the severe depression in trade has also been responsible for a further diminution in revenue; the actual yield of the taxes levied in northern freland by the imperial govt. falling from £10,562,000 in 1922 to {8,217,000 in 1925. these reductions were naturally reflected in a corresponding decrease in the contribution which northern ireland was able to make towards the cost of imperial services. public debt unhappily the establishment of the government of northern ireland synchronised with the beginning of a period of profound commercial and industrial depression, with its natural 925 reaction on employment. the principal industries of the province— shipbuilding and the linen trade—sulfered to an unwonted degree, thus compelling the newly-formed government to finance the un- employment insurance fund to an extent quite disproportionate to that of great britain, whose varied industries scattered over a wide area ensure a greater degree of solvency for its insurance scheme. at the end of the financial year—1924-5—the accumulated deficit of the unemployment fund was approximately £2,300,000. capital funds,—on its establishment the government of northern ireland had received its apportioned share of the different capital funds previously sect up in ireland for administrative purposes, and including amongst others the church temporalities fund, teachers’ pension fund, development fund, etc. it had in addition created certain other capital and sinking funds. to a very considerable extent the requirements of the unemployment insurance fund and of local authorities and others to whom loans were made have been met by the temporary utilisation of this available capital. these sources were, however, insufficient to mect all the demands made on the government, anda public debt was therefore created by the issue of ulster savings certificates in april 1922, followed by an ulster loan stock issue of £2,000,000 in nov. 1925. the former issue, guaranteed by the british govt. and providing a remuncrative investment for savings, met with an immediate and sustained response throughout the province. by march 31 1925 a sum of {1,500,000 (after deduct- ing repayments) had been invested in this way. the proceeds of the ulster loan stock issue are available only for the purposes mentioned in the government loans and exchequer provisions act (n.1.) 1925, which do not include the making of advances to the unemployment fund. of the stock £1,000,000 was reserved for the investment of government funds, the remaining moiety being taken up by public subscription. the budget.—statistics regarding the public finances of northern jreland for the year ended march 31 1925 showed a total revenue, including post office receipts, of approximately £11,336,000; the total expenditure for the same pcriod amounted to £7,713,000, leaving a balance of revenue over expenditure of £3,623,000. of this £3,472,000 was contributed to great britain, leaving a net surplus of £151,000. production and industry.—agriculture is one of the principal industries of the country and large quantities of butter, eggs and gencral agricultural produce are exported to great britain. con- siderable quantities of flax are also grown and it is expected that the rescarch work now being undertaken in this branch of agriculture will not only improve the quality of the flax but will also greatly stimulate general interest in this product. during the post-war period the trade in live stock greatly in- creased. up to 1926 ulster had escaped the ravages of foot-and- mouth disease, and indeed was particularly free from outbreaks of animal diseases generally. during 1924 a total of 424,000 cattle, etc., were exported, chietly to great britain. the main industries of northern [ireland are the manufacture of linen, shipbuilding, engineering, rope making, and distilling. the linen industry normally employs directly or indirectly approxt- mately 120,000 workers. over 1,000,000 flax spindles are in use, representing one-third of the world's entire flax-spinning capacity; 40,000 looms are engaged in weaving. the major portion of the ship- building industry is located at belfast, where a large number of the world’s most famous vessels have been built, including the well- known “ titanic”? and “ olympic.”” during 1923, 12 mercantile steam vessels with a total tonnage of 75,782 were launched in the north irish yards. | _over 50 important firms are engaged in belfast and the immediate vicinity in the manufacture of textile machinery of all kinds; heating, ventilating and drying plants and almost every varicty of equipment for factories. {here are some 12 modern distilleries operating in ulster which together produced during the year ended march 31 1924 a total of 2,534,426 proof gallons of spirits. a number of other indus- tries are carried on. belfast possesses the largest ropeworks in the world, which employ over 3,500 persons and can produce 350 tons per week of all classes of ropes and twines. tobacco, soap, wool- len goods, felt and aerated waters are also manufactured. frade.—northern ireland carries on a very considerable export trade. statistics for 1923 show that the value of the exports for that year to great britain and foreign countries totalled £66,000,000, while the imports for the corresponding period amounted to £65,000,000., finance.—there are three banking companies having their head offices in northern ireland, viz.: the belfast, ulster and northern banks, in addition there are several other banks operating in ulster. the purely north trish banks have all a close working agree- ment with one of the feading english joint stock banks. the deposits in these three banks amounted in 1924 to over £ 48,000,000 while the advances of various descriptions totalled £31,000,000. in addition to these deposits the sums deposited in trustee and post ofhce savings banks amounted to almost {9,000,000 in 1924. on dec. 31 1924, there were approximately 1,350 living companies registered in northern ireland with a nominal capital of £71,000,000 and a subscribed capital of £59,000,000. ? ia analysis of the registered capital produces the following results: 526 banking, etc. : ; ‘ 2 . £11,000,000 brewing and distilling . : 2,250,000 shipbuilding : : ‘ : i 3,500,000 textile manufacturers ‘ : 21,000,000 engineering . ; ‘ : : f 10,000,000 others .. : ; i 2 ‘ ; . 13,250,000 £7 1,000,000 communications.—the principal ports of ulster are belfast, londonderry, coleraine and newry, while in addition there are royal harbours at donaghadee and ardglass. of these belfast is the most important. belfast harbour covers 2,287 acres and pos- sesses a total lincal quayage of 26,512 feet. there are in addition, five graving docks, the largest of which is 850 ft. long and 96 ft. wide at the entrance. during 1923 the number of vessels arriving at ports in northern ireland totalled 12,383 with an aggregate tonnage of 4,872,225. northern ireland is exceptionally well provided with roads and a very marked increase in the use of motor transport has been notice- able in the post-war period. there were altogether 12,892 m. of roads in 1925 consisting of:— main trunk roads and the more important inter-town routes , ‘ : , . 1,023 less important inter-town routes i,ile all other roads : . 10,758 12,892 there are seven private railway undertakings situated wholly in northern ireland and five others extending into the irish free state. the total mileage in northern ireland in 1925 was as follows: standard gauge 815 m., narrow gauge 301 miles. ‘the authorised capital of the railways wholly in ulster is £1,888,757 and of those partly in ulster and partly in the free state £11,141,356. the total receipts in 1923 amounted to {1,090,526 in the case of ulster rail- ways and £2,395,285 in respect of the others. (fh. mi. p.) binl1iography.—gort. of ireland act, 1920 [10 and 11 geo. 5, ch. 67]; journals of the house of commons of norihern ireland, 1021, journals of the senate of northern ireland, 1921, the public general acts of 1921-5 passed by the parliament of northern ireland (belfast, 1921, etc.); the belfast gasetie (1921, etc.); statutory rules and orders (h.m.s.o., london, 1921, etc.); anson's law and custom of the constitution, vol. 1—parliament, 5th ed. (oxford, 1922): irish free state constitution act, 1922 (session 2) [13 geo. 5, ch. 1]; irish free state (consequential provisions) act, 1922 [13 geo. 5, ch. 2, ses- sion 2]; constabulary (ireland) act, 1922 [12 and 13 geo. 5, ch. 55); standing orders of the senate and of the iiouse of commons relative to local bills, 1923; irish free state (confirmation of agreement) act, 1924 [14 and 15 geo. 5, ch. 41]; irish free state (agreement) act, 1922; report of the judicial committee of the privy council on ques- tions connected with the irish boundary commission (cmd. 2214 of 1924); irish free state and northern ireland. correspondence (and further correspondence) between his majesty's government and the governments of the irish free state and northern ireland relating to article 12 of the articles of agreement for a treaty between great britain and ireland (cmd. 2155 and 2166 of 1924); parliament of northern ireland, standing orders relating to public business. adopted by the iouse of commons, 1924; ireland (confirmation of agreement) act, 1925 [15 and 16 geo. 5, ch. 77]: ulster year book (1926). irish free state (saorstat erreann).—the irish free state, with the status of a british dominion, came officially into being on jan. 15 1922, when the irish peace agreement, signed in london on dec. 6 1921, by the british and irish delegations, already ratified by the british parliament on dec. 16, was adopted by a meeting of elected members of the parliament of southern treland convened by mr. arthur griffith. in 1923 the state was admitted a member of the league of nations. the new state is composed of 26 of the counties and four of the county boroughs of ireland, and is divided into 269 baronies, 2,165 civil parishes and 51,158 townlands. its area is 17,019,155 statute ac., and its estimated population in 1925 was 3,163,000. i. political history the treaty which led to the creation of the irish free state was concluded by the british govt. ‘with representatives of an irish govt. which great britain had never recognised. from jan. 191g, onwards, a large majority of the members of parliament elected for irish constituencies had styled themsclves daail eireann—the assembly of ireland—had declared the irish republic in existence and had chosen a president and ministers. in may 1921, when elections were held under the govern- ment of ireland act 1920, republican candidates were returned unopposed for all constituencies outside of northern ireland (except that of dublin university) and for several constituencies # irish free state in northern ireland. the irish war was then at its height; there was no civic life in the country and the members chosen were simply nominees of the republican govt., which was in effect a council of the republican army. this, the second daail, met for the first time after the truce at the dublin mansion house on aug. 16 1921. all its members took the oath to the republic. negotiations with great britain, at first conducted by e. de valera, were resumed by a delegation headed by arthur griffith, “ vice-president of the republic,” and michael collins, its minister of finance. great britain’s definite refusal to recognise an independent irish republic had been publicly repeated with emphasis. when the terms of the treaty were published on dec. 6 1921, mr, de valera’s announcement of his opposition came as a shock. in the dail's debate, prolonged until jan. 8 1922, it was generally admitted that the country at large was for acceptance. but some speakers declared that their oath bound them to the republic; some that the desire for acceptance was merely due to fear of re- newed war; some, that to compromise was dishonourable, and that the democracy had no right to do what was morally wrong. many who advocated acceptance made the suggestion that it was a step to the republic. the majority for acceptance was 64 to 57, and when mr. de valera resigned the presidency, griffith was clected only by two votes. the wording of the decision hardly accepted the facts of the situation; griffith was chosen president of the “irish republic.” phe provistonal government.—under article 17 of the treaty it was necessary to appoint a provisional government, and this was done at a meeting in which all mentbers elected for con- stituencies in southern ireland were summoned. opponents of the treaty absented themselves exactly as they had absented themselves from the british house of commons; but the four members for dublin university attended, and declared that they and those whom they represented were now “ on a common basis with other citizens of the free state” and could act whole-heartedly with them for the good of ireland. fight men were named members of the provisional government, collins being chairman. griffith remained outside it. so did gen. mulcahy, who had been chief of staff of the republican army and who now succeeded cathal brugha as minister for defence. in theory the army was still the army of the republic and the provisional govt. had no force at its disposal. the old constabulary was at once disbanded; it had since 1920 ceased to be in any true sense a police force. collins and his colleagues decided at once to form a new police, the civic guard, but it necessarily took time to organise, and its creators had de- cided in principle that it should be unarmed. british troops were rapidly evacuating the country, and those who had won the treaty felt it impossible to use support from this quarter. there was the irish army, now largely in uniform; but it soon became clear that the army was a source of danger. with the exception of collins, only one man in the provisional govt. was widely known in ireland. this was professor eein macneill, for many years vice-president of the gaelic league, who gained a new prominence at the close of 1913 as chief pro- moter of the irish volunteers and afterwards, from sept. 1916, as their chief of staff. of the others, mr. william cosgrave, minister for local govt., had been a prominent member of the dublin corporation from 1913 on, and in 1917 was returned as a sinn fein member of parliament. mr. duggan had been one of the signatories to the treaty. the others, mr. k. o’higgins, mr. j. magrath, mr. f. lynch and mr. p. j. hogan were still young men with their careers yet to come. mr. o’higgins has thus described the situation: ‘‘ the provisional govt. was simply cight young men in the city hall” (where they met at first) “ standing amidst the ruins of one administration, with the foundations of another not yet laid, and with wild men scream- ing through the keyhole.” collins, a man of immense resource and energy, sought to strengthen his position by the success which would have most appealed to popular sentiment—the reunion of ireland. under the treaty, if northern ireland consented, all powers retained in irish free state that province by the parliament at westminster would pass to the parliament of the free state. interviews with sir james craig, the ulster prime minister, were arranged. settlement was desirable for north as well as south, since in belfast there raged a murderous strife between catholic and protestant; but no accommodation proved possible. the birth of the free state was thus not unattended with difficulty. both griffith and collins desired a general declaration from the country by an election. but the republicans, knowing as well as they what the result would be, resisted this, and mr. de valera called instead, on feb. 21, a convention of delegates of the whole sinn fein organisation. at this meeting, collins, seeing that a vote would go against him, consented to delay the election for at least three months and not to hold it till the draft of a constitution, based on the treaty, had been published. there was some disorder. control of the republican move- ment did not rest with mr. de valera; a section of officers in the army, headed by mr. rory o’connor, who had directed en- gineering operations in the campaign of destruction during the guerrilla war, demanded the right to be consulted on the terms of any settlement. meetings of this body were held in express defiance of orders in dublin. mutinous action was taken at clonmel, where a store of arms was seized. this was followed by a sharper outbreak at limerick, where a body of troops occupied the barracks in the name of the republic. the officer commanding for the free state in the region was ready and anxious to act, but collins, desirous at all costs to avoid war, caused an accom- modation to be patched up. meanwhile, mr. de valera proclaimed at meetings that there was only one legitimate government in ireland—that of the republic. there was no law, and in parts of the south much violence was offered to protestants, nominally in reprisal for attacks on catholics in belfast, while raids across the border into the north intensified the danger of war. in march, sir henry wilson, who on retirement had entered parliament for an ulster seat, was put in charge of the ulster cdlefences, and organ- ised the whole protestant male population as an armed police. in southern ireland, the extremist republican party definitely desired renewal of war with england. they would stop at nothing in their efforts to smash the treaty and their armed bands still moved uncontrolled, levying toll from banks and commandecring motor-cars. it appeared from his public utterances that president griffith desired drastic action; but michael collins, the head of the provisional govt., whose personal hold was stronger still, com- promised, and on may 20 announced that he had reached agree- ment with mr. de valera. an election was to be held, but free staters and republicans were to put forward a joint panel of candidates, so arranged as to reproduce the distribution of views in the existing dail. after the election a coalition ministry was to be formed, giving mr. de valera four seats in nine. the result of the election was not to be considered as a vote on the treaty. appeal was made jointly that no other candidates be selected. but organised labour insisted on putting forward candidates, and other interests took courage to follow their example. michacl collins, at cork, publicly advised the people to vote as they chose. there resulted some appcarance of a free election in some constituencies, where the polling took place on june 16. thirty-four candidates not on the agreed panel were elected all supporting the treaty. the republican defeat was evident. civil war.—aggressive actions by the mutinous section of the army followed, and on june 22 sir henry wilson was murdered in london by two irishmen who had served in the british army. the british govt. made it clear that the free state must act. a definite cause of action was afforded when the mutinccrs captured in dublin the assistant chicf of staff of the free state army and held him as a hostage. on june 28 the four courts headquarters were summoned to surrender, and on refusal siege was laid. so the disturbance began. after eight days’ fighting—so local in character that the city’s ordinary life went on—the struggle in dublin was over. rory o’connor was cap- tured after he had blown up the four courts with all their 527 records. mr. de valera, who had joined the insurgents, escaped, but cathal brugha, after ordering his post to surrender, dashed out firing and was shot down. some districts of the country south and west was held by republicans. the government’s army had neither a trained staff nor a system of supply: it had to improvise. but it had a few field guns to which, when brought into action, no resistance was offered. it was able to enlist practically as many ex-soldiers as it chose, but it refused to accept the offered service of professional officers who had held high command. some ex-subalterns and company commanders, who had joined the i.r.a. in its fight against the british police, became generals. but the main suc- cesses in the field were due to gencral murphy, a county sur- veyor who had got a commission early in the world war and ended by commanding a brigade. to civil administration was now added military activity; five members of the government took rank as generals, and collins himself, flinging his whole energy into the struggle which he had so long sought to avoid became commander-in-chief. but on aug. 12 arthur griffith died suddenly. ten days later, on the g2nd, michael collins was killed in an ambush in the co. cork. thus the task of establishing the free state fell not to any man but to a group, representing a fraction of one section uf the irish people—the right wing of sinn fein. framing the constitution.—it was necessary under the treaty that the third dail should as a provisional parliament frame a constitution which should also be adopted by the british parlia- ment before dec. 6 1922. on sept. 9 it was possible to summon this body to meet in leinster house, the premises of the royal dublin society, which contained a fine semi-circular concert hall. in the newly built college of science, almost contiguous, the government had established their offices. the block of buildings was placed under guard. none but carefully scrutinised repre- sentatives of the press assisted at the nominally public debates. under these conditions the irish parliament and irish govt. opcrated for nearly a year. ministers lived as in a fortress. at the diil’s first meeting mr. cosgrave was elected president of the irish ree state and he assumed the ministry of finance. eleven ministers, proposed by him, were elected by the dail. the dail sat persistently to fulfilits task. the clauses of the con- stitution, which defined the relations between the irish free state and the british crown and imperial defence, had been settled in discussion between arthur griffith and the british govt., and to this extent freedom was limited. ministers had the task of persuading the dail to accept the limitation; they had also to put forward their own proposals for all that was left free. mr. cosgrave entrusted exposition and defence very largely to mr. kevin o'higgins, assisted by mr. ernest blythe, who had be- come the minister for local govt., and mr. hogan, minister for agriculture. for legal advice they depended on the attorney general, mr. itugh kennedy, who was not then a member of the dail. the only constitutional lawyer in the assembly was mr. gerald fitzgibbon, one of the four members for trinity college. ilis intervention in the debates was always received with great respect, and mr. cosgrave more than once recognised the steady goodwill of this little group of ex-unionists. the constitution followed extreme democratic lines. adult suffrage was adopted. but the political thought of the dail re- sented any departure from british models. ministers desired to introduce the swiss system of individual responsibility for minis- ters; acompromise was reached establishing one class of “extern ”’ ministers who should be nominated and appointed by the dail at large, holding office for the duration of parliament, and at the same time a statutory executive council of not less than five nor more than seven, which must include the president and the minister for finance. members of the executive council were vested with collective responsibility, and would fall as a body if the government failed to obtain the support of parliament while the “extern ’”’ ministers would remain in their posts. the referendum and power to initiate legislation by a popular vote were incorporated in the constitution, but without any sign of enthusiasm for these novelties. 528 the restoration of public order —the dail’s real importance was that it brought back to ireland some habit of public dis- cussion by its criticism of the action of the executive. from i919 onwards there had been a grave upsct to civic life. the civil courts did not sit outside of dublin; the press existed under a dual censorship—that of the british govt. and that of the i.r.a. the old police force had been transformed into an ir- regular military force when the free state came into being, for so long as open civil war could be said to exist the public and the parliament acquiesced in the fact of military rule. but by the end of sept. 1924 at latest, there were no formed forces of the irregulars in the field, and all towns were held for the govern- ment. demand began to be heard for courts to which men could bring their causes. but the essential was to restore order. prop- erty of all kinds was assailed. whole bands of men in the name of the republic were commandecring what they required. much private robbery followed. more serious than all, a trouble which had broken out in 1920, and had been repressed by sinn fein, now appeared again. the permanent land-hunger awoke, and even holdings which had been purchased under the land acts were invaded by rival claimants. courts were long in being framed, partly because the govt. sought to find competent magistrates able to use irish, which the constitution had declared to be the national language. the civic guard was being organised; but gunmen flouted, beat and in certain cases killed, members of this unarmed force. mr. o’higgins, minister for justice, however, stood resolutely to his principle: ireland must be taught to regard the police, not as the agents of an outside power, but as its own servants, needing and deserving public assistance. he took a long view, and the issue has justified it; but for immediate purposes this body was useless. the irregulars were adopting against the irish govt. those tactics which the i.r.a. had used to make british govt. impossible. the government on its side was driven like the british to enrol a large force of soldiers, which finally excceded 40,000. its recruits joined a force without tradition of discipline; indeed, at the outset it professed semi-officially to condemn the ceremonies of saluting and other formalities. such a force, hastily levied, with officers as untrained as the men, was not over trust- worthy, and did not always give satisfaction by its conduct to the public for whose protection it was raised. neither was ireland, at the close of a movement extending over more than 4o years, a country easily able to support govern- ment in the face of terrorism; and terror was applied. the min- istry was slow to counter this menace. trial by jury was futile in such a state of things. the gaols were crammed with prisoners, untried and unpunished. power to try and to punish most drastic- ally by court-martial was given by an act of the dail; yet till nov. fear of the irregulars was stronger than fear of the govt. throughout the country. at last a proclamation was posted an- nouncing that four men had been tried, convicted and executed— in each case for having a revolver without licence. in the follow- ing week seven men were sentenced, on precisely the same charge, to long terms of penal servitude. thus the right of government to deal at its will with persons in arms against the state had been asserted. but the irregular campaign of wreckage went on. more executions followed, among them that of erskine childers, who had been the most powerful influence over mr. de valera. there was no improvement perceptible by dec. 6,when the irish constitution was formally ratified by both parliaments. formal inauguration of the free state—immediately this ratification was complete, northern ireland notified the british govt., by address of both houses of parliament, that exercising its right under article 12 of the treaty, it refused to come under the free state, and desired to retain its position created by the act. the free state being now formally constituted as a “‘ do- minion,”’ sensation was created by the appointment (dec. 1922) of mr. t. m. healy, k.c.—so notable in the land war which preceded home rule—as its first governor-general. he was duly sworn in on dec. 7 by the new lord chief justice. next day, when the dail assembled to choose a senate, as provided by the constitution, president cosgrave announced that one irish free state member of the dail had been shot dead and another wounded on the way to the meeting. the man killed, general hales, was a popular hero of the guerrilla war, and next morning four of the leading irregulars who were in prison were shot without trial by way of reprisal. among them was mr. rory o’connor. all these had been arrested long before the proclamation of martial law. mr. fitzgibbon deplored the action. let the government ask for what powers they liked and he would support them, but iet them abide within their legal rights. general mulcahy’s justifi- cation of the step was not given till some months later, when he pointed out that no other member of the dail had been at- tacked. in fact, the counter-terror succeeded. it was largely carried out with the assistance of a criminal investigation de- partment, armed police operating in plain clothes, over whom, as representing cabinet responsibility, mr. joseph magrath, the minister for labour, presided. the activities of the free state government were thus as vigorous and drastic as those of the british police in sir hamar greenwood's regime, but there was this difference. the country might now be terrorised into silence by the irregulars, but it gave them no such willing support as it had given to the i.r.a. information came, surreptitiously but steadily, to the free state troops. further, in dublin, where courts were naw in session, jurics did their duty fearlessly. evacuation by the british military, which had been suspended in early summer when the worst dangers threatened, was now completed; the division, con- centrated near dublin, embarked in dec. 1922 among demon- strations of affectionate goodwill from the populace. in forming the senate, president cosgrave nominated one half of the 60 members; the dail elected the other 30. the president made good the promise given by president griffith to leading irish unionists that they should be generously treated; his nominations comprised several leading landlords and other prom- inent protestants. the senate when constituted chose as its chairman lord glenavy, who as sir james campbell had been sir edward carson’s chief lieutenant. no cleric of any denomination was included in the body. from the first, self-governing ireland ignored the power of the church. a few days after the provisional govt. assumed office, without any public announcement or legislative act, the two nominated boards which had controlled primary and secondary education were notified that they were dispensed with. this was the more significant, because the catholic hierarchy as well as the prot- estant churches were represented on both. thus, in the midst of revolution, education was taken out of the hands of the clergy, who had (by a series of compromises) indirectly controlled it under the british administration. there was not the least opposition to these steps. public criticism had virtually ceased to exist; the clergy were dumb as the laity, but all men doubted whether the new government could secure obedience. the most hopeful factor in the situation was that since the irregulars had been forced to concentrate their forces against the free state army, and provocation from them in ulster no longer afforded justification for outrageous attacks on catholics, sir james craig’s government had succeed- ed in establishing order, though under a strict military control. patrols of police enforced curfew all over the six counties. in the rest of ireland, the gravest danger was that forseen by michael collins when he pointed out that criminal folly might destroy “our belief in ourselves as a nation.” ‘there was an orgy of destruction, which almost paralysed communication by road and rail: houses were burnt or bombed by dozens, and the government, once started on their path of severities, pursued it ruthlessly. by the end of jan. executions had risen to 50, and the prisoners to ten thousand. no government could be popular under such conditions. yet signs of weakening began to show. by may 1923, mr. de valera called upon his followers to abandon hostilities and dump their arms in concealment. the sound of firing was no longer heard in the streets, and public meetings were once more held. when aug. brought the annual horse show, ministers were seen moving freely in the crowd. the resumption of normal civic life may be dated from this time. irish free state in april a marking fact had occurred: the free state, still maintaining and collecting the british system of taxes, found it necessary to set up a customs system at the ports and along the ulster border. the first object was merely ascertainment of revenue, but the machinery for a protective tariff existed. in june the minister for agriculture introduced a measure for the completion of land purchase, and this was carried through hastily. the third dail, which had passed the constitution, still ex- isted, but a general election on the new register with adult suffrage was demanded and it was fixed for the last days of august. the result of this trial of strength was curious. the government’s action had exposed it to much odium. some 10,000 prisoners were detained in gaol, mostly untried, and over 70 men had becn executed. yet president cosgrave, mr. o’iiggins and general mulcahy were each returned by huge majorities at the head of the group in which they stood. but mr. de valera also headed the poll in county clare (professor macneill being second on the list) and his deputy in county mayo defeated another minis- ter, and the republicans returned no jess than 44 members out of 128. government had inits own following less than half the dail. but the various groups of independents were notably increased. all these supported the treaty and the constitution. by oct. the new parliament was formally opened with a speech from the governor general. his predecessor, lord fitzalan, the last lord lieutenant, had given assent to the action of ministers while framing the constitution and crushing civil war. it was mr. healy’s lot to represent the crown during the reorganisation. lhe new government—lireland’s accession to her new status was practically signified on sept. 10 1923 when her representatives took their place with acclamation in the council of the league of nations. a month later mr. cosgrave attended the dominion conference in london, where he was warmly welcomed. at home the executive council was for the first time constituted, con- sisting of seven. four other ministers were chosen as “ extern,” having individual, not collective, responsibility. ‘these included the postmaster general and the ministers for agriculture, for fisheries and for local government. the last post was vacated by mr. ernest blythe, who now became minister for finance. his successor, mr. burke, was little known. the new minister for finance had at once to face a serious situation. it had become clear that the state would not be destroyed by violence—there was fear lest it should be bank- rupt. civil war had produced damages, then reckoned at £50,000,c00, though, when compensation came to be paid, the bill reduced itself to about ten. but the army was costing over {14,000,000 4 year, and taxation stood at the peak point to which great britain had raised it. business men in the senate urged that the financial situation should be regularised. in dec. the government came to the country for a loan of £10,000,000 at 5 %o—the issue figure being 95, repayable at par in twenty years. it was oversubscribed in ten days, the subscribers numbering over 22,000. this demonstration of confidence greatly cheered the country, and rounded off the satisfaction felt in comparing the settled order of christmas 1923, with the ruinous anarchy in which the year opened. yet this optimism did not last. the year 1924 was a very unhappy period. organised resistance to the state was with- drawn but the threat of it remained. mr. de valera’s followers refused to surrender or hand in their army. more than this, lre- land was forced to realise how profoundly demoralisation had spread during a period in which law was defied and secret organisations enforced their mandates. there was much crime, especially robbery with violence. the army, so rapidly raised, was reduced, for motives of economy, with equal rapidity, and men were suddenly thrown out of employment. a bad harvest in 1923 had left acute financial depression, and work was scarce. meanwhile many political difficulties threatened. hitherto no steps had been taken to give effect to the provision in article 12 of the treaty under which, if northern ireland decided to remain outside the free state, a commission of three was to be appointed to ‘‘ determine in accordance with the wishes of the inhabitants, so far as may be compatible with economic and geographic con- 529 ditions, the boundaries between northern ireland and the rest of ireland.” but with the cessation of civil war mr. cosgrave’s government was pressed to demand its application. immediate- ly threats came from ulster of resistance by force to the cession of a single inch of territory. mr. macdonald’s government attempted to settle the matter by private negotiation, but this failed. the tree state named professor macneill as their representative on the commission; but northern ireland refused to make any appointment or recognise the commission in any way. in these circumstances, mr. j. h. thomas had much difficulty in finding a chairman. a pledge had been given that he should be a citizen of one of the dominions. finally, mr. justice feetham, a south african judge, consented to act. but northern ireland contended that in that representation, unless they themselves appointed a member, the constitution of the commission would in fact be void. threatened mutiny —a still more menacing situation arose in march 1924. a group of highly placed officers in the army issued a public demand to the government that their opinions and interests should be consulted in framing public policy, and they withdrew themselves from duty. steps were taken to place them under arrest as mutineers, and a fresh outbreak of fighting was narrowly averted, mainly by the personal efforts of mr. joseph magrath, minister for labour. angry debate followed in the dail, in which general mulcahy declared that a secret society had for over a year existed in the army, and that the mutinous officers belonged to it. mr. magrath reported that the fenian society, or i.r.b., had also its adherents in the army, who in- fluenced promotion in their own interest. the upshot was the resignation of mr. magrath, followed by that of general mulcahy. mr. cosgrave in person assumed the post of minister of defence. the chief of staff, adjutant-general and quartermaster-general were dismissed. general mulcahy as a private member moved a vote of censure on the government for these dismissals, but got no support in the dail. mr. magrath, followed by several other members, who had been prominent first against the british and later against the irregulars, resigned their seats — thus present- ing to the country the spectacle of dissensions in the army and dissensions in that section of the original sinn fein party which provided and supported the government. legislation.— added to all this was the unpopularity of the government’s measures. mr. blythe reduced old age pensions from ten shillings to nine shillings. taxation was severely levied; tenants in default with their land purchase annuities were forced to pay up; citizens who had withheld their income tax during the last years of the british administration, with sinn fein’s approval, were now called upon for their arrears. more widely felt was the innovation of a customs barrier, causing delay in the delivery of goods; and, in addition, mr. blythe decided to embark experimentally on a measure of protection, its main function being a duty of 15°% on imported boots. in this, as in all else, government virtually acted entirely on their own initiative. the oireachtas (or parliament) indeed had to endorse their acts, but since the republican delegates did not take their seats there was no powerful opposition nor any sus- tained criticism. ireland had been traditionally concerned with politics in the abstract; concrete questions (except concerning land tenure) had never occupied the public mind. thus, legis- lation was the work of the government, not of the parliament; and there was a great deal of it. long before his second year of office was completed the governor general had given his assent to over 100 bills. many of these were temporary and provisional, but some were of the first importance. one of them indeed was not solely the work of the executive. in framing the new judi- cial system, government had the advice of a committce over which lord glenavy presided. the number of judges and their salaries were reduced, the office of lord chancellor disappeared; a supreme court was constituted and a high court, both sitting in dublin. high court judges no longer went on circuit; a new order of circuit judges was instituted. as regards the magis- tracy, unpaid justices of the peace were abolished, and stipen- diary district justices were appointed to cover the whole country. 930 judges of the previous regime were free to retire on rather more than four-fifths of their salary, and most of them did so. in making the new appointments the government showed a fine disregard of political record, and totally ignored religious differences. by 1925, five out of the nine high court judges were prostestants and several had been strong unionists—for example, mr. fitzgibbon, who became lord chief justice. the elect of this was to confirm the allegiance already promised by the minority in the free state; and from leading members of it, notably from divines of the church of ireland and of the pres- byterian church, testimony was offered to the impartiality of the government. yet one part of the legislative and administrative programme occasioned protests from the minority. the constitution had declared that the national language was gaclic, which perhaps 10% of the existing population used in their homes. the min- istry of education endeavoured to revive the national language by an intensive campaign in the schools, offering a much higher rate of endowment to those schools where irish was not only a subject of teaching but the mecium of it. protestants, even when they desired to see irish studied and preserved, regarded these provisions as unfair. many of them, however, considered the whole study as a waste of time and money; and unquestion- ably many catholics were of the same opinion. this was one great cause of the government’s growing unpopularity. yet the more unpopular the government grew, the more people were forced to sce that no alternative to it existed, and there was agreement on the necessity for some force to stand between the citizens and a relapse into anarchy. ministers showed little dis- position to win support by conciliating public feeling. they had succeeded by desperate courage in coming through when the state reeled about them, and they persevered in following out their own ideas. mr. o’higgins forced on a drastic bill to re- strict the facilities for buying and selling drink; at another mo- ment, with half a score of by-elections pending, he suppressed ‘““ goose clubs,”’ a widespread form of christmas sweepstakes. mr. burke, the new minister for local government, by simple administrative act suppressed the corporations of dublin and cork and put civic affairs into the hands of commissioners, young men not very well known. there was some outcry, but the country had got into the habit of taking orders; and pres- ently, when the commissioners produced improved administra- tion and reduced the inordinate rates, this experiment was approved. outside the towns, the ministry abolished district councils, thus throwing more work on the county councils. a tendency to centralisation and even to bureaucratic administra- tion showed itself in all directions. such a policy made enemies everywhere, and the weather was no friend to mr. cosgrave. a second bad season in 1924 hit the farmers hard, and mr. blythe was still levying taxes that were now actually higher than the british scale; for the reduction of income tax from s/— to 4/6 in 1924 was not followed in the free state. also the post office had always been a losing service in ireland. the new postmaster greatly cut down the public facili- ties, and kept the stamp at 2d when it was 13d in great britain, and therefore in northern ireland. in short, if there had been any alternative ministry the government would have fallen, but there was none: and the bellicose protestations of republicans kept them in power. another thing assisted them: when a turn in english politics replaced a labour ministry by a strong tory government, english ministers kept faith absolutely with ire- land. the difficulty about constituting the boundary commis- sion had been referred by mr. macdonald’s government to the judicial committee of the privy council, which found that with- out a new act of parliament enabling the impcrial government to appoint a commissioner to represent northern ireland nothing could be done. parliament was summoned on sept. 30 instead of on oct. 28, as had been originally intended, in order to pass through its stages the irish free state (confirmation of agreement) bill, which had been introduced by the government at the end of the session. the defeat of the labour government on another issue irish free state | was not allowed to prejudice the irish settlement, and just before the dissolution the bill was passed by the house of lords and received the royal assent. in the house of lords, lord carson had moved an amendment that confirmation of the bill also be required from the parliament in northern ireland, but in the interests of peace was persuaded to withdraw the amendment, and contented himself with the fact that his protest had been entered in the records of the house. a well-known publicist, from ulster, was appointed; and the commissioners after long preliminaries in london proceeded to investigate opinion on the border itself during several months in 1925 without the least disturbance. in the meanwhile, from many quarters, but notably from mr. cosgrave and his ministers, came utterances to the effect that there was no intention of coercing ulster. she must choose her own time for uniting, if she chose, with the rest of ireland. this indicated a departure from the expectations held out by michael collins after the treaty was signed, for he led ircland to hope that the commission’s award would transfer so much territory to the free state that northern ireland would not be able to maintain its separate status. at the opening of 1925 a group of by-elections showed <lefinite support for the government, and mr. blythe’s budget of april marked an advance. he reduced the income tax by a shilling and he extended materially the area of protection, claiming that the tariffs already imposed had led to increased employment in the boot trade and minor industries. broadly, all clothing im- ported ready made was now subjected to taxation. this budget really marks the beginning of normal finance. the liabilities for compensation for damage were at last ascer- tained, amounting to less than £10,300,000, of which under £4,000,000 remained to be paid. the army charge was reduced to something over £3,000,000. mr. blythe considered anything over £2,000,000 as abnormal, but necessary in view of the con- tinuing republican menace. the state’s normal expenditure he estimated at £24,000,000 and the revenue at £26,000,000. ab- normal expenditure for compensation and the rest he proposed to meet by borrowing. but it soon became apparent that the ministry were not pro- posing a mere negative policy of economy, and early in 1925 they committed themselves to a project of utilising the shannon (see shannon) for a vast electric power scheme. nor did this stand alone. by promise of a subsidy amounting to a total of over f£1,000,000 a belgian firm was induced to start the sugar beet industry on a large scale, carlow being chosen as the site for the central factory. simultaneously came a whole group of pro- posals for the development of irish industry and irish agricul- ture, which had been interminably discussed in and out of par- liament during the british regime. they stood committed to a policy of industrial development, having as the pivot of the whole an enterprise so colossal that its possibility had never even been seriously considered under the old order. in the meantime tranquillity returned to the country so completely that it seemed dull. tourists refilled their old haunts in summer; the dublin horse show enlarged its scope. the boundary qouestion—in the late autumn a new crisis threatened not only its prestige but its existence. the report of the boundary commission was awaited without emotion, though a london newspaper published a forecast of its decision differing widely from any anticipations that had been formed in the free state. no plebiscite had been taken;! the article gave no instruc- tions for holding one; and it was (rightly) assumed that the commissioners would take it roman catholics desired inclusion in the free state and protestants inclusion in northern ireland. three important towns, derry, enniskillen and newry had been regarded as possible subjects of transfer to the iree state because in all three catholics were in a majority. in newry the proportion was 70%. in two of the border counties, ty- rone and fermanagh, catholics were about 55% of the whole. the forecast showed that all the three towns were left as they !under article 12 of the treaty the wishes of the inhabitants were to be considered subject to geographic and economic con- siderations. irish free state were: no county was transferred as a whole; and the cession to the free state of districts (for the most part very poor) in ar- magh, fermanagh and tyrone was offset by the transfer of a rich part of east donegal. there was a fierce outcry, and presi- dent cosgrave in response to it reiterated the free state's con- tention that the commission was only entitled to transfer to their natural destination those parts of the six counties whose inhabitants desired to be in the general body of ireland. he emphasised also that the claim to newry was in his opinion in- defeasible. these declarations were followed by the announce- ment that the free state representation had withdrawn from the commission. professor macneill followed this up by resign- ing his post on the executive council, and in the dail explained that after hearing the evidence he had agreed, for the general good, to sign a unanimous report whose terms were “ not dis- similar’ to the unauthorised forecast. he had never taken his colleagues in the ministry into his confidence at any point in the work of the commission. but now in view of the expression of opinion he felt that adding his signature to sucha finding would only embarrass his colleagues and not produce a settlement. both the government and professor macneill were attacked with great violence in the dail and outside it. the republican leader came into new prominence. mr. cosgrave refused to commit himself publicly to any line of action, and went to lon- don. meanwhile it came to be generally admitted that no mem- ber of the commission could invalidate the finding by refusing to sign the report; that the award then issued had immediate effect as law, and that the free state minority had declared willingness in advance to accept the award. on the other hand, it was loudly declared that any attempt to transfer free state territory to northern ireland would be resisted by arms. in london, however, negotiations proceeded, and sir james craig was summoned from ulster; and on dec. 3, a fortnight after professor macneill’s resignation, a new agreement was concluded and made public, to which not only great britain and the free states were parties, but northern ireland also, it was agreed that the award of the commission should not be published and that the existing boundary should stand. this gave to ui- ster all that ulster claimed, but it gave to ircland the repose of finality. further, the treaty was altered by the cancellation of article 5, under which ireland assumed liability for the public debt of the united kingdom as existing in 1921 “ in such pro- portion as may be fair and equitable, having regard to any just claims on the part of ireland by way of set olf on counter claims.”’ this at once liberated the irish exchequer from an undefined hanging liability injurious to its borrowing power, while it wiped off the british books what most people regarded as an irrecover- able assct. ireland, however, undertook to repay to great britain compensation already paid for war damages in the period r9tg-21, and to add 10% to the compensation awarded to claimants for damages suffered in the civil war from 1922 on. the total cost to ireland was estimated at under £5,000,000. legislation embodying the terms of this agreement was car- ried without difficulty in great britain, and the northern par- liament expressed its satisfaction. but in the dail president cosgrave was angrily opposed by the labour party and by some of his own followers. attempts were made by labour to induce republican members to come into the dail for the purpose of wrecking the agreement, but they failed, and after much talk the bill was carried by 71 to 20. business men as a whole re- garded the issue as fortunate for ireland, which now definitely became a country with a total national debt of under £20,000,000 and less than a gross revenue. other sections found their chief satisfaction, as did president cosgrave, in the changed relation of the government concerned, indicated in the preamble:— the british govt. and the government of the free state being united in amity with the government of northern ireland and being resolved mutually to aid one another in a spirit of neighbourly com- radeship, hereby agree . . . an immediate consequence was the disbandment of the ulster special police in two of its three branches. there could be no clearer proof that a great cause of danger to ireland has been of definitely removed. it is also plain that while the conduct of this business by president cosgrave and his colleagues has been criticised, the policy of those who desired to tear up the settlement ran counter to the public desire. the irish govt. has been therefore strengthened by a difhiculty which threatened its destruction. _bintiocrarivy.—s. l. gwynn, the irish situation (1921); d. figgis, the trish constitution (dublin, 1922); w. o'brien, the trish revolution and how tt came about (1923); a. c. white, the l[rish free state: its evolution and possibilities, etc. (london, 1923); american commission on conditions in jreland, evidence on con- ditions in ireland . . . (with interim report), 2 pts. (washington, 1921); dail eireann: parliamentary debates; saorstat eireann: the public general acts, 1923 (dublin, 1925). (s. g.) hi: the: constitution the present political status of the irish free state is that of a co-equal member of the community of nations forming the british commonwealth. it has a written constitution which rests on the provisions of an act passed by dail eireann sitting as a constituent assembly in the autumn of 1922, entitled an “ act to enact a constitution for the irish free state (saorstat eireann) and for implementing the treaty between great britain and ireland signed at london on the 6th day of dec. 1921.”"! it is provided in this act that the constitution shall be con- strued with reference to the treaty and that if any provision of the constitution or of any amendment thereof or of any law made thereunder is in any respect repugnant to any of the pro- visions of the treaty, it shall, to the extent of such repugnancy, be void and inoperative. it is also provided that to the extent to which they are not inconsistent with the constitution all laws in force in the free state at the time of passing of the constitu- tion are to continue to have full force and effect until repealed or amended by the oireachtas. in conformity with practice in the british commonwealth the executive authority is vested in the king. the governor-general represents and fulfils the functions of the crown. he is appointed ‘in like manner as the governor-general of canada and in accord- ance with the practice observed in the making of such appoint- ments ’—which ensures that the government of the free state shall be consulted before any appointment is made. his powers are strictly limited as in the case of the sovercign in great brit- ain, all executive acts being done on the advice of the executive council. the latter consists of not more than seven nor less than five ministers, and is directly responsible to dail eireann, retiring from office when it has ceased to retain the support of a majority of deputies. ‘ dail eireann may not at any time be dissolved except on the advice of the executive council, and article 53 of the constitu- tion provides that the oireachtas shall not be dissolved on the advice of an executive council which has ceased to retain the support of a majority in dail fireann. the parliament of the free state cannot therefore be dissolved except with its own consent. the maximum life of a parliament is four years. the president of the executive council, who is appointed on the nomination of dail eireann, nominates the vice-president and the other ministers who form the executive council. the coun- cil is collectively responsible for all matters concerning the de- partments of state administered by its members. other ministers, however, who shall not be members of the executive council, may be appointed on the nomination of committee of dail eireann, and these ministers are directly and individually responsible to the dail for the administration of their departments. members of the executive must be members of dail eireann, but this provision does not apply to other min- isters. the legislature, known as the oireachtas, consists of the king and two houses, deil eireann (the chamber of deputies) and seanad ejreann (the senate). in the oireachtas is vested “the sole and executive power of making laws for the peace, order and good government of the irish free state.”’ 1 the royal assent was given to the act passed by the imperial parliament to give effect to the irish free state constitution on dec. 5 1922, and on the next day the king signed the proclamation announcing the adoption of the constitution. 532 the senate——seanad eireann is composed of 60 members, the term of office of each member being 12 years. one-fourth of the members are elected every three years by proportional repre- sentation, the whole of the free state forming one electoral area. at every election a panel of candidates is formed, consist- ing of three times as many persons as there are senators to be elected. two-thirds of the panel is nominated by the dail, and one-third by the scanad. in addition to these all persons who have at any time been senators have a right to be added to the panel if they so desire. candidates, who must have reached the age of 35 years, are chosen on the ground that they “‘ have done honour to the nation by reason of useful public service or that, because of special qualifications or attainments, they represent important aspects of the nation’s life.”” casual vacancies in the seanad are filled by co-option, and co-opted members retire at the next triennial election. the chamber of deputies-—dail eireann (the chamber of deputies) is composed of members directly elected by constitu- encies determined by law. the number of members at present is 153. this number may, however, be varied from time to time, but shall not be fixed at less than one member for each 30,000 or more than one member for cach 20,000 of the population of ‘ the state. in addition cach university elects three members. as in the case of the seanad, election to the dail is carried out on the system of proportional representation. all citizens, without distinction of sex, who have reached the age of 21 years and who comply with the electoral laws, have the right to vote for members of dail eireann, and all citizens who have reached the age of 30 years and who similarly comply with the electoral laws have the right to vote for members of seanad eireann. voting is by secret ballot, and no voter may exercise more than one vote at any clection. members of both houses receive an allowance for expenses which is fixed at £360 per annum. every member of the oire- achtas must take the following oath before taking his seat:— ing the british commonwealth of nations, powers of the senate.—the powers of seanad eireann are limited. it has no authority to amend a money bill, but may make recom- mendations to dail eireann regarding such bill within 21 days after a bill certified to be a money bill has been passed by dail eireann. the definition of a money bill given in article 35 of the constitution is adopted from the united kingdom “ parliament" act of 1911. there is a proviso that the decision of the chairman of dail eireann as to whether the bill is or is not a money bill may be appealed against before a committee consisting of three members of each house presided over by a judge of the supreme court. the seanad may reject or amend all other bills, and may initiate legislation, but a bill passed by the dail which has not been passed by the seanad 270 days after it was first sent to the seanad is deemed to have been passed by both houses in the form in which it was last passed by dail eireann. any bill passed or deemed to have been passed by both houses may be suspended for a period of 90 days on the written demand of two-fifths of the members of dil eireann or of a majority of the members of seanad eireann presented to the president of the executive council not later than seven days from the day on which such bill shall have been so passed or deemed to have been so passed. during the period of suspension the bill shall be submitted to a referendum if so demanded by one-twentieth of the voters on the register or by three-fifths of the members of the seanad. these provisions do not apply to money bills or to bills declared by both houses to be necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health or safety. defence.—the oireachtas has the exclusive right of raising and maintaining armed forces in the free state, but under the provision of the treaty the army shall not exceed in size such proportion of the army in great britain as that which the population of ircland bears to the population of great britain. save in the case of actual inva- sion the irish free state shall not be committed to actual participa- tion in any war without the assent of the oireachtas. nationality, etc—every person domiciled in the free state at the time of the coming into operation of the constitution, who was born in ireland or either of whose parents was born in ireland, or who has been ordinarily resident in the area of the jurisdiction of the free state for not less than seven years is entitled to citizenship in the free state. no title of honour in respect of services rendered in the irish free state free state may be conferred on any citizen without the consent of the executive council. freedom of conscience and the free pro- fession and practice of religion are, subject to public order and morality, guaranteed to every citizen. no law may be made to endow any religion or to give any preference or to impose any disability on account of religious belief. no discrimination may be made as respects state aid between schools under the management of different religious denominations. court of appeal.—the constitution provides that the supreme court of the free state is a court of final appeal and that its decision shall not be reviewed by any other court, tribunal or authority whatsoever, provided that nothing in the constitution shall impair the right of any person to pctition his majesty for special leave to appeal to ilis majesty in council or the right of ilis majesty to grant such leave. there is no provision, however, that decisions by the king in council shall be binding on irish courts. | the judges of the supreme court and of the high court and of all other courts established in pursuance of the constitution can only be removed for stated misbehaviour or incapacity and then only by resolutions passed by both houses of the oireachtas. see j. g. swift mcneill, studies in the constitution of the irish free staite (dublin, 1925). (jg. ds) iii. defence the evacuation of the british garrisons from free state terri- tory began with the ratification of the anglo-irish treaty by dail eireann in jan. 1922. dublin was held until the treaty was finally confirmed rz months later, and then handed over to de- tachments of the irish republican army which had given ad- herence to the provisional government. administration.—as a result of an inquiry into the civil war which began in june 1922, and the mutiny of march 1924, changes were made in army administration. the command-in- chief is now vested in the executive council and exercised through- out in the name of the minister of defence who, however, may not allocate to himself any executive military command. he is assisted by a council of defence, composed of a civil member act- ing as parliamentary secretary to the minister and responsible for the finance of the defence forces, and by three military members, the chief of staff, the adjutant-general and the quar- termaster-general, whose business it is to deal with training, organisation, equipment and discipline. ‘the army vote for the year ending march 1926 was £3,076,- 774, and the strength of the forces amounted to 1,053 officers and 16,187 non-commissioned officers and men. the free state is divided into four military districts—the eastern, western and southern commands, and the curragh camp where all recruits undergo their training. head-quarters of the three commands are at dublin, athlone and cork, and are in charge of major- generals. there are nine brigade districts, and the infantry are organised in 27 battalions. the remaining services are air, artillery, armoured car, engineers, signal, military police, medical and transport corks, a school of music and a military college. there is an irish-speaking battalion and all officers and non- commissioned officers are instructed in giving and receiving execu- tive words of command in both gaelic and english. the strength of the air force is 18 officers, 131 other ranks and 18 machines. defence provisions of the treaty—under the ivish treaty it was agreed, with a view to securing the international limitation of armaments, that the irish defence forces should not exceed in relation to military establishments maintained in great britain the proportion which the population of ireland bears to that of great britain. the treaty also provides that defence by sea of great britain and ireland shall be undertaken by im- perial forces. after five years from the date of the treaty (dec. 6 1921) a conference is to be held with a view to ireland under- taking a share of her own coastal defences. harbour defences at berchaven, queenstown and lough swilly remain in charge of british care and maintenance parties. in time of war or strained relations with a foreign power the free state is pledged to afford such harbour and other facilities as the british govt. may require for purposes of defence. (j. w. go.) iv. education since taking control, the government of the irish free state has carried through changes in the educational system. irish free state the first step was to unify control over educational matters under a minister for education. this involved the abolition of the three independent bodies through which, previous to 1922, education in ireland was financed. the powers exercised by the board of national education were at once taken over by the free state ministry. the programme for primary schools has been considerably modified with a view to making it simple, concentrated and national. attention is concentrated on funda- mental subjects, trish, english, reading, writing and arithmetic. provision is made for studying local needs in applying this pro- gramme in any given locality. the salary question had already been satisfactorily settled under the british regime. as regards tenure and method of appointment of teachers the old managerial system, under which the power of appointment and dismissal lay, under certain limitations, with the manager of the school (usually a clergyman) has been retained. this system means that each religious denomination controls the appointment of teachers in schools attended by the children of that denomination. the old * national ”’ system provided for combined literary and moral and separate religious instruction for pupils of different religions. the regulations provide that opportunities must be afforded to the pupils of all schools for receiving such religious instruction as their parents or guardian approve. religious instruction is given at a time not counted when computing attendance, and does not come under the super- vision of the officers of the department. an outstanding defect inherited from the old regime, the absence of any real system of compulsory education, will be rectified at an early date. a bill described by the president of the free state executive as “‘ of a drastic type ’’ has been laid before the oireachtas. important changes with regard to the training of teachers are being introduced. it is proposed to establish six preparatory colleges for candidates for the training colleges, five of these are to be situated in those districts in which gaelic is still a living language, and staffed with teachers capable of teaching the sec- ondary school programme entirely through the medium of irish. in this way the future teachers will enter the training colleges as fluent speakers, and having passed through a complete secon- dary course given in irish. thus a supply of teachers will be secured capable of carrying through the department’s programme for primary schools, aiming at the restoration of irish as the vernacular. secondary feducation—as regards secondary education a wider problem confronted the government. the administration of the funds devoted to this branch was still hampered by the clause of the intermediate education act of 1878 which pre- scribed that results fees were to be paid to schools on the results of a general public examination. a system, advocated by the intermediate board in its report of 1916 and by the viceregal committee on secondary education set up in 1918, has been brought into operation by the present government. payment by results has been replaced by a capitation grant, dependent on the reports of inspectors, who will take into account every feature of the school. the old rigid system with its fixed pro- gramme has been replaced by freedom, and examinations have been reduced to their proper place. a salary scheme for teachers in secondary schools has been put into force. under it, men teachers are to receive from state funds 10 annual increments of £12 each, and subsequently six annual increments of {15 each, while women receive 12 annual increments of {ro each. holders of an honours degree of an irish or british university receive additional increments. the intermediate education board was replaced by two com- missioners in june 1923; and as from april 1 1925 their functions were transferred to the minister for education. the funds pro- vided by the act of 1878 and subsequent acts for secondary education were transferred to the department of finance. in future education in the free state will be financed out of sums » annually voted by parliament. technical instruction has been placed under the control of the minister for education, retaining the organisation under local committecs. in 1925 there were 5,636 primary schools in the irish free 533 state, with a total of about 500,000 pupils, and 286 secondary schools providing for 25,600 pupils. there were also 60 tech- nical schools, with 21,800 pupils; 5 training colleges for primary teachers, with 820 teachers in training; while the names on the register of secondary teachers numbered 2,083.) (w. f. b) v. economic and financial history the area of the free state is 17,019,155 statute acres, made up as follows in 1918:—~ area under statute acres crops 4,406,105 grass _. , ; ; 9 975;137 mountain lands, grazed 2,124,190 mountain lands, barren 466,272 woods and plantations 248,878 turf bog 766,353 marsh . : : . , ; ; : , 339:297 water, roads, fences town and building ground, etc. 892,523 in ro14, the valuation of the rural districts was {8,741,631 and of the urban districts £2,391,170, the total valuation being £11,132,801. population.—the last census of ireland was taken in 1911. in 1g1t the population of the 26 counties composing the free state was 3,139,688, being 71-5°% of the total population of ireland; in 1925 it was estimated at 3,163,000. in 1924, the number of marriages registered was 14,822, being 4-69 per 1,000 of the population, the number of births was 63,402, being 20-06 per 1,000 of the population, and the number of deaths was 45,- 180, being 14-29 per 1,000 of the population. while the reduction in the mortality from tuberculosis has been steady and continuous for many years, the death rate from cancer is increasing. of the total deaths at all ages 15-2 were deaths of children under five years of age, and the number of deaths of infants under one year was equiva- lent to a rate of 7-2% of the birthrate. infantile mortality 1s de- creasing year by year. | practically no emigration took place from ireland during the war. it is estimated that the number of emigrants to “* places out of europe and not within the mediterranean sea ’’ was 15,000 in 1922, 20,570 in 1923, and 19,077 in 1924. of the emigrants in 1924, 12,016 were bound for the united states, 5,237 for british north america, 1,138 for australia, 192 for new zealand, 160 for british south africa, 112 for india and 222 for other countries. the population of the iree state is overwhelmingly rural. there are only two towns with more than 50,000 inhabitants, namely, dublin and cork, and two others with more than 20,000, namely, limerick and waterford. in 1911 the population of the 26 counties now forming the free state contained 2,812,509 roman catholics, 249,535 members of the church of jreland, 45,058 presbyterians and 3,805 jews. the great majority of the population were english-speaking, but 16,869 spoke irish only, and 536,848 were bi-lingual. of persons aged nine years and upwards, 260,694 could neither read nor write, and 74,001 could read but could not write. the number of houses in the 26 counties in i9ii was 642,541, or one house for 4-88 inhabitants, agriculture.—the total acreage under crops was 3,832,240 in 19223 3,730,146 in 1923; and 3,783,823 in 1924. the following are figures of acreage under crops and numbers of livestock in the free state in 1922-3-4:— crops 1922 1923 1g24 wheat 34,469 31,764 27,465 oats bs oe 813,970 785,939 756,313 barley and bere 167,765 151,309 163,642 rye . 6,142 6,414 6,424 beans and peas ; ; 447 428 408 flax : 4,915 8,066 10,499 fruit ; ; 10,924 10,795 10,652 hay ; : 2,062,694 2,026,841 2,099,639 live stock 1922 1923 1924 cattle 4,326,294 4,215,253 4.194.189 sheep 3,067,473 2,994,420 3,127,921 pigs 3 2u 919,449 1,555,905 937,814 goats and kids 192,298 195,022 193,484 horses used in agriculture 306,552 312,410 308,552 unbroken horses 122,549 96,888 79,988 mules and jennets 25,276 23,919 23,160 asses ‘ 221,991 220,468 218,439 there are 442,606 agricultural holdings, of which 86,033 are less than one acre, 223,991 above one and not exceeding 30 acres, 130,807 above 30 and not exceeding 500 acres and 1,775 above 500 acres. 1 annual report of the depurtinent of education (april 1926). 034 unpublished official figures show that the percentage of land ploughed varies inversely with the size of the holding; that for equal acres of crops and pasture, the number of kvestock (espe- cially milch cows, pigs and poultry, and excepting sheep) rapidly increases as the size of the holding diminishes; and that the larger the percentage of land tilled, the larger the number of animals supported. the cultivation of cereal crops plays a comparatively unim- portant part in the agricultural economy of the free state, and the bulk of the attention of the farmer is devoted to the raising of stock. as between the production of beef and of dairy prod- uce, conditions vary in different parts of the country. in cer- tain areas the soil, climate and type of holding favour the pro- duction of dairy breeds; in others beef breeds are predominant. in accordance with detailed recommendations made by the commission which reported in 1924, an act was passed (no. 35 of 1924) providing for the testing, grading and packing of ex- ported eggs, for the prohibition of the export of dirty or bad eggs, and for the registration of all premises where gracing, packing or preserving is carried on. another act (no. 58 of 1924) made elaborate provision for the regulation of the butter trade. butter can now be exported only by registered creameries, factories or exporters, and must be packed and marked in a specified manner. the most minute regulation of creameries and factories is insisted on, and provision is made for the estab- lishment at a later date of a national mark or brand for creamery butter. the licensing of bulls was made compulsory by another statute (no. 3 of 1925). this measure, together with the gov- ernment’s scheme for providing premium bulls and boars and for subsidising the purchase of pedigree rams, has resulted in levelling up the standard of the livestock in the country. owing to the acute agricultural depression in 1924, power was given to county councils to abate rates on agricultural land for the year ending march 31 1925 and the budget of 1925 provided for the doubling of the agricultural grant. early in 1925 serious losses were sustained by farmers in many districts as a result of the prevalence of fluke disease. the government supplied farmers in the affected areas with cheap supplies of suitable medicine and granted credit facilities to assist in the restocking of farms. {100,000 was provided from public funds for the purpose of making loans through the chan- nel of co-operative credit societies in the districts concerned. land purchase.—the total amount of the purchase money for which advances have been made under the land purchase acts of 1870-1909 in respect of lands in the free state is £99,110,046, the total area comprised in the sales being 11,159,356 acres. in addition, there are pending proceedings for which agreements for purchase had been entered into under the acts of 1903-9 representing a pur- chase money of £830,000 and an area of 120,000 acres. the british govt. assumed responsibility for the completion of all sales pending at the date of the treaty. the land act of 1923 aimed at attaining the dual object of com- pleting land purchase and relieving congestion. this act provided for the creation of land bonds, bearing interest at the rate of 43° in which all payments to landlords and encumbrancers were to be made. these bonds were later guaranteed, as to principal and in- terest, by the british government. advances made to purchasers were to be repaid by an annuity at the rate of 47° of the amount advanced, and the price to be paid was roughly equal to about 15 years purchase of the value of the holding, of which the government contributed 10°% in relicf of the tenant. very wide powers were given to the land commission to acquire untenanted land for the creation of holdings in relief of congestion, and to consolidate and exchange holdings with the same object. the area of untenanted land already acquired by the land com- mission and the late congested districts board and utilised for the relief of congestion amounts to 820,000 acres. advances were authorised to be made to tenants of uneconomic holdings, tenants exchanging their holdings, persons who had been evicted and labourers who had lost their employment through the progress of land purchase. the money required by the land commission for making roads, fences, drains, etc., and for erection of buildings on newly created holdings is provided out of public funds, and so much as the land commission decides can be repaid by the purchasers is made repayable by them along with their purchase annuities. all arrears of rent due before the first gale day of 1920 were wiped out; but rent due after that date (subject to 25% reduction) was made recoverable. | irish free state it is estimated that advances amounting to £30,000,000 will be required to complete land purchase under the 1923 act. as regards tenanted land, holdings situated on 6,000 estates have to be dealt with, while as regards untenanted land, the land commission has inspected or is making inquiries in respect of 750,000 acres, with a view to their acquisition for the purpose of distribution; and of this arca the land commission has acquired or entered into agreements for the acquisition of over 100,000 acres. congested districts board.—vhe congested districts board was dissolved in 1923 and its functions transferred to the trish land commission. (land law, (commission) act, 1923, no. 27 of 1923.) by the ministries act of 1923 the agricultural and land branches of the congested districts board were put under the minister of agriculture and the fisheries and rural industries branches under the minister of fisherics. , fisheries —the work formerly done by the department of agri- culture and the congested districts board in connection with the fisheries and with rural industries has now been transferred to a separate ministry, whose policy is to develop the deep sea fisheries and to organise the home demand for fish, which is at present very small. the government ts helping the fisheries by making loans for boats and gear, erecting and maintaining curing stations, and sub- sidising fishery schools. a brand for mackerel has been instituted. one urgent requirement is being delayed for financtal reasons, namely, a second patrol boat to keep the coast free from the numerous foreign trespassers who at present infest it. manufacturers —ireland was, even before partition, an over- whelmingly agricultural country, but the predominance of agricul- ture became greater than ever after the exclusion of the six counties. the agricultural commission reckoned that three-quarters of the real wealth produced in the free state is farm produce. too great de- pendence upon any one industry is always undesirable, and the governiment has taken steps to redress the unequal balance between the agricultural and manufacturing industries. the object aimed at by the government’s policy is the development, not of large-scale urban industries, but of rural industries, especially those concerned with the working up of agricultural produce. the treaty left the free state at liberty to frame its tariff policy as it chose. ‘there was a widespread popular belief that irish in- dustry could best be revived by the adoption of a high protectionist tariff, and the government appointed a small committee of econo- mists to inquire into the probable effects of protective duties. the report of this committee was strongly free trade in tone. it pointed out the numerous factors, besides external competition, that operated to retard the growth of industry in ireland. the necessity for a dominantly agricultural country of the lowest possible prices of raw material and consumable commodities was pointed out. neverthe- less the government proceeded to institute a number of experi- ments in protection. the finance act of 1924 1:mposed a duty of 33d per lb. on sugar confectionery, of 6d per ib. on cocoa preparations, of 10° ad valorem on candles, 15% ad valorem on boots and shoes, 3313 °%% on glass bottles (not white glass) and 10° ad valorem on soap. the mckenna duties were altered so as to provide encouragement for the building of commercial motor bodies, and the imperial prefer- ence on manufactured tobacco was abolished. the finance act of 1925 went a good deal further in the same direction, but the minister for finance declared that the new duties were purely experimental in nature. this act imposed a duty of 15% ad valorem on clothing, wearing apparel, blankets, and blanketing, and 331°. on bedsteads and wooden furniture; the duty on bottles was extended, and an additional duty of 10° was put on toilet soaps. on the setting up of the customs barrier in 1923 the manufacture of tobacco auto- matically secured a small measure of protection, the only corres- sponding steps taken in the direction of free trade were the repeal of the dyestuffs import regulation act, the safeguarding of in- dustries act, and the mckenna duties on gramophone records. at the same time, some important revenue duties were abolished or reduced. it would appear, however, from the cost of living index numbers that the result of the new tariff (in conjunction with other causes, such as high wages and a had system of retail distribu- tion) has been to prevent the cost of living in the free state {rom being reduced at the same rate as in great britain. this is shown by the following table:— cost of living index numbers (basis: july 1914 = 100) great britain and northern [reland free state month 1923 | 1924 [ 192 1923 | 1924 | 1925 january igo 188 195 | 178 177 180 april 181 178 188 174 173 175 july . 180 183 188 169 7 173 october 186 | 193 188 | 17 176 in addition to giving the protective assistance outlined above, the government has endeavoured to encourage industry by means of subsidies, the development of cheap sources of power, and the pro- irish free state vision of credit facilities. the growth of sugar beet and the manu- facture of beet sugar were encouraged by the grant of a subsidy payable for 10 years to persons manufacturing in the free state sugar from home-grown sugar beet. a large belgian-czechoslovak- ian group, encouraged by the subsidy, has arranged to open a sugar beet factory in carlow. an important attempt is also being made to provide the irish manufacturer with cheap power. the government sought the ad- vice of messrs. sieniens-schiickert, who drew up a scheme for utilising the great water power of the shannon (q¢.v.).. another method by which the government attempted to encourage industry was by helping enterprises to obtain capital on easy terms under the trade loans guarantee act (no. 41 of 1924). the maximum amount that might be advanced under government guarantee under the act was fixed at £750,000. the minister was further authorised to grant or to guarantee loans proposed to be raised by any public authority or any association of producers or consumers “ calculated to promvic a reduction in the retail prices in saorstat eireann of essential com- modities.”” the maximum grant under this action was limited to £50,000, and the maximum grant and guarantee together to £250,000. by an amending act (no. 19 of 1925) the period in which this assistance might be rendered was extended; and the finance act of 1925 provided for the advance of £300,000 to the national land bank for the purpose of trade loan guarantees. finally the ministry of industry and commerce has set up advisory committees in more than 30 of the principal industries to assist the government in ac- quiring information and in forming policy. banking.—all the banks having their head offices in the free state have numerous branches in northern ireland, and two of the belfast banks have numerous southern branches, shortly after the treaty, the belfast bank, which is affiliated with the midland bank, sold its branches situated in the free state to the royal bank of ireland. the free state government holds all the shares in the national land bank. the government's banking business, with a few minor exceptions, is transacted by the bank of ireland. the agricultural commission recommended the formation of a depart- ment for granting long term loans to farmers to be capitalised by the existing banks jointly, but this recommendation has not been fol- lowed. recently, there has been formed a company known as the industrial investment trust for the purpose of affording financial assistance to industry by means of long term loans. the national loan, both as regards principal and interest, is repayable in sterling, as are also the bonds created under the land purchase act. the authorised issue of the six irish banks of note issue is £6,352,000, and the average circulation of these banks’ notes in may, 1925, was £16,364,000, against which £10,688,000 was in gold and silver coin. trade.—the customs barrier between the free state and northern ireland was set up in april 1923, but it was not until the beginning of the following year that accurate values of imports and exports were obtained. the trade figures for 1924 are as follows:— imports exports 1924 1924 class £ £ 1. food, drink and tobacco . » 29,523,000 41,549,000 2. other raw materials . , 6,314,000 2,490,000 3. other manufactured goods 29,204,000 2,593,000 4. live animals not for food . 770,000 1,816,000 totals . . . . . «. 65,881,000 48,448,000 during the first nine months of 1925 the value of imports was £45,225,383, of exports £29,623,566 and of re-exports £814,034. it is probable that, if a full account of the international bal- ance of indebtedness were obtainable, it would appear that the invisible items would more than make up for the adverse visible trade balance. very large sums are received from british and foreign investments, and from emigrants’ remittances from america. on the other hand, the free state remits large sums on account of land purchase annuities and pensions. there is no sign, as far as can be gathered from banking or stock exchange sources, that the free state is living on its capital. communications.—i\n 1914, there were in ireland 28 railway com- panties operating 3,454 miles of line. the irish railways were placed under the control of the british government in 1917 and were re- leased in august, 1921, a few months before the treaty. during the control period, the net receipts for 1913 were guaranteed, and on the cessation of control the government paid the railways {3,000,000 in full settlement of all claims. meanwhile, wages had been raised by about 200%, while freight and passenger rates had been raised only by 120 and 100"%% respectively. the resulting difficulties led to the railways act of 1924, modelled on the british act of 1921, for amalgamating all the lines situated wholly in the free state. on jan. i 1925, came into being the new great southern railway, comprising all the companies in the free state but excluding the great northern railway (ireland), which is partially situated in northern ireland. the average weekly receipts of the great 930 southern railway in 1925 were {12,500 lower than in 1924, and the interim dividends on the ordinary and preference shares due to be declared in july were passed. al! classes of stock have fallen heavily in the market. the conditions which prevail in the free state render the competition of the road vehicle very formidable; the average journey is short, and many places in the country are several miles from a railway station. the number of motor vehicles and cycles increased in two ycars from 22,240 to 36,836. finance.—the following table shows the revenue and expenditure of the free state from 1922 to 1925:— year | revenue’ | expenditure deficit | £ £ £ 1922: 28,611,600 | 31,395,589 2,783,989 1923-4 31,869,628 42,792,312 10,922,684 1924-5 27,542,200 29,718,631 2,176,631 | the minister of finance, in introducing the 1925 budget, stated that the total amount payable out of the public funds of the free state in respect of compensation for property losses and personal injuries, both pre-truce and post-truce, would not exceed £10,300,000, a considerably lower figure than had been at one time anticipated. compensation for pre-truce damage would amount to about £7,660,- ooo, towards which great britain would contribute about £3,560,000; and the damage committed after the truce would account for about £6,100,000. when the abnormal army expenses had been reckoned, and the consequential losses to trade and industry taken into account, the civil war had cost the people at least £30,000,000. in view of the greatly improved condition of the national finances, he proposed to meet about {6,000,000 of the estimated expenditure of £30,000,000 for 1925-6 by borrowing, as it was of an abnormal and non-recurrent character, and to relieve the taxpayer by lowering the income tax and making large reductions in indirect taxation. public debt.—in nov, 1923, the irish free state floated its first loan. the nominal amount raised by this loan was £10,000,000. the interest offered was 5°6 and the issue prices 95, the flat yield being thus about 54°. the loan is redeemable at par between 1935 and 1945. the minister of finance authorised the statement that both principal and interest would be paid in sterling. the loan was a great success, being oversubscribed in the free state; no part of it was underwritten or taken by the banks. provision was shortly afterwards made for the satisfaction of persons who had contributed to the official sinn fein loans floated during the anglo-irish fighting. irish subscribers were to receive savings certificates, and subscribers elsewhere were to have their holdings redeemed. the indebtedness of the free state on nov. 28 1925, was £13,483,- 693, made up as follows: ways and means advances by public de- partments, £1,530,000; annuities under telegraph acts, £202,944; savings certificates, £1,488,000; national loan, £9,760,859; compen- sation stock, £501,850. the price of the national loan on jan.9g 1925 was 98} and of compensation stock 93}. the agreement made between the british and free state governments in dec. 1925, provided that the outstanding liabilities of the free state under the treaty in respect of the british national debt should be settled by an annual payment of £250,000 for a period of 60 years. taxation.—the system of taxation in operation at the time of the treaty was taken over and, owing to the difficult financial situa- tion created by the civil war, no reductions were attempted for a couple of years, in the years 1923-4 and 1924-5 the income tax was maintained at the rate of 5s., and the corporation profits tax was retained. in both these respects, the free state taxes were higher than the british. the budget of 1924 reduced the super tax on very high incomes, and reduced the tea duty from 8d. to 5d. per pound. in 1925 the income tax was reduced to the british rate of 4s., and the exemption limit to corporation profits tax was raised. the duty on sugar was considerably reduced and imperial preference in that com- mocity discontinued, and the duties on tea, coffee, cocoa and chicory were abolished. the relief which the taxpayer might have derived from these concessions was counterbalanced by the burden of the new protective duties. in addition to the sums raised by national taxes, the following sums were raised by local taxation: year ending march 1922, £6,762,672; march 1923, £4,153,060; march 1924, £5,327,341. the total (national and local) taxation amounts to {8 19s. 5d. per head of the population and the public debt amounts to £4 §s. 3d. per head. the debt is equal to 58-4 °%> of the annual revenue. bibliography.—a gricultural statistics of ireland, published by the department of agriculture; annual estimates for public serv- ices; annual reports of the congested districts board; annual reports of the irish agricultural organisation society; annual statements of the acreage under crops and number of live stock in ireland; annual trade and shipping statistics; appropriation accounts; estimates of receipts and expenditure; irish trade journal (monthly); the journal of the bankers’ institute of ireland (quarterly); quarterly reports on the cost of living; statutes and parliamentary debates; census of ireland (1911); reports of dail commission of inquiry into the resources and industries of ireland (1921-2); report of the irish railway commission (1922); statistical tables of sea and inland fishertes of ireland (1922); alanchester guardian commercial, 536 european reconstruction scries, ireland (march 15, may 10, july 26 1923); report of the fiscal inquiry commiitee (1923); report of the commission on agriculture (1924); annual reports of the registrar- general (ireland) on marriages, births, and deaths (1924); merchant shipping list and postal directory (1925); official customs and ex- cise tariff (1925); report of committee on economic statistics (1925). see also e. j. riordan, modern irish trade and industry (1920); w. l. micks, zzstory of the congested districts board ug 5) _ irish language (sce 5.622).—it is difficult to say with any certainty how far the irish language has maintained itself in ireland since to10. the action of dail eireann in making it the official language of their first meeting, nothing else being spoken on that day, gave a great stimulus to it in popular estimation. the dail did not, however, live up to the headline thus set. speeches there are seldom made in irish, and practically never in the senate, where not a dozen, perhaps not more than half a dozen of the 60 senators could understand, much less speak it. it was decided, however, that all legislation must be passed in both english and irish, and an efficient staff of irish scholars and translators was retained for this purpose. several books written in irish were translated into german, swedish and norwegian. dr. pokorny of berlin published translations of some of pearse’s, o’conaire’s and o’siochfhrad- ha’s stories under the not very felicitous title of die seele irlands (max niemeter, halle, saale). from this book the reader will get a good idea of the short story in contemporary irish literature. dr. von sydow of lund university translated father o’leary’s novel seudua into swedish. kate miiller- lisowski published, with notes and introduction, in 1923 a volume containing 39 irish folk-tales. she had previously trans- lated dr. hyde’s “‘ true storyteller of the week.”’ dr. reidar christiansen also published an illustrated volume of irish folk- tales in norwegian. irish was recognised as the national language by the dail, and a corollary to this recognition seemed to be that it should be taught in the primary schools of the free state, and so far as the schools are concerned the government made great efforts to gaelicise them. naturally one of the principal difficulties that the new government had to face was the fact that the great majority of the teachers were not qualified to teach irish, much jess to use it as a medium for teaching. with a view to remedying this, annual courses for the training of teachers in irish were established in 1922. the courses for primary teachers extended over cight weeks in 1922, five weeks in 1923 and four weeks in 1924. approximately 12,000 teachers attended an- nually at about 180 centres or colleges. the cost in 1922 was £76,000; in 1923, £66,000; in 1924, £42,500; and in 1925 about £45,000. similar courses were held for about four weeks in each of the years 1922-3-4-5, at a cost of between £3,000 and {£4,000 per year, for teachers employed in secondary schools. formerly many people might have bcen noticed, especially young men and women, wearing a gold ring on their dress in the streets of the bigger cities and towns. this was to show that they spoke irish and wished to be addressed in that language. it was observed that many of these people came to a violent end, and the wearing of this ring was consequently to some extent discontinued. it is significant that after the formation of the free state the wearing of this ring was largely resumed. for examinations held under the auspices of the civil service commission in the irish free state irish was made an essential subject. indeed, it seems certain that a knowledge of irish will be in future years a necessity for all aspirants to government posts and that no young man who does not know something about it will be looked upon as properly educated. from 1927-8 forward irish is to be compulsory in all secondary schools. finally, it may be said that whilst the reading, writing and speaking of the irish language increased very much during this period in the towns, amongst the cultured classes in the north- west, west and south, where it was naturally spoken, it did not fare so well; in many of these places barely holding its own against english. _ (d. ivy.) irish literature: english (sce 5.622).—the literary revival in ireland was the first evidence of a resurgent national : a rl i gy he a ge irish language—irish literature: english spirit. it had its origin in the study of the older heroic literature and of the folk poetry which still existed in irish. poetry.—its first expression was in poetry which retained the double mark of its origin set in w. b. yeats’ work to a standard of well-nigh perfect artistry and marked in george russcell’s (“ez”) writings with a profound consciousness of the divine origin and destiny of man. in time the poets broke away from folk themes which were becoming a manncrism but not before padraic colum had written verses of grave, deliberate beauty and joseph camp- bell had used similar material effectively but not without sophis- tication. by roto the group of young poets, whose association in new songs (1904) gave the appearance of a school, had broken bounds. seumas o’sullivan had perfected his fastidious art and begun to show the shift of interest from country to town together with anew and mordant note. a transition to prose marked the pass- ing of youth and the coming of age of the movement. movement now it could hardly be called. it had become a diverse develop- ment of personality. james stephens’ insurrections (1909) may be taken as the turning point. passing indifferently from poetry to prose and back again, reincarnating in both forms and in a modern spirit the old prose sagas or the 17th century poetry of o'bruadar, o’rathaille and keating, passing from the char- woman's daughter, a dublin slum idyll, to the riotous invention of the crock of gold and demi-gods, and exhibiting at each turn the same leaping, exuberant fancy and the same wise and witty humanity, stephens fitly represents the transition from the older generation and the growing attraction to prose. one mentions the poets of the rebellion, pearse, macdonagh and plunkett, executed in 1916, the tragic intensity of dora sigerson shorter and the name of francis ledwidge, killed in flanders in 1917, whose verse is lit throughout with sudden glimpses of natural beauty. since their date one powerful poetic talent has appeared with austin clarke, whose eager imagina- tion is fitly exercised in epic subjects. f. r. higgins has written some charming verses but his output is still too small to write of him with assurance. equally limited but more derivative is the work of h. stuart in whom the later rhythms of w. b. yeats are faintly echoed. | prose-—the transition to prose synchronised with growing pre-occupation with public affairs. /e’s prose of imaginative revery sharpened in his attempt, the national being, to shape a national polity and to bring back the thoughts of his country- men from the frontiers and surfaces of political controversy to their spiritual base. his book has left its imprint on the jrish constitution. in the interpreters, written when political con- troversy had come to an issue, he breaks away characteristically from the passing shows of things to track political moods back to spiritual origins and “ to relate the politics of time to the politics of eternity.” here and in the candle of vision, a book of pure mysticism, where he explores the creative imagination in an attempt to discover the operation of the divine imagination in the mind of the individual artist, george russell’s prose reaches its height. the chief stimulating literary influence of his period, and always more interested in life than in the shad- ows of life. e’s work reconciles the superficial conflict of na- tional and universal art. the aim of the former was clearly expressed in the writings of pearse and macldonagh—pearse in his irish anthology and in a remarkable series of pamphlets, the most effective political writing since john mitchell’s, and ma- donagh in his analysis of gaelic verse-forms and the irish way of speech on anglo-irish literature. this form of criticism, the result of the language movement, has been reinforced by daniel corkery in a study of the irish schools of the 17th and 18th cen- juries and is a growing formative influence on the younger writers. the rebellion of 1916 played an inevitable part in the novels of this period, of which eimar o’duffy’s are the most notable, but the psychology of its participants is best studied in corkery’s short stories, wherein whoever cares for the artistic presentation of a passionate human struggle will find a clear glass. his single novel, the threshold of quiet, written before 1916, is a study in irish literature futurity and self-immolation, a shadow-play in whose penumbra the characters dwell in intense if quiet reality. the other signifi- cant novel of this period is colum’s castle conquer. the prema- ture death of seumas o’kelly was a grave loss to irish literature; his weaver's grave is the best short story that has come out of ireland. succeeding disillusions born of civil war is expressed in the recent work of liam o'flaherty, where a powerful crea- tive faculty atones for much brutality. there remains the unique figure of james joyce, the delicately stepping grace of whose chamber music is in singular contrast to his experimental, amorphous prose. drama.—john m. synge, the outstanding dramatist of the abbey theatre, died in 1910. he founded no school, his tragic imagination was not hereditable, and without that inheritance it would be grotesque parody to imitate his manner of imaged, highly coloured speech. colum was the earliest of the peasant playwrights; his best play, thomas muskerry, was produced at the abbey in the year of synge’s death, and it was to his idiom that the new dramatists returned. colum studied the peasant in relation to his surroundings. his fable was always significant, his construction taut and solid, his dialogue unforced. st. john ervine treated of certain situations peculiar to north east ul- ster with some effectiveness, but most of the newcomers devel- oped only the genre study of the individual, detaching him from his miliex and leaning too often to melodrama or farce. lady gregory has comic verve and inexhaustible invention, but to the abbey repertoire her exuberant and uncritical talent added nothing save the image (1910) to surpass her early spreading the news and the rising of the moon. her real work lay in the administration of the theatre through stormy days. the notable newcomers before 1923 were lord dunsany, t. c. murray and lennox robinson. dunsany’s highly personal talent ranges from the grotesque horror of a night at the inn and the queen's iinemies to the imaginative conception of the gods of the moun- tuin and the tents of the arabs. he has singular inventiveness, verbal felicity and at his weakest can construct a charming fable. t. c. murray’s seven plays, of which birthright (1910), alaurice harte (1912) and autumn fire (1924) are the chief, show a strong sense of dramatic situation with a capacity for easy, beau- tiful prose. lennox robinson, harvest (1910) the whiteheaded boy (1916), the lost leader (1918), possesses a less acute sense of dramatic construction, but has an unusual talent for menone interesting character. the period under review closes in dec. 1925 with the coming of age of the abbey theatre. in its 21 years the abbey has pro- duced 216 plays, the work of 86 authors, of whom 72 are irish contemporaries. this record does not include the entire irish dramatic output, since certain secessions from the abbey and an irish-speaking drama league have produced interesting results. that the vital impulse which was born in 1902 of the junction of the writers russell and yeats with the players w. g. and frank fay is not yet exhausted is proved by the advent in 1923 of sean o’casey, the most powerful talent that has come to the irish theatre since synge. his plays the shadow of a gunman (1923), juno and the paycock (1924), the plough and the stars (1926), measure the change of 25 years. the heroic play in verse or prose has given place to the drama of realism, cuculain to the gunman. casey has a consummate power of creating and energising character, a speech that holds rich local savour without losing rhythm, pity and humour that transcend the squalor of the slums. in these gifts and in his passion for truth, the fruit of enthusiasm and disillusion, lics his promise. brstiography.—as a brilliant and scandalous chronicle of the period george moore’s ave, salve, vale (1911-4) is indispensable; lady gregory, our irish theatre (1914) -e imaginations and revertes (1915); thomas macdonagh, ltierature in ireland (1916); ue boyd, treland’s literary renaissance (1916); 7d., the coen- lem porary drama of ireland (1918); padraic colum, anthology of trish verse (1922); w. b. yeats, plays and controversies (1923); j.ennox robinson, golden treasury of irish verse (1925 ie 5 irish literature: gaelic (see 5.622) aap decade following 1910 was a period of much activity in the publication gaelic—iron and steel 257 of literature written in the irish language. this activity took two forms, one the editing of older texts which had never seen — the light before, and the other the creation of wholly new works. the irish texts society in london, the learned magazine eriu published in dublin, the zeitschrift fiir celtische philologie published at halle, the revue celtigue of paris and the celtic review of edinburgh (which ceased publication after 10915) were the principal media for the publication of the older texts. the irish texts society, in particular, published a number of handsome volumes, all editiones principes of important works. the veteran dr. whitley stokes died in 1909. his last work, the irish version of lucan’s pharsalia, was published posthu- mously at leipzig. kuno meyer died in 1919. the great native scholar standish hayes o’grady had passed away in 1915. the gaelic journal, which had been founded in 1882, came to an end in 1906 with the 197th number, and the want of a scholarly magazine dealing with the phases and difficulties of the more modern language was keenly felt. in 1912 [. o’rahil- ly, later professor of irish in trinity college, dublin, started a magazine gudelica, to which he himself was the chief con- tributor, which reproduced all the best and most scholarly features of the old gaelic journal. unfortunately this magazine came to an end in 1913. editiones principes of valuable jrish texts published by various scholars are manus o’donnell’s life of columille (chicago, 1918), the first part of o’clery’s re- cension of the book of the conquests of ireland (1916), the maguires of fermanagh, the flight of the earls, the book of the muacsweeneys, the son of the eagle, sean o’neachtain’s .1d- ventures of edmund o’clery, the poems of pedraigin hackett, and others. perhaps amongst modern writers the name of canon peter o'leary, parish priest of castlelyons, must be mentioned above all others. although he began to write late in life, after the rise of the gaelic league, he produced an amazing number of ex- cellent works, of which his first book, seadna (1898) is nearly sure to live. his great merit is that he was the first to turn his back resolutely upon everything that was bookish and old and obscure, and to go for his mode of expressing himself to the folk speech of his native county of cork. how suitable the speech of the people became in his hands to express the whole gamut of the emotions was to many a revelation. he dicd in 1920 and has left his trace upon the language more deeply than any other writer of his time. father o'leary stands for the most representative writer of the southern half of ireland. the elder pidraig o’conaire (or conry) would probably be regarded by many in 1925 as the best living writer of the northern half. irish literature got a great set-back during the political troubles following the rebellion of 1916. two monthly magazines which published stories and folk-lore were burnt, one in munster and one in connacht (connaught). the connacht editor was “on the run ” in the mountains, and of the joint editors of the southern paper one was “interned” and the other had his house burnt, with all the mss. which he had spent half a life- time collecting, and all the songs and music he had taken down from old people, now for the most part dead. padraig o’conaire, too, had his little hut in the dublin mountains burnt and sev eral plays destroyed. (d. hy.)