SIR JAMES CRAIG AND MR DE VALERA
INFORMAL CONFERENCE.
FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT. DUBLIN, THURSDAY.
A great sensation was created to-day in Dublin by the announcement that Sir James Craig, the Ulster Unionist leader and Premierdesignate of the Northern Parliament, has met Mr. De Valera, “president of Sinn Fein and the Irish Republic,” and that they have held informal conference, exchanged their respective points of view, and discussed the future of Ireland. Opinion in Dublin is inclined to connect this unexpected event with the Earl of Derby’s recent visit to Ireland. It is now generally accepted that Lord Derby had met Mr. De Valera, but it may well be that the Craig-de Valera meeting is quite unconnected with the Lord Derby visit.
It cannot be so readily dissociated from the coming of Viscount Fitzalan, the new Viceroy. Lord Fitzalan arrived in Dublin and was sworn in on Monday last. Since then he has not suffered the grass to grow beneath his feet. It is difficult, except on the assumption that the new Viceroy has been in touch with Sinn Fein’s president, to account for the most unexpected event that has taken place.
On the Monday when the Viceroy was sworn in Sir James Craig was addressing public meetings of his followers in county Down, and Mr. De Valera was residing at a spot unknown to any save the inner circle of his party. Sir James Craig on Monday night referred to Mr. De Valera. He did not then, however, say anything about discussing matters with his southern rival in any informal conferences within a day or two.
The offer he made in his speech at Banbridge was to meet Mr. De Valera on the Council of Ireland, which cannot come into existence until the two Irish Parliaments are first elected. He laid it down, however, that Ulster had reached the limit of compromise in the meantime, having accepted an Act for which she had no desire or liking. He continued: “A great deal had been said in the Press and whispered abroad that it might be possible for De Valera and himself and other leaders to meet round a table and to settle that Irish affair in Ireland itself. If they considered it necessary to hold meetings between Mr. De Valera and himself, he was perfectly prepared to meet Mr. De Valera.”
These words look like the utterance of a political leader who was aware that a movement for conference was afoot and was anxious to lay down the limits of discussion beforehand. On Wednesday came the sudden announcement that Sir James had been called hastily to Dublin to meet the Viceroy, and his public engagements for that and the following day were therefore cancelled. Apparently the meeting with Sir James Craig gave the Viceroy an important cue, for that same night his Excellency left for London. Hot foot upon this event came to-day’s announcement of the meeting between Sir James Craig and his Southern rival, Mr De Valera. There is no doubt that a meeting face to face, together with informal and free conversations between the protagonists of North and South, should tend to clear the Irish situation, and to that extent it is regarded as a good and helpful step. It is emphasised in Dublin that Lord Fitzalan’s position differs from that of his predecessors. Under the Government of Ireland Act not only is he the direct representative of the King, but his tenure of office as such is not dependent on the particular Government that may be in power at the moment. Occupying such a position of independence, it is open to him, if she should see fit, to act the part of peacemaker as well as that of Viceroy.