Irish Free State Saorstat Eireann

IRISH FREE STATE (SAORSTAT EIREANN). 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 Ireland convened by Arthur Griffith. In 1923 the State was ad mitted a member of the League of Nations. The new State is composed of 26 of the counties and f our of the county boroughs of Ireland. Its area is 17,019,155 statute ac., and its estimated population in 1926 was 2,972,802.

The treaty which led to the creation of the Irish Free State was concluded by the British Government with representatives of an Irish Government, which Great Britain had never recognized. From Jan. 1919, onwards, a large majority of the members of parliament elected for Irish constituencies had styled themselves Dail 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 Government of Ireland Act, 1920, Republican candidates were returned un opposed for all constituencies outside of Northern Ireland (ex cept that of Dublin university) and for several constituencies in Northern Ireland. This, the second Dail, 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 and Michael Collins. When the terms of the treaty were published on Dec. 6, 1921, de Valera announced his opposition. In the Dail's debate, pro longed until Jan. 8, 1922, it was generally admitted that the country at large was for acceptance, but the treaty was accepted by the Dail with a majority of only 64 to 57 ; and when de Valera resigned the presidency, Griffith was elected by only two votes.

The Provisional Government.

Under Article 17 of the treaty a provisional government was appointed at a meeting in which all members elected for constituencies in Southern Ireland were summoned. Opponents of the treaty absented themselves. Eight men were named members of the Provisional Government, Collins being chairman. Griffith remained outside it. So did Gen eral Mulcahy, who became minister for defence. In theory the army was still the army of the republic, and the Provisional Gov ernment had no force at its disposal. The old constabulary was at once disbanded. Collins and his colleagues decided at once to form a new "Civic Guard," but it necessarily took time to organ ize, and its creators had decided in principle that it should be unarmed. British troops were rapidly evacuating the country. 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 Government, Prof. &Sin MacNeill, was widely known in Ireland. Of the others, William Cosgrave, minister for local government, had been a prominent member of the Dublin Corporation from 1913 on, and in 1917 was returned as a Sinn Fein member of par liament. Duggan had been one of the signatories to the treaty. The others, K. O'Higgins, J. Magrath, F. Lynch and P. J. Hogan, were still young men with their careers yet to come.

Collins, a man of immense resource and energy, sought to strengthen his position by the reunion of Ireland. Under the treaty, if Northern Ireland consented, all powers retained in that province by the Parliament at Westminster would pass to the Parliament of the Free State. Interviews with Sir James Craig (Lord Craigavon), the Ulster prime minister, were arranged. Settlement was desirable for North as well as South, since in Bel fast there raged a murderous strife between Catholic and Prot estant ; but no accommodation proved possible. 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 de Valera called instead, on Feb. 21, a convention of delegates of the whole Sinn Fein organi zation. At this meeting, Collins consented to delay the election for at least three months and not to hold it till the draft of a con stitution, based on the treaty, had been published.

Meanwhile, various acts of open disorder were committed in the name of the republic, which Collins, in hope of avoiding con flict, declined to punish. De Valera proclaimed at meetings that there was only one legitimate government in Ireland—that of the republic. The extremist Republican Party definitely desired re newal of war with England, and their armed bands still moved uncontrolled, levying toll from banks and commandeering motor cars.

It appeared from his public utterances that President Griffith desired drastic action; but Michael Collins, the head of the Pro visional Government, whose personal hold was stronger still, com promised, and on May 20 announced that he had reached agree ment with de Valera. An election was to be held, but Free Staters and Republicans were to put forward a joint panel of candi dates, so arranged as to reproduce the distribution of views in the existing Dail. After the election a coalition ministry was to be formed, giving de Valera f our 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 organ ized Labour insisted on putting forward candidates, and other interests took courage to follow their example. Michael Collins, at Cork, publicly advised the people to vote as they chase. There resulted some appearance 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.

Several aggressive actions by the mutinous section of the army then followed, and on June 22 Sir Henry Wilson was mur dered in London by two Irishmen who had served in the British army. The British Government made it clear that the Free State must act. A definite cause of action was afforded when the muti neers captured, in Dublin, the assistant chief 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. After eight days' of localized fighting the struggle in Dublin was over. Rory O'Connor, who led the section in the army that demanded the right to be consulted on the terms of any settlement, was captured of ter he had blown up the Four Courts with all their records. De Valera, who had joined the insurgents, escaped.

Some districts of the country south and west were held by Republicans. The Government's army had neither a trained staff nor a system of supply. 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 sud denly. Ten days later, on the 22nd, Collins was killed in an am bush in the Co. Cork. Thus the task of establishing the Free State fell not to any man but to a group, 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. In the adjacent College of Science the Govern ment had established their offices. The block of buildings was placed under guard. None but carefully scrutinized representa tives of the Press assisted at the nominally public debates. Under these conditions the Irish parliament and Irish government op erated for nearly a year. Ministers lived as in a fortress.

At the Dail's first meeting Cosgrave was elected president of the Irish Free State and he assumed the ministry of finance. Eleven ministers, proposed by him, were elected by the Dail. The Dail sat persistently to fulfil its 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 Govern ment. Ministers had the task of persuading the Dail to accept this limitation ; they had also to put forward their own proposals for all that was left free.

The Restoratiori of Public Order.

By the end of Sept. 1923 at latest, there were no formed forces of the irregulars in the field, and all towns were held for the Government. Demand began to be heard for courts to which men could bring their cases. But the essential was to restore order. Property of all kinds was assailed. Whole bands of men in the name of the Republic were commandeering what they required. Much private robbery followed. More serious than all, the permanent land hunger awoke.

Courts were long in being framed. The Civic Guard was being organized; but gunmen flouted, beat and in certain cases killed, members of this unarmed force. 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. The issue has justified his view; but for immediate purposes this body was useless. The Government on its side was driven, like the British, to enrol a large force of soldiers, which finally exceeded 50,000. This force, hastily levied, with officers as untrained as the men, did not always give satisfaction by its conduct.

Neither was Ireland, at the close of a movement extending over more than 4o years, easily able to support government in the face of terrorism ; and terror was applied. The ministry 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 un punished. Power to try and to punish most drastically by court martial was given by an act of the Dail; yet till November fear of the irregulars was stronger than fear of the Government 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 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 execu tions followed, among them that of Erskine Childers, who had been the most powerful influence over de Valera. There was no improvement perceptible by Dec. 6, when the Irish Constitution was formally ratified by both parliaments.

Ratification completed, Northern Ireland notified the British Government by address of both houses of Parliament, that exer cising 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 "Dominion," sensation was created by the appointment (Dec. 1922) of T. M. Healy, K.C. as its first governor general. On Dec. 8, when the Dail assembled to choose a senate, as provided by the Constitution, President Cosgrave announced that one member of the Dail had been shot dead and another wounded on the way to the meeting. Next morning four of the leading irregulars who were in prison were shot without trial by way of reprisal. Among them was Rory O'Connor. All these had been arrested long before the proclamation of martial law. General Mulcahy's justification was not given till some months later, when he pointed out that no other member of the Dail had been attacked. In fact, the counter-terror succeeded. The country might now be terrorized into silence by the irregulars, but it gave them no such willing support as it had given to the Irish Republican army. Informa tion came, surreptitiously but steadily, to the Free State troops. Further, in Dublin, where courts were now in session, juries did their duty fearlessly.

In nominating one half of the members of the Senate, President Cosgrave 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 prominent Protestants. The Senate when constituted chose as its chairman Lord Glenavy, who as Sir James Campbell had been Sir Edward Carson's chief lieutenant.

The gravest danger was that foreseen 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 uary executions had risen to 5o, and the prisoners to io,000. No government could be popular under such conditions. Yet signs of weakening began to show. By May 1923, de Valera called upon his followers to abandon hostilities and dump their arms in con cealment. The sound of firing was no longer heard in the streets, and public meetings were once more held. When August 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.

In April 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 pro tective tariff existed. In June the minister for agriculture intro duced a measure for the completion of land purchase, and this was carried through hastily. The third Dail, which had passed the constitution, still existed, but a general election on the new register with adult suffrage was fixed for the last days of August. The Government's action had exposed it to much odium. Some 0,000 prisoners were detained in gaol, mostly untried, and over 70 men had been executed. Yet President Cosgrave, Mr. O'Hig gins and General Mulcahy were returned by huge majorities at the head of the group in which they stood. But de Valera also headed the poll in County Clare and the Republicans returned no less than 44 members out of 128. Government had in its own fol lowing less than half the Dail. But the various groups of Inde pendents were notably increased. All these supported the treaty and the constitution.

The New Government.

Ireland's accession to her new status was practically signified on Sept. 1o, 1923, when her representa tives took their place with acclamation in the Council of the League of Nations. A month later Cosgrave attended the Domin ion Conference in London, where he was warmly welcomed. At home the executive council was for the first time constituted, consisting of seven. Four other ministers were chosen as "extern," having individual, not collective, responsibility. Ernest Blythe, who now became minister for finance, had at once to face a seri ous situation. It had become clear that the State would not be destroyed by violence—there was fear lest it should be bankrupt. Civil war had produced damages, then reckoned at i5o,000,000, though, when compensation came to be paid, the bill reduced it self to about ten. But the army was costing over 114,000,000 a year, and taxation stood at the peak point to which Great Britain had raised it. In December the Government came to the country for a loan of I io,000,000 at 5%—the issue figure being 95, repay able at par in 20 years. It was oversubscribed in ten days, the subscribers numbering over 22,000. This demonstration of con fidence greatly cheered the country, and rounded off the satisfac tion felt in comparing the settled order of Christmas 1923, with the ruinous anarchy in which the year opened.

Yet the year 1924 was a very unhappy period. Organized re sistance to the State was withdrawn, but de Valera's followers re fused to surrender or hand in their arms. 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.

Legislation.—Added to this was the unpopularity of the Gov ernment's measures. 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, Blythe decided to embark experimentally on a measure of protection, its main feature being a duty of 15% on imported boots.

In framing the new judicial system, the number of judges and their salaries were reduced, the office of lord chancellor disap peared; 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 stipendiary district justices were appointed to cover the whole country.

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 dis regard of political record, and totally ignored religious differences. By 1925, five out of the nine high court judges were Protestants, and several had been strong Unionists. The effect of this was to confirm the allegiance already promised by the minority in the Free State; and leading members of it, notably divines of the Church of Ireland and of the Presbyterian Church, offered testi mony to the impartiality of the Government.

People were forced to see that no alternative to it existed, and ministers showed little disposition to win support by conciliating public feeling. O'Higgins forced on a drastic bill to restrict the facilities for buying and selling drink; 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; and presently, when the commissioners produced improved administration and reduced the inordinate rates, this experiment was approved. Outside the towns, the min istry abolished district councils, thus throwing more work on the county councils. A tendency to centralization and even to bureau cratic administration showed itself in all directions.

Such a policy made enemies everywhere, and the weather was no friend to Cosgrave. A second bad season in 1924 hit the farm ers hard, and Blythe was still levying taxes that were now actually higher than the British scale; for the reduction of income tax from 5s. to 45.6d. in 1924 was not followed in the Free State. The new postmaster greatly cut down the public facilities, and kept the stamp at twopence. 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 re placed a Labour Ministry by a strong Tory Government, English ministers kept faith absolutely with Ireland.

The Boundary Commission.

No step had been taken until 1924 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 "deter mine in accordance with the wishes of the inhabitants, so far as may be compatible with economic and geographical considerations, the boundaries between Northern Ireland and the rest of Ireland." But with the cessation of civil war Cosgrave's Government was pressed to demand its application. Immediately threats came from Ulster of resistance by force to the cession of a single inch of territory. Ramsay MacDonald attempted to settle the mat ter by private negotiations, but this failed. The Free State named Prof. MacNeill as their representative on the commission, but Northern Ireland refused to recognize the commission in any way. MacDonald appointed Justice Feetham, a South African judge, as chairman, but Northern Ireland contended that its own refusal to appoint a representative would make the constitution of the commission void. The difficulty was referred by the Labour Government to the judicial committee of the Privy Council, which found that without a new act of Parliament enabling the Imperial Government to appoint a commissioner to represent Northern Ireland nothing could be done.

Parliament was summoned on Sept. 3o 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 was not al lowed to prejudice the Irish settlement, and just before the disso lution the bill received the royal assent. A veil 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 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 had led Ireland 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 Blythe's budget of April marked the beginning of normal finance. It soon became apparent that the ministry was not proposing a mere negative policy of economy, and early in 1925 they committed themselves to a project for utilizing the Shannon (see SHANNON) for a considerable electric power scheme. Nor did this stand alone. By promise of a subsidy amounting to a total of over ii,000,000 a Belgian firm was in duced 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 proposals for the development of Irish in dustry and Irish agriculture, which had been interminably dis cussed in and out of Parliament 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 possi bility 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 Ulster Boundary Crisis.

In the late autumn a new crisis threatened the Government's prestige and even existence. The re port 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. There was a fierce outcry, and President Cos grave reiterated the Free State's contention 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. These declarations were followed by the announcement that the Free State representative had with drawn from the commission. Prof. MacNeill followed this up by resigning his post on the executive council.

Both the Government and Prof. MacNeill were attacked with great violence in the Dail and outside it. The Republican leader came into new prominence. Cosgrave refused to commit himself publicly to any line of action, and went to London, where negotia tions proceeded. Sir James Craig was summoned from Ulster ; and on Dec. 3, a new agreement was concluded, to which not only Great Britain and the Free State were parties, but Northern Ire land also. It was agreed that the award of the commission should not be published and that the existing boundary should stand. This gave to Ulster all that Ulster claimed, but it gave to Ireland the repose of finality. Further, the treaty was altered by the can cellation of Article 5, under which Ireland assumed liability for the public debt of the United Kingdom as existing in 1921 "in such proportion as may be fair and equitable, having regard to any just claims on the part of Ireland by way of set off on counter claims." This at once liberated the Irish exchequer from an unde fined, hanging liability injurious to its borrowing power. Ireland, however, undertook to repay to Great Britain compensation al ready paid for war damages in the period 1919-21, and to add io% to the compensation awarded to claimants for damages suf fered 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 carried without difficulty in Great Britain, and the Northern Parliament expressed its satisfaction. But in the Dail President Cosgrave was angrily opposed by the Labour Party and by some of 11;s own followers, and after much talk the bill was carried by 71 to 20. Business men as a whole regarded the issue as fortunate for Ire land, which now definitely became a country with a total national debt of under L20,000,000 and less than a year's gross revenue. Other sections found their chief satisfaction, as did President Cosgrave, in the changed relation of the governments concerned. An immediate consequence was the disbandment of the Ulster special police in two of its three branches.

The Imperial Conference.

Freed from these long-standing anxieties, the fourth Dail made steady progress with the work of reorganization, and extended the foundations of further economic development. In the spring of 1926 questions of external affairs and imperial relations occupied considerable attention. The Free State's membership of the League of Nations had brought definite responsibilities for the prevention of future wars ; and the ap proach of the Imperial Conference turned the attention of the Government towards a fuller insistence upon the international rights of the Free State. A conflict over appeals from the Irish courts to the Privy Council, the position of the governor general, the question of passports for Irish citizens in foreign countries, and other questions affecting the international status of the Free State, were vigorously canvassed before the Imperial Conference met in the autumn. When the conference assembled, Kevin O'Higgins, who had already assumed a more prominent part in the representation of the Free State at the League of Nations, quickly became one of its most important figures. His insistence upon a fuller definition of the rights inherent in dominion status found strong support among some of the other dominions, and had a profound influence upon the decisions which the conference reached.

Reconstruction.

By the spring of 1927 the Dail could look back upon four years of solidly constructive work as the general elections approached. McGilligan, in introducing the Electricity Supply bill, reported very satisfactory progress with the Shannon scheme. Hogan was able to report an immense improvement in the prospects of Irish trade owing to the Government's enforce ment of an official grading of exported butter and eggs; and he introduced a bold measure for giving long term credits to farmers to supplement the facilities offered by the banks. Blythe's budget for 1927 announced that the Government now felt it safe to re duce the estimate of normal army expenditure by L5oo,000; and with the assistance of certain economies he was thus able to lower the income tax to below the English level, at 3s. in the pound.

Within four years nearly 200 acts had been passed by the fourth Dail, and the foundations of the new State had been laid, while all the compensation claims arising before the Anglo-Irish truce had been dealt with, and only 400 out of some 20,000 subse quent claims still remained. Members of all parties gave expres sion to their sense of a new comradeship acquired during the work of the Dail and congratulated each other on the rapid growth of a parliamentary tradition which had produced new feelings of mutual respect and confidence.

At the elections held in June the strong desire for a change of government after the first trying years of the new State was clear ly manifest. The smaller parties which criticized the Government on various grounds gained in strength, and Cosgrave came back at the head of a party of 46 instead of 57, unable to command a majority in the Dail. No other party, however, found itself able to form a government, and Cosgrave consented to resume office on the clear understanding that he would pursue his own pro gramme until the other parties agreed to defeat his ministry.

Murder of Kevin O'Higgins.

Then, to the consternation of the whole country, on July lc), Kevin O'Higgins, the vice-presi dent of the executive council, was assassinated outside his house near Dublin. The Republicans immediately disclaimed respon sibility for, or sympathy with, his murder, but Cosgrave expressed the popular indignation and horror by denouncing it as a delib erate attack upon the State. The Government, unable to trace the authorship of the crime, sought drastic powers by the new Public Safety Act, which proclaimed all revolutionary societies as being treasonable and gave powers to arrest or deport sus pected persons, in addition to introducing the death penalty for any treasonable offence.

Holding the Republicans responsible for having encouraged acts of murder, the Government also introduced a bill designed to force the Republican deputies to enter the Dail, by prescribing an oath of willingness to enter the Dail and also the oath of allegiance to the Constitution, for every candidate at future parliamentary elections. De Valera exhausted every effort to defeat the passage of the bill, and finally, in despair, consented to lead his party into the Dail at once. They agreed at last to take the oath of allegiance, while proclaiming in advance that they all regarded it as an "empty formula" which would not bind their actions in any way. An agreement was quickly reached with the Labour Party and with Capt. Redmond's National League to out vote the Government on a motion of no confidence, on the under standing that Johnson was to assume office with the support of the Republicans. When the motion was debated on Aug. 16, it was anticipated that Cosgrave would be in a minority of one, but the disappearance of Alderman Jinks at the last moment enabled the Speaker to save the Ministry by his casting vote.

In such circumstances a second general election was obviously inevitable. Cosgrave awaited the results of two by-elections in Dublin, which both gave him large majorities, and then suddenly announced a dissolution before any party could prepare for an election or replenish its funds. The election resulted in a drastic reduction of the smaller parties, Cosgrave winning many seats from the Farmers' Party and the National League, and de Valera many more from the Labour Party. The sixth Dail assembled on Oct. 11, with Cosgrave's party of 61 still in a minority of the Dail, and with the Republicans' strength increased to 57.

The Sixth Dall.

But with the support of the Farmers' Party and the Independents, against a combination of Republicans, La bour Party and National League, Cosgrave could count on a safe majority of six votes, and he did not hesitate to accept office. On the first division in the Dail the Labour Party voted with the Government, and a little later de Valera's effort to repeal the Public Safety Act was defeated by a majority of six. The first serious business of the Government was to float a new loan of £7,000,000, at the same price of issue as before. The general be lief that de Valera's accession to office would shake public credit had been the chief deterrent to a change of Government ; which in spite of all that Cosgrave's ministry had accomplished, had long been desired, in view of the widespread unpopularity that the Government had inevitably incurred by its vigorous enforcement of the law and its policy of drastic retrenchment. For the first time the Dail now included all its elected deputies, and contained an alternative government in the Republicans, now at last ready to participate directly in the development of the Free State, and pledged to do so on constitutional lines. (S. G.; D. G.) Recent Years.—In 1928 Mr. James McNeill succeeded Mr. Healy as governor-general. The republican opposition grew stead ily until de Valera was victorious in the elections of Feb. 1932, and became president. In that year Mr. Donal Buckley became governor-general. De Valera immediately refused payment of the Land Annuities to Great Britain; and in 1933 the Dail abolished the oath of allegiance to the King. General O'Duffy's "Blue Shirts", becoming troublesome, were disbanded, but were suc ceeded by a League of Youth formed by the United Ireland Organization. The Dail's bill of 1934 abolishing the Senate took effect in 1936. On June 19, 1936, the Irish Republican Army was declared illegal.

Following Edward VIII's abdication in Dec. 2936, the governor generalship was abolished, but the King, though omitted from the constitution, was authorized to act for the Free State, as for other members of the British Empire, in external affairs. On Apr. 3o, 1937, de Valera published a new constitution pro claiming the Free State (now re-named Eire) an independent republic in all but name, and providing for a national parliament (Oireachtas) of the President, the Dail, and a Senate of I i nomi nated and 49 elected members, and for a Council of State to assist the president. This constitution was approved by a plebis cite taken concurrently with the July, 1937, general election, in which de Valera failed to obtain a clear majority over all other parties. (X.)