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Show Ireland and the League. Ireland, which originally fought the League of Nations as an instrument of English tyranny, is now invoking the league against England. The quarrel in itself is slight, yet insignificant. It involves, on the face of it, merely the right of Ireland, as a member of the league, to register at Geneva the British-Irish treaty which established the Irish Free State. The British government opposes such registry, on the ground that a treaty between Britain and one of her "self-governing dominions" is a purely domestic matter, with which the league has nothing to do. It is a curious situation, and embarrassing to Great Britain. Most Americans, like most Irishmen, cannot understand under-stand why a British dominion that is entitled to belong to the league and cast a separate vote in the league assembly is not entitled, also, to file a treaty with the league. In other words, is Ireland a member of the league in her own right, or is she there simply as an appendage of England Eng-land ? Canada and the other British dominions are interested in that question. |