I do not think I would have great difficulty in making what I propose to say relevant to the debate which has just been interrupted, but, in deference to the views expressed this afternoon, and to prevent anv possibility of misunderstanding, I think it is perhaps better that I should deal with the matter as a completely separate and unconnected affair. I think that every Deputy, when he read the statement of the British Prime Minister with reference to our ports, must have wondered somewhat. I do not know whether everybody was prepared to take that statement in the way that I was prepared to take it, as a simple, perhaps natural, expression of regret, or whether it portended something more. I would have refrained from making any comment upon it were it not that it has been followed by an extensive Press campaign dn Britain itself, and re-echoed an the United States of America, the purport of the campaign being that we should surrender or lease our ports to Britain for the conduct of the war.
Now, the aim of our Government uniformly has been to try to bring about good relations between the people of this island and the people of the adjoining island. It has been the prime, the fundamental motive of most of the things which we did. We realised that these good relations could only be based on the recognition by Britain of our fundamental rights by removing causes which, over the centuries, have made the history of the relations of our two countries such tragic reading. In pursuit of that object we strove with the British Government to get a complete agreement with regard to all the outstanding issues between us. We succeeded to the extent that with the exception of one outstanding matter, fundamental no doubt, we had settled those outstanding differences in such a way that, if that could only be settled, we could say that the quarrel of the centuries had been ended.
Unfortunately, that outstanding matter, the matter of Partition, which affects so deeply every man and every woman of Irish blood throughout the world, was left unsettled, and it remained unsettled at the outset of this war. But we had settled the points of difference so far as the immediate territory under the jurisdiction of this Government was concerned, and we had hoped that these matters were settled for ever and that never again was there going to be any question of the right of the people of this part of Ireland to exercise complete sovereignty over this territory and to be able to choose the policy which would best seem to serve the interests of the community that lived in the territory.
No doubt, giving us back what was our own may appear to many to have put a burden upon those who gave it back. To restore that which has been taken does, I suppose, always imply a sacrifice for those who restore it. But, if justice is to be done, that sacrifice has to be faced and we fully expected that, not merely on the part of the British Government but on the part of the British people, that was completely and fully understood. I want to say before I say much more that, up to the present certainly, it has been understood and that there has not been since the beginning of this war a single suggestion that this community of ours was not entitled to act as we have acted and to remain out of this war.
It is because I am anxious that that should continue that I am choosing this opportunity to address the House and to speak to our people and to the people of the adjoining island. We have chosen the policy of neutrality in this war because we believed that it was the right policy for our people. It is the policy which has been accepted, not merely by this House, but by our people as a whole, and nobody who realises what modern war means, and what it means particularly for those who have not sufficient air defences, will have the slightest doubt that that policy was the right one, apart altogether from any questions of sympathy on one side or the other.
Now, as I have said, we want friendly relations with the people of Britain, as we want friendly relations with all other peoples, but we naturally want them with Britain because Britain is the nearest country to us on the globe. We have many relations of various kinds which make it desirable that the two peoples should live in friendship. It was partly for that reason, and partly because I knew perfectly that it was a condition of neutrality, that, years before we came into office and several times since we came into office, I announced that it would be our policy to use our strength to the utmost to sec that this island was not going to be used as a basis of attack upon Britain. We have never swerved in the slightest from that declaration. Everything that we could do has been done to make sure that that policy would be made as effective as it was within our power to make it.
Before the war, in order to increase our strength and so put us in a better position to make sure that, in the event of a war and in the event of our declaring our neutrality, as I expected we would, we should be in a position to see that that neutrality would be respected by all belligerents, we tried to get arms. We sought them in America; we sought them in Britain; we sought them on the Continent even, and it is no fault of the Government if our armaments are not even several times stronger than they are. We did not ask to be given a present of these arms, we were prepared to buy them, and to the extent to which they were on offer either here or in the United States of America, we have purchased them. There has been no want of faith, good faith, as far as we are concerned. We have abided by our public as well as by our private promises. It is a lie to say that German submarines or any other submarines are being supplied with fuel or provisions on our coasts. A most extensive system of coast observation has been established here since the war. I say it is a lie, and I say further that it is known to be a falsehood by the British Government itself.
Having said all that, I now come to the question of our ports. There can be no question of the handing over of these ports so long as this State remains neutral. There can be no question of leasing these ports. They are ours. They are within our sovereignty, and there can be no question, as long as we remain neutral, of handing them over on any condition whatsoever. Any attempt to bring pressure to bear on us by any side—by any of the belligerents—by Britain—could only lead to bloodshed.
Certainly, as long, as this Government loinains in office, we shall defend our rights in regard to these ports against whoever shall attack them, as we shall defend our rights in regard to every other part ot our territory. It would be a strange thing, indeed, if the reason for an attack upon our ports should be that they would be useful. If that is a good reason, then I suppose it is universally a good reason, and it is not necessary for me to point the moral by saying where or for whom.
I want to say to our people that we may be—I hope not—facing a grave crisis. If we are to face it, then we shall do it, anyhow, knowing that our cause is right and just and that, if we have to die for it, we shall be dying in that good cause.