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not always done before. This may be significant in connection with Mr.   
                Taylor's presence in Rome.)                 
 
                                                            
 
 
It is very evident that nothing is to be hoped for in the  
way of air bases or ports either by the British or American Governments   
from the Irish Government, or any contribution to the war effort directed   
                     against Hitlerism.                     
 
                                                            
 
              AMERICAN POLICY TOWARD IRELAND.               
 
                                                            
 
 
The American viewpoint in considering Ireland must look  
with sympathy at the very natural desire of the Irish Government to avoid   
involvement in the war, and must appreciate the prevailing lack of sympathy  
 throughout the Irish people with the British war effort in view of recent   
Irish history. However, desire to avoid involvement does not justify the   
blindness to the realities of the situation, which seems to charac-  
terize the Irish point of view, nor does it counteract certain moral   
weaknesses in the Irish position, to wit: (a) Mr. de Valera is obviously   
trying to get a free ride, expecting, or at least hoping and trying, to be   
supplied by Britain or the United States without contributing to the   
security of sea-borne transport; (b) relying on international law in a   
jungle world but unwilling to make any contribution to the maintenance of   
international-law, he therefore appears to have no just basis for asking   
special consideration, and if his position as an Isolationist is respected,  
 there seems to be no moral responsibility on either Britain or the United   
States to shield him from the inevitable consequences of isolation. The   
United States policy, therefore, should be dictated within the limits of   
justice and humanity by (1) the military considerations of the situation,   
(2) political conditions in the United States, and