Secretary

1. Judging by these cuttings, the French press takes, on the whole, a rather impartial and objective view of the Belfast disturbances.¹ Where it wrongs the Nationalists, it does so out of ignorance rather than lack of sympathy. Only half of the facts have reached it, and all its accounts are influenced by the statement made by the deputy-head of the R.U.C.² that the disturbances had their origin in shots fired by Nationalists at a 'fanfare ecossaise'.

2. All the papers take the view that the Belfast disturbances are a direct outcome of the present state of Anglo-Irish relations, and some put them on a par, in this respect, with the recent troubles at the Fermoy cattle sales!

Brosselette, of the 'Republique', for example, is at some pains to show that the Belfast disturbances coincide with a period of extreme tension in our relations with Britain, brought about, in his view, by Saorstát abstention from the Jubilee celebrations and by Mr. Thomas's recent statement that 'he would never permit the bond to be broken which unites the Free State to the Crown'.