(2 of 2)
Status. Internally Eire will be "an independent democratic republic"; externally "a member of the British Commonwealth of Nations." Last December the Bail passed a bill abolishing the Governor General and leaving "the King only a vague title in the international affairs of the Irish Free State" (TIME, Dec. 21). The extent of this "vague title" is not outlined in the new constitution, which makes not a single mention of the King in all its 63 articles. Constitutional lawyers were scratching their heads in Britain last week wondering how Eire can claim to be a British Dominion if it rejects "the person of the King"—the Governor General. The perplexities of many Britons and Irish about the new State's position were summed up by the Irish Times when the December bill was passed: "The idea of a republic at home and a Dominion abroad may satisfy the President's metaphysical mind, and nobody ought to grudge him his satisfactions. Plain men, however, want to know where they stand."