Then, Sir, I come to the second aspect of it. We as sovereign Independent Republic are going to continue as a Member of this Commonwealth of Nations, a full member. The only change that has been made is a change between the past and the present. I am no prophet and I think nobody can say what the future will bring and so I am talking only of the past and the present. The only change to my mind between the past and the present so far as this aspect is concerned is that we hold no longer any allegiance as such to the Crown, but the King as a symbolic head of this group of nations remains. Now, Sir, as a Republic, we are going to have our own Head; the Head of the Federation, the Head of the Union of India will be our Head; the Head of the Federation, the Head of the Federation, the Head of the Union of India will be our Head. I would not have minded this Declaration if it had merely stated “The Government of India have declared and affirmed India’s desire to continue her full membership of the Commonwealth of Nations and her acceptance of the king as the symbol of the free association of its independent member nations.” If that has stopped there, I think it would have been far happier, but to tag on a later clause “and as such as the head of the Commonwealth” was not desirable. What is the position? We are in the Commonwealth, a full member and not a member nation which is bound by close association or a close tie as Eire has done recently. Eire has ceased to be a member and Mr. Costello said when he moved the Republic of Ireland Bill–I am reading Sir, from a copy of the memorandum circulated to the Members of the Assembly in the last session. The Honourable referred to this in a speech during that session, and he quoted from Mr. Costello’s speech.
