The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 11, 1911. IRELAND AND BRITISH POLITICS.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1255, 11 October 1911, Page 4

The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 11, 1911. IRELAND AND BRITISH POLITICS.

All tho real interest in British ! politics now centres in the Government's obligation to carry out its agreement with tho Irish Nationalists, and. the stream of small cable messages ihat have lately been appearing in our news columns may Do thought of as tho first straggling shots preparatory to the big battle to come. It is a little curious that while both the Unionists and the Home Rulers a,re organising their forces with fierce energy, nobody knows exactly what sort of Home Rule Bill will be proposed. No doubt Mr. John Redmond knows pretty well what he wishes 5 and it is practical]y what he orders that the Government must carry out, for even if the Government has some ideas of its own upon the solution of the Irish problem it cannot set itself against the minority that scourged it into a sudden and violent subversion of tho Constitution. Mr. Redmond, however, despite all his very frequent articles in the press, is extremely vaguo as to tho details of the measure that he wants. His latest pronouncement of which we havo tnc full te'xt is contained in a preface to a new book by Mr. Stephen Gwynn. He gives a good enough statement of some of the difficulties of the existing arrangebut he avoids giving the broad principles that he has in his mind as the framework of tho new Bill. "The demand for Home Rule," he says, "means no less and no more than this: Ireland asks for an Irish Parliament, with an executive responsible to it, to deal with purely Irish affairs, subject to Imperial supremacy." And again: "What we mean by Home Rule is the continuous government of Ireland according to Irish ideas carried out by Irish Ministers responsible to the Irish! people." But as to the question of continued Irish representation at Westminster, or as to the cardinal difficulty of the whole matter, namely, the financial solution, he says no word.

The difficulties in the Government's way are both English and Irish. The majority of the people of Great Britain must be regarded as opposed to Home Rule. This is demonstrable in tho case of England itself. When the issue is placed beforo the people

unclouded by other issues, there will be a great falling-off of the support [ given to the Government ,%s support of Free-trade and of the Parliament I Bill. In Ireland there is no proper ! unity even amongst the Nationalists, who, although unanimous as to the■ necessity for Irish self-government, are divided into two not very unequal camps as to the wisdom of the alliance with the British lladicalsThero is no essential affinity between Irish Nationalism and British Radicalism, but some fundamental antagonisms, and the more experienced Nationalists have a well-founded dread of the policy that tho end justifies the means in this great fight. Tho Pall Mall Gazette suggested a few weeks ago that it was possible for Mr. Redmond a few months ago to win over the Unionist party, and also Ulster, to "a moderate measure of Home Rule," and the Westminster Gazette ridiculed tho idea. Mr. William O'Brien, however, who knows far more than anyone else of Homo Rule politics, supported the Fall Mall in a notable letter to the Westminster Gazelle'.

"Would there," he wrote, "have been anything so disastrous for England, or for Ireland, or even for the higher life of tho Liberal party in such a conversion? And is it altogether generous to suggest that there would be anything shameful to the past or present position of tho Unionist party if they should be irreconcilably opposed to one sort of Homo Eulo but capable of placing another sort of Homo Rule on the Statute Book as promptly as ihey did the Irish Local Government Act of 1S98? The mistake of many of our best English friends of both parties in dealing with Irish representatives is in ( taking it for granted that we are born to bo either staunch English Liberals or staunch English Conservatives. Wo are not, and can never be. While we are willing to be honestly friendly to both of them in vast spheres of sympathy, Ireland has special interests of her own which we cannot unconditionally entrust b eithor tho one great British party or the other, even at the risk of frowns from the party Whips on both sides. Is it irrational to suggest that both Liberals and Unionist's also have higher than party interests in effectuating that settlement of tho Irish problem by combined action which Gladstono pleaded for a quarter of a century ago? Do you think that great' man would have found nothing better than tho materials for a sneer in tho fact that the 'Pall Mall' is almost certainly in the right in suggesting that a general 'Entente' was perfectly praotical politics any time for tho past twelve months, as the declarations of numberless sound Liberals like Lord Brassey, Lord Charnwood, Mr. Murray Macdonald, M.P., and Mr. John, M.P., as well as the historic letters of Mr. Walter Long and of 'Pacificus' in the 'Times,' abundantly testify? JCay, are you quite sure that Mr. Asquith would not have gladly jumped at such an 'Entente' as a deliverance from tho Parliament Bill and Home Rule nightmares, if ho was not compelled to 'tee the line' by Mr. Redmond, and Mr. Redmond himself if he were not compelled to 'too the lino' in his turn by Sir. Devlin's 'Board of Erin' Lodge? Trust a fairly old Parliamentary hand that, in that direction, and in that direction only, lies safety for any of us in tho City of Dis now flaming on tho horizon."

Boforo the people of Ulster have occasion to establish that "provisional government" which is being arranged for in the event of Home ■Rule being forced upon them against their wills, the Government will probably have been wrecked. For it will be fighting for Home Rule in exactly those circumstances which Gladstone declared in 1895 were circumstances in which Homo Rule in legislation should be left alone, There is some real enthusiasm for Home Rule amongst English Liberals, but tho enthusiasts are not numerous. A large section of the party cares very little about the Irish problem, and another • section is opposed to the dissolution of the Union. On the other side thero is nothing but enthusiasm for the Union, and the prospects of the kind of Home Rule Bill that will satisfy tho Nationalists in such circumstances cannot be considered at all happy. Me. Asquith's difficulty is not only this one of having to fight a united and enthusiastic enemy, whose forces are practically as strong as his own, with an army that has no special enthusiasm for the causc; he has to fight against a strong antiRadical and anti-REDMOND party in the Nationalist ranks. For the present the Government has its work concentrated upon the National Insurance Bill, and it will not be until next year that it will have to face the Irish task in earnest. This will mean that a Home Rule Bill to which the Unionists object cannot in any case become law until 1914. But can tho Government survive until then, even if Mr. Redmond docs not himself find cause to withdraw his support 1,