The Dominion. TUESDAY, FEBUARY 18, 1918. THE POSITION OF HOME RULE

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1677, 18 February 1913, Page 4

The Dominion. TUESDAY, FEBUARY 18, 1918. THE POSITION OF HOME RULE

It would not be surprising if a great many colonial observers of British affairo have come to tho conclusion that the Irish question could be honourably settled, and settled to the :satisfactiori of the Irish, people, if it could somehow be got out of the reach of the' Eadical party wirepullers. The British opposition to the Home Rule Bill is largely based upon a proper indignation at the Radicals? use of the Welsh, Labour, and Irish parties as interacting cogs and levers in the English Radical game. But for tho present the merits of the cases for and against Home Rule are so deeply obscured by the passions which Radical trickery havo aroused that fo'r; the moment one can only regret that the first ot the general elections in 1,910 did not result either in a Unionist, victory or in a Radical victory large enough to enable Mr. Asquith to dispense with bargaining for sectional support. The position now is that the Bill has passed the House of Conmons and has been rejected by the House of Lords. Before, it can become law, it must be. passed in two successive sessions. In the meantime the position of Ulster is entirely unchanged, and threatens still to wreck the Bill and the Government. To-day a cable message informs us " that Mr. Birrbll (following the ■ lead given to him, or commanded to t him, a week or so ago by Mr. Redmond) is suggesting that the House of Lords rcafisos that Home Rule is e a certainty. As to tho Ulster problem, ho promised that the Governmont "would not shoot Ulsterman

—an amusing concession, the more amusing for its earnestness and Mr. Birrell's anxiety to bo believed on tho point-—but would at all costs protect the Ulster Catholics from violence.

Nothing in the Ulster'racn's declarations against tho Bill contained any throat to any Catholic; the Ulster idea is simply to resist by peaceful means tho working of a Homo Rule Act. Whoever may recpgniso the Act, the Ulstermcn will not. Mr. Birrell's respectful tone is another piece of evidence, like some of Mr. Redmond's recent respectful uttorances, that the Ulster problem.is no longer held in light esteem, Mr. Asquith himself made thia clear on New Year's Day, in the House of 1 Commons. Sir Edward Carson delivered a long and powerful, but temperate, speech "in support of his amendment for the exclusion of Ulster, in the course of which lie declarod his deepest conviction that only force, "which, everybody would- deprecate," could induce the Ulsfcor Unionists to submit. This, he said, would bo a dreadful disaster, and so he and his allies felt bound to try by every constitutional means "to ( obtain for these men what, whether rightly or wrongly, they think they can obtain for themselves by force." In replying, Mr. Asquith described Sir Edward Carson's Bpcech as an "admirable" one, and "very powerful and moving," and declared that he had "never said a word in disparagement of the motives or in belittlcment of the magnitude or extent or seriousness of the opposition of some parts of Ulster to the Bill.]' "I have always treated it, and I treat it now, as one of the gravest'factors in the case. It is no uso to ignore it, and it is no use to minimise it." This, of course, is not the tone, j adopted by the Radical newspapers. Mr. Asquith may,' in'moments of I seriousness arid candour, admit that I the Irish question is difficult, but the Radical.newspapers must keep up the bitterness and passion at any cost to .truth. The fight will go on for some time. There are some Radicals who hope that the House of Lords may accept the Bill at the next time of asking, and!it is possible that their hope may be justified. There would be some strategical advantages to' the Unionists if tho Lords did weaken in their resolution to force 'an appeal to the country, if possible, upon the Home Rule issue. The. acceptance of the Bill, It is calculated, would force an early election, and the Welsh Church Bill and Franchise Bill would be prevented from coming underv the oporation of the Parliament, Act during this; Parliament. The 103 Irish members would leave tho House, and their places would be taken by 42 members "elected by different constituencies and animated to a large extent by different motives."

That the next general election, if the Lords accepted the Bill, would result in the of the Radical coalition it is impossible, to doubt. The Unionists can look forward confidently to fa'cing the country, now that food-taxes have been indefinitely cut out of the pro-, gramme. But it is unlikely that they will be willing to make success a'certainty at the * price of tho Union. Tho.Government can pass' the Bill again easily enough, . but nothing that either party may do will affect the. attitude iof tho Ulstermen. And, as' Mb. Asquith realises, and as Ulster realises,; the Ulster attitudo is the' great danger tto Home Rule. In the meantime Ireland is distracted by the , quarrel, and. Irish interests must sufior. All the distraction and damago would have been avoided had the Prime Minister had the,-courage.-to insist on obtaining a clear mandate one way or tho other. A clear declaration for Homo Rule by the electorate would, as Mr. Bonar Law has said, bo loyally supported by the Unionist party. , A declaration against it,' putting the Unionists in power, would mean a .vigorous Unionist policy of Irish development and ample self-government. The only big thing that.' has been done for Ireland in recent years— the greatest thing ever dono for modern, Ireland, in tho opinion of so brave arid patriotic an Irish Nationalist as Mr: William O'Brien— is the Land Act of the last Balfour Government. It was an unhappy day for the peace and progress of Ireland when Mr. AsQurra found himself forced by the Radicals pf Great Britain to strike a bargain with Mr. Redmond, Mr., Redmond is perhaps no longer the violent Separatist he used quite lately to be, but he is under the thumb of the Dillons arid Devlins, : whom Mr. William O'Brien has often enough denounced as.enemies of Ireland's true interests. ..