The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 20,1913. MOVING TOWARDS DISASTER.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1833, 20 August 1913, Page 6

The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 20,1913. MOVING TOWARDS DISASTER.

The outlook in Ireland appears to be growing more-gloomy c-very day, and the indications of trouble ahead over the Home Rule scheme are causing very serious anxiety to soberminded men of all shadjs of political opinion. The Asquith Go/eminent, however, is not its own master, in this matter, and is compilled by itd Nationalist supporters to move on towards disaster. Sir Edward Carson declares that the people of Ulster will make no bargain nor agree to any compromise, that will bring them under the rule of a Dublin Parliament, and Mr. John Dillon declares that "the majority in Ireland will not submit to insult or tyranny oh the part of a fraction "f Ulster people." Lord Dunraven is pleading for a conference between Liberals, Unionists, and Nationalists with the object of drawing up a new scheme for subsequent submission to the electors; but his appeal for conciliation is like the voice of one crying in the wilderness. During the past few days cablegrams have been published describing fierce faction fights in Derry, which are probably only . a comparatively mild foretaste of what will happen if the Home Rule Bill becomes law and an attempt is made to put it into operation in Ulster. Then, again, we were told recently that insurance policies aggregating £1,000,000 have' lately been effected at Lloyd's against damage in the event of civil war, and we publish a cablegram this morning to the effect that certain Irish industrial , firms intend to establish "works in England, while the White Star Company is proposing to abandon Queenstown as a port of call for their steamers. Taking all these things into consideration, it is not surprising that level-headed men and women are full of uneasiness as to what the near future has in store for Ireland.

A correspondent of the London Times recently declared that there is no other question in the North of Ireland to-day except that of Home Rule. Everything else in the social, religious, and business life of the community centres on it; there is practically no other subject of conversation. The writer goes on to state that in contrast to this it is significant that, wherever you travel in Ireland, north or south, you will rarely get any opinion on Home Rule from any Nationalist outside the ranks of the professional politicians. The majority of tho Roman Catholic population do not really want a separate Parliament as a remedy for any existing evils, and such support as Home Rule receives "springs not from economic causes, but' from vaguely persistent sentiments of independent nationalism, and even this is tempered by grave doubts amongat tho farmers themselves aa to the benefits to be coa-.

fcrrcd by a Parliament in Dublin. For to-day they arc prosperous." Whether this be an accurate description of the slate of feeling among the bulk of the Irish Roman Catholics or not, it is quite certain that the Ulster Protestants arc in deadly earnest, and that they will do their utmost to prevent the Home Rule Bill from becoming law, and it it is passed they will passionately resist every attempt to enforce it in their part of tile country.

No unbiased person can escape the conviction that it would be a most improper thing, in the circumstances, to pass the Home Rule Bill for the third time under the provisions of the Parliament Act- before ifc has been unmistakably endorsed by the people of the United Kingdom at a general election in which it would be the great outstanding issue. Though the verdict of the by-elections has been overwhelmingly against the Government, Mr. Asquith and his colleagues have so far refused to listen .to the suggestion that the .people should be consulted before the last step is taken. The Spectator points out that it is admitted on all hands that the final passage of the Home Rule Bill must in any case be followed by an almost immediate dissolution, and that tho present Parliament cannot go on for another two years after the Bill is passed. The question is whether tho dissolution shall take place next May or June, that is beforo the- third time of asking, or in December or January, after the Bill has become law. If the dissolution takes place in May or June, and the Government is returned to power, then the Nationalist cause would not be injured, because the Bill can be taken up just where it was before ths appeal to the people. The Ministry, however, is apparently determined to mako the fullest use of the provisions of the Parliament Act, and to take the desperate course -of shattering the unity of the Kingdom without the authority of a direct mandate from the electors. If this policy is persisted in it can only !ead to serious trouble—possibly to civil war. For Ulster will certainly set up a Provisional Government and defy the decrees of the Dublin Parliament. Force will probably be met by force. In view of these facts, it is almost past belief that the Government will take the final step which will thrust Home Rule upon resentful Ulster and take the risk of armed resistance without first giving the people an opportunity of expressing their desires 'in a direct and unequivocal manner.