The Dominion. MONDAY, JULY 27, 1914. THE SHADOW OF CIVIL WAR

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2212, 27 July 1914, Page 4

The Dominion. MONDAY, JULY 27, 1914. THE SHADOW OF CIVIL WAR

]■„ The fact that no agreement was reached at tho Buckingham Palace Conference will not lessen the approval which the peacemaking effort 'of the Kino has received from the great majority of his people in all .parts of the world, Some adverse' criticism was inevitable. There are people who are so blinded by.political prejudice and passion, that-they can give no one outside their own group, credit for being actuated by any higher motives than' those of the most rabid partisan. The adverso comments of a section of tho Radical Press have beon based on such a distorted and unnatural interpretation of one phrase in the King's. speech that 'several'of the provincial Liberal papers have pointedly expressed their disapprobation of this unworthy lino of attack on His Majesty- -The mention of the rumours of civil war in the King's speech was merely a reference, to certain obvious facts which are at present staring the jwholo- Empire in the face!" No reasonable man can deny that-a state of intense political excitement prevails in Ireland. Two irregular armies have been drilling and arming for some time past, and in such circumstances it is only a plain statement of patent fact to say that "the cry of civil war is on the lips of tho most responsible and soberminded of my people." With a blunt directness that was entirely justifiable,, Mr. Asquith brushed aside the objection raised to the use of theso words. He declared that it was obviously true that apprehensions of civil strife.had been widely entertained and expressed by responsible, sober-minded persons, amongst whom, he signifioantly added,' "1 may perhaps include myself." . The collapse of the Palace Conference has undoubtedly removed one of the last hopes of a friendly settlement. The outlook is now gloomier, than ever.' The London Times tells us that tho Empire is now called upon to faco "the greatest danger known in' tho memory of living man." The various parts of the British Dominions at Home and abroad are knit together by so many ties that a civil war in the United Kingdom might seriously shake the whole Imperial structure, and internal discord.of such a char-

acter could not fail to give encouragement to the enemies of tho British nation.' The_ Conference had to consider the possibility of defining tho portion of Ireland which should be excluded from tho jurisdiction of the proposed Dublin Parliament, and it is very disappointing to learn that it failed to agree both as regards tho guiding principles and the details. Tho Government and the Nationalists have realised for some timo past that exclusion in some form is inevitable, but Me. Redmond will not entertain the Unionists' demand that Ulster should be treated as a whole, and-cut clean- out of the Home Rule scheme. Ulster consists of nine counties—Donegal, Londonderry, Antrim, Down, Armagh, Tyrone, Fermanagh, Monaghan, and Cattail. We arc told _ that the' Nationalists offered to give up four of these—probably Londonderry, Antrim, Down, and Armagh—and both sides tended towards tno exclusion of six in the above-mentioned together with Tyrone and Fermanagh—but in tho end the Unionists would not accept the conditions and limitations insisted upon by the Nationalists. The main difficulty is caused by the distribution of the pomilation from the religious point of view. The Nationalists are not content to allow tho matter to be decided by the vote of the whole province of Ulster as a single unit. They contend that tho voting should be by counties, ■ so that those counties in which the- Roman Catholics are in a majority'would'have the opportunity of throwing'in their lot with the South of Ireland. The Unionists, on the ,othcr hand claim that Ulster—or at least six counties —should be treated as one area, and as such should be allowed the opportunity to. vote itself out of the Home Rule scheme. Several compromises between these' two positions have been, suggested, but none of .them has so far proved' acceptable. The House of. Lords has altered the Amending .Bill _ by affirming the "clean cut" principle—that is, to omit Ulster as a whole, and not to allow the various-counties to decide as separate units. . It now remains to be seen what the coalition majority in the House of Commons will say to this. The. result will prove whother the . British Liberals . are and foot to'the-Nation-alists,', or whether they are free to take some independent course which will' remove the shadow of .civil war which at present hangs over Ireland.