The Dominion. FRIDAY, JULY 31, 1914. PRESSING NEED FOR A SETTLEMENT

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2216, 31 July 1914, Page 6

The Dominion. FRIDAY, JULY 31, 1914. PRESSING NEED FOR A SETTLEMENT

The extreme gravity of the international outlook in Europe has for' the*- moment made the. Home Rule problem a matter of secondary importance. The danger of a great war in which Britain may become involved can hardly fail ,to impress on the various, parties concerned in the Irish 'question the urgent necessity for settling their differences without delay, in order that Parliament and the Government may give their undivided attention to the maintenance of the safety of tho Empire. If Britain is compelled to take her place at tho side of .France and Russia in a life and death struggle with the Triple Alliance, it would •be deplorable if she were to be weakened at such a critical juncture by internal strife. This is the feeling of loyal Britishers of every shade of political opinion in all parts of the Empire. We are told that, owing to the European situation, the Government will go far to satisfy the demands of the Ulster Protestants,, and that severe pressure will probably be put on both the Nationalists and the Ulstermen in order- to bring about an agreement on the points still in dispute. The Nationalists, for their own sakes, would do well to meet the Covenanters as far as possible, for tho Dublin Parliament would start .with a Very heavy handicap if it had to coerce into submission a strong and bitterly hostile group of irreconcilables who stoutly declined to recognise its jurisdiction. Now that the two parties have got so near to a settlement, it would be deplorable if the final step to peace should prove to be beyond the resources of British'statesmanship. It is stated that the exclusion of Antrim, Down, Armagh, and Londonderry, without any time limit, has been practically ' agreed to, and with a little more goodwill and desire to conciliate it ought not to be impossible to come to some friendly arrangement regarding the future" of Tyrone and Formanagh. If there is going to be serious trouble in Europe, the sooner tho Irish difficulty is settled tho better it will be for the wliole Empire. As the London. Times points out, war imposes an instant duty on political parties. At the present time, all thought of a general. election ■ in Britain must be set aside, for it would be most undesirable to run the risk of a change of Government

while Europe is on tho verge of a world-shaking conflict. The recent encounter between tho troops and tho Dublin mob has added materially to the bitterness of the controversy,, and will certainly increase the difficulty of arriving at a, settlement by consent. The Government has allowed Ireland to got out of hand. Two irregular armies are facing each other in a most menacing manner, and the Ulstermen and Nationalists appear to have become a law unto themselves. The authority of the Kino's Government is almost entiroly ignored. Arms and ammunition' are pouring into the country in spite of feeble and fitful attempts to check.such a dangerous procedure. _ Ono is not surprised at the Dublin riot or its fatal consequences. The wonder is that such occurrences have not been quite frequent, considering the highly-ex-cited stato of public feeling. These volunteer armies should never have been allowed to come into existence, but owing to tho weakness and vacillation of the Government the arming and drillingAvere permitted to go on until tho movement became so_ strong that the authorities were quite unable to cope with it. Having permitted Ulster to establish, an army of its own, the Government was practically compelled to allow tho Nationalists a similar privilege, and when at last tho authorities have ventured . to interfere with the efforts of the Homo Rulers to supply themselves with war material, they are naturally accused of favouring the Ulstermen. For some time past level-headed men have predicted that the Government, by abandoning its proper'functions in connection with the maintenances of law and order, was allowing things to drift, to disaster, and now that a ■ fatal encounter has taken place, Ministers aro finding it extremely difficult to place the blame on any Bhoulders but their own. The Irish Tithes is only stating the blunt truth when it declares "tljat no effective Govern-* ment exists in Ireland," and it is humiliating that a newspaper should have to call upon tho Nationalist and Ulster volunteers to "co-operate to preserve the public peace." The whole situation is most demoralising. It is to bo' hoped that a, change for the better will soon take place. Tho Amending Bill is shortly to bo considered by _ the House of Commons. The Coalition majority will have to accept the responsibility of finding a way out of tlra difficulty. The possibility of civil war still looms ahead.