The Dominion. TUESDAY, MAY 21, 1918. THE SITUATION IN IRELAND

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 207, 21 May 1918, Page 4

The Dominion. TUESDAY, MAY 21, 1918. THE SITUATION IN IRELAND

It is tHe one redeeming feature of the news that another treasonable conspiracy, hatched in collusion with Germany, has been differed in Iroland that the Imperial Government seems to have acted in good time and with firm decision to the end of safeguarding tho national security. There is unfortunately no room for doubt as to the character of the plot. Tho text of the proclamation transmitted today and the reports by which- it is accompanied demonstrate only too clearly that a section of the Irish irreconcilablcs aro still prepared to go to any lengths to gratify thoir hatred of England. Nothing but blind hatred will account for their being ready to sink to tho depths of crime and folly involved in tnoir attempt to conclude a working partnership with Germany. ■ To regard such men as Irish patriots would bo to dishonour tho namo of Ireland and the name of patriot. As tho Irish Times observes in an article quoted to-,day, "This German plot is not only ft conspiracy against tho Allied cause, but against Ireland's honour. . If it should succeed with tho help of evp.n a handful of Irish traitors' and fanatics it would involve tho _ country in deathless shame, wiping out tho splendid record of Irish soldiors in this and former wars." As information stands it seems likely -that tho action of the Government in arresting ringleaders and others implicated in tho conspiracy has averted a repetition of tho insane outbreak of Easter, 1916. Should this prove to bo tho wise, none will have cause for deeper and more heartfelt gratifcudo than Irishmen who love their country. There could bo no wildor travesty of the truth than to suggest that tho men who arc endeavouring to assist Germany by making a stealthy and treacherous attack upon the Empire to which they belong aro in any sense serving the Irish cause or promoting tho welfare of Ireland. In seeking to hetray Britain and the Allies they are equally betraying Iroland, and not Iroland only, but loyal Irishmon all over tho Empire, and most of all aro gallantly fighting for tho Empire on land and sea. It would bo u deadly misfortune for Iroland and Irishmen as well as for the Empiro ;uid the Allies with whom it is fighting to freo tho world from the nigntmaro of Gorman domination if talk of Irish grievances were allowed to hinder a straightforward judgment upon what is simply and sololy a basely criminal attempt 1,0 stab the Empire in tho back.

Whether tho Imperial Oovernmonfc has succeeded in crushing tho conspiracy at its inception has yet to appear. But in its initial measures it has at lcaefc Hliown a spirib o£ firrnnnss and decision which has toooflen Ijcon lacking from its own policy and iKafc of its predecessors in_ dealing with Ireland. The ono thing to Ijo naifl in excuse of tho cxtromifils who have gone to wich inFninous JmigtliH in their anti-nii-fJonal movoirienfc ia thai, in a long .scricti of wild cxccskcb they havo liecn no tolor/itfld by the British Oov(irnmonfc that; they might almoBl; dorivo from its attitude poiiitivo en-

coiiragonicnt to go still further in defying law and constituted authority. One report observes today that the Government's sudden display of firmness has caused a sensation in Ireland, where the loyalists had been alarmed by tho Sinn Foiti's raids on houses for arms and their seizure of farms without molestation. It is added that the Sinn Feincrs had long boasted that the Government was a I raid to interfere: with them, borne cause now appears for modiJying the last-mentioned impression, but unfortunately there is every reason to believe that the picture is not in other respects overdrawn. For instance, a correspondent of the Spectator recently gave the following account of conditions in Ireland:

• • • Again tho irreconcilables Inko advnntiigo ot the weakness of the Government, gam numerous recruits, break into houses for amis, rob hanks for money, take and till private property in land, (.cizo stock ready to bo exported for food --even it is reported, board tho mail trains for what travellers (alto with them —niako house-to-house visitations lerrariso the people to sign as adherents °r 4 10 ~n ? 'l % lrt),i <-- An tllo methods or tho Bolsheviks, including murder, if they are resisted.

Tho criminal conspiracy now laid hare will servo one good purposo if it awakens in tho Imperial Government a determination not only to stamp out treason, but to boldly attempt a settlement of the questions which have so long made Ireland ft homo of wrangling contention and a breeding-ground of worse disorders. Tho policy of "wait and see" has been far too long applied k> Ireland, and the Imperial Government will fall sadly short of fulfilling its manifest obligations if it does not recognise the truth of an assertion made by General Smuts in a speech reported to-day—that it is the Empire's aim .to solve the long and dreary Irish problem, and shape its measures General Smcts lays due emphasis upon an aspect of the situation which has been too often ignored or subordinated, in warning Irishmen that the Empire will not admit the right of anybody to be an exception to the common obligations and duties resting upon every unit of tho Empire. Frankly, accepting this fundamental I stipulation, and recognising thai, J England.-and Ireland aro eomplc- ! mentary. one to another—and they • may do it the more easily since any i other attitude- implies treason not only to Britain but to loyal Irishmen all over the Empire and in its fighting forces—tho peoplo of Ireland will find a reasonable demand for Home Rule endorsed by an overwhelming body of opinion throughout the Empire. There is evident force in General Sjipts's contention that the Empire which has successfully united races once bitterly hostile in South Africa is capable of solving tho Irish prob- : lem, and he is certainly not wrong in assuring Ireland that her best Court of Appeal is the Imperial (Jonferenco. It is an elementary duty to stamp out treason ir. Ireland or anywhere elso as soon as it lifts its bond. But the Imperial Government and the contending factions in Ireland are bound to recognise that a settlement of the Irish _ problem is demanded not only in the interests of Ireland but in the interests of the Empire. It would be a statesmanlike act to offer Ireland her due place in a reconstruction of the British Constitution on a federal basis, reserving to the federal authority only those questions of which defence is the most important, which can never in the caso of tho British Isles bo relegated to the control of tho individual kingdoms. Amongst the forces making for acceptance of such a settlement it should be pos- ' sible to. reckon not only the mass of opinion throughout the Empire. Tnit the desire of all loyal Irishmen that their country may as speedily ns possible take a full instead of a crippled part in the war in which its fate and future are as completely at stako as those of any other unit of tho Empire.