The Dominion THURSDAY, JANUARY 2, 1919. THE DELUSIONS OP IRELAND

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 83, 2 January 1919, Page 4

The Dominion THURSDAY, JANUARY 2, 1919. THE DELUSIONS OP IRELAND

Not long ago Mr. T. P. O'Connor, the "well-known Nationalist publicist, predicted that Germany's downfall would bo followed speedily by that of her Sinn Fein allies in Ireland, and that his own party would thereupon be re-established in its former position of strength. How completely Mr. O'Connor failed to i - ead the fact® of the Irish situation, in the developments of which he has taken part for so many years, is now painfully appare-nt. Before the election the Nationalists held about eighty seats and the Sinn Feiners four or five. According to the latest returns transmitted the Sinn Feiners have captured seventythreo seats and the Nationalists appear no longer as a party, but as a mere remnant of seven members. It must! bo recognised that the Sinn Fein organisation is inspired by. a hatred of England, ' and its dis-, loyalty to the Empire is as implacable and virulent to-day as when the issuo of the war still hung in • doubt. Also this party of and-disloyalty, by means of its active organisation, has won' the support of a considerable majority of Irish people. So'far as Ireland is concerned the election has, taken just such a turn as might have been- desired by the worst enemies of that country. The extraordinary position reached is that-at a time when practically the whole Empire is swinging into line with a. view first of all to establishing peace on a'secure basis, and then to unitedly attacking the pressing problems'of -reconstruction, the people of Ireland have entrusted'their destinies to a body of irreconeilables and firebrands whose object it seems to be to promote civil strife and bloodshed. The people, of Ireland, or,the majority of them who have voted Sinn Fein, are dreaming dreams from which in their own interests they cannot too soon v bc awakened. The Sinn 'Feiners demand complete severance from the Empire ancl the establishment of an Irish Republic, with, of course, - full , freedom to forcibly coerce Ulster. Presumably the Irish voters would not have given sue); substantial support _ to these pretensions at tho late election had they not expected to be backed by a 1 force of external opinion to which- British statesmen would be likely to attach i great weight^—riotably that of the people of the British Dominions and . those of the United States. If this is their' belief the neoplei of Ireland' are certainly labouring under a delusion, and the removal, of this delusion may be one of th<j first great steps towards a settlement in Ireland. Apparently it, is not remembered, as it should be in that country, that in the Dominions and the United States a very plain, distinction is drawn between the Irish demand for Home Eule as it was framed before the war and the extravagant demands that are now the order of the dav. It was a-matter of almost universal agreement in the. Dominions and; in America that Ireland's demand for local self-government was just and that the failure'of successive British Governments to satisfy this demand gave her a sub-stantial-grievance. The Sinn Fein and* its 'supporters aro wildly astray, however, if they imagine that their attempt to break away, from the Empire and to, coerce Ulster will ,be viewed-with the same sympathy as Ireland's legitimate and , unsatisfied demand for selfgovernment. Before; the Tyar the chief obstacle to a settlement- was, perhaps.: less the sharp division between Ulster and the'rest of Ireland than the inept failure of successive British Ministries to promote a settlement that . would permit the free concession of a reasonable measure of Home Rule. To-day it is perfectly plain that the people of Ireland are standing 'n their own. light and have themselves to thank for what is unsatisfactory in their political conditions._ The Coalition Government, which is now firmly reestablished in office, has frankly and: unreservedly offered Home Rule subject only to the conditions that Ireland must not-break away from the Empire and that Ulster must not be coerced. As the Spectator observed recently, one. of the essential things' brought out in thfe last big Irish debate in the Houso of Commons was that . The Nationalists can have Home Rulo of the American State pattern, or evon of the colonial-pattern, whenever they choose, provided they agree either that North-East Ulster can have the right of "self-determination" which has become the Nationalist. and Sinn . Fein Shibboleth, or that it is necessary for the Nationalists and Sinn Feiners to convert the whole of Ireland to their views and be able to como to Parliament with a united donmnd for colonial or federal independence. There is now no one who opposes the solution, or the attempted solution, of the Irish question on these lines. It is not tho Unionists, but. the Home li-ulerfi—the Nationalists, (lie Sinn Feiners, and, above. all, the Roman Church—who refuse to accept autonomy on these conditions. Except to the extent that the position has been altered by the practical annihilation of the Irish Nationalist party, ' these ■ observations no doubt retain full -force to-day. It is ,certainly true that the people of Ireland have themselves raised the last serious obstacle to the satisfaction of their own demand for autonomy. The vote cast for Sinn Fein crowns a course of folly in which Ireland has gone far to alienate, the strong sympathy with her aspirations' in the Dominions and the United States' from which formerly she had everything to hope. As a result of, tho excesses of the Sinn Feiners and the action of a majority of her people in supporting them at the polls she appears no longer as a country with a legitimate grievance, but as a country stubbornly deaf to every voice of reason. Ireland is much less a victim of injustice than a recalcitrant mcmber_ of a family of nations in and with which her lot is inevitably cast. She forfeited much sympathy by refusing to bear affair sharo of the burdens and_ sacrifices of the war, and will forfeit more as a result of the popular support now given to Sinn Fein. Nevertheless, the aim of the British Government and of all who are in a position to influence its decisions muSE still-bo to proniote a settlement in Ireland by every means at_ command. Tho position is perplexing, but at least it is open to the British Government to immediately secure the passage of a fair measure of Home Rule, duly safeguarding the interests of Ulster. It would then bo plain to

all the world that the people of Ireland wore themselves solely responsible for . their remaining "grievances."