PEACE IN ERIN

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 201, 3 December 1910, Page 10

PEACE IN ERIN

KING GEORGE AND IRELAND. HIS MAJESTY'S INFLUENCE ON STATESMEN. In an article in the Boston Sunday Globe, Mr. T. P. O'Cpnnor, M.P., repeats the view that the conference between the leaders of the Government and the Opposition may have led to some measure of Home Rule, and enlarges on the part played by the King. Mr. O'Connor says: The influence of Lord Grey, GovernorGeneral of Canada, was freely used during nis recent visit towards a settlement of Irish Home Rule as the beginning oi an Imperial Federation. The lories see a party gain in getting rid of the SO Irish votes ftom the Imperial Parliament, which are ranged nine time= out of ten against the Tories, and all of the parties undoubtedly feel a desire to give the new King satisfaction iii gaining the attachment of the Irish people by opening the Irish Parliament. It is extraordinary how far the flueaice of the Sovereign extends in England even in these democratic days. Already, although he is but a few weeks on the throne, King George ha# had a decisive influence upon several important public transactions. . It was undoubtedly this feeling which led to the temporary suspension of the fight .between the House of Lords and the House of Commons. He has succeeded in winning the confidence of his present Ministers, though all of them were somewhat alarmed at his accession, it being the general impression that he was a strong Tory at heart. And, by one of those curious ironies of politics, the man whom he most won, and who won him most, was LloydGeorge, although the latter has for months been held up to public execration in all Tory articles and Tory speeches as the chief criminal and the greatest demagogue of his time. THE KING'S INFLUENCE. Indeed, it was the strong impression which the King has made on LloydGeorge that has been largely accountable for the assembling of the conference at all. Lloyd-George's tenacity of purpose brought the Cabinet finally, I believe, to its cordial acceptance; and he alone, was optimistic as to its resulting in any accommodation between the two sides. I do not know whether the King hatformed clear views with regard to the question of Home Rule. Only his intimates would know, and they, of course, would not tell. But I am inclined to think that he is anxious to close up this wound in the side of his Empire. He has visited mos« parts of the British Empire. This has increased the natural tendency he has always shown towards Imperialism. But this point of view, I have no doubt, has been accompanied also by the knowledge that all these colonies which gave him so cordial a reception have the Home Rule which the Irish people are now demanding. I have little doubt that the mind of the King, so far as it has directed itself to the problem, belong® to the school which is known as "Home Rule all round;" that is to say, the devolution not only of Irish, but English, Scotch, and Welsh affairs to local assemblies in the different countries, and confining the di§cussion of imperial affairs to the Imperial Parliament. And that is the direction that the final solution, of the problem is likely to take. o

The dim feeling that this is the direction that the new King's thoughts are takin'g may have produced one of the most significant of changes in the temper of parties with regard to Ireland. I do not know that, but I do know; that the change has with a rapidity and completeness that has been surprising to everybody. Not one, but several leading Tories have whispered in to the ears of Irishmen) that this conference may lead to the settlement of the Irish question as one of its results. Nothing more popular can now be said on British platforms than that Ireland will become, like' the Transvaal, i contented and loyal part of the Emjlire when, like South Africa, she has self-government. FiuaJlv. it has at last come dimly home to the British mind that the settlement of the Irish question might affect the relations between En gland and th» United States materially. The power of the United States has been realised for a long time. The friendliness which many citizens of the United States are ayguMttn

of England to America during the Spanish American war, and the good will of America to England in some of hei troubles have also had their healing effect. And ill the end it has also dawned on the British that the still unhealed and unappeased dislike of the Irish millions in America to England so long as she withholds ireO institutions from Ireland will stand in the way of that thorough understanding between America and England which British statesmen have come to recognise as one of England's greatest advantages. I believe that one of the agencies which have helped to create this sense of the American side of the Irish problem is the recent visit of Theodore Roosevelt to this country. He did not say anything about Ireland in public; but in private I have heard he did not lose an opportunity of bringing that view before the leading men of Great Britain. I should not be surprised to hear that he spoke with characteristic plainness on the subject to the King. I think I am justified in saying that he certainly spoke in that sense to the leading British politicians, including Mr. Balfour and the other leaders of the Tory party.