The Daily News. SATURDAY, MAY 28, 1921. A SEETHING CAULDRON.

Taranaki Daily News, 28 May 1921, Page 4

The Daily News. SATURDAY, MAY 28, 1921. A SEETHING CAULDRON.

No thoughtful and conscientious citizen of the Empire can but feel -a deep sense of mortification at the continued inability of the Imperial authorities to solve the problem of the future of Ireland. For the last hundred years and more the internal condition of that unhappy country has been a reproach to all concerned. Instead of advancing towards the settlement of Irish troubles and approaching more nearly to peace, matters have grown worse until not only a state of civil war exists in a great portion of the country, but incendiarism and other outrages are being . perpetrated in England. It may be remembered that in December, 1918, a joint manifesto was issued 'by Mr. Lloyd George and Mr. Bonar Law, in whieh it was declared that so long as the Irish question remained unsettled there could be no political peace either in the United Kingdom or in the Empire, and that they regarded it as one of the first obligations of British statesmanship “to explore all practical paths towards the settlement of the grave and difficult question on the basis of self-government.” Since then a Home Rule Act has been passed, containing liberal provisions for self-government, and recently elections have taken place in order to carry out these provisions. The circumstances connected with these elections, especially as regards Ulster, are such as to give no hope of any beneficial result accruing. Meanwhile outrages have increased in violence and intensity, the latest of which—the burning of the Cus-tom-house at Dublin and the battle connected therewith cannot fail to create a profound feeling of horror and anxiety as to what may happen next. The Home Rule Act was an honest attempt to solve the problem, but it would seem that the views published by Mr. Gavan Duffy (then editor of the Dublin Nation) nearly eighty years ago accurately reflect the thoughts of the irreconeilables today. He said: — “Men will speak of compromises and material compensation for our lost nationality. But though Englishmen were to give us the best tenures on earth; though they were to equalise Presbyterian, Catholic, and Episcopalian; though they were to give us the completest representation in their Parliament, restore our absentees, disencumber us of their debt, and redress every one of our fiscal wrongs in the names of liberty and country, we would still tell them, in the name of enthusiastic hearts, thoughtful souls, and fearless spirits, that we spurned the gifts if the condition were that Ireland should remain a province.” Matters have reached such a crisis that an obligation rests on all sane-minded Irishmen to bring their influence to bear in the direction of a peaceful settlement, so that their country may be purged of its troubles and enter upon an era worthy of the illustrious men which that country has given to the world through many generations. R is easy to talk of adopting effective repressive measures that mean more bloodshed and retaliation. The difficulty is to find a means for healing the wounds, for bridging the chasms that are

daily growing wider and more menacing. Again and again hopes of an amicable settlement have been raised, only to fade like a mirage in the desert. Outside the absolute condition that the link with Britain must remain there can be perfect freedom of selfgovernment provided minorities are safeguarded and the unity of the Empire conserved. It is not by recriminations and the allotment of blame that the elements which have made Ireland a seething cauldron can be subdued or diverted into more desirable channels. It is the true spirit of reason and conciliation that can alone quench the unbridled passions that are so painfully in evidence. The task of the British Government is most difficult and unenviable, but none the less it has to be faced with courage and hope that in the end the goal will ■be reached by tact, statesmanship, forbearance and conciliation. There are limits to a policy of suppression that only adds fuel to the flames, just as there are limits to the toleration of crime and lawlessness. The only hope of betterment rests on Sinn Fein becoming a constructive instead of a destructive force. Let the present campaign of outrages and murders cease, and the Home Rule Act have a fair trial, and from it may arise a greater and better Ireland, regarding the rest of the British Islands as friends essential to its welfare, and not as enemies seeking to exploit and subjugate it.