NONCONFORMISTS AND THE CRISIS.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."]
Bra.,—A great responsibility rests on Nonconformists at the present Election. They are mostly members of the Liberal Party, but every vote now given for a Liberal will help to bring their co-religionists in Ireland under Roman Catholic domination. A Liberal victory is intended to lead to a separate Parliament for the whole of Ireland. Ulster shrinks with horror from the prospect. The historic hatreds of North and South, of Irish Protestant and Irish Catholic, which culminated in the frenzy of 1798 and led Pitt to the Union of 1800, will flame forth anew. The numerical superiority of the Roman Catholic section will place the North at its mercy. What this means has been sufficiently indicated in recent years by Nationalist speeches and Nationalist action. "Ulster will fight, and Ulster will be right," said the distinguished father of a leading member of the present Liberal Cabinet. And English Nonconformists cannot blame the Ulster Protestants, as resistance to oppression is in either case of the very essenc3 of their creed.
Nor can our Nonconformists shirk their duty by placing responsibility elsewhere. The general facts of the situation are only too notorious. It is idle to look to the Government. The Government must do as Mr. Redmond desires. It is idle to look to the Commons. Members of the Commons, if they seek nomination for a future Parliament, must vote in obedience to caucus orders. Members for the most part vote like machines. Individual protest is punished by ostracism. Collective protest is killed by the "guillotine." The House of Commons in its senatorial aspect has practically ceased to exist. And the House of Lords will not be able, as in 1893, to save the situation and salve the Nonconformist con- science by hanging up the Home-rule Bill. The Lords are to be deprived of the power of referring a measure to the judgment of the nation. The nation is losing its hold on affairs. In 1893 the ultimate decision still lay with the people. It is to be so no longer. We have passed from Gladstone to Lloyd George, from democracy to the demagogue, from government by the people to government by the caucus.
Take this very question of Home-rule. It is not discussed, it is not explained, it is hardly even mentioned by the Government. The one anxiety is lest the people should come to see what it means before the situation has passed beyond the people's control. The pressure of the caucus on the Commons will then be sufficient to carry it into law. No Second Chamber will intervene. No Poll of the People will intervene. The wirepulling of the demagogue and the secret orders of the instrument of his tyranny will suffice to revolu- tionise the Constitution of the country. You, Sir, have led a crusade in favour of the Referendum. The dema- gogue dreads the Referendum. It would paralyse the caucus, emancipate the Commons, and help to restore and preserve to the people the final decision in Constitutional changes. At present the only chance of the nation lies in the General Election. And even this chance is now pared down to a minimum. To quote the confession of a member of the Government, the Election comes upon us " like a thief in the night." We are taken almost unawares, and a whole farrago of issues is suddenly flung at the electorate. In the clash and confusion of conflicting claims it is difficult for the voter to fasten on the issue of first importance. But for English Nonconformists the issue should be clear. It is their last chance to save from a cruel injustice their co-religionists in
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