Sir Wilfrid Lawson, in a. speech at Maryport on Thursday,
openly avowed that if the Irish were not content with having equal rights with the English in every respect, he would give them the alternative of complete separation. We are very glad that he did not say he would give them the alternative of Home- rule, for Home-rule appears to us to involve more mischief than the mischief of separation itself. But has Sir Wilfrid Lawson considered what the effect of separation might be on Ireland P Might it not be a civil war more disastrous than any which can occur while the Union is maintained by Great Britain ? And has he considered the serious mischief of lending any sanction to this right of breaking up an empire into its elements, and the effect this concession produces in relaxing the strenuousness and the sense of responsibility in the nation which thus voluntarily goes to pieces ? For our own part, we vehemently object to carrying laisser-faire to the point of asserting the divine right of decomposition.
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