Lord Grey was, of course, making an attack on the
Govern- ment. Hence ho naturally undertook a critical survey of their recent relations with Ireland. He expressed himself as being by no means out of sympathy with the position that the Govern- ment had now reached (i.e., that of calling a conference), but he deprecated in the highest degree the course by which they had arrived at this point. He pointed out the inherent weak- ness of the Government's policy, in that they had only called a conference after their efforts at repression by reprisals had failed. How much stronger would have been their position had they acceded to the entreaties of those Southern Unionists who last year pressed them to make an offer of Dominion status and fiscal autonomy ! He believed, however, that Dominion Partnership, as he preferred to call it, was yet the solution of the problem, if only the Government could restore some of the confidence which they had so gravely impaired, and make the Irish really believe that they would have the very real independence and freedom that had been granted in the analogous case of the Union of South Africa.
