23 MARCH 1918, Page 3

But to pass from that point, we notice that Mr.

Dillon professes to speak " for a united Ireland." This phrase seems very strange when it is tested by the greater part of the speech, which dealt with the factions in Ireland. Mr. Dillon warned the Sinn Feiners that they could not secure an Irish republic without " wading through a sea of blood." He expressed his own belief that the Sinn Feiners were not bluffing but meant what they said, and in a climax of contradiction asked : "By what right is this country divided into two factions ? " We should have said that there were three factions, but at all events the existence of two deprives Mr. Dillon's argument of its foundation. For a cultivated man, as he is said to be, Mr. Dillon makes most strange use of venomous phrases. He talks of the Sinn Feiners (whose policy he described as futile) and of the British Government (who, after all, outside Ireland are trying to serve one of the noblest causes in history) as though they were fellow idiots and criminals. We do not see very bright prospects for the Irish Nationalist Party under this leadership.