The Downfall of Parliamentarianism. By William if M.P.
(Dublin : Maunsel. Is. net.)—Mr. William O'Brien's bitter denun- ciation of the Nationalist Party i8 lively reading. His view is that the Nationalists made a fetish of party unity and thus lost touch with Irish opinion, that they sold themselves for a mess of pottage to Mr. Lloyd George, and that they wrecked every attempt at a compromise with Ulster by sheer lack of tact and foresight. Mr. O'Brien thinks that the future lies with a chastened Sinn Fein, which would, he holds, accept "Dominion Home Rule" fos an undivided Ireland. The author shows some perception of the feelings of Pro- testant Ulster, but, like all the Nationalists, he fails to understand how deeply the British people have been wounded by the refusal of Nationalist Ireland to help us in the Great War and by the efforts of many disloyal Irishmen to assist the enemy. The British view of the Irish question is ignored by him, but it has to be reckoned with.
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