26 JULY 1919, Page 2

Mr. Lloyd George went on to deal very plainly and

firmly with the case of Ireland, which Mr. Devlin had tried to relate to the question of the Peace Treaty. He told the Nationalists that "they were not satisfied with any self-determination for themselves without depriving others of the right to self-deter- mination." The difficulty was, he said, that Ireland was not a nation, any more than Great Britain was a nation. There were two nations in Ireland, as there were three nations here in Great Britain. Mr. Lloyd George sees that, until the two nations in Ireland can come to some agreement, nothing can be done to modify the Union, which is the best and fairest compromise as yet discovered. But the Nationalists, as Mr. Lloyd George said, will not face the facts. We fear that some of the well- meaning people who are asking for "something to be done" are equally blind to the facts of Irish life and Irish character.