THE IRISH CONVENTION. T HERE seems a reasonable hope that a
Convention will meet and endeavour to solve the problem of Irish government. The Sinn Feiners, who must of course be present if the Convention is to be a reality and not a sham, have not as yet announced their decision but presumably they will come in. Against-North-East Ulster's participation there are certain obvious objections, but we most sincerely trust that these will he overcome. Minorities threatened by supreme dangers are naturally timid, and anxious not to weaken their case by doing, or appearing to do, anything which can be twisted into an assent to a policy they dislike and ultimately used against them. Therefore the men of North-East Ulster are considering very carefully whether the agreement to go into a Convention may not prove a source of danger. We greatly hope, however, that when they look at the matter from all sides they will see that their duty to themselves, to what they represent in Ireland, to the United Kingdom, and to the Empire consists in doing their very best to find a solution of the Irish problem. If they and the members from other parts of Ireland can work a miracle, and find a solution, North-East Ulster, like all the rest of the world, will obviously be glad beyond-measure. If, on the other hand, the problem proves insoluble, and therefore, whether we like it or not, the Act of Union continues to hold the field, North-East Ulster will have an unrivalled oppor- tunity for putting her case before the people of the Empire, and also of the United States. America of course cannot and does not claim any right of interference in our affairs, any more than we claim such right in her affairs; but the fact that so large a proportion of people of Irish extraction live in the United States does make it important that the problem should be set forth in its true light, and not in the fantastic colours in which it has hitherto been painted by Nationalist rhetoricians. Though the C-onvention will be held behind closed doors, if it comes to an end without result North-East Ulster will he able to tell her story in full, and to show that the problem is very like the problems which have cropped up from time to time under the American system and may crop up again—the question of the area in which the will of the local• majority is to prevail, the problem of West Virginia, the problem n of Maine, and behind it all the problem of secession, and of whether the Government of great nations ought to develop on lines of closer incorporation or of severance and disintegration.
As we have said again and again in these columns, the very last thing we desire to do is to ask the men of North-East Ulster to be unreasonable or to demand more than they are justified in demanding. We are Solutionists to the last drop in our veins if only a solution can be found which is just to North- East Ulster and- follows the principle of regarding in local affairs the will of the local majority. There axe, however, one or two considerations which, as friends of Ulster, determined to stand by her in her claim for justice—she unfortunately has no wealth of friends—we feel compelled to set forth. In the first place, we must ask the people of the United Kingdom and of the Empire not to be run away with by the analogy of the South African Union, which has been so much quoted as pro- viding an example for us and for Ireland. In truth, there is no analogy here, or if there is, it is only in externals and not in essentials. The object of the promoters of the South African Union was not similar to the final object before the Convention —the severance and breaking up of the incorporating Union established, whether rightly or wrongly, but at any rate actually, by the Act of 1800. The aim here is not to bring together but to separate, not to unite but to dissever. In the case of the South African Union the object, which was so successfully achieved, was an incorporating Union of the States of the vast South African Empire. One might have supposed that the first step in the formation of this Union would have been eomething in the nature of federalism, something like the movement which united Australia. Instead of that, the able . and far-seeing men who founded the South African Union boldly jumped the federal step and at once incorporated the various States of South Africa in one homogeneous political community subject to a scheme of local administration. It would be most unfair, because the people of South Africa succeeded IC this task, to blame the Irish Convention if it should fail in one wholly different.
The next point which we desire to make concerns the personnel of the Convention. The Convention should be small—a hundred should be the limit, and fifty, or even twenty, would be the better number. No one wants a huge talking match. We want a Conference like that presided over by the Speaker -on • Parliamentary Reform rather than anything in the nature of a Parliament There is a sood deal, it seems to us, to be said for the notion of draw- mg the members of the Convention, not from the politicians of either side, or rather, we should say, from any of the various sides, of Irish political life, but from the men of light and leading. The politicians for thirty years have been trying to find a solution for the Irish problem, and they have failed completely. Practically no one has now a good word to say for the solution offered in the Home Rule Act. Therefore why not give the non-politicians an opportunity? Let us have a Convention of men =mina ■*-4 for their personal standing, and because they have earned the respect of their fellow-countrymen, and not because they are supposed to represent this or that interest or are delegates from this or that body. Further, let us if possible have men who are not already committed to a particular view, and would therefore be obliged to repeat the old shibboleths. Beyond all things, the members of the Convention should be men deliberately chosen because they are known to be Solutionists, people who are seeking for solution and compromise rather than for a triumph for their own particular views—people, to take a concrete example, who will not enter the Convention mumbling the words "No Partition "as if they were a spell to keep ell the Evil One. No doubt they would be hard to find in Ireland, but we think they might be found. Who is to choose them is a very difficult question. The beat thing we can suggest is a small Committee of Selection presided over by the Speaker. Such aCommittee might be told to bring together twenty Irish- men most likely to suggest a workable solution of the problems of Irish government. When it is stated in that way, we admit that the prospect seems fairly hopeless ; but after all one must not allow oneself to be daunted by such feelings. To speak quite candidly, what we are out for is the getting together of a body of men to work a miracle. That being so, -we must not be disheartened by difficulties, or even by what appear to be impossibilities. The motto of the Con- vention must be the reply made by the Indian Artillery officer to the subordinate who told him it was " impossible !' to get a gun up the face of a virtual:precipice : "Impossible, Sir ! Why, I've got the order for it in my pocket ! " - The last point to which we want to draw attention is the question what is North-East Ulster to do if the Convention fails to find a solution, and if, when its delibera- tions are over, matters remain exactly as they ere. It seems to us that it would be most unfair to leave North-East Ulster with the menace of the Home Rule Act permanently hanging over its head. It has been universally conceded by Parlia- ment that the Home Rule Act shall not be applied to Ulster under coercive conditions. But the people of North-East Ulster would not be human if they did not feel themselves endangered by the fact that the Home Rule Act was still in being, that the anti-coercion pledge might be violated or for- gotten, and that the knife might descend upon them. If, however, we say more on this subject we shall perhaps be accused of trying to wreck the Convention in advance. There- fore we will only point out that this need for doing something is one which, if the Nationalist professions of goodwill to Ulster are true, as we sincerely hope they are, should induce the majority of the Convention—for North-East Ulster will of course be in a minority—to give special thought and attention to the case of the six-county area in which the majority is content with the Union, and, if a change must he made, desires, not anything in the nature of greater severance, but a more complete incorporation with Great Britain.
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