Lord Grey of Fallodon, continuing the debate on Wednesday, admitted
that the Liberals from 1886 onwards had erred in not recognizing Ulster's right to separate treatment. Yet there could be no settlement until the differences between North and South were composed. Lord Grey insisted that the Imperial Government must retain control of foreign policy and of the Navy and Army for Ireland as well as for Great Britain. He withdrew his suggestion that all the troops should leave Ireland after two years, as he saw that no precise date could be fixed for evacuation, under existing circumstances. He would support "a larger and a better Bill "—a Bill, we may explain, giving Ireland, which profited instead of suffering by the war, a still larger subsidy at the expense of British taxpayers. Lord Grey seemed to think that we could bribe the phantom called "moderate opinion" in the South into accepting Home Rule and repudiating the Sinn Fein murder gang. He recalled the success of self-government in South Africa, and emphasized the importance of reconciling the Irish, whose influence abroad and in the Dominions was "sinister, malign, and detrimental."
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