TOPICS OF THE DAY.
IF REASON RULED. THE Government Bill for the future government of Ireland will soon be before the country. As to its exact nature we have not been informed, for Mr. Lloyd George's speech only gave a general outline of the Govern- ment's intentions. It may be worth while therefore to consider what should be the nature of the Bill, if reason ruled in these matters—a very large "if," we admit, under present conditions. We are Unionists. That is, we believe, in view of all the complicated and difficult phenomena of the Irish situation, that the Union provides the best Government and the best Constitutional compromise for regulating not only the affair's of Ireland but the relations between the two islands of Great Britain and Ireland. A large majority of the people who inhabit the South and West of Ireland—in fact, all Ireland except the homogeneous Six-County Area—desire, however, or appear to desire, above all things self-govern- ment and independence from the Parliament at West- minster. Further, this demand is backed by the whole strength of the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland. Whether this backing is sincere we do not intend to discuss on the present occasion. Finally, the Government have allowed affairs to drift in such a way in Ireland that the soeial organism has almost broken down. Only in North- East Ulster—i.e., that part of Ireland in which there exists a Protestant and Unionist majority—are law and order and the essentials of civilization maintained. In these circumstances we, like the bulk of English Unionists, have come to the conclusion that, even if it does not provide the best form of government for Ireland or the best political system for the United Kingdom, we ought to offer to the South and West of Ireland—i.e., the area in which the majority so loudly demands local autonomy— such a structure of government as will give them the largest amount of local autonomy consistent with the safety and welfare of these islands, and with the adequate protection of the Protestant and Unionist minority in the South and West from destruction, oppression, and the loss of their property and their personal liberty. Given the conditions just named, the Government and the Parliament of the United Kingdom must surely legislate on the following lines, or something approximating thereto. Their plan should begin by determining the Areas to which the principle of self-determination should apply in order to avoid the absurdity, nay, infamy, of destroying the right of self-government in one part of Ireland while establishing it in another. We have satisfied ourselves after a long study of the question that the larger Area in which self-determination is to be.applied must be the Area of the Twenty-six Counties of the South and West, and the smaller Area that of the Six Counties of the North-East.
Considerations of race, religion, political feeling, all point to the establishment of these two Areas, considered not merely county by county, barony by barony, or parish by parish, but as homogeneous units. You can picket out Protestant districts in the Roman Catholic Area and Roman Catholic districts in the Protestant Area, but taken as a whole the will of the local majority is Roman Catholic and Anti-British in the larger area and Protestant and Pro-British in the smaller. Roughly speaking, the Loyalist and Protestant minority in the South and West Area is in about the same proportion to the majority as is the Roman Catholic, Republican, and Anti-British minority to the Unionist majority in the Six-County Area.
A further point in regard to the two Areas calls for comment. Though there is a great deal against any attempt to draw brand-new boundaries with their sequelae of fierce disputes, it might be wise to allow any parish, district, or other Local Government division which is on the border-line between the two great Areas to vote itself in or out of the Area to which the rigid adoption of the county line would consign it. By this we mean that though no island parish or district—i.e. a parish or district not on the border-line—should be allowed to claim exemption a parish or district conterminous both with the greater and the smaller area might by a majority of the Parliamentary electors vote itself out of the Six-County or out of the Twenty-six-County Area. For example, a border parish in Monaghan or Tyrone in which there was a majority of Roman Catholics might elect to go to the Twenty-six- County Area, and a border parish or district in Donegal in which there was a majority of Protestauts might join the Six-County Area. So much for Areas, if reason ruled.
Now for the type of self-determination which should be given in the two Areas, again if reason ruled. Clearly if any change is to be made the Twenty-six-County Area must have a Dublin Parliament with a Dublin Executive endowed with functions on Dominion lines, or framed on the model of the States of the American Union, the Pro- vinces of Canada, or the States of the Australian Common- wealth. There cannot be two Customs lines in the case of these islands, as would be necessary if we went beyond American statehood. Again, as in the United States, military and naval affairs must be regulated at West- minster, and essential fortified stations, arsenals, and harbours must be garrisoned and controlled by the Imperial Government. If, however, a Government with Dominion powers, except as regards Customs, were to be established in South-West Ireland, the South and West should clearly cease to be represented at Westminster. But because the Twenty-six-County Area claims to be under a Dublin and not under a Westminster Parliament, there is surely no fundamental reason why the Six-County Area should be forced against its will from continuing under the Parliament at Westminster and peremptorily required to establish a Parliament at Belfast. If the principle of self-determi- nation is to be applied in Ireland, it must not be immediately negatived by declaring that North-East Ulster is not to be allowed to say whether she will oi will not remain under the Parliament at Westminster, and so in an incorporating Union with Great Britain, If that is her wish, such a wish must be respected. Hei members cannot be thrown out neck and crop from the Parliament at Westminster merely for the sake oi symmetry, or rather just to please the people of the South and West. The inhabitants of the Roman Catholic Anti-British Area must be content with exer- cising their own autonomy, and not claim to control those outside their own Area.
Once more, if reason ruled, how is the Constitution we have sketched to be applied ? Surely the proper, the just way to apply it would be to pass an Enabling Act, which would begin by laying down a certain type of Dominion Constitution. Next, it would define the two Areas in either of which the said Dominion Constitution might be set up, provided that their respective representatives in the Parliament of the United Kingdom should by a majority of votes ask that the Enabling Act should be set in force in their respective Areas or in one of them. In the event of a demand being so made, the Constitution set forth in the Schedule of the Enabling Act should come into force. If neither Area asked to have the Enabling Act put in operation, the Act of Union would remain in force. If a request were made only by the Twenty-six- County Area, and not by the majority of the representa- tives of the Six-County Area, then the smal!er Area should forthwith become a county or counties of the Kingdom of England in the manner set forth in the Schedule. Lastly, if both of the two Areas defined in the Enabling Act should demand the creation of Local Parliaments, then the relations between the two Irish Parliaments should be regulated by a Joint Committee on which they should be equally represented, as set forth in the Schedule. In fine, the Six-County Area should not be forced out of the Parliament at Westminster, and mrde to have a Parliament at Belfast, if it did not desire such an arrange- ment, but preferred to play its part in the Parliament of Great Britain.
The scheme we propose would not only have the advan- tage of being just to the Six-County Area, but it would also get rid of the difficulties of forcing upon the Sinn Fein Area a scheme which in their present mood the majority in the South and West would be sure to declare useless, inadequate, and not in any sense binding upon them. Remember, that is what is almost certain to happen if Dominion Home Rule is passed in the absence of the Sum Fein Members and then forced upon Ireland. The Sinn Feiners will not look at it, and the intimidated Nationalists of the Twenty-six-County Area will be afraid to tell the Sinn Feiners to go to that place to which, if we are to judge by their acts, they properly belong. The British Govern- ment would assume a ridiculous position by attempting to force a moderate scheme of self-determination upon a set of wayward and intimidated people who, 1: e'ng in peril of their lives, violently declared they would have none of it. If however an Enabling Act is passed which can be put into operation as soon as it is asked for, we shall be saved from an impasse so intolerable. When South-West Ireland settles down and recovers from Sinn Fein, as she in all probability will e.o in the course of the next year or two, she can then if she likes c'aim the system of Dominion Home Rule provided by the Statute. One thing more remains to be said, and that perhaps the most important in the whole issue. It is irevitable that an appeal will be made to the people of Ulster not to wreck, as it will be alleged, the possibility of a final and honourable settlement of the Irish question by selfishly refusing to ask for a Parliament of their own merely because they do not want it. It will be urged, and we admit with some show of reason; "Make this sacrifice for the good of the United King- dom as a whole. Accept your Parliament even though you detest the notion of being cut off from the Parliament at Westminster. Accept also a Joint Committee with equal representation for regulating the affairs of Ireland as a whole. Then try honestly to see, while the old hates and miseries are dying out, whether good feeling cannot be re-estab- lished throughout the island." If such an appeal is made to the people of Ulster, God forbid that we or any body of Englishmen or Scotsmen, great or small, should attempt to persuade them not to make the sacrifice we have described, and to do their best to heal the racial and religious quarrel which divides Ireland. But though we should do nothing and say nothing to dissuade the Ulster Protestants from an act of chivalry and self-sacrifice, we have no right to persuade them, or to force them, directly or indirectly, to adopt such a course. It is they only who can judge what is their duty. We in England and Scotland must beware how we set about calling for self-sacrifices which we know full well we shall never be called upon to make in our own persons. That would indeed be a cheap and unctuous method of healing the ills of Ireland. There must be no urging, no cajoling, and no forcing of the loyal Protestants of North-East Ulster to undertake risks and dangers from which we are totally exempt. Whatever North-East Ulster decides to do must be done willingly, on her own motion and without the slightest shadow of compulsion. Here is an opportunity for the statesmanship and political insight of Sir Edward Carson. There is no man who is a better friend than he is of Protestant Ulster, a better friend of Ireland as a whole, or a better friend of the United Kingdom and the British Empire. If he thinks that the sacrifice would not be useless or unduly great, we are fully convinced that he will advise his people to make an effort at conciliation by accepting a provincial Parliament, assuming, as we expect will be the case, that the Nationalists make the establishment of a Belfast Parliament a sine qua non for accepting the Dominion solution. If, on the other hand, he declares that the sacrifice would be too great, or again would be useless, we may have the assurance that he is speaking not against but according to his conscience, that he represents the people of North-East Ulster, and above all that he is swayed not by any personal or factious motives, or by hatred, malice, or the desire for revenge, but solely by the determination to do his best for his country and the Empire as a whole. He is a safe guide for the people of England and Scotland, who, we are certain, are as anxious to do right and justice in this matter as he is. Let them follow where he points the way. Unionists need not trouble themselves to be better Ulstermen than he is. They may be content with any settlement with which he is content, and which the people of North-East Ulster are willing to endorse.
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