The Solicitor-General, Sir Edward Carson, K.C., M.P., in the course
of a speech delivered at Manchester last Saturday, dealt with the necessity of sifting, and, if possible, satisfying, the grievances of "our Irish Unionist fellow-countrymen in Ireland." The " fatuous, ridiculous, unworkable, and im- practicable scheme" for the future government of Ireland put forth by Lord Dunraven and others he dismissed as negligible. It had not caused many Unionist defections, nor did he think it had even attracted many Nationalists. The real grievance of the Irish Unionists was, rightly or wrongly, that the scheme had originated with a permanent Civil servant who had himself evolved a policy which had been disavowed by the Prime Minister and by the Chief Secretary for Ireland. "I do not say that it is true, but what I do say is that if it is true it is a public scandal, and against all the best traditions of our public service." If, he went on, that was one of the grievances of their Irish Unionist Members, it was a matter that ought to be set at rest at the earliest moment by satisfying them that there was no foundation for the suspicions entertained. Could anything more clearly indicate the anarchy that prevails in the present Administra- tion than this amazing utterance, in which one of the chief law officers of the Crown publicly professes his inability to acquit the Premier and the Chief Secretary of Ireland of tolerating a public scandal ?
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