11 OCTOBER 1919, Page 3

We are told by the Times that a Cabinet Committee

has been appointed to draft a new Home Rule Bill. Mr. Fisher is to preside ; Mr. Long and Mr. Shortt, Lord French and Mr. Macpherson, are to help him. The Bill is to be capable of fitting in with "any federal resettlement" which may be made hereafter. Further, there is to be no coercion of Ulster. The financial settlement between Great Britain and Ireland " is not expected to cause much difficulty." We admire the optimism of the Times, but we cannot share it. The stern facts of racial and sectarian strife in Ireland are not to be charmed away by fine words.