For our part we can conceive circumstances in which we
should not feel justified in resisting any wide measure of self-government for Ireland provided that the Sinn Feiners undertook to allow self-determination to the Protestant block in Ulster, to respect the lives and property of Southern and Western minorities and to allow the necessary guarantees to Great Britain against external attack. But even on the assumption that such an arrangement might ultimately be possible, there would still remain one principle which is essential. It is that the greater the degree of freedom claimed by Ireland, the smaller must be the amount of money contributed by Great Britain. It would be preposterous that the Irish majority should refuse every kind of intervention from us, should cast off us and all our works with abuse, and then should coolly expect to be subsidized.
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