Lord Rosebery spoke at Huddersfield on Thursday, his main topic
being Separation. He maintained that Ireland could not maintain herself as an independent State, for her resources would not suffice, and she would be constantly overshadowed by the inevitable hostility of England. Her trade would be materially impaired, and she would lose the protection she finds abroad in British strength. Therefore, he thought that Ireland would not wish for independence as a separate State ; and she could not federalise herself with any other, for neither France nor the United States would accept her offers. Lord Rosebery and his colleagues are very fond of this argument, but they never meet its answer,—which is that the moment Home- rulers are at liberty to speak their minds, they plead for independence. Has it never struck him that Irishmen like soldiering ; that a conscription would, at little expense, place their country beyond danger of invasion; and that, although they could not federalise themselves with France, they could buy pro- tection by a permanent alliance with France against Great Britain P That independence would disappoint the Irish, is, we think, certain ; but the point is whether Irishmen think so, and the evidence certainly is that they do not. If, therefore, Lord Rosebery would in any event refuse Separation, which if Ireland is a nation he has no right to refuse, he ought at once to join the Unionists, who stop short before the descent has began.
