NEWS OF THE WEEK.
WHEN we wrote last week it seemed that Mr. De Valera would be forced at once to the point of saying Yes or No to the latest proposal of the Cabinet. We had not then seen the text of Mr. Lloyd George's letter, though the nation had been put in possession of the fact that it offered a conference on the single condition that Ireland should remain within the Empire. We shall examine the text of Mr. Lloyd George's letter presently, but first we have to record that the Sinn Fein leaders, in spite of all the efforts to bring them to an issue, have contrived further delay. Before these words appear—we write on Thursday—the delay may be ended, but the future is now as obscure as ever it was. Some observers are less hopeful ; others speak of a conference as virtually assured.
