17 SEPTEMBER 1921, Page 13

IRISH "NEGOTIATIONS."

(To THE EDITOS or THE " spzernon."1 Sm,—In view of a good deal now written, it really seems needful to remind the public that the present Cabinet are by no means plenipotentiaries empowered to settle the future of Ireland by conference with certain influential rebels, but Ministers inquir- ing as to the disposition and desires of the said rebels and preparing to submit proposals formed after such inquiries to Parliament. Mr. Lloyd George and his Ministry will then be in the same position as Gladstone and his Ministry when they introduced their Home Rule Bill in 1886, and it is with Portia• ment, now as then, that the decision and the responsibility wit:

ultimately rest.—I am, Sir, do., E. M.