THE LIBERAL AND LABOUR LEADERS AND PRETENCE.
THE most signal act of pretence—the point where pretence seems to have reached its apogee— concerns the Liberal leaders more than the present Govern- ment. Within the past month Lord Grey of Fallodon and Mr. Asquith have both made what we fully admit were thoroughly well-meaning attempts to help on a peaceful solution of the Irish question. Both these attempts have proved signal failures. They were bound to be so, for both of them rested upon sham foundations. Lord Grey of Fallodon, it will be remembered, produced a scheme of Home Rule in which he withheld from his Irish Parliament powers which he had to pretend they would not mind going without—the power to have an army and a navy of their own, and that power which is the true mark of independence, the right of dealing with foreign countries. Then came Mr. Asquith, who went rather further than Lord Grey, but he, again, relied quite as much on the policy of pretence. Like Lord Grey, he was going to give Ireland exactly what she wanted, provided always that she was not to be an independent republic. Both schemes would have been possible if the Sinn Feiners did not make an independent republic their sine qua Iron ; but they do make it their sine gun non. When we say this to Lord Grey of Fallodon and Mr. Asquith, they pooh-pooh as as fainthearts, and in effect say that the Sinn Feiners are not really serious when they demand complete inde- pendence, or if they are, it is our fault, and the only true policy is to pretend that they do not want complete inde- pendence. If we only pretend hard enough all will be well. Need we say that this stupendous example of the policy of pretence has met with an immediate answer ? Here is what Mr. Griffith, the Acting-President of Sinn Fein, has to say in regard to these attempts to declare that the tiger is only a harmless fireside cat "The people of Ireland need pay no attention to inspired statements in the English Press regarding individual members of the Ministry of Dail Eireann. The Ministry acts as a unit in unemotional relations, and no member of it has acted, or will act, in such affairs, without the knowledge and concurrence of his colleagues. Those on whom the Irish nation has imposed the duty of speaking and acting on its behalf have never ceased to make known that Ireland desires to live in peace with all ?tattoos without exception, but Ireland will not accept sub- Ration in any form in the false guise of peace. The main strength of Ireland's cause to-day consists in the steadfast adherence of the people of Ireland to the principle of hide- l'e"4.oloe, and their determination to discharge at whatever cost their duty to those who havegone before them, and to those 'vho will come after them. Their heroic endurance has covered their enemies with shame in the eyes of civilization, and if they must still endure more it will but be to win a crowning triumph not only for our dear country, but for justice, liberty, and peace throughout the entire world."
Of Mime it is open to the Liberal leaders to say that . Griffith does not know what he is talking about and
that they do, but we shall be much surprised if they venture so far as this into the Irish morass. If Mr. Griffith's words are not enough to convince the Liberal Party, what is to be said of the following ? An Irish " Republican Army " proclamation posted in County Monaghan contains the following passages :-
"Whereas, in several districts in my command armed gangs of men patrol the public roads at night, and open fire, with murderous intent, on people pursuing their ordinary avocations. And whereas one of such gangs has perpetrated a most odious and brutal murder, and several others have attempted murder. The public must at once realize that Ireland is in a state of war with the forces of the British Crown, and while we extend the hand of friendship to all Irishmen, armed murder gangs erssvetotlilA.,als guides rlilifoefti ctmyiorcesshabe.imril;dealtvitasopportunity offers."
Mr. Henderson has for so many years made pretence his daily diet, not only upon the Irish question but almost upon all public questions, that we feel it is hardly worth while to draw his attention to the Nemesis of pretence. We doubt whether he is able to distinguish between reality and sham even when they aril presented to him in the strongest light. Look at the concluding sentence of the speech which he delivered at Prescot last Saturday. Labour, he tells us, is prepared to allow the Irish people to assume full responsibility for whatever form of govern- ment they, the Irish people, themselves determine. Then, having apparently given the Irish people complete inde- pendence, he proceeds to take it away in the following terms :—
" This could be best secured through the setting up of a con- stituent assembly, and Labour would not impose any restrictions or limitations in the drafting of a constitution, except that ade- quate protection should bo given to minorities, and safeguards and guarantees should be provided against 'relend becoming a menace to any part of the British Empire."
We say, without fear of contradiction, that these words have no real meaning, or sense, or use whatever, except under the pretence that the Irish do not want to dominate the people of North-East Ulster or to have that complete independence which will give them the right, if they so desire, to become a menace to that part of the British Empire called the United Kingdom. To put it in another wdy, it is pure humbug to pretend that you can give Ireland full independence and self-deter- mination, and at the same time provide the safeguards and guarantees of which Mr. Henderson sneaks so feelingly and no doubt so sincerely. Suppose a man who hates you passionately is trying to hit you, and you seize his bands and say, " I desire to give you complete liberty of action, power to do whatever you like except in one small matter—I must have safeguards and guarantees that you will not hit one." If your opponent is an honest man he will ask you what is the good of his boasted liberty if you deprive him of the right to do the one thing that he wants to do—black your eye. So much for the Nemesis of pretence. Happily, it looks as if our quick-witted Prime Minister, splendid craftsman as he has often proved himself in the art of pretence, has learnt his lesson, and has seen the awful danger of practising it in the case of Ireland. The establishment of martial law in Ireland on the one hand and the very proper deter- mination on the other to proceed with the Home Rule Bill are proofs of this change in policy. We can assure the Prime Minister that he will have the unreserved support of all true Unionists if he keeps steadily on these lines. If when dealing with the Irish problem we have said things which are unpleasant to the Prime Minister and his colleagues, we can assure him and them that we do so from no desire for recrimination, but solely because we want to make the British people understand what came of a policy of pretence in the past and what will come of it again if we once more slip into it. There will be plenty of temptations to do so in the course of the next year or two. The only way to show the uselessness of pretence was to tell io. full and in plain terms the ignominious story of its failure.
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