On the other hand, Sir Michael Beach warned English readers
not to regard all the violent rhetoric reported from Ireland as if it really represented the average opinion of the Irish people. Many of these bursts of rhetoric represent no substantial amount of practical conviction; and as for the fierce accusations against the Government which are selected from Irish newspapers for the benefit of English readers, Sir Michael did not doubt that when brought to the test in the House of Commons, they would be shown to mean very little indeed. He thought that it would be found that the Government had made good progress in re-establishing order in Ireland, and had deserved the thanks of the nation for what they had done. In relation to English policy, Sir Michael Beach did not think that any strengthening of the Standing Orders for dealing with obstruction would be necessary. He deprecated interference with the old historical boundaries of the counties in the proposed Local Government Bill, and, indeed, deprecated making too grandiose a measure of the Local Government Bill at all. The rural communities did not in very many cases need anything like a municipal life of their own, and Sir Michael Beach held that if too much was sacrificed to give them what they did not want, the measure would not be popular with the country. He did not wish to see the new rural organisations start in business as "universal pro- viders," or pose as "little divinities" created to overrule individual freedom. On the whole, Sir Michael Beach certainly took what may be called a decidedly "detached" view of the policy of the Government.
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