NEWS OF THE WEEK.

THE NEW BIRRELLISM.

THE New Birrellism appears to be a thing of more rapid and luxuriant growth than even the old. The Old Birrellism was always suggesting that the best cure for the ills of Ireland was some of the hair of the dog that was biting her. The New Birrellism proposes, not that we should have a taste of the hair, but that we should swallow the whole dog ! Incredible as it sounds, the Daily Mail and one of its vigorous colleagues in the Northcliffe Press, the Weekly Dispatch, are gravely suggesting that we should solve the Irish problem by handing over the maintenance of law and order in Ireland, and apparently even the direction of the Military and the Police, to a Committee nominated by the Convention which is now sitting to try to find a Constitution for Ireland. The proposal, as we understand it, is that the Convention should select what would be called an " Advisory Com- mittee " to the Lord-Lieutenant, which would eventually, if not at once, supersede the present fabric of Irish Government and would establish in its place an Irish Executive. The ides is so fantastic, nay, so Insane, that our readers may be amazed at our considering the matter serious enough for discussion. We must remind them, however, that we have too often seen that what the Northcliffe Press thinks to-day the present Government think to-morrow. We feel, therefore, that sane people must lose no time in protesting against this last and worst project of the New Birrellism. It is a project for pacifying Ireland by breaking up the final bulwarks of law and order, and introducing into that unhappy country the chief phenomenon of revolution—an arbitrary Junto of irre- sponsible persons, nominated by a consultative body chosen in a hurry and very much at haphazard for a purpose wholly different from that of executive work, and devoid of any sanction, democratic or legal. We are all for giving the Convention not only a chance but the very best possible chance, and though well aware of certain grave dangers connected with its existence, we have always refrained from the slightest criticism, either as regards its work or its constitution. Nevertheless he would be no friend of the Convention, but indeed its deadliest enemy, who consented to its being used as a kind of Hibernian Soviet. To deflect it from its work of drafting a Constitution to that of choissing an Executive must mean the ruin of the Convention. Remember that consent to support and work with the Convention was given by the Irish Unionists, and especially the Unionists of North-East Ulster, on certain very clear and distinct under- standings and guarantees. These, however, would be auto- matically swept away if upon the Convention were placed the tremendous responsibility of choosing an Irish Executiim. But the evils of the proposed scheme do not stop at the virtual ruin of the Convention and its work. It is practically im- possible in a country like Ireland that this flower of the New Birrellism could produce anything but a chaos far worse than that of the Easter Rebellion. That such chaos would be most welcome to the enemies of England, both' in Ireland and abroad, is obvious. It would produce not merely a local rising like that in Dublin, but a general anarchy throughout the island. It would bring about a destruction of public order which would even affect that part of Ireland, the Six- County area, which hitherto has been kept absolutely free from tumult and rebellion owing to the support given to the Irish Executive by the Protestant and Unionist majority within that area.

We shall be asked, perhaps, why we assume that a Com- mittee of Irishmen named by the Convention would not work. To prove that it would not work, one has only to consider who are the men who would be called upon to form this Irish Committee of Public Safety. Tried by this test, it "tollapSes utterly. But we will not ourselves make a selec- tion of the men who would be likely to be chosen in such an experiment lest we should be charged with inventing a rebuilt) ad absurdum, or of first making and putting up a man of straw and then triumphantly knocking hint over. We will take the list of " Probablcs " given by the Political Correspondent of the 1Veckly Dispatch—a publicist who is evidently writing under the direct inspiration of the New Birrellists. After making the statement that " prophecy is hazardous," we are told by the writer in question that it is calculated that the new Administrative Council would be formed as follows " :— .111EMBERS NOMINATED DY RITE CONVENTION.

1. Sir Horace Plunkett. 4. Lord Miilleton.

2. Lord Londonderry. C. Mr. Do Valera.

2. 14.r. Wiliam O'Brien, M.P. 0. Professor MacNeill.

ELECTED BY ULSTER.

1. Mr. Hugh Barrie, M.P. 3. Mr. Joseph Devlin, M.P.

2. Col. Sharman Crawford, M.P. 4. A Labour representative.

ELECTED BY REST OF IRELAND.

1. Mr. John Redmond, M.P. 3. A representative of H.M.

2. Mr. John Dillon, M.P. Lords-Lieutenant.. 4. A representative of the Local Authorities."

The Political Correspondent, in order, we suppose, to show how perfect are his New-Birrellistic credentials, adds the following significant words :—

" The way to bring the Sinn Feiners to reason is not to come down upon them with an iron hand, for that only advertises them and brings in adherents, but to take action which will make the people of Ireland ask themselves whether they are going to throw away the tangible good for the hypothetical and wholly visionary objects of the Sinn Feiners. The wild men are talking with theatrical exuberance of establishing an independent Irish Republic, but this gesture to the gallery does not impress the sane forces, who base all the hopes of tho pacification of Ireland on the success of the Convention and agree with Cardinal Logue that if the Convention fails chaos is inevitable. By anybody else but a violent partisan it must be admitted that Dublin Castle as an instrument of government has failed."

Then follows the usual conventional stuff about Dublin Castle with which we were all familiar in the day when Birrellism was first tried, and when the theory that calling a tiger " Poor pussy " really did turn it into a cat was in full swing.

'But how do you know it will not answer now ? The Old Birrellism did not go far enough. The Old Birrellism had not got the Convention to support it. The New Birrellism, by the aid of the Convention, will be able to achieve really great things. We shall see the chief Sinn Feiners not merely killed by kindness, but, with Mr. De Valera a member of the Advisory Council, we may even see Sinn Fein as a whole committing " hara-kiri " and embracing Nationalism in a dying ecstasy of reasonableness and generosity. The Sinn Fein lion shall eat Castle straw like the Red»tondite ox and the O'Brienite wolf dwell wilt the Home Rule lamb ; a sucking child (borrowed front the Convention) shall put his hand upon the den of the German cockatrice ; and a weaned child (qualified no doubt by a hunger strike in Mountjoy Prison) shall be their leader.'

We shall not trust ourselves to protest against the specific proposals of the New Birrellism in our own words. Our protest shall be made in the language of those whom we think even our opponents would admit to be free from the " passions and errors " of the Spectator. We take the following passage from the Report of the Royal Commission to which was entrusted the work of investigating the causes of the Irish Rebellion of 1916. Here are some selections from the summing-up of the Commissioners :- " A flood of seditious literature was disseminated by the leaders of the Irish Volunteer party early in tho war, and certain newspapers were suppressed, but action against the seditious Press was not very consistently taken, and prominent members of the Irish Parlia- mentary party were strongly against newspaper suppression.. . Seditious papers wore published, pamphlets of a violent tone issued and circulated, paid organisers were sent throughout the country to enrol and drill volunteer recruits, and the loaders themselves were active in attending anti.recruiting meetings at which disloyal speeches were openly made. A considerable number of the younger members of the priesthood in certain districts joined in the move• ment, and schoolmasters who were followers of Sinn Fein dissemi- nated treason among the younger people through the medium of the Irish language. Action was taken against seditious newspapers and against certain paid organisers of the Irish Volunteer party, but this course was strongly opposed by members of the Irish Parliamentary party and the Nationalist Press. . . . Irishmen no doubt appreciate the maintenance of order, but they appear to have an inveterate prejudice against the punishment of disorder.. . . On the 18th. December, 1915, a letter was sent by the Under-Secretary to the Chief Secretary, of which the following passage is an extract What is Redmond up to with his comparisons between Ireland and Great Britain in the matters of police and crime t The present situation in Ireland is most serious and menacing.' . . . It is now a matter of common notoriety that the Irish Volunteers have been in eomnumication with the authorities in Germany, and were for a long time known to be supplied with money through Inah.American societies. This was so stated in public by Mr. John M'Neill on the 8th November, 1914. . . . In periods of peace it may be desirable in an orderly. community to disregard some seditious utterances as mere vapounng, but when a country is engaged in a serious struggle sedition alters its aspect and becomes treason, dangerous to the country, and should promptly bo suppressed. As stated by Sir David Harrel in his evidence, the Irish people are easily led, and it is therefore the more incumbent on the Government to nip lawless. ness in the bud. Neglect in this respect has invariably led to things getting out of hand, with the result that strong repressive measures become necessary, and much hardship is imposed upon misled, but perhaps comparatively inoffensive,people.' . . . It appears to Ire that reluctance was shown by the Irish Government to repress by prosecution written and spoken seditious utterances, and to suppress the drilling and manoeuvring of armed forme known to be under the control of men who were openly declaring their hostility to your Majesty's Government, and their readiness to welcome and assist your Majesty's enemies. This reluctance was largely prompted by the pressure brought to bear by the Parliamentary representatives of the Irish people, and in Ireland itself there developed a widespread belief that no repressive measures would bo undertaken by the Government against sedition. This led to a rapid increase of pre- parations for insturection, and was the immediate cause of the outbreak."

We ask our readers whether it is possible to imagine a more poignant argument against a trial of the Daily Mail's sugges- tion than the condemnation of Birrellism here set forth. We see what was the result of not only giving the key of the powder magazine to our enemies, but also presenting them with a box of matohes. Is it possible that we are about to do the same thing again, only on a larger scale ?

If in the last resort we are told that the arguments we have put forward are only part and parcel of the usual English misunderstanding of the Irish temperament, and that if the Irish people choose to have a bold experiment made in their country (assuming for the moment that this is the mood of the Irish majority), it is not for us to forbid them, we would ask : By what possible right can this insane experiment be tried in North-East Ulster, an area where it is absolutely certain that it will be regarded by the majority of the people with horror and detestation ? Even if the Ireland in which the Roman Catholics and the enemies of the Union have a majority wishes to see whether organized chaos will not allay her troubles, she has no right to inflict an ordeal by Paradox and Folly on that part of Ireland which not only does not desire it, but which, we may remind the Government and the British people generally, consented to participating in the Con- vention only on the distinct understanding that no action whatever was to be taken by the Convention unless there was a virtual unanimity of recommendation ! To appoint a body of men to see if they can agree upon certain Constitu- tional developments, and then suddenly to turn that body into the nominators of an Irish Executive, would be a breach of faith beyond all endurance. We should see the Government themselves doing what hitherto they have, in our opinion quite properly, refused to do—allow any external influences to interfere with the special and appropriate work of the Con- vention, which is calm discussion and impartial debate. The suggestion of putting the Convention to do the most disputable work possible, the work of selecting and estab- lishing an Irish Executive, is to throw the apple of dis- cord upon the table round which the Convention is now happily, and we hope usefully, sitting.

If the object is to save the Convention by risking a new rebellion, as apparently it is, and if the Government have come to the conclusion that their own system of governing Ireland under a new and extended form of Birrellism is not going to work, then let them not try an exphicled nostrum but have the boldness to strike out on an entirely new line. Let them substitute for the present civilian Viceroy a Military Governor, to whom the one instruction shall be to maintain law and order in Ireland till such time as the Convention shall have reported. Pending the Report of the Convention, let this Military Governor not merely proclaim but insist upon a political moratorium. The people of North-East Ulster have ever since the war began voluntarily enforced such a mora- torium in their area. As the Home Rule leaders are incapable of imposing such a moratorium upon the Sinn Femers, let the work be done by an impartial Military Executive. A non-political soldier, commissioned to act the part of High Constable and maintain peace and quiet at all costs in Ire- land, would soon rally to himself those forces in favour of order and good government which exist even in Ireland. That is the way to save the work of the Convention. Very possibly it will be urged that it is now too late to pursue the course we recommend. Nevertheless it is worth trying. If the Sinn Feiners were made to understand that they would not be allowed to disturb Ireland till the Convention had reported, there is a chance, and we believe a fair chance, that they mould not hazard their pinchbeck Revolution. Remember, too, that half the support now given to Sinn Fein comes from the fact that many people believe that Sinn Fein is going to win, and hold that it is therefore wise to have a foot in the camp of the future rulers of Ireland.