We have dealt at length elsewhere with Lord Lansdowne's admirable
speech, and will only add here that his treatment of the time-limit was as statesmanlike—we cannot say more —as his treatment of the main problem of Exclusion. Other interesting speeches in the debate were those by the Archbishop of York and by Lord Bryce. Lord Bryce favoured a kind of Home Rule within Home Rule, apparently forgetful of the results of the Croatian precedent, while the Archbishop of York proposed a Statutory Commission, one part to deal with the Irish problem and the other with the United Kingdom problem. Later in the debate Lord Willoughby de Broke moved his amendment for the rejection of the Bill, and Lord MacDonnell once more urged his scheme for local autonomy for Ulster. It was clear, however, that the House as a whole recognized that the only practical thing for them to do now is not to discuss the Constitutional, or even the Irish, problem on its abstract merits, but to try to find some way of amending the Bill which will prevent civil war.
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