Towards the end of his speech Sir Edward Grey used
words of which it is somewhat difficult to see the exact import. It was, he declared, exceedingly difficult for the Government to deal with the question of Ulster. " If Ulster defeated the solution we propose, or succeeded in making it impossible, we cannot afford to continue the present state of things. Some other solution will have to be found through this House to put the control of Irish affairs in Irish hands. That has to be 'clone ; it is necessary for the House of Commons, it is neces- sary for the Cabinet." That, with all respect, is a capital example of begging the question. We have managed during the last hundred and ten years to work the incorporating Union with Ireland, and there is no reason to suppose that the task is going to become more difficult. On the contrary, the solution of the land problem is making it far easier. The people of the south of Ireland are far less discontented with the English connexion than they were a generation ago. Indeed, as we said on the introduction of the Bill, the salient fact is that the Irish people will not now accept Homo Rule unless they are heavily bribed to do so. A. fair system of Colonial Home Rule, such as that which was applied to the Transvaal, in which the separating community would have to live on its own financial resources, would be scouted by the Nationalists as another act of Saxon perfidy.
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