Mr. Redmond argued that the war should not be allowed
to damnify the position of the Irish Nationalists. if a settlement were not reached by negotiation, the Home Rule Bill ought to be placed on the statute book according to the original intention of the Government. Mr. Balfour, who spoke amid much interruption, pleaded against reintro- ducing into the House in the present circumstances a dis- cussion that was bound to create deep bitterness. The rather angry temper of the House at the end of the debate was absolute proof of what Mr. Balfour said—that the Irish question cannot be debated without destroying the present happy unity of the country. This outcome would be not only a disgrace, as Mr. Bonar Law said, but a disaster. It must not be allowed. The best plan would be to extend the operation of the Parliament Act so as to enable the House to take up the Irish question at any future date where it now stands, and without prejudice to any one concerned.
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