HOME RULE WITHOUT HYSTERICS.

Auckland Star, Volume XLV, Issue 125, 27 May 1914, Page 4

HOME RULE WITHOUT HYSTERICS.

The phi.-hlity with wliich Ireland has received the news of the Home Rule Bill I havinjr passed iUs third reading in the I House of Commons may be taken as a ) happy augury of ;i similar philosophical acceptance of the incrvita.ble a month hence, -when it its calculated .the. raeaeure will havo receive,! the Royal It would be erroneous lo :-uppose. that | Irishmen of all parties and religions arc ' not deeply and intelligently interested i in the developments that are daily bringing nearer the realisation of the hopes of the vast majority. A London Conservative paper recently pictured one rrt-.hman a.-king another: '-'TA'hatV this Home Rule they're talking of in Ensland':" and receiving the an-fwer. "I dunno: but I retnimber mc jrrandfather v.sod to get quite hot about it." The intention was to impress upon Englishmen that the Nationalists of Ireland today know little and rare less about the Horn,. Rule movement; and no doubt the a-bsence of demonstrations will be cited I in support of that view. But the calmnoss of Ireland is not evidence of indifference, hut of something much more, commendable. It its a sig n of splendid j discipline and self-control, which will | doubtless be a .bitter disappointment to I thoff who have prophesied and perhaps ) hop«l that the triumphajit passage of : the Bill would lea<i to Nationalist ex- J iMi-ses and violence, or to alarming ebullitions of wrathful protest in Ulster, i Tliere has been no hysteria in the South- j W'eet and no " listeria " in the North-

'East, thanks partly to the restraining 1 influence, of the Catholic clergy and 'partly to the prudent advice of Sir Edward Carson and his friends — the ■ latter having, by their cautious counsels. ■ practically confessed that they had no justification for their former incitement of CUter Protestants to armed resistance. Tho sle.pe by which liorn.- Ruin for Ireland will be achieved are .;o deliberate, orderly and constitutional, and the safeguards for good government afterwards ar e so well-conceived that it is liar.] to imagine any situation arising that will call for armed resistance to oppression or injustice; certainly not for a ycir at least will the Irteh Executive .lieabe to do anything provocative, should it prove inclined to do The next .step nt present ifi tlie consideration of tho Bill .by the House of Lords. Thi.s can h-irdly be other than a formal proceeding, for the Peers know that they are ™ircr!e-s to amend the measure o r prevent its final enactment. The utmost Uvey can do. as has been eujrsrestpd. is to amend th» Bill <=o as .to indicate ■what measure of exemption of Ulster will be acceptable to the Unionist party. The House of Commons would, of course. reject the amendment.-, ami the Bill would at once he presented to TTis Majesty for signature. Despite the thousands of petitions asking him to withold hie assent ponding an appeal to the country, no one seriously expects that King ■orrrc will do other than hi* constitut 1 duty ill tho matter, and Home Rule .11 became. ! iofilKliitively. an accomplished fact. Then. I if Irishmen maintain th"ir pre-ent at-ti-tnde of'self-restraint, the formalities will proceed until everything ie in readi- | no* for the rrpeninj: of the Irish Tarlia- 1 ment in Dublin next year. j

Meantime, there is every indication that negotiations between the Government and tlie Opposition will result in a compromise that will remove all -hndow of pretext for Ulster disaffection: the menacing "' armies " of t'lstcr and of the Nationalists will be disbanded: and the "first pern of the yea" will settle down to a period of contentment and prosperity Mich as the has not enjoyed for cpnturws. Thosp hapes. may seem exaggerated: but they arc fully warranted by the Buddfin decline of " earsonly m'"—due. some people think, to Sir Edward's approaching u> th<? daughter of a Home Ruler —and 'by the present gratifying triumph of peaceful discipline and restraint over the provocative tactics that have prevailed for months past.