The Dominion. THURSDAY, MAY 26, 1910. THE NATIONALIST SPLIT.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 826, 26 May 1910, Page 4

The Dominion. THURSDAY, MAY 26, 1910. THE NATIONALIST SPLIT.

* , The rioting in Cork, some further particulars of which are given in to-day's cable messages, is a startling proof of tho seriousness of the split in the ranks of the Irish Nationalists. We are not told which side is having the better of the brawls, nor would a comparison of the casualties sustained by. the rival armies help very much towards understanding the extent of the breach which Me. O'Brien has made in the walls of Mn. Redmond's authority with the Irish people. The latest mail advices seem to indicate, however, that Me. Redmond's inana has been very seriously damaged by his dallyings with tho Liberals and his surrender of his power over the fate of the Budget. The price of his support has not been made public, and Irish opinion inclines towards a feeling that the price will not, or cannot, be paid. While the Budget remained in the balance, the Nationalists could demand any pledge they liked from Mr. Asquith in respect of Home Rule. With the Budget assented to, Home Rule is dependent now upon Mr. Asquith's generosity; its friends can now only ask and hope for what, but for Me. Redmond's action, they would have been able to extort from the Government. Mr. 'O'Brien's standing in Ireland has\been greatly improved by the firmness of his a-s----sault upon the Budget, to which Ireland as a whole is most vigorously opposed, by his repudiation of the policy of financial dependence upon the Americans, by his opposition (in which he is supported by such tried and faithful fighters as Mr. F. Hugh O'Donnell) to the alliance between the Nationalist Parliamentary party and the notorious "Pat" Ford, by his zeal for the resuscitation of land purchase and for the elimination of the odium, Ihcologicum that keeps the Protestant minority out of effective alliance with tho Catholic Nationalists. Writing towards the end of March the Irish Times said that at the last genera] election "the country revolted against the long and mischievous alliance between the Liberals and the official Nationalists," and added: "The Nationalist-Liberal conspiracy has killed land purchase, and seeks to impose on Ireland a new burden of ruinous and unjust taxation. In his vigorous protest mcainst this scandalous betrayal, Air. O'Brien has the sympathy of every Unionist and of nvery Independent Nationalist in Ireland. . . . Tho inauguration of the All-For-Ireland League is tho beginning of tho end of tho official Nationalist party. • Even- if ■Mγ. Ktulmond rejects the Budget and comes back empty-handed to Ireland ho will lose many seats to tho Independent Nationalists at the coming election, ff ho accepts the lhulget bis party, as a part}, will not survive- the results of a sweeping act of national revenge. , " The bulk of tho Irish press, in no small measure because the real leaders of lay and religious thought in Ireland arc strongly Conservative and opposed to British Radicalism, are supporting Mr. O'Brien in his attack on the official Nationalist leader. An extra opposition to the Radicals has been created by tho working of the Land Ace of 3903, which has produced 300,000 peasantproprietors. The struggle between tho rival loaders reached its climax on April 9, when Mr. O'Brien gave his account of the negotiations between himself, Mr. Healy, Mr. Redmond, and Mr. O'Connor on the one side and Mr. Lloyd-George on the other. Mr. O'Brien on that day read a letter which he had written to Mr. Lloyd-George in which it was stated that the' Chancellor had promised concessions in the Budget that would practically exempt Ireland from its operation and an amendment of the Land. Act of 1909 that would sot the land-purchase scheme going . again. Mr. LloydGeorge stated that he never received this letter and that the statements contained in it were grossly untrue; but it seems that in Ireland Mr. O'Brien was generally believed and that his speech destroyed Mr. Red- , mond's chance of retaining his hold on tho Irish people. The essence of Mr. O'Brien's policy is contained in his statement at Cork that "the only way to deliver the Irish cause from the absolute veto on Home Rule involved in the domination of the Molly Maguires was ; to root out the scandal of\the detestable secret agrarian society of 'Molly Maguires' and prove to the Protestant minority in Ireland that the people were strong enough to beat down that repulsive agrarian tyranny and replaceit by honest and pure nationality in Ireland." It was on that date that Mr. Redmond's present invasion of Cork was announced, and the announcement was met by the fiery O'Brien with the prediction that "when these men, these high priests of unity, these haters of dissension among Irishmen, with their hands red with a crime against Ireland, came down to Cork with insults and insolence to challenge a verdict of tho people of that "city, they would return to Dublin with a verdict branded upon their foreheads in characters that would cling to them to their dying day." The latest development shows that the O'Brienites want. Iμ be as good as their leader's word.