Evening Post. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 1906.

Evening Post, Volume LXXI, Issue 47, 24 February 1906, Page 4

Evening Post. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 1906.

"HOME RULE BY INSTALMENTS V The Homo Rule bogoy proved a «ad disappointment to the hopes of tho Unionist* at the British gcncrnl election, nnd their first attempt to terrify Parliament with it has also resulted in conspicuous failure. No doubt in moving hi» amendment to the Address-in-Rcply, Colonel Saunderson, to whom ft flght is novcr out of season, was acting on his own initiative, but ho much have received a much stronger support If tho caso had not appeared absolutely hopeless. What tho gallant and impetuous member for North Armagh desired tho Houso to affirm was "that many people in Ireland viewed with alarm tho statement that the Ministry was considering proposals to effect changes In tho "system of government, na they believed It would endanger tho liberty nnd property of tlio loyflllat minority, and impair the integrity of tho Unied Kingdom. When Homo llulo was really, a burning issue, a Unionist atatesman endeavoured to pour oil on tho flames by informing a Belfast audteneo that "Ulster will fight, and Ulstor will bo right" ; and tho warlike nttltudo of Colonol Sreundorsoj) is n proof that some UJjsfccrmon aro quite ready to fight even when thoro is nothing to fight against. In Mr, Bryce he found mi antflgonist who proved in ono respect unworthy of his steel, for tho new Irish Seeretnry declined to bo drawn, nnd his firm but conciliatory speech must havo been a disappointment to a rtian "spoiling for a fight. 1 There Is indeed no reason why tho leaders of a *party which, after ten years of opposition has been suddenly called to power, ahull allow itself to bo hustled into a premature disclosure- of tho details of its policy on so tangled ft question, and Ml 1 , Bryco was wi«e to conlino himself to gonerftllHc*. Mr. Chamberlain had tho assurance to say that "it was evident tho Minlstiy was a Homo Rulo Government, howover much it tried at present to conceal its trtto character." It should bo enough to answer that if the present aoveni. moiiT were to grant Homo Rule to Ireland, or ntftompt so to do, it would bo guilty of a shameless tergiversation to which oven tho career of Mr. Chamberlain with nil it« twisto and turns could afford no pajaJM. Half the Cabinet are opposod by conviction to Home Rule at tho present stage, and every man of them is bound by tno pubtic utterancea of the lowlore not to press it. Tho truo iwuo wa« very dcariy sUUcd by tho Westminster Gnzotto on «ho eve of Mr, Honour's resignation! —"Tho question 1« simply whether, ha-ving acknowledged that) a Homo Rulo Bill in tho Gladstonian sens© to imposMblo in tho next I'arhament, wo can acrxjo to got forward a step on tho long overdue ifform of Irish administration, while leaving tho futtll'o to BertUo the problem* of tho future, and all imrtiea mefliiwhilo to retain their convjetiofls nbout tho wl.'tiaiftts jiolutlpfl? .W,oi)^iov,e tliftt^uch

nn agreement is perfectly fensiMo nnd absolutely honest." Mr Motley, who would doubtless havo been Irish Secretary once moro if a policy of "thoiough" had boen intended, may be taken to represent tho extreme Homo Rulo view, yet in ono of his election addresses nfter re-affirming his belief in that solution, ho added that this conviction "would not prevent me from co-operating in moro limited reforms that aro nol incompatible with it." It is clearly to these limited reforms that Mr. Bryce referred in his reply to Colonel Saunacr"Kvovyono in Ireland," said tho Irish Secretary, "believed that changes wero needed in ihc system of government. ConsiJering tho tranquillity prevailing, Pnriiamcnt would bo justified in further associating the people wi\h government. A gcncrnl spirit of conciliation prevailed even in Ulster— and the timo was propitious for measures leading up to solf-gov-eminent." It is a pleasing novelty to henr nny British fitntosman epeoking of tho tranquillity of Ireland as an opportunity for reform. Tho usual logic of the dominant partner has been that if sho was quiet sho did not need reform, and if she was turbulent she did not deserve it j nnd it seems not too much to hopo .that a policy of extending the powers of locnl solf-governmcntj nnd of nccustoming tho peoplo by the responsibility which this will involve to regard law nnd order ns something of their own mnke, to bo cherished for their own «nkcs rnthor thnn a superimpofiition from without to bo fought nt every turn, may command nn overwhelming mnjority of English nnd Scotch members without prejudice to their views on ilio ultimate solution, British statesmanship has dono much during tho Inst thirty years to retrieve the terrible blunders of its Irish policy in tho past, but Ireland stijl remains the worst governed country in tho Empire, nnd her brightest hopo seems to lie in the pro«pecb of gradual nnd democratic reform which is now opened up,