Evening Post. SATURDAY, APRIL 13, 1912. MR. ASQUITH'S HERCULEAN TASK.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 88, 13 April 1912, Page 4

Evening Post. SATURDAY, APRIL 13, 1912. MR. ASQUITH'S HERCULEAN TASK.

It was on Bth. April, 'lßß6, that Gladstone submitted his first Homo Rulo Bill to tho House of Commons. Lord Morley thus describes the occasion : "No such scene has ever been beheld in the House v of Commons. Member*- came down at break of day to secure their places; before noon every seat was •marked, and crowded benches were even arrayed on the floor of the House from the Mace to the Bar. Princes, ambassadors, great peers, high prelates, thronged tho lobbies. Tho fame of tho orator, the boldness of his exploit, curiosity as to the plan, poignant anxiety as to the party result, wonder whether a wizard had at last actually arisen with a spell for casting out the baleful spirits tbat had for so many ages made Ireland our torment and our dishonour — all 'these thing 6 brought together such an assemblage as no Minister before had ever addressed within 'those world-renowned walls." The speech was worthy of tho assemblage, but failed of its purpose. The Bill was rejected on its second reading by a majority of 30, and a shattered and dispirited Liberal Party followed it* leader Into the wilderness. Seven years later Gladstone was able to lead tho party back, and at the age of eightythree, with a majority, even with the aid of the Nationalists, of only 42, that marvellous old man actually succeeded in getting a Homo Rule Bill through tho House of Commons. In the "other place," however, a ten to one majority made short work of the Bill. Gladstone retired, and the following year saw the beginning of the Liberals' ten years of hopeless Opposition. Nineteen years after tho last attempt a Liberal Prime Minister has now introduced a Home Rule _ Bill for the third time. Mr. Asquith, who in 1893 was one of the ablest of Gladstone's lieutenants and was elready regarded as on© of the rising hopes of the Liberal Party, is now essaying the task in which the greatest of its leaders twice failed. Ho has a majority in tho House of Commons neatly three times as large as that which his late chief commanded under the most favourable conditions, and he has clipped the claws of the House of Lords by the Parliament Act. He has also a less turbulent Ireland and a less prejudiced England to deal with. But the task is •till a Herculean one, and even now it would tax the powers of a Gladstone. The main point of difference between Gladstone's two Home Rule Bills related to tho retention of the Irish members at Westminster. While the first of these Bills was before the House of Commons, he wrote to Lord Granville : . "I scarcely see how a Cabinet could have been formed if the inclusion of Irish members had been insisted on; and now I do not see how the scheme and policy can be shipwrecked if the exclusion is insisted on." It was the proposed exclusion of the Irish representatives 'from the Imperial Parliament that led to the secession of Mr. Chamberlain and tho other Liberal Unionitste and wrecked the first Home Rule Bill. Nor did the "In aud Out" arrangement proposed in the Bill of 1893, under which the Irish members were retained for Imperial purposes, bring the dissentients back to' the fold. The retention of the Irish members for all purposes which was effected by an amendment in committee also failed to heal the breach. Since that time, however, the retention of Ireland's representation at Westminster without limitation has been accepted as axiom' atic, and Mr. Asquith '&. Bill makes provision accordingly, though on a scale more than fifty per cent, smaller than the present one.' The position is anomalous, whichever alternative is adopted. The exclusion of Irish representatives from Westminster would reduce their country to the position of a dependency, since she would be governed by an Imperial Parliament in which she was unrepresented. On th© other hand, the arrangement now proposed will give Ireland a control over the local affairs of England, Scotland, and Wales, while eho will have the absolute control of her own local affairs by a Parliament on College Green. There is no escape from the dilemma under any partial scheme of Home Rule. The only logical and complete solution is a measure of "Home Rule" all round," which will give to, each of the four divisions oi the United Kingdom the management of ite own •iffairs, retaining for tho British Parliamen|>, in which they will all continue to be represented, the jurisdiction over all matters of joint concern. Even so, however, this Parliament would logically be a United Kingdom Parliament only. It would not become an Imperial Parliament in a true and 1 secure sense until New Zealand and the other Dominions were represented in it on the same baste as the various part* of the United Kingdom. Local Parliaments for England Scotland, Wales, and Ireland., a Federal Parliament for the United Kingdom, and an Empire Parliament to represent both tho Mother and the Daughter States, would be the complete equipment. Eighteen months ago, when the Constitutional Conference was still in session and "Pacifieus" was urging from the Imperial standpoint the claims of an all-round devolution upon ita attention, there seemed some ground for hoping that by common consent the whole matter might be amicably and comprehensively settled. Now we have to be content with a measure which, though drafted with a viow to the ultimate extension of the principle to England, Scotland, and WaJes, deals with Ireland only, and will be fought with all the bitternecfi usually associated with the politics of that distraiful cauntry. The question -which EMMA-to- hiis . c.|U»§d

6ho Government most difficulty ia the tariff. The federal analogy speaks strongly against the delegation of such a matter to a subordinate Legislature, but it wae feared that Nationalist sentiment would reject <i measure which ' followed Gladstone's Bill in reserving the control of Customs to the British Parliament. A compromise, which retains the substantial control for the Parliament but gives Ireland power within narrow limits, is the offer mado by the Bill. We share Mr. W. O'Brien'e fears of th© ricks of dual control, and should havo preferred to see Customs, like defence, foreign policy, and Imperial afia-irs, reserved entirely for the British Parliament. Into the financial proposals, which appear to us to be distinctly generous, and many other interesting details, tho limits of tho present article will not "permit us to enter. Mr. Asquith's speech eeams to us to have been in every way worthy of the occasion, but we cannot think the Opposition well advised in putting up Sir Edward Carson to lead the attack. "Ulster will oppose tho*Bill at every stage," is/ the burden of his speech, and that, of course, we knew before. We also know that, Ulster is prepared for something more than a Parliamentary opposition if the occasion arises, and tho wild words of the last six months prove to have more substance than wind. Sir Edward Carson may be well qualified to lead a sort of Jameson raid against the British Empire after Homo Rule is an accomplished fact, but surely he is for that very reason a quite unsuitable protagonist for the Constitutional Party to put forward at this stage of the Parliamentary battle.