The Evening Star THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 1912.

Evening Star, Issue 15032, 14 November 1912, Page 4

The Evening Star THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 1912.

Spbakixg at the Carnegie Hall, New York,

on .September 29, Mr The Home Rule William Redmond, Bill. M.P., assured the enormous gathering that greeted him with unexampled enthusiasm that the Homo Rule Bill will pass the House of Commons before Christmas, and that if the present Government remain in office the King's signature will be attached thereto. In the light of recent happenings much significance attaches to Mr Redmond's “ if," though the probabilities are that he was wholly unconscious of this when he used it. “If” the Government are in power has since Monday lastbecome a question of such momentous importance that Mr Asquith and the Government have been compelled to recast the whole of the business of the House of Commons, and to set apart two days of precious time to answer the question. Wc have no doubt what the reply will be. The representative Chamber, by a majority of about 100 votes, will rescind Sir F. Banbury's amendment, the effect of which is, as its mover said, to prevent the British taxpayer from paying for the support of a government over which ho has absolutely no control. But in politics there are wounds that cannot be healed and losses that cannot be restored by compelling supporters to swallow their convictions. The Government have lost in prestige, which, though undefinable as to extent and value, is one of those losses that are rarely if ever regained, and the memory of which no subsequent victories can wholly wipe away. As a matter of simple history, the vote on .llio amendment more nearly represents in all probability the true feeling «f the dominant partner on the Irish Home Rule Bill than the many one-hundred majority divisions to which the House of Commons was becoming, accustomed. There is no genuine enthusiasm for the Bill either among the members of the Government or of the old-fashioned Liberal element in the Coalition. 'Many view it with dislike, and some with trepidation, while Ministers of international fame—such as Lord Morley, Lord Haldane, Mr Lloyd George, and Mr John Burns—are seldom heard in its defence. \\hat is felt by the reflecting few who endeavor to approach the problem of Ireland rationally and calmly—as tho Independent Nationalists, among others, do is that the nation might reasonably be asked to pronounce judgment on the Bill before it is submitted to His Majesty for his signature. Were that done, and were it approved (as its supporters' say it will be), then the attitude of Sir F. Carson, Mr F. F. Smith, and others will have to be abandoned. Mr Bohar Law has spoken strongly—too strongly, some critics say, for a statesman in, ins responsible position—but he is on record as pledged to cease iris opposition if England at a General Flection returns a majority in support of the Bill. Ministers and the more Radical of their followers have poured scorn and ridicule upon the Ulster movement, and in so doing they have committed not the least among their tactical blunders. Ulster has to be considered. That portion which is Protestant and anti-Home Rule cannot be contemptuously brushed aside. Deplorable as his utterances have been, Sir F. Carson is a man of sterling character, talent, and great •power, and he is not preaching, as he is doing,- what is very much akin to treason for the mere fun of the thing. When 100,000 men march in procession through the streets Mot of Belfast, but of Liverpool, ah<l cheer Sir F. Carson and Mr F. F. Smith to the echo, they may be bigoted and misled, but they still remain part of a force that no Government dare to ignore. It is the Ulster protest, the Independent Nationalist protest, and the English Liberal protest—though the last named may be subdued it is none the less real—that not improbably helped to bring about the unintended and unexpected defeat of the Government. The passage of the Homo Rule Bill into law is not by any means certain. Mr Redmond's “if” still blocks the way. But even should the Bill go through and the Government last, no finality to the Irish problem under'the conditions that will govern its passage can be looked for.