The Star. TUESDAY, AUGUST 13, 1912. HOME RULE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 10538, 13 August 1912, Page 2

The Star. TUESDAY, AUGUST 13, 1912. HOME RULE.

In spite cf all the speeches and articles of politicians and publicists, and in spite of all the tall talk from Ulster, the impression created by the present Home Rule controversy is that there is comparatively little sincere opposition to the Bill. "Nothing is more certain," says the London correspondent of one Irish journal, " than that if the Liberals went out of power this year the Conservatives would bring down a Home Rule Bill of their own." This belief is said to be general in Irish Nationalist circles, and correspondents in Ireland all speak of it as a settled conviction. Here, for example, is a statement attributed to an Irishman who is presumably a politician:— "We feel that if you Liberals were forced to go to the country at the present time you might be beaten. Labour unrest, the' Insurance Act, and half a dozen other things would tell against you. But if you were beaten there is no sign that you would be badly beaten. The Conservative majority would be small, and in all probability a Conservative Government could only be formed if there were an arrangement with the Irishmen. Already the Unionists have shown themselves open to a bargain for the Irish vote, and we should get as much out of such a bargain as we are offered in the Home Rule Bill. Two or three years hence the condition of affairs will probably have changed. Labour may be more settled, the benefits of the Insurance Act will begin to be felt, and you may win in a general election. "Whatever happens, we Irishmen are certain to get what wo want." This is the Irish politician's view, and it is also, apart from the rather subtle reasoning, the view of the average Irish voter. In England and in Scotland the same feeling obtains—the feeling that sooner or latoi, and sooner rather than later, Ireland will have Home Rule. The Ulster thunders cause no alarm. When Mr Walter Long was thumping the table in the House of Commons and denounoing the Government at tho top of his voice, scarcely twenty Unionists remained in their seats to listen to him. Mr Bonar Law's threats and warnings that Ulster would rebel have provoked more smiles than cheers from his own party. Tho declaration of the London correspondent of a New York paper, that " there are not a dozen men in England who care twopence whether the Home Rule Bill is carried or not," is, of oourse, an absurd exaggeration, but the correspondent was really trying to convey to his readers the impression that the English opposition to Home Rule is nowadays forced and artificial, and that the bitterness of the eighties and early nineties has largely disappeared. There remains, it is true, a strong sectarian feeling, but the political opposition to the consummation of the Irish hopes appears to lack life. Even in Belfast, it is said, there is more real feeling to-day over questions of wages and hours of labour than there is over Home Rule, and although heads may be broken in Green and Orange fights, all witnesses agree that Ulster's prosperity has modified and mollified her politics. It is impossible to speak with any confidence at this distance from the scene, but one may surely trust an impression so clearly treated and so persistently confirmed.