preliminary tying of hands. The initiative must
come from the Government. They should announce
the largest measure of Home Rule they will pledge themselves
to pass. They should accompany this with a public
promise to submit it to an immediate plebiscite or
referendum of the whole Irish people on the plain
issue “Yes” or “No.” All
they can ask of the Sinn Fein leaders is that they
will leave the Irish people absolutely free to record
their judgment. I can imagine that, in such circumstances,
the attitude of the Sinn Fein leaders would be:
“We do not surrender our Republican opinions,
but if the Government offer full New Zealand Home Rule
(let us say) and pledge themselves to enforce it if
Ireland accepts it, Sinn Fein would be justified before
all National Republicans in saying: ’This
is a prospect so magnificent for our country we shall
do nothing in the smallest degree to prejudice the
opinion of the people against its acceptance or to
fetter the free and honest working of the new institutions.’”
Beyond this no person desiring a real peace ought to
expect Sinn Fein to go, and I am convinced that if
this were the attitude of Sinn Fein and if the offer
were made by the Government as suggested, the majority
for acceptance, on a plebiscite being taken, would
be so great that there would be no further shadow of
opposition even in Ulster, where nobody would object
that it should have local autonomy in all necessary
particulars.
I can conceive only one man standing in the way of
a settlement on these lines—a settlement
which would be just to Ireland and honourable to Britain.
So long as Sir Edward Carson remains the powerful figure
he is—dictating and directing the policy
of the Cabinet—it is improbable that he
will consent to have the opinion of “the six
counties” taken by a plebiscite. But if
Sir Edward Carson were to quit politics, as one may
hope he can see a thousand good reasons for doing,
I can well imagine that Mr Lloyd George would be very
glad to come to a satisfactory arrangement.
Whatever happens this much is certain, there is only
one road to peace in Ireland—the recognition
of her nationhood, one and indivisible, and of the
right of Irishmen to manage their own affairs in accordance
with Irish ideals.
THE
END
POSTSCRIPT
Since this book went to press, the appointment of
Sir Edward Carson as Lord of Appeal and the interview
between Mr de Valera and Sir James Craig are developments
of a more hopeful character which, it is devoutly
to be hoped, will bring about the longed-for rapprochement
between the two countries.