The British view of the fate of Ireland in the event of British defeat may be stated as twofold.  Either Ireland would remain after the war as she is to-day, tied to Great Britain, or she might be (this is not very seriously entertained) annexed by the victor.  No other solution, I think, has ever been suggested.  Let us first discuss No.  I.

This, the ordinary man in the street view, is that as Ireland would be as much a part and belonging to Great Britain after a war as before it, whatever the termination of that war might be, she could not fail to share the losses defeat must bring to a common realm.  The partnership being indissoluble, if the credit of the house were damaged and its properties depreciated, all members of the firm must suffer.  In this view, an Ireland weaker, poorer, and less recuperative than Great Britain, would stand to lose even more from a British defeat than the predominant partner itself.  Let us at once admit that this view is correct.  If on the condition of a great war Ireland were still to remain, as she is to-day, an integral portion of a defeated United Kingdom, it is plain she would suffer, and might be made to suffer possibly more even than fell to the share of Great Britain.

But that is not the only ending defeat might bring to the two islands.  We must proceed then to discuss No. 2, the alternative fate reserved for Ireland in the unlikely event of a great British overthrow.  This is, that if the existing partnership were to be forcibly dissolved, by external shock, it would mean for Ireland “out of the frying pan into the fire.”  The idea here is that I have earlier designated as the “bogey man” idea.  Germany, or the other victor in the great conflict, would proceed to “take” Ireland.  An Ireland administered, say, by Prussians would soon bitterly regret the milder manners of the Anglo-Saxon and pine for the good old days of “doles” from Westminster.  I know many Irishmen who admit that as between England and Germany they would prefer to remain in the hands of the former—­on the principle that it is better to keep the devil you know than fall into the hands of a new devil.

German rule, you are asked to believe, would be so bad, so stern, that under it Ireland, however much she might have suffered from England in the past, would soon yearn to be restored to the arms of her sorrowing sister.  Assuming, for the sake of argument, that Germany “annexed” Ireland, is it at all clear that she would (or even could) injure Ireland more than Great Britain has done?  To what purpose and with what end in view?  “Innate brutality”—­the Englishman replied—­“the Prussian always ill-treats those he lays hands on—­witness the poor Poles.”  Without entering into the Polish language question, or the Polish agrarian question, it is permissible for an Irishman to reply that nothing by Prussia in those respects has at all equalled English handling of the Irish language or England land dealings in Ireland.  The Polish language still lives in Prussian Poland and much more vigorously than the Irish language survives in Ireland.