Kentucky Irish American. (Louisville, Ky.) 1898-1968, 1911-12-02
When Commons Again Assem-
bles the Last Battle Will
Be On.
Leaders Will Get Together and
Draft Bill During
Recess.
OPPOSITION WILL BE Vain

Parliament closes with home rule
the big issue of the hour. When
Parliament assemblies again the last
battle for home rule will be on. For
l. is foregone conclusion that home
rule will win. For now all liberal
England has been won over to the
side of the Irish. Indeed Ireland
and the Irish have become actually
popular with the English majority.
Not since the days of Gladstone and
Parnell has the cause of Ireland
been accorded such sympathetic sup
port among English people. Wher-
ever the Irish home rule speakers,
Redmond, "Tay Pay" O'Connor aud
the rest have spoken In their recent
campaigning In England they have
been enthusiastically received. This
ls the latest news from London and
Is believed to be thoroughly reliable.
The recess will be devoted largely
to informal discussion of the pro-
posed home rule bill. The Liberal
and Irish leaders will get together
and go over the tentative draft of the
bill In detail with view to solving
some Of the major difficulties before
the bill finally goes before Parlia-
ment. The measure has already
been roughed out. A Cabinet COM
mittee has been working upon the
bill in general while q committee of
financial experts has been working
en- the specific question of the
financial relation between ireland
and England-one of the knottiest
problems to be solved.
Just what form the bill will as
sumo can't well be forecasted. Some
OF the papers are publishing what
purport to be outlines of the bill, but
none OF these is regarded as more
than guess. One of the first ques-
tiOns to be faced is that of Federal
home rule versus Irish home rule,
There is large class of home rulers,
especially Welsh and Scotch, who
favor home rule only in blanket
form-they want Welsh and Scotch
home rule, too. or course the plea Is
logical, but there is grave question
as to whether Federal home rule
can be put over now. Consequently
many of the Irish leaders, while not
objecting to Federal home rule in
principle, urge that the fight be
made for Irish home rule, now as in
the past, since there is every indica-
ton that Irish home rule can be
secured, while there is some question
as to the success of Federal home
rule. They tell the Federal home
rulers that they can accomplish more
by fighting for Irish home rule as
an entering wedge than by fighting
the battle along the whole line at
once.
The Tories will base their fight
against home rule on the question
Of financial relation of ireland with
the rest of the kingdom and on that
OF religion. The non-conformists of
the north Of Ireland will do all in
their power to aid them. But 1t may
be taken for granted that the opposi-
tion will be vain. For the fact is
that now the fight for home rule is
practically over. There only remains
to go through a sort of a sham battle
before the shouting begins.
T. p. O'Connor also cables that
the home rule campaign is going on
with the same steadiness and the
same enthusiasm. All over the coun-
try the meetings, packed and en-
thusiastic, continue to greet all of
the Irish speakers. The Eighty
Club, formidable organization of
the younger race of Liberals, now
Is organizing a separate campaign.
The last was another feverish
week, full OF significant events and
throbbing with many alarms. The
Tories are cheered by their big vic
tory over the Liberals in Somerset
and their increased majority in
Hertford and Somerset. The defeat
was the first real check the Ministry
has had for years, and was largely
due to the folly OF putting forward a
workingman as the candidate IN a
rural constituency. The increased
majority in Hertford was natural
when Cecil was a candidate in the
county with which the Cecil family
has been associated for centuries.