New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1911-09-10
HOME RULE DEMANDS.

The statement Of The London Stand
ard that the movement for complete
separa ton of Ireland from Great Brit
air is making much Roadway among
Irish extremists comes from a strong
anti-Home Rule partisan. but there Is
no reason for doubling its correctness.
There can be no question of the inten-
ton of the government TO introduce
Home Rule bill either this fall or early
next year and to press ii to enactment
as speedily as possible, which will ne,
according 10 present expectations, dur
! ing the lifetime of the present Parlla-
ment For that we have the direct
declaration Of the Irish leaders, who are
! the indispensable allies of the govern
ment and the scarcely less direct ad-
mission of the ministers themselves.
! Indeed, under the Interpretation which
ministers put upon the late election and
! its result, no other course could he
pursued without a breach Of trust and
a defiance Of popular mandate, for the
government considers that Home Rule
was one Of the foremost issues of the
campaign and that the electorate voted
in favor Of granting It TO Ireland.
The important question is. then. what
| is meant by Home Rule. Obviously, as
the granting of it is part of the coali-
toll compact between the Liberals and
| the Nationalist. the bill must meet the
| requirements Of the latter. There has
been no categorical statement of those
requirements for some time. but the
| latest declarations concerning them have
been sufficiently suggestive; namely. that
| there had not been the slightest recess
| sion from the utmost demands which
were made by ParDeil. We must then,
/ Lark back thirty years for our definition
of Home Rule TO Parnells declaration
that the Irish would never be satisfied
until they had severed the last link that
! bound them 10 England which, Of
course, meant not only that Ireland was
no longer 10 be under the Westminster
Parliament, but also that it was no
longer to be under the British Crown or
form a part of the British Empire. It
is not clear that Parnell ever renowned
| that ideal, for while the Home Rule bill
which he accepted and supported did
not 90 nearly so far as that he made
it plain that he regarded that bill as
mere stepping stone to something more
In theory, then. that is the Home Rule
demand to-day. II is not made in that
form by Mr.. Redmond, Of course, nor
acquiesced in by Mr.. Asquith, but
neither is II denied or repudiated. That
i. is cherished and even put forward by
some extremists. as The Standard" re-
PORTS. is altogether probable. There is
room, however. for doubling whether
such a programme will be seriously
taken up even by the NationalistS while
it is beyond the limits Of credence that
the Liberals will ever commit themselves
to it, If there We're no objection on their
part 10 making Ireland an Independent
country, and therefore potential base
or hostiities which would deprive
England Of the advantages Of her in
sular position and treble the difficulties
of defence. there certainly would be
strenuous objection in all the Free
Trade camp to letting it become a pro
tectioniSt country with high tariff
against English goods. Moreover. the
shrewd business sense OF the Irish is
quite likely to make them satisfied with
the advantages which they will gain
under Home Rule and to persuade them
that actual secession would not he for
tEeir good. That some extremists will
clamor for "severing the last link" is to
be expected. but It is not to be ex
pected that they will prevail.