The Irish standard., 1911-05-06
FIGHT CENTERS
AROUND HOME RULE
The Real Issue in the House of Com
mons is the Fate OF the
Irish Question.
Veto Bill Will Reach the House of
Lords About the Middle
of May.
Peers Expected to Make an Attempt
at Amending it Out of
Existence.

In his cable to the Chicago Tribune
dated at London, April 29, r. P. O'Con-
nor has cheering word on the prog
ress of the fight now nearing its end
in the house of commons. He says:
The weakening of the Tory filibust-
er in the commons against the lords
veto bill, which began last week, be-
came more notable this week. Indeed
the fight palpably is nearing the end.
This weeks fighting was especially
disastrous to the Tories and partic-
ularly on the Irish question. A. j.
Balfour renewed the attempt persisted
in so often already, TO exclude home
rule from the operation Of the veto
bill.
This attempt was first made in the
conference last year, and, indeed, the
conference is believed to have broken
down on that point, the Liberal lead
ers obstinately and unconpromisingly
refusing to make any such a surrender
of the Irish claim.
Will Concentrate on ireland.
Balfour, however, still. persists in
this demand, the last hope of his party
being that they can concentrate still
against Ireland and still force the min
listers into another general election
on home rule With such appeals to
racial and religious passions in Eng
land as to make home rule impossible.
The result of the debate on home
rule this week did not lend any sup
port to these tactics. Balfour was
beaten entirely in the argument and
! the debate was so tame that it was
allowed to close after four hours. 1t
now is evident that the veto bill will
reach the house of lords at the sched-
uled time; that is to say, about the
middle Of May, and that the lords will
| thus have full time to debate and de-
I. eide before the coronation.
The present indication is that the
lords have abandoned the idea Of
complete rejection of the bill and will
T! try to amend it out of existence, and
especially will try once more the
dodge of excluding home rule from the
operation of the measure.
Liberals Will Not Retreat.
There is less chance now than ever
of the Liberals accepting any such a
proposal. 1t will be promptly flung
! back in the face of the peers.
| Then comes the problem of will the
Liberals force new peers? Ali opin-
ion now points to their refusing to
push things to such an extreme. My
present prophecy is the veto bill will
be law by the end Of July or the
beginning Of August.
/; When the veto bill is finished the
real fight on home rule starts. The
Tories. especially the Ulster men, al
ready are flooding England and Scot
land with innumerable emissaries,
spreading all kinds Of calumnies, es.
'pecially as to religious persecution
The gigantic sum of 100000 already
has been raised to push this cam
paign.
In the midst of this new demand on
their energies and financial resources
the Irish nationalists were startled by
the statement of Moretin Frewen, Will
liam O'Brien's follower, that an Irish
American had subscribed through him
/ $4,000 to help O'Brien's campaign.
The donors name was not mentioned,
but he is generally supposed to be a
we'll known figure in the financial life
of New York.
Good Support to Treaty.
The chorus of assent to the arbitra.
ton treaty Of England and America
found great climax yesterday in the
Mansion house meeting, with Asquith
and Balfour representing both parties.
The feeling Of the meeting was unan-
imous and enthusiastic, but the Morn
ing Post, the organ Of the rabid Pro-
tectionists and Tories, keeps harping
against any proposal, making Presi-
dent Taft's action for reciprocity with
canada as the chief pretext.
This discordant note undoubtedly
a