Kentucky Irish American. (Louisville, Ky.) 1898-1968, 1911-11-04
Dublin VIII Have Parliament
of Two Elective
Houses.
And the Hated Royal Irish Con-
stabulary Will Have to
Go.
WILL CONTROL IRISH AFFAIRS

correspondent cabled that paper that
the home rule campaign is now fairly
begun. The adoption by the Gov
ernment of the guillotine closure
for the debate in the House of Com
mons on Chancellor of the ExcheQuer
Lloyd-George's insurance bill for
compulsory insurance of employees
was the first shot in the great Par
liamentary battle. The Unionists
had planned to obstruct the insur-
ance bill so as to compel the session
to be continued over Christmas and
imperil the home rule bill by forcing
curtailment of next years session.
Their scheme is now frustrated and
the Unionists are proportionately
furious.
Everyone admits that the Unionists
have failed to stir up any serious
opposition in Great Britain to the
principle of home rule. Their hope
now is that when the bill is produced
Englishmen will be alarmed, espe-
cially at its financial provisions.
They are now endeavoring to give
life to that bogey. Many forecasts
of the home rule measure are being
published, but all are guesses. The
one thing certain Is that the Asquith
Government has realized the folly of
attempting to start home rule as an
insolvent concern and it is expected
that the Irish exchequer will get at
least fifteen millions with which to
begin operations. The finance pro-
visions will be the crux of the fight
over the bill in the House. If that
is surmounted, the cries about perse-
threatened revolt in Ulster will soon
become indistinct.
Premier Asquith will himself in
troduce the bill early next March. 1t
will be found then that the meas
ure will provide for a Parliament of
two chambers in Dublin, to be sub
ject to the ultimate supremacy of
the Imperial Parliament, but to have
an executive responsible to itself.
Both chambers will be elective. The
upper" chamber will be elected ON
higher franchise than the 'lower."
In the event of disagreement the
two houses will sit and vote to-
gether. The bill will be so framed
as to be virtually the first step to-
ward a Federal arrangement, to be
extended later to England, Scotland
and Wales.
AS the Imperial Parliament will
retain supremacy over the acts of
the Irish Parliament, Irish members,
reduced in number to probably
about fifty, will continue to sit in
the Imperial Parliament, and GER
tain subjects will be withheld from
the Irish Parliament, such as Gus
toms, excise, army, navy, coinage, re-
ligious endowment and the making
of treaties with foreign powers. Out
side of these matters Ireland will
have, complete control of purely
Irish affairs. Already in Ireland the
small faction of Nationalists who fol-
low William O'Brien and Timothy
Healy demand that customs and ex-
else shall be confided to the irish
Parliament, though those subjects
were expressly reserved to the I'M
perial Parliament in Gladstone's bill
and that reservation was accepted by
Parnell.
The Royal Irish Constabulary.
which has been so closely identified
Win Iuc MOl6L pndoCb VI A1h6 AdhA
administration of Ireland, will be
converted into civil police force.
The constables are trained as mil
itary force. There is suggestion
that a certain proportion of them
should be retained as imperial police
under imperial control. That will
be strongly resented In Ireland,
where this constabulary. more than
any other department OF the English
Government, is regarded as convey
Ing the stigma OF a subject race upon
Irishmen. There will be express
provisions safeguarding the liberties
OF Protestants. The Nationalists win
agree to them, though they regard
such provisions as superfluous.
Two organizations have been
formed by English Unionists to rouse
the country against home rule. Their
speakers confine themselves almost
wholly to charging Irish Catholics
with resorting to religious persecu-
tion. Every trivial incident that can
be distorted into a national crime is
being circulated. But members OF
the Irish party are following in the
wake of the Unlonist speakers any
exposing their fabrications. The
fight Is bound TO become very hot,
but present appearances point to the
ultimate passage Of Asquith's bill.