The Irish standard., 1912-05-18
guilty of an objectionable waste

tween the coal owners and the miners
over so many weeks. call this criti-
scism shallow because everybody with
any sense now realizes that it was
the negotiations that held back the
sprlngtide of passion that might have
devastated the mining region and con-
verted them to scenes of disorder and
of bloodshed. And the fact that Mr..
Asquith was able to hold these forces
together with all their fierce warning
passions and interests was a triumph
that proves the enormous power of
Mr.. Asquith's personality in negotia-
ton.
Mr.. Asquith's appeal to his Irish
friends, however, was as strong NOR
ally as intellectually Whether any
point of discussion arose, and the
points were extraordinarily few con-
sidering the magnitude Of the prob
lem and the measure. it was at once
realized that Mr.. Asquith approached
the subject in broad and generous
spirit. A true democrat, a convinced
liberal. he had confidence in democ-
racy, and in Irish democracy; he had
confidence in free institutions and his
whole disposition was to trust Ireland
all in all, and liberty all in all, the
only true and wise starting point for
the consideration of such problems as
self government. There was not a
trace. suspicion, of the grudging or
the niggard or the dstrustful spirit.
If the measure of Home Rule lacks
anything III generosity and breadth.
and in my opinion it does not, it was
not disincination on the part of Mr..
Asquith to give Ireland ont of the
fullness Of his broad democratic spirit
or kindly heart, but the limitations
freshmen as we'll, to consider all the
difficulties that have sprung up in the
centuries that have elapsed between
the destruction and the coming re-
storation of the Irish parliament
conspicuous example of this is the
nomenclature given to the new Irish
body. Nobody could deny that Mr..
Gladstone had burning love for Ire
land and the Home Rule cause, and
yet that illustrious man always re-
fused to call the Irish body anything
but a legislature and refused to call
the popular and elected assembly a
House of Commons. Mr. Gladstone
was wrong. for after all. what Irish
men feel is that the new body is but
a rebirth of the old. their thoughts and
affections turn to that building on
College Green, made sacred to them
by the eloquence of Cirattan and Flood
and Curran, and to them, therefore.
It, is no matter of empty nomencla-
ture that we should relieve the old
name as well as the old thing. With
MI" Asqtith there was no such diff
culty-without pressure, without even
suggesting from the Irish members.
he gave to the new body the name of
parliament, and to the popular and
elected chamber the old name of
House of Commons.
BirreII and Samuel Praise.
,.., Of the other negotiators / can here
mention only two-Mr Birrell and Mr..
Samuel. Need l say much Of the chief
secretary? l remember when first his
name was mentioned for the chief Sec
~o%1
Lord Morley, assuredly a good judge
of what d liberal chief secretary
should be. Lord Morley said that Mr..
Rirrell was just the man for the
place, for he was a man who truly
loved his kind. 1t used to be said of
the English barons who went over TO
Ireland as foreigners and as dispos-
SCISSORS of the ancient owners of tho
land. that in spite thereof, they coon
became more Irish than the Irish
themselves Mr.. Birrell is like them,
he fights for every scrap of Ireland's
fair rights as If he were more Irish
than the Irish themselves
Finally, close intercourse with Her.
bert Samuel has increased everyone's
estimate Of his very great gifts. He
is, 1 believe, the creator Of the finan-
cial side of the Home Rule measure,
and nobody can deny the extraordi-
nary ingenuity. ability and good sense
with which this portion Of the bill has
been constructed. 1t was a gigantic
and almost impossible task to unwind
the tangle, to read all the documents
and to consider all the pros and cons
o. this terrible problem, but Mr.. Sam
uel has done it. He has reconciled
safeguarded imperial loans and
claims, and at the Same time given to
Ireland the beginnings and the essen