The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-06-29
IRISH HOME RULE BILL WILL REACH
 KING THIS WEEK

AOndous June z8.---V4h nile there haS been a halt during June in the pro- gress of the Home Rule bill toward the statute book. it will make its third on June 80. It is everywhere accepted as a safe prediction that the Lords will reject it with it's usual over wheIuing majority. and thereby bring the famous parliamentary act into play for it's frsst truly revolutionary part in British history.
 Under terms of this act, MT. As Quith. the prime minister who is faith CT of the present Home Rule scheme, will present the bill to the king for his signature. and with this it will be- come law. UM0nist leaders have de- nounced this action as coercing the king, butsno one doubts that the royal assent will be given ASo far as CO., erctou is concerned, no one knows what are King Georges personal live that at heart he is one of them selves.
 After the tial itself, the lords viii be called upon to consider the amend ing act which will be introduced as a government u1asure. The present prospect is that the amending act will contain only MT. Asqiith's first olive branch of six years exclusion from the Dublin government for those counties which choose it by a refer endun.
 with Home Rule pending, Ireland
 fierce enmities and rtotous bIoodshed which have been the order of the day during former home rule crises This tranquility Is not due to the. strong hand of the British government, but. on the contrary. to the Irish people themselves. who have taken affairs in to their own hands.
 The V3ceroy of Ireland, Lord Aber- deen. the Right Honorab1e Augustine Birrell, the literary celebrity who is chief secreary for Ireland, and the Irish office in london, are mere spec tators of events. While they look on seemingly helpless, the real power In Ireland Is passing into the hands of two armed bodies which have no of1- cial status, and which exist in defiance of the law. These armies are the Ulster volunteera, composed of Ul- ster proteetants which have been Korming for more than a. year and a half, and the Nationalist Volunteers, who have been enlisted only a few months and who have a very strong organization in Belfast itself, and in other parts of Ulster. as well as in the Catholic countries Of the south < There has been startling growth of the Nationaaist Volunteers during the last few weeks. It is not an arm of the Nattonalfst political party, for it's leaders are the most radical home rulers who are opposed to any scheme for the exclusion of Ulster from the projected Irish government Instead of enrnit& toward the Ulster protest ants, it shows wish for an under standing with them on a platform for the control Of Irish anairs by Irishnnen.
 If reports from Belfast are true, the Nationalist members of parliament have become alarmed by the power of the army and ara S<1ra. tro1 by swampdng it with enlistments from the membership Of the Order Of Hbernians
 While the Ulster Volunteers. with d more than a, years training, form a very efficient military force estimated at S0,000 armed men, their home rule imitators are yet a, comparatively crude body. The Covenanters of U1- ster have modern rifles with bayonets, a fair supply Of ammunition, and a few gatdng guns their drill and sig mailing methods are thorough and up to date, and even the regular army adrnires the swtftness with which they can be mobilized. as displayed when they took charge of a good part of Ul- ster and distributed several thousand guns from the nlibustering ship Fanny before the government re- a1ized what was happening
 The drill of the Home Rulers is yet that of amateurs by comparison, but they are working hAros with many Irishnen who have been non-comrnis- Isioned officers in British regiments as their trainers. Their chief want is money, while the Covenanters have the richest province in Ireland behind them. and large subscriptions from English sympathizers.
 Half the young men of Belfast are giving up their nights to drilling and Sundays to reviews and speech -mak- irg The two factions keep strictly to tn cir own sections but. when detach- me ats of opposing forces meet, they exc hange saIutes with all the formal itiek of hostile armies during a truce.
 Tho common saying is that only a spark is needed for a terrible exp1o- sion. The very possibilities of light ing a. spark amid such a powder fac- tory compel the leaders to sobriety and caution