Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-06-27
The BRITISH CRISIS.
XL.-The Future.
By Frederic ]. Haskin.

LONDON, June 19.-What of the flu
ture? What will be the effect on Eng
land and on the British empire of the
revolution now impending? For revolu-
ton it is. quite regardless of whether it
will continue 20 be succession of re-
forms peacefully affected, or whether it
will be accomplished by blood.
1t is revolut mary to dopose the landed
classes from their peculiar privileges in
government it is revolutionary to
mend or END the house of lords: it
is revolutionary to abandon the doctrine
of laissez faire.
England has absolute faith that she
will triumph over every foe. foreign and
domestic. and that her empire is eternal.
Even Macaulay, when he wrote of the
broken arch of London bridge and the
ruined dome of st. Paurs, brought a man
from New Zealand over the ALFRED route
to be witness of the desolation.
And yet. although Britain will endure.
Britons freely admit that it will be
changed. How far this spirit of change
shall go Is the fundamental question in
British affairs today. Every division of
politics reflects dissensions that are es-
sentially social, and the purely political
long excelled and delighted have been
relegated to the limbo of things forever
done.
In its essence the struggle is between
the patricians and the plebeians. be-
tween h e
Is Not a Machine for artist Gratis
and the DEM
Impressing Law. ocrats. A new
idea Of government is born. 1t holds
that government is not machine for
impressing law and order upon a people;
but rather that government is the instru-
mentality by which the people rule them
selves for their own benefit and in their
own interest
One must hold these things in mind
when discussing the probabilities of the
immediate future. There may be no
trouble in Ireland. compromises may be
effected. adjustments made and peace
may triumph. The student of history
does not forget that in 1929. and again
in 1850. the trouble between the north
and south of the United States was final
ly and forever settled. but these final
settlements were not regarded by either
side in 1851.
I. Now that John Redmond at last has
given his sanction as leader of the ma
tionalist party to the nationalist volun-
teers, following the example of Sir Ed
ward Carson, the Ulster leader. we have
in the United Kingdom of Great .,ritain
and Ireland three distinct bodies of
armed troops. There are the Ulster vol
unteers, determined to die rather than to
accept home rule; there are the Irish
volunteers. determined that the home rule
they have won after SO long fight
ha hQ iS
the army.
The Ulster volunteers believe that the
army is in sympathy with them, mean
ing by the
Ulster Has Hope army" its off,
GERS. The army
of Army Support. omcers are
aristocratic and the aristocrats of Eng
land are opposed to hor'c rule. The
FISHERMEN believe that their hundred
thousand troops are the equal of half
million others, and they have faith that
the army will disobey the orders Of the
crown rather than attempt to coerce Ul-
ster into accepting government from a
Dublin parliament. At the same time,
Ulster distrusts the privates in the army,
for some of them VIGOROUSLY sympa-
thize with the home rulers.
The Irish nationalists occupy a position
precisely opposite. They believe that
5000 of them can whip the entire hum
bred thousand FISHERMEN. They, too. b.
leve that the army officers will be dis
loyal when IT comes to a fight, but while
they distrust the officers. they have
Astounding faith in Tommy Atkins They
believe that when the trouble comes Mr..
Atkins will promptly shoot his officers