The Catholic bulletin., 1914-06-13

"The Union, as we have known it,
| is dead. That much, at any rate, is
beyond doubt or question after to-
days division.
Il am not quite sure that everybody
quite understands that today's division
is equivalent to the passage OF the
| Home Rule Bill into law. Yet this is
strictly true. There are only two
eventualities-and both Of them are
impossible-which could possibly pre-
vent the Home Rule Bill actually be-
coming a statute in a few week S
time.
No Power to Stop It.
"The first is that the present session
of Parliament should come to an alb
rupt end before one month from this
date-an utterly unthinkable PROPOSE
tion-and the other is that the House
of, Commons should suddenly go mad
and pass resolution to the effect
that the Bill should not be presented
for the Royal Assent. In the absence
Of these two absurd contingencies the
Bill must automatically become law.
THE House of Lords has no pow
er to stop it, and even the Govern
ment has no power to prevent it GO
ing in the ordinary course, for the
Royal Assent, to the Throne. The
Parliament Act provides that the Bill
shall be presented for the Royal AS
sent At one time there we're people
idiotic and irresponsible enough to
suggest that the King could, or would,
withhold his Royal Assent. But
everyone now admits that is an abso-
lutely absurd and impossible sugges-
ton. Therefore, tonight's division,
for all practical purposes, passed the
Home Rule Bill into law, and the
Union of Pitt and Castlereagh is dead.
at is scarcely worth while, perhaps,
to pause to recall all the prophecies of
evil which have attended the efforts
of the Irish party to carry Home Rule
during the last three years. We were
told that it would be as easy to throw
Galtee More into the sea as to pass
the Parliament Act.
after that Act was passed, we
were told that the Liberal Govern
ment would not deal with Home Rule
at all, or, if they did, that they would
introduce an utterly unsatisfactory
Bill, which would be repudiated by
ireland. In the same breath, we were
told that the Government would intro
duce Bill so favorable to Ireland
that they would split their own party.
When these prophecies were falsified,
we were told that the Bill would new
err become law, and the Government
from month to month was threatened
with destruction.
All Irishmen Rejoice.
To-day, how silly all these prophe-
cies look. Patience and discipline, and
mutual confidence between the mem
bers Of the Irish party and their Brit
ish allies, have carried the day, and
think there is not an Irishman in the
world today who must not rejoice to
think that he has Nved to witness the
end of the Union of Pitt and Castle
reagh.
Nor were these prophecies Of evil
the only ones put forward to alarm
and deceiI our people during the last
few years. 1t is impossible to forget
the threats repeatedly made, not only
in the English newspapers, but by
party leaders,, notably by Mr.. Bonar
Law, that, if an attempt were made
to carry the Home Rule Bill third
time in the House of Commons, the
Parliamentary machine would be
smashed. All these threats have van
ished into thin air, and the Bill has
passed.
"It is also impossible to forget the
extraordinary odds against which we
have been fighting for the last two
years, and especially for the last six
months. We have had the entire pow
er and wealth and secret influence of
the aristocracy of this country op-
posed to us.
1--WE have had many hundreds of
thousands of pounds of money spent in
the opposition to Home Rule. We have
had the action of a section of the
army, which the Morning Post de-
clared had killed the Home Rule Bill.
We have had the entire Conservative
press devoting itself without stint to
magnifying every supposed obstacle to
Home Rule and to misrepresenting our
cause.
1--WE have had to submit, without re-
ply, to gross misrepresentation not
only in Great Britain, but, am sorry
to say, in Ireland. Notwithstanding
all these things, we have won out.
An Appeal for Peace.
ct is true that we are faced with
the prospect of what is called, or,
rather, miscalled, an Amending Bill
Let there be no mistake about this:
No amendment in the Bill is called for
either by the Government themselves
or by the Irish party. We believe
that the Bill is good workable Bill,
and that it is a Charter of Liberty for