The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-02-20
REDMOND SAVED
 ASQUITH MINISTRY
Government Hung By Hair
 Over COmpuIsiOn
FEAR LLOYD-GEORGE
Welshman Is Not Keen On Home Rule and Redmond, Obtaining Promise of Home Rule, Dropped Un-
 compromising Attitude

London, February 9.-The inner his tory of the political crisis in England over the application of compulsion to the single men who had failed to enroll themselves for military service under Lord Derby's scheme may never be writ ten It certainly will not be written until the war is over and then probably not in full. The public has shrewd idea that for a few days the life or the Asquith ministry hung by hair, but it does not know that the man on whose decision it depended most of all was John Redmond, the leader of the Irish party
 Mir. Redmond has been opposed to con- scription for Ireland all along, and 1t was foregone conclusion that whatever system was adopted for England, Scot land and Wales compulsion would not be applied to Ireland. A bombshell was thrown into the ministry, however, when MT. Redmond informed the prime minis ter that he would not consent to the adoption of compulsion for England un- less the home rule bill were made ef- fective immediately In that case he was ready to give a binding guarantee that the first act of the Irish Parliament would be to pass a compulsory act for Ireland
 DISTRUSTED LLOYD-GEORGE
 The reason for this attitude of Mr. Redmonds S was his distrust of several of the leading liberal politicians and more particularly MT. Lloyd-George, who, it is claimed, has been endeavoring all along to force Mr. Asquith out of office, and step into his shoes. Mr. Lloyd-George has never been particularly keen on homo rule and since the war his affiliations have been rather with the tories than with the liberals MT. Redmond knew that if a general election took place, as seemed likely, on the conscription issue, end MT. Lloyd-George came to power being lost, while he knew that he could trust MT Asquith to keep his promise as long as he continued in power.
 There was 8 week of frenzied negotia- ton, at the end of which it became clear that only MT. Asquith could carry the compulsion measure in England and that, therefore, he could not be replaced MT. Redmond got a promise that what ever happened the home rule engagement would be kept at the end of the war. It is believed that he received this guran- te not only from MT. Asquith, but from MT. Balfour, MT. Bonar Law and MT. Austen Chamberlain, representing the responsible element in the tory party. This may also account for the renewal of activity against the government by Sir Edward Carson and his associates among the irreconcilable Ulsterites.
 At any rate MT. Redmond has withdrawn his uncompromising opposition to the compulsion bill which passed it's first reading by the overwhelming majority of 29S. MT. Redmond voted against it as a matter of form, and so did about 50 other Irish members, but the vote was not made party matter, and the Irish will refrain from voting at the later stages of the bill. Many of the Irish members in fact are returning to Ireland and will not attend at Westminster until the bill is passed.
 Mir Redmond has demonstrated his wisdom in declining MT. Asquiths invi- tation to join the coalition government. Although not in the government he has been in the closest touch with it through out the war, and his influence has been very great. He has assumed the posi- tion of a faithful ally and he has given every assistance in his power to recruit ing in Ireland, which in spite of the islanders of Sir Edward Carson and his friends has really been very good Un- der no circumstances could Ireland be expected to produce the same proportion of recruits as the rest of the United Kingdom, for emigration has taken a heavy toll of her young men.
 UNABLE TO LEAVE
 Tn addition to that the great majority of the Irish agriculturists are peasant proprietors, working their own land, and are, therefore, unable to leave their farms in the way that agricultural la borers in England can leave their em- ployment. They are also engaged in pro ducing food for the whole kingdom and are much more useful behind the blow than they would be in the trenches. In spite of all this recruiting in Ireland has been much better than in Wales, which is an industrial country, and, therefore able to supply much larger proportion of recruits. Great play has been made with the activities of the Sim Feiners and the other small groups of extremists who have done their best to hamper re- cruiting, but no one who knows anything of conditions and opinion in Ireland takes them seriously Ireland as a whole is as keen on beating Germany as any part of the kingdom and her keenness has been increased by the German outrages in Belgium, whose connection with Ire- land has always been very close, and particularly by the murder and persecu- ton of Belgian priests and nuns The Irish nuns from Ypres and other convents in Belgium have been among the most effective recruiting agents in Ireland, and the Roman Catholic clergy and hierarchy have done splendid work in seconding Mir Too6xa aff<