The Irish standard., 1916-08-19
England Must Trust Ireland

/ 0AA S9AsssASA SASSOS AAuOS II VASsAAO
The Lloyd George Home Rule plan
for Ireland is at best a patch work
thing. OF the various governing de-
vices in effect in the many British
dependencies scattered over the globe
it is the most illogical and monde
script. AS beginning that may be
elaborated by later improvement, the
plan has interest. It's Importance
arises from the fact that it is the first
official recognition given in more than
a century to Ireland's right to self
government.
We must not be too confident that
it will be failure. One of the most
impractical things in the world from
an academic point of view is the un.
written British Constitution. 1t has
done fairly we'll up to the present
time. 1t may be that this inconsistent
scheme of Irish Home Rule may
eventuate in the same way. There is
some hope that the opening wedge
has been driven into British toryism
and narrowness and that after the
war is over, when the provisional plan
expires, a bigger wedge may provide
the constructive materials for an en-
during Irish government.
The Irish question will never be
satisfactorily and permanently settled
until England learns to trust Ireland.
In the realm of human relations there
is nothing so weak as force. England
has shown the wisdom of Minerva in
her treatment of the governmental
problems in lands separated from her
shores by half the circumference of
the globe. She has shown an incredi-
BILE and brutal stupidity in her treat
ment with that land which is at her
door, whose stalwart sons command
the sway OF every country save their
own There is only one way to get
OH with human beings and that is to
trust them. England could read this
upon every page of her own history.
She has trusted the individual Irish
man as she has trusted her own sons
and she has been served as faithfully
by the men born west of the Channel
as by those born east of it. If the
record of the Irish soldier were taken
out of the story of the British army
it's most glorious pages would be lost.
The finest thing that adorns the his
tory of England is the story of the
courage, the resourcefulness and the
loyalty of the sons of Ireland to the
cause of government they had every
reason to despise. 1t is more than
strange that England with such keen
appreciation of the Individual Irish
man has shown such stupidity in ap-
preciating Ireland.
1t is hard to go back over the road
Of suspicion and hate. If England
would settle the Irish question she
has this task before her. She is deal
ing today with the natural and legiti-
mate results of her Irish policies. She
must reckon with the thoughts and
motives of those whose souls have
been SCARED by generations of re-
preston, tyranny and violence. The
Irish problem can not be- evaded by
England. 1t must be solved and it
can be solved only in the way of
trust The Almighty will not abro-
gate those eternal laws which govern
human confidence just because Eng
land has permitted her officials to
wreak brutality and stupidity upon a
race whose sons have adorned many
pages of her history and poured out
their lives in her defense.
The loyalty OF the Irishman needs
no apology. He has never betrayed
trust nor been untrue to confidence
placed in him. The whole world, with
England probably an exception, will
cheerfully give bond for the integrity
of the lovable citizen of the world.
England will never solve the Irish
problem until she learns to trust Ire
land.