The Irish standard., 1918-12-28

| The Irish Times: "The motion pro-
duced a plain statement of fact from
the Government, and we hope that it
will do something to restore the reign
| of common sense among Irishmen. The
Peace Conference will not admit Ire
lands right to hearing, and the Brit
ish Empire will not admit it.
No Coercion Of Any Section.
1.-THE kind of Home Rule which the
Nationalist Party demands-to say
nothing of an Irish Republic, Bolshev-
list or otherwise-is impossible so long
as it is based on the coercion of any
section of Irishmen. Any sort of Home
Rule is impossible at the present mo-
ment, because Ireland is seething with
disloyalty and lawlessness. Viscount
French's firm rule has driven sedition
below the surface, but the Chief Sec
retary's grave revelations yesterday
show that British authority in Ireland
cannot afford to relax it's vigilance for
| a single moment. Finally, Ma
tionalist Ireland, by her conduct in the
war, has lost caste among the free ma
tions of the world.
THE official Nationalist press and
the Sim Fein Party will receive Mr..
Bonar Laws and Mr.. Shortt's speeches
with bowls of anger. We invite
thoughtful Nationalists, however, to
seek dispassionately in them the very
stern lessons which they convey. They
mark the utter bankruptcy of Nation
alist policy and they expose that bank
ruptcy to the world"
Belfast Newsletter: "The most re-
markable thing about. the debate was
the contemplate conduct of Mr.. AS
quith in supporting resolution which
demands the complete independence
of Ireland, and at the same time as
sorting that his view of the question
had not changed. The Act which he
put on the Statute Book provides that
the Imperial Parliament shall be su-
preme over all matters and things in
Ireland.
A "Monstrous Perversion."
This is an emphatic denial of the
alleged right of self-determination. Yet
Mr.. Asquith affirms that the National
list resolution will commend itself to
the friends of liberty and justice
throughout the world. This is mon
strous peryersion of the truth, for this
country has the same liberty and JUS
tice which England and Scotland en-
joy. Mr. Bonar Laws speech will give
! general satisfaction to the Unionist
Party and the whole country, with the
exception of the Nationalists and their
thickand-thin Radical supporters"
Cork Constitution: "Mr. O'Connor
and MIR. Dillon, their Parliamentary
colleagues, and the rapidly-diminishing
section of Ireland's population which
they still profess to represent, claim
to be utterly opposed to the Irish Re-
publican movement. They have pro-
claimed this from platforms and in the
press, and this being so, Mr.. O'Connor
and his friends, instead of supporting,
should vigorously oppose the motion
moved last night, for its logical inter-.
probation would be the setting up
Republic in Ireland"
Irish Catholic: "The terms of the
motion enabled Ministers to queer the
pitch of the debate, for it had to be
amended on behalf of the Party in the
middle of the discussion, it being only
too obvious that a requirement that
the Peace Conference should, If it be.
came imminent, be put of, so far as
Great Britain was concerned, until the
Irish difficulty had been solved, was
not one that could be adhered to. Be-
yond letting the Irish people see ex-
.actly where they stand, the motion
proved of little value"
"The Ulster (Unionist) members re-
gard the speeches from the Govern
ment Bench as an emphatic repetition
of the pledge that the Government will
support no measure which involves
the coercion of Ulster. Unionists gen.
orally draw, further, the conclusion
that the Government will not carry
any specially Irish Home Rule banner
i'm the coming General Election, and
that, If they touch Home Rule at all,
it will be in association with the Fed
eral principle"
British Press Comments.
Liverpool Post: violence is no
remedy for political grievance. Essen
TALLY it is the counsel of militarisrn.
Really, one is tempted to despair of
Ireland when, the moment constitu-
tional action seems to be failing, some
Irishmen fly to dynamite. At q time