The Irish standard., 1919-08-09
Little Hope of Its Support by tn
Former NationaIists.

Former NatlonaitStS.
Movement Designed to Thwart tho
Sim Fein Agitation for Conn.,
plete Independence.
The Special Correspondent of the
Manchester Guardian" in Dublin,
writes under Mondays date:
AS t6A Irish Statesman" Sir Hor-
aces own organ, puts it: "The Punk
EFT scheme of Dominion Home Rule
has been attacked from both the left
and the right in Ireland" At the same
time,. it claims that the scheme has
been welcomed by mass of middle
opinion which has hitherto been mar
ticulate for want of channel Of CO.
herent expression. believe that to
be very true, but the power of articu-
lation, or, at least the willingness to
articulate, of this middle class is still
deficient. The middle class, take it,
comes largely from the ranks of the
old constitutional Nationalists, and the
Nationalists have been sold too often
by the British statesmen to Jump at a
proposition which so far has only the
authority of private, though very
distinguished citizen. At present the
danger of premature acceptance is
very clear to the Nationalist mind. 1t
would be denounced by Sim Fein,
which is In the real majority as a de-
liberate attempt to spite the larger
aspiration Of complete independence,
in the success OF which some Sim
Feiners-though among the more re-
sponsible not many-still believe, and
in any case 1t would be taken by the
government as cheapenlng the case
for Dominion Home Rule itself.
One has heard 1t put in this way,
both by Nat1onal1sts and Sim Fein-
ers: 'If we ask for an Irish Republic
we may get Dominion Home Rule, and
If we ask for Dominion Home Rule we
are sure to get something else.'' That
explains why the P1unkett manifesto
still lacks the authority of many
names which, If Ireland had any con-
fidence in the honesty Of British states
men, would surely be there.
In personal interview and by CORE
spondence have been endeavoring to
a ocartof,, f11o ,,o3,,A ~ %I,o ~ hor, IF
the Irish Convention. For the rea-
sons indicated it is not an easy task.
but one that has met with some sue
cess.
A "Firm Offer" Wanted.
One Of the most distinguished men,
bers Of the Nationalist minority-the
% who were in favor of full control
of Customs and Excise (the most char
acteristic mark Of Dominion rule as
applied to Ireland) - writes to me
that he stands where he did, but again
for the reasons I have indicated, pres
ent advertisement of his support of the
Plunkett scheme would only do dis
tress to the Irish cause. He regards
Dominion Home Rule on the lines of
the Minority report as only an up-to-
date development Of the Home Rule
Act of 1914, and though he does not
believe that an independent Ireland
would be a danger either to herself
or to England, he admits that neither
England nor North. East Ulster is lik.
ly even to argue the proposition. He
is prepared to accept the possibilities
as thus limited.
Mr.. corresondent expresses the hope
that the American Senate will not
pass the treaty Of the League Con-
vention until Ireland is given substan-
tial freedom, and thereby indicates the
source Of aid to which Ireland fncreas-
fngly turns. His real point, however,
is that, given firm offer from Eng
land, he still stands by the settlement
he would have accepted when he
signed the convention report in 1918.
Two other members of the Nation
alist majority, who represented Irish
local government in the convention,
give me the same assurance. 0ne ex-
presses his disappointment that SO
few of the Nationalists are taking the
Plunkett scheme up. .Is It fear or
Icarelessness, he asks, "or do they
consider Plunkett's association more
imperialistic than Irish?" The other
assures me that @if the government
even at the eleventh hour had the