Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1921-05-12

Dublin, May 11.~4F'or certain pur-
poses of tho Home Hule Act the 18th of
April was tho appointed day for coming
into operation. One OF those purposes
was the removal of the embargo which
has existed for centuries against "a per
son of the Roman Catholic religion
holding the office of Niceroy In Ireland.
The removal of this disability would
under other circumstances have been
hailed with loud acclaim by the Roman
Catholic population. To-day II leaves
the people cold.
The great gift Is unfortunately ac-
companed by provisions for home gov
ornment which nre 30 utterly distaste-
ful and repugnant that there ia not u
single note of Joy at he removal OF
what is perhaps the last penal enact
ment against the Roman Catholic faith.
There is nlHo another reason for this
coldneps. The new NiCeroy -desiRnnte
Lord Edmund Talbot although fuett-
Der of tho highest Roman Catholic fam
ily in England and brother of late Duke
of Norfolk ~ suspect I'm the popular
view. The family Of Norfolk have al
| WAYS been regarded na unfrieudly to
| Ireln rfd and owing Ia their Influence
with the Vatican this influence has ON
many occasion been known tn operate
| adversely on Irish affairs. The late
! Duke was often used by the British
| government for the purpose of Keeping
| the British point of view in regard To
| ireland well before the Pope. conHe-
aueniiy. the coming to Ireland uf the
/ greatest catholic iayman aa the direct
representative of the King. but co-n-
cidentaIly as the representative OF the
! Coalition Government is regarded as
/ IF ipia Ia fn
put in operation the Home Ruie Act
| which cuts right across the most treas-
| ured sentiment of the majority OF the
| Irish people---an act which instead Of
| making Ireland, In this time ~honored
| phrase. "a nation once again partt.
tions II Off into seEmenta which viii.
| instead or working harmonioualy to-
gefher. beeome mutually destructive q
each other. II will be Lord Edmund 8
first duty to call together the two Par
liaments which the Home Rule At
prescribes and ut least une If these will
refuse the call. The other so far ~ II
is possible 10 judge NJ present viii make
an effort TO respond but will fail Tor one
reason because the large Sinn Fein and
Roman Catholic minority will refuse f
toin IT, and for another because its fl
nancial provisions are So utterly in
| adequate mat IL VIII NOT he hbte q
| function.
The fina ncial aspect as has Just beer
discovered is a really critical matter
II appears that the designers of tn
| Act have their calculations on ias
years revenue which included nine mil
lion pounds from what known ns tn
Excess Profits tax--that Is the tax oi
war wealth which tho English chan
ccllor Of the F'xchequer recently ahol
iahed The Northern Parliament vii
therefore ho nine million pounds short
To mako good this II wo1ld be neees
aary to tax the ak counties which com
pose the northern Parliament with tha
much In addition to ordinary TAX whiel
/, would amply ho ruinous. At tho mo
mcnt therefore, the Finance MiniHfe
! Of the northern TarImment-wh whoevc
! he may 7,c-is faced with a hopeless
! task unless The British Governnen n
comes 10 his rescue ard one can casil.
. imagine that the British Government
will he very chary OF making such
gift especially In view Of the extrcnel
dubious prospect Of tho Parliament DC
s ing otherwise able to function.
/. The Nlceroy's Duties.
But what state of affairs VIII the ne'
Lord Lieutenant find in ireland whe
he ta,es up his office in the carly day