CONSCRIPTION AND HOME RULE

There has been no more perplexing problem of politics in the history of any nation than England's Irish question. In the present crisis it has assumed so serious a character that it present a direct obstacle to a successful prosecution of the war. Conscription and home rule are inseparably bound up with racial and political prejudice. They involve the danger of great discord in British unity. They must be looked upon in two lights, that of justice and that of expediency.

In the light of impartial judgment, Irish conscription is pre-eminently fair. Depleted English and Irish battalions have been recruited almost entirely through the British draft. It is time that Ireland should, do her share. This war is her war in as great a degree as it is England's. Irish leaders supported the original declaration of hostilities and have since maintained the belief that Ireland is directly and irrevocably concerned. The volunteer system has not brought the desired results. Fair play now demands conscription.

To reconcile the Irish to so drastic a step, England has promised an immediate introduction of home rule. Expediency, it is asserted, demands some compensation for the Irish sacrifice. There are considerations, however, which tend to deny the efficacy of such a step. To establish home rule means to alienate the sympathies of Ulster and to augment internal dissension within Ireland itself. The British have maintained their reputation as opportunists, but they have sacrificed principle without attaining the hoped-for result.

The Irish have borne the brunt of much misrule and the question of Ireland is, no doubt, a black page in English history. For the present, nevertheless, the Irish have failed to appreciate their obligations and have conducted themselves in a manner out of harmony with the safety of the empire. In mixing home rule and conscription, England has blundered both as regards justice and expediency. Irish conscription we must have; and home rule we may have, but the two bear no direct relation to each other.