Page:The Irish Cause and "The Irish Convention".djvu/9

 word has been spoken in this great matter of the reconciliation of the two countries which has been brought so marvellously far towards success. For my own part, a Home Rule Settlement, by the consent of all sections and persuasions of our countrymen, has been the one—I can truly say the one and only object of my political life for the past fifteen years. It is the only hope which could induce me to linger for twenty-four hours more in Irish public life, such as it has become. It would be affectation to deny that this alternative plan of the Government might well make the ears of some of us tingle with satisfaction because the Government have at long last begun to find out that the only real way out of the Irish difficulty lies through those principles of Conference, Conciliation and Consent which we have spent the last five years in preaching to deaf ears in this House. Our unforgivable sin was that we only counted seven against seventy in the Division Lobbies. But let that pass. Undoubtedly the declaration now made by the Government that to Irishmen themselves should be left the settlement of their country's legislative and fiscal future is one of the most momentous announcements that ever was made in this House. It is the resumption and the completion of Mr. Wyndham's historic declaration in the same sense in 1902, which put an end to the agrarian war. There are only one or two observations by which I should like to qualify my wholehearted approval of the general principle. The first is only as to a matter of practical procedure, but it will be found to be one of vital importance if the Government really mean business—if, as I trust, this is an honest effort and is not mere playing to the American gallery for war purposes. The Prime Minister unfortunately has made it plain that by the 9