tisfy the desire of Irish
Nationalists for something approaching national independence
without the urgent peril of rousing civil war between Ulster and
the Parliament at Dublin? All these inquiries, and others like
them, harassed the Parliament of 1893; they were all answered by
Unionists, that is by the majority of the British electors, with a
decided negative; they will all be raised and will all need an
answer when the leaders of the Coalition condescend to produce
their next Home Rule Bill or even to reveal its fundamental
principles.

_Fourthly_.--England in the circumstances of to-day is threatened
with two perils which did not exist in 1893, and yet are of
stupendous gravity.

The first is, that in the case of a measure of Home Rule the
opportunities for discussing its provisions which are contained in
the Parliament Bill may turn out nominal rather than real. It is
not at all certain that for such a Bill, even though it be abhorred
by the electorate of the United Kingdom, the House of Lords will be
practically able to secure the delay and elaborate discussion to
which Mr. Asquith professedly attaches immense importance.
Unionists will believe that the measure passed by a large majority
of the House of Commons is detested by the majority of the British
electors. But how will it be possible to carry on the government of
Ireland, to maintain order, or to save a loyal minority from gross
oppression after a Home Rule Bill applauded by Separatists has been
passed through the House of Commons, and for the first time has
been rejected by the House of Lords? Every official in Ireland,
down from the Lord Lieutenant to the last newly appointed member of
the Irish Constabulary, every Irishman loyal or disloyal, will know
that the Bill will within a year or two become law and that Irish
Nationalists will control the Parliament and the government of
Ireland. Will not the House of Lords be urged by every alleged
consideration of good sense and humanity to close without delay a
period of uncertainty which is threatening to turn into a reign of
anarchy or of terror? The question supplies its own answer. The
second peril is one whereof nobody speaks, but which must occur to
any man who has studied the history of the past eighteen years or
reflect