hen Captain COLIN COOTE proposed
to hand over the control of the armed forces of the Crown in Ireland
to the new Parliaments. His argument was in brief that these bodies
must be given serious responsibilities which would compel them to
unite. He wanted, as he said, to "infuse blood into their veins" at
whatever risk--_COOTE que coute._

The idea of providing a probably Sinn Fein Parliament in Dublin with
submarines and aeroplanes did not appeal to the FIRST LORD OF THE
ADMIRALTY, who was hotly rebuked for his lack of imagination by
Captain ELLIOT. The fact that two young Coalitionists should have
advocated such revolutionary ideas inspired another of Sir EDWARD
CARSON'S gloomy variations on the theme that any form of Home Rule
must lead ultimately to separation.

_Thursday, June 3rd._--Sir HAMAR GREENWOOD, who took his seat on
Tuesday, answered Irish questions for the first time. His manner was
as direct and forceful as ever, but his matter, unhappily, consisted
chiefly in the admission of unpleasant facts regarding recent attacks
upon the police, with the invariable addition that "no arrests have
been made."

[Illustration: THE CHIEF SECRETARY FOR IRELAND. "No arrests have been
made."]

The hon. baronet who sits for Nottingham is so much impressed with the
necessity for economy that he ought to be known as _Rees angustae_. But
he has no luck. Mr. FISHER offered the "frozen face" to his complaints
that the State is giving free education at the Ministries to
ex-Service men; and Mr. SHORTT was no more sympathetic to his plea
that the new policewomen should be abolished.

Mr. LLOYD GEORGE, looking delightfully cool in a new grey suit, made
a welcome reappearance after some weeks' absence. He gave a version
of the KRASSIN negotiations--which, according to his account, had
followed exactly the course marked out by the Supreme Council in Paris
and San Remo--very different from that presented in a section of the
Press, and he implied that the alleged perturbation of French public
opinion only existed in the imagination of "certain newspapers
which are trying to foment ill-feeling between two countries whose
friendliness is essential to the welfare of the world." His most
satisfactory pronouncement was that British prisoners must be released
before trade with Russia would be resumed.

In spite of the absence of the regular Opposition the FIRST LORD
OF THE ADMIRALTY is finding the Government of Ireland Bill a rather
unh