might
make on Northern opinion, they were blind. It is true that the Councils
when left to themselves did admirably, and fully justified the trust
reposed in them. But at the inauguration of local government it was
naturally not the work of the Councils but the attitude of the party
leaders which appeared to stamp the reception of the Act by the Irish
people.

It is true, of course, that many thoughtful men among the Nationalist
party repudiate the idea that the methods of to-day would be continued
in a self-governed Ireland. I fail to see any reason why they should
not. Under any system of limited Home Rule questions would arise which
would afford much the same sort of justification for the employment of
such methods, and they could hardly be worse for the welfare of the
country then than they are now. There is abundant need and abundant work
in the present day for thoughtful and far-seeing men in a party
constitutionally so strong as that of the Irish Nationalists. If those
among them who possess, or at any rate can make effective use of
qualities of constructive statesmanship are as few as the history of
recent years would lead us to suppose, what assurance can Ulster
Unionists feel that such men would spring up spontaneously in an Ireland
under Home Rule? I admit, indeed, that a considerable measure of such
assurance might be derived from the attitude of the leaders of the party
at and since the Land Conference. But this adoption of statesmanlike
methods which cannot be too widely understood or too warmly commended is
a matter of very recent history; and though we may hope that the success
attending it will help materially in the political education of the
Irish people, that will not, by itself, undo the effect of a quarter of
a century of political agitation governed by ideas the very reverse of
those which are now happily beginning to find favour.

I have thought it necessary to examine at some length the defence on the
ground of tactics which is often made for Nationalist politics, because
it is the only defence ever made by those apologists who admit the
disturbing influence upon our economic and social life of Nationalist
methods. A broader and saner view of political tactics than prevailed
ten years ago is now possible, for circumstances are becoming friendly
and helpful to the development of political thought. Though the United
Irish League apparently restored 'unity' to the ranks of the
Nationalists, the