, Government ruling by the point of
the bayonet. Between these two forces there will be no place for a
Constitutional party or for men like myself.

"That would be the effect in Ireland. What would be the effect
throughout the Empire?

"I have close relations with statesmen of all parties in all the
Dominions, and I am informed that twenty-five per cent, of their troops
are of Irish birth or of Irish parents, and that they have practically
joined because they believed the Irish problem was as good as settled.

"What has happened about Ireland has caused untold difficulties in every
Dominion. Mr. Holman, the Prime Minister of New South Wales, said that
conscription was defeated by the Irish vote. Mr. Hughes said the same.
Two hundred thousand troops have been lost to the Empire by the feeling
of disgust at the failure to settle the Irish question. It has been the
same in Canada. Everywhere a breakdown will be regarded with dismay.

"What will be the effect in America? The position of America is grave
and dangerous. I have close relations with many Americans of high
position and influence, and they all tell me the same. This is a secret
session, and I can repeat what they say. There is little or no
enthusiasm for the war. Mind, I am speaking of Americans, not Irish
Americans. The apathy is largely due to distrust of England. They
distrust her posing as the champion of small nations while here at her
doors the Irish question is unsettled. Lord Midleton says the Americans
are uninformed. Perhaps so as to details. Perhaps they only see the
broad effect. But how does that help us? The fact remains. Ireland is
the only, or the chief, cause of American apathy to-day. This is of
vital importance. Could we hope to win the war if America dropped out?
Russia has gone. The President of the United States has many pacifist
men around him. Their movement is strong. Germany is abstaining from
outrages that would raise American feeling. I say, the danger of peace
proposals which we could not accept being offered to America and
accepted by her is a real and a very serious one.

"Hence it is that the Government, the diplomatic service, and all
connected with our foreign affairs are feverishly anxious as to the
result of our deliberations. If we break down in despair and
helplessness, God only knows how terrible and far-reaching may be the
consequence.

"Far better for us and for the Empire never to have met than to have met
and fail