e safeguarded by real
and not merely by verbal guarantees; and, thirdly, there is the
position of Great Britain which requires, reasonably enough, that any
self-governing dominion set up alongside it shall be friendly to
the Empire. In this matter Great Britain has priority of claim to
consideration, for it has first proposed a solution, the Home Rule Act
which is on the Statute Book, though later variants of that have been
outlined because of the attitude of Unionists in North-East Ulster,
variants which suggest the partition of Ireland, the elimination of six
counties from the area controlled by the Irish government. This Act, or
the variants of it offered to Ireland, is the British contribution to
the settlement of the Anglo-Irish problem.

13. If it is believed that this scheme, or any diminutive of it, will
settle the Anglo-Irish problem, British statesmen and people who trust
them are only preparing for themselves bitter disappointment. I believe
that nothing less than complete self-government has ever been the object
of Irish Nationalism. However ready certain sections have been to accept
installments, no Irish political leader had authority to pledge his
countrymen to ever accept a half measure as a final settlement of the
Irish claim. The Home Rule Act, if put into operation tomorrow, even if
Ulster were cajoled or coerced into accepting it, would not be regarded
by Irish Nationalists as a final settlement, no matter what may be
said at Westminster. Nowhere in Ireland has it been accepted as final.
Received without enthusiasm at first, every year which has passed
since the Bill was introduced has seen the system of self-government
formulated there subjected to more acute and hostile criticism: and I
believe it would be perfectly accurate to say that its passing tomorrow
would only be the preliminary for another agitation, made fiercer by the
unrest of the world, where revolutions and the upsetting of dynasties
are in the air, and where the claims of nationalities no more ancient
than the Irish, like the Poles, the Finns, and the Arabs, to political
freedom are admitted by the spokesmen of the great powers, Great Britain
included, or are already conceded. If any partition of Ireland is
contemplated this will intensify the bitterness now existing. I believe
it is to the interest of Great Britain to settle the Anglo-Irish
dispute. It has been countered in many of its policies in America and
the Colonies by the ven