The atavism of cruelty returns. Emboldened by Mr. Birrell's bland
acquiescence in milder prologues to Home Rule, a new plan of campaign
is, even now, being devised, charged with sinister consequences from
which all men in 1903 trusted that Ireland would be for ever absolved.
The prospects of Irish Agriculture under Home Rule include the return,
after a brief chapter of "hope, and energy the child of hope," to the
old cycle of bitterness and listlessness and despair.
A consideration of these alternatives leads to this dilemma. If the
Government concede fiscal autonomy Land Purchase ends. If they refuse
it, and Mr. Redmond accepts a "gas-and-water" Bill, that compromise, so
accepted, will receive from Mr. Dillon the treatment accorded to the
recommendations of the Recess Committee and of the Land Conference. The
compromise will be repudiated and the millions already advanced for
purchase will be used as a lever to extort complete autonomy. The lever
is a powerful one. All depends upon who holds the handle.
It may be said in conclusion that the Unionist policy of Land Purchase
vindicates the Union, and that the treatment it has received
demonstrates the futility, and the tragedy, of granting Home Rule.
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