_12th December, 1911_.




PRELIMINARY


After an intermission of nearly twenty years Ireland once again blocks
the way. "Finally rejected" by the House of Commons and the English
electorate in 1886, "finally rejected" by the House of Lords in 1893,
the Home Rule idea has not only survived but waxed stronger in the
wilderness. Time and events have altered its shape only to clothe it
with a richer significance.

Will Great Britain decide wisely in the choice to which she is now put?
Naturally, I do not speak of the Parliamentary future of the Home Rule
Bill: that is safe. I have in mind rather that profound moral
settlement, that generous reconciliation which we have seen in South
Africa, and desire to see in Ireland. What of it? Did reason and the
candid vision of things, as they are, control public affairs, there
could be little doubt as to the issue in this choice between friendship
and hatred, between the formula of freedom and that of domination. But,
unhappily, we have no assurance that Philip sober rather than Philip
drunk will sign the warrant. There exists in England, in respect of all
things Irish, a monstrous residuum of prejudice. It lies ambushed in the
blood even when it has been dismissed from the mind, and constitutes the
real peril of the situation. No effort will be spared to reawaken it.
The motto of militant Unionism has always been: When in doubt throw mud.
Such a programme naturally begets a predilection for ditches, and when