that they will be eligible for the many positions in the Colonies and at home which they have filled in the past with credit to themselves and with benefit to the Empire. Were Ireland granted that Republican form of government to which her idealists aspire, Irishmen would be aliens so far as the British Empire is concerned, and could hold no post, in the Army, in the Navy, or in civil administration under commission from the King. As things have been settled by the 'Articles of Agreement,' Southern Ireland will become an Irish Free State,' within the Empire, Ulster remaining as she is, with Home Rule for herself under the provisions of the Act of 1920. There are to be, or may be, some small modifications of the frontier which now separates Ulster from the rest of Ireland; but this is of little consequence, although Ulster, more suo, is already beginning to complain of it as unjust. It should be added that Ulster can still come in with the rest of Ireland, if she desires to do so. There are important provisions in the Articles of Agreement for the payment by Ireland of a portion of the war debts (the amount to be fixed by arbitration), and of compensation to public servants who retire in consequence of the change of government (Arts. 5, 10); and also in regard to the prohibition of any religious differentiation' for purposes of taxation, and of any seizure of the property of religious bodies or of educational institutions (Art. 16). These clauses are very well, but they would be quite insufficient if Article 2 did not provide that from Ireland, as from Canada, any dispute as to their legal interpretation may be referred to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. This right of appeal is inherent in the words:

'The position of the Irish Free State in relation to the Imperial Parliament and Government and otherwise shall be that of the Dominion of Canada; and the law, practice and constitutional usage governing the relationship of the Crown or the representative of the Crown and of the Imperial Parliament to the Dominion of Canada shall govern their relationship to the Irish Free State.'

But it is highly desirable, in order to avoid the possibility of misunderstanding, that what is here implicit should be made explicit in the Act of Parliament in which it will

be necessary to embody the Articles of Agreement in a complete form.

This leads to a reflexion which must have presented itself to every one who has studied the recent history of Irish affairs. The people who have most to lose by any such settlement as this are the Southern loyalists, that small band of 350,000 people who have clung, in dark days and bright days alike, to their citizenship of the United Kingdom as their greatest heritage. This they are to lose, and without any fault of theirs. They are to be reduced in future-we say it without any offenceto the status of citizens of Canada or Australia, intimately associated, indeed, with Britain, by the bonds of blood and speech and Empire, but no longer possessing the full citizenship of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.' They are to be deprived of this, which they have prized with a passionate loyalty and devotion, because the majority of their neighbours have desired to abolish the Union, and have been wholly unscrupulous in the methods which they adopted to bring about the fulfilment of their desire.

Southern loyalists are protected, in two directions, by the provisions of Article 16 to which we have already referred; but they deserve more ample and sympathetic consideration in the supplementary legislation which must be enacted before the Irish Free State can start on its independent course. They have placed before the Government, in a letter from Lord Midleton, published on Dec. 12, their opinion that, before the new regime comes into being, land-purchase must be completed, and 'the questions of dual taxation in the two countries, the provision of compensation for losses during the late unrest, and the education grants guaranteed under Section 64 of the Act of 1920,' must be satisfactorily arranged. We are glad to notice that Mr Griffith, for his part, in a letter to the Prime Minister written on Dec. 6, has agreed that the loyalist minority should be fully represented in the new Parliament of Ireland; and that he and his friends look for the co-operation of former Unionists in the shaping of the 'Irish Free State.' And we observe also that Trinity College, Dublin, which is the centre of Irish loyalty, as befits a royal foundation, has expressed the hope that her graduates will take ‘an

1

These indications of

active and sympathetic part' in the building up of
happier conditions in Ireland.'
good will, on the one side and on the other, are of hope-
ful augury for the future; but they do not exonerate
the British Government from endeavouring, in every
way that is still in their power, to secure, in advance,
their friends in Ireland from any partial or unfair treat-
ment. Good will is not the less to be trusted when it is
fortified by legislation.

Many persons are dissatisfied with the British concessions-and they have been large-to violence, which are granted in this Irish 'treaty.' And such persons may fairly ask, What is thought of the 'treaty' by the loyalist minority who will be the first to suffer, if any one suffers because of it? The answer has been made plain during the last month. Irish loyalists have no responsibility for the Articles of Settlement. They do not like them; they would prefer to be citizens of the United Kingdom, if that were still possible. But they know that it is not possible. Things have gone too far for that. The alternative to agreement by reconciliation and compromise is war, of so devastating and dreadful a kind, that their country-for Ireland is their country, just as truly as it is the country of the Sinn Fein party -would be ruined, their homes destroyed, and many more lives sacrificed. Loyalists have acquiesced, because nothing could be worse for them than a continuance of the conditions of the past twelve months, and because they are certain that Britain can no longer protect them, unless she undertakes to reconquer Ireland completely and ruthlessly. Were the Irish majority so mad and foolish as to reject the extraordinarily generous offer which England has now made, and to persist in their endeavour to establish an independent Republic by force of arms, then indeed England would have to put out her strength and pitilessly to crush her turbulent neighbours, as she could do if she pleased. But, it would be wrong contemplate so dreadful a contingency. No loyalist would wish to go back to the misery of last winter; and many among them are not without hope that, in the Ireland of the future, they may yet find an honourable and useful place.

to

The verdict of the Houses of Parliament given on

Dec. 16 is a demonstration on the grand scale that Englishmen and Scotchmen believe that the Southern loyalists are taking a wise as well as a patriotic course, although they have many perils to face in the days to come. For the truth is, that the only alternative to the Government proposals was war, naked and unashamed; and this no one ventured to deny. Those who voted with Lord Carson in the House of Lords, and with the 'Die-Hards' in the House of Commons, were able to suggest no other constructive policy; and this was, perhaps, the most significant feature in the debates, if we except Mr Bonar Law's plain statement that he, personally, in the circumstances, approved of the Agreement.

At the time of writing, Dail Eireann has not accepted the Articles of Settlement. Mr de Valera has done his best to set them aside; and he has been assisted in his campaign against his own 'plenipotentiaries' by a gang of wild women, who are the most dangerous people in Ireland at present. Hysterical and vengeful, these Mænads (of whom not all are of Irish birth) cry out for blood, rather than for peace; and, whatever may be the future government of Ireland, unless they are suppressed, violence and disorder will be encouraged. But, so soon as Dail Eireann agrees to honour the signatures of its own chosen representatives, there is no doubt that the members of the Southern Irish Parliament will ratify the treaty formally. All Ireland longs for peace; and there has been a remarkable rapprochement between men of various schools of political thought at this fateful moment of Irish history. It would be idle to prophesy. The unexpected generally happens in Ireland; and no one on this side of the Channel really understands the motives which sway the wayward Irish people. But one thing is certain. Peace is only given to those who seek peace. The benediction of peace on earth was addressed to men of good will; and such men may yet be found of every political complexion and of every race.

CORRIGENDUM.

On p. 404 of the last (October) number, line 7, for 'the Agadir incident' read 'the Kaiser's visit to Tangier.'

THE

QUARTERLY REVIEW

No. 471.-APRIL, 1922.

ART. 1.-STUDLEY ROYAL.

1. Life of the first Marquess of Ripon, K.G. By Lucien Wolf. Two vols. Murray, 1921.

2. Private Diaries and Correspondence of Lord Esher.

If it be true that nobody ever wrote a dull autobiography, because the dullest would in spite of themselves say something profoundly interesting, if only by way of explaining how they came to be so dull, this cannot be said of biography. Mr Lytton Strachey has destroyed the palate of the public for the conventional official biography. There are still a few readers and criticsex-Ministers and such people—who disagree with Leslie Stephen's dictum that most official biographies are a mixture of bungling and indiscretion; a few who still profoundly reverence the House of Commons tone in literature, who relish mere echoes, and fight shy of impressions at first hand. To them we may commit all full-dress political biographies, in the hope that the story of their own achievement or failure may be recorded with the restraint and taste shown by the biographer of Lord Ripon. Until Mr Lytton Strachey flamed into an amused world, biographies had been, in the main, written by politicians for politicians. Every Prime Minister hopes and expects to have his 'Life' recorded in three volumes and published in fine type with a selection of flattering portraits; a subordinate Minister's expectations are limited to two. But the biographer should be chosen from among his followers or acolytes, pledged to correct pose and erase any blemish. That Cromwell should have asked Cooper-or Vol. 237.-No. 471.