be no ambiguity. Mr Lloyd George has stated quite definitely that all Irishmen under the new régime remain British subjects-subjects of the King—and the repeated references to Canada in the Treaty upon which the Constitution is based, comforted all Irish loyalists with this assurance. To allow their status to be reduced to that of a citizenship of the Irish Free State, which did not secure for them the pride and the privileges of Imperial Citizenship, would be to inflict yet another injury upon a class of people who have served the Empire with unswerving fidelity for many generations. If a citizen of the Irish Free State is not reckoned as a British subject, neither he nor his sons can enter the British Army or Navy in any capacity (whether as combatants, surgeons, or chaplains), nor are they eligible for the Civil Service in Britain, or in Egypt, or in India. This would be an intolerable disability. It should be made explicit that Article 3 of the Constitution means that a citizen of the Irish Free State shall remain a British subject, as the Free State itself is to be part of the British Empire. The Republican Party in Ireland are eager that this should not be so; it will be the duty of the House of Commons and the House of Lords to see to it that the Constitution states explicitly what Parliament was informed last December was the intention of the Treaty.

Will the Irish Constituent Assembly approve the constitution as now drafted? It is probable, we think, that they will do so, in deference to the anxious desire of the country for peace and order; but there is a danger that amendments of an anti-Imperial character may be passed, with the object of weakening the connexion between Ireland and the Empire. Such amendments should be sternly rejected by Parliament. The House of Commons has, indeed, shown itself of late to be the meek and subservient instrument by which the Prime Minister forces his will upon the people; but in this instance, we trust that they will not allow themselves to be driven into acquiescence with a measure, some of the provisions of which they disapprove. Ireland, as a whole, will accept the Constitution in its present form, provided that British ministers make it plain that it marks the limit of concession. The Irish Assembly may, after the manner

command; but it was undoubtedly directed from Westminster. A repetition of that folly would be disastrous. And if-which God forbid!-it became necessary for Great Britain to send armed forces to Ireland again, as it would be in certain contingencies, such as the refusal to accept a place in the Empire, an attack on Ulster, or hopeless anarchy in the South, all serious men should see to it that the force sent was adequate for a reconquest of Ireland, and that it should be sent with the deliberate intention of ending the unreasoning quarrel once and for all. To send 50,000 men would be useless. A force of 200,000 men, horse, foot, and artillery, would settle the matter within six months, and there would be less bloodshed than would be the case if a smaller, irresolute army attempted to restore order, but it is, of course, most earnestly to be desired that such a policy may never be demanded by circumstances. There is no reason, at the time of writing, to doubt the bona fides of Mr Cosgrave and his ministers. They seem, indeed, to be more earnest in their support of the 'Treaty' and the Constitution' than Collins ever was. And, although they have not as yet had any marked success in the restoration of order, there are indications that they are preparing to take the strong measures that will be necessary if sabotage and Bolshevism are to be put down. Mulcahy is not likely to parley with de Valera, after the fashion of Collins. The anxiety which all thinking men feel in regard to the present situation in Ireland is mainly due to the doubts which are everywhere-in England and in Ireland-expressed as to the willingness of Irish ministers to face the unpopularity that will be their portion, if they really translate their speech into action. A decision, however, must be reached speedily; and this (it is a hopeful sign) Mr Cosgrave seems to realise. If the Irish Government cannot govern their people, it will be their duty to invite Great Britain once again to take the reins. But there is still some room for hope that Irish ministers will prove equal to the responsibility that is placed upon them, and that Ireland may, before Christmas, present the spectacle, if not of a prosperous, at any rate of a civilised country, where the law is respected and murder and rapine punished, with the assent of its inhabitants.

creeds, but cliques divided only by personal enmities and rivalries.

At present all our three oppositions have creeds and programmes; two of them claim, not without plausible reason, to represent the old parties of pre-war days, and to inherit their rights and duties. They look upon the Coalition, which is at present in power, as a league that during the war had a meaning and a purpose, but which has long ceased to be justifiable. It has even, in their eyes, become immoral, since it calls sometimes on Coalition Liberals to vote for measures (such as the Safeguarding of Industries Bill) which are opposed to Liberal dogma, and sometimes on Coalition Unionists to vote for measures (such as the Irish Free State Bill) which every Conservative of 1914 would have regarded with horror, as a surrender to armed treason. The third oppositionthe Labour Party-considers that the Coalition Ministry represents all that it disliked both in the old Liberal and in the old Conservative parties, and finds in acrid criticism of Government action a substitute for that constructive policy which it has shown itself so incapable of framing. The most humorous part of the situation is that Coalition Unionists are driven to bitter discontent on occasion, by finding the Labour members voting alongside of them for some piece of ministerial legislation: while on the other hand Coalition Liberals are not unfrequently irritated by seeing the group which they regard as the incarnation of Reaction giving its assent with glee to some other Government bill. On such occasions the lobbies are filled with imperfectly suppressed mutterings as to the strange company in which a Liberal [or Conservative] supporter of the Coalition is forced to vote, by the exigencies of the alliance on which the present Cabinet rests. It is even rumoured that such malcontents are known to disappear, or to remain obstinately seated in their places, when they see that a Coalitionist measure, which they detest in their heart of hearts, is going to be supported by the whole of that one of the three opposition parties which happens to be their particular bête noire. It is too much to ask one to vote for a bill which receives the enthusiastic assent of A., or of B.,' is a phrase which has been heard pretty frequently of late.