providing of representation for groups or parties not then adequately represented in the Chamber.' If these nominations are wisely made, a precedent will be set which may be of great service in the future. It is not only the interests of the minority, but the dignity of Parliament that will be supported by the selection of the best men for the initiation of this great and novel experiment in state-building.

The powers of the Senate are but small. The Senate may initiate or delay legislation, but it has no final power of rejecting a Bill approved by the Lower House. Its powers in the matter of delay will be much less than those enjoyed by the British House of Lords under the Parliament Act, for the Senate cannot hold up a Bill for more than a year. It can, indeed, by a vote of threefifths of its members submit a Bill which it does not favour to a referendum of the electorate; but this is not a power which is likely to be often exercised or which would be very effective. There is a provision for a Joint Session of both Houses of Parliament, but not for any Joint Vote. The representatives of the Southern Irish loyalists who were consulted (in accordance with a pledge given last December by Mr Griffith) as to the constitution and powers of the Senate, wrote on June 14 to Mr Churchill that they were 'not satisfied that any Senate constituted as proposed by popular election and with powers so strictly limited can afford a genuine protection to minorities in Ireland.' With that opinion most people will agree; but it has always to be borne in mind that all depends on the spirit in which the Constitution is interpreted in Ireland. If there is a genuine desire to enlist in the public service of the country men of high position and of proved capacity for dealing with great affairs, the Constitution makes it easy to do so. If, on the other hand, the majority of the people desire to keep all political power and every executive office in the hands of inexperienced persons whose chief title to recognition is that they have been in prison for rebellion against the King, then this also can be done. Great Britain cannot help here. Ireland must work out her own political destiny, now that she has assumed responsibility.

The result of the elections held on June 16 was that the party of Mr Griffith and Mr Collins secured a hand

some majority. Of the Coalition candidates, 58 ProTreaty,' as against 36 Anti-Treaty,' have seats. Labour has 17 members, there are 7 farmers' representatives, while six label themselves 'Independent.' The four members for Dublin University are loyalists, but will support the Treaty, faute de mieux. The new factor is the presence of Labour members. A dangerous and

anarchic manifesto was issued in their name before the elections, calling upon the people to pay no rent, and demanding the nationalisation of the railways. On the other hand, the Labour men are against militarism and disavow the tyrannical methods of the Irish Republican Army. They will probably support the Treaty'; but their support may be bought too dearly, if the Government condone the anarchic outrages that are being committed in the South of Ireland, avowedly in the interests of Labour.

6

It thus appears that the future is still (June 24) dark and obscure. First, it is not certain that the Republican party in Ireland will accept the Constitution as now formulated, and so it is not certain that it will pass the Irish Parliament, although a large majority of 'ProTreaty' members have been returned. If it is accepted by that Parliament, will the 'mutineers' of the Army acquiesce? If they do not acquiesce, are Mr Griffith and Mr Collins strong enough to prevent them from creating disorder? Is Mr Collins willing, in the interests of the Constitution and of peace, to employ force against his former associates? We do not know the answer to these questions, as we do not know whether Mr Griffith and Mr Collins propose to accept the Constitution as final (for their time at least), or whether they regard the establishment of the Irish Free State as only a stage on the way to an Irish Republic. Mr Collins has hinted more than once that he has only accepted the former because he could not get the latter; but whether he is prepared to fight to maintain the former in opposition to the fanatical idealists who demand the latter remains to be seen. It is, perhaps, significant that the motto at the head of every copy of 'The Free State,' which supports the Treaty, is a sentence of Mr Griffith to the effect that this is no more a final settlement, than this is the final generation.' There is

no finality in human affairs, and the sentence may be quite innocuous. But we fear that it suggests, in its context, that those who accept the Treaty and the Constitution founded upon it need not, therefore, abandon the struggle for a Republic. And if this interpretation prevail, we may look for many weary years of disturbance before Ireland sets herself to put in order her domestic affairs.

The moment of destiny is now. If the Irish leaders can bring themselves to the point of enforcing law and order, no matter who are the guilty parties that have to be punished, and of treating rebellion against the Irish Free State as treason, they will have the great mass of their countrymen behind them. But if they falter, or hesitate, in this primary business of government, they will not only forfeit their position and their authority, but they will betray the country which they profess to serve. No excuse will avail any longer-neither Ulster intolerance nor British intervention. What have these things to do with the Irish Free State? Ireland is not free now; but that is because of the menace of armed assassins and incendiaries. It cannot be free until the authorities of the State remove this menace. It cannot be prosperous until credit is restored and the Irish people are required to pay their debts, including their arrears of rent. Great Britain may be trusted to carry to completion the Land Purchase Acts, if the Irish Government heartily and impartially co-operates. And Ireland cannot take her proper place in the comity of nations until she learns to distinguish between the things that are only of sentimental and those that are of vital concern. It matters very little whether she paints her letter-boxes green or red; it matters very little whether she pretends that Irish is the vernacular of the country or not; but it matters very greatly that she shall lay the foundations of her new state upon justice and industry and honour. Irish political leaders no longer pay much attention to the moral admonitions of the Church to which most of them belong; but they are now appealing to a wider Court. It is by their actions and not by their words that they will be judged in future by the civilised world, and from that judgment there is no appeal. Securus judicat orbis terrarum.

THE

QUARTERLY
REVIEW

No. 473

PUBLISHED IN

OCTOBER, 1922

LONDON:

JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET, W. 1.

GENERAL INDEX TO THE QUARTERLY REVIEW.

A new Index, forming Volume CCXXII., comprising the volumes from CCII. to CCXXI., of the QUARTERLY REVIEW, has been published, and is obtainable through any bookseller (Price 6/- net).

The QUARTERLY REVIEW is published on or about the 15th of
January, April, July, and October.

Price Thirty-two Shillings per Annum, post free.

Printed by WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, Limited,

London and Beccles, England.