NEWS OF THE WEEK.
MR. ASQI/ITH'S proposed alterations in the Home Rule Bill in order to avoid civil war have eclipsed all other questions during the week. We have dealt with them at length elsewhere. Here we must record the progress of the debate. On Monday Mr. Asquith, in moving the second reading of the Home Rule Bill, set forth his plan for dealing with the Ulster problem. If Home Rule as embodied in the Bill were carried out, it was impossible to deny that there would be civil strife in Ulster. On the other hand, if at this stage Home Rule were to be shipwrecked, there was an equally formidable outlook for the rest of Ireland. This situation necessitated a compromise—the acceptance of a Home Rule Legislature and Executive in Dublin on the part of the Unionists, and on the part of the Liberals some form of special treatment for the "Ulster minority. In other words, Mr. Asquith reached the point that those parts of Ireland which wanted to be under a Dublin Parliament and Executive must be under it, and those parts which were determined not to be under it must be allowed to stand outside.