Incredible as it sounds, a very considerable number of Unionist
Free-traders seem to have persuaded themselves that there is no real danger of a Home-rule Bill being passed even if the Liberals obtain a majority. In spite of the facts that the support of the Irish at the Election was openly purchased by Mr. Asquith; that Mr. Redmond and the other Trish leaders have told the Irish voters to vote for the Liberals on the distinct ground that the price of their votes is the establishment of an Irish Parliament and Irish Executive ; and that Mr. Asquith and his colleagues have never given the slightest denial to this assertion, we actually find Unionist Free-traders declaring that Home-rule is not, and cannot possibly become, a live issue. We would, even at the eleventh hour, ask them to reconsider the situation, and to give their votes for no Liberal candidate unless Mr. Asquith is willing to state publicly, and without reserve, that Home-rule is not contemplated as one of the measures which are to succeed the destruction of the veto of the Lords, and that the Irish are under a complete delusion in imagining that the Liberal Party is pledged to satisfy the Nationalist demands in regard to an Irish Legislature and an Irish Executive.
