LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.
[Letters of the length of one of oar leading paragraphs are often more read, and therefore more effective, than those which fill treble the space.] THE IRISH PROBLEM.
• fro vat EDITOR or THE " SPZCILTOR."]
Sut,—Lord Hugh Cecil's letter in your issue of the 19th brings to clear light, at last, a fact which has not, to the astonishment of many Irishmen, been made visible hitherto to Englishmen. He writes: "The great new feature of the Irish question is
that the Irish people have rejected with unanimity any Federal solution of the problem of Irish government." This is absolutely true. The Times said recently " We are all Home Rulers now." It omitted to mention that Ireland is the only country in which there are no Home Rulers.
But Lord Hugh Cecil is mistaken when ho adds that the Sinn Feinere carried "an overwhelming majority of the electorate of the three Southern Provinces." On the contrary, the figures prove that the sweeping victory of Sinn Fein was the work of a very small proportion of the electorate. A large majority abstained from voting. That is a very remarkable tact in a country where every one is a keen politician. Why slid these voters abstain? The only explanation is that they believed neither in Home Rule nor in Sinn Fein, but were not prepared to say so. They could not say so without going back en all their old professions—an impossibility in Ireland. But they were strong enough in their opposition to Sinn Fein to refuse to vote for it. In Ireland it is a very significant fact when people refuse to be carried away by the flowing tide. The truth is that most Irishmen know in their hearts that the Union is the one security for the welfare of Ireland. The settlement of the land question is at last having its due effect in spite of all appearances to the contrary.
In a recent letter to the Times, Mr. George Moore, with a brilliant flash of imagination, pointed out a policy which, if carried into effect, would do more to solve the Irish problem than any political reconstruction. Make Ireland the corridor between America and Great Britain. A great port on the West Coast, a new and splendid railway across the island, a train ferry to Holyhead (until a tunnel is made), a mighty stream of traffic through the heart of Ireland. Give Ireland a great position in the world by making her the most striking link in the chain of the League of Nations. That will appeal to the imagination; 111141 to win Ireland you must appeal to the imagination. It is by an appeal to the imagination that Sinn Fein has cut out Home Rule.
And how splendid an approach to the Old World would thus be opened up! Imagine steaming up glorious Clew Bay under the beautiful cone of Croagh Patrick, or, better still, Riflery Harbour, from whose deep waters rise the cliffs of the great Mweelrea to a height of 2,700 feet! Thus, also, would Ireland become a bond of union between Great Britain and America, instead of, as at present, a cause of difference.—I am, Sir, tic.,
IRISHMAN.
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