With the spirit in which Lord Derby spoke we are
in sympathy. Nothing would please us better than to see an agreement on the Irish question and a settlement analogous to that made in South Africa. We must confess, however, that with the best will in the world we cannot manage to be as optimistic as Lord Derby. The course of the last four months has proved that though the National- . fats can have a National Parliament in Dublin whenever they like, with the six-county area of Protestant Ulster exempted, they cannot have it at all without such exemption. But these four months have also shown that for one reason or another the Irish Nationalists will not hear of Home Rule unless they can include the six-county area. Though the true issue was a little concealed and the disputed point appeared to be the retention of the Irish Members in absurdly inflated numbers, what really defeated the compromise was the determination of various sections of the Nationalists not to have Home Rule unless the Dublin Parliament had absolute authority throughout the island.
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