S 
Rule, has, through its Washington correspondent, 
collected a vast body of evidence in favour of an 
Irish settlement. Here is a summary of the conclu- 
sions at which he has himself arrived :— 
“ The future of the world, in the opinion of most far- 
sighted Americans, depends upon the closest co-operation 
between the two great Anglo-Saxon democracies. There 
are many obstacles that will have to be overcome before 
that co-operation can be reached; . . . but, as things 
stand, the worst of all these obstacles may easily be the 
Irish question. This not only because of the direct poli- 
tical influence of Irish irreconcilables. This is considerable, 
but it might be overcome. It is because Americans in 
general are Home Rulers. They are inclined to attribute 
the tragedy of our relations with Ireland to the same John 
Bullish stupidity that produced the American Revolution.” 
England can no longer ignore the opinion of the 
whole civilised world, especially the opinion of 
America, to whom she is bound by so many ties. 
Still less can she ignore the professions of her Allies, 
and of herself, that they are waging war for the 
liberation of small nations. She cannot persist in 
the face of the protests of her friends and the taunts 
of her enemies in forcing a foreign domination on 
Ireland. She cannot deny to Ireland the freedom for 
which she is fighting with such desperate energy, 
and with such limitless expenditure of blood and 
treasure, for other small nationalities. Ireland is as 
well deserving of liberty as the Poles, the Belgians, 
the Serbians, the Roumanians, the Montenegrins, 
the Slavs, the Czechs, and the Slovacs. There is, 
moreover, this vital distinction: the other small 
nations must wait for their liberation till the end of 
the war : it is in the sole power of the British Par- 
liament to establish forthwith self-government in 
Ireland.