[ 10] A Constitutional Settlement. 7fHE measure of Home Rule already embodied I in Act of Parliament satisfies the national aspirations of the vast majority of Irishmen. A lesser measure was accepted by Mr. Parnell, the acknowledged spokesman of the Irish Nation. Amendment and improvement may be called for, but in principle the Act suffices. An ingenious agree- ment has been developed by the irreconcilable Unionists, the conditional rebels of the North who were themselves responsible for the Sinn Fein rising in Dublin. “The denial of Ireland’s legitimate demand for Home Rule,” they admit, “has created disaffection in Ireland, therefore,” they argue, “ Home Rule must still be denied till disaffection has disappeared.” Every day that Home Rule is denied must strengthen and extend the influence of militant Sinn Feiners. The coercion of the Ulster minority is declared to be “unthinkable.” Is it proposed to perpetually coerce a disaffected majority in Ireland? The small rump of the ascendancy faction may rejoice in the prospect, but decent Irishmen of all parties would deplore it, and such a policy would disgrace the Empire in the eyes of the whole civilised world pledged to the liberation of small nations. The Sinn Fein movement when it was first started some years ago, consisted of a number of peaceably- disposed persons whose policy, “Irish for the Irish,” found expression in the encouragement of Irish manufacture and of the Gaelic Language. The denial of Home Rule in deference to the threats of armed resistance by a small minority in Ulster was solely responsible for militant Sinn Fein,