The Progress of the World. 



401 



we wonder, therefore, that to-day their 

 descendants feel bound to protest 

 against a Home Rule Bill which is 

 framed by a party whose leader declares 

 that by " common enemy " he means 

 " English ascendancy," and that " above 

 all the end and aim of all liis policy and 

 all his action is the freedom of his 

 country"? We respect his point of 

 view — in fact, we believe that Home 

 Rule must come, and should come in the 

 right form ; this without ignoring the 

 fact that Home Rule alone can never 

 be the salvation of Ireland, with or 

 without Ulster. Education and co- 

 operation alone can raise the population ; 

 and a newly constituted local govern- 

 ment must be some time before it can 

 seriously set to work on constructi\-e 

 organisation. And we must not forget 

 that the initial period of government 

 under Home Rule will be in the hands 

 of a party of which Lord Dunraven 

 said recently : 



For years absolute power over the nomination of 

 Members of Parliament and complete control over the 

 Nationalist party has been exercised by a secret society, 

 restricted to persons of one religious persuasion — 

 Catholicism. I'rotestants fear that an Irish Parliament 

 would be subject to the same secret and irresponsible 

 power. 



We wonder what this political party 

 would sa\- to the remark of a prominent 

 Canadian anent Home Rule : " Of 

 course, tlioy have a right to it, but they 

 should be at first as we are, and only 

 have a High Commissioner in London 

 to represent them." And yet that is 

 the Empire and logical point of view 

 of the Dominions. To start an Imperial 

 Parliament is one thing ; to allow the 

 youngest part of tlie Empire possessing 

 independent government to have large 

 parliamentary representation at West- 

 minster, while the Dominions have not, 



is subversive of Imperial ideals and 

 dangerous to Imperial Federation. We 

 therefore welcome the action of 

 Ulster as giving pause sufficient to 

 enable the question to be settled on 

 Imperial hnes and ideals, and not on the 

 recommendations and ideals of a secret 

 caucus. Nor can we say that the re- 

 echo of the words of those who fought 

 and died at Enniskillen 200 years ago 

 does not ring true British and worthy 

 of respect : 



We stand upon our guard, and do, resolve, by the 

 blessing of God, rather to go out to meet our danger 

 than to await it. 



And why should it be possible for a 

 passive-resisting clergyman to have 

 " the blessing of God " on his action, 

 but impossible for the men of Ulster to 

 be wished "Godspeed" by their own 

 religious heads without opprobium ? 



Organised Labour has 

 Sane bccu much to the fore 



Trade Unionism j • ,1 ,, ,t^. 



Triumphant, during the month. The 

 Trade L^nion Congress 

 at Newport surpassed its previous 

 records in number of members and 

 constituents ; 500 men represented 

 about two million trade unionists. After 

 the fevered excursions and alarums in 

 the industrial world it was refreshing 

 to find the legitimate representatives 

 of associated Labour conspicuously sane, 

 sober and in the best sense conservative. 

 Wild utterances there were, but the 

 deliberate decisions of the assembly 

 were distinctly reassuring. The reso- 

 lution which committed the Congress 

 to " continued support of independent 

 working-class political action," and 

 which was intended as a collective 

 repudiation of Syndicalism, was carried 

 by a " card " vote of 1,693,000 against 

 48,000. British trade unionism thus 



