They were, no doubt,
beginning to realise how completely they were losing hold of the people
of Southern Ireland, and that the only chance of regaining their
vanishing popularity was by an attitude of hostility to the British
Government.
Frequently during the autumn and winter they raised debates in
Parliament on the demand that the Home Rule Act should immediately come
into operation, and threatened that if this were not done recruits from
Ireland would not be forthcoming, although the need for men was now a
matter of great national urgency. They ignored the fact that Mr. Redmond
was a consenting party to Mr. Asquith's policy of holding Home Rule in
abeyance till after the war, and attempted to explain away their own
loss of influence in Ireland by alleging that the exasperation of the
Irish people at the delay in obtaining "self-government" was the cause
of their alienation from England, and of the growth of Sinn Fein.
In December 1916 the Asquith Government came to an end, and Mr. Lloyd
George became Prime Minister.
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