It was clear
that this sort of thing could not be tolerated in the middle of a war in
which Great Britain was fighting for her life, and at a crisis in it
when her fortunes were far from prosperous. Accordingly, on the 16th of
March Mr. Bonar Law warned the Nationalists that their conduct might
make it necessary to appeal to the country on the ground that they were
obstructing the prosecution of the war. But he also announced that the
Cabinet intended to make one more attempt to arrive at a settlement of
the apparently insoluble problem of Irish government.
Two months passed before it was made known how this attempt was to be
made. On the 16th of May the Prime Minister addressed a letter in
duplicate to Mr. Redmond and Sir John Lonsdale, representing the two
Irish parties respectively, in which he put forward for their
consideration two alternative methods of procedure, after premising that
the Government felt precluded from proposing during the war any measures
except such as "would be substantially accepted by both sides.
Pages:
450
451
452
453
454
455
456
457
458
459
460
461
462
463
464
465
466
467
468
469
470
471
472
473
474