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Both Mr. REDMOND and Mr. DUKE had drawn a very gloomy picture of
present-day Ireland--the former, of course, attributing it entirely
to the ineptitudes of the "Castle," and being careful to say little
or nothing to hurt the feelings of the Sinn Feiners, while the latter
ascribed it to the rebellious speeches and actions of Mr. DE VALERA
and the other hillside orators whom for some inscrutable reason he
leaves at large.
I hope Mr. ASQUITH was justified in assuming that the Sinn Fein
excesses were only an expression of the "rhetorical and contingent
belligerency" always present in Ireland, and that in spite of them the
Convention would make all things right.
Meanwhile the Sinn Feiners have refused to take part in it. And not a
single Nationalist Member dared to denounce them to-night. Mr. T.M.
HEALY even gave them his blessing, for whatever that may be worth.
_Wednesday, October 24_.--The strange case of Mrs. BESANT and Mr.
MONTAGU was brought before the Upper House by Lord SYDENHAM, who hoped
the Government were not going to make concessions to the noisy people
who wanted to set up a little oligarchy in India. The speeches of
Lord ISLINGTON and Lord CURZON did not entirely remove the impression
that the Government are a little afraid of Mrs. BESANT and her power
of "creating an atmosphere" by the emission of "hot air.
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