ed" by someone else than her own inhabitants.

The British view of the fate of Ireland in the event of British defeat
may be stated as twofold. Either Ireland would remain after the war as
she is to-day, tied to Great Britain, or she _might_ be (this is not
very seriously entertained) annexed by the victor. No other solution,
I think, has ever been suggested. Let us first discuss No. I.

This, the ordinary man in the street view, is that as Ireland would
be as much a part and belonging to Great Britain after a war as before
it, whatever the termination of that war might be, she could not
fail to share the losses defeat must bring to a common realm. The
partnership being indissoluble, if the credit of the house were
damaged and its properties depreciated, all members of the firm must
suffer. In this view, an Ireland weaker, poorer, and less recuperative
than Great Britain, would stand to lose even more from a British
defeat than the predominant partner itself. Let us at once admit that
this view is correct. If on the condition of a great war Ireland were
still to remain, as she is to-day, an integral portion of a defeated
United Kingdom, it is plain she would suffer, and might be made to
suffer possibly more even than fell to the share of Great Britain.

But that is not the only ending defeat might bring to the two islands.
We must proceed then to discuss No. 2, the alternative fate reserved
for Ireland in the unlikely event of a great British overthrow. This
is, that if the existing partnership were to be forcibly dissolved, by
external shock, it would mean for Ireland "out of the frying pan into
the fire." The idea here is that I have earlier designated as the
"bogey man" idea. Germany, or the other victor in the great conflict,
would proceed to "take" Ireland. An Ireland administered, say,
by Prussians would soon bitterly regret the milder manners of
the Anglo-Saxon and pine for the good old days of "doles" from
Westminster. I know many Irishmen who admit that as between England
and Germany they would prefer to remain in the hands of the former--on
the principle that it is better to keep the devil you know than fall
into the hands of a new devil.

German rule, you are asked to believe, would be so bad, so stern, that
under it Ireland, however much she might have suffered from England in
the past, would soon yearn to be restored to the arms of her sorrowing
sister. Assuming, for the sake of argument, that Germany "a