vernment
for which he pleaded had then taken place, if British statesmen had
made "a supreme effort," as he begged them to do, "to find good
government for Ireland," I am convinced that all the horrors and
manifold disasters of the past four years would have been avoided, and
the Irish people would be at this moment in happiness and contentment
administering their own affairs. But the voice of sweet reasonableness
and statesmanlike admonition was not hearkened unto. The neglect of
Ireland and of her industrial concerns, of which Lord Northcliffe so
justly made complaint, continued, and instead of the counsels of peace
prevailing all the follies of wrong methods and repressive courses
were committed which will leave enduring memories of bitterness and
broken faith long after a settlement is reached. Meanwhile _The
Times_ devoted itself earnestly and assiduously to the cause of
peace and justice. It opened its columns to the expression of reasoned
opinion on the Irish case. The problem of settlement was admittedly
one of extreme difficulty--it welcomed discussion and consideration of
every feasible plan in the hope that some _via media_ might be
found which would constitute a basis of comparative agreement between
the various warring factors. It even instituted independent inquiries
of its own and gave an exhaustive and splendidly impartial survey of
the whole Irish situation and of the various influences,
psychological, religious and material, that made the question one of
such complexity and so implacably unyielding in many of its features.
Its pressure upon the Government was continuous and consistent, but
the Government was deaf to wisdom and dumb to a generous importunity.
Not content with appeal, remonstrance and exhortation, _The
Times_, in the summer of 1919, boldly, and with a courage that was
greatly daring in the circumstances of the moment, set forth in all
detail, and with a vigorous clearness that was most praiseworthy, its
own plan of settlement. As it was upon this model that the Ministry
later built its Government of Ireland Act, I think it well to quote
_The Times_, own summary of its scheme, though it is but proper
to say that whilst the Government adapted the model it discarded
everything else that was useful and workmanlike in the structure:

_Legislatures_

Creation by an Act of Settlement of two State Legislatures for

(a) The whole of Ulster,

(b) The rest of Ireland,