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Show HOME RULE IS LAW. r f The operation of the Irish home rule till haa been eftspended for one year. '' On the surface this would appear to ' be a setback to the Nationalists, where-i where-i as it is 8 genuine victory. The home ' rule bill has been signed by the king and is now a law of the realm. '. ' The Unionists opposed the suspension bill with all their power, because they realized that they had been unable to ") amend the home rule act, and that even ". ' if its operation were delayed for a year ,". it must go into effect in its original ' form at the end of that period. No com-' com-' promise with the Clsterites has been . made and they are debarred by their "' , loyalty from continuing serious agita--.: . tion during the war. This probably will V be their gain as well as the gain of the i United Kingdom. Never was the phrase "United Kingdom" more fitting than ..s at this time, because never before in the history of England have the dis-; dis-; .". ' tinct races been so fully in accord. Upon ' v one thing they are agreed above all others. Being lovers and time cham- ; . ' ' pions of liberty they realize that after ; i all is said and done the English empire ! ; stands for democracy in government . j ?;: : and they now see that empire pitted : j against an imperialism, which, in their S , oninion. threatens to subordinate, if not i "'. destrov democratic government through- ':. out the world. Even though they be j mistaken in this assumption it is a mis- i take which has caused the various ele- i moots in Great Britain and Ireland to i U t ...nifiont cnslition which can- 1.UI111 o. ui.i," j ' , not fail to elicit the admiration of the j -- world. . ,'; It was said that the German ambas-I : ' sador iu London had absolutely gvmr-'. gvmr-'. anteed that the Irish question would ' prevent England from going to war, or that if war were entered upon by Eng-' Eng-' ' land her power would be nullified by revolution. The result has been so contrary con-trary to the envoy's prediction, if, in-deed, in-deed, he made such a prediction, that the kaiser and his associate war lords must still be stunned with astonishment. astonish-ment. And the German officials are not the only ones who are surprised. The result must have been more or less unexpected even in England, and it must be a source of infinite firatifica-" firatifica-" tion to the English people to discover such a unanimity of patriotic feeling 1 at a time when Austria presents so melancholy a contrast. Granting that ' the reports which have been coming . from Galicia are true, the various ra.-es in the Austrian army have not displayed dis-played that love of country which s-' s-' . 1 sures victory. On the contrary, there liave been defections from the ranks and Slavs, it is said, have been shot " as traitors. It is no wonder, therefore, that the Austrian army has beer. crushed by the legions of the czar and that the English have met. with such ' success in their battles in France. w!.i.-h offer them eo. protection from.: ar.liVi.v (:rc. Their own guns hove j ben placed i well masked portions j i., heaviiv wooded and hilly region.. At the battle of the Marne they were fighting in the open where their heavy guns could be easily located by the en-,.,v. en-,.,v. In their present position they have decimated the ranks of the allies from gun positions so well scieenod that the allies have not been able to reach them effectively. Apparently the German general staff has not abandoned its original plan of seeking to crush France before attacking attack-ing Russia.- The determined stand made on the Aisne river indicates that the Germans will not retire to tho Ehine without a most decisive test of strength and will seek to assume the offensive and carrv out the original plan of campaign cam-paign impossible. The German general staff still sees a good chance of success suc-cess in this design. The invasion of East Prussia by the Russians was largely a scare and the victory over the Austrian army was to a great extent ex-tent hue and cry and boasting. The Russians have not advanced more than fiftv miles and still ( are 400 miles from Berlin. They have not taken a single important fortification and if their progress continues to be as slow as it has been their invasion o Germany will be stopped by cold weather. In that event they will be compelled to face some of tho horrors which they inflicted upon Napoleon when he invaded Russia. Fighting in the winter is not a success in cold countries. Russia found this out to its sorrow during the Manchurian campaign. cam-paign. It will be remembered that the Russians and the Japanese intrenched themselves along the line in front of Mukden and remained there throughout one winter. The Russians, thinking that they could conduct a campaign in cold and snowy weather, made one attack and met with disaster. It was impossible im-possible to care for the wounded properly prop-erly and they died in great numbers. Many of them froze to death. The operations op-erations were so hampered by the snow and' bad roads that the Russians quickly quick-ly suspended activity and returned to their intrenched positions, there to remain re-main for the rest of the winter. Feeling that they are safe from a Rnsinn invasion for several weeks and perhaps until next spring, the Germans are again turning all their attention to the western campaign. They have reinforced re-inforced their fighting line in France and if they win in the present battle will again march on Paris. If they lose they may be compelled to retire to the Rhine. |