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Show IRELAND, ENGLAND AND THE ARMY. Premier Asquith of Great Britain, When he took up the Irish question years ago, never dreamed he was ac-, ac-, cepting a task bo vexatious and her culean. He knew home rulo would be resisted to the utmoBt by the House of Lords and that the Conservatives would harass him at every turn, but he could not have foreseen the in-triguea in-triguea reaching oven to the King of Great Britain, and the war clouds and the attending dosortionB among the ariatocratlc officers of the army. Were religious prejudices and old- j time hatreds not a part of the difficulties dif-ficulties with which Asquith haB to deal, the leader of the Liberal party could pee his way clear. Ho could apply the iron hand of military rule, quite certain that hiB vigorous methods' meth-ods' would meet with, the approval of his countrymen. But, in coercing Ulster, he is calling on a Protestant people to help subjugate a Protestant county in Ireland, and the danger of arousing ' a religious reaction appalls ap-palls the premier. More than once in the past Catholic Ireland has been j placed under the heel of the British j army, without one annoying protest j from other than those oppressed. 'Then was when Ulster was known as j loyalty Itself, but today the Catholic part of Ireland is wlththe government and the Ulster nien are the rebels. , The . threatened uprising in Ulster ' j would not be a source of such anxiety :to the BritlBh government, could those 'in command rely on the army to obey orderB, but neither Aaquith nor any of his advleera know to what extent I . the already serious disaffection among the officers' will spread, in fact the government is entirely at sea in this '- crisis. If the command were given tomorrow to put down the Bcdltlon in Ulster, which borders on open trea- j ion, Asquith is not certain that tho troops would not go over to the Orangemen In a body and In so doing turn tho whole movement on the part of the govcrnmont Into a fiasco and force the Liberal administration from power In utter rout and disgrace. There is only one thing that will turn the scales against Carson and Law, and that is an appeal by the Liberals to tho common people of England in the namo of democracy and In condemnation of the usurpation usurpa-tion of popular rights by the king and the army. Here is a caso of parliament being overawed, in Its legislative leg-islative proceedings, by tho aristocrats aristo-crats of the army, aided by the king. Englishmen are vory sensitive when their civil liborties arc encroached on by a Bhow of military force and It Is just possible that, In this crlslB, Asquith and his associates will turn from the question of home rulo to take up the broader Issuo of an un-traramcled un-traramcled parllamenL Not during the present century has the British government had a graver problem to solve than has developed out of the home rulo agitation. |