Monday, November 8th.—To allay the apprehensions of Sir John Rees the Prime Minister informed him that the League of Nations can do nothing except by a unanimous decision of the Council. As the League already includes thirty-seven nations, it is not expected that its decisions will be hastily reached. Now, perhaps, the United States may think better of its refusal to join a body which has secured the allegiance of Liberia and of all the American Republics save Mexico.
OBERLEUTNANT KENNWÜRDIG INSPECTS THE REICHSTAG
(in the imagination of General Croft).
The daily demand for an impartial inquiry into Irish "reprisals" met with its daily refusal. The Prime Minister referred to "unfortunate incidents that always happen in war"—the first time that he has used this word to describe the situation in Ireland—and was confident that the sufferers were, with few exceptions (Mr. Devlin, who complained that his office had been raided, being one of them), "men engaged in a murderous conspiracy." He declined to hamper the authorities who were putting it down. Taking his cue from his chief, Sir Hamar Greenwood excused his lack of information about recent occurrences with the remark that "an officer cannot draw up reports while he is chasing assassins." Tragedy gave way to comedy when Lieutenant-Commander Kenworthy observed that the proceedings were "just like the German Reichstag during the War." "Were you there?" smartly interjected General Croft.
The Government of Ireland Bill having been recommitted, Sir Worthington Evans explained the Government's expedient for providing the new Irish Parliaments with Second Chambers. Frankly admitting that the Cabinet had been unable to evolve a workable scheme—an elected Senate would fail to protect the minority and a nominated Senate would be "undemocratic"—he proposed that the Council of Ireland should be entrusted with the task.
"TWO BY TWO."
Sir E. Carson and Mr. Devlin.
Having regard to the probable composition of the Council—half Sinn Feiners and half Orangemen—Colonel Guinness feared there was no chance of its agreeing unless most of them were laid up with broken heads or some other malady. Sir Edward Carson, however, in an unusually optimistic vein, expressed the hope that once the North was assured of not being put under the South and the South was relieved of British dictation they would "shake hands for the good of Ireland." The clause was carried by 175 to 31.