The British ‘Better Government of Ireland Bill’
Introduction from Chronology
The ‘Better Government of Ireland Bill’ is introduced into the House of Commons – it proposes two parliaments, one of the six counties of north-east Ireland and one for the other twenty-six. Also, proposes a Council of Ireland made up of twenty members of each parliament with initially few powers but with the hope that it would evolve into and all-Ireland Parliament.
Llyod George says that “any attempt at secession [by Ireland] will
be fought with the same determination, with the same resources, with the same
resolve as the Northern States of America put into the fight against the
Southern States. It is important that
that should be known, not merely throughout the world, but in Ireland itself.”
More Detail
Phoenix says that the Bill was
drawn up by the British cabinet in close collaboration with Craig and the
Unionists. He says that Craig demanded six counties rather than the nine
county option preferred by the Long committee.
Fanning also says that the Bill itself was not introduced into Westminster on this day but rather a resolution from the Cabinet’s Irish Committee in support of its recommendations. The Bill itself was to be introduced on February 25th 1920.
When introducing the resolution,
Llyod George gave his “path of fatality” speech – “There is a path of fatality
which pursues the relations between the countries and makes them eternally at
cross purposes.” (Fanning (2013), pg
215).
Comment
British ‘statesmen’ often like to
take the position that they are neutral (and almost innocent) bystanders with
relation to Anglo-Irish affairs, rather than being those who nearly always hold
the whip-hand (both literally and metaphorically). This can be seen clearly with the ‘Better
Government of Ireland Bill’ where there an almost complete marginalisation of
Irish Nationalist aspirations and the privileging of Irish Unionist aspirations. As Fanning says the “Government of Ireland
Act was not so much an attempt to settle the Irish question as an attempt to
settle the Ulster question” (Fanning (2013), pgs 210-211.