Independent Liberals claim credit for Irish peace and maintain opposition to Lloyd George
London, 25 October 1922 – The achievement of an Irish settlement along the lines of Dominion Home Rule was a cause for rejoicing, a manifesto issued by the National Liberal Federation (NLF) this week has asserted.
Since 1916 the Liberal Party has been split into two factions: the Coalition Liberals led by David Lloyd George who remained in coalition with the Conservatives; and the Independent Liberals led by Herbert Henry Asquith. The NLF are aligned with Asquith’s faction.
The manifesto notes that for a year the recently-collapsed coalition government pursued a coercive policy, attempting to pressure Ireland into submission through the use of undisciplined force.
It had been the Independent Liberals, in and out of parliament, who had awakened the conscience of the country to the folly of these methods and advanced the case for a policy of conciliation, which was ‘too tardily adopted’.
British Pathé footage of David Lloyd George in 1922
The manifesto amounts to a rejection of the coalition government which, it claims, broke down owing to its record of extravagance and failure.
In advance of the coming Westminster election, the NLF has set out the principles of Liberalism which it wishes to give full expression in the new parliament.
Liberalism stands, it claims, for:
(i) peace and disarmament made secure through the League of Nations
(ii) the prompt revision and settlement of reparations and inter-Allied debts
(iii) drastic economy in public expenditure and the abandonment of the policy of military adventures abroad
(iv) securing workers against the hardships of unemployment, securing cooperation between capital and labour, and honest and fair treatment of organised labour as the only basis of industrial peace
(v) unqualified free trade
(vi) defence of essential social services such as education, housing and public health
(vii) political and legal equality for women and men
(viii) comprehensive reform of the existing land systems
(ix) democratic reform of the licensing system
(x) readjustment of the electoral system with the introduction of proportional representation.
Even after the collapse of the government the schism between the Independent Liberals and the Coalition Liberals remains intact. The political correspondent of the Daily Mail has confirmed that the former will have nothing to do with the latter and intend to put up candidates to oppose their former colleagues.
[Editor's note: This is an article from Century Ireland, a fortnightly online newspaper, written from the perspective of a journalist 100 years ago, based on news reports of the time.]
