‘The settlement of the Irish question’ would thus emerge ‘as a great world factor of capital importance . . .’.67 Washington’s grudging response to the Home Rule compromise of April 1918 fell far short of that grandiose vision, and with good reason. Ireland’s political future was in no way resolved. Sinn Fein was preparing to resist conscription with force. The path to partition and a bloody civil war was clearly marked. But London’s painstaking elaboration of the Home Rule formula had done enough to prevent any serious breach with Washington.
