Editing H. H. Asquith (section)

===Ireland===
{{main|Easter Rising}}

On Easter Monday 1916, a group of [[Irish Volunteers]] and members of the [[Irish Citizen Army]] seized a number of key buildings and locations in [[Dublin]] and elsewhere. There was heavy fighting over the next week before the Volunteers were forced to surrender.{{sfn|Jenkins|p=395}} Distracted by conscription, Asquith and the Government were slow to appreciate the developing danger,{{sfn|Grigg 1985|p=348}} which was exacerbated when, after hasty courts martial, a number of the Irish leaders were executed. On 11 May Asquith crossed to Dublin and, after a week of investigation, decided that the island's governance system was irredeemably broken,{{sfn|Jenkins|p=398}} He turned to Lloyd George for a solution. With his customary energy, Lloyd George brokered a settlement which would have seen [[Irish Home Rule movement|Home Rule]] introduced at the end of the War, with the exclusion of [[Ulster]].{{sfn|Grigg 1985|p=351}} However, neither he, nor Asquith, appreciated the extent of Conservative opposition, the plan was strongly attacked in the House of Lords, and was abandoned thereafter.{{sfn|Grigg 1985|p=352}} The episode damaged not only Lloyd George's reputation, but also that of Asquith. Walter Long spoke of the latter as "terribly lacking in decision".{{sfn|Riddell|p=166}} It also further widened the divide between Asquith and Lloyd George, and encouraged the latter in his plans for government reconstruction. Lloyd George remarked that "Mr. A gets very few cheers nowadays."{{sfn|Riddell|p=167}}