HOME RULE.

Auckland Star, Volume XLV, Issue 16, 19 January 1914, Page 5

HOME RULE.

TALK OP COMPBOMISE. !.-. wt -..,.-.- .... . ' ' CONVENTION SUGGESTED. ■'■■.;< - ;- ■ . RED BLOOD tSTCLL IXOW. (By Cable.—Press Association.— Copyright.} .-iilil. .(Received 11 ajn.), ;j ; j'|7" LONDON, January. 17. Sir Edward Carson inspeetted six battalions of the Ulster volunteers at Belfast. Addressing the men, he said- "We ask nothing but leave to remain citizens of the United Kingdom. If they dare to attack us, red blood will certainly flow." Prayers were said in many churches yesterday for peace in Ireland. The Postmaster General (Mr Herbert Samuel),- Speaking at Eston last night, said the Nationalists sincerely wished for an amicable settlement. It would be the last desire of Ireland that her new history • should be wedded'to domestic conflict. Some of the Unionists of, Britain regarded Ulster as the most useful card in the political pack. He did not believe that the responsible leaders were animated by those cynical sentiments, but the Ulster Unionists must agree to a settlement on terms. There had never been any agreement in great controversies where either party got wholly its own way. Mr J. H. M. .Campbell '(Unionist member for Dublin University), speaking at \ork last night, said their opponents objected to. the introduction of the King's name into the controversy. This came late from those who, in the case cf the Parliament Bill, had grossly deceived the late King Edward by dragging his name into the controversy. Viscount Hythe. addressing a. nonparty meeting at Bexhill last night, inaugurated z. campaign for the settlement of the present constitutional difficulties by conference and consent. He suggested a convention on tbe Home Rule question similar to that which drafted the Constitution of South- Africa. The present crisis, he urged, was a graver matter than the South African war. Sir Philip Sasson (Unionist) and Messrs A. C. Murray (Liberal), and J. A. M. MacDonald (Liberal) supported his proposal. Ulster has now completed her £1,000,000 indemnity guarantee fund. The amount includes £100,000 from the TJlster Reform Club.

PUTTING IT TO THE TEST.

MB O'BRIEN RESIGNS. !.'■;! •:. (Received 2 pjn.) ■-■ ■ LONDON, January 18. Mr William O'Brien, the Nationalist member of Parliament for Cork City, has resigned his seat, and seeks re-elec-tion. The ground for his action is that the Redmondite party interpret the result of the recent municipal elections in Cork to be a defeat of the policy of conference, conciliation, and consent. On a last analysis Ulsters objections to Home Rule derive from her Protestantism and her prosperity, says the Belfast Correspondent of the "Times." The . argument from religion—fear of Roman Catholicism —is the more powerful with the democracy, whereas business men, the upper and middle classes, are at the present juncture chiefly exercised by anxiety in regard to the commercial future under a Dublin Parliament. The two objections are interconnected, for it is certainly the conviction of all classes of the stay-at-home Ulster population that Protestantism spell 3 prosperity, Roman Catholicism decay. The protest of Ulster business men on November 4 had, however, its special significance. It disproves the statement that Ulstermen, moved solidly by the violence of religious feeling, have failed to define the practical . faults of the present BUI. . • The Ulster Hall contains seating aocomodation for about 2,500 persons: Every chair had been taken long before noon, and on the arrival of contingents from distant places like Derry the stewards were in some difficulty. The audience at the opening of the proceedings must have numbered between 3,000 and 4,000. It mirrored all sides of Ulster's commercial life. Nine great industrial associations sent their delegates. The large crowd in the streets and at the doors of the Ulster Hall showed that the arrangements for an overflow meeting -were justified. With Mr. Ewart, president of the Belfast Chamber of Commerce, in the chair, and among the movers of the resolutions a director of the largest flax-spinning company in Ulster, a director of Messrs Workman and Clark, the shipbuilders, and a director of the Great Northern Railway of Ireland, the list of speakers was sufficiently impressive. According to a trustworthy calculation made by the promoters of the meeting, a capital of £ 100,000,000 was represented in the hall. Sir Edward Carson dispensed with the argument from religion. In spite of the mase meetings of democracy and of the churches against Home Rule, the Government, he said, still retained hope in the case of the business men, but it had now j its answer. His final remarks on compromise were followed with close attention: —'There is "a great deal being said at present about a compromise and a settlement. So far as you are. concerned, I say to you, "Go straight on." (Loud cheers.) We know what civil commotion, resistance to the law, means. We da not look at it as child's play. Believe mc, we do not want —certainly I do not want —any man to suffer, but at the same time I neither shrink from my own suffering nor from his. So far as a compromise or settlement is concerned, I will be no party to allowing Ulster to be used as a pawn in the political game. (Loud cheers). I wfll refuse even to consider.. anything so long as -tactical manoeuvres are going on. I know nothing about tactics. We want straight dealing (loud cheers), and before I pronounce an opinion upon any offer —if any offer is ever made, and I am not hopeful about it—l must see that offer in black and white, and I must be in a position to .come over here and take counsel with the men who are responsible with mc. (Cheere.) After all, I am only here in my position to serve the country that I love. There is no game in it; there axe no politics in it—we are out for business. We are not children, and we are not fools, and they must- deal with us as men—honest men, not knaves. I hope these resolutions thai have been passed-to-day are ah indication to mc that in "the present circumstances I am to go ahead. (Loud cheers, during which tte audience rose and warod hats and handkerchiefs). I -take it that I am - to go ahead, and 1 •wSL" (Renewed cheeng "