IRELAND AND THE EMPIRE

Evening Post, Volume CIII, Issue 53, 4 March 1922, Page 6

IRELAND AND THE EMPIRE

QUESTION OF SECESSION

(vmitii ion AincuTiex.— c«pißH»r.i (AUSTRALIAN - NBW ZBALAND CAtLT. ASSOCIATION.) (Received March 4, 2.30 p.m.) LONDON, 3rd March. In the House of Commons, Lord Percy moved an amendment designed to prevent Ireland seceding from the Empire. He quoted Mr. Bonar Law to the effect that the Dominions had a perfect right to secede if they wished.

Mr. Churchill refused to accept this as a final pronouncement on the constitutional law of the Empire. If the question were raised it could: be pressed in one direction or another to a conclusion which would be unedifyiag, not helpful. But the Dominions had never claimed, and Britain had never admitted their Tight to secession. He deprecated attempts "to more precisely define the status of Ireland and the other Dominions, which would be better left to an easy forward movement for unity and confidence which had enabled Britain and the Dominions to stand together and carry the structure of Imperial inheritance through every peril. The amendment was lost by 250 votes to 53.