IRISH ENVOYS VISIT AUSTRALIA.

Evening Star, Issue 12867, 17 July 1906, Page 7

IRISH ENVOYS VISIT AUSTRALIA.

u ?« lnsh onvovs-Mr Devlip, M.P., W d Mr Donovan—who are visiter Aih4ralia wore entertained at the p«C R , S Pat ncK's Cathedral, MelbourSe, o\ the % mat Soyenty genthmen Wre preset, jL eluding the Federal (Mr Chapman), the State Minister ofLands $J Murray, and the Secretaryf or Vic tona fei T Samuel GWott). Mr Devlin, in the course of his remarks. *ud that, apart aether from ffS «on, it was desirable that members of the House of Commons, irrespective of par'tv considerations, should come here to see what was one of the vast colonial possesstona of the Jimpire. These trips would enable them to deal with greater knowledge with questions Meeting the welfare of Aw* tralia, Xliero were many Australians who were anti-Australians, Just as there were Jnghmen who were anti-Irish. It was unfortunately the case that those who had reaped the largest rewards, not by their Q\m integrity, had IfeftJErcland "to speak ill oi its people and the land from which they came. He. too, had met Australians who made their fortunes in this country, and had gone to England to spemj the-n, and who did not speak in the highest and most generous terms of the Comraonw*aUh. There was no difference in this class of man, no matter in what part of the world hj« was found. He and Mr Donovan came to Australia to woi-so practical sympathy with Home Rule Th*y hal succeeded in that bevond their most sanguine anticipations. The Prime Minister of England had said recentlv that good government was no substitute for They asked, not for a substitute for nood povernme.it, but a substitute for bad government. It was true that good progress bad been made in Ireland, but it was true also this had been won, not so much by the goodwill of the Government as by the organised power in the Parliament and m the country. No passing measure of British legislation, however bonefWal, could satisfy the people of Ireland. He believed that the oldest man in the room wi ild, with God's blessing, «<;tne<-8 the glorious fruition of that long tiirht for the establishment of well-ordered government in Ireland.--{T/oud cheers.) Mr Donovan also respond rd. The Home Rule agitation was not a religious question, r.or did they feek anv dismemberment of the Empire. Nowadays that sort of talk was nev-rr heard in Great Britain. He had to come to Australia to hear it.

In replying for " Tim Commonwealth Par* liament," Mr Chapman said that it was a pleasure to be present and hear the learned and tolerant speech by Air Devlin.— (Cheers.) People were beginninz to understand that the Irish people were not seeking t> obtain then- goal by revolution. They sought redress by the ballot-box, and by the will of the majority. As a member of the House of Commons Air Devlin was entitled to be received with courtesy at the bands of the peopl« of the country.