IRISH HOME RULE.

Evening Star, Issue 15140, 24 March 1913, Page 3

IRISH HOME RULE.

S _.'■'. - «. A, GREAT PROCONSUL'S VIEW. Earl Grey -. (ex-Governor-General of Canada), speaking on the second reading debate, aaid he intended to vote against the Bill. Lord Crewe had said that Ireland had never been an integral part of the United Kingdom, and if that was so he thought it should be their ambition to pass-legislation which would make it an integral part. There were two great principles on which self-government could be basfcd; one was the principle of nationalism, and the other was the principle of federalism. They had been informed by Ihe noble Marquis that this Bill was basel on nationalism. Personally he was a convinced federalist, and because this Bill was based on the principle of nationalism he did not think the House should accept it.- He was opposed to it, because it was not aTstep in the direction of the federation if the British Empire. On the contrary,_it set up a barrier which must bo removsd before the federal principle could be applied, and because he regarded the treasure as a bar to federalism and was coivinced that, so far from producing peace uid harmony, it would tend to discord fild civil war. that he would oppose it. Hi took is for granted that the House would Reject it, but it would be a serious politic;! misfortune if they were to-allow the itmression to be created that those who wire opposed to the measure had no alternaive policy. He hoped a clear and positive message might be issued by the Unionir. leaders in the House of Lords to ronvino the people of Ireland that the Unionii l ' party as a whole were prepared to assis .in some other form of settlement which buld be more safely relied upon to promot the well-being of Ireland and the security of the Empire. -tA Safe and Moral Policy,— If accept, as he believed they could, he statement of Mr T. P. O'Connor thai a new Ireland would grow up on foundalons based on peasant proprietary, the surst and best foundation of a national rosperity, national wealth, and national itizenship, he thought they were justifieun assuming that a well-considered measuri.conferring upon Irishmen powers of mariging their own local and domestic affairs,which would have been, in 1886, nothing less than an agrarian outrage, would sow be a safe and a moral policy—he wojd go further, and say that it was not oi>! a desirable but a necessary policy. He ws in favor of such a measure of Homeßule as would give the Irish the powetto manage their own affairs, increas'ihe self-respect of the Irish, promote he unity of the United Kingdom, and ling additional strength to the Empire. It was impossible, he thought, for anyor who had studied the lesson of Canal not to realise the advantages of the tfer.il system, a system which combine) autonomy with unity of Government and worked admirably for the advance of all the provinces. Under the fedeil system, as it existed in Canada, eaclprovince had exclusive control over ■ its>vn domestic, affairs, which had been .deltated to it by the Federal Union Paiament. Ireland might possibly exist .vmi-r a federal system of two provinces. Tl North-east would form one province, an the rest of Ireland another. Just as thprovinces of Ontario and Quebec stood iii-elation to one another and were bound by the common interest they had \th the Federal or Dominion Parliament i Ottawa, eo the two provinces of Irejhd, each having exclusive control over s own domestic affairs, would be joined

.'igether by that common interest to make he Parliament at Westminster as efficient is possible and add to the prosperity of 'he whole of the United Kingdom. _ That .'was a form of Home Kule to which no ,'exception could, he thought, be taken, by ' 'the people of Ulster. —Suggestion as to Finance.— ' It was quite possible that the people of •■Ulster might desire, after a few years' ex- > perience of the -working of this federal ; scheme, to merge their province in that ' of the rest of Ireland. In Canada, the public mind was not harassed, perplexed, and irritated by attempts to ascertain from what part of the Dominion the national revenue came and in what part it was ' Similarly, if the federal system ■ )ere extended to the United Kingdom tnere need be no elaborate balance-sheets showing the indebtedness of various parts ' of the United Kingdom. Under the federal system of Canada a contribution was made by the Federal Government to the Provincial Governments, calculated on the basis of population, and where the circumstances justified, as they would in the South and West of Ireland, special assistance to a particular province from federal funds, a special grant was made. If a similar system wero applied to Ireland a far more satisfactory financial relationship would be created than that which would be established by the financial clauses of this Bill. If the Government desired to meet the long-standing cry of the Irish people for liberty to manage their own affairs in the same way as the people of the various States of America and the self-governing Dominions, why not proceed on federal lines, which were working so successfully in our self-governing Dominions? Why not give Ulstermen of the Xorth-east of Ireland the same rights of self-government as were enjoyed by Quebec? By that means, he believed,'they would make the United Kingdom united not only in name, but al?o in fact. —Empire Point of View.— One result of the federal solution would be to relieve Parliament of the congestion which was at once stifling to our liberties and unresponsive to our wants. Perhaps the greatest danger at the present moment to the strength and security of the Empire was that there were in the" House of Commons ahout 80- members ever ready to throw their influence against the best interests of the Empire. "The result of the Federal solution would be that those eighty mest dangerous and powerful enemies of the Empire would be transformed into 40 enthusiastic friends. The Catholic Celt of the South and West of Ireland was probably, by temperament, by intorest, and by religious training, the most conservative ; unit in the United Kingdom ; he was opposed to Socialism, to secular education, to land taxes, and to Freetrade. The fighting position taken up by Lord Lansdowne and the other Unionist leaders was absolutely incomprehensible, for it compelled their natural allies to fire into the backs of their own troops. In the interests of the Em- .- pire, he felt very strongly that it was imperative that the Irish question should be settled on lines which would satisfy the sentiment of the overseas-democracies,"both in the self-governing Dominions and in the I. mted States. In the self-governing democracies an almost universal sympathy with the Irish movement in favor of Home tide was to be found. There was no higher ideal than that of bringing about reconciliation not only in Ireland, but in the greater Ireland beyond the seas; and it was worth some, risk to obtain such reconciliation. The federal plan had been proved to work smoothly. It would give tlie people of England the power which . was now denied them of manage their . own affairs and it would make absolutely necessary the establishment of a Second Chamber, and restore the balance which had b wn removed. Why could wo not follow the example of Canada, South 4f-i-ioa, and Australia-men of both parties sinking their party differences to obtain • C^? lr n',f nd -, • He h °P eU the V would re-jcct-this Bill, which woof evifgenesisand pregnant with disastrous consequences.