IRISH AUTONOMY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume L, Issue 15326, 12 June 1913, Page 7

IRISH AUTONOMY.

ON THE VERGE OF DISASTER 3ILL IN THE COMMONS. WILL ULSTER FIGHT MR. DILLON SAYS "NO." LORD BERESFORD'S OUTBURST. APPEAL TO THE COUNTRY. By Telegraph.—Press AMOciation. —Copyright. (Received June 10, 10.20 p.tn-) London, June 10. During Tuesday's discussion on the second reading of the Home Rule Bill (which was passed by the House of Commons last session and rejected by the House of Lords) Mr. Asquith (Premier) expressed disappointment at the fact that the Opposition had in the meantime made' no effort to utilise the opportunity presented to them to improve the Bill, seeing that it must pass into law. i The Premier gave an elaborate explanation of the " suggestion" stage, which replaces the committee stage, so that the Bill may be presented to the House of Lords in the identical form in which it was rejected last session. Any amendments carried would, he said, accompany \the Bill to the House of Lords, though they would not enter its structure. All a Farce. An Opposition member "It's all a farce." Mr. Asquith (heatedly) : Not unless you make it so." Mr. A. J. Balfour said: " Britain is able to crush Ulster's resistance if the power be exercised ruthlessly, but-, though Britain's political imagination is sluggish, it would be aroused when troops are sent to Ulster. " The Government is driving towards a great national disaster. If Ulster were Albania you would not treat her so." -■ Mr. William O'Brien (Leader of the Independent Nationalists) blamed the Ministers and Nationalists for not making a real bid for settlement by agreement. Bluff by Ulster. Mr. John Dillon (Nationalist M.P. for East Mayo) replied that all the talk of civil war in Ireland was bluff. Sir Edward Carson fervently hoped that they would never again discuss the Home Rule Bill in the House of Commons. Mr. Redmond, he remarked, had rightly said that the present discussion was automatic. and his friends declined to be automata. The people of Ulster were rightly preparing to resist, and he would take all the responsibility for that resistance. . The Government might seize arms and send troops, but they would never settle the Irish question. Mr. Balfour's amendment to reject the Bill was defeated, the voting being: — For the Bill 368 1 Against ... ... ... 270 Government majority .. k 98 i Sir John Cory (Liberal M.P. for i West Cornwall), and Mr. Agar i Robartes (Liberal M.P. for Midr Cornwall) voted against the Bill. The majority consisted of 250 Liberals, 72 Nationalists, 10 O'Brienites, and 36 Labour members. The Bill was afterwards referred to a committee of the whole House. Dramatic Episode. Sir Edward Carson, who was warmly cheered on the reopening of the debate, created a dramatic episode when he turned to Mr. Balfour and Mr. Bonar Law and said that Ulster's cause had never been stronger, because in the event of armed resistance, which might God forbid, Ulster now had the open declaration of the Unionist leaders that Ulster was supported by the whole force of the party. Mr. Redmond (leader of the Nationalists), in an eloquent speech, deprecated Sir Edward Carson's violence. . , The Nationalists, he declared, were willing to go almost any length to conciliate reasonable apprehensions of Ulstermen. What had happened in South Africa would, in his opinion, happen

to Ireland. The passage of the Bill was being eagerly awaited by the whole Empire, as was evidenced by the resolutions of the self-governing Parliaments and the opinions of overseas statesmen. The rebellion was threatened by the four counties of Ulster, but a rebellion by three-fourths of the Irish people, distracted, outraged, and betrayed, was too horrible to contemplate. Lord Beresford's Declaration. Lord Charles Beresford was loudly cheered on declaring:—" I am an Ulsterman by birth. If the Government send troops to Ireland, I shall • offer my services to help my fellow-countrymen. "I am prepared to be among the first shot down. " Other Ulstermen will come from Canada, Australia, and New Zealand." Mr. Bonar Law taunted the Government and the Nationalists with a bargain in connection with the 1909 Budget, preventing an appeal to the country. Mr. Redmond and Mr. Asquith rose and denied any fcuch bargain. Mr. Bonar Law: "There will be interesting revelations when the allies are no longer united." Religious Bigotry. , Mr. Bonar Law argued that by carrying Home Rule under the present circumstances, the, Government were a self-constituted revolutionary

Government, and resistance would only be a meeting of revolution by revolution. Mr. Birrell (the Irish Secretary) wound up the debate by saying that the basis of Ulster's resistance was religious bigotry. As for civil war and bloodshed, he could not visualise it. How was it going to begin? If the first five clauses of the Bill were accepted, he was ready to confer with the Opposition and settle the question by agreement. Sir Edward Carson announces that the Irish Unionists are abandoning the Parliamentary proceedings against Home Rule, and that instead they will appeal to the people of Great Britain by means of public meetings, opening to-day with a demonstration in the Midlands of Scotland. -