CAN ULSTER BE PACIFIED?

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXIX, Issue 12255, 4 June 1914, Page 8

CAN ULSTER BE PACIFIED?

CANADIAN EXAMPLE AS AN OLIVE BRANCH.

(By H. C. Thomson in the Daily Chronicle).

The pacification of Ulster is the prime necessity of the moment, urgent though the need for Heme Rule admittedly is; for a continuance of the present state of affairs in Ulster is a menace, to the safety not merely of Great Britain, but of the- whole Empire. It is strange that in nil the discussions on the subject, in all the suggestions and plans for a compromise, for a settlement bv consent, no mention should have been made of the British North America Act of 1867. the Charter of the Confederation of Canada, and vet that Act contains a proviso which 'might conceivably afford a means by which both political parties might obtain what they are struggling for without anv sacrifice of priniple by either. What is the present position r l . Mr Redmond has declared that.a peaceful settlement means something far beyond anv value or price''that can be put upon it;' provided only that the principle or "Ireland, a Nation" be adhered to; whilst Sir Edward Carson has retorted that only one policy is possible: ''To leave Ulster out until you have won her consent to come in." Then I take if that Ulster must be persuaded, into the union, and not forced into it? —The Confederation of Canada.—

The same difficult problem, the same need for tact and conciliation and sympathetic treatment, confronted the statesman who brought about the Confederation of Canada and the success which attended their efforts amply justified their foresight and repaid them \cr their moderation. British Columbia Prince Edward P-laml and Newfoundland all declined to join the Confederation; but no attempt was made to coerce them in any wav. or to bring pressure upon them to ehanpe their views. It was recognised to be a matter for arrangement of interests, and, above all, for mutual agreement. ' .

"Let me recall an eloquent passage in the great speech made by Lord Dufferin in British Columbia:— Your numerical weakness is your real strength, for it is a consideration which appeals to every generous heart. Far be the day when on any acre of soil above which floats the flag of England mere material power, brute- political preponderance should be permitted to decide such a controversy as that which we are discussing . . ." . Yoe betide the Government or the statesmen who because its inhabitants are few in numbers and politically of small account,, should disregard the wishes or carelessly dismiss the. representations, however bluff, boisterous, or downright, of the feeblest of our distant Colonies. . . . The genius of the English race has ever been too robust and sensible, to admit the existence of an irreconcilable element in its midst. It is only among weak and hysterical populations that such a growth can flourish. However hard the blows given and taken during the contest, Britishers always find a" means of making up the quarrel, and such, I trust, will be the case on the present occasion. The essential unity of the Canadian Provinces was never permitted to be lost sight of,' and the preamble to the British North America Act contains the following recital-.—■ "And whereas it is expedient that provision be made, for the eventual admission into the union of other parts of British North America," a recital to which legislative effect is given by section 146 of the Act itself, which run's thus : It shall be lawful for the Queen by and with the advice of her Majesty's Most Honorable Privy Council, on addresses from the Houses of Parliament of Canada and from the Houses of the respective Legislatures of the Colonies and Provinces of Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island, and British Columbia, to admit those colonies and provinces into the union on such terms and conditions in each case as are in the addresses expressed, and as the Queen thinks fit to approve, subject to the provisions of this Act; and the provisions of any Order in Council in that behalf shall have effect as if they have been enacted by the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. —A Basis of Settlement. —

Might not the insertion of a similar proviso in the Home Rule Bill, for the inclusion of Ulster upon addresses from the Irish Parliament and from the provisional Government of Ulster, meet the wishes of all political parties, and afford a more lasting and satisfactory basis of settlement than that contained cither in the Government's proposal or in the counter proposal put forward by the "Opposition. What are those proposals.' Lord Loreburn has briefly defined them both:. —"The Government say to Ulster: 'Come in six years hence tinless Parliament otherwise determines." The Opposition say : 'Stay out until : Parliament otherwise decides; in both.--cases leaving to a Parliament of the future, the settlement of what are to be the relations." -, . . . . . Both these proposals" would prolong the present strife,, and hot end it, and the whole question .-would still be- rein in o'd as a fiercely, contested issue, in British politics;.whilst for the,people of ■lreland this future decision, .whatever it might be, would -be irritating and' unsatisfactory for they would feel that it had been armed' at not by themselves for the' furtherance of their mutual interests, hut .is :a factor in the, British, political situation". '".'.' Now, the a'dpptiori of'.ithe Canadian precedent wohlcl*'giye : finality ; ..it .would put ah end. once and for a11,.t0 the discussions as to what'form Irish ".Adtni'nistra'tion should take. So far as British politics were concerned, the Irish question' would be,at an. end;;the 'administration of Ireland would become purely an Irish question. ' And. just,.as. British Columbia and 'Prince;Edward.lsland, when left to themselves,, very soon made up their "minds to .'throw in their lot with Canada, so,.'if, left'.to. herself, Ulster, in air probability, would" soon decide to throw in-her lot with the rest of Ireland: —The Canadian Precedent. —

Newfoundland, it.is' true,.so far has not Joined Canada ; but she is an island, and her interests in many ways are not identical with those of the mainland; moreover. Canada has never taken the trouble to woo Newfoundland. Had she done so, the present position might be- verv different. The'adoption of the Canadian precedent would seem likely to suit the views of all political parties; of the Nationalists, because the principle of Irish unity would be' finally and definitely assentedto; of Ulster, because there would be no coercion, but her political future would be left in her own hands; of the people in the rest of Ireland, who are in sympathy with Ulster, because the necessity for wining Ulster over to the. Union would afford the surest guarantee for their equitable treatment; of the Government, because the Home Rule Bill would be placed on the StatStfe-book. the operation of the Parliament Act would not have been interfered with, and the ottestion of Ireland would, have hcen amicably settled; and lastly, of the Opposition, because the necessity of having at some future time to deal with' dangerous discontent in Ireland, if Home Rule were not granted, would be obviated, without injury or,'injustice having been inflicted on the .Ulster people or on their sympathisers in other parts of Ireland, and because the inflnenoc of Ulster in the Irish Parliament would work for Federalism, a rid-, not for Separation.