HOME RULE

Otago Witness, Issue 3112, 5 November 1913, Page 29

HOME RULE

SPEECH BY SIR E GREY. LONDON, October 27. Speaking at Berwick, Sir Edward Grey said that unless the House of Commons were relieved of Irish, Scottish, and English domestic business it would become incapable of transacting the business of the Empire. If Home Rule was resisted by violence, then violence must be met by violence In the course of his speech Sir Edward Grey said the Irish question was the moss critical in Home affairs. Home Rule had not been taken up as a political necessity, but because the country was sick and tired of the attempt to govern Ireland coercively. Home Rule was essential purely on practical grounds if the House of Commons was to be saved from destruction as an Imperial authority. A settlement with Ulster by consent would not be made easier by threats of civil war, which v*as detestable and abominable. He thought it could be avoided, and-ought to be avoided, but it depended on Ulster and the Conservatives. If, as Ulstersaid, Home Rule was a matter of life and death, it was also a matter of life and death for the House of Commons to manage Irish affairs under the existing conditions. If violence were used it must be met by violence. If Ulster feared oppression and got exclusion, the position would be more precarious for Unionists residing in other parts of Ireland. An agreement should be possible. He suggested that Home Rule within Home Rule was possible consistently with maintaining unity. They could give one part autonomy over education, the police, and similar matters. MR ASQUITH’S SPEECH. LONDON, October 2/. Belfast is increasingly incensed over Mr Asquith’s speech, and the Unionist leaders are unable to check the discontent with what they are regarding as “their wicked and treacherous betrayal.” The volunteers now number 100,000, and it is expected that 20,000 more will join t immediately. Captain Craig, M.P., in the course of a speech, said that Mr Asquith had thrown over his pledge not to send British regiments against Ulster. He added :“ Wo will now stand by our covenant without fear and without counting the cost.’ The Times declares editorially that it is afraid Mr Asquith’s speech has brought the day of trouble perceptibly nearer. The only, course open now in order to avert possible disaster is an early appeal to the country. LONDON, October 28. The immediate effect in Ulster of Mr Asquith’s speech is distinctly unfortunate. It has stiffened the backs of the Unionists, who have concentrated their attention upon his threat to suppress force byforce. The Irish Times says that if the Ministry persist no power on earth will be able to save the Empire from as sad a fate as any empire has ever known.

SPEECH BY MR BONAR LAW: LONDON, October 29. Addressing a meeting of 15,000 people at Wallsend, Mr Bonar Law said that the pledge he turd given at Blenheim on behalf of the Unionist party still held good. Ho had followed Sir E. Carson’s proceedings with the deepest sympathy, and he believed that throughout the people of Ulster had shown the impressive qualities •of determination and restraint. No bitter hostility had been manifested towards the Nationalists. In all Sir E. Carson s speeches his opponents could find no words of religious bigotry or of attack on the feelings of any Catholic. Mr Law continued : “We stand together, and, if necessary, we shall fall together. —(Cheers.) It is due to Sir E. Carson alone that Ulster’s passions have been restrained. Great Britain has never stood in graver peril. Her position is comparable to that m America before the Civil War. While the chief responsibility rests with the Government, the Unionists also have some. But in such a crisis any question of party advantage would weigh with them more than the dust in the balance. The Government would be committing a crime if it pressed forward to extremes without first consulting the electorate. The Prime Minister claims that the people are behind him. Why not test it? Either he feared the result, or his bargain with the Nationalists prevented him from doing his duty to the country.” October 30. Mr Law said the Unionists were opposed to Home Rule because of its intolerable injustice. It would force Ulster out of the union against its will. He believed that an Irish Parliament would be a danger to the nation and the Empire and a national tragedy. If the Government’s policy was carried out it must rest with the Government. The Unionists were prepared to abide by an appeal to the people. Mr Asquith’s declaration that he had a mandate was absolutely unfounded. Such a claim could only be made by a blind partisan, and was an insult to the people’s intelligence.

Mr Law said that Home Rule has been kept as a skeleton in the closet. A wonderful land campaign had been sprung on the country to distract attention from Home Rule. The Chancellor of the Exchequer had been wisely chosen as the crusader, for which he possessed all the qualities.—(Laughter.) Mr Lloyd George

was a crooked sixpence, or the radicals had behind him more colossal and ludicrous failures than had ever before hung on the neck of a statesman. Even if the Government possessed a Home Rule mandate a new fact emerged, altering the situation—namely, that Ulster refused tr submit unless conquered. Therefore the people had to decide whether Ulster should be dragooned. Was it the Government’s duty to assert the law if it did not exceed the powers entrusted to it by the nation? But the Government’s view was that the excutive could not do wrong. If the Government exceeded its powers it ceased to be a constitutional Government. ' There were three alternatives for the Government—firstly, to go full steam ahead, which was madness; secondly, to obtain the people’s judgment, which was the Government’s duty; thirdly, to try to arrange a settlement and obviate a civil war. The moment the Government carried the Bill a collision was inevitable, after which an election must follow, also bloodshed. The election would annihilate the Government. Ho was ready to make any sacrifice short of the national interests to secure a settlement, and he would cordially consider any proposals which Mr Asquith might submit.

Sir E. Carson, following Law, declared that he would no more, be intimidated than Mr Asquith. He would consider all the overtures to Ulster when they were put in plain language, and submit them with the best advice to those who trusted him, but ho would tell them that any offer was useless unless it was consistent with the covenant to which the Government had driven Ulster. If no offer was made he would help his comrades to fight to the bitter end.

RESISTERS READY. LONDON, October 29. Lord Londonderry, aftdr stating that Mr Asquith would employ the army to shoot down the Ulsterites, observed: “If that happens 1 shall be there with the men of Ulster. There are 100,000 men ready to resist Home Rule by armed force.” SPEECH BY MR CHAMBERLAIN. LONDON, October 31. Mr Austen Chamberlain, speaking at the United Empire Club, said the Government could not refuse Ulster the same right as the self-governing dominions claimed to rule their own fate. What right had they to cast Ulster out of the union?