HOME RULE

Otago Witness, Issue 3115, 26 November 1913, Page 30

HOME RULE

EXCLUSION OF ULSTER. SPEECH BY MR BONAR LAW. LONDON, November 17. The Pall Mall Gazette credits Mr Churchill with propounding the exclusion of Ulster from the operation of the Home Rule Bill for 25 years. Mr Larkin, speaking at Manchester, said the Irish were the Ishmaels of the world. They were giving blood, bone, and brain to every country and sapping their own. They talked about their paltry Home Rule Bill, saying they wanted 'o become members of the Empire. "Damn the Empire,” said Mr Larkin. November 18. The Daily Chronicle says the Government is willing to give the four northeastern counties a large measure of administrative autonomy subject to the legislative supremacy of the Irish Parliament, but it is not willing to exclude Ulster for a term of years. Mr Redmond, speaking at Northampton, said that when Home Rule became law the men of .Ulster would make the best of it. All the talk of civil war was moonshine and arrant nonsense. There was an eleventh hour suggestion regarding a settlement by consent, but the Tories forgot that the" Parliament Bill was part of the constitution. The Home Rule battle had been fought and won. The Liberals and Nationalists would welcome a settlement by consent, but they were not going to sacrifice the points they had gained. Speaking at Brighton, Lord Lansdowne said that a settlement of the Irish problem based on the exclusion of Ulster did not attract him, but the Opposition would examine any proposals of that character, in order to avoid civil war. The proper course, however, was a general election. November 19. Lord Lansdowne, in the course of a speech, stated that the speeches of Cabinet Ministers showed that whatever Home Rule Bill was passed it would not be the one known to-day. If Ulster were excluded the Bill must be revised in order to take a shape suited to the alteration in its framework. This revision might render the measure applicable to other parts of the United Kingdom. Before the Conservatives could express an opinion on these points they must have the proposals of the Government stated in clear unambiguous language. If no changes were made and no general election held, the Unionists would give Ulster every encouragement in its resistance, and would hold the Government responsible for any disaster resulting from such conduct. November 20. Sir Roger Casement and Captain James White, eon of Field Marshal Sir George White, are helping the Government to form a body of Irish National volunteers to uphold the authority of the Government in Ireland in the resistance it is encountering in Ulster. Captain White intends to start drilling the strikers at Dublin. Mr Connolly, one of the strike leaders, supports the proposal. The Daily Chronicle and other Radical newspapers condemn Sir Roger Casement’s movement to form an Irish volunteer corps ae a counterblast to the Ulster movement. November 21. The Daily Mail reports that there has been a serious division in the Cabinet. A

section headed by Mr Churchill, and in- 1 eluding Mr Lloyd George, Sir Edward Grey, and Lord Haldane, favours the exclusion of Ulster. Messrs M'Keima, Runciman, and Birrell, heading the other section, are definitely opposed to it, believing that the Ulstermen will yield if sufficient force is available. Mr Asquith has not revealed his personal opinion. The Ulster Volunteer Force now numbers 90.000. November 22. Mr A. Bonar Law, speaking at the Unionists’ demonstration at Birmingham, alluded to Mr Redmond’s protest against dragging the Crown into the Home Rule controversy. He recalled the fact that 12 years ago Mr Redmond assailed tha Dublin corporation for debasing itself' at the feet of Queen Victoria. Members of the House of Commons remembered that when the army was defeated in South Africa, and soldiers were lying dead on the battlefield, the Nationalists raised exulting shouts of triumph. The man with this record was now urging the Government to use troops to shoot down the loyalists in a country where the National Anthem was derided. If the Nationalists thought the soldiers were going on such a errand they were mistaken. Sir E. Carson, who also spoke, declared that he would go straight on and would never take the slightest notice of any suggestion of a compromise. The Ancient Order of Hibernians and the Gaelic League are forming rifle corps, and will co-operate with the citizen army. They are recruiting in Munster, Leinster, and Connaught. Mr Moore, M.P., speaking at Ballymooney, said that only the exclusion of the whole of Ulster for all time from Home Rule would be acceptable. November 23. It is rumoured that the Government proposes not to exclude Ulster, but to empower, for a term of years, Ulster members to veto any measures, including financial ones, affecting Ulster. \ Although a number of secret service men have been added to the Belfast detective force, rifles and ammunition continue to reach Ulster from Birmingham. Large numbers of the latest pattern rifles have been bought and shipped openly, the stocks and barrels being forwarded separately. November 24. Mr Larkin, speaking at Cardiff, declared that tlie Irish Labour party was neutral regarding the matter of Home Rule. They did not bargain with politicians, and were_ not concerned about the bonds of Empire. They were concerned only about having a freer and fuller life in their own country. Mr Larkin added : “ We say to Mr Redmond and Sir Edward Carson, ‘A curse on you both. Both your houses represent capitalism.’ ” The Daily News, while not contradicting the rumoured Ulster veto, declares that it is equivalent to Sir Edward Grey’s suggestion that Home Rule within Home Rule was possible consistently with maintaining unity, and that one part might have autonomy over education, the police, and similar matters.