HOME RULE

Otago Witness, Issue 3117, 10 December 1913, Page 55

HOME RULE

NEGOTIATIONS AND CONCESSIONS. SPEECH BY SIR E. GREY. MORE HOPEFUL PROSPECT. SPEECH BY MR ASQUITH. DESIRE FOR HONOURABLE SETTLEMENT. IMPORTATION OF ARMS. LONDON, December 2. The secret enlistment of volunteers to fight on behalf of Ulster is general throughout the cities of the United States, where Orangemen are numerous. Speaking at Birmingham, Mr Austen Chamberlain said that M ’ Asquith was Wandering in a circle, tethered to a rope that was held by Mr Redmond and Mr John Dillon. The Unionists would never agree to the creation of another AlsaceLorraine within Britain. Lord Haldane, speaking at Birmingham, denied that the Premier had hardened his tone at Leeds. He pleaded for a private conference to consider Home Rule. December 3Sir E. Ca-rson, speaking at Sheffield, said that the Leeds speech left the Ulstermen no hope except in themselves. Mr Asquith had declared war, and they were driven to accept the declaration. Speaking at Birmingham, Lord Haldane said much remains to be discussed con cerning Home Rule after accepting the principle of a Parliament and an Executive for Ireland. The Opposition should come to negotiations, and be 'prepared to make concessions. The right course would be that those most responsible, who may be only one on each side, should talk with the same unrestrained freedom with ryhich men can when talking to each other privately as man to man, without restraints, and free from the temptations arising during debates within earshot of hot partisans. Mr H. Samuel and Sir J, A. Simon have also denied that Mr Asquith intended to close-the door to an amicable settlement. Speaking at the Scottish Constitutional Club, Lord Lansdowne said the Unionists were urging the Government, with all .their might and main, to do its duty in this crisis, and to make sure that it was not governing the democracy against its will. Although the Unionists desired to give battle, the Government deemed it more prudent to deny them the opportunity. Lord Lansdowne derided Mr Lloyd George’s contention that the Unionists were using Ulster to obscure his land problems’ campaign. December 4. Lord Lansdowne, speaking at Glasgow, said that Ulster was being sold and driven out of the Union. It was being put under the heel of secret societies, which virtually regulated Irish affairs. The ex elusion of Ulster would be a most unsatisfactory settlement, but the Prime Minister’s' overtures at Ladybank indicated ■that there might be changes in the Bill, necessitated by the exclusion of Ulster, and also that there might be some cx tension of the principle of devolution, but his Leeds speech chilled the Unionists to the marrow. Lord Haldane, who was one of the finest artists in oil, endeavoured to calm the troubled waters, but the situation remained full of danger. They must be prepared for the worst. The Unionists of Ireland had no reason to desist from their preparations, and the Unionists of England would continue to give all the encouragement possible. December 5. In the course of a speech at Bradford Sir E. Grey said the Nationalists would certainly be disappointed if the realisation of their hopes was marred by internecine conflict. The Liberals also did not desire to use force; but the abandonment of Home Rule would be worse, and would plunge Ireland back to the days of coercion. He asked why there should be a hurry for a settlement in Ulster. Home Rule would not be enforced until 1915, and the Government would keep the door open for a settlement by consent until the last moment. If the signs of settlement were less favourable at the time of the Leeds speech than at the time of the Ladybank speech the responsibility did not belong to Mr Asquith. The other side had shown no sign that it was prepared to consider a settlement. The only suggestion was for a settlement on federal lines, but that could not be worked out at the eleventh hour at a moment’s notice. Mr Oliver Locker-Lampson has arranged with the families in 60 parishes in his constituency to accommodate Protestant children in the event of civil war in Ulster. He has also raised 100 men and rifles. He defies Mr Birrell, who is his brother-in-law, to prosecute him. Dublin Castle is inquiring concerning the alleged importation of arms. The Gazette publishes a Royal proefianaatiicn signed by ■those .present at Thursday’s meeting of the Privy Council, prohibiting the importation of arms, ammunition, and gunpowder into Ireland. A second proclamation prohibits the coastwise carriage of the above-mentioned goods, but neither applies to articles intended for sporting or other unwarliko purposes. The Unionist members of the House of Commons in Belfast have decided to organise a motor service, which will be at the disposal of the provisional Government for the transport of troops in the event of hostilities.

December 6. It is reported that 80,000 arms are already stored. A number of revolvers have been purchased by the Belfast Unionists and Nationalists during the past 15 months, the buying of them having become a popular craze. A tradesman in Londonderry booked orders last spring for 3000 revolvers. The Government agents, who were recently inquired in Ulster, have reported that, apart from local supplies, ammunition is short. The Unionists in Ulster claim that there are sufficient rifles. Several Maxims have arrived. In a speech at Manchester Mr Asquith took a much more hopeful view of the prospect of a settlement commanding the consent and goodwill of all parties if they took as a basis his Ladybank and Leeds speeches and Sir E. Carson's latest speech —lines which suggested the avoidable humiliation of the minority. This remark, with which he was sure Sir E. Carson would agree, and would also apply to the majority. He agreed with Sir E. Carson as to the necessity for avoiding in the Bill any possible separatist or any federal tendency. He endorsed the Younger Pitt's declaration that the quality most needed in a Prime Minister was not eloquence, knowledge, or industry, but patience. He deprecated short, if attractive, cuts and hurried and precipitate committals, and said he was not going to be bustled. He denied that his -Leeds speech involved the withdrawal of anything said at Ladybank. He had been vainly looking for weeks for some corresponding and not irreconcilable statement on the Opposition side, and expectedly he had found it in Sir E. Carson's latest speech at Manchester, which declared that no settlement must humiliate or degrade Ulster. Ireland must not be treated differently from any other part of the Kingdom, and must have the. same protection from the Imperial Parliament, and no Bill should establish the foundation for ultimate separation. He did not find anything there in the general conditions with which in principle ho was disposed to quarrel. Ireland’s case, he urged, must come first, and the Imperial Parliament's supreme and unquestionable authority must be retained. The Liberals had supported Home Rule for a generation, because they be lieved that it was a stepping stone to, but a preventive of, separation. The Government was prepared to consider, with a view to meeting them, every reasonable objection and any stipulation in the Bill, such as that relating to the Post Office, which the Unionists considered had a separatist and anti-fcderal tendency. He regarded Sir E. Carson’s declarations as- a significant and hopeful feature of the situation, and lie could not but express his belief that they might expect a free and frank discussion on the lines indicated in his Ladybank speech and that Sir E. Carson might lead in what they all desired far more than a prolongation of an embittered controversy—namely, a settlement commanding the consent of all parties. Whether the minority’s apprehensions were ill-founded or not they existed genuinely and were deeply felt, and constituted, until they were abated or removed, the one formidable obstacle to self government. The Daily Telegraph, in commenting on Mr Asquith’s speech, says the Government has waited until Ulster is armed before believing that it is not bluffing. Unionists in Dublin regard the proclamation as a recognition by the Government of the seriousness of the situation in Ulster, and as the prelude to the taking of all possible steps to avoid the calamity of a civil war. December 8. In the course of a speech at Kathdrum, Mr Devlin, referring to Sir E. Carson’s conditions, said the Nationalists were willing to go much beyond half-way to meet the Unionists and sign a lasting treaty of peace and goodwill. The Nationalists in Dublin are displeased with the proclamation as disclosing an admission of the seriousness of the position in Ulster. .Many of them at the same time declare that the proclamation is directed more against the Nationalist Volunteer movement than against Ulster They claim that many thousands who have enrolled resent anything that will hinder them in arming, and they state that it is even intended to staid a small arms factory. The Daily Telegraph's correspondents state that it is only in Belfast that the constabulary and secret service men have been specially detailed to watch gunrunning. and that the suggestion that the proclamation is directed against volunteer movements in Dublin is untenable. They say that a starving city cannot afford the luxury of rifles. Ireland’s contribution to the parliamentary fund, including £4G(JU from the Nationalist members of the House of Commons, was £17,030, or £3OOO less than Dromore (in the county of Down) guaranteed to the Unionist indemnity fund. If the entire Nationalist parliamentary fund were applied to arming, it would be of very little utility. Several Customs officers in Scotland have been instructed to take bicycles to Ireland and keep a sharp look-out on the coasts for rifles and ammunition. A fireman was injured by explosions of bullets in a stockbroker's garage in Belfast. The fusillade lasted 20 minutes. Several of the newspapers, reverting to Mr Asquith’s Manchester speech, consider it the turning point in the direction of

peace. They emphasise the urgent need for a speedy settlement. The Daily Mail, while gladly congratulating Mr Asquith on the statesmanlike tone of his speech, declaims that it can be fruitful only if the Prime Minister recognises clearly that the initiative in the negotiations must emanate from him. FREMANTLE, December 2. Mr William Redmond, M.P., arrived here by the German mail steamer. In the course of an interview he said he anticipated that Irish Home Rule would be an accomplished fact by June. Ho did not think there was any chance of Ulster being excluded from the Bill, and declared that the majority of the people of Ulster and also a majority of the Ulster representatives in the House of Commons favoured Home Rule. There was a strong and growing feeling amongst the people of Protestant Ulster in favour of Home Rule. The talk of civil war was absurd. There might be a little rioting, but it would be confined to the south-east corner of Ulster.